Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Silicon Times Report Issue 0719
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
May 10, 1991 No.7.19
==========================================================================
STReport International Online Magazine¿
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
-----------------------------------------
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST
BBS: 904-786-4176 USR/HST DUAL STANDARD
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST
-----------------------------------------
** Fnet 350 * Fido Node 1:112/35 * NeST Node 90:3000/350.0 **
privately owned & operated STReport support BBS
ALL issues of STReport International Online Magazine
are available along with
A worldwide list of private bbs systems carrying STReport
__________________________________________________________________
> 05/10/91: STReport¿ #7.19 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - MAC REPORT
- CODEHEAD UPDATES - AMIGA ACCUSED! - TRAMIEL LETTER
- The Flip Side - SST030 WINDSOR - EARLE INTERVIEW
-* 2 EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS WINDSOR REPORTS! *-
-* WINDSOR PRODUCT DEBUTS DESCRIBED! *-
-* PAGESTREAM 2.1 DETAILED! *-
==========================================================================
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE¿
The _Number One_ Online Magazine
-* FEATURING *-
"UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
Current Events, Original Articles, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
STReport's support BBS, NODE 350, invites systems using Forem ST and Turbo
Board BBS to participate in the Fido/F-Net Mail Network. Or, call Node
350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging infor-
mation relative to the Atari ST computer arena through an excellent Inter-
national ST Mail Network. All registered F-NET - Crossnet SysOps are wel-
come to join the STReport Crossnet Conference. The Crossnet Conference
Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All systems are welcome and
invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today!
==========================================================================
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON: GENIE ~ CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ F-NET
==========================================================================
> The Editor's Podium
This past week has produced some mighty interesting events, from the
Windsor show of last weekend, to the strange goings-on in the online
arena. Including a mysterious "crystal ball" type product denunciation
that will remain the ALL-TIME ONLINE MYSTERY. All very interesting in-
deed. The most important of "happenings" is the reputed "bullying" of the
NEW AtariUser Magazine people by a few of the rather outspoken dealers.
Seems they did not care for the 'inside the front cover' price Zephyr
Computers had for the 1040STe of $385.00. Mighty ODD I'd say since there
were similar ads elsewhere in the magazine. It couldn't possibly be cen-
tered around who owns Zephyr now could it? Of course, at this point in
time, roughly a month or so later, the prices mentioned sound just about
right.
Some folks came back from Canada's Windsor Show reporting they had
been told by an Atari Rep that BOTH the TT and the MegaSTe had been
awarded Class B FCC authorization, that is really good news. Elsewhere
in this issue are our extensive, in-depth show reports about Windsor.
Don't miss them. I still believe that Atari is on the right path to
recovery and will prevail. Watch for some very special VME cards in the
near future that are destined to pale any mode of VGA.
Some of you may have noticed that our issues have gotten somewhat
larger, this is a result of our striving to bring you more complete cover-
age of relevant matters in the Atari arena, not just teasers or interest
leaders.
Thank for your support,
Ralph......
TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
================
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
Staff Editors:
--------------
Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Walter Daniel
Oscar Steele Robert Allbritton John Szczepanik
Dan Stidham
Contributing Correspondants:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Ed Krimen
Tim Holt Andrew Learner
IMPORTANT NOTICE
================
Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc...
via E-Mail to:
Compuserve.................... 70007,4454
GEnie......................... ST.REPORT
Delphi........................ RMARIANO
BIX........................... RMARIANO
FIDONET....................... 112/35
FNET.......................... NODE 350
NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0
***********************************************************************
COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198
You will receive your complimentary time
and
be online in no time at all!
WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (May 10)
FUNK ALERT!
Charles F. Johnson and LGF Software announces a new shareware utility
called Funk Alert!, a really *tiny* (but powerful!) program that lets you
use the function keys F1, F2, and F3 to select the buttons in any GEM
alert box! See FUNKAL.ARC now available in Library 1 of the Atari Produc-
tivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO).
NEW FROM GRIBNIF IN ATARIVEN
The following new files are available in LIBRARY 8 of the Atari Vendors
Forum (GO ATARIVEN) from Gribnif Software:
FIXQUE.ARC -- A fixed NeoDesk 3.02 Printer Queue. The one included in the
PCH302.ARC would not print correctly, so download this file if you down-
loaded the older version of the PATCH program and you use the NeoDesk
Printer Queue.
FIXPCH.ARC -- This patch program will upgrade copies of NeoDesk 3 (ver-
sion 3.01) to the newer 3.02 version. This program fixes several small
bugs and problems, and adds some minor enhancements.
PATCH PROGRAM FROM CODEHEAD
CodeHead software has uploaded a small, easy to use patch program to
correct two minor bugs in their MaxiFile III product. Download MAXPAT.PRG
from LIBRARY 16 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN).
Programmers are invited to download CALLM.ARC, also in LIBRARY 16 of the
Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) from CodeHead Software, which describes
how they can easily call MaxiFile III and use it as a "multiple item
selector."
PROGRAM OF THE WEEK FROM DOUBLECLICK
Don't miss Double Click's "Program of the Week" -- DC POPBAR! DC POPBAR
gives the GEM desktop a pop-up menu of the menu bar entries. Now all menu
entries are available in this convenient "pop-up menu" wherever the mouse
is. Download DCPOPB.ARC from LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO
ATARIVEN).
Last weeks Double Click "Program of the Week" was a fantastic utility
which will let you run boot disks from your Desktop! *VERY USEFUL!*
Download DCBTIT.ARC from LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIV-
EN).
QUICKCIS UPDATE
QuickCIS users--download QCNEW.LZH from LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Produc-
tivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for the latest version that allows you to use
Ymodem-G with an error correcting modem for faster file transfers.
PORTFOLIO LIBRARY CATALOGS
New catalog files for all public libraries of the Atari Portfolio (GO
APORTFOLIO) are now available in Library 1.
A 60X10 PORTFOLIO SCREEN
A software solution allowing a 60x10 screen for the Portfolio is available
as 60BY10.ZIP in LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO).
A NEW FORUM!
Ron Luks is preparing to open an new Palmtop portable forum on CIS, units
to be covered include; Sharp Wizard, Casio, Poquet and others. The Port-
folio forum will, however, remain in the Atari Area and receive full
support from the Ron Luks and his CIS Atari Staff.
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION
"GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"
***********************************************************************
> CPU REPORT¿
==========
Issue # 110
-----------
by Michael Arthur
CPU INSIGHTS
============
Optical Computing: Photonics, Optoelectronics, and AT&T
--------------------------------------------------------
AT&T, as well as several University research teams, have developed
experimental "photonic" computers that utilize optical technology. With
these devices promising to be many times faster than ordinary electronic
computers, these developments have stirred up much discussion on both the
capabilities of optical computing, and its role in the future of the
microcomputer industry. In order to understand the potential of both
photonics and optical computers, let us take a look at both the differen-
ces 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 aswitch. These bursts
cause 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 VERY small laser, and are then transmitted to 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 integ-
rated circuitry, including:
- Speed. Since they are, in essence, what light is made up of,
photons travel at the speed of light. Therefore, photonic techology would
be a LOT faster than electronic technology. Resulting in MUCH faster com-
puter 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 phot-
onics and holographic technology is being researched. Instead of tran-
smitting light to a photodetecting crystal, some scientists are looking
into directing a stream of light towards holograms,so as to create hologr-
aphic 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, implemen-
ting integrated circuitry that is fully based on photonics will take
several years of development. In order to utilize the abilities of opti-
cal computing in the near future, an upcoming technology called optoelect-
ronics is being developed, which combines the speed of optical technology
with proven electronic circuitry.
In optoelectronics, light is transmitted via optical fibers to
lightdetecting crystals (or 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 electronic
circuit, which then processes the data at a normal rate. This method of
interconnecting chips has great potential. For example, whole bus ar-
chitectures 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 deve-
lopment. Currently, the accuracy of calculations done with completely
photonic computers is low in comparison to that of modern electronic com-
puters. Also, new design techniques must be developed in order to develop
microchips which take full advantage of the capabilities inherent in pho-
tonic technology. However, optoelectronics, photonics, and other techno-
logies used in optical computing will certainly become an integral part of
future computer technology....
CPU Systems Roundup
===================
Laser Breakthroughs, Blue Light, and a New Optical Age
------------------------------------------------------
Bellcore (a division of AT&T's Bell Laboratories) has demonstrated
the first working prototype of a "quantum wire" laser. Sized at
near-atomic dimensions, this technology involves directing electricity
through a laser wire core measuring 30 atoms high by 300 atoms wide. This
process then generates coherent (or single-wavelength) light, which is
directed along the wire. This "quantum wire device" uses principles of
quantum mechanics (a theory in physics which deals with phenomena at the
atomic level) to generate coherent light (or laser light) with extremely
low amounts of electricity.
Bellcore's quantum wire device is 1/4 of a millimeter long, and a
thousandth the thickness of a human hair (or 20 times smaller than a
compact disk laser). Also, it is the most efficient laser technology
currently developed, and could provide great benefits in the future. For
example, today's compact disk lasers operate at 1/10 of an amp of current.
Quantum wire lasers can operate at one millionth of an amp, meaning that
they use up to 100,000 times less energy....
This potential also holds great promise for optical computing (or
photonic) devices like the one shown by AT&T a few months back. In the
future, computers may use this laser technology in data transfers and in
performing calculations. The resulting microchips would be both extremely
compact, and use much less electricity than present computers. This
technology (if used in computers) may even eliminate the need to use
gallium arsenide, or even "high-temperature" superconductors, in the
future to make faster supercomputers....
Around the same time frame that Bellcore made its announcement, IBM
scientists showed an inexpensive laser which can efficiently produce blue
laser light. IBM's new laser diode is five times more efficient than
other devices at converting electricity into blue laser light, which could
be made commercially available within a few years. In IBM's device, a
diode laser converts electricity into infrared laser light that is sent
through a small (1/4 inch long) potassium niobate crystal. This crystal
halves the laser light's wavelength (doubling its frequency), thereby
producing blue laser light.
This device is usable for a wide range of applications. One example
is in CD-ROM or other optical disks, which store information as a series
of embedded grooves created by a laser. While current infrared diode
lasers create grooves which are around 0.8 microns in diameter, blue laser
light can be focused on a much smaller area (about 0.4 microns), because
it has a shorter wavelength.
In the future, this could allow a CD-ROM to hold four times the data
(or about 2.6 Gigabytes of storage space) than currently possible. Also,
this technology could be quickly converted for use in color displays,
optical computing (in the near future), or in the field of medicine....
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #20
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- Salt Lake City, Utah WORDPERFECT SCRAPS ATARI ST UPGRADE PLANS
--------------------
Despite a lot of unofficial publicity, it looks like Wordperfect Cor-
poration has now all but abandoned plans to upgrade its Wordperfect word
processor for the Atari ST.
While the official line was that work on the package had ceased for the
ST platform at the 4.x version, there were rumors that the company was
working on an upgrade late in 1991, thanks to the ST selling so well in
West Germany. It now seems that Atari Germany has cancelled a 10,000
unit order with Wordperfect US for copies of the ST version. Upgrades
will now confined to small revisions and upgrades on an occasional
basis.
According to sources close to Atari West Germany, development work on
version 5.x of Wordperfect for the ST platform was conditional on the
order being placed with Wordperfect U.S., for the 10,000 packages.
- Los Angeles, California AMIGA HAS MOST BIZZARE OF RACIST
----------------------- COMPUTER GAMES
Computer video games where the player is a concentration camp manager
who sells lamps made from human skin, gold tooth fillings and dog food
to purchase gas to kill Turks and Jews are being distributed in Germany
and now in the United States, according to researchers at the Simon
Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
The games are clearly aimed at the home computer market, and especially
at preteens from 13-15 years of age. They range from displays of German
pre-World War II symbols to complex graphics of tortured prisoners and
bizarre death images like the grim reaper, according to the center.
The most bizarre of the games runs on an Amiga and is titled "KZ
Manager." KZ is short for the German word for concentration camp. The
center has reported it contains graphic images of human torture, Hitler,
and the winner gets to be the Gestapo, with a tortured, bleeding
prisoner in the background. "The quality of the graphics is very good -
the people who wrote these games know what they're doing," Wiesenthal
Center researchers said.
- Tokyo, Japan SEGA & IBM TEAM UP ON NEW JAPANESE
------------ GAME COMPUTER
"Terra Drive", a game-oriented personal computer developed jointly with
Sega Enterprises and IBM Japan, will be released by Sega by the end of
May. To keep the Terra compatible with both the IBM PC/AT and Sega's
game software, it will be equipped with twin microprocessors - a 80286
chip with the AT bus and a 68000 chip for the Sega games - and with the
Japanese operating system "DOS/V", which will make it fully IBM-
compatible.
With almost 100 software game titles already available, the Terra will
cost $1,100 for the low-end version (640k and one floppy drive), $1,390
for the middle-line version (1-meg and two floppy drives) and $1,800 for
the top-end version (1-meg and 30-meg hard drive). The 14-inch CRT
monitor costs $590.
- Los Angeles, California PRODIGY ACCESSES USERS COMPUTERS
-----------------------
Several ex-Prodigy users have reported incidents involving the finding
of personal data from their hard drives in Prodigy files. One user, a
retired physist and computer consultant, reported that even though he
had booted from freshly formatted floppy disks, he kept finding sensi-
tive and personal information from his hard drive in the Prodigy files.
Randie L. Moss, a Prodigy services manager, claimed Prodigy could inad-
vertently access user data, but not if it was operated from a bootable,
freshly formatted floppy disk. In that case, the letter stated, the
information from the hard disk files would not be accessed by Prodigy.
The Wall Street Journal reported Prodigy does access information from
users' personal computers, but said Prodigy doesn't look at the data.
Prodigy officials were quoted as confirming a software quirk that picks
up unrelated Prodigy information off a user's hard disk, and also con-
firmed they could access that data.
- Rockville, Maryland GEIS LAUNCHES SALES AUTOMATION SYSTEM
-------------------
GE Information Services (GEIS) has announced that its new Sales Mar-
keting Communication System now takes advantage of GE's global network
to let sales people work together. The Sales Marketing Communications
System (SMCS) ties into the network to allow users to do such things as
checking product availability from a remote location. It combines GE
Information Services' global network connectivity and support with a
customizable workstation for territorial sales management. An average
price will be about $1,000 per user which includes the software,
customization, and networking charges.
- Eagan, Minnesota APPLE ORDERS 2ND CRAY SUPERCOMPUTER
----------------
Apple Computer has ordered its second Cray supercomputer, a Cray Y-MP2E.
The new system will replace Apple's first Cray supercomputer, a Cray X-
MP, that was installed in 1986. Apple will use the Y-MP2E for continued
research and development applications, speech recognition analysis in
the development of a speech recognition system for future computer
products and analog circuit simulation for circuit design. It will also
control many of Apple's manufacturing processing, such as plastic flow
modeling, which is used to simulate the various steps in manufacturing
computer cabinets, keyboards and other PC equipment.
- Redmond, Washington WESTINGHOUSE BRAZIL RAIDED
-------------------
Acting on a complaint filed by Microsoft and Autodes, Brazilian author-
ities carried out a surprise piracy raid on the Sao Paulo offices of
Westinghouse Brazil. They discovered "numerous unauthorized copies" of
Microsofts MS-DOS o/s and of Autodesks AutoCAD computer-aided design
package. Under Brazilian copyright law, Westinghouse Brazil could face
fines totalling more than $2 million.
- Washington, D.C. NEW SORT TECHNIQUE REVOLUTIONIZES
---------------- COMPUTER SCIENCE
Contradicting 30 years of computer science teaching which says that
there is a definite limit as to how fast a computer can sort data, The
National Science Foundation has announced the development of a
revolutionary new sorting technique. Compared to other sorting techni-
ques, the new algorithm has the potential of permitting extremely fast
sorting of huge databases and actually improves as the size of the data-
base grows. The new technique, referred to as a "fusion tree," allows a
computer to compare one number to many others during a single operation.
- Tokyo, Japan WINDOWS A WINNER IN JAPAN
------------
NEC, Japan's computer giant, has sold over 60,000 Windows 3.0 programs
in Japan since February and has tripled its sales estimates to 200,000
units for the first year. Other PC makers such as Fujitsu and Seiko-
Epson are also receiving many purchase orders from end-users, meaning
the new product is being accepted in Japan.
- Tokyo, Japan NEC TO PRODUCE 16M DRAM IN THE U.S.
------------
NEC, who developed the technology to produce a 16Mb DRAM, will produce
16-megabit (Mb) dynamic random access memory chips in the U.S. The firm
will start building the line at its Roseville factory in California.
This action is designed to reduce trade friction between Japan and the
U.S. Production is slated to start in 1993. Monthly production will be 1
million to 1.5 million units in 1994 and 1995. The total cost to build
the 16M DRAM production line is expected to be 40 billion yen to 50
billion yen ($295 million to $370 million).
- Redmond, Washington MICROSOFT STOCK SPLITS 3 FOR 2
-------------------
Hoping to make its stock more affordable to the average investor,
Microsoft has announced a three-for-two stock split. Shareholders of
record on June 18, 1991, will receive one additional share for every two
shares they hold. Cash will be paid in lieu of fractional shares.
______________________________________________________________
> FROM THE PRESIDENT STR FOCUS SAM TRAMIEL'S ANNUAL MESSAGE
============================
ANNUAL LETTER TO THE STOCKHOLDERS
=================================
During the year 1990, Atari Corporation improved its balance sheet and
took steps to reduce inventory and operating expenses. While our subsid-
iaries in Europe showed overall sales growth with good increases in the
United Kingdom and France, our business in North America continued to ex-
perience severe competition in the video game and computer markets and
sales were down in 1990.
For the year ended December 31, 1990, net income of $14.9 million on
sales of $411.5 million. This compares with the net income of $4.0 mil-
lion on sales of $423.6 million in 1989. During the second half of 1990,
the Company repurchased approximately 40% of its 5 1/4% convertible subor-
dinated debentures which resulted in a gain of $21.1 million. In the
fourth quarter of 1990, the Company provided significant inventory reser-
ves, including its traditional U.S. video game products, to reflect cur-
rent market value. In addition, having substantially completed its li-
quidation of the remaining assets and liabilities of its discontinued
operations of $14.6 million. Our performance in 1990 was disappointing
from a sales and operating profit point of view. However as a result of
the reasons above, the Company's balance sheet improved which resulted in
net income of $14.9 million for the year.
We are investing in new product R&D and this should help position the
Company in the years to come. We are also concentrating on reducing our
operating costs by various means including the expansion of independent
subcontractors for production purposes.
In the third quarter of 1990, Atari started shipping the Atari TT030
personal computer, based on the powerful Motorola MC68030 micro processor.
The TT030, along with the MEGA STE, a 68000 based computer, add advanced
products to our flagship line of personal computers. The STE and TT line
continues to attract top software developers throughout the world and we
are continuing to develop new hardware and software for this family of
products. At the recent Hannover Fair (March 1991) in Germany, the Atari
ST compatible Notebook portable and the innovative Atari STylus portable
were introduced. The two machines have long battery life and the Atari
STylus features a pen oriented operation with character recognition.
As a result of our new marketing approach and a lower retail price
point, the Atari Portfolio, our one pound portable P.C. advanced organi-
zer, is doing well. New Portfolio software titles are being released in
1991 which should enhance the Portfolio's position in the marketplace.
The Atari line of MS-DOS compatibles suffered from a continuing severe
shortage of Intel 80386 microprocessors. With recent product announcem-
ents in the 80386 marketplace, we hope that this shortage will subside
during the second half of 1991 and that we can reestablish this line in
our distribution network.
In our video game business we are very pleased with the consumer re-
sponse sponse to the new marketing compaign and lower retail price points
of the Atari Lynx as announced at the January 1991 Consumer Electronics
Show. As a result of the release of only 12 titles during 1990, and the
higher launch price, sales of the Lynx were slow. However, with the new
marketing compaign and the plan to make available for sale over 40 titles
in 1991, we expect a much broader mass market appeal. The Atari 2600 and
7800 continue to sell well in Europe while the market for these two produ-
cts in North America is extremely slow. New table top video game consoles
are planned for introduction in 1992.
While we look at 1991 with caution due to the worldwide economic do-
wnturn, we are confident that our present and future products will be well
received. Thank you all for your continued support.
Sam Tramiel, President
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to
take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. For only $29.95 ($20
off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip-
tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over
$14 worth of free time.
NOTE: Special offers can be found in your favorite Atari magazines:
START CURRENT NOTES ST INFORMER
ATARI INTERFACE MAGAZINE
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
======================
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
1. Dial 617-576-0862 with any terminal or PC and modem (at 2400 bps,
dial 576-2981).
2. At the Username prompt, type JOINDELPHI.
3. At the Password prompt enter STREPORT.
For more information call:
DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005
or
at 617-491-3393 from within Massachusetts or from outside the U.S.
DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
--------------------
The 20/20 Advantage Plan IS FANTASTIC! And it features 20 hours online
for just $20 a month! The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20
hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines,
or via a special Tymnet 20/20 Access code. It also gets you additional
hours at just $1.20 per hour. And you get free access to several services
on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks.
Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet users
have an additional telecom charge. Office Time access (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
weekdays) may have an additional charge. And of course, other restric-
tions may apply. But this is still an amazing deal!
For more information please contact:
DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services.
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> SOFT-LOGIK INFO CORNER STR InfoFile The latest NEWS from Soft-Logik
===================================
SOFT-LOGIK ANNOUNCES PAGESTREAM 2.1
FOR
ATARI COMPUTERS
Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation brings the Atari Market the most
dynamic desktop publishing program available - PAGESTREAM! Soft-Logik
designed Pagestream 2.1 with many improved features as well as new featur-
es. Soft-Logik will continue, through its efforts, to be the leading
desktop publishing software for the Atari.
PageStream 2.1 is a desktop publishing program capable of supporting
PostScript output, as well as dot matrix and laser printers. PageStream's
outline font technology yeilds smooth, crisp results. PageStream displays
multiple screen font styles, flows text around any irregular shaped gra-
phic and supports resident and downloadable PostScript fonts. PageStream
has many other advanced typographical features including kearning, tag-
ging, hyphenation and variable x and y point sizes. Utilizing this user
friendly program, one can rotate, slant or twist any object, output color
separations and import graphics and/or text from many popular programs.
PageStream also offers grouping, variable line and fill styles and many
more extraordinary features.
Pagestream 2.1 is fully integrated with AGFA Compugraphic's hinted
outline fonts, as well as the Adobe Type 1 IBM format (without hints to
non Postscript printers). Pagestream 2.1 displays these outline fonts on
the screen plus prints them out to laser, dot matrix, inkjet, non-postscr-
ipt and PostScript printers with stunning results.
PageStream 2.1can draw polygons with Bezier cubic curves as well as
the usual circles and straight lines. PageStream 2.1 can load and save
tags separate from a docvument and provide the user with consistancy page
after page. In addition, PageStream 2.1 will save documents as templates
for future works of similar design.
PageStream 2.1 allows for specifications of beginning and ending
angles of arcs in 1/100th degree increments and rotation in 1/100th degree
increments. PageStream 2.1 enables the specification of font sizes in
1/100th point increments and positions, sizes and resizes an object to the
same 1/100th of a point. In addition, PageStream 2.1 can provide extra
large page dimesions (billboard size and beyond) plus the ability to
easily "bleed" objects off the page.
PageStream 2.1 has enhanced its color capability to provide users with
a wider selection of colors to choose from. EPS custom colors are added
ot the color palette when EPS files are imported. Users can now specify
CMYK colors through a new color requester.
PageStream 2.1 has greatly improved its support for various test and
graphic files. With PageStream 2.1, users can now import any Aegis file
that contains color andany GEM metafile that contains text. GEM Metafiles
and Aegis files are imported into documents "grouped". In addition, Pag-
eStream 2.1 adds support for the importing of such graphic files as Pro-
Draw Clips, GIF and DR2D.
Finally, PageStream 2.1 supports Adobe bitmap screen fonts which will
provide users with faster screen redraws of Adobe Type 1 fonts. Overall,
PageStream 2.1 enters text and gragics faster than ever before.
PageStream 2.1 retails for $299.95. (very affordable) Registered
owners of previous versions of PageStream can upgrade for a limited time
for $75.00. Registered owners of Publishing Partner can upgrade for
$175.00. All upgrade rates are subject to change.
for more info:
Soft-Logik Sales and Marketing
1-314-894-8608
1-800-829-8608
Technical Support
1-314-894-0431
***********************************************************************
: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!! <-
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> The Flip Side STR Feature
"......a different viewpoint"
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
You live and learn. Last week I discussed how I was going to be forced
to paraphrase some posts from the ST RoundTable on Genie and said
"...and thus, I will not be able to give the original poster proper
credit. (If I give him credit, then I'm quoting from him - a Catch-22
situation.)" One of my readers wrote to correct me for this statement.
He said what I was describing was plagerism, not paraphrasing.
According to him, you either use the original writers name or at least
attribute the paraphrased comments to someone, even if it's "an on-line
source". I stand corrected.
Last week we had a long discussion about laser printers, this week we'll
hear about hard drive noises and how to fix them (hopefully). My column
is so large this week, that I'll just get on with it...
----------------
From K.Duggan (Duggan DeZign) on the ST RoundTable on Genie...
...I would like to mention that my company produces a product line of
Joystick holders. The products were designed to give game players an
advantage when playing games, However we have recently had some
orders from Handicapped facilities. I am happy to say that one of
them took the time to write us back to say how much they liked the
products, as they eliminate the need to hold the Joysticks while
playing. I personally found a great deal of satisfaction knowing that
our Products helped Handicapped people, and find it very rewarding.
We are currently looking to get our products more involved in this
area. The two products are:
The Stik-Gripper, which is a Steel Joystick clamp which fastens
your Joystick to a table top.
The T.C.S. (Total Control Stand) which is a portable stand which
you place on your chair (good for wheelchairs) and secure your
Joystick, Track Ball, Mouse pad, Templates, or other devices to. It
comes with Velcro to attach devices or clamps are available.
If anyone is interested in more information about these products,
contact us at the address or number below. We would love to help the
handicapped for computing!
Duggan DeZign Inc.
300 Quaker Lane STE # 7
Warwick, RI 02886
401) 823-8073
If you are interested, both of these products retail for under $20.00
----------------
From Norm Wierness on Delphi...
I got some info on ATW. It has been upgraded to use the H1 processor.
It does 50 MHz internal, 5 MHz external and has many improvements.
But don't ask me how you can get one, bug Atari...The reports of its
death has been greatly exaggerated.
----------------
Question from David L. Leon on CIS...
Does anyone know how to make an ST with a WuzTek Omnimon multi-sync
[monitor] get a full 1000x800 rez in monocrome mode? I'd heard of
such tasks being done.
Answer from Lee (Lexicor Sofware) on CIS...
...there is two ways to do what you want. One is to write your own
driver for the monitor. This will allow you to view programs in that
resolution. This is how most big screen applications work...The
second way is to get a graphics board like the ISAC or Albert board
which run in high resolution, but keep the basic atari color palette
in tact...There are also several "Big Screen " programs that will
allow you to view large format picture files in low res.
Answer from Jay Craswell (Dover Research) on CIS...
...my ISAC card which does 1024*768 in 16 colors...As long as you own
a Mega/MegaSTe or a TT, I should have somthing for you! (612) 492-
3913
----------------
Do you have a noisy hard drive? Maybe one of the following answers will
help you solve your problem. All from CIS. (Note: the questions and
replies were compiled from from 2-4 posts)...
Question from Rob Ramussen...
I have a MegaFile 60 and ever since I've had it, it has made a slight
metallic noise that really grates on the nerves (it comes and goes,
and sounds like being inside an airplane when its ready to take off).
I leave my hard drive on all the time until I'm through with it for
the day. I would send it in for servicing except it's hard to be
without it now. The chirping sound actually goes away for a second if
I lightly tap on the case. Sounds like it needs oil - is this
possible!?
Answer from Ralph Mariano (ST Report)...
...I have seen many of the "noise makers" silenced by the addition of
a small piece of double faced tape or, something along those lines
that add a small amount of mass to the strap at the point where it
vibrates (usually at the shaft)...The small added piece stops the
occilation but does not interfere with the ground potential...There's
a small metal tab, usually brass or copper, very thin and spring
like, that is soldered to the logic board on one end. The other end
rests against the edge of the spindle. It's there to discharge any
build up of static electricity. This tab (ground strap) has a
tendancy to chirp, sing and yield various other oscillation tones as
it ages. A small piece of adhesive tape etc. placed on the tab
changes its density ever so slightly. Thus the oscillations stop
....DO NOT oil the drive! That will quickly end it all.
Answer from Willie Pelzer...
...the strap that he [Ralph Mariano] is talking about can be seen if
you turn the drive upside down (with the power OFF,of course!). It's
poking out the bottom/middle.
Answer from Greg Wageman...
Many hard drives have a grounding tab that electrically connects the
motor spindle to ground. This prevents static electrical charges from
building up between the spinning platters and the read/write heads.
Without this ground spring, the Whimhurst effect could cause a large
static electrical potential to develop. If this were to discharge
from platter to R/W head, it would destroy the head.
The problem is that the spindle can "chatter" against this grounding
spring, resulting in the high-pitched, metallic noise you are
hearing...Unfortunately, I know of no fix for it. Sometimes it goes
away spontaneously, but more often it just continues intermittantly
or becomes constant.
I would be very reticent to oiling the grounding spring; it's only a
fraction of an inch from the drive electronics.
I speak as a six year veteran systems administrator for desktop
engineering workstations. Maxtor mechs seem to be the worst culprits.
Not all drives will show the problem. I've worked with Unix systems
that have had 5-1/4" drives from Fujitsu, Maxtor, Micropolis and
Hitachi. Each drive has its own characteristic sound. On some the
head positioning mechanism is the chief source of noise. The
Fujitsu's sound like they are grinding gears when the heads seek. Oh,
yeah, I forgot to mention CDC, now owned by Seagate. The CDC 327
megabyte drives regularly developed this noise problem. I've never
heard a Micropolis drive do it...The quietest drives I've yet worked
with are the 3-1/2" embedded SCSI drives that come in the Sun
SparcStations. They are so quiet its often hard to tell if they are
actually working!
The sticky tape solution sounds worth a try, though.
Answer from Bob Retelle (Sysop)...
...in most cases a hard drive is mounted with the actual drive
mechanism on top, and the circuit board on the bottom. The spindle
for the mechanism usually protrudes through a circular hole in the
circuit board, or is covered by the circuit board. In either case,
the hard drive has to be removed from the enclosure to get to the
bottom of the drive.
If you have one with the spindle protruding through the circuit
board, you will immediately see the spring everyone's been talking
about. It looks like a flat finger holding the shaft into the mecha-
nism. (It really doesn't hold the shaft in, it just looks that way.)
If you have one with no hole in the circuit board, you'll have to
unscrew the circuit board from the bottom of the hard drive
(carefully, there are a lot of ribbon cables and wires between them).
In either case, the simplest way to stop the noise is to put a small
blob of silicone sealer (the rubbery stuff in a tube) on the outside
of the metal spring (NOT between the spring and the shaft!). This
will dampen the oscillation of the spring and hopefully silence it.
I guess it's up to you whether the noise is irritating enough to dig
that deeply into the works..!
Question from Bill Hunter...
I was interested if you had any stats on Megafile 30 breakdowns. My
drive is 16 months old. Three weeks ago the drive seized up and did
so again 2 weeks later. I wanted to know if this was a frequent
problem....
Answer from Dan McNamee (Atari)...
...I assume by "seize" you mean that you went to turn it on, and the
drive wouldn't power up? If thats the case, it definately sounds like
a the mech has gone bad. The MF30's really have been good drives,
though. When I was in tech support, I got extremely few calls on
them...As a matter of fact, I have a MF30 here that I've been using
nearly since I started working here (over 3 years ago) that is doing
fine, and we have another on our BBS that has been running constantly
(24 hours a day, 7 days a week) except for the occasional power out-
age, and system move with narry a problem.
Do you turn the drive on and off several times a day? This can cause
extreme wear on a hard disk mechanism because every time you turn it
on, it must spin the platters up to speed. If so, I would recommend
that if you are finishing a session of use, but you think that you
may do more later to just leave the drive on, or for that matter to
always leave the drive on.
...The warranty on the drive is 90 days, so at 16 months, the drive
is long out of warranty. You might also check with a service center
about repairs.
----------------
From Richard Covert on the ST RoundTable on Genie...
I recently bought a used Sony Magneto-Optical hard drive for my ST.
It is full read/write and random access. The hard drive mechanism is
a Sony SMO-501 optical and uses a double-sided cartridge (297 megs
per side, for a total of almost 600 megs per cart). The cartridges
are generic and multiple sourced (unlike the Syquest carts), I've
found them selling for as low as $159 plus shipping.
It's in a standard 5.25" shoe box cabinet and came with an ICD host
adaptor. (The Sony has a SCSI interface, so hooking it up to an ICD
host adaptor is simple.) It uses the latest ICD hard drive software;
ICD has provided a modified version of their hard drive formatter so
that I can format new blank carts. I got 330 KBytes/sec and 58 ms
when I ran RATEHD on it.
..if you can get a good deal on the Sony mechanism and if you have
lots of SW to backup, then check out the Sony optical drives!!
----------------
Question from David L. Leon on CIS...
Has anyone heard any news on the Acer Multi-sync and the Atari STs? I
was just curious if anyone had any positive or negative feedback on
it.
Answer from Jim Ness (Sysop) on CIS...
...this is second hand, but those who have posted messages regarding
the ACER say that it works fine with the ST, but the mono mode is not
exceptionally sharp...with the mono mode being just a tad fuzzy, they
found it difficult to do any lengthy mono work...Basically, you get
what you pay for in multisynchs. The ACER is very reasonably priced.
----------------
From Kevin Engler on CIS concerning whether you can use a Seagate ST238R
IBM hard drive on a ST...
You can use the ST238R with an ST, but not the controller card,
simply because it's designed for an IBM's motherboard slots (which
the ST doesn't have). You still need a controller, host adapter (I
HIGHLY recommend ICD's), and a power supply. Unless you're cash flow
situation is really tight, I'd recommend going with a commercial
unit. As to which one, they're pretty similar, although you can't
beat ICD's support. Check with your local dealer (if you have one).
----------------
Question by Robert Huggins on CIS...
Spectre 3.0 is working like a dream except for one extremely annoying
item...I end up with my screen display shifted either 0.25" or 0.5"
to the left. Sometimes the display jumps over 0.25" and stays there,
other times it will jump another 0.25", and, sometimes, it goes for
the whole half inch right at first...when the screen display moves
the *new* slice of display on the far left is showing what used to be
on the far right hand side of the display. In other words, my hard
drive icons, which are on the far right side of my screen suddenly
"move" to the far left hand side. Also. these icons are accessed by
moving the mouse cursor to the far right side, watching the cursor
disappear, and searching for it on the left hand side. Any ideas?
Answer from George Richardson (Merlin Group, Inc.) on CIS...
...what you're describing is a hardware problem that I've seen many
times. It really has nothing to do with Spectre, although for some
reason Spectre seems to cause it to happen more often than anything
else. This is usually caused by a defective GLUE chip, but it could
also be caused by the MMU chip. The system is not issuing the hori-
zontal sync at the correct time...The SST *really* aggravates this
condition.
A reply from a "happy camper", Robert Huggins, on CIS...
...as I had a spare GLU chip, I took a screwdriver into my sweaty
hand and swapped out the current one. Reseated the MMU while I had
the case open. Did everything I could think of to cause the loss of
synch (certain actions seemed to always cause it) and am unable to
force the screen to "slip." Looks like it's "happy camper" time once
again.
-----------------
Until next week.....
_____________________________________________________________
> WINDSOR REPORT STR SHOW NEWS EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS REPORTS!
============================
WINDSOR ATARI SHOW REPORTS
==========================
THE WINDSOR ATARI SHOW
======================
Eyewitness Report 1
by Andrew Learner
What a lovely city, Windsor is. Truly amazing since it is right across
the river from Detroit. You cross over to the Canadian side via this
monstrous black suspension bridge, which glitters with lights at night,
and pass through a check point. If you have nothing to declare,(ie pur-
chases, tobacco, booze etc.) they pass you right through. The city is
clean, and tidy...people actually walk the streets right through the
evening, children play carelessly. Windsor/Detroit International Atarife-
st, was held in the huge gymnasium of the St. Clair college. It is just
over the river from Detroit, about a forty minute trip from Detroit air-
port. I guess I enjoyed this show. When you come back from any event,
thoroughly exhausted, but excited about what you have done or seen, it is
cause for enjoyment. To say I had some fun is an understatement.
This trip wasn't without some grief though. I started out the trip by
missing my plane. As a few of you might know, I casually offered my
airline ticket for sale at our last club meeting. Due to my continuing
unemployment, I was thinking of not going. Then, friend and club member
Jeff Raders called me late last week, and suggested that I be his guest in
Detroit, as he had to stay over the weekend, his company had him working
in Michigan this week anyway. I nearly missed the flight on the way back
also. We were busy at the hotel playing with the new software, and sliced
the time very thin.
I pondered it anyway. I knew that there were going to be many bar-
gains, of both software and hardware. I would have to really be careful
not spend too much money. Okay, I'll admit it was like being a "kid in a
candy store"! Even though our local shows in Gurnee have turned out the
people, I haven't seen an event with so much dealer/developer support.
Atari Canada, and US were both represented.
The bargains were unbelievable. STacy 2 - $1300, Mega STe4 $1400,
color stereo monitors - $475. These were the Canadian prices!(subtract 18%
for US prices) The elusive TT030 was there to be purchased, right off
the floor. They sold the last one for $2100 (that's $1722 US folks!) At
the beginning of the show, the TT030's were stacked 40 high! Every piece
sold! Of course the software bargains were in abundance, and too numerous
list here. Just imagine every program available for the ST, at a fraction
of the original price! Even the developers themselves had a few bargains.
But, I couldn't find a new BBS program anywhere. Oh well, I guess it's
mail time.
SCREAMING GADGETS!
The highlight for me , was hearing Dave Small lecture about his new
board for the Mega, the SST030. To say it is just an accelerator board
isn't doing it justice. His "published" clock speed is 33Mhz, for the
CPU, and quotes some startling Q-Indexes. (Like 3500% increase in speed
over the normal ST!) Improved technology impresses me yes, but, the manner
in which Small delivers a talk is captivating. Both sessions he gave were
filled to the rafters, with curious ATARIANS. Dave mentioned that Atari
has already licensed him to include the new TOS 2.02, with his board.
Judging from his descriptions of past dealings with the Corp, this feat
was nothing short of miraculous. One major difference I can see immediat-
ely about the SST, is that most all the current software will in fact run
in the system. If the particular program, doesn't like the faster clock
speed, the board reduces it's speed to a comfortable level the program
will endure, without breaking. (Dave uses the word "break" instead of
"crash").
All the standard peripherals, monitors, etc, are still supported.
George Richards, is working on a series of video boards, one which will
display 256 colors from a palette of 16 million! If all this sounds like
mumbo-jumbo, voodoo electro-babble, I have left out most all the tech-
no-stuff. If you are of a mind to find out this sort of stuff, read one
of Small's articles. He writes as cleverly as he talks. You will hear
much adieux, about this board, I'm sure. But just read his stuff for the
lighter side effects of his work.
During this past weeks GEnie online conference, Dave and George fie-
lded questions regarding the board. And on the spur of the moment whim,
Small gave away through a roll of the dice one of the new boards. I was
number 25, number 24 won!
THE WINDSOR ATARI SHOW
======================
Eyewitness Report 2
A GREAT SHOW FOR SEEING ALL THE NEW GOODIES!
============================================
by Dan Stidham
St. Claire's Community College in Windsor, Ontario was the site of the
first ever international Atarifest co-ordinated by user groups from dif-
ferent countries--The Windsor Atari User's Group and the Washtenaw Atari
User's Group. Official show direction was provided by Brian Cassidy of the
Windsor group and Craig Harvey of the Washtenaw group who also happens to
be the author of an excellent editing/hacking utility called EdHak.
Woulda made PT Barnum proud...
------------------------------
Key promotional assistance for the show was provided by Bill and Patti
Rayl of Atari Interface Magazine. From reading online posts and speaking
with the Rayls personally, this show was one of the most thoroughly promo-
ted Atari events in memory. Promotion tools were diverse and included
advertisements in
the Detroit Free Press, the Windsor Star, the Ann Arbor
News and several other local papers. According to Bill Rayl, the newspaper
ads ran for a month prior to the show at a cost of over 1,000 dollars.
Detroit and Windsor area stations ran a special ad on network affiliated
TV stations (as a public service) and a local cable station ran a half--
hour show dedicated to the Atari line of computers and the upcoming show
every night for a week prior to the show. Over 200 copies of a show kit
were sent out to various usergroups in the mid-west, New York and Canada.
Ads were also ran in national ST publications such Atari Interface, ST
Informer with press releases sent to ST Journal, Current Notes and Atari
Explorer.
Personally I felt the facilities (taking into account that it wasn't
held in a hotel convention center) were top-notch, the best I have seen. A
large colorful Atari banner hung over an information table where tickets
were being sold near the entrance of the main lobby for the college.
After buying your ticket for four dollars(US or CND) you would go down a
long hallway, make a right then a left, pass by a small concession area
and enter the double doors of a huge gymnasium. The booths were set up
around the perimeter of the gymnasium with three island strips in the
middle of the floor. There was plenty of room to walk around, even if the
show-goers were two or three deep in front of booths. The booths were pro-
fessionally set-up with blue curtains used over a booth frame.
Atari was there with a double wide, double deep booth displaying all
of their latest hardware including the TT030, the 1040STe and the Mega
STe, Portfolio and the incredibly good-looking and sleek SLM605 laser pri-
nter. Their booth was back to back with a large Atari dealer out of Tor-
onto, Canada called Savetech, whom Atari Canada had supplied with an in-
ventory that would make a red-blooded American ST'er turn green with envy.
Large stacks of hardware in boxes made up the bulk of a pretty impressive
display. And just what was in them thar boxes? TT030/2/50's, Mega STe
4/50's, 520STfm's with SC1224 monitors, Megafile30's and 60's, 1040 STe's
and Stacy 2 portables with 20 meg hard drives. The prices were also great
which I will get into later. Savetech took out a large ad in a local Win-
dsor paper detailing the inventory they would have at the Windsor show.
The ad was very professional looking and included pictures of the "TT030
Graphics Workstation", the Mega STe, etc. The prices were even more impr-
essive, the likes of which I will get into later in this article. (my
Windsor video, announced in a press release elsewhere in this issue of
STReport, has some thorough footage of the Savetech booth and a close-up
shot of the ad they ran). The dynamic duo of Atari/Savetech was posi-
tioned strategically, smack dab in the middle of the floor and made up the
entirety of a large squarish middle island.
Canadian Customs...quite a tradition, eh?
----------------------------------------
Many dealers took advantage of a generous offer by Atari Canada to
provide loaner machines to avoid the hassle of bringing their equipment
across the border, and a hassle it was. I produced a video for the show
and had brought along lots of video gear while my assistant, Scott Haynes,
brought along an Atari Mega ST2, hard drive and monitor. The customs
people stopped us for about an hour as they suspiciously checked over all
of our equipment. I knew we were in trouble when the customs agent saw
the Atari logo and commented, "What's wrong with Amiga eh? Why don't you
have an Amiga eh?". Scrambling to stay under the good graces of this
apparently brain-washed bureaucrat, I groveled unashamedly and said, "Geez
thats funny you should mention that because I am into video and I was just
telling my friend here (Scott), how I wish the Atari would come up with
some good GENLOCKing hardware and software to go along with their new
genlocking and graphics capabilities, and how if I had an Amiga I could do
all my video-editing on the computer ala Desktop Video on the Amiga."
Dropping my head in betrayed disgust, the customs agent looked at me
pitifully while I shook my head. Moved with compassion for a fellow byt-
e-meister who apparently had not seen the light and was suffering for the
error of his ways, the Yogi-bear looking agent, folding his arms and lean-
ing back on the car parked next to ours, took a deeply reflective breath,
and proceeded to elucidate mercilessly and smugly on the perfectness and
completeness of his Amiga world, and how he was using it in his organic
chemical business to make brochures(yes the guy was a self-taught organic
chemical marketing mavin). After about 10 to fifteen minutes of contrived
amazement (using such expressions as, "No!? Really" and "Something Else!")
the customs agent seemed satisfied that he had put us in our pitiful, sl-
ime-pit place and let us go. By the way, he mentioned that all of the
customs agents used Amigas (which is probably why many Atarians
experienced hassles crossing over).
Early commitments to the show were slow coming in but the event gathe-
red alot of steam and snowballed the last coupla months (hows that for
mixing metaphors?) with over 36 vendors and developers exhibiting inclu-
ding Gadgets by Small, Codehead Software, Double-Click, Gribnif, DA Brum-
leve with her kidprg's, GoldLeaf, ICD, Branch Always, MegaType, MS Desi-
gns, Nice and Software, Rimik Enterprises, SKWare One, Wiz Works, Dr. Bob,
C-HQ, Unicorn Publications, Taylor Ridge, Phil Comeau, Intrinsic Software,
Music Code and lots and lots of vendors (there was plenty of competiti-
on).
Having said all of the above, there are not alot of excuses to make
for an honestly disappointing turnout. Everything was done up right and
all the right people came to this party. Great facilities, unprecedented
advertising, major developers, fanatical ST users--it should all add up to
2-3 deep in front of booths. As it turned out I had very little trouble
getting good shots with my camera and experienced very few incidents where
a giant blob would fill my viewfinder. Maybe the only legitimate excuse
is there ain't that many of us fanatical users out there. But then again
maybe there were those, state-wide, who felt there would be too much
trouble crossing over; this may be a good possibility but still an excuse.
Nevertheless, despite the fairly low turnout the per capita sales of
nearly all the developers I spoke with were very satisfactory. Myself, I
had a great time as I always do when I get to meet up with fellow ST users
and developers. So my verdict: It may have been a disappointing turnout
but if you turned out it wasn't disappointing. Final attendance has been
estimated from between 800 to 1200 for the two day show. I definitely
have to go with the latter number. There were approximately 500 people
attending Saturday and 700 on Sunday.
Moving on one discovered many new products and upgrades as one went
from booth to booth:
**********************************
Atari Corp.
**********************************
On hand from Atari US and Atari Canada were Bob Brodie, US manager of
Usergroup Services, Geoff Earle, Atari Canada President and GM, and Rob
McGowan and Mark Campbell of Atari Canada. This group of Atari payrollees
underscored the downright friendliness and approachability of Atari's cor-
porate staff. They jumped right into the crowd discussing Atari's market-
ing plans and products. They genuinely seemed to be having a good time
and were very upbeat about the product line in their booth which included
the TT030, the Mega STe, the highly successful Portfolio, an incredibly
good-looking and _quiet_ SLM605 laser printer that hooked up to the TT
running Calamus that constantly was cranking out some incredible looking
documents.
Also on display in the booth was the STacy 2 with 20 meg hard drive
and a 1040 STe running some colorful demos. Geoff Earle also revealed
during his video interview a price reduction, announced shortly before the
show, of the 1040 STe to $499 Canadian from a previous price of $695. I
understood, but could not confirm, that Atari US has also reduced the
price on the 1040 STe's, the only new computer in the Atari line to be
licensed for home use, to $399.
*****************************
Branch Always
*****************************
If there was any doubt as to Darek Mihocka's continued commitment to
the Atari platform it was completely obliterated at this show. Darek was
demoing an upcoming release of Quick ST 3.0 that he billed (and proved) as
being even faster that the present release of 2.2. Q-ST 3 will feature
acceleration of line A functions and even faster GEM functions, impacting
the speed of some DTP applications. But this, like, just scratches the
surface. Quick ST 3.0 which will be commercially released at the Van-
couver Atari Festival, will feature even more customization options inclu-
ding customized fonts and desktop icons with the font and icon editor
built-in.
Background picture customization, which has always been an integral
part of Q-ST will now allow Prism Paint formats (Lexicor's paint program)
and (surprise) Windows 3 files besides the standard Degas and Neo pics.
You will now be able to download all of those great Windows pics from
GEnie or your favorite BBS and use them as your desktop picture. Q-ST 3.0
will also allow background (and provide sample pics on disk) pictures on
every TT resolution setting including 1280 by 960, the latter requiring
about 150K. Darek told me that Chet Walters and the guys from Wiz Works
are going to help him find some nice img's for that rez to include on the
disk.
The new version of Quick View that will come with Q-ST 3.0 allow view-
ing of all these pics and if you decide, "Yeah, thats the one...", all
you'll have to do is press a toggle key and it will instantly become your
new back- ground. If that wasn't enough customization, you will now be
able to customize everything for individual programs--as Darek states in
his BraSoft newsletter (which he was giving away at the show), "...if you
like to use one font with ST Word and another font with Flash!, or have a
custom desktop pic with PageStream but one with Word Up, so be it..."
Believe it or not, I have saved the most impressive for last. Darek
showed me a new version of MonSTEr that will allow emulation of any TT
resolution on any ST screen! I saw it in action and it was operating very
smoothly. MonSTEr will also allow the user to customize his virtual
screen to any matrix the user wishes (for instance, say, 700 by 700) up to
a certain yet-to-be-determined limit. I personally feel that this version
of MonSTEr could sell all by itself for Quick ST 3.0's new price of 34.95
list but, wonder of wonders, in the tradition of power without the MAC
price, Darek is bundling it with Q-ST 3.0.
**********************************
C-HQ
**********************************
C-HQ stands for Command HeadQuarters and if any of you were at the
WAACE show last year, these were the fellas helping work WizWorks booth.
C-HQ had on display its full line of in-house artist rendered and superbly
scanned IMG and Degas clipart disks. C-HQ was also selling disks of cus-
tomized NeoDesk and DC Desktop Icons with over 1200 icons included on one
disk! Each of around ten clipart disks had a special theme and were sel-
ling for a ridiculous price of $10.00. I don't know if this was a show
price or not but the quality for the price should have been too good to
pass up (guess who forgot to buy a couple in the midst of taking notes and
asking questions?) for anyone who uses DTP.
*********************************
Clear Thinking
*********************************
Craig Harvey, president of Waug in Washtenaw, MI, one of the spon-
soring user-groups of this show, is the author of the popular editing/hac-
king utility EdHak, previously available as shareware from various online
services. While interviewing Craig at his booth to gather info for this
article, I was so impressed with EdHak's functionality and practicality
that I purchased a copy as did my video assistant Scott Haynes. EdHak
2.13 can be run as either a DA or program by simply changing the file ex-
tender, and is packed full of features that can accessed from a drop down
menu within the file window or with keyboard equivalents. I found some of
its more useful features in Edit mode (as opposed to Hak mode which can be
entered via an ALT-T toggle) which included the ability to append and
merge files on-the-fly within the editing window. Are you keeping a run-
ning account of something or keeping a diary? EdHak features an autoload
feature that will, upon boot-up (if EdHak is installed as an accessory) or
when the program is run from the desktop, automatically load in a text
file (your diary for instance). Further enhancing its diary usefulness is
the ability to append, auto-stamp dates (in any format you wish), and enc-
rypt files. Other features include launching of programs (PRG, not TOS),
word-wrap, search and replace, block cut and paste and text macros. En-
tering Hak mode is as easy as pressing ALT-T (T for toggle as Craig expla-
ined). In this mode EdHak acts as a very versatile disk sector or RAM
editor. There's lots more but suffice it to say, in Craig's own words,
"EdHak is the ST DA and PRG that is there when you need to edit anything."
I guess you could expect to pay a pretty fair price if you were purchasing
this great little utility for one of the other platforms but Craig was
offering it for an unbelievable $15.00 show price (US) with a regular
retail of $18.95.
I own STeno and am now using it to compile this report ( I haven't had
a chance to install EdHak yet) but I would have to say that EdHak is the
best text editor available at its price. By the way, the documentation is
excellent and features a keyboard command summary which can be separated
from the rest of the manual.
Hold on just a minute, Craig was also demoing this strange little
program called MetaPsychology that offered a tutorial and quizzes that
offered a pretty sophisticated examination of ones psyche. Word has it
that Craig is going to link this program with EdHak and allow you to edit
your head if you want! Amazing! Anyway this GEM driven program was pretty
popular at $9.00 US and sold, according to Craig, fourteen copies on
Saturday. What a curious lot, them thar ST'ers.
**********************************
Codehead
**********************************
Besides giving me one of the most memorable moments I have ever had,
(buy the video!), Charles Johnson was on hand with John Eidsvoog demoing,
along with HotWire and Codekeys, their latest upgrade to Maxifile, version
3.0. Its list of features is quite long and features a unique scroll box,
allowing one to scroll through source and destination files simultaneous-
ly. Charles told me that this upgrade is so complete and thoroughly
packed with features, many of which were requested by Maxifile users, that
Codehead, so far, hasn't received any further suggestions in the box.
**********************************
D A Brumleve
**********************************
Dorothy Brumleve was again the favorite attraction for those little
bit-meisters as her booth offered a chance to try out her colorful and
easy-to-use Kidprgs. Dorothy had two 1040STe's set-up, each one running
either KidPublisher, KidPainter, KidGrid or Telegram; the latter being the
most recent release, fall of 1990 at the Waace show. Dorothy had one of
the more interesting table displays at the show. All four of her programs
were slotted into a staircase display made up of large colorful pre-school
Duplo blocks.
Dot reported that on Sunday she actually sold a couple of ST systems
to parents who had been contemplating a system for the family and were
impressed with the entertaining and educational Kidprgs. Dot promptly and
personally escorted them over to the Savetech booth in the middle of the
floor where they made their first-ever ST purchase. Way to go Dot!
**********************************
Double-Click
**********************************
Demoing DC Desktop, DC Shower and other offerings in a quiet little
corner booth were them Texas boys, Mike Vederman and Paul Lee. I was
really impressed with Paul Lee's new-found Canadian accent. Seems like
this guy readily adapts to regional flavors and reminds me of Woody Al-
len's _Zelig_. Anyway explaining to me that DC Shower was not an X-10
type of controller for all of your bathroom plumbing, Paul demonstrated
that when installed in an auto folder, DC Shower will enable you to view
anything from the desktop, just by double-clicking on it. Anything inclu-
des arc files, all kinds of picture formats, and text files.
UIS 3.3 now can incorporate the functionality of DC Shower from its
own Show selection, therefore enabling one who has UIS installed as a DA,
the ability to view the above within any GEM program.
**********************************
Gadgets By Small
**********************************
The focus of this booth was definitely on the 68030 SST accelerator
board that is very close to release. According to Dave Small, waiting on
PC boards from the manufacturers is the only thing holding up its release.
"Specializing in speed and compatibility", Gadgets has tried to walk a
delicate balance of speed and software compatibility as they developed and
tested out this unit. Initial testing has proven successful and although
I cannot give a compatibility list, we can be sure that Gadgets By Small
is obsessed as though it were their mission from God to make sure your
favorite program runs (witness Spectre GCR). Atari reports that 80% of
its existing software library runs on the TT so you'll get at least that
kind of harmony coupled with Gadgets "fixes" to tune up lots more com-
patibility problems.
To try and give even a brief overview of the engineering genius that
went into this product would cover many more paragraphs than appropriate
for this report. But gleaning the excellent article in Gadgets own promo-
tional literature Dave passed out at the show, one discovers that speeding
up memory access by allowing you to upgrade your Mega 4 with up to 8 megs
of fastRAM is the theoretical basis on which dave has approached the
design of his accelerator. Dave is providing some fastRAM utilities that
will run transparently in the auto folder ensuring the loading of your
programs into fastRAM. A coprocessor socket is also included that will
receive a 68881/2 floating point chip, with the chip coming standard in
the 33 MHZ SST.
Dave has also taken a modular approach to marketing and packaging the
SST to allow the user to determine his entry point and upgrade path. For
instance if you (or your pocketbook) are satisfied with a 16 MHZ 68030
SST, you can start there and upgrade in the future. This approach will
also allow users to buy their own chips in case they can get them cheaper.
************************************
Gribnif
************************************
Gribnif, as always, was one of the more popular booths with many show
goers taking advantage of the ability to upgrade on the fly. Rick Flash-
man and Tricia Metcalf were on hand demoing Neodesk 3.0, the up and coming
upgrade to the Neo CLI and CardFile 2.0. Gribnif bought the rights to
this indispensable schedule and address accessory, added a few things and
wrote a nifty manual.
Major Neo CLI upgrade features include a configurable, scrollable his-
tory (very powerful implementation) and the ability to write batch files
that will allow the use of the mouse to choose selections in a menu.
I think Gribnif was quite surprised that several show-goers brought
colaware payments to the booth for their popular FormDoIt dialog box cus-
tomizer. I hope they had room to bring back all those twelve packs!
********************************
GoldLeaf
********************************
GoldLeaf Publishing was on hand demoing WordFlair II, the front end to
the new great line of products they are now marketing under the "Direct to
Press" banner. Although they did not have ReTouche Professional running,
they did have an absolutely beautiful slide-show running, that demonstr-
ated the fruits of its incredible drawing and photo retouching capabiliti-
es. I started to videotape just a few of the pics and was so awed that I
kept the camera rolling and captured the whole demo on the show tape.
GoldLeaf was also demoing ProFlight on a TT. Imported from Europe, it
is a simulator so realistic as to having a high degree of instructional
potential.
It does seem that GoldLeaf is executing a very organized game plan to
become one of the major publishers and distributors of high-end software
in the USA.
*********************************
ICD
*********************************
Jeff Williams, ICD's new public relations officer, was on hand with
another very friendly fellow (don't shoot me, I forgot to write his name
down!), meeting show-goers, selling host adapters and accessories, and
showing off the ICD FAST tape back-up unit. The tape back-up unit was
selling for a show special $849.00.
********************************
Intrinsic
********************************
Intrinsic Software from Toronto, Canada, was demoing and selling a
very solid command line interpreter, called (what else?) Command!, com-
plete in its features and able to run as either a DA or a program. Reg-
ular price on this is $24.95 while Intrinsic offered a show special of
just $19.95.
*******************************
ISD Marketing
*******************************
Seen throughout the show roaming the floor, harassing fellow vendors,
and demoing DynaCadd and Calamus was Nathan Potechin, president of ISD
Marketing. Mario Georgiou from ISD was also there demoing the new, soon
to be released, version of Calamus SL, showing off its color capabilities.
To be honest with you I was probably more fascinated by this guys great
french accent than anything else. SL was being run on a tower-encased
TT030. I videographed this as well as most other reports mentioned in
this article on the Windsor video.
******************************
MegaType
******************************
Don Turnock was demoing and selling his Fontverter program as well as
two excellent imports called Font Designer and Font Designer Plus. The
latter will create and edit type 1 Adobe fonts with hinting, while the
former allows for Type 3 font creation.
Don also had available a great little utility called Type 1 Converter
that allows one to load in an industry standard type 1 font and export it
into .ECF(font Designer Format) for subsequent conversion and export for
use in an ST PostScript application.
Font Designer was selling for $95.00, Font Designer Plus for 175.00,
FontVerter for $45.00 and the Type 1 Converter for $35.00. Seems like
MegaType is quite a one-stop source for all Calamus and PageStream font
editors and aficionados!
One note: MegaType was also carrying the Safari product line, fonts
and EPS clipart, from Computer Safari in Woodland, CA. I took advantage
of a tremendous offer on the huge Clipables EPS clipart selection. Sel-
ling normally for $125.00, MegaType had it on sale for $85.00. This col-
lection contains over 600 illustrations in a variety of themes. Every
graphic is depicted by classification and references to its disk number in
the catalogue. The catalogue was originally meant for the MAC but applies
equally as well to the ST version which Computer Safari has licensed from
C.A.R. Publishing, taking all the hassle of ST conversion into their own
hands.
********************************
MS Designs
********************************
MS Designs had a booth next to MegaType and was displaying a line of
fonts for both Calamus and PageStream. Most of the fonts were display
fonts and all ten groups of display fonts sold for a show special $160.00.
MS also had two clipart value packages containing IMG clipart at a show
special $10.00 (regular price, $20.00).
*******************************
MusicCode
*******************************
MusicCode was displaying a critically appraised voice development
system along with a program of a entirely different color, BlackJack 3.
This program boasted the capability to teach casino-style blackjack and
promises to enhance your performance (wonder if that means you'll play
with style while you are losing money or you'll win with a wild-eyed,
crazed look?). BlackJack 3 was selling for $59.95 and had a beautiful and
complete screen display (see it in the video!).
*******************************
Nice & Software
*******************************
Nice & Software pulled no punches with their display, simulating a
point of sale terminal(two of them) made up of the ST and monitor running
the Cricit integrated Cash Register and Inventory Control package. Called
the Cricit Bar Code Plus System, Nice and Software boasted that you could
own this complete system for the price of a cash register (minus bar-code
hardware). The Cricit system allows for bar-code reading directly from
packaging, customized receipts, mailing lists, periodic reports, lay away
searching, auto-discounting, stock searches, issuance of coupons, ability
to network up to six cash registers and more. This system is incredibly
easy to use and so much fun playing around with that you want to start up
a retail business just so you can use this software (OK, I got carried
away). Questioning Igor Tertysznyj (hey! isn't it illegal to string that
many consonants together?), he revealed that there are over 500 Cricit
systems installed worldwide.
Nice & Software now also carries a neat little box called the DMA sw-
itcher that among other functions, will allow you to turn your SLM laser
printer off if its not in use. Four DMA devices or four computers can be
hooked up to the A/B/C/D ports depending on whether you want to network
one device to four computers or four devices to one computer.
Nice was also showing its Lantech 10 megabit local area network cart-
ridge, boasting 10 times the speed of SGSnet, which uses the midi port to
accomplish its networking. On its show flyer Nice claimed that Lantech
can transfer a 400K file in 17 seconds as compared to SGS's 2 minutes and
45 seconds. Selling for 179.00 per node, Igor Tertysznyj of Nice informed
me that the UIS Net software was actually developed on a Lantech and works
quite well with it.
********************************
Phil Comeau
********************************
Phil's GramSlam software was being demo'ed and claims to check for
over 1200 common grammar and writing-style problems. It works in conjunc-
tion with all word processors and text editors and even checks for spacing
problems, unbalanced parentheses, doubled words, incorrect abbreviations,
and obnoxious spiels (just kidding). Phil was also demoing TreeSaver
("Save a Tree Today"). TreeSaver claims it works with most dot matrix,
ink jet and laser printers. One nice feature is its ability to run either
as a DA or from the desktop as a program.
A look at Phil's sample printout reveals one of its biggest departures
from the ever-popular DoublePage Printer IV by Doug Wheeler. Whereas
Doug's program prints two pages side-by-side in landscape mode, TreeSaver
prints with a portrait orientation. TreeSaver was selling for $24.95 CND;
GramSlam $39.95 CND.
*******************************
Rimik Enterprises
*******************************
Richard Betson, formerly of Talon Technology, has gone out on his on
his own and was present at the show showing some interesting products.
Richard had one computer running MultiGEM, a mulitasking product from Eur-
ope that seems to use the desk accessory slots to load in six independent
programs. MultiGEM allows the user to adjust and allocate memory used by
programs, even those who like to claim all the memory to themselves and
claims the ability to run TOS based programs. After having some initial
problems getting the program set up, I later came by the booth and noticed
it running, seemingly without a hitch, Retailing for $99.95, MultiGEM will
work with ST's and STe's running TOS 1.2 or higher. Richard stated that
the active window of the six programs being multitasked receives priority,
but emphasized that processing still occurs in all other programs.
Richard also had an interface attached to an ST color system employing
the light gun used by the 8 bit machines. Several kids and adults were
seen shooting skeet out of the air with it (similar to duckhunt). Richard
promised that the ST light pen would be out on the market very soon and
come bundled with the skeet game.
Also being displayed was the Menu Plus program launcher and DT Paint, an
accessory pant program for DTP'ers.
*******************************
Savetech
*******************************
For Americans at the show the Savtech booth was a revelation to a
totally different world. Easily the largest booth in the show, Savetech
featured stacks and stacks of Atari product for sale to the general public
that can be obtained only from VAR's in the states, let alone in the mid-
dle of an exhibition hall. TT030/4 with 50 mg hard drives were stacked in
a display 20 boxes high and were being blown out at $2300 CND by show's
end. The exchange rate being 13:10 on that day, this translated into ap-
proximately $1800 US. Stacy 2's with 20 meg hard drives were being of-
fered for $1350 CND (about $1,000 US). Mega STe's were available on the
first day of the show for $1,900 CND and dropped another $300 CND on Sun-
day (approximately 1200 US). Portfolios could be had for $250 CND, 520
STFM's with color monitors for $450 CND, and 1040 STe's for $440 CND. How
'bout (pronounced boat in Canada) the archaic little SX212 1200 baud mo-
dems selling for $20 CND?
*******************************
SKWare One
*******************************
One of the first products I wanted to see upon arrival was SK Ware
One's ColorScan program. Even though I was disappointed that this nifty
little program didn't do what I was dreaming of (true reproductions of
color from scanned image) I was still impressed with the quality of con-
version it did. This program will take a scanned img file, convert to a
color picture of your palette choice (different shades of red or blue,
etc) and then export it in eight different formats. It does highly detai-
led work with no staircasing and the results are beautiful. For $59 you
can't go wrong with it. ColorScan is an impressive program with lots of
potential and has been in development for over six months.
*******************************
Taylor Ridge
*******************************
Taylor Ridge reps were on hand selling copies of Clayton Walnum's
C-Manship book and program-listing disks ($19.95 US for book and $10 US
for two listing disks). Also being sold was a book titled Beyond Nintendo
Masters co-written by Clayton Walnum and Andy Eddy, and forwarded by Orson
Scott Card ($9.95 US)
*******************************
Unicorn Publications
*******************************
Bill and Patti Rayl had alot of fingers pointing at and ooh's and
aah's floating in the direction of their booth. No, Bill wasn't bending
forks with his mind, they had some incredible Lexicor animations running
on an STe. About 10-15 disks of Lexicor animations were being made avail-
able for $6.00 a disk, 2 for $10.00, five for $20.00 and so on. About
half of them also ran on the older ST's. I bought all six of the ST com-
patible disks, ran them as soon as I got home and was very pleased with
the quality. I highly recommend these to anyone who wants to turn your
computer into a conversation piece at a user group meeting or a family
get-together.
And, of course, Bill and Patti were selling Atari Interface Magazine
subscriptions and tee-shirts with a past cover silk-screened on the front.
*******************************
Wiz Works
*******************************
Chet Walters was demoing the latest version of MugShot, MugShot Plus,
version 1.5. This very easy-to-use, fun-filled, fully icon driven program
added a Plus to its name for a very good reason. By clicking on an icon
of a hand painting a face you enter into a full-featured paint program
with excellent brush and spray control to fine tune your mug creations.
Of course, as usual, Chet was giving away a free MugShot mug with every
purchase of MugShot.
I had an interesting and heart warming experience at Chet's booth.
After having MygShot Plus demo'ed to me and my video guy, we were so imp-
ressed that we both bought a copy. Chet then pulled out a data disk and
gave it to each of us explaining that he was also impressed by out hones-
ty, noting that we very well could have copied the disk. Wiz Works gets
very little proportionate return on some great software and I am impressed
that he would show his users even more respect.
*******************************
Dr. Bob's
*******************************
Dr. Bob, William parks was showing the latest update to MVG. The good
doctor was also passing out a large glossy calendar that I saw in lots of
peoples' hands. Every once in a while I would see William walking around
in shades trying as much as possible to be incognito and hide from the
software groupies.
Finally, Geoff Earle and Bob Brodie announced in their seminars an
interesting new program that will be on trial this coming November 23 & 24
in Chicago, Illinois. Atari plans on doing two or three of these shows
where they will work in conjunction with local usergroups to put on a well
backed extravaganza in top-notch facilities. Geoff and Bob also announced
that workshop will be set up at these shows that will be manned by
developers and handles more like a classroom.
There is so much more I could have reported on but to be honest with
you I have run out of steam and time. Be sure to look in future issues of
STReport for more in-depth reviews of some of the software spoken about
above... Take care.
___________________________________________________________________
> ATARI INTERVIEW STR InfoFile Windsor/Detroit Atarifest
============================
A CHAT WITH G. EARLE
====================
transcribed by Dan Stidham
(The following is the transcript of a videotaped interview with Atari Can-
ada President Geoff Earle, taped at the Windsor/Detroit Atarifest this
past weekend. Interviewing Geoff was Daniel Stidham, producer of the show
video that is available now for sale. Contained herein is some excellent
topical material, especially pertaining to the release of new products in
the US.)
________
DAN
Hello... we are very pleased to have with us, Geoff Earle, Atari Canada
President and General Manager of overall operations--thank you for joining
us Geoff--briefly describe your responsibilities at Atari.
GEOFF
I am responsible for the bottom line at Atari Canada. I am responsible for
all the marketing and sales of the Canadian Corporation.
DAN
How did you become connected with Atari--where did you start in the organ-
ization?
GEOFF
I got connected with Atari, uh, first of all years ago, I used to be in
the retail business with a popular Canadian called Nathan Potechin and, uh
the two of us used to sell alot of commodore 64's. As a matter of fact,
we were the largest independent dealer for that product. That's how I got
involved in computers. We got involved in the Atari line because some of
their people went to Atari computers, as you know, they convinced us to do
that and we did and we evolved from that, from the retail business, after
having enough of that into various ventures including some software and
hardware. We mostly concentrated on the ST line at that point because we
thought that it was the product for the future. I came from the software
background into um, Atari Canada's national sales manager and assumed the
position of GM approximately one year ago.
DAN
So from Commodore 64's to Dynacadd on a TT030, that's a pretty good evol-
ution!
GEOFF
I wouldn't call it Dynacadd, I don't think I'm quite as good as Nathan at
explaining and marketing its features, but, yeah, thats pretty well it.
DAN
What are Atari's short and long term marketing goals as pertaining to the
ST/TT line of computers in a very competitive North American market?
GEOFF
That's a good question. Our short and long term goals are relatively the
same. Now I can some it up by saying that we want to provide quality in-
novative products, high technology, at an affordable price. Now, no matter
whether thats a month down the road or twelve months down the road, that
will certainly be our focus. Uh, in Canada as you know, we are in a re-
cession, times are tough. We want to offer the consumer good value. One
of the ways that we have done that is by taking a popular product like
the 1040 STe and bringing down the retail price on that by a couple of
hundred dollars overnight.
DAN
And what is that new price by the way?
GEOFF
The street price on the 1040 STe is $499 Canadian. That's an incredible
price.
DAN
Wasn't it, at one time, around $650.00, I know that in the USA...
GEOFF
$695 Canadian back in February.
DAN
Where do you see Atari in the market. Do you see Atari as having a small
niche and if that's so, is Atari satisfied with that as long as they can
be consistent with it?
GEOFF
I, uh, I don't know if Atari corporately is satisfied with that. I don't
believe so. I certainly am not. I think that the hOme market is some-
thing that Atari has always been very good at marketing to, I think we
should continue to do that and we should continue doing that with products
like the 1040ste and the Mega STe. The TT gives us now a different market
that we can go after and start to expand that market--higher education,
UNIX systems, uh, areas like that uh, and I look forward to that. Howe-
ver, in Canada, we are certainly not going to look over the home market.
That, to me, is the most exciting and changing market that is available
today.
DAN
Could you please explain the difference in Atari Canada getting the TT030
and Mega STe out to the general public, as compared to the USA's inability
to do so thus far. Is there a difference in the release versions, is
there different licensing and certification standards? You here innuendos,
speculation and rumors fly on such online services as GEnie concerning the
FCC Class B process. You walk out on the exhibition floor and see a vendor
with a stack of about 20 TT030's. There must be a good reason for this.
GEOFF
Thats my whole warehouse sitting out there at that dealer, uh, so,(chuck-
le), um the real reason is that in Canada we can achieve CSA approval alot
faster, uh, than what they can FCC approval in the US. Now I don't know
why but the Canadian testing people seem alot quicker to react When we
have a product that we want to get tested, we apply immediately, they are
very quick in responding, we get the product in, we get it tested, we get
it approved.
DAN
It (TT) is basically the same design as the US version?
GEOFF
Its exactly the same.
DAN
But they're saying in Canada its fine for home use but in the US so far
you haven't gotten that type of approval.
GEOFF
Thats right, but I think FCC also goes through another approval process
that has to do with our alpha emissions. In Canada its two separate
processes for that and they can work simultaneously, but its two separate
divisions. And, uh, so we can have this thing done at the same time, con-
currently, and approved whereas in the US it goes through the one process
and then the next.
DAN
So its just not true if you have these out in Canada for home use, there
is no reason you would be holding back in the US?
GEOFF
You would have to ask the American authorities on that, there's no reason
corporately why they would back.
DAN
But accusations get thrown all over the online services like, "They're not
really interested in the Class B approval, they're just interested in the
vertical market." But I guess Atari can make the argument that if its
here in Canada for home use there's no reason why they would be holding
back in the US.
GEOFF
You would have to ask the American authorities on that. There is no
reason corporately they would hold back.
DAN
But the substance of the accusations, as you know, is that Atari US is,
presently, content at having its release in the vertical realm and aren't
just trying hard enough for general release.
GEOFF
In the seminar we just had, Bob Brodie said, "Listen, if you hear rumors
they're just rumors. Get on GEnie contact Bob Brodie on GEnie and he will
dispel the rumors." They are not holding product back specifically in the
US because they want to mistreat the US consumer. Thats craziness. We're
not in the business to lose money. You lose money when you do that.
DAN
Well, the TT030 doesn't look like mistreatment to me. Thats a great com-
puter and I think I'm ready to buy it whenever it becomes available.
GEOFF
Well, I think my dealers have some good prices.. so, you should buy it
today in Canada instead of buying it in the US (smiling).
DAN
Well, I'm waiting for 4 megs of ST Ram plus 4 megs of TT FASTram, the
units you have out there have only the 4 megs of ST ram.
GEOFF
We have some in the warehouse I think, we can probably build that up for
you if you need it. (salesman grin).
DAN
(pause) Gosh, he's putting me on the spot here,(laughter), well...shoot I
brought my Visa Gold with me today, I think I can meet that challenge.
I'm going to change gears here for a moment... What are Atari's plans
for the ST Notebook and what market, when Atari was developing this, were
they planning on aiming at? Are they competing with Mac and PC's or are
they wanting to champion the whole thing, taking major market share from
both platforms with such a small, easy to use system, lasting hours on AA
batteries for economy and convenience...
GEOFF
Geez, you answered it all so I don't need to! Anyway when we first started
the interview you asked me if there were any questions/topics not to touch
on, I said I'd let you know...you now know(laughter)
DAN
Oh, OK...
GEOFF
No. no in all fairness, in all fairness...it was a product that was dev-
eloped because its an exciting product idea, its innovative, that market
is going that way, there is alot of notebooks out on the market now. We
think we can do it better and we certainly feel that we can do it at a lot
better price, which is important. Thats why we're there in the market.
At the same time we feel like we can make some money with it! There's not-
hing wrong with that. The product is not available and will probably not
be available until the first quarter of 1991. So its very premature to
talk about it now. I cannot even give you suggested retail prices. Its
an exciting product, I thinks its certainly a market that if we are not
in, uh, our absence in that market, uh, people will start to ask
questions, and uh, we should be there, so we will be.
DAN
By first quarter next year you think? But there's so many PC notebooks
out there already.
GEOFF
I agree but there is not alot of PC notebooks at what Atari will be able
to offer for, at the price.
DAN
Ok, fair enough. Last question here. Any new products that you are al-
lowed to discuss here that are in development or can you talk abstractly
about the direction Atari is going to take in future development? Have
you read John Scully's book detailing his hiring from Pepsico to Apple and
how he goes on in the book about how Apple has an R&D philosophy where
they are looking ahead, say, fifty years...does Atari have that type of
R&D?
GEOFF
I think we do but I think our feet are more on the ground. Anybody that
can look fifty years ahead is not of this world (smile), and uh, we are of
this world. I think that is alot of hype where someone tells you they are
looking fifty years ahead. If we can look a year ahead and two years
ahead and three years ahead and be there with the products, thats excit-
ing. One of the things that Atari is trying to attempt, and with the re-
organization of Atari where they've moved some of the engineering off site
and moved it to Dallas, and they have engineering in Israel, all around
the world basically, uh we're trying to attempt to always be on the lead-
ing edge and we're researching the new products that are there, what's
going to be down there. Hand-writing recognition is going to be one of
those products, we want to be there and we will be there. Fifty years
down the road, who knows. Next Year? Yeah, we'll be there with what's
there next year.
DAN
Thank you for an excellent interview, thank you for taking your time, you
are an articulate representative for Atari Canada.
_______________________________________________________________
> WINDSOR VIDEO STR InfoFile "Get 'em while they're hot!"
==========================
ITS HERE AND ITS HAPPENIN'!
announcing the 1991...
**********************************************
WINDSOR/DETROIT INTERNATIONAL ATARIFEST
___ __ ____
\ / | | | | | |
\ / | | | |-- | |
\ / | | | | | |
\ / | |__/ |__ |____|
**********************************************
So you couldn't make it to the show? DON'T WORRY! BE HAPPY!
Thanks to the modern miracle of video technology AAA Images will
bring the show to you!
NO HOME MOVIE MISH-MASH HERE! NO SIR!!
*****************************
* *
* PROFESSIONALLY SCRIPTED *
* *
*****************************
ENJOY an entertaining, informative, revealing, and (at times)
hilarious account of the first international user-group sponsored
Atarifest.
******************************
FEATURING...
******************************
> Fast-paced video montage of
action on the exhibitor floor
set to some EXCELLENT background
music!
> Incredibly vivid screen shots of
color ST/TT demo's - Lexicor
animations, GoldLeaf's Retouche
slide show presentation, Calamus SL
TT030 demo, and many other self-
running art and program demos!
> Great footage of your favorite devel-
opers and Atari guys - Bob Brodie, Atari
Canada's President/General Manager
Jeff Earle, Nathan Potechin, Darlah
Pine, Dave Small, Elmer Fudd and
many, many more!
> See stacks of TT030's and Mega STE's on sale
to the public!
*************************************
EXCELLENT INTERVIEWS WITH...
*************************************
> Jeff Earle - Atari Canada President
gives an informative and very artic-
ulate interview, outlining major
Atari marketing objectives, addressing
the controversial FCC Class B quagmire.
Jeff also gives us a concise and
interesting bio of his computer life
and times.
> Nathan Potechin discusses the ISD
line of products and reveals how ISD
has been working to break down Atari
bias in the Fortune 100 business community.
> Charles Johnson - this guy was soooo busy
that we were only able to corner him
in a very compromising position in the
St. Clair's Community College Men's Room!!!!
SEE THE FIRST AND ONLY INTERVIEW EVER DONE
FROM THIS BATHROOM! (take that Geraldo!)
With his back to the camera and a mic stuck
in his face Mr. Johnson describes the Maxi-
file back-door potential, product upgrades,
and much more! WHAT A GUY!
> Darlah Pine ^Gdiscusses the success of the ST RT
on GEnie and reveals future plans! 9600 baud
coming soon?? Find out...
> Bill and Patti Rayl of Atari Interface Magazine
give an excellent interview discussing the
evolution of their ever-increasingly popular
magazine and their future plans.
************************************************************************
A very SERIOUS AND PROFESSIONAL APPROACH was used to produce, script and
edit this great keepsake. Equipment used: RCA CC311 Pro-Edit, Videonics
Direct-ED Plus editor w/ graphics/character generation, Vidi-Craft SRT-
100 A/V mixer, Audio-Technica external mic and Aztec lighting.
***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
This tape was mastered on an extremely high-quality pro-mastering tape.
***********************************************************************
**********************************
ORDERING INFORMATION
**********************************
***********************
* only 19.50!!!!!!!!! *
* w/free shipping!!!! *
***********************
> E-MAIL your VISA/MC # and exp. date, name
as it appears on card and shipping address
to D.STIDHAM on GEnie or...
> Call/Write AAA Images at:
3809 Feather Lane
Elsmere, KY 41018
(606) 342-5660 or (606) 342-9129
Enclose a check or money order or your
VISA/MC account info as described above.
> E-Mail or call/write a COD order (add 3.00
for COD)
Make checks/money orders payable to AAA Images
____________________________
> CODEHEAD UPDATES! STR InfoFile SOLID, ONGOING CUSTOMER CARE
============
CodeHeadQuarters
Friday, May 10, 1991
For Immediate Release
---------------------
HOTWIRE & MAXIFILE III
New & Improved!
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - CodeHead Software has announced major upgrades for
their flagship programs, HotWire and MaxiFile!
The GEM Desktop environment of Atari's ST computers is simple to work
with, but limited in many, many regards. Windows and icons are fine for
some tasks, but poorly suited for others. ST software developers have
been aware of this from the beginning, and a number have even produced
"replacement" environments for users who find GEM too limited. Strangely
enough, the most common approach taken in such replacement environments is
to emulate the GEM Desktop! The Desktop's general look, functionality -
and drawbacks - are reproduced, with only some additional bells and whist-
les to make it "better." But imitating the item you're supposedly replac-
ing is hardly revolutionary.
The approach taken by CodeHead Software's HotWire and MaxiFile III
contrasts sharply with that of the GEM desktop and its imitators.
HotWire is a full-featured program launcher, which makes running an
application as easy as picking an item from a menu you design. HotWire
completely eliminates the time-wasting drudgery of opening window after
window and folder after folder to run programs. Instead, you simply click
the mouse on the title of the program you wish to run, or type its as-
signed keyboard equivalent - press W to run your word processor, for
example. You can create as many menus as you like, and even set up menus
to load other menus! You can keep track of the time you spend in each
program and the names of any documents on which you worked, with the help
of "ledger" files. You can set up to 16 alarms (including daily, weekly
or monthly alarms) that will go off in any program! And, in its latest
update (version 3.1), HotWire is even more powerful and flexible than
ever, with support for color-coded menus, "global blocks" of programs
and/or documents, special hooks for synergistic communication with Multi-
Desk, MaxiFile, and other CodeHead programs, and full STe and TT compatib-
ility.
MaxiFile III is a file-handling utility par excellence, providing
features and flexibility far beyond that of the GEM desktop or its
imitators. Furthermore, MaxiFile III can be installed as a desk acces-
sory, available from the Desk dropdown or via the shareware Little Green
Selector (included with the package). This means you can format and copy
disks, copy/move/delete/rename files, etc., from within most common ST
programs.
Here are just a few of the incredible new capabilities of MaxiFile III:
o the ability to search any drive (or combination of drives) at
lightning speed for files or folders according to their
time/date stamps, archive bit settings, or up to 16 simultaneous
extensions - then instantly jump to that path and select all
matching files!
o a "dual display" mode that shows you both source and destination
directories at once, in scrolling windows.
o a "safe deposit" feature that protects you from accidental file
deletions in a fast, legal, transparent manner.
o TRUE MS-DOS floppy disk formatting.
o a "graphic disk info" display that shows the space on all
connected drives both numerically and with a bar chart,
including cumulative totals for all selected drives.
o a blazingly fast text file viewing mode, with scrolling up and
down via mouse or keyboard, tab settings, and fast string search
abilities.
o keyboard equivalents for every operation, including selecting
files and folders in directory windows!
Owners of the original MaxiFile will definitely want to upgrade to
MaxiFile III - there are so many new features that an entire new manual
had to be written to accompany it!
Used individually, HotWire and MaxiFile can make working with your ST
easier, but when used together these programs become a complete, integr-
ated replacement for every aspect of the GEM Desktop. You can run progra-
ms, install documents, manage files, set system configurations - do just
about anything you can do with the GEM Desktop, all from simple, configur-
able menus. You may never need - or want - to use the GEM Desktop again!
And memory isn't a problem either. HotWire and MaxiFile III can be
memory-resident or loaded and unloaded as you need them; they work fine
both ways. Furthermore, both products are fully compatible with all
release versions of Atari's TOS operating system. From the smallest 520ST
to mightiest TT030, HotWire and MaxiFile III work without fail.
CodeHead Software products are well known and widely respected, but
some more casual users may have the mistaken impression that these prog-
rams are for technical types. Not so! CodeHead Software is for anyone
who wants to make the most of his Atari ST/STe/TT. If you aren't using
CodeHead Software, you're wasting computing power!
For more information, contact us at:
CodeHead Software
P.O. Box 74090
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Tel (213) 386-5735
Fax (213) 386-5789
_____________________________________________________________
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile ***** ABCO PRICE CHANGES! *****
=======================
** 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 *
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS
Model Desc
ription Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 479.00
SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 5.25" Y 549.00
SGN2055 105mb 19ms 3.5" Y 679.00
SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 789.00
SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1019.00
==================================================
ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY Super Cabinet w/250w PS
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED
>> ABCO is now taking orders for 1040 & MEGA STe Computers! <<
Call for VERY special Introductory prices!
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
--->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<---
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
Cart and Utility Software Included!
EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.50
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1019.00 **
Includes TWO cartridges!
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $ 819.00 85mb SQG96 $ 1019.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
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 COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
* SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
* Toner Starter Kits $49.95 *
* Replacement Drums $183.95 *
>> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
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
ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION!
____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"
=================
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN??.....
ATARI IS NOT A GAME MACHINE ANYMORE?...
THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS MAC!"
...Willy Rubberwrist
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine¿
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport¿ "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" May 10, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright ½ 1987-91 No.7.19
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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 entire contents, at the
time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The edit-
ors, contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/mis-
use of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
