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Silicon Times Report Issue 0018
_______________________________________
ST-REPORT January 20, 1988
Issue No.18 (c)1988 Syndicate Publishing
_______________________________________
Co-Publisher: ST X-Press Magazine
Editor: Ron Kovacs
Circulation Assistants:
Ken Kirchner
Rich Decowski
_______________________________________
ST-REPORT HEADQUARTERS->(213) 69O-1919
ST XPRESS BBS
_______________________________________
ZMagazine/ST-Report Magazine
Post Office Box 74
Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074
_______________________________________
Contents
_______________________________________
Editors Desk....................................................Ron Kovacs
Atari News Update.........................................Antic Publishing
Probing Your ST..Magic Sac...................................Mr. Goodprobe
Generic Double Sided Disk Drive...........................James Lacassagne
United States Government BBS Systems.............................PD Access
Where to Find ST-Report.........................................Ron Kovacs
ANSI Codes.........................................................XBN BBS
_______________________________________
Editors Desk
_______________________________________
Thanks for downloading or reading ST-Report. I have a few things to fill
you in on. First, we are now officially part of ST X-Press Magazine. We
will be distributed with the monthly magazine disk. The ST-XPRESS BBS
will also be the National Headquarters for ST-Report effective with this
issue. You might wonder why?? Well, The Syndicate ZMagazine BBS was
taken down earlier this week due to a system crash. The time required to
restart the system and devote to it's survival helped decide it's fate.
ST-Report and ZMagazine will still be published on a weekly basis. I will
be providing a list of systems carrying both publications in the weeks
ahead. If your system carries ST-Report, Please leave me a message on
any of the BBS systems listed in this issue.
In other news... A few rumors around Atari land recently, OSS is going to
be bought by ICD?? Not confirmed, but close sources tell me this is soon
to be the truth. Oasis BBS system could be in for a change real soon,
details coming as soon as they are available. Analog Magazine will be
returning, Read ZMagazine 89 for more details.....Keith Ledbetter has
left ICD and returned to Virginia!! Could this mean that Express Pro
will be released sometime this year??...And finally, Many messages on the
ZMag BBS before the crash of '88, Is the NEW Kovacs baby born yet? Well
as of this writing, NO! Anytime in the next two weeks the doctor sez..
Anytime in the next 2 weeks.... yeah, yeah, yeah..... Details when
the child arrives....Prediction for the history books.. Feb 3-6, 1988!
Thanks for reading!!
_______________________________________
Atari News Update
_______________________________________
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1988 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
ATARI GETS TOUGH ON TV
BY Gregg Pearlman, ANTIC ASSISTANT EDITOR
In the wake of a Christmas season in which Atari Corp.'s video game sales
were more than twice those of the same period last year, Atari plans to
keep the ball rolling by launching a major first-quarter national
television advertising campaign featuring six new commercials, according
to Michael Katz, president of Atari's electronics division.
The commercials will be aired in the top 30 markets in children's and
prime-time viewing hours and will include syndicated and cable
programming.
Katz said that first-quarter spending will be comparable to what Atari
spent in the fourth quarter of 1987 when the company sold out of two of
its three game systems, the new XE Game System and the older 7800.
The new Atari 2600 commercial, like the previous one, uses rap music while
heavily promoting the new games available for the 2600. The new XE
commercials include a testimonial/endorsement commercial presented by the
presidents of four computer game companies; a commercial comparing Atari's
baseball game with Nintendo's; and three more promoting the range of new
games for the XE.
Atari also announced new playable, self-running point-of-sale display
units for the 7800 and XE systems, available at no charge to retailers.
ATARI NEWS** ATARI PC: MYTH OR FICTION?
January 6, 1988 --
"I'm sure that I will never see" "Atari's duplicate PC..." That song's
been sung for months.
There's been little evidence of the IBM clone Atari started showing a year
ago. But according to a classified advertisement in the San Jose Mercury
News, Atari is seeking a "Production Development/Sustaining Engineer for
our growing line of PS2/PCAT/PCXT systems."
So keep on your toes -- it may not be far away after all.
ATARI NABS COUNTERFEITERS
December 17, 1987
Agents of the U.S. Customs and U.S. Marshals Services seized 2,000
counterfeits of Atari's 2600 video game system at Terminal Island in the
Port of Los Angeles on December 17. The imitations were manufactured by
Fund International Co., Ltd., of Taiwan, and distributed in the United
States by P.S.D. Inc. of Canoga Park, California.
VIRTUSONICS LICENSING AGREEMENT
December 16, 1987
Virtusonics Corp., creators of the Desktop Performance Studio, has entered
a development and licensing agreement with 2nd Mate Systems, a marine
navigation software systems company, to adapt and interface its Virtuoso
software technology with 2nd Mate's computerized marine navigational
systems.
Boaters will now be able to plot their courses and positions on
computerized charts using computers (such as an 8-bit Atari) and a monitor
or television.
A review of the Desktop Performance Studio and an in-depth article about
Virtusonics and the Virtuoso Software technology will appear in the April,
1988 issue of Antic.
ATARI WINS SHOOTOUT VS. NINTENDO
December 15, 1987
A U.S. District Court Judge denied the request of Nintendo of America to
halt Atari Corp.'s television commercials that said that more games could
be played on the Atari XE Game System than on the Nintendo, according to
Reuters.
Nintendo had contended that the ads were false and misleading, but Atari
was "confident of the outcome," according to Michael Katz, Atari's
president of entertainment electronics. "The commercial was hard-hitting
but truthful, and we proved it," he said.
The XE Game System runs all cartridge-based Atari games, and a disk drive
can be added to run all disk-based Atari games.
_______________________________________
Probing Your ST
_______________________________________
Mastering your Macin-ST-osh...
(Getting the most from your Magic Sac)
by Mr. Goodprobe
Emulate 1. to try to equal or surpass 2. to rival successfully. Websters
New World dictionary. You know, thats funny. I was about to begin this
series of articles by stating that David Small's Magic Sac MacIntosh
Emulator shouldn't really be called an emulator. I guess we are all used
to thinking of an emulator as something that runs some programs that were
designed for another computer system, but in doing so so you lose the
majority of the speed, and many of the features. Such is not the case with
the Magic Sac, in fact it appears that maybe the Magic Sac is one of the
few TRUE emulators we as ST users have that lives up to its billing.
Where does one go when they attempt to travel uncharted seas? Good
question! As we all well know Atari makes great computers, but there is
something sadly lacking when its comes to customer support, it might be
closer to the truth to say its hard to determine if it actually exists!
Well, what about Mac owners and computer dealers? Could they be our ally?
I just read a humorous story where a young gentleman walked in to a
computer store that handled Macintosh software, so as to inquire how he
might go about purchasing a certain software package. We well know that
Macs have many incompatibilities amongst themselves, so the dealer
inquired which Mac it was for. Our young friend pulled his Magic Sac
cartridge out of his pocket and said "Here is my computer!". The dealer
suddenly went through many color changes and blurbbed something about the
Magic Sac being "immoral and unethical" and such things should not be
allowed. It is therefore needless to say we can look to them for help. It
is up to us, the ST Magic Sac user, to pool our resources and see if we
can support one another.
I will therefore attempt to share information which will hopefully make
you feel as comfortable with your new computer as you were with your ST.
Strange..it looks the same...but it seems some magical spell has come over
it, the scenery on my monitor looks different, my keys react differently,
strange new worlds open before my eyes... I will not delve in programming,
as this is not my area of specialty, rather I hope to write a small basic
users manual so you can harness the power and beauty of your new computer
thanks to the amazing Magic Sac.
Oh yes, I am not here either to sing the praises of Magic Sac, too many
have done that already and I wish not to bore you with another futile
review. This will be practical information for your amusement and
edification.
Lets dive right in! The first thing you behold after the FINDER or system
disk has done its thing is that the layout of the screen appears
remarkably familiar, although quite different. The icons are much more
detailed, and many, many of them have custom pictures, give the look and
feel a much more personalized touch. The mouse operates much the same,
except when you want to select more than one item, hold down the shift
key, and then select as many items as you wish. You can double click on a
disk icon or program to run it just as you would in the native ST mode.
The first place we run into some differences in in the windows, although
the average ST user will feel right at home here. You can change the size
and dimensions of the window by clicking on the "square on a square"
located in the bottom right corner of the window. When you are changing
the size and shape of a window, it appears that only the outline of the
window is changing. When you release the right mouse button the window
will spring into the shape that you designated for it. It is wise to set
the windows up as you left it, for the FINDER will set them back up
exactly as you left them, as if you had a DESKTOP.INF file on the disk.
You can click and hold on the Title Bar located and the middle of the very
top of the window, and drag it any where on your screen you wish.
Now here is an interesting feature. You will note as I have many times all
the icons that should be there are not displayed. If this is indeed the
case, you will note that either the right side, or the bottom side of the
window will be shaded. This tells us that if there is more information
vertically, the bottom edge will appear with the shaded effect. If there
is more information horizontally the right edge will be shaded. You will
note that at the top of the window it will tell you how many items are in
that directory. Scrolling and closing the window work the same as the St
native mode.
At the top of the screen you will find our command bar. We will touch on
these commands next time. Until then, enjoy!
If I could, I would like to encourage you to send your Magic Sac usage
hints, hardware projects and modifications to me so that we can put them
here in ST-REPORT for all to enjoy and benefit from. Please address these
to Mr. Goodprobe and mail them via letter or disk (3 1/2 or 5 5/4 is fine,
it will be returned) to:
Mr. Goodprobe
c/o Midtown TV
27 Midway Plaza
Tallamdge, Ohio 44278
Or: you send them via modem to: XBN BBS (617) 559-6844
or
Stairway To Heaven
216-784-0574
300/1200
or
mad*Micro*laboratory
216-633-0998
300/1200
30 Meg.
6p-9a Daily
All day Sunday
Due to open end of December
(Stay posted!)
Keep those Atari's hummin!
Mr. Goodprobe
(on lend from)
Midtown TV
Atari 8/16 Sales /Repair
_______________________________________
Generic Double Sided Disk Drive
_______________________________________
by James Lacassagne
Purpose: This document is a description of the hook-ups and modifications
that I found necessary in adding a 3.5 inch double sided drive to my Atari
520. It is intended solely as a guide to anyone who is interested in
saving a few dollars by using an "industry standard" drive in place of the
Atari SF314.
Warning: This installation seems to function properly for my system, but
I cannot guarantee anything. Also, the only way that a saving will result
is if a suitable power supply is already available, or can be obtained at
a very low price.
Requirements:
1 3.5" Double Sided Drive w/ Installation kit @ $130
(The Unit I used was a Toshiba ND-352 which came with a multi-purpose
mounting kit. BE SURE that the unit is XT compatible!!(720 K etc))
1 5v/12vdc Regulated Power Supply @ $ 25
(The supply must be capable of supplying 5V.+/-5% @200 mA and 12V.+/-5%
@300 mA. I saved some money here by using the same supply that I used
for adding a 5 1/4 in. drive as described in numerous articles in
magazines and on Bulletin Boards.)
1 34 pin Card Edge Connector @ $ 3 (Yes, This is the "industry standard"
used on all XT's and Clones. I got mine at Radio Shack
(P/N____________).)
1 Standard Atari 3.5 in Disk Drive Cable @ $ 8 (Preferably, one of the
After Market types 6' or so in length.)
1 Disk Drive Case @ $ ? (This is optional--I still haven't found a good
cheap one, but the drive seems to work fine.)
Procedure:
There are two ways to proceed with this project depending on whether you
want the new drive to be A or B. The Drive B method is the simpler, so I
will start with it.
Cut the Standard Drive Cable in half (Save the other half for another
project--maybe!)
Strip back about 2" of the outer insulation from the cable. Do Not cut off
the shield wire (a layer of wire woven around the multiple conductors in
the cable). Carefully unweave the shield, and twist it to form a wire of
its own.
Since the 34 pin connector that I used was designed for ribbon cable, some
ingenuity is required here. Each pin on the connector ends in a V shaped
stud designed to separate the ribbon cable wire and cut only its
insulation when the cover is forced in place. Since most of the wires in
the cable go to the top row of the connector (the even numbered pins) and
the shield goes to the bottom row, along with the wires from pins 3 and 7
of the Atari connector, I divided them accordingly and routed them above
and below the connector cover. Very carefully, I pushed each wire far
enough into the corresponding Vstud to hold it in place. I then forced the
cover down, forcing the wires the rest of the way into the V. By trial and
error I found that the two ground wires (pins 3 and 7) in the cable did
not provide a sufficient ground path, causing unreliable drive operation.
I overcame this by (gasp!) tying the shield to ALL of the odd numbered
pins on the connector. (That's what the twisted shield wire is used for.)
Carefully lay it over the bottom row of Vstuds before putting the
connector cover on. The Connections Follow:
(NOTE: the colors mentioned are for an Atari Cable You should check if you
are using an After Market Cable.)
34 pin conn. Atari conn. Signal Color
2 * media chng
4 N/A in use
6 N/A d4 sel
8 4 index yellow
10 5 d0 sel green
12 6 d1 sel violet
14 N/A d2 sel
16 8 motor on brown
18 9 direction orange
20 10 step grey
22 11 wrt data pink
24 12 wrt gate lt. blue
26 13 track 0 lt. brown
28 14 wrt prot lt. green
30 1 read data red
32 2 side 0 white
34 * rdy/med ch
(any 3 logic gnd blue
odd) 7 logic gnd black
Assemble the Disk Drive and Adapter kit. It should have come with a power
cable adapter with a std XT connector on the end. You can either buy a
mating connector or cut it off and splice directly to the wires.
(Generally, pin 1 (red) is 5V, pin 4 (yel) is 12V, and pins 2&3 (blk) are
Ground.) The Installation Kit may refer to a jumper on pin 34, but this
can be ignored.
Now, the only modification to the drive can be made. On the Installation
Kit PC Board, a Jumper must be soldered between pin 2 and pin 28 of the
Drive Connector.(This is the one that actually connects to the Disk Drive.
It is identical in pin layout to the Std connector, with pin 2 on the top
left as you look at it.) This connects the Media Change signal on pin 2 to
the Write Protect signal.(Thanks to Analog2 for pointing me in the right
direction on this one.) These are both open collector, active low signals,
and can be safely wired together.(wired or configuration)
This should be all that has to be done to make the drive work. Simply plug
the cable into the OUT connector of the first drive or the 1040, and away
you go.
If you have a 520 and want this to be drive A, the procedure is the same,
except DO NOT CUT THE CABLE IN HALF. Instead, strip a 3-4 in. section in
the center of the cable, Cut and unweave 1/2 of the shield. Lead the wires
over the Vstuds as before, but cut the wires from the Atari connector pins
5&6. (computer end) Pin 5 wire is connected to the Std connector pin 10
and pin 6 wire is connected to the remaining end of pin 5.(The part that
will go to the second drive.) This brings the ds1 signal to the ds0 pin on
the second drive, just like Atari does it. You can cut off the remaining
pin 6 wire if you like, since it doesn't get used. Don't forget to attach
the shield to the odd number connector pins.
If you have understood and followed my directions, the drive should
function properly. If not, there is not much that can cause damage. My
version will read and format and write to double and single sided disks
without any problems. If you encounter any difficulty, I can be contacted
through Delphi as JIMSL or Compuserve No. 72257,1613.
Atari, Radio Shack, and Toshiba are Registered Trademarks.
_______________________________________
US Government Bulletin Boards
_______________________________________
The following list was downloaded from a community BBS in Hawaii, and the
source of the list appears to be a Department of Commerce BBS. This
information has not been verified and should be verified before it is
relied upon.
T H E E C O N O M I C B U L L E T I N B O A R D
COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
The Economic Bulletin Board (This board)
Operating agency: Office of Business Analysis
Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs
U. S. Department of Commerce
Contents:
Current economic news from DoC Economic Affairs(EA) agencies including
press releases, economic indicators, official DoC summaries of economic
news, information on how to obtain data tapes, and summaries of reports
and studies produced by EA agencies. Also included are press releases
issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Audience:
Open to the public without charge. No preregistration required.
Operations:
Operated 24 hours a day, except when being serviced.
Telephone (202) 377-3870 or (202) 377-0433
Communications are Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit, or
Requirements:
Full duplex, even parity, 7 bit words, 1 stop bit 300 or 1200 baud. After
connect, enter 1 or 2 returns to start
Contact:
Office of Business Analysis Telephone (202) 377-4450
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Data Center Bulletin Board
Operating agency: State and Regional Programs Staff
Data User Services Division
Bureau of the Census
Contents:
News about new Census Bureau programs, Census publications, reference
material for State Data Center personnel.
Audience:
For use of the Census Bureau staff and all State Data Center Components,
including affiliates. Preregistration required - call information contact
below.
Operations:
Operated 24 hours a day, except when being serviced.
Communications Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit, or
Requirements: Full duplex, even parity, 7 bit words, 1 stop bit
300 or 1200 baud
After connect, enter 1 or 2 returns to start
Information John Rowe or Larry Carbaugh
Contact:
Bureau of the Census (301) 763-1580
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Population Estimates Bulletin Board
Operating agency:
Federal-State Cooperative for Population Estimates, Population Division
Bureau of the Census
Contents:
Information and news about population and demographic projections.
Audience:
For use by members of the Federal-State Cooperative for Population
Estimates and members of the Federal-State Cooperative for Population
Projections. No preregistration required.
Operations:
Usual hours of operation 5:00 PM to 6:30 AM Monday-Thursday, 24 hour
operation from 5:00 PM Thursday to 6:30 AM Monday. No preregistration
required.
Communications Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit.
Requirements: 300 baud
Telephone (301) 763-5225
After connected, enter "RUN" to start.
Information Fred Cavanaugh
Contact:
Bureau of the Census (301) 763-7722
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CMIC Electronic Bulletin Board
Operating agency: Census Microcomputer Information Center,
Office of the Director
Bureau of the Census
Contents:
Microcomputer news, software and hardware reviews, public domain software,
training programs for Census and Commerce personnel.
Audience:
General microcomputer users; primarily internal Census Bureau personnel.
No preregistration required.
Operations:
Operated 24 hours a day, except when being serviced.
Phone (301) 763-4576
Communications Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit, or
Requirements: Full duplex, even parity, 7 bit words, 1 stop bit
300 or 1200 baud
After connect, enter 1 or 2 returns to start
Information Nevins Frankel
Contact:
Bureau of the Census (301) 763-4494
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microcomputer Electronic Information Exchange (MEIE)
Operating agency:
The Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology (ICST)
The National Bureau of Standards
Department of Commerce
Contents:
Information on the acquisition, management, and use of small computers.
Other files containing sources of information on topics such as:
conferences, Federal publications and activities, user groups, other
bulletin boards, etc.
Audience:
General microcomputer users. No preregistration required.
Operations:
Operated 24 hours a day, except when being serviced.
Telephone: (301) 948-5718
Communications Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit, or
Requirements: Full duplex, even parity, 7 bit words, 1 stop bit
300 or 1200 baud. After connect, enter 1 or 2 returns
to start. If you do not receive a carrier after two
rings, you should hang up and call again.
Information Ted Landberg
Contact: National Bureau of Standards
Telephone: (301) 921-3485
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Climate Assessment Bulletin Board
Operating agency Climate Analysis Center
National Weather Service
Department of Commerce
Contents:
Historical climate information - daily, weekly, and monthly, heating
degree days, weekly climate bulletins
Audience:
Analysts using historical meteorological data.
Operations:
Operated 24 hours a day. Preregistration required. Call information
contact below.
Communications Full duplex, no parity, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit.
Information Vernon Patterson
Contact: Climate Analysis Center
Telephone: (301) 763-8071
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
East Coast Marine Users Bulletin Board
Operating agency:
National Weather Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
Contents:
Marine weather and nautical information for coastal waterways. Information
includes data for bays and sounds, coastal waters, and offshore waters;
tropical storm advisories; tidal information, and important weather,
nautical, and fishing news. Data are primarily about the middle Atlantic
region.
Audience:
Commercial fishermen and other users of coastal waters. The bulletin board
is open to the public and free of charge. Users must preregister by
calling information contact below. Information about similar bulletin
boards for other regions may also be obtained by calling the information
contact.
Operations: Operated 24 hours a day.
Telephone (301) 454-8700
Communications Full duplex, 8 bit words, 1 stop bit.
Requirements: 300 baud
Information Ross Laporte
Contact: National Weather Service
(301) 899-3296
_______________________________________
Where to Find ST-Report
_______________________________________
by Ron Kovacs
ST-Report National Headquarters
ST XPRESS Bulletin Board Service......(213) 69O-1919
Jersey Atari Computer Group...........(2O1) 298-0161
ZMagazine National Headquarters
XBN Oasis Bulletin Board Service......(617) 559-6844
_______________________________________
ANSI Codes
_______________________________________
Captured from XBN BBS (617) 559-6844
|<<<<[XBN]|
| Msg. No. |0069
| Sent To |All 01/20/88
| Post By |ROBERT AMES
| Subject |ANSI screen codes
If you have many IBM callers, you'll be interested in using the ANSI codes
for SFUNCT.SUP. Here are some- assuming I can upload to msg base OK
ESC[No.,No.H -- moves cursor to No.,No.
ESC[No.C -- Moves cursor No. places forward
ESC[No.D -- moves No. places back
ESC[s -- save cursor pos.
ESC[u -- restore cursor pos.
ESC[2J -- erase display
ESC[K -- erase from current column to end of line.
ESC[No.;...;No.m -- set mode:
where No. is:
0 -- normal
1 bold
4 underline (ibm monochrome only)
5 blink on
7 inverse
8 invisible
30 black forground
31 red for.
32 green for.
33 yellow for.
34 blue for.
35 magenta for.
36 cyan for.
37 whtie for.
40 black background.
|[+-NPRAEDQMV?]|
_______________________________________
ST-Report Issue No.18 January 20, 1988
(c)1988 Syndicate Publishing Company
ST XPRESS Magazine is the EXCLUSIVE DISK
Publisher of ST-Report.
_______________________________________
