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March 08, 1991 No.7.10
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> 03/08/91: STReport¿ #7.10 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
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- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - MAC REPORT
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> The Editor's Podium¿
This week's issue is busy enough without me boring the readers with a
bunch of talk here. However, I must bring your attention to our new
feature column under the very capable guidance of Bob Allbritton, Mac-
Report. MCR for short, will explore the Mac world and its relationship
with the userbase in the ST arena. Be sure to check it out and let us
hear from you too!
The Atari world is on the rebound, new machines new software and
fabulous upgrades are all in the pipelines at this time. Show news is
rather heavy this week with news coming in from different areas of the
country. The shows are getting set to "entertain" you!
Reports are filtering in that over 180 TT030 machines have shipped
this past week and .... A BIG shipment of Mega STe units are about to
leave the factory on their way to the USA. Most distributors are now hard
pressed to keep 1040STe units stock. They are selling very well. The
Atari marketplace is definitely perking up. Pssst, don't tell anyone but
Pagestream 2.xxxx is lookin' real good! Coming soon to a DTP system near
you.
Thanks for your continued support!
Ralph......
STReport - TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!
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> STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
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Publisher - Editor
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Ralph F. Mariano
Staff Editors:
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Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Walter Daniel
Oscar Steele Robert Allbritton
Contributing Correspondants:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Ed Krimen
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (March 8)
NEW DEMO PROGRAM
An EXCELLENT STe 4096 color/stereo demo program from Sweden is available
in the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) LIBRARY 1 as ANCOOL.ARC.
CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
The transcript from the February 21st conference with Sam Tramiel is
available in last weeks issue of STReport. Download STR708.ARC from
LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) in case you missed it.
GRIBNIF AND LEXICOR JOIN VENDORS FORUM
Please, join us in welcoming GRIBNIF SOFTWARE and LEXICOR SOFTWARE to
the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN)! Message Section 8 and Library 8
will be used by GRIBNIF SOFTWARE. Messages to them should be addressed to
User ID number 75300,1131. Message Section 9 and Library 9 will be used
by LEXICOR SOFTWARE. Messages to them should be addressed to User ID
number 75300,763.
DOUBLE CLICK CONTEST
Double Click Software announces the start of their NAME THE SOFTWARE
CONTEST. Win a copy of their newest release! See the file CONTST.TXT in
LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN).
UPDATE FROM ICD
The latest version of ICD's Host Adapter software is now available in
LIBRARY 7 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN). See ICDHST.ARC for
the complete distribution disk.
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
***********************************************************************
> CPU REPORT¿
Issue #102
----------
by Michael Arthur
CPU INSIGHTS¿
============
THEORIES BEHIND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES IN COMPUTERS
======================================================
In 1988, Tim Oren wrote a series of articles called the "Professional
GEM" series, in order to teach aspiring ST GEM programmers needed tips on
the internals of writing GEM Applications. In this essay, Tim Oren has
provided a great source of knowledge about both the very ideas that GEM
and Mac Finder are based on, and information that could be very helpful in
designing User Interfaces for applications.
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC.
COPYRIGHT 1988
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
Professional GEM by Tim Oren
Column #8 - User Interfaces, Homily #1
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
In response to a number of requests, this installment of ST PRO GEM
will be devoted to examining a few of the principles of computer/human
interface design, or "religion" as some would have it. I'm going to
start with basic ergonomic laws, and try to draw some conclusions
which are fairly specific to designing for the ST. If this article
meets with general approval, further "homilies" may appear at
irregular intervals as part of the ST PRO GEM series.
For those who did NOT ask for this topic, it seems fair to explain
why your diet of hard-core technical information has been interrupted
by a sermon! As a motivater, we might consider why some programs are
said by reviewers to have a "hot" feel (and hence sell well!) while
others are "confusing" or "boring".
Alan Kay has said that "user interface is theatre". I think we may
be able to take it further, and suggest that a successful program
works a bit of magic, persuading the user to suspend his disbelief and
enter an imaginary world behind the screen, whether it is the
mathematical world of a spreadsheet, or the land of Pacman pursued by
ghosts.
A reader of a novel or science fiction story also suspends
disbelief to participate in the work. Bad grammar and clumsy plotting
by the author are jarring, and break down the illusion. Similarly, a
programmer who fails to pay attention to making his interface fast and
consistent will annoy the user, and distract him from whatever care
has been lavished on the functional core of the program.
CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE
Before launching into the discussion of user interface, I should
mention that the general treatment and many of the specific research
results are drawn from Card, Newell, and Moran's landmark book on the
topic, which is cited at the end of the article. Any errors in
interpretation and application to GEM and the ST are entirely my own,
however.
FINGERTIPS
We'll start right at the user's fingers with the basic equation
governing positioning of the mouse, Fitt's Law, which is given as
T = I * LOG2( D / S + .5)
where T is the amount of time to move to a target, D is the distance
of the target from the current position, and S is the size of the
target, stated in equivalent units. LOG2 is the base 2 (binary)
logarithm function, and I is a proportionality constant, about 100
milliseconds per bit, which corresponds to the human's "clock rate"
for making incremental movements.
We can squeeze an amazing amount of information out of this formula
when attempting to speed up an interface. Since motion time goes up
with distance, we should arrange the screen with the usual working
area near the center, so the mouse will have to move a smaller
distance on average from a selected object to a menu or panel.
Likewise, any items which are usually used together should be placed
together.
The most common operations will have the greater impact on speed,
so they should be closest to the working area and perhaps larger than
other icons or menu entries. If you want to have all other operations
take about the same time, then the targets farthest from the working
area should be larger, and those closer may be proportionately
smaller.
Consider also the implications for dialogs. Small check boxes are
out. Large buttons which are easy to hit are in. There should be
ample space between selectable items to allow for positioning error.
Dangerous options should be widely separated from common selections.
MUSCLES
Anyone who has used the ST Desktop for any period of time has
probably noticed that his fingers now know where to find the File
menu. This phenomenon is sometimes called "muscle memory", and its
rate of onset is given by the Power Law of Practice:
T(n) = T(1) * n ** (-a)
where T(n) is the time on the nth trial, T(1) is the time on the first
trial, and a is approximately 0.4. (I have appropriated ** from
Fortran as an exponentiation operator, since C lacks one.)
This first thing to note about the Power Law is that it only works
if a target stays in the same place! This should be a potent argument
against rearranging icons, menus, or dialogs without some explicit
request by the user. The time to hit a target which moves around
arbitrarily will always be T(1)!
In many cases, the Power Law will also work for sequences of
operations to even greater effect. If you are a touch typist, you can
observe this effect by comparing how fast you can enter "the" in
comparison to three random letters. We'll come back shortly to
consider what we can do to encourage this phenomenon.
EYES
Just as fingers are the way the user sends data to the computer, so
the eyes are his channel from the machine. The rate at which
information may be passed to the user is determined by the "cycle
time" of his visual processor. Experimental results show that this
time ranges between 50 and 200 milliseconds.
Events separated by 50 milliseconds or less are always perceived as
a single event. Those separated by more than 200 milliseconds are
always seen as separate. We can use these facts in optimizing user of
the computer's power when driving the interface.
Suppose your application's interface contains an icon which should
be inverted when the mouse passes over it. We now know that flipping
it within one twentieth of a second is necessary and sufficient.
Therefore, if a "first cut" at the program achieves this performance,
there is no need for further optimization, unless you want to
interleave other operations. If it falls short, it will be necessary
to do some assembly coding to achieve a smooth feel.
On the other hand, two actions which you want to appear distinct or
convey two different pieces of information must be separated by an
absolute minimum of a fifth of a second, even assuming that they
occur in an identical location on which the user's attention is
already focused.
We are able to influence the visual processing rate within the 50
to 200 millisecond range by changing the intensity of the stimulus
presented. This can be done with color, by flashing a target, or by
more subtle enhancements such as bold face type. For instance, most
people using GEM soon become accustomed to the "paper white"
background of most windows and dialogs. A dialog which uses a reverse
color scheme, white letters on black, is visually shocking in its
starkness, and will immediately draw the user's eyes.
It should be quickly added that stimulus enhancement will only work
when it unambiguously draws attention to the target. Three or four
blinking objects scattered around the screen are confusing, and worse
than no enhancement at all!
SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Both the information gathered by the eyes and movement commands on
their way to the hand pass through short-term memory (also called
working memory). The amount of information which can be held in
short-term memory at any one time is limited. You can demonstrate
this limit on yourself by attempting to type a sheet of random numbers
by looking back and forth from the numbers to the screen. If you are
like most people, you will be able to remember between five and nine
numbers at a time. So universal is this finding that it is sometimes
called "the magic number seven, plus or minus two".
This short-term capacity sets a limit on the number of choices
which the user can be expected to grasp at once. It suggests that the
number of independent choices in a menu, for instance, should be
around seven, and never exceed nine. If this limit is violated, then
the user will have to take several glances, with pauses to think, in
order to make a choice.
CHUNKING
The effective capacity of short-term memory can be increased when
several related items are mentally grouped as a "chunk". Humans
automatically adopt this strategy to save themselves time. For
instance, random numbers had to be used instead of text in the example
above, because people do not type their native language as individual
characters. Instead, they combine the letters into words and remember
these chunks instead. Put another way, the characters are no longer
considered as individual choices.
A well designed interface should promote the use of chunking as a
strategy by the user. One easy way is to gather together related
options in a single place. This is one reason that like commands are
grouped into a single menu which is hidden except for its title. If
all of the menu options were "in the open", the user would be
overwhelmed with dozens of alternatives at once. Instead, a "Show
Info" command, for instance, becomes two chunks: pick File menu, then
pick Show.
Sometimes the interface can accomplish the chunking for the user.
Consider the difference between a slider bar in a GEM program, and a
three digit entry field in a text mode application. Obviously, the
GEM user has fewer decisions to make in order to set the associated
variable.
THINK!
While we are puttering around trying to speed up the keyboard, the
mouse, and the screen, the user is actually trying to get some work
done. We need to back off now, and look at the ways of thinking, or
cognitive processes, that go into accomplishing the job.
The user's goal may be to enter and edit a letter, to retrieve
information from a database, or simply draw a picture, but it probably
has very little to do with programming. In fact, the Problem Space
Principle says that the task can be described as a set of states of
knowledge, a set of operators and associated constraints for changing
the states, and the knowledge to choose the appropriate operator,
which resides in the user's head.
Those with a background in systems theory can consider this as a
somewhat abstract, but straightforward, statement in terms of state
variables and operators. A programmer might compare the knowledge
states to the values of variables, the operators to arithmetic and
logic operations, the constraints to the rules of syntax, and the
user's knowledge to the algorithm embodied by a program.
ARE WE NOT MEN?
A rational person will try to attain his goals (get the job done)
by changing the state of his problem space from its initial state to
the goal state. The initial state, for instance, might be a blank
word processor screen. The desired final state is to have a completed
business letter on the screen.
The Rationality Principle says that the user's behavior in typing,
mousing, and so on, can be explained by considering the tasks required
to achieve the goal, the operators available to carry out the tasks,
and the limitations on the user's knowledge, observations, and
processing capacity. This sounds like the typical user of a computer
program must spend a good deal of time scratching his head and
wondering what to do next. In fact, one of Card and Moran's key
results is that this is NOT what takes place.
What happens, in fact, is that the trained user strikes a sort of
"modus vivendi" with his tool and adopts a set of repetitive, trained
behavior patterns as the best way to get the job done. He may go so
far as to ignore some functions of the program in order to set up a
reliable pattern. What we are looking for is a way of measuring and
predicting the "quality" of this trained behavior. Since using
computers is a human endeavor, we should consider not only the speed
with which the task is completed, but the degree of annoyance or
pleasure associated with the process.
Card and Moran constructed a series of behavioral models which they
called GOMS models, for Goals-Operators-Methods-Selection. These
models suggested that in the training process the user learned to
combine the basic operators in sequences (chunks!) which then became
methods for reaching the goals. Then these first level methods might
be combined again into second level methods, and so forth, as the
learning progressed.
The GOMS models were tested in a lengthy series of trials at Xerox
PARC using a variety of word processing software. (Among the subjects
of these experiments were the inventors of the windowing methods used
in GEM!) The results were again surprising: the level of detail in
the models was really unimportant!
It turned out to be sufficient to merely count up the number of
keystrokes, mouse movements, and thought intervals required by each
task. After summing up all of the tasks, any extra time for the
computer to respond, or the user to move his hands from keyboard to
mouse, or eyes from screen to printed page is added in. This
simplified version is called the Keystroke-Level Model.
As an example of the Keystroke Model, consider the task of changing
a mistyped letter on the screen of a GEM word processor. This might
be broken down as follows: 1) find the letter on the screen; 2) move
hand to mouse; 3) point to letter; 4) click mouse button; 5) move hand
to keyboard; 6) strike "Delete" key; 7) strike key for new character.
The sufficiency of the Keystroke Model is great news for our
attempt to design faster interfaces. It says we can concentrate our
efforts on minimizing the number of total actions to be taken, and
making sure that each action is as fast as possible. We have already
discussed some ways to speed up the mouse and keyboard actions, so
let's now consider how to speed up the thought intervals, and cut the
number of actions.
One way to cut down "think time" is to make sure that the capacity
of short-term memory is not exceeded during the course of a task. For
example, the fix-a-letter task described above required the user to
remember 1) his place in the overall job of typing the document; 2)
the task he is about to perform; 3) where the bad character appeared,
and 4) what the new character was. When this total of items creeps
toward seven, the user often loses his place and commits errors.
You can appreciate the ubiquity of this problem by considering how
many times you have made mistakes nesting parentheses, or had to go
back to count them, because too many things happened while typing the
line to remember the nesting levels. The moral is that operations with
long strings of operands should be avoided when designing an
interface.
The single most important factor in making an interface comfortable
to use is increasing its predictability, and decreasing the amount of
indecision present at each step during a task. There is (inevitably)
an Uncertainty Principle which relates the number of choices at each
step to the associated time for thought:
T = I * LOG2 ( N + 1)
where LOG2 is the binary logarithm function, N is the number of
equally probable choices, and I is a constant of approximately 140
msec/bit. When the alternates are not equally probable, the function
is more complex:
T = I * SUM-FOR-i-FROM-1-TO-N (P(i) * LOG2( 1 / P(i) + 1) )
where the P(i) are the probabilities of each of the choices (which
must sum to one). (SUM-FOR-i... is the best I can do for a sigma
operator on-line!) Those of you with some information theory
background will recognize this formula as the entropy of the decision;
we'll come back to that later.
So what can we learn from this hash? It turns out, as we might
expect, that we can decrease the decision time by making some of the
user's choices more probable than others. We do that by means of
feedback cues from the interface.
The important of reliable, continuous meaningful feedback cannot be
emphasized enough. It helps the beginner learn the system, and its
predictability makes the program comfortable for the expert. Programs
with no feedback, or unreliable cues, produce confusion, dissonance,
and frustration in the user.
This principle is so important that I going to give several
examples from common GEM practice. The Desktop provides several
instances. When an object is selected and a menu drops down, only
those choices which are legal for the object are in black. The others
are dimmed to grey, and are therefore removed from the decision. When
a pick is made from the menu, the bar entry remains black until the
operation is complete, reassuring the user that the correct choice was
made. In both the Desktop and the RCS, items which are double-clicked
open up with a "zoom box" from the object, again showing that the
right object was picked.
Other techniques are useful when operator icons are exposed on the
screen. When an object is picked, the legal operations might be
outlined, or the bad choices might be dimmed. If the screen flashing
produced by this is objectionable, the legal icons can be made mouse
sensitive, so they will "light up" when the cursor passes over - again
showing the user which choices are legal.
The desire for feedback is so strong that it should be provided
even while the computer is doing an operation on its own. The hour
glass mouse form is a primitive example of this. More sophisticated
are "progress indicators" such as animated thermometer bars, clocks,
or text displays of the processing steps. The ST Desktop provides
examples in the Format and Disk Copy functions. The purpose of all of
these is to reassure the user that the operation is progressing
normally. Their lack can lead to amusing spectacles such as
secretaries leaning over to hear if their disk drives are working!
Another commonly overlooked feature is error prevention and
correction. Card and Moran's results showed that in order to go
faster, people will tolerate error rates of up to 30% in their work.
Any program which does not give a fast way to fix mistakes will be
frustrating indeed!
The best way to cope with an error is to "make it didn't happen",
to quote a common child's phrase. The same feedback methods discussed
above are also effective in preventing the user from picking
inappropriate combinations of objects and operations. Replacement of
numeric type-ins with sliders or other visual controls eliminates the
common "Range Error". The use of radio buttons prevents the user from
picking incompatible options. When such techniques are used
consistently, the beginner also gains confidence that he may explore
the program without blundering into errors.
Once an error has occured, the best solution is to have an "inverse
operation" immediately available. For instance, the way to fix a bad
character is to hit the backspace key. If a line is inadvertantly
deleted, there should be a way to restore it.
Sometimes the mechanics of providing true inverses are impractical,
or end up cluttering the interface themselves. In these cases, a
global "Undo" command should be provided to reverse the effect of the
last operation, no matter what it was.
OF MODES AND BANDWIDTH
Now I am going to depart from the Card, Newell and Moran thread of
discussion to consider how we can minimize the number of operations in
a task by altering the modes of the interface. Although "no modes"
has been a watchword of Macintosh developers, the term may need
definition for Atarians.
Simply stated, a mode exists any time you cannot get to all of the
capabilities of the program without taking some intermediate step.
Familiar examples are old-style "menu-driven" programs, in which user
must make selections from a number of nested menus in order to perform
any operation. The options of any one menu are unavailable from the
others.
Recall that the user is trying to accomplish work in his own
problem space, by altering its states. A mode in the program adds
additional states to the problem space, which he is forced to consider
in order to get the job done. We might call an interface which is
completely modeless "transparent", because it adds no states between
the user and his work. One of the best examples of a transparent
program is the 15-puzzle in the Macintosh desk accessory set. The
problem space of rearranging the tiles is identical between the
program and a physical puzzle.
Unfortunately, most programmers find themselves forced to put modes
of some sort into their programs. These often arise due to
technological limitations, such as memory space, screen "real estate",
or performance limitations of peripherals. The question is how the
modes can be made least offensive.
I will make the general claim that the frustration which a mode
produces is directly proportional to the amount of the user's
bandwidth which it consumes. In other words, we need to consider how
many keystrokes, mouse clicks, eye movements, and so on, are going
into manipulating the true problem states, and how many are being
absorbed by the modes of the program. If the interface is wasting a
large amount of the user's effort, it will be perceived as slow and
annoying.
Here we can consider again the hierarchy of goals and methods which
the user employs. When the mode is low in the hierarchy, and close to
the user's "fingertips", it is encountered the most frequently. For
instance, consider how frustrating it would be to have to hit a
function key before typing in each character!
The "menu-driven" style of programs mentioned above are almost as
bad, since usually only one piece of information is collected at each
menu. Such a program becomes a labyrinth of states better suited to
an adventure game!
The least offensive modes are found at the higher, goal related
levels of the hierarchy. The better they align with changes in the
state of the original problem, the more they are tolerated. For
example, a word processing program might have one screen layout for
program editing, another for writing letters, and yet another while
printing the documents. A multi-function business package might have
one set of menus for the spreadsheet, another for a graphing module,
and a third for a database.
In some cases the problem solved by the program has convenient
"fracture lines" which can be used to define the modes. An example in
my own past is the RCS, where the editing of each type of resource
tree forms its own mode, with each of the modes nested within the
overall mode and problem of composing the entire resource tree.
TO DO IS TO BE!
Any narrative description of user interface is bound to be lacking.
There is no way text can convey the vibrancy and tactile pleasure of a
good interface, or the sullen boredom of a bad one. Therefore, I
encourage you to experiment. Get out your favorite arcade game and
see if you can spot some of the elements I have described. Dig into
your slush pile for the most annoying program you have ever seen, run
it and see if you can see mistakes. How would you fix them? Then...
go do it to your own program!
AMEN...
This concludes the sermon. I'd like some Feedback as to whether
you found this Boring Beyond Belief or Really Hot Stuff. If enough
people are interested, homily number two will appear a few episodes
from now. The very next installment of ST PRO GEM will go back to
basics to explore VDI drawing primitives. In the meantime, you might
investigate some of the Good Books on interface design referenced
below.
REFERENCES
Stuart K. Card, Thomas P. Moran, and Allen Newell, THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale,
New Jersey, 1983. (Fundamental and indispensible. The volume of
experimental results make it weighty. The Good Parts are at the
beginning and end.)
"Macintosh User Interface Guidelines", in INSIDE MACINTOSH, Apple
Computer, Inc., 1984. (Yes, Atarians, we have something to learn
here. Though not everything "translates", this is a fine piece of
principled design work. Read and appreciate.)
James D. Foley, Victor L. Wallace, and Peggy Chan, "The Human
Factors of Computer Graphics Interaction Techniques", IEEE Computer
Graphics (CG & A), November 1984, pp. 13-48. (A good overview,
including higher level topics which I have postponed to a later
article. Excellent bibliography.)
J. D. Foley and A. Van Dam, FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTER
GRAPHICS, Addison Wesley, 1984, Chapters 5 and 6. (If you can't get
the article above, read this. If you are designing graphics apps, buy
the whole book! Staggering bibliography.)
Ben Schneidermann, "Direct Manipulation: A Step Beyond
Programming Languages", IEEE Computer, August 1983, pp. 57-69. (What
do Pacman and Visicalc have in common? Schneidermann's analysis is
vital to creating hot interfaces.
______________________________________________________
> CPU STATUS REPORT¿ LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #11
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- Moscow, U.S.S.R. NEW SOVIET VIRUS PLAYS MUSIC
----------------
While playing the Soviet hymn, three Soviet IBM PC viruses are busy
destroying data on Russian hard drives. The three clones are thought to
have been coded by Soviet programmers and started to appear late last
year.
It appears that Russian programming talent is every bit as skilful at
creating destructive programs as Western programmers.
- Washington, D.C. SPA STRIKES AGAIN!
---------------
Last week the Software Publishers Association (SPA) reported a settle-
ment with Davy McKee Corp. concerning illegal use of software (CPU
Status Report #10), this week the SPA has announced a raid on Parametrix
Corp., an engineering consulting firm, that "unveiled a substantial
number of illegal copies of software in use."
After obtaining an exparte writ of seizure and a temporary restraining
order, on February 26, the SPA's attorneys, along with some federal
marshals paid a surprise visit to the Bellevue and Sumner locations of
Parametrix and conducted an audit of the personal computers at these
locations.
SPA Executive Director Ken Wasch said, "The raid on Parametrix is part
of the industry's stepped-up campaign against software piracy in
corporate America. The SPA now receives dozens of piracy reports each
week, and we are filing new lawsuits every few days."
- Los Altos, California ERASABLE OPTICAL STORAGE FOR SUNS
---------------------
A 562mb Ricoh RO-5030EII rewritable optical disk drive for Sun Work-
stations has been introduced by Delta Microsystems. The Delta SS-650M
features an average access time of 67 milliseconds, uses a 256k hardware
cache memory to speed data transfer and will come with software that
will prevent the disk from being removed while a file is still being
used on the system, a major cause of system crashes.
- Cupertino, California APPLE SUPPORTS SNA FOR MAC TO PC LINKS
---------------------
To allow the Macintosh to more easily communicate with PC's, Apple has
announced it will support IBM's new systems network architecture (SNA)
extensions. This means that future Mac systems will be able to link to
IBM SNA-compatible networks using SNA protocols using full protocol and
peer system technology.
- Fremont, California NEW "SUPERDRIVE" AVAILABLE FOR THE OLDER MACS
--------------------
Now owners of older Macs which did not come with Superdrives can have
the ability to handle 400k, 800k and 1.4mb Macintosh floppy disks along
with 720k and 1.4mb MS-DOS floppy disks with the new Peripheral Land
Inc. SuperFloppy 1.4MB external floppy drive.
The SuperFloppy drive requires no ROM upgrades, it just plugs straight
into the SCSI port. When the drive is used with Apple File Exchange,
MS-DOS formatted diskettes can be read and when used with Insignia
Solution's Access PC software, MS-DOS 720k and 1.4mb floppy disks can be
mounted on the desktop. The SuperFloppy 1.4 comes with a one year
warranty and is listed at $499.
- San Jose, California GRAPHIC ACCELERATOR AVAILABLE
--------------------
A two chip chipset, the Programmable Universal Macro Accelerator (PUMA),
which acts like a coprocessor and accelerates graphic intensive
operations, has been announced by Chips and Technologies. The company
reports a three to ten-fold increase in performance for complex graphics
and reported that PUMA is transparent to both the application software
and the rest of the system. PUMA was designed for both Industry
Standard Architecture and Enhanced Industry Standard bus standards.
- Eagan, Minnesota MORE POWERFUL CRAYS
----------------
Cray Research has introduced the two most powerful supercomputers that
have been built to date, the Y-MP8E and YMP8I. They integrate up to 8
central processors and have up to 256 megawords of central memory with
an optional solid-state storage device that can handle up to 2,000
million words. Prices will range from $9.8 - $23.7 million.
- Dallas, Texas NEW GATE ARRAY CHIP FROM TI
-------------
A new gate array chip with 150,000 gates has been announced by Texas
Instruments. The TGB1000 will be able to replace entire circuit boards
and uses the new BiCMOS (bi-polar complemented metal-oxide semi-
conductor) technology to achieve both high component densities as well
as high speeds.
- Redmond, Washington 6,000,000 MICE SOLD BY MICROSOFT
-------------------
Microsoft has announced the sale of its six millionth mouse. The sales
figures show that two million have been shipped since the introduction
of Windows 3 last May with almost half the buyers choosing to get a
Microsoft mouse along with Windows 3.
- Mountain View, California NEW TYPE SCALING FONTS FROM ADOBE
-------------------------
'Multiple master' typefaces has been introduced by Adobe System,
originators of the PostScript page description language. This new type
scaling technology is designed to give users greater control over the
appearance of text and will allow them to vary a typeface's appearance
instead of being forced to use a pre-set collection of fonts.
Instead of being able just to scale size, users will now be able to
adjust: weight (boldness or lightness), width (condensation or
expansion), scale (size), and style (including elements such as serifing
or italicizing).
- Mountain View, California ADOBE SETTLES PATENT SUIT
-------------------------
Adobe Systems, which owns PostScript, and Electronics for Imaging Inc.
(EFI) have settled a dispute over the way in which the latest version of
PostScript page description language handled color. Under the agreement
between Adobe and EFI, EFI will get a license to use PostScript, and
Adobe has made an investment of undisclosed size in EFI.
- Santa Ana, California 1ST SPEECH SYNTHESIS FOR WINDOWS 3
---------------------
One of the first text-to-speech systems for Windows 3 and OS/2 has been
announced by First Byte. Monologue will premier in beta test versions
in early March. Monologue is a $149 memory resident program that speaks
on-screen text in non-graphics windows either for vision-impaired users,
speech-impaired users, or those who want to listen to text while
performing other tasks.
- Stamford, Connecticut OVER 1/2 OF US HOUSEHOLDS DON'T
--------------------- USE PC, FAX OR CELLULAR PHONES
According to a survey of 45,000 U.S. households done by Comtec Market
Analysis Services of the Gartner Group, 52% of Americans haven't used a
PC, fax machine or cellular phone, either at home or at work. Only 3%
of households use all 3 technologies while cellular phones are in 7% and
42% use PCs.
***********************************************************************
: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.
-> NOW! GENIE STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <-
***********************************************************************
> MIST STR SHOW NEWS MIST Plans AtariFest III
==================
MIST PLANS ATARIFEST III
========================
Indianapolis, IN
July 27,1991
For a third year, an AtariFest is planned at Indianapolis, Indiana on
Saturday, July 27th, sponsored jointly by the user groups at Indianapolis
and Bloomington known as MIST (Mid-Indiana ST). The show was formerly
titled the MIST SwapFest, and took place in Nashville, Indiana. While
Nashville is a lovely and scenic place, we thought if our show was to live
up to it's true potential, we would have to relocate to Indianapolis,
where we could find a larger venue.
For swap, for sale or just for display... whether it's 8-bit or ST...
even game machines... all are invited to bring software, hardware, gadg-
ets, accessories, books, magazines, etc. Commercial sales and displays
also are invited. Past shows have seen folks like D.A.Brumleve, SKWare
One, AIM, MS Designs, Computer Works, Cal Com, One Stop, T&H, and others.
Last year's show was quite successful, and this year looks like it'll be
even better! We have tentatively lined up ISD, who will be demoing Dyna-
Cadd and Calamus. There are others in the works, so stay tuned!
MIST AtariFest III will be held at CADRE, Inc. on the north side of
Indianapolis. The address is: 6385 Castleplace Drive, Indianapolis, In.
46250-1902. There will be specific directions in a later posting. Admis-
sion to the 'Fest will be $3.00, and will include a raffle ticket. We
will be raffling hardware from Atari Corp, and software from attending
vendors and developers. Additional raffle tickets will be available for
purchase.
Anyone interested in attending or reserving vendor/developer tables should
contact me by one of the below methods:
For more information, leave mail on GEnie to W.LORING1, or:
Call:
BL.A.ST BBS at 812-332-0573 2400bps, 24 hours.
Write:
BL.A.ST
PO Box 1111
Bloomington, IN. 47402
Call me by voice at 812-336-8103
Vendor packets are in the works, and should be ready to send shortly.
More details will be available at that time.
Brought to you by MIST (Mid-Indiana ST), the merging of the ASCII (Atari
St Computers In Indianapolis) and BL.A.ST (BLoomington Atari ST) user
groups.
Thanks for your interest, and we'll see you at the 'Fest!!
Sincerely,
William Loring, President of BL.A.ST
__________________________________________________________
> The Flip Side STR Feature¿ "..A different viewpoint."
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
From JB. Davis (Dream Park) on Genie...
Cartographer version 2.5 is shipping! We have sent out a mailing to
registered users, and the response has been great!
NEW POWERDRIVE SOFTWARE!!!
We are in the process of sending out update notices to registered
PowerDrive user of the newest version of the PowerUtilities! If you
haven't sent in your registration card, please do. The new
utilities include some amazing features, like automatic floppy disk
virus protection, ability to backup high density disks, and
improved configuration abilities.
----------------
There have been some recent questions concerning which TOS version is
currently being shipped in the STe's and what is the difference between
TOS 1.6 and 1.62....
Comments (compiled) from Bob Brodie (Manager for User Group Services for
Atari) on Genie...
...TOS 1.62 has all of the fixes that the file STE_FIX.PRG has it it.
There is no difference between the two systems once that file has
been run. Programs like Quick Index will not report the TOS version
number to be anything other than TOS 1.6...So don't rely on programs
like that to determine which version of TOS is in the machine.
...the patch program was utilitzed as a cost effective way to get rid
of a bug. Rather than recall all of the STE's, and delay the users
getting their hands on this very nice computer we elected to issue a
patch program which has gotten wide spread distribution. It only
takes a second to run, and takes very little disk space. Once the
program has been run, your free to change disks as you desire to. The
computer will function as if it has the lastest version of STE TOS in
it.
There are NO PLANS for a TOS 3.x upgrade to the STE owners.
Primarily, that is because the rom is physically larger than the one
in the STE. BTW, the TT is shipping with TOS 3.01, not 3.00.
Answer from John Townsend (Atari engineer) on Genie...
...let me give you an official statement:
TOS 1.62 DOESN'T REQUIRE ANY PATCH PROGRAMS AND HAS ALL OF THE
PROBLEMS IN TOS 1.6 FIXED IN ROM...TOS 1.6 HAS SEVERAL PROBLEMS THAT
ARE FIXED BY THE STE_FIX PATCH PROGRAM AND THE POOLFIX3 PATCH
PROGRAM.
Atari has no plans to offer an upgrade to TOS 1.62 and I do not know
what version of TOS is shipping with STE machines.
Answer from Doug Wheeler (ICD) on Genie...
The reason that many programs return the TOS version number
incorrectly is that Atari changed their numbering system starting
with TOS 1.62. The current versions are numbered as follows (the
$xxxx number is the hexidecimal value stored in the TOS header):
1.0 = $0100 1.2 = $0102 1.4 = $0104 1.6 = $0106
1.62= $0162 2.05= $0205 3.01= $0301
As you can see, the digits shifted to the left starting with TOS 1.62
which confuses some software.
----------------
From Nathan (ISD) on Genie...
I fully intend on having Publish! take a serious look at Calamus SL
if it means I camp on their doorstep with a TT under my arm. I'm
hoping it doesn't reach that point though. Publish! says their
readers are not interested in a program on the Atari...If every one
of you write into Publish expressing interest in their opinion of
Calamus, it will certainly make it easier on us. What disgusts me is
the fact that if they look at it, they will be impressed.
----------------
Question from mike Angier from the SoftLogic RT on Genie...
Does anyone know of a utility (other than Calamus Outline) that will
generate text around a curve in a form usable by the ST v1.82 Page-
Stream? It gets to be quite tiresome to do this letter by letter,
rotating, slanting and twisting until it looks 'acceptable'.
Answer from John (D.D.Martin)...
Don't hold your breath on curved text from ANY version of PageStream.
I got that info straight from Jack Durre' who had "discussed" the
possibility with Deron...Curved text was the start of one reason Dee
Dee and I went with a GCR and Freehand. It would be nice, but where
do you stop? We still have the best there is on ANY platform.
Answer from David B. (D-W-B)...
If you want to lay text around a curve the answer is...drum roll
Spectre GCR and Freehand or Illustrator. Really, putting together the
Mac and the ST give us all a _great_ DTP system that can't be beat!
----------------
From Mark Reardon on Genie...
Just picked up MiG-29 by Domark. It claims to be the first flight
simulator to fully replicate the MiG-29 Fulcrum. Initial impressions:
not as detailed as F-19 or Falcon but interesting.
----------------
Dave Nutkins (HISOFT on-line rep) discussing the different versions of
HiSoft Basic, the reason for them and how to order. From the Michtron
RoundTable on Genie...
...about the confusion regarding the different versions of HiSoft
BASIC for the ST. There are essentially two versions, the 'full'
version and the 'cut-down' version. Michtron's full version was
called HiSoft BASIC Pro. and the cut-down was just HiSoft BASIC.
The original U.K. versions, which are the ones that Goldleaf will be
selling, are called HiSoft BASIC (for the full version) and Power
BASIC (for the cut down one)...If you want the most powerful, most
compatible version then you want the latest U.K. HiSoft BASIC. It is
version 1.31. Goldleaf should be able to offer upgrades to users of
the Michtron version in the future but I'm not sure when.
When the HiSoft BASIC 2 comes out we are going to get rid of all the
different names and just have one version.
----------------
Questions about DPaint from Dan Rhea (Sysop) on CIS...
...I'm looking forward to seeing some of the things I've done in
640x480 256 color on the PC displayed on a TT. I have long been a fan
of DPaint on the PC so I'll have very high expectations for the ST
version...Do you know if DPaint for the ST will cover all the new
video modes introduced with the STe and the TT? Last I heard was that
it was Low rez ST only.
Answer from Anthony Pabon (ArtisTech Development)...
Dan, I'm one of the authors of DPaint ST. It's better than the PC and
Amiga version in several ways. At the moment, it's best compared with
Deluxe Animate on the PC, since it is 320 * 200 * 16 with animation.
The decision to have a TT version of "DPaint" is up to Electronic
Arts however. Any help we could get from "users" in convincing EA
that it is a worth while project would be great. (Read that to mean,
"tell them, no need to tell us".) If you use the 16 color low rez
mode at all on your ST, please look into DPaint ST. I think you'll
find it has much to offer the ST...The IBM version of DPaint comes
with a conversion utility that can be used to change .LBM files into
.IFF files and DPaint ST will load .IFF files just fine. Remember
however, that DPaint ST only shows 16 colors, so you will want to
save any .LBM pics as 16 color pictures.
PS: DPaint ST was voted "Best Application" and "Best Art/Graphic
Package" by the readers of ST Format Magazine.
----------------
Posts concerning version numbers and upgrades of Migraph's Touchup
program from the SoftLogic RT on Genie...
From R.MONFORT...
...called Migraph about it and they gave me the prices. $20.00 for
the Upgrade, $5.00 for shipping and send your [original] disks.
Please call Migraph before you send for it and ask them what are the
changes in the program I do not want go give you wrong information. I
also asked about the New Easy-Draw and I got "We are working on it."
From Scott Lapham...
Forget version 1.6 guys. 1.65 is now available. I was talking to
MiGraph today and they said 1.65 is now shipping although 1.6 is only
a month old. Same upgrade price ($25.00 plus original disk). Upgrade
is TT compatible and grayscales (soon to be used on PageStream and
Calamus).
----------------
There seem to be some problems with the new ink used in the DeskJets and
some brands of paper. The following are some posts discussing this from
the SoftLogic RT on Genie..
From Tom Coyan...
It just seemed that the new ink wants to absorb into the paper more.
I just ran the same page through with Laser Print, and regular
bond...The copy machine paper turned out noticeably better. Whereas
the ink tends to absorb into the bond paper, it "spreads" over the
glossier surface of the Laser Print. I've tried this both on a
DeskJet and DeskJet Plus...Perhaps I'll give Hewlett Packard a call,
and see what they recommend...
re: Deskjet paper type: I called Hewlett-Packard customer support
yesterday about the paper problems. The gentleman I spoke with said
many people had called, noticing a difference with the new
cartridges. According to him, H-P has tested all kinds of different
papers, and has come up with the following recommendations:
For General Use:
Xerox - 4024
Champion - Data Copy
Meade - Chief Zero (0?) Graphic
For High-Quality Output
Gilbert Paper - Gilbert Bond
Neenah - Classic Laid
Unfortunately, I've never seen any of these in my local supply store.
Guess I'll start hunting through catalogs...
----------------
Question from Chris Herborth on Genie...
...where are the horror genre games? We've got loads of fantasy and
sci-fi games for the ST, and so, naturally, I want horror games...So,
anybody heard of/played some? What are they called, and what are they
like?
Answer from Rick Gridley...
The Uninvited was one. You may still find it at some software store.
There are a number of arcade wrist twitchers in this field as well.
Answer from Jeff.W (Sysop) on Genie...
A very new release for the Atari ST is ELVIRA from Accolade. If one
is to believe the copy on the box, it features "blood-curdling"
graphics... An oldie-moldie...is Infocom's THE LURKING HORROR.
Although it's entirely a text adventure, I found it to be very
spooky.
----------------
From Fred Beckman (Sysop) on Genie...
My daughter's TCB Tracker just arrived two days ago (a late birthday
present) and she is happily make music like crazy...if my 11 year old
can hack away without too many troubles (the manual is wrong in a
place in particular, saving a file is different than it says) it
can't be to hard. Then again she is so happy to be making music with
no sweat that you probably could have the worse interface in the
world and she would not care!
The sound is ok though the monitor speaker but GREAT though big
speakers on the stereo. Now to get an STE so she can play music in
stereo...She also got all the music disks and those will take a month
to play through. Lots ideas for her to check out....
From O.STEELE on Genie...
...TCB Tracker...doesn't compare to Music Studio. Although it doesn't
have the graphic musical scales, it is much more of a real-life music
studio creation program. If you have the right samples, you can make
music that sounds professionally made (right down to lyrics
digitized).
...TCB's user interface is great. Point and click, as well as
keyboard alternatives, are implemented.
----------------
From Mark Carver (Joppa Software Development) on Genie...
A clock/calendar chip will be available for the STe just as soon as
we finish writing the installation documentation. We have installed
them in our own STe's and if your local to the DC/Baltimore area call
us, you can get one right away. The installation takes all of 5-10
minutes. Other than that they should be in dealers hands very
shortly.
----------------
From MUSE on Genie...
Just saw an television commercial for Fujitsu in which an Atari MEGA
ST was featured. The ST was hooked up to synthesizers and other MIDI
stuff. It turned out to be an ad for one of their FAX machines. Ah,
media exposure!
----------------
From Mike Squire on Genie...
...a new release of Codekeys (v1.3?) is imminent and an update to
Codehead Utilities is projected for next month (mainly changes in
CodeRam, CodeCopy, and possibly Art Gallery). Upgrade fee for the new
CodeKeys is $10, like HotWire and MaxiFile, and there will be no
optional new manual available for this upgrade.
----------------
From Dave Beckemeyer (Beckemeyer Development) on Genie...
My company, Beckemeyer Development, markets business software,
including Point-of-Sale, Inventory, A/P, A/R, Sales Analysis, and
General Ledger for the Atari ST, as well a IBM-PC and Unix systems.
We even support multi-user configurations for the Atari ST. This
software has been in use by many different types of companies since
1986.
Contact:
Beckemeyer Development
PO Box 21575
Oakland, CA 94620
(415) 530-9637
----------------
Until next week.....
_______________________________________________________
> MEGA STe ! STR Review¿ In Depth-Review of Atari Excellence - Mega STe!
=====================
ATARI'S MEGASTE -- INSIDE AND OUT
=================================
by Bill & Pattie Rayl
Reprint from 03/91 Atari Interface Magazine
with permission
Atari surprised developers and users by showing a new 1
6MHz computer
called the Mega/STE at last November's COMDEX. There had been plenty of
rumors of such a new beastie before its release, but everyone online from
Atari emphatically denied its existence. Then came the unveiling in Las
Vegas.
We've now had our hands on a Mega/STe for a number of months. Ship-
ments of Atari's newest computer are already reaching dealers, so look for
it at your local dealer.
HARDWARE
The Mega/STE comes in two basic configurations: a one Meg version with
no hard drive (according to Atari Canada) and a two or four Meg version
with hard drive (according to Atari US). List price for the four Meg
version (which we have) is around $1,800.
For that price, you get:
16 MHz 68000 CPU 50 Meg internal hard drive
Detachable keyboard Built-in fan
Mouse Standard parallel port
Blitter chip MIDI In and Out ports
4096 color palette Cartridge port
Stereo sound output DMA port
SIMM memory Two 9-pin serial (RS-232) ports
TOS 2.02 with NewDesk 8 MHz VME bus
Double sided 3.5" floppy drive Standard SCC LAN port
All in all, that's quite an impressive list of hardware. And, the
Mega/STE is quite an impressive machine. Basically, it's a marriage of the
STe, Mega ST and TT in one affordable package. Gone are the STe's two
DB-15 joystick ports and the Mega's internal bus (developers overwhelming-
ly voted for a VME bus instead). Otherwise, the Mega/STE has everything
the ST and STe computers had and more.
All of this hardware is enclosed in the new TT-style case, which has
been "affectionately" called the "wedding cake" design. Personally, we
find the case design to be quite compact, sleek and refreshing.
A CLOSER LOOK
One of the surprises of this machine, at least for us, was the two
serial ports on the Mega/STE. We did not expect them to be 9-pin male
connections, since previous STs and STEs have all had 25-pin connections.
The TT also has two 9-pin serial cables. A simple standard 9-pin to
25-pin adapter is all you need to plug in your old cable and modem.
The Mega/STE is more like its big brother, the TT, in other ways too.
The SCC LAN port and VME bus also appear on the TT, and the TT also has
the NewDesk built in. (More on NewDesk later!) In fact, it's probably as
correct to say the Mega/STE is a 68000 version of the TT as to call it a
souped up STe!
The detachable keyboard is, in a word, fantastic. It's the best
keyboard we've seen for *any* computer both in response and feel. The
function keys are raised, rounded keys that are easily distinguishable
from each other by touch. The keyboard itself is "scouped," making long
periods of typing effortless! As an added bonus, the 'F' and 'J' keys
have a raised bump on them, so your fingers can easily find the home row
if you're a touch typist. The '5' key on the keypad also has a raised
bump on it. The action of the keys themselves is very good and the con-
tact is solid.
Many people have wondered about the "pencil tray" on the front of the
Mega/STE's (and TT's) CPU. This is really a depression that has a cor-
responding ridge on the bottom of the keyboard. By fitting these toget-
her, you can make your CPU and keyboard one unit. (Note: The keyboard
does not snap into this depression; it merely rests in it.) The keyboard
also has a slight depression just above the function keys. This area may
be used to hold pencils and pens, but is more likely designed to accent
the scouping effect of the whole keyboard.
The mouse/joystick port 0 is on the right-hand side of the detachable
keyboard, while joystick port 1 appears on the left-hand side. Because of
this, both ports are easily accessible.
NEWDESK
The most striking new feature of the Mega/STE, from a user's standpoi-
nt, is the new desktop that comes built into the computer. The additional
features that have been added to the desktop are numerous.
Up to seven directory windows can be open at one time. This is not
really very important now that Atari has added some very useful keyboard
commands to the desktop. Holding down the Alternate key while pressing
the key indicating a drive letter (such as 'A' or 'C') opens a directory
window.
Clicking on a folder icon while holding down the Alternate key causes
a new directory window to open that displays the folder's contents. This
is handy for times when you want to copy files from a folder to its parent
directory.
Pressing Control and a drive letter (such as Control-C) will cause a
currently-selected directory window to switch to displaying the new
directory. With this feature, we've found that, at most, only two direc-
tory windows need be open at any given time.
You can use the cursor keys to scroll around directory windows! All
options appearing in the drop down menus can have user-defined keyboard
equivalents as well. We've re-defined many of the items to suit our own
likes, like 'F' for Format Floppy, 'C' for Create Folder, etc.
Function keys can be assigned to individual programs. By pressing a
function key at the desktop, the corresponding program is executed.
Along with the ability to "move" files using the Alternate key while
dragging them, Atari has added two related commands. Copying files while
holding down the Control key allows you to rename the copy. Holding both
Alternate and Control while copying does a file move and rename
simultaneously.
There are even keyboard commands for switching resolution and printing
the contents of a selected directory window!
ICONS
Although not as icon-customizable as NeoDesk or DC Desktop, Atari's
new desktop does have a number of icons from which to choose. The largest
selection is for devices, such as floppy or hard drives, CD ROM, laser
printer, etc. You can, however, use any of these icons as file icons.
You can now place any icon directly on the desktop. For example, you
can drag a folder icon onto to the desktop and open a directory window for
that folder by double clicking the icon. This feature is most useful for
placing program icons on the desktop. Then, you simply double click these
icons to execute the programs.
To remove an icon from the desktop, you simply drag it to the trash-
can. You are presented with the choice of removing the icon, deleting the
corresponding file or aborting the operation.
COLOR BACKGROUNDS AND WINDOWS
You can now set the desktop background color and pattern from the Set
Colors & Style option. You are only offered eight fill patterns, but
those are adequate. This option also allows you to set color and pattern
for window backgrounds, as well.
Here, it seems Atari could have gone a little bit further. It would
have been nice, for example, to allow setting the text color as well. Then
users could choose black backgrounds with white text, etc. If you define
your window background as full black currently, all the text in the window
disappears.
EXTENSIBLE CONTROL PANEL
Finally, we have a control panel that everyone should be happy with.
With the new Extensible Control Panel, you select only those .CPX files
that you want to use. You even get the option of making these files RAM
resident or loadable from disk. No more memory waste!
The CPX modules that came with our Mega/STE include Color Setup,
Configure CPXs, General Setup, Accelerator (Atari's Mouse Accelerator
needed), Modem Setup, Printer Setup, Sound Setup and Window Colors. A
module for FSM GDOS is apparently also available.
The Window Colors CPX allows you to change the color of all pieces of
a window, from the scroll bars to the close buttons. Sound Setup allows
you to set bass, treble, volume and balance for the Mega/STE's stereo
sound output.
The General Setup CPX contains, among the usual control panel options,
the ability to set the CPU Speed. The options are 16 MHz with or without
cache and 8 MHz without cache. The true 8 MHz mode makes the Mega/STE
compatible with any time-critical programs for the ST. By default, the
Mega/STE boots up in 8 MHz mode, but you can change this by saving the
control panel settings.
With the new Extensible Control Panel, you are given the option of
storing the CPX files anywhere you choose. We have them in a folder
called CPX on drive C. Normal (.ACC) desk accessories can still be used by
the computer, but they cannot be loaded as Extensible Control Panel modul-
es.
This new control panel is compatible with all ST/STe/TT computers and
Atari says they plan to release it soon to all it's users via the online
services.
COMPATIBILITY
For those of you who crave 16 MHz benchmarks, Quick Index numbers show
the Mega/STE to be exactly as fast as an AdSpeed-equipped STe. From a
practical viewpoint, the Mega/STE runs circles around the older machines.
Users of DTP and CAD packages will benefit greatly from the increased
speed. The time it takes to ARC files is nearly cut in half!
So far, most everything runs just fine on the Mega/STE. PageStream
shows a noticeable speed improvement at 16 MHz. STWriter saves ASCII text
a lot faster than it used to. SuperBase and LDW Power are faster at cal-
culations and searches.
We tested a number of games. Iron Lord works fine and was considerab-
ly faster. The real killer, though, was Pinball Wizard. Even at the
slowest speed setting within the program, the ball was cruising so fast
you could hardly keep up with it! Switching to 8 MHz mode made the game
playable again.
Joppa FAX seems to have a problem with the new serial ports. It func-
tions fine as a modem on port 1, but has problems sending FAXes. Plugging
the FAX modem into port 2 solves the problem. Joppa is aware of this
problem (it seems to happen on the TT, too).
Hotwire runs, but doesn't work properly when booted from the AUTO
folder -- you can't access it via clicking the right mouse button. The
CodeHeads have already announced an upgrade (Hotwire 3.0), which is ship-
ping now.
We've run into a few public domain and shareware programs that don't
run on the Mega/STE. Most of these are graphic demos or games that won't
run on the STe, either. The recently released MIDI Maze II from Germany
works on a normal STe, but locks up after a few minutes of play on the
Mega/STE, whether in 16 MHz or 8 MHz modes. (MIDI Maze II also seems to
lock up on an AdSpeed-equipped ST in all modes as well.)
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Mega/STE is, in our opinion, the overall best computer for the
home and small business user that Atari has ever produced. With proper
marketing, this machine could win hands-down against the Mac Classic and
IBM PS1. Atari has once again moved into the position of having "Power
without the Price."
For Subscription information please call:
Unicorn Publications
3487 Braeburn Circle
Ann Arbor, MI 48108,
Phone: (313) 973-8825 voice
or
(313) 973-9137 BBS
_____________________________________________________________
> GLENDALE! STR SHOW NEWS¿ SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATARI COMPUTER FAIRE
=======================
GLENDALE ATARI SHOW PRESS RELEASE
=================================
3/7/91
------
The Southern California ATARI Computer Faire, Version 5.0, also known
as THE GLENDALE SHOW has been confirmed for September 14 and 15, 1991. We
are proud to announce that, as with all of our prior Faires, ATARI has
offered both its attendance in force and its complete support.
This is the Premiere West Coast Faire. The Glendale Show, the first
joint ATARI-User Group sponsored show in the nation, featured the largest
array of Atari vendors ever formed at a domestic consumer show last year.
You can expect this year's show to again be the largest exhibition of
Developers, Dealers and Retailers under one roof. You'll able to meet the
people behind the software, talk to the Atari officials you normally just
read about, and see and buy the widest variety of Atari goods ever as-
sembled in the USA.
We also will offer more of our popular seminars, which last year
featured standing-room-only talks by Leonard Tramiel, Bob Brodie, Dave
Small, and many other Atari personalities.
Make your vacation and travel plans now to come to the Los Angeles
area this September, and be here for the GLENDALE SHOW, September 14 and
15, 1991.
Please address EXHIBITOR questions to:
H.A.C.K.S.
249 N. Brand Bl. #321
Glendale, CA 91203
or call:
John King Tarpinian
Faire Chairperson
818-246-7286
_________________________________________________________
> MAC REPORT¿
==========
Issue #001
----------
by Robert Allbritton
Welcome to MAC REPORT! This is a new, weekly column in STReport that
will keep you thoroughly informed with up to date news and reviews rel-
ative to the Macintosh community and how it effects or compliments the ST,
Mac, and Mac emulator users alike.
Before getting started, please allow me to introduce myself. My name
is Rob Allbritton and I am a Junior at Wesleyan University in Middletown,
CT. (although my hometown is Washington, DC). I have been involved with
Atari computers since 1983 with 8-bits and I served on the Atari Youth
advisory board in 1986. I ran the Aladdin's Lamp BBS from 1984 to 1990,
and was involved with the development of a few ST products such as the
Lantech LAN and the MultiByte battery cases for Stacy. While, at this
time, my interests are more Macintosh related, I still own and use an
Atari ST Mega 4 and Spectre GCR.
MCR Systems Roundup¿
===================
APPLE SETS RELEASE DATE OF MAY 13 FOR SYSTEM 7.0
================================================
After two long years of anticipation, Apple is finally ready to un-
leash System 7 at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose,
CA. End users will be able to buy their copy at their local Apple dealer
starting May 13, 1991. While a price has not yet been set, it is expected
that the suggested retail will be between $50 and $95, including documen-
tation and 800K disks. Additionally, Apple will be providing 90 days of
free, unlimited technical support. Apple has been on recruiting missions
to several Bay Area universities in order to staff this endeavor.
Gadgets by Small has not made an official announcement regarding
Spectre compatibility with System 7, but Doug Wheeler (former Gadgets
employee) said in October at the WAACE AtariFest that Gadgets was not
working on System 7 compatibility at that time because System 7 was "slow
and not stable"; however, several Apple developers have had System 7 for
quite a while now. The current Beta release seems "as stable as System
6.0.7" and much quicker than earlier releases. It is important to note
that Gadgets is not an official Macintosh developer and therefore does not
have official access to System 7 beta releases. In a departure from
previous policy of releasing new System upgrades on national services,
System 7 will *NOT* be available for download from CompuServe or GEnie. A
complete review of System 7 will be forthcoming in STReport's MAC REPORT.
MACINTOSH IICI & SE/30 PRICE CUTS
---------------------------------
So far, the '90s have been the decade of falling prices at Apple. Here
are the latest price revisions effective March 11:
NOW 03/11/91
-------------------------
IIci 4Mb RAM $5,969 $5,269
Discontinued IIci 5Mb RAM Not Available
SE/30 1Mb RAM/40Mb Hard Drive $4,369 $3,369
SE/30 4Mb RAM/80Mb Hard Drive $5,569 $4,569
MEGATALK TO SHIP APRIL 1
------------------------
According to Barb at Gadgets, MegaTalk (the AppleTalk & SCSI interface
for Spectre) will be shipping on April 1. It will also include the re-
quired software to use it (presumably Spectre 3.0). Originally Dave Small
said MegaTalk was like a baby and thus bringing it to market would take
about 9 months. I now assume Dave was talking about a baby elephant be-
cause that was over a year ago.
> MCR Confidential¿ MAC INDUSTRY NEWS
================
- Cupertino, CA 68040 "TOWER" MAC COMING THIS FALL
Cupertino has been a buzz for several months now regarding the intr-
oduction of a 25 Mhz 68040 Mac to compete with the new NeXTStations.
While all of the details on the new machine are not known, a fairly relia-
ble picture of its capabilities is now coming into focus.
The "Tower" will be the first floor-standing computer and the first
68040 based Mac that Apple has ever made. While some have compared the
68040 to a 68030 with a math co-processor built into it, the 68040 is
really much more. It uses RISC technology along with larger on chip data
and instruction caches to achieve a 3:1 advantage over a 68030 running at
the same speed.
Well informed sources have claimed that the "Tower" will have 16 SIMM
slots allowing up to 64 Mb of RAM by using 4 Mb SIMMs. EtherNet will be
built into the motherboard in addition to the standard AppleTalk port,
however these two ports can be bridged by a special network co-processor
that will have DMA and be able to automatically route between EtherNet and
LocalTalk in the background. Supported protocols will be TCP/IP, DECnet,
and XNS (Xerox Networking Services). There will be 5 NuBus slots and a
600 watt power supply to back it up. New ROMs will allow the NuBus to
operate at 20 Mhz, which is twice as fast as the current Macintosh II
line. For mass storage, there will be two separate SCSI systems, one for
up to 7 external devices, and a second for up to 7 internal devices. The
"Tower" will also have four internal hard drive bays.
Sadly lacking on the "Tower" is a basic feature common to all STs:
SCSI DMA. Yup, after building the SCSI DMA hardware for the IIfx (and
then not implementing it in software) Apple seems to have dropped the idea
in favor of network DMA. The "Tower" is also painfully shy on serial
ports with only 2 of them. This is a big problem as many Mac peripherals
including the MacRecorder voice digitizer, MIDI interfaces, modems, local
printers, and the AppleTalk network all use the serial ports.
Given the power of this new Mac (said to be twice as fast as the
current top of the line Mac IIfx) it is interesting to note that Apple
plans to market it as a high end UNIX workstation, and seems to be dis-
couraging its possible use as a fast server. There are also rumors that
the "Tower" will be given a special name to distinguish it from the remai-
nder of the Macintosh line (possibly the Macintosh III) and that the
"Tower" might be offered in two configurations. The "Mini Tower" would
have all of the capabilities of its taller brother, except it would have
only two hard drive bays and one NuBus slot. Base price of the "Tower" is
expected to be under $10,000 with 4Mb of RAM and a 80Mb hard drive.
Processing power of the "Tower" seems to be on-par with its intended
competition from NeXT, HP, Sun, and IBM but the price is out of line. The
NeXTStation delivers the same punch for about a third less and so does a
similar SparcStation, so one must wonder if Apple will actually make any
further progress in cracking the already crowded workstation market, or if
the "Tower" will just wind up being the "biggest and baddest" Mac for the
Apple fans.
An even better question is how the Atari TT will do. The TT is in an
interesting position because has an excellent price, but the TT's technol-
ogy is beginning to become dated in these days of RISC and 68040 proces-
sors, and Atari does not have a good reputation for product support. If
price is important to workstation customers, then Atari will rise and the
Apples will fall, but if the customer is looking for quality then Apple,
Sun, NeXT, et al, have little to worry about from Sunnyvale. Maybe the
recession and tight budgets are not such a bad thing after all.
MCR FEEDBACK¿
============
If you have any questions or comments for, about or relative to Apple,
the Mac, or Mac emulation on the ST, feel free to send me Email at:
CompuServe: 71630,457 GEnie: j.allbritto2
See you next week!
_________________________________________________________
> MaxiFile 3.0 STR InfoFile¿ MaxiFile 3.0 - The SuperTool!
=========================
*******************************************************************
* *
* CodeHead Software Announces MaxiFile 3.0 - The SuperTool! *
* --------------------------------------------------------- *
* *
* MORE POWER -- NO WAITING -- NOW SHIPPING!! *
* *
*******************************************************************
CodeHeadQuarters
Friday, March 8, 1991
---------------------
Well, folks...it turns out we were wrong when we initially described
MaxiFile as the ULTIMATE File Maintenance Tool. The word "ultimate"
describes something beyond which it is impossible to go. If that were
correct, then MaxiFile 3.0 could not exist...
But MaxiFile 3.0 has taken the concept of file handling far beyond
anything previously thought possible!
Virtually every major aspect of MaxiFile has undergone extensive
scrutiny and improvement, with the addition of many powerful new features
-- some of which are available on NO OTHER PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEM!
For the benefit of those who may not have experienced it yet: MaxiFile
is a full-featured file maintenance utility which can run either as a
program or a desk accessory. It offers virtually every disk and file--
related feature available from the desktop or any other Atari file utility
as well as many unique and powerful features not available in any other
program ... AND it implements these features through a well thought out,
time tested and efficient user interface that gives you the MAXIMUM amount
of on-screen information at all times! Because it can run as a desk
accessory, you have full access to ALL of MaxiFile's power while running
any GEM program!
THE NEW STUFF
-------------
For version 3.0, MaxiFile has undergone a major facelift, with the addi-
tion of a myriad of new features...
o New ICONS for all main screen functions.
o HUNDREDS of NEW KEYBOARD COMMANDS provide full operation with either
mouse or keyboard, including selecting and opening files and folders!
o Greatly enhanced FILE VIEWING provides very FAST SCROLLING forward
AND backward through a file complete with forward/backward searching,
configurable tab settings, help screen, and optional half-height
text (in hi-res modes).
o Speedy "Safe Deposit" RECOVERABLE DELETE function insures against
accidental erasure of files -- and Maxifile does it LEGALLY, without
messing around with direct disk access. Keep your files AND your
file structure safe!
o An AWESOME SEARCH FUNCTION has been added -- version 3.0 lets you use
MaxiFile's unique 'FILTERS' in a search, allowing you to find FILES
AND/OR FOLDERS with multiple masks and extensions, or even search
according to archive bit and time/date stamp! MaxiFile maintains a
list of the last 20 "matches" and lets you instantly jump to a
directory, selecting EITHER all files that match the filter settings,
or just the one file you select!
o WILD CARD RENAME function lets you rename all files with a given
extension to another extension, in ONE action.
o New HELP SCREEN shows keyboard equivalents for the main screen and
'More' box. Other keyboard commands are displayed in their
respective dialog boxes.
o Full COMPATIBILITY with all Atari computers in all resolutions,
including the Atari TT.
o Can now be completely controlled by CODEKEYS, CodeHead's macro
miracle.
o TRUE MS-DOS DISK FORMATTING creates disks compatible with any PC
system, including those that are particularly floppy-fussy.
o "Interleave 11" floppy formatting for optimum speed of reading and
writing (also known as dead-sectoring).
o Disk formatting starts at end of disk to help RECOVER FROM ACCIDENTAL
FORMATTING of the wrong disk.
o Correctly handles BGM hard disk partitions of all sizes as well as
file sizes up to 99,999,999 (99.9 Meg).
o Support for drive letters Q through Z (for Atari's CD-ROM METADOS)
o New options for setting FASTLOAD bit, and TT RAM flags; includes the
ability to recursively set all fastload bits for ALL programs on a
drive, if you wish!
o Keyboard commands for instantly setting source and destination
drives, changing sorting modes or display modes, and literally every
other function in the program!
o File/Folder Info Boxes have 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons (and key
commands), allowing you to easily browse the details of all files and
folders.
o When a name conflict occurs during a copy or move operation, MaxiFile
3.0 shows you the date and time of both the source and destination
item, helping you determine if you really want to continue with the
copy. If the item is a file, the source and destination sizes are
also shown.
o and LOTS MORE! (We know, they always say that...but this time it's
true!)
THE STUFF IT'S ALWAYS HAD
-------------------------
Those familiar with MaxiFile and its power know that it has always had the
following capabilities:
o Move/Copy/Delete/Rename/Touch/Lock/Unlock/Hide/Show/Set Archive/Clear
Archive or Print any combination of files and/or folders.
o Runs as a program or as a desk accessory in any resolution. Special
treatment when running as a program (from HotWire) makes it act like
an accessory, retaining its settings, while using no permanent memory.
o Intelligent disk copying routines automatically duplicate the source
size.
o Create and rename folders with any version of TOS.
o Print directory listings in two different formats.
o Attach comments to any file or folder, to be readily viewed or edited
any time you "Show Info".
o Eleven (now 12) types of warning messages may be individually enabled
or disabled.
o Show 80 filenames at once or view 48 filenames with sizes, times, or
dates.
o Instantly select from 20 source or destination paths with a single
keypress.
o Print files or show them on-screen with smooth mouse button
scrolling.
o Any number of text files may be queued up to be printed in one
operation.
o Printer initialization commands can be entered, loaded, and saved,
with separate commands to be sent out after each file is printed,
allowing customizing of your printouts.
o Flexible filtering permits execution of all operations by multiple
file types, dates, or archive bit.
o Multiple templates can include or exclude several different file
types at once.
o Alter file attributes: lock, unlock, hide, unhide, set/clear
"fastload", archive, system.
o Disk Info shows files, folders, bytes used/free, tracks, sides,
sectors, and more.
o Set the mouse double-click rate.
o Turn write-verify on or off.
o Show hidden files.
o Sort options include: name, size, extension, date, or unsorted order
on disk.
o Change volume names on all versions of TOS.
o Retain file time and date stamps (like TOS 1.4 and later) or update
to current time and date (like TOS 1.0-1.2), you have your choice.
o Instantly select or deselect all files and folders or only those of
the same type.
o All settings can be easily saved, customizing MaxiFile to your own
preferences.
o Written in 100% assembly language for optimum speed and compact size.
WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A LOT OF COMMUNICATION
-------------------------------------------
When MaxiFile is called from CodeHead's HotWire, there are other
features available. Our programs have many invisible communication links
that allow you to do things like:
o Double click on ANY program, document, or file in MaxiFile and
HotWire will take over, running the program or installing the
document into whatever application you've defined.
o Each time you run MaxiFile as a program, it will reappear in the
same state as you last left it...without saving your configuration.
This gives you the flexibility of a desk accessory without consuming
any permanent memory.
o Bring up MaxiFile by clicking on its icon in HotWire or by pressing a
function key.
o The Little Green Selector is a shareware replacement for the GEM file
selector by Charles F. Johnson and Little Green Footballs Software.
It has a "MaxiFile" button (or keypress) which allows you to access
ALL of MaxiFile's power any time the file selector is present, even
if a program doesn't use a menu bar.
o MaxiFile senses PopIt's presence and will turn off its hot keys,
allowing you to use keyboard commands within MaxiFile even if they
are also defined in PopIt.
I GOT TO SHOW YOU SOME STEENKING BENCHMARKS!
--------------------------------------------
Speed Test Results:
The following timings are the results of copying a single folder
containing 18 files and 1 folder totalling 662,528 bytes. The test mac-
hine was a Mega 4 using TOS 1.4, a Turbo 16 accellerator board, and Turbo
ST, with a fast Quantum hard drive and an ICD cache. All timings are in
seconds.
From hard drive: MaxiFile GEM desktop Neodesk 3.01 Neodesk 2.05
---------------- -------------------------------------------------
To another partition: 5.44 5.61 7.36 7.70
To a floppy drive: 59.24 61.05 64.61 65.32
As you can see, MaxiFile is not only faster than the GEM desktop, but even
beats Neodesk's method of batch file copying.
THE WRAP-UP
-----------
MaxiFile can purchased and used separately, or you can enjoy its
increased power when linked up with HotWire by purchasing HotWire and
MaxiFile packaged together as HotWire Plus, AND save yourself $15 at the
same time.
The championship team of HotWire and MaxiFile lets you run rings
around the other desktops. You'll need pillows (not included) to catch
the dropped jaws of Atari users as well as those who use other computer
systems once you show them how fast you can do things with CodeHead So-
ftware's HotWire/MaxiFile combo. Several MaxiFile owners have BEGGED us
to write a PC version of MaxiFile so that they can be as productive on
their PC as they are on their Atari ST ... of the thousands of PC programs
available, there just isn't a file maintenance program as powerful as
MaxiFile!
For another view of MaxiFile, be sure to take a look at Richard Gun-
ther's tutorial/review in the January-February and March-April 1991 issues
of Current Notes! This two part article is a well written, step-by-step
introduction to the power of HotWire and MaxiFile.
The overwhelming reason our customers are so satisfied is that Code-
Head software works as advertised and it works WELL! Look up "bulletpr-
oof" in the dictionary ... and you'll find the CodeHead Software logo.
HOW TO ORDER OR UPDATE YOUR OWN COPY OF MAXIFILE
------------------------------------------------
As a current owner of MaxiFile, you can obtain an update by sending
your original MaxiFile master disk and $10 to the address listed below.
Suggested retail price for MaxiFile 3.0 is $39.95, or you can get
HotWire Plus - - HotWire packaged together with MaxiFile -- for $69.95, a
savings of $15. CodeHead Products are available from your local Atari
dealer, through mail-order houses, or directly from CodeHead Software:
CodeHead Software
P.O. Box 74090
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: (213) 386-5735
FAX: (213) 386-5789
BBS: (213) 461-2095
CodeHead Software accepts Mastercard, Visa, and American Express, as
well as checks, money orders, and cash. Shipping charges are $3 US, $4
Canada, and $6 elsewhere.
Current office hours are Monday-Friday 9A-1P Pacific time. Prices and
hours are subject to change without notice.
Thank you for your support!
______________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL¿ "ATARI NEWS FIRST!"
=====================
- Tigard, OR. DIAMOND BACK CHANGES!
-----------
Data Innovations has not paid me in a significant length of time and
has refused to provide me with a registered user list. If I provide ANY
support without verified acceptance of Oregon Research Associates license
agreement I open myself to significant personal liability. I refuse to
do that and therefore came up with the best alternative I could:
1) Provide a major new relese complete with new manual and
license agreement and essentially production cost(printing+
disk+label+card+mailer+postage = not much less than $7.50)
I am essentially giving away my last 6 months of programming.
2) By opening the sealed envelope implied consent to the Oregon
Research Associates license agreement is given, thereby
protecting myself and my ass(ets).
As of today a total of seven (7) people have sent in their original
disks to upgrade to V2.20. On Friday, my company will open for business
with 7 customers who will be shipped Diamond Back II V2.20 and an Oregon
Research Associates owners registration number. Your registration number
will be required to obtain product support for Diamond Back II V2.20. No
exceptions for the reasons explained above. I most certainly hope my
customer base gets bigger than 7.
Bob Luneski
Oregon Research Associates
16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy., Suite 162
Tigard, OR 97224
(503) 620-4919
To upgrade to Diamond Back II V2.20 please send your original disk and
$7.50 to the above address.
- Skokie, IL U.S. ROBOTICS SYSOP PROGRAM UPDATES
----------
U.S. Robotics SYSOP Sales Program Rules
General:
This section describes the rules of the U.S. Robotics SYSOP program.
U.S. Robotics reserves the right to modify or change these rules at any
time.
Scope:
The U.S. Robotics SYSOP Sales Program permits qualified SYSOPs to
purchase current U.S. Robotics modem products at a reduced price.
Qualifications:
1. The SYSOP states that he/she is not in the business of reselling
computer products and related peripherals, including modem products.
2. The SYSOP has been operating a bulletin board system for at least 6
months.
3. The SYSOP understands that the number of modems that may be obtained
under this program is limited to the number of working, verifiable
data lines. Modems purchased under this program must be used on one
of the stated lines.
4. The SYSOP agrees to post an appropriate logon notice, visible to
users of the bulletin board, which states that this bulletin board
uses and supports U.S. Robotics brand modems.
5. The SYSOP agrees that he/she intends to operate the bulletin board,
for which these modems are purchased, for at least 6 months post
purchase.
6. Resellers of U.S. Robotics modems are NOT eligible to purchase modems
under this program. Instead, qualified resellers may take advantage of
other marketing programs offered by U.S. Robotics, under the U.S.
Robotics Authorized Dealer Program. Information is available by
calling: 800-292-2988.
7. U.S. Robotics will ship modem(s) to qualified SYSOPs as soon as pos-
sible after:
a. The SYSOP completes the order form and questionnaire found im-
mediately after these rules and mail it along with the appropr-
iate payment and shipping instructions to:
U.S. Robotics Inc.
8100 N. McCormick Blvd.
Skokie, IL 60076
Attention: SYSOP SUPPORT
* A check accompanying an order must first
clear our bank, before the order can be
shipped.
b. The SYSOP further understands that once an order is placed, it
cannot be changed.
* If you are uncertain as to what type of
modem you want to purchase under this
program, you may consult the Information
& Text Files File Area of this BBS for product
information. Or, you may call the
U.S. Robotics technical support at:
800-982-5151
c. Your board will be verified by the U.S. Robotics SYSOP. We must
be able to connect with your bulletin board to verify board
status.
* In the event that we are uncertain of
your board status, you will be notified
by the U.S. Robotics SYSOP of what else
is needed to transact the order, or if
U.S. Robotics cannot transact the order
due to an invalid board status.
8. U.S. Robotics will not accept phone in orders.
9. U.S. Robotics reserves the right to modify, change or cancel this
program at any time.
*** THANK YOU ***
__________________________________________________________
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile¿ Affordable Mass Storage....
=======================
NEW LOW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
===============================
>> INCOME TAX REFUND SPECIALS <<
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
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)
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
Conventional Shoe Box
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN3038 31Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 419.00
SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 519.00
SGN6177 62Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 619.00
SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 649.00
SGN1098 100mb 25ms 3.5" Y 719.00
SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 889.00
SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1069.00
SGN4077 230Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1669.00
==================================================
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
---- FOR USE IN MEGA, MEGA STe & TT030 SYSTEMS ----
>>>> 100mb SCSI HARD DRIVE Mech 25-28ms 3.5" ...ONLY $469.00!! <<<<
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
>>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<<
(500 - 600k per sec @ 16 - 33ms)
CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS
FROM 30mb 28MS @ $419.00!
--==*==--
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
--->> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$ 719.00__ <<---
EXTRA CARTS: $ 79.50
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 439.95
*** SPECIAL SYQUEST OFFER!! BUY WITH A FRIEND! ***
ORDER YOUR CUSTOM SYQUEST UNIT NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT!
***** for $75.00 LESS! *****
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1329.00 **
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $ 939.00 30mb SQG38 $ 819.00
65mb SQG09 $ 969.00 85mb SQG96 $1059.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
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 --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (special order only)
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
* SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
Replacement Drums; CALL
Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
NOTICE : SHIPPING, HANDLING AND INSURANCE INCLUDED IN ALL PRICES
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QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service
9am - 8pm EDT
Tues thru Sat
____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"¿
=================
"CLOSE EXAMINATION TENDS TO REVEAL THAT THINGS
ARE NOT ALWAYS
WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE!"
C. Chan
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STReport International Online Magazine¿
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport¿ "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" March 08, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright ½ 1987-91 No.7.10
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, STReport¿ CPU/MAC/STR¿ or ST Report¿. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint
must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's
name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
any way without prior written permission. The contents, at the time of
publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors,
contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse
of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
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