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Silicon Times Report Issue 0849
*---== STReport International Online Magazine ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing
""""""""""""""
December 11, 1992 No.8.49
==========================================================================
STReport International Online Magazine
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
-----------------------------------------
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST
Support BBS Network System
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_____________________________________________________________________
> 12/11/92 STR 849 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
""""""""""""""""
- The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS
- Midi Music Maker! - LYNX OFFER! - 256 meg DRAM
- COMPAQ SELLS DIRECT! - Atari Dead? II - Programmer Delights!
- People Talking - STR MailCall - STR Confidential
-* TWO WEEKS 'TILL CHRISTMAS -> FALCONS ANYONE? *-
-* JAGUAR PROJECT HAS NEW HEAD! *-
-* DEVELOPER BLASTS ATARI ON USENET! *-
==========================================================================
STReport 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 11)
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!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
Christmas is right around the corner, loyal Atarians are poised all
'round the globe to pounce on a new "Falcon for the Holidays". Or, maybe
a "Lynx".. then again.. perhaps an "STBook" or "Portfolio".. all sweet
dreams aren't they? Well at least they'll be able to get a Lynx. Seems
the Lynx is the only goodie that's available in any real quantities.
Elsewhere in this issue, there's a special Lynx promotion for the holidays
that can put a new Lynx under your Christmas Tree or Chanukah Bush.
On another note, one can only wonder why the Minister of Information,
Bob Brodie, decided to slag John Amlser's really great job of reporting on
Atari's performance at Comdex. Its truly sad to see such petty nonsense
coming from Atari. In slagging Mr. Amsler's report, Mr. Brodie made it
quite evident he failed to realize the perspective STReport wanted the
Comdex Report done from. Brodie quips; "Why didn't Amsler come forward
and introduce himself?"
To that remark STR replies; Would it have made any difference once you
knew he was from STReport? Why should we even "check-in" at all? Perhaps
to ensure we get the full company "pep-talk"? No thank you. We "got"
that already. To be more explicit, John Amsler's instructions were to
"report on Atari's showing at the Comdex show as a spectator would see
it." Thus, giving the reader the resulting impressions as they would have
appeared to the average spectator. Not as an involuntary company
'spokesperson'.
Its sad to see the good director 'bad-mouthing' Amsler's excellent
efforts when in fact, his report was right on the mark and quite factual.
To say it even plainer, why didn't Brodie take advantage of Amsler's
Comdex observations and those of others who were in attendance and use
them to Atari's benefit instead of crying foul and lamenting the "less
than enthusiastic blind joy" that was eagerly anticipated but never did
materialize? Easy! The honest reporting of our eyewitness reporter was
not what _they_ "wanted to hear" and Brodie's selfish obsession once
again, got in the way of true professionalism. Maybe Ron Smith wasn't
wrong after all.
Its more than vaguely apparent that Brodie did his best to discredit
STReport and John Amsler's excellent Comdex report. After all the
'smoke' cleared, most everything Brodie detailed in "his special report"
was also detailed by John Amlser. In fact, Amsler had presented a few
items "Master" Brodie missed! Its rather easy to realize why Brodie
would resort to most anything to take a few cheap shots at STR, but to
continue the "obvious obsession" in AEO's newest release? And.. at
Amsler's expense to boot? Why is Brodie obviously trying to start another
magazine war? In any case, Brodie can "try" to start one all he wishes,
he'll be there _all alone_. One can only imagine how it could've been if
Brodie placed the very same enthusiasm and effort into promoting Atari's
future.
Since it is so close to Christmas, I'd like to wish everyone, yes
everyone.. the very best of Holiday Cheer, Health and Fortune.
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
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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 hovering around $1.31
ITS DECEMBER'92 -> FALCON030 - WHERE?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #49
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
-- IBM Calls Special Meeting
IBM scheduled a special meeting of its board of directors as rumors
swirled that the troubled computer maker would take additional steps to
cure its financial problems. The directors will meet next week, accor-
ding to an industry executive. Amoung the actions the board may consider
are the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs and plant consolida-
tions. In addition, the board may speed plans to give some IBM busines-
ses more autonomy.
-- Microsoft Faces Injunction Action
Attorneys investigating Microsoft for the Federal Trade Commission have
requested the agency's permission to seek a premliminary court injuc-
tion to stop alleged monopolistic practices, a Washington, D.C. news-
letter has reported. The acton was the lastest move in a lengthy inves-
tigation into Microsoft's pricing practices and, if pursued by the FCC,
could force the software manufacturer to change the way it deals with
thousands of computer makers who buy its MS-DOS operating systems.
-- Compaq Enters Direct Sales Market
Compaq Computer Corp. began direct sales using toll-free phone and mail
orders, entering a marketing niche that many personal computer makers
have used for years. The move is part of Compaq's drive to market its
products more widely.
-- Fujitsu Developes 256-meg Dram
Fujitsu Ltd. says it has developed the world's first 256-megabit DRAM
chip, boasting a capacity four times as large as any DRAM chip yet de-
veloped. A company spokeswoman is quoted as saying the new chips are
scheduled to be marketed in 1996. She added the company won't have to
build new facilities to manufacture the advanced chips, and instead
will convert its current production lines.
The quarter-sized chip is thought to "likely to pave the way for the
development of palm-sized multimedia devices like telephones or facsi-
mile machines".
-- Novell Denies Apple Merger Talks
Novell Inc. is denying a report in the San Jose Mercury News that said
the networking giant was negotiating a merger with Apple Computer Inc.
"There is no truth to that," said a Novell spokeswoman. "We're always in
industry discussions with them, but we're not having discussions with
them about merging."
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the report.
The Mercury News said talks between Apple Chairman John Sculley and
Novell Chairman Ray Noorda were a closely held secret and only known by
an elite group of senior executives at the two firms.
-- Chip Shipping Ratio Up In November
The U.S. chip industry's book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.13 in November, up
from 1.11 in October, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association
trade group. A 1.13 book-to-bill ratio means that for every $100 of
products shipped, or billed, manufacturers received $113 in new orders,
or bookings.
-- Intel to Increase Spending 33%
Intel Corp. has announced it will increase capital spending 33% next
year, more than any other semiconductor company in the world.
Intel Executive Vice President Craig Barrett said the company plans to
spend $1.6 billion on new plants, equipment and research. Research and
development expenditures alone will total about $900 million, compared
with about $800 million this year.
Barrett said Intel's investment will amount to more than one-third of
the company's revenue for 1993.
-- Former Computer Whiz Kid Caught
Kevin Poulsen, a former Silicon Valley computer whiz kid, has been charged
with stealing Air Force secrets that allegedly included a list of planned
targets in a hypothetical war. The 27-year-old Los Angeles resident was
named in a 14-count indictment that includes a charge of gathering
defense information. If convicted, he would face 7-1/2 to 10 years in
prison.
In the early 1980s, Poulsen was accused of breaking into UCLA's computer
network, but he escaped prosecution because he was a juvenile. He later
went to work for Sun Microsystems. It was while Poulsen was employed by
Sun that he illegally obtained a computer tape containing an order
concerning a military exercise code-named Caber Dragon 88, the government
said in court papers.
Poulsen was also charged in 1989 along with two other men with stealing
telephone access codes from a Pacific Bell office, accessing Pacific
Bell computers, obtaining unpublished phone numbers for the Soviet
Consulate in San Francisco; dealing in stolen telephone access codes;
and eavesdropping on two telephone company investigators. Sources say
he remained at large until a television show elicited a tip that led to
his capture in April 1991. He is scheduled to be tried in March on these
charges.
___________________________________________________________________
> PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHTS STR Spotlight A LITTLE 'CHEER' FOR YOU!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR C PROGRAMMERS
======================================
by Henry Spencer
Thou shalt run lint frequently and study its pronouncements with care,
for verily its perception and judgement oft exceed thine.
Thou shalt not follow the NULL pointer, for chaos and madness await thee
at its end.
Thou shalt cast all function arguments to the expected type if they are
not of that type already, even when thou art convinced that this is
unnecessary, lest they take cruel vengeance upon thee when thou least
expect it.
If thy header files fail to declare the return types of thy library
functions, thou shalt declare them thyself with the most meticulous care,
lest grievous harm befall thy program.
Thou shalt check the array bounds of all strings (indeed, all arrays), for
surely where thou typest ``foo'' someone someday shall type
``supercalifragilisticexpialidocious''.
If a function be advertised to return an error code in the event of
difficulties, thou shalt check for that code, yea, even though the checks
triple the size of thy code and produce aches in thy typing fingers, for
if thou thinkest ``it cannot happen to me'', the gods shall surely punish
thee for thy arrogance.
Thou shalt study thy libraries and strive not to re-invent them without
cause, that thy code may be short and readable and thy days pleasant and
productive.
Thou shalt make thy program's purpose and structure clear to thy fellow
man by using the One True Brace Style, even if thou likest it not, for thy
creativity is better used in solving problems than in creating beautiful
new impediments to understanding.
Thy external identifiers shall be unique in the first six characters,
though this harsh discipline be irksome and the years of its necessity
stretch before thee seemingly without end, lest thou tear thy hair out and
go mad on that fateful day when thou desirest to make thy program run on
an old system.
Thou shalt foreswear, renounce, and abjure the vile heresy which claimeth
that ``All the world's a VAX'', and have no commerce with the benighted
heathens who cling to this barbarous belief, that the days of thy program
may be long even though the days of thy current machine be short.
This little ditty (from Internet?) courtesy of Jim Redpath 70000,1045...
The Twelve Bugs of Christmas ....
For the first bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
See if they can do it again.
For the second bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the third bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the fourth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the fifth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the sixth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the seventh bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the eighth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Find a way around it
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the ninth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Blame it on the hardware
Find a way around it
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the tenth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Change the documentation
Blame it on the hardware
Find a way around it
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the eleventh bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Say it's not supported
Change the documentation
Blame it on the hardware
Find a way around it
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
For the twelfth bug of Christmas, my manager said to me
Tell them it's a feature
Say it's not supported
Change the documentation
Blame it on the hardware
Find a way around it
Say they need an upgrade
Reinstall the software
Ask for a dump
Run with the debugger
Try to reproduce it
Ask them how they did it and
See if they can do it again.
______________________________________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by Joe Mirando
Well folks, Christmas is yet another week closer. As I write this column,
my part of the country (the Northeast) is looking at a rather large snow
storm. It looks like, for the first time in years, I will have a white
Christmas. Its not quite a perfect replacement for having a FALCON030
under the tree on Christmas morning, but it beats a poke in the eye with a
sharp stick.
Okay, okay, enough of my ramblings, on with the show...
From The Atari Productivity Forum
=================================
Ah, Christmas. My favorite time of the year: Snow, brisk air, Christmas
carols, and... PRESENTS!
On to other matters. When was the last time you _enjoyed_ using GDOS?
Let's face it; It slows your computer down, you usually need a different
assignment file for each program that needs GDOS, and it can be tough to
manage all of those different files. The bottom line though, is that GDOS
(or replacement programs such as G+Plus, FontGDOS, or the long awaited FSM
(now SPEEDO)GDOS) is still the best way to get graphics from your ST to a
printer. Many graphics-oriented programs such as Desktop Publishers, use
GDOS to achieve the best possible results using affordable printers. But
what if you have a printer that isn't supported by the GDOS file that
came with a particular program? Tim Rule posts:
"I am a new user of compuserve. I am looking for an HP Deskjet
printer driver for GDOS, FSM GDOS or FONT GDOS on the Atari ST. My
printer is in fact a 550C but none of my ST software supports color,
can anyone suggest a program as good as my CorelDraw! V3 which runs on
the ST?. I also need a printer driver for Calamus S which can output
a TIFF file at FAX resolution. Is there such thing?
Is anyone interested in a text conversion program which allows you to
import an ASCII file formatted for the ST screen into a 1ST Word Plus
document?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine, who seems to have a never ending
knowledge of all things Atari related answers Tim:
"I think there is a program by Greg Wagman for printing on the 550C.
It should be in the library somewhere in this forum. I don't know
drawing programs that well but they are quite a few good ones out
there. For Calamus you can try the Atari Vendors forum (GO ATARIVEN)
under the ISD section. Nathan of ISD answers questions about Calamus
SL on a regular basis. (GO ATARIVEN)"
CompuServe Users are a friendly bunch and usually welcome new users and
make them feel right at home (which, since they are telecommunicating,
they probably are). Steve Gold welcomes Tim and provides some
information:
"Welcome, you've just joined some of the most knowledgeable (though
some of us can't spell) people in the Atari world.. You can find
FONTGDOS here on-line within the archives is the DeskJet 500 driver
which will work with the 550C. As far as I know there are no color
gdos drivers available for the 550C or the 500C. (Though you might
wish to check with a company called SDS (Scott is on-line here) There
are several MONOChrome and Color programs for the ST. I suggest you
look at the Lexicor suite of programs. StraightFAX has a print
driver for Calamus that will output a document into their native FAX
format. As for TIFF files there is DATAFORMER for Calamus SL (I don't
know if it will work with S)."
Nathan Potechin of DMC, the "Calamus People", tells Tim:
"There is a driver for the HP 550C for Calamus S/SL. And yes, the
DATAFORMER module works with either S or SL and exports 24 bit TIFF
beautifully. :-)"
While on the subject of graphics, Richard Jay tells us:
"I will soon be starting a DTP design service using my 4 meg STe
(probably upgrading to a Falcon next year), and need advice as to
software and scanners. I have discounted Timeworks as I need
Postscript file capability, so the choice is between Calamus and
Pagestream. Any advice from users would be much appreciated. All
scanners seem to be alike, but I'm sure they're not. Again, advice
please. Finally I would like to take advantage of the large clip art
& font resources in the IBM/MAC DTPFORUM libraries (it doesn't seem to
have any support for ST) so does anybody know of any convertor
programs that I could d/load."
That busy, busy, busy guy, Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine posts:
"Does Calamus have postscript output? I thought it was only
PageStream. Goldleaf is distributing some new scanning software call
LOOK II. You can read more about that software from library uploads
that give the details.
From what I remember you can use any PostScript type one fonts with
PageStream without any difficulty. There seem to be quite a few
graphic converters on the Atari platform and with both Calamus and
PageStream to handle 99% of your needs in my opinion. This will help
when it comes to the clip art part of things.
There is flatbed scanner software and hand-held scanner software
available for the Atari too. I know there are quite a few people who
use their Ataris for DTP work not even mentioning the many editors and
representatives of the various Atari magazines."
Hmmm... I think I'm going to have to make an "Albert" macro so I don't
have to type "Albert Dayes of Atari Explore Magazine" so often. Either
that or Albert has to stop replying and helping so many people out
here.... Nah, I'll set up a macro! ;-)
Boris Molodyi chimes in with the first piece of information that Albert
didn't have right at his fingertips (Hey somebody call the 'World Records'
people). Boris posts:
"Calamus (SL) has a Dataformer module, that can output (among other
things) PostScript files."
This sure seems to be the week for DTP questions... Domingo Alvear posts:
"I was wondering if anybody out there could tell me where to pick up
"The Tray"? I will be getting a Migraph hand scanner with touch-up and
a boatload of other DTP software soon. I need the full-page
capability. Oh, please give me the list price, as well as any
mail-order pricing you might have. (Along with phone numbers,
addresses, etc.)"
Okay, _THIS_ does it! I'm going to stop right now and install that
"ALBERT" macro....
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine tells Domingo:
"You can try The Computer Network in Glendale. (818)-500-3900 You
live in the general area right? (plus or minus 100 miles)"
Ahhhh... that's much better. Now when Albert saves the day next time,
I'll be able to just hit one key and have that line added to the column.
After a mention that several Euro-Mags contained advertisements offering
the FALCON030, Sysop Bob Retelle posts:
"If magazine lead times in England are anything like they are here in
the US, those ads were placed months ago on the *hopes* that Atari
would have delivered Falcons for sale by the time the ads saw print...
That's one of the problems of print advertising.. if you wait until
the Falcons are really ready to sell to place the ads, it might be
months (depending on the publication) before anyone sees your ad.
You've got to gamble on believing the Falcons would be ready when
Atari said they would be.. apparently the ads appeared then, but the
Falcons didn't.."
Tony at GST Software adds:
"Yup - originally it appears Atari had promised dealers supplies by
then. However we (and everybody else) are still awaiting the first
real sightings."
From the Atari ST Arts Forum
============================
Boy, is this National GDOS Discussion week or something? Ralph Kalatucka
tells Domingo Alvear about his experiences with G+Plus, the GDOS
replacement from CodeHead Technologies:
"I know G+PLUS is better than GDOS; The only trouble I was having was
using it with a hard drive (turn on/turn off) which was solved when I
started trying Super Boot. However, this caused me to pull out the old
instruction manual for G+PLUS, and I realized how little I really knew
about it. F'rinstance...The G+PLUS accessory and the accompanying
G+PLUS MINI .acc. I just couldn't really figure out why I would need
one or the other or either of them tying up an accessory slot (I have
a calculator and a clock in there with other stuff.)
So I ignored them, and all seems to be well.
When it comes to GEMSYS, ASSIGN.SYS and the ever-puzzling Easy-Draw
METASYS, I get easily bogged down in computer-eze language. I also
know that I am an idiot if I own 2 ST's and DON'T understand more of
their innards, but if I just ignore some of the stuff and don't try to
follow it too closely, my blood pressure stays way down. I would
appreciate some in-person tutor some day. I'll have to see if there is
a users group in my area in Los Angeles."
Brian Gockley, editor for ST Informer, and a pretty good guy, chimes in
and tells Ralph:
"When I first got my ST, I also got EZ Draw (still one of my favorite
'productivity tools). I could not get it too run for anything. I kept
getting a stupid 'You must have GDOS in an Auto folder and a valid
Assign.SYS file. After I learned how to make a folder (really), I
copied GDOS.PRG into every partition I had, sometimes inside another
Auto folder! After several support calls, my dealer asked me to bring
my hard drive in to the store, where he set up a 'valid' Assign.SYS
file etc.
It was over two years later when I needed to learn anything more, and
by then I was a bit more prepared (get the article 'Everything You
Want to Know About GDOS...' by Doug Wheeler).
I feel like a GDOS veteran by now, but there are still a lot I don't
know about. For example, where <IS> the GDOS camera driver that I can
use from Outprint.PRG? Why <Isn't>there a Type 1 converter yet? Why
<don't> all program's have the ability to change drivers on the fly?
When <WILL> we see a font preview CPX? Why <CAN'T> all GDOS program's
print to disk? And many more...
The recent FontGDOS and its attenuating CPX modules is a real
improvement, I can't wait for the new Speedo version. As far as
Meta.SYS, I believe that this is a driver (similar to a printer
driver) that allows a GEM file to be written to disk. Without this
driver, you cannot save a .GEM file for later use. I don't know why
this quirk exists, but be sure it is part of the original DRI
Operating System."
Tony at GST Software tells Brian:
"Meta.sys exists to allow an application to print its information to a
file as a GEM file without needing to worry about how to create such a
file. In fact several apps can happily handle such files without
META.SYS since they contain the necessary code themselves."
Remember those great old games from the infancy of the coin-op video game
world? There was Missile Command and... OH HECK... What was the name of
that other one? The one where this long earthworm-looking thing snaked
around on the screen while you took pot-shots at it. Well, Mike McKee
remembers:
"A Russian programmer and myself would like to develop a game similar
to Centipede for the Mac PowerBooks, since these have trackballs, but
first we need to recall what Centipede looked like so we don't
infringe on any copyrights. We plan to call it BookWorm (in favor of
the PowerBOOKs) and the main worm will have nerdish round glasses on.
Please, can you specifically outline what old Centipede looked like?
Did the screen scroll down? Could the centipede leave the screen and
come back to the other side? How did the trackball affect the
movement?"
Albert Dayes at Atari Explorer Magazine tells Mike:
"Centipede. There was no screen scrolling at all. The Centipede
would start at the top of the screen and descending to the bottom.
With each new wave one additional segment would be separate from the
rest (ie wave 0 = full centipede, wave 1 = centipede and 1 segment
separated, etc). The Centipede changed direction every time it hit a
mushroom at it also descended one level.
After a few waves you (the player) would get harassed by a jumping
spider. The spider will not change directions so once he is past you;
there is nothing to fear. If you shot too many mushrooms then some
insect would drop from the top of the screen filling at random a
straight vertical line of mushrooms. In addition there is a scorpion
that would run across the middle and poison the mushrooms causing the
centipede to come straight down from where it was first poisoned.
The player was restricted to the lower 1/4 of the screen. The
trackball movement is like any other trackball it gives both speed and
direction. So the faster the spin the ball the quicker the player
moves from one place to another. The fire button is a single shot but
it can be held down to give a pseudo-machine gun like appearance.
Also every 10 waves or so the mushrooms grow in random locations
across the screen. There is no level number indicator on the screen
but there are 3 sets of numbers. The middle one indicates the high
score and the two on the sides represent player one and player two."
Sysop Bob Retelle adds:
"The centipede appears at the top lefthand corner of the screen and
moves horizontally from left to right across the screen until it
either hits the edge of the screen or a mushroom. It then drops one
row and begins moving back across the screen from right to left,
repeating until it hits the bottom of the screen.
At that point, it begins moving back up the screen, but only for about
four or five rows, then begins descending row by row again.
When it hits the bottom, several other centipede segments will enter
the screen near the bottom and begin the same back and forth movement
(to make it tougher on the player).
As for copyrights, it all depends.. you might get away with it, or
Leonard Tramiel might threaten to sue your [expletive deleted] off."
From the Atari Vendors Forum
============================
Dazzz Smith asks:
"Has anybody heard about an new upgrade to Neodesk? Any details?"
Pat Augustine tells Dazzz:
"I received a newsletter in the mail the other day from Gribnif
wherein they mentioned a new version of Neodesk for next year. It's
not available yet, but I believe they are taking orders (though they
neglected to mention the upgrade price in the newsletter)."
Meanwhile, Boris Molodyi asks Nathan Potechin of DMC about Calamus:
"BTW, any news on WORD import module, better ASCII importer
(selectable CR/LF configurations) and retouching software (I remember
that it was studio, but don't recall if it was Repro or Cranach :-)"
Nathan replies:
"Nothing new on Word or Ascii but I did receive a rough draft of the
TMS Cranach Studio manual this very morning. I haven't even looked at
it yet. :-) More as it develops."
Bill Devonshire tells Charles F. Johnson of CodeHead Technologies:
"I seem to have missed out on quite a lot lately. I have Warp9 3.6,
and from what I read here there seems to have been some considerable
upgrades to it. What's the scoop on upgrading?"
Charles tells Bill:
"Please have a look in Library 16, at the file called W9NEW.TXT; it
contains a description of the latest version of Warp 9, along with
details about how to upgrade. Thanks for your interest!"
Well, that's about it for this week boys 'n girls. Sometime within the
next two or three issues I'll be starting to include posts from the Atari
Portfolio Forum. So if you have a Portfolio, tune in every week to find
the same kind of news and helpful information that 'PEOPLE' provides for
ST users. If you have both an ST and a Portfolio I guess you'll just have
to read the column twice each week! ;-) So whether you own an ST, STe,
TT, or a Portfolio, be sure to tune in again next week and listen to what
they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
_______________________________________________________________________
> THEIR WINNING WAYS STR FOCUS! "How to win friends and......"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IMPLODING IS THE BEST DESCRIPTION
=================================
prologue by R.F. Mariano
A dear friend and colleague first used the term "imploding" some time
ago. I felt he had perhaps been far too premature. Looking back, I now
can honestly say I was being far to optimistic. The gent was absolutely
correct in his observation of the Atari market imploding. This was two
years ago last October. Now, Atari is imploding. Atari's actions and
performance have been heartbreaking to say the least. After you read this
account of how a Loyal, dedicated developer was recently treated when
visiting the Sunnyvale Circus and playground of the Katzenjammer, you too
will realize exactly what is going on and why there are those of us who
feel the way we do. The Fat Lady is looming larger than life itself.
From USENET.....
Read subscription article (Usenet)
/Gateways/Usenet/comp/sys/atari/st/general/Good Bye Double Click
1073.3.22743.130 Re: Hello, GW! (was Re: Good Bye Atari)
12/8/92 17:10 152/8244 dmb@case.ai.mit.edu (David Baggett)
Lines 141 to 152 of 152 (100%)
-----
In article <greg.723853140@duke- greg@Quotron.COM (Greg "Maddog" Knauss)
writes:
-neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes:
-Right but as Dave said, Atari didn't seem to have that view.
-They're weird bunch of guys there.
-What exactly did Atari say? I'm curious to hear their reaction to GW.
I can't actually post a transcript without violating major Usenet
etiquette rules. :-|
-Dave said that he got yelled at for three hours. I'd be surprised at
-any Atari official respond negatively to software for the ST, unless
-the Tramiels really _are_ morons... Which could very well be.
Since you asked, and since I've recently been accused of being "too hard"
on Atari, I'll give the details of our visit.
There is no exaggeration in the following -- I had (and have) no
reason to make anything up here, and I certainly have no desire to incur a
libel suit (see below about Leonard the Atari Legal Attack Dog). I went
out there feeling very optimistic, and I still have many fond memories of
the Atari world and ST hacking.
But I was completely and utterly astonished by their utter idiocy. My
fears about Atari's future increased 100-fold just because of that visit.
Example of technical idiocy: We told them weeks in advance that we
were bringing a Syquest cart, and "Would there be a cart drive there?"
They assured us there would be. And, lo and behold, there was! But they
spent about an hour cobbling it together, and then proclaimed that my cart
couldn't be read because it was formatted with "shi**y third party
software." (I'm sure ICD would be pleased to hear their opinion.) They
scrambled all around and found something else, which they claimed would
"fix the problem." I went along with this, assuming they knew what was
going home.
After our meeting they cited our bringing "incompatible third party
media" as a reason they were unimpressed with our "presentation" (which we
couldn't actually give for all the heckling). I was a bit dumfounded,
but I didn't say much in response, thinking it best to just let it go.
But I found later that there AREN'T any problems reading ICD formatted
carts in other Syquest drives. They had simply booted up C drive and
looked in it, found it empty, and proclaimed some problem in ICD's
software. But the C partition WAS blank -- I didn't put anything on it.
I put everything on D! It had been working just fine -- they wasted an
hour of our (and their) time for nothing.
When they finally got things set up, people just wandered in and out
randomly, like we were at some holiday party or something. We were told
that one of the employees was "really mad at having to come in that day so
we'd better do a good job." (And, indeed, he bitched *non-stop* and asked
obviously irritating questions over and over, even after we'd given a
simple answer like, "Yes.")
What the he** kind of treatment is that for developers that have paid
their *own way* out to Sunnyvale to show you some game development
software for your new machine which you want to pitch to GAME COMPANIES.
They told us all about their grand plans. All about how they'd be moving
30,000 Falcons a month in August. All about how EA, etc. were going to
write games for it. (With no game development system, of course.) We
were horrified at their naivete. We were furious at their rudeness and
lack of professionalism. They actually told us that some of the peons
from the Lynx group were "angry that we'd wasted their time." That WE'D
wasted THEIR time?!?! Wanna reimburse us for the $3000 it cost DC to make
that trip, Atari? How about the 5 days WE wasted flying our butts out to
be abused by you?
Bill Rehbock was the only person that behaved in an even slightly
professional manner. (The TT dev people, whom we knew already, weren't
involved in the "meeting," but they were also very supportive) I have got
to give Bill credit; he was the only person who seemed to have any *clue*
about the reality of the situation at Atari. He was the only one who
wouldn't have been perfectly happy with us leaving so angry that we'd
never do anything but write malicious viruses for Atari computers again.
(No, we never have, and we won't.)
The only questions Leonard Tramiel could think to ask were, "Does your
stuff run on the TT?" (Yes, as we explained in detail at the start of
"meeting.") and "What would your reaction be if we sued you for copyright
infringement for HacMan II?" As Dave Barry says, "I AM NOT MAKING THIS
UP." What POSSIBLE relevance did THAT have?!?! Aside from being
completely absurd (as if pacman has any sales potential anymore anyway,
and as if I made any money off it), it was totally unrelated to the
matters at hand.
To give you an idea of the kinds of criticisms they had, they were
*very* hung up on the fact that Animatic had 16 palette boxes, and hence
"obviously could never be made to work with 256 colors." As if the screen
layout is impossible to change. (And as if we were supposed to develop a
system that supported the Falcon before we ever even saw a Falcon!) They
were also very mad that Animatic won't import Deluxe Paint images, because
THEY only use Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. (As if it would really be hard
to add an IFF loader. Come on, it's not like I don't have the format
grin.)
They complained that we didn't have real-time sprite scaling and
rotation, an omission which they felt made the system terribly technically
inferior because "the Lynx has it and it's only a 6502-based machine."
But the Lynx has *hardware scaling and rotation built in*. I was amazed
to find that I knew more about the Lynx hardware than the Lynx
programmers! (I was also amazed that they thought you could actually do
real-time rotation and scaling on the ST without massive precalculated
tables in anything but a specially-coded demo. No commercial ST games do
that, that I know of.)
The real kicker is that GW does have image scaling and rotation
routines, so if you *really* feel the urge to try making a game that runs
fast enough to be playable using real-time scaling and rotation, you can
do so easily, by hooking your own image manipulation code (that just calls
the GW scaling/rotation routines) into the GW kernel using a simple
technique they *refused* to let me describe! I just never bothered to
hook scaling and rotation into the sprite code because it would probably
never get used.
They then proceeded to show us their beloved Lynx development system,
which they think is the best thing ever. It runs on an Amiga. THERE WERE
NO Atari machines being used by the game developers at Atari. And they
groused that the management had been asking them to start trying to work
with TT's, saying that if they moved to Atari machines they'd lose their
favorite Amiga text editor, and that they just WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO PROGRAM
WITHOUT IT.
I just wanted to grab them by the lapels and shake them. (This all
not even considering the fact that the "awesome" Lynx system doesn't even
have the concept of a "film" or "sprite" -- you have to tack frames
together "by hand" by drawing them on the screen in the right order. Give
me a *break* guys -- arrays and linked lists are NOT new concepts.)
I guess Bill gave us a Falcon to make us feel less like ripping the
heads off every Atari employee we dealt with there. But that doesn't
change the facts of the day.
Did I mention that they BET us that we couldn't finish the ST version
of Vindicators before they could? Dave Staugas had been working on it for
about 6 months, and when we commented that the game would be fairly
straightforward with GW, their response was not, "Really? Then tell us
how you'd do it, wise guy" but instead "Oh yeah, well Dave Staugas just
sucked anyway, so it's no surprise he took so long. *I* could write it in
a week."
Kind words for the guy who wrote NEOchrome, huh? I suppose we can
only hope for his sake that "Bea" hasn't stabbed him in the back too.
(Whoever she is.)
So there you go. That's the way it was. Atari, RIP.
Dave Baggett
--
dmb@ai.mit.edu MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
ADVENTIONS: interactive fiction (text adventures) for the 90's!
dmb@ai.mit.edu *** Compu$erve: 76440,2671 *** GEnie: ADVENTIONS
Editor Note;
Still there are those yahoos who feel the Katzenjammer can do no
wrong. Will they ever wake up? I doubt it. The shame is they'll take a
bunch of good people with them. I wonder if the Codeheads ever got a
Falcon?
***********************************************************************
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=================
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> PHOTOCHROME 3 STR Review That was then... this is NOW!
""""""""""""""""""""""""
PHOTOCHROME VERSION 3.00
========================
Authored by Douglas Little
Pixel Twins Share Utilities
Reviewed by Doyle C. Helms
Software Editor @ STReport
The "standard" Atari ST computer comes with 16 colors displayable
from a palette of 512 available colors. This has been the "standard" since
the ST introduction in 1985. Today's "standard" is still 16 colors
displayable, but from a palette of 4096 colors. The old standard allowed
for only 8 shades of one color. Today's STe allows for 16 shades of one
color. So you see some progress has been made.
A few years after the ST's introduction, a paint program came on the
scene that would allow the ST to display all 512 colors at once. This
program is called Spectrum 512 (and also in a later version known as
Unispec, an accessory version of Spectrum 512). With this program a user
could create and edit a screen full of colors unheard of on a home/micro
computer at that time. Several utility programs came out from various
sources that allow GIF and IFF picture format files to be converted over
to SPC(Spectrum) format.
GIF(Graphic Interchange Format) originated on Compuserve Information
Service that was designed with compatibility between all personal computer
systems. The GIF format allow up to 256 colors on screen at once. The
quality of images created with GIF and SPC soon became a benchmark for
other color graphic formats to attain and try to surpass. Several paint
programs came into being that promised equal quality to that of SPC, alas,
they never became widely accepted in the Atari community. We Atarians are
a "picky" lot! :)
So SPC and its second place competitor, GIF retained the "standard"
crown. That was then, this is now!
PhotoChrome - PCS (PhotoChrome Screen)
--------------------------------------
Enter PhotoChrome version 3.00. SPC and GIF will have to step aside
for the new kid on the block! This color graphic format is OUTSTANDING!
The on-screen picture quality is as close to a photograph as ANY I have
seen on a personal computer in the Atari ST/STe price range. The PCS
format allows for 32768 palette colors with 19200 on-screen at once! This
display of 19K+ colors is not a blockish dither looking screen like some
programs have tried to drop on us in the past. This PCS display screen is
SMOOTH! Well, enough of the sugar concerning the display, what does
PhotoChrome 3.00 do besides display a very colorful image on screen you
might ask? Well, let me cover the down side of PhotoChrome 3.00 first.
PhotoChrome 3.00 does not allow the editing of an image. This means
that the user cannot enter PhotoChrome 3.00 and manipulate the colors and
etc. like can be done from within Spectrum 512. PhotoChrome 3.00 ONLY
allows the user to import a color graphic file from one file type and
convert to another. Maybe, just maybe the author can/will produce a full
blown color paint program from this excellent starting point. Now on to
some of the features of PhotoChrome 3.00.
PhotoChrome 3.00 allows for the importation of several color graphic
formats that are available from the PC compatible color world.
1. GIF - The PhotoChrome program can load GIF's of any height and/or
width. If the GIF screen size exceeds the 320*200 size, PhotoChrome 3.00
allows for the GIF to "squashed". This "squashing", is accomplished with
amazing rendering quality. If the image exceeds the 320*200 and the user
wishes not to "squash the image, the user is given the option of
rendering a "zone" to be processed. The zone is defined by using the
cursor control keys.
2. IFF - ILBM IFF's of any height or width can be imported and if the
image exceeds 320*200, the image can also be squashed or the user can
select a 320*200 zone of the original to process. The zone is defined the
same as with the GIF zone definition method. HalfBrite Amiga pics are
supported properly.
3. RAW - QRT(Quick Ray Trace) screens can be imported also of any
height or width.
4. RGB - VidiChrome RGB screens are supported.
5. TARGA (TGA) - TRUE color graphic screens.
There are several conversion programs that allow for other formats to
be converted over to RAW data files which can then be imported into
PhotoChrome 3.00. Please check your favorite on-line service or local BBS
for these programs, more format support is a sure thing!
PhotoChrome 3.00 not only allows for conversion of the above named
formats into PCS format, but also allows for saving in the following
formats:
1. Spectrum 512 - Standard "legal" SPU color files. These files
consist of 42 colors per scanline.
2. Spectrum 4096 - STe 4096 color Spectrum (SPU) files.
3. PCS-ST - This format produces "non-legal" ST (SPU) color files
with 48 colors per scanline. This format will NOT load into Spectrum or
Unispec.
4. PCS-STE - 4096 colors from a the STe color palette. 48 colors per
scanline also. Not Spectrum(the program itself) compatible.
5. Super HAM - Full 4096 colors out of 4096 on either the ST or STe.
6. STE PhotoChrome(PCS) - 19200 colors from a palette of 32768 colors
on an STe ONLY.
Conclusion-
-----------
If you haven't picked up on my very positive outlook about
PhotoChrome 3.00 yet, let me give PhotoChrome 3.00 an unqualified 5 STaR
rating for this program. This program does what it says it does without
any hype from the authors part. Mr. Little and the Pixel Twins Shareware
Utilities staff have done an outstanding job of quality programming as
well as pushing the ST/STe beyond it's known limits. Obtain this program
and begin to enjoy color like you have NEVER seen before on your ST/STe!!!
Send contributions and ideas to:
Douglas Little
160 Goremire Road
Carluke, Lanarkshire
Scotland. ML8 4PN
***********************************************************************
: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
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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. November GEnie Billing Complete - To review your bill, type:..*BILL
2. Give The Gift Of Online Time................................GENIESTORE
3. CANADIANS - Database & Research Services Now Available........RESEARCH
4. PREMIERE issue of GEnieLamp MacPRO now available in...........MACPRO
5. The Amiga Starship hosts a party in the adult space fantasy...FED
6. STUDENTS - REGISTER Today For Winter Term COURSES.............CALC
7. GRAND OPENING: FREE Bottle of Vitamin C w/orders at Court.....PHARMACY
8. More from THE BYTE WORKS for current and future programmers...A2PRO
9. HOLIDAY MUSIC ON CD (Latest & Greatest too..) at............NOTEWORTHY
10. Star Trek author JOHN VORNHOLT, Live, Saturday in.............SFRT2
11. Author CLIVE BARKER in RTC Sunday in..........................WRITERS
12. What To Buy Your Technospouse for XMAS 9PM Sun 12/13 in.......RADIO
13. Be the QUARTERBACK You Make The CALL with.....................QB1
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15. YOUR SIGN'S forecast for 1993 now in.........................ASTROLOGY
Welcome ****** ******** ** ** **
To the ** ** ** ** **
GEnie ****** ** ST ** ** **
ATARI ** ** Roundtable ** ** **
****** ** ** ** **
*** ** ***
The Official Online Resource of Atari Corporation *** ** ***
Atari ST Roundtable
Real Time Conference Special Events Calendar
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!
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.
"Darlah's Treat of the Month II" at 475;10 is the COLOR version. Category
9 Topic 45 contains useful information on how to use this game. See
Category 21 Topic 7 for explicit hints and tips. This game will keep you
busy for hours on end. It has multi-levels, each level having its own
unique puzzle. Please share your experience, hints and tips as you play.
Both the Color and Mono version of OXYD are TT/ST/STE compatible!
New Files in Your Library
-------------------------
No. File Name Address Description
----- ------------ ----------- -------------------------------------
26834 STOS206U.LZH D.MOSHER12 Upgrade STOS 205 to STOS 206
26831 PCHROME3.LZH D.HELMS PhotoChrome Version 3.00 !MUST HAVE!
26830 AEO_SE1.LZH AEO.MAG AEO - Special Edition #1
26829 DB2V251.LZH ORA.TECH Diamond Back II V2.50->V2.51 Patch
26828 CMCINFO.TXT S.GARRIGUS Computer Musician Coalition info!
26824 FZDS_JS.ZIP S.PRICE19 Jekyll Shell for FzDSTerm.
26823 RUDE_V04.ZIP S.PRICE19 Rude Dog Viewer v.0.4 Beta
26822 LMP251.LZH D.HOLMES14 GEnie Lamp #2.51 (TX2 version)
26819 ESVG_2_E.ARC L.PECKHAM Sample EPS(AI) Christmas clip-art
26818 WARPSTUF.LZH B.JIVIDEN Stuff for Warp 9: 8x8 Font & Fills
26817 ESVG_2_C.LZH L.PECKHAM Sample CVG Christmas Files
26815 ESVG_5AE.ARC L.PECKHAM Sample EPS (AI) files, Icons&Symbols
26814 ESVG_5AC.LZH L.PECKHAM Sample CVG files, Icons&Symbols
26813 REMOTE1.LZH R.MORROW10 Change to REMOTE.BTS for STalker.
26812 DEMO.LZH R.MORROW10 STalker 3 demo.bts script.
26811 TRACKER.LZH D.MOSHER12 Tracker for STOS.
26810 TOMEDEMO.LZH D.MOSHER12 Tome for STOS,you asked for it.
26809 BRODIE3.ARC ST.LOU Lots of Christmas Specials from Bob
26804 LYNXXMAS.TXT EXPLORER.1 Christmas special on the LYNX!
Darlah's Treat of the Month [Page 475;9] - OXYDMONO.LZH
Darlah's Treat of the Month II [Page 475;10] - OXYDCOLR.LZH
Other NEW FILES available in the Atari RT Libraries are Sound Files
(library 11), Digitized Sounds (library 17), Graphic pictures (library 5),
Atari Archives (library 13), and Sale/Wanted Files (library 26). Sale &
Wanted items are also available in the Bulletin Board Category 27.
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
All of this weeks posts are, once again, from the ST Roundtable on Genie.
----------------
Latest news about DMJ GIF from Rob Pierce - Cat 2., Topic 6, Msg. 183...
No, your ST isn't going to go up in smoke, the world isn't coming to
an end... I'd just like to announce that DMJ GIF 3.1 is available.
Version 3.1 is just a minor enhancement over version 3.0, with the
following improvements:
o The GIF analysis code has been speeded up about 300%.
o Color streaking, always a problem, has been reduced about 20%.
o Conversions have been speeded up about 25%.
This is just a taste of things to come. I am currently at work on DMJ
GIF 4 (finally!) and work is going smoothly. If you have registered
DMJ GIF and would like to upgrade, just send your original DMJ GIF
disk back to me at the address below and I'll update the disk and
return it to you, free of charge. If you don't have DMJ GIF, just send
$15 (the Shareware price) and you'll get version 3.1.
If you don't already know what will be updated in version 4, let me
BRIEFLY outline what's coming:
o Convert images much faster (2-3 times as fast) than before.
o Convert GIF, IFF, Spectrum, DEGAS, Tiny, NEO, TIFF, IMG, Prism
Paint, PCX, QRT RAW, and Vidi RGB--load or save any of these.
o Rotate images--0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees.
o Convert in full 24-bit color.
o Improved 16-color and monochrome conversions.
o Better dithering.
o Better mapping.
o Aspect preservation.
o Include text (with some picture formats).
o Create PhotoChrome- quality images (32,768-color pics) and display
them on any ST with less flicker and less streaking than
PhotoChrome.
o MUCH MORE!
If there's a format you'd like to have but don't see in the above
list, send me details on it and I'll see what I can do. I've got JPEG
info, and that will probably arrive after the initial release of the
program. Targa files would be nice, for instance...
There are some other things that are not certain yet, like support for
Falcon resolutions and maybe SPX capability, but I will do what I can
to get those abilities into DMJ GIF 4!
The address for you to write to for upgrades, picture info (if you
have some you'd like to share with me), or just general chit-chat is:
Damien M. Jones
PSC 8 Box 657
APO AE 09109
----------------
Comments about Photochrome from Dave Bowman - Cat. 2, Topic 11, Msgs. 8
- 10...
Hello all, I just thought I would drop a note to all of you out there.
Photochrome 3 is great!! Makes makin' SPX files a true breeze and is
very fast to boot. I am sending my SW fee in today. (along with my
disk to get the newest DMJ Gif) I hate to say this but this seems to
be better than the reg'ed version of DMJ gif version 3.
More from OUTRIDER -
I agree the new PhotoChrome is GREAT! I was less than impressed with
the last version, mainly because of display problems and lack of GIF
and support, but also because of the lack of scaling for IFFs. But the
new version has won me over big time!
The PCS pics are so much better than Spectrum 4096 pics. There IS the
slight flicker, but the nearly photographic display more than makes up
for it. And it's so FAST! I belong to PixNet, which brings in megs and
megs of GIFs every week. It was a nightmare to convert them all with
DMJ GIF, but with PhotoChrome, it's nothing to go through a couple
dozen GIFs in a relatively short session.
It's not perfect, though. The new "Squash" routine is very nice. How-
ever, it seems to squash to fit the screen, rather than squashing an
equal amount both vertically and horizontally. This causes some pics
to LOOK squashed. It should allow you to squash equally in both
directions.
Also, it doesn't handle 89a nor GIFLITE GIFs well at all. Rather than
telling you it's a bad file, it bombs. Not good.
Still, all in all, a FANTASTIC program, and well worth a shareware
payment!
Regarding making SPX files, where did I miss that??? Are you confusing
SPX with PCS? If not, HOW do you make SPX files with PhotoChrome?
----------------
About the new version of 'The Recipe Box' from Anthoney Watson - Cat. 2,
Topic 44, Msg. 18...
***** NOTICE *****
The recipe database 'The Recipe Box' has been upgraded to version 3.5.
This version HAS NOT been uploaded to GEnie!
The new version is functionally identical to version 3.4 with the
exception of the registration routines. I have modified all of the
Mountain Software shareware programs to use a new registration method.
I made the switch for several reasons. One, some folks were having
difficulties with the registration codes. Nothing wrong with the
codes, but it confused some people.
Second, this reduces program sizes by approximately 3000 bytes. By
doing away with all of the unnecessary 'registration' routines, I was
able to shrink the program. Third and primarily the reason I made the
switch, was because I was starting to get several shareware products
out there. Each had it's own unique code. That also meant that I had a
seperate utility for each program to generate the registration codes.
I was starting to get confused about which codes went with which
program, so I decided to change. Now the routines are the same for
every Mountain Software program, and I can use the same utility to
personalize every program! A big help in getting out your
registrations!
THE BAD NEWS: For the first time since I've started writing shareware,
I'm asking for a $5 upgrade fee. This is to cover the cost of the new
floppy disk, the shipping, and a few cents for my amusement! Ha. Ha. I
regret having to charge an upgrade fee, but I am just financially
unable to send all registered users new disks. This is a one time
upgrade fee, and includes a utility for upgrading to future versions
free of charge.
THE GOOD NEWS: As I said, version 3.5 of The Recipe Box is 'function-
ally' the same as 3.4. What this means, is that you needn't feel
rushed to upgrade. You won't be gaining any new features at this time,
only the ability to upgrade yourself at a later date. However, for
this $5 fee you will receive a DEMO disk of the latest versions of
most of my programs, a simple printed manual, and the UPGRADE utility
I mentioned above. The Recipe Box, The Recipe Converter, Manualizer (a
new program), and Easy-Go all have the new registration routines as
will any new software I write. When you send in your $5 upgrade fee,
this covers ALL programs you have registered. So, if you've registered
3 of my programs you only have to pay once, not for each program.
NEW USERS: If you are registering for the first time, or are regis-
tering another Mountain Software product, you DO NOT have to add the
$5 upgrade fee. The registration fee always gets you the LATEST
version. The $5 upgrade fee is only for existing registered users to
cover the cost of the disk/shipping/handling.
PLEA FOR FORGIVENESS: I sincerely hope those of you who have regis-
tered will understand my request for the upgrade fee. I regret having
to charge you more, but it was my only alternative to continue provi-
ding you with prompt service! (My little brain only has so much
capacity for this stuff! Ha. Ha.) Once again, there is no rush to
upgrade. If you would prefer to wait until a newer version becomes
available then please feel free to do so.
Thank you for your patience and understanding...
Anthony Watson - Mountain Software
6911 NE Livingston Road Camas,
Washington 98607
----------------
About 'Solutions' - from Paul Dube - Cat. 3, Topic 3, Msg. 1...
Solutions is a fully-featured GEM based mathematical software for the
Atari ST/TT. It is powerful and fast, and allow to work simultaneously
with various data types: real numbers, complex numbers, binary
integers, lists, programs, algebraic, vectors, matrices. Solutions has
its own programming language, so you can add your own functions if
over 750 overloaded functions is not enough for you. It does symbolic
calculation: differentiation, algebraic manipulation, and more.
Integration and root-finding are possible. You can plot any equation
(and print it!).
A complete 200 pages manual comes with the software. We offer a 30
days no questions asked complete guarantee. So, if you are not
satisfied, send us the complete package, we'll refund you.
The price is now set at $US 99.95 or $CDN 119.95.
Paul Dube
Elan Software
550 Boul. Charest Est
P.O. Box 30232
Quebec, Canada
G1K 8Y2
----------------
Questions to Jim Allen from John E. Gniewkowski (GenieLamp ST Editor) -
Cat. 4, Topic 11, Msgs 16-21...
Jim, maybe you can help me. I currently have a Mega STe and would like
to eventually take advantage of MultiTOS when and if it becomes
available to other than Falcon owners. I understand that a 030 is
required due to the 68000 having no memory protection routines.
Do you think it would be possible to use the 030 board in my STe and
thereby gain the use of MultiTOS (when and if...)? My next priority
would be to install a video card and get 800x600x256 at a later date.
It sounds like I need a Falcon w/o the DSP stuff, but perhaps it would
be more economical to switch systems instead of upgrading.
What do you think? Can the Mega STe become a mini-Falcon?
Answer from Jim Allen (Fast Tech) -
You can slap an 030 into the MegaSTE and it will run Multitos
spiffily. You just need to wait until Multitos is released.
The CrazyDots is about the only way to get the video you desire, for
the MegaSTE, it's sold by the Gribnif crew...cat 17, top 12.
Definitely a good product.
John it is:
CrazyDots.....$800
Monitor.......$500
Tiny030-40....$599
------
Total........$1899
Looks like a lot, but you'd have just about the nastiest setup money
can buy, short of a full Turbo030 and a Cybercube 24bit card. The
CrazyDots is quite a nice unit if you need lots of colors, if you can
settle for 16 colors and added compatibility, then thre AlberTT is a
good choice...something around $350-399 I think, not sure though.
----------------
SM124 problems from Peter Bullock - Cat. 4, Topic 15, Msgs 129 - 131...
My SM124 just let out a loud squeal, a puff of acrid smoke, and joined
its brethren in Atari heaven. I'm looking to have some sort of miracle
to bring it back. Has any body had similar problems and successfully
brought it back from the dead. I'm going back in this topic to look,
but if you want to save me the time, I appreciate it.
The smoke came from the right side (looking at the front) and I've
tracked it down to an evil looking capacitor type thingamabob with
green tape around the exterior. If I'm getting to technical, someone
let me know;). With the power on, the screen is reduced to a white
band about one inch in width, running from top to bottom. It's a
Goldstar monitor, BTW.
If I can fix it, I guess I want to, or, if I can't fix it, I'll look
into a used one, or new one, or better yet, a multi synch. I use mono
95% of the time, so I need something of the quality of the 124.
Answer from John Trautschold (Missionware) -
Well Peter, what you've lost is horizontal sweep. Vertical is
obviously working since the "picture" you see does run from top to
bottom. Chances are the horizontal drive transistor shorted, taking
the capacitor with it. Transistors generally don't "smoke". Of course,
it's also possible that only the capacitor failed, although I doubt
it. My guess is that if you only change the failed capacitor, the new
one will fail too since generally some other active-type component
fails.
I've got a schematic for the Goldstar version of the SM124. If you
could tell me the part number (off of the circuit board) of the cap
that smoked, I may be able to guess as to what other parts you should
change.
Answer from Ron (AOE) -
Sounds like C714 died. It is a 2.2uF, 50V, *non-polarized* capacitor
that may be difficult to locate locally. A replacement is available
from Best Electronics for $4 but there is a minimum order so you will
probably want to order something else you need at the same time.
Best Electronics
2021 The Alameda Suite 290
San Jose, California 95126
408-243-6950
----------------
From Jim Allen (Fast Tech) - Cat. 4, Topic 28, Msg. 196...
Good news for folks, Jay has a suply of both ISAC boards for the
MegaST _and_ AlberTT boards for the MegaSTE/TT and both are on sale
for $299!!!
Yes, just $299, and you too can enjoy hi-res color graphics!!! Just
give Dover Research a call, or Fast Technology if you wish.
----------------
Question from Ron Kohorn - Cat. 4, Topic 35, Msgs. 116-117...
If in the future I add a graphics board to my Mega STe, how will my
pre existing programs handle this. For example will it make any
difference when I run Degas. If not, what is the purpose of the
expanded graphics if our software cant use it?
Answer from George Richardson (Merlin Group) -
No graphics card that exists now is compatible with Degas. It is
linked directly to the Atari screen modes.
Many early programs did not support graphics cards, after all, why
support some thing that doesn't exist?
However, one the Moniterm was released, along with TOS 1.4, programs
started being written to take advantage of extended resolutions, where
it was feasible to do so. Most commercial programs written since then
seem to work with extended resolutions.
----------------
Question by Lorne Budnick - Cat. 4, Topic 39, Msgs 151-152...
Does anyone know if Carter Graphics is still in business? I have not
seen any ads lately. If so, and you have their phone number, please
post it here.
Answer from M.TROUPE -
Maybe you are just not looking in the right places. Carter Graphics
still advertises in ST Informer. Their phone number is 1-801-628-6111.
----------------
Question from Lou Rocha (ST RTC sysop) - Cat. 4, Topic 39, Msgs 155-
159...
I could use a little help installing a new HD. It is a Quantum 240 for
my TT. I took out my Seagate 157 which was running fine. I put in the
Quantum...hooked up the SCSI cable and power supply... set the jumpers
for SCSI 0 and removed the terminator packs.
Power on and I hear a faint click, click, whirr as it initializes but
the LED does not light up.
Run the HDX software and I am told their is no physical unit 0
attached. Run the ICD software and it says I have SCSI unit 8,
physical unit 0 attached. Alas I cannont format because their is no
ICD host adapter.
I also put the terminator packs back in and reset the jumpers to the
factory setting of 6. Still no go.
Does anyone have an idea what I could try next?
Answer from Wayne Watson -
First, you need to set it to SCSI 0. Then you need to probably remove
the EP jumper (parity). I am not sure if it needs the terminators or
not but, I would leave them in first. Atari's software will not search
past a unit that is not found. If there is SCSI 0, it will stop
looking. If you have a ICD HD system, plug it into the DMA port and
format them drive that way. Once you get it formatted and setup, you
can remove the ICD drive system.
Reply from Lou -
Wayne, thanks for the advice. I had done all those things. I found the
problem.... it was the software. HDX 4.2 did not recognize SCSI HD...
5.0 does. Everything now works perfectly.
----------------
Hard drive questions and answers - Cat. 4, Topic 39, Msgs 162-165...
Questions from Lorne Budnick -
I have a question or two for anyone who might have some answers. I
currently have 2 hard drives installed, a Quantum 105 meg and a
Seagate 32 meg. Both of these drives are SCSI drives attached via an
ICD host adapter.
I would like to add either a floptical or a Syquest to this configura-
tion. I would like to simply plug this new unit into the DMA through
connector on the rear of my existing drive case.
1. Will I require another host adapter in the new drive case to
utilize the DMA through connector?
2. Might I be able to connect the ICD 'Link' to connect directly to
my DMA out connector, and utilize a SCSI cable between the 'Link' and
the new drive?
3. Are there any other alternatives to consider to attach the new
drive to my existing drive case connector?
Any suggestions as to how I might resolve adding the new drive will be
much appreciated.
P.S. I have considered simply replacing the Seagate in my existing
drive case with a new drive mechanism, however, the existing case does
not have a face plate that will support a removable drive mechanism.
Answer from Wayne Watson -
In order to use the DMA port, you will need a HA just like you do from
the computer.
You could make another SCSI cable that is long enough to reach the
current drives and then pass it out the back of the current one and
into the next case to the drive.
You could get the Link and add centronics type plugs to both cases and
run your Link to the first one and then attach an SCSI cable with
centronics plugs to the next case.
You could also purchase a case that would hold 3 - 4 mechanisms and
have it all in one case. Make sure the power supply can handle it
though.
You could also modify the current case so that you could add the
removable type drives. In other words, butcher it up.
----------------
Information about Migraph from LYRE - Cat. 5, Topic 10, Msg. 132...
Greetings Everyone! Having contacted Migraph the other day, here is
what I found out about OCR Jr.
Apparantly it is the same exact program as the full version OCR except
that it does not import/export IMG files. Therefore, I believe, that
the suggestions people have made here regarding the best method(s)
they've found for correcting scanned text are viable on Jr.
OCR Jr is limited in regards to the scanners that it supports though.
Only the hand scanners mentioned (Migraph, AlfaData or Golden Image)
will function properly. It is *not* possible to use your existing
scanner with this program (assuming the scanner isn't one of the
above)!
The upgrade cost to the Full OCR package is $50.00. I did not ask if
there was any time restraint on this upgrade though.
Migraph will be sending me more information (Full and Jr). If there is
anything new, I'll let you know. :)
----------------
Timeworks Publisher upgrade information from ABC Solutions - Cat. 5,
Topic 13, Msg. 170...
The November 1992 issue of ST Review, a leading British ST magazine,
contained a completely functional copy of the original Timeworks
Publisher for the Atari ST. Purchasers of the magazine were offered an
upgrade from the cover disk version to the very latest Timeworks
Publisher 2ST.
By special arrangement with GST Software, ABC Solutions is pleased to
announce we can offer a similar upgrade to North American users,
including software, loads of fonts, extra printer support, a full
manual and more. Just clip the upgrade coupon from the November or
December issue and send it, along with your payment, to:
ABC Solutions 4040 Creditview Road Unit 11-151 Mississauga Ontario L5C
3Y8 Phoe/fax: 416-824-8484
The upgrade fee is $85 US, or $99 Cdn, shipping & handling included.
Canadian residents please include GST (and PST for Ontario residents).
Owners of the original Timeworks package can upgrade to Publisher 2 by
sending in Master Disk 1 with your order.
Regards Peter Zalesak ABC Solutions
===Repeat of original press release follows===
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."
----------------
About Kodak Photo CD - Cat. 7, Topic 9, Msgs. 83-90...
Question from Rod Cobble -
Where can I get, Kodak Photo CD info? Brochures, pricing etc...
Answer from GREG -
Call Kodak at (800) 242-2424 for information on Photo CD. Leave E-mail
to GREG and I'll send some Atari info to you.
Comments from Ron (AEO) -
Stop by most any camera store to see PhotoCD. Quality and resolution
is excellent, even in 256 color VGA.
The process involves taking your negatives to your film processor and
asking to have them transfered to PhotoCD (about $15 for 24 photos). A
few days later, you get a CD back with your digitized photographs. The
CD can then be played on a video disk player capable of displaying
PhotoCD format. Consumer players list in the $500 range but I have
already seen them advertised for under $350.
More info from GREG -
I just got a brochure from Digital Zone that was done on a Mac using
Photo CD technology. The output was then sent to a high end color
printer for printing.
The results were most impressive. This was the first example I have
seen in print that was done on a Mac/PC machine. The brochure
highlights a new Photo- CD they are doing featuring the works of
Wolfgang Kaehler.
I am looking forwrd to getting a print next week done with a new color
printer driver for the HP 550C printer. If the results come through
half as good as the Digital Zone brochure, I'll be most happy.
...Photo CD is a storage system for negatives or slides that are
scanned by Kodak onto a CD rom disc. You can take either an
undeveloped roll of film, loose negatives or slides into any of
several thousand locations across the country and get them scanned
onto a CD rom disc. Best Buy and a lot of corner drug stores are also
doing the scanning now through Kodalux.
After creating the disc, Photo CD can be many things:
1. The disc can be "played" on any Kodak CD rom player using your home
television for viewing.
2. The disc can be put into any CD-I player and viewed.
3. The disc can be put into a XA capable CD rom player connected to a
home computer or workstation.
With options 1 and 2, the software for viewing is already in the
machine or on the disc.
With option 3, you will need software to access the data on the disc
and convert it to a form viewable on your system. Software is
currently available for the Mac and PC Windows environment. Software
will be released in the coming months for viewing and editing on the
Falcon. The photos can also be viewed on the ST and STe but suffer
from the color and pixel resolutions of the machines (See FOUNTAIN.LZH
in the libraries here). The graphics are still impressive.
If you would like to see what true color looks like using the Photo CD
process, the new Hot Stuff II CD by Screen Artists has examples of
Photo CD converted to 16 million color Targa format. Even at 512 by
768 pixel resolution, the Targa or TIF files are still over 1 meg in
size, and this is still only one fourth of the available resolution.
If there's interest is a download this size, we can upload an example
to the libraries here.
A Photo-CD disc can travel across platforms as it uses what is called
the 9660 standard for file storage. In fact there is a series of stock
photos being released on a "rights-free" use basis that will include
software for viewing on Photo-CD, CD-I, Mac, Windows 3.1, and
Multimedia Windows right on the disc. Atari support for this series in
also being planned but was held up due to lack of development hardware
and a license snag.
The BIG advantage of Photo CD is that your picture data is stored in a
format better than most systems can currently use. In other words, the
next generation of computers will be catching up with Photo CD
technology rather than passing it up. The photos are stored at 3072 by
2048 pixels in 16 million colors. The actual uncompressed file size is
over 18 megs per picture. Your software only chews enough off the disc
to match the capabilities of your system.
I hope this made Photo CD a little clearer for you.
Another question, this time from Robert Goff (AEO) -
Thanks, Greg, that helps. A couple of questions:
Yours and Ron's post indicates that Kodak has a special CD player to
hook up to the television, for $300-$500. Is this a specialized, only-
do-Kodak player, or will it do audio CDs and/or CD-ROM?
What is an "XA capable CD rom player"?
You said that the software for Atari isn't available yet. I thought
that the Falcon was running the Photo CD Slideshow software at COMDEX?
Answer from Nathan Potechin (DMC) -
Atari already has working software for the Kodak Photo CD technology.
It is done and working and beautiful! ;-) It was shown at Comdex on a
couple of Falcons AND on a TT. Greg, before you send Atari people off
to view a Mac solution ;-), you need to see Calamus SL, using a 24 bit
color card, on a decent monitor of your choice. The Kodak Photo CD
import driver works beautifully! By the way, if you have Calamus SL, I
have a brand new beta driver for the HP550C you might want to check
out.
----------------
From Greg Labrec (Atari) - Cat. 11, Topic 12, Msg. 1...
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.
----------------
All of the above posts were reprinted with the permission of GEnie and
the ST Roundtable.
Until next week.....
_____________________________________________________________________
> ATARI DEAD? II STR FOCUS! Oh Yeah??? Here we go again!!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
ATARI IS STILL DEAD
===================
by Tim Holt
"I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they
thought it was hell."
Harry Truman
Dear STReport Reader,
A week or so ago, I wrote you a letter explaining how I felt about the
sorry state of Atari.The title of the article was "Atari is Dead". I
guess I ruffled some of your feathers, because I got all kinds of replies.
If I woke you up out of your "everything is bliss" stupor, then the
message was well worth writing. Some people wrote to me and said that I
was saying it like it was, and thanked me for writing it. However...
Others wrote to me saying that I was a traitor, and that "officers of
Atari user groups should never do anything" like what I did. Some even
suggested that I do things that I am convinced are anatomically
impossible. So, since I haven't seen this much excitement since Sears
came out with colored pictures in the underwear section of their catalog,
I decided to write a follow-up piece. This one I call: Atari is Still
Dead.
First of all, if you read the first line of my historic article, it
clearly says: "the Atari computer company, as a viable alternative to the
Macintosh and IBM/MS-Dos died..." Now, how many of you in your right
mind, can really say that Atari is a REAL threat to IBM or Apple? Duh.
If you really think that Atari can hold it's own financially or otherwise
against the clone makers and Apple, then you have been hitting the holiday
eggnog just a little too much. To illustrate my point, consider this,
that has happened SINCE I wrote that article:
Jenkins' Computers in El Paso, one of the original Atari computer
stores in the COUNTRY has decided that keeping the Atari line of computers
on display, and in their store is a waste of money and time. Let me put
that to you again: They were an ORIGINAL Atari dealer. Back before most
of you even heard of Atari. For the past 4 years, Jim and Tom have had
MS/Dos clones and Atari ST/TT's sitting right out there for all the world
to see. People were never pushed to look or buy one or the other. The
computers were just there. Side by side. Always plenty of both in stock,
both with shelves of software, and all the peripherals that go with them.
What happened? In those four years, sales of Atari computers has dropped
to less than 10% of their total sales. Did you get that?? From an
original Atari dealer, to less than 10% of total sales of everything!!
From 100% to 10% in four years. No pressure sales to buy MS/DOS, no
pressure to buy Atari. People made up their own minds. The people chose
the clones, because they never heard of Atari as a computer company, and
still don't know. Why? Because Atari is still dead. So now, there is
now an area in west Texas, up to Colorado, and down to Tucson,Arizona that
has no Atari dealer. A potential market of over 5 MILLION people, with NO
ATARI DEALER. Is that the sign of a company that is invigorated? A
company that is fresh and willing to tackle the market? To me, it is a
sign that Atari is STILL dead.
Now, wouldn't you think that something like this would elicit a
response from Atari? If you knew one of your dealers was considering
dropping your line, even if it was just a rumor, wouldn't you try to keep
them? Wouldn't you at least call them up and try to work out some kind of
a deal? A better profit margin on hardware? A few new goodies that the
dealer could offer customers? Wouldn't you think someone in the entire
company would care enough to at least call, or send a fax? As far as I
know, no one from Atari called Jenkins' after the "rumor" was posted in ST
Report. Yeah,Jenkins, we're behind you all right, WAY behind you. And
still you don't believe me when I say Atari is still dead.
And I still don't think you got the jest of my stock market analysis.
You got mad at me for saying this and that, but you really argued the
POINTS that I made. Let's look at the stock market claim again: If the
performance of Atari stock were to be graphed out over a period of three
years, the line would be virtually straight. STRAIGHT. Get it?? NO
GROWTH. Okay, let's put it in terms of money, so that you might
understand. If you INVESTED $10,000 in Atari three years ago, how much
money would that stock be worth today? That's right Ziggy, less than
$10,000 due to inflation. No return on your investment. Actually, a
loss. Your money would have been worth more if you had put it in a
savings account that paid anything! So, still not convinced? Okay, let's
put it this way: Uncle Bob croaks and leaves you with $100,000, on the
condition that you invest it in a company that will show growth. Would
you put your money in the Atari stock?? Would you trust your kids college
money if it were invested in Atari? Your retirement account? I don't
think so. If you did, then I say your hitting the old eggnog again. A
few months ago, Atari introduced the Falcon. You heard about it, I heard
about it, and you can bet your bippy that the financial markets around the
world heard about it. It is no secret weapon. The financial people were
NOT impressed. As I write this, Atari stock is still at 1 3/8 per share.
No one is buying Atari. WHY? Because, as far as America's financial
markets are concerned, Atari is STILL dead.
So, what right do I, Tim "Know it All" Holt, have to cut down the
computer? What do I know about Atari? Okay, I will admit, I am no guru
like Dave Small. I am not developer, no programmer, and no dealer. I
have no experience with Atari other than that of consumer. True, I
started a user group, and I have been pretty visible in STReport, and
Atari Interface. I have had an Atari for 5 years. My relationship with
Atari is probably the same as my relationship with Ford, which is, I own
an Escort. Okay. So, why don't I get mad at Ford? Well, the
relationship between computer manufacturer and owner is different than
that between car dealer and car owner. Especially Atari. Atari came out
with the best damn computer in the WORLD for home use, and then squandered
that opportunity into what many now consider an orphan. Sorry. That is
the truth. Most computer users in the world consider the Atari an
abandoned computer, even though it is still being manufactured. No
computer in HISTORY has had that reputation.
I guess my grumblings have more to do with disappointment than
anything else. It would be the same as if Ford came out with the T-Bird
in 1956, and then made no other car except the T-Bird for the next 30
years, only adding an occasional new feature here, or a new fender there.
Pretty soon, people would say, "Oh look, another T-Bird. Oh wow. Pretty
paint, but it is still a T-bird. It has a new bumper, but it is still a
T-Bird." What if Ford didn't manufacture the T-Bird for a year or so, or
was so slow to supply dealers that there were none in the showrooms?
Dealers would go out of business. Sure, there would be T-Bird fan clubs,
but the numbers would dwindle, the number of new buyers would decrease,
and eventually, Ford would die. Even if the T-Bird was the best car in
the universe, it would still be a "T-Bird", and new ones would not impress
other car owners, because they had gone to other car dealers, looking at
newer models, that were cheaper, and had more options to offer, simply
because there were so many of them. That is what has happened to Atari.
The Falcon is here. But it is just another Atari in the public eye, if
the public even knows it exists.. And Atari had better do some fancy
footwork to get this baby out there. The Macintosh Performas are out, IN
TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, and selling at every department store in the world.
The Amiga 4000 is out IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. THE AMIGA 1600 IS OUT, IN
TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. I am still waiting for "the hundreds of new dealers"
that one of those Tramiels promised us a few months ago. All I know is
that the ONE dealer I had has tossed in the Atari towel, and quite
frankly, I don't blame them one bit. Product loyalty don't pay the rent.
Still not convinced? Okay, I will hit you with the real zinger:
Pirates. Remember them? Pirate BBS's? Pirating of Falcon? Piracy kills
the Atari computer? You don't hear much about Atari pirates anymore do
you? Why? Is it that they all had a sudden conversion after watching
Billy Graham and threw out their evil BBS's and software? Heck no. Even
the pirates know that Atari is dead. They are all pirating MS/DOS and MAC
stuff. It's a sorry state of affairs when even the criminals know when to
throw in the towel and call it quits.
So, dear STReport reader,what is my conclusion? Well, to begin with,
I purposely write for Ralph Mariano because I know that my opinions will
be taken for what they are worth, and he won't spit the article back to me
and say "Tim, you know, your article will hurt sales." Also, Ralph is
accustomed to taking heat, and he got some for running "Atari is Dead".
(On the other hand, you are readers of STReport, so you should know by now
to expect controversy once in a while.) I got some heat. No problem-o.
I am used to it. But when you are through reading this, and your neck
hairs are riding high, and you are ready to send hate E-Mail to me (by the
way, my Internet Address is "holt@tenet.edu". Drop me a line) ask
yourself why does this article make you mad? What non-truth have either
of my two articles said? I challenge you to find a non-truth. I
challenge you to find an incorrect statement. I don't think you can find
one. And maybe, just maybe, that is the real reason that "Atari is Dead"
made you so damn mad, because sometimes, the truth can really hurt.
"As scarce as the truth is, the supply has always been in excess of
the demand."
- Josh Billings
____________________________________________________________________
> STR Editor's Mail Call "a few comments from the Editor's Desk"
""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's EDITOR'S MailBag
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
Letters to the Editor
From the Genie Roundtable - Cat. 24, Topic 3, Msgs 226 and 229
From Dorothy Brumleve -
There's been some talk about "hidden agendas" lately. Some of us have
our cards on the table. Developers and Atari employees typically would
like to see Atari in the best possible light. If there's something
_good_ going on, they'd like folks to know about it. God knows there's
plenty of bad stuff about Atari and the computer market in general. So
when something positive does happen, developers and employees want it
noticed; they make their livelihood as a result of Atari's successes.
Once upon a time, STR publisher Ralph Mariano was asked why he knocked
himself out week after week to provide ST users with his online maga-
zine. He replied, "Because I enjoy it!" That's his public reason, and
we have to give it some weight. I imagine he does enjoy it. But the
magazine itself suggests evidence of additional motivations.
Not many people know it, but Mr. Mariano was once a registered Atari
developer. Atari has revoked a developer's registration in only one
instance: Mr. Mariano's. I don't know what caused Atari to do that,
but I do know that, if it happened to me, I'd be ticked off. Very
ticked off. I'd want to get back at Atari somehow. I don't know if Mr.
Mariano feels this way, but I know I'd want Atari to _suffer_. And
suffer Atari does, week after week, with each editorial in STR, with
each article about fantastic developments on other platforms, with
each get-to-know- Windows article, with each review of Atari's
performance at such- and-such show.
Not many people know it, but STR serves as the primary advertising
vehicle for ABCO, Publisher Mariano's mail-order company. I've seen
ads for ABCO in perhaps a dozen issues of Atari Interface Magazine --
and in every single weekly issue of STR for half a decade. It would
appear that STR succeeds in advertising ABCO; certainly there are
plenty of customers discussing it up in Category 18 (Topic: Mail Order
Problems).
Because not many people know these things, they also don't realize
that motivations like these could color the editorial content and
selection of articles in each and every issue of STR.
Mr. Mariano, by his own admission, enjoys publishing STR. He must en-
joy it very, very much. But it would seem to me that the wide distri-
bution of free advertising and the opportunity to embarrass Atari
could also be on Mr. Mariano's agenda.
D.A. Brumleve @D.A. Brumleve
Reply from Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Staff Editor of STReport -
Dorothy,
Allow me to address some of your points...
>>...So when something positive does happen, developers and employees
>>want it noticed; they make their livelihood as a result of Atari's
>>successes.
But does that mean they don't want any negatives, or any opinions that
something positive happened? Let's take the recent Comdex for example.
STReport, in two issues, contained 50-70k of POSITIVE reports about
Comdex. So we 'noticed it' and reported such to our readers. We had
ONE little 2-3k editorial that offered a differing opinion. So are
you saying that the readers should only hear the positives? Any
opinions or facts that might not be positives should be prohibited?
In fact, your statement "they make their livelihood as a result of
Atari's successes" might be considered one good reason to have other
opinions. I am NOT saying that anyone would deliberately lie or mis-
lead anyone about what happened, I am saying that their opinions could
be 'colored' though.
Yes, Mr. Mariano was a registered Atari developer, and Atari arbit-
rarily pulled his developer status. But the problem with your whole
premise is that Mr. Mariano was critical of Atari BEFORE they pulled
his developer status - perhaps that was the major reason they pulled
it. It also ignores the 100's of k's of positive stuff that Ralph does
put into STReport.
As for the "fantastic developments...", "get to know Windows.." etc.,
could it be that STReport believes that "no man (or platform) is an
island"? What happens in other platforms can directly affect what
happens in the ST market? Also, with the ST being able to handle PC
and Mac software - and many of our readers having both emulators -
that we feel many of our readers want/need to know about what's
happening on these other platforms? I'm sure this information is
boring to some of our readers, but so is the information on the
Portfolio and/or Lynx. Many of our readers don't own either one.
You say "not many people know it, but STR serves as the primary
advertising vehicle for ABCO". I think it's a pretty open 'secret'
since, as you also say, the ad's appeared in "every single weekly
issue of STR for half a decade".
But to make sure that no-one misinterprets, ABCO is a seperate entity
from STReport.
Also, if, as you say, "ABCO's ads could color the editorial content
and selection of articles, this should mean that Ralph would only
print POSITIVE Atari stuff. After all, if Atari fails, that hurts
ABCO's sales. If Atari draws in 100,000 new customers, that is 100,000
potential ABCO customers. Also if you look through this "half of
decade" of STReports, you'll see many articles and references to other
companies that also sell hard drives, etc. No Dorothy, IMO, the
conclusions you arrived at are questionable.
What I see is that Ralph is willing to 'pay' for telling the readers
information he thinks they need to know. PAYS by possible loss of
income for his ABCO company.
Yes, the wide distribution of free advertising and the opportunity to
embarrass Atari could also be on Mr. Mariano's agenda. But at the same
time, as you so well said at the start of your post, it's to the
developers and Atari employees benefit to only have positive things
said about Atari - they make their livelihood as a result of Atari's
successes. So it is more possible that if any agenda's do exist, we
should closely inspect their motives for ridiculing, harassing and
threating STReport and Ralph.
___________________________________________________________________
> Hey Sam! READ THIS! STR Spotlight "Words of Wisdom"
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
FROM: Tony Borbely
Calgary, AB
CANADA
Dear Sam T.,
There's a great movie out on video I'm sure you'd enjoy.
It's called "TUCKER - The Man and His Dream".
Preston Tucker was an innovator, a genius, who developed a
post-war car that was literally "better than anything anyone else
is building". It had many "ahead of its time" features,
performance, and safety, was reasonably priced, and looked good.
A car that should've put the other manufacturers out of business.
It never did. Why? There were many reasons involved;
-shortages of raw material
-engineering shortcuts that crippled performance
-cost cutting measures that undermined the design
-inability to mass produce the vehicle, causing...
-delivery dates not being met, causing...
-dealers dropping the Tucker auto line
(after all, you can't sell what you don't have)
-unfair business practices by competitors (claimed)
-But most of all, POOR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Preston Tucker shooting himself in the foot with his
lack of business sense did more damage to his company than all
other factors combined. Had he had proper management in building
and marketing his car, he'd have made a serious dent in the other
auto manufacturers' sales.
But, he did do something right!
He generated EXCITEMENT!!! Buyers were ordering cars even
before a prototype was built!!! Thousands WANTED a Tucker!!!
Why? Because they recognized that it was superior to other cars
then being built. And it was, BOTH on paper and in reality. And
that was because THEY KNEW THE TUCKER EXISTED!!!
Preston did this by keeping the TUCKER name in front of the
PUBLIC. He took every opportunity to do this. He didn't
advertise much, but he constantly used the media.. TV, radio,
newspapers etc., to LET THE PUBLIC KNOW about the TUCKER. And
everyone knew what a TUCKER was and who built it!
History would have turned out differently, had Preston been
able to produce all those cars for all those buyers. The
Japanese cars wouldn't be the major auto sellers today.
It's quite an entertaining film, one that reminds me of
another company trying to take on the "Big Guys". There are many
similarities to Tucker and his car, but I hope this company does
manage to make a dent in the other manufacturers' sales.
But that might be wishful thinking... The major problem is:
The PUBLIC (people who WOULD BUY) don't know the product
exists, and selling to insiders (those in "the know") is at best
a limited market. Didn't someone say...
"ATARI Computers are the BEST KEPT SECRET in North America".
Enjoy the film... "Tramiel - The Man and His Dream"
(coming - "Real Soon Now")
________________________________________________________________
> GUEST EDITORIAL STR FOCUS! L.E. Pulley clears the air....
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Guest Editorial
---------------
By Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
Senior Staff Editor for STReport
"Sometimes we get so caught up in events that we can't see the
forest for the trees."
Before starting my editorial for this week, I have a correction to make.
The term "flames and games" that I attributed to one person last week
was in actuality a quote he used from one of Ralph's posts. I apologize
for my error.
Now onto this week's subject - "Who, is a 'reader' of STReport?"
Well, that is a tough one. I thought I had the answer all wrapped up in
a red-ribbon - until I started writing this editorial and LISTENING, in-
stead of RESPONDING, to what some people had to say.
STReport has made it plain that we're writing for our readers, not for
Atari, any particular developer or for any particular on-line service.
While we do support all three, we feel our readers come first.
But if a person says that they don't read STReport, for whatever reason,
does that automatically make them NOT one of our readers? Or if a person
says they only read STReport 1-4 times a year - just to see if it has
changed - does that automatically make them NOT one of our readers? And
there are people who read STReport almost every week, but almost never
have anything good to say about it - does that automatically make them
NOT one of our readers?
Well, Monday when I first started this editorial, I would have said that
while these people might physically read STReport, that doesn't automa-
tically make them our 'readers'. But since then, I've changed my opinion
- and re-written this editorial three times.
While many of these people might not be supporters of STReport, and many
vehemently declare their opposition to STReport, that should not automa-
tically make them non-STReport readers.
"Huh?" you say? Let me explain. I read a certain local paper only for
one reason - so I can yell, scream, and holler at the editors and their
stupid editorials, policies, and liberal leanings (yes, I am a conserva-
tive <grin>). But does that mean I am not one of their 'readers' - just
because I disagree with them so much? Of course not. There has been sev-
eral times when I let my subscription expire - or cancelled it - because
of their articles, editorials, etc. Did that mean that I stopped being
one of their readers? Technically? Maybe. But I felt just because I
stopped taking their "stupid, leftist, drivel-driven paper" that it gave
them no right to disregard anything I said (I always go back to them, it
keeps my blood circulating <grin>). When I stopped reading their paper,
it didn't hurt them at all - there were still plenty of other people who
read it. All I did was hurt myself - I deprived myself of opinions that
differed from my own (but that's the subject of another editorial).
All of a sudden this week I had to stop and take a good look at myself -
and my hypocrisy. I was automatically dismissing certain people as "non-
STReport readers" simply because they disagreed with us most of the time
(even I agree with that "liberal, drivel-driven paper" on occassion -
they can't be wrong all the time <grin>). I was automatically dismissing
others who only read our publication sometimes. I was wrong, both ARE
our 'readers'.
However, no matter what excuse, rationalization or logic is used, I
cannot call someone who claims to never read our publication one of our
readers.
Where does this leave us? STReport is still written for its readers -
we just can't please all of our readers all of the time. And probably we
won't be able to please some of our readers almost any of the time. Some
might want more Lynx coverage, while others might want less. Some might
want less criticism of Atari, while others might want more hard-hitting
editorials. All we can do is try to furnish what we feel most of our
readers want most of the time. But in no case should we simply dump our
critical readers into the "NOT a STReport reader" category. I was wrong
to do so.
In case I don't get another chance before the holidays, Merry Christmas
and a Happy Hanukkah to all.
__________________________________________________________________
> LYNX SPECIAL OFFER! STR InfoFile "Such a Deal!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A CHRISTMAS PRESENT -- from ATARI!
==================================
ATARI LYNX: And a special low price
*** $79.95 ***
Order now and get your Lynx faster than Santa!
Order by December 21 and receive your order by Christmas!
Free Federal Express delivery!
Hurry! Offer expires 1/31/93!
Call 1-800-327-5151 to order now!
This Christmas, push your mind to the edge with the Atari Lynx:
Backlit screen,
Stereo sound,
50+ incredible games,
"Flip" controls for left handed players,
Play with up to 8 friends with "ComLynx",
4,000 brilliant colors (16 bit graphics engine),
The worlds largest portable video game screen (3.5" diag.)
Atari Lynx has over 50 games ---> all jam packed with full color
graphics, digital stereo sound and radical arcade style action that you
won't find anywhere else. Get the picture? You'll find
plenty of games
at your favorite store (call us for the location nearest you).
Many titles available at these fine locations:
Electronics Boutique, Software Etc., Babbages, Waldensoftware,
Nobody Beats the Wiz, The Good Guys.
Or order all the software you can handle:
Xenophobic, Rampage, Batman Returns,
Pinball Jam, Gates of Zendocon, Toki,
Switchblade II, Steel Talons, Electrocop,
Ms. Pac Man, Zalor Mercenary, Ninja Gaiden,
Paperboy, Rygar, A.P.B,
Awsome Golf, Warbirds, Basketbrawl,
Blue Lightning, California Games, Hockey,
Viking Child, Xybots, Tournament Cyberball,
Shadow of the Beast, NFL Football, S.T.U.N Runner,
Turbo Sub, Chip's Challenge, Block-Out,
Hard Drivin', Superskweek, Crystal Mines II,
Rampart, Checkered Flag, Lynx Casino,
Shanghai, Klax, Scrapyard Dog,
Ishido, Pac-Land, Roadblasters,
Kung Food, Hydra, Robo-Squash,
Baseball Heroes,
World Class Soccer,
Gauntlet--The Third Encounter,
Todd's Adventures in Slime World,
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure,
and more!
COMING SOON: Joust, Pit Fighter, Dracula, Dinolympics, Power Factor,
Dirty Larry, Renegade Cop and more every month.
The entire Lynx game library is available from Atari, by calling:
1-800-327-5151.
And don't forget to order your Atari Lynx for only $79.95 -- that's $20
off through 1/31/93! And get FREE Federal Express delivery.
Or
Send check or money order to:
Atari Lynx
P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-1657
(For CA residents, please add sales tax)
Call for further information 1-800-327-5151.
This offer expires 1/31/93.
"Atari", "ComLynx", and "Lynx" are registered trademarks of Atari Corp.
Atari: an American company traded on the American Stock Exchange
____________________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
"""""""""""""""""""""
- Sunnyvale, CA TOYS 'R' US .....UNHAPPY
-------------
According to our roving reporter, Toys R Us has decided to not
reorder any further product from Atari. Rumor has it they became
disenchanted with having to deal with a new sales manager almost every
month. Additionally its also rumored this event may have been what
triggered the massive "in house" sales campaign to move the Lynx products.
Deep Discount, 800 numbers, FREE Fed-Ex whoooo!!
- Sunnyvale, CA LEONARD TRAMIEL TO HEAD UP JAGUAR DEVELOPMENT
-------------
Once again, the rumor mill is alive and well.. Seems Leonard had a
number of Atari's Tos Development team members miffed (6 or so).. or so
they say... A certain in-house member of that team made a stern complaint
to Sam and now Leonard is in charge of the Jaguar Project. "Now then when
did you want that Jaguar??"
- Washington DC FALCON CERTIFIED? REALLY?
-------------
According to certain people the Falcon is FCC Certified. Ok, if such
is the case, then why did a another publication carry the following line
in their Comdex Report;
"..... the FCC were fended off by big stickers under each Falcon:
FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES ONLY--AWAITING FCC APPROVAL."
Its easy to _say_they're certified, give the numbers out. The same
numbers the FCC issues, the numbers that must be posted on a conspicuous
label on each machine. After all, IF they're certified Class B, then the
numbers have been issued. Numbers please....
- San Diego, CA SDS to get NEW GEnie Account
-------------
Scott Sanders, head of SDS Software and author of "The NewDesk Icon
Editor CPX", is in the process of getting a new Corporate Account with
GEnie thus his absence from that service. Sanders, currently active on
CIS, made this known in reply to an inquiry made by STR. "My customers
are being notified of the change via the US Postal Service. If there are
no problems, I should be back online by New Year's." He said. "You
should be hearing about some fine new products any day now." He added.
______________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
"""""""""""""
STReport's MailBag
""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 14, Topic 3
Message 181 Sat Dec 05, 1992
M.LYDA [mike] at 03:26 EST
Bob.. or anybody else out there that gives a flip! I had a couple of
people in my studio tonight who are artists & film makers, and they were
suprised to see my Atari w/two screens.. thinking that I was a real nerd
or something.. ;^) anyway, they couldn't get past the image of Atari as
being a "game" company.
I also noticed that in the latest Delaware Valley Computer User they had
a huge write up on Nintendo and Sega (an expanded article of the NY Times
article from a couple of weeks ago...) that mentioned Atari in the
beginning as the company that came out with Pong in the 70's.
So I asked these artists and film makers WHAT advertising could change
their preconceptions of Atari? A demo of some of what my Mega STE 4 could
do? NOPE! They suggested a barrage of still images of old boring looking
men sitting at desks and people doing boring things like spreadsheets...
with the Atari name and logo in between of course! Remember REAL
computers have to be BORING! :) Then.... they said it would be ok to
show the nifty things an Atari (computer) could do.
remember you can completely ignore this.. they were just some of the top
emerging artists and film makers in this area......... and we all know how
out of touch they are!
ml
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 220 Fri Dec 04, 1992
BOB-BRODIE [Atari Corp.] at 12:07 EST
Dave,
You keep on hitting on same points, just saying them a little bit
differently. :) You say that people that know computers will know that
32 Mhz is faster than 16 Mhz. True enough. But how many times have we
been treated to the stories of the DOS user with Windows being outrun by
an 8 Mhz machine? Too many to count! Again, you've fallen prey to the
"Put a bigger engine in 'er, that'll make her faster" mentality of the DOS
machines. Yes, the processor in the Atari Falcon030 is "only" 16Mhz. But
there is also a BLiTTER chip running (which the clones don't have), a DMA
chip running (which the clones don't have), and a DSP running (which for
about $600 the clones CAN have), and an optional FPU.
In short, we provide a lot of tools for developers to use to speed things
up without just getting them a bigger hammer!
I liked the line about seeing higher rez with 16 million colors... which
completely ignores the fact that the human eye can't see that 'many colors
at once!!! :) :)
Let me ask a really basic question of you Dave, have you seen an Atari
Falcon030 yet?
Most of those that have are pleased. Not all...but most.
Your remark about preschoolers being our customers was way out of line.
And I apologize if I'm coming off inflammatory, because that is not my
intent. There is an excited base of people awaiting the machine, as others
have pointed out here. KEYBOARD Magazine is the latest in the line of
publications to discuss the Atari Falcon030, and they like what they saw.
Mike Allen,
I've seen a couple of programs that would pre-set the volume on start up,
but I'm not sure how good they would be on some of those games. Thanks
for the
suggestion.
regards,
Bob Brodie
------------
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 224 Fri Dec 04, 1992
D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 19:37 EST
Bob Brodie:
I'm sorry for sounding repititious, but I find myself searching for
the right way to make a point which I never seem to get across because of
the replies.
I apologise for the comment about preschoolers with the condition that
I say that your comment about your intended market seemed rather
condescending, the way you put it.
I'm going to be blunt now. The only reason I am going to be this way
is so that my meaning is not lost due to politeness. Do not take offense
ANYONE.
The F030 is a vast improvement over the STe. I feel that it has as
much going for it over the STe as the TT does (in terms of features).
But... it does not have as much going for it over the STe as a comparable
clone does (in terms of features).
These features are not only the ones you purchase, but the perceived
features which come with a purchase. The confidence that you spent wisely,
the availability of software and service, the proximity of other users
with the same machine, the security of knowing your purchase will not be
an orphan, the list goes on...
Your worst hurdle is in name recognition. Nobody knows that Atari even
exists, let alone makes computers. You people have been silent too long.
Obviously, people do not buy products based on their quality alone. You
will surely agree that the Game Boy is at a serious disadvantage in the
area of features, yet romps the Lynx in sales. I attribute this to the
steady stream of advertisements for the Game Boy and the name recognition
of Nintendo. I do not think anyone will disagree.
If you guys are back in the 'Home Entertainment' arena, you have a
good shot at being able to revive the recognition that the 'old' Atari
once had.
If you're in the computer biz, then remember that you're competing
with peer pressure to get a clone because of the ability to share programs
with friends/workplace/etc. It is sad but true. Everyone I know with a
clone chose it because of the 'free' programs they could get for it.
Period. The "intel inside" ads underscore this.
All of your points about _why_ the Falcon030 was good (like BLiTTER,
and the limits of the human eye, etc.) could very well be 100% true. If
"I" was ignorant of these facts, then how is the average consumer supposed
to find out?
My point is this: I am Joe Consumer. I have some money to spend on
a techno toy. How do you convince me of the following:
1) I need a Falcon030 (and not a VCR, TV, or PC)
2) The Falcon030 is better than it's competition (if any)
3) Owning one will make my friends jealous
(Important to many folks)
4) The price is reasonable (whatever _that_ is)
5) Atari is a company I have heard of (Establish brand loyalty)
(NOTE: List in no particular order)
I don't know any way to do this without an investment in a good
advertising campaign (a National one). The current strategy is clearly not
working.
Also, have you folks adopted a program to work towards conforming to the
ISO9000 quality standards, or started a "Total Quality Program"? Programs
like these have helped the company I work for _vastly_, and have worked
wonders for morale. I highly recommend pursuit of these goals.
I didn't mean to go this long, but I was frustrated.
_____________________
\hunderbird
Category 18, Topic 17
Message 3 Sat Dec 05, 1992
D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 14:09 EST
I truly believe that the whole blame for the downfall of the new Atari,
"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.", as it has been put, is 100%
due to the rampant nepotism in the upper levels of management (or is that
"manglement"?).
I challenge anyone to prove this is not hurting Atari _badly_.
_____________________
\hunderbird
------------
Category 18, Topic 15
Message 86 Mon Dec 07, 1992
J.P.C. at 19:53 EST
RE: ST Report COMDEX coverage
Not to give the impression of taking one side over the other, I'd just
like to note that in the printing format that I use to print-out all STR's
and RTC's, John Amsler's COMDEX article in ST Report is one-half page
longer than Bob Brodie's COMDEX - The Final Report.
Further, Amsler mentions every item that Mr. Brodie does, and in a very
positive light. Addionally, Amsler discusses the F030's presence in the
Motorola booth.
I'd be interested to hear from the anti-STReport people why no mention has
been made of Mr. Amsler's piece. _OOPS_ Someone did mention it but, if my
memory (look out, there it goes <grin>), serves me correctly, only in
passing.
Yes, I agree that STR is highly-critical of almost anything that Atari
management does. Can't they voice their opinion? Is Atari's voice
sacred?
------------
Category 18, Topic 15
Message 83 Mon Dec 07, 1992
POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 09:48 EST
Speaking from experience J.P.C., as we have 1 Gameboy and 5 Lynxes :-), as
Darlah mentioned, there is NO comparison. If the Lynx is supposed to
compete against the Gameboy, then they blow it away hands down. And there
is certainly a large enough selection of games for it now. So, all that
was left to do, is advertise and market the product. They start doing so
in a major way next week. I can only hope that they are incredibly
successful so that the extra cash can be used to just maybe do some
marketing on the product closer to my heart, like a monster souped up
Falcon in this humungous CN tower case etc... :-)
Nathan @ DMC
------------
Category 19, Topic 15
Message 150 Sat Dec 05, 1992
MARTYKLEIN at 22:21 EST
Hi Folks-
I'm using Gemulator with a 486DX2-66 with local bus video and hard disk.
ST mode really flies! So far, everything has worked flawlessly, although I
don't want to reformat/partition the HD for a 32 Meg C: drive to write to,
so I'm waiting for the new HD driver. I hope to see serial support soon
also - primarily to use some ST software that requires a DONGLE in the
serial port!
The Gemulator package is one fine piece of work, certainly on a par with
Spectre from Gadgets. Too bad the market is so small - but its probably
growing.
Thanks a lot Derek for such a neat way to utilize my large library of ST
graphics and productivity software.
later Marty Klein
------------
From Delphi..
FORUM>Reply, Add, Read, "?" or Exit>
44689 4-DEC 13:05 General Information
RE: Atari Journal discontinued (Re: Msg 44673)
From: OCS To: ANALOG4
> Ouch! When German magazines can no longer survive, Atari is in deep
> trouble indeed. Sad news.
Our readership traditionally was not die-hard power-user, and many of the
non-die-hards apparently left the Atari scene. Omikron-Software, one of
the best-known software companies on the Atari market here, was forced to
reduce the number of ads for their products. They usually had at least
one full-page color ad in every magazine, during the last few months ATARI
JOURNAL was the only magazine where you found Omikron ads.
Linked to the end of ATARI JOURNAL is the (not yet officially confirmed)
closing of the Heim-Verlag computer store. In addition to their
activities as magazine publishing house, book publisher, and exclusive
soft- and hardware distributor (That's Write, PC/AT-SPEED, etc.) Heim was
an official Atari dealer and also had a nation-wide operating mail-order
business.
Heim had very close contacts to Alwin Stumpf and usually was one of the
first to know about news from inside Atari. From what I have been told he
had been pissed about the Falcon delays and had asked Atari Germany's new
leadership for definite shipping information, which was answered by the
well-known b*llsh*t. He then reportedly said something like "Okay, forget
it, I'm outa here!"
Oliver
From the FNET...
Conf : Atari 16/32 Bit
Msg# : 1589/1653 Lines: 16 Read: 1
Sent : Nov 29, 1992 at 10:48 PM
To : Don Liscombe
From : David Letterman at Fnet Node 722, Alcatraz Prison
Subj : Re: <1556> Atari Canada & Toronto Compute's
Just to add a wee bit to this discussion on lack of Atari hardware
available to dealers. I was required to phone Savetech last week to ask
if they had any 1040STE's in stock....answer NONE, NAWDA, NO!...
4 weeks approximately to Christmas and one of the major Atari dealers in
Toronto cannot get stock in. Not only did he say that he didn't have them
in, but that he couldn't give a date that he would have one in...
THAT'S SAD!...
Even I'm starting to lose faith in the abilities of Atari to come
back...what with a dealer base strinking day-to-day, not servicing
faithful dealers and once again a computer that Atari cannot deliver
before a major buying period...I don't know anymore...
TIE
Conf : Atari 16/32 Bit
Msg# : 1605/1653 Lines: Extended Read: 1
Sent : Nov 30, 1992 at 11:22 AM
To : Mark Kovarski
From : Crackers at Fnet Node 702, The Mother of All BBSs <[702]>
Subj : Re: <1548> Atari Article in TC!
Hmmmm, I know of one place at least that sells Atari Computers. That's
Replay Entertainment in Village By The Grange in Toronto. And i think
there's a place up on the Mountain here in Hamilton that sells STs.
Replay Entertainment is owned by one of the people that Atari Canada laid
off. Dispite his current situation he has full faith that the Falcon will
bring Atari around to it's former glory.
And doesn't Long & McQuade still sell Atari machines? Seems to me that
that article has exagerated just a wee bit.
I know that Compucentre's descision to stop selling STs had absolutely
nothing to do with Atari itself, but everything to do with Multi-Micro.
Every computer product that a Compucentre A.C.E. store buys has to be
purchased from their main distributor Multi-Micro or when purchasing a
product not carried by them it has to be approved by MM. Multi-Micro adds
a huge percentage to the cost of everything that a Compucentre store buys
and in the case of the ST, the amount that MM added to their cost made it
impossable for Compucentre to sell the computers. Compucentre's cost for
the computer was more expensive than the price everyone else was selling
them at and since they wern't allowed to buy from anyone other than
Multi-Micro they had no choice but to stop selling the computers. The
Compucentre A.C.E. stores told Multi-Micro to either drop their cost for
the STs or they'd drop the STs. So Multi-Micro said, "Go ahead, we don't
care." And that's why Compucentre stopped selling Atari STs. Another
reason for them dropping the STs was because of the software. In the
computer business software sales depend on getting the software as soon as
it hits the market and while there's a demand for it. Multi-Micro took so
long to approve any new software for sales that by the time they gave it
their approval (if they ever did) everybody and their brother has 3
pirated copies of it. At one time Compucentre was Canada's biggest seller
of Atari computers. But because of the 'head up buttness' of the parent
company Multi-Micro it became impossable for Compucentre to sell STs. This
ticked off alot of Compucentre staff too because many of them owned STs at
the time. So in this one case of a chain of stores dropping Sts it had
absolutely nothing to do with Atari. Compucentre was forbidden from buying
their machines from Atari in the first place.
But I do agree with the articles statments to the effect that the Tramiels
don't know how to run a computer business in today's market. Their sales
tactics worked back in the 80's, but this is a whole new decade now. The
rules of the game have changed and if the Tramiels can't change with the
times then they're gonna lose big time. I think it's time for them to
graciously step down and let someone else who knows how, run the show.
They should do this before they destroy not only their own business
reputation, but Atari Corp. as well. Some how I have a feeling that
they're too pig headed to adapt and that they'd rather 'go down with the
ship' than allow someone else to command the bridge.
Helm, set a course for the iceberg. Engine Room, full speed ahead!
CRACKERS
(Stubborness from hell!!!!!!!)
Conf : Atari 16/32 Bit
Msg# : 1657/1657 Lines: Extended Read: 1
Sent : Dec 05, 1992 at 9:57 AM
To : Doug Hohenstein at Fnet Node 672
From : Ralph Mariano
Subj : Re: <1649> FALCON ARTICLE (C.P.)
Previously Doug Hohenstein wrote:
- Ralph, just what HAS got you so irked lately? You were asked a simple
- question. Instead of providing a response you took this as yet another
- opportunity to slam Atari outright, and without providing any support,
- I might add. Have you been lunching with the K's?
Listen Doug, and listen carefully............
I am watching a marketplace I've been a part of for almost twenty
years being run right into the ground. All we get is double talk and
vendetta filled agendas from certain of Atari's people. There is tons of
rhetorical garbage about the wonders we have yet to see.... the great
machines we shall see bring about the resurgence of Atari and what, in
reality, is actually happening?
NOTHING!!!!
This is the fifth Christmas sales season Atari has put right in the
toilet. All the new dealers signed on at NAMM, the music dealers, thrive
on big Christmas sales volume. Atari made sure they will not see that in
the midi community in TWO ways...
(1) - Atari announced and blathered all over the world about the Falcon
and its BS delivery dates. Sam even said in one of his conferences
it would be shipping in TWO WEEKS!! That was LAST AUGUST!! This
brainy manuever gave cause for the sales of all other Atari
computers to come to screeching halt. The TT & MSTE production is
nill. So what will all those NEW dealers we heard so much about
have to sell to their customer base??
(2) No Falcons... No Falcons.... Not anywhere. Atari Germany, the
stalwart entity in Europe is all but put to sleep, its personel is
stripped to the bone, the main person who made it work quit in a
raging disagreement over the lack of Falcon deliveries ON TIME.
This came after all of Atari's European subs were consolidated
under Atari Germany's direction. The UK expects less than 500
units RSN for all its users and developers this is no where near
what's needed to satisfy their market alone.
And you want to know what has me irked?? Take a good look around you
in this Atari world, the Tramiel Kids have clobbered it and clobbered it
but good. The Katzenjammer was a priceless name for them four years ago
and it fits better and better with every month that goes by.
Ralph @ * The Bounty ST BBS * FNET Node 350
From CIS Atari Fora
#: 76681 S8/Hot Topics
05-Dec-92 11:46:06
Sb: #76627-Atari at COMDEX
Fm: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254
To: Dana P. Jacobson 71051,3327
Gee. Not only did I see the Atari booth myself at the show but I also
spoke with both Nathan and Bob Brodie and they both told me they were
disappointed with the show. In fact, no one I talked to at the booth
seemed to be overly impressed with the show results. They were very
excited about the Falcon, naturally, but not the COMDEX results.
Maybe something great happened after I left Thursday afternoon?
Ron
#: 76771 S8/Hot Topics
06-Dec-92 10:23:32
Sb: #76766-Atari at COMDEX
Fm: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254
To: STReport - Ralph 70007,4454
I arrived at the show Tuesday mid-day. Jack was there in a private
meeting room. I didn't see him on Wednesday or Thursday, so he left
sometime after Tuesday afternoon.
I was told Sam was at the show on Monday but I never saw him on
Tue/Wed/Thurs (And I went back a few times looking). Nathan told me Sam
left after Monday.
I never saw Gary in my 5 or 6 trips thru the booth. I don't think
Leonard came to the show at all.
#: 76819 S8/Hot Topics
06-Dec-92 20:10:09
Sb: #76801-Atari at COMDEX
Fm: Jim Ness 75300,3155
To: John J. Amsler 70275,676
John -
Check out the latest Atari Explorer Online, which I am sure Albert will be
uploading.
Bob Brodie even panned your own review. He says, maybe justifiably, that
nobody can do a thorough review of COMDEX based on a one day visit.
However, he has not said anything about Ron Luks' multiple days spent
there.
On the other hand, he did not say Atari's time at Comdex was a success.
He just said there were tons of neat Atari products there which did not
get mentioned.
I personally agree about the neat products being there, but also think
they were wasted, because nobody saw them.
STR's editorial on the same subject was really flamed by Atari and some of
the devs who are particularly close to Atari. (Thisclose)
-JN
#: 76875 S17/Community Square
07-Dec-92 13:02:41
Sb: #76774-#Falcon: Flies or Dies
Fm: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254
To: John J. Amsler 70275,676 (X)
I think thats a very fair assesment of what Atari needs to do, although
any significant progress towards those goals in the time frame you
mentioned might be enough. There's no way they will accomplish the entire
list in that time frame.
Some of the points conflict with each other. You can't significantly
increase advertising and production and also increase revenue in the same
time period. Increasing the stock price is something that I'm familiar
with due to my "second career." The generally accepted maxim is that a
stock price reflects 6 months in advance of what will show up on the
books. Normally, if Wall street thought the Falcon would be a success by
mid 93, you'd start to see appreciation in the stock price TODAY.
Unfortunately, thats not happening.
The fact that the stock price is sitting near its all time low TODAY
tells you that Wall Street thinks of the new Falcon effort (not much). Of
course, Wall Street is not always right, and sometimes it is spectacularly
wrong. Lets hope so in this case.
Please note that in the above paragraph, I was talking about Wall
Streets estimate of the "falcon effort" not the "falcon hardware itself."
While I dont think the Falcon030 is the 'ultimate new atari computer' and
I acknowledge some of its shortcomings, I think it has more than enough
positive aspects in its favor to make it a success.
As important (or maybe even more important) than the hardware design,
is the accompanying production/marketing/sales effort that must go with
the new machine. Bill Rehbock demo'ed the machine for me at COMDEX and it
was a fairly impressive demo. (Bill still has a lot of credibility with
me in my book and I can't say enough nice things about him and the support
he's shown us). However, he was unable to speak about the advertising
and marketing of the machine and that's what still has me worried.
#: 76944 S8/Hot Topics
08-Dec-92 01:34:28
Sb: #76819-Atari at COMDEX
Fm: John J. Amsler 70275,676
To: Jim Ness 75300,3155
Jim:
Actually, I was quite irked that circumSTances didn't permit me to
spend at leaST three days at COMDEX. That "review" of mine was merely
a "quickie;" I never intended it to be in-depth or comprehensive. I
know there were things I didn't mention ... because there wasn't anyone
around for me to ask questions of.
I didn't mean to offend anyone and am sorry if I did. I know I was
vehemently critical of the Falcon's resolution--and I STill say it
should be 1024 x 768 MINIMUM--but in the aggregate I thought I was
rather complimentary of the Falcon (and Atari, considering how they
are so tiny and don't have hundreds of millions of dollars for R&D,
engineering, and marketing/advertising) like IBM and Apple do. I
realize that Atari doesn't have the resources that IBM and Apple do;
I just think the resources they DO have could be used better.
"Tons" of neat Atari products? That might be STretching it a bit!
- John
Atari Forever!
#: 76991 S8/Hot Topics
08-Dec-92 14:19:02
Sb: #76956-Atari at COMDEX
Fm: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254
To: John J. Amsler 70275,676
There's a fair amount of politics and guessing when it comes to
selecting booth space at COMDEX. The owner of COMDEX, the Interface
Group, is run by the same guy who bought the Sands Hotel and built the
Sands Convention Center. He obviously pushes hard for companies to
exhibit in his building where he makes the most profit.
However, its only a fraction of the size of the main Las Vegas C.C. and
only the LVCC can accommodate the big booths of MicroSoft, Word Perfect,
IBM, etc. He offered significantly cheaper booth space in the Sands Expo
center to try to draw some bigger names to the secondary building but
after the first year failure, it seems only Atari went for the "value
deal." Other companies I talked to said that even if it meant paying more
for less space inthe main CC or even in Bally's (where all the Multimedia
exhibits were held), it was worth it to them. One little company told me
they could have had a bigger booth for almost 1/2 the cost in the sands,
but in their words "We'd rather spend $5000 and have a crowd than save
$2500 and have nobody around to look at the booth. Whats the point in
spending ANY money unless you get a good turnout?"
I dont fault Atari for trying to save money and I dont think being in
the main Convention Center would have given them much more than they got
from the Sands. I think that considering the type of market the Falcon is
being aimed at, they should have been in with the other multimedia
exhibits (this year in Bally's) even if it cost them some more $$$$. It
couldn't have been THAT much more, and after all, they DO have $50 million
in the bank, right?
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** 50mb SQG51S $559.00 105mb SQG105S $759.00 **
Or, YOUR choice of Hard Disk Mechanism!
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
* IBM/MSDOS - AMIGA - ATARI - APPLE/MACINTOSH *
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)
*** --> COMPLETE IBM CLONE SYSTEMS AVAILABLE! <-- ***
CUSTOM BUILT TO YOUR SPECS!
CALL FOR PRICING & AVAILABILITY
386/486 25 MHZ - 33Mhz - 50Mhz - 66Mhz
From $839.95
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
Atari SLM 804, SLM 804PCV Laser Toner Kits
Memorex 2108, 5287
Oasys Laserpro 5287, 5308, Express 830, Express Series II
Silver Express, Gold Express
** $41.95 shipping Included **
Atari SLM 605 Laser Toner Kits
AT&T 593, CAF Laser, DSI Laser, DTP Systems, Epson EPL-6000
Facit P6060, Fontx Syslaser, Harris3M 2006, M-Tally MT905
Microtek Turbo PS, OAS Laserpro Executive, Packard Bell 9500
TEC LB 1305, Toshiba PageLaser 6
** $41.95 shipping included **
(TWO Toner Carts Incl.)
Panasonic Laser Toner Kits
Panasonic KX -P 400 series, Panafax UF-750 Facsimile
** $41.95 shipping included **
-- ALL TONER KITS * IN STOCK * --
* Toner Starter Kits-$62.95 *
* Replacement (804) Drums-$187.95 *
ABCO is PROUD to announce the acquisition of
the exclusive U.S.A. distribution rights for
** Bitblit Software's ///Turbo Board BBS. **
This fine Atari ST BBS system software and
user support is available through ABCO to all
Turbo customers in the USA. Call for current
pricing.
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
Now Available
BUSINESSES, - LEASE TO OWN WITH AT&T -
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE! >UPS!<
(Prepaid Orders - Cont. USA)
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
COD, Personal and Company Checks accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders & Service
9am - 8pm EDT
TUES thru SAT
ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION!
SEND FOR YOUR NEW ABCO CATALOG TODAY!
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STReport International Online Magazine
-* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *-
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STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" December 11, 1992
Since 1987 copyright (c) 1987-92 All Rights Reserved No.8.49
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Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors/staff of STReport International Online Magazine. Permission
to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints
must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue
number and the author's name . STReport and/or portions therein may not
be edited in any way without prior written permission. STReport, at the
time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STReport, its staff
and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or
misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
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