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Silicon Times Report Issue 0101
*---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original Online ST Magazine"
_______________________________
August 18, 1989 Vol III No.101
=======================================================================
ST Report Online Magazine¿
__________________________
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EDT
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** F-NET NODE 350 ** FIDOMAIL NODE 1:363/37 **
Our support BBS carries ALL issues of STReport
and
An International list of private BBS systems
carrying STReport for their users enjoyment
__________________________________________________________________
> Issue: #101 STReport¿ The Online Magazine of Choice!
-------------------
- The Editors' Podium - CPU REPORT½
- Again! The Revolving Door! - MILLENIUM, Review
- MasterCad, Review - NIGHTHAWKS, Review
- FALCON - Mission Disk, Review - TOS 1.4, Review
- TOUCH-UP 1.53, Review - Limited Release for TOS?
- TT's to be Configurable! - THE REAL REASON-TOS DELAY!
- NEW USERGROUP COORDINATOR! - ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL
---==== FEDERAL EXPRESS BUYS THE PORTFOLIO! ====---
--=== *** EXCLUSIVE: THE BOSTON SIGRAPH INTERVIEWS *** ===--
---==== HOT! INSIDE INFORMATION ON TT ====---
=======================================================================
AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX
=======================================================================
> The Editor's Podium¿
Under any cover story there always is the "bottom line". In the Atari
arena, the bottom line has been a most elusive item indeed. Through the
course of the past year, it has been almost impossible to find the bottom
line. Many different analysts, both is the press and other areas, have
tried with little or no success. The big question is why no success?
To accurately obtain a viable result, there must be present certain
'constants' with which an analyst may work. In the case of Atari, the
factors that are constants would yield a catastrophic picture. For
example; a) constant delays - b) conflicting release information - c)
obvious favoritism shown to the European market - d) Ongoing development
of game machines thus, promoting the game machine image - e) continued use
of the Atari name on the high end, high performance computers - f) total
lack of cooperation with the press - g) Lack of continuity in the decision
making process at the top. The list is longer, but why show to all what
most obviously know already.
Atari must, in the coming weeks and months "get with the program" and
rediscover the basics of good business. Any company with a good amount of
cash reserve can put on the "dog". There is nothing wrong with this, as
long as it doesn't evolve into dogging the users. The TOS 1.4 situation
is atrocious. The deliberate placement of misleading information is not
the mark of a professional corporation. It is, however, the mark of a
leadership group that is strife with emotionally controlled decisions.
Atari and it's various endeavors have a great deal going for them if only
those in control would learn to concentrate on the timely release of these
successful endeavors.
In any case, Atari is our computer and it will remain so. Regardless
of all the problems, we are adamant in our choice. Atari has a good grip
on the secret of hardware success, now for the marketing and publicity
angle.
Ralph.....
ATARI IS BACK!!!
**********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN.
The system will prompt you for your information.
THE GENIE ATARI ST ROUNDTABLE - AN OVERVIEW
___________________________________________
The Roundtable is an area of GEnie specifically set aside for owners and
users of Atari ST computers, although all are welcome to participate.
There are three main sections to the Roundtable: the Bulletin Board, the
Software Library and the Real Time Conference area.
The Bulletin Board contains messages from Roundtable members on a variety
of Topics, organized under several Categories. These messages are all
Open and available for all to read (GEnie Mail should be used for private
messages).
If you have a question, comment, hot rumor or an answer to someone else's
question, the Bulletin Board is the place to share it.
The Software Library is where we keep the Public Domain software files
that are available to all Roundtable members. You can 'download' any of
these files to your own computer system by using a Terminal Program which
uses the 'XMODEM' file-transfer method. You can also share your favorite
Public Domain programs and files with other Roundtable members by
'uploading' them to the Software Library. Uploading on GEnie is FREE, so
you are encouraged to participate and help your Roundtable grow.
The Real Time Conference is an area where two or more Roundtable members
may get together and 'talk' in 'real-time'. You can participate in
organized conferences with special guests, drop in on our weekly Open
COnference, or simply join in on an impromptu chat session. Unlike
posting messages or Mail for other members to read at some later time,
everyone in the Conference area can see what you type immediately, and can
respond to you right away, in an 'electronic conversation'.
**********************************************************************
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> CPU REPORT¿
==========
Micheal is on vacation, he will return shortly, we feel he deserves a well
earned vacation. Micheal has produced CPU REPORT , a feature of
STReport's since Issue # 64 December, 1988.
> ATARI & THE FUTURE STR FOCUS An interview with some of the "BIG WIGS"
============================
DENDO before DEPARTURE
======================
"Hey dude, let's party!"
-Sean Penn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
by David Anderson
Thursday. 13 July, 1989. Westboro, Massachusetts. The Marriott
hotel. It was here that Michael R. Dendo, VP-Sales for Atari Computer
came to perform the task he had been given. His mission: meet with
current dealers in the too-long neglected Boston/New England market. Court
potential dealers. Do what is necessary to strengthen Atari's presence in
the area.
He did not come alone. Stalwart at his side was Nathan Potechin,
President of Canada's ISD Marketing, Inc., a third-party supporter of
Atari's ST and MEGA computer lines, boasting powerful packages such as
Calamus and DynaCadd, billed as "Professional Solutions" for Desktop
Publishing and Computer Aided Design/Drafting, respectively. The
Boston-area (by a slender thread) whistlestop was coordinated by Betsy
Piper, President of Tech Plus, Inc., Atari's manufacturer's rep for the
area.
Throughout the day, meetings had been held with current and potential
dealers, with the intent of rejuvenating interest in Atari's products,
expanding the area dealerbase, and mending fences in general. To aid in
these purposes, the delegation brought along a few exemplary wares. Mike
trotted out Portfolio, the vest-pocket PC with which Atari hopes to make
its way into the business market. "This is a great opportunity for us to
get into Corporate America," he said. "That's what we're going to use
Portfolio for. It's our gambit." It was Nathan's job to exemplify the
potential of the ST, especially the MEGA, as a professional business tool.
To that end, he demonstrated the capabilities of Calamus and DynaCadd, as
well as the forthcoming Calamus Outline Art, a graphics-creation and
editing package with features rivaling Adobe Illustrator, Aldus Freehand
and LetraStudio.
Time had been scheduled for Dendo to meet with local usergroup
representatives, to address the needs and concerns of Atari's end-user
base. Due to the aggressive pursuit of his first priority, the recruiting
of new dealers to expand Atari's market presence in and around New
England, Dendo's usergroup meeting was pushed back until shortly before he
had to leave, when we were told we'd have a five minute (!) question and
answer period in which to convey our concerns, as end users, about the
past, present and future of Atari Computer. That five minutes came out
closer to a half hour, with Nathan good-naturedly fidgeting throughout the
entirety of the talk, understandably concerned with missing his plane back
to Canada -- the last one of the day. This installment of my column deals
with what was said in that meeting room at the Westboro Marriott on that
July afternoon.
First of all, let's get straight just who was there. On Atari's end,
there was Dendo, Potechin, Betsy Piper and several of her associates. In
the usergroups' corner, there was Harry Steele and Jerry Feldman,
representing BCS/Atari. On behalf of A.B.A.C.U.S., Dave Burns was in
attendance. Carrying the banner of the SSAG, of course, was yours truly,
along with my faithful sidekick, Joe Mercurio. Various others in
attendance included Rick Flashman of Gribnif Software, Paul Swanson of
NiteLite Systems, and three young men who run a bookstore/computer store
on the Holy Cross campus (I neglected to get their names).
Dendo began by stating that Portfolio, as well as Stacy, the laptop
ST, would ship in September (for all you skeptics out there, no, he didn't
name a year). He maintained that both the European and U.S. markets
continue to grow. "I know it's hard [because] we haven't done the things
in the [Boston] marketplace like we've done in Houston or L.A. or,
Minneapolis or Chicago or Miami or Washington, D.C. or New York City," he
told the assembled group. "We've just done it a city at a time." Dendo
said he belived that was the most appropriate approach to the situation.
"Now, with our new products," he continued, "like Portfolio...Stacy, we're
going to have a 68030 machine in November that we'll be delivering...that
requires, if you will, another level of dealer. And the products that
we're coming out with, and the type of consumer who will buy those is
necessitating a, let's put it this way, at least, an addition to our
current dealerbase." He went on to say, "If we don't have the right guy
to support the consumer, if we have to, we'll come and do it ourselves."
Dendo stressed that Portfolio would come, off-the-shelf, with either three
or five ready-to-go software applications, but added that, they don't
perceive Portfolio's biggest marketplace to be with the common,
"plug-and-play" user. He foresees that the most common aftermarket sales
in regard to Portfolio, in the corporate marketplace, would be in blank
memory wafers or cards, citing the example of a potential corporate
customer who came to the meeting specifically to look at Portfolio as a
tool for remote data entry for his manufacturing business, who would use a
custom application on the machine.
True to form, Harry Steele (let's face it, our boy Harry is no
shrinking violet) jumped in with both barrels. "Three and a half years
ago," Harry stated, "[Jack Tramiel] expressed that he wanted the users to
help him. We helped him wholeheartedly...we have bent over backwards to
help Atari...he said 'You help me, I'll help you.' We have trained
people, because you don't have training programs...we've held meetings, to
show the product...what is Jack gonna give us...how is he gonna help the
user help the new user?" Dendo clarified that "It's not just 'he'. This
is a much bigger company than Jack Tramiel. This is a seven hundred
million dollar corporation that does not rest on the shoulders of one
human being. He's Chairman of the Board, he's sitting in the back now,
and his son, Sam is the President and CEO of the company. But the direct
answer to your question is, what we're doing now is we're out getting a
stronger dealerbase that we can put money behind, that will provide better
support to the business pool, whether it's the usergroup, whether it's a
new consumer, what have you...that's number one. Number two is, we're
spending money on our advertising, we're going to do a lot of national
trade advertising on our newer products, which will get better developer
support, which will, in turn, provide you more applications for your STs."
Jerry Feldman brought up the oft-belabored point of getting an ST (or
two) placed in the BCS' Resource Center. Dendo asked him to address the
matter with Betsy, whom he called his "eyes and ears" in this area. If
Jerry can convince Betsy to convince Mike that it's in Atari's best
interest to donate a system to the BCS, it will be done. Dendo assumed
full responsibility for the matter, saying "the call isn't Jack Tramiel's,
or Sam's, it's my call. So, if it doesn't happen, you can pick up the
phone and call me and tell me I'm a jerk."
When asked about how corporate sales would be handled, Dendo replied
that, whenever possible, they would be handled through a dealer. "The
only place it wouldn't make sense," he said, "is where we don't feel we
have a dealer who can represent us the way we want to be represented. "In
such cases, the company's rep groups would act as VARs (Value Added
Resellers). He cited the example of an Atari dealer in Memphis, TN,
describing him as a "nice guy" who "couldn't walk into Federal Express any
more than I could walk into the White House tomorrow." In this particular
instance, it was the Memphis-area rep group that landed the account to
sell Portfolios to Federal Express. Dendo expressed his belief that
"There's no reason in the world why we can't put on three or four more
solid citizens of the clout of a Bit Bucket, or bigger," calling them
"almost a prototype of the type of independent we're looking to set up."
The contingent from Holy Cross raised a queston about Atari's
attempts to breach the educational market, to which Dendo responded, "We
handle our educational program fundamentally through an educational VAR
called CCC out of Palo Alto, CA. They sell about 10,000 1040s a year for
us, and that volume seems to grow about 15-20% a year. They developed
their own micro-host, which has their own firmware, it's a pretty unique
educational system. They've sold it mainly to the inner-city school
systems. They've got an installed base, I believe, of about 70-80,000
machines in the U.S. They've sold enough machines that finally Atari has
been recognized, if you will, as having a percentage, I think it's two or
four percent, of the educational market." Dendo went on to say that,
looking at the university-level market, Atari has, "a pilot program in
place right now, where we've signed a major southwestern university as a
reseller to ID cardholders, the same thing as Holy Cross would be, they're
selling the ST, they're selling IBM, they're selling Apple. That's a
market that our dealers, and we have a very strong dealerbase in this
particular city, too, we have five great dealers, and they're not hitting
that area. On top of it, Apple has limited product configurations that
the university can sell, and they're competing directly against the
particular university bookstore, for lack of a better definition, and they
don't allow them to go sell to the university, they go in and sell
direct." He further said he hoped that, if the pilot program works out
well, it would be, "something that we would probably pursue on a
nationwide basis." Stressing that there are "some unique opportunities"
in the Boston/New England trade area, given the size of our scholastic
population, that would be evaluated once the "fundamentals" are taken care
of, Dendo defined the fundamentals as, "stabilizing the dealerbase," and
discussed possibilities including the use of ISD's products, DynaCadd and
Calamus, to make inroads with MIT and Harvard, respectively. "For all of
the millions of dollars worth of equipment I've given away in the MIDI
marketplace, to music schools, there's no reason, when I have, far and
away the finest CADD solution in the world," he said, in reference to
DynaCadd, "why I shouldn't have that at MIT."
Toward the end of the talk, Dendo complimented the usergroups for the
job they've done in supporting the home user. "Thank God for a lot of the
usergroups throughout the country," Nathan Potechin added, "there's no
question, both in Canada and the United States. "When Harry asked if
perhaps there wasn't some way Atari could just let the usergroups know
what's going on, Mike said, "Thank you, because...I 'Gotcha' now. 'Cause
I just did something for you. I hired a 'legitimate' Head of Usergroups,
paying him a very fat sum of money, and he is putting together, as part
and parcel of our standard newsletter that we send to our dealers, a
usergroup newsletter. His name is Chris Roberts. I've seen him more on
the phone in the four weeks he's been with the company than I saw anybody
in the whole year I've been with the company. "As I write this, the
latest news out of Sunnyvale is that Chris Roberts is no longer with
Atari. Beyond that, little is known about the situation.
EDITOR NOTE: As we prepare to publish this interview, BOTH CHRIS ROBERTS
AND MIKE DENDO ARE NO LONGER WITH ATARI .....
"One of the problems that everybody has been having with Atari,"
Jerry Feldman observed, "is that Atari has had a very high turnover in
some very visible areas." Dendo pointed out that there have been THIRTEEN
people in his position before him, and that combined, they weren't around
as long as he has been. "I don't believe that the turn of a person in a
company, or even a group of people, should be able to cause your network
and your userbase to go crazy and to go unsupported. I think that the
lack of structure and the, if you will, lack of newness in products, lack
of strong distribution and all these issues...if I was to die in a plane
crash tonight, it should make no difference to this company whatsoever.
This company should be able to continue to move forward in the directions
it goes in." Dendo asserted that, "the key thing...we can talk about
Atari, we can talk about the new products, we can talk about Jack, and Sam
and all this other baloney, but the key to the business and the key to the
stability of the business, is the dealers. And that's one thing that
we've never had in this town, is a stable dealerbase. We've had some
consistent players...that's one or two, and everything around it is like
constant Chinese Checkers, it's going here and there and everywhere."
Dendo predicted that, "I think you'll see 'Power Without the Price'
go away as a slogan, and now you'll start to see that we'll get fair
market value for an exciting Desktop Publishing solution, we'll get fair
market value for products like Portfolio and Stacy, so that we have more
margin, to staff better, to do more advertising, it all this vicious
cycle. That's where the philosophy of 'Power Without the Price' falls
apart; it's a very, very skinny shop. Many people remember there were
sixteen buildings when [Jack Tramiel] bought it from Warner, and there's
three now." He declared, "I think if you picked up an annual report, you'd
see that the company is a highly undervalued company." He wrapped up by
saying, "We've got a whole new line of products, the products are
well-tested, the products will be delivered on time, unless there's some
quirk. I think, before, people were talking about hope and prayers.
It's hard to explain to you people who are loyal followers who've been
here all this time, but it's hard to imagine the passion that's being
taken, on Portfolio, on Stacy...at one point, Sam went back and forth to
Japan...and all of a sudden, another opportunity came up to get more SRAM,
and he'd get back on the plane and go out there and he'd make the deal
right on the spot to get more SRAM. We understand the importance of
Stacy, we understand the importance of the TT, more from a credibility
standpoint than anything else. The TT will come out...it's going to be
downward-compatible to current ST software...we're going to run UNIX, I
think UNIX 5, 5.1." When asked which of the UNIX camps Atari would go with
for the TT, Dendo firmly responded, "AT&T."
"This is our year," he concluded. "If we get enough product, this
could be a billion-dollar corporation this year, and we're all working
very hard for that to happen."
That's it for now. Until next time...live long and prosper.
----------
The above was written for my column, "Behind The Mike," in the
September 1989 issue of SSAG News, the newsletter of my usergroup, the
South Shore Atari Group. The South Shore Atari Group's current
incarnation came into being in late 1986-early 1987 (slightly before my
time), meeting at the now-defunct Computer Cache in Quincy, MA, before
which it existed, to my understanding, more or less as a fairly loose
assemblage of Atari enthusiasts meeting over a couple of Boston-area BBSs.
After suffering some upheavals, not the least of which was the loss of
our meeting place (not to mention one heck of an Atari dealer!), the South
Shore Atari Group, currently 50 members strong, is looking to the future
with optimism (and, if I do say so myself, a pretty darn good newsletter).
Our goals for the future include getting some sort of AtariFest or
World of Atari show put on in the Boston area, and, along with some of the
other local groups (such as A.B.A.C.U.S. and BCS/Atari), continuing to
help local users make the most of what we like to call "The Atari
Experience." For more information on the South Shore Atari Group, or for a
sample issue of SSAG News, write (enclose $1.00 for the newsletter):
South Shore Atari Group
P.O. Box 129
Boston, MA 02136
David Anderson
EDITOR NOTE:
The above article is, without a doubt, highly informative and indeed if
one looks deeply into what is actually being said here, one will be very
well informed about the future. Many thanks to David for a fine article.
___________________________________________________________________
> TOS 1.4 STReport InfoFile¿ An average user's first impression!
=========================
IMPRESSIONS of TOS 1.4
======================
by Myles Goddard
I am still shaking my head at what I saw today as I still can't bring
my mind to believe it is here, at least at the developer's level. I had a
chance to try out a TOS 1.4 ROM on a developer's Atari 1040ST tonight. I
am not an expert by any means when it comes to the technical aspect of
operating systems but I do know that when a product is worthy of note I
usually will try to express my opinion about it, both good and bad. I
have had my 1040ST for over three years now and have been using it with
the standard TOS 1.0. I did notice that there were some pecularities
about it at times but for the most part I was satisfied with it.
There were features I would have liked to seen on it, especially after
seeing how unique the new Macintosh system and finders were. If I may, I
would like to compare some of the new features of the new TOS to the old
one I am using on my ST. Keep in mind that I am no expert in these
matters and I only spent a couple of hours playing around with it and I
realize that there are probably many features I have not uncovered yet.
Therefore, when I do find new goodies, I'll let you know in a future
report.
First and foremost is the speed. TOS 1.4 flies circles around 1.0. I
noticed that floppy and hard disk access is dramatically increased. The
hard disk partitions can be 32 megabytes instead of the normal 16
megabytes. There is no longer a 40 folder limit so you won't have to run
some hard disk utilities like Folderxxx.prg and others to access those
larger directories and subdirectories. Speaking of floppies, it allows
you the option of "Twisting" your floppies when you are using the
Universal Item Selector. In other words, instead of having individual
tracks on the disk, the twisted format allows the tracks to be formatted
sequentially, more like a 45 RPM record. That way, the drive doesn't have
to travel all over the place to get the desired information.
Another superb feature I found out about is the ability to move files
by pressing the control key when you pick files to move. One of the
better features of the Macintosh was that you could move files without
having to copy them first and then delete them later. This is a real
advantage when you only have a limited amount of disk space or one drive
to start with. More than once I have been frustrated by copying files to
a folder on the same disk and get a message that the disk is full. I
really like the MOVE option. ( I would like it even better if the ST would
tell you before you start copying files that there was or wasn't enough
room on the disk ).
If you have ever wanted to print a text file from the desktop you had
to double click the text file then move the mouse pointer to " SHOW " to
see it. TOS 1.4 defaults at show so all you have to do is tap return.
When you want to copy a disk, for example, all you have to do is highlight
your A: drive and drag it to B:, a window comes up and shows your options.
It will allow you to format one or both drives and then it shows the
actual progress of each drive as the files are copied from the source and
destination disks. I also like the way you can scroll through the desktop
windows just by holding the mouse button down on the arrows of the window.
The old version would only allow window scrolling after you pressed the
mouse button each time you wanted to move the window contents.
While TOS 1.4 runs beautifully on it's own, when paired with TURBOST
and NEODESK, it is fantastic! The windows fly open in a flash and the
speed with which information is presented like I've never seen before.
Its the next best thing to having a blitter chip installed, as far as I am
concerned. But then, this ST amazes me all of the time.
I know that TOS 1.4 is taking far too much time to be released and
true, we have been very impatient for it, but from what I have seen this
past week, it will be well worth the wait. My hat's off to Atari Corp.
for producing this fine product.
Editor Note; STReport finds the ultra late release of this product an
excercise in futility, furthermore, we feel it would be in Atari's best
interest to get this product to the users ASAP. To release the utility
package, (Rainbow TOS Utility Arc), out in the open file downloads instead
in the developer areas is an outrage. One can easily suppose that Atari
believes the majority of the users already have this TOS. Thus, the
reason for the utilities being released in the public forums. We know
this is not the truth and implore Atari to get TOS 1.4 out to the general
public NOW! Stop jerking the userbase around and get it to the dealers.
Harsh? You bet! Our frustration is showing right along with that of the
users.
_____________________________________________________________________
> LIMITED RELEASE STR Spotlight¿ But, it's "GENERALLY AVAILABLE" ..Sam
=============================
Rainbow TOS is in limited release to dealers at this point. We hope to
have it available to all consumers who wish to purchase it as soon as we
possibly can.
-- John Townsend
Atari Corporation
Here we go again, Sam sez the TOS 1.4 is "generally available" in an
interview in Start Magazine. Now, another voice says TOS 1.4 is in
limited release. What ..is limited release? Where and under what
conditions may a user obtain these chips for his machine? When will the
chips be "generally available" if they are not at this time. Must a
person meet certain criteria to BUY these chips?
Normally, this situation would go un-noticed but in light of the
repetitious delays and snafus concerning TOS 1.4, we are forced to wonder
just who is calling the shots? Sam says one thing, yet we hear another
from the online reps. So.... here sits the userbase reading one thing
said by Sam, they go to their dealer and find no chips. What is a user to
believe?
Now we have everyone talking about the Rainbow Tos Utilities, what are
they? Where do we use them and what good are they without TOS 1.4? These
are the questions being seen and heard all over the country. Of course,
certain of the utilities may be used with the current TOS versions in use,
but the questions are valid. Perhaps, the answer will come forth "REAL
SOON NOW" <<Grin>>
FYI:
Sam Tramiel President of Atari Corp. will be the guest of honor on August
30, 1989 10 pm EST on GEnie for a conference, hopefully to solidify the
resurgence of Atari... Sam... you're a couragous guy.
________________________________________________________________
> FALCON MISSION DISK STR Review¿ A close look at the new Missions!
==============================
Falcon--The Mission Disk
========================
From Mirrorsoft & Spectrum Holobyte
By William Y. Baugh
From the much maligned and on-line abused company, Spectrum Holobyte,
comes a terrific add-on to the best jet flight simulator available, The
Mission Disk. At first glance, you might think "So what, it's has some
new scenarios for the same world I've been flying for the past two years."
I though much the same thing; some "upgrades" we have seen haven't lived
up to expectations. The great news is, this isn't true with the Mission
Disk. You have before you a totally new and different world, with 12 new
missions to conquer.
Along with the new scenery, there are some other changes. For
starters, it seems that Mirrorsoft and SH have been listening to the ST
consumer, because the simulation loads MUCH faster and you don't have to
use the code wheel anymore! Other changes include easier approaches to
your airfield because of the addition of air defense sites located around
the perimeter of the airfield. This means that you no longer have MiG's
following you in, getting on your six and generally being a pain in the
butt. Also, landings are easier on a whole; they have made the "landing
envelope slightly kinder." More improvements include; your F-16 will
automatically level itself if only a small bank is performed (this may be
toggled on and off), the Mavericks give an accurate zoom image on the head
down display for long range viewing and targeting and finally, MiG-29A
"Fulcrum's" have been included in the new world.
Once the simulation is loaded, you'll not notice any changes until you
are in the air and viewing the map. As I stated before, this is a totally
NEW world. Your airfield is located in the lower left-hand part of the
map, with three tanks northwest of you, a fairly good size lake with three
landing craft, a road that runs north of the lake that intersects with a
'T' at the extreme north edge of the map. Plying the road are four trucks
that are brings supplies to your enemies. At the intersection of the
roads is the enemies arsenal consisting of four buildings. Turning east
you will find a power station, enemy airfield and oil refinery, all
waiting to be hit. Traveling south and then west towards the lake are
train tracks with a fairly strong train traveling them (the cannon doesn't
faze it). At the southeast edge of the map is the tank factory which is
building tanks faster than you can take them out each mission. And
finally, there are two bridges, one on the truck route, the other on the
train tracks and a large smattering on SAM sites all over the map, just to
keep things interesting.
Now, probably the best feature of the simulation is that all the
missions are connected; that is your inevitable goal is to destroy all of
the enemies "ground and industrial assets." But, there is no way you can
do this all in one mission (maybe on the 1st Lt. level). Not to worry,
here is where the being connected comes in. There are 12 specific
missions, but you need not follow these to the letter. Say you leave on
your first mission, knock out two tanks, sink one landing craft, take out
a truck and for the heck of it, knock out his arsenal (since you were up
that way anyhow). On your next mission the tanks will be back, the
landing craft will be also, but the truck you blew up and the factory will
not be functional. As you destroy enemy objects during the missions, they
stay knocked out for differing time periods depending upon the object.
For example, bridges and factories will remain out for 5 missions, SAM
sites and trains 3, runways and trucks for two and landing craft and tanks
for one. Also, destroying the industrial sites affects the resupplying,
thus the availability of tanks and such during each mission. Getting rid
of the tanks is probably the most pressing problem, because first, it gets
old having to destroy them every mission and second, if you don't take
them out, they'll capture your airfield and then your history. The very
nice part to all of this is that SH has allowed you to have not only a
"fly around and blow things up" simulation, but a very good strategy
simulation to go along with it.
Even though there are quite a few changes from the old Falcon, there
is one thing that hasn't changed; the graphics. The graphics are still
spectacular! The solid 3-D objects are great, it's too bad with this type
of simulation that you can't go slower and get a better look at the
objects. I find myself flying low and running into things for wanting a
better look at them. The world has been changed (another change!); you
are no longer flying in a desert world, but on a kind of swamp-grass
world. When you destroy an object, it leaves a small crater-lake where
the object was. Oh yeah, another change is that an object blows up "real
good" now, with pieces flying in the air and such. One complaint is that
they don't burn or smoke because when your flying at a high altitude or
very fast, it's hard to tell whether the object is destroyed or not. So
I've been looking for the small lake (usually in front of the object) to
tell if its been knocked out. My other complaint is that, still, the
Mavericks don't lock on extremely well. You'll have your target dead
center and the lock-on box appears to the left. Still need to try and get
that right SH!
My recommendation is if you own Falcon and you like Falcon, but your
tired of the old Falcon, get this disk! If you haven't bought Falcon (and
you like flight simulators) get Falcon and this disk. You'll love it! It
adds so much to original version that its hard to compare the two
together.
So, in closing I feel that SH and especially Mirrorsoft deserve high
praise for this upgrade. From all of the bad blood between American ST
users and SH, it's great to see such a fine upgrade come along. Granted,
my copy is from Europe and Mirrorsoft (SH's parent company), who by the
way is extremely high on the ST, released this upgrade, I feel that
American support should improve over the next year.
_______________________________________________________________
> Millenium STR Review¿ Looking over the GOOD ones.....
====================
MILLENIUM 2.2
=============
by Tim Holt
ST Club of El Paso
In the mid-seventies, there was a TV series called Space: 1999, where
the commander of a base on the moon watched helplessly as the moon was
blown out of the Earth's orbit, and the residents of the moon base had to
fend for themselves. Pretty bad acting if I recall, but the IDEA was
neat. Now, there is a game that has come out from Europe with a similar
theme: Millenium 2.2.
You are the commander of a lunar base that is the last bastion of
humanity. Seems as if the old Earth was wasted by a stray asteroid. Now
it is up to you to repopulate the solar system. It won't be easy. There
are only 100 folks on the moon, and the renegade human outpost on Mars
decides that you are going to make good target practice. So, how are you
going to do it? That is what Millenium 2.2 is all about!
The moon base has six different areas that are under your command:
research energy production
industrial production living quarters
the launch pad defense.
By clicking the mouse on any one of these areas, you find out exactly what
is going on at that moment. When the game starts, energy and research are
the most important areas, as the game progresses, production and defense
gain in importance. All of the areas are important at one time or
another, as you must constantly produce items such as energy cells, and
must constantly research places where you can make colonies.
It is hard to tell about the game without giving away the secret to
success. The ultimate object is to repopulate the Earth by producing a
terraformer that can change the toxic atmosphere back into oxygen. To do
this, you must find certain substances such as silver, which are not
available on the moon. These substances are available somewhere in the
solar system, but you gotta find them. You find them by building probes,
and sending them out to look for it.
Once you find the stuff, you have to construct colonies there, so mining
can take place. To get the items back to the moon, you have to build ships
that can ferry the stuff from point A to point B. How you build your
ship, and what you consider important is the key to the game. If you
chose one thing as being more important, and it isn't, then doom awaits
you.
All the while, Mars is attacking you, and your colonies, so you have to
build defenses as well as regular ships.
It sounds complicated, and Millenium 2.2 is at first. The instructions
are very skimpy, but I found that this ADDED to the tension of the game.
I didn't know what was around the corner, and since the instructions
didn't help, I had to use my head. ( I am not used to this..) The game
switches from graphic adventure to arcade action whenever you art
attacked, and that was a nice touch. The graphics are EXCELLENT. I won't
spoil them for you. Go buy it and see for yourself.
I did have a few gripes about Millenium 2.2. Once you have finished the
game, it is the same every time you play. It then becomes a race to see
if you can beat your old time to repopulate the Earth. (My best time is
18 years.) Every time you are attacked, the damage is done to the exact
same type of equipment. I thought that was a bit unrealistic. The damage
would be different each time in a real war. However....
If you judge a game by the amount of time you spend stuck in front of your
Atari trying to get it done, then Millenium 2.2 has to be the most
successful game I have ever played. I bought the game at 4:00 in the
afternoon, and was stuck in front of my computer until 2:00am. My wife
threatened divorce during that eight hours, I think, I wasn't paying
attention...
Great graphics, a nifty plot, and only minor complaints. Buy it, play it,
become addicted, and when you are done, give it to your kids. Tell your
wife it was an educational game (It really does have accurate information
on the solar system throughout the game.)...she might fall for it...
Millenium 2.2
by Electronic Arts (Europe)
$39.95 retail
_______________________________________________________________
> MASTER CAD STR Review¿ Second, in our series of CAD Overviews
=====================
Master Cad
==========
by Myles Goddard
I am always looking for a bargain so needless to say when I do find a
good one I get carried away. In college I am studying different CAD
systems and my major complaint is that most of the higher end CAD programs
are made for the IBM and Mac II. The ST is starting to catch up with
major advances such as DYNACADD, but for me and my wallet, I find it
difficult to fork over $ 3000.00 for AutoCad or even $ 695.00 for
Dynacadd. Well that left me in what you would call in a dilemma and I let
it go at that.
After I got back from my vacation in Australia on July 15th, I found
a letter waiting for me from Michtron. I opened it and saw that it
contained some new products as well as some older ones that were being
discontinued. Much to my surprise I saw a CAD program called MasterCad.
I saw the price and immediately called Michtron to see what the deal was
on it. It seems that MasterCad was one of those specialized programs that
doesn't have a huge following and therefore was being sold at $ 49.95
instead of it's original price of $ 199.95. The man on the phone was very
helpful and I immediately ordered MasterCad. A few days later I recieved
it and I went to work on it and here is what I found out about MasterCad.
Mastercad comes with a 276 page spiral bound book that is easy to
follow. The hardware requirements is any ST with one meg of ram and color
or monochrome monitor. A second drive is recommended. ( I run Mastercad
from my Hard drive ). Any FX80 Epson compatible printer will do fine.
GDOS is included for the output although I recommend using G+ Plus as the
GDOS replacement.
MasterCad is completely mouse driven although you will need to input
some text and dimensions by keyboard. It is helpful to have some
knowledge of drafting terminology but the booklet explains things very
well. The tutorial is extensive and spans over 130 pages. It will show
you how to make very impressive 2D and 3D objects and the printouts are
spectacular, even on my Citizen MSP15. I can imagine what they look like
on a 24 pin or even a laser printer.
Instead of an in depth look at the contents of the book, I'll just hit
on the major procedures that are covered by it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER ONE: GETTING STARTED
This explains how to set up Mastercad and to configure your
system.
CHAPTER TWO: TUTORIAL
Opening Menus
Cube
General View
Cylinder
Polyline
Hexagonal Prism
Spin
Ring
Partial Spin
Move objects
Flip elements
Copy
Rotate objects
Proportion
Copy n objects
Copy Rotate n objects
Mode
That just covers the Tutorial and each type of procedure is
explained in a straight forward way. Even I can understand it!
CHAPTER THREE: THEORY
The THEORY Chapter contains the concepts behind MasterCad,
including Projection, Parallel projection, Oblique projection and
Perspective projection.
FEATURES include-
Coordinate System
Viewpoint
View Angles
Picture Angles
Picture Plane
Horizon Plane
Ground Plane
Vanishing Plane
Ground Line
Horizon Line
Central Fugue Point
Distance Points
Limit Planes
Objects
Elements
Points
CHAPTER FOUR: COMMANDS
The DESIGN SECTION
This chapter is divided into your 2D Main Menu and 3D Main menus.
With these you can create a 2 dimensional drawing and then view it from
another view point, the Z angle.
The FILE menu allows you to open, append, import, save or save screen
to disk or printer. The CONTROL menu gives you the chance to ZOOM, set
GRID, turn on SNAP, set up UNITS, set ORIGIN, REVERSE SCREEN, set SCREEN
CENTER, RULERS on or off, set SPIN and change COLORS (in Medium Rez).
The VIEW menu allows you to adjust your PLANES from a plan, front
back, left or right view.
The TOOLS menu lets you set your drawing tools such as LINES,
RECTANGLE, REGULAR POLYGON (CIRCLE), POLYLINES, CLOCKWISE ARC or
COUNTERCLOCK WISE ARC, as well as add TEXT or DIMENSIONS.
The MODE menu allows you to set your planes as CUT PLANES, LOW CONTAIN
or HIGH CONTAIN or a combination of all three.
The SPIN menu allows a 360 degree spin or partial spin and lets you
determine the direction of spin.
The SELECT menu allows you to select the POINTS, ELEMENTS, or OBJECTS
you want to change or delete.
The PROCESS menu allows lets you select your group of objects, lets
you move them, flip them, copy, copy and rotate them, export them and
change your fill textures.
The 3D Main Menu
While in 3D mode you can change your viewpoint from horizontal,
vertical, combined, or use autoview. It also allows you to change your
view from a telephoto, normal or wide angle view. Of course your VIEWMODE
gives you the option of filling in your objects to give it a more
realistic look. The PROJECTION option lets you set up your 3D view as
either parallel or in perspective. The OUTPUT section allows you to print
out your drawings to your printer or plotter.
Getting Started....
The first thing to do in the tutorial is set up your viewing plane.
Just move your pointer to PLANES and select NORMAL. The screen will
change and you will see SET CUT PLANES at the top of the screen. All
this means is that you will set up the thickness of your object. After
doing that you can select either CUT mode, HI-CONTAIN, or LOW CONTAIN
views. If you select CUT planes your object will be 3D when you switch to
3D views, otherwise your object will be flat like a sheet of paper.
You have the option of setting your viewing angles by changing the
Horizontal and Vertical viewing positions. As a matter of fact, there is
no limit to your viewing angles, you can even view from INSIDE an object
looking out! After you have made your object and are in 3D, you can fill
the object so it looks solid. The 3D effect is impressive, especially
when viewed with a black screen (inverse).
My favorite way to draw a 3D object is to go to SPIN mode. This will
setup a vertical line to be your center axis. Pick any one of the many
tools, such as lines, polylines, circles, etc and start drawing. By
drawing a profile on the side of your center line and clicking the right
mouse button, MasterCad will start making a 360 degree object from the
lines you drew. The final drawing looks like a wireframe model. Hit 3D
and FILL and your object takes on a realistic shape. I have created
numerous spaceships and other bizarre objects with Mastercad and to me it
is just about the easiest way to do it and have tons of fun too.
By the way, you can save your drawing as either MasterCad files or
DEGAS picture files. That way, you can show off your artistic and
darfting capabilities to your family and friends with having to run
MasterCad.
In my humble opinion, Mastercad is a real bargain for the beginning
CAD user and possibly for a more experienced users too. Sure, there are
no fancy colors and flash but as a good 2D & 3D CAD package with plenty of
capabilities, it's hard to beat, especially since Michtron is selling it
for only $ 49.95 and for a limited time only.
_______________________________________________________________
> NIGHT HUNTER STR Review¿ LOOKIN' 'EM OVER.....
=======================
Night Hunter
============
by Perry Bailey (PAC)
You awaken, suddenly, your eyes fly open and you see nothing, you feel
trapped, smothered, a surge of panic runs through you. Jerkily your arms
fly forward snapping an obstruction out of your way and suddenly you can
see. Bathed in the soft silver light of the moon you inhale deeply the
fragrance of the night. Then it hits, the hunger boiling inside of you
like fire coursing through your veins, suddenly you all your senses become
so acute that you can hear the rats running through the walls, you can
smell the blood coursing through their bodies, you feel powerful, strong,
unconquerable. Then you hear the sound of footsteps and the hunger flares
to a bright glow. " Humans, this night, I, Count Vladmir Dracula shall
feed well!
While the game Night Hunter doesn't quite start out this way it
probably should. This is a vampire game with a twist, instead of hunting
down or running from the vampires, you are the vampire, the Night Hunter.
This is one of the very few games in quite some time that has really
gotten my interest. I think I have played Night Hunter recently more than
any other game. Let me describe it to you.
The opening screen shows you the vampire standing beside a coffin, in
the room with you, you will probably see rats running along the floor.
ignore them they are harmless, but should a witch fly by, duck as she
could zap you and drain your powers. At the bottom of the screen you will
note there are two power indicators. The first one is appropriately red,
this one is you power indicator and is replenished from the the blood of
your victims. By the way, one thing I would like to mention is that in
this game there is no such thing as an innocent victim either you kill
them, or they will kill you! The second gauge is blue and indicates you
powers of transformation. After all what kind of a vampire would you be
if you couldn't even turn into a bat! So Night Hunter gives you the
option of turning into a bat (a highly necessary function) or turning into
a were wolf type creature. Both of these options are highly useful since
vampires can't swim or walk on water and there are several bodies of water
in the game. The main advantage of the were wolf mode seems to be that he
isn't always killed by the first arrow or stake that comes flying through
your heart. Though after he is hit the vampire reverts to his original
form.
According to the documentation (which is the weakest feature of this
game)there are 30 levels to play and a total of 20 screens per level, and
if you don't think that is enough then you haven't played this game I am
still trying to get past level 4 (if it weren't for them durn vultures I'd
have made it last time!)this is one tough game. There are a large number
of foes to fight from bow men to priests to mad scientist types in the
higher levels though the only foe you really ever have to run from is Van
Helsing, this sucker just has to throw a wooden stake in your direction
and it is curtains, nothing left of you but a little pile of ashes.
One of the best features of this game is the clever use of sound
effects from the twang of an archers bow to the sucking noises that your
vampire makes as he drain the life blood from his victims. Leaving no
more left of them than bones that crumble and tinkle musically together as
they fall to the ground. There are also all the sounds of the night as
well as the sounds and songs of the birds in the morning that herald the
coming of day and the death of any vampire not hidden away in his crypt.
I am also very impressed with the graphics of this game so much
attention to detail is involved here as to be pretty darn impressive. For
example as time passes during the night you can keep track by watching the
moon as it sails through the night sky, or the fine details of the
characters on screen like the vampires red eyes or fact that the bow men
actually draw there bows before firing. A great deal of detail went into
this games design both from game play which is excellent, the joy stick is
quite responsive, to the great sound effects or graphics. I would rate
this game very highly, I would say at least a 9. I would go higher but
there are a few gripes that I have with it, aka, the following
1. there is no save game feature documented
2. When booting it asks you for a code though the documentation
mentions nothing about it. Frustrating for all I know the proper
code letters could get me to some of those levels I only dream
about seeing.
3. once again, the documentation, two pages just doesn't seem to tell
enough to do anyone any good.
As for my final conclusions, I think this game, while very off beat is
a winner and a good addition to any library. Unfortunately, as of the
last check I made it isn't available in any of the local stores and can
only be obtained by mail order. But don't let that stop you it is worth
the trouble!!! The only thing I need now is a trainer version of the game
so I'll live long enough to see all 30 levels!!!! TTFN
Perry Bailey
__________________________________________________________________
> TOUCH-UP 153 STR Review¿ "The finest Image Editor for the ST!"
=======================
TOUCH-UP VERSION 1.53
=====================
by William C. Roscoe
The latest version of Touch-Up from Migraph appears to be a real
winner. Unlike the earlier version which tended to bomb or freeze
relatively frequently this latest version (1.53) seems to have most all
the bugs worked out. Another plus is the fact that the good people at
Migraph have gotten rid of the bothersome dongle (PSK) that in the earlier
version of Touch-Up attached to the parallel printer port to act as copy
protection.
For those of you out there that are unfamiliar with the merits of
Touch-up it is an editing and creation program for bit-mapped monochrome
images. It is possible to import color images with Touch-Up but they will
be converted to monochrome before you can work with them. Touch-Up works
in either low, medium or high resolution but you must have at least 1
megabyte of system memory.
Touch-Up can best be described as a Degas for image files. In
addition to .IMG files Touch-Up can also import Degas, DegasElite,
MacPaint, Neochrome, .PCX, .TIF, and .TNY files. It can save files in
.IMG, .GIF, .PCX, .TIF, IFF-ILBB, Degas and MacPaint formats. This
versatility makes Touch-Up a real powerhouse when it comes to editing and
creating artwork for desktop publishing.
Touch-Up has several different modes of operations which can be
accessed by either pull-down menus, keyboard commands or an easy to
understand icon menu. The primary operation modes are:
1) Drawing 2) Clip 3) Text
4) "Lightning" 5) File 6) Scan
The Drawing and Lightning modes combine a variety of art tools and
special effects.
In the Drawing mode you can choose:
1) color of pen and fill pattern, either black, white or opposite
2) writing mode, in which you have the option to cover up the object with
a new object, have the new object become transparent where it is white,
reverse the colors of the new object or have the colors of the new object
reverse only where they cross the image underneath.
3) tool box, where you can clear the page,color invert the page, or
manipulate the clip and page areas which will allow you to edit an image
that is larger than the size of your screen.
4) line styles
5) shadow styles
6) 36 different fill patterns in either 75,150 or 300 dpi
7) pen point size
8) shape creation in the form of ellipses, rectangles, polylines, arcs,
and wedges.
9) fill option for both patterns and solid colors
10) freehand sketching , and adjustable B-spline and Bezier curves
The Lightning mode includes an airbrush, pixel magnifier, eraser and a
"lasso" function which permits you to select a part of your image and use
it to create a paintbrush.
In the Clip mode you can choose a clip of any portion of upto and
including the full screen to modify using a variety of tools and special
effects including flipping the image, mirroring, rotating, horizontal and
vertical skewing, masking and outlining. Also in Clip mode there is a IMG
file viewer to preview your IMG files before you import them into Touch
Up.
The Text mode allows you to create text labels of up to 35 letters or
spaces using ten different fonts with a variety of typestyles such as
bold, light, italics, outline and many others. You can vary the size of
the text from 1 to 999 dots and if the characters are large enough you can
even fill them in from any of the 36 available fill patterns. The quality
of the fonts are quite good but the method of setting the attributes and
completely typing out your labels before pasting them takes a bit of
getting used to because once the text is inserted it can't be changed.
The File mode allows you to load and save images to disk and also to
call up a separate program called Outprint which enables you to send your
image files to the printer.
In conclusion, if you use image files in your desktop publishing then
you need Touch-Up. As far as editing and creating your own monochrome
graphics if Touch-Up can't do it then it doesn't need to be done.
_______________________________________________________________
> STReport OnLine¿ Atari, winning friends and influencing people...
===============
ctsy GEnie RT
Category 18, Topic 9
Message 196 Wed Aug 16, 1989
R.HOLCOMB at 01:32 EDT
Oh the joys of owning an "Atrashi" (ducking)........
I must say that in reading this quagmire of a topic I can see (well,
we probably have all seen) that there are no easy solutions, and that our
emotions have tended to dominate what would have been a logical course of
action.
I remember way back when talking to a then-Atari employee and after a
chit-chat it came down to an analysis that "Atari doesn't know what it
(the company) wants to be: do they want to make a power
ful home computer
system, a game computer company, a PC clone company, a workstation
company, whatever!?!". All of the trial balloons seem to bear this out:
the STs, Mega's, PCs, ATW, the game machines, etc. It appears this
perceived lack of focus shows in the way the company executes its plans.
C'mon now: how many times have them blasted PCs been shown only to be
jerked off whatever schedules set up? And while the delays in TOS 1.4 can
be partially excused, having someone saying that they are available and
being countermanded by another doesn't bode well in the public eye. What
is even more galling is that the patches for TOS 1.4 are posted when the
rest of the world can't even get TOS! (BTW, Atari isn't the only one
guilty of this; Burroughs (Unisys) was famous for this, but it was not
well taken and tolerated.)
After hearing all of the glowing reports about how strong Atari is it
really makes me wonder how Atari Europe can be such a success while Atari
USA fails so miserably. Are we that more picky than the Europeans are?
(what a can of worms *that* would open, eh?) I have some other thoughts,
but it's late and I'm staring at a long weekend installing (raping) my QA
system at work. (Odd things happen when your hobby becomes a business,
doesn't it? (grin))
There is one thing that Atari can do which would probably cause a
dramatic (if not positive) fundamental change: Get the Tramiel's out of
the running of the company. Their style may have worked several years
ago: it won't cut it today.
----CTSY CIS-----
13588 S10/New Products
04-Aug-89 17:30:50
Sb: The ATW at SIGGRAPH!
Fm: Thomas D'Alimonte 73637,3300
To: ALL
I tawt a taw an ATW! I did! I DID!
I was just at SIGGRAPH, Boston (THE computer graphics conference), and
a last second booth entry was ATARI! Upon seeing this, I went straight to
the booth as soon as I got there, expecting to see the Stacy or Portfolio
or maybe even the TT (68030 ST). I didn't dream I'd see the ATW!
It was a tiny booth with only two machines showing some European
simulation s/w, but it was great anyway. The ATW running a flight
simulator had 13(!) transputers in it and the other ran color demos with 1
transputer.
For those not in the know, the ATW uses a Mega ST as a front end to
boards that contain tranputers, parallel processing chips. So if you need
more power, you just add another board. Each T800 board rated at 10 MIPS
each! The ATW comes with 4 meg of RAM and 1 10 MIPS each! The ATW comes
with 4 meg of RAM and 1 meg of video RAM, to support up to 1280x960 res
with 16 colors to 512x480 with TRUE (32 bit) color.
The ATW runs the HELIOS operating system which is a UNIX-type system
optimized for parallel processing (not just multiprocessing like MACH, the
NEXT computer's OS). The theory behind showing the ATW at SIGGRAPH and
not Stacy or the TT, is that SIGGRAPH is the showcase for workstation
vendors like Sun, DEC, HP-Apollo and Silicon Graphics. I still think it
would have been nice to see a little more variety, a little more
preparation and a bigger booth, but I'll take what I can get! Commodore's
booth was big but NO new h/w, even though the rumor was that their 68030
machine would debut.
The flight simulator was fantastic! The smoothest shaded polygon
rendered landscape and plane I've seen in real-time. This includes
Silicon Graphics and Evans & Sutherland machines! And of course by far
the cheapest. Nothing short of ILM (Industrial Light and Magic (Star Wars
people)) would be better. Boy, give me one of these systems and I'll have
an entry in SIGGRAPH's animation festival by next year! (that's a hint
Atari :-)
What a nice surprise...
Thomas D'Alimonte
Missing Pieces, s/w & consulting
__________________________________________________________________
> Atari Stock ~ STReport¿ Watchin' da schekles grow....
======================
THE TICKERTAPE
==============
by Glenn Gorman
Atari Stock rose 3/8 of a point on Monday, up 3/8 on Tuesday, jumped
5/8 on Wednesday and 1/8 on Thursday. On Friday it dropped 1/8 of a point.
Finishing up the week at 9 5/8 points. Up 1 3/8 points from last Friday.
Glenn Gorman
+---------------------+
| ATARI STOCK WATCH |
| Week 08-07 to 08-11 |
+=======+==========+===========+=============+============+=============+
| | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
+-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
| Sales | 948 | 2585 | 5049 | 4563 | 2196 |
+-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
| Last | 8 5/8 | 9 --- | 9 5/8 | 9 3/4 | 9 5/8 |
+-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
| Chg. | +3/8 | +3/8 | +5/8 | +1/8 | -1/8 |
+=======+==========+===========+=============+============+=============+
| From > THE CAVE ST BBS <> 609-882-9195 <> 300/14400 HST <> F-NET #351 |
+=======================================================================+
_______________________________________________________________
> ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL¿ Sayin' it like it is...
======================
- Sunnyvale, CA. *** THE REAL CAUSE FOR THE TOS 1.4 RELEASE DELAYS ***
--------------
We received a tip; not an anonymous tip ..a very credible person
called us and said: "Ralph, the real reason TOS 1.4 is delayed is very
simple, the guy in charge of operations is suffering from a case of the
"CHEAPS"!! He is scared to death to make a sizable order for fear they
may get stuck with a bunch of unsold chips!!!!" To that, we say the
operations guy ought to wake up and try minmum orders from each dealer or,
send out a master set and an eprom burner to each dealer and let them burn
the chips for their customers!! There simply is no excuse for cold feet
and indecision! Let's all show Sam we want TOS 1.4, if each of us sent in
a letter or postcard asking that they either do it or get off the pot, Sam
might tell the meek operations guy to get busy.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ****** TT OFFERS THE 68030 AND RAM CHOICES!!! *****
--------------
As of August 14th,... Atari is getting IT ALL together..... "For the
really budget-minded," "Atari will introduce selectable 68030 machines on
August 25. They have 2 and 6 megs of RAM, respectively both offer
1,280-by-960 monochrome and 640-by-480 color, have real VME slots, and
come with AT&T Unix System V for an extra $299 on top of their $3,000 and
$5,000 prices - hard disks included." In addition, a stripped down
version ( 2mb )sans monitor and Hard Disk, will go for around 1500.00 and
it, as well as, the 6 mb version will operate fine on the SC1224/SM124 as
well. The TT will be downwardly compatible, ie; your present hard disk
will be fine etc... This machine is expected to set the standards for the
next five years. Look for the NEW line to appear on the covers of STart
over the next few months.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ***** THE REVOLVING DOOR SWINGS ONCE AGAIN! *****
--------------
Mike Dendo, Vice President in charge of sales and dealer development,
has left Atari amid a flurry of stories as to why. We will continue to
cover this story and other developments at Atari as they occur.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ***** ATARI NOT TO ATTEND MORE ST WORLD SHOWS? *****
--------------
ST WORLD MAGAZINE, sponsor of the WOA World of Atari Shows, seems to
be the target of an especially vicious hate campaign. As the story goes,
it seems somebody, allegedly at Atari, has released the statement, "As
long as the present promoters of WOA are in place we will no longer
participate", it is a well known fact that the sales dept officials and
WOA officials have been at odds since Anaheim, but this sort of garbage is
terrible. To punish the users far and wide by refusing to exhibit new
product at the WOA shows is simply very sad. First; it sets a dangerous
precedent, (refusing to appear, thus punishing the masses for a few)
Second; Allowing corporate politics and in-fighting to rear it's ugly head
in the public eye thus casting a negative aura on the company image. We
can't help but wonder if the Dendo departure has something to do with this
and his lack of cooperation with the show's promoters. And now that he is
no longer "calling the shots" Atari will, as always, be in full attendance
and giving all the support needed.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ****** PROCRASTINATION & DELAY TAKE THEIR TOLL! *****
--------------
Atari Corp said the drop in its second quarter revenues and earnings
resulted from exchange rate seesawing and foundered video game sales in
the U.S. It said it's video game sales remained dismal due to the alleged
unfair monopolistic practices of "an international competitor," which are
now the subject of litigation. Nintendo has come to dominate the video
game market in the U.S. Earlier, Atari reported second quarter net from
it's continuing operations of $327,000, down from $7,866,000 a year ago,
on sales of $82.7 Million, down from $102.5 Million in sales for last
year.
- Chandler, AZ. ***** SHAREDATA NAMES RICHARD FRICK VICE PRESIDENT! *****
---------------
ShareData Inc. announced the appointment of Richard C. Frick as vice
president, product development for its consumer products division. In this
position, Frick will be primarily responsible for the acquisition and
development of new titles for the division's recreational software line.
Not long ago, Frick worked with Atari in a variety of capacities
including video games, business productivity software development and
third-party relationships. Frick has a bachelor's degree in electrical
engineering and has spent more than 20 years in the computer fields.
- Boulder, CO. ******* ANOTHER CHAPTER 11 CANDIDATE *******
--------------
Now another company, Computer Repeats, of Boulder, Co., has gone into
bankruptcy. Its assets have been purchased by N.E.T., a computer store in
that city. Computer Repeats will operate as before, but out of the
N.E.T. store now, and ..no more mail order.
- Boston, MA. ***** SIGRAPH & ATARI ; FRANK FOSTER'S SUCCESS! *****
-----------
Frank Foster was leadman and laison, at the Silicon Graphics Show, for
Atari US and UK, although the majority of the people on the Atari "team"
were from Atari U.K. and Perihelion (Gary Lawman, Phil Atkin, Jack Lang).
Several members of The South Shore Atari Group were asked to lend a hand
(and some equipment...they weren't sure they had shipped enough over from
England). According to Frank Foster, the decision to attend the show was
pretty much last-minute, but it was decided, and apparently Sam T. was in
on this decision, that SIGGRAPH would be a good place to "officially"
introduce the ATW into the U.S. Gary Lawman commented that traffic at
Atari's booth was "Very busy...overwhelming." One of the other purposes
in attending the show was to approach some of the "well-known names" in
the Computer Graphics industry and attempt to open discussions about
supporting the ATW. Frank reported that they had some "successful"
discussions with several companies.
- Memphis, TN. ****** PORTFOLIO: "The Mouse that Roared!" ******
------------
The Memphis-area rep group for Atari Corp. has landed a nice fat juicy
account; to sell Portfolios to Federal Express Corp. The exact quantity
is an unknown, at this time, but it is rumored (via FEDEX) that most of
the key execs will be issued a Portfolio.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ***** NEW USERGROUP CO-ORDINATOR APPOINTED *****
--------------
Bob Brodie has been appointed the new Usergroup Co-ordinator. Brodie
a familiar figure in usergroup circles throughout California, brings a
great deal of experience with him. STReport wishes him all the success
possible.
- Dayton, OH. *** ATARI HIT WITH BAD BATCH OF VIDEO SHIFTER CHIPS! ***
-----------
In June, a user bought a new computer via mail order from an
authorized Atari dealer. It arrived and about a week later he discovered
that whenever the computer used the register that (by default) holds red,
on the medium resolution desktop, it became distorted when a fill pattern
of that color was displayed. ie; The red fill pattern in the Interlink ST
screen (background for all rsc boxes: set color, phone dialer, etc.) is
distorted, but only that one color register, no matter what color it held.
With Interlink this is register number 2 on the Set Colors screen. After
many attempts to obtain local help, they called Atari customer relations.
Atari asked that they send the computer to Atari, and they would replace
it. About 3 1/2 weeks later the new computer arrived. It did the same
exact thing. Now, it becomes known, many new STs have the same problem.
The user, whose plight is described herein, is now contemplating the
purchase of an I.B.M. system. They have the better part of three months
trying to get a working ST and it simply is not happening. The dealer
keeps sending his shipments of new STs back because of the defective video
shifters. - Mike Ellis
_____________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________
> WOA DALLAS STR FOCUS¿
====================
WORLD OF ATARI SHOW -> DALLAS TEXAS
===================================
World of Atari
Dallas Texas
August 19, & 20 1989
WORLD OF ATARI will be held at the Holiday Inn Holidome, Irving Texas
on Aug. 19 and 20th. The hours of the show are 10 am till 6pm on
Saturday, the 19th and on Sunday; 10am till 5pm. Admission is 5.00 per
day or 7.00 for both days. Advance discount tickets are available
directly from ST World for User Groups. Usergroup member ticket prices
are 3.50 for a single day and 5.25 for both days of the show. The tickets
must be ordered no later than August 10, 1989. Admission at the door will
be at regular price with no discount.
Atari Corporation will feature their full line of products, from the
2600 game machine to the Mega Computer systems. In addition,the pc
Portfolio, the Lynx (New Handheld Game system), and the Stacy laptop.
Of course many of the companies we are all familiar with will be
displaying their latest products and some will be offering appreciable
discounts as introductory offers to the users. Prospero Software will be
offering a 25% discount as an introductory offer on their products.
Also scheduled are instruction seminars designed to appeal to the new,
as well as, the experienced user.
Companies we are all familiar with who will be there to answer your
questions and provide help.
Abacus Software Alpha Systems
Best Electronics Codehead Software
Double Click Software FAST TECHNOLOGY
ICD Inc. 8 & 16 bit Intersect Software
Imagen Corporation Megabyte Computers
Megamax Inc. MichTron
Migraph Inc. Precision Software
Prospero Software Reeve Software
Seymor/Radix Softrek Marketing
plus many more...
___________________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"¿
=================
"A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!"
...Horace Entz
"ATARI IS BACK!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST-REPORT¿ Issue #101 "Your Independent News Source" August 18, 1989
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ½ copyright 1989
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, ST Report¿ or CPU Report¿. Reprint permission is
hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. All reprints must include ST
Report or CPU Report and the author's name. All information presented
herein is believed correct, STReport or CPU Report, it's editors and staff
are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained herein.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
