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Silicon Times Report Issue 0848
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing
""""""""""""""
December 04, 1992 No.8.48
==========================================================================
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
* THE BOUNTY BBS *
* TURBO BOARD BBS SYSTEM *
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FNET. 489 : Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981
_____________________________________________________________________
> 12/04/92 STR 848 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
""""""""""""""""
- The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS
- COMPAQ 3yr Warranty! - Prodigy -> Cable - Two Plead Guilty
- OUTBURST! 3.0 NEWS - PEOPLE TALKING - DYNACADD 2D!
- THE FLIP SIDE - STR MAILBAG - STR Confidential
-* GERMANY'S ATARI JOURNAL CLOSED! *-
-* EEC -> COMPUTERS MUST BE 2 PIECE! *-
-* ITS DECEMBER'92 -> FALCON030 - WHERE? *-
==========================================================================
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/NEST/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 Networking Systems. 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 ~ NEST
EURONET ~ CIX ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET
==========================================================================
=============
* ATARI EDITION *
=============
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 (December 4)
PLAY ASTEROIDS BY MODEM!
Download file RAYOID.LZH from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO
ATARIARTS) for a three-in-one package of games. Includes a game similar
to Asteroids with great sounds (DMA sound supported). Action and
strategy. Documentation in English and French.
VERSION 6.5 OF WHATIS!
New version! WHATIS 6.5 identifies over 125 file types - ARCs, LHarcs,
PRGs, pics, ACCs, animations, etc... no more "what kind of file is this?"
problems! Runs as a PRG or ACC or a TTP-like program on any ST/TT in any
rez. Short docs included in the ARC. All the features of previous
versions, plus adds Warp9 Extend-O-Save modules and five other file types,
and allows the dialog to be centered with a double-click.
Download file WHATIS.ARC from LIBRARY 6 of the Atari Productivity
Forum (GO ATARIPRO).
GTHOR - ONE OF THE WORLD'S BEST OTHELLO PROGRAMS
Download file GTHOR.LZH from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO
ATARIARTS) for GTHOR 2.0, an Othello program that is considered one of the
four top Othello programs in the world. If you think you're good at
Othello, try this program!
STALKER STUFFR BACKTALK UTILITY
Download file STKSTU.ZIP from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Productivity
Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for "STalker Stuffr", a utility for use with STalker3
desk accessory. Use with CLI or Hotwire to automate Stalker tasks. Run a
BackTALK script without opening the Stalker window. Create HotWire LGR
entries for STalker DA sessions.
MIDI MUSIC MAKER
Version 2.21 of Midi Music Maker is now available in LIBRARY 5 of the
Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) as file MMM221.LZH. This program plays 16
different types of music including SMF. It also will create SMF format 0
or 1 from any of the types played. New features include ability to play
Dr. Ts (Atari or Amiga) and Sound Blaster CMF files, full screen file
display, user definable keys, selectable drum tracks when transposing and
several other new features and fixes.
VERSION 6.4 of WHATIS
Version 6.4 of WHATIS is now available for download from LIBRARY 6 of
the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) as file WHATIS.ARC. This
version identifies over 125 file types - ARCs, LHarcs, PRGs, pics, ACCs,
animations, etc... no more "what kind of file is this?" problems! Runs as
a PRG or ACC or a TTP-like program on any ST/TT in any rez. Short docs
included in the ARC. All the features of previous versions, plus adds
PageStream 2.2 docs and LaserJet II soft fonts to the list.
PAGESTREAM PATCH
A patch to convert PageStream 2.1 (UK) to PageStream 2.2 (UK) is
available for download as file UKPATC.ARC from LIBRARY 11 of the Atari
Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN). This is equivalent to the US version of the
patch which creates PageStream 2.2 (US). The UK version of PageStream has
the word 'color' spelled as 'colour' in the Global menu.
SIMPLY LOADING XTERM2 ONTO PORTFOLIO!
Download XLOAD.ZIP from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO
APORTFOLIO) for a small program and batch file to simplify first time
loading of xterm2 onto your Portfolio through the serial port. The batch
file is run from your PC and copies xload.com across to your Portfolio.
Xload.com is then run from your Portfolio to copy xterm2 across. The batch
file contains further instructions and the program has a number of error
trapping routines. NB. The zip file does not contain xterm2 itself - this
can be downloaded separately from library 2.
ULTIMATE ADDRESS BOOK!
The ultimate Address Book for the PC! Reads and edits Portfolio
compatible Address Book files. Advanced features! Commercial Quality!
Written and uploaded by Artisan Software. Even dials the modem for you...
just like the Portfolio dials over the speaker! Requires DOS-PC. Save
feature disabled until registered.
Download file ADR_BK.ZIP from LIBRARY 6 of the Atari Portfolio Forum
(GO APORTFOLIO).
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!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
In light of the high degree of feedback myself and the other editors
of STReport received, I thought I'd let everyone know I appreciate the
enthusiastic response due to the editorial that appeared in STReport 8.47.
I only hope I've created enough interest to look deeply into the actual
showing Atari made at Comdex'92 and _why_ they were in the Sands _again_.
I have always held Atari's hardware in very high regard, but at the
same time, I do indeed hold their management (read the Tramiels) totally
and completely responsible for the dismal state of affairs in the current
worldwide Atari marketplace.
The goals anticipated in creating these thought provoking situations
through STReport's editorials is to bring out the real picture, the whole
story, in the marketplace. The users deserve to hear both sides of the
coin, not just what someone _wants_ them to hear. They deserve to know
the entire story.
The sad part of the entire episode is; we are witnessing the old
"kill the messenger" syndrome at its very best. This is the reason why I
refuse to partake in the "feeding frenzy" we witnessed this past week that
was initiated and encouraged by certain ST RT sysops in GEnie's ST RT.
There is simply no way to make any sense of an issue to a frenzied group
when "mob rule" prevails. One can only hope that such behavior will not
be permitted to repeat itself. That's ok though, because the same users
witnessing this unfortunate event will be here tomorrow as well as next
year knowing full well exactly who tried to treat them like mushrooms.
STReport has always preached, promoted and extolled the first rate,
excellent quality of the hardware. Nobody but nobody can say STReport
_ever_ down talked the hardware or its user friendliness. However with
the very same resolve, we'll stay right in the face of its management
team, from the very top to the disinformation masters and yahoos acting
like cheerleaders until the deplorable performance we have been witness to
changes!
One of the main reasons for all the unrest is happening right now.
Here it is a scant few weeks from CHRISTMAS, the biggest SALES SEASON of
the year, bar none and what does Atari, without fail, do for the fifth
year in a row? You got it. Miss CHRISTMAS by a country mile! Why?
You'd think they would learn after the second fouled up HOLIDAY SALES
SEASON but no.. the dealers and the users must take it on the chin once
more. What do we hear from them? More lame excuses, posturing and buck
passing. Will they ever learn? Who knows. One thing is for sure, we are
losing users from this platform everyday simply because of a severe lack
of _truthful_ communications with these people. Not to mention timely
product delivery. Merry Christmas to all those Atari dealers (especially
all those NEW music types) for trying to hang tough. You deserve much
better from Atari........
Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
""""""""""""""""
Publisher - Editor
""""""""""""""""""
Ralph F. Mariano
PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION
----------- -------------- ------------
Roger D. Stevens Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON
STReport Staff Editors:
"""""""""""""""""""""""
Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson Michael Arthur
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner
John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando
Steve Spivey Doyle C. Helms
Contributing Correspondents:
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Michael Lee Richard Covert John Deegan
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt
Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Harry Steele
Ben Hamilton Neil Bradley Eric Jerue
Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing
James Nolan Vernon W. Smith Bruno Puglia
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.......................... 90:21/350.0
GEnie......................... ST-REPORT
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STR'S "BELIEVE IT? OR.. WHAT?"
<>###############################<>
"There is no comparison! The Atari Falcon
is far superior to the PC platform."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"As I said before, all marketing announcements will be made at
Duesseldorf. I will not comment on future models of the Falcon.
WE ARE TALKING TODAY ABOUT A MACHINE.....
WHICH WILL BE SHIPPING NEXT WEEK."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"I've just returned from Asia, where I saw the first Atari Falcon
production coming off the lines. Let's hope this new offering will
make it in North America. I know that the specs are great."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"...... We are not working for Wall Street but to
make money for our shareholders and only think long term."
Sam Tramiel, 11/92
psssst.
FYI.... The Shareholder's equity is fine.... NOT!
The Stock is $1.31 as of today, Friday: 12/04/92
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #49
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
-- PC Makers' Christmas Looks Merry
Analysts are saying that this could be PC makers' best Christmas sales
season ever, with some many PCs selling at all-time low prices, and some
hot items may be in short supply.
Seymour Merrin, President of Merrin Information services says, "Demand
has far outstripped everyone's wildest dream."
IBM, with three new models introduced this fall, is expecting a bumper
sales season. An IBM spokesman said, "We have a record number of orders
for any fourth quarter since the introduction of the original PC (in
1981). It's the biggest fourth quarter ever."
Compaq Computer said in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission
filing that shortages of certain parts may affect its ability to meet
demand."
Analysts say some components in short supply are monitors, disk drives
and memory chips. There also is increasing demand for the fastest
version of Intel Corp.'s '486 25MHz chip, they say.
-- Compaq Offers FREE THREE-YEAR WARRANTY
Compaq Computer Corp announced this week it will provide a free three-
year warranty with every personal computer it sells worldwide. Compaq
announced it has extended its free lifetime technical telephone support
to seven days a week and 24 hours a day in North America.
According to Compaq, it is currently the only computer manufacturer to
include a standard three-year warranty with its PCs.
-- Ohio Researchers Develop New LCD
Researchers at Ohio's Kent State University have developed a new
smaller, lighter, more energy-efficient liquid crystal display that they
say could revolutionize portable computing.
Researchers at the university's Glenn H. Brown Liquid Crystal Institute
say it took two years to develop a different type of liquid crystal
material -- namely, polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal --
that allows a display to operate without a backlight.
J. William Doane, one of the display's inventors, said, "This is a
breakthrough in reflective, front-lit displays. (It) is important
because virtually all flat-panel liquid crystal displays manufactured
today require backlights (and it) will allow the batteries of the
terminal to last much longer. Backlights are bulky and power hungry,
draining most of the power from batteries of laptop computers."
The researchers as saying their invention also has full memory, meaning,
says the wire service, "an image can remain displayed indefinitely
without requiring an additional electronic charge and offering better
contrasting images."
In addition, the new material can be used in plastic displays; existing
LCDs require a glass screen.
Doane says patent applications have been filed and work is under way to
develop color displays and to achieve display speeds fast enough for
television.
-- Japan Starts Project for Human-Like Approaches to Computing
Japan has launched a 10-year project to teach computers to mimic the
human brain, an effort called Real-World Computing Partnership that
backers say will benefit fields as diverse as agriculture, medicine and
education.
Reports from Tokyo say the project "aims to develop software that would
enable computers to escape from their traditional number-crunching role
and think in the kinds of ways humans do."
Hajime Irisawa, executive director of the project, told a news
conference, "Our computer will have quite excellent intuitive sensory
power. The scientific impact, the industrial impact and the social
impact will be quite significant."
The Japanese government is putting up 90 percent of the project funds
and that 14 private institutions are taking part, including Hitachi
Ltd., NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd.
-- FTC Closes Nintendo Investigation
The Federal Trade Commission has closed its antitrust investigation of
Nintendo Co. Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary Nintendo of America without
taking any action against the companies.
The FTC opened its investigation in 1990 to determine if Nintendo
engaged in unfair business practices. New York's Attorney General's
Office in New York closed its separate antitrust investigation of
Nintendo and in September.
In a recent letter to Nintendo, the FTC said, "The Commission has
conducted an investigation to determine whether Nintendo Co. Ltd. and
Nintendo of America Inc. may be engaging or may have engaged in
monopolization or other unfair methods of competition. Upon further
review of this matter it now appears that no further action is warranted
by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, ...the investigation has
been closed."
-- Prodigy and X*Press to Study Cable Distribution Feasibility
Reports say the IBM/Sears Prodigy online service has signed a letter of
intent with X*PRESS Information Services to study the feasibility of
distributing Prodigy to cable systems across country.
Communications Daily noted this morning X*PRESS, a subsidiary of Liberty
Media, offers services "through (an) out-of-band cable signal to
personal computer users in more than 800 cable systems."
The firms hope to reach an agreement next year.
-- Two New Yorkers Plead Guilty to Invading Major Computer Systems
Two of five young New Yorkers indicted last summer have pleaded guilty
to federal charges they broke into some of the world's largest computer
systems. All are alleged to be members of a computing group called MOD
or "Masters of Deception."
John Lee, 21, and Julio Fernandez, 19, now face up to five years in
prison. They entered guilty pleas to conspiracy charges yesterday in
Manhattan's U.S. District Court. Sentencing is set for February.
Three others indicted with Lee and Fernandez -- Mark Abene, 20, Elias
Ladopolous, 22, and Paul Stira, 22 -- are expected to go on trial in
April.
The suspects were accused last July of wrecking a local TV station's
education program, leaving electronic graffiti on an NBC news show and
obtaining 176 credit reports from the TRW credit information company.
They also were alleged to have broken into telephone switching computers
operated by Southwestern Bell, New York Telephone, Pacific Bell, U.S.
West and Martin Marietta Electronics Information and Missile Group.
Southwestern Bell contends it lost some $370,000 in 1991 because of
tampering by three of the defendants.
The five were charged with computer tampering, computer fraud, wire
fraud, illegal wiretapping and conspiracy.
______________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
On CompuServe!
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
Just for fun, DRAGON.ZIP contains a text adventure game which works on
the Portfolio. It works similar to the old classic, Hunt the Wumpus.
ALIAS.ZIP is a PC Mag utility that is known to work on the Portfolio.
It allows you to create aliases for complex commands. It also provides
other functions such as command line history, enable, disable, and
uninstall.
Getting a terminal program to your Portfolio for the first time is a
big problem when you have only the serial interface for communications.
XLOAD.ZIP is a small batch file which will make it easier to copy Xterm to
the Port. ALOAD.ZIP is a similar program to load Acom. Xterm 2 and Acom
are both terminal programs available for download in library 2.
ADR_BK.ZIP contains a demo version of Artisan Software's new PC
address book program. The program is compatible with the Portfolio's .adr
files for ease of sharing.
___________________________________________________________
> ABC_NEWS STR InfoFile Information about; PUBLISHER 2 ST
"""""""""""""""""""""
PUBLISHER 2 ST
==============
ABC Solutions has been appointed the Canadian distributor for
Publisher 2ST (the successor to Timeworks Desktop Publisher). Publisher 2
ST is the successor to the popular Timeworks Desktop Publisher (version
1.12) from GST Software of England.
With Publisher 2ST, everyone can be a publisher. This versatile,
value-for- money program gives you the power to design and print
professional quality documents at truly low cost - and with no need for
previous design or computer experience.
Publisher 2ST's friendly graphics user interface makes it easy to
learn and use, with on-screen 'help' to guide you. Using drop-down menus
and powerful page design tools, you can build your publication on-screen
exactly the way you want it. You can use master pages and templates to
create and save standard layouts and design elements on each page, and
standardize styles for your text so that all similar elements in a
document, such as picture captions, subheads, headlines and so on, will
appear in the same typeface and point size. It supports an extended range
of text and graphics imports from other popular programs. When working
on-screen, you can view your page in six different sizes.
A partial list of features includes:
* same features as PC version and more; exchange files with
PC version and with ST version 1.12
* full WYSIWYG
* GEM interface; quick keys
* 999 pages per document; master pages & style sheets;
paragraph tagging; custom page sizes; page numbering
* multiple frame operations
* wide range of text imports; retains styling
* text export
* more graphics imports: Degas, NEO, GEM, IMG, EPS, PCX, IFF, PIC
* auto/manual text flow; irregular shape wraparound; search &
replace; tables; word processing mode; auto hyphenation
* 9 typefaces in a variety of sizes & styles (Autumn,
Brushwood, Courier, Diamond, Sage, Sans, Serif, Bullets)
* bullet paragraphs; manual kerning; control over
justification, leading, word & paragraph spacing, indents
* graphics toolbox; scaling, cropping, editing tools; 36 fills
* improved tab handling
* autosave, and auto creation of .BAK files
* 1 Mb recommended, colour or mono
* TT compatible in medium or high ST & TT resolutions
* wide range of printers supported including Canon BubbleJet
and HP DeskJet; have up to 4 printers installed at once.
* completely new manual
"ABC Solutions ... We don't play games."
__________________________________________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by Joe Mirando
Well folks, another week has come and gone. Instead of you having to read
a blurb of my rambling, let's get right to what real people have to say.
From The Atari Productivity Forum
=================================
Alan Moore asks:
"Has anybody have any comments about the problems with the DMA Port on
the MEGA STE. When I have my SLM804 Laser connected to the STE the
computer boots up OK but when I try to access the floppies or the hard
disk I get the dreaded "DISK IN DRIVE" error, this only happens when
the Laser printer is switched off, I remember this sort of problem
occurring with my old MEGA ST, I presume this has to do with the fact
that the DMA port is not buffered is this correct ? and can I rectify
this problem in any way."
Sysop Bob Retelle answers:
"Alan, as I understand it, the problem is not in the computer itself,
but in the way the SLM was interfaced. As far as I know, the printer
has to be on whenever you boot up the system. There is/was a
third-party product that remedied this, but for the life of me I can't
remember its name.. someone with a better memory...? Help..!"
Our own dear editor/publisher, Ralph Mariano chimes in to provide the
name:
"Phantom of the Laser, from Widgets by Decker."
Meanwhile, Richard Gunter provides another solution:
"Sounds as though your surmise and Bob's reply are correct: the
SLM804 must be powered up on your STe as it was on the ST in order
operate the system. In addition to the Phantom of the Laser, there's
a poor man's (or miser's) way out as well.
Turn the SLM804 on, then prop the back door open. This causes the
motor and heater to shut down, but leaves the electronics up. Your
system will work just fine. Just close the door if you need to print
something.
There's actually an up side to the SLM's design: with a hard drive
daisy-chained off the SLM804's controller, you can run the system with
the hard drive powered down without disconnecting it. This has
advantages if you want to check out a new program for virus infections
-- no possibility of HD contamination! It's also handy for playing
floppy-only games."
We all know how easy our STs are to use, don't we? Sure! Easy to use,
affordable, powerful, easy to get repaired... oops. Well okay, so it can
be a real pain to try and get an ST repaired. When there were bunches of
Atari dealers everywhere you looked it was easy. Now? Ralph Kalatucka
posts:
"Where could I get my old 520ST repaired? I bought it in 1986 and use
it at work, while I have a 1040 w/HD at home, with Omniswitch
color/mono monitor selector. The 520 had a 1 meg upgrade put in by
the store (before they folded). The problem has been with it since it
was new. On power up when cold, all vertical lines squiggle a little,
getting worse, then better over 20 minutes or so. In that first hour
some screen re-draws (like STWriter going to main menu) will cause the
thing to hopelessly lock up. After that its ok, so I leave it on 24
hours a day.
Even so, screen redraws, especially on Megaroids and STWriter, and
sometimes Easy-Draw will give me what someone called "Jail Bars" or
else the right side of the screen wraps over to the left. The
original store tried fixing it twice before they folded. (I bought
this 520, my friend bought a 520 with similar problems, and even this
1040 will lock up once in a while, and the only cure I found is to
power off and twist the case a bit. Do all Atari's have this failure
rate? 3-out-of-3 is statistically way too high. Will the Falcon be
more reliable?) Just asking."
Greg Wageman tells Ralph:
"It sounds like whomever did your memory upgrade didn't know squat
about what they were doing. There are some limitations in the ST as
far as driving additional RAM goes. When I installed my JRI RAM
upgrade (1040ST to 4 Megs of SIMMs), the instructions cautioned that
some of the driver chips cannot handle the on-board memory (which is
still being driven in parallel with the upgrade) plus the upgrade, and
the symptom is random flickering pixels, lines, etc. on the screen and
in some cases total failure to boot. So I bought myself a pair of
diagonal cutters (that will fit between the pins of a 16-pin DIP IC)
and chopped out the top bank of RAM. Presto, no more lines.
If you have to twist the case to get your machine to work, the chances
are more likely you've got cold solder joints, or other forms of bad
connection. If I were you (and if you know which end of a soldering
iron gets hot) I'd open that baby up and resolder all the RAM
connections. Depending on the type of upgrade, I might yank out the
existing RAM too (unless they did a "piggyback" upgrade, in which case
you NEED the existing RAM chips)."
Well, it happens everywhere you look: A good thing comes along and before
long there is someone on the scene to cause trouble. The troublemakers
I'm talking about are software pirates. We all know about the revenues
that software houses loose because of these pirates, so I won't bother to
go into that. Tom Craig from Edinburgh, Scotland posts:
"I don't know what sort of regulations apply in the 'States, but here
is an article I read in the U.K.'s 'The Daily Telegraph.'
"PIRATE CRACKDOWN"
"The Business Software Alliance, set up to fight illegal copying of
software, has launched a crackdown on electronic bulletin board
operators. Thirteen operators in Berlin [Germany] have been closed
down. British police are thought to have been alerted to the problem."
Source:The Daily Telegraph, page 30, November 30, 1992"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine points Tom in the right direction:
"Try the Software Publishers Association. (GO SPA) they have a forum
dedicated to those type of issues raised."
Sysop Bob Retelle adds:
"Tom, we've had similar reports of BBSs being shut down here in the
US, although it's been a while since I remember reading about that
happening.. Mainly it's a matter of interesting the authorities in
something they usually don't see as a pressing social problem. If the
large software companies get involved, as Albert mentioned with the
SPA forum, then sometimes action is taken..."
If you've have a hard drive for a while, you've probably noticed that as
you add and delete files, the hard drive gets slower and slower. The
'Reader's Digest' version of why goes like this: As you add and delete
files, the data can become 'fragmented'. What this means is that instead
of all of the data being in one long chain of sectors on your hard drive
it gets put wherever there is space: a few sectors here and a few sectors
there. You now have to 'jump' from place to place on the hard disk to
retrieve the whole file. This of course takes time. The solution is to
use a disk optimizer which is a program that rearranges the data on your
hard drive so that all files are contiguous. There are several programs
available for the ST that are capable of this task. Matt Seitz asks:
"Which is better, DIAMOND EDGE or HARD DISK SENTRY (or some other hard
disk optimizer/repairer)? I currently have an old version of HARD
DISK SENTRY and am trying to decide whether to upgrade or switch
products. What are the advantages of each?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine tells Matt:
"You can download the most current version of Hard Disk Sentry
directly from Beckemeyers BBS. The most current version is 1.3.
Diamond Edge works fine for everything I have tried it with. I am
also a long time user of hard disk sentry (since 1987) and it worked
without fail since the first one. HD Sentry maybe slower than Diamond
Edge but it works and works very well. You should upgrade first and
then see if you are missing anything and then take another look at
Diamond Edge."
In a "Message to Atari" Domingo Alvear posts:
"To Atari,
I LOVE your machines. I've owned a 520ST, a 1040ST, and am currently
using a Mega ST4. I am trying to buy a used STacy. (Bring the STacy
back with a blitter, a coprocessor socket, and an accelerator!) I
don't like the Mega STe. Bring back the square Mega's. The TT's are
WAAAY out of my reach.
Falcon's? Release the damn thing. I love the Mega ST design. (The
internal DMA connection, the built in fan, the built in HD mounting
holes, the built in HD power cable, the built in clock...) Make your
machines have more standard openings for HD's and floppies. I noticed
you did that on the Falcon. BRAVO.
Use Floptical Drives!!! Or at least make it an option! Advertise.
Everybody will tell you this. Sell machines. Have an educational
discount program. Get some "big name" s/w. Spend some cash. Your
dealer program is extremely difficult to start.
Ease up. Maybe have a "two-tiered" dealership program. One for low
end: STE's, Mega STE's, STacy's (Stacys's??? ;-), and Falcon030's.
One for high end: Falcon030's to TT's to ???? Court your developers.
Give them all the information they need. Work out bundle packages
with them. DO SOMETHING! PLEASE!"
It all sounds like common business sense, doesn't it? Well, let's hope
that Atari listens.
Elsewhere, John Bonavita asks:
"Has Atari started to ship the Falcon in Germany? If so how has it
been greeted?"
Tony at GST Software tells John:
"As far as I'm aware - no. Nothing has been posted onto CIX and there
are some people from Germany (and others with good contacts) on there.
Ditto no comments from our dealers yet."
John replies to Tony:
"I don't like it! Germany is supposed to be Atari's major battle
ground (and come back). I really thought that the machines were for
sale over there!"
Tony tells John:
"...There was a rumor going round over a month ago on some of the UK
boards that the machine had gone on sale and been pulled very quickly
because of problems with the TOS. Although this was never commented on
officially I understand (from off record sources) that it was
definitely untrue since they had never had any to sell in the first
place.
I would expect to know reasonably quickly from one source or other if
it does go on sale (like our distributor complaining that our stuff
doesn't work on them for instance) and don't see any reason why once
that happens I can't post a comment up here for you."
Although the Falcon hasn't made it to our shores (or any others, it would
seem), that hasn't stopped interest in the latest Atari machine. Mike
Mortilla posts:
"For all interested, the Falcon is previewed in this months issue
of Keyboard (the one with Bart Simpson on the cover <g>.
It's only a 2 page article but covers the highlights. Very interesting
reading (how's that for formatting <g>). The issue may be on
the stands in a few days, I got mine via subscription and usually
that beats the stores a little.
It looks exactly like my 1040 STf! And at $800, I am tempted
to pick one up (ha ha - if they decide to sell them in the USA).
Some very cool features, but I don't know that I want to see the
faces of the forums members when I'm communicating. Or rather,
I don't know I'd want them to see me as I have been known to tele-
communicate in less than full sartorial splendor!"
From the Atari VEndors Forum
============================
J.F. Moulard asks Charles F. Johnson of CodeHead Technologies about TOS
2.06:
"I have a 1040STe with TOS1.4, and I would like to put TOS2.06 in it.
1) Can you provide me with the ROMs?
2) I live in France, Can you deliver me there?
3) At which price?
4) Do you know someone that is doing a 16MHz kit for the STe?"
Charles replies:
"Thanks for your interest. Yes, we can ship a set of French TOS 2.06
ROMs to France; the price would be $66.00 ($60.00 for the chips, plus
$6.00 shipping). But you've got something incorrect in your message
-- you mentioned that you have a "1040STe with TOS 1.04". This is
impossible; the STe computers all have TOS 1.06 or above. If you do
have TOS 1.06, you'll be able to simply swap the ROM chips to install
2.06. But if you have a 1040ST with TOS 1.04, you'll also need the
TOS Extension Card. So you should double-check your ROM version and
machine type before ordering.
Also, please send any orders through Email; CIS policy says we're not
supposed to do this sort of business in the public forums. Thanks!"
Stefan Daystrom of Barefoot Software asks about the possibility of using
the new Kodak photo CD system in conjunction with CALLIGRAPHER, CodeHead's
Top-Notch word processing program:
"I've been reading lately in COMDEX reports about how there's already
a Kodak Photo CD importing capability in Calamus. Do you expect an
equivalent ability to be added to Calligrapher at some point?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Advantage Magazine tells Stefan:
"Michael Bernards (who wrote the Kodak PhotoCD software) will have
software that converts the PhotoCD pictures to TIF and a few other
formats. That way you can import the pictures into any program."
Eric Hall asks Charles F. Johnson about upgrading his old MEGA:
"I Thought maybe you or anyone else in this forum could offer some
sage advice. I've finally made the decision to upgrade my
antiquated but much loved Mega ST2 rather than spring for a TT or
even worse, one of those clone things that just discovered what GUI is
all about.
My problem is that my Mega is truly an early model (TOS 1.2 and
not even a blitter) and I'd like to really soup it up. That means a
TEC board, at least a 4 meg RAM upgrade, hopefully an optional 68030
board and yes even a blitter if such a thing can be obtained on it's
own.
I guess the real question I have is ... will it all fit in this case?
I assume I would need the Bus version of the TEC and something like
the Xtra Ram deal since I have little intention of playing with a
soldering iron. So are they compatible and is there a small 68030
board on the market that could fit in there as well?
Any suggestions/information would be most appreciated."
Charles tells Eric:
"I don't know about the space requirements of the 68030 boards that
are on the market, but there is definitely room inside the Mega ST2
for both a RAM upgrade and a TEC. The TEC is compatible with RAM
upgrade boards of all types, and takes up very little room (especially
the Mega Bus version)."
Well friends and neighbors, that's it for this week. C'mon back next week
(same time, same station), kick your shoes off, sit back, relax a little
bit, and listen to 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
======================
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officially be a member of DELPHI!
TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (12/2/92)
---------------------------
STR847
DYNAMITE MILLIPEDE CLONE
FAMOUS PEOPLE NUDE
AUTOSORT 4.1
PIC VIEWERS FOR ST & TT
DENISE CROSBY
Z*NET 9220
GEM-VIEW 2.01
RAYOID!
TRANSCRIPT OF COMDEX CO
All of the above files can be found in the RECENT ARRIVALS database
for at least one week after the posting of this list. Please Note
that in the case of online magazines, only the most current issue in
the database at the time of this compilation is considered for the Top
10 list. Also, for all files, a submission is eligible for the Top 10
list for only four weeks after its original uploading.
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
***********************************************************************
> OutBurst! 3.0 STR InfoFile Outburst with auto-switch spooler
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A N N O U N C I N G
===================
OUTBURST! 3.0
WITH
AUTO-SWITCH SPOOLER
Version 3.0 of OutBurST! is now shipping. It contains a unique
"Auto-switch" printer spooler that can optimize not only your graphic
output, but also text based output. OutBurST! versions 1 & 2 really made
Pagestream and Calamus printing fly! However if you printed very long
text based files (Word Writer, Steno, Word Perfect, etc.) the time to get
your ST back could be improved by the use of a print spooler. This is
even in the case when using a laser printer with a built-in 4 meg memory.
The laser printer is busy printing and cannot accept a whole lot of text
between printed pages. Thus you sit and wait for your computer to return
control to you. Now OutBurST! version 3.0 has a built-in spooler that can
be configured to automatically switch the spooler in or out as required.
Now all you printing tasks will be optimized.
Also new to version 3.0 is a clearly written 16 page manual that will
lead you through the installation and operation of OutBurST! Among the
new features is the setup editor (OBSET) that will allow you to set the
spooler size and select programs that should not utilize the spooler
(Pagestream, Calamus, Touch-up, Desktop Publisher ST, etc.). If you wish
to override the automatic spooler status, the OutBurST! Control Accessory
can be used to change the setting while in any GEM application.
OutBurST! version 3.0 is available from:
Straight Edge Software
PO Box 6407
Nashua, NH 03061
To order, send $25 plus $2 shipping and handling. If you are a
registered user of previous versions, send original disk and $10.
_____________________________________________________________
> DynaCADD 2D STR InfoFile "...a high-level 2D design package.."
""""""""""""""""""""""""
DITEK LAUNCHES DYNACADD 2D
==========================
Ditek launches DynaCADD 2D, a high-level 2D design package for the
Atari toretail for only US $289.00
Contact:Frank Staples, Ditek International, (416) 479-1990
Ditek International announced DynaCADD 2D for the Atari ST and TT030
computers. The package includes both versions and is now available. The
Atari Falcon version will be available in January 1993. DynaCADD 2D is
the 2D portion of Ditek's powerful 2D/3D Computer Aided Design and
Drafting solution that has been in the market for the past two years.
According to Oren Asher, President of Ditek, DynaCADD 2D will fill a
specific market niche, "what we offer is a feature-rich, 2D design
environment for under $300 that competes with, has more features and is
much easier to use than anything out there. A significant portion of the
market designs primarily in 2D. What these designers want is easy to use,
high-level 2D functionality at the most reasonable price."
"DynaCADD 2D offers the exact same comprehensive 2D functionality as
our full 2D/3D version. Not one single 2D capability has been omitted.
This new product typifies our sensitivity to the market and is being
offered in response to many requests. If a designer only requires our 2D
functionality for the meantime, we are more than willing to make it
available. One can always take advantage of the 3D capabilities offerred
in our other version later on", said Asher.
Features such as online help, context-sensitive documentation and a
well organized and intuitive graphical interface make DynaCADD 2D
extremely easy to learn and use. DynaCADD 2D accurately sends all or any
portion of any drawing at any scale, including best fit, to all popular
pen plotters, dot matrix printers, laser printers, PostScript printers or
disk files. A MAKEPLOT utility is included to create or change any
plotter driver. A full Vector Font Editor is included to create new or
edit existing characters or fonts.
Ditek's head office is located at;
Ditek International
2800 John Street, Unit 15
Markham,Ontario
Canada L3R 0E2
Tel: (416) 479-1990, Fax: (416) 479-1882.
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service:
Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and
weekend access to more than 100 services including
electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news,
entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards
on leisure and professional subjects. With many other
services, including the biggest collection of files to
download and the best online games, for only $6 per
hour.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month
of membership if you are not completely satisfied, just
ask for your $4.95 back.
GEnie Announcements (FREE)
1. Santa visits GEnie for three weeks. For more info, type......*SANTA
2. THE Hottest Item For The Holidays,GEnie Gift Certificate ...GENIESTORE
3. Survey sponsored by the Interactive Services Association......*SURVEY
4. Santa visits early in Germany: special RTC (2 p.m. 6 Dec).....GERMANY
5. MALCOLM X, FEW GOOD MEN & others reviewed in..................SHOWBIZ
6. Matrix Software comes ONLINE in..............................ASTROLOGY
7. SEGA SUPER CD (tm) -- ONLY $299.99 at.........................SEARS
8. SAVE on Modems, Software & a Portable Hard Drive at...........OMNI
9. Star Wars Fanwriter Maggie Nowakowska, Saturday in............SFRT3
10. PC Pricing Research That Will Save You Money................PC CATALOG
11. >Why watch Football when you can MAKE THE CALL here with......QB1
12. SNOWBALL FIGHT at Santa's Workshop with the players from......FED
13. HURRY - grab these games before it's too late.................SOFTCLUB
14. Meet Amiga Video Morphing Developers - Win New Titles.........STARSHIP
15. Kids, Animals and the Environment.Join our special guest in...PET
Welcome ****** ******** ** ** **
To the ** ** ** ** **
GEnie ****** ** ST ** ** **
ATARI ** ** Roundtable ** ** **
****** ** ** ** **
*** ** ***
The Official Online Resource of Atari Corporation *** ** ***
Atari ST Roundtable
Real Time Conference Special Events Calendar
Dec. 4 - DATELINE ATARI with Bob Brodie. Join us for this regular
(FRI.) roundtable conference with the Director of Communications
and chat about any Atari product or software.
Dec. 9 - John Cole from Lexicor will present PHOENIX 512 -
a powerful new graphics program. There will be a
DOOR PRIZE of one free copy of PHOENIX 512.
Dec 16 - Join guest Zenobot for a night of game discussion. Eric
(WED.) will answer your questions concerning which games to buy
for Christmas. Come on in and get a few hints!
Happy Holidays from the Atari Roundtable and GEnie!
Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities:
26707 BLITZ144.ARC X E.MONACO 921127 30336 185 2
Desc: Now defragments... AUTOMATICALLY!!!
26632 GROCERY.LZH X R.HOEKSTRA1 921122 30976 184 21
Desc: Grocery/Shopping list creator
26714 NEOSECRT.LZH X A.FASOLDT 921128 37760 176 21
Desc: Secrets of NeoDesk: Tips 'n' tricks
26700 ALADVIEW.ARC X J.ALLEN37 921127 24704 175 7
Desc: View and Search Aladdin Files
26737 SPBT80.LZH X G.W.MOORE 921129 155392 97 2
Desc: Super Boot V8.0 - Great New Version!
26702 TERA_124.LZH X GRMEYER 921127 91392 94 2
Desc: TerraDesk v1.24 Desktop Replacement
This month Darlah will be bringing you multiple Holiday Treats. The first
two are a color and mono version of OXYD a HOT new game. "Darlah's Treat
of the Month" at 475;9 on the menu is the MONO version of OXYD. And
"Darlah's Treat of the Month II" at 475;10 is the COLOR version.
Also see Category 9 Topic 45 for useful information on how to use the
game. See Category 21 Topic 7 for explicit hints and tips. It is a game
that is bound to keep you busy for hours on end. It has multi-levels with
each level having its own unique puzzle. Please post your codes and hints
and tips as you play. Both versions are TT/ST/STE compatible!
Regular Open Conference every Wednesday night, 10PM EDT, 7PM PDT
DTP conference every Monday at 10PM eastern in room 3.
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> The Flip Side STR Feature ".... a different viewpoint..."
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
After a long absence, Bob Brodie, Atari's User Group Cordinator, has
returned to public view in the ST Roundtable on Genie. We welcome him
and his insightful, informative and interesting posts back; he was
sorely missed.
I have devoted most of this column to comments and responses from Bob.
One problem with Bob's posts is that since he is so busy and can't get
online everyday, he many times responds to 4-5 different people and
subjects in the same post. I hope I've commented his posts well enough
so that you can understand what his replies were referring to.
All of this weeks posts are from the ATARI CORPORATION ONLINE category
[Category 14] in the ST Roundtable on Genie.
----------------
Why Bob Brodie hasn't been seen on Genie much in the last few months -
Topic 31, Msgs. 89-105....
From Bob Brodie -
[Concerning why Bob hasn't been on Genie as much recently and a clari-
fication of what service is the official Atari online service.]
One issue that must be dealt with now however is the post from Wayne
Watson, alleging that AtariNet is the offical online service of Atari,
and his allegations that I am more active there than on here. That is
incorrect. GEnie has been, and will continue to be our official online
service. The perception that I am on any other network more than on
GEnie is easy to understand. Most of the time that I have allocated to
has been limited to e-mail and conferences. This is at the direction of
Mr. Ron Smith, who is no longer with us. Since the other networks have
no real time conferences, I do post there from time to time.
I began discussions with Sam Tramiel regarding on-line support earlier
this week. Those discussions will continue next week after I return to
Sunnyvale. I'm confident that Atari will allocate more of my time to
being on GEnie. :)
Reply from Mike Allen -
Bob, I asked the question in Sam's RTC about the Atari presence here on
GEnie.
My reason was that questions about existing Atari products in this
category go unanswered for months by Atari. These aren't questions
about the F030 or marketing plans or anything like that. They are
questions about the rts/cts problems, BGM partitions with AHDI 5.0,
differences between tos 2.05 and 2.06, etc.
If GEnie is the offical Atari service and this category is named "ATARI
CORPORATION ONLINE" it seems that it should receive notice AND priority
over other services, such as AtariNet, by Corporate Atari.
I do hope that the promised increased Offical Atari presence here
becomes a reality but, to be honest, I am skeptical.
On the positive side, TOWNS activity on GEnie has been a very positive
thing both for us users and Atari. I surely hope that this is noticed
and recognized by Atari management.
Hoping to see much more of you here,
Answer from Bob -
Mike, as I've already indicated to Wayne, GEnie does get priority over
any other network. I spend considerably more time on GEnie than on any
other network. It may not appear as such to you because most of the
time that was allocated to GEnie was being used up in the real time
conferences and email. Since other free networks like AtariNet don't
have real time conferences (which is just ONE of the many downsides to
such networks) it's easy for me to see how you could misunderstand what
was going on.
Now that Mr. Smith is no longer with us, I'm planning on spending more
time online here. However, I make no bones about my abilities...some of
the techy questions will have to be handled by other people.
I can understand your skepticism...I have things that I am more than a
little skeptical about myself. :)
Just bear in mind that there are a number of ways to measure activity
on a service. Time spent online is one of the biggies. The fact that I
haven't been able to post often here is not something I've been happy
about either, but I had my marching orders for how much time to spend
here. :( Blame it on my email which continues to be considerable.
....Being online can take a tremendous amount of time, especially if it
is done properly. GEnie can take upwards of two hours a day for me to
take a look at the message bases that I need to, as well as e-mail.
This doesn't include any time to browse the libraries for fun stuff
either. All work and no play.
Smith felt that being online was much ado about nothing, and saw no
reason for me to spend so much time on-line. Instead, he had me doing
other things with our PR firm, as some other activities that I'd rather
not discuss. :) In short, I pretty much came offline darn near every-
where, at least during "normal" business hours.
I guess that's what happens when your boss doesn't value what you have
historically done for the company.
Anyway, he's gone now. And I'm back! :)
----------------
Misc. answers from Bob Brodie - Topic 20, Msg. 85-136...
Wow, all this stuff that I had to catch up on from just a week of not
reading...SHEESH! Where to begin?
I guess I'll start with that which sticks out at me the most;
[Concerning a question/comment about a pirate BBS]
J.ROY18-Please send me the number for the Pirate BBS and a password to
log on there with. I'll d/l the copy of TOS 4.0 that they have on there
and test it for you. I'll ask our corporate counsel if he cares to join
me while we log onto to the BBS. Maybe he'll want to help me test the
software as well. Anything else I should look for while on this BBS?
Naturally, a response in e-mail is fine, rather than going public.
However, I do expect the number of the BBS...of that make no mistake.
[More on pirate BBSes]
Steve Johnson, I'm *shocked* to see you describe a Pirate BBS as one of
the places that an Atari user can get an inkling of support. That's
really, really poor. I suppose the fact that they are also destroying
proper support channels by their piracy has never crossed your mind?? I
assure you that it has crossed the mind of every developer that has a
product on the market. See my message to J.ROY18, and feel free to pass
along some numbers to me. Not that I need that kind of "support".
[Concerning guesses and rumors about Falcon production in 1993]
I'm a little at a loss where the current projections of Falcon
production is coming for? Who's the source for this rumor??? Our
production forecast is for approx. 350,000 machines for 1993. Half of
those are earmarked for the US. Crunch all you want, and we'll make
more.
[Comments about the PC emulator
for the Falcon]
Re the PC emulator for the processor slot...the one that was shown at
COMDEX was an early working prototype of a 286. The 286 version will be
sold very inexpensively, and there will be a 486SX version available by
January. In color.
[Misc. discussions between Bob and Jerry Richter]
Jerry Richter, I cannot believe that you showed up at COMDEX and didn't
even take the time to come over and introduce yourself. Or were you the
guy that was leaning on a Falcon asking me "Where the hell are the
Falcons at, Brodie?" I enjoyed that guy...
Seriously, I'd have been happy to spend time with you, and make sure
that you were introduced to all of the developers so they could tell
you about their products, and their plans. That would have prevented
your from commenting about the B & W version of the PC board, which
will never see a dealers shelf in it's present configuration. :) If
you'd have spoken to Theo Bruers of Compo, he'd have explained to you
that they had a last minute set back on the PC Board, and had to really
hustle just to get a prototype available at the show. He might have
even told you that I was the one pressuring him to do that...and he'd
be right! <grin>
I think that it's very clear that you're after a higher end unit that
the Atari Falcon030, and that's fine. However, we envision the unit as
a basic home computer. That vision is shared by other companies, like
Eastman Kodak, that recognize the one piece design as a plus. It's much
easier to gather the family around the TV with a Photo-CD hooked up to
an Atari than it is to do it with ANY other computer on the market.
Most of the rest of the units aren't in the family room, they're in
Dad's office, or on a desk somewhere else in the home. :)
Reply from Jerry Richter -
Bob, sorry, I wanted to get over to see you but I only had (1) day to
spend in the Sands... Yes I know it was an "early" release of the PC
board!.. but I think it was UNWISE to show something HALF DONE
considering the Dis\Mis-Information Atari has been shoveling at us
recently! and you know what I am talking about!
There is nothing wrong with a sixteen-bit 16MHZ system!! Just not in
1993 when most of the NEW "low-end" PC's will be 32bit 486 based! and
Bob.. Please tell me that ATARI will CAN the "CHEAPIE" keyboard!! This
keyboard has NO place on a system selling for OVER $1200 !! and you
know it... Bob.. its a matter of "Perceived Quality" always has been
always will be.. The keyboard I am now typing on is the Mega4.. It's
great! and PLEASE don't mention the Falcon as a $799 unit.. That system
is unusable and you know it! The Falcon is indeed a FUN system.. but
you still have to type on the darn thing DON'T YOU? And PLEASE... don't
tell me you guys just didn't know (Bill Rehbock included) or you were
"Out of touch" (I'm is the business) the Falcon030 was a "16 bit"
system all-along! If Atari would have been HONEST in your FIRST Genie
session we might have understood... AFTER THIS SIXTEEN BIT FIASCO do
you blame us for being just a little hurt!
Bob, I listened at the booth as one after another ATARIAN shook their
heads after typing on the Falcon030... and before they could even get
to the GREAT THINGS the Falcon CAN DO they would walk away saying
"Sheesh same old thing "... "what a shame.." "Get a real computer"
....... I still wish Atari ALL THE LUCK in the World.. (My wife and I
own 2000 shares!!)
Here's waiting for the "New and Improved" Falcon030/040..
Another reply from Bob Brodie -
Jerry, as always, you have your opinion, and you are certainly entitled
to it. :)
I think you're preaching to your own choir though, and overlooking some
very significant points here though. Let me help you out just a little
bit. <grin> First, the PC board is not our product, it is a product of
COMPO, a German based developer. Therefore, whatever your feelings are
about the information you have gotten from us is quite misplaced with
regard to COMPO's new product.
We had gone to great lengths in discussions with the "mainstream"
computer press to tell them about this product. For most of them, the
ability of the Atari Falcon030 to run DOS applications is something
they wanted to SEE, not just be told about VAPORWARE. While you, as an
Atarian, may not have thought it was wise to see an early version of
the product, these people needed to see that it could, and was being
done!!!! We need to bring these people on board in order to grow, so
having the product in the booth as 100% the correct decision.
I appreciate your view on the keyboard, and the single piece design.
However, you continue to overlook the fact that the Atari Falcon030
does support a 32 bit path to video, which is critical for the intended
market of the machine. That also means that the announcements were NOT
incorrect, and ensures fast graphics performance. The CPU path was kept
at 16 bits to protect YOUR investment in software, and ensure maximum
compatibility. The Atari Falcon030 is 32 bit everywhere that it would
not impact compatibility.
The Atari Falcon030 has a unique and innovative system, which uses a
16Mhz 68030, the BLiTTER (tm), the 56001 DSP chip, and the DMA. The FPU
is optional. No other "32 bit based 486 cheapie" can match this
performance. You must compare the entire system if you insist on
comparing systems. Let me know what you get for a price on a DSP card,
Jerry. Locally, retail pricing on such a card is around $900.
For every person you claim you heard in your one day at the Sands that
said "what a shame, get a real computer" I must have heard many more
that said "When can I get one?", and that includes non- Atarians as
well.
You're obviously interested in a higher end system, and that's ok
Jerry. But please, don't forget that this machine is intended to be a
entry level home computer!! While you complain that the $799 system is
unsable, a few messages below yours is yet another user saying that's
the machine he wants to buy, as soon as he can get one!!!
In short, you want a different machine than we've produced. OK. That
doesn't mean that the unit we've produced isn't a good computer that
will be accepted by many.
...I don't know how difficult VGA will be to do on the PC Board. I only
know that COMPO is a very capable development house and they have an
excellent track record of doing what they say they will do. Remember
us? We're the ones that always tell our developers "It can't be done"
and then watch as they do so. :) If COMPO says their going to do it,
I'm willing to take them at their word.
Why have an Atari version of the 486SX board? Are you now trying to
suggest that we should compete with another developer? No thanks, we'll
pass. For a couple of reasons: 1) Someone else is already pursuing the
product and has shown a prototype 2) We have other things more
interesting that we would rather have our engineers working on.
Remember the higher end Falcon you long to see? Wouldn't YOU rather
that they were focusing on that??? I thought so, and so would I.
I don't understand why you continue with the "Nobody here wants a one
meg machine" argument, when just below your previous message, SOMEONE
HERE DID! Of course I know that they'll probably be upgrading it later.
But far and away, the leading selling machine that we have produced are
the LOWER end machines. World wide. :) And Wayne says AGAIN that he
wants the one meg version. Are you telling him to keep his money in his
wallet, Jerry??? :)
[Comments to T-Bird about the CD player and a tower case]
Don't know if you have a tower case set up for a PC yet. I do, got a
real tank of a case real cheap ages ago and mounted darn near
everything in it. Let me clue you, my friend, the wife is NOT capable
of picking it up and moving it. Nor does she want to. <grin> Got her
trained on that one anyhow!
The CD player is already in the living room, so she doesn't have to
anything other than connect a cable from it to the CPU, which as an
addicted player of Dragon's Lair, she has done many, many times while
connecting an STE up to our 27" Sony. :)
I think that the real scenario is that the cable from the CD player
will be laying around waiting for a Falcon to plug into it and the
easily carried Atari Falcon030 will look dandy on the coffee table in
the living room.
And the wife et al will be pleased at how easy it is to set up and use.
----------------
Question to Bob from Mike Allen - Topic 4, Msgs 115-118...
Since Atari has said that they will have more official presence here to
answer questions, I think I'll test it out.
I have 3 different FX80.SYS printer drivers, one from WordUp 2, one
from Calligrapher and one from the Atari FontGDOS package. I use G+PLUS
1.5
The three programs that I normally use printer drivers with are
Calligrapher, WordUp 2 and XICPrint from SDS.
Why is it that the Callig driver only works with Callig, WU2 driver
with WU2 and the FontGDOS driver with XICPrint. None of the drivers
will work correctly with any other of the three programs. A bit of a
pain although G+PLUS takes care of it.
I would think that the 'rules' for printer drivers would be spelled out
in the developer's docs. Is there some kind of a mechanism where third
party drivers can be 'certified' by Atari?
This is the kind of a problem that I see all the time in the MSDOS
world and that I hoped to avoid here.
Answer from Bob -
All of the applications you've mentioned SHOULD work fine with the
driver from the FONTGDOS package. I'm not that familiar with Calli-
grapher (other than hearing great things about it), so I'm not sure if
they have followed the GDOS standard or not.
While we have told our developers what they must do to meet the full
GDOS requirements, they are, as they always have been, to make their
applications the way that they see fit.
To make matters more interesting, of course, you're not using GDOS
either! :)
Word Up 2 tried to take advantage of GDOS fonts, while bypassing other
portions of GDOS. I suspect that's part of the reason that there was a
Word Up 3 put out that dealt with that problem.
There are other instances where applications work fine, and use their
own printer drivers and font mechanisms, like Calamus and PageStream
for instance. Great programs, but different approaches to printing than
GDOS uses.
I don't think I've been able to give you the answer that you want here,
Mike. But I do think it's a reasonable response. I use WordFlair II and
WordUp 3.0 at work on a daily basis. They both work fine, and require
no fiddling around with the printer driver set up. I'd be unhappy if I
had to mess around with it, too.
Response from Mike -
Thanks for the answer, Bob. Seems to me that it would be to everyone's
advantage if there were a certification process where a 3rd party
developer could send his/her driver to Atari and then Atari could bless
(or curse) it as being 'GDOS compliant.'
I'm curious about you comment about my not using GDOS. Has there ever
been a case where a driver would work with GDOS and not G+PLUS? By the
way, I did try those driver/app combinations with GDOS 1.1 - same
problems.
Again, thanks for the response - this is the type pf support that would
(will?) be a real plus for Atari and its users.
P.S. I'd use WU3 too, except that there wasn't a printer driver for my
printer and Neocept went Tango Uniform before I could get one from
them. 8^{ (Hmmmm. I never tried the FontGDOS driver with WU3.)
Final reply from Bob -
My comment about your not using GDOS is only to underline the fact that
there are a lot of different ways to get things done, as well as
"variants on a theme" in computer software. :) Give the FontGDOS driver
a try with Word Up 3.
We walk a tightrope between wanting to provide lots of options to our
users (both hardware and software), and the need to keep it easy enough
for ANYONE to use readily.
It's not an easy task, as your experience indicates.
----------------
TT problems from Frank Goron - Topic 5, Msgs 180-190...
I've recently developed a problem on my TT030. I have 8 meg of ram,no
internal HD & a Syquest 44meg removeable HD.
The problem seems to be that I can't access the TT ram. When I boot up
everything appears normal til it's almost time for the desktop to
appear, then it's mondo-bombo. It doesn't matter what acc's or auto
prgs are on or off, I had the same thing happen with nothing but
Deskmgr & a desktop.inf file.
BUT, if I use 24bit.prg to disable the TT ram at the beginning of the
bootup, there's no problem at all. That's why I'm pretty sure the
problem is in the TT ram.
The weirdest thing was that it appeared suddenly several weeks ago &
just as suddenly it disappeared. And it's been coming & going, so that
I couldn't isolate & reproduce the problem til the last couple days.
One time it even happened after the TT was up & running for several
hours. I was in the middle something & the bombs appeared & it locked
up. But now the problem came back the last couple days & that gave me
the time to experiment & conclude it was most likely the TT ram.
The only thing I haven't tried was to reformat the HD but it works just
fine when the 24bit.prg is run so I'm sure that it isn't the problem.
Any thoughts before I ship this thing out? And no, I'm afraid I
wouldn't even consider popping the hood.
Reply from John Stanford (Lexicor) -
On some TT's the TT and ST ram boards can become loose, causing a poor
connection and the loss of that ram. A significant temperature change
can do this also (say 15 degrees).
Usually your TT ram won't be visible durring the memory check on
startup, but I've occasionally had it check positive and still fail.
Its a simple matter to reseat the board as its directly under the case
in the front left corner, you don't have to move any shielding. That is
your decision though.
Reply from Sheldon Winick (Computer Studio) -
John may well be right about your TT-RAM board possibly coming loose.
The board connects on one edge only and cantilevers outward toward the
front of the machine. Should the board come a little loose from the
socket, it can indeed cause the problems you're experiencing. Of
course, if the board or the RAM on it went bad, the same problems would
also occur. Your best bet would be to have the system checked out at an
Atari service center. If the system is less than a year old, it should
still be covered by Atari's 1-year warranty, so don't break the
warranty seal yourself.
Answer from Bob Brodie -
I'm curious, have you set any of the flags in the programs that you're
running to access TT ram? How about the SHDRIVER.SYS file? I'd suggest
that you re- write the SHRIVER.SYS file by running HINSTALL again, and
boot with NO acc's and no auto programs at all. You can check how much
ram you have under the desktop configuration menu under option. If you
haven't changed the default keyboard equivilents just press M from the
desktop.
See how much ram you have available that way first. Or go thru and re-
set all the flags on the programs to NOT use TT ram. I use MAXIFILE III
from CodeHead to do that task. Once you have all the flags set back to
only use ST ram, check the GENERAL CPX and click on the STATUS button.
It will tell you what the scoop is on your ram situation.
That failing, I'd go with Sheldon's suggestion and ship it off to have
it examined at a qualified Atari dealer.
----------------
Comments from Bob Brodie about ST Logo - Topic 5, Msg. 197...
No one was using ST Logo, so it didn't make sense to us to continue
paying royalties to have it placed in our systems. We discontinued it a
couple of years ago. The language never caught on.
----------------
From Bob Brodie concerning questions about some early versions of
Atari's hard drive software - Topic 9, Msg. 142....
At this point I expect that HDX 6.x will ship with the Atari Falcon030.
I've not seen a full copy of it internally yet, and I've noticed that
there are still some updates occuring to the product. We'll let you
know when were ready to do an upload!
In the meantime, I suggest that you use HDX 5.0, I've had very few
problems with it. The main problems that I encountered with it was that
there is a problem in formatting with an SLM attached to the system.
Once I disconnected the SLM, all was well. :)
Re the floptical, HDX 5 supports those NOW! I understand that there is
a problem with the Insite units, but the Sony's and PLI drives work
flawlessly.
And I'd never consider spending $100 on any ICD product a waste! <grin>
I have several systems of my own at home, all of them with the
exception of the Mega STE running the BBS have an ICD host adapter in
the system!
----------------
Questions from J.H.English - Topic 9, Msgs. 128-134....
[Note: Edited for easier readability.]
I have a MegaSTe with 4 megs of ram, a Maxtor M7213S hard drive and the
Atari HD adaptor board that mounts inside the MegaSTe. I have had no
success in getting the MegaSTe to recognize the Maxtor drive. My
dealer changed out the adaptor board and has even connected known good
Seagate drives to my setup, and they work.
I am wondering if anyone at Atari can help me with this problem. We
know the drive is good, the HD adaptor board is good, but the system
won't recognized the Maxtor drive. Does anyone have any suggestions?
How about it Atari, I just spent $1100.00 on your products, how about
some help. By the way, I used an ICD adaptor in a shoebox case and the
drive formatted perfectly.
Answer from Bob Brodie -
I suggest that you follow the advice given by others here. I have two
Maxtors running in two different Mega STEs. One is a 340, the other is
212. Neither is the same as your model. :( I can tell you that I had to
disable the parity on the 212 when I installed it in the Mega STE. It
had been formatted with HDX 5 on a TT, but didn't come up on a Mega STE
until I disabled the parity. After that, everything was great!
I'm sorry for the problems that you're having. I'm sure that just a bit
of experimentation will be required on your end. Handling this type of
hardware problem in absentia is always difficult. Last tip, be sure
after you change anything on the drive that you turn the system off,
and re-start it. Don't just re-boot. It doesn't always cut it.
Answer from Dan Philips -
If you're still having trouble, you could call Maxtor at 1-800-
2MAXTOR. Your drive is doc #1031. And, my, what a big hard drive you
have. I get by with my Quantum LP52S quite well. Oh, also, my Quantum
would not auto-boot with the SCSI adaptor in my TT until I reformatted
it using AHDI 5.
----------------
SLM-605 question from Scott Lapham - Topic 11, Msgs 70-75...
I have an SLM-605 that recently had a paper jam. When I opened the top,
removed the basket that holds the toner cartridge and drum, then
removed the paper, the thin wire (corona?) at the bottom of the printer
broke. It's the one nearest to where the paper enters the printer.
First, I called Atari tech support and they said all I needed to do was
buy a new drum kit ($150.00) and it would include a new wire. Wrong.
They must have thought I had an SLM-804, which does include the wire
with a drum kit. Anyway, I don't really mind spending the $150.00 on
the drum kit as I will eventually need one, but I still don't have a
working printer.
And my wife and I run a business that really NEEDS this printer. I've
called several dealers and none have been able to help me regarding how
to fix/replace this wire on an SLM-605. Can anyone here help? Also,
I've heard the SLM-605 is based on either a TEC 1305 or LaserPro
Executive. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks in advance for any
assistance.
Answer from Gregg Anderson -
Scott, as I recall the new 605 uses the same basic engine & case as one
of the newer Epson laser printers. Try and find an Epson dealer or
service center. Take a picture of the SLM (or owner's book) AND the bad
wire with you. With luck they'll have a replacement. I'm not 100% sure
which engine the new SLM really uses, but I do know that it is
drum/toner compatible with a LOT more systems than the 804 was. The 804
shared its toner/drum with only the LaserPro series and one or two
other makes... I think it was a TEC 1301B engine.
Answer from Ralph Mariano (STReport) -
The SLM 605 is indeed an Epson EPL 6000. Call Epson America, they have
an "800" number. Call 1-800-555-1212 to get their number. They will
give you the number of a local service center for their products. You
will find them fast, efficient and very courteous.
If all else fails, any photocopier service tech can re-sring a new wire
in your frame.
----------------
Hard drive problem question from Ken Olson - Topic 14, Msgs. 80-92...
I have an extra Seagate drive for my MegaSTe. I have it in a shoe box
with an ICD host and power supply. How do I get my machine to recognize
both drives at the same time. I already have the identical drive built
in. I want to still be able to boot from my built in drive.
I have tried a number of things. The most I get is a boot notice that
device #0 is a Segate and device #1 is not responding - this is with
dips on the internal controler set to 1 or 2. I get no recognition of
device #1 with dips set to 0 and no HD boot with dips set to 3.
I have tested the extra Segate by swaping it with the internal drive
and it works fine. Do I need to do something to the ICD host or what?
Answer from Bob Brodie -
...Make sure that you have the resistor packs installed in the external
drive. Our software comes in one LZH, but two flavors... there is a
folder (I think it's called MUNGED) in the archive that has a version
of SHDRIVER.SYS that will attempt to boot everything, regardless of
what it finds. If you are using our software, it will at least tell you
if the drive is online, and what the ID is set at. Also, be sure to
power down your system after making changes to SCSI ID, jumpers, etc.
and then RE START your system. I'm always amazed at how many people
just work with the drive laying out on the table, and don't restart the
system.
----------------
Warranty question from Rob Pierce - Topic 14, Msgs 100-106...
Didn't Atari go to a one year warranty on their equipment nearly a year
ago? I was just talking to a service center and he says it's still 90
days.
If this is the case, then I'm screwed. This used Mega STE has probably
had these problems since it was new, yet the previous owner never had
the opportunity to test it, so I'll be stuck with $200 or more in
repair bills.
Answer from Lee Benjamin -
According to Sheldon Winick of The Computer Studio, an authorized Atari
dealer and IAAD member, all Atari computers sold after November 1991,
except for the Portfolio and the Lynx, carry a one year warranty. I
hope this helps.
Answer from Dan McNamee (Atari) -
Lee is correct, ST(e) and TT computers sold after November 1991 have a
1 year warranty.
----------------
Until next week.....
________________________________________________________________
> ATARI SOFTWARE CATALOG STR InfoFile ATARI SOFTWARE CATALOG AVAILABLE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE 1992 INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE CATALOG
=======================================
2cnd Notice
The 1992 International Software Catalog (Item# C303288-001) is now
available from Atari Corporation. If you haven't heard about it yet check
out the messages in category 14, topic 42.
The catalog has more than 400 pages, contains nearly 500 entries, and
features almost 175 screen shots. Categories covered include Publishing
and Graphics; Multimedia and Hypertext; Personal Productivity;
Connectivity and Communications; Music; Business; Education;
Entertainment; Computer Aided Design; Medical; Development Tools and
System Software; and Peripherals. Atari Falcon030 listings are also
included. Along with the product description the reader is provided with
developer information designed to help them acquire the product if it is
unavailable from thier local dealer. Suggested retail prices are also
listed.
If your local dealer runs out of catalogs you may order your catalog
directly from Atari by writing to:
Atari Customer Relations
International Software Catalog
P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, CA 94088
The price is $12.00 per book. Add 8.25% sales tax if ordering from
California, Illinois, or Texas. Also include $5.00 shipping and handling
per order. Payment may be made by check, money order, MasterCard, or
VISA. (Allow 2-4 weeks additional if paying by personal check)
If you would like to order by VISA or MasterCard you can also leave me
E-mail (G.LABREC) with your name, address, phone, card number, and
expiration date--I will forward the order to customer service.
SPECIAL USER GROUP OFFER
------------------------
For a limited time, any registered user group may purchase the catalog
in lots of 10 books. When ordering a lot of 10 books the cost would be
$10.00 per book plus $8.00 shipping for the lot.
__________________________________________________________________
> GUEST EDITORIAL STR FOCUS!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
GUEST EDITORIAL
===============
by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
Senior Staff Editor for STReport
"A person should never get involved in a pig wrestlin' contest.
All it succeeds in doing is to make the pig mad, and getting the
person muddy."
Wow! We never dreamed that last week's editorial would bring the response
that it did! Since STReport had devoted almost 50k worth of space in last
week's issue and over 20k in the previous week's issue to first hand
reports touting Atari's performance at Comdex, we felt a 2-3k editorial
giving our opinions about things that weren't made public, that we felt
were glossed over, or things that we saw in a different perspective than
some of the reporters, was not out of line and would give the issue some
balance. Boy were we wrong!!
One person in particular responded to our editorial with several missives
containing such words and phrases as - "Atari bashing", "flames and
games", "bully", "sniping", "the aberrations of a cynical writer", "To
SCREAM out your jaundiced opinions in the name of editorial rights". He
went on to complain about Ralph Mariano having an opinion, "...especially
when this ridiculous statement is made by someone who was himself NOT in
attendance", dismissing three other reports as "hearsay". He had many
other words and phrases to use, but in the interest of brevity, I think
these will give you the drift of what he thought of our editorial.
However this editorial is not to debate whether this person had the right
to say what he did - of course he did!! This is America. Free Speech and
being able to voice ones opinions is as important a right as our right of
a Free Press. Where I take exception with this person's comments, is when
he seems to want to be able to limit those rights to opinions he agrees
with.
According to Webster's II 'New Riverside University Dictionary', an
editorial is "An article in a publication expressing the opinion of its
publishers or editors." STReport is a publication and Ralph Mariano is
its publisher and Editor. So when Ralph writes an editorial, he is
voicing HIS opinion - just as our reader voiced his.
Opinions can be based on many things. Facts - both public and non-public.
Previous experiences and histories. Biases - yes, editors and publishers
can have biases - in fact, most opinions are biased. A person doesn't
have to have a first-hand experience about something to have an opinion.
If so, most of us couldn't have opinions about anything we didn't exper-
iance directly.
This person feels that editorial's (i.e., opinions) "are meant to provoke
thought and reaction, [and] they are also SUPPOSED to be based on some
modicum of truth" Well, it's obvious from his posts that Ralph succeeded
in the first part - Ralph's editorial did provoke thought and reaction
from him (and many others).
So what is left? Oh yes, the "modicum of truth". While this person is
wrong - an editorial doesn't have to have an iota of truth in it to make
it an editorial - Ralph's editorial contained a lot of truth. And that's
what upset the reader. It was a truth that he'd prefer not to have said
("dragging past issues in..") or truth that he didn't agree with.
Many times, truth "is in the eyes of the beholder". One man might con-
sider a particular woman beautiful, while another considers her ugly.
Both would be telling the truth when asked about the woman's looks. Or
one person might see a glass who's volume contained 50% milk and 50% air
as a half-full glass, while another might see it as a half-empty glass.
Both would be telling the truth - as they saw it (my son says that he
doesn't understand the controversy, it's just a half-of-glass of milk).
So what is an editorial? An editorial is an editor's opinion, not
necessarily a news or review column. There are other areas in a
publication for both. All people, including editors, are entitled to
their opinions. An editorial can differ with so-called expert opinions
and still be an editorial - in fact, those sometimes make the best
editorials. An editorial is written to provoke thought and, hopefully,
get a reaction. An editorial can be funny, it can make you cry. It can
make you so angry, it can make you nod your head in agreement. An
editorial can be many things, but it's always the editor's opinion - and
should be taken as such.
_______________________________________________________________
> SCSI TAPE INFO STR InfoFile .....a MUST read for everyone!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SCSI TAPE BACKUP FOR ATARI ST
=============================
There are two major technologies in today's desktop tape drive market; QIC
(Quarter Inch Cartridge) at the low end and midrange, and DAT (Digital
Audio Tape) at the high end. The dividing line is about 1MB capacity.
DAT is a new technology. DAT drive capacities are quoted in gigabytes.
Conventional QIC drives have capacities up to 525 megabytes.
Common Tape Drive Interfaces:
QIC-02 --- intelligent hardware tape interface
QIC-36 --- simple hardware tape interface
QIC-104/11 --- SCSI-1 tape interface
QIC-121 --- SCSI-2 tape interface
These standards describe the drive controller. The SCSI standards are
only rarely cited by number; usually, QIC-104 and QIC-121 devices are
referred to simply as "SCSI drives".
Common Recording formats:
QIC-24 --- 9-track 60-Mbyte tape format
QIC-120 --- 15-track 125-Mbyte tape format
QIC-150 --- 18-track 150-Mbyte tape format
QIC-525 --- 26-track 525-Mbyte tape format
Common media:
DC600A --- for QIC-24 and QIC-120 drives
DC6150 --- for QIC-150 drives
DC6525 --- for QIC-525 drives
All 150MB QIC type drives can do 250MB on extended-length tapes, though
some manufacturers discourage you from doing this to avoid excessive head
wear.
The interface used on the Atari ST is SCSI. Beckemeyer Development offers
"SCSI Tape Kit" software that allows one to use a standard SCSI compatible
tape drive with the Atari ST computer; virtually any SCSI QIC tape drive
should work. Most SCSI DAT drives will also work with the Atari ST "SCSI
Tape Kit".
QIC-36 drives may be used by using a separate SCSI controller. Most QIC-02
drives have a separate QIC-02 to QIC-36 controller board which may be
replaced with a SCSI controller board. Older 60MB QIC drives are
available on the surplus market, typically at a very low cost (often under
$200).
Compatible SCSI controllers for using older QIC-36 drives:
Adaptec ACB-3530
Emulex MT-02
These SCSI to QIC-36 controllers were often used in early Unix work
stations, such as Sun, HP, Apollo, Silicon Graphics etc.
When assembling your own tape subsystem, it is a good idea to use standard
SCSI connectors. This way your tape drive can be use with any SCSI
system, including IBM compatibles, Macintosh, Sun, Next, and others.
Common SCSI external cable connectors:
Centronix --- IBM-compatible (recommended)
50-pin D --- older Sun equipment, obsolete
SCSI-2 --- Sun Sparc, Next, others
25-pin D --- Macintosh "SCSI"
Centronix cables are the most common and the least expensive. The older
50-pin D-type connectors are not recommended, nor are the Mac style 25-pin
D-type connectors. The newer SCSI-2 cables and connectors are more
expensive and more difficult to obtain than Centronix cables.
SCSI Tape Product Listings:
Beckemeyer Development offers pre-wired SCSI drive enclosures, including
all internal cables, SCSI ID selector switch, 50-pin Centronix-type
connectors, Centronix external cable, and power cable. Beckemeyer
Development also offers bare SCSI drives and complete tape subsystems.
Software:
SCSI Tape Kit Plus Hard Disk Toolkit $ 49.95
SCSI Tape Kit (drivers only, no backup SW) $ 20.00
Drive Enclosures:
5.25" half-height $119.00
5.25" full-height $199.00
Bare Drives:
Wangtek 5150ES 150MB (refurbished) $375.00
Wangtek 5150ES 150MB (new) $658.00
Archive Viper 150MB (new) $661.00
Complete Tape Subsystems:
Wangtek 150MB (new case, refurb. drive) $499.00
Wangtek 150MB (new) $864.00
Archive 150MB (new) $950.00
______________________________________________________________
> STR Editor's Mail Call "a few comments from the Editor's Desk"
""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's EDITOR'S MailBag
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
From CIS...
Date: 29-Nov-92 00:02 EST
From: bill devonshire [73707,1656]
Subj: General
Hello there!
I have held off writing this letter because I am reluctant to add to
the ever growing data weight of disgruntled Atari users. But I can't
stand it! Its all so negative! It would be nice to see some of this time
spent in constructive rather than destructive pursuit. I like the way you
open the floor for all points of view, but at times it does get a little
overwhelming to constantly read about what Atari hasn't done to satisfy
the techno-needs of its users. I would like to hear more news on
applications, new products, even old products that have been upgraded
(whatever). We seem to be dwelling on the death wish of a Company that
has done nothing more to us than produce and sell a very fine product! I
like my ST, for music, programming, edu-games for the kids and exciting
(yes multi-colored) games. I use PC's daily, and I cannot get any kind
of feel for them other than the clunky junk that it is. I abhor the high
priced Apples (even though I do love them for the Motorola kinship with
the ST's). I would really hate to see this Atari Co. go down in flames
because it would mean that my only choices left are to dig deep into my
empty pockets to purchase a Mac or cludge away on a miner 486'er (and dig
deep into my pockets to outfit it with enough garments to make it
acceptable to my digitally tuned ears!).
Does it really matter that much that Atari is making some Marketing
mistakes? Why don't we get on with using our wonderfully powerful
machines. I didn't purchase an ST to run Lotus, Word Perfect, MS Works or
any of the other "popular" software packages. The software that is
available for the ST is as uniquely powerful as the ST itself. Again, it
boils down to what the user requires. Don't fret over what the machine
doesn't have, when compared to the guys next door or the other platforms.
When I buy a car, I purchase something that I like and can afford. If
I don't like it and can't afford it I don't buy it. There are many
different types of cars - some very fast - some very slow, but that
doesn't stop those automobiles from selling on the marketplace (and they
are 'sized' to the market that they are designed to sell to).
Are we, as a society, so caught up by techno-hype that no one can
settle for anything less than the absolute best? If that's the case, then
dump all your machines and mortgage your house and get yourself a Cray or
maybe a lowend machine like the Iris Indigo (R4000 based of course). I
hold alot of respect for Atari. A David in the world of the Goliath. I
have always been grateful for the fact that Atari pumped out a machine
affordable enough for me to buy one. A machine that has kept me happy and
in the forefront of technology for years. They are the only computer
company that I know of that actually attempts to cut through the #$@! of
modern day social greed and offer a product a its truest price margin.
Not everyone wants meg-power and mega-memory, they want functionality
and ease of use. They want something that will perform their required
task to the optimum. I mean, why buy a lawn-tractor to cut your postage
stamp front lawn. Maybe you have out-grown Atari? Leave it at that!
They'll never be able to please everybody!! Like one guy last week said
"Atari is dead". He was right, to him Atari is dead - so be it - to me
Atari is still very much alive and kicking.
Why not just accept the fact that your requirements have changed and
go find something that will fulfill your hearts desire? But don't kick
the little guy when he's down because he hasn't fulfilled "your"
requirements. I do not need 24bit color to run Multi-Play for my
children, nor do I need a 486-33 with super VGA color to run my Midi
software. I don't need Aldus, or Quark or AutoCad - I have Calamus,
Dynacadd and MegaPaint.
I could go on and on but I won't. Please!! Lets get back to
constructive concerns rather than wasteful and sometimes hateful bashing.
Both sides of the coin must be displayed but I think that we have been
lingering on the "tails" alot more than on the "heads" of late.
Thanks again for all your work Ralph. It is greatly appreciated from
this end. In a rapidly shrinking Atari world you are a great life-line of
information and news.
Bill Devonshire
CIS 73707,1656
Bill;
I appreciate the fact that your requirements are fully met by Atari's
Hardware. I too find the hardware to be more than adequate. In fact,
the hardware is the shining point in this turbulent sea of Atari users.
The fact still remains very evident that unless Atari's management gets
"with the program" the adequacy of today's hardware and software will soon
be left by the wayside. This is the perceived underlying reason most of
the users observing the Atari "condition" are expressing their views.
Again, thanks for reading STReport and taking the time to write us and let
us know how you feel. Especially in doing so in such a calm and
informative manner. I too want nothing more than to see Atari prosper and
grow.
Ralph......
Category 24, Topic 3
Message 92 Sun Nov 29, 1992
L.DOWDLE1 [Scott Dowdle] at 01:34 EST
Ralph,
I downloaded the most recent issue of STR. I read the stuff that Tim
Holt had to say. He mentioned that he would probably make some people
mad. He didn't make me mad... I just simply disagree with his statements.
He says that "ATARI IS DEAD" the goes on to make very negative arguements.
He seems to be popularity oriented and wants to be able to run all of the
big company software products. Go get a PC and stop complaining Tim. It
seems like you would be much happier that way.
The reason I'm writing this is to ask what positive affects do you
expect such articles to have? Your magazine has a reputation of being
sort of... I don't know... rude?! You take pride in this I believe... and
also feel that you aren't anyone's "YES" man. Ok, that is good I guess...
but why be so negative all of the time? Why try to stir up trouble so
much? Oh, we have the right to know your opinions and the opinions of
your commentators I guess.
It just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Almost every month I
question myself on whether or not I want to download the next issue... but
I do. I guess I keep hoping things will change.
I feel forced to compare your magazine to Z*Net. I don't particularly
want to discuss the past all of you folks have had... I just want to
comment that Z*Net doesn't appear to me to be a "YES" man magazine... and
at the same time it doesn't declare silly things like ATARI IS DEAD.
People have been saying this for years... but LIFE and DEATH doesn't
really mean much to me in regards to this issue... and it only seems as a
way to piss people off and grab their attention.
I'm sure I'll continue to read your magazine but I don't have as much
respect for its contents as I would like to have. I do mean this
respectfully and with gratitude towards your efforts.
Thanks for the continued support. I hope the mixed feelings that this
message might give off make sense to you.
TYL, Scott
Scott;
I believe you when you say you read the issue, but I wonder if you
really read the issue or saw the issue. You see, Tim Holt has presented a
number of scenarios in the issue (STR847) that would rile even the most
calm of persons but that's why it was put there. Wouldn't it be a
pleasure to read about the joys of owning and using an Atari computer?
Especially where we could read with interest of a user's planning on how
the computer will be put to use interfacing with the new technology that
is constantly appearing both in the software and hardware world. I was
somewhat distressed to see you hit Tim Holt with the old, worn-out cliche
type "love it or leave it" derivative. Actually neither you nor I _has_
to invite anyone to change platforms... they're doing in droves. Check
out all the for sale entries on all the services. Seems they're more
abundant every day.
The percieved positive effects that you seek are already happening.
The truth about the 16-24-32bit blathering is now cleared up by Atari even
though the flyers still claim the Falcon to be a 32 bit machine. I guess
technically speaking it is even though it really doesn't take full
advantage of such. STR being rude is one way of putting it another would
be simply; Saying it like it is!. We are not out to win a popularity
contest. True, we ruffle some feathers but then if those feathers weren't
ruffled, there'd never be any preening. "We calls 'em likes we sees 'em."
Whether you download another issue or not is strictly your choice, but
I might point out that we will continue to present the facts as they are
brought forward. While other publications may not say Atari is dead, they
too, have presented enough information to allow one to draw conclusions of
their own also.
I sure hope you continue to read STReport and to let us know when you
either like or dislike a particular article or item. After all, we do
write for the readers and hope that they see we do listen to them. Of
course, your mixed feeling made sense. It proves that you are only human
and are as frustrated as the majority of 'invested' Atari users/supporters
are. Perhaps... just perhaps if we make enough noise and rattle enough
antennae we'll get them to finally listen to those of us "in the
trenches". Thank you Scott for writing and of course for letting us see
things the way you do.
Ralph......
------------
From GEnie's ST RT
STReport Category 24
Category 24, Topic 3
Message 98 Sun Nov 29, 1992
A.PAGE3 [Alan Page] at 17:05 EST
I lived in England for a year and returned about one year ago. Atari was
very much alive over there. There are a number of large ST magazines and
they are packed with advertizing. It was very common to see Atari software
for sale, even at non-Atari dealers. The ST magazines were sold in all the
major booksellers. They seem to have a viable starting point for a renewed
sales effort based on the Falcon.
Unfortunately, Atari Canada is now completely and utterly dead. The last
three people, who were going to work out of their basements, were given
their walking papers recently, according to a report in Toronto Computes.
They also reported the demise of Atari Mexico and Atari Japan.
It is fair to say that chances of an Atari resurgence in Canada are pretty
slim. I feel much more optimistic about England. Remember that this
company doesn't live and die on the North American market alone.
I thought that the Amsler article was extremely positive and the Holt
article was extremely negative. Perhaps between the two there is some sort
of balance?
- Alan
------------
Alan;
The entire Staff at STReport thought the Amsler article brought a real
sense of balance to the issue. After all, Tims Holt's efforts did roast
Atari. I really wonder why the "ever select few" had _nothing_ much to
say about the upbeat areas of the issue. Could it be they're "looking"
for something to create a tumult over? Nah, nobody could be _that_
devious. :-)
Thanks for posting!
Ralph......
Category 24, Topic 3
Message 100 Sun Nov 29, 1992
NEVIN-S at 22:08 EST
Alan Page, I agree with you 100%, there was one very positive article
(overly positive, in my opinion) and one very negative article (overly
negative, in my opinion). I enjoyed them both.
Once again, people seem to be getting overheated about a situation they
can not change, instead of focusing on the parts of their lives that they
CAN change -- their own work, their family, their community. And I am
speaking here of all parties involved: Ralph, who can not change Atari,
and Nathan and ST Lou, who can not change Ralph, and so on.
As a bystander, I find it all very interesting to watch, and enjoy the
magazine, and the fireworks that inevitably follow.
--Nevin
------------
Nevin;
What can I say? You said it all and said it just right. Emotional
reactions are often gratifying, but that gratification is always short-
lived. Thank you for reading our humble offering.
Ralph.......
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
"""""""""""""""""""""
- Irvine, CA CHECKMATE FOR ST WILL NOT HAPPEN!
----------
The IBM version is still due out, and they _might_ be able to include it
in that version. But they'll probably not update the Mac version unless
they do a completely new version and add many more features. It can be
said with much assurance, they will not do another Atari ST version-since
Interplay as a company does not support that computer any longer.
Interplay Productions
New Address & Phone Number
17922 Fitch Avenue, Irvine, CA, 92714
(714) 553-6678 Customer Service
- Frankfurt, Germany ATARI JOURNAL CEASES OPERATIONS!
------------------
The German Atari magazine ATARI JOURNAL has been discontinued. The
January 1993 issue, scheduled for December 11, 1992, will be the last
issue.
In a message posted in the German MausNet ATARI JOURNAL's
editor-in-chief Christian Strasheim yesterday officially confirmed rumors
that ATARI JOURNAL will be discontinued due to the situation on the Atari
market ATARI JOURNAL started in June 1989 under the name ATARI PD JOURNAL
and was renamed ATARI JOURNAL in September 1991. In 41 issues ATARI (PD)
JOURNAL has covered events on the Atari market in Germany, Europe, and
overseas. Instead of addressing solely the experts, programmers, and
freaks we successfully produced a magazine for almost everybody. The
number of Atari users not only in Germany dimished in the last few months,
and although several new products and upgrades continue to be released the
distributors and developers were forced to reduce the amount of money
available for advertisement.
The sudden death of ATARI JOURNAL will be a surprise for many readers
here. Because of my close cooperation and nearly daily contacts with the
ATARI JOURNAL staff I was one of the few who were informed about this step
more than a month ago.
The end of ATARI JOURNAL also means the end of my monthly column "News
from the US." I would like to thank everybody here who has helped me in
reporting about the US Atari market by providing information, rumors, and
tips. We have been told by many readers that the titbits in "News from
the US" were an important part of the magazine.
ATARI JOURNAL
1989 - 1993
R.I.P.
After three successful years, the Atari Journal magazine is to be
discontinued. We would like to use this opportunity to thank you for your
support and co-operation.
The decision to give up the magazine was not easy, neither for our
publishing house, Heim Verlag, nor for the editorial staff as anybody put
a lot of energy, work and enthusiasm into the magazine. But after serious
consideration of the current situation in the Atari market, there was no
other choice.
We wish you every success for your further business, anyway.
Christian Strasheim
Editor-in-Chief
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been asked to add the phone number of ATARI JOURNAL in
Frankfurt to this message, so that those who try to call this message a
hoax can call the staff of ATARI JOURNAL and get official confirmation:
The phone number is: +49-69-64688418 The fax number is : +49-69-64688618
Oliver Steinmeier
Freelance Writer
Atari Journal
- Cupertino, CA APPLE EMULATION FOR IBM REAL!
-------------
In this week's Twice Magazine there's a report that a Mac compatible
plug-in board for the IBM will be introduced at the Winter CES Show; price
$799.00 with Apple's FULL CONSENT!
- San Antonio, TX TANDY SENSATION PC ARRIVES IN TIME FOR XMAS!
---------------
For those who might be curious, here are the specs for the new Tandy
Sensation PC :
Price : $2199.00, which includes :
- 25 Mhz i486SX upgradable to 50Mhz
- 4 MB RAM upgradable to 32MB via 8MB SIMMS
- 107MB hard drive
- Super VGA monitor
- Send FAX/Modem 2400bps
- Voice Mail System
- Microsoft Windows, Works, DOS 5.0
- CD ROM Drive Microsoft Bookshelf
- Digital Stereo sound
- Midi Port
- 16 million color pallette
- 512K video memory upgradable to 1MB
- 3 16-bit expansion slots
- 34 different graphics modes (including) :
1024 x 768 w/ 256 colors
800 x 600 w/ 256 colors
- New York City, NY MAC PERFORMA PLENTIFUL FOR XMAS!
-----------------
More info about new machines that have arrived _in time_ for the
Christmas Sales Holiday.
The Apple Macintosh Performa 200;
- 16Mhz 68030
- Built-in 9" monochrome Display
- 4mb onboard Ram
- 80mb Hard drive
- 3.5" HD floppy drive, MS-DOS compatible super drive
- Mouse & keyboard included.
Circuit City is carrying Macintosh products thus making it universally
available for $1199.97
Additionally, they're offering a Compaq ProLinea with the following
specs;
- 486sx 25Mhz
- 8k Cache
- 4mb RAM
- 240mb Hard Drive
- Dual Floppies
- Mouse & MS Windows 3.1, PFS; WindowWorks
- SVGA Graphics Card included
- $1499.97
- Houston, TX MORE.... NVN NEWS
-----------
National Videotext Network (NVN) has recently added an Atari ST Forum
to it's growing lists of available services. The Atari ST Forum is going
through its final "construction" phases and will be available to NVN
members by mid-December 1992. U.S. Videotel, founded in 1986, is an
electronic information and interactive services provider. The U.S.
Videotel Network launched in March of 1989, and provided electronic
information services to the Texas market.
"The nationwide launch of the National Videotex Network, which
provides on-line data and information exchange services began on May
1, 1992." The future of NVN will be one which continues to remain
sensitive and responsive to market needs. Additional services and advances
in electronic information will continue to be added, to provide unique and
interesting services on an on-going basis.
NVN service offerings can be broken into three categories: Basic,
Premium, and Premium Plus.
Basic Services
--------------
Most of the Basic services are available 24 hours a day with no
connect time charges beyond the basic membership fee. However, a select
group have functions for which transaction fees are charged. Basic
services are accessible through a flat rate charge of $5.95 per month.
Premium Services
----------------
For Premium services, Members pay connect charges for the amount of
time spent in a particular service. Premium services are accessible Monday
through Friday for a connect time charge of $9.00/hour from 8 am to 6 pm,
and $6.00/hour from 6 pm to 8 am; and on Saturday and Sunday for a connect
time charge of $6.00 all day (6 pm Friday til 8 am Monday), central time
zone.
Premium Plus Services
---------------------
Premium Plus services are subject to the same type of connect time
charge as Premium services. However, a surcharge is also added to the
connect time for these services.
You can join NVN one of two ways. By voice phone 1-800-336-9096
(Client Services) or via modem phone 1-800-336-9092. You will be issued
an Account # (usually within 24 hours) and will be allowed to access
National Videotex Network.
- Philadelphia, PA KIKO Deal LOST
----------------
Kiko, a nationwide photocopying and printing chain, had placed an
order for at least seven hundred TT030 DTP systems including laser
printers and bundled with Pagestream a short while ago, when our reporter
recently asked about the TT's that they were supposed to be getting, he
was told that they had decided to go to Macintosh Computers over a year
ago. Atari kept putting them off on shipping dates, so they went
elsewhere. A terrific sale of SEVEN HUNDRED (700) full-blown TT's and
laser-printers lost.....
___________________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
"""""""""""""
STReport's MailBag
""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
ABOUT ATARI, THE FALCON030 AND ITS CONTINUED "NON-APPEARANCE"
From Delphi's Atari Areas
-------------------------
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44046 24-NOV 11:57 General Information
TT production stopped?
From: OCS To: ALL
According to information available to Atari Journal the TT has been out of
production for quite a while already. Dealers have been asked by Atari to
estimate the number of machines they will be able to sell within the next
few months. In case the total number of machines appears to be large
enough they plan to produce some more TT's. The information comes directly
from dealers here.
Well, wasn't it Bob Brodie (and Sam Tramiel on GEnie) during last week's
conference from Vegas who said that it is not planned to stop the
production of the TT?
Oliver
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44153 26-NOV 10:28 General Information
RE: TT production stopped? (Re: Msg 44145)
From: OCS To: CMILLAR
You're pretty good at messing with the facts. At the AtariMesse in
Duesseldorf Atari did say that the Falcon would be available in EARLY
October. This is not a rumor spread by anybody, I was at the press
conference (I AM PRESS!) where they said this. "They" were Alwin Stumpf
and Sam Tramiel. It's late November now. They are talking about early
January now. Am I gonna believe it this time?
Also the fact that people own a certain computer in my eyes does give them
the right to express their wishes and thoughts. It is an important part
of democracy that one is allowed to express ones thoughts! Telling
someone else to shut up is not what I consider to be democratic behavior.
Especially not if you claim the right to talk about the good sides of
Atari.
If some friend asked me today whether to buy an Atari or a Mac or a PC, do
you really think I'd feel good just repeating your praising of Atari?!
Feel free to do it, but I don't think that it is fair to your friend.
It is not my job to support a company's marketing strategies (are there
any in this case?) by telling everybody what a great computer the
XYZ-4680030 is if I don't really believe it. It's the job of the computer
company to develop computers (and produce them!!) that convince people.
You say that Atari re-designed the DSP component of the Falcon 030 after
receiving "input" from developers. Hey, doesn't this mean that criticism
can change something??? If nobody had told Atari that the original
concept was crappy they most likely wouldn't have changed it!
I bought my ST in 1986 because I liked the concept and the machine. Does
this mean I have to love the company, its business policy, and its
management? Does it mean I have to buy a Falcon or any other product just
because it has the name Atari on it? I bought the product, not the name
on it!
Your way of talking to Norm is somewhat that of a fanatic... all you want
to hear is how great the Falcon is, and if someone opposes your view you
get back at him/her the way you did with Norm. Hey, he was one of those
who believed in the ST and invested lots of money and time in it!!! If you
like Atari Corp. so much and believed their promises, why didn't YOU buy
stocks???? Or did you?
I do not mind if you believe in the Falcon or in the Atari policy in
general, but please, allow others to have a different opinion! I don't
think there is anybody here who does not wish that the Falcon will be a
success.
Oliver
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44197 26-NOV 22:26 General Information
RE: TT production stopped? (Re: Msg 44177)
From: OCS To: CMILLAR
> Finally, Atari said that machines would be available in mid-October -
> very true what I was TRYING to get across is this: Atari never
> specified WHO they would be available to - a lot of developers have
> gotten them, hence, they are technically AVAILABLE......
You still didn't get it, eh? They did say the machines would be
available to dealers and to us (the users) in October!!! From where do
you get your "facts"??? I got my "information" directly from Atari
(press conference at the AtariMesse in Duesseldorf). Name your source!
> ...it is the "reporters" who spread the lies and half truths
> that is hurting Atari, and so on.
Oh thanks! Don't you think it
's the job of the press to investigate
things, to comment on things, and to watch what is going on? Of course,
nobody has inside information, but we can measure Atari's performance by
what they promise and what they really do.
I have worked for Atari Journal since July 1989, and I have written
more than a dozen books about the Atari since 1985. Do you really
think I did this because I hated the Atari? Not only have I spent a
lot of money for computer equipment, but also most of my income in
the past few years came from the Atari market. I do believe that this
gives me the right to critically observe what is going on.
Oliver
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44198 26-NOV 22:26 General Information
RE: Atari (Re: Msg 44180)
From: OCS To: CMILLAR
> I'm not trying to portray a "rosey" picture, but, for all we know,
> they could have done everything exactly as we wanted them to, but they
> got screwed by outside forces - the fact is, none of us know.......
Outside forces? The Martians? I did not know that anybody here
infiltrated the Atari labs or production facilities and sabotaged the
Falcon development/production!
Oliver
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44205 27-NOV 00:29 General Information
RE: Atari (Re: Msg 44144)
From: NORMW To: CMILLAR
You have not put half of the effort in that I have, in trying to promote
Atari ST's. So don't tell me I don't have the right to complain. I also
have been a successful computer products designer and have worked for
highly successful companies. So it was with horror that I appraised
Leonard Trameil, when I met him. I knew quite quickly that he was _not_
qualified to be the director of an R&D department. His lone qualification
was his relationship to Jack Trameil. The remaining directorship of the
company falls into similar categories.
The product was a good one, a very good one. And I am qualified to make
that judgement. But it has been marketed incompetently....and any
two-year-old could make that judgement competently. Falcon is a very
decent product, delivered far too late, and will have miniscule effect on
the market. The recent tie-in with Kodak will be a wipe-out. It is a
$1000 electronic photo album, which will sell in very limited quantities.
There are almost no other potential markets, that aren't being adequately
addressed by competitive machines.
I have three full-blown Atari systems here, with five hard drives, six
monitors, three printers, etc. I won't throw them away, and prefer them
for many uses. But I must start preparing to develope products on other
machines because there isn't a large enough customer base on Atari's to
make it worthwhile spending time on.
Norm
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44239 27-NOV 07:58 General Information
RE: TT production stopped? (Re: Msg 44214)
From: OCS To: CMILLAR
Waitaminnit... I do remember that you said in one of your posts that
Atari never promised the Falcon to be available for the _public_ in
October. Now you admit that they did break their promise. What's your
point then?
To give you an impression how reliable the information is one gets from
Atari let me quickly tell you a story. It is not a fairy tale, it is the
truth (and if you don't believe me, well, then I can't help you):
I was at the CSS show in Duesseldorf as a press representative of Atari
Journal. There was a 400 square meter Atari booth, and the
highest-ranking representative of Atari was Normen Kowalevski. I took of
my press badge and approached him as "Mr. Nobody" just pretending to be
interested in the Falcon. I asked him when the Falcon would be available,
what he thought about the availability of the Amiga 4000 at the very show,
and why they don't advertise the Falcon in magazines. The answer to the
last question was _very_ interesting. He told me that they didn't bother
to advertise the Falcon, because they wouldn't be able to produce and ship
the 300,000 Falcons that would then be ordered by the end of the year
(1992!). He expected sales of 30,000 Falcons in Germany by Dec. 31, 1992
without any advertisment, and said that they would be able to ship enough
Falcons to the dealers. Up to now I haven't heard about a single Falcon
being sold to anybody that is neither developer nor dealer. And it's
November 27, 1992, 1 PM here. As a matter of fact they are now talking
about 3,000 units to be sold here by the end of the year. Will it be 300
units in another four weeks?
Do you really believe that I am going to post these "official good news"
provided by a high-ranking Atari employee here or anywhere else? I could
have told him right away that what he told me was complete nonsense.
You want some good news? I just saw the newest issue of ST-Computer (
leading German Atari magazine). There is a full-page Atari ad for the
Lynx in it. It looks really good! I like it!
Bad news is that there is NO ad for the Falcon.
Oliver
From Delphi, unrest over FREEZE DRIED SOFTWARE
44596 2-DEC 02:26 Telecommunications
RE: Freeze Dried Term (Re: Msg 44410)
From: FBRUCH To: VILLARREAL
I would second the opinion that Freeze Dried Terminal is Thiefware- I sent
my check in July. It's now December and NO KEY. I even sent him a
certified letter about a month ago. He apparently has no interest in
doing anything except collecting the money. If a user is satisfied with
the crippled demo version, by all means use it, but unless you enjoy
throwing away your money I would not sent any money to the young man.
Enter FOLLOW for related Message(s).
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44597 2-DEC 02:38 Telecommunications
RE: Freeze Dried Terminal (Re: Msg 44493)
From: FBRUCH To: WGALUSZKA
Wouldn't it be nice if Ralph would have something to say about the shabby
treatment of users by Aaron Hopkins? ST Report is the first one to expose
anything negative about Atari Corp- I wish he would take that same
enthusiasm and expose to the world what a ripoff to users is occuring in
this corner of the ST software market!
Editor Note;
Be advised, Aaron Hopkins, (High School Student) is not a thief, a
ripoff or any of the other outrageous things I've seen certain Atarians
place on him over the past few months. He is a very bright young man
whose hard drive croaked and he lost all of his vital software. He got
clobbered. It can happen to anyone. He did however, have a backup of
sorts. He is not trying to rip off anyone. Once his system is back in
shape, you can be sure he'll respond to everyone and get things right.
These emotional outbursts are an outrage and although certain users
patience may be getting worn thin, a little understanding will go a long,
long way in this scary Atari marketplace.
From CIS
--------
#: 76287 S8/Hot Topics
30-Nov-92 09:01:18
Sb: #76089-#Falcon niche?
Fm: GST Software 71351,332
To: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254 (X)
On the detachable keyboard business - it has been pointed out over here
recently that without a detachable keyboard it would not be possible to
sell the Falcon for business use from the end of the year in the EEC due
to some directives of ergonomics etc.
This may have more of an effect than even Pournelle.
Tony
From GEnie's ST RT
------------------
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 172 Tue Dec 01, 1992
S.WINICK at 10:55 EST
Thunderbird,
I think we have two extremes here --- Typical PC-clone manufacturers add a
CD-ROM to their systems and call it a multi-media machine. Atari actually
designs a machine with the potential to truly be a multi-media machine,
but leaves off all the peripherals, or place to put them, in order to make
it happen.
Atari's approach, however, has laid the groundwork for a new generation of
systems. I'm confident that the 1040-style Falcon is the first in that
series, not the last. If this current design doesn't suit your needs,
I'm sure they'll be future models which will. Remember Atari's early 400
machine? It laid the groundwork for the 800 and later models which built
on the new technology.
The Falcon 030 is clearly aimed at offering a user-friendly system for the
masses -- many of whom are completely computer illiterate. Perhaps Atari's
idea is to try to repeat the magic of their early machines, which also
didn't offer internal expansion capabilities, but were definitely easy to
add peripherals to. Those early machines attracted a lot of attention --
and developers and buyers.
Times are considerably different now, however. It'll take more than
merely a simple looking box with promises of third party add-ons to
attract todays computer shopper. Packaging is important, as is
visibility, advertising, service and support. Only time will tell whether
or not Atari will be willing and able to implement the type of
comprehensive marketing program to go along with the new products that
will be necessary for success.
The 1040-style Falcon030 is already in production. That model is a given.
It's time to accept it for what it is, and provide Atari with feedback as
to what we would like to see in future models. I think all the points
you've made have been reiterated to the point that everyone is well aware
of your criticisms and concerns. But now its time to move on. If Atari
hasn't understood your concerns by now, they never will. I think we all
hope they have. Beating this into the ground unfortunately gives many the
impression that you're no longer offering constructive criticism, but
merely engaging in bashing; I don't believe that is really your intention.
Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC)
------------
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 173 Tue Dec 01, 1992
D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 18:58 EST
Sheldon:
My memory is a little foggy, but I recall the 400 and 800 came out at
the same time. Perhaps Atari sould not have put all their eggs into the
low end system with the Falcon030. It would serve them better to offer a
whole line, rather than just the small end.
My real point is that we have seen Atari do some really goofy things in
the past years, yet they won't even admit that they have ever made a
mistake. Even the Forbes article they ignore. Sort of like tripping and
falling on your face into a sewer and getting up saying "I meant to do
that.". Seems to be the way they work.
It would give thousands of people a _lot_ more confidence in them if
someone of stature within the company would say "We admit that we have
some managerial problems. Please bear with us while we learn to sort
things out.". Instead we get lame excuses, and statements of confidence
which sound more and more like Bud Bundy proclaiming his sexual prowess.
Atari seems to deny any wrong ever, and makes matters worse when it does
so. Even the U.S. Government has enough pride to admit error. I wonder
which one has more beaurocratic gridlock?
Admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it.
My sarcasm is not rooted in malice. It comes out of sheer frustration.
I think you understand this, and for that I thank you.
______________________
\hunderbird
------------
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 177 Tue Dec 01, 1992
M.HEMBRUCH [Mattias] at 21:45 EST
D.Engel - I couldn't agree with you more. I signed on to GEnie hoping to
find out more about the 'exciting' new Fall-Con. All I get is
disappointment. I could have gotten 98% of the info I've gotten here from
Usenet for free this term.. I was glad to find the DBMS RT though - a lot
of help from those guys.. Back to Topic: Ok, the DSP is NEAT. SO WHAT!!
Big Deal. Who's got a killer app depending on the DSP? I'm not totally up
on Mac graphics modes, but I'll bet a IIsi w/ a proper graphics card (sure
- it'll cost more, but I can buy it TODAY) will run circles around a
Fall-Con for most things. I knew something wasn't agreeing there. You hit
it on the head w/ the 16/24 bit address bus for 'existing' users, and then
claiming the machine wasn't designed for existing users.. By placing all
their bets on the Fall-Con, they'll ensure one thing: either they do well,
and I'll gladly eat my words, or they'll die and we won't keep hoping
things will turn around - we'll just stop buying Atari.
Mattias
------------
FCC who?
You want it when???? ROTFLH!!
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 197 Thu Dec 03, 1992
FAIRWEATHER [David] at 00:47 EST
In August Atari said the first Falcon's would reach dealer shelves in
late October.
In October, Atari said the first Falcon's would reach dealer shelves
in late November.
In November Atari said the first Falcon's would reach dealer shelves
in "late December or January."
Just a friendly reminder from someone who remembers all too well
Atari's "six more weeks" assurances for the ST Book. I will be posting
these reminders as each new projected date passes. Anyone care to
bet whether I'll have to post another one on February 1?
By the way. Is the Falcon even FCC approved yet for home use? At
one time Atari was saying it was approved, but then I heard that the
shielding was redesigned. What's the story? Is it approved or
not?
------------
Where's the beef?!?
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 198 Thu Dec 03, 1992
J.RICHTER [J.RICHTER] at 01:22 EST
WINICK,
Sheesh... and how long should ThunderBIRD or any other ATARI USER have to
wait?. Never.. Never .... in the History of computers has any company
taken sooooo looong to release ANY of its systems in the last three
YEARS!... and there is really NO guarantee that this one will make it here
before spring either! and when 486SX/DX systems(by spring)that are over
twice the speed with twice the resolution are selling for LESS.. YES LESS
than the Falcon... and MOST with a REAL keyboards... with a GUARANTEED
software base to invest in..
Me thinks you don't understand how educated even the FIRST TIME buyers are
today!! If the Falcon had ALL the promissed specs that were originally
claimed.. well, they had a chance ..(minus the "OLD" MUSHY KEYBOARD)a slim
chance (If delivered on time for the holidays).. but by spring, when the
Falcons arrive in quantity, well hmmmmmmmm TIME TO cut Falcon prices in
HALF... just to stay alive.. and QUICK release the Falcon040 by no latter
than the end of Spring.
B.STOREY,
I must say WHAT? .... If ATARI had stuck to the SPECS, I do believe the
'Bird... would have been quite HAPPY.. right 'Bird? you remember? The Bird
has been one of the MOST staunch proponents of the Falcon030 and was QUITE
pleased (as I once was) with the Falcon030 (except mini-jacks) I was
pointing out some Niceties in Windows3.1 and he JUMPED all-over-me!! to
defend the Falcon030!!.. some of you are just NOT being fair-minded at
ALL!!... sheesh.. All questions HAVE been answered already! Thanks
ATARI!!!
"A few more dollars" ... anywhere for $900-$1200 more.. A FEW? I sold my
1040ST for $800 and bought the Mega2 for $1199 COMPLETE with monitor.. If
you were LUCKY and sold your STE for $400 complete (including your mono
monitor) it would STILL cost you 900 BIG ONES to get the Falcon030
4meg/65! and you would STILL have to come up with another $300 for a
low-end VGA monitor!! and the STE owners may be ATARI's main audience
('cause they WON'T advertise).. you know.. its a STARTER system!!
PS: Slip in a NICE keyboard, a 32bit data bus and maybe make the BliTTer a
32 bit device to drive 800X600X256 resolution and you'll DOUBLE your sales
and shut the whiners up!! ATARI, we ARE your best and ONLY sales people..
Better keep us shmucks HAPPY!!!!
Wait-a-minute.. didn't I do this same thing 1 1/2 years ago.. hmmm TT030
class "B" ... almost certified... hmmm edge of chair for months hmmmmm..
still no TT030 "class B" hmmmm... No class "B" stickers on Falcons when I
went to Comdex... hmmmmm.. Wait Falcon040 by the END of 1993.. long.. long
wait... hmmmmm.. I detect a pattern here!
------------
About Atari's Service.. Whatever happened to the "BIG" GE Service Deal?
Category 14, Topic 22
Message 127 Wed Dec 02, 1992
J.PIERCE5 [Rob] at 23:14 EST
As I've posted in the Mega STE topic, I'm having problems with my Mega
STE. The actual problems with it are no longer important. The problem
now is that even though I have a semi-local (hour and a half north of me
in Knoxville) service center, he refuses to do warranty work on the
machine, even though it's only six months old. Why? Because he can never
get the money back from Atari, so he refuses to work on any equipment
under warranty unless people buy from him or Computer STudio.
I honestly can't have a problem with that, considering how Atari is
treating him. He said he has an order for double-sided disk drives with
Atari, and has had this order in for over SIX MONTHS. The order is paid
for and everything. He said he spoke with Bob Brodie two days ago, and he
said it was approved and ready to ship, but he didn't know why they
hadn't. He said he'd have the person in charge call him right back. She
never did.
He also said he has a $300 credit (or something like that) because of
warranty repairs he has done, and it never gets applied his orders (even
though these orders never get shipped).
Atari is really screwing its dealers and service centers over, and in
turn, we, the end user, are getting screwed over. What has been a problem
with my computer since it was new will end up being a problem forever,
because I'm not going to pay to have it fixed under warranty, because the
company won't reimburse their service centers.
Rob
------------
Category 14, Topic 22
Message 128 Thu Dec 03, 1992
J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff - ST'er] at 00:41 EST
Rob,
Sorta sounds like the problem I had getting a new mother-board for a plain
520ST. It took a little over 8 months for me to get a working computer.
That was the longest two weeks that I ever saw.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^ JSW ^^^^
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thursday, December 3, 1992 - 12:27:56 am
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