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Silicon Times Report Issue 0845
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing
""""""""""""""
November 13, 1992 No.8.45
==========================================================================
STReport International Online Magazine
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
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_____________________________________________________________________
> 11/13/92 STR 845 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
""""""""""""""""
- The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS
- NEW 486 Chip [SL] - PMC NEWS! - Diamond Edge Review
- Tramiel RSN @ Comdex - Atari Safari - Syquest 3.5" Debut
- Viewtouch & POWERDOS - STR MAILCALL - STR Confidential
-* ATARI'S FALCON --> WHERE? *-
-* ATARIANS CATCH FALCON FEVER *-
-* TURTLE BEACH SOUND CARD SPECS *-
==========================================================================
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
The Original * Independent * Online Magazine
-* FEATURING WEEKLY *-
"Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
STReport's BBS, The Bounty, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate
in the Fido/TurboNet/Atari F-Net Mail Network. You may also call our BBS
direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information
relative to the Atari and other computers worldwide through the use of
excellent International Messaging Networks. SysOps, worldwide, are quite
welcome to join the STReport International Conferences. The Crossnet Code
is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All BBS systems are welcome and
invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today!
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COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (November 13)
BEST OF GO GRAPHICS...
The Atari Forums have been invited to participate in Issue 4 of the "Best
of GO GRAPHICS", a print publication produced by the Graphics Forums on
CompuServe.
We would like to include YOUR .GIF images! Please upload your 320x200 or
640x480 (or close to these aspect ratios) .GIF graphic images to LIBRARY 4
of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) as soon as possible. Deadline for
participation is November 15, 1992.
NEW SYSOP WANTED!
Also a quick reminder that SYSOP*Ron Luks is still accepting applications
for a MIDI/Music sysop. If you have experience and knowledge of MIDI in
the Atari computer environment, please send a CompuServe Mail message to
76703,254 outlining your qualifications.
VENDOR DATABASE UPDATED!
Bill Aycock has uploaded VENDOR.DAT to LIBRARY 6 of the Atari Productivity
Forum (GO ATARIPRO). This is an update to the VENDOR.DAT Atari vendor
data file, which lists names, addresses, phone numbers, product info, and
CIS UserIDs for developers and vendors of Atari products. Please see
VENDOR.ARC in the same library for the viewer PRG/ACC and documentation.
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!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
Comdex, Comdex, Comdex.... that's about all you hear talked about this
time of the year. Its right around the corner and while most all
companies are dropping press releases left and right, what do we hear from
the gurus in Sunnyvale? NADA... at least formally for public consumption.
All that can be said at this time is to pay close attention to the doins'
in the Atari Booth at Comdex. Is doubtful the Governor of Nevada will
open the proceedings this year but... be prepared to be pleasantly
surprised.
On another note, I recently received the latest version of the
Gemulator Software and the hardware card. I installed it into a 486/50 PC
yesterday and so far, its a screamer. The whole machine is for that
matter. Next week, we'll have an in-depth overview of Gemulator and the
following week wrap up of our impressions of this first class effort.
Remember to send in your questions for the GEnie ST RT Tramiel Comdex
conference. It sure to be 'highly' informative.
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.......................... 90:19/350.0
GEnie......................... ST-REPORT
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STR'S "BELIEVE IT? OR.. WHAT?"
<>###############################<>
"There is no comparison! The Atari Falcon
is far superior to the PC platform."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"As I said before, all marketing announcements will be made at
Duesseldorf. I will not comment on future models of the Falcon.
WE ARE TALKING TODAY ABOUT A MACHINE.....
WHICH WILL BE SHIPPING NEXT WEEK."
Sam Tramiel, 08/92
"The Atari Falcon will be sold with MultiTOS.
It will be a combination of ROM and disk based."
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
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> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #46
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
-- Hayes Unveils Portable Modem
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. has announced a $399 internal, credit
card-size modem called the Smartmodem OPTIMA 2400 + FAX96 for PCMCIA.
Hayes says the new unit supports CCITT V.42 error-control and CCITT V.42
bis data compression for data and fax transmission to 9600 bit/s. The
firm sees the new modem as "a perfect complement for companies that have
standardized on Smartmodem 2400 and OPTIMA 24 + FAX96 for the office and
now want the advanced features for their portable computers equipped
with PCMCIA slots."
The unit supports Hayes AutoSync and is powered by a PCMCIA Bus, requ-
iring no external power. It provides asynchronous communications to
information systems, corporate hosts, corporate LANs and Group 3 fax
machines.
-- Canon Claims World's Smallest Fax Machine
Canon has developed a small fax machine, which it is claiming is the
smallest on the market. It is claimed to be smaller than that of NEC and
Ricoh.
The fax machine is even smaller than the keyboard of a regular notebook-
type personal computer. It measures 29.7 by 11.1 by 3.1 cm., and weighs
only 950 grams. The small size is due to a new image scanner developed
by Canon.
The transmission speed of this fax machine is 20 seconds for an A4-size
document. The major advantage of this device is that it supports a B4-
size document. The device can be hooked into a mobile phone or car phone
to transmit and receive faxes.
The retail price of this fax machine is not yet set. But it is expected
to be around $1,650, according to Canon.
-- New Group Shooting for Holographic Storage
A group of Texas computer researchers have formed a company to market
products that use a holographic data storage technology as an
alternative to the floppy disk.
Steve Redfield, founder/vice president of Tamarack Storage Devices Inc.,
said that holographic storage allows computers to store much greater
amounts of data on a portable storage medium. The data is stored by
laser beam in a version of the 3D images found on credit cards.
He added the technology entails storing a holographic image of computer
data on an optical storage medium, such as a crystal.
Redfield says his firm hopes to have a prototype developed by next month
and have products to market by the end of next year.
-- Storage Technology Delays Iceberg Again
Storage Technology Corp. has announced for the third time this year that
it is delaying shipment of its Iceberg data storage system. The company
said Monday it continues to encounter delays due to the complexity of
integrating the software and hardware of the Iceberg subsystem. It also
said that its recent experience with its other disk array product,
Alpine, has led management to conclude that debugging Iceberg is likely
to take longer than previously anticipated.
-- Compaq, Motorola Announces Cellular Modem
Compaq Computer and Motorola have teamed up to introduce an internal
high-speed cellular modem. This is the first time that two companies of
Compaq's and Motorola's stature have pooled their resources in this
respect.
Both companies say that the Compaq SpeedPaq 144 utilizes Compaq's cel-
lular direct connection feature, a cable interface between the computer
and a cellular phone to send data and faxes. The unit is compatible with
various cellular phones, including Motorola MicroTAC, MicroTAC Lite and
MicroTAC Ultra Lite, as well as the Nokia 121 made by Nokia Mobile
Phones, Inc.
The 144 modem can transfer data at up to 14,400bps plus send and receive
fax transmissions at up to 9600bps. The unit supports MNP (Microcom
Network Protocol) Class 10 error-detection and data compression.
Compaq said that the internal device works in conjunction with Compaq's
proprietary Enhanced Option Slot and consequently is not available for
PCs produced by other computer manufacturers.
The modem comes with Delrina fax software for both DOS and Windows use.
Compaq said the SpeedPAQ 144 will have a suggested retail price of $649,
and will ship in late November.
-- Intel Offers New '486 Chip
A new '486 chip for portable computers that is said to offer twice the
performance at half the power usage of an earlier model has been
introduced by Intel Corp.
Intel's '486 SL microprocessor operates on 3.3 volts of electricity,
down from the 5 volts required by most chips. Intel says that provides
more computing time on battery-powered portable computers. The '486 SL
produces twice the computing speed and performance of Intel's earlier
'386 SL microprocessor, another chip designed to conserve battery power.
-- Apple, Microsoft, Intel Bringing Video to PC's
Apple Computer Inc. says it is preparing to introduce software that
enables the playing of video clips on most IBM-compatible PCs. Apple
says its QuickTime for Windows will give machines equipped with
Microsoft Corp.'s Windows the same capabilities that Apple Macintosh
systems have had for the past year.
Apple has licensed the new technology to a number of software developers
-- including Adobe Systems, Lotus Development Corp., Software Publishing
Co. and WordPerfect Corp. -- which will build applications for it.
Apple's announcement came at the same time Microsoft and Intel Corp.
unveiled a competing product dubbed Video for Windows, based on Intel's
new Indeo video digital technology.
--IBM, NBC Test 'News On Demand'
IBM and NBC are developing a personal computer-based system that will
allow viewers to retrieve videotaped news reports on demand.
Home personal computer users would not be able to hook up to the system.
But businesses and other large subscribers would be able to call up
video news, updated stock market summaries and internally produced
training films or corporate announcements.
The news reports will be supplied by NBC News and CNBC, the company's
business-news cable TV channel, and will be updated hourly.
-- Digital Introduces Alpha AXP
Digital Equipment Corp. this week launched its much ballyhooed Alpha
AXP, a new generation of computers that use the fastest chips available.
Reportedly, the new computer line was first unveiled in Digital's South
Queensferry, Scotland manufacturing facility last February with actual
machines introduced today.
The Alpha architecture is the first system to be based on full 64-bit
RISC technology with speeds up to 200 megahertz. The DECCHIP 21064 was
entered in the Guinness Book of Records in October as the world's
fastest chip.
Digital officials said their strategy is to offer users the most open
and cost competitive of computing environments, as well as one that
spans everything from the palmtop computer to the supercomputer. The
architecture is scalable so it can change with new industry demands over
the next 25 years.
The company this week introduced Alpha AXP mainframe class systems, a
departmental system, workstations and desktop/deskside servers.
________________________________________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by Joe Mirando
From The Atari Productivity Forum
=================================
Yes folks, it's Fall. The time of year when a young man's thoughts
turn to... upgrading his computer? What the heck, why not? Just think of
all of those wonderful upgrades out there just waiting for your computer.
Alan Moore caught the bug just before he posted:
"I have a MEGA STe 2Mb with 48Mb hard Disk, this version seems to be
one of the first MEGA's to come on the market here. OK now for the
question ? The computer has a 720K internal floppy disk drive can I
upgrade this to a 1.44Mb type like on the latest MEGA's or isn't it
worth doing, if it is worth the effort do I need to change the floppy
controller chip? Any debate or advice on this would be appreciated."
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine, who must have been bitten by the
same bug earlier, answers:
"You can upgrade to a 1.44meg floppy but you need a new floppy
controller chip. DreamPark had one for $100 and another company had
another for $150. There are problems with reading MAC disks under GCR
if you use Spectre. I've only seen the review of the DreamPark one in
an old ST Informer of long ago.
Haven't seen any other reviews of any of the other ones out there.
Another choice is the floptical drive since you can read/write 720K
and 1.44meg and 21meg floppies. Its an external and Purple Mountain
Computers was running a special for $399 includes a floptical, 1
floppy, and ICD's LINK (scsi2 host adapter). Your Atari dealer may
have a similar specials. The floptical is a SCSI unit and external."
Alan has just been bitten by a new bug (thanks to Albert). Alan asks for:
"Any more info on the floptical drive? Do you know of any magazine
reviews on the floptical drive ? I am interested."
Albert tells Alan:
"No reviews on the floptical drive that I've seen on the Atari side.
You might try the IBM hardware forum (GO IBMHW) and leave a message to
INSITE. INSITE is the manufacturer of the floptical if you have
technical questions. There are usually several threads on flopticals
that you might read through as well.
Purple Mountain Computers is selling the floptical also. You might
check out the library for some recent press releases."
DAZZZ Smith replies to Alan:
"There's a floptical review in the december ish of ST Format Alan, and
I think last months ST User.
"You could try asking Atari Uk about it! Well no that probably isn't a
good idea, I think Tony from GST had a bit of trouble trying to get
one from them."
Well, it looks like we've got all kinds of bugs biting this week. First
the Floppy upgrade, and now Allan Gus asking:
"Can anyone recommend the ultimate hard disk back-up utility?? I
would like to find a backup utility for the Atari that will compress
the data on the floppy disks... any thoughts??"
Carl Barron tells Allan Gus:
"I use Diamond Back from Oregon Research. It compresses if desired,
does total/partial restores, handles 1.44 HD disks if you can support
them. Tape support announced. Easy point and click interface.
Anyway the important thing is it works..."
When someone recommends a program, you normally should take it with a
grain of salt. But when a sysop recommends a program, especially a backup
program, you can be pretty sure that it will do everything that it says it
will. Sysop Ron Luks tells Allan:
"I use Diamond Back II on my system and recommend it highly. I don't
use compression but others have and have reported that it works well."
Good call, Ron! Hey, does a writer's opinion carry as much weight as a
sysop's? Naaahhhh.
One of the major areas that Atari computers have been lagging behind in is
the world of networking. Networking is a fancy way of saying that more
than one computer can use the same hard drive. While networks are not
non-existent for the ST, they are scarce. Andrew Johnson asks:
"I have been reading an advert for network hardware for the ST which
claims to be LANTECH compatible. Does this mean that it can be used
with PCs and MACs etc. It is called DATANET and the software is
Universal Network? Has anyone actually used or seen it before?"
Albert Dayes replies to Andrew:
"I recall there was some hardware in germany that ethernet and novell
network compatibility. I think it was called Bio-net. The price was
quite high. The Universal Network supports, midi, lantech carts, and
the lan ports on the TT and MegaSTe. I would assume that the FALCON
will be supported as well.
Dragonware is the distributor (406)-265-9609. They have an AtariTalk2
which is supposed to be an Appletalk compatibility software/hardware
for all Atari computers (ST/STe/TT etc). This would allow you to
connect to a MAC. I don't not how far development has gone with the
project. You can get their full address by downloading the
vendor.dat (the newest) one."
Andrew replies to Albert:
"I don't think that is the same product, the price for this is much
more reasonable. It is 100 pounds sterling (dunno price in dollars)
for one node which includes hardware and universal network software.
If it is lantech compatible, does this mean the ability to be in
network with macs and pcs? If this is so, then this could be the
answer to the problem of networking PCs etc and ataris that I have
seen so many messages on here about. I can try to get more info if
anyone wants."
Actually, Lantech is also the name of the company in Billerica, Ma
that produces the Lantech 10 megaBit per second network for all Atari ST
computers. Connection between Lantech and IBM or MAC networks is not
possible because of the difference in the way that information is
transmitted between "nodes". It is however, a very easy to use,
inexpensive, and very fast network solution for the ST line of computers.
One other nice feature of the Lantech system, as Brian Gockley of
MacDonald Associates tells us, is that, even though you can use the
software that is supplied with the cartridges without any problems
whatsoever, if you wish to use a different piece of software, there is an
option:
"The network you are seeing advertised is the Universal Network from
A&D Software located here in the USA. It works with older SGSNET
boxes, LANTECH boxes, the built in LAN ports in the MegaSTe/TT/Falcon
and with new MIDI/LAN/Cartridge connectors that are also available
from A&D. It does not at present support connection with PCs or Macs.
For further info, you can call 1-800-800-2563."
Also in the networking arena, Thomas Beutel asks:
"Will it be possible to connect the Falcon to an Appletalk
network? Will the Falcon have Appletalk protocol software
to handle file transfers and printers?"
That busy guy from Atari Explorer Magazine, Albert Dayes, tells Thomas:
"Dragonware was supposed to be working on such a product. That
allowed a SCSI to ethernet card which would handle Apple-Talk
protocols. The only other possible way is maybe with a Megatalk board
from Gadgets by Small. I'm not sure if they have any drivers for the
ST side though ... just the Spectre side."
Well folks, we've been told that there would be FALCONs around by the end
of October. Here it almost the middle of November, and no FALCONs are to
be seen... either here or in Great Britain. Tony at GST software posts:
"Falcon availability in the UK
One of the main distributors in the UK is advertising the Falcon as
available now and have confirmed (elsewhere) that it will be released
in November. This would seem to confirm what Dazzz has been saying
about the 14th of this month.
However.
According to a developer on CIX who has been trying to buy one they
are expecting delivery in _March_ (and no one seems prepared to say
which year)."
Dazzz Smith, never one to miss out on the fun, tells Tony:
"Well i'm gonna have a ring round a few places on monday the 16th of
November (Purely out of spite) to everyone who is advertising Falcons
in the UK press and ask them for immediate delivery on a large order
of Falcons........."
From the Atari Arts Forum
=========================
Continuing a conversation from last week about which chess program for the
ST is the "best", John Amsler posts:
"It may have been Grandmaster Chess, a Motorola-oriented program that
is available for the Macintrash and the ST. The only other program
that I know of with those features is Chess Player 2150 by Oxford
Softworks in England, although Colossus Chess X is also pretty good.
The only American-made chess program of any significance is
ChessMaster 2000 by Software Toolworks (the IBM version is up to
ChessMaster 4000, I think).
A fantaSTic program that excelled in speed chess was "Techmate" but
that company folded back in 1986, not too long after it first came
out.
There's one other program available on Internet: GnuChess, I think
it's called, but I don't know how well it plays or what it's features
are.
As far as chess databases are concerned, ChessBase stopped making
their release for the Atari; currently the only one available is
NICBase ... but that is indeed an OUTSTANDING software package!!!"
Dan Danilowicz replies to John:
"Thanks for the info. The mention of Colossus X jogged my memory...
that's the one that I read about that supposedly "learns" its
opponent.
I'm trying hard to find the strongest program I can, so it'll do a
little job for me. My sister (in Dallas) and I (in Detroit) have been
engaged in an on-going battle with our computers. We post the moves
they come up with, running their respective Chess programs, on my
bbs. I've been running Chessmaster 2000 (1986 vintage)in my old Atari
8-bit, and have beaten her 386 clone running Chessmaster 2100 6 times
and played to a draw once. (The draw came when I had to bring
Chessmaster in to salvage a game that Colossus 3.0 seemed to be
losing.)
Rather than purchase CM 4000 to whip my unbeatable little Atari and
end her frustration, she abandoned the 386 and went to Radio Shack
and spent $150 on something called the Chess Challenger. It's won,
the two times we've played, decisively, so I'm pressing the ST into
service.
Colossus X is the only ST Chess program I've read anything about. Do
you know how well it compares to the others that you've mentioned? Do
you know which one is rated the best?"
John Amsler tells Dan:
"I'm IMPRESSED that CM2000 running on your 8-bit (!) clobbered CM2100
running on a 386!!!! Wow!!! Perhaps you should post the game scores
(the list of moves) to the Chess Forum here on Compu$erve.
Drats, wouldn't you know it -- I can't find the owner's manual for
Colossus Chess X. I'll look for it. I think I've got a file
somewhere that rates the strengths of chess programs; I'll look for
that also.
Here's an extract from the Chess Player 2150 owner's manual:
"Chess Player 2150 has a massive 93,000 byte library of opening moves
and has an incredible option to learn through its play by the
addition of strong moves to its openings library. It thus becomes a
tougher and meaner opponent the more games you challenge it."
Chess Player 2150 won the 1989 British Open Personal Computer Chess
Championship, but I don't know who it beat. It DID, however, beat
Colossus Chess X 9.5 - 0.5 and beat ChessMaster 2000 9 -1 in testing
matches played at 30-45 seconds per move. Chess Player 2150 has a
rating of 2087 on the ELO scale."
On another subject, John Barnes posts:
"The "other" online service has posted a banner indicating that Sam
Tramiel will appear on an online conference live from Las Vegas on
November 16th. Now, in my experience, online conferences are one of
the worst possible ways to extract information because the dialog is
limited by typing speed and the length of time it takes to cook up an
answer, not to mention the slowness of the service itself.
Given all of this I thought it might be nice to give Sam some homework
by putting together a list of questions ahead of time so that he could
prepare some nice answers and thereby get a lot of questions out of
the way ahead of time.
Please post your questions here and maybe we can collate them and send
them to Sam early next week sometime.
I have taken the liberty of posing a few questions of my own just to
get the ball rolling:
1) Where are the Falcons? Are any currently being manufactured?
2). What kind of feedback has Atari been getting from dealers who see
their Christmas sales as ruined?
3). What models of Atari computers can people buy from their dealers
nowadays?
4). Can you name any developers who have produced new products to take
advantage of the Falcon's special capabilities?
Maybe some of the rest of you have nicer ways to phrase these
questions that would be more certain of getting some sort of answer
<g>."
Brad Hill joins in the fun and posts:
"Thanks for the note on the conference. Here are a couple of
music-related question for Sam Tramiel.
1) Does Atari plan any more intensive targeting of the music industry
in general, and the commercial recording niche in particular?
2) Is Atari building relations with the music software developers?
Does he foresee increased development for the platform?
3) In light of the recent Forbes article: Will the company reverse
its non-emphasis on marketing and publicity when the Falcon is ready?
4) Where does the TT stand?
5) Does Atari see the senior market, with its many first-time
computer and digital instrument buyers, as a valuable market group?
...I like your questions, too. <g>
Dazzz Smith jumps into the question seat and posts:
"Although we in Europe are slated for the first batches of Falcons
(Nov 14th?) we have yet to see any advance promotions of any kind,
are any likely to be planned? I was stunned when Atari UK announced
that they would not be attending ANY shows this year, especially in
the run up to Christmas, are you so sure that the first batches are
going to sell?"
From the Atari Vendors Forum
============================
Rafael Hermoso posts:
"I am in the process of buying a Mega ST and would like to know if it
is possible to install an internal modem in it. I know ICD makes the
Micro host adaptor. I s there any such modem device?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine tells Rafael:
"I've haven't heard of anyone installing an internal modem inside of a
Mega ST. Considering everything else people put in their machines
someone may have done so already."
Richard Cole asks Gribnif Software about STalker (the terminal program):
"Three questions: 1) When I execute Stalker it gets part way thru
loading the program then pauses for a few seconds while it accesses
the A drive. If there's no disk in the A drive the whole process
gets screwed up. Stalker also reads the A drive for a few seconds
when I "quit". Is there any way to stop this? (I keep Stalker on my
hard drive.)
2) I've configured Stalker and Steno to use 8 point text. Whenever I
execute Stalker and dial someone as soon as the dialling begins
Stalker switches to a 9 point text, which messes up the amount of
text I can get on a screen. I've saved the configuration with 8
point text a number of times, but this doesn't help. What can I do to
keep it at 8 point text?
3) Is there some way to configure Stalker so that it automatically
brings up Steno as a type ahead buffer? (i.e. so that I don't have to
execute Stalker and then go about "Invoking" Steno)."
Domingo Alvear tells Richard:
"I am not sure if this is your problem, but if you are dialing out
using the dial directory, you might not have the point size set
correctly for that particular phone number entry. Try using the
"change for All" button that is in the dialog box. (I am not sure if
this will work, since I haven't used STalker in a while. I just got
my new modem after being without one on my ST for 5 months!)"
Well fellow Atarians, it's time for me to go and leave some room for
somebody else. Get ready for COMDEX, the mother of all tradeshows. It
happens very soon now and there have been rumblings of some interesting
things to be show by our favorite computer company. Let's hope that Atari
knocks 'em dead at the show.
That's all for this week friends. Tune in again next week and listen
to what they are saying when.....
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
_______________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
On CompuServe!
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
This will be a catch-up column recapping the activity of the last
month. Now that the summer doldrums are past the activity in the forum
libraries has been brisk.
SPAN2_.COM is a Spanish-English dictionary in PREAD format. The file
can be executed from the command line.
In the German language, JG100.ZIP contains a PIM for your PC which
supports data exchange with Portfolio files. This is a shareware program
and all prompts are in German. INSTAL.BAT is a replacement for the install
batch file in the archive.
For your PC, PDEMO.ZIP is billed as the ultimate Portfolio demo.
SCRAB.BAS is a Pbasic timer program. Can be used to time turns for
Chess or Scrabble. Great for solving arguments or maybe starting one.
PBASIC is available in the forum library.
Z.BAS is a Pbasic screen saver. It displays the current time at random
locations on the screen.
While you can't have Windows on your Portfolio, you can have your
Portfolio on your Windows. PRTBMP.ZIP contains a .BMP file you can use as
Windows wallpaper featuring your favorite palmtop.
Don Thomas has a PowerBasic solution for those who are caught in the
dilemma of not being able to use their serial interface without a terminal
program for the Port. MKXTM2.ZIP contains source code which can be typed
in to create the XTERM2 program on the Port. Another handy program for the
Port is SETLNG.COM which can set the language option for the Port from a
batch file.
Just for fun try WUMPUS.EXE, the classic adventure game of Hunt the
Wumpus.
If you feel like making a little noise, here are some programs that
might interest you. PHONE.COM creates the phone tones for dialing from a
batch file. KEYCLK.COM will make the keyclick sound from a batch file.
BEEP.COM will make the beep noise from a batch file. ALARM.COM makes the
alarm sound from a batch file. ALARM.ZIP will change the sound of the
Port's alarm.
ERROR.COM will generate error messages from within a batch file.
PA14.TXT and PA15.TXT contain the text of the latest issues of
Portable Addiction.
There have been some exciting announcements of new peripherals for the
Port. INT.TXT contains the announcement of the Universal Interface from
BSE.
***********************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
STReport International Online Magazine is available every week in the
ST Advantage on DELPHI. STReport readers are invited to join DELPHI and
become a part of the friendly community of Atari enthusiasts there.
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
======================
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002
then...
When connected, press RETURN once or twice
and...
At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN.
DELPHI's Basic Plan offers access for only $6.00 per hour, for any
baud rate. The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online.
For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005
DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, MA.
Try DELPHI for $1 an hour!
For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and
receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only
$5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of
the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account
active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan,
where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum
$10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry,
this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this
limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once
or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET>
again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll
officially be a member of DELPHI!
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
***********************************************************************
> PMC BLOWOUT! STR InfoFile DON'T..... MISS THIS SPECIAL SALE!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
PD/SHAREWARE DISK BLOWOUT
=========================
Now Available!
Our Hardware division has expanded so greatly that we have decided to
sell off part of our Software holdings.
We are selling our entire Public Domain/Shareware library to anyone:
dealers/entrepreneurs (you can make a decent living all you need to do is
invest some time) or end users (the prices are incredible).
o 1260 separate disks
o approximately 1500 disks total
USERS
o minimum purchase: 50 disks (we'll consider smaller amounts)
o 50 disks: $2 each
100 disks: $1.75
200 + : $1.50
all disks should consist of 90% your own choice/10% grab-bag
Shipping: $9.00 per order
DEALERS/ENTREPRENEURS
o complete library of 1380 disks
o full catalog on disk describing 1260 disks
o catalogers already in place to make new disks
o 400 DS non-cataloged disks with new compressed files
o Mac/Windows disks (about 400 DS disks full of compressed files)
o 19,000 confirmed user mail list (available separately)
Shipping: Negotiable
We want to sell these disks immediately, which means that prices are
negotiable. Contact us right away because sales are first come first
serve.
Purple Mountain Computers, Inc.
15600 NE 8th St. Ste. A3-412
Bellevue, WA 98008
1-206-747-1519 voice/fax
PMC.INC GEnie
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service:
Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and
weekend access to more than 100 services including
electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news,
entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards
on leisure and professional subjects. With many other
services, including the biggest collection of files to
download and the best online games, for only $6 per
hour.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month
of membership if you are not completely satisfied, just
ask for your $4.95 back.
GEnie Announcements (FREE)
1. October GEnie Billing Complete - To review your bill, type:...*BILL
2. Charleston SC - Access Number Change..........................*PHONE
3. Music to Your Ears: Christmas Music on CD at................NOTEWORTHY
4. RTC 11/15 -- Year-End TAX PLANNING strategies.................HOSB
5. Back By Popular Demand - The OW Sports League in..............ORBWARS
6. Sunbathing AU NATUREL (in November) on the....................LEFT
7. November Birthdays collect a =FREE HOUR= on November 15.......CHAT
8. Stereo System w/5-CD Changer ONLY $379 Delivered at...........ZBEST
9. RAVENLOFT Forbidden Lore Designer Bruce Nesmith...............TSR
10. Questions answered immediately in the NEW Mac HelpDesk........MAC
11. FONTember is filled with GEOS fonts in the....................FLAGSHIP
12. Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA reviewed in...................SHOWBIZ
13. Visit GEnie at the Hartford, CT Pet Expo 11/14-11/15..........PET
14. WPWIN 5.2 announced with Grammatik 5, ATM, and fonts on.......WP
15. New Mac-compatible; new Toshiba color notebooks/prices on.....LAPTOPS
Welcome ****** ******** ** ** **
To the ** ** ** ** **
GEnie ****** ** ST ** ** **
ATARI ** ** Roundtable ** ** **
****** ** ** ** **
*** ** ***
The Official Online Resource of Atari Corporation *** ** ***
Atari ST Roundtable
Real Time Conference Special Events Calendar
Monday, November 16th.......
-> * LIVE FROM COMDEX * <-
-- Sam Tramiel --
Wednesday, Nov. 18 - Keith Gerdes {TraceTech} will be our guest to discuss
his latest projects. These include DATA DIET v2.0 and DATA RESCUE. He is
the author of numerous programs such as, Squish, DC Formatter, and DCopy
Shell; just to name a few!
Regular Open Conference every Wednesday night, 10PM EDT, 7PM PDT
DTP conference every Monday at 10PM eastern in room 3.
November's "Darlah's Treat of the Month" is now available at page
475;9. This month's treat is the Demo of "That's Write 2" in a _self
extracting_ format. Product support for "That's Write 2" is available in
the Atari Bulletin Board (page 475;1) Category 13, Topic 15. Thanks to
Robert Engberson (COMPO) for providing this month's treat.
Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities:
----------------------------------------------
26351 W9STSAVE.LZH X MUSE 921031 20992 254 2
Desc: A Warp 9 Extend-O-Save module.
26370 PSYCHO.ARC X J.KOCHER1 921101 52352 226 8
Desc: PYSCHO WORLDS - fast arcade action/w
26417 XBOOTIII.TXT X GRIBNIF 921103 5248 144 14
Desc: XBoot III - Graphical boot manager
26436 BALOON.LZH X MYECK.WATERS 921105 896 92 2
Desc: monochrome balloon for W9STSAVE.LZH
26430 ZARDOSIA.LZH X J.SCHRAM 921105 161792 79 8
Desc: A German MULE clone for mono only...
26432 NOSEY_II.LZH X F.VUOTTO 921105 20992 76 2
Desc: Multiple File Search Utility
26441 DOC_DEMO.LZH X D.HUBBELL1 921106 18048 72 10
Desc: The Doctor! v1.55 Demo
26443 AUTOFM10.LZH X GRMEYER 921106 17408 67 2
Desc: Auto File Mover utility
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> DIAMOND EDGE STR Review "...a total, must have system package.."
"""""""""""""""""""""""
GETTING THE EDGE
""""""""""""""""
A review of;
Diamond Edge.. The Hard Disk Maintenance Utility
by Bill Pike (STEP)
Diamond Edge is a program that contains just about everything you
could ever want in a Hard Drive maintenance package. It was put together
by Robert Luneski of Oregon Research Associates. This program along with
Diamond Back II are a total system package that every Hard Drive owner
must have. It will work on any virtually Atari System and Hard Disk, also
floppys.
Yes, I said must. The cost for Diamond Edge is $69.95 and very well
worth every penny. Especially after you are attempting to recover data
from a Hard Drive crash. Once you have spent maybe 3 or 4 hours trying to
recover the files that you have been working on for 4 months, you do back
up your Hard Drives every couple of days don't you? (not so subtle hint to
purchase Diamond Back) Well I guess not if you are taking 3 or 4 hours to
recover the data. You will find that $69.95 is very cheap. Much less
costly then the wig you are going to have to buy to cover all the hair you
are tearing out.
First let's say that this is one of the easiest to use programs that I
have seen and that the documentation is very kind to the novice, but
thorough enough for the expert. The really important stuff has a check
mark beside it. You do read the documentation before using a program
don't you? Also there are selectable levels for warnings so that you can
have extra alert boxes before you do anything or if you know what you are
doing then you will only get the important warnings, your choice. There
is even a section in the end of the documentation that will explain
everything you wanted to know about a Hard Drive but were afraid to ask.
Ok, down to the nitty gritty. Just what does Diamond Edge do?
Diamond Edge is actually 5 programs in one. The programs are integrated
into a single application program.
The first area is the Disk Medic. This section of the program checks
out the disk structure and file integrity. It checks to see if FAT tables
1 & 2 are the same, they should be. It checks for a valid boot sector.
It checks for Invalid Directories. It checks for Unreadable Directory
Sectors, Illegal File Names, Bad Directory Entries, Inconsistent File
Size, Bad FAT entries, FAT chain collisions, and lost sectors. You can
also automatically fix these problems as the program finds them or
manually tell Medic to do so or not as you choose. Either way a file is
written that lists the errors found and where they were/are. You are also
able to test multiple drives, you can select which drives are to be tested
and which are to be ignored.
If the FAT Tables don't match you are given the option to make a Medic
pass selecting either one or the other FAT Table [No Other Program allows
you to do this]. You can then determine which table has the correct
information or has most of the correct information. You can then select
that FAT Table to copy to the invalid one.
Disk Medic then makes its integrity pass and checks out all the files
and directories. If you selected Auto-Fix the repair will proceed as the
pass is made. You will see the disk map and what action the program is
taking as it goes along. If you didn't select Auto-Fix you will get a
display of the disk map and an ending choice to "fix","view", or "cancel",
"view" shows you what errors were found and where. You also have the
option of saving "Lost Clusters" to a disk file, this can be a real help
in recovering text files.
There are three methods of mapping out Bad Sectors, you can also
select how many times to run the test. Read-Read: which reads each sector
twice, this is non-destructive and will not effect the data on the disk.
Read-Write-Read: the data for each sector is read off the drive then
written back to the same sector then read again testing for a match, this
also will not affect the existing data if it is OK. Write-Read: which
writes a random pattern to each sector and then reads it back checking
for matching data, Kiss any Data on the Partition Goodbye with this one.
Of course the last method is the most effective. Isn't it nice to have a
backup of the data? (second not so subtle hint to purchase Diamond Back)
You will be presented a listing of the bad sectors and asked if you want
to lock them out.
You are also allowed to partition your Hard Drive. Diamond Edge
supports Atari, Supra, BMS, and ICD formats. You can also just change one
partition, hide/unhide a partition, save/restore partitioning information.
Diamond Edge also supports the TT SCSI IDs.
...Whew!!, next section please!
Here you have the Optimize Drive functions. Optimizing makes all of
the sectors of a file congruous as well as packing all the files together
into a single area of the disk. As files are written to and erased from
your disk the file data gets more and more spread out over the disk
surface. This is called file fragmentation. The poor drive mechanism has
to flip all over heck and gone to find the data until it reaches the point
of giving up and the drive crashes. Here is where Diamond Edge shines. I
took a Hard Drive partition that was pretty well fragmented and made an
image back up of it on floppy disks so that I could recreate the original.
There were two other commercial Hard Drive Optimizers that I compared
Diamond Edge to, Hard Disk Sentry from Beckemeyer Utilities (I was unable
to compare with his new version, I did contact him several times, and was
forced to use the old version). The partition I was working on was 11mbs
and 85% full I ignored the disk testing time, Diamond Edge took a little
under 4 minutes, which included optimizing for writing which the version
of Hard Disk Sentry that I was testing with was unable to do, Hard Disk
Sentry took 8+ minutes to optimize, TuneUp took over 10 minutes. Also
with Diamond Edge you have the option to just compress the free space
which just shoves all the files together without making the sectors
congruous. This cuts the time way down and it is recommended to use this
once the drive has been optimized. As you can imagine this is a LOT
faster. If you optimize for reading, all the data is placed at the
beginning of the disk while if you optimize for writing, the data is
placed at the end of the disk. This is to let the read/write head move
the least amount to do its thing. The head movement is the slowest part
of disk access.
....NNNNNnnneeexxxttt!
Diamond Mirror, this section of the program makes a backup file of the
FAT Tables and Directory Structures, saving them to a disk file. When a
file is deleted the first letter of the file name is replaced by a
non-ascii character and the clusters that the file occupied in the FAT
table are freed up for reuse. If you accidently delete a file and have
not written to the disk all the data is there you just cannot get to it.
If the drive has been recently optimized then all the data is in congruous
sectors. The directory entry for the file hasn't been erased but is
hidden. The directory entry contains the starting location for the file
and how long it is. By retrieving the directory entry it is possible to
"turn the sectors back on" and recover the file. However if the file was
fragmented, pieces of the file were at different locations this won't
work. Here is where Diamond Mirror comes in. It has remembered where the
file was. Diamond Mirror can be set up to automatically run at bootup or
once a day or once a week. I use the daily option, it depends on just how
much reading and writing you are going to do to the drive each day, which
one you select. There is also a Validation Program that will keep track
of all the files on a partition via a checksum for each file, you have a
choice of CRC (best) or Checksum. By using this in conjunction with
Diamond Mirror you can rest assured that you recovered all of the file
and that the file is good.
Diamond Edge will make a file containing the Boot sector, Fat Table,
and Root Directory of each Partition. These are saved and in the event of
a catastrophic failure, you will be able to recover the disk as long as
the controller and drive mechanism are functional. You are even able to
recover SCSI partitioning information.
You can also copy a 20 meg partition onto a 60 meg partition, zero a
partition(which erases everything on that drive), unzero a partition
(which restores the drive). "Wipe Partition" really zeros a partition.
It zeros the directory and the FAT tables but also overwrites EVERY sector
with random data. Everything on that partition is history period.
"All Info" gives you data on how full every drive partition is and the
percentage free including the totals for all partitions. "Print" gives
you a printout of the screen information.
One third (20 pages) of the book consist of just how a disk is
structured and what parts do what. This is one of the most easily
understood explanations that I have seen of a very complex subject.
Editor Note;
Bill Pike is probably the most widespread read ST software reviewer on
the Atari platform. His reviews have always been highly informative
reading while in-depth enough to satisfy both the casual user to the most
'vigorous' power user.
________________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips"
"""""""""""""""""""""
- Los Angeles, CA SYQUEST ANNOUNCES 3.5" DEVICE
---------------
The data sheet on the new Syquest SQ3105A - 3.5" Removable Hard Disk
Drive reflects some very impressive specifications; 105 Megs, 14.5 ms
average seek time, 1.175 to 1.95 Mbyte/sec Data transfer rate to/from
media (4.0 Mbytes/sec to/from 64K buffer). the new mechanism has an 8
second spin up and stop time, and four modes; sleep(.35W), standby(.65W),
idle(1.5W)and 4.5W during seek. The initial release version will not be
in the SCSI format.
- Hamburg, Germany FURTHER REPORTS RE: ALWIN STUMPF
----------------
The German PC weekly "PC Woche" (newsletter aimed at professional
PC/Unix users, published by IDG Publications, a US company) this week
reported some information relative to Alwin Stumpf departing from Atari
Germany. They report that alleged rumors imply Stumpf left due to a
dramatic difference of opinion and perspective between his and those of
Jack Tramiel regarding the future of Atari. According to PC Woche the
"Tramiel Clan" strongly favors the further development of a PC line (and
wants to use a large majority of the available R&D money for this
purpose), while Stumpf mainly wanted to concentrate on the 680x0 market
and video games.
Editor Note; This item which surfaced last week overseas, appears to fly
in the face of everything we have ever heard from Atari. In fact, it
borders on the ridiculous. However, its been presented to give the reader
an opportunity to see for themselves the wide diversity of rumors flying
about worldwide, due to the obvious scarcity of solid information coming
forth from Atari "themselves". At a time when its most needed to keep the
"troops smiling".... the silence is almost deafening. How about it Mr.
Communications?
- Rockville, MD Sam Tramiel Conference LIVE @ COMDEX
-------------
The Atari ST Roundtable on GEnie will hold a live conference with Sam
Tramiel from COMDEX on November 16th at 10:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. Las
Vegas Time. While it is expected that Sam will be happy to speak on all
matters related to the Atari line of products, it is certainly
anticipated that most of the interest will focus on the status of the new
Falcon computer as well as the products being shown at COMDEX.
A number of questions have been collected during the past two weeks
here on GEnie in the Feedback to Atari topic in Category 14. Most of
those questions focused on Falcon SPECS and DELIVERY but there were also a
few, more general, questions. All of this information has been forwarded
to Bob Brodie in the hopes that informative answers will be prepared in
advance. Accompanying Sam Tramiel will be Bob Brodie, Bill Rehbock and
the rest of the Atari entourage. User turnout is expected to be heavy and
the formal conference will be held in accordance with regular RTC rules.
To join the conference on Monday evening, log on to the RTC by typing
M475;2 at any command prompt or type 2 from page 475. If you can't make
it, watch for the transcript in your favorite online magazine!
- San Francisco, CA VIEWTOUCH TO HANDLE POWERDOS
-----------------
PowerDos and PowerNet whose distribution rights and support were with
Dragonware, have been sold by the programmer to ViewTouch Corporation.
All support, programming and general information questions for PowerDos
and PowerNet should be directed to either Gene Mosier at 503-344-7990 or
Christopher Latham at PowerPoint Software 503-479-6635.
__________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
"""""""""""""
STReport's MailBag
""""""""""""""""""
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
-----------------------------------
FALCON FEVER & FALCON CONCERNS ABOUND..
From the FNET
Conf : Atari ST Programming
Msg# : 8597/8600 Lines: Extended Read: 1
Sent : Oct 25, 1992 at 7:55 PM
To : ALL
From : Ken Hollis at Fnet Node 3, Node 3 Atari-OH! in Houston,
Subj : Atari Falcon closeup report
---------------------------------------------------------------------
<< Atari Falcon Close-up view report by Jigen (Ken Hollis) >>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, all of you know about the Falcon now, right? Well, I have been to
the latest Atari show here in Houston, and I found out some interesting
things about the Falcon.
First, when I was there, Bob Brodie was showing off some nice software,
including the Falcon's D2D (Digi-to-disk (?? -- name)) Direct to disk
digitizing program. It was very elaborate, and even had a SMPTE-time
track counter (to make it look realistic). Also, they showed off a demo
called something like "Moving Pixels" which was a supposed commercial for
Atari in Australia (so I heard from Bob Brodie) and was a very nice
program -- it had realtime vide
o, and some great kick-ass effects in the
process. It was very nice in the 256 color mode.
Also, I had a chance to look at programs that are compatible with the
Falcon. Apparently it is quite compatible with the standard ST and TT
files, but we tried using SoundTracker and Paula trackers on it, and there
seems to be a compatibility problem with changing screen frequency and
using the DMA sound chip. All in all, it was very interesting.
Also, Bob hooked the Falcon up to the standard SC1224 monitor, and an
incredible thing (that I thought) happened. They apparently have
"mastered" hardware overscan, and once you change to 320X200 mode in 256
colors, double lines, the entire screen is used for the desktop and the
graphics. Very nice ideas!
Also, my brother had a chance to test a Fractal program on the Falcon that
directly used the Falcon's DSP processor to do Fractal processing (math).
Amazing thing was that it only took little under 10 seconds to do the
math, when a standard ST took 84+ seconds to do it! Incredible.
We also got to see Flight Simulator II on the Falcon - almost pure 60 fps,
well actually about 45 fps, but what's the difference, no? Very nice. We
also got to hear some digitized sound from a program that a developer made
for the Falcon that used the Direct to Disk sampling. Apparently when Bob
went to Boston, he went to the nearby sound shop, bought a Boston CD and a
walkman, and sampled the darn thing at about 11:30PM! Egad.
All in all, the Atari show (Atari Safari '92) was an excellent show.
Everyone was there that we knew and met from the Safari '91. Bob Brodie
was being very nice (but apparently was visibly tired) in asking questions
and answered things. Things that he couldn't answer, he politely
answered "I'm sorry, that information is classified". Not a bad fellow..
He seemed to know what he was talking about.
The Falcon we saw was the German Falcon, with the German keyboard, and I
canna' imagine what the American Falcon'll look like. It was a very nice
computer all in all, and I recommend that EVERYONE go out and buy one.
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 14, Topic 31
Message 66 Mon Nov 09, 1992
CAPT.SPOCK [Kerim] at 19:00 EST
Here is a rather involved question for Sam....
What I would like to know is what is Atari planning to do to address all
of the internal management problems that they have faced for the past few
years? I have been an Atari user since I was in middle-school, and I
guess you could say that I've grown up with Atari. Now I am in the
computing industry as the Marketing and Operations Manager for a
consulting firm in Southern California. I would very much like to
spearhead a new business unit within my company to provide support on the
Atari line of computers, and I have begun to try and show the other
managers in the company what the ST can do with Calamus SL. However, just
as I have reservations about recommending an Atari computer to even close
friends as a personal computer, I have serious reservations about putting
company resources on the line to enter the Atari market.
These reservations exist because of the constant negative information I
hear about Atari's business practices. I am personally an Atari supporter
until they say (oops, DAY) I die, but reality puts a damper upon my
enthusiasm. I cite the lukewarm advertising for even hot products like the
Lynx (what I saw, I liked. Why wasn't there more?), the continuing
decline in perceived dealer support (notice I said PERCEIVED: even if
Atari's total number of dealers has increased, it *feels* like the number
is decreasing), and the constant revolving door in Atari's top management
team. I don't want to hear glossed-over talk about an enthusiastic team
ready to tackle Atari's problems, as that is the same pep-talk I've heard
for the past few years.
What is Atari going to DO? Is top management ready to take a risk by
advertising, say, the Falcon on nation-wide TV? Is Atari ready to not only
jump light-years ahead of the competition in terms of hardware, but also
in terms of support for the consumer and supporting businesses? I believe
Atari can be compared to Oldsmobile or Buick -- quality in product is up,
meeting consumer wants is better...but, the competition will still win.
What Atari seems to need is what Olds & Buick are now doing: offering
"enhanced services" as a perk for buyers, just as Lexus, Mercedes-Benz,
and Infiniti do. Yes, they probably lose some money in the process, but
that money is being invested in rebuilding the corporate image. What is
Atari going to directly do to rebuild their corporate image? Before I end
(sorry to ramble), let me give you Atari's REAL corporate image: "Are they
still in business?" "Hey, do you use a joystick for your input?" "Atari's
can read a DISK? I thought they were cartridge-based." "Get a real
computer." These are not college dorm-room comments, but the comments I
*constantly* hear when telling professionals that I use an Atari. THAT
is, painfully for both you & me, Atari's corporate image.
Thank you.
Kerim Broadbent
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 18, Topic 22
Message 75 Wed Nov 11, 1992
C.HERBORTH [-Chris-] at 23:42 EST
Ed,
Speaking of mute... Has anybody cornered Bob Brodie lately to ask about
that "October '92" availability date of the Falcon030? I know this sad
discussion is limping along in comp.sys.atari.st but hey, Bob shows up
here ever now and then, right?
-Chris-
From GEnie's ST RT
Category 14, Topic 20
Message 40 Thu Nov 12, 1992
J.ALLEN27 [FAST TECH] at 10:46 EST
Two questions have been posed to Atari:
A) Is the data path from memory to the 68030 32bits wide, or not?
As an example, the MacLC has only a 16bit path, they saved $ on not
needing 32bit wide this and that. It DEFINITELY has an affect on speed.
B) Does the Blitter chip place its ADDRESS on the 68030 address bus when
it performs operations, video, DMA, etc?
This answer will determine whether a "cached" acceleration means can be
used in the system, or not, and I would appreciate an answer.
Now Towns will plead "I don't know.", and Rehbock will continue to dodge
the question or not show up online. Just what does that say about the
company, and their level of support for the new product, if they can't
ANSWER those two simple questions. I've tried all private means possible,
and am forced to come here, and ask.
From CIS about DC Software
#: 29471 S13/Double Click
11-Nov-92 19:34:54
Sb: #Still in business?
Fm: Matt Seitz 75300,1721
To: all
Is Double-Click still in business? What is their support phone number?
From the FNET
Conf : Atari 16/32 Bit
Msg# : 1259/1263 Lines: 12 Read: 1
Sent : Nov 11, 1992 at 4:35 PM
To : All
From : Don Liscombe at Fnet Node 66, The Bre(/\)ery _ Ajax_Canada _
Subj : MultiSound board
Clone Sound boards:
With all of the new upcoming sound boards on the market, Turtle Beach
Systems has lowered the price on its 16Bit Multisound board from $995 to
$599 US. This board uses the Motorola 56001, and includes 4MB of ROM to
store 383 16 bit digital recordings of 126 instruments.
Connections allow for MIDI hookup, stereo record input, aux. line
input, and a stereo output, and it comes with 5 utilities to work with it,
in Windows 3.0/3.1. (mixer, diagnostics, software patch bay, record level,
Proteus 1/XR interface).
Me thinks the Atari Falcon better get a move on!!
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STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> A "Quotable Quote" A sign of the times.....
"""""""""""""""""
"THE ISSUE IS NOT WHAT THE FALCON CAN DO....
BUT WHAT ATARI CAN DO FOR THE FALCON!"
....a concerned Atarian
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile * 1992 HOLIDAY Prices! MORE Products! *
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ------------------------------------
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
NOTICE: ABCO will BEAT OR MATCH * ANY *
Advertised or Invoiced price * WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD!
ABCO COMPUTER CONSULTANTS
=========================
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
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FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS & DESIGNS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_________________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
*-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-*
(you are NOT limited to two drives)
- Available for all Platforms -
-* ICD LINK & ADSCSI PLUS HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY *-
WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!!! >UPS!<
(Prepaid Orders - Cont. USA)
*_*_*_*
*** NEW!!! ULTRA MODERN "SUPER STYLE" ABCOFILE CASE ***
DELUXE 2 bay Cabinet W/65w Auto PS & Blower $119.00
<<<Coming Soon! ABCO Mini-Tower>>>
Case & ICD LINK or ADSCSI PLUS Host [Hard Disk Ready] $259.95
-STAND ALONE PRODUCTS-
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN4951 51Mb Y 329.00
SQN1096 85mb Y 359.00
SQN2055 130mb Y 399.00
SQN1296 213mb Y 569.00
SQN4055 340mb Y 689.00
==================================================
Standard "Shoebox Cabinet style is also available
Call for pricing applicable to IBM - MAC - AMIGA
IDE - SCSI - ESDI
MODERN TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE Call for Info!
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
Many other configurations available.
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NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE - NOTICE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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(Cont. USA)
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
Cart and Utility Software Included!
44mb CARTS: $ 69.50
88mb CARTS: $ 109.50
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88mb MECH ONLY: $ 419.95
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $695.95.00 **
Includes: * TWO * cartridges!
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
** 50mb SQG51S $559.00 105mb SQG105S $759.00 **
Or, YOUR choice of Hard Disk Mechanism!
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
** ANNOUNCING THE NEW! -> ABCO CD-ROM! **
:Special Introductory offer:
ABCO CD-ROM $489.00
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! <-- ***
CALL FOR PRICING & AVAILABILITY
386/486 33Mhz - 50Mhz - 66Mhz
*>> 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
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** $41.95 shipping Included **
Atari SLM 605 Laser Toner Kits
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** $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
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pricing.
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
Now Available
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_________________________________________
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""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine
-* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *-
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" November 13, 1992
Since 1987 copyright (c) 1987-92 All Rights Reserved No.8.45
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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
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misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
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