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*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing
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March 27, 1992 No.8.13
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> 03/27/92: STReport #8.13 "The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!"
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - GEnie Tramiel Conf.
- Delphi Gemulator Co. - UTOPIA REVIEW - PORTFOLIO NEWS
- 22 GAME REVIEWS - CIS Gemulator Co. - ADVERTISE?
- COMEAU NEWS! - EXPLORER CONF. - STR Confidential
-* CODEHEAD ANNOUNCES WARP 9!! *-
-* GEMULATOR REAL! *-
-* TAF UPDATES! *-
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (March 27)
NEW IN ATARI VENDORS FORUM
Oxxi, Inc. has acquired the Atari Product line formerly offered by
Precision Software and has begun development on an upgrade to Superbase
Professional. Oxxi is interested in your comments on new features for
this upgrade. Please read and respond to message # 25112 in the Atari
Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN), or send a message to Pat @ Oxxi at User ID
number 76711,457 in Section 4 ("OXXI/Precision") of ATARIVEN.
BETA TESTERS WANTED...
STalker owners interested in beta testing a new version with
B-protocol should read and respond to message #59092 in the
Telecommunications section of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO).
ATARI EXPLORER CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
The transcript of our conference with John Jainschigg, Editor and
Publisher of Atari Explorer magazine, is now available in LIBRARY 15 of
the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) as file EXPLOR.CO. Many thanks to
everyone who attended!
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 STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #13
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
-- Software Sales Up 25% According to SPA
Despite a slump in the PC market, North American sales of applications
software rose almost 25% last year to a record $5.7 billion, according
to the Software Publishers Association.
According to David Tremblay, research director for the Washington, D.C.,
trade group, "Our figures show that 1991 was a truly outstanding year
for the PC applications software business."
He said sales of software used with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows led in-
dustry growth. Sales of Windows applications were up 196% in the year in
North America.
Apple Macintosh sales rose 37% according to SPA.
-- IBM to Concentrate Networking on PCs
According to IBM's chief networking executive, Ellen Hancock, IBM will
start moving away from earlier networking strategies that relied on
mainframe computers and will devise better ways for desktop and other
comptuers to talk directly to each other.
Hancock said the new IBM plan will also allow customers to more easily
integrate PC networks with other types of computers. As part of the
plan, IBM announced software for personal computers and mainframes that
allows computer users to share information found on any of the machines
when they are linked in a network.
-- Merrill Lynch is Bullish on Computers
Merrill Lynch and Sentry Market Research are predicting that investments
in personal computers (PCs) in general look good, all except handwriting
recognition. It is expected that handwriting recognition and penbased
software is a niche market and likely to be a disappointment.
Sentry expects a record spending of 15% more than in 1991, or upward of
$34 billion this year with the big increases in spending coming from the
corporate buyers. The corporate buyers are expected for the first time
in computer history to spend as much on PCs as they do on mainframes.
Windows 3.1 is expected to be successful with much of the success to
come from the monetary efforts Microsoft will throw behind the product.
Some say that Microsoft will spend more money to launch 3.1 than they
have for any other product -- even the $10 million spent on Windows 3.0.
-- HP Tries to Capture More of Business Market with TV Ads
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has announced that after four years it will resume
television ads for its business computer systems.
The ad campaign, which will also include print ads, seeks to raise
awareness of HP as a business systems supplier at a time when a volatile
economy is leading many companies to reevaluate their computing
operations, said an HP spokeswoman.
"We want people to consider not only DEC and IBM, but also us for their
business system needs," noted the spokesman.
-- National NASA BBS Available to Students
During the current Atlantis shuttle mission, NASA is allowing students
throughout the country to log onto an experimental BBS. Sprint is
donating free data communications services for access to the BBS.
Some 20,000 students will be responsible for collecting data sent from
the Shuttle radio transmitter and sending their findings to NASA.
Due to the fact that NASA routinely modifies shuttle flight information,
the students will rely on the BBS, which is called INSPIRE ("Interactive
NASA Space Physics Ionosphere Radio Experiment) to keep them updated on
when the radio transmissions will be broadcast.
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service:
Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and weekend access to
more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia,
shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards on
leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including
the biggest collection of files to download and the best online games, for
only $6 per hour.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month of membership if
you are not completely satisfied, just ask for your $4.95 back.
GEnie Announcements
1. JERRY BROWN in a LIVE electronic Town Meeting 3/29 9PM ET..PF
2. Shed your coats for the GEnie Sweatshirt...................*ORDER
3. Don't be an April Fool. Beat the FREE LISTING Deadline.....DIRECTORY
4. Join movie buffs in a LIVE chat during the Oscars, in......SHOWBIZ
5. BIG SAVINGS on MODEMS & DISKS..............................DIRECTMICRO
6. Take A COURSE Online This SPRING...........................CALC
7. Hot games, Big fun, HUGE value - don't miss out............SOFTCLUB
8. SAVE 70% on Office Supplies at.............................PENNYWISE
9. Choose the right CAMCORDER - RTC 3/29 in...................RADIO
10. Avian Nutrition - Beyond Seed and Water....................PET
11. RTC 3/29:Get Answers to CONNECTICUT INCOME TAX questions...HOSB
12. NEW versions of SHRINKIT land for Apple II in..............A2
13. Virginia Resources: Get Help From the Postmaster..........GENEALOGY
14. GEnie user saves over $450 on Disney World Vacation in.....*FLORIDA
15. Ozone...Global Warming...Ecology and Environment in........SCIENCE
Welcome to the Atari ST Roundtable
==============================================================
ATARI CANADA REALTIME CONFERENCE
Featuring Geoffrey Earle, General Manager (Atari Canada)
Wednesday, April 1 @ 10:00pm EST
==============================================================
Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
23263 LZH201K.LZH X ST.REPORT 920316 29696 537 40
Desc: Quester's LATEST Version, 201k
23262 GMAP_2.ARC X D.BECKEMEYER 920316 7168 207 2
Desc: V1.1 of Disk Mapping pgm
23342 TOOL19.LZH (LH5)LZH X D.FARRINGTO1 920321 97536 193 2
Desc: Reminiscent of PC Tools
23279 OTRPLACE.LZH X JWC-OEO 920316 33024 120 8
Desc: GAME: Arcade, multi res.
23312 PAULICON.LZH X P.LEFEBVRE 920319 4608 110 5
Desc: NeoDesk 3 Icons (from JumpSTART)
23339 ROBUGS13.ZOO X J.ROY18 920321 57728 103 8
Desc: RoBugs 1.3. Make robots to fight...
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> L. TRAMIEL GEnie CONF. STR InfoFile Atari's Leonard Tramiel in Conf.
===================================
March 25, 1992
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of you to the Atari
Corporation RealTime Conference featuring Leonard Tramiel. Before getting
started, some business about how an RTC works.
While the RTC room is in Listen-Only mode, you can only address our guest
when I let you talk.
To get my attention, just /RAIse your hand. Just enter this from your
keyboard: /rai
I'll acknowledge your raised hand as soon as I can, but please be patient.
I -WILL- let you know when your turn is coming up.
Some other RTC commands are:
? - Lists all RTC commands.
/sta - Status (list) of everyone in
the RTC room.
/exi - Exit the RTC, but you remain
logged onto GEnie.
/bye - Log off of GEnie directly from
the RTC.
/rai - Raise your hand. Lets me know
you wish to address our guest.
Now that that's out of the way, let's party!
Leonard Tramiel is the Vice President of Software at Atari. Leonard,
welcome to the ST Roundtable and thank you for taking the time to be
with us this evening.
The format for tonight's RTC will be a little different than past
conferences, so let me take a few extra moments to explain how this is
going to work.
For the past month, we've been accumulating questions for Leonard Tramiel
with the "Ask Leonard" feature on the main menu of the ST Roundtable.
We've received lots of response to it and we want to make sure that
several of these questions get responses from Leonard tonight.
So, Bob Brodie (who is flying the keyboard for Leonard this evening
...thanks, Bob!) will upload a question one at a time, followed by
Leonard's response.
Then, if there are any related questions that any of you might have, then
you can use the /RAI command and we'll discuss it further.
Please wait for me to ask for questions before /RAIsing your hand.
My first question to Leonard will be to define what areas of Atari fall
under his jurisdiction. Then I'm going to ask all of you to concentrate
your questions to those areas over which Leonard has control. I'm sure
everybody has a ton of marketing questions and comments and maybe Leonard
might be able to address a few of them, but since he doesn't handle those
aspects of Atari's operations, they will only fritter away some of the
time we have with Leonard tonight.
So let's make the best use of our collective time with Leonard by dealing
with those areas that fall under his responsibility. Thanks.
Leonard, do you have an opening statement to make? Please make sure to
tell us what a Vice President of Software does.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
As most of you know, at CeBIT in Hanover Atari previewed some exciting new
technology. This technology allowed us to generate extremely high quality
graphics and sound simultaneously. The members of the press to which this
was shown were very impressed.
The first product to incorporate these new technologies will be available
at retail by late fall of 1992 and first developer units will be available
by the end of April. This product will have a 68030 as it's main
processor. As I'm sure you can appreciate, no further details will be
available until product release.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
How'd that come out, Jeff?
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
So far, so good.
Tell us, what exactly do you do as VP of Software?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I'm in charge of operating systems software for the TOS and UNIX systems.
Ready to go with the advanced questions, Jeff?
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Yes, please.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
From: R.ZALISCHUK Robert H. Zalischuk
Hello Leonard,
I have using Atari computers since the 400 and continue to enjoy using my
Atari's day in and day out. First off, will there be an expansion of
print ads featuring Atari alone and in cooperation with other companies
supporting the STe/TT line. Secondly, Atari has its Prof. Systems Group
and now its Music Group. Is anything similar be pursued in regards to
education?
What can Atari do to encourage some television advertising? ie. donate a
Mega STe to dealers who work on contra deals with their local Tv
stations....provide an Atari for a contest, get exposure through the
contest plus airtime equal in value to the supplied prizes. I hope to
make it to the Atari exposition in Toronto in April, I hope it will be a
good time for Atari and its users.
Robert Zalischuk
Calgary and Red Deer Alberta, Canada
Leonard responds....
Robert,
There will be an expansion of print ads featuring Atari alone, and also in
cooperation with other companies. We have considered something similar to
the Professional Systems Group for education, but the time is not right.
The niche market there is not supported well enough with software. Thanks
for your comments. I will not be in Toronto, but be sure and stop by and
see our staff there. Bob Brodie, Don Thomas, Shirley Taylor and Bill
Rehbock will be representing Sunnyvale at ACE '92.
ga Jeff
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Thanks. Any questions about Atari and Education? /RAI now.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Any follow up?
<E.EDELENBOS>
hello Leonard.
I am not asking about education, but as Operating systems head do you work
on other systems for atari (Music, DTP etc?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Atari does not produce it's own application software except in unusual
conditions.
<[Bob] B.SIMS3>
When will the 24 bit VDI routines that was promised for Lexicor's Leonardo
board be released.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Folks...If anyone has any education questions, please /RAI now and I'll
let you talk.
If you don't, please be patient and we'll move on.
<[John] J.COLE18>
Leonard, I had the pleasure of Meeting Ralph in your Unix department, and
I must say that, being a TOS developer, I am extremely envious! Ralph has
got to be one of the sharpest people at Atari, Unix has terrific support
and development tools! XFacemaker is so much nicer than anything for TOS.
My question is, when will you contract out for TOS development tools so
that you will be able to offer similar quality tools for current and
future TOS developers, such as, with luck, WP or Lotus? You have great
new machines on the way, isn't it time we had the tools to make them
great? :-)
John Cole - Lexicor Software
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Thanks for the education question, John.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
That is also not an educational question But, we are working on new
development tools, and I am not here to give announcement dates.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Let's try T.HESTER1.
<T.HESTER1>
This is an ed question. Given that apple's strategy seems to include
giving away computers to schools so that people will learn to use their
machines and no one else's. Doesn't it seem atari should do so as well?
If you are worried about software, why not just use apples? After all,
we've got an emulator! :)
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Atari has given computers away for a number of purposes, including
education. We will continue to do so in the future. Thank you for your
suggestion about the emulators.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Okay, the structured format isn't working well. We'll shift gears and
take any questions about TOS and operating systems, etc. that you have.
Please go ahead and /RAI for any Leonard-related questions now. I'll try
to keep up. :-)
<[StepAhead] NEVIN-S>
Thanks, Jeff.
Leonard, Bob Brodie asked for general questions, so I will ask a general
question. What Atari project that you have worked on are you most proud
of, and which project do you wish you could do over again?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
The project that I am most proud of (to date) is the ST itself. Projects
that I wish I could do over again, all of them, of course! None of them
are perfect!
<[StepAhead] NEVIN-S>
Leonard, would Atari consider funding companies such as WP or Microsoft
to port important applications to the Atari line? How else can Atari
expect them to develop their latest versions, given Atari's current sales
rate. ga, and thanks for being with us tonight.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
We consider projects on a business nature, if a reasonable business case
can be made for funding MicroSoft, we'd like to hear it! :)
<[Gary] G.STOLLMAN>
Leonard, What advice can you give to a budding programmer, who would like
to become a producer of Atari software, application in particular...in
particular...Is the money there, and if so, where?? Or are games the only
moneymaker??
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I suggest that you discuss this with Bill Rehbock. He can be reached here
on GEnie, at his GEnie address of B.REHBOCK. He is in charge of all third
party developer relations and support.
<[SCOTTJ] S.CORLEY1>
Leonard , any thoughts on multimedia extensions to TOS ala Windows 3.1 and
Mac System 7? What about QuickTime support?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Many thoughts, but none that I can share with you tonight. Sorry, no
product announcements this time.
<[Brien] B.KING8>
This is more of a request then it is a question.
I would like to see the ability to hook into the OS's AES routines to
allow 3rd Party Developers to enhance the AES (ala Quick ST) and Provide
an easier upgrade path for future Desktop Environments.
Ok, for the Question... Where's FSMGDOS?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Thanks for the suggestion, Brien.
FSM is not yet released.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Any guestimates on availability of FSM GDOS from Atari? :-)
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Nope...
<[John @] EXPLORER>
Regarding Unix ...
Several years ago, in France, I helped write a fairly powerful server for
supporting videotext programs via an X.25 packet-switched network ... this
thingummy would run like blazes on a TT but how could it talk to the
outside world? Are there plans to provide hardware support for the direct
interfacing of multiple high-speed serial ports on the TT?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
John, no product announcements tonight. You've got my number, give me a
call and we'll talk! <grin>
<[Calgary] B.KLASSEN>
Can you give us any details on Multi-TOS for when it is released? TT only
I assume?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
We'd prefer to save the detail for MultiTOS for the actual product
release, sorry.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Do you have any specific questions that I might be able to answer?
<[Calgary] B.KLASSEN>
What can you talk about??
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I'd prefer to answer, rather than offer...sorry.
<[Calgary] B.KLASEN>
I love Word-up 3.0, will you do be doing additional support?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Product support for any product is the responsibility of the developer and
distributor.
<[Bob] B.SIMS3>
When will the 24 bit VDI routines promised for Lexicor's Leonardo board be
released, or will they? 24 bit is where every graphic machine is at or
heading to, and will be a prerequisite for any kind of workstation
direction for Atari.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I am aware of no promise for 24 bit VDI routines.... At CeBIT, I saw
several different true color cards that had VDI drivers. Does this answer
your question?
<[Mike Allen] M.ALLEN14>
I got here late (flat tire) so if this has already been answered say so
and I'll down load the ...
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Go ahead with your question.
<[Mike Allen] M.ALLEN14>
conference later. I just got a MSTE (Love it) with TOS 2.05 ...
what, besides the 1.44 meg drive support, do I gain with 2.06?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I don't have the list in front of me, BUT....<grin> keyboard support for
the full character set... improved media change code... numerous bug
fixes... and some cosmetic changes at bootup.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
I kinda cut off B.SIMS, so we'll go back to him.
<[Bob] B.SIMS3>
Were the cards "true" true color or did they use a palette conversion to
allow 32K colors instead of the 16 Million available for true color?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
true color.
BTW, true color does not mean 16 million colors. It means no palette.
<[Bob] B.SIMS3>
Then there is no 24 bit VDI planned?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I have said nothing about the existence or lack thereof of any Atari
product to support true color.
<[JCD] MAG.SOFTWARE>
Evening, Leonard. My question is, in future machines (030, 040), has
Atari considered placing TOS in Burst-mode EPROMs?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I am not familiar with any technology using that name. Sorry.
<[JCD] MAG.SOFTWARE>
Atari also needs to make it easier for DEVs to get new TOS's before
they're released. We were unable to get 2.06 before release date & found
a MAJOR bug later.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
If we would have had a copy of your product, we would probably have found
the bug in our testing.
By the way, have you done your SoftSource entry?
<[JCD] MAG.SOFTWARE>
It was a bug found while using a few other companies'' software. & Not
yet.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
What was the software, Jeff?
<[JCD] MAG.SOFTWARE>
Populous for one. We are working with J. Patton on a fix.
<[Ken] K.BAD>
Hiya.
Forgive me for appearing to be a bit of a shill, but I think lots of
people may be interested...
I have always thought that Atari's greatest strength lies in smaller
computers, not high-end cutting-edge workstations. Do you feel like Atari
is going to follow that tradition in upcoming machines?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
I won't forgive you for appearing to be a shill....<grin>
Atari is and will remain a consumer electronics company. That way, we can
provide the best performance/price ratio possible.
<[Ken] K.BAD>
Sounds good to me ;)
<P.COLLARD>
Hello, Leonard. Sorry to hear that you will not make it to our show
in Toronto. Can you confirm what Atari will be showing at the Toronto
Show as previously promised..."what will be at Cebit will be at Toronto"
Paul Ace
Coordinator.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Paul, I personally am not familiar with the arrangements for ACE '92...
Sorry. I'm sure that we will support the efforts well, and wish you every
success at the event.
<[David] DITEK>
Are there any plans for the inclusion of Virtual Memory in any version(s)
of TOS?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
We have discussed this, but I am not making any product announcements
tonight, sorry.
<[John] J.COLE18>
First, real sorry about earlier, I didn't see the ed file mask the second
time :-)
Leonard, could you explain how Atari goes about planning major TOS
improvements? Such as, is there a well planned out set of features to be
implemented BEFORE development begins, or, as it appears from the outside
(no offense intended really :-) does it sort of coagulate? I'm trying to
find out how much leadership you provide for future directions of TOS and
it's capabilities.
I also wish to thank you for coming here tonight, it takes a lot of oomph
to face a bunch of wolves as lean as us Atarians are :-) Thank you!
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
The process is neither formal nor clotted. We accept input from our
users, bug reports from developers, and suggestions from everyone. This
is combined with time constraints and hardware changes and the result is
what you see.
<[John Hoffman] JLHOFFMAN>
With the market for personal computers being highly competitive, what
market niche will Atari try to focus on?? Beyond price performance, what
will distinguish Atari from the competition now and in the near future??
TOS?? UNIX??
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Before you belittle the importance of mere price performance, consider
what can be done even with existing technology that other companies have
not taken advantage of.
<[John Morales] ATARI-MIDI>
Is it true that Atari finally has huge quantities of TT's on hand now
ready for delivery. And do you expect the price of TT memory to come
down? thanks
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Yes, we do have TT's in stock right now, and the price of memory has been
pretty stable recently.
<[Bob] B.SIMS3>
Can you comment on following: Licensing TOS, LAN drivers, MMU update for
larger memory size on MSTE.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Not in detail in an online conference. Send your question to me in e-mail,
Bob will see that you get a response.
<[Mike Allen] M.ALLEN14>
Any chance of increasing the allowable size of the NEWDESK.INF? ...
Some of got spoiled with NeoDesk ... All sorts of different icons all over
the place.
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
We have been considering changes in that area. Thanks for your interest.
<D.EIFERT>
I have installed a Mega4/SLM605 system at my public library, and the
response has been overwhelming. The system is in use by the public nearly
every hour the library is open (50 hrs/week). Given the lean budgets of
today's public libraries, would Atari consider marketing STs to libraries
at a reduced rate in exchange for the chance to see hundreds of people in
each city and town using STs at their local library?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Unfortunately, that would require an Atari dealer in each city and town to
do support. We don't have that. Thanks for your suggestion, though!
We'll keep it in mind as our dealer base expands.
<[Chris] DRAGONWARE>
Leonard, we have a vested interest in the STacy and the STBook and we were
wondering, if there was ANY chance that the STbook could be an addition
not a replacement for the STacy?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
If you can tell Atari how to make that a sensible business decision, we'll
be glad to listen.
<[James] J.VOGH>
OK I have a Unix question. What is the status of Unix (color,
availability, etc)? And will it run on the machine from Cebit and the 030
boards like the SST?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
UNIX is currently available as a developer release, no formal release date
announced. Check with Gadgets about the SST. No comment about the CeBIT
machine.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
I think the time calls us to draw this to a close....
The remainder of the advance questions and answers will be posted to
Category 14, Topic 25 over the next few days, right Leonard (and Bob)?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Correct, Jeff. It would take too long or us to upload all of them tonight.
We'll do the follow up in the BB, feel free to send e-mail to STRAMIEL or
BOB-BRODIE with your follow up questions.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
Leonard, thank you for spending the time with us this evening. Any
closing comments?
<[Leonard] STRAMIEL>
Goodnight, thanks for having us here. We look forward to seeing you all
again in another RTC later this year!
<[Sysop] JEFF.W>
And thanks to all who attended and to those who participated. Thanks!
=========================================================================
(C) 1992 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie
are *official* information services of Atari Corporation.
=========================================================================
> The Flip Side STR Feature '...a different viewpoint..."
=========================
A Little of This, A Little of That
==================================
by Michael Lee
I want to thank the individual who sent me the two posts from the FNet,
I found them to be very interesting. I got the impression from reading
them that both authors might be from Europe. I'll appreciate receiving
any other posts that our readers might find on the other networks.
----------------
About the Dual Standard modems from Jerry on the U.S. Robotics FNet
[edited to make it easier to read]....
Hello to you and every other communicator around the globe. If you
want to get a good price from a mail order house on a Dual Standard
modem, here are a few you should try...
USA FLEX 1-800-800-8383 or 1-708-351-7172
ARLINGTON COMPUTERS 1-800-548-5105 or 1-708-228-1470
ADVANCED COMPUTER PRODUCTS 1-800-366-3227, 714-558-8813,
or 714-588-1356
I've found these to be a few of the good places to order. I have five
Dual Standard modems, four hooked up to my 486 system and one on my ST
with a Hayes 14.4 V Series modem. So go for it, I can tell you the
Dual Standard modems are better than the Hayes modems...
----------------
Reviews of some popular games from The Shamus on the FNet...
T H E S H A M U S R E P O R T C A R D
--------------------------------------------
WESTPHASER - This is a new game which features Steve McQueen of all
people. Why the French are so fascinated by old American movie stars,
I will never know. There are some nice graphics on the title screen
and in the game. The game is basically various levels of shoot outs
in the OPERATION WOLF style of action. It is fun for a few plays, but
the sound is drab and the fun quickly deteriorates after a few days. I
would hate for fork out good cash for this. GRADE: D
OBITUS - Psygnosis is best known for Lemmings. Aside from this they
are also know for their high-quality graphics (Forget Capt. Fizz
exists). This game continues that tradition. Obitus is similar to the
Mindscape adventures such as SHADOWGATE and UNINVITED but they are
more flexable and in depth like Dungeon Master. The animation of the
adversaries and there is some nice effects of movement. Besides the
normal complaints about disk swapping etc., this is a nice adventure
that any adventurer would like. I have not played far so I can not
comment on the difficulty. GRADE: B
REALMS - Graftgold is a company which has quality written all over it.
Their previous classics include PARADROID '90, RAINBOW ISLANDS and
SIMULCRA to name a few. Graftgold has thrown their gauntlet into the
very popular "GOD GAME" motif. This is a game which will definitely
give POPULOUS II a run for its money. Of course, POPULOUS will get
more press because it has been converted to every system from GAMEBOY
to SEGA. Another great game to hold up a great reputation. I am
looking forward to their new game "FIRE AND ICE" (working title).
GRADE: B+
RUBICON - 21 Century Entertainment have certainly had their problems
since HEWSON software went bankrupt. Hewson was known for the
occassional sparkling game, especially NEBULUS. With all of the bad
press which has faced the AMIGA version of NEBULUS II, it would seem
ST version has been put on hold for the time being. Seems the sequal
was not programmed by the original author, John Phillips who is
working on another project at this time. Moonfall was one of the first
releases since HEWSON change to 21st CENTURY and the game was not up
to the technical standards of current solid 3-D vector games. Needless
to say, the game got thumbs down from most.
The latest offering, RUBICON, is a real quality product. The game
suffers most from the fact it is another platform shoot 'em up game.
All the graphics are very nice and the soundtrack on the "HIGH SCORE"
sequence is outstanding (especially on the STE -- buy one)! The action
is fast and furious so it never lets you rest for very long. Rubicon
is an unoriginal concept presented in a quality package. Worthwhile
for action fans. A good challenge! GRADE: B-
KID GLOVES II - This was a very nice surprise when I checked it out.
This game is completely redone from the first one and it is worth a
look if you like games like WONDERBOY IN MONSTERLAND. This game is an
obvious clone but it is quite well presented. Gone is the page
flipping of the first game and it has been completely replaced with
some nice smooth scrolling. Like Rubicon, this game is winning no
awards for originality, but it is fun to play. GRADE: B-
LOTUS II - Most people are aware of the first game and the biggest
criticism is that it is very similar to the first game. This is not to
say there are not some notable improvements. The graphics are updated
faster for a nice effect of movement. The scrolling is very smooth and
the music no longer slows down like when you play 2 players on the
first game. On the down side, this game takes too long to load between
stages ... this is supposed to be a quick paced action game. Also, due
to the agreement with the LOTUS car company, they are not allowed to
show the car getting trashed. I think they should have changed the
name and let the car get garbaged! These are small criticisms on one
of the best action racing games to date. GRADE: B+
CAPTAIN PLANET - What the heck is this character? I have seen the
cartoons and I can't see how this name is going to sell a lot of units
of this game, but what do I know. If you are not familiar with CAPTAIN
PLANET, he is an environmentally friendly super hero. It is all quite
tacky and cheezy but beneath all this fromage is a playable little
platform game. Graphics are very reasonable and younger players may
even like the idea of CAPTAIN PLANET. GRADE: C
PARAGLIDING - Forget the actual game. This program has some of the
best musix you have heard from your computer. An STE makes this sound
all very nice. Aside from this, PARAGLIDING is a game with decent
graphics and wonderfully smooth animation. Control takes a while to
get on to, but it is not that difficult. Unfortunately, with all of
these good points, the game does not have much of that special
ingredient which will keep you booting it back up. If nothing else,
this is a nice sound demo. GRADE: C+
FINAL BLOW - This new boxing game is actually from the arcade. The
problem with many boxing games is that there is just not that much you
can do with boxing. Sure, a few different punches and a few defensive
moves but that's about it. That is not to say that this game is bad.
Far from it. The game is very well converted from the arcade but the
nature of the game itself limits the potential somewhat. For what it
is, boxing is a very nice conversion. The graphics are well drawn the
animation is also very nicely done. GRADE: C+
HUNTER - Too bad ACTIVISION is down the tubes. This was one of the
best games from this company in the company's history. It is an
adventure in a solid 3-D solid vector graphics styling. During the
game, you will be hang-gliding, driving, boating, flying, walking etc.
There is plenty of good in here but it may not be in everyone's taste.
If you like adventures at all, this is well worth a look. If you like
a mix of adventure and action, you will like this game even more.
GRADE: B+
POPULOUS II - In case you have been hiding, POPULOUS II is a "GOD
STYLE" game where you build civilizations. This game holds the same
objectives of the original and offers many new dimentions to a classic
old game. The graphics have been improved and the speed has been
increased a lot. Highly recommended to all. GRADE: A+
HEIMDAL - This 5 disk action/strategy/puzzle/role playing adventure is
a real gem. It features some very nice graphics and will keep you busy
playing for a long time. Explore different islands, all with different
challenges. The game was designed by CORE so you will find it is very
well thought out. This game is highly recommended for adventurers and
puzzle lovers. GRADE: A
ELVIRA - This is the action version of ELVIRA. The first thing you
will notice is the similarity in the graphics of the adventure game
and the action game. This is another platform game, and it is very
nice. The scrolling is extremely smooth and the playability is above
the average of most PLATFORM games. Nothing original here, and Elvira
moves a bit slower than my taste, but it turns out she has many moves.
This game is very challenging and is recommended to platform fans.
GRADE: B
SPACE GUN - This is an arcade game from SEGA and it is get another
SPACE HARRIER - PRISONER OF WAR - BEAST BUSTERS game. These games have
not made many improvements since one of the early games of this vein,
OPERATION WOLF. In fact, all of the games since the ST versions of
OPERATION WOLF and OPERATION THUNDERBOLT have not come up to scratch.
This is better than most but that is irrelevant since these games get
quite boring very quickly. If you liked BEAST BUSTERS, you will like
this game. GRADE: C
SUPER SKI II - The first game was kind of neat. The idea of a first
person skiing game is a good one but it got dull pretty quick. This
sequal has been super charged and it brings new life to an old game.
The graphics are extremely nice and the game is very challenging. The
animation is very high quality. On the other hand, you will have to
contend with the long disk loads which the French like so much, but
that is par for the coarse. Sound will not blow you away, but it is
adequate. Good game. GRADE: B
UNDER PRESSURE - This game is made by ELECTRONIC ZOO, a company which
has been releasing games like crazy. Basically this is another
platform blaster with very large sprites. The sprites are reasonably
well drawn the handling of such large sprites is decent. On the other
hand, this game is no fun. I did not want to play it again. There are
too many of these games and this is not one of the better ones.
GRADE: D
FIRST SAMARAI - This is a new martial arts platform game. The
emphasis of this game is more on the platform and less on the martial
arts. Besides the atmospheric graphics, good music and great special
effects, the animation is especially a treat. This game adds to an
overcrowded genre, and there is lots of challenge. To keep things
interesting, there are many puzzles which must be solved in order to
progress to the next level. Recommended to action fans! GRADE: B+
TIP OFF - Many people were expecting a lot from this game since it was
by the same author as TIP OFF. Unfortunately, everyone should lower
their expectations now. The game is not too bad, but the nature of
basketball is not as action packed on a video screen as it is on the
court. There are many things which could have been improved. There are
management aspects, but personally, I did not find that aspect of the
game very appealling. The game makes its marks in the 2 player mode.
My grade is based on that. GRADE: B-
WOLFCHILD - Yes, another platform game out for the ST and this one is
very nice right from the inventive intro. The graphics and animation
are very nice and the sprites are well drawn. There is nothing which
really makes this game different, but it is an all around nice game
with nice presentation. GRADE: B+
EAGLE RETURNS - This ST game is based on an 8-bit original action
game. There are many things which really make this game stand out. For
one thing, the animation of the large sprites is very nice. There are
plenty of things to figure out and there are some adventure elements.
When you die, you can start in a totally different place (usually
jail). This French game is a real winner from square one. GRADE: B+
LETHAL EXCESS - Zowie. This game is getting a bit old but it is a real
star. Likely the best all around shoot 'em up on the ST. Wings of
Death was good, but this is more LETHAL! Simultaneous 2 player is wild
and the JOCHEN HIPPEL music really blows you away (especially on the
ST -- buy one)! This is the game to beat although some may find Xenon
II still more to their liking. I like the graphics a bit better on
Xenon II (sucker for the metallic graphics), but for playability, this
game is the best blast for a buck on the ST. Frantic shoot 'em up
fans, rejoice! GRADE: A+
THE GODFATHER - This is the first release from U.S. GOLD since their
lame and overhyped game GAUNTLET III. It is bad raps like that game
which could put a company under. I would like to know the full story
on the game. Magazines like ST ACTION rated that game over 90% when it
was worth more like 55% --- they were way off the target.
Anyways, the GODFATHER is a 6 disk action game. The graphics are done
by STEVE BAK and they are good, but not great. The animation and
scrolling are above average, but not much. One thing there is too much
of is disk swapping, especially to see the end sequence. Once again I
will accuse another company of cashing on a big name. They could not
even use the actually music from the movie so it is all original
composition. It is all chip music and it is nothing special at all.
This has to be another disappointment from U.S. Gold who have only
been redeemed from their nice AD & D adventure SHADOW SORCERER.
RATING: C
Well that's it ... hope this helped you choose what warz you should
check into!
----------------
Some conversation about the merits between the SLM804 and SLM605 - Cat.
14, Topic 11, Msgs 76-82 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
Questions from C.BULLOCK...
I am a neophyte when it comes to laser printers but due to my home
office requirements, I find myself with a MEGA/STe 4 MB with 50 Mb HD.
I use Word Writer for most of my DTP needs and use PageStream for the
important stuff. [My current] printer is KX-P1123 24 Pin. Printing is
much faster now that I upgraded to the MEGA from 1040 STE.
[I'm] very interested in the Laser's from Atari but all I read on the
RT's are the nightmares with toner, drums, paper jams, etc. Is the 605
worth the money and start-up hassles?
Mucho thanx to Mike D. [Mike Drysdale] @ TEAM COMPUTERS in beautiful
East Detroit for selling me this system. My brother in Columbus is
_very_ jealous :*>.
More Questions and Comments from Kyle Miller...
I am a happy owner of your ingenious laser printing system. My SLM804
is very nice, especially since the Phantom of the Laser upgrade.
I have recently been required to look for a new drum. Finding a dealer
selling a drum is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Some
advertised they sell it, but would have to back order it to get me
one.
For those that were selling it, they wanted my arm and leg. My
question is what can I look forward to as for as availability of drums
and toner carts? I know you will probably reply I can buy it through
Atari, but I certainly don't want to pay retail.
Is the reason why 804 parts cost more then 605 because they last
longer? Is it because they are taking the route of gold (demand but
low supply)?
Should I start thinking about selling my 804 and get a 605? I know you
wouldn't mind my money, but I do have to live and can't afford to keep
moving up. :-)
Reply from DARLAH (RT Sysop)...
I have had a SLM804 and now have the 605. The 605 is quite nice and I
DO think of it as an upgrade. Both function quite nice though.
Comments from Mike Drysdale (Team Computers)...
I think that that the 605 is the best printer that someone could have
for the ST, at the price. It is FAST, and reasonably priced. There are
no start up problems and it takes an easy to find toner since it uses
a standard engine. Keep in mind that this Cat Topic is 99% devoted to
problems, most of which get solved. Rarely do we hear of trouble free
operation. I've been using a 605 for 6 months now and it works great.
Comments from Sheldon Winick (Computer Studio)...
Mike, I agree with you completely about the SLM605; it's an excellent
printer and very competitively priced. It also does a much better job
than the SL804 at small text and thin lines. And the optional straight
through paper path and thick paper option are great for cover stock.
The SLM804, on the other hand, was built like a tank compared to all
the thin plastic in the 605. And after using the 804 for several
years, the 605's miniscule toner cartridge can be quite irritating as
it seems to be always running on empty ;-). Of course, we do use a lot
more black on our ad copy and presentation materials than many other
owners.
In either case, both the SLM's are an excellent addition to an already
fine computer system. And your non-Atari owners will be blown away at
the printing speed of either! I'm sure you get the same response from
shoppers at the store when they're amazed by the incredibly fast DTP
printouts when demoing the package as I do. Ain't it great!!! :-)
------------------
Until next week.....
> COMEAU NEWS! STR InfoFile New Versions of Gramslam & Grammar Expert!
=========================
GRAMSLAM AND GRAMMAR EXPERT
===========================
N E W S R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release
Phil Comeau Software is pleased to announce the release of new versions of
GramSlam and Grammar Expert for the Atari computer line.
GramSlam checks documents for common grammar and writing-style problems.
Improvements in the new version (3.30) include:
* Improved Document Statistics: GramSlam now presents statistics
in full sentences for ease of understanding. The statistics
also include advice on writing-style improvement.
* New Overall-Style Score: A new score included with GramSlam's
statistical report shows writing-style quality expressed
as a percentage. The new overall-style score is based on
four key writing-style factors: word economy, word choice,
use of the active voice, and readability. Included with the
score is a qualifying description, ranging from "very poor"
to "excellent."
* Progress Bar: GramSlam now shows a progress "thermometer"
while it examines your document.
* Faster Booting: GramSlam now loads its problem-pattern file
the first time you open the GramSlam desk accessory, so your
computer boots faster.
* Faster Checking: GramSlam now checks documents about 25%
faster (on an 8MHz ST) than previously.
* Improved Tests for American/British Spelling: GramSlam now
identifies words spelled using American or British spelling
rules with greater accuracy.
* Many Minor Improvements, Cosmetic Changes, and Bug Fixes.
A sample of GramSlam's new statistical report is shown below:
Finished Checking D:\MEMOS\MEMO.TXT
* 29 problems were detected and 13 were reported.
* The document contains 164 words and 10 sentences. On
average, each word contains 1.6 syllables and each
sentence contains 16.4 words.
* 60% of the sentences use the active voice.
Use of the active voice in this document makes the
writing clear and direct.
* On average, the reader must have 11.9 years of schooling
to understand the document.
Suggestion: use smaller words and sentences to lower
the writing to the target reader's level (10.0 years).
* The overall-style score for this document is 55%
(satisfactory).
Grammar Expert is an online reference for the rules of English grammar,
punctuation, and effective writing. Improvements in the new version (1.11)
include:
* Less Disk Space: Grammar Expert's files have been collected
and compressed, so it uses much less disk space than
previous versions. This is of special importance to floppy-
disk users.
* Improved Text: The text Grammar Expert displays has been
edited to weed out inconsistencies, reorganize for clarity,
and add examples.
A limited but working demonstration of Grammar Expert has been released
for general availability on GEnie and CompuServe. A working demonstration
of GramSlam has been publically available since its release in January
1991.
The prices of the two products remain the same: $39.95 for GramSlam, and
$59.95 for Grammar Expert. Registered owners of either product can receive
upgrades from Phil Comeau Software for $5.00 per product plus $3.00 for
packaging and shipping.
For more information, contact:
Phil Comeau Software
div. of Wintertree Software Inc.
43 Rueter St.
Nepean, Ontario
Canada K2J 3Z9
(613) 825-6271
_________________________________________________________________
> ATARI EXPLORER CIS CONF. STR OnLine with JOHN JAINSCHIGG
===================================
Pattie) Alright.... Tonight's Conference is with John Jainschigg,
John Jainschigg) <--- John Jainschigg
Pattie) Publisher of Atari Explorer. Tonight's is a Formal Conference,
John Jainschigg) <---- in tux.
Pattie) so please refrain from speaking out of turn. This is on the
honor system. (grin) If you have a question, just type ? and I'll put
you in the Queue. When it's almost time for your question, I'll let
you know. First, let me turn it over to John, to introduce himself!
John Jainschigg) Hi, everybody! I'm John Jainschigg (pronounced
"Jane-shigg") and I edit and publish Atari Explorer Magazine, the
Official Atari Journal. I'm 35. About 5'11". Thin. Wear glasses. And
have peculiar teeth. And I've worked for Atari, on and off, long
enough to know better.
Atari Explorer is (supposedly) the largest-circulation magazine now
serving the American Atari market. It's bimonthly (now) and is
extremely, obscenely expensive to print and distribute. But
CompuServe subscribers can get it for only $9.95/year! (subscription
details to follow, after conference)
Pattie) Ron Luks, you're up first!
Ron Luks) John-- Now that ATR EXP is on a pretty regular schedule...
after the 1 yr layoff...when can we expect to see more COLOR pics and
screen shots in the mag? It's pretty much a B&W publication still.
John Jainschigg) I assume you mean "layoff from regular schedule"? I
mean, we HAVE been publishing, Ron. (grin)
Well, I tell ya...we just did a February (MIDI) issue, that saw the
introduction of Atari Artist, our new "music and allied arts"
supplement and that had (count 'em) 44 pages of color. Better than 50%
of our page-space.
In fact, however, you may not have long to wait before Explorer is all
color. I'm going to Sunnyvale, next week, to lay my forehead on the
mat in front of Sam Tramiel, and beg for money.
Ron Luks) Like how long? 6 mos? 1 yr?
John Jainschigg) Well, if we waited until it was profitable? Maybe a
year. But if we feel like heck, *blowing a wad o' dough because we're
arrogant and rich*? Could be next issue.
Ron Luks) okay. thx.
keith joins) John, any plans on going to a monthly publication
schedule and if so would you have enough material to fill it?
John Jainschigg) Actually, that's the other thing I'm meeting with Sam
about. We want to very badly. There's MORE than enough news, if you
consider the world market, as well as our recent specializations in
music and DTP.
keith joins) ok--thanks
Pattie) Boris, you're next!
Boris M.) John--Color illustrations in the Terminator issue...
John Jainschigg) Were painted by my brother, Nicholas. He has the
triple advantage of being fast, cheap, and one of the highest-profile
fantasy and SF illustrators in the States. Does Analog magazine
covers, etc.
Boris M.) were they computer processed? Also, will you make product
Boris M.) comparison articles, like Retouche vs. Repro etc.?
John Jainschigg) I worry about product "comparisons." You have to
understand that as Atari's "official" magazine, part of our
responsibility is to make sure that companies can survive in this
(let's face it) very *weak* market. By taking TOO intense a stand on
"consumer advocacy," we could kill a decent product, and drive a very
tiny company out of business.
So, if you're talking about "torture-test comparisons," then no. BUT
if you're talking about our discussing which of two (or more) products
is right for somebody who does THIS or THAT, or has THIS budget as
opposed to THAT budget, then sure.
Boris M.) Exactly what I mean. Also, hand painted pics are still
better :-) Thanx. ga
John Jainschigg) They WERE hand-painted. WAIT! You thought the
illustrations were computer-generated? You mean, of the robot and
human hands, holding the Portfolio?
Boris M.) I thought that maybe they were processed in retouche, or
something like that and then imported to PageScream.
John Jainschigg) NO WAY! They were hand-painted, by my brother, in
acrylic, on illustration board.
Pattie) Ok... I have a question ... :)
John Jainschigg) Pattie, (ga) (grin)
Pattie) John, what's it like publishing a magazine for a company like
Atari? Do they have strict guidelines or do they give you a "free
hand?"
John Jainschigg) Would you understand what I meant, if I said "they
give me a free hand just so long as I do 1) exactly what they THINK
*they* would have done or wanted, given the same situation, and 2) it
doesn't cost anything." (i.e., you have to be psychic, and you have to
be cheap.)
Pattie) Pretty easy, huh? :)
John Jainschigg) Piece of cake. (grin) Seriously, though...
It's interesting. Atari's "vision" for Explorer changes periodically
and their degree of involvement vacillates, depending entirely on
what's on their "corporate mind" at a particular time. Presently, I'm
receiving a very LARGE amount, not of *direction* but of help and
input from some of the more gifted people in Sunnyvale. Don Thomas was
instrumental in getting the Portfolio issue set up, and James Grunke
was the heart and soul of the February issue. But the March/April
issue now on newsstands, was produced in a sort of "vacuum of
influence."
Pattie) Thank you, John! Scott's up next.
Scott Wooding) Do you think we will see more tips and tricks in the
next issues so us end users can benefit more fully from our machines?
John Jainschigg) The answer is Yes!
With the
March/April issue, we've brought back Atari's Mark Jansen
who, this issue, has covered "TOS patches and free fixes for
everything that's wrong with the ST." (Not the real title)
In upcoming issues, Mark (who works with Leonard Tramiel in Atari's
R&D department will be covering LOTS of stuff: freeware, shareware,
hints, tips, programming tidbits, etc.
The other thing we've been discussing...And you can tell me if you
think it's a good idea... (And I should say that I was recently given
this idea in a discussion with my buddy Serge Fenez, who edits
AtariSTMagazine, the "official Atari journal" of Atari France)...we're
planning to do a "Beginner's issue." Everything you never heard about
in a standard manual. From "how to mouse" to "how to reformat a hard
disk."
Pattie) Ron Hunt's next...ga
Ron Hunt) How has Atari been about providing product for evaluation
etc.? There were some complaints at the "old Explorer" about this I
believe.
John Jainschigg) Well, the editors of the old Explorer didn't know how
to ask for stuff. I simply call up Bob Brodie, and say "WHY DON'T WE
HAVE AN ST BOOK!!!!???" And Bob says "John ... *nobody* has an ST
Book. Calm yourself."
Actually, they've been fine about it. We recently signed into full R&D
non-disclosure...so at least we can *know* about everything though
most of it, we still can't TALK about.
Ron Hunt) Okay John, thanks...btw...nice to meet you. :)
Pattie) John, you mentioned that you've been working for Atari long
enough to know better...how long is that, actually and in what
capacities? :)
John Jainschigg) In 1985, I was Senior Technical Editor at Family
Computing Magazine (now Home/Office Computing, Scholastic, Inc.) and I
began receiving phone calls from John Andersen, of Creative Computing
which Ziff-Davis had just folded. THEN, I started getting calls from
Betsy Staples, also of Creative, who was starting a corporation to
take over Explorer (then called "Atari Connection") from Atari Corp.
One thing led to another, and in 1986, I became Sr. T/E at Explorer,
which was moved out of Sunnyvale proper, and into the hands of a
subsidiary called "Atari Explorer Publications Corp.," of which Betsy
Staples and David Ahl were officers.
So, call it....... Eight years? Sheesh...time to move on, no? No...
no... SIX years.
Pattie) Rob, it's your turn.
Rob Rasmussen) I've been a subscriber since it was Atari Connection,
seems like so long ago. How would you describe the feel or mood of the
Atari market now as compared to then?
John Jainschigg) Hahahahahaha...well, that can best be described as a
function of something I asked Betsy Staples, just before I accepted
their offer. "Betsy," I said "... what about Antic and ANALOG? Can we
compete with them?" She answered without a moment's hesitation: "John,
we'll *bury* them."
And, of course, last year, I did.
But their competition was *the market*. Not us.
Rob Rasmussen) ok thx
John Jainschigg) Sad, but true. We had *hope* then. But we were young!
Pattie) Rob, thank you! OK... Ron Luks, your turn again! :)
Ron Luks) We've heard that you use all Atari equipment to assemble the
magazine each issue. Specifically, what hardware and software do you
regularly use?
John Jainschigg) For basic editorial and financial-management stuff,
we have a pair of Mega STe's, with recently-acquired SM147 monochrome
monitors and stock hard drives, and SLM804's. For page-layout, we have
a TT030, with 80 MB hard drive, a TTM194 super-size monochrome
monitor, a PTC1426 multisync color monitor (way cool), and an SLM605.
We use DBMAN IV and LDWPower for financials and databasing, PageStream
2.1 for layout plus a wide variety of screen-capture and
image-tweaking utilities...archiving utilities like ARC602.TTP and the
new LZH...WordPerfect 4.1 for word-processing.
We generally begin the process of design by, well, writing an article
on WordPerfect, slapping it over to the TT, importing it into
PageStream, laying it out, including screen snaps imported as .IMG or
.PI3 images, outputting as PostScript, and uploading (using Flash 1.6)
to a service-bureau for output at 1,270 dpi on Linotron. The Linotron
pages are cut up, waxed onto mechanical boards, color-specified, and
sent to the printer with any separations as are needed to make up film
for pages. We've found no special advantage, cost-wise, in going
"straight to film," though PageStream (or rather, the Linotron) has
the capacity to generate even four-color film straight from
PostScript.
We also have a Portfolio, a 130XE, a Lynx, and other toys.
Ron Luks) (I hope you have a tape backup for all this.) [g]
John Jainschigg) Ron...actually, we don't. The one thing we worry
about is backup, but we've gotten into the habit of .ARC'ing
everything to floppy, on a weekly basis.
Pattie) John, everyone has personal opinions... even editors of
magazines. :) How do you balance your personal thoughts with what
you may say publicly in Atari Explorer?
John Jainschigg) An interesting question. Actually, I don't have much
conflict between what I say in Explorer, and what I think because I
factor into the equation something called "doing my job." Which is to
make sure that Atari survives, that their unique technical philosophy
gets promulgated and appreciated in an appropriate fashion, and that
the thousands of people who've spent thousands of dollars each on
their systems don't end up like Timex/Sinclair or TI-99/4A owners did:
orphans before their time.
Sometimes, I have a little trouble about some of the *marketing* that
Atari does, or doesn't do and sometimes they don't put their very
*Best* foot forward. But that's OLD news to anybody who hangs around
the networks. By and large, I think the people who work for Atari are
very good at what they do, and are as sincerely puzzled when things
don't quite work out as *I* am.
Pattie) Without giving away any deep secrets, what impact do you think
the new machines will have on the marketplace?
John Jainschigg) Enormous. Technically, Atari has stolen a march on
literally everybody in the business, by identifying (and here's the IQ
test)...the ONE area... where competing general-purpose and
vertical-market systems CAN'T compete and designing a technology to
fill that gap.
Boris M.) Shall we see advertising in this specific area?
John Jainschigg) I'm sure we will see advertising in this area, yes.
Precisely where and how, I don't know.
Pattie) Ron Luks, time for your question.
Ron Luks) Ok, my last question for the night...Let's put John on the
hot seat. [g] What is (in your opinion)...
John Jainschigg) Please...no questions about what my wife's doing in
Europe! (grin)
Ron Luks) Atari's greatest single strength...and greatest single
weakness... as it affects Atari users?
John Jainschigg) Very simple...Atari's greatest *single* strength,
ironically, derives from its greatest *single* weakness, or
vice-versa...
To wit: Atari has always been GIFTED...not just "good at," but
GIFTED...in co-opting the interest of a grass-roots public. Everybody
here...well, maybe *almost* everybody, is an Atari user. But we're
most of us more than that. You could call us "Atarians." Like as or
not, we *are* the kind of people who join user groups, who soapbox the
systems to our friends, who walk into computer stores and stage
arguments with the clerks about "why don't you carry Atari computers?"
And so on.
This ability to attract grass-roots committment and attention is
Atari's real talent -- a form of genius, really. And the company
ruthlessly capitalizes on it, by maintaining lines into this
grass-roots market of dyed-in-the-wool Atarians.
The trouble is that, in many ways, they're only *now* learning to look
BEYOND the horizon of the set of people who just can't help but LOVE
them. The modern computer market is, nowadays, made up mostly of
people who really DON'T care about elegant technology. And marketing
to this MUCH larger group is a lesson that Atari has learned slowly.
This affects Atari users in many ways, some of them obvious. The most
important way, however for purposes of *this* discussion, is that it
implies that if you're an Atari user, you MUST be an "Atarian." You
can't just be "Joe Blow who wants to take some work home from the
office."
While you or I might with a decade of technical experience and years
of Atari exposure behind us, Ron, say to ourselves "I can do ANYTHING
with an Atari BETTER than I can on a PC or a Macintosh!" (and we'd be
right!), we aren't factoring the relatively enormous amount of
folk-knowledge that we possess into the equation.
Joe Blow might *not* want to hang out on CompuServe for hours, each
night, ignore his wife, learn to program in C, learn to read German so
he can decipher the menus on obscure freeware utilities, make
long-distance phone calls to mail-order houses, etc. to find
application software, or even read Atari Explorer. Poor Joe JUST WANTS
TO TAKE SOME WORK HOME FROM THE OFFICE.
Was that a clear answer, or just a rant? (grin)
Ron Luks) Stimulating.. Thx
Pattie) Ok... Jim Ness has the Last Question for tonight! :)
Jim Ness) Ok, here is a simple one...I came in late, so you may have
answered this. What the heck happened to Explorer's schedule in the
last 4 months?
John Jainschigg) Two things: 1) We didn't want people to think we'd
gone out of business so instead of publishing bimonthly, and DROPPING
issues, we tried to make up for the 1991 drops, by producing EXTRA
issues. Thus we did a January, a February, and now there's a
March/April on the stands.
2) (relates to 1) We've solved our "production schedule" problems.
Basically we solved them by hiring a full-time, in-house Art Director,
named Jesus Diaz who, in my opinion, is a genius.
We'll be producing a total of eight issues in 1992.
Pattie) Jim, thank you! John... do you have any closing statements
(maybe how people can subscribe to Atari Explorer?) :)
John Jainschigg) People can subscribe to Atari Explorer by sending
$9.95/year to:
Atari Explorer
P.O. Box 6488
Duluth, MN 55806
or calling:
(718) 545-2900
with MasterCard or VISA
The "$9.95" sub is for Atari User Group members, and subscribers to
CompuServe and GEnie. Normal subscription price is $14.95/year.
__________________________________________________________________
> ADVERTISE? STR FOCUS "..a clever advertising campaign.."
====================
THE POWER OF ADVERTISING?
=========================
by Tim Holt
ACCEPT
I never met John Scully. Also. I have never met any of the Tramiels.
I would venture to say, however, that if John Scully, who is the CEO of
Apple Computers, called some company,say, WordPerfect, and said "Jump!",
the folks at WordPerfect would ask; "How High and Where is the Hoop?". If
Sam Tramiel called up a company, say, WordPerfect, and said "JUMP!", the
people at WordPerfect would say something like "We'll have our people call
your people, and we might do lunch. Ok?" Therefore, when I hear or read
an article about John Scully, I will venture to say a lot more people will
pay attention to it than a Sam Tramiel article. With that in mind, I will
relate a recent item I saw that involved John Scully.
While looking through a recent Newsweek, I ran across an ad for the
American Association of Advertising Agencies(AAAA). The ad had some
quotes from John Scully about the effectiveness of advertising in the
market today. I got to thinking about the Atari advertising campaign that
seems to be getting off the ground now, and what would have happened if
Atari had advertised a few years ago.
"The landscape is strewn with the wreckage of fine companies who built
great products that unfortunately....., no one ever heard about."
Do you STILL have to explain to your peers that Atari is not a game
machine? I do.Just recently, I was trying to convince a fellow teacher to
look at an Atari Mega Ste, like I own. He looked at the Atari brochure
that I handed him,(it even had a pop up of the Mega Ste/4),the title of
the brochure was "Mega STE: Business Computer", then he looked at me and
asked "But does it run REAL programs?" Real programs??? I couldn't help
but think that if Atari had really pushed the ST line of computers a few
years earlier, I still wouldn't have to be answering that question.
"Advertising builds brands.
I recently got into a "friendly" discussion on a local BBS about midi
music and Atari. A fellow BBS'er said that he started out with an Atari
for midi, but switched to an IBM, because his fellow students all used IBM
machines. I replied that Atari cannot be beat for midi, but he put up a
decent argument that since no one else at his entire University music
department was using Atari, he felt like the odd ball. Peer pressure is
very important in the world of computers, and although word of mouth is
important, there has to be a first person to buy a computer. That "first"
person will more likely than not, be influenced by advertising. It was
nice to see the Discover ads last month, and I hope that those types of
ads continue. However, I must confess I was a bit confused as to why
Atari would run a MIDI ad, in a science/education magazine. Who are they
trying to target here? Do a large number of professional musicians read
Discover: The World of Science? Would not an ad that demonstrated the
educational benefits of the ST/TT be more appropriate here? Discover is
published by the Walt Disney Corporation, so how about an ad showing how
easy it is to draw Mickey Mouse? Who is Atari advertising to? Granted, a
the same midi ad ran in Keyboard Magazine, and that was a very appropriate
place to put a midi ad. But a midi ad in a science magazine? I wonder...
"Most of our competitors of 1981 no longer exist. Some had great
products. What they forgot to have was great advertising."
How long will Atari advertise? How long will Atari exist? I believe
that the two questions go hand in hand. Have you ever seen an ad for the
TT? An ad in a place where you really did not expect to see it?
Unfortunately, all the ads I have ever seen for the Atari line of
computers were ones where I had to actually go out and look for them.
Ever seen Atari in BYTE? In Newsweek? In Time? Sure, for the Portfolio,
but what about the computers? We have been told that the Mega STe and the
TT's are the "flagship of the fleet", the pride and joy of the Atari
Computers. Okay, let's put the money where the mouth is. Sam, Leonard,
its time to call BYTE magazine. Tell them you will spend X million in
advertising in 1993 if BYTE starts running some decent articles about the
Atari line of computers. (And I don't mean Jerry Pournelle telling us
how he hasn't had time to look at it, and that the boot up time is 12
seconds too long for his taste.) Real articles, about productivity,
hardware, etc. (By the way, if you think it sounds a little immoral to
demand good press for ad bucks, welcome to the real world folks. I don't
think I have ever seen a bad review for a movie in Newsweek if the movie
had a full page ad in Newsweek.) Demand it. Let us see that you are as
proud of your computers as the enthusiasts that still buy them. Let's see
that you are truly behind the "flagship" of the fleet. I challenge you to
start advertising. Big time! If advertising were not the way to go,
consider this: Coca Cola and Pepsi spend BILLIONS a year on adverting.
Why? Surely they have world wide name recognition with the product pretty
much selling itself. Why would they advertise so much? Because they
know, that even the slightest edge can translate into big bucks. A one
percent increase in sales, due to an advertising campaign, easily pays for
the ads. Profits increase. Sales increase. Everyone is happy.
"Advertising lets you express not only what you are, but what you are
trying to become. It's not just a selling tool, it's a leadership
tool; a flag on the mountain to rally and inspire your people."
It is time to rally and inspire. Let's get some attention getting ads
going. Not just midi, not just DTP, but ads for everyone. placed in
magazines such as; Good Housekeeping, Playboy, Life, Time, Newsweek! All
are prime platforms designed to deliver the message to the world not an
already "won over userbase": The Atari is a "kick ass" computer, and if
you don't own one, you are falling behind the rest of the world. No more
excuses about lack of product. No more excuses about this shortage and
that shortage. The only shortage coming from Atari now is advertising.
The correct spot in the correct medium. The US is ready. The question
is: Is Atari really ready?
"Only advertising can communicate not just information, but emotion
and soul."
I know of no other product that inspires consumer/user loyalty like
the Atari Computer. There are thousands of us out here that, through all
types of situations, good and bad, have stuck by these great machines.
Surely, that emotion, that loyalty, that love, can somehow be communicated
through and expertly illustrated by a clever advertising campaign. I,
like most all proud Atari owners look forward to seeing it one day.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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
======================
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JOIN -- DELPHI
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For more information, call DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005, or at
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DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
--------------------
From September 1, 1990, DELPHI has begun offering a new plan that will
save you money! The new plan is called the 20/20 Advantage Plan and it
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Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet
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DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> GEMULATOR! STR OnLine DELPHI'S GEMULATOR ONLINE CONFERENCE
=====================
Transcript of a formal Conference with
Darek Mihocka
Tuesday, March 24, 1992
.Gordie>
(For those of you unfamiliar with our 'formal' CO procedure, let me
briefly set some guidelines. If you have a question, signal me with a ?
I'll keep track of who's next and handle the traffic direction.)
For those of you who don't already know, Darek is the creator of
several ST pieces of software including Quick ST, XFORMER (the 8-bit
emulator) and many of the neat Quick utilites. And most recently, he's
been devoting his time and energy to the GEMulator...a hardware/software
project that allows ST software to run on a DOS machine.
That's about all I can tell you, without being inaccurate, so I'll
let Darek make some opening comments. Darek?
Darek>
Thank you for attending tonight's CO about GEMulator. GEMulator is
a combination of hardware and software that runs on almost any PC clone
with a 386 or 486 processor (including 386SX and 486SX).
The hardware consists of a board that plugs inside the PC. It is
similar to something like the Spectre 128, and has sockets for several
sets of TOS chips. Like Spectre and Xformer, GEMulator does its emulation
in software, and emulates the ST's video, mouse, keyboard, and disk
drives, in effect, turning the PC into an ST clone.
A fully working 1040ST emulator will be demoed next week at the Atari
show in Toronto. Drop by for a look! And with that intro, I'll open the
floor for questions. ga
.Hudson>
Well, you pretty much answered it....but how much will it cost?
.Darek>
The final price of GEMulator has not been set yet, but you will
probably be able to purchase it at a dealer for $400-$500 for a complete
system. That's about what you pay for a Mac or PC emulator. Keep in mind
that GEMulator consists of 3 components: the software, the card, and
the TOS ROMs. I will be supplying the software and the card, and possibly
the ROMs. Otherwise you can purchase a set of TOS 1.4 or TOS 2.0 ROMs from
most dealers. It's the card and ROMs that make up most of the cost of
GEMulator. Obviously, if you'd like to switch between TOS 1.0, 1.4, and
2.0, you'll need to buy 3 sets of ROMs.
In my last newsletter I mentioned an introductory price, so you can
expect that my introductory price will be significantly lower than $400
or $500. ga
JBEAU>
What are the basic "memory" configurations available in ST mode and
how much RAM can it be upgraded to in the future?
.Darek>
The setup that I have been testing software on is a 1 megabyte ST
with TOS 1.4. That of course is arbitrary. GEMulator could emulate up to
14 megabytes of ST RAM, since the 4 megabyte limit imposed on STs is due
to the MMU chip. However, I really doubt you'd need 14 meg. I think that
at most you'd need 2 meg of ST RAM. GEMulator uses the PC's extended
memory as ST RAM, so to emulate a 1 meg ST, you will need a 2 m eg PC
(640K/1 meg of conventional memory, and 1 meg of extended memory). Most
386 PCs today are shipped with at least 2 meg of RAM, so that isn't a
problem. ga
JBEAU>
When you say "could emulate" does that mean it "will in the future"
or "does now but I haven't run it that way?"
.Darek>
What I meant was I run it as a 1 meg machine. It can be configured
to any arbitrary number from 1 to 14 meg. ga
.Dana>
Darek, many people view your "departure" from the Atari market as a
form of desertion. Now that the GEMulator is almost a reality, how do
you feel Atari users will view this new concept? And good luck at TAF!!
.Darek>
Dana, if by my departure you mean selling off Quick ST to Codehead,
I did that for several reasons. First, my original goal of Quick ST, to
drive Turbo ST out of the market with a better product, was accomplished.
and it had all the bells and whistles that I could think of to put into a
software accelerator, since the speed was pretty well at a maximum. So I
had little motivation to do anything else to it.
When I spoke with Charles, he indicated that they'd love to keep
working on the product and inject some of their own creativity into. I've
seen beta versions of what Charles and John have been up to and I like
it. I'm very happy that Codehead now has Quick ST.
Secondly, since I first announced my intention to write GEMulator
last year, an increasing number of people indicated to me that they'd be
interested in such a product. So in order to develop GEMulator, I again
had to let go of Quick ST.
I have not abandoned ST users at all. GEMulator was developed to
satisfy the many ST users who want to switch to the PC platform while
still keeping many of the excellent software titles they've invested in.
.Dana>
Actually, I meant people viewed your going to Microsoft as leaving
the Atari market. I don't "buy" that, but just echoing others' views
<grin>.
.Darek>
Oh that. Well, I have worked at Microsoft since before I ever wrote
ST Xformer or Quick ST, so I can hardly see that as having departed. I've
been at Microsoft for over 5 years now, on and off. ga
.Ken H.>
What software have you tested on it and what resolutions does it
support? ga
.Darek>
Ken, at this time I've test about 40 commercial, shareware, and p/d
titles. All but two ran flawlessly, and I'm fixing the bugs in those two.
Over the next few months, and especially next week in Toronto, I'm going
to have a lot of people test it and I'll compile a compatibility list. My
goal is to offer 100% ST compatibility, whatever that means, since no
model of ST or STE or TT is fully 100% compatible with the other models.
To answer your questions about what actually runs, here is a partial
list:
Word processors: First Word Plus, Word Writer, ST Writer,
MS Write, Word Flair.
Paint programs: Prism Paint, Degas, Degas Elite, Art ST,
Megablit
Other programs: Neodesk 3, Quick ST 3, Turbo ST 1.8, Hotwire,
Multidesk, Dcopy, Little Green Selector, GDOS,
G+PLUS, Gemini. And of course, Pagestream 2.1!
(Calamus has yet to be tested).
.Ken H.>
Can you get low/medium/hi rez on a VGA? And how about MIDI? ga
.Darek>
Low/medium/monochrome is supported. In the future I will add
Moniterm-like support for Super VGA cards, so that you can run your ST in
800x600 or 1024x768 mode. MIDI is currently not supported, but I may add
that in for people that have Sound Blaster Pro cards. ga
.Gordie>
Darek, you mentioned a week ago that GEMulator will read ST
formatted disks in a standard pc drive. I assume that doesn't mean,
however, that copy-protected games, like Dungeon Master, will run
properly. Or have you truly amazed us? <g> ga
.Darek>
I haven't tested any copy protected games yet. I wouldn't hold my
breath though. I just don't know right now. For as long as your disk has
no copy protection, it can be read and written, even the twisted 400K and
800K formats. As a bonus, you can also us high density 1.44 meg floppy
disks. ga
.Gordie>
Even twisted and skewed disks? Nice!
.Bryan>
My dad has a 286 computer. But his has a math co-processor in it.
Will GEMulator run on his machine or does it HAVE to be a 386 or 486?
.Darek>
Three reasons - price, speed, and complexity. Sure, you could write a
68000 emulator for an 8088 or 286 based machine, but it would be slower
and actually harder to write than an emulator running on a 386. So you
will require a 386 or 486. And if you compare prices, 286 machines are
hardly cheaper than 386 machines. Since most people interested in
GEMulator have not yet purchased a PC, it really didn't make sense to go
through the extra hassle of supporting the 286. Sorry. ga
.Bryan>
Also, on term programs, would you get TRUE ANSI graphics?
.Darek>
You mean like Flash running in ANSI mode. You will get whatever you
normally get on an ST. The IBM's character set has nothing to do with it.
.Dana>
As a follow-up to the CodeHeads and QST, did that include all of the
"accessory" programs like QuickView, etc.?
.Darek>
No, just the Quick ST program. Trust me, after you see what they've
done you wouldn't want them anyway. ga
.AP7>
Does the gemulator support GFA basic and STOS? ** TOS 2.06 emulation?
** What's the limit on DTE/DCE communication? ga
.Darek>
I have not tested GFA BASIC or STOS yet. I'm sure someone will at the
Toronto show. TOS 2.06? The GEMulator card support both 6-chip and 2-chip
TOS sets, so you can plug in any version of TOS. I have tested several
sets and all booted up fine.
As for serial communications, that depends highly on the speed of
your CPU. Again, I have not tested to see what the max is. I will
sometime soon. ga
.Ken H.>
Are separate "TOS Partitions" needed on a HD or can MS DOS and TOS
share the HD with no problems? Could ST programs access other SCSI
devices, like a CD ROM? ga
Darek>
That's a tough one. I'm working on hard disk emulation and there
may be problems with large hard disk partitions. I'm not sure yet what the
limits of GEM are. But to answer the first question, no, you do not need
any separate partitions. ST and PC disk formats are identical, so you can
share your ST and PC files on the same disks. ga
PENDZICH>
Sorry was late this may be already answered. Since you are a
supporter of windows can you jump into ST mode from it and exit back?
Also, you once mentioned a 8 bit emulator for the IBM what happened to
that? ga.
.Darek>
First question: yes, since GEMulator runs under DOS, you can run
Windows and open a full screen DOS session and switch between GEMulator
and your other Windows programs at any time. I do that all the time. I
have also run 2 GEMulator at once and had two different ST programms
running. No problem.
Second question: PC Xformer is not something I plan to do anything
with. I did show it at some shows last year, including the Chicago show,
but most people laughed at it an thought it was some sort of joke.
Obviously there isn't a large enough market to support a hardware/software
solution similar to GEMulator, and I can't release it as public domain
because Atari has not given me permission to use the 8-bit operating
system on the PC. So I don't think anything will ever become of it. ga
PENDZICH>
Is the GEMulator a not interrupt card, direct DMA so no conflicts?
Darek>
I think I understand your question. No, it should not conflict with
any other cards since it is not interrupt driven. ga
.Paul>
Will GEMulator be able to run at speeds greater that of an 8Mhz ST?
Darek>
Right now you need a 486 machine to run the software at full speed.
That will be sped up. When I was developing GEMulator my goal was to first
achieve 100% compatibility and then worry about speed. When I was writing
Quick ST, I made the mistake of worrying about speed ahead of
compatibility. I can at least double the speed from the current speed,
which means most ST software will run at full speed on a 386/33, and on
a 486/33 you will get speeds similar a 16MHz ST (or Mega STE). ga
.AP7>
Perhaps I should hold off on buying a Mega STe, then? Your candid
advise would be appreciated! I have a couple of weeks till the cash is
in hand!! Perhaps I should opt for a 386DX 25MHZ? 33MHZ? 40MHZ? Full Mega
STe speed? ga
.Darek>
I better not answer that. I raised enough of a mess last time I did.
<grin> I am not advising you to buy an ST or a PC. All I am making
available is an ST emulator for those users who either through choice or
force (e.g. school or work) use a PC.
I personally don't like any of the PC emulators available for the ST
because they all emulate crippled PCs. So by reversing that process, i.e.
emulating the ST on a PC, you can still run both ST and PC software, but
with better results. ga
.Ken H.>
CD ROM support? Could you access clip art on a CD ROM from PageStream
running under the GEMulator? ga
.Darek>
Two things would have to be true. First, GEMulator would have to
support CD ROM drives. That remains to be seen. If it does, then the clip
art file format would have to be one that Pagestream recognizes. So, I'll
work on the CD ROM problem, but the file format problem is up to you. :-)
.Gordie>
Darek, have you tried MaxiFile on the GEMulator?
.Darek>
Yes, I tried out the whole Codehead Utilities disk, including
Maxifile
and Font Tricks with no problems. ga
.Gordie>
I was just imagining having that to manipulate a pc hard drive...
<g>
.Darek>
Remember, I haven't listed all the programs that run, just the
"important" ones. :-)
.AP7>
Graphics, all three on one multisync platform? ga
.Darek>
If you mean all three modes on one monitor, sure, that was no
problem. Remember, VGA graphics are 16 colors at a resolution of 640x480.
All 3 ST modes are subsets of that. ga
.Paul>
When do you expect GEMulator to be available for purchase? And how
can I get on your mailing list? ga
.Darek>
Paul, I would have liked to have GEMulator available at the Toronto
show, but I have some good reasons for waiting a few months. The program
needs to be tested, I need to speed it up a bit, and most importantly, I
need to prove to you people that it really works. From some of the
messages I've read on some online services, it sounds like most people
can't believe that the ST can be emulated on a PC. They want to see it and
try it first. That's exactly why I'm going to Toronto. If you are coming
to the show drop by my booth and check it out. It is my hope that
GEMulator will get some writeups and reviews after the Toronto show, and
_then_ I can think about trying to sell it.
To get on the mailing list to receive more info on GEMulator and to
be able to preorder at the intro price, you can either send a self
addressed envelope to Branch Always Software, 14150 N.E. 20th Street,
Suite 302, Bellevue, WA 98007 or drop by the Toronto show and fill out a
form. I see no reason why GEMulator won't be available before the Glendale
show, which is the next show I'll be showing it at. But, and this is a big
BUT, I will be looking at people's reactions at the Toronto show. If
people tell me "GEMulator is nice, but I'm not interested in paying X
amount of dollars to run my ST software on a PC", then I'll have to think
of ways to make it cheaper or more attractive.
Before I can sell GEMulator, I have to have an electronics company
make hundreds or thousands of the cards. That costs a lot of money, so
before I invest my life savings into it, I want to know that enough people
will buy it. So, PLEASE, come to Toronto, look at GEMulator, and tell me
you're interested in it. <grin>
.Gordie>
I think that's an important point. If you can't be reasonably
assured that you'll sell enough to cover your costs. I think there's a
market, but I am not sure many will be willing to pay more than an STe
goes for. ga
.Paul>
Thanks for the detailed info.
.AP7>
Could the Lexicor color board be interfaced somehow? Spectre? This
is sounding too good to be true!!! Perhaps the ST will die as a machine,
and live on as GEMulator software! A platform that exists only in another
platform's memory!!! ga
.Darek>
I want to respond to Gordie's statement...
An STE sells for what, $399? Ok, if I give you $399, can you set up
a complete STe system that would be usable? No, of course not. You
have to buy a monitor. You probably want a hard disk. Now what have you
spent, $1000? So, if you have a PC and would like to buy another STe
system, it is going to be a LOT cheaper to simply emulate the ST.
Now, to answer the other questions... There are hundreds of
different VGA cards available for the ST. A basic VGA card runs you about
$50, a Super VGA around $100, and some of the high rez high performance
cards are a few hundred dollars. It would be a lot cheaper to get one of
these cheap, mass produced VGA cards instead of trying to interface an ST
video card. Some of the "ST" video cards are in fact VGA cards interfaced
to the ST!
As for Spectre, well, I haven't had a chance to sit down with Dave
Small and discuss if he'd like to do something with Spectre and GEMulator.
The GEMulator card does have the extra sockets to allow Mac ROMs to be
plugged in. So all I will say at the moment is if you have a Spectre 128
or Magic Sac, HOLD ON TO THE ROMS!!!!
.AP7>
But, could the Lexicor software be used with some other board? Extra
sockets, great!!! ga
.Darek>
Let's put it this way, any software that support the Moniterm monitor
or the ISAC card, or other high rez ST monitors will run on a Super VGA.
.AP7>
So, if I get a 486 40Mhz, I am set for life!!! WOWWWW!!!! ga
.Gordie>
Well, until the RISC computers come to market, anyway..
.Ken H.>
Why software emulation of a 68000 when the chips are so cheap and you
have to have the PC board any way? Any chance of 68030 support? ga
.Darek>
Cost mainly. Last year a company released a Mac emulator on a card
that sold for $1000. As far as I know it never became popular because it
was more expensive that a low end Mac!
Another reason for emulating in software is because if you put an 8
Mhz 68000 on a card, that is the maximum speed you can get. In software,
you are limited only by the speed of your computer and the efficiency of
the emulator. Once I get GEMulator fully optimized, you will see some
software running a lot faster than on an ST.
A third reason for software emulation is of interest to developers.
GEMulator has several nifty debugging features that on a real 68000 would
require an expensive in circuit emulator other hardware. You can do
ANYTHING in software just by writing some code. Hardware is a lot harder
to deal with. I'm just not a hardware kind of guy. <grin> ga
Oops, forgot to mention 68030 support...yes, eventually that could be
put in to emulate a TT or Mac II. I would guess that to get the full speed
of the TT you'd need a very fast 486 or the new 586. Keep in mind that as
PCs get faster and faster GEMulator will automatically run faster as well
without having to be updated. That's a lot simpler than having to replace
68000s with 68030s, etc. ga
.Gordie>
If nobody else has a question, I'll let AP7 wrap it up for tonight.
.AP7>
You mean there is actually no 68000 chip at all, it is 100% software,
besides whatever your board uses??
.Darek>
I believe that's what I've been trying to convey for months. yes.
<grin> ga
.AP7>
Great!!! ga
.Gordie>
Well, Darek, you've given us a huge amount of information. Any
last comments?
.Darek>
Well, I want to thank everyone for coming. If you can, please drop
by and say hi in Toronto. If you'd like to be put on my mailing list and
place an advance order, please send your name and address in a SASE to
the address I mentioned before. You won't need to send any money until I'm
ready to actually ship, but this will give me a better idea of when the
market is big enough to make this worth while. I don't want this to turn
into a disaster like PC Ditto II.
That's all!
.Gordie>
None of us do, Darek.
.Darek>
(luckily, the GEMulator card is a LOT simpler than a PC Ditto board)
.Gordie>
Thanks for sharing the GEMulator with us tonight. And I hope the
Toronto show goes fantastically for you! This CO is over!
**********************************************************************
This conference transcript is the exclusive property of the ST
Advantage on DELPHI. Permission to reprint is granted only if this
notice is included and the transcript is left unchanged.
This transcript was edited by JBEAU. His effort is much appreciated
by the staff of DELPHI's ST Advantage, especially Gordie, who would
have had to edit it otherwise. <G> Thanks!
**********************************************************************
> TAF NEWS! STR InfoFile LAST-MINUTE NEWS FROM ACE '92
======================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John R. Sheehan, SJ
(416) 926-1518
GEnie: J. Sheehan14
26 March 1992
LAST-MINUTE NEWS FROM ACE '92
=============================
ACE '92, the Atari Canadian Exposition, opens on Saturday, April 4th,
and will run through Sunday, April 5th, at the Skyline Hotel in Toronto,
Ontario. With only one-week to go before this major international Atari
event, last-minute details and events are being announced and put in
place.
Those who will be exhibiting programs, hardware and major developments
include:
ABC Solutions Atari Canada Corp.
Atari Explorer Atari Interface Magazine
Best Electronics Branch Always Software
BMDistributors Canoe Computers
Clear Thinking Click Here, Inc.
Codehead Technologies Compuplace
Compustore Computer Supplies & Service
Compuworld CRS
Cybercube D.A. Brumleve
DoubleClick DragonWare
Fair Dinkum Fast Technology
Gadgets By Small GEnie
Goldleaf Gribnif Software
ICD, Inc. ISD Marketing, Inc.
JMG Software International, Inc. Joppa Computer Products
Korg Micro-Creations
Missionware Software Musicware
PI Precision Importing Saved By Technology
SaveTech Soft-Logik Publishing Corp.
Software Sales Steinberg-Jones
Step Ahead Software Steve's Music
Sudden Incorporated Toad Computers
Wintertree Software WizWorks
A host of other events will make the two-day event stimulating and
informative. Among the many special attractions are:
Meet the Sysop Booth
--------------------
A special booth will be manned throughout the two days by Sysops from
Bulletin Board Systems from all over Canada and the United States. Sysops
on the Forem network will be meeting for a special brunch, and many other
users of BBS systems have expressed the desire to meet the invisible
"Sysops" they have come to know only through their computers. A full
schedule of times will be posted at the show.
Seminars and Training Classes
-----------------------------
Three seminar rooms and a Training Room will provide many
opportunities to meet developers, see new products demonstrated, and get
hands-on training. Both ISD Marketing and SoftLogik will be conducting
classes in their Desktop Publishing Programs. ISD will have classes for
both Calamus 1.09 and the new Calamus SL, and Softlogik has scheduled
sessions each day for Pagestream 2.1. Seminar topics range from using
computers to re-construct dinosaur fossils to creating music. Ralph
Mariano, publisher of STReport, will speak, and a number of new programs
and products will be shown. There will be times when as many as four
presentations will be going on simultaneously.
Concerts and Performances
-------------------------
In the special MIDI area there will be a stage for public performances
and entries in the Talent Contest. Several professional groups will be
performing, as will contestants in the musical division of the Talent
Contest. Graphics entries will be projected throughout both days so that
all can see the creations of the entrants, and demonstrations of MIDI
software and special effects will be taking place in the luxurious seminar
area specially equipped for that purpose.
"Showing Off"
-------------
Several developers have indicated that one of the reasons they are
participating in ACE '92 is just to "show off" their products. Goldleaf
Publishing, for example, will be bringing video digitizing equipment, and
will transform photographs that participants bring to them into a number
of different formats. You might go home with a free refrigerator magnet
with your digitized face on it! Or have a photo of you with a famous
celebrity (without the celebrity ever having been there)! Micro-Creations
is giving a free copy of their new BBS program to every Atari club
present, and most booths will have special show prices and packages.
Show hours are 10am to 6pm on Saturday, April 4th, and from 11am to
6pm on Sunday, April 6th. (Remember - this is the week-end you turn
clocks AHEAD one hour, which is the reason for the later starting time on
Sunday.) Admission is $6, no charge for children 6 and under. ACE '92
will be held at the Skyline Hotel, 655 Dixon Rd in Toronto, near Pearson
International Airport.
For additional information, contact
ACE '92
c/o Toronto Atari Federation
5334 Yonge St
Suite 1527
Willowdale ON M2N 6M2.
For faster response, call
Paul Collard, Exhibit and Volunteer Coordinator
(416) 477-2085
or
John R. Sheehan, SJ, General Convention Coordinator
(416) 926-1518
GEnie J.Sheehan14
TAF BBS: (416) 235-0318
TAF InfoLine and Voice Message: (416) 425-5357.
_________________________________________________________________
> GEMULATOR II! STR OnLine Darek Mihocka's CIS Gemulator Conference
========================
DAREK MIHOCKA'S CIS GEMULATOR CONFERENCE
========================================
Pattie) Tonight's guest Speaker is Darek Mihocka, of Branch Always
Software. He's famous as the author of ST Xformer, Quick ST and now
the GEMulator. He's here to answer questions about the ST emulator
for the PC world. If you have a question for Darek, please type ? and
I'll let you know when it is your turn to speak. We're on the
honor system to not talk with Darek is speaking or if it's not
your turn. Please join me in welcoming Darek! Darek, any opening
remarks for us? ga
Darek) Hi guys! Long time no see. As I'm sure you're well aware, over the
last year and a half I have been working on a series of emulators on
the PC. I started by first porting the ST Xformer over to MS-DOS and
then I decided to try the more challenging task of emulating the ST
itself. That project is now almost finished, and hopefully it will be
all ready to go and available in time for this year's Glendale and
WAACE shows. I'll be showing a prototype of the emulator next week at
the Atari show in Toronto, and this will give people a chance to see
it and me to get people's feedback. Hopefully I'll see a lot of you
there. That's about all I have to say now. I'm sure you have a lot of
questions so, why don't we start. ga
Pattie) Ok! Patrick, you're up first! ga
Patrick Bass) Thanks, first... Darek, due to the close match between the
ST and IBM system calls, have you tried to rewrite all of the low
level calls or just trap the TRAPs and perform the closest IBM BIOS
calls? ga
Darek) yes, that's already done to a certain extent, and as I start
optimizing the code I'll do more of that. It's sort of like re-writing
Quick ST all over again, except this time for the PC platform. As I
have been Mail writing the emulator, the goal was to first emulate
the 68000 chip, and then to start emulating the ST hardware with 100%
compatibility. Between now and Glendale I'll start worrying about
speeding this baby up a bit. Right now you need a 33 Mhz 486 machine
to run your ST software at full speed, but eventually I'll get it to
the point where you can do that on a 386 machine. ga
Pattie) Patrick, a followup question? ga
Patrick Bass) Thanks, I wish you all the luck in the world and if I run
across one I'll sure try it out. BTW I still have the original disks
you sent ANTIC. Want 'em back? ga
Darek) Ah, the original 6502 emulator I sent in way way back. No, keep it.
:-) ga
Pattie) Thank you Patrick! Ron Luks has a question for you Darek ga
Ron Luks) Darek-- Will the GEMulator run as a multitasking app like
under Windows or will it "take over" the entire PC for itself? ga
Darek) Gemulator is well behaved and uses MS-DOS to perform all disk I/O.
So it does not take over the system and thus you can run it under DOS
or Windows or any "better DOS than DOS" that might come our way.
<grin> ga
Ron Luks) thx. ga
Pattie) Ok. Before we move on to Dan's question, I'd like to ask one
myself. Darek, what made you decide to drop the software product
Quick ST and concentrate on GEMulator? ga
Darek) I ran out of steam with Quick ST. It ran about as fast as it could,
all the cool features such as custom desktops, etc, were in it,
and I really didn't know what else to do with it. Codehead has some
ideas and I needed some more free time, so it was the ideal thing to
let Codehead take over development and distribution. With some fresh
ideas Quick ST will become an even better product. ga
Pattie) Sounds Great! Ok, on to Dan Rhea...ga
Dan Rhea) Darek, what do you project as a minimum system requirement (HW &
SW)?
Darek) Well, with all the different brands and variations of PCs, it's
hard to say. You need at least a 386SX, with at least 2 megabytes of
memory, a hard disk, and a VGA display. The more memory, the faster
your hard disk, the faster the VGA, and the faster the CPU, obviously
the faster Gemulator will run. On a basic 386SX system you're looking
at about 1/5th the performance of a 486/33 system. So you don't want
the cheapest most stripped down PC you can find, but a 386/33 system
with 4 meg of memory (which is about the standard system you see in
hundreds of Computer Shopper ad) will do just great. ga
Dan Rhea) Thanks (glad I have the 486-33)
Pattie) Dan, anything further?
Dan Rhea) Not at the moment ga
Pattie) Ok... Don Messerli has a question... Go ahead Don!
Don Messerli) Darek, are you running the 386/486 in protected mode using a
DOS extender? ga
Darek) yes, that's the only way to go. ga
Don Messerli) Aren't you afraid of possible legal problems? ga
Darek) Well, I see Bob Brodie is here, so why don't I let him answer that
to settle this matter once and for all. Bob?
Pattie) Bob, please join in if you like!
Bob Brodie [ATARI]) From our perspective, if Darek's product uses genuine
Atari roms on board somewhere in the system, there will be no
problems. However, if it should attempt to softload our O/S, ie a disk
based version of TOS, then we will have strong objections to the
product. SO, if it's hardware based, no problems. Software based, BIG
problems. Clear enough? GA
Darek) Thanks Bob. I hope that puts to rest the many rumors I've seen
floating around various boards. I have been saying since last year
that Gemulator will use real TOS ROMs, but some people just don't
listen. ga
Don Messerli) Thanks Darek, I think your stuff is great! ga
Pattie) Patrick has another question for you Darek. Ga Patrick!
Patrick Bass) Thanks. Darek, a questions arises about using GEM based
on the PC platform. TOS is just CP/M-68K with GEM on top with just a
few extras. Are you going the simple DOS compatible route, supporting
Windows or are you going to support PC GEM?... Also, is this the
Pattie from Atari I've heard about? GA
Darek) Patrick, Gemulator is DOS based. It does not run under PC GEM. It
does Yes, thanks, Patti. not support PC GEM any more than a real ST
supports PC GEM. ga
Patrick Bass) I think it's interesting how GEM flavor apps have been
ported from the PC to ST and now back to the PC! A'int computers
grand? GA and thanx.
Pattie) Patrick, I'm not with Atari Corp., but am with Atari Interface!
Anyway... ROn Luks is up next! ga
Ron Luks) Will GEMulator come with TOS 2.06 or a lesser version of TOS?
and Will it COME with the chips or will the user have to purchase them
separately like the Spectre GCR requires? g
Darek) Ron, right now I haven't decided whether to bundle a set of TOS
ROMs or not. There are advantages and disadvatages to that. First, if
someone wants to run a version of TOS other than what I might bundle
(probably 1.4 or 2.0), they' be paying for extra ROMs they don't want.
But if someone is hundreds of miles from a dealer, it might be
difficult to get a set of ROMs. So probably if Atari wants to sell me
TOS ROMs, <grin> I'll have an option to buy Gemulator with ROMs. Keep
in mind that Gemulator can run any version of TOS, from 1.0 to 2.0, so
you're not limited to running any one version. The Gemulator board I'm
currently using as a prototype has 8 sockets, which allows you to plug
in up to 4 sets of 2-chip TOSes, or one 6-chip set and a 2-chip set.
It gives you a lot of versatility. If you have software that runs,
say, only on TOS 1.0, but you like to run your other software on the
faster TOS 1.4, just plug in both sets of chips and switch between
them. ga
Ron Luks) When you say it runs TOS 2.0 does that include 2.06 (with
NEWDESK)? ga
Darek) yes, you see, Gemulator just runs the TOS ROMs like it does any
other piece of 68000 code. It really doesn't distinguish between minor
differences from one TOS to the other. Gemulator already runs over 95%
of all the software I've tested on it, including Pagestream, Word
Writer, Quick ST, Hotwire, Prism Paint, etc. With a bit more work, it
will be as 100% compatible as you can get. ga
Pattie) Thanks Ron! Dave Lewis is up next! ga
Dave Lewis) Will Gemulator run on a Micro Channel bus machine, And have
you tried it under OS/2 2.0. GA
Darek) The final Gemulator card will be either an 8 or 16 bit card,
so any machine that can accept such cards will work. Given that Micro
Channel is dying out, you probably don't have to worry about it when
buying a PC. As for OS/2 2.0, I'll have to wait until it comes out to
try it. ga
Dave Lewis) Thanks. GA
Darek) by the way Dave, COMMAND! runs just fine (both full screen and
windowed)
Pattie) Ok... before I let Dan Rhea ask his next question, I'd like
to ask Darek who's the intended market for GEMulator. ga
Darek) Based on feedback from people I talked to at Glendale and
other shows last year, the biggest market seems to be ST users who
either have both an ST and PC at home, or they have to use a PC in
class or at work. And then there are people who actually listen to
what I said in STReport. <grin> ga
Pattie) Alright! Dan, you're up! ga
Dan Rhea) Which "Flavor" of the ST does the GEMulator emulate? (ST, STe,
Mega...) or all of the above?
(3-7,Darek) Right now I'm emulating what could best be described as a
1040ST. There is not blitter chip support yet, but once I emulate
that, it'll be closer to something like a Mega ST or STE. All of the
ST and STE and Mega ST models all have very similar hardware, so it's
hard to single out exactly one particular model. Once the speed is
faster, blitter chip emulation works and if you plug in TOS 2.0 ROMs,
you'll have something similar to a Mega STE emulator. ga
Dan Rhea) How about the STe video modes?
Darek) Which are....? The ST and STE have the same video modes. What
I will do for people with Super VGA cards is allow you to use the full
resolution of the VGA card, whether it be 800x600 or 1024x768 or
1280x960. Very similar to running a Moniterm monitor on a Mega ST or
using the MonSTEr utility to emulate larger screen resolutions. As
always, you'll need to be running at least TOS 1.4 to get the higher
resolution since TOS 1.0 and 1.2 don't support anything beyond
640x400. ga
Dan Rhea) Great! Thanks. ga
Pattie) Don Messerli is up next. ga
Don Messerli) Darek, do you support color mode as well as monochrome? ga
Darek) Yes, since a VGA display can easily emulate all 3 ST modes, you can
boot up either in low/medium resolution, or in monochrome. As with the
real ST, you can't switch from color to mono or mono to color from the
GEM desktop, but all you do is just re-run Gemulator. What you can
also do, if you're running a multitasking environment like Windows, is
run two Gemulators at once, so you could be running a color one and a
monochrome one. ga
Don Messerli) Are you currently only supporting 1 Mb of ST emulated RAM?
ga
Darek) (That's one advantage of NOT taking over the whole computer, you
can take advantage of multitasking). I run a 1 meg setup for testing
purposes, but unlike the real ST, there is no 4 meg limit. In theory
you could boot up Gemulator with 14 meg of ST memory, but why you'd
want to do that is a question. Yes, if you want 14 meg, you'll get 14
meg. ga
Don Messerli) Thanks Darek. ga
Pattie) Thank you Don! Dana has a question, ga
Dana @ STReport) To follow-up on Pattie's question. Will you target those
users who use both ST's and PC's or will you also try to lure PC-only
users to use the GEMulator (not just ex-Atarians!)? GA
Darek) I see no point in luring PC users. Most PC users are not even aware
that the ST exists, sort of the same boat as the Amiga and Atari XE,
and I think it would be extremely difficult to convince a PC users to
use GEM. After all, GEM has been around for years on the PC, and it
never caught on. My plans for PC users are to lure them to Mac
emulation at sometime in the future. ga
Pattie) Dana, anything else?
Dana @ STReport) No, thanks - Darek, good luck at Toronto!!
Pattie) Ok! Ron Luks gets the final question tonight! ga
Ron Luks) Do you have an approx. price set for GEMulator yet? ga
Darek) Under $500 for a complete set of software, board, and TOS ROMs, and
dealers may sell for a lot less. There will be an introductory price
for people who pre-order which will be significantly less. More on
that later. People who are on the Gemulator mailing list will receive
information in the mail. ga
Ron Luks) thx. ga
Pattie) Darek, any closing remarks before we close the "formal" part of
the Conference? ga
Darek) well, again I'd like to invite everyone to come down to the Toronto
show and give me your feedback on Gemulator. I aim to please. And
let's hope that will put a rest to any rumors circulating about what
Gemulator can and cannot do. Just as it was possible to emulate the
8-bit Atari on both the ST and PC, it was just as easy to emulate the
ST on the PC. I know it seems impossible, but it has been done and my
demo in Toronto next week will prove that. I know that right now even
most ST developers can't believe it's possible. Thank you for coming!
ga
(3-2,Pattie) Thank you for joining us tonight, Darek, and for sharing all
the information about GEMulator! Best of luck to you! We're now in
open mode! It's a free for all!
___________________________________________________________
> WARP 9!!! STR InfoFile WARP 9 - THE SOFTWARE ACCELERATOR!
======================
For immediate release
CodeHeadQuarters
Friday, March 27, 1992
----------------------
You Knew It As Quick ST...
You'll LOVE It As...
WARP 9 - THE SOFTWARE ACCELERATOR!
==================================
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - CodeHead Technologies is proud to announce the
release of its brand new software accelerator -- Warp 9!
On January 1, 1992 we took over support and development of the popular
Quick ST screen accelerator from Branch Always Software. It's taken over
three months to complete the modifications necessary to turn it into a
CodeHead product, but it's well worth the wait. The resulting fruit of
our labors is Warp 9 -- the fastest, most compatible software
graphics/text accelerator
_ever_ for the Atari line of computers!
We've decided to give it this new name because it's changed so
dramatically that it's hardly even recognizable anymore. The only
similarity between Warp 9 and its predecessor, Quick ST, is incredible
speed!
Although Warp 9 has a completely new user interface and many new
features, the major benefit over previous screen accelerators is
COMPATIBILITY! Literally dozens of bugs and compatibility problems have
been eradicated in Warp 9. It now works fine with FSM GDOS, and problems
have been eliminated with Touch-Up, PageStream, and many other programs
where redraw and other problems existed. Warp 9 also works fine on the
TT, and accelerates the graphics of TT Medium resolution remarkably.
What IS a Software Screen Accelerator?
--------------------------------------
Warp 9 operates by intercepting operating system calls. Most of the
normal operating system calls are not written with the utmost efficiency
as far as speed is concerned. Warp 9 uses highly optimized assembly
language routines which can give you speed increases of 400% all the way
up to 1200% or more. That's from 4 to 12 times faster! The difference is
immediately noticable in almost every area of your computer activities.
Text, graphics, and windows virtually fly onto the screen. Once you try
using Warp 9, you'll never allow yourself to operate without it again.
New Features:
-------------
The user interface of Warp 9 has been completely revamped. The Warp 9
program installs in the AUTO folder, giving increased speed to the loading
of your AUTO programs. The effectiveness of a software accelerator is
normally diminished by the additional overhead of other resident programs
installed in your system. But Warp 9 uses a special trick to avoid this
problem. The Warp 9 Control Panel accessory communicates with Warp 9,
telling it to reinstall itself, giving it a prime position for
acceleration. If you want to save memory by not installing the Warp 9
Control Panel, you can auto-run our QuickGrab program which will provide
the same function. This gives you the best of both worlds, the utmost in
speed during the bootup process as well as at the desktop level and in
your applications.
Besides speed and compatibility, Warp 9 offers you all of the same
features available in Quick ST and much more. You can replace the system
screen font with one of your own, or choose from any of the 6 dozen fonts
included with Warp 9. You can also change the system fill patterns,
altering the look of your windows and dialog boxes. You can change the
desktop's background pattern by using a custom fill pattern or even load a
picture in any resolution, including the TT resolutions. Warp 9 can load
pictures in many formats, including PI1, PI2, PI3, PC1, PC2, PC3, TNY,
TN1, TN2, TN3, and PNT. The font, fills, and background pictures can be
configured to load automatically when you boot up. Fonts and fill
patterns can be edited by using the included Customizer program.
There's also a completely configurable mouse accelerator built right
into Warp 9. You can tailor the acceleration to your own needs, or choose
from one of the four preset configurations available. Other optional
mouse features include "blocking" to keep the mouse from accidentally
entering the menu bar area, "jumping" to force the mouse to the menu bar
at the click of the right mouse button, and separately configurable
horizontal and vertical wrap-around of the mouse when it reaches the edge
of the screen.
Warp 9 also includes the functionality of FunkAlert, the shareware
program by Charles F. Johnson. This gives you the ability to select any
button in any standard alert box by the simple press of a function key.
You can turn off the system Zoom Boxes, too, for even more speed. A
well-written 50-page manual gives detailed instructions for using every
facet of Warp 9.
Order Warp 9 today...you just can't get a faster, more compatible
screen accelerator for your Atari computer, and you also receive the
quality and support for which CodeHead Technologies is famous.
Availability
------------
Warp 9 will be shipping as of Monday, March 30th. Retail price is $44.95.
Contact your local dealer or order directly from CodeHead Technologies
at the address below. Mastercard, Visa, and American Express credit cards
are accepted. For shipping, add $3 US, $4 Canada, and $6 overseas.
Owners of any version of Quick ST or Turbo ST can purchase Warp 9 for
only $20 by returning their original disk with payment to:
CodeHead Technologies
P.O. Box 74090
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: (213) 386-5735
(Mon-Fri 9A-1P Pacific Time)
FAX: (213) 386-5789
BBS: (213) 461-2095
_________________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
================================
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
=========================
On CompuServe
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
Tony Davids has converted BJ Gleason's PORT.FAQ file to pbread format.
PORTFA.COM is very handy to keep on a ramcard for easy reference.
Tom Showers has created a useful graphics program. PGC2PC.ZIP will convert
Portfolio .PGC files into .PCX format for use with desktop programs.
Tom also has some extras for the SPAINT program. FNTSP1.ZIP contains 10
fonts can be used with SPAINT. There are samples of these fonts for
viewing in the file FONTSP.PGC. CARTSP.PGC is a collection of small
pictures that can be used as clip-art.
NYTIME.ASC is Don Thomas's reply to a New York Times article about Palmtop
computers.
Don Thomas has a new batch of corporate logos in .PGC format. BOFA.PGC ia
the Bank Of America logo. PCWRLD.PGC is the PC World magazine logo.
5THCAT.PGC is the Fifth Generation Cheetah. LOGOS.ZIP contains 15
different logos. LOGOS1.ZIP contains another 5 logos. WARNER.ZIP contains
12 images of Warner properties. PGSHOW is required to view .PGC files and
is available in the forum library.
PORT.ZIP is a collection of images of the Portfolio in IMG format. The
collection by Don Thomas can be used in flyers and newsletters promoting
the Portfolio.
____________________________________________________
> TINY PC? STR FOCUS "The Atari Portfolio is a DOS PC..."
==================
March 25, 1992
Mr. John Markoff
c/o New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Markoff,
On the front page in the Business section of the New York Times (March
23, 1992), an article appeared titled "Era of the Tiny PC is Nearly at
Hand" beneath your byline.
In the article, you cite aspects of microtechnology and how the
industry is fusing that technology with handheld computers. You offer
gracious exposure to Hewlett-Packard, Poqet, Sharp and others. In fact,
you boasted a figure of 400,000 HP 95LX machines having been sold. That is
an interesting number since a newswire release (manufacturer origin)
forwarded to my attention two weeks ago offered a number one quarter that
figure. I suspect the number was confused with the number of Geos systems
that sold which is stated on page C5. Otherwise, it seems unlikely that an
identical number of HP palmtop devices sold as well as a desktop
application within the same amount of time, does it not?
In all due respect, I find it difficult to understand how a well
researched article appears to intentionally drop reference to the premiere
DOS palmtop introduced in September 1989... and while HP officially
announced 100,000 units of the 95LX, the worldwide figure of Atari
Portfolios sold is approximately three times that number.
The Atari Portfolio is a DOS PC that weighs less than a pound and is
about the size of a videocassette. The keyboard is rated better and the
screen more legible than the HP by computer users and professional
reviews. The most powerful feature is the price... less than $300 MSRP.
I understand the intention of news articles is not to promote the
subject matter, however when all but one of the contenders are referenced,
that does raise serious questions. I hope a follow-up article may clarify
the facts. Offering free exposure to the "higher" priced alternatives and
omitting just one name is unfair when used in a general topics of quality
palmtop DOS PCs.
If you need to learn more about the best value palmtop on the market,
visit the APORTFOLIO forum on CompuServe. Thousands of members enjoy over
750 Portfolio files in that forum alone. I have included enclosed
information on the Portfolio as well.
Sincerely,
Donald A. Thomas, Jr.
Portfolio Marketing Manager
PH: (408) 745-2031
FX: (408) 745-2088
cc: Editor-in-Chief
APORTFOLIO forum on CompuServe
___________________________________________________________
> UTOPIA STR Review "..the BEST SELLING GAME for the Atari.."
=================
UTOPIA: THE CREATION OF A NATION
================================
by Tim Holt
ACCEPT
I rarely buy games anymore, since I don't have too much time to play,
so the games that I do purchase have to meet some stringent requirements
before I plop down $50 or so. The first requirement is that the game runs
on my Mega STE. (I seem to have run into a situation where many games
coming from across the "big pond" are not TOS 2.0 and above
compatible."Life and Death" was my first experience with this upward
non-compatibility.) Secondly, the game must be understandable.I am tired
of shoot-em-ups, and of games that have 500 page instruction manuals.(If I
wanted to read a novel, I would have gone to a bookstore.) Third, the game
must hold my interest for more than a few days. As you can tell, I
don't buy too many games anymore. BUT, the ones I do buy are exceptional.
Happily, I can say that "UTOPIA:The Creation of a Nation" by Gremlin, fits
the bill as far as the above criteria.
Utopia is, as of this writing, is the best selling game for the Atari
platform. It is a combination of the Godlike omniscience of Populous, the
management techniques of Sim City, and the future world of Millennium 2.2.
If you liked any or all of these games, chances are, you will like Utopia.
To get going on Utopia, you must first boot your system with a 50
Hertz boot disk, so that the screens will work on US systems.(The boot
disk is included, and can be installed on a hard drive if you wish.
Utopia will NOT run unless your system is running at 50 hz instead of the
US standard 60 hz.) Next, boot up the Utopia program disk. Utopia is copy
protected twice over. First, you must have the manual to tell the program
what page a certain picture is on, and secondly, the files on the disks
are "invisible", making duplication impossible. I found this redundancy a
bit of overkill, since Utopia does require a bit of disk swapping. it
would have been nice to put this one on a hard drive.
The object of Utopia is to achieve a high "quality of life" in your
future colony on some far off planet. You are in charge, just as in Sim
City, of choosing what type of buildings you will construct, and where you
want your funds to be channeled. Do you want to construct a sports
stadium (great for the colony morale) or a laser turret, which will
protect you from marauding aliens that also want to colonize the same
planet that you are on?
The view of the playing surface is similar to that of Populous, and in
each scenario you are given a certain amount of money to start with. You
must decide what type of power plant you want to build, (solar, nuclear,
etc) what type of spending for defense,(if any) what type of laboratories
to build, etc. Of course, each type of decision has a certain
consequence. Opt to go for lots of scientific research, and the military
will benefit from the discoveries in the lab. Go for a non-defense,
peaceful colony, and you will have a high quality of life, but be wiped
out pretty quickly by the aliens that inhabit planet that you are on.
Utopia has a feature that I found nice. At anytime in the game, you
can go to a group of advisors, who will tell you what they think should be
happening. Of course the defense guy will want you to spend more on labs
and military spending, and there is a colony psychiatrist, administrator,
head of research, civil engineer, and financial consultant. They will
offer good advise throughout the game, although you do not have to follow
it.
Utopia also offers not only a 3-D colony view, that can be scrolled in
four directions, but you can also look at the entire surface of the planet
that you are on (this is more a satellite view) You can locate the aliens
(and there are usually more than one enemy per planet), provided you have
spies, as well as locate ore deposits for manufacturing, and energy
sources. You can view your cities as compared to the aliens, and locate
where your defenses are located.
Utopia offers the player 10 scenarios, and each one is progressively
harder to play. I suggest that players definitely start at the first
scenario and work their way up. For those that want to get their feet wet
before jumping into the pond, there is a tutorial that lets you set up a
colony and do all the things a good colony administrator should, without
having to worry about attacks form the aliens. You can save your game at
anytime on a formatted disk, and the game will even allow you to format a
disk while playing. You may also choose the music that you want to listen
to, but I suggest you turn the music off. It is not one of the high
points of the game, especially coming out of my SC 1224 speaker.
Utopia is a very good game for those of you that have become addicted
to the "open ended" scenario game. There is no correct or incorrect way
to win at Utopia. You either succeed, or you do not. Just like Sim City,
your city either makes it, or it doesn't. Of course, there are certain
constants that every successful player will have, but in the end, it is
all a matter of correct or incorrect choices. Something you may have done
at the beginning of the game, may affect your colony muck later. If you
are looking for a shoot-em-up, then you need to pass this up. Utopia,
although it is a good to look at game, is a thinking person's game. I
liked it very much, although I have not finished all the scenarios yet.
Check it out!
*Word of warning: Utopia is one of those games that refuses to shut
off the floppy drive light, even though the disk is not being accessed.
It also has a lot of floppy swapping, so it is very easy to destroy one of
the disks if you are not careful during disk swaps. BE CAREFUL when
switching the disks. Also, for some reason, my local dealer had a hard
time finding Utopia through his supplier. I do not know if this was a
local problem, or a condition that is occurring throughout the US. Be
patient if you have to order UTOPIA. THe wait is worth it.
UTOPIA: THE CREATION OF A NATION
Gremlin Graphics Software
$49.95
________________________________________________________________
> STReport's Editorial Page "Saying it like it is."
From the Editor's Desk
----------------------
Of course I read the "Kerr Parody". I _loved_it! Drew you outdid
yourself. Your offering was excellent light reading. I thank you for
thinking of us. If any of you haven't read the "Kerr Parody", please do
so.. its hilarious.
Our issue this week should be called "a thorough experience in
telecommunicating", we have four superb online conferences for your
reading enjoyment.
Not much to carry on about this week other than the developments in
the Tiny Turbo accelerator area, it is getting a good forward start with
advance orders. This marketplace is starting to 'smile' again and that's
good. Hopefully, the attitudes of everyone will continue to mellow thus
allowing all of us to concentrate on the future instead of doting on the
past. Atari's future is beginning to take on a rosy new complexion. One
that's nowhere near the pallor of a few months ago. Is the 'new era'
finally underway? I think it just might be.
Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
----------------
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION
----------- -------------- ------------
Roger D. Stevens Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON
STReport Staff Editors:
-----------------------
Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson Michael Arthur
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner
John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando
Steve Spivey Doyle C. Helms
Contributing Correspondents:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert John Deegan
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt
Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Harry Steele
Ben Hamilton Neil Bradley Eric Jerue
Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing
James Nolan Vernon W. Smith Bruno Puglia
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
____________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
=============
STReport's MailBag
==================
From CIS
: 31822 S15/Atari International
27-Mar-92 02:48:14
Sb: #31774-Atari upturn?
Fm: John Townsend @ Atari 70007,1135
To: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254 (X)
So far Ron, it has been a pleasure to be here. The crowd here is different
than the other online services and I enjoy that. Recently, I seem to be
seeing alot of positive attitudes prevailing online and that really adds
to the whole experience.
One thing I think that affects the whole "personna" of Atari online is the
people involved. Over the past two years, Atari has hired several people
from the Atari user community to handle business internally. For example,
Bob Brodie, Bill Rehbock, Dan McNamee, Ken Badertscher, Mark Jansen, and
myself are all people who owned and believed in Atari computers before we
starting working at this company. We understand how our users feel because
we feel the same way. We also understand how our fellow users want to know
what is going on. More than anything, we want to see Atari succeed. If I
(and others) didn't believe that it couldn't succeed, we wouldn't be
working 12 and 13 hours days and weekends to make things happen.
Another thing.. positive things have been happening at Atari. Products
have evolved, Atari is working on exciting new technology and the air of
negative feelings that seemed to grip the whole user community like the
Black Plague seems to be lifting. I hope it continues.
As for your thanks.. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. It's alot
of fun!
-- John
PS. If you think things are getting better now, just you wait! You
ain't seen nothing yet!
From the FNET
Conf : SPECTRE - MAC
Msg# : 1723/1723 Lines: 17 Read: 1
Sent : Mar 24, 1992 at 12:41 AM
Recv : Mar 24, 1992
To : Ralph Mariano
From : S. Michael Hallack at Fnet Node 620, Leif's World (904)573-0734
Subj : Re: <1722> MAC CON
Previously Ralph Mariano wrote:
- No truer words were ever spoken! :-) Did you EVER get your -
replacement Blitter Chip??
-
- Ralph @ * The Bounty ST BBS * FNET Node 350
- Home of: STReport International Online Magazine
-
Nope, I have left numerous E-mail messages for Brodie and he just does not
respond. I do understand that he is very busy... I really do. However,
there is no excuse for this. Particularly with a company like Atari, user
loyalty is essential. This is one thing that I would think that he would
do just as a token P.R. move. In business, sometimes it is the little
gestures that really make the difference, or the lack thereof. I know of
a couple of people that were considering buying Ataris and because of this
incident, chose not to. I haven't gone on an Atari-bashing campaign, but
my frustration with Bob and the company as a whole is obvious.
From GEnie
Category 14, Topic 8
Message 216 Thu Mar 26, 1992
B.BEAUCHEA [Bob Beauchea] at 21:32 EST
I just installed Atari's 1.44 HD drive and TOS 2.06 in my Mega STE. The
new drive will format regular density disks from either NeoDesk or the
Diamond format program. I cannot format any HD disks using Diamond or the
Atari desktop and the Atari desktop will not format any regular density
disks on the HD drive. I also have an SF314 and that works fine from all
three programs for regular density disks (of course).
1. I replaced the drive in the Mega with the one supplied in the kit.
- data cable needed to be reversed from the original drive.
2. I replaced the WD1772 with the AJAX chip supplied.
3. I replaced the TOS chips. EE in socket U206 and EO in socket U207
4. The three jumpers were already set and I did not change them.
W201 1-2
W202 2-3
W203 1-2 5. I set switch 7 of the 8 pin dip switch on.
Is there something else I need to do? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks, Bob Beauchea
------------
From CIS
: 59162 S6/Hardware specific
26-Mar-92 08:25:00
Sb: #59148-#ATARI HARDWARE
Fm: INTERSECT Software 76004,1577
To: john barnes 73030,2307 (X)
John;
Time will tell. But Video lasers are a hot item at the COMDEX shows.
They are very high ticket though and not many stores carry them. They are
usually sold by VARs.
FSM GDOS, Composcript, inexpensive memory, reduced prices on SLM804 &
SLM805 laser printers and the introduction of MUCH faster Atari computers
may bring a resurgance of the Video Laser.
A SLM804 hooked to a ST is no great deal. It's about the same price as a
Conventional laser. The Conventional Laser is more flexable in that it
can be used with "OTHER" computers and "ported software" doesn't need
special drivers to use it properly.
BUT when you hook a SLM804 to a TT or any 68030 machine it becomes a
SUPER printer in that print times are now 6 times faster than most
Postscript printers and 100 times faster than most conventional lasers.
At this time I highly recommend a Video laser to anyone with a EISA 486
or a TT or <grin> a Falcon, if <sigh> the rumors about it are true.
If you have a ST then the choice is not so clear cut. A postscript
printer is probably the best bet. If money is the chief concern a SLM804
is on sale and a user could save $500 over the cost of a Postscript
Printer.
Lets do a what if. What if Atari released a SCSI video laser with 400+
DPI. This laser would work on a PC if the PC had a Caching SCSI
controller with 2 megs of memory (cost of the SCSI controller with 2 megs
$450.00). The video laser Retails for $1,500. HP drivers for the PC and
the Atari ST/TT are free with the machine. Postscript Interpreters are
also available, for a price, lets say $300.
The above would be an instant BEST seller on the PC. Print times for an
average page would drop from 10 minutes (conventional graphics dump) to
10 seconds on a 486 machine. Note: Even a Postscript Printer can't speed
up graphics transfers from Computer to printer.
Even the NEXT uses a Video Laser.
[Jeff]
_______________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
=====================
- St. Louis, MO. SOFT LOGIK TO HOLD ONLINE CONF.
--------------
The exact date is not set yet, but there is a 99% chance there will be
a real-time-conference in the SoftLogik RT next Thursday night, April 2nd.
Deron Kazmaier will be in attendance, and there WILL be Atari-specific
news. Those interested in attending should type SOFTLOGIK at any menu
prompt in GEnie to get to the SoftLogik RT to see the Banner (which will
list the exact date and time of the RTC) anytime this weekend.
- Munich, Germany NETWORKING ATARI COMPUTERS
---------------
: 59160 S5/Networking Ataris
26-Mar-92 03:48:02
Sb: #58153-Atari network software
Read subscription article (Usenet)
16355.3.2307.9 Re: Networking with exixting IBM networks/ethernet
3/25/92 06:25 29/1433 petav@Physik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Peter Averkamp)
Lines 1 to 14 of 29 (48%)
-----
cummins@a.cs.okstate.edu (CUMMINS JOHN WILLI) writes:
-I have a question.
-I'm at an American university with 100Mbit/second FDDI and
-10Mbit/second ethernet and 16Mbit (I think) token ring available.
-My ST is interfaced via rs232 persently at 9.6kbaud and I'm frustrated.
-Just how do folks in Germany interface via token-ring or Ethernet?
-I have a Mega2 if it makes any difference.
We have at least two 'companies' in Germany (Biodata & PamSoft), both of
which try to make products that would fill your (our) needs. So far they
have not been satisfactory successfull. I spent lots of time and money to
both, even provided sources & technical support, but still there is not a
product to recommend. Do not believe in advertisement that states the
contrary! Most of the so-called 'running' networks are island-solutions
or imply very starnge setups with lots of constraints on the St side. The
customer support as at atari level or below (if at all possible).
Besides, it is nowadays less expensive to buy a 386 PC with network card
and working software than to buy the St net-adapters alone!!!
Sorry to disappoint you, but reality is sometimes crude..
- Peter -
--
Peter Averkamp, | email:
Physics Department E20 |
petav@radon.e20.physik.tu-muenchen.de
Techn. Univ. of Munich | Phone: ++49 (89) 3209-2408
D-8046 Garching, Germany | Fax: ++49 (89) 3209-2338
Command:
____________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote" "....how about that!"
==================
"THEY SAY; WHEN YOU'RE MADE A PARODY OF...
... YOU'VE MADE THE BIGTIME!"
....Will Rogers
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile * NEW 1992 Prices! MORE Products! *
=========================== --------------------------------
****** TAX TIME SPECIAL!! TAKE 10% OFF _ANY_ PACKAGE!! *****
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
NOTICE: ABCO will BEAT OR MATCH * ANY *
Advertised or Invoiced price * WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD!
ABCO COMPUTER CONSULTANTS
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)
(all cables and connectors installed)
- Available for all Platforms -
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
* MAXTOR - SEAGATE - QUANTUM *
WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!!! >UPS!<
(Cont. USA)
*** NEW!!! ULTRA MODERN COLOR COORDINATED SLEEK CABINET ***
DELUXE 2 bay Cabinet W/65w Auto PS & Blower
*** 90 DAY LIMITED OFFER!! ***
- AT NO EXTRA COST! -
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN4951 51Mb 3.5" Y 439.00
SGN6277 65Mb 5.25" Y 469.00
SGN1096 85Mb 5.25" Y 549.00
SQN1055 105mb 3.5" Y 599.95
SQN2055 170Mb 3.5" Y 689.00
SQN3055 240Mb 3.5" Y 939.00
SQN4055 426Mb 3.5" Y 1610.00
==================================================
Standard "Shoebox Cabinet style is also available
FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00
ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY "SUPER CABINET" w/250+w PS
EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE Call for Info!
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250+w PS
EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE Call for Info!
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
FAST TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED
*****
>> ABCO proudly offers the fabulous 1040 & MEGA STe Computers <<
Call for ABCO's * VERY SPECIAL * Introductory prices!
ATARI COMPUTERS * STILL THE BEST VALUE!
*****
Original Atari Mouse replacement: $35.00
If you don't see what you want listed here, call us.
Odds are, we either have it or, can get it for you!
* GUARANTEED * AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE!
** 800-562-4037 **
"WE SERVICE WHAT WE SELL"
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCOFILE "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
--->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<---
**** SCSI UNITS -> ONLY $549.00 ****
WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE! >UPS!<
(Cont. USA)
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
Cart and Utility Software Included!
EXTRA CARTS: $ 69.50
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 339.95
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $995.95.00 **
Includes: * TWO * cartridges!
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
** 50mb SQG51S $789.00 105mb SQG105S $989.00 **
Or, YOUR choice of Hard Disk Mechanism!
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
** ANNOUNCING THE NEW! -> ABCO CD-ROM! **
:Special Introductory offer:
ABCO CD-ROM $389.95 (limited time only)
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)
* IBM - MSDOS - AMIGA - ATARI - APPLE - MACINTOSH *
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 -
Atari SLM 804, SLM 804PCV Laser Toner Kits
Memorex 2108, 5287
Oasys Laserpro 5287, 5308, Express 830, Express Series II
Silver Express, Gold Express
** $41.95 shipping Included **
Atari SLM 605 Laser Toner Kits
AT&T 593, CAF Laser, DSI Laser, DTP Systems, Epson EPL-6000
Facit P6060, Fontx Syslaser, Harris3M 2006, M-Tally MT905
Microtek Turbo PS, OAS Laserpro Executive, Packard Bell 9500
TEC LB 1305, Toshiba PageLaser 6
** $41.95 shipping included **
(TWO Toner Carts Incl.)
Panasonic Laser Toner Kits
Panasonic KX -P 400 series, Panafax UF-750 Facsimile
** $41.95 shipping included **
-- ALL TONER KITS * IN STOCK * --
* Toner Starter Kits-$62.95 *
* Replacement (804) Drums-$186.95 *
ABCO is PROUD to announce the acquisition of
the exclusive U.S.A. distribution rights for
** Bitblit Software's; ///Turbo Board BBS. **
This fine Atari ST BBS system software and
user support is available through ABCO to all
Turbo customers in the USA. Call for current
pricing.
>> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE! >UPS!<
(Cont. USA)
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!
SEND FOR YOUR NEW ABCO CATALOG TODAY!
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STReport International Online Magazine
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
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STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" March 27, 1992
16/32bit Magazine copyright 1987-92 No.8.13
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Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors/staff, PCReport, STReport, AMReport, MCReport. 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 STR
editors, contributors and or staff are not responsible for the use or
misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
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