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Silicon Times Report Issue 0407
*---== CPU NEWSWIRE ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
_____________________________________
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
February 16, 1990 No.4.07
=======================================================================
CPU NewsWire Online Magazine¿
featuring
STReport ~ Online¿
__________________________
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/14.4
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
** F-NET NODE 350 ** 500mb Online **
STR'S owned & operated support BBS
carries ALL issues of CPU/STR Newswire
and
An International list of private BBS systems
carrying CPU NewsWire for their users enjoyment
__________________________________________________________________
> 02/16/90: CPU Newswire¿ #407 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
----------------------------
- The Editor's Podium - CPU REPORT - CPU STATUS REPORT
- ADVERTISING - WHERE? - PARSEC BOARD - PCD2 - OH NO!
- Inside Double Click - AUA NEWSBRIEFS - STE & Present S/W
- Wayne Gretsky Hockey - DynaCADD p IV - CPU CONFIDENTIAL
---===*** SUPERCHARGER PC EMULATOR REVIEWED! ***===---
---===** STE TO BE AVAILABLE IN USA BY APRIL **===---
--==* REVOLVING DOOR DOES IT AGAIN! *==--
==========================================================================
CPU NEWSWIRE¿
"Only UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
-* FEATURING *-
Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
CPU/STR's support BBS, NODE # 350 invites systems using Forem ST BBS to
participate in Forem BBS's F-Net mail network. Or, Please call # 350
direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging ideas about
the Atari ST computers through an excellent International ST Mail Network.
==========================================================================
AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX
==========================================================================
> The Editor's Podium¿
The news this week is coming fast.... Atari will be at WOA Anaheim
and will support the show as in the past. Atari has a new Atari US
president, ST Journal is right around the corner, and of course, the STE
is supposed to go on sale in the USA by April. These are but a few of the
many exciting items we cover this week. I have noticed where some, (a
very select few) have had a few comments about the size of our humble
offering. Without getting into a bunch of nonsense, all that need be said
is its, as always, the most outstanding bargain to be had in getting the
very latest news and information while it is still news and not history.
The major online services are growing in leaps and bounds, CIS is
opening nodes in Europe as is GEnie. Next month ISD will hold its online
conference on GEnie direct from Australia. The entire online situation
does nothing but get better and better for the users. We hear that the
major services are also gearing up to offer 96oo baud in select cities
around the nation. Times sure have changed, I remember thinking I was hot
stuff because I purchased a 12oo baud modem initially thus bypassing 3oo
baud. Today 96oo baud is where 24oo baud was 18-24 months ago.
PC Ditto II has turned into the news story of the year, unfortunately,
for Avant-Garde it is not a bright and rosy story. PCD2 has managed to
bring about some of the hottest arguments I have ever seen on the lines,
various individuals have been made comical examples of by the course of
events surrounding PCD2. They all showed strong faith in the AG folks
only to be zapped right along with the faithful who forked over $150.00
advance monies for a device that has been a stressful embarrassment to all
parties involved. AG has done little or nothing to change this stress
filled condition that exists online and throughout the Atari arena at
this time.
By their indifferent appearing behavior ie; off the hook phones, send
in the chips, don't fix what ain't broken and a generally perceived 'laid
back' attitude has resulted in many users and a few developers being
placed in extreme compromising positions. We feel its AG's responsibility
to put this nonsense to bed, they must send the new pals to each and every
person who has already received the board and for those who are still
waiting they must send a board with the new pals in place. Lastly, they
should set up a program of "Return for Credit" for these huge, badly
designed boards once AG has redesigned and has a smaller board available.
This issue has AG and PCD2 covered in three different areas be sure to
read them all. We will always will continue trying our hardest to bring
you the very best in coverage of all the news and items of interest in the
Atari arena along with top notch reviews. Supercharger is covered, in
depth, in this issue by two very capable reviewers.
Thanks for your strong support,
Ralph......
**********************************************************************
: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: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
**** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****
The system will now 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¿
==========
Issue # 54
----------
by Michael Arthur
Remember When....
In 1968, Ken Thompson, using concepts from an OS he had worked on
called Multics, developed an OS which he named UNICS (for Uniplexed
Information and Computing System) so he could play a planetary orbit
simulator/game he had ported to the DEC PDP-7, and when AT&T's Bell Labs'
Patent Office, after using his operating system for word processing,
renamed it Unix?
CPU Systems Roundup¿ XXII
=========================
Optical Computing: Photonics, Optoelectronics, and AT&T
--------------------------------------------------------
AT&T recently announced an experimental computer based on photonic
technology. This has stirred up much discussion on both the capabilities
of optical computing, and its role in the future of the microcomputer
industry. But in order to understand the potential of both photonics and
optical computers, let us take a look at both the differences between
photonics and electronics, and how optical computing is being developed...
In ordinary (or electronic) computers, streams of electrons are sent
through transistors, which manipulate this flow in a network of "logic
gates", which can perform mathematical operations. However, in AT&T's
experimental optical computer, bursts of low-intensity lasers are directed
towards a light modulating crystal, which acts as a switch. This light
energy causes physical changes in the "switch", so they either become
opaque (so they absorb light), or translucent, so they can reflect light.
Then, a second burst of lasers (of equal strength) are reflected off
the switches, in order to determine which "state" they are in. If a laser
that has been directed towards a switch is strongly reflected, then the
switch is translucent, and the data bit which it represents is determined
to be a binary number 1. If the laser which is reflected from the switch
is relatively weak, then the switch is opaque, and the bit is 0. A series
of these "weak/strong" switches can then be coordinated into logic gates,
so they can perform mathematical operations.
This type of technology is known as photonics. Just as electronics
uses electrons, photonics use the components of light (or photons), in its
operations. Streams of photons (or light) are generated by either an LED
or a small diode laser, and are then transmitted to LMCs (light modulating
crystals), which are then coordinated into the logic gates which make up
the chip.
There are several advantages to using optical technology for
integrated circuitry, including:
- Speed. Since they are, in essence, what light is made up of,
photons travel at the speed of light. Therefore, photonic technology
would be a LOT faster than electronic technology. Resulting in MUCH
faster computer circuits....
- More compact designs. Far less energy is needed for using beams
of light for computing than electricity, since one would not need to pump
as much energy into a photonic circuit in order to maintain it. This
would also result in photonic devices generating much less heat, meaning
that optical circuitry could be fitted more closely than normal electronic
circuitry.
Also, while electrons are part of a category of particles called
fermions (whose electrical charges repel one another), photons are part of
a particle class known as bosons, which do not interfere with one another
like fermions. The reason that wires are needed to transmit electrons
(and electricity,for that matter) is because competing streams of fermions
would otherwise distort each other so much that they couldn't get from
Point A to Point B in any semblance of order. Since photons do not have
this problem, large numbers of them can be transmitted close (or even
through) each other without creating a problem.
This means that different streams of light can be sent next to each
other simultaneously. Now, if each stream of light stood for a bit of
data, then one could easily implement 64-bit, 128-bit, or even 256-bit
microprocessors using photonics. And given that the state of the art in
electronic microprocessors is 32-bit chips.... This type of method could
also be used to implement vastly sophisticated neural networks or parallel
processing systems, since each stream of light could be independently
accessed by several photonic circuits.
This, and other benefits of photonics is one of the reasons that
Japanese companies have been quietly pumping millions of dollars into
optical computing research. Also, it seems that the combination of
photonics and holographic technology is being researched. Instead of
transmitting light to an LMC, some scientists are looking into directing a
stream of light towards holograms,so as to create holographic images on
certain points of a two-dimensional grid which would correspond to bits
(or pages) of data. Called "Page-Oriented Holographic Memory", this
technology could be capable of storing a gigabyte of data on each storage
unit. Also, using photonic technology to "read" this unit, one could
access data at a rate fast enough to make memory for purely optical
computing reasonably fast....
However, while the benefits of optical computing are many,
implementing integrated circuitry that is fully based on photonics will
take several years of development. In order to utilize the abilities of
optical computing in the near future, an upcoming technology called
optoelectronics is being developed, which combines the speed of optical
technology with proven electronic circuitry.
In optoelectronics, light is transmitted via optical fibers to
special photodetectors, which them simply convert light into electrical
impulses, which can be used by ordinary electronic devices. In essence,
data is sent at the speed of light to each integrated circuit, which then
processes the data at a normal rate. This method of interconnecting chips
has great potential. For example, whole bus architectures could become
networks of optical fiber, sending data at the speed of light for
microchips to process. Resulting in that, instead of carrying only
megabytes of data a second (like current bus architectures), optical buses
could easily transmit a gigabyte (1024 megabytes) or more amounts of data
a second....
Photonic technology, though, is only in its earliest stages of
development. Currently, the accuracy of calculations done with completely
photonic computers is low in comparison to that of modern electronic
computers. Also, new design techniques must be developed in order to
develop microchips which take full advantage of the capabilities inherent
in photonic technology. However, optoelectronics, photonics, and other
technologies used in optical computing will certainly become an integral
part of future computer technology....
CPU INSIGHTS¿
=============
Apple, Users Suggestions, and the IIgs Plus
-------------------------------------------
Recently, this message was uploaded to InterNET (a national computer
network of which UseNet is a part of) by a person on America Online, a new
Online service for Apple-related computers. It reveals some information
about the efforts of Apple's new Apple II marketing group to actively
pursue Apple IIgs sales in the US. Interestingly enough, the new
Marketing Group was hired around the time of Apple's announcement of a
serious drop revenue for the First Quarter of 1990, partly caused by
lackluster sales of Apple II computers....
FYI.....
-----
Here's a captured post from America OnLine. Apparently they are actually
soliciting input from users in regard to the Apple IIGS.
I regard this as somewhat positive; and was thinking perhaps we could add
in some comments here.
Subj: Apple // Wish List 90-01-09 23:00:42 EST From:
AFL JCline Msgs: 27 (90-01-11)
I just returned from an Apple // conference at Apple Inc., Cupertino and
the message is very clear to me that Apple will do what needs to be done
to position the Apple // product so that the Apple // holds the place it
deserves in the market. A very aggressive marketing group is developing a
marketing plan and they want grass roots input. I was there as
representative of user groups and they welcomed what I had to say. They
want your thoughts and you will start to see the results very soon now. If
you would like to be a part of this aggressive campaign, all you have to
do is put your thoughts in this folder or the Folder in the User Group
Forum (Keyword UGF).
The ground rules are simple if you want to be heard:
- Be positive - What could or should be done.
- Don't be practical, say it! What do you wish Apple would do?
Let them figure out what does not work or is not possible.
- State your wildest wish - go for it!
- Do you want to see different hardware, software, System
software, what? Innovative ideas anyone???
This Apple marketing team will be reading all of your input and again, if
you want to be heard - be up - be positive. But do it now, this team is
aggressive, they are moving and shooting so give them your ammunition
while the action is dynamic.
Just start your comment by saying, "I wish..." For example I could say:
"I wish I could buy a complete Apple //gs system with built in SCSI, hard
drive and color monitor for less than $1200."
Its your turn and the clock is running...
Jerry Cline User Group Forum Leader
---===**===---
But ponder, if you will, these questions:
1) Given its potential, will the advances in optical computing eliminate
the need for electronic computer circuitry which uses superconductors?
2) Jean-Louis Gassee, formerly head of Apple's R&D Division, resigned
amidst rumors of dissatisfaction over the actions of new Apple
President Loren. What effect will this have on Apple?
3) What are other ways in which photonics and optoelectronics could be
used in making optical computers?
---===0000===---
> CPU STATUS REPORT¿ >>> INDUSTRY-WIDE LATE BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS <<<
==================
- Armonk, NY *** IBM ANNOUNCES 16 MEGABIT CHIPS! ***
----------
IBM has recently announced development of 16 Megabit DRAM chips,
capable of storing up to 16 Megabytes of memory. The most interesting
thing about this is that IBM has manufactured 16-megabit DRAM chips using
the same plants used for 4-megabit DRAM chips. Most Japanese companies
have been developing new production lines for these upcoming chips....
Matsushita has also announced that they will be shipping 16-megabit
DRAM chips by the end of this year. Given that 4 Meg DRAM chips have only
now gained a measure of industry-wide use....
- Tokyo, Japan *** INTEGRATION OF COMPUTERS INTO SCHOOLS BEGUN ***
------------
The Japanese Ministry of Education has announced a Five-Year program
that is designed to integrate computers into the standard curriculum of
Japanese schools. With a goal of providing a computer for every two high
school students, the Japanese Ministry is also coordinating development of
educational software as part of its program....
- West Chester, PA **** AMIGA HOPES ARE HIGH!! ****
----------------
Industry analysts are speculating that the Amiga 3000 will not only
have 4 32-bit Expansion Slots (3 less than the Amiga 2000),but will come
with 1 Meg of Video RAM and 1 Meg of System RAM as standard, as well as
"flickerfixer" hardware, and AmigaDOS 1.4. It seems that the Amiga 3000
may cost less than the Amiga 2500/30, a new version of the Amiga 2000
which has a 25 MHZ 68030 chip. Its Cost: $4500.00.... Amiga 2500/30
- Cupertino, CA **** ACTIONS ON APPLE TRADEMARK STOPPED COLD! ****
-------------
The judge in Apple Corps Ltd.'s lawsuit against Apple Computer
recently ruled that Apple was prohibited from engaging in attempts to
revoke Apple Corps Ltd.'s trademark in several countries, including West
Germany and Japan.
This was one of the stipulations of a contract made between Apple and
Apple Corps in 1981, in which Apple was permitted to use the Apple logo
and the trademark, "Apple", as long as Apple Computer didn't make any
computers capable of producing synthesized music or sound. Since the Mac
SE, Apple IIgs, and the Mac II line of computers now have sound chips, and
support for MIDI software, Apple Corps Ltd. (a musical company
started by the Beatles) is suing to stop Apple from selling all products
which violate their contract, and get a royalty of 15 percent on the money
Apple has made from these products. And given that such penalties could
cost Apple hundreds of millions of dollars....
___________________________________________________________
> ADVERTISING - WHERE? CPU/STR Spotlight¿ Silence is golden, SOMETIME!
======================================
PRODUCT RECOGNITION IS PARAMOUNT!
================================
by R. F. Mariano
To advertise is to induce sales. Advertising is the lifeblood of any
successful business enterprise. Cliches are a dime a dozen, but they are,
in most cases, often very correct. Sure, advertisements seen by the
general US population will generate sales, but will it create enough
revenue to justify the expense of a national advertising campaign?
Let's take a look, first as a comparison, consider the high degree of
success in Europe. Believe me, it is no accident or stroke of luck. In
almost every hamlet one can find small software shops and each one of them
is well stocked in ST software. Why? Because the installed userbase
warrants such activities.
How is the installed userbase enlarged? What is the best method to
accomplish this in the USA? The answers to these two questions are not
simple but they are answerable.
A) - The best method to enlarge the userbase is to sell more machines
in a given marketplace. (common sense) To sell these additional
machines the potential customer (the one who pays the bills) must be shown
a need that this machine will satisfy. The potential customer must also
feel comfortable with the reputation of the machine, dealer and
manufacturer. Lastly, the machine must be made available to dealers at
the same time the advertising takes place or at best, when promised.
B) - A practice with a true, proven track record is ADVERTISING! Ah
yes, such a sensitive word at Atari. They have been promising
advertising since Moses parted the Red Sea. At least Moses did the right
thing. Truly, a suicidal manuever, in the business world, is to promise
something to the userbase in a given market and then NOT deliver. In this
case, the United States of America is the marketplace. And then to top
the scenario off, Atari, amazingly, acts like the promise was never made
and simply must be a figment of everyone's imagination. Atari must
advertise and it must not only be in the geographical areas where Sam and
his brothers will see it, it must be nationally.
C) - Now, let's look at this from a different angle, granted
advertising is an absolute but how can it best be implemented where the
dollars spent maximize the effectiveness? Two readily available areas
that come to mind immediately are strategic market hubs in the USA, for
example; New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas,
Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. The second is perhaps Atari's
most powerful tool to be utilized in reaching the large numbers of people
needed. This is ..Usergroups!
D) - Who, in these lean times, are a more enthusiastic group of Atari
supporters than the membership bodies of usergroups nationwide?
Usergroups could very easily close the gap of product recognition Atari
Computers now suffers from. Usergroup membership bodies encompass an
extremely wide cross section of our society and therefore have the means
to deliver the message on a grand scale.
E) - Consider this for a moment, if Atari really wanted to penetrate
the US market place and ensure product recognition for generations to
come, why haven't they challenged Apple by instituting the adoption of a
'computers for schools' program of their own. Mention an Apple computer
to grade school children and they immediately know of, or have used one in
school.
F) - Dealers are the next logical step in a planned enlargement of the
userbase. They have the unique distinction of actually 'being Atari' to
the consumer. And if properly done, a dealer can develop a strong bond
between the customer and Atari. You ask; Why isn't this happening? That
is not an easy answer. The reasons behind why dealers, users and
developers are switching rather than fight is sad. It really used to be
they'd rather fight than switch. Many dealers have left because of the
lack of Atari's direct involvement in making sure the integrity of a
dealer's territory remains protected. ie; deep discount mail order.. yes
bunky, it is still going on.
G) - When people step forward with questions or suggestions, the
response they usually get is lackluster at best or, as in some cases in
the online environment, truly belligerent. This is (at times)
understandable because the folks online are indeed frustrated and tired of
being 'backed to the wall' by the users. This is primarily caused by the
total lack of positive, forward progress by Atari. In some cases they ask
for the 'treatment' by getting themselves involved in online issues other
than that of product or technical support. The userbase remembers this
..and when the ole iron is hot ..they do their thing. Which ultimately
hurts Atari.
H) - Developers well, they are a unique group of people, they do
criticize, and when they, as is the case of one developer in particular,
get too loud or perhaps too accurate, Atari has a tendency to over-react
and has as in this case, cancelled their developer access.
Fortunately, in this market, because of Atari's lackadaisical
approach, we have the luxury of being able to observe other's successes
and failures thus, we are able to avoid many bad judgement calls. One
comparison, in particular comes to mind, this is the National Advertising
advocates comparing the European market to ours. There is no way really
to compare the two. For example, take the United Kingdom, Great Britain,
it can placed in the state of Florida almost twice. How can one possibly
compare the cost of a National ad campaign in the UK to the USA?
Sensibly speaking, there is no obvious way. There is however, a number of
approaches that may be taken that can justify the greater cost of a
National ad campaign in the USA.
National advertising must hold high stakes returns for it to be an
equitable effort on the part of any company. Here, in the USA the stakes
are as high as they get. For example, the main players are of course,
Atari and then comes those who have supported this company. Dealers,
developers and most of all users. Once the ad campaign begins, one can
readily see renewed vigor in most all of us and indeed renewed enthusiasm
will be displayed to those who inquire of us about the computers.
Unfortunately, the braintrust in Sunnyvale is still easy prey to the
small minded bean counters who seem to delight the executive corps with
meager profits. They simply have lost grasp of the buying power the
general population of this country is capable of ..once you reach them.
The ONLY way to reach them is through a national ad campaign. Period. No
amount of double talk or blathering will talk away this basic business
fact of life. The stakes involved once Atari gets off its dead end are
quite high. In fact, it is easy to see where the future of Atari
computers is one of the highest stakes at this time. If they do not
advertise nationally this year, the opinion of many well informed,
industry observers is simple, "Atari may as well concentrate on things
like the Lynx because they will no longer be considered a player in the
US computer market. Those with high stakes involved right along with
Atari are the loyal dealers, distributors, third party manufacturers,
developers and of course, the users who have supported Atari all along.
If Atari does keep their word and advertise nationally as they have
promised three years running, then it is safe to say that the userbase
worldwide will swell to well over one million. As this occurs, we will
see a dynamic increase in product recognition, software development, and
best of all, a solid future for the both the users and Atari. Needless to
say, the advertising costs will be more than simply justified, they will
be a pleasure to see. If this ever comes to pass, Atari will enjoy its
rightful place in the US computer market after all. Time will tell.
___________________________________________________________
> PARSEC BOARD CPU/STR FOCUS¿ Superb graphic power...
==========================
EXCLUSIVE!!
===========
The Parsec Graphics Board
=========================
by Charles Medley
One of the long standing dreams and wishes for the Atari ST
owner has been to own the mythical Parsec Graphics Board. Early
reports of its capabilities, revolving around a TI34010 running at
50mhz, were absolutely incredible, and the prospect of such a
board attached to the ST added considerable stock to the idea of
sticking with an ST for video work (at least for me!)....
A few minutes ago, I spoke with David Encill of Elmtech
Research, the company behind this exciting new product. David
explained to me some of the exciting capabilities of the Parsec
while answering some "down-to-earth" questions from a prospective
buyer.
First of all, the Parsec Graphics Board connects to ANY Atari
ST via the cartridge port. This means a 520ST could operate in
conjunction with the Parsec, just as well as a Mega 2.
The Parsec comes in two models: the 4768 and the 8768.
Initially, the capabilities are scaled down to a resolution of
1024x768 with 16 colors/scanline from 4096. As an aside, David
mentioned that unlike the regular ST, this means that you can pick
16 totally different colors for each individual scanline! With
768 scanlines, this means a lot.... This "base" model comes with
768k of VRAM (Video RAM), but is easily expanded to the same level
as the 8768 mode with more RAM. The Parsec 8768 contains
approximately 2.5 MB of VRAM with another 4 MB of "program
memory". At this time it should be pointed out that the ST
doesn't control the Parsec like a traditional graphics board:
rather, it works as the I/O to it, much like the Mega would for
the Atari Transputer Workstation (which is certainly not available
here in the USA). With all of this memory, the Parsec can then
perform some astounding feats:
1024x768 with 8 bit planes (256 colors) from 16.8 million
or 32768 colors per screen (using true 15 bit video).
All of these modes, I might add, are not for just "still-
shot" images, but are used for full fledged animation.
The Parsec also comes standard with its own RS-232 and SCSI
ports so that it will not hinder itself (or the ST, which probably
can't be hindered by an expansion running at 6.25 MIPS!) by
relying on the ST's capabilities.
Thus far, the hardware looks impressive, but the first
question that comes to mind was whether this expansion would have
any software to utilize these mind-boggling specifications.
David mentioned no less than FOUR (4) packages planned for
the Parsec. One, "Da Vinci", is included free with the Parsec,
and functions as a basic artist's program which exploits the
Parsec's unique capabilities.
"Topaz", a GEM emulator, will permit it to run ST GEM
applications with little or no incompatibilities. It might be
noted that Calamus did NOT work on it in its present state, but
the "Topaz" programmer, who is German, is working with DMC (also
German) to insure compatibility between the two.
(NOTE: Calamus has had problems with other expansions, such as
the Fast Technology Turbo 16. I believe the problem with the
Turbo 16 was fixed, so we can only hope that they will be as
expedient with the Parsec!)
"Chimera f/x" is a full featured package which takes up where
"Da Vinci" ends. "Chimera f/x" is designed to reproduce on the
Parsec the traditional artists tools, such as brushes, pens,
pencils, and sketching tools. It doesn't stop there, either,
because it even takes into account the amount of pressure applied
to the drawing tool and mimics the response it would have on the
Parsec. "Chimera f/x" also has another unique feature: It will
function as the basis of other programs, letting them utilize its
capabilities.
The next two programs do just that. David described them as
a "solid modeling program which can even import CAD-3D files or
Amiga Sculpt 4D files" and a "fractal landscape generator". To
say the least, I was absolutely stunned by the possibilities of
such a package...
Also, since video professionals need the ability to digitize
and genlock live images, Elmtech is planning to offer both a
digitizer and a genlock. David didn't give me any details on the
genlock, but the digitizer sounds exciting. It will be capable of
"grabbing 250,000 pixels in 8 bit video (256 colors) in real time
(!)". This, obviously, is not a toy.
According to the August 1989 issue of ST World (U.K.), the
Parsec's suggested list price is 920. Converted to American
dollars, that is roughly $1500. The exclusive North American
distribution rights belong to Datel Electronics, a large company
that has a base of operations in both the U.S. and England.
Finally, a typical STatus interview with a developer wouldn't
be quite right if we didn't get some kind of information about the
men behind the product. David and I had a good laugh about some
of the older machines, and how we grew up with our first
computers. Mr. Encill's first computer was an Atari 400 with 16k
of RAM. If you look at our developer profile in this issue, Mr.
Michael B. Vederman of Double Click Software ALSO had his first
experience with an Atari 400. Perhaps there is something to that?
He also seemed to be just as excited as I was about the
Parsec, and its prospects on the Atari ST. I asked him about the
decision to make it for the ST first, and he said that the main
reasons were that "the ST was outselling the Amiga back when we
started on it, and the ST also lacked video support". Seeing this
market as growing, and empty in the vital area they could provide
a product in, Elmtech began working on the Parsec as an ST
expansion. However, he did mention that it can be easily modified
to work on an Amiga or Apple Macintosh and that versions for those
machines will be (most likely) forthcoming.
(NOTE: We tried contacting Datel Electronics, 1-702-734-9100, in
Nevada for more details. After speaking to Richard Ollins, it
seems we've just broken this story just as things are developing.
He confirmed that the agreement between Elmtech U.K. and Datel had
just been completed, but that it would be another two or three
weeks until Datel received actual units in order to properly
present the product to the public. They also mentioned that it
will not be sold through dealers, but direct from Datel. There
was no information on any plans for developer support or
incentives through Datel for the Parsec, and Richard referred all
inquiries to those effects to Elmtech, in England.)
STatus Disk Magazine
4431 Lehigh Road
Suite 299
College Park, MD 20740
$30/6 issues = 1 year
$20/3 issues = 6 months.
Please, make checks & MOs payable to Charles Medley.
Write for usergroup discount rates.
_____________________________________________________________
> DC'S BEST...CPU/STR Spotlight¿ Mike Vederman spills the beans..
=============================
Mike Vederman of Double Click Software
======================================
by C. Medley
I have been calling the Double Click BBS for about a month or
two, during a period where I ran up a $220 phone bill calling not
only DC Software, but other BBSs as well in the quest for hot and
late breaking news.
I also found myself in a quandary when trying to figure out
what to include for our "mandatory" 400k of PD/Shareware software
we try to include each month. As the quote goes, "Ask and ye
shall receive" so I asked Mike if we could use all that juicy DC
software and he gave us the okay.
However, in the process, I decided to pester him and the guys
at DC for an interview. After last issue's "fun fest" with Jay
Craswell, the idea of revealing the programmers behind the
products as fun people, not just bespectacled wonder kids who are
physically attached to their machines, seemed more fun than
harassing some guy over what he was going to release next for the
Atari ST...
So, I corralled Mike into an interview by threatening to
release photos of him and a dog as a joke. Mike apparently took
the threat very seriously, because he gave us this interview
<grin>. I think the first question we ask is the key to this
entire interview.
How did you get started programming?
====================================
"It is a complicated story. How I started in computers. I
was 6 or 7, and I grew up in Philadelphia and we had a place
called the Franklin Institute which is like the Smithsonian in
D.C. My parents took me there and they had a computer that played
tic-tac-toe about the size of a file cabinet. I had a cousin with
me who I guess was about 4 or 5 years old, and he was playing it,
and he didn't hit the reset button right, and instead of giving
him a tie, it said he had won. People began to look to see this
little kid who had beat this computer, but only a few of us knew
he had won by accident. I was really interested in the things
after that..."
"...Time wore on, and I got in to video games. Around 8th
grade a friend was taking a computer class, and after school, my
friend showed me a 110 baud teletype (TTY) they had..."
"...A few months later, I asked the computer teacher to
borrow these two orange books, the BASIC User's Reference Guide
and BASIC Programming manual. I must have had the manuals for
months, and I didn't have a computer so I tried to teach myself
BASIC as best I could with the manuals..."
"...Anyways, the first time I got in trouble with a
computer... There was a program a friend and I wrote. There was
this REALLY nerdy guy we didn't like, so we made this program that
took a word, and made thirty sentences about this guy using it.
We got into trouble......"
"...Then in high school, I guess around Junior or Senior
year, my Dad picked me up a Bally video game system (NOTE: for
those not in the know, this was one of the early video game
systems during the era of the Atari 2600, Intellivision and
Odyssey 2) with SmallBasic. Before that I had used a simple
Commodore programmable calculator (NOTE: Yes, everyone, the
Tramiels used to make calculators at Commodore before they made
the VIC-20. Even now, a few dealers probably have those new Atari
calculators in stock. But anyways, this is why they were called
Commodore Business Machines. Calculators ARE business machines!)
and I used to convert games like Lunar Lander which were in BASIC
to the calculator (YET ANOTHER NOTE: This is not a GRAPHIC version
of Lunar Lander! This one used numbers!) and we used to play it a
lot... I wrote a really crude "shoot-'em-up" game on the Bally.
Basically, this one drew all the graphics block by block, using
"POINT" and "DRAW TO" commands, and then drew a little Klingon
ship onscreen. Then you shot at it and it shot at you and it kept
a score for you and the Klingons. The problem was, the cursor
wasn't visible because I had no idea of how to draw something,
erase it and redraw it somewhere else...."
"...I went off to college, saw a DEC-10/DEC-20 and I didn't
program it, but they had a game like MegaWars on CompuServe that I
played forever. I knew I wanted a computer. I started a job
working with air conditioners.... I knew I wanted an Atari (8
bit), since I wanted to do graphics. I compared the Atari to the
Apple ][ and the Apple had no sound except that keyclick sound
from the machine, and the Atari had great sound, and the games
looked alike, so I bought an Atari 400. I also got an Atari 410
tape drive. Then I got the AtariBASIC cartridge and I tried to
program this great game concept I had, and it locked up due to an
AtariBASIC bug. So, this was back when Atari Customer Support was
incredible, and I called up Atari's 800 number and they had
someone call me back who told me about the bug, and they told me
to save every few minutes. It was very frustrating, and I stopped
programming for a while and played games..."
"I also went to usergroup meetings for a while and the topics
seemed to float over my head, not because they were technical, but
they assumed you knew a lot of stuff about what was out. I
stopped going for a while, but I went back once around Christmas
time and there was this guy showing ACTION (NOTE: Yep, Mike is
referring to a well known programming language for the Atari 8 bit
that in his own words is like "a cross between Pascal and C,
with in-line Assembly", and he said "I can't recommend this to
anyone, because the manual and documentation is horrible...". The
next month, he came in and said "Forget everything I said last
month.... This is the best language!" and demo'ed some stuff he
wrote. A few of the stores had specials on it and I got it real
cheap. The manual was difficult to grasp (at first). I did a few
"do-nothing" programs. Then I got an ST (this was a LOT easier to
get than my 400!). Before I got the ST I had upgraded to an 800,
got a disk drive and a mono in 1984..."
"...Anyways, I got sick and thought about life. I decided
that I wanted to have no regrets in life. I knew computers were
my calling. I decided to quit my job working with air
conditioning, and went back to school. I had to wait a year to
qualify for my government loan. I used some of it to get my ST.
It was a 520ST with a single sided drive. Incidentally, I got it
from the dealer who was the guy who demo'ed ACTION. I got a job
with the computer center at school, which let me tell my family "I
*can* make money with computers!". The first month I had an ST, I
got the GEM kit (developer's kit from Atari), and I wrote "Mike's
RAM Disk", which was real popular for a while..."
"...the following year I met Paul and Gilbert through a user
group. Actually, I met Gilbert through someone else before that.
Paul had done AC Modem using ACTION. I did ST Modem, put a GEM
interface on it, and called it ZenithTerm. I guess it looked a
little like ST-Term. I programmed it in MegaMax C... Paul then
wrote a background transfer program, DC Transfer, which let you do
uploads in the background and we put that out into Shareware. And
then somebody got us to call ANTIC. We signed a contract and
wound up working on Shadow for about a year. Before that we had
done "The Formatter". People REALLY caught onto that. We went to
a Dallas AtariFest and people recognized us not for ZenithTerm but
for our formatter! "The Formatter" was upgraded to DC
Formatter... Dave Small began to distribute it with Magic Sac (DC
Formatter is FREEWARE) and it became the de facto formatter for
the ST... I guess about eight months later we did version 3.0 of
DC Formatter..."
"...Our first commercial product was really DC Port. Gilbert
designed it. I've developed a great friendship with Tim Purves at
Michtron. He had written a multi-line BBS and it needed an
interface and I talked to him at a show. We had a lot of phone
calls and bounced ideas off each other... "
"...When we came out with DC Utilities, we had a problem with
some people assuming they were Shareware and things like that.
It's probably because we've done so much. When we launched it, we
called up distributors and stores, etcetera, and about half of
them recognized us from our other stuff. They would order them
and it really wasn't that hard..."
Now Mr. Vederman must Oblige us with a STatus Exclusive!
========================================================
"Okay. Paul is working on putting Zmodem transfers in Shadow!"
(Nah. We need something else. STatus needs more!)
Mike's Idea of Fun
==================
"I like going tubing down the Rio Grande or the Guadalupe...
All you do is tie a bottom to an innertube, get some beer and
relax and drift..."
What do REAL Programmer's Eat?
==============================
"Coffee. Anyone who knows me knows I love coffee!"
Major Events in Your Life
=========================
"I hitchhiked to San Diego in college. I was pi**ed at my
roommates for mooching off me. I was at the University of Texas
I was tired of it. I was went to San Diego, slept on the beach,
I was a bum for a week. I met some really interesting people."
Overall, its hard to talk to Mike Vederman and not be
impressed. After talking to him, I think he's the type of
programmer I hope to develop into eventually. He seems to have
the necessary push and fearlessness to successfully stay alive in
the cut-throat world of computers. During the interview, I
couldn't help but notice a few similarities between Mike's
background and my own, particularly in the ways we first
approached computers (a BIG difference is that Mike is part of a
"successful" software company. ENiGMA Software, my (ad)venture
isn't quite yet!). He is an extremely straight-forward person.
He also told me of a few exploits of his that would bear that out.
However, he did stress he was never above getting his hands dirty.
He is a member of a local user group in Houston and is the ST Vice
President because he likes to help other users.
In talking to Mike, I also realized that Double Click is
essentially a small company. They consist of Paul Lee, Gilbert
Callaghan and Mike, as well as a "contracted" programmer. But
after reading a "history" of Word Perfect Corp., and seeing how
they changed from a small company much like Double Click, with
only two employees, to a multi-million dollar business with
thousands of employees in just ten years, it makes you wonder.
Mike seems to show the attitude to succeed so far: he wants to
branch out into making more and more software, and his ultimate
goal is to be able to work a year or so on some other ideas he
has. He also is thinking about producing software for other
computers (no this isn't blasphemy and no DC is not leaving the ST
market!), including the Atari 68030 machine, the TT030/2, which
Mike is very excited about (read last issues ComDex article by
Mike!).
I would like to end this article by wishing Double Click the
best of luck during 1990, and I hope that Mike's dog is not
embarrassed by the photos!
____________________________________________________
> STE & CURRENT S/W CPU/STR FOCUS¿ Keeping things in perspective..
=================================
With the recent rash of "oh boy" type articles having appeared
concerning the STE, it became apparent that a more realistic view of this
machine was needed and would actually be welcome. The last thing we need
in the ST arena is more fodder for lemmings. While the STE is a step in
the right direction, it is about 2.5 years late. Hopefully, the powers to
be at Sunnyvale will spend less time in front of a mirror (too much image
consciousness) and more time planning to release a MEGA STE with both the
Mega buss and the VME buss.. In the meantime, a little straight info goes
a very long way.... By the way, TOS 1.6 does have the routines built in
to handle a delay for the hard disks to get up to speed before booting the
entire system. In other words, one power switch does it all. The bad
news is it may not work with certain drives including Atari's!
ATARI STE SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY
As you all know, the STe is now widely available in Canada. The unit used
for testing was purchased for $994 ($830 U.S.). The person performing the
comparison sold their 1040 ST for $800.00, not a bad deal ...or is it? As
it turns out, the changes to the STe are significant enough to result with
some serious software incompatibilities. The following programs have been
tested thoroughly and they will not run on the STe.
1. STOS Basic or STOS compiled programs. 2 Bombs
2. Flight Simulator II, goes into demo mode.
3. Gunship, 2 Bombs
4. High Roller, 4 bombs
5. 10th Frame, Freezes
6. Supercycle, 2 Bombs
An Edmonton dealer informed us that the following additional programs
do not work:
1. Arkanoid 2. Sky Raiders
3. Pirates 4. LDW Power
5. Edit Track 6. LED Storm
7. Downhill challenge 8. Falcon (certain versions)
9. UIS II 10. UIS III
European software seems to have a bigger problem at this time as a
good 33% does not seem to like the STE or, could it be TOS 1.6? TOS 1.6
has a number of minor, but extremely annoying bugs:
1. Only boots in low rez when in color,
2. "SHOW/PRINT/CANCEL" box appears occasionally when attempting to run
a ".PRG" program.
3. The "A" drive box with the file selector does not work when used
from Calamus.
The new control panel which you'll have to download from a board
works alright, and it allows you to select any of the 4096 colors. I have
noticed that colors with RGB numbers less than 4s (ie 444 and below) look
the same as 000 (ie Black). You have to take your monitor apart and
increasing the gains for RGB in your monitor to be able to see those
colors.
The 1040 STe case is still the same as ever (imagine trying to get
PCDITTO 2 into this thing!) and things are even more deceptive considering
that the "e" in STe on the label is so small! But don't be fooled. The
blitter chip is there and it's doing wonders to almost all the GEM
programs, and hopefully software manufacturers will upgrade their
programs to make them compatible with the STe. Atari Canada apologized
for the lack of compatibility and said they were confident that a fix
would be available soon! That's odd. I'm not sure who is more to blame:
The software company who made assumptions about the hardware
configuration of the ST, or Atari for not making sure that the
STe is compatible with the programs already in widespread use.
Sort of makes you wonder about how compatible the TT will be, and if TT
owners will care.
With all the bugs associated with the STe, one has to wonder if Atari
is not dumping the first machines on the European/Canadian markets, and
will ship "fixed" machines to the U.S. when they become available.
Certainly it needs to be soon, as we all know, our American friends have
waited far long enough.
For the people out there who want to know if their favorite programs
will work on the STe, I have successfully tested the following:
1st Word + DEGAS Elite Calamus GFA Basic 2.0
Spectrum 512 Neodesk 2.0 Swiftcalc Sundog
Oids Dungeon Master Barbarian Populous
Sierra's Quests Shanghai Elite Hostage
Star Trek Champ wrestling Sidearm Hardball
Flying Shark Moon Patrol Joust Xevious
Time Bandit World Karate Chessmaster 2000
Falcon Chrono Quest Stereo Cad 3D Arkanoid II
Outrun Touch-up Silent Service ST_Term
Speedball Test Drive.
Is the STE worth the investment? You bet it is as long as you approach
the situation with an open mind. Forget about past dealings with Atari
and/or your apprehensiveness concerning the future. The machine itself
will satisfy.
____________________________________________________________
> PCD2 - Oh No! CPU/STR Spotlight¿ You want it when?????
===============================
PCDitto II
==========
by Chris Martin
Of all the unfavorable messages I had been reading on Genie, I
thought, "This product has some critical complications." However, when I
was approached to buy a PCDitto II (PCD II) from a friend I said, "Sure
why not, they (Avant-Garde, AG) should have the complications figured out
soon and have it performing accurately. So I proceeded to purchase it.
When I was inspecting the contents of what was supposed to be in the
box: 1) Warranty Card 2) User's Manual 3) Systems disk 4) PCDII Connector
board 5) Main Board 6) Interface Cables 7) Main board Insulator Pad 8)
Coprocessor Jumper wire; I noticed that the Warranty Card was missing.
Now, from remembering what people had said on Genie, that was to no
surprise. Still skeptical, I pursued to go ahead and install this product
in my Mega 2. I read the very skimpy manual to make sure I did exactly as
it prescribed. I removed the cover and shield of my computer to learn that
a little half by half inch daughter board was soldered on top of the 68000
chip. Now what you're supposed to do is piggyback the Connector board on
to the 68000. Looked like trouble. Back to the manual I went, searching
for what to do next. I turned to the 'Installation Problems' section to
find that I must remove this daughterboard, set it elsewhere and run
jumper wires from it back to the 68000; or purchase a PCD II Expansion Bus
Connector (which I haven't seen yet). I elected to desolder the
daughterboard and set it aside. Now, I could further the installation.
I attached the insulator pad to the back of the Main board (approx.
5" X 7"), and the Coprocessor jumper wire in a socket to pins 1 and 32,
located on the Main board reserved for a 8087-1 numeric coprocessor. Then
I attached the PCD II Interface cables to the PCD II Connector board and I
had to cross them over each other (below par) to attach them to the Main
board. I pursued to attach the PCD II Connector board to the 68000 while
getting a very petty fit. I tweeked all the connections with this little
bottle of clear liquid that was sent just to 'enhance' them. After I
fitted the Connector board to the 68000, I laid the Main board inside, on
top of the rest of the circuitry. I noticed that the Connector board had
worked its way upward on the legs of the 68000. With those stiff bulky
ribbon cables, it's no wonder. So furthermore, I had to squeeze both
ribbon cables and tape the excess together. Still, I didn't get a good
fit, but it was better than it was.
I anxiously assembled my Mega 2 to try out this new product I had
just bought. The harddrive menu came up. I thought, "Good, it still
works." I wish I had never thought that, not so soon anyway. I selected
a couple of Auto folder programs to further the booting process, and when
the desktop would just get ready to display, the screen blanked. "Now
what", I wondered nervously. I disassembled the computer again to see if I
had knocked something loose during the assembly. I visually inspected
everything, but didn't notice anything faulty. So, I thought, "Before I
attach the covers back on, I'll just connect the power cord, harddrive and
monitor cables and see if it will work now." Still nothing. I
disconnected the ribbon cables from the Connector board and removed the
Main board. It still would not work.
I made a phone call to a friend in Florida to see what the problem
could be. He graciously asked me, "Is your blitter chip turned off? I
read somewhere that it had to be off." "What, that has to be off?" I
replied. I then removed the Connector board, booted up, and with relief,
the desktop displayed. I saved a 'desktop.inf' file with the blitter off,
re-attached the Connector board and the Main board, turned the computer
on, and the computer functioned properly this time. Now, to boot the PCD
II program.
I first ran the 'PCD_Menu' file to configure the 'PCDitto II'
program. When I ran the PCD II program, a message appeared and told me to
check connections. I did, and everything appeared to be making good
contact. Now, from remembering what people had said on Genie, they had to
solder the Connector board onto the 68000; I thought, "I better go ahead
and do that." After I carefully accomplished that task, I ran the PCD II
program, and this time a message appeared, "Insert DOS disk in drive A:."
"It works!" I yelled.
I inserted the DOS 3.2 disk in drive A:. After a few seconds of
reading the disk, it locked up. "Now what!" I said to myself. I went back
to re-read all the Genie messages I captured, and I noticed that nobody
else was getting DOS 3.2 to work either. Only by using DOS version 3.3
would it work. So I had a friend come over that had 3.3 to give that a
try. The next thing I knew, I have an "A:" prompt. "WOW, NOW it works!" I
proclaimed. Now to see if any of the software I use in my job works.
I proceeded to load up everything I had; it all worked. My friend
also brought alot of different software (i.e. Harvard Graphics, Wordstar,
Orcad, Dbase III+, Norton Utilities). Everything he had ran excellent.
The running speed was excellent too. Norton's rating was 4.2; "Not bad", I
thought. I imagined, "I can have the best of both (ST & IBM) worlds now."
It appears that with the Connector board permanently installed
(soldered), it will increase the probability of working by, I would
venture to say, 99%. Everything on the ST side still functions properly
too, so far; as long as the blitter chip remains off. I am sure we will
know more in the near future about what is and isn't compatible. There
are good accelerator programs available to take place of the blitter,
but
still, I have it and I want to use it.
As of this writing, AG proclaims the problem with its PCD II not
working with DOS 3.2, or at all with other Atari ST's, is a timing change
in the ST hardware. They have a solution, but not sure whether it will be
a change of a PAL chip on the Main board or a new software version.
If you're interested in emulating an IBM on your ST, then I highly
suggest purchasing PCDitto II.
Yes, it has a slight problem right now, which AG is rectifying. When
I try to turn on the blitter, the mouse just disappears. Let's hope that
we can use our blitter chips again, soon. The price couldn't be better
for what it will do. For me, it was worth what I had to go through. If
the manual would have stated some of the above problems and the solutions,
life would have run smoother.
---------------------
Mon Feb 12, 1990
AVANTGARDE
Dear pc-ditto II owners,
We are happy to announce we have found the problem with pc-ditto II
hardware not working with some STs. We were correct about the changes in
timings of some machines being the heart of the problem and our correction
widens the tolerance for machines with different timings. We can discuss
our findings at a later time in detail, if there are any engineers
interested. For now, however, the following describes what to do to
receive an update:
1. Correction involves replacement of two socketed chips on your
pc-ditto II board. The chips are labeled: U27 GLUPAL (part
TIB PAL 20L8-25CNT) and U15 EMSPAL (part TIBPAL 16R4-25CN).
2. Please, carefully remove these chips (a flat-edge screwdriver
under the end of each chip works best). CAUTION: Please observe
static discharge procedures (as noted in the pc-ditto II
Installation Manual) to prevent damage to your board.
3. Then, wrap the two chips in a soft packing material and return to
Avant-Garde Systems at the following address:
Avant-Garde Systems
381 Pablo Point Drive
Jacksonville, Florida 32225
(You may call (904) 221-2904 9am to 5pm Mon-Fri if you have
questions.)
4. Please include your name and return address.
5. We will return two new replacement chips immediately along with
instructions on replacing them.
For owners with pc-ditto II that are already working, replacement of these
two chips will not help you. Therefore, we would not recommend "fixing
your product if its not broken".
We are now working on a blitter fix and standardized Mega expansion port
fixture and will post a message soon about those items.
(Also, if you have already called or written, you will be receiving a
letter concerning the above, as well).
P.ANTHONY; posts,
To AG: For those of us who have not yet received our pc ditto II's,
what's
the chance that they will already have replacement chips on them and how
do we tell when we finally get our boards?
Thanks, P.Anthony
DCASTALDI; posts,
To AG: ditto (excuse the pun) P.ANTHONY's question concerning ditto's not
yet received; will they have the fix? p.s. I mailed my dittoII money on
OCT. 4th, has anyone received their ditto II boards who sent in their
monies around that date? How close are we? thanx AG.
Dennis Castaldi (dcastaldi)
R.SCHNEEBERG [Rick-S]; posts,
AVANTGARDE or JIM ALLEN:
I have my clip soldered on and the entire board is already in my machine.
If I remove these two chips, will I be able to operate my machine in ST
mode until I receive the upgrade?
AG, I do not understand why everyone has to mail back these chips to you
prior to receiving the new ones. THIS IS NOT FAIR. WE WAITED LONG
ENOUGH!
Rick Schneeberg
D.CHARTER; posts,
Jim Allen/AvantGarde
Jim, With your background (and friendship with Bill), what do you feel is
the time it will require for replacement chips to be available? Do you
think that PCDs shipping from now on will be updated?
AVANTGARDE I concur with the last message. How about shipping out
replacement chips, and let the users return the defective ones. This
would greatly increase the speed that PCDs would be repaired. I realize
you may end up sending replacements to a few that have operating boards,
but providing the new chips would ensure that the purchaser could
transport PCD to another computer if a later upgrade happened. Are you
ever going to address the size factor? What machine was PCD tested in?
Duane.
J.ALLEN27; posts,
If I were AG, I'd send out replacement PALs to the people they shipped to.
They must have records. For the life of me I can't imagine why they'd want
a bunch of useless PALs back? And the new ones don't exactly cost a
fortune either. I don't know if removing them will kill the system,
someone should try before doing it just to make sure. It's not like a
bunch of people are out here trying to hoard PALs or something, what
gives?
Editor Note;
This entire thing is beginning to sound like a never ending story!
Please be sure to read the additional coverage concerning PC DITTO II in
our CPU Confidential column. This was late breaking news.
____________________________________________________________
> SUPERCHARGER!! CPU/STR Review¿ An in-depth review of Supercharger
==============================
TWO solid in depth reviews of SUPERCHARGER!
REVIEW I
--------
SuperCharger -- Talon Technology
================================
by William Y. Baugh
You've heard about it. You've read about it on GEnie, CIS and in
European magazines. You've may have even dreamed about it. Well finally,
it is HERE!. This 'it' is a great new IBM emulator called SUPERCHARGER
and it's about to take the ST market by storm (as soon as the Talon cuts
through all of the FCC's bureaucratic red tape). Believe me, when I tell
you, it will be fully worth the wait.
SuperCharger is not a piece of hardware that takes a person with an
Electrical Engineering degree hours to install; SC is a tastefully
packaged (Atari gray!) stand-alone piece of hardware that should take you
around two minutes to hook up (if you take your time). SC plugs either
into the spare DMA port of your hard drive, if your hard drive supports
it, or directly into the DMA port on your ST. It's that simple.
Setting up SuperChargers' parameters is just as easy, with the
Utilities disk included with the package. The only options that need be
set are whether your color monitor runs at 50 or 60 Khz, whether you have
an 8087 math co-processor, invert colors on monochrome and set up the
parameters of your floppy and hard drives.
SuperCharger is powered by the NEC V30 processing chip which permits
it to run a wide range of software including some pieces written for the
AT, like Windows/286. Using the V30 is practical and very beneficial,
since it is totally compatible with the 8086 processor and will run
faster. SC will also support an 8087 math co-processor for added
computational speed. One drawback (maybe) is that SC requires its' own
memory, thus it comes in two options; 512K and 1 Meg. The drawbacks occur
in that they should have made the smallest memory size 640K rather than
512K. When DOS is loaded, it only leaves around 380K to run your
applications in. This is sufficient, but some larger applications may
cause problems. On the other hand, DOS can only recognize 704K of the 1
meg available; so you have 300K of memory just sitting idly by. Also
rumors written in the European magazines will most probably not come true.
I ask the Talon Tech, Richard Betson, if the ST could use the extra memory
sitting idle when SC is not in use as a RAM disk or if it could use the
V30 processor as a co-processor and he said negative, that SC works only
in one direction. But he did have an interesting idea, in that you may
set up a RAM disk the size of your ST's available memory and MSDOS will
recognize it! That should definitely come in handy for ST owners without
a hard drive.
Since I have mainly been interested in the differing IBM emulators for
application purposes; I have not tested any games on SC (if I want to play
games, why would I choose an IBM over my ST??). So, I cannot state
whether the graphics move fast or whether this game play is better or
worse than on an XT. On the other hand, the only resolutions you can get
(currently) with SC is CGA and MDA; neither one gives you a real reason to
want to play games on it. O.k., on to the applications. I ran Norton
Utilities on SuperCharger and came up with a 4.2. This is a little slower
than others ratings I've seen, but it may depend upon the systems its
tested on. (My system is an Atari Mega 2 with an ABCO 65 meg SCSI Seagate
drive equipped with an ICD Host Adapter) My main reason for wanting to
own an emulator is to run Borland's Turbo C. Well, let me tell you, SC
rips when running and compiling Turbo C; its incredible! I've also been
running Ashton-Tates' DBASE III+, Telemate (a communications
package...yes, they do support the serial port now, it is COM2!) and some
PD utilities. All run quite well. Also, Talon has written their own BIOS
and created their own systems fonts which are quite attractive and very
well done. The Atari mouse is supported as serial port COM1, and works
well with all the applications that support it.
Some problems however, have arisen with my machine; namely hard disk
access problems. I think SC has a bit of trouble working with ICD's new
caching software. I've had cluster and FAT table problems when adding or
deleting files in MSDOS. After discovering this, I talked with Richard
Betson (SDACE) again, and he said that it may also be that I am running
the programs from a GEM partition rather than a dedicated DOS partition.
I won't hear from him until after this review has been printed; but I
don't think this is a problem inherent in SC. Another point is that when
you are booting your ST before gaining access to SC, come in as clean as
possible; i.e., no auto programs or accessories that may sit out in memory
and cause problems. Other minor problems are being fixed as we speak; the
most annoying one the present time is the lack of a '\' key. There is
absolutely no easy way to get this character. This a conversion problem
from the European keyboard to the American keyboard. The only other gripe
I had is that SC does not come up in color when booted on a color monitor;
you must give the MODE CO80 command to bring up the CGA graphics. Even
programs that run in color will not boot as such. I'm sure a method will
be worked out soon to either have it boot in color (by the utilities disk)
or by using the command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Oh and one more thing,
please write a manual guys! When people buy a piece of hardware,
especially as potentially confusing as an emulator, much more is need than
30 pages of xeroxed instructions.
As stated before, SuperCharger is fantastic! Also the gentlemen
behind Talon Technologies, Mr. Earl Miller and Mr. Ashley Miller, have
been extremely helpful (and patient) with my many questions. These
gentleman are very optimistic that SC will clear FCC soon and ST users
will finally have a fully functional, non-destructive (ala easy
installation) and extremely fast IBM emulator.
---====000====---
Review II
---------
SUPERCHARGER - THE PREMIER PC EMULATOR!
======================================
by Peter Szymonik
Once in a while, an outstanding product comes out for the ST which
puts the competition to shame, often the product gets little or no notice
until word of mouth spreads. One such product is the new SUPERCHARGER
MS-DOS emulator. SuperCharger is truly in a class by itself and it
promises to leave other MS-DOS emulators in the dust. Before examining
SuperCharger in detail I'll devote some time to explaining what has
happened in the past year. Quite a few people are confused about where we
stand in terms of MS-DOS emulation on the ST and are wary about plunking
down cash for something which has been rumored to be iffy at best.
A few years ago, Avant Garde Systems of Florida paved the way for
MS-DOS emulation by introducing a software based emulator, pc-ditto.
Because this emulator was software based, it was painfully slow at times,
but it did prove that MS-DOS could be successfully run on an ST. The slow
speed was an obvious drawback and it was clear that if emulation was ever
going to achieve XT/AT speeds, it would have to be done with a hardware
emulator. Avant Garde was the first to come forward with an announcement
that they were working on an internal add-on board for the ST which would
run MS-DOS software at a Norton factor of roughly 3.0 which is near AT
speed. Of course, then came the dreaded wait. As the Teals worked
throughout last summer their PC-Ditto II emulator, the Smalls were
simultaneously working on Spectre GCR, the outstanding Mac emulator. It
looked as if by the end of 1989 (the "great" Year of Atari) ST owners
might just have the best of three worlds! With Spectre GCR and PC-Ditto
II we would be able to run both MS-DOS and MacIntosh programs at full
speed on our ST's (in addition to all the fantastic ST software out
there.) Our machines would be the envy of the computer world!
Unfortunately, while Spectre GCR graced our cartridge ports and filled our
screens with happy Mac faces by the Fall, PC-Ditto II was nowhere in
sight.
Murphy's Law hit Avant Garde full force. Months passed before the
first boards arrived at Avant Garde from its manufacturer, and then much
to their horror, the boards were full of defects. The boards had to be
scrapped and they had to start all over again and find a new
manufacturer. In addition, Avant Garde also had a hard time trying to
find a company that could produce its custom-designed ribbon cable and
clip. Meanwhile the competition was not standing still.
Two European companies were working on emulators of their own. A
German made emulator, PC-Speed, was the first to hit the American shores
and is marketed by Michtron. It follows the same basic PC-Ditto II design
and is an internal add-on board, but unlike PC-Ditto II which clips onto
the 68000 chip, PC-Speed has to be soldering directly onto the 68000.
This is not an easy task, it should only be done by a competent dealer.
PC-Speed was attractive because it was available and it worked and it also
ran at a faster Norton rating of 4.0, not a necessarily noticeable
difference, but it was faster. Some people waiting for the PC-Ditto II
board jumped ship to PC-Speed. But the cost was steep, PC-Ditto II lists
at $299, but Avant-Garde mailed 50% discount coupons to registered owners
of the original pc-ditto, so total cost to these customers came to a
little over $150. PC-Speed is much more expensive, a cool $399! As a
result, most people stuck it out and continued to wait for PC-Ditto II.
Welcome to 1990! News started to come out of Florida that yes,
PC-Ditto II was finally shipping! But the euphoria died almost as soon as
it started. Message bases on GEnie and CompuServe were soon filled with
posts from angry customers. Quite few of the PC-Ditto II boards were sent
out without manuals or warranty cards, other people were missing the
software, and the worst was yet to come. 1040 and 520 owners discovered
that there would be no way to internally install the huge PC-Ditto II
board inside their machines, it was a physical impossibility.
Mega owners who thought they were spared are finding that custom
designed ribbon cable and clip doesn't want to stay on the 68000 and many
had to restore to soldering the clip onto the 68000. Not only that, the
board refuses to work with the blitter chip! For many customers, no
matter what they did, the board just would not work. Avant Garde
constantly left their phone off the hook and mail sent to them on the
networks was left unanswered. Their official response was limited to
announcing that they were aware of the problem and were working on a fix.
{Avant Garde has recently acknowledged the problems with it's board
and a fix is said to be on the way. The problem apparently involves a
timing problem with some ST's and the solution may simply involve
replacement of two of the socketed chips on the board and a revision
of the software. Unfortunately this doesn't solve the problem of
fitting the board inside a 1040 or 520!}
But the second European emulator was on the way and this one would be
very different. SuperCharger has arrived in the United States and it
promises to be a very attractive alternative to both PC-Ditto II and
PC-Speed. SuperCharger is very different from the other two emulators
because it doesn't require internal modifications of any kind.
SuperCharger is completely housed in its own external case. The case
is a bit wider and little shorter than an external Atari floppy drive and
its made from high impact plastic and is color co-ordinated to the ST's
case. It comes with four removable plastic feet and depending on where
you slide the feet into the case, you can either stand the case on its
side or lay it flat, nice touch!
Installation is simple, SuperCharger can literally be set up in under
five minutes. The unit is connected to the ST's SCSI port using a
standard DMA cable. Since it has a through port, it can be easily
daisy-chained along with your hard drive and laser printer and placed
anywhere on the SCSI chain. (Although Condor/Talon highly recommends
placing SuperCharger at the end of the chain to prevent possible
conflicts.)
SuperCharger is factory preset to SCSI 3, but this can be easily
changed by opening the unit and moving a plastic jumper - the whole
operation should take less than ten minutes. Once connected, SuperCharger
is completely transparent and will in no way affect the operation of your
ST. The only warning is that SuperCharger must remain on at all times
while you're using your ST or else other devices on the SCSI port may not
operate properly. Simply put, turn the unit on and forget about it until
you want to use it!
The power cable is innovative and a model of simplicity. Originally
SuperCharger came with a power transformer. Not only was this
cumbersome, it also occupied a precious power outlet. Condor/Talon was
quick to respond and replaced the transformer with a unique splitter
cable. One end of the cable connects to the SuperCharger while the other
end has two mouse connectors. You simply plug the splitter cable into the
mouse port on the keyboard and then connect the mouse to the splitter
cable, that's it! This leaves a small thin cable running out of your
keyboard and knee-top typing will be a bit more difficult. But the cable
is long enough so it can be run nicely under the computer out of sight to
the back of SuperCharger.
If you're like me and the keyboard spends 99% of the time on your
desk anyway, this won't be a problem. An added bonus is that the splitter
cable comes in handy if you want to attach a joystick to the mouse port,
no more flipping over the keyboard to replace the mouse!
Inside SuperCharger is a NEC V30 central processor running at 8Mhz
with 512K RAM to play with. You read right, instead of relying on the
ST's internal memory, SuperCharger comes with its own internal RAM cache!
With the cache and SuperCharger's 'hot key' function, it's possible to run
an MS-DOS program and instantly switch back into ST mode, hit the keys
again and your back in MS-DOS mode - exactly where you left off! The 512K
memory is also easily expandable up to 1-meg, simply open the unit and
plug in the extra chips, (if only Mega 2's were so easy!) As with any
memory upgrade, just keep on eye on the speed of the chips you install.
SuperChargers are designed to use chips of 120ns or better, mine came with
very fast 70ns chips. Just be sure to chips with the same speed as those
in your unit and you won't have any problem.
On SuperCharger's motherboard there is also a socket for an 8087 math
co-processor chip. Plug in an Intel 8Mhz 8087 and your spreadsheets,
DTP, graphics, and other number crunching MS-DOS programs will fly! Over
to one side of the board is an expansion port which will allows
SuperCharger to be quickly and easily upgraded! (See below...)
SuperCharger comes with an excellent Utility Disk and MS-DOS 4.01.
The Utility's disk allows you to fully customize the software according to
your set up. It includes and MS-DOS disk formatter and even a step-rate
menu option for those of you with 5 1/4 inch drives. And yes, you read
right again, MS-DOS 4.01 is included at no extra charge!! This alone
would cost over $100 if you had to buy it separately (and with the other
two emulators, you do...) You're not limited to 4.01 either,
SuperCharger will run just fine with any version of MS-DOS.
My SuperCharger is one of the first production units and it came with
a xeroxed manual and version 1.10 of the Utility disk. Enclosed was a
letter explaining that the demand for SuperCharger forced the company to
release the unit slightly ahead of schedule and as a result they were not
able to furnish a properly bound manual. But by returning the
registration card, a new bound manual and the latest version of the
Utility software (currently 1.21) will be sent to you free of charge. You
will also be automatically registered to receive all future software
updates.
SuperCharger support MS-Windows 286 with version 1.21 SuperCharger
offers full serial port and mouse support. The mouse port is setup as
COM1 and the serial port as COM2, use the proper mouse driver and
SuperCharger will turn your ST mouse into a fully functioning and smooth
MS-DOS mouse! SuperCharger works great with both ST monitors. I find the
mono display to be sharper and easier to read than the screens offered the
other emulators. SuperCharger emulates MDA, CGA, and Hercules graphics
modes. Color is bright, vivid, and rock solid, the software also allows
you to set your screen for 50Mhz or 60Mhz so you can run European
software just fine!
Remember the expansion port I mentioned above? Already in the works
and due out in April or May is a VGA card for SuperCharger! The screen
displays are already great, with the VGA card they will be spectacular!
Condor reports that this card will be comparable in cost to other VGA
cards currently out on the market. So how does it work? Turn on the unit
and hold down SuperCharger's reset button, boot your system and let go of
the reset button when your screen lights up, SuperCharger is now ready to
go!
Although not required, its best to create a small partition on your
hard drive for MS-DOS to sit in for super-fast booting into MS-DOS mode.
For some reason, this partition cannot be accessed from TOS once its
created, if you do try to access it from TOS, the files there will be
destroyed. The key here is to format the partition you want MS-DOS to
reside in using the Utility software and copy MS-DOS 4.01 to it, then
remove the partition's icon from the desktop to prevent accidental
access. MS-DOS will regard this partition as the boot partition
regardless of where it actually sits in TOS mode. So if you turn your
"G:" partition into your MS-DOS partition, in MS-DOS mode it will be
regarded as the "C:" drive with all your other partitions following one
letter "forward".
What SuperCharger does, is use the MS-DOS partition as the boot
partition and it then addresses all your TOS partitions one letter
"forward one". Sounds confusing, but it isn't. This may help visual it:
TOS: MS-DOS emulation:
C: ------> D:
D: ------> E:
E: ------> F:
F: ------> G:
<G:> ------> C:
Because all that really needs to be in the MS-DOS partition is MS-DOS
itself, this partition can realistically as small as 1 meg (but check your
formatting software to be sure you can create a partition under 5 megs.)
You can place your MS-DOS program files anywhere on your drive and
SuperCharger will run them just fine even if they are in a TOS partition.
The Utility software can also be run from anywhere on your hard drive
and it automatically determines what type of monitor and drives you have
connected, but you have the option of changing the settings. Simply
double-click the ABIOCON.PRG program and in seconds you're in MS-DOS mode!
SuperCharger works flawlessly, Test Driver II, Jet, and Speedball all
work great. Productivity software like WordPerfect 5.1 (the latest!),
WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, PlanPerfect 5.0, PC-Write, and Dbase IV all ran
without a hitch! In all honesty, I have yet to find a program that
*won't* run on SuperCharger. (Actually, Norton Utilities won't run
properly, but that's because Norton doesn't like MS-DOS 4.01 - not
SuperCharger, Norton works fine on SuperCharger under MS-DOS 3.3!)
SuperCharger has passed its FCC certification and should now be
shipping here in the States. This a first rate product backed by a company
that has been supporting the ST for years and who will do so for many
more. SuperCharger lists for $399 and for that price you get:
- The SuperCharger unit with 512K RAM,
expandable up to 1Meg
- MS-DOS 4.01
- Condor/Talon's Utility software disk
- A nice bound manual
- The DMA and splitter cables
- Unlimited software upgrades
- A socket for an 8087 math co-processor chip
- An expansion port for future upgrade boards
(VGA board due in April/May)
This is an outstanding price compared the other two emulators,
especially considering the added expense of dealer installation and other
problems. I've dealt with both Talon Industries and Condor Computer and
they've been a pleasure to work with. These companies are dedicated to a
top-quality product and it shows. One of the goodies planned for the next
software update is the ability to access the ST's RAm as well as
SuperCharger's, allowing expanded memory operations! The '286 I use at
work doesn't even have that!
Because of it's simplicity, ease of use, compatibility,
expandability, and the company's dedication to continually support and
build on this emulator, I give SuperCharger my highest recommendation. If
you have any questions about SuperCharger, feel free to drop me a line!
Peter Szymonik GEnie: DIPLOMACY-1 CompuServe: 72637,2272 UseNet:
xorg@cup.portal.com
SuperCharger
United States United Kingdom
------------------------- ------------------------
TALON TECHNOLOGY INC. Condor Computer Ltd.
243 North Highway 101 2 Bacchus House, Calleva Park
Suite 18 Aldermaston
Solana Beach, California Berkshire. RG7 4QW
Tel. 619-792-6511 VOICE Fax 011-44-0734-819791
Tel. 619-792-9023 FAX Tel. 011-44-0734-810066
________________________________________________________________
> NEODESK CPU/STR Spotlight¿ Gribnif sure is busy....
=========================
For those of you who haven't gotten your official Gribnif (NEODESK)
newsletter yet, here's a sneak preview of the features in the next version
of Neodesk. ALL Rez support (LOW rez too) 100% Custom windows meaning.
NEW Features
-==========-
a) Split windows allowing you to show 2 different parts of the
same directory
b) Select all button allowing you to select all items in a
window. (even the ones that don't fit in the window)
c) Background windows (non-selected) can now be resized, full-
sized, moved, closed, etc. just like the top window
d) Each window can independently display text or icons allowing
you to mix text windows and Icon windows on the same screen
Also each window can have it's own sorting, and text type.
e) Ability to select and keep selected items which are not in
the visible window contents
f) Ability to change the display fonts used by NeoDesk.
g) Faster file sorting (visible when opening windows & folders)
h) Complete file search functions
i) Ability to place a folder on the desktop (and then copy or
move files to it or open it like a disk drive).
j) Redone in Borland's Turbo C for smaller size and faster
speed.
k) Enhanced compatibility.
And just when you all thought NeoDesk couldn't get much better!
_____________________________________________________________
> DynaCADD 1.7 CPU/STR Review¿ When only the best will do
===========================
DynaCadd Vs AutoCad
=====================
Part IV
-------
by Myles Goddard
In this segment of our comparison of DynaCadd and AutoCad it must be
remembered that even though both programs use the same entities, they are
sometimes called by different names. As we come across them, I will try
to point out the differences and similarities. As I pointed out in our
first installment, both AutoCad and DynaCadd have hundreds of commands to
learn. I find the learning process much easier with DynaCadd because of
the visual interface of GEM and the extremely well thought out icons for
the commands used in it. AutoCad has drop down menus, which help quite a
bit, but on my 640K AT, it accesses the hard drive frequently when it
needs to display them. This can be irritating, at times, but necessary
when you have a limited amount of RAM like I do. DynaCadd uses just about
all the memory a 1040 can muster so therefore allows almost instantaneous
access to drop downs. DynaCadd has online help that is instantly accessed
by hard drive and is even fast when run from floppy. Anyway, back to
work......
For novices unaccustomed to drafting terminology, we will go into
the basic terms used in these CADD packages. Let's begin.
The Entity is the basic drawing object. It consists of points,
lines, circles, arcs, fillets, ellipses, elliptical arcs, text, b-spline
curves, Bezier curves and solids.
The DynaCadd book is an enormous source of information as it gives
detailed examples of the basics of Drafting Theory in regards to 2D and 3D
drawings. It explains the user coordinate system, which is called the UCS
in AutoCad but is referred to in DynaCadd as the GCP, or Geometric
Coordinate Planes. The GCP's contain seven predefined GCP's. They are
the TOP, FRONT, RIGHT, BOTTOM, REAR, LEFT and ISOMETRIC. A LAYER is
simply a clear sheet of electronic "paper". In other words, say for
example you want to draw some plans that include the walls, electric wires
and plumbing. You would need your basic sheet of paper, on which you
would draw your basic floor plan. The you get a clear sheet of mylar and
overlay the paper with it. Then you would draw your electric wiring on
the mylar. Then you add another clear piece of mylar and on it you would
draw your symbols for the plumbing. Well, its the same way with DynaCadd
and Autocad. Only instead of having physical sheets laying all over the
place, it is done for you electronically. If you make a mistake on your
paper, you have to physically erase and redraw it again. With DynaCadd,
hit the UNDO key and VIOLA, your mistake is erased for you. DynaCadd
offers 256 layers, each of which can be turned "on" or "off". It makes it
a whole lot easier to do it on a computer. To change a layer with
DynaCadd, you simply move to the LAYER icon and click the mouse. Easy as
pie, isn't it?
The user interface of DynaCadd is extremely easy to use and like I
said before, if you are familiar with the ST GEM interface, you will have
no problems whatsoever. As an alternative to using the mouse, you may
input your commands via the keyboard, although why in the world would you
not want to use the mouse? Another neat feature is the drop down
calculator that appears when you need to input some numeric values. When
the calculator appears, you simply use the keyboard to input your numbers
or point with the mouse to the appropriate number. After you hit return
or click on the return icon on the calculator, it performs the operation.
Another important feature is the Command History Screen. This keeps track
of all the commands you have entered since the beginning of the session.
This is a handy feature in case you want to look back at a previous
operation or series of commands you entered. The online documentation is
a lifesaver when the book is not handy and you need to look up a command
or something.
The next section will be difficult to illustrate because the icons
are a bit difficult to describe but I will attempt it.
Here we go-
You will notice that the drawing area is bordered by a shaded
rectangle. The first icon, the BUFFER icon, is two monitors and can be
clicked on to one monitor. The reason for this is that since many owners
of 1 meg ST need all the available memory for their drawings, this gives
you the option of either having a rapid screen refresh or a slower screen
refresh but gives more memory for the drawing. Those fortunate folks who
have MEGAS generally have enough memory to have the screen refreshed
rapidly. I get by just fine with the one monitor icon. The icon next to
the BUFFER is the SHOWCOM icon, which when clicked by the mouse or keyed
in with the "tab" key brings up the command history.
There is nine drawing modifiers to the right of the SHOWCOM icon.
These control the ZOOMs in the display. The first one is called DZEXTENDS
and displays the full database area. The next icon is the DZLAST command
zooms to the previous zoomed view. It is equivalent to Autocad's ZOOM
PREVIOUS command. The next icon represents DZIN which is simply a two
fold zoom on any area you select with crosshairs. The DZOUT command does
the reverse of DZIN and reduces the zoomed view by a factor of two. The
DZALL command zooms the entire drawing into the drawing screen area. The
DZWINDOW command lets you adjust the size of the zoom by using a window.
Just hit the left button to activate the starting point and click the
right button when you have selected your area to zoom in on. The next
icon (SCROLL) allows you to move the drawing across the screen by
selecting the starting point and then dragging it to another location.
The equivalent command in Autocad is called PAN. The next icon (CENTER)
allows you to center any part of the drawing by selecting a point with the
crosshairs.
The next icon (REPAINT) will redraw edited entities for you. In
other words, after you have edited your drawing, there will be areas that
will be missing. Actually they are not missing, it's just that they
aren't visible until they are repainted. Autocad's equivalent is REDRAW.
The next icon (REGEN) repaints the entire drawing instead of edited
entities. REGEN is also Autocad's name for the same function. The mode
select icon is represented by two boxes, one with a "2D" and the other
with a "3D". This allows you to switch between two dimensional and three
dimensional drawings. Finally we come to the UNDO icon. It is handy to
use when you have made a mistake and want to delete the last operation
performed. DELETE will erase everything in sequential order from the last
to the first.
Our next installment will cover the drop down menus, which cover a
great deal of material so it may take a couple of installments to cover
them all. Until next time.....
______________________________________________________________
> Stock Market ~ CPU NewsWire¿
===========================
THE TICKERTAPE
==============
by Michael Arthur
Concept by Glenn Gorman
Atari Stock went down 1/4 of a point on Monday, and was down
another 1/8 of a point on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Atari Stock went up 1/8
of a point. Finishing up the week at 6 7/8 points, Atari stock is down
3/8 of a point from the last report.
Apple Stock was down 1/2 of a point from Friday, February 2, 1990.
Commodore Stock was down 1/4 of a point from 2/02/90.
IBM Stock was up 5 1/4 points from 2/02/90.
Stock Report for Week of 2/05/90 to 2/09/90
_________________________________________________________________________
STock| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
Reprt|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg. |
-----|--------------|-------------|------------|-----------|-------------|
Atari| 7 - 1/4 |6 7/8 - 1/8| 7 + 1/8| ---- | 6 7/8 |
| | | | | 39,100 Sls |
-----|--------------+-------------+------------+-----------+-------------|
CBM |8 3/8 + 1/8|8 3/8 --- |8 3/8 --- | ---- | 8 1/2 |
| | | | | 45,200 Sls |
-----|--------------+-------------+------------+-----------+-------------|
Apple| 35 + 1/4|34 3/4 - 1/4|33 1/4 | ---- | 34 1/4 |
| | | -1 1/2| |1,500,700 Sls|
-----|--------------+-------------+------------+-----------+-------------|
IBM |99 1/8 +2 1/2| 101 +1 3/8|101 1/8 | ---- | 102 1/2 |
| | | +2 1/8| |1,265,400 Sls|
-----'-------------------------------------------------------------------'
'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day.
'CBM' refers to Commodore Corporation.
'----' means that stock prices were not obtained for that day.
______________________________________________________________________
> A.U.A. CPU/STR InfoFile¿ Atari Users Association News...
=======================
CURRENT EVENTS - A.U.A.
========================
by Derek C. Signorini
In keeping with the tradition of my past few articles concerning the
activities of the AUA, I once again must report good news concerning the
Atari User's Association and the latest developments.
Applications to the AUA are rolling in at a good pace. I have really
only made contact of readers of CPU Online and several people on GEnie
where I uploaded the AUA information package and application and it
appears as though the people who read this publication are passing the
information on to friends and user groups. Please continue to do this,
since many ST users are without modems and are unable to call the pay
services and do not download this publication. Once the information of
the AUA passes down the channel, the group will grow faster than first
anticipated. Thank you all for passing on the word of the AUA and in a
few short weeks I will be able to provide more concrete information on the
group.
I am proud to announce that Jon Clarke, of New Zealand has been
appointed International Public Relations Director for the AUA and is
helping the New Zealand Chapter of the AUA get off of the ground. He has
a lot support boiling up in his country mainly from the large amounts of
user groups there. The Wellington Atari Computer Enthusiasts (WACE) are
helping Jon and myself by encouraging it's members to join the AUA and are
in full support of our efforts. Keep up the good work gentlemen,
and congratulations again to Jon for his appointment.
Also, on the home front for the AUA, I have appointed Anthony Parry
as US Public Relations Director for the AUA. Tony is a long time friend
and an ST enthusiast and is very knowledgeable and has many connections
throughout the software manufacturing industry and will be a great asset
to the AUA drive. Tony will be helping me to contact the Usergroups
throughout the USA and will also help me to negotiate with software
vendors.
The AUA has also gained the endorsement of Plexus Systems Limited
from Texas and the UK. Tommy J. Harvey contacted me this week and has
given encouragement and support. Plexus Systems Limited is involved in
Beta-testing hardware and software for the Atari ST in the US and United
Kingdom. Welcome aboard, Tommy!
In the past few days I found time to start working on a logo concept
for the AUA and began putting together a printed flyer and application
that will be distributed at user shows and by Microtyme Computers. This
logo will become the official logo of the AUA and I am sure that all of
you will approve. I am also working on a special video tape that will be
sent to the usergroups about the AUA and can be shown at the usergroup
meetings. Hopefully, this video will get more usergroups involved in the
AUA. No release date has been set for that video at this time.
I am now planning on attending the Atari show in Toronto during the
first week of April. Right now, details are very sketchy, but I hope this
will be the AUA's first public appearance in 1990. When the details
become available, I will pass this information on to you. I am also
planning on attending the Washington show in October. This is a definite
appearance and the only one that I am absolutely planning on attending
this year. If other shows come up this summer, I hope to attend them as
well. In addition to the AUA, I work full time as a pharmacist and am
also an Atari Developer, so time is very critical here! I wish I could
extend the hours of a day by about 24, then maybe I could get more work
done! But for now, I must work with what little time I have and make the
best of it.
At this time, I am looking for ideas for a name of the printed AUA
newsletter. I have had "THE AUA NEWS JOURNAL" and "AUA NEWSBRIEFS" thrown
at me by some locals, but I would like some input from the AUA members.
Send me mail or E-Mail with your ideas! Remember, members (say that 10
times fast), this is your organization. This is your opportunity to help
out! I am also looking for writers to contribute to this newsletter. The
first publication will be in April, so if you want to send in letters,
reviews, etc, then send them now. You may send them in any format you
wish, but I would prefer if you would email articles to me or send them on
disk. If the articles or letters are small, just send me a printed copy,
since my wife is eager to brush up on her typing!
That just about raps it up. I will be writing about every other week
for CPU Online, so watch for latest updates here or on GEnie. Keep up the
good support, and I invite all of you who have not sent in your
applications to do so! Thank you all for your continued support!
Derek C. Signorini
AUA Coordinator
GEnie: DC.SIGNORINI
CIS : 72327,1060
FNET : node #19, DC Signorini
FIDO : 1:129/96 or Private net 30323/2, DC Signorini
_____________________________________________________________
ATARI USER'S ASSOCIATION === MEMBERSHIP PACKAGES
========================================================
PACKAGE ONE: ACTIVE AUA MEMBERSHIP W/DISK -- $15.00
========================================================
Includes one year membership to the Atari User's Association and Disk
Subscription to the Atari Elite Electronic Chronicles.
Your benefits:
o Subscription to the Atari Elite Electronic Chronicles, the newsletter
on disk sent 6 times a year. Contains the newest in PD software,
reviews, columns, advertising, etc... Compare this to the $79.00
subscription fee to some magazines!
o Subscription to the AUA newsletter published (projected) 4 times a
year.
o Enhanced Access time on the Atari Elite, Inc. BBS supporting 19,200
baud, 120 megs online, FIDO, and FNET.
o Special purchase prices available from the backing of the Atari Elite,
Inc. of Pittsburgh. Numbers have Power! Pick up some good deals!
o Special group discounts at MICROTYME
o Special purchase prices offered by the AUA. Once again, numbers talk!
o Special mailings from both the Atari Elite Inc. and the AUA or any
other usergroups who wish to participate.
o ANY AND ALL BENEFITS of being a member of the LARGEST Atari User base
in the world!
=========================================================
PACKAGE TWO: ACTIVE AUA MEMBERSHIP w/newsletter -- $5.00
=========================================================
Includes one year membership to the Atari User's Association and a
subscription to the AUA Newsletter.
Your benefits:
o Special purchase prices offered by the AUA. Once again, numbers
talk!
o Special mailings from the AUA including the AUA newsletter published 4
times a year.
o Membership in the Largest Atari User Base in the world!
o Special group discounts at Microtyme
o ANY AND ALL BENEFITS of being a member of the Largest Atari User Base
in the world!
========================================================
PACKAGE THREE: NON-ACTIVE AUA MEMBERSHIP -- $$ FREE $$
========================================================
Includes one year membership to the Atari User's Association. This
membership does not entitle you to any mailings made by the AUA but still
makes you eligible for any special purchase prices offered by the AUA or
any group discounts offered by Microtyme. You will also have access to
the Atari Elite BBS in Pittsburgh. The only requirements are that you
fill out the AUA application to join and once a year to keep your
information current. This is by far the most popular package! But you
can show your support for the Atari Community and take advantage of the
other two membership packages!
Microtyme is an Official AUA Supplier at 1-800-255-5835
--------------------------- Clip Here ---------------------------
////////// // // ////////// ** ** **
// // // // // // ** ** **
// // // // // // ** ** **
////////// // // ////////// ** ** **
// // // // // // *** ** ***
// // ////////// // // *** ** ***
THE ATARI USER'S ASSOCIATION SUPPORTING THE REVOLUTION
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Thank you for your interest in the Atari User's Association.
Please take the time to complete this application and mail it
to the address below.
========================================================================
First Name:_____________________ LastName:______________________________
Address:________________________________________________________________
City:________________________________ ST:____ Zipcode:__________________
Country:_____________________________ Age:(optional)____________________
Telephone: __________________________ Work: ____________________________
[ ] Check here to place name in the AUA Public Membership Directory
(This will allow you to be placed on national mailing lists for Atari
ST products and information)
=========================================================================
HARDWARE: [ ]520ST [ ]1040ST [ ]MEGA 2 [ ]MEGA 4 [ ]STacy [ ]Other
MONITOR : [ ]COLOR [ ]MONO [ ]OTHER:____________________________________
DRIVES : [ ]DSDD [ ]SSDD [ ]HARD DRIVE Model/Size:____________________
PRINTER : [ ]9 Pin Dot Matrix [ ]24 Pin Dot Matrix [ ]Laser [ ]DeskJet
Printer Model:_______________________________________________________
MODEM : Max Speed [ ]300 [ ]1200 [ ]2400 [ ]4800 [ ]9600 [ ]14,400
Modem Model:_________________________________________________________
OTHER PERIPHERALS________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
EMULATORS IN USE:________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
=========================================================================
Primary Use of your Atari
Computer:_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
========================================================================
If you are a member of a User Group, Please fill in:
UG Name: _______________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________
City _________________________________State _____ ZIP _______Country____
BBS # ______________________________________No. of Members______________
President's Name:________________________________Phone:_________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Comments:_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
I can be reached at FNET node:___________ and/or FIDO
node:_________________GEnie_________________CIS______________other______
________________________________________________________________________
=========================================================================
MEMBERSHIP FEES: [ ] Non-Active AUA Membership -- $ FREE $
[ ] Active AUA w/NewsLetter -- $ 5.00/year
Please Select ONE [ ] Active AUA W/Newsletter & Disk -- $ 15.00/year
=========================================================================
Mail application to:
The Atari User's Association
Attn: D.C. Signorini
P.O. Box 18293
Pittsburgh, PA 15236
=========================================================================
MicroTyme Computers is an official supplier of the AUA at: 1-800-255-5835
=========================================================================
------------------------ Clip Here ---------------------------
__________________________________________________________
> WAYNE GRETZKY CPU/STR Review¿ A Premier Hockey Game...
============================
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
====================
by D.C. Signorini
From the time I became an avid hockey fan back in 1984, due, in part,
to the emergence of Mario Lemieux and the resurgence of the Pittsburgh
Penguins, I have been searching for the ultimate hockey game for the ST.
I have seen 3 or 4 of them come through in the past 3 years, and each of
them is far from my expectations of what a good computer simulated hockey
game should be. Each of them had one feature or another that made them
inferior to games that I had seen at the arcade. None of them were able
to give me the playing satisfaction that I was looking for. So, I waited,
hoping that someone somewhere would have the incentive to develop a good
hockey simulation. There are great football simulators, a few fantastic
baseball games, and a handful of other sport packages that are very good
and use the powerful graphic capabilities of the Atari ST.
Why then, is hockey such a difficult simulation to develop? In
sports like baseball, and for example, Hardball by Accolade, you control
only one player at a time. You are either pitching or catching, throwing
or hitting, and that is it. You are not required to control any other
player on the field, until of course, an action prompts you to do so. In
hockey, while you only need to control the player with the puck, there are
5 other players moving on the ice while their positions are crucial to the
outcome of the play. There are plenty of factors involved in hockey
including skating, passing, shooting, and lets not leave out hard hitting.
From a developer's perspective, there are a lot of events that must be
monitored and calculations to be made. That may be the reason there just
has not been a good hockey simulation marketed for the ST. Until now.
Wayne Gretzky Hockey (WGH), by Bethesda Softworks, is by far the
answer in hockey simulations for which I have been searching for almost 3
years. First marketed for the IBM and compatibles, WGH was designed by
Wayne Gretsky hockey and other hockey professionals including several
players from the Washington Capitals. This game requires a great deal of
skill while it offers some exciting action and a few other features that I
will discuss later.
When you boot WGH, you are greeted with the a title screen and then
the Game Setup Menu. From the menu screen you can choose the mode of
control, either joystick or mouse, and other features including playing
speed, skill levels of both you and your opponent, period time length, and
also the type of play which is broken down as control player, play and
coach, coach only, and Wayne coaches. The type of play you chose depends
on what level of involvement you want. If you select 'control player' you
are only responsible for play on the ice. Any coaching decisions are made
automatically by the computer and is suggested for beginners. 'Play and
coach' will also give you complete control over line changes This mode
gives you the most control over the entire team and the game. If you
select 'coach only' from the set up menu, then you are only responsible
for strategic decisions including lines and line changes. And lastly, if
you select 'Wayne Coaches' you can sit back and just watch the game with
no involvement at all.
Next, on the Game Setup Menu, you can choose from 4 'Team Quality
Levels' including High School, College, Junior, and Pro. Your team will
play best at the 'pro' level while in 'high school' mode you will see some
poor hockey. You can set up the game so that you, the home team, play at
the pro level while your opponent, the visitor team, plays at the high
school level. It is nice to beat up on your opponent this way!
You can also select 'Game Type' from the Game Setup Menu. Four
choices are available including: Practice Game, Normal Game, and Playoff
Game. During 'practice game' you will have only three players on the ice
plus your goalie. Penalties will be called, but no one will be sent to
the penalty box. If you select 'Normal Game' action will be fast paced
and a sudden death over time period of 5 minutes will be played in case of
a tie. In addition, 'Playoff Game' will play like 'Normal Game' except in
sudden death you will play until there is a winner!
One of the finer features of the game is Fights. You have the option
to include or eliminate fights during play. Now, this feature is unique.
If you select fights, the probability of two players fighting is greatly
increased. You can provoke a fight by harassing a player, or the computer
will randomly instigate a fight between two computer controlled players.
When a fight occurs, the viewing screen on the gondola will display the
fight in life like animation. This is really a great feature of WGH since
fighting is a very real part of professional hockey and the graphics and
animation is well done. Though the documentation does not mention exactly
how many fight sequences are on the disk, you can purchase additional
fight diskettes from Bethesda Softworks if you get tired of seeing the
same fight sequences. You will have to see this in action to appreciate
it!!
Other features on the Game Setup Menu include cursor size for mouse
play, printer choice which directs printing to the serial or Parallel
ports, and color selection which allows you to change the colors of each
team.
One of the last features found on the Game Setup Menu is the 'Team
Editor' selection. Clicking on this selection brings up the 'Team
Construction Menu' where you can load a team from the data disk or create
your own team roster. You are given a nice selection of teams to start
with on the data diskette including the 1989 LA Kings, the 1988 Edmonton
Oilers, and the 1970 Boston Bruins to name a few. The team roster
includes a list of team players, their number, position, and a list of 11
individual player characteristics including aggression, quickness, power,
injury, skating, checking, and shooting. Each characteristic is assigned
a number from a 0 to 9 rating which allows you to influence a team's
playing style. If you assign each player's characteristic list all 9's,
you will have one powerful team. Conversely, if you want real life like
action, you can create a characteristic list that depicts a player's
actual hockey capabilities. For example, a player like Mario Lemieux
would have a rating of 8 and 9 for puck control, passing, and shooting,
while having a checking rating of 4 or 5. Players like Mark Messier would
have a high aggression, checking, and power rating, and possibly a lower
puck control and shooting rating. This 'Team Construction Menu' offers
the game a great deal of realism and flexibility. Once you create your
super team, you can save it to the diskette and recall it at a later time.
Also, this allows you to match up say the 1970 Bruins with the 1986
Canadians and sit back to enjoy the match in 'Wayne Coaches' mode!
Another fine feature of WGH is the statistics capabilities of the
game. The computer will track penalty stats, shots on goal, goals,
assists, and a lot of other vital numbers from the game of hockey and will
save them to diskette with the team roster. Theoretically, you can create
a roster for each team in the NHL and a schedule and play an entire NHL
season from the comfort of your home. The stats can also be printed to
the printer for a hard copy.
If that is not enough, how does all of this sound: Instant Replay,
Save and Review Game, Digitized Sound effects taken from actual ice sound,
Animated refs and Animated penalty calls, and overhead display showing all
action. The game has many fine features that makes it truly enjoyable.
Finally, a mention o
n the actual game play. WGH can be played with
either a mouse or joystick. In either mode, you decide which player you
will control by selecting the appropriate function key on the keyboard. F1
to control the Left Defenseman, F2 for the Left Winger, F3 for the Center,
F4 for the Right Winger and F5 for the Right Defenseman. While the game
defaults with control of the Center, you have the option to choose any
player on the ice except the goalie. In mouse mode, you move a special
cursor/pointer in the direction you want the player to move. The further
away the pointer is from the player, the faster he will skate in that
direction. Hold down the mouse button and move the cursor in the
direction you want to pass or shoot the puck. Sounds simple, right? Not
hardly. I have found that control with the joystick is much easier for me
since it is a bit difficult to watch your player, the other 10 players on
the ice AND the pointer at the same time. I prefer joystick mode, which
does not make use of this moving pointer. Instead, your player moves and
shoots the puck in the direction the joystick is pointing. Much easier. I
am also using a Gravis Mouse stick which is much easier on the wrist
compared to the old Atari Joystick that I have had since 1981. (yes, my
original joystick that I used with my 800 is still alive and well, but has
been demoted due to the emergence of the Gravis). In joystick mode, you
skate with the puck and while skating, you simultaneously push the button
and point the joystick in the direction that you want to shoot or pass and
when you release the button, the puck is sent.
Overall, Wayne Gretzky Hockey is a well developed piece of software
for the Atari ST. Some things that would make the game better include
more sound effects such as skating and possibly the sounds of a slap shot
or the puck hitting the goal posts. These would be nice additions adding
even more real life action. The documentation is at times thin and not
very explanatory. For instance, the documentation often refers to another
section in the manual only to cross reference back to the original
reference not ever really explaining the feature at all. The manual could
have been a bit more thorough and more time should have been taken
explaining the software instead of what Wayne Gretzky expects from a
hockey player or game. On a more personal note, and not taking away from
the talent of Wayne Gretzky, the package makes too many references to
Wayne Gretsky and his achievements. If you lived in Pittsburgh and have
watched Mario Lemieux in action, you will be the first to say that Wayne
Gretzky is not the best player in hockey. However, I thank him for his
involvement with Bethesda Softworks and for inspiring the company to
produce a fine quality hockey simulation.
_____________________________________________________
> CPU NEWSWIRE CONFIDENTIAL¿ Sayin' like it is ....
=========================
- Sarasota, FL. **** INTERSECT TO DROP MASTERLINK CONCEPT ****
-------------
In a recent conversation with Intersect, they have indicated that they
will not be pursuing the background downloading feature in future
releases of Masterlink, in fact, it is perceived that the best that can
expected is a superior upgrade to Interlink. The Interlink
Telecommunications Software is one of the best available in the ST arena
and has in the past years enjoyed greater support than the other popular
giant, Flash. We have this, unconfirmed, from a usually reliable source
that we can forget about seeing Flash 2.0, at least, for now. Most all
the developers cite the Lack of commitment on Atari's part for their
decisions.
- Pontiac, MI ****** MICHTRON READY FOR STE & PC SPEED ******
-----------
In their usual ongoing, excellent support of the ST userbase, MichTron
has announced that the emulator they market in the USA, PC SPEED is now
ready and fully compatible with the STE. The new STE PCSpeed units will
be here and ready for the planned April release of the STE to the US
market.
In another area, MichTron has made know a potential headache to folks
who think they are getting a bargain PC Speed, it seems a slick west coast
operator-distributor has made an overseas purchase of the units from a
grey market source. Folks, make sure the MichTron Logo is on the package
and that your receipt states "Michtron PC Speed" if the place you are
buying this device from cannot provide either, think twice. There will be
no support for un-registered owners. Send in your registration cards.
There are none in the non-MichTron packages.
- Sunnyvale, CA ***** NO APRIL FOOLS ....PLEASE! *****
-------------
The story line sounds all too familiar, "We will ship in April" Hmmm,
let's not forget what April is synonymous with; April fools and tax time.
Hopefully the STE will ship in April and the US market will have NEW LIFE
breathed into it.
The Atari Advantage... hmmmm Advantage, wasn't or isn't that a brand
of cigarettes, soap or a laundry detergent? Atari wants to call a
promotional package they will offer in April this name while the promotion
is a carbon copy of the European offering called "The Power Pack". Ah
yes, the name game. Strange tho', a highly successful promo in Europe and
they want to change it here.. duh! A single name heard 'round the world
makes for instant recognition. Or, at least it used to.
- Sunnyvale, CA ****** R.STRINGARI RESIGNS! ******
-------------
The president of the games division is gone..... after all, so is
this year's Winter CES. Now comes the "good" news; Atari is planning on
merging the Computer and games (entertainment) divisions into one unit
headed up by a new president, who brings with him excellent promotional
capabilities. But he has little or no experience in the computer field.
He was previously president of a beverage (sparkling water) company.
(sound familiar?) "Does YOUR vichy water taste funny?"
- Jacksonville, FL ***** AVANT-GARDE IGNORES LOCALS!!! *****
----------------
Sadness, anger, frustration, and lastly, revenge seem to be the order
of the day with the local supporters of Avant Garde in Jacksonville,
Florida, (PC-DITTO II). Its a very sad tale indeed. It began yesterday
when two customers, both carrying the wonderfully satisfying NEW PCDITTO
II botch job went to Avant Garde's address to try and get the new PALS
and/or some help. Well what we are about to tell you is indeed, hard to
take folks, but here it is.. in its stark reality. The first fellow
drove up and went to the door, after walking around the huge Mercedes
Benz, he knocked and while waiting, he could hear voices talking and
laughing upstairs. Thinking they didn't hear his knock, the fellow called
out to Bill Teal (he knows Bill personally and recognized his voice).
There was immediate silence and no further conversation, they never came
to the door, looked out or spoke another word.
The second approach was more of the same cold shoulder nonsense.
Folks, we were informed that the mailbox was already damaged, could that
have been done by other angry locals? The important thing here is why?
Why did they NOT answer the door? One may speculate many different
reasons. A gut feeling says; they simply didn't have the chips ready at
the time and did not want it known. Hopefully, when these folks go to the
door next week the response is more positive and customer satisfaction
oriented. To intentionally ignore paying customers is plain dumb.
After this occurred, the fellows decided to try MA BELL. This was
another wonderful learning experience on how to do business, win friends
and influence people, ...CONSTANT BUSY SIGNALS. They then called the
phone company and asked that they check the line and possibly do an
emergency interrupt. This is basically what they were told. "We are
sorry, but no-one is talking on the line, but we can hear voices in the
background. We will report this to service for you". Ah yes.. "the old,
off the hook routine"!
Perhaps the time has come for the users to let Avant-Garde know they
are truly unhappy and something must be done now. For example, send the
PALS to every customer out there that received the botched boards. After
all, lets make sure the PCD2 they own may be used from one machine to the
next. By saying, "if it works its ok, don't fix it", is not enough. You
should say, if it works in the machine you have it in now, doesn't mean it
will be ok in a different machine therefore, we are sending the chips to
all who have received boards from us. Also have you finally stopped
shipping the defective boards??? Or is this too, going to continue until
the cows come home? With the phones still off the hook!
_______________________________________________________________
> Hard Drive Info STReport InfoFile¿ Affordable Mass Storage
=================================
NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
============================
ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_____________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-
(you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
(all cables and connectors installed)
RUGGED, RELIABLE SEAGATE HARD DISK MECHANISMS
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
32mb #SG32238 519.00 42mb #SG44710 619.00
51mb #SGN4951 619.00 65mb #SG60101 679.00
80mb #SGN296 719.00 100mb #SG84011D 939.00
CALL FOR SAVINGS ON LARGER CUSTOM UNITS
============================================
:IMPORTANT NOTICE:
=============================
PRE-SEASON OFFER 02/10/90
=============================
ORDER YOUR HARD DRIVE NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT!
****** for $100.00 LESS! ******
That's right! A custom two for one sale.
Buy with a friend and save money!
CALL TODAY and ORDER YOURS!
--==*==--
shipping and insurance included
-offer good for a limited time only-
============================================
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB removable media drive - ICD ST Host Adapter
- ICD Mass Storage Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
Completely Assembled and READY TO RUN!
in a shoebox OR under monitor cabinet
ONLY $889.00
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED $1539.00
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $1279.00 30mb SQG38 $1199.00
65mb SQG09 $1339.00 85mb SQG96 $1399.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
***** COMING SOON! INSITE FLOPTICAL DRIVE *****
August-September, 1990
20 MB 3.5 FLOPPY DISK MASS STORAGE OPTICAL DRIVE!
uses standard 3.5" floppy disks and Floptical disks
Will access and read your present library of floppys
$789.95 approx.
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
*** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms ***
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> MAGIC SAC - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR
LARGER units are available - (special order only)
We would offer floppy drives.. but Computer Shopper has 'em at the right
price. And.. you can plug 'em right into our cabinets and power supplies.
Low-Boy OR Standard Case (designed with room for another 3.5 OR 5.25"
drive) They're made for user expansion! TRUE UPGRADE-ABILITY!
complete units only, no scaled down versions or refurbs offered
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOURS TODAY!
904-783-3319 9am - 8pm EDT
_______________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"¿
=================
"NEVER PLAY LEAPFROG WITH A UNICORN!!"
... A moment of truth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU/STR¿ "Your Independent News Source" February 16, 1990
16/32bit Magazine copyright ½ 1989 No.4.07
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, CPU NEWSWIRE¿ CPU/STR¿ or CPU Report¿. Reprint
permission is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. All reprints must
include CPU NEWSWIRE, CPU/STR or CPU Report and the author's name. All
information presented herein is believed correct, the editors and staff
are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained herein.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
