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Info-Atari16 Digest Vol. 91 Issue 399
Info-Atari16 Digest Fri, 19 Jul 91 Volume 91 : Issue 399
Today's Topics:
Accelerators for the ST forsale (2 msgs)
Atari Digest Mailings
Atari Repair
comp.sys.ibm.pc
DC Click software
DCOPY36.PRG (2 msgs)
exception vectors on TT
Need 68000 socket adapter
NEW NEW NEW MEGA STE problem?
Oooops.
Questions about Mega STE
Reset-Proof Ramdisk
Spectre backups
The demise of ST World & Which report.
TT memory allocation
Ultra Pack.
Voice Recognition Units
WANTED- Mega 2 or 4 ST
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 91 23:14:33 GMT
From:
iWarp.intel.com!ogicse!sequent!muncher.sequent.com!ether!bug!stevef@uunet.uu.ne
t (Steven R Fordyce)
Subject: Accelerators for the ST forsale
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I have come to possess a large number of Processor Accelerators for the 520,
1040, and Mega ST that I will sell for $65 each shipping included. I will
sell two for $100. These are new units, in the box, were built by CMI and
are fully tested. These accelerators are on multilayer boards that plug
into a socket you solder onto the 68000. These boards are built around a 16
MHz 68000 and run at double the standard processor speed. The speed
up you get with this product depends on the software you are running, but it
runs from 10 to 30%.
These boards (there is a different one for the 520/Mega or 1040, so let me
know what you want) also accept 68881 floating point unit of any speed,
although it doesn't pay to get one faster than 16 MHz. For software that
uses the math chip you can get speed ups of eight to ten times or more.
There is also a socket for an Atari blitter chip if your machine didn't come
with one. You can get these from your Atari dealer.
These boards originally sold for around $300. Schematics and PAL equations
are available on request. Complete instructions are included. DON'T try to
install one of these if you are not handy with a soldering iron and haven't
done this kind of thing before! I will not be liable for your mistakes.
If you want one of these, call or send a check to:
Steven R. Fordyce
6913 Sunnyview Rd NE
Salem, OR 97305-9543
(503)362-8637
Steven R. Fordyce uunet!sequent!ether!stevef
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 10:57:53 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!catless!ndch@uunet.uu.net (Dave Halliday)
Subject: Accelerators for the ST forsale
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <742@bug.UUCP>, stevef@bug.UUCP (Steven R Fordyce) writes:
|>I have come to possess a large number of Processor Accelerators for the 520,
|>1040, and Mega ST that I will sell for $65 each shipping included. I will
|>sell two for $100. These are new units, in the box, were built by CMI and
|>are fully tested. These accelerators are on multilayer boards that plug
|>into a socket you solder onto the 68000. These boards are built around a 16
|>MHz 68000 and run at double the standard processor speed. The speed
|>up you get with this product depends on the software you are running, but it
|>runs from 10 to 30%.
|>
|>These boards (there is a different one for the 520/Mega or 1040, so let me
|>know what you want) also accept 68881 floating point unit of any speed,
|>although it doesn't pay to get one faster than 16 MHz. For software that
|>uses the math chip you can get speed ups of eight to ten times or more.
|>
|>There is also a socket for an Atari blitter chip if your machine didn't come
|>with one. You can get these from your Atari dealer.
|>
|>These boards originally sold for around $300. Schematics and PAL equations
|>are available on request. Complete instructions are included. DON'T try to
|>install one of these if you are not handy with a soldering iron and haven't
|>done this kind of thing before! I will not be liable for your mistakes.
If I remember correctly these boards don't use and caching so the speedup is
very little since every time the CPU requires data or a new instruction the CPU
has to do this at 8Mhz. The hypercach board, Mega STE and new ICD boards etc.
get around this problem by using a fast cach on the accelerator board.
Dave Halliday
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Address: Computing Dept. Newcastle University, NE1 7RU. UK.
Halliday EMail : D.C.Halliday@newcastle.ac.uk
Phone : +44 91 222 8214 Fax : +44 91 222 8232
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 91 10:36:55 MST
From: Bonnie Klassen <ICBMK%ASUACAD.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Atari Digest Mailings
To: INFO-ATARI16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Please remove my name from all mailings. Thank you.
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 91 18:02:51 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.w
isc.edu!aplcen!wb3ffv!ka3ovk!nstar!syscon!miked@arizona.edu (Mike DeMetz)
Subject: Atari Repair
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
A guy is having trouble with hi floppy on a 520 in Battle Creek.Does
anyone know of a service center in SE Michigan?
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 07:54:44 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!robin@uunet.uu.net (R C Smith)
Subject: comp.sys.ibm.pc
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <me.679667568@dude> me@dude.pcs.com (Michael Elbel) writes:
>In <1991Jul15.144652.9009@convex.com> rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosenkranz)
writes:
>
>>pbm is too big to send. get it on your own from a.a. it is not a single
>>program, more like a library of general purpose utilities (lots of them)
>>to manipulate images of various formats. as far as i know there is no
>>support for TIFF, however, which is somewhat suprising.
>
>Isn't there, then someone must have left it out of the atari port.
>I definitely have a 'tifftopgm' in my sources of pbmplus.
>
Does the version of pnmtotiff work on the ST? I compiled this on a
SUN4 and pnmtotiff produces gibberish..
Robin
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 91 23:14:22 GMT
From: mcrware!mwca!bill@uunet.uu.net (Bill Sheppard)
Subject: DC Click software
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul17.224434.6551@world.std.com> azog@world.std.com (azog-thoth)
writes:
>About the only thing Ive ever envied MicroSoft Windows 3.0 for is the
>stock game, solitair. Its a great diversion to help while the hours
>away when work gets real slow, and it would be kinda fun to have a
>GEM based solitair game for home...
Try Hoyle's Book of Games Volume II from Sierra On-line - 28 solitaire games,
runs in mono or color, supports MIDI, hard diskable, reasonably inexpensive
(I paid about $20 from Joppa). Besides, supporting the remaining commercial
developers will help ensure they continue to support the ST.
--
##############################################################################
# Bill Sheppard -- bills@microware.com -- {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill #
# Microware Systems Corporation -- OS-9 / OS-9000 / CD-RTOS -- (408)980-0201 #
############# Opinions expressed are my own and usually wrong ################
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 03:41:20 GMT
From: sequent!ogicse!clark!pro-library.cts.com!slt@uunet.uu.net (Steve Traxler)
Subject: DCOPY36.PRG
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
To All,
I noticed much talk and many problems using Arc.ttp. I would like to
recommend use of Dcopy36.prg. I have used this program extensively with my
old 520 ST and my newer 1040 STe, and rarely encounter any problems in
either arcing or unarcing files. This program is a snap to use.
STeve
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 10:05:58 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu
!yale.edu!ox.com!math.fu-berlin.de!unido!laura!tommy!klute@arizona.edu (Rainer
Klute)
Subject: DCOPY36.PRG
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul19.035305.1870@clark.edu>, slt@pro-library.cts.com
(Steve Traxler) writes:
|> I noticed much talk and many problems using Arc.ttp.
I didn't. The talk and problems regard LHarc, not arc. The latter is doing
its job just fine.
--
Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute klute@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
Univ. Dortmund, IRB klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
Postfach 500500 |)|/ Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
D-4600 Dortmund 50 |\|\ Fax : +49 231 755-2386
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 91 10:33:00 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia
.edu!ira.uka.de!smurf.sub.org!artcom0!hb.maus.de!m.maus.de!Martin_Gaeckler@ariz
ona.edu (Martin Gaeckler)
Subject: exception vectors on TT
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Hi vic,
your solution is too simple. The Problem is, when the cpu returns from the
buserror handler, it will try again the instruction which caused the error.
Therefore your program stays in an endless loop.
Now You have to remember, why the buserr exception is caused.
1. You try to acces to protected memory area.
Solution: Goto Supervisiormode (use Gemdos-call Super)
2. You try to access memory not installed.
Solution: I'm sorry I don't have a quick solution.
Hope this helps.
Greeting from bavaria.
Martin
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 91 21:06:30 GMT
From: cadence!cadence.com!bammi@uunet.uu.net (Jwahar R. Bammi)
Subject: Need 68000 socket adapter
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
> In <1991Jul14.130515.20316@doug.cae.wisc.edu> carter@engr.wisc.edu (Gregory
Carter) writes:
>
> >I have been making comments about FaST Tech's 68K 20Mhz board, and
> >mainly they have been very critical.
What have they been? I have never seen any of them here, other
than the referenced article.
>
> It should at least not be allowed to overheat. 20 MHz from a 16 MHz part can
> be reliable, but only under the right conditions.
For what its worth: i have been running the 20Mhz part in my
(1040/4M) St for over two months. I never switch it off, and it has
been pretty darn warm here boston this summer. No problems so far.
Note: this accelerator (and all other ones i have ever heard
of), talk to the St hardware at the rated bus speed, so i doubt if
rest of the hardware really care what speed the processor runs at, as
long as the interface specs are met.
The only problems i have heard about are flakeyness due to
additional loads on various signals. There are well advertised and
documented workarounds for those. The biggest hardware bug is atari's
puny power supply. i replaced mine with a heaftier one.
cheers,
--
--
bang: uunet!cadence!bammi jwahar r. bammi
domain: bammi@cadence.com
GEnie: J.Bammi
CIS: 71515,155
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 91 11:35:41 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!phigate!alp!johnj@uunet.uu.net (John Janssen)
Subject: NEW NEW NEW MEGA STE problem?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I'm almost sorry to post another problem with my MEGA STE
to the net again, as my previous ones got so many responses.
However, here it is:
My MEGA STE (I mean TOS) sometimes cannot find its floppy drives!
My working room is at the attic of my house (In case that
my English is not right, I mean on the highest floor).
Sometimes it happens to be a little hot there,
but with a big fan around it's just ok.
Temperature sometimes rose uptill 30 degrees (CELSIUS) last week,
and together with the humidity of our area if felt quit hot.
For 5 years I worked with my ATARI 520 ST (upgraded to 1MB)
and a lot of keyboards MIDIed to them there and never had
any problems (even at higher temperatures).
Since two months I am a proud-) owner of a MEGA STE having 2MB
RAM wishing it was my previous 520 ST!
Besides the screen problems (which *IS* a application failure
according Atari here in the NETHERLANDS as I reported earlier),
I now also have the floppy drives problem.
There is one advantage-):
Booting without a floppy disk in the drive leads to the
floppy light going off, even without the killdrv.prg.
I could work with my harddisk ofcourse, but after sometime
(less than an half hour I think) bombs arise on the screen,
and rebooting is not even possible anylonger.
Any comments anyone?
--
John Janssen Email: johnj@echo.philips.nl (has been changed!)
The Netherlands
Work: +31 40 756588 Atari Mega STE, MIDI, C-lab Notator and Unitor.
Priv: +31 77 513177 Astro -Birth/Place/Date/Time you > you.doc
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 05:32:03 GMT
From: sequent!ogicse!orstcs!@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Oooops.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Sorry about the waste of bandwidth, but I goofed. I am looking for the guy
who just bought my Supercharger. I have a few more things to tell him,
but I accidentally deleted everything in my /mail directory so I can't
find his address. (No, I didn't bother to write it down.)
Anyway, you know who you are, please reply to this so I know where to
reach you.
John Thaanum thaanuj@prism.cs.orst.edu
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 00:50:59 GMT
From: noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu!tdrga@arizona.edu
(Todd Drga)
Subject: Questions about Mega STE
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I am planning to upgrade from my 1040STF to a Mega STE soon. In order to
make the final decision, I would like to solicit some feedback from
current owners or users of Mega STE's.
My main interests are CADD, Word processing and DTP, image rendering,
terminal emulation, and programming. (In roughly that order.)
I have some specific questions listed below, but I will gladly accept any
comments.
Questions:
1. Compatibility with current ST software - any commercial programs in the
above areas of interest which do not work?
2. Ability and ease of upgrding RAM - user installable SIMM's? Maximum
memory?
3. Keyboard - I have seen references to an inferior keyboard (i.e. not
the same as the TT's). Any possibility of getting a better (TT)
keyboard?
4. VME Bus card - what is this? Is it a useful thing?
5. Monitor compatibility - Same as ST?
6. How effective is the 16Mhz at speeding up things?
7. Is a FPU available and easy to install?
8. How about this DMA problem that everyone is having? Will it be fixed?
Is it present in all Mega STE's or a few?
9. Is this machine a good value? The lowest prices I have heard are $899
for 1M RAM/40 M HD CPU only and $1199 for 4M RAM/40M HD CPU only.
Are these prices coming down?
10. When will these machines be available? Nobody I called had 1M machines
in stock.
I realize that I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm not sure what the
Mega STE's have to offer, and I have no other source of information (no
magazines to read!), so I'm asking for a little help in making this decision.
I intend to remain an Atari owner, and would like to make an informed choice.
Please e-mail all responses to me personally, since my situation is of
limited interest to the entire net community. If I am requested to, I
will post some of the info I get.
Thank you,
Todd Drga
--
= INTERNET-> tdrga@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Todd Drga, UT Dept. of Drama) =
= =
= ' The dry grass will set fire to the damp grass ' =
= =
= African proverb brought to the Americas by slaves =
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 91 21:45:21 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!dae
mon@arizona.edu (Doug Wokoun)
Subject: Reset-Proof Ramdisk
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
From: Rod.Fulk@f24.n228.z1.FidoNet.Org (Rod Fulk)
>That more sounds like a problem with your memory then a buggy program..
No, I have had the same problem with my 4160STe. It throws two
bombs on the screen.
--
Doug Wokoun / / | If you don't
(aa384@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) [o]-[o] | stand for something,
||| L (((( STe )))) | you will
Atari / | \ S I G \___/ | fall for anything.
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 13:55:08 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-sta
te.edu!dhbutler@arizona.edu (David H Butler)
Subject: Spectre backups
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <8053@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM> boblu@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Robert Luneski) wr
ites:
>In article <86064@bu.edu> selick@bucsf.bu.edu (Steven Selick) writes:
>>
>>Has anybody found a program (mac or atari) that will back up a mac
>>partition in Spectre 3.0? If so, please e-mail me a copy to
>><selick@bucsf.bu.edu>
>
>Diamond Back II will backup and restore Spectre 3.0 paritions.
>
> ____ ____
>/\/\/\ Bob Luneski Diamond Back II Support: boblu@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM /\/\/\
>\/\/\/ Oregon Research Associates Genie: B.LUNESKI1 \/\/\/
> \/\/ 16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy., Suite 162 Phone: (503) 620-4919 \/\/
> \/ Tigard, OR 97224 FAX: (503) 639-6182 \/
About the Spectre Hard Drive backups. I've found that with real MAC disks (with
the GCR of course), virtually all the MAC hard drive backup programs work
properly. If you use Spectre format disks, they will work as long as the disk
has just been freshly formatted, but the next time it will set the disk to
400K. This has happened with every Mac HD backup program I have tried. So far
they have all worked just fine with MAC format disks however.
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 10:45:43 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!catless!ndch@uunet.uu.net (Dave Halliday)
Subject: The demise of ST World & Which report.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul18.130536.21817@decuk.uvo.dec.com>,
les@decuk.uvo.dec.com (Les Carleton) writes:
|>In article <1991Jul17.123058.24419@newcastle.ac.uk>,
D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk (Dave Johnson) writes:
|>|>Well its no confirmed ST World is no more, ST User is claiming that
is is going to change some more, the
|>|>section on games will form a tear out section, while the best of ST
world will be introduced to the pages of
|>|>ST User, the ST World product tests will take place form time to time.
|>
|>It is a sad day for ST owners when a magazine such as STWorld cannot survive
|>in the market. STUser is not a magazine for serious users in my opinion
|>catering for the brain-dead games playing 8-16 year old bracket.
|>
I'll reserve judgement on the new look ST User untill I have seen it.
If the editorial staff from ST World move over to ST User it could be
very good.
|>Thank Space for USEnet
|>
|>|>
|>|>Also claimed by ST User is the the WHICH consumers organization rated the
|>|> ST(E) as a best buy in the sub 500
|>|>pound price range.
|>|>
|>
|>Beacause it is cheap and plays good games I suppose. Nice buy for the
kiddies?
Not quite, It was recomended as the best Word Processing system in
the low end price range. The exact Spec was 1040STe with mono monitor
and 9pin printer running First word Plus.
I wonder what they would have made of some of the better WP packages
such as Thats Write or Caligrapher?
BTW the report I read was in Micro Mart (or it may have been Computer Shoper.)
Dave Halliday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Address: Computing Dept. Newcastle University, NE1 7RU. UK.
Halliday EMail : D.C.Halliday@newcastle.ac.uk
Phone : +44 91 222 8214 Fax : +44 91 222 8232
------------------------------
Date: 17 Jul 91 10:33:00 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia
.edu!ira.uka.de!smurf.sub.org!artcom0!hb.maus.de!m.maus.de!Martin_Gaeckler@ariz
ona.edu (Martin Gaeckler)
Subject: TT memory allocation
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Hi Martin,
You asked how to set the special TT-Bits in a prrogram files's header.
What you need is the header's structure:
typedef struct
{
int magic;
long textSegmentSize;
long dataSegmentSize;
long bssSegmentSize;
long SymBolSize;
long resv1;
long fastLoad; /* this is the long value what you need */
int resv2;
} PH;
Following the special flags of TOS 1.04 and TT-TOS:
#define NOHEAPCLR 0x01 /* Do not clear program's heap */
#define FASTRAMLD 0x02 /* Load program to TT-Fastram */
#define FASTRAMMA 0x04 /* Program's malloc to TT-Fastram */
ph.fastLoad |= bitSet; /* Set the flags */
ph.fastLoad &=
if( heapSize != -1L )
{ /* Set the required heap size */
curHeap = heapSize + 128L * 1024L -1L;
curHeap /= 128L * 1024L;
*((char *)&ph.fastLoad) = (char)curHeap << 4;
}
Hope this helps.
Greetings from bavaria
Martin
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 13:13:38 GMT
From: comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix!Roger.Sheppard@uunet.uu.net (Roger Sheppard)
Subject: Ultra Pack.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Is there a working version of Ultra disk packer on atari.archive,
the one that is/was there Version 1.1 , does not work.
I have uploaded the STE_SND Demo to a BBS, and now find that
no one can uppack it, this is because that Version 1.0 of
Ultra was deleted from my System and From this BBS..
The Problem with Ultra V1.1, it will not format disks,
or unpack, comes up with negative numbers for sectors
and only 7 tracks, it did seem to pack ?, but can't test
this.
--
*** Roger W. Sheppard * Roger.Sheppard@bbs.actrix.gen.nz ***
*** 85 Donovan Rd * * At least I don't Flicker, not ***
*** Kapiti New Zealand.. * like a dying light globe. ! ***
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 09:01:59 GMT
From: munnari.oz.au!goanna!minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au!s883334@uunet.uu.net (James Alan
Hall)
Subject: Voice Recognition Units
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I noted with great interest a voice recognition package for the Amiga that
seems to have been out for a while, its called VoRecOne, by Impulse. It
connects to the amiga via its joystick port. I assumed this would have been
done with portability to other computers in mind since it would make it
fairly easy. The actual software is very good, allow script files to be
set up and activated by certain key words. It simulates mouse and keyboard
entry via the scripts as required.
Is there anything like this for the atari ? Perhaps this package is available
for the atari ? If so anyone know where I can get it and an approx price ?
(The amiga one was $117 from a firm called Computability in USA)
- James.
--
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 91 00:33:09 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!sumax!polari
!pv@arizona.edu (Paul Varn)
Subject: WANTED- Mega 2 or 4 ST
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Looking to buy Mega 2 or 4 (preferably 4) ST computer (not STe model).
New or used (new...are you kidding?). Please reply mail. Thanks.
-Pv-
UUCP: pv@polari GEnie: p.varn
------------------------------
End of Info-Atari16 Digest
******************************
