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Silicon Times Report Issue 0837
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing
""""""""""""""
September 11, 1992 No.8.37
==========================================================================
STReport International Online Magazine
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
-----------------------------------------
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST
Support BBS Network System
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FNET. 350 ~ TNET 100:2/0 The Bounty *<Home of STR>*...1-904-786-4176
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FNET 1031 ~ TNET 100:1/0 <<< INTERNET - UK>>>.... 011-44-296-395-935
_____________________________________________________________________
> 09/11/92 STR 837 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
""""""""""""""""
- The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS
- CIS FALCON CONF. - Hyperlink News - GEnie FALCON CONF.
- FLASHDRIVE OFFER - FALCON DEV KIT - STORM _BIG_ NEWS
- FALCON FCC OK - SPELLING SENTRY - STR Confidential
-* ITS GLENDALE TIME! *-
-* REHBOCK IMAGE ENHANCED *-
-* FCC ASKS FOR TELCOM RATE HIKE INPUT! *-
==========================================================================
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
The Original * Independent * Online Magazine
-* FEATURING WEEKLY *-
"Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
STReport's BBS, The Bounty, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate
in the Fido/TurboNet/Atari F-Net Mail Network. You may also call our BBS
direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information
relative to the Atari and other computers worldwide through the use of
excellent International Messaging Networks. SysOps, worldwide, are quite
welcome to join the STReport International Conferences. The Crossnet Code
is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All BBS systems are welcome and
invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today!
==========================================================================
CIS ~ GENIE ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ FNET ~ TNET
EURONET ~ CIX ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET
==========================================================================
COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198
You will receive your complimentary time
and
be online in no time at all!
WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (September 11)
BILL REHBOCK CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
Many thanks to everyone who attended the Bill Rehbock conference! The
transcript has been posted as file FALCO.TXT in LIBRARY 15 of the Atari
Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS)
Check out files MESSEA.LZH and MESSEB.LZH in LIBRARY 4 of the Atari Arts
Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for 256 color .GIFs from the 1992 Atari Messe in
Duesseldorf.
MESSE1.GIF & MESSE2.GIF are shots overlooking the main hall at the show
after closing.
MESSE3.GIF is one of the developer stands inside the main Atari area at
the show.
MESSE4.GIF of the .LZH is the Volcano/Pyramid that was part of the
multimedia demonstration (the lighting, motors, music, etc.
was all Atari Computer controlled).
MESSE5.GIF is the Atari Store, featuring Atari Sportswear, handbags, etc.
MESSE6.GIF is a shot of the Falcon stand during set-up.
ADD PASSWORD PROTECTION TO YOUR FILES...
Download CYPHER.LZH from LIBRARY 4 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO
ATARIPRO) for Cypher V3.01 By Patrick Mallows - a utility to Encrypt /
Decrypt any file or program. Prevents snooping of files unless password
is entered. Written in GFA with a "Frontend (tm)" interface. A Utility
not to be missed.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM ATARI
Please see message # 33937 in the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for an
announcement from Bill Rehbock concerning a FALCON030 offer and Fall
Comdex registration information.
FALCON030 VIDEO MODE DESCRIPTIONS
John Townsend of Atari Corp. has put together a file that describes in
detail the various video modes available on the FALCON030 computer. Be
sure to download VIDMOD.TXT from LIBRARY 8 of the Atari Productivity Forum
(GO ATARIPRO) to read this comprehensive explanation.
ATARI 8-BIT FORUM UPDATE
CURRENT NOTES is looking for 8-bit articles. Now's your chance! See
message #20444 in the Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8) for details.
STReport is now available in ARC format, for those who've wanted to read
it, but are unable to access LZH files. BRO STR*.ARC in LIBRARY 7 of the
Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8).
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION
"GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
Surprisingly, the enthusiasm created by the announcement of the new
Falcon by Atari hasn't approached anywhere near the levels of confidence,
credibility and assurance developed by the two recent online conferences
hosted by Bill Rehbock held on both Compuserve and Genie.
Rehbock's ability to answer user's questions has indeed given the
userbase, worldwide, a glimpse of a young professional quite capable of
communicating with everyone and making sure they understood completely
what he was saying. You'll notice when you read the conferences contained
in this issue, that Rehbock is not the typical, ambiguous Atari online
type giving answers in abstraction or no direct answer to a question at
all. But instead he seems to go out of his way to _answer_ a user's
question in minutia. Like most of us, you'll come away from reading the
conference transcripts knowing a great deal more about the Falcon and
_glad_ you read the material.
Bill Rehbock has indeed, through his presence in the online
conferences, given every indication that Atari may well have turned the
corner and adopted a new attitude toward all its customers and supporters.
In any case, Rehbock has proven, beyond a doubt, he is the very capable
professional Atari should be proud to have on board.
This weekend is the Glendale Show in California, if you have even the
slightest inclination to attend... By all means, do so. It'll be a
memorable Atari experience. STReport wishes all the success to the
Glendale organizers and participants.
Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine
THE STORM IS BREWING!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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
Clemens Chin
IMPORTANT NOTICE
""""""""""""""""
Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc...
via E-Mail to:
Compuserve.................... 70007,4454
Delphi........................ RMARIANO
BIX........................... RMARIANO
FIDONET....................... 112/35
FNET.......................... NODE 350
NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0
GEnie......................... ST-REPORT
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"There is no comparison! The Atari Falcon
is far superior to the PC platform."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> CIS Falcon Conference STR FOCUS! Atari's Bill Rehbock in Conference
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Welcome the CIS Electronic Convention Center...
The Atari FALCON030 Online Conference is now beginning...
Your moderator is Sysop, Ron Luks
(Sysop Ron Luks)
Welcome to tonight's online COnference...
With special guest, Bill Rehbock, director of software development and
head of FALCON development. Tonight's CO will be in a moderated format to
get "in line " to ask a question just type /QUE. Now, without any further
ado here's tonight's guest, Bill Rehbock. Okay, Bill, get on the hotseat.
ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Thank you Ron. I am happy to be here on Compuserve tonight. Things
have settled down since the Duesseldorf Atari Messe. The Atari Falcon030
has been well-received by the European press and production Developer
pre-production machines have been replaced with production machines and
application development is speeding up. I also have good news regarding
Atari Falcon030 FCC testing. The Falcon has passed FCC Class B
specifications and we are waiting only for paperwork certification.
Richard Miller, our VP of R&D is here too and he and I will be happy to
answer questions regarding the Atari Falcon030, MultiTOS, and FSMGDOS
tonight. Fire away! :-)
(Sysop Ron Luks)
Folks-- lets try to restrict questions to FALCON, MultiTOS and FSMGDOS
for the first hour. The CO will last approx. 90 minutes and in case you
didn't see the announcement CIS is giving all Atari-users a 50% discount
off normal rates for this CO. Now, first up...
Moderator recognizes Pattie @ AIM
(Pattie @ AIM)
Bill, how is the schedule for Falcon's release going? Originally,
there was word that fairly large numbers would be available in the fall.
Is that still true or is the rumor that we will see only limited
quantities till the new year true? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Pattie, we are still on schedule and believe that the quantities will
ramp up as the end of the year draws near. The initial quantities will
continue to go to Europe until we have the FCC Certificate in our hands
which should still be at the end of Oct.. I am still very optimistic
about the production schedule. ga
(Sysop Ron Luks)
Bill-- give us an approx number. After you get FCC papers in hand.
How many Falcons will ship to the USA? (this year) ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Ron, we are discussing quantities right now with the U.S. sales
department. From the looks of it, I (in software development) am confident
we will be able to satisfy the initial needs between October and
Christmas.
Moderator recognizes Alan Page
(Alan Page)
I have been using MultiTOS (as part of the beta test) for several
months now on a MegaSTE. I find it very usable on that machine. I was
quite disappointed to read conference transcripts stating that MultiTOS
was not going to be available I have been using MultiTOS on a MEgaSTe for
a while. It is quite good, so I was disappointed to hear that it would
not be available for the 68000 machines. It would greatly enhance the
market for MultiTOS-friendly software. WHat is the reason for this
decision and is it cast in concrete? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
It is _definitely_ NOT cast in concrete. Many of the developers have
found MultiTOS surprisingly useful even on 8MHz Stacys. The reasoning due
to the large benefit of memory protection.
(Alan Page)
I urge you to consider making it generally available.
(Bill Rehbock)
I understand. Thanks ga
Moderator recognizes Chris Dammers
(Chris Dammers)
Okay, will MultiTOS be compatible with all existing software, to your
knowledge? And will there be any major advertising in Europe? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Chris, MultiTOS is extremely compatible with existing GEM
Applications. It is even friendly with TOS and TTP apps by opening TTY
windows for them to run in automatically. The I do expect the European
Business Units to promote the Falcon heavily, both through PR and
marketing. ga
Moderator recognizes Beth Jane Freeman
(Beth Jane Freeman)
Can you use peripherals from the ST, like the monitor, external ICD HD
& floppy with the falcon 030? I like the idea of the 1.44 drive for drive
A. It's much better than a minimum 360k or even a 720k. Good idea!!
Sorry, I uploaded my question from the capture buffer, so it would be
neatly typed. ga
(Bill Rehbock)
The Atari Falcon030 will accept any of the following monitors: SM124
(or equivalent), SC1224/1435 (or equivalent), or any VGA monitor. You can
also connect TV. Hard drives are a little trickier. We removed the ACSI
DMA connector in favor of SCSI II, which is much more reliable and the
up-to-date standard. You can connect most old hard drives by bypassing
the host. There are several 3rd party developer working on SCSI II to
ACSI adapters to allow direct connection of SLM Laser Printers and
unmodified HDs. We removed the ACSI DMA connector in favor of SCSI II,
which is much more reliable and the up-to-date standard. You can connect
most old hard drives by bypassing the host. I keep getting told by CIS
that I am speaking too quickly :-) You can connect most old hard drives
by bypassing the host adapter, which any dealer should easily be able to
do for you. ga :-)
Moderator recognizes Sam Rapp
(Sam Rapp)
Will it take a can opener to get in the Falcon (metal shields, Tabs,
lots of screws) Or is it easy access? How'd you guys get it through, no..
Let me restate that. Is the Falcon030 easy access, or do you have to take
out 800 screws and bend 400 tabs and light a few sticks of dynamite to get
to the processor slot, memory stuff, and Hard drive? Also, how'd you get
through FCC so quick? Thanks. GA
(Bill Rehbock)
As a past dealer/VAR, I can empathize with the can opener thing. The
shielding has been completely redesigned so that all that is needed is a
#1 & #2 Phillips screwdriver. The shielding is easily removed to allow
addition of larger HDs, memory boards, or expansion boards. The first
pre-production machines went through FCC testing as a "dry run" to find
exactly where the quirks would be. The production rev motherboards were
engineered and sent to FCC as the first units came off the line. You can
tell that we've become very intense on the FCC thing. ga
Moderator recognizes Pattie @ AIM
(Pattie @ AIM)
I understand that you might not be able to tell us every detail, but
what are Atari's plans to market the Falcon, especially those plans geared
to bringing in New Users? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Step 1... Take good care of existing users. Step 2... Promote the
product through PR and specific market area advertising in conjunction
with dealers to make it easy for existing users to evangelize Falcon030 to
their friends. We need to get the word out so that people have heard
about the machine _before_ going into an Atari dealer or seeing one at a
friend's house. ga
Moderator recognizes Chris Dammers @ STF
(Chris Dammers @ STF)
Seeing as the specs of the Falcon seem Formidable. Have you any plans
to do more arcade conversions as well as Steel Talons? If so, could you
give us their details, as well as Steel Talons'? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
We are working with many of the entertainment houses, the bulk of
which do their 68000 (Atari, Mac, and Amiga) development in Europe. I
believe that we will see many strong titles being developed quickly.
(Produced both by Atari and 3rd parties.) ga
Moderator recognizes mERCURY mAX
(mERCURY mAX)
Are a/d and d/a converters;if so what are I read that the Falcon has 8
track hard disk recording. ga
(Bill Rehbock)
The Falcon030 has built-in 16-bit ADC's and DAC's that will allow
sampling at rates up to 50KHz. We plan to have a very simple-to-use
Stereo direct-to-disk recording and edit system shipping with the
machines. To do full 8 track (4 Stereo) recording and editing, you do
have to add and external box (several are in the works by 3rd parties)
with the additional DACs/ADCs in it. This box would also have the crystal
necessary to do sampling at 44.1 and 48 KHz sampling rates. ga
Moderator recognizes Bill Aycock
(Bill Aycock)
Will Falcon TOS and/or MultiTOS allow a NEWDESK.INF file to be larger
than 8192 bytes? I could only customize my STe halfway because I exceeded
the size limit! Also, will the Falcon have a fan built-in? :-) ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Yes, with the Hard Drive, DSP, and RAM, a small internal fan was
necessary. The Limit on NEWDESK.INF has been lifted as of MultiTOS. ga
(#8,Bill Aycock)
(Good news on the fan, long as it's quiet! hehe)
(Sysop Ron Luks)
Bill--before we go on to the next question. Could you please describe
the difference between Falcon TOS, MultiTOS and tell us what will ship
with the first batch of Falcons? ga (difference between Falcon TOS and
TOS 2.06 I mean)
(Bill Rehbock)
"Falcon TOS" has already shipped with the fist batch of Falcons. It
has support for all of the DSP, Sound DMA, and other new Falcon hardware,
as well as O/S support for hierarchal (sp?) menus, pop-up menus, 3D Window
and Dialog objects, and full-color animated icons. MultiTOS adds all of
the pre-emptive multitasking features on top of that, as well as extended
interprocess communication and loadable file systems. The VDI in "Falcon
TOS" has the necessary support for the new video modes, including overlay.
ga
Moderator recognizes Alan Page
(Alan Page)
If I have a video camera, what sort of hardware do I need to do video
overlay (with genlock) on the Falcon. e.g. video titling. Is it plug and
play right out of the box, or do I have to wait for the usual 3rd party
developers? Seems you are relying an awful lot on 3rd party and external
hardware. Also, can it overlay both RGB and composite video?
(#25,Bill Rehbock)
I would say that we are trying to leave the market open for 3rd party
development. The box for doing overlay and genlock is relatively simple.
It needs to extract the external sync from your external video source,
inject it into the external sync input on the 19-pin video connector, and
output either Falcon video or external video, depending on the state of
the overlay pin on the connector. It can overlay RGB or composite. ga
Moderator recognizes Sam Rapp
(Sam Rapp)
Ok, a few more questions;
1: Can video modes be switched without rebooting? (can I have a 'base'
boot resolution and let the software pick it's own modes?)
2: Can you elaborate on Animated' Icons?
3: What other software will ship with Falcon (basic)?
4: How can I get system docs on the Falcon without spending major bucks
to register as a developer? Thanks! GA
(Bill Rehbock)
Software can make a new set resolution call that will put the machine
in the requested video mode. The AES will be unavailable in this mode, but
the application will have full VDI support. This is primarily for games
and paint and animation packages that will want to run their interface in
the current user-chosen res, but be able to render or output in say,
384x480 overscanned truecolor with overlay. The preview could be
displayed in a 16-color desktop window, but the application would do a
wind_update and go to the desired mode for final output. It would return
to the user's mode afterward and release wind_update. This works with
MultiTOS very well.
Color Icons allow multiple color resolution icons to be carried in a
resource file in both non-selected and selected states. When you select an
icon, it will flip to the other image, giving an animated effect.
Calappt, a Personal Information Manager that has the ability to import and
export delimited file formats as well as Portfolio databases will ship
with F030. Procalc, which many of you may be familiar with, as well as a
True-Color Breakout with digitized sound and a game called Landmines. The
real neat stuff is the System Audio Manager, which allows you to record
your own sounds to replace any or all keyclicks, or accompany the various
AES events, such as window openings & closings, the file selector, etc..
There is also the Direct-to-disk recorder that I previously mentioned. We
are also shipping a Talking Clock with the machine. BTW, the external
hardware issues have been dictated primarily by the potential quality
required by a set of users. (95% of users are not going to need 8
DACs/ADCs) and the quality requirements for the Video will vary greatly
between consumers and professionals. ga
Moderator recognizes Bill Aycock
(Bill Aycock)
Sorry, I changed numbers and didn't have a question in mind. But,
will the Atari HD utilities ship with Falcons that don't include a hard
disk? ga
(Bill Rehbock)
Bill, I think they'll be included in the box (I am not sure) but they
have always been posted online and available to dealers. Because of the
external SCSI situation, we will make sure that the utilities are readily
available. thanks! ga
Moderator recognizes George C.
(#5,George C.)
Just a quickie: Will MultiTos ship with the first batch of Falcons to
the US?
(#25,Bill Rehbock)
Yes, it should. ...with the exception of developer units which will
ship between now and October. MultiTOS will be softloaded for them.
(Sysop Ron Luks)
Okay. Thanks to Bill Rehbock and everyone who showed up to this CO.
I apologize for the sluggish system response. However, if we can twist
Bill's arm to return again later this fall, I promise a faster system.
Thanks all. The CO is officially ended.
The conference has ended .....Thank you for attending
_________________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
On CompuServe!
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
In response to a "wish list" item, BJ Gleason has created a little
program to remove the spaces from the end of a file. Ending a file with
spaces can cause the Port to lock up under certain circumstances. SPFX.COM
will remove the danger.
There were some interesting announcements made in the forum this week.
Mark Reeves announced a new product, Flash Ram Cards for the Port. See
FLSHPR.PRC for information and special introductory prices on 1, 2, and 4
meg cards. FLRMCD.TXT contains the text of the press release on this
exciting development. Flash cards can be read and written to by the Port
or the PC Card drive. They do not require batteries and can be erased in
blocks with special software which is included.
Dan Shearer of BSE announces a special price offer for FlashDrives.
The FlashDrive is a portable, external hard drive that works through the
parallel port. See FLASH.TXT for details. The Flashdrive should not be
confused with flash memory cards.
BJ Gleason has created a handy alphabetical list of all files in the
Portfolio Forum. The list is available in plain text or zipped format.
See FILES.TXT and FILES.ZIP. Now that there are over 800 files in the
forum an alphabetical list will be very useful.
L.H. Mann has uploaded SHDAY.ZIP. This is a little program to show the
day of the week for any date in history. The julian date is also
displayed.
_________________________________________________________________
> WAACE'92 STR SHOW NEWS The PREMIER East Coast Show!
""""""""""""""""""""""
WAACE'92 - THE PREMIER EAST COAST SHOW
======================================
The following is a list of vendors who have confirmed their being in
attendance at the Fall 1992 Edition of the WAACE AtariFest. If you are a
vendor and do not see your organization's name here, please contact the
WAACE Vendor Coordinator, Ken Fassler or Betty at (301) 229-1886 and find
out why!!!
__________________________________________________________________
L I S T of A T A R I F E S T '92 V E N D O R S (as of 09/01)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Joppa Computer Products eSTeem
Rising Star Computers Gribnif
Missionware Software MegaType
Unicorn Pub.(A.I.M.) Codehead
Mars Merchandising SKWare One
Taylor Ridge Books Compuserve
D M C Publishing Maxwell CPU
Barefoot Software ST Informer
Debonair Software Accusoft ST
A B C Solutions Fair Dinkum
Compucellar West Baggettaware
Gadgets by Small D.A.Brumleve
Oregon Research Current Notes
Dragon Software Clear Thinking
Computer Studio Toad Computers
FAST Technology J M G Software
STep Ahead Software
The final planning surge by the WAACE board is in full gear. The board
will be meeting weekly to address remaining issues and put the final
polish on the Fest.
Banquet:
--------
Banquet is in final planning stages. The Banquet Coordinator is
working to finalize the menu and price. WAACE is still looking for a
Banquet speaker, if you are interested then contact Russ Brown at GEnie
R.Brown127 or call (703) 803-6126. Additional Banquet details will be
announced soon...
Seminars:
---------
The Seminar schedule is presented below. If you want to do a seminar
and haven't told us yet then do so now!!
Program:
--------
Please provide all input to the program as soon as possible. We will
need to go to the printers soon.
Hotel:
------
Hotel rooms are going fast. We now have 175 of the 400 room nights
sold. Remember, the AtariFest block of rooms are only on hold until 25
September, after that the unused rooms will be released to the general
public. Don't wait, if you think you might want a room then reserve it
now!!!
Call the hotel at 1-800-392-7666.
Volunteers:
-----------
A limited number of volunteer positions are available. If you or your
group would like to volunteer to work at the Fest, then let Russ Brown
know (703-803-6126) or R.Brown127 on GEnie. If WAACE has a position for
you then you will get a free admission ticket. Remember, you must be on
the OFFICIAL WAACE Fest workers list to get a free ticket!!
See you all at the Fest!!!
AtariFest 92' MIDIfest News Release
-----------------------------------
One of the most anticipated events at the fest will be the MIDI room,
where many in depth demonstrations of the latest and most advanced
software and hardware applications available for any computer platform
will be on display. There will be live performances by several well known
MIDI artists including: Jeff Naideau (Keyboardist of Quiet Riot and Wang
Chung), Rupert Chappelle (techno-synth legend), and Philip Chika (noted
filmscore composer) to name but a few.
This will be an excellent opportunity to see an in-depth demonstration
of the long awaited debut of Cubase 3.0, as well as all the latest from
Hybrid Arts(Gen Edit, Simpte track Gold) and many others. This event
should not be missed by anyone who considers themselves a serious MIDI
musician or anyone considering taking the MIDI plunge.
WAACE Seminar Schedule - Ver 1.0
8 September 1992
This schedule is SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Saturday 11 October 1992
------------------------
1100 - Open
1200 - Joppa Software Dev - Tele-Media on the Atari Platform
1300 - Computer STudio - DynaCADD
1400 - Wizztronics - Compatibility Plus 2 and Cartridge port
extender
1500 - DMC Software - Mario Georgiou on Calamus SL
1600 - The Online Experience - Sysops from the major services
1700 - STReport International Online Magazine - Today's Userbase
Sunday 12 October 1992
-----------------------
1100 - Computer STudio - MIDI with Cubase
1200 - Open
1300 - Getting the Most from Your Modem - Telecomm Software
Overview Panel
1400 - Open
1500 - Meet the Atari Press
Developers and other interested parties who want to participate in the
panel discussions or offer a seminar of their own are hereby asked to
contact the WAACE Seminar Coordinator:
GEMail J.D.BARNES
CIS John Barnes 7303,2307
Delphi JDBARNES
Internet johnbarnes@enh.nist.gov
_________________________________________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by Joe Mirando
From The Atari Productivity Forum
=================================
One of the hot topics on CompuServe this week is PowerDos, the hot new
program from Dragonware that is supposed to speed up many functions. As
with any new "replacement" software, there are questions about what will
run as it did before and what won't. Sysop Keith Joins posts:
"I had a problem trying to use PowerDOS with CodeHead's ram disk. I
just got my update of the Utilities disk a short time ago and haven't
installed the latest version of CODE_RAM. Maybe that will work OK.
The version I am using causes a cold boot if it is installed."
Jim Ness, who installed PowerDos on his system before most of us had ever
heard of it, asks Keith:
"Did you try changing the order of loading CODERAM and PowerDOS? One
of PowerDOS' configuration variables changes the location of the end
of memory, to prevent applications from stealing all ram. Their
network needs some upper end space itself.
Since CODERAM loads into the top of ram, it may have to load before
PowerDOS. If CODERAM steals the GEMDOS vector, and uses the XBRA
method of handing the vector back, it would mean that CODERAM would
continue to use the TOS GEMDOS routines, while other drives would use
the PowerDOS routines. That would be kind of weird.
Or, maybe to use CODERAM you have to disable the variable in PowerDOS that
sets some upper ram aside."
Keith replies and adds an interesting bit of info:
"I tried loading CODE_RAM first and it seems to work Ok that way. When
PowerDOS loads it gives me a message about another program having run
first and to change my AUTO folder, but it loads OK. I verified this
by trying out the Pmonitor ACC. It worked but once running it, I
couldn't get out of it. The mouse would move OK but a click wasn't
recognized nor was a CR."
Boris Molodyi joins in and asks:
"Did you try to click and hold mouse button over EXIT button?
PMonitor's response time seems to be quite slow."
Keith answers Boris:
"Yes, I did. I also tried a RETURN a number of times and that didn't
work either."
Boris tells Keith:
"Hmm, strange. Return does not work, but keeping button pressed over
EXIT always works for me..."
Boris tells Jim Ness:
"Yes, PowerDOS looks interesting, but... any ideas _what_ (except
MEM_SNAP.TTP) does it multitask. I tried it with ConNect, which is
said to be MiNT and MultiTOS compatible, and all I could do was crash
the system :-)"
Jim Ness responds:
"I would guess that you have to multitask only .TOS and .TTP programs,
nothing that has GEM features. You have to list these in the
configure file, to be loaded when PowerDOS loads. Dragonware has
mentioned that you can run the MiNT/MultiTOS package as one of these
tasks, which will then give you the advantages of both items."
Jim Ness posts:
"I just ran an entire group of NBM tests against PowerDOS. NBM does
not test any BIOS character I/O. But, in math, memory, floppy drive
and graphics, PowerDOS imposes less than a 1% burden on the machine.
In hard disk tests, PowerDOS provides a 261% (!) improvement on TOS
1.0 and 1.2 machines, and a 179% improvement on TOS 1.4 and above.
Maybe I'll run Quick Index, for some BIOS timings..."
Now I don't know about anybody else, but a 79 percent increase in hard
drive performance is something I want to check out. Elsewhere in the
forum, the new terminal program, STORM, is causing just as much interest
as PowerDos. Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine asks Ron Luks:
"Does it have the look of FLASH? Can you change fonts? (I guess using
Warp 9 that should already be possible). Can it display GIF pictures
87 and 89? Can it display anything other pic types (ie degas, neo,
etc)? Does it have a special way to handle archives (LZH, ARC, ZIP,
etc) from within the program? Can all the protocols be used in
background transfers? Does it have a speed rating when downloading or
uploading a file? Does it have on-line help?"
Ron replies:
"It has different fonts, but I don't know what is hard coded into the
program yet, and what is variable. The program is not yet finished,
so I cant answer most of your questions yet. Sorry, (really)"
Albert Dayes says:
"I remember reading in the press release that it is not due till after
December 7, 1992."
Alan Page, the author of STORM, tells us:
"Storm is completely different from Flash. It's also completely
redesigned. As much as possible I made it modular and internally
multitasking. The terminal emulations and file transfers are loadable
modules. Right now I have CompuServe Vidtex (which is a whole lot like
VT52) and TTY. Current file transfer modules are X/Ymodem and CIS
BPlus with resumable downloads.
The editor is in a resizable movable window with FULL word wrap. e.g.
delete and backspace will activate wordwrap. No more hitting the F10
key to reformat. You can have as many editing windows as GEM will let
you (with MultiTOS, the number of windows seems to be limited only by
memory).
The capture buffer is an editor window, but with the special property
that text gets added to the end of it from the serial port. You can
create a new capture buffer and turn the old one into a regular edit
window. You can edit a file at the same time text is being captured.
File transfers run in the background. Not full background/reset-proof
like Shadow, but better than STalker which stops when you enter the
menu bar.
Command language is a full Basic interpreter. It also multitasks with
the rest of the program. So you can run Basic, edit files, do file
transfers, all at the same time. Basic has re-entrant execution. So if
you define a function key to execute a Basic command, it stops the
current Basic program, creates a new Basic interpreter (less than 1K
overhead), runs the function key macro, then the current Basic program
restarts. Same thing for the dial directory autologon.
Basic (and the rest of the program) allocate memory sparingly and
release memory back to the system. The program is completely MultiTOS
compatible and in fact run 90% of the time in MultiTOS.
Storm also supports the Atari clipboard for cut and paste. I use a
custom font and driver for extra speed. However, it doesn't cheat with
GEM and works on TT and should work on other programs. It's 12 pixels
high with monochrome so you get 24 lines in a window with room for a
typeahead."
Albert Dayes asks some good questions:
"Within the Window does STORM give you 80 columns? In some other
windowing software one gets less than 80 columns due to the scroll
bars etc? Also is there a 132 column mode? Since everything is
loadable one should be able to create almost any type of emulation.
Will there be a special developer kit for this or will it be included
in the program?"
Alan Page answers:
"You get 80 columns in the terminal window. There is not as yet 132
columns. I will probably have 132 columns, but you would have to
scroll unless you have a machine with higher resolution graphics. I
will release source code for the loadable emulations at some point. I
will probably not have documented it enough to release it at the time
we ship Storm because getting the program out is the #1 priority."
Hal Dougherty asks Alan Page:
"Didn't you write the original Flash?"
Alan answers:
"Yes I wrote the original Flash. However, Antic Publishing owned the
trademark. Apparently, before they went bust they sold the trademark
(even though they owed me $$). Storm is a completely new program. Not
a line of code from the original Flash is in it."
From The Atari Arts Forum
=========================
The recent conference "starring" Atari's own Bill Rehbock, generated a lot
of message traffic. Albert Dayes, that busy guy from Atari Explorer
Magazine says:
"It was a very good conference. I'm glad CIS conference was last
since we already had the answers to many general questions and now can
get the specifics on how it all works."
Sysop Ron Luks tells us:
"I'm glad to hear people liked the COnference last night, and I
thought Bill Rehbock's answers were just great. He's really my all
time favorite CO guest. His answers are always informative (and he
types real fast. [grin]) I will tell you that I was not too thrilled
with the system response from CompuServe's end. It turns out that the
Convention Center software was sharing an already overloaded host
system, so the response time was clearly sub-par. Bill has already
agreed to come back later this fall (probably late October) and I've
promised him that we will do better on our end."
Albert tells Ron:
"I guess it was nicer in that it just wasn't specs being thrown out
but it was more concrete solutions to problems. I know that many
questions about the FALCON that are being asked in the Atari forums
were answered. The video and genlock questions in particular ... who
would believe that I can have a simple direct to disk digital
recording system at better than professional quality for $800, plus
run all my ST software with VGA graphics, animated icons and it
multi-tasks.
It has also been a while since I have seen all of the Atari employees
so excited about an Atari computer. After this conference it is easy
to understand why!!
To get an IBM PC up to the MPC (multi-media standard) is well over
$800 for a good sound board. And for the same price I can have a
complete multi-media workstation that does it all."
Ron Luks replies to Albert:
"While I agree with you about the wonderful capabilities of the new
machine, I don't think you should talk in terms of $800. Remember--
thats for the base machine, no HD, and with only 1 Mb of RAM. I just
don't see that as a practical configuration for anyone. I would think
that 4MB of Ram is the minimum and that most people will try to opt
for the max of 14Mb. Similarly, just how effective will
direct-to-disk recording be if the user has no HD or a small 60Mb HD?
The Falcon sounds great to me too, but I don't think we are helping
the cause by talking about $800 units. This configuration sounds to
me like the proposed 260ST (256k ST). It just wont fly."
James D. Port posts:
"Good points on the $800 issue. It should be noted that at 44.1K
sampling rate, stereo direct-to-disk recording burns up disk space at
a rate of 11Mbytes a minute."
Ron Luks tells us:
"I've invited Bill Rehbock and Sam Tramiel to come online in CO again
at the end of October/beginning of November just before COMDEX. I
*will* insist CIS set us up for better performance next time."
From The Atari Vendors Forum
============================
Matt Koundakjian asks:
"Is it possible to have as a "program of the week" kind of thing, a
AUTO folder utility that loads a new system font, such as a 2050 byte
.FNT file (Degas font, I think)?"
Mike from Double Click Software tells Matt:
"Good idea Matt, but you're almost a year late on the program of the
week. :-) Still, the idea may be used be some other ambitious
programmer out there. Thanks for the idea, tho, you never know!"
While he's on the subject, Matt tells Mike:
"I really didn't ever understand the whole idea of program of the
week, but I sure did appreciate the programs that were written! I
have a few in my auto folder, I think."
On the subject of postscript printing with Spectre GCR, the Mac emulator
from Gadgets by Small, Mitch Wagner tells Mark at Gadgets by Small:
"Here's a report on my further attempts to print to my NEC postscript
printer from my TT/Spectre GCR. I replaced my serial cable with a null
modem cable and the printer now responds to a print command. The LCD
gives me a series of "Processing" and "Waiting" messages just like it
should, but no paper ever comes out. I used a system 6 laserwriter
driver modified with the installer script you uploaded. If I print to
a postscript file using the system 7 laserwriter driver and transvert
the file to the Atari side, I can usually print it, no problem. Of
course, in that method I can't use any downloadable fonts. Is there
anyway you could upload the installer script for modifying a
Laserwriter 7.0 driver? Didn't you say the whole file was ~900 K? I
would take the time (and expense) of downloading the whole thing, but
I think all I need is the script."
George Richardson of Merlin Group asks Mitch:
"Are you downloading the Apple Postscript dictionary to your printer
before you try printing? My understanding is that you must use a
terminal program to do this before you can print."
Mark at Gadgets by Small posts:
"George is correct. The file that does this is called TTPRINT and is
included in the DMMHLP file I will be uploading. BTW, the DMMHLP file
is a Compactor file (ie, DMMHLP.CPT) and needs to be downloaded in MAC
mode. Also, don't worry...the TTPRINT program runs on regular STs as
well."
After trying out the new file, Mitch posts:
"!!!EUREKA!!! [fireworks going off in the background] It works! I
thank you and my printer thanks you. I'm a happy boy."
Well folks, I've gone _WAY_ over the space I'm allowed, but I thought
all of these big happenings warranted it. Tune in again next week to hear
what they are saying when...
People Are Talking
***********************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
STReport International Online Magazine is available every week in the
ST Advantage on DELPHI. STReport readers are invited to join DELPHI and
become a part of the friendly community of Atari enthusiasts there.
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
======================
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002
then...
When connected, press RETURN once or twice
and...
At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN.
DELPHI's Basic Plan offers access for only $6.00 per hour, for any
baud rate. The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online.
If you spend more than 200 minutes online a month, you'll save money
by enrolling in DELPHI's optional 20/20 Advantage Plan. You'll enjoy up
to 20 hours online each month for the ridiculously low price of just
$20.00! And if you go over that 20 hours, the rate goes up to only $1.20,
still 1/5th the price of other services.
There is no signup fee for joining the Basic Plan. There is a fee of
$39 when you join the 20/20 Advantage Plan, a one-time $19 signup fee and
your first month's $20 fee.
These connect rates apply for access via Tymnet or SprintNet (within
the continental United States) during home time (7 p.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays
and all day weekends) or via direct dial around the clock. Telecom
surcharges apply for daytime or international access via Tymnet or
SprintNet. See Using DELPHI online for detailed information on telecom
surcharges.
For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005
DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.
:IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
DELPHI INTRODUCES THE 10/4 PLAN.
Effective July 1, 1992, all Basic Plan members will be upgraded to the
10/4 Plan and receive 4 hours of usage each month for only $10! For full
details, type GO USING RATES. SprintNet home time to begin at 6:00 p.m.!
Effective July 1, 1992, you may access DELPHI via SprintNet beginning at
6:00 p.m. local time without incurring a telecom surcharge. To find the
SprintNet node nearest you, type GO USING ACCESS.
Try DELPHI for $1 an hour!
For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and
receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only
$5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of
the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account
active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan,
where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum
$10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry,
this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this
limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once
or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET>
again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll
officially be a member of DELPHI!
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
***********************************************************************
> SPELLING SENTRY STR InfoFile "... a desk accessory.."
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SPELLING SENTRY
===============
Wintertree Software Inc.
Is proud to announce the release of a new product for Atari ST/TT
computers: Spelling Sentry -- a desk accessory that adds a spell-checking
capability to virtually any other GEM program.
Spelling Sentry can check spelling in various ways, as described in
the following paragraphs. It can also expand abbreviations. Since
Spelling Sentry is a desk accessory, it's instantly accessible from your
favorite word processor, text editor, communications program, or DTP
application.
A key feature of Spelling Sentry is its ability to detect spelling
errors in real time while you type using other programs, such as word
processors. If you type a word containing a spelling error, Spelling
Sentry sounds a tone and flashes the screen. Then, with a single
mouse-click, you can select the correct spelling from one of the
alternatives which Spelling Sentry suggests. Spelling Sentry will
automatically replace the misspelled word with the correct one.
Spelling Sentry can also check ASCII files and word-processor
documents. Since Spelling Sentry runs as a desk accessory, you can save a
file from a text editor or word processor, then invoke Spelling Sentry's
check-file feature to look for spelling errors. Spelling Sentry can
correct misspelled words in the file interactively. When it finds a
misspelled word, Spelling Sentry presents a set of alternative spellings.
You can select the correct spelling using the keyboard or mouse, and
Spelling Sentry will correct the word in the file. Spelling Sentry can
even correct subsequent occurrences of the misspelled word.
A feature of interest to many Atari users is Spelling Sentry's ability
to check the contents of the clipboard. The clipboard is a mechanism used
to pass information between GEM programs and desk accessories. To use
Spelling Sentry's check-clipboard feature, you copy a block of text into
the clipboard from your word processor or text editor. Next, click on
Spelling Sentry's "Check Clipboard" button. Again, Spelling Sentry
presents a dialog showing alternative spellings when it detects a
misspelled word. Select the correct spelling from the list of
alternatives shown in the dialog. Spelling Sentry corrects the word in
the clipboard -- and optionally further occurrences of the error --
automatically. You can then paste the corrected text in the clipboard
back into your word processor or text editor.
Many people can correctly spell most of the words they use, but still
get stuck on the occasional word. With Spelling Sentry's check-word
feature, you can check the spelling of a single word. Spelling Sentry
will let you know if the word is spelled correctly. If not, it shows you
a list of alternative spellings, from which you can pick the correct one.
Besides being a spelling checker, Spelling Sentry can also expand
abbreviations while you type. For example, when you type your initials,
Spelling Sentry can replace them with your full name. You can teach
Spelling Sentry abbreviations for words and phrases you use frequently,
such as your return address, telephone number, "boilerplate" text in
business correspondence, and BBS aliases and commands. Programmers can
define abbreviations for language constructs and function calls. Spelling
Sentry's abbreviation feature also works when you check disk files and the
clipboard.
Spelling Sentry can include parts of the date and time when it
expands an abbreviation. The parts include:
* The year, with or without the century
* The month number (01 to 12) and name (January to December)
* The day of the month (01 to 31) and of the week (Sunday to
Saturday)
* The hour in 12-hour (00 to 12) or 24-hour (00 to 23) form
* The minute and second
* "a.m." or "p.m."
Using this feature, you can easily create abbreviations which include the
current date and time in any format you prefer:
Monday, May 11, 1992
05/11/92 10 o'clock p.m.
10:32 p.m.
Creation date: 11-May-92 22:32:15
92/05/11 (Monday)
Adding or changing abbreviations is easy with Spelling Sentry's GEM
interface. Spelling Sentry uses a window-in-a-dialog approach, showing
nine abbreviations at a time. You can scroll the window contents using a
standard scroll bar. New abbreviations can be added by clicking on an
"Add" button, and existing ones can be removed or changed by selecting
them with the mouse. You can even open different abbreviation files, so
you can have several sets of abbreviations for different purposes. For a
spelling checker to be useful, it must have a large dictionary so it
doesn't mistakenly report unknown words as misspelled. Spelling Sentry
uses two dictionaries. The main dictionary contains over 100,000 words,
including contractions, many proper names, and words spelled according to
both American and British rules. The main dictionary is organized in
segments that can be loaded from disk to memory as needed. This makes
Spelling Sentry adaptable to the capabilities of your system. If your
computer has a modest memory capacity, Spelling Sentry will keep most of
its main dictionary on disk, loading segments as it needs them. If you
have 380K of spare memory, Spelling Sentry will load the entire main
dictionary into memory, either all at once or segment-by-segment, for
maximum speed.
The user dictionary holds words you use that aren't in the main
dictionary. Such words may include your last name, street names, city
name, business's name, and so on. The user dictionary is accessed very
quickly, and never needs indexing or reformatting. Words in the user
dictionary can be edited using the same window-in-a-dialog approach used
for updating abbreviations.
An important feature of any spelling checker is its ability to "guess"
the correct spelling from a misspelled word. Spelling Sentry is
outstanding in this area, matching the misspelled word against words in
the dictionary using several sophisticated lexical rules. Spelling Sentry
even orders its suggestions so the first word appearing in the list of
suggestions is the one most likely to be the correct replacement.
Spelling Sentry was designed to work on the entire line of Atari
ST-compatible computers, from the 520ST with 512K of memory to the TT030
with 4Mb+. The only special requirement for Spelling Sentry is a
double-sided disk drive. Spelling Sentry runs in a GEM window, so you can
park it on the screen where it's out of the way yet still accessible.
Spelling Sentry remembers its window position, so you don't have to
position it manually each time you reboot.
The 40-page illustrated user's guide that comes with Spelling Sentry
was written with the user in mind. It contains patient, step-by-step
instructions for installing, configuring, and using Spelling Sentry. In a
departure from most user's manuals, which are organized by program
functions such as menu entries or dialog boxes, the Spelling Sentry user's
guide is organized by procedure. If you want to know how to add a new
abbreviation, just read the instructions in the section called "How to add
your own abbreviations." If you want to know how to check the contents of
the GEM clipboard, see the "How to check the clipboard" section. Each
section heading is listed in the table of contents for fast access.
The Spelling Sentry package also includes an anagram solver and a
word-guessing game based on "Hangman." The anagram solver determines which
words can be derived from different arrangements of a string of letters,
and is useful for solving jumble puzzles or anagrams. The anagram solver
can also be used to create new anagrams. The hangman game sharpens your
vocabulary as you try to guess the letters forming a word chosen at random
from one of the 100,000 words in Spelling Sentry's dictionary.
Spelling Sentry is developed and published by Wintertree Software Inc.
Wintertree Software was incorporated in January 1992. Prior to then, it
was Phil Comeau Software. Wintertree Software also publishes GramSlam, a
grammar checker, and Grammar Expert, a grammar reference. Both GramSlam
and Grammar Expert are software products for Atari ST computers. The
addition of Spelling Sentry to its product line makes Wintertree Software
Inc. the leading publisher of tools for writers in the Atari computer
marketplace. Wintertree Software also publishes WStyle, a grammar checker
for MS-DOS.
Spelling Sentry's list price is $59.95 US. Spelling Sentry is
available wherever Atari computer products are sold. It is also available
directly from Wintertree Software Inc., at the address listed above.
Contact:
Wintertree Software Inc.
43 Rueter St.
Nepean, Ontario
Canada K2J 3Z9
Phone: (613) 825-6271
_____________________________________________________________
> TELCOM RATE HIKE? STR FOCUS! FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON ACCESS FEES!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON ACCESS FEES
===================================
Partly in response to several thousand letters recently sent to the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress by CompuServe
members, the FCC recently issued a NEW Public Notice formally inviting
public comment on CC Docket No. 89-79 concerning the "maintenance of the
status quo with respect to access charge treatment of enhanced service
providers (ESPs)."
The FCC previously showed an unwillingness to reconsider an earlier
ruling in CC Docket No. 89-79 that prohibited companies such as CompuServe
from using new and more efficient technologies or service offerings
without being subject to common carrier access charges. These charges
could be three to four times higher than current charges and would likely
be passed along to information services users. This free online area fully
explains the ramifications of the access charge rules and features
FCCgrams, a fast, economical way to voice your concerns.
In the NEW Public Notice, the FCC now says it wants to receive additional
public comment before deciding the pending petitions for reconsideration
filed by CompuServe and other information providers.
CompuServe asks that you send a hardcopy letter or FCCgram to the FCC,
with copies to the Chairmen of the House and Senate committees with
jurisdiction over the FCC, in support of CompuServe's position that
information service companies should be allowed to use newer technologies
without being charged higher telephone line access charges.
In 1987, a similar letter-writing campaign by online service users helped
prevent increased access charges from being implemented. The online area
lists the names and addresses of the FCC personnel and Congressmen to whom
you should write.
Read more about this issue in Section 2, "Regulatory Affairs," of the
Telecommunications Forum (GO TELECOM). Your support of affordable
information s
ervices is greatly appreciated.
THE FCC MAY DECIDE TO RECONSIDER ITS EARLIER ACCESS CHARGE PROPOSAL THAT
COULD INCREASE COMPUSERVE'S COSTS FOR LOCAL ACCESS
In July 1991, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules in the
FCC Docket No. 89-79 access charge proceeding which could increase by up
to 300 percent the price of local telephone lines which employ new network
features and which are used by information service companies like
CompuServe to provide their services to customers. These rules, which
would impose what in effect are "modem fees" or "modem taxes" on
information service companies, are a revival of proposals first made back
in 1987 and 1989 to impose usage-sensitive common carrier-type access
charges on information service companies. On August 14, 1992, apparently
at least partly in response to several thousand letters recently sent to
the FCC and Congress by CompuServe members, the FCC announced that it will
reopen the record in the access charge proceeding to determine whether it
will reconsider its July 1991 decision. It is important that you
understand the genesis of the FCC's access charge proposals, and how you
can use the new solicitation of public comment to help fight back.
THE FCC'S PRICE INCREASE PROPOSAL WAS ORIGINALLY DEFEATED IN 1987 THANKS
TO THE EFFORTS OF COMPUSERVE AND OTHER ONLINE SERVICE MEMBERS LIKE YOU
The ability of CompuServe to offer advanced information services to its
members on a reasonably-priced basis is dependent upon being able to
obtain cost-based access to local telephone lines. To date, information
service companies have been able to use non- usage-sensitive local
business lines, obtained from the local telephone company's state tariffs,
for distributing their online information services to customers. Under
this arrangement, CompuServe has been able to provide its customers with
hundreds of services at affordable prices that promote widespread usage.
However, you may recall that in 1987 the FCC issued a proposal which, if
adopted, would have required information service providers (ISPs) like
CompuServe to abandon their flat-rated, state-tariffed access
arrangements. Instead, ISPs would have been required to pay
usage-sensitive common carrier access charges, which were originally
designed solely to be paid by long distance companies. After a massive
letter writing campaign by CompuServe members, the FCC decided not to
adopt its carrier access charge proposal.
WHY YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW
CompuServe and other information service providers have filed petitions
with the FCC asking the agency to reconsider its July 1991 access charge
decision. Congress also may consider legislation which would prevent the
FCC from imposing usage- sensitive carrier access charges on information
providers as a condition of obtaining new network features. Now,
apparently at least partly in response to letters sent by CompuServe
members and the subscribers of other information service providers, the
FCC issued a Public Notice on August 14, 1992 soliciting additional public
comment on the access charge issues raised in CompuServe's petition for
reconsideration and the reconsideration petitions filed by other
information service providers. Specifically, the Commission invited
additional comment on the "maintenance of the status quo with respect to
access charge treatment of enhanced service providers (ESPs)."
CompuServe believes that cost-based access to advanced telephone network
functionalities and features will be crucial in bringing the "Information
Age" to all consumers. Members like you can help assure that the federal
government does not impose what in effect are enormous financial penalties
on information service providers and their members simply for wanting to
use advanced network functionalities and services.
We have drafted a suggested letter which would be appropriate for you to
use to make your views known to the FCC. Please address your letter to
the Secretary of the FCC, and send copies to FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes,
the other FCC Commissioners, and also Senators Ernest Hollings and Daniel
Inouye and Representatives John Dingell and Edward Markey. With your
help, we can convince the FCC to change its mind regarding new ONA access
charge rules which would only hurt the ability of CompuServe to provide
consumers with advanced information services at reasonable prices.
The docket number for the FCC proceeding is CC Docket No. 89-79 and this
docket number should be placed on the letter. The FCC's decision which
CompuServe and other information service providers seek to have
reconsidered is styled "Creation of Access Charge Sub-element for Open
Network Architecture". A brief summary is in the Federal Register at 56
Fed. Reg. 33391, July 24, 1991. This summary is so short as to not be
helpful since it primarily concerns some further issues put out for
comment in a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking. The full text of
the FCC's original decision (FCC 91-186) was released to the public on
July 11, 1991. The full text may be found at 6 FCC Rcd 45254 (1991) The
FCC Public Notice released on August 14, 1992 requests that comments be
filed by September 30, 1992, with reply comments by October 30, 1992.
SUGGESTED LETTER AND TEXT RECIPIENTS
SEND YOUR LETTER
================
Please note, that it is important for you to personalize your letter as
indicated. Your message will be more effective if it is not perceived as
simply a form letter, but instead gives your individual reasons for
opposing access charges.
SUGGESTED TEXT
==============
Dear Secretary Searcy: Re: FCC Docket No. 89-79
This letter is submitted in response to the Public Notice issued
August 14, 1992, in CC Docket No. 89-79 soliciting additional public
comment on the "maintenance of the status quo with respect to access
charge treatment of enhanced service providers (ESPs)." While the FCC
thus far has been unwilling to reconsider the position it adopted in July
1991 that would result in increased telephone access charges to online
information services that wish to use new advanced telephone network
features in delivering information services, it should do so now. If such
higher charges for using local telephone lines were to be imposed and
passed on to information service subscribers, this likely would have the
effect of severely curtailing the use of information services just as the
mass market for such service is beginning to develop.
I urge you not to impose any new usage-sensitive carrier access
charges or "modem fees" on information services. The FCC also should
allow CompuServe and other information service providers to use new and
more efficient technologies without becoming subject to higher access
charges. After all, the services provide a viable avenue to further
education, information and knowledge to the Amercian public and taxpayer.
At this point:
(State that you use CompuServe and other information services of your
choice and describe how you use them;)
(State that you will curtail your use of information services if the FCC's
access charge rules cause price increases;)
(If you live in a rural area, state that affordable access is important in
being able to use online information services such as CompuServe;)
Thank you for your consideration.
ADDRESS INFORMATION FOR RECIPIENTS
The letter should be sent to the Secretary of the Federal Communications
Commission, with copies to the FCC Chairman and Commissioners. A copy of
the letter may also be sent to key members of Congress involved with
Telecommunications policy.
Ms. Donna R. Searcy
Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 222
Washington, D.C. 20554
Chairman Alfred C. Sikes
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 814
Washington, D.C. 20554
Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 844
Washington, D.C. 20554
Commissioner Ervin S. Duggan
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 832
Washington, D.C. 20554
Commissioner Sherrie P. Marshall
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 826
Washington, D.C. 20554
Commissioner James H. Quello
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 802
Washington, D.C. 20554
Downtown Copy Center
1114 21st Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
The Honorable Ernest Hollings
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Daniel Inouye
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable John Dingell
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Edward Markey
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
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Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
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*****************************************************************
Glendale AtariFaire!
Glendale Civic Auditorium
1041 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale CA
Saturday, September 12, 10-6pm
Sunday, September 13, 10-4pm
This major extravaganza thrills West Coast Atarians
year after year!
Be sure to drop by the GEnie booth and introduce yourself
to Darlah, Ken, Steve, JJ, Larry, Fred and Sandy to name a few.
For more information, please see Category 11, Topic 12.
*****************************************************************
|----------------------------------------------------------|
| ST Roundtable Realtime Conference Special Events |
|----------------------------------------------------------|
| September 14th "After the Show" with John K. Tarpinian |
| (Monday) Bob Brodie and John Nagy. |
| |
| Sept. 21 & 28 The CODEHEAD Double Header... more |
| details to follow... |
|----------------------------------------------------------|
| Realtime Conferences begin at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. |
|----------------------------------------------------------|
LOOK for the ST-GUEST account this weekend by doing a
N ST-GUEST and saying hello. We will be using this
account to demo GEnie from Glendale. See you there!
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> GEnie's ST RT Falcon Conference STR FOCUS! Falcon Part II
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Atari/Falcon030 Realtime Conference
Featuring Atari's Bill Rehbock
September 9, 1992
Part II
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of
you to the Atari / Falcon 030 RealTime Conference (Part II), featuring
Atari's Bill Rehbock.
Prior to the Atari Messe in Dusseldorf, Sam Tramiel previewed several
details regarding the Falcon 030 for us here in conference. While a
great deal was revealed at that time, some items had to be deferred
until after the show. Tonight, Bill Rehbock is here to fill in more
information and to answer our questions.
Bill, thank you for being with us this evening. If you have any opening
remarks you'd like to make, please go ahead. Afterward, I'll go
directly to questions from our friends.
<[Bill@Atari] B.REHBOCK> Thanks, Jeff!
As most of you know, the initial showing of the Atari Falcon030 was
made at the CeBIT Show in Hannover, Germany back in March. Since then,
the interest in this exciting new product has been quite high. Recently,
Sam Tramiel came on GEnie to share with all of you the full specifications
of the Atari Falcon030. Sam's visit on GEnie was a prelude to the
Dusseldorf Atari Messe, where Atari gave a full public showing of the
Atari Falcon030. That show kicked off the world wide roll out for the
Atari Falcon030.
Here in the US, we are preparing to continue the rollout to the Atari
Community, and the rest of the world. Naturally, we want to showcase
those efforts here on GEnie, our official online service. I'm very
pleased to be here once again in a formal conference setting on GEnie.
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Atari Corporation this year,
all of our efforts are focusing on making the Atari Falcon030 rollout
successful. Upcoming events where the Atari Falcon030 will be shown
include the Southern California Atari Faire in Glendale this coming
weekend, and a general meeting of the Boston Computer Society in two
weeks.
Naturally, you'll be able to keep up with all of our activities for
the Atari Falcon030 right here on GEnie. Be sure to check in the Bulletin
Board of the ST Roundtable for the latest information on these events!
The information that you will find there is without a doubt the most up
to date information available anywhere!! Darlah, Jeff, Sandy, Lou and the
rest of the staff of the ST Roundtables make GEnie the number one online
resource for Atari owners world wide!
Don't forget that there will also be a conference this coming Monday
night AFTER the Southern California Atari Faire, where Bob Brodie, John
King Tarpinian, and John Nagy will also be fielding questions! I'm sure
that there will be some Atari Falcon030 products shown at the Glendale
Show, so be sure to be here for that conference, too!
Tonight, I'm prepared to discuss in detail with you the Atari
Falcon030. Feel free to ask me any technical questions regarding the
capabilities of the Atari Falcon030, especially those very interesting
video modes!
:-) Let's take some questions, Jeff!
<[Andy] L.SMITH70> I read somewhere that the icons in TOS 4.0 will be
_animated_ and finally in full color. Any comments and details about
these "cosmetic" improvements?
<B.REHBOCK> Andy, yes the icon information can now have color data for any
mode with 16 or more colors.
The icon is stored in both selected and normal states so that you can
have a different style (or even color) for the selected state. When you
click on it, it can have an animated appearance.
The AES in this new version of TOS has support for 3D objects, also.
<[Kim] K.SWIFT> Is an object-oriented development system in the works, one
that supports MIDI and the DSP chip fully?
<B.REHBOCK> There are developers that are working on C++ environments for
TOS, and we are trying to get all of the Falcon and MultiTOS information
out as quickly as possible to make sure these environments are as rich
as possible.
<[Kim] K.SWIFT> Thanks.
<JONPETERSOHN> Hi Bill. I've been out of touch lately.
What kind of $$ are we talking about for the Falcon 030, and how
downward compatible is it with ST software in general, and PageStream
and TouchUP in particular?
<B.REHBOCK> Jon, the Falcon030 is amazingly downward compatible. In many
ways, more so than the TT was.
PageStream, Calamus, TouchUp, EasyDraw, and all of the favorites work
quite well.
<JONPETERSOHN> Will it be sold without a HD, so I can use my ICD drive
with it?
<B.REHBOCK> Yes, definitely. The base configuration will have 1 meg of RAM
and no HD for $799.00 You can add any SCSI HD or CD-ROM,
Magneto-Optical, Floptical, etc.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Bill ... Now might be a good time to run down the basic
configurations and prices. We have the 1 meg/no HD base unit at
$799.00. Where does it go from there?
<B.REHBOCK> The next logical configuration is 4 meg RAM and 65 meg HD for
$1399.00. We haven't quite settled on a price for the 14 meg RAM, 65 meg
HD version yet. With that much ram, fluctuations do make a difference.
We'll have prices in mid-October for that.
<[mike] M.HILL13> Bill, I'm a little confused on which monitor is the
"BEST" choice for the Falcon. John T. put up a nice list which shows
what's available with a VGA monitor and what's available with the Atari
color monitor.
I have a Multisync monitor. Will it allow me to display more modes than
the other two? What's the best choice?
<B.REHBOCK> VGA monitors, by definition do not overscan off of the edges,
but you still can get the maximum real-estate. If you have a VGA
monitor, it is best for 640x480x256 colors, with no interlace flicker.
If you want overscan for animation and such, use the composite video
output to your VCR. You'll have full overscanned TV-quality output.
(This is what I am currently doing :-)
<[James] J.VOGH> Can you explain how the DSP chip is connected to main
memory?
<B.REHBOCK> The DSP's host interface port 8-bits wide is memory mapped
normally. Applications send commands and/or data to it via a very
complete set of O/S calls.
The interesting part is that using the built-in connection matrix, an
application can also connect the SSI port of the DSP to the Codec or to
the DMA record/playback system so that you can DMA data to or from the
DSP also.
<[James@alphat] B.ABELL> Was there any software shown at the messe that
turns Falcon into a MIDI controlled digital sampler?
<B.REHBOCK> No, not shown at the show. Honestly, the audio-related
offerings were a little scarce at the Messe due to the fact that we
changed the audio system in March based on developer input at CeBIT. The
DMA system and DSP interface is really excellent now.
<[myeck] MYECK.WATERS> Two questions about digital sound: 1)Can the
Codec(s) be set to 44.1Khz? 2)Assuming a full-blown HD-recording setup,
how many channels can we have going simultaneously playback wise?
<B.REHBOCK> The built-in base frequencies are really set for STE
compatibility. The system allows you to inject any clock into the
sampling system, so that you can get 44.1 for CD and 48 for DAT. People
that are going to be doing high-end stuff like this are probably going
to be hanging AES/EBU SPDIF interfaces off of the DSP Port anyway, and
it will have the necessary $4 crystal in it.
The AES/EBU SPDIF interface allows direct connection to DAT players and
CD Mastering recorders.
It is possible to use the DSP to correct the system to playback 44.1 or
48 KHz samples with perfect quality, but purists wouldn't say so :-)
<[Kent] K.CAVAGHAN2> Hi Bill, with the closure of Atari Canada (naughty
boys,you <G>), what are the rollout plans for promotion in Canada and
when the Falcon be expected to land in the Great White North <G>?
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Bill, please recap the rollout plans for the USA also.
Thanks.
<B.REHBOCK> We are considering the big roll-out at the Boston Computer
Society on Sept. 23rd to be the North-American roll-out.
We intend to hit the North American market with strong promotion, both
in PR and advertising. The advertising, because we are going to be
attempting to introduce a non-MSDOS machine into the US, is going to be
very careful and done in close connection with dealers in market areas.
If we shoot the shotgun with both barrels, it will hurt us if there is
useless advertising where dealers don't exist yet.
We need to do more of a surgical strike. :-) We have hired a very
reputable PR firm, Redgate Communications to handle the roll-out and
initial advertising. You may have noticed that Redgate's EastCoast
office handles Apples Macintosh Product Directory, here online on GEnie.
I personally have been very pleased with them.
The Canadian market will be handled by the area managers. Though the
teething problems we have had in the last month were a little more
painful than I'd have liked, things are smoothing out now and we are
determined to have everything tuned to perfection within the next month.
(Please let me know if that was all clear, I don't want to seem like I'm
beating around the bush)
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> What regions will be among the first to see product and
advertising between now and the end of the year, Bill? When do you hope
to have complete North American coverage?
<B.REHBOCK> We are working those details out right now, but naturally,
Southern CA, the CA Bay Area, Chicago, NY will be the primary targets at
first.
General distribution plans are just firming up to ensure that dealers
will be able to get units quickly and effortlessly.
Complete NA sales coverage should be just after Christmas and into
January, with regional advertising tracking the dealers that order
product.
<J.D.BARNES> Is there any plan to maintain a public "compatibility list"?
There are a great many applications that will have to be upgraded to
work with MultiTOS even if Falcon TOS is as friendly as it is claimed to
be. People will be greatly disappointed if their precious applications
crash when they try to run them without some sort of warning.
<B.REHBOCK> We are sending a Falcon to Pacific Software Supply (the
primary ST software distributor in North America) and they have
graciously offered to assist in helping us run as many applications
through the Falcon as quickly as possible.
The list will appear here, on GEnie and in Atari Explorer.
<[Bill Renkel] W.RENKEL> Do you have any idea of the price point of the
386SX emulation board?? The one for the MSTE and TT is somewhere around
$600. Also, are you planning rollout of the new FSM/GDOS with the
Falcon 030. When will the SLM printers be supported?
<B.REHBOCK> I have an idea, but since neither developer has announced a
price, I shouldn't say. It is very reasonable.
FSMGDOS should be available in the same time frame. We have switched
the scaling technology to the Bitstream Speedo Font Scaler, which is
much, much faster, has a very large font availability, you can order
fonts from Bitstream's 1-800 number, you can buy fonts at Egghead
Software, and it uses much less memory.
GDOS will now offer applications pair or track kerning control, as well
as other benefits such as ease of getting font Bezier Outlines.
It drives me crazy that this has been delayed, but we will all really
benefit from the delay.
The SLM will have to be connected to the Falcon via a SCSI to ACSI
convertor. There are a few solutions in the works for this. It is a
really easy third party project; originally Atari was going to produce
one, but when we heard somebody was doing one, we didn't want to compete
with them.
<[FAST TECH] J.ALLEN27> Hi there!!
<B.REHBOCK> Hey, Jim!
<[FAST TECH] J.ALLEN27> Folks have asked how the Falcon's memory works.
How fast is it, how much time does the CPU get, etc.
For instance, the ST memory has a 250ns cycle time, and the CPU gets
every other cycle, video gets the others. How does this all work on the
Falcon?
<B.REHBOCK> I honestly just dug around to see if I had the system timing
diagrams handy. (I don't, but I'll have them with me at Glendale) It
does work basically the same, with COMBEL splitting up the memory
cycles.
COMBEL accesses RAM in page mode, 32-bits wide and talks to VIDEL (the
video controller) on what we call the 'mad bus'. The CPU sees COMBEL as
a 16-bit bus, much like the Mac LC II.
<NEVIN-S> Hello Bill!
I have two questions. First, what challenges do you see in the new
Macintosh low-priced line, which will be appearing in October with a
massive media launch and shelf space in Sears, etc.?? One followup
please.
<B.REHBOCK> It will be rough, but no more difficult than fighting the
popularity of PC clones in the market. Sears did nothing for the PS/1,
and I'm not really convinced that it will mean all that much for the
Performa line from Apple.
We have to get back into the U.S. market with a steady push, and by
treating our dealers and users well.
<NEVIN-S> Thanks. Looking at Apple again, that company was very near
death a few years ago when they realized that the computer biz relies on
on marketing as well. So Steve Jobs, the founder, resigned, and a great
marketer, John Scully turned Apple around. Do you ever envision an
Atari which would become a producer of great hardware like the Falcon,
in which they would provide this hardware to another company which would
handle all marketing, sales, advertising, etc?
<B.REHBOCK> Right now, it is difficult for our users to evangelize the
product to their friends and relatives, even though they knew in their
heart it was the best thing in the world. Our goal is to give them the
ammunition now. We have not directly entertained an idea like you have
described, but Jack himself has said "it will take serious marketing
effort to make a dent in the U.S."
<[Network 23] R.MARTIN22> Can you give us any additional "desktop"
features of MultiTos (4.0)? Also, what parts will be in ROM and what
parts on disk (how will these disk-based parts improve TOS-in-ROM?
<B.REHBOCK> The ROM-based code will contain the VDI, an AES that is single
and multitasking aware, GEMDOS, and the BIOS and XBIOS functions.
The Multitasking Kernal and other utilities will be ram-loaded, and we
will be able to release maintenance upgrades easily.
MultiTOS has expanded interprocess communication, drag and drop
standards, so that you can grab a file from a open desktop window, drop
it on a window of a currently running application, have that
application react accordingly.
We also have defined a way to minimize windows and applications, so that
your desktop doesn't get cluttered.
MultiTOS also allows you to move and manipulate background windows,
which is really a nice feature.
<[Network 23] R.MARTIN22> One last question...when you say "rollout" in
Sept-Dec., do you mean product availability or public announcement?
<B.REHBOCK> The roll-out will begin on Sept. 23rd, with a strong push to
get dealers signed up between then and Comdex (Nov. 16th). Units will
ship to North America around the end of October. (Developer units are
already on their way)
(Sept 23rd is BCS)
<[FAST TECH] J.ALLEN27> Hi Again!!
Does the CPU "see" ram as 32bits wide, and does it use the STERM or
DSACKx signals as access terminations?
I Just want to be sure I understand.
<B.REHBOCK> Yes, I was looking at the system chart :-)
Yes, it does (32 bits wide), and I'm going through the system spec to
check on your other queries.
Actually, I'm not sure everyone here is interested, Jim. :-)
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Would this be better answered in GEmail, the Dev RT, or
the BB, Bill?
<B.REHBOCK> I'd be happy to double-check and answer in the public BBS,
Jeff.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Okay, we'll go on to the next person then.
<SAM-RAPP> Hello Bill! Can you please explain the 64K color mode. I have
heard that it is not supported by AES/VDI. Also, where can I get Falcon
system info as a non developer? Do you of know of any books about
Falcon to be released (such as the books for the ST by Abacus) ?
<B.REHBOCK> The 64k color mode is definitely supported by the AES and VDI.
The Falcon documentation is available to non-developers, just like the
rest of the kit.
The Falcon kit, including DSP debugger, will be available for $80.00.
It has all of the new video VDI calls, the Color Icon AES info, hardware
expansion connector info, etc.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Is that kit available now and do you know of any 3rd
party publishers coming out with anything?
<B.REHBOCK> The kit is at the printer now. I will have the first copies
for commercial developers at Glendale, and the kit will be available to
the public at the end of this month.
Data Becker has already done a book in German, and they plan to release
it in English also. I am sure that somebody like Ralph Turner will be
doing a book also.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Is Atari accepting orders for the kit now? What is the
address for ordering?
<B.REHBOCK> Please send checks or money orders to:
Atari Corp.
1196 Borregas Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA, 94089-1302
Attn: Falcon Docs
<[Needs UNIX!] JM.HAWTHORNE> Will Atari release UNIX/Xwindows for the
Falcon? Also why not put the os on portfolio style rom cards to allow
easy change.
<B.REHBOCK> S8A JEIDA or BEE card for the O/S is very expensive, compared
to the PLCC rom we are now using. It would be nice; we are considering
alternatives down the road.
We are exploring the possibility of having some sort of UNIX on
Falcon030, but it's not very exciting on a 16MHz '030.
(In other words, I doubt it.)
<[Chris C.] C.CASSADAY> In Sam's RTC, he mentioned that he was hoping for
a home voice-mail type system to be developed for the Falcon030. Is
Atari, itself, developing any new applications of this nature to help
'get the ball rolling', so-to-speak? Also, is it safe to say that the
Falcon 030 is 'class B certified'?
<B.REHBOCK> The F030 has passed all of the Class-B tests; we are waiting
for the actual government paperwork so that we can ship consumer
machines with labels. (That why the late Oct. timeframe.)
We are working closely with several developers to make sure that the
voice/fax mail system ball keeps rolling.
<[New Dealer] MAG.SOFTWARE> Bill!!
3 _quickie_ questions:
1) When will Atari be releasing dealer prices?
2) Will the new TOS 4.0 with MultiTOS be available as an upgrade for the
TT030 and when?
3) Will the Falcon030 have a 50 HZ mode for compatibility with some
European games?
PLUG: Call New Dimensions Computer Center (414)327-3311
21MB Floptical Drives Now Available For ALL Atari Computers
<B.REHBOCK> good Plug, Jeff :-)
1) Right after BCS
2) Should be around November-December; F030 is the main priority.
3) VIDEL is very STE Shifter Compatible, most of the undocumented
bit-banging still works.
<B.AEIN> Will there be Falcons for sale at WAACE? Will there be a direct
compatibility of games between the falcon and the 64bit Jag game
machine? Can you give Quick index numbers yet? What games will be
released for the Falcon immediately?
<B.REHBOCK> I am not 100% sure if they'll be for sale at WAACE.
I will not comment regarding Jaguar, sorry.
No, I don't have Quick Index Numbers, I am sure somebody will try at
Glendale :-)
I don't have the release schedule handy for games software, Mike Fulton
is getting it, and I'll comment in a little bit.
<S.D.ELLIOTT> what technical info is provided with the Falcon? Also, What
is the fee to become a commercial level developer?
<B.REHBOCK> Comprehensive technical docs come only with developer units,
or by purchasing them separately, as I stated earlier. You must have a
product planned to become a commercial developer. The cost of becoming a
commercial developer is currently $250.00.
<[James@alphat] B.ABELL> What software will be bundled with the Falcon?
<B.REHBOCK> Calappt, a personal information manager with scheduler,
phonebook and dialer. Procalc, which many of you may have seen, a
true-color Breakout, a game called Landmines, the System Audio Manager,
a utility that allows you to record any sound and accompany various
system functions (such as alert boxes, window opening and closing, the
file selector) with them, as well as map any key to sounds (without
slowing the system down).
We will also be bundling an easy-to-use stereo direct-to-disk recording
system with the machine that can sample, record and edit 16-bit stereo
50KHz audio until you fill up your hard drive :-)
Oh yes, and a talking clock.
<J.VANHOOSE> Will the Falcon accept the NEC 3D monitor cable as is? From
the video pin out diagram in the library, it appears not. The Falcon
port is a 19 pin plug while the NEC 3D has a 15 pin mini D sub plug.
However, the pin outs match with the exception of the audio and Falcon's
four extra pins Thanks Jeff and appreciate your time Bill
<B.REHBOCK> There are little monitor adapters that you plug into the
machine that tell it what kind of monitor you intend to plug in. There
is a 15 pin VGA adapter, an ST adapter for SCxxxx and SMxxx monitors, a
SCART/Peritel cable, and a composite video/mixed mono audio adapter.
<ATARI-OZ> Bill, tell us about the software synergy available/planned to
enable us to present a personal multimedia platform.
Competition is tough out there and the team at Antic (sorry AutoDesk)
have done a great job in raising the stakes.
<B.REHBOCK> We are working with several developers on solutions along the
lines of Macromind Director and others. Wait until the people at
Glendale see the demo that you and Tony Barker did!
We are very excited about the power that the Atari Falcon030 will bring
to users in terms of Multimedia Authoring.
<ATARI-OZ> Don't give too much away Bill. Just be sure folks to go to
Glendale :-) Sorry, I can't be there . . .
Can you tell us what Lee S. is working on from Lexicor?
<B.REHBOCK> Lee Seiler from Lexicor really should make his own product
announcements. (I don't want to speak on his behalf.)
<J.YEGERLEHNE> GA Hi, I have two questions:
1. Does the clipboard standard (defined for developers) support cutting
and pasting of vector images (consisting of VDI meta-commands)? This
would allow, for instance, a graph to be cut from, say, First Graph,
and then pasted into a document processor (assuming both applications
supported the clipboard). I think this kind of capability is
especially important to make use of the new multi-tasking
capabilities.
2. The 56001 can support, I think, up to two local 24 bit X 64K RAM
address spaces. How much of this local memory comes installed in the
Falcon?
Thanks.
<B.REHBOCK>
1) Yes, as defined it supports metafiles. You simply cut SCRAP.GEM to
the clipboard, and paste the same.
2) The 56K in the Falcon is accompanied by 32K words of 24-bit wide
0-wait state 25ns static ram.
<H.NAGRA1> How easy is it to genlock the video on the Falcon? Will a
genlock device be available with the Falcon's introduction? Also can
the VGA modes display a 256 level grey scale?
<B.REHBOCK> The Falcon030 was born to Genlock. The video port has
external v-sync and dot-clock inputs, as well as an overlay output
signal for easy video titling.
We will be showing a genlock at Comdex, I think it should be shipping by
the end of the year.
<[Mike Allen] M.ALLEN14> How about a 14meg, no HD version? 2-1/2 IDEs are
a little pricey now compared to SCSI. Where and at what rate are the
F030s being produced? Don't forget your loyal, GOOD dealers (Toad,
Computer STudio, etc.) outside of the major market areas in your push
for new dealers. Ditto for 3rd party developers. With all those
resolution modes, what does an ASSIGN.SYS file look like?
<B.REHBOCK> We definitely will not forget the dealers that have stuck with
us through the past years. We plan to have dealer pricing for all of
the possible permutations of the machine.
ASSIGN.SYS has actually gotten simpler. The rule that applications are
supposed to follow is open your workstation using getrez() + 2. Apps
that do this work great. (Including GEMVELOPE, EasyDraw, G-Print,
PKSWrite)
<M.HOYT2> What CODEC are you using in the Falcon?
<B.REHBOCK> The Crystal 4216.
<M.HOYT2> Thanks
<B.REHBOCK> We have been very please with its performance.
<[Network 23] R.MARTIN22> Any Dungeon Master's on the horizon...software
that makes people buy the machines? Can you name any new big-name
developers (not game) that are signed-on or are very promising?
<B.REHBOCK> There are many very good games on the horizon. Honestly I
can't talk about the titles until developers have talked about them
themselves. I can mention SPACE JUNK from Imagitec Design, a
space-oriented adventure game; Road Riot 4WD from Images, Steel Talons
from Koveos, Llamazap from Jeff Minter; Raiden from Imagitec; and Cyber
Assault from Koveos.
Most of these will be available between January and June of '93.
<B.REHBOCK> There has been surprising interest from many past developers
that we haven't heard from in some time, as well as NeXT and Mac
developers.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Okay, now a couple questions from me and then we'll wrap
up.
First, any news on the horizon about a Falcon 040?
And what is the latest on MultiTOS? Will it be ready to for the first
Falcons to ship? And do you know when it will be ready for TT's and
maybe accelerated ST/STEs?
<B.REHBOCK> We are working on Falcon030's brothers and sisters, but we
will not announce any dates (yet).
I certainly hope to see MultiTOS out soon, but I just checked with John
Townsend and he wouldn't let me nail him to a solid date on behalf of
the TOS group. I am sure we will see it comfortably soon. The goal is
to have it ready for the first Falcons.
We will happily discuss licensing MultiTOS to the accelerator guys.
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> That about wraps it up. I think a few people may still
have questions, but maybe you can hang around a few minutes after the
formal portion ends. :-)
Bill, thank you for taking the time to be with us and to answer our
questions.
Do you have any closing comments before we draw this to a close?
<B.REHBOCK> Jeff, thank you for the time, I'll hang around for a little
while. If anybody can make it to the Glendale show, I urge you to stop
by and take a look at the Atari Falcon030. It is a really great machine.
This was one long conference, Jeff :-) but I'd be happy to do it again!
Thanks again!
<[Sysop] JEFF.W> Thanks to all who turned out!
=========================================================================
(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.
=========================================================================
> All 'Round GEnie STR Feature Takin' a look at GEnie!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
ALL AROUND GENIE
================
Compiled by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
Senior Editor of ST Report
A few posts that I found interesting in my travels around Genie. These
are all from the Jerry Pournelle Roundtable (Category 4, Topic 24) and
deal with humor and computers.
------------------------------
Msg. 54, from Ken Wheeler -
I work for a company that makes portable data terminals. In the Repair
department, a unit was returned for warranty service, the problem
being described "Unit will not turn on."
The unit must have been in at least three large pieces, plus a
collection of miniaturized electronic wreckage and pulverized glass.
Even the batteries were seriously bent and dented.
It became a running joke, as it went to Engineering to figure out what
exactly was wrong with it. It was forwarded to Rework to include the
latest modifications. It finally went to Quality Control to verify the
initial problem.
Customer service wimped out, sending out a form letter to the
customer, explaining that the unit was damaged and did not qualify as
a warranty repair.
We wanted to return the sucker with a "No Trouble Found" tag...
------------
Msg. 58, from B.MARYOTT -
The old AT computers had a between the floppy drive and the lower
plate. I've had to open up several machines that "ate my floppy". And
had people INSIST, even after I opened it up and retrieved the disk,
that they HAD put it in the right slot...
------------
Msg. 60, from Eric Burch -
One of the hats I wear at work is customer support--so I get to visit
several offices a day where people demonstrate how the computer (ate
the wordprocessing/mangled the calendar/lost a message) ten times in a
row. Of course, the customer insists that it's the program's fault and
they followed all the directions. At that point I use my "debugging
gaze" and magically the problem disappears when the customer tries to
recreate the problem in my presence.
I have no explanation of why things seem to work consistently when I'm
around. I believe it is my "debugging gaze." Consequently, I've
recommended to my management that the company put up posters of me
staring at everyone's keyboard in every office (8 by 10's should be
adequate). It's been a few weeks since I've made my suggestion, and
the problems have yet to disappear (except, of course, in my
presence).
I'm not sure, but I think that the company is about ready to hire a
photographer and print up the posters. If the experiment is a success,
I'll report the results here and let you know where you can get your
own poster. If it doesn't work out, I'll have to figure out what else
it might be that keep bugs away (maybe it's my socks; which would mean
every office would get a small display case with an old pair of my
socks enclosed therein).
------------
Msg. 61, from D.JONES117 -
That also works with mainframes. I had typed something in three times
and had it fail three times. But when I call over someone to see if I
am doing something wrong, it works. I think that the computer is
intelligent and has a sense of humor. It just like making a fool of me.
------------
Msg. 65, from D.TAMPLIN -
As to mystical fixes, the best I saw was when three dumb terminals in
the same room suddenly started acting up. The hardware guru came in,
looked at the rolling and distorted images, and then went over to each
and hit it with the palm of his hand. Of course, they all straightened
out immediately....
------------
Msg. 66, from Gary Utter (RT Manager) -
This is a true story.
A service rep from the company that one of my old employers contracted
with used to carry an antique "stone hammer" in his tool kit. This was
a 3 pound steel hammer designed for stone masonry that had belonged to
his grandfather (who was, of course, a stone mason).
He would, in cases where a computer was obstinate, simply wave the
thing gently above the circuit board while muttering threats. He said
that he got results with this technique about 4 times in 10, and that
the results were reliable. He said that it was his opinion that the
mass of "cold iron" drove the fairys out of the circuit board. He said
this with a straight face.
Since we were paying him to make the computer WORK, I didn't much care
HOW he got his results, as long as things worked when he left. :)
I have been looking for one of these hammers for a long time now.
------------
Msg. 67, from Mike Van Pelt -
Re: Hitting the recalcitrant computer.
I did that to. The guy across the hall had submitted his two-week
notice, then accused me [of wiping] his userid out while he still had
two weeks to go. I hadn't done any such thing, I was sure my boss
hadn't - and we were the only two people who knew the "magic wordo
edit userids. Sure enough, I logged off, and logged on as him on my
terminal.
He said "Well, it doesn't work on my terminal." We went to his office,
I tried logging in with my ID, and sure enough, it said "Illegal
Userid/Password." The terminal was sending not what I typed. So I
hit the side of the terminal hard enough to move it about 1/4" to the
left and said "It'll work now." He said "You're crazy!", I said "Try
it", so he did, and it worked.
This was a Univac Uniscope 200 terminal -- Sperry Univac saved $.29
per terminal by not gold-plating the card edge connectors, and they'd
slowly develop greater and more bizarre strains of weird flakiness
until you pulled all the cards out and cleaned the connectors. This
could be put for a while by hitting them, lifting them an inch or two
and dropping them, or dropping the Program Reference Manual (all 8
pounds of it) onto them from a height of a couple of feet.
In a sense they were well built -- they took this sort of mistreatment
in stride. I was glad to see them replaced too.
------------
Msg. 69, from J.TENNANT1 -
Back when we all were young, ..., which takes me back further than
you, ...
I kept a votive candle burning on top of the Xerox 300 cpm card punch
until the fire marshall made me stop.
(The card punch worked better with the votive candle.)
(The Roman Catholic shop where I bought the candles would have had
heart failure long before the fire marshall.)
------------
Msg. 70, from D.JONES117 -
Remembering all the things past. 20 years ago while a mail clerk I ran
a Philipsburge Envelope Stuffing Machine. The machine would crank away
at full speed as long as the radio was playing. The boss would come in
a turn off the radio and watch as the credit statement got mangled. I
would clean it up and start the machine back up, and another mangled
batch. I would then again start up the machine and ask him to turn on
the radio, when he did the machine worked fine, but turn off the
radio, and it mangled the statements.
By the way another part of his department produced the statements, so
he had to care about the recreating of the statements. I never figured
out why the machine liked the music, but it did, and there were not
chips, transistors or vacuum tubes in it, just a lot of relays.
------------
Msg. 71, from Jim Partridge -
We had a secretary in the office who had to move out of town to be
with a SO. We thought, "Hey, no problem! This is the 90's." We gave
her a computer, a fax machine and a modem, and set her up to do some
work where she is.
Well, yesterday, I got a frantic call. She was in tears because her
machine wouldn't start. "Well," I said, "what does the screen say when
you turn it on?"
"Keyboard error ... [etc.]"
So I said, "Is the keyboard cable attached? It's the round plug in the
back." Guess what the problem was.
------------
Msg. 72, from W.CHUNG1 -
I remember hearing about a "jinxed" secretary. It seems that most of
the floppy disks she inserted into the computer would develop soft
errors. The company went through a lot of time and effort before a
technician noticed that one of the charms on her charm bracelet was
magnitized...
------------
Msgs 73 & 76, from Tom Molina -
I tell the people at work that the FIRST tool in the toolbox to try is
the BFR adjustment tool.
BFR = Big Fat Rock. See also BFH or Big Fat Hammer.
------------
Msg. 78, from Jim Gerber -
....What about the clones that put out this message when the keyboard
isn't plugged in:
"Bad or missing Keyboard
Press F1 to continue"
------------
Msg. 79, from C.IRBY1 -
When I was in the Air Force, one system I worked on had a processor
box that rode about 6" away from the right engine of the plane (F-4
Phantoms).
Due to the heat and vibration, these boxes would occasionally have
problems. The most effective cure we had was to take these $60,000
classified boxes out of the plane and "drop check" them by dropping
them 6" or more onto the concrete runway.
This would fix them about 50% of the time. It reseated the cards
inside...
------------
Msg. 81, from D.TAMPLIN -
Every so often, in them olden days, the computer would heat up just a
little too much and start making errors. Rather than opening cabinets
and running fans to cool things off, we'd just keep a CO2 fire
extinguisher handy. A liberal spray into the cabinets would not only
cool things down in the computer, but produce such a dramatic display
for the newbies that it would also cool down the ire we had after
getting our programs mangled.
------------------------------
> HYPERLINK RUNTIME PACKAGE STR InfoFile "at no charge"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
JMG ANNOUNCES....
FREE DISTRIBUTION OF FULL RUNTIME PACKAGE
=========================================
JMG Software is pleased to announce the worldwide release of the
HYPERLINK RUNTIME PACKAGE at the Glendale Atari Show on September 12th and
13th. Moreover, while initially planned to sell for $30 for the runtime
version and supporting utilities, JMG has instead decided to make the
HyperLINK Runtime Package available at NO CHARGE, allowing it to be freely
distributed by Users Groups, Electronic Services such as GEnie, and to be
freely copied by individual users.
HyperLINK is a multi-purpose product, the leading "Application
Generator" product for the Atari ST line. The most common use of
HyperLINK is in database oriented applications, where users can design
custom forms, reports, graphical screens, and also combine text, graphics,
and other types of media with the more common database files.
HyperLINK contains a full dBASE III/IV compatible database handler
that supports multiple index files and multiple field types (date/
numeric/ text / logical / etc), and also a multiple-window text editor, an
IMG file displayer, and a basic control/command set. All these features
can be combined using "links" to create fully hypertext-based multimedia
applications if the user so desires.
While many users begin with simple database files, they soon progress
to combinations of database, text and graphics, and many even create full
educational and interactive applications ranging from tutorials and
reference guides to invoicing and scheduling systems.
The free HyperLINK Runtime Package being introduced at the Glendale
show will allow any ST owner to immediately begin to use any pre-built
HyperLINK application with NO RESTRICTIONS. While the full commercial
version of HyperLINK is required to create and modify applications and
reports layouts, the Runtime Package can run any standard HyperLINK
database/text/graphics/report applications previously created.
HYPERLINK EXPECTED
TO
SET A NEW STANDARD FOR DATA EXCHANGE
Since HyperLINK allows database applications to be designed visually
and operated under a full GEM and Windowing environment, it is far
superior to text based applications such as DBMAN or limited list-based
databases such as Data Manager or SuperBase. With all ST owners now able
to access existing HyperLINK applications and databases without any
additional purchase, we expect HyperLINK to become a standard for
exchanging databases and multi-media applications. Numerous new
applications will be uploaded directly by JMG in the next few weeks, as
well as many expected by the hundreds of HyperLINK owners already
designing and using their own applicaitons.
The full HyperLINK package, with Application Builder, Report
Generator, and additional modules, sells for $149 US and is available
through Atari dealers or directly from JMG Software.
For more information on HyperLINK, the new HyperLINK Runtime Package,
or other details, please contact us at the address below.
JMG Software
892 Upper James Street
Hamilton, ONT L9C 3A5 Canada
Phone.. 416-575-3201
Fax.... 416-575-0283
BBS.... 416-389-9064
GEnie JMGSOFT
______________________________________________________________
> GLENDALE '92 STR SHOW NEWS Its this weekend!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The show will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 12-13, 1992 at
the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1041 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA. Hours
are 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday.
General Admission is $6.00 per person with a two day pass costing only
$10.00.
For those of you who will be needing lodging we have made arrangements
with the Burbank Hilton. Regular rates are $119.00 per night but if you
mention ATARI you will get a room for $65.00 per night, single or double
occupancy. Executive suites are also available for a per night charge of
$95.00.
Reservations may be made by calling the Hilton at 800-643-7400(in
California), 800-468-3576(inside the USA) or at 818- 843-600(outside the
USA). The guaranteed reservation cut-off date is August 20th. If you are
quoted another rate ask for Roy Butler, Sales Manger.
If you have any questions call:
John King Tarpinian at 818-246-7286.
_____________________________________________________________
> The TREASURE CHESTS STR Feature NEW AVAILABLE FILES
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
GOODIES GALORE!
===============
by Doyle C. Helms Jr.
Software Editor @ STReport
Well, I guess I spoke to soon about the quantity of software flooding
in to the PFS networks. I guess the excuse for a drop off in uploaded
files this week can be attributed to the Labor Day Holiday and everyone
was either at the beach or having their last fling of the summer.
Whatever the case maybe, I have a positive outlook for the coming
months. IMHO, I believe there will be some nice surprises in store
Atarians in the near future. If you know of a file that you haven't seen
posted on the PFS networks, get that file and upload it for the rest of us
to enjoy/use! Come on, we did it for you! :-)
Also check out "DARLAH'S TREAT OF THE MONTH". The file details and
file description will be listed at the end of this article each week.
Check it out! It's FREE!
FILENAME : CALENDAR
I.D. : #25635<GEnie> - CAL.LZH<CIS>
SIZE : 95616
UPLOADER : J.WISNIEWSK2<GEnie> - 76703,4061<CIS>
STaR Value: 8.5
CALendar 6.3 is another great update of the famous CAL program from
Bill Aycock. This program/Acc can almost fulfill any need in
scheduling of events and important dates. Must have!
FILENAME : TODAYS
I.D. : #25623<GEnie>
SIZE : 71808
UPLOADER : C.GRIMSBY<GEnie>
STaR Value: 6.0
TODAYS date program is a program that reads the system date and
displays a text noting important event(s) that happened on todays
date.
FILENAME : PC PURSUIT PERSUER
I.D. : #25618<GEnie>
SIZE : 87552
UPLOADER : M.FARMER2<GEnie>
STaR Value: UNRated
PC PURSUIT PERSUER is a program by Nathan Prichard. This is version
3.7. This is a working shareware version. $10.00 shareware fee asked
for. Unable to verify due to I'm a not PC PURSUIT user.
FILENAME : ST DISK CATALOG 5.1
I.D. : #25615<GEnie>
SIZE : 61056
UPLOADER : J.GNIEWKOWSK<GEnie>
STaR Value: 9.0
STDCAT 5.1 is one of the most involved and integral disk database
programs for the ST I have ever come across. This program has features
far to numerous to list here. Suffice it to say that if you want to
get ALL those disks finally in some kind organized manner, then you
MUST have this program!
FILENAME : RECIPE BOX 3.3
I.D. : #25600<GEnie>
SIZE : 63744
UPLOADER : A.WATSON6<GEnie>
STaR Value: 6.5
RECIPE BOX is a nice program for the user that stores recipes on their
computer. this program appears to be well thought out and the user
interface is easy to understand even for the novice.
FILENAME : RECIPE CONVERT 1.1
I.D. : #25599<GEnie>
SIZE : 58240
UPLOADER : A.WATSON6<GEnie>
STaR Value: UNRated
This program will help the user in converting recipes from other
formats to that of RECIPE BOX. The included formats covered are;
Meal-Master, Q-Book, Assistant-Chef, Computer Chef or any ASCII file
to RECIPE BOX format. UNRated due to lack of "other" file formats to
convert.
FILENAME : EASYGO 1.0
I.D. : #25597<GEnie>
SIZE : 31232
UPLOADER : A.WATSON6<GEnie>
STaR Value: 5.0
EASY GO is a file launcher program. The user interface is ZESTDESK
like. This program is shareware crippled. The first 6 entries on the
selection screen are usable, the rest are not without registration.
From Mountain Software.
FILENAME : DIP SWITCH SETTER CPX
I.D. : #25588<GEnie>
SIZE : 2816
UPLOADER : E.KRIMEN<GEnie>
STaR Value: UNRated
This CPX will let you change the DIP switches inside your MSTE or TT.
This program is in German.
FILENAME : SLM DRIVER (Modified)
I.D. : #25579<GEnie>
SIZE : 29440
UPLOADER : B.REHBOCK<GEnie>
STaR Value: UNRated
This is a modified FSM/FontGDOS printer driver for the Atari SLM
Laser Printer. This file is from Atari. DO NOT call customer service
for assistance with this driver; leave comments in the GDOS topic in
CAT 14 in the Atari RT on GEnie. UNRated due to I don't have an Atari
SLM Laser Printer.
FILENAME : CLASS 4
I.D. : #25574<GEnie>
SIZE : 108032
UPLOADER : G.WREN<GEnie>
STaR Value: 7.0
CLASS 4 is a grade book program for teachers/instructors that use
their ST/TT in/for the classroom record keeping. The user interface
in a clean GEM operation with many options. I rated this program at
7.0 STaR Value because of the detail workmanship that appears to have
been put into this program.
FILENAME : IDLE SCREEN SAVER
I.D. : IDLE.LZH<Delphi>
SIZE : 14181
UPLOADER : KMTV<Delphi>
STaR Value: 8.5
This is one of the, if not the best screen saver I have had the
pleasure of using. This Accessory is similar in quality and style
like that yo
u would expect from CODEHEAD. The ACC is configurable to
just about any need the user may come across. The time limit for
engaging the saver is user variable of course, but the user can invoke
the saver simply by moving the mouse to any of the user defined
corners of the screen. The author also states that this saver is
compatible with any screen size or video enhancement including
overscan. MUST HAVE!!
FILENAME : ANSI TERMINAL 1.5b
I.D. : ANSI15b.LZH<Delphi>
SIZE : 98816
UPLOADER : JHCURTIS<Delphi>
STaR Value: UNRated
ANSITERM is a 100% ANSI VT-102 compatible terminal program that
supports 16 colors, blinking text with 80 columns. Support for X,Y and
Z modem protocols.
FILENAME : JEKYL PROTOCOL 1.32
I.D. : JEKL132.LZH<Delphi>
SIZE : 93893 [Jekyl132.lzh] - 40624 [JEKLSHL.LZH]
UPLOADER : JHCURTIS<Delphi>
STaR Value: UNRated
JEKYL 1.32 protocol and JEKYL SHELL is the latest version of the
JEKYL transfer protocol. JEKYL allows the user to download a file
while chatting with the sysop. This program only works with another
JEKYL configured terminal or BBS.
FILENAME : POWERDOS
I.D. : POWERDOS.LZH<Delphi> - #25538<GEnie> PDOS<CIS>
SIZE : 27520
UPLOADER : LMCCLURE<Delphi> - DRAGONWARE<GEnie>
STaR Value: 5.0
PowerDos from DragonWare is touted to be a very powerful multi-tasking
GEMDOS replacement for TOS. I am unable to verify the ability to
multi-task, I can state that the I/O disk operations are sped up
appreciably. Dragonware also has released a couple of associate files
to enhance the users use of PowerDos. If you try it out and I
recommend that you do, so be sure to download the files ALIASDRV.LZH,
PMONITOR.LZH, MEM_SNAP.LZH and PDEXPERT.LZH. A developers kit is
offered by DragonWare to help developers produce optimum multi-tasking
software for PowerDos. I would have given PowerDos a higher STaR
rating IF I had been able to verify the MT capabilities! I would like
to note that I have problems with PowerDos when attempting to use
DIAMOND BACK 2.42.
FILENAME : NESS BENCHMARKS 1.2
I.D. : NBM12.LZH<Delphi><CIS>
SIZE : 21275
UPLOADER : LOTSABYTES<Delphi>
STaR Value: 7.5
Jim Ness has updated his fine benchmark program. This program is one
of the finest benchmark programs for the ST/TT. Give it a try, "I bet
mine is faster than yours..."
FILENAME : HARDCORE DEMO
I.D. : HARDCORE.LZH<Delphi>
SIZE : 172800
UPLOADER : DPANKE<Delphi>
STaR Value: 8.5
Jeff Minter of LLamatron/Mutant Camel fame is now working on a new
original game. This "demo" only has 5 levels. The reason for only five
levels is that Mr. Minter has another project under his belt that he
is having to time-share with this program. HARDCORE may only have 5
levels, but when you finish the 5th level the game repeats itself
beginning at the first level only the level of difficulty increases!
This is a must have for ANY Atari gamer!
FILENAME : Dr. NECRO v.0.62
I.D. : #25630<GEnie> - DRNEC.LZH<Delphi><CIS>
SIZE : 50560
UPLOADER : K.SCHAFER4<GEnie> - K.SCHAFER<Delphi>
STaR Value: 6.5 <color only>
This is a limited level demo of a Dr. Mario clone game. This version
.63 has 3 playable levels and info about the finished product. If you
are a Dr. Mario fan, this demo is worth a look.
FILENAME : SYSTEM INFO
I.D. : SYSINFO.LZH<Delphi><CIS>
SIZE : 55808
UPLOADER : BRYEDEWAARD<Delphi>
STaR Value: 5.0
This system utility program allows the curious to view the "insides"
of your systems setup. Works(so says the uploader) on ST/STe/TT. This
program is from the Netherlands.
\\\\*////
Starting this week, a highlight of DARLAH'S TREAT OF THE MONTH will be
presented. This file will change each month, its offered FREE of download
charges to Atari ST Roundtable members on GEnie. To download the "TREAT"
file just enter M475;9 after GEnie log-on.
"DARLAH'S TREAT" of the MONTH
for
SEPTEMBER 1992
This archive contains a demo version of Oregon Research's new program
Diamond Edge. The most advanced set of disk management tools available
for your Atari ST: Disk and data recovery, Complete Undelete, file
validation and disk diagnostics, Data protection, Disk optimization, Bad
sector mapping, hard disk partitioning, Disk information archival editing
and restoration, and much more. Diamond Edge will be released on Sept. 12
at the Glendale Atari Show.
Well that about wraps it up for this week. Support your favorite
On-Line Service by uploading files to their respective libraries! The
three online services ALL offer FREE upload time! When you upload a file
the normal billing charges are suspended for the time of the upload.
Until next time...
________________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
"""""""""""""""""""""
- Boston MA BCS TO SPOTLIGHT ATARI FALCON
---------
Big doins' in the Boston! If you would like to the ALL NEW Atari's
FALCON 030, you're invitied to attend the BCS General Meeting September
23rd. Atari will roll out the FALCON030 in all its glory. The North
American unveiling will be held at 7:30 pm Wed., Sept. 23rd at the New
England Life Hall, 225 Clarendon Street, Boston. Atari has also promised
to loan a FALCON 030 for a hands-on demonstration the following evening,
Thursday September 24th. This event is slated 7:00pm in MIT's Bdg. 4, Rm.
270. You need not be a BCS member to attend either meeting, and admission
is free!
- Sunnyvale CA NEW FSMGDOS IS "CIRCULATING"
------------
Everyone's anxiously awaiting the "new" FSM GDOS based on Bitstream's
Speedo. Preliminary testing indicates it's completely compatible and
quite fast. Bitstream is among the largest of font publishers in the
world. Their huge library of fonts in Type 1 format sell at reasonable
prices. Bitstream recently released a new font scaler that's in almost
universal use by both hardware and software vendors. This new Font Scaler
will be the standard supported by Atari.
- San Francisco, CA PACIFIC CALLING.....
-----------------
Attention all Atari ST and Falcon programmers. Do you have a
commercial grade program which you would like published and distributed in
north america? Pacific Software supply, North America's largest Atari
Software Distributor, is looking for high quality software for
distribution through our dealer network. If interested contact Mr. Curry
or Mr. Whitten at (805)543-1037.
_____________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
"""""""""""""
STReport's MailBag
""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
FROM THE FNET..
Conf : Atari Explorer
Msg# : 250/270 Lines: 15 Read: 2
Sent : Sep 08, 1992 at 8:39 PM
To : Tim Shepherd
From : Wiz at Fnet Node 642, Hero's Haven
Subj : Re: <2986> Falcon Video
Previously Tim Shepherd wrote:
- Look people, this IS the new market leader! Clones simply DO NOT
- compete It will sell, becuase it hasnt been even SNIFFED at by our
- local press, and even my MACINTOSH clients are aware of it!!!!! Its a
- winner before it hit our shores. My business, even though we DO NOT
- advertise as being an Atari dealer at all...gets a phone call A DAY
- now about it frome people who own AMIGAS, MACS, PCS and even Ataris.
-
- I would say theres something in this!
Thats great.... Now sell as many as you can so Atari can come out with a
better machine......One that suits my needs better.... This being
expandable, a detached keyboard, higher graphic rez (A must!), a non Atari
specific memory arrangement, and a faster processor....
Wiz
Conf : Atari Explorer
Msg# : 251/270 Lines: 13 Read: 2
Sent : Sep 08, 1992 at 8:42 PM
To : Tim Shepherd
From : Wiz at Fnet Node 642, Hero's Haven
Subj : Re: <2987> Falcon video
Previously Tim Shepherd wrote:
- The Falcons a real computer for a real man. If you cant handle yould be
- better off buying something with less power, try a 386 or something.
- Its morwe in your league by the sounds of it. (at least the Falc is
- NOT backwardly compatible with a Calculator!!!)
-
- Tim NZ
Hey bud.... Shove it! I've owned Ataris since the 800... Ataris are just
what I need.. Only Atari has fallen to far behind, and the Falcon doesnt
make up for it.. It is a giant step in the right direction, but it just
didnt make it...... Lets hope the 040 will though.......
Wiz
Conf : Atari On-Line
Msg# : 326/337 Lines: Extended Read: 2
Sent : Sep 09, 1992 at 06:39 PM
To : Stingray
From : Wen Hsieh at Fnet Node 467, SHERWOOD FOREST
Subj : FALCON AND MONITOR!
S> It just occurred to me last night. If someone out there is goin in
S> on a Falcon, it is going to cost a bundle. FIrst you get the
S> computer. A falcon is $800. They will probably sell at that price
S> until they get here in quantity. Then you have to get a monitor.
S> Most decent VGA/SVGA monitors run at LEAST $450. I know, I run my
S> ST off one. So, from the get go, the user is spending about $1250!
S> And if he goes with the 4meg Falcon(lets be honest, you really have
S> to as you need the memory and only Atari makes the upgrade boards)
S> you start at $1400! Tack the monitor cost onto that and Boom!
S> $1850. That is almost Two Grand for a computer with NO software
S> because I can get a 486 with EVERYTHING and Monitor for $1600.
S> That's $250 less than the Falcon and the 486 comes with a 105meg
S> hard drive. Atari better drop its prices, it can't afford to sell
S> the Falcon at that price...
For years, PC users have been telling us prices of S/VGA monitors that
are way lower than what you've quoted. USA*FLEX, Flexvision 14" SVGA
for $329. Samsung 14" SyncMaster 2 at .39mm for $249. SyncMaster 3
at .28 mm for $299. No name monitor from FCS, 14" SVGA $285. Want
more, I've got my Computer Shopper out. Don't compare cheapo
monitors that comes standard with clone packages with your NEC dream
monitor on the Falcon. If you want quailty, you'll pay for it, it
doesn't matter which computer you buy. Ask that dealer of yours or
call him up and ask him what kind of monitor you're getting and how
much is it alone. You'll get the true price and quailty of the
monitor you'll be getting if you just asked. Remember the Falcon has
a standard S/VGA monitor port.
Let's talk about your 486 setup. Plan to run Windows? Cut that
105meg HD to 80 megs, you'll be throwing away 20 megs for DOS and
Windows. When you buy a Falcon, I could see that MultiTOS will take a
max of 5 megs, so you'll only have 20 megs advangate over a 4 meg
Falcon setup. And over time you'll learn that ALL clone software will
take up to double if not triple space compared to all similar Atari
software. You'll really need a 200 meg drive to be taken sersiously if
you're a PC owner.
Plan to have better than PC speaker sound? Add another $59, and this
is being generous, if you want ture compatibiliy you'll spend $99 for
an Ad Lid or if you want state of the art $199 for a SB Pro.
Want a 19.6k modem? You'll spend $400+ for one, while the DSP in the
Falcon promise to do it via software. We all know software is cheaper
than any hardware emulation. Just look at the Gemulator. Knowing the
Atari shareware community, I don't see it as expensives at all. BTW,
the DSP can go beyond 19.6K quite easily from what I've read.
Want Windows to run at a respectable speed? Better dump that standard
cheapo S/VGA card for a $149-$249 S/VGA card.
Want to have more conventional memory, shell out another $99 for
a memory manager.
Trust me, I know a lot of people with PC that have 386/25/33 that are
already thinking of expanding to a 486/50, because the power demands
of PC software requires such. How long before a 486/50 looks slow?
One, two years? This is of course totally depended on your needs.
Want a wordprocessor without pirating? Do I really have to tell you
how much Words and WordPerfect for Windows really cost?
Want close to GEM like features? Put out another $99-$199 for a
Program Mananger replacement for Windows. I know Windows, I worked
with Windows, I've seen Windows run. Windows is not GEM/TOS.
You've haven't really compared prices, I see you're really green to
the PC world too, or you'll know all the hidden costs. Its
unbelievable the hidden cost of a PC system that match some of the
features of the Atari machines. Of course there are hidden costs in
the Falcon system too. Like RAM costing more per meg than your regular
standard SIMM. Limited to below 800x600 resolution out of the box.
Additional resolution might be possible via third party, but that's
additional expense. Close system. Possible mushy keyboard. Alot
more I'm sure you could think up. Think about it and than make your
choice.
Wen
Conf : STReport Online
Msg# : 21937/21938 Lines: Extended Read: 1
Sent : Sep 10, 1992 at 8:28 PM
To : Gregory Fagan
From : Len Waller at Fnet Node 18, ///Turbo Board Support BBS
Subj : Atari
GF> If you think that when you purchase a 486 for $200 more and skip out
GF> from buying the falcon, you are getting a deal? Fine. Just remember
GF> that the 486dx comes with the 486 chip, and the fast bus. As far as
GF> I know, the Falcon has the same 32 bit bus??!!?? but also comes with
GF> many of the things you will need to buy "cards" for to use. Like
GF> midi, DSP, etc.
GF> *Origin: Fnet Node 637, Source Machine @Node 637 Mn.
Yes but the Atari hasn't learned their lesson yet, they're still useing
proprietary methods when the 486Dx clone is open technology. I don't
have to buy an IBM memory board before I can upgrade my memmory, I can
buy what every is available and cheapest. The Falcon may use normal
simms for memmory but you still have to buy the board from Atari. What
about service, they have now all but shut down their service deptments.
The price of compatable IBM features to exact Atari Falcon features
would mean paying more for the IBM but going with the IBM I have serval
advantages that you don't.
1> If a new midi board comes out, new standards or whatever I buy the
low cost board and install it. You have to hardware hack or replace the
machine.
2> If I want to upgrade to a 586 whnever they come out I buy the mother
board and keep my exsisting cards, you again buy another whole machine.
3> Software IBM clones have been around for ages and software support
is huge and wide spread in the stores and otherwise, Atari keeps
changing it's operating system and therefor no backward compatablitly
maybue not so with the Falcon this time but every other time it was that
way. I on the other hand with my software for my 286 can buy a 386-486
and 586 and still use that software.
Atari is a great system I'm just tired of paying to upgrade and not
getting the same deal that the IBM users are. I love the Atari ST I
have now, it's been a great machine but I won't be upgrading to the
latest version of Atari product for the reasons stated. Everything is
pretty well modular in the IBM and nothing is modular in the ATari, at
least not in memory boards, nothing, you can't taske your 250.00 memory
upgrade from your 1040 that made it a 4 meg machine over to the Falcon,
you can't trade it in like you can with IBM equipment. Other than cost
where is the advantage?? I don't see it.
Now I didn't state all of this to start fights and arguements, if you
can make your point as I'm sure you'll try... I'm interested in hearing
your side of things.
--- Blue Wave/QWK v2.10
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 18, Topic 20
Message 248 Sat Sep 05, 1992
S.WINICK at 07:10 EDT
John (TOWNS),
On the Jewish holiday of Passover, the youngest child in the family
asks what is known as the "Four Questions" which serves as the foundation
of retelling the story of the exodus from Egypt. The questions are all an
expansion of the basic "Why is this night different from all other
nights?"
Perhaps what your Atari owners are trying to ask is merely their
version of that question, rephrased as "Why is this Atari different from
all other Ataris?" Perhaps the 1992 version of "The Four Questions" in
Atariland might go something like this:
Why is this Atari (Falcon) different from all other Ataris? On all
other Ataris, the FCC wreaked havoc, but this Atari we're told
will have no problem!
On all other Ataris, FCC rejections caused delays in approval and
product supply to the United States market, but this Atari, we're
told, will fly through with ease, despite the addition of so much
extra electronics within the same case that has been so troublesome
in the past. Has Atari devised a neat way that by adding a faster,
more powerful processor, 10 extra megs of RAM, a hard drive,
cooling fan motor and DSP circuitry, the RF will be reduced? Neat
trick!
On all other 1040-style Ataris, copious amounts of metal
shielding and what appears to be after the fact supplemental
shielding along with a gaggle of screws and twist tabs had to be
added in order to finally get an FCC Class B rating, but on this
Atari the folks back in Sunnyvale tell us they're not at all
concerned.
On all other 1040-style Ataris FCC approval dragged on for many
months, but on this Atari there doesn't appear to be any sense of
urgency to start the approval process rolling by actually
submitting the thing to the FCC. After all, it is only September
and Sam didn't promise to have them start arriving until next month
anyway.
Well.... there you have it. I hope those of us who are truly
dedicated to the platform will enjoy this "religious experience" parody.
The questions and concerns of your Atari owners are sincere, and this
message is not intended as anything other than a lighthearted parody of
their concerns. I hope it is taken in just that spirit. ;-]
Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC)
------------
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 18, Topic 20
Message 30 Sun Sep 06, 1992
B.CARRIER at 20:55 EDT
...been away for awhile. Went to the Ct. Atari show in Hartford, nice
job
Brian Gockley), got interested in the "Falcon" computer.....
Is this a topic about the new computer or a forum for name-calling,
puncuation lessons, responsible journalism, or plain old mud-slinging? I
thought I was caught in the Bush/Clinton campaign rhetoric.
When I first bought my first Atari computer, (1983), and subsequently
joined Genie, I used to think that Lloyd Pulley, and others, were real
jerks to criticize Atari Corp.
I hated it, and him, when he kept reminding us that the Tramiels would
never deliver on their promisies to make the ST a viable computer on the
home and business market in this country.(?)
Lloyd was 100% right then, and 100% right now. ANY way you spell it -
Atari Corp. has pulled the rug, slowly, oh so slowly, out from under
us....their best and most unheralded salesmen, for so long now.
Proof? The ST/TT line of computers has been at the top of the computer
line since 1986, and STILL, no one outside of the Atari community has ever
heard of them. Atari Corp. has advertised ONLY to their loyal users.
People like Tom McComb, who like "another brick in the wall", keeps
believing that despite failing specific magazines, almost zero stock
prices, vaporware, 300 mile dealers, NO advertising, no support from
computer mags, and etc., feel compelled to remind us that we don't spell
very well, or most importantly, must not denigrate the company who has
made such a fine computer, and let others try to make it successful.
The fact is, and even people "like him" must admit it, is that us Atari
owners have always felt embarassed to acknowledge that we actually own an
Atari computer. "No it's not IBM compatible" - "No, it doesn't lust play
Pac-Man" - "Yes, it can write a letter" !!!
lust=just, yes, I'm tired too Tom. Forgive me.
As to Lloyd. True Atari afficiandos (how's that), should be thankful for
people like him and ST Report for trying to present the real story. I
know John Jainschigg, and he tried to do the same, until Atari realized
that John wanted to tell us what was really going on - and then pulled the
mag "in-house"! Guess what that means.
The old saying, "the proof is in the pudding", applied to Atari Corp.
under the Tramiels, takes on greater meaning. NO pudding. Great 3rd
party software, and hardware, has kept this platform afloat for many
years. .....and, of course, many, many, loyal rowers and bailers - or is
it "bailors", Tom?
I love my Mega 2, even though I have to drive about 70 miles to get it
fixed or see anyone who knows what I'm talking about. My user group,
STARR, has shrunk to 6 people - and they all have IBM clones that they
demonstrate at every meeting.
Lloyd, I think you write just fine. I thought you were way off base a few
years ago, but boy has Atari proved me wrong. IF ANYONE HAS SWITCHED TO
AN IBM, OR ANY OTHER COMPUTER PLATFORM, IT IS ONLY THE FAULT OF THE
INEFFECTIVE, UNPROFESSIONAL, AND IRRESPONSIBLE POLICIES OF ATARI CORP.,
AND CERTAINLY NOT THE REPORTINGS OF THE ONLY JOURNAL BOLD ENOUGH TO
INDEPENDENTLY REMIND ATARI USERS WHAT THEY ALREADY UNDERSTAND, AND HAVE
COME TO EXPECT FROM THIS COMPANY.
Where is START, Byte (for just a mention), EA, Microprose, Analog,
Electronic Boutique (in the East), Compute???
Sure, here comes the Falcon. Lets all get excited again. I think I'll
wait, and like Mr. McComb, put down users who can't quite believe what's
coming out of Atari mouths - whoever they may be this month.
By the time Atari delivers, (there's a word they don't understand), the,
(or A), Falcon, the rest of the real computer establishment will have
twenty-seven models just like it, and us loyal atarians will still be
drooling over promises, specifications, and idiotic forums like this one.
I hope you all have a "Falcon" for Christmas. Anybody wanna (sic) bet?
Anybody wanna buy a bridge in Brookl.... no, make that 1000 shares of
Atari Corp. stock?(!)
Hey, it's cheap. Less than $2.00 a share.
Lloyd, and STReport, keep on keepin' em honest (double sic), and don't
let idjits like McComb influence honest reporting. I was at the Ct. show,
heard the same, can't prove it, don't need to, and support you. Keep up
the good work and tell it like it is. You may be the only ones left doing
it.
If Atari Corp. doesnt deliver the Falcon.........like everything else you
have all waited patiently, and expensively, for......then IGN PERM.
------------
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 56 Mon Aug 31, 1992
J.RICHTER [J.RICHTER] at 23:55 EDT
ATARI.. MR. TOWNS,
Forgive thirsty and parched patrons for our crankyness! We have been
dreaming of cooling waters with class "B" TT030's floating by our way in
large ATARI shipping crates.. Our screens filled with scalable rotatable
FSMGDOS fonts complete with jealous lears from PC owners peeking over our
shoulders.. The shipping crates have all sunk, the FSMGDOS boxes never
looked quite right to ATARI marketing.. they never got shipped! OH ATARI,
fill our empty cups with the cool, cool waters of truth, give us all the
strength to wait on your final promise.
May the FALCON be with you
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> A "Quotable Quote" "IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH!"
"""""""""""""""""
BEHIND _WHAT_ KIND OF DOOR?"
... Ziggy "The Keyhole" Zircon
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile * NEW 1992 Prices! MORE Products! *
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