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Silicon Times Report Issue 1046
SILICON TIMES REPORT
====================
INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
=============================
from
STR Electronic Publishing Inc.
November 10, 1994 No. 1046
======================================================================
Silicon Times Report
International Online Magazine
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R.F. Mariano
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______________________________________________________________________
> 11/10/94 STR 1046 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!"
"""""""""""""""""
- STR INDUSTRY REPORT - QuickTime 2.0 Ships - Frank's Corner
- Adobe Drops Products - ZEOS Pantera P90 - Cactus B-Ball
- TOSHIBA * SUPER HDS! - 32bit Disk & File - Mankins Editorial
- DELL * NEW 486 LINE! - PEOPLE TALKING - DORFMAN AGAIN!
-* COMDEX FALL'94 IS HERE! *-
-* XEROX & HP DO DEAL! *-
-* NEW TAPE BACKUP DEBUTS! *-
==========================================================================
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
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"Enjoy CompuServe's forums; where information is at its very best!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
Comdex Fall'94 begins in a few days...(Monday to be exact) the
"heap" of release material on our incoming desk is enormous. Believe this
the new goods both hardware and software is amazing. Networking (both
large and small) without the need for extra cards etc.. is but one superb
example of the technology that's being shown for the very first time
anywhere in the world. Its really a great feeling to know you "can do" at
any time your little heart desires. Or, if some one asks; "Do you have or
know of a program that'll..." You know you can safely say yes as the odds
of that program not being there are a million to one. Nothing like the
old days of... I wonder when and if we'll be able to ... Lord knows I do
not miss those days for a second.
Recently, I came across someone "remarking" that I had some sort of
"thing" going re; trying to put down Apple and Apple products. Nothing
could possibly be further from the truth. What was said and continues to
be said and will be said is simply put... if they continue as a niche
market supplier they're done for. But that's really all moot now isn't
it? The Power PC has/is and will change all that as the various operating
systems will be made to comfortably "talk" to each other. Apple has
turned its rudder slowly but surely toward the mainstream of PCs and thus
reflects the bottom line, survival through joint, cooperative efforts.
As each day goes by, more and more of the major, high powered, high
dollar applications on the MAC platform are appearing in the GUI
environment (Windows-OS/2) of the PC world with the same, if not more of
their powerful features. The extremely liberal cross-platform
conversion/exchange costs are making the transition virtually painless.
The massive integration of the Operating Systems is, at last, going quite
smoothly.
Look for a great deal of Comdex Coverage over the next few weeks and
remember... computing is fun!
Today is Veteran's Day... My heartfelt sincere thanks to all who
gave of their precious youth to make the world free for all us. God Bless
each and every one of you.
Thanks for reading us!
Ralph...
Of Special Note:
----------------
STReport will be branching out further to Internet's userbase in the
very near future. We've received numerous requests to receive STReport
from a wide variety of Internet addresses. As a result, we're putting
together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wish to
receive STReport on a regular basis, and we'll UUENCODE each issue and
mail it to you.
If you're interested in being added to our mailing list, please, send
your requests to either "dpj@delphi.com" or, RMARIANO@DELPHI.COM. Look
for mailings to begin by October first. We are also considering a number
of Internet ftp sites in which to post our issues for as well. Whatever
we can do to make STReport available to you. we'll try it!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
""""""""""""""""
Publisher -Editor
""""""""""""""""""
Ralph F. Mariano
Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs
Section Editors
"""""""""""""""
PC SECTION AMIGA SECTION MAC SECTION ATARI SECTION
---------- ------------- ----------- -------------
R.D. Stevens R. Niles J. Deegan D. P. Jacobson
STReport Staff Editors:
"""""""""""""""""""""""
Michael Arthur John Deegan Brad Martin
John Szczepanik Paul Guillot Joseph Mirando
Doyle Helms Frank Sereno John Duckworth
Jeff Coe Steve Keipe Guillaume Brasseur
Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach
Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian
Contributing Correspondents:
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Dominick J. Fontana Norman Boucher Clemens Chin
Eric Jerue Ron Deal Mike Barnwell
Ed Westhusing Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith
Bruno Puglia Paul Haris Kevin Miller
Craig Harris Allen Chang Tim Holt
Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc...
via E-Mail to:
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Delphi......................... RMARIANO
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America Online..................STReport
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IMPORTANT NOTICE
----------------
STReport, with its policy of not accepting any paid advertising, has over
the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When
it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views,
we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the
user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence
that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to
such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers,
publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products
appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further
develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come
to expect in each and every issue.
The Staff & Editors
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
"""""""""""""""""""
IBM/POWER-PC/PC SECTION (I)
===========================
Computer Products Update - CPU Report
------------------------ ----------
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Issue #46
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
******* General Computer News *******
** CD Player Offers Many Formats **
Multiwave Innovation has created a new CD player that accommodates
six major formats: audio CD, Video CD, CD-1 full-motion video, Karaoke
CD, CD+G, and Kodak Photo CD. The unit also features built-in surround
sound.
Multiwave Innovation says the player, called MovieWave Station, is
designed to give users access to major CD formats while avoiding the
cost of purchasing multiple players.
As a Video CD player, MovieWave Station provides full-motion MPEG
ISO11172 video decompression and MPEG ISO11172 layer II audio decom-
pression. The unit also supports the playback of Video CD (White Book)
discs and Philips CD-1 Digital Video format discs.
When playing Kodak Photo CDs, the player allows selective or sequen-
tial viewing of images, and provides selection, rotation and zoom func-
tions via a remote control The player provides a composite video output
(NTSC and PAL) through RCA phono jacks.
For audio CD playback, MovieWave Station has a backlit LCD panel that
shows time and track information and offers controls for bidirectional
search, shuffle play, repeat, intro scan and programming.
For karaoke entertainment, the unit includes two microphone inputs,
microphone echo, a 17-stage key shift, surround sound, and a voice
cancel function that removes the vocal track from a CD.
"With so many home entertainment formats based on the Compact Disc,
consumers face a dilemma when considering a CD player purchase," says
James Tan, president of Multiwave Innovation. "Many are uncertain which
formats they should have. MovieWave Station tackles that dilemma head on
-- it accommodates every major consumer CD format."
MovieWave Station is set to ship in early 1995 for $399.
** Microsoft Exec Discusses Windows 95 **
Microsoft Corp. this week revealed that it hopes to launch its new
online service, code-named Marvel, at the same time it releases its
Windows 95 computer operating system software next year.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft executive vice president, confirmed releas-
ing the two together is "our goal." However, he would not forecast just
when this will take place, other than to repeat the company's already-
announced goal of getting Windows 95 to market sometime in the first
half of 1995.
With the second major beta test of Windows 95 set to begin in a few
days when copies are shipped to users, Ballmer said the results of this
test will give Microsoft a more accurate idea of a launch date for the
product.
Among the promised new features of the system are a streamlined user
interface, faster response and easy access to the Internet through
Microsoft's online service, reportedly to be called the Microsoft
Network. Ballmer did admit that the online service will be more limited
in content than CompuServe or America Online.
Industry analysts are predicting Windows 95 will be Microsoft's
largest product launch ever and will generate $1 billion or more in
revenue.
** Seagate Buys Applied Magnetics **
Drive drive maker Seagate Technology, continuing its spending spree,
has agreed to buy the tape head subsidiary of Applied Magnetics for
$21.5 million cash.
In the past 12 months firm also has acquired Palindrome Corp., a de-
veloper of data protection and management software, for $69 million and
announced plans to built a $21.5 plant in Malaysia and a $135 million
manufacturing facility in Singapore.
** QuickTime 2.0 for Windows Ships **
Apple Computer Inc. has released QuickTime 2.0 for Windows.
The computer maker notes that QuickTime 2.0 for Windows gives
developers a crossplatform standard for creating, using and sharing
multimedia content between Apple Macintosh and Windows-based personal
computers. Additionally, it offers Windows PC users higher- quality
video and other multimedia features. QuickTime technology makes it
possible for users to view and edit video, music, text, animations and
other dynamic information on their computers.
Apple states that a number of developers have already agreed to use
QuickTime 2.0 for Windows in their upcoming products, including Simon &
Schuster Interactive for its new Star Trek: The Next Generation
Technical Manual. Voyager, a New York-based multimedia developer, is
also utilizing QuickTime 2.0 for Windows in its new titles Spinal Tap
and For All Mankind.
The QuickTime 2.0 for Windows Software Developers Kit is expected to
become available in early 1995 for $195.
** Adobe Discontinues Products **
Adobe Systems Inc. has announced that it is discontinuing a pair of
image and video editing products.
With its merger with Aldus Corp. completed the company says it is
making the change in order to eliminate overlap and provide better
product development and technical support for customers.
Effective immediately, Adobe will discontinue the retail version of
Aldus PhotoStyler for Windows and offer current users an upgrade to
Adobe Photoshop 3.0 for Windows for $199. Adobe, however, plans to
continue providing PhotoStyler Special Edition (SE) via its original
equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners.
The company also announced that Hitchcock, a video editing tool
previously distributed by Aldus, will be discontinued.
** Toshiba to Sell Super Drives **
A 2.5-inch computer hard-disk drive with a storage capacity of 1.08
gigabytes, said to be the largest in the world, is to be sold by Japan's
Toshiba Corp.
The company is quoted as saying it will begin sample shipments of the
hard drive in January at a price of 150,000 yen, or about $1,500.
Toshiba officials said the popularity of portable computers, which
generally use 2.5-inch hard drives, is stimulating demand for hard
drives with greater capacity. The firm said the market for 2.5-inch
drives will grow 40 percent in fiscal 1994 to about $2.5 billion.
Toshiba also has announced development of a 3.5-inch optical-disk
drive with a 1.3-gigabyte storage capacity, which it said is the world's
largest for an optical disk. The 3.5-inch drives are more popular in
desktop systems.
** Xerox Signs Pact with HP **
A marketing agreement has been signed by Xerox Corp. to integrate its
production laser printing systems with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s commercial
Unix system-based servers.
The pact calls for Xerox and Hewlett-Packard to each continue to
maintain sales and marketing units for their respective product lines,
but also to collaborate to identify markets and customers.
** Lotus Unveils CD-ROM SmartSuite **
Lotus Development Corp. says it will begin shipping a Windows CD-ROM
version of its SmartSuite business suite software next week.
Like its floppy disk-based counterpart, SmartSuite 3.0 CD-ROM Edition
includes the 1-2-3 Release 5 spreadsheet; the Approach 3.0 database; the
Ami Pro 3.1 word processor; the Freelance Graphics 2.1 presentation
graphics application; the Organizer 1.1 personal information manager
(PIM); the ScreenCam 1.1 multimedia screen and sound- capture utility;
and SmartCenter, an application switching tool that provides cross-
application user assistance.
Lotus' SmartPics Sampler for Windows and SmarText DocOnline are new
to SmartSuite 3.0 CD- ROM Edition. The SmartPics Sampler, a clip-art
library, includes more than 100 pieces of clip art that are ready to use
in SmartSuite applications. Lotus' SmarText DocOnline reader, available
in all of Lotus' CD-ROM Editions, provides users with full product
documentation.
SmartSuite 3.0 CD-ROM Edition will sell for about $499. The product
will be available to users of current Lotus standalone desktop applica-
tions and to users of qualifying competitive suites, spreadsheets, word
processors, databases and presentation graphics packages for $299.
Lotus has also announced that it is shipping Lotus Gallery, a free
CD-ROM that features full 45-day trial versions of several Lotus desktop
applications. Additionally, the company has announced three separate
Knowledge Base CD-ROM databases for its Notes, SmartSuite and cc:Mail
products.
** Dell Unveils Dimension 486D **
Dell Computer Corp. has introduced the Dimension 486D, a new line of
business computers for home office and small business users.
The Dell Dimension 486D models are available in desktop and mini-
tower configurations. The system range from a base 66MHz 486DX2 machine
to a top- of-the-line 100MHz 486DX4 model. All Dell Dimension 486D
models offer Pentium microprocessor upgrade capabilities.
The Dimension 486D line incorporates the Enhanced IDE interface, a
new standard for high-performance peripherals. With Enhanced IDE,
Dimension 486D systems can accommodate hard disks with capacities
ranging up to 1GB.
The Dimension 486D line is available immediately. A desktop model
with a 66MHz 486DX/2 CPU, 8MB of RAM, 1MB of video RAM, a 340MB hard
disk, a 15-inch color monitor sells for $1,599.
The Dimension 486D family replaces the Dimension V line.
** IBM Voice Software Available **
IBM's voice-activated software, called VoiceType Dictation, now is
available to run on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.
Reports say the software has a 32,000-word vocabulary and types about
70 to 100 words per minute. The Windows version will cost about $1,000.
VoiceType, formerly known as the IBM Personal Dictation System,
already runs on IBM's OS/2 operating system and can be adapted for
portable computers. It is available in English, French, German, Italian
and Spanish on OS/2. Foreign-language versions will be available for
Windows next year.
** NEC Offers Fastest Supercomputer **
A supercomputer that can process a trillion instructions a second --
making it the fastest in the world -- has been announced in Tokyo by NEC
Corp.
The top-end model of NEC's new SX-4 series will use a total of 512
microprocessors to accelerate to a maximum processing speed of 1.024
teraflops (trillion floating point operations per second).
NEC said it will start taking orders for deliveries at the end of
next year.
** Dell Unveils Multi-CPU Servers **
Dell Computer Corp. has introduced its first multiprocessor network
servers: the Dell PowerEdge SP-2 and XE- 2.
The new servers will be targeted at corporate and government network
users who require additional processor scalability for applications such
as Oracle database and Lotus Notes groupware.
The new servers are based on Intel's 90MHz and 100MHz Pentium micro-
processors and are compliant with the Intel Multiprocessing Platform
Specification (MPS) version 1.1, the de facto standard for
multiprocessing.
Available this month, the Dell PowerEdge SP-2 will be priced starting
at $6,598; the XE will be priced starting at $7,601 (both configured
with one processor, 16MB of RAM, a 256KB cache, a 1GB SCSI hard disk, a
VGA monochrome monitor and a 101-key keyboard). Both new servers can be
purchased with either one or two microprocessors installed,
Dell has also introduced a new Dell Server Management System, pro-
viding a set of server management tools for all Dell PowerEdge servers.
The new management system features a Windows graphical user interface
(GUI) that enables a network administrator to remotely monitor a
server's key functions.
** Apple, IBM, Motorola Sign Pact **
A pact was announced this week by IBM, Apple Computer Inc. and
Motorola Inc. concerning a new hardware reference platform for computers
built around the PowerPC chip they designed together.
However the machines covered in the agreement will not be available
to consumers until at least 1996 and the deal doesn't include a common
operating system.
Also:
-:- The agreement does not end the incompatibility of Apple and IBM
systems sold during the past decade.
-:- The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.
-:- They did say, though, that Apple will be responsible for pre-
paring its Macintosh operating software for the new machine. IBM will
prepare its own OS/2 system, and Motorola will handle Microsoft Corp.'s
Windows NT.
In a press release, the companies said the new platform defines an
architecture (that is, a framework made up of open technical concepts,
definitions, specifications and interfaces) that can be used by any
hardware or software vendor to build compatible PowerPC-based computer
products that are ready to run a tremendous variety of applications
written for a number of industry operating systems.
More technical information on the new hardware platform will be
published next spring.
** New Tape Backup Technology Debuts **
Hewlett-Packard Co. announced this week that its Colorado Memory
Systems unit is offering a new QIC-compatible system that stores up to
680 megabytes of data.
Reports say that Hewlett-Packard used thin-film heads to create a
high capacity system at a low price. Selling for $384, the Jumbo 700
uses data compression and runs on long-lenth, 400-foot tapes.
The integration of thin-film mangeto-resistive technology has been
combined with new minicartridges in a new format known as 900 Oersted
media and dramatically increases recording densities.
Hewlett-Packard said the Jumbo 700 conforms to the new QIC-3010-MC
standard, which ensures data interchange with other QIC-compatible
systems and backward compatibility with earlier QIC-40 and QIC-80
drives.
"The Jumbo 700 fills the void that has existed between low-cost
minicartridge drives and the higher-capacity data-cartridge systems,"
said Robert LiVolsi, marketing manager for the Colorado Memory Systems
division.
** 'What's Online' Service Launched **
A new service called "What's Online" that will allow newspaper
readers to keep up with online events has been created by Chicago's
Tribune Media Services.
The newspaper group says the service will provide readers "with up-
to-date listings of celebrity guest appearances and other major events
on the nation's online services," as well as "highlights, previews,
reviews and tips." The listings will be available in daily and weekly
formats.
TMS Vice President Michael A. Silver said in a statement, "Interest
in online services grows every day and online events are getting more
and more interesting. Just like newspapers become a source for radio
listings and now print television listings, we think the time is right
for newspapers to begin to help readers find out what's online."
The company said the new service will cover the major national online
services such as CompuServe, Prodigy, America Online, GEnie, Delphi and
eWorld, "as well as significant events from regional services, such as
those operated by newspapers."
** New PCMCIA Card Standard Set **
The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA),
in conjunction with the Japan Electronic Industry Development
Association (JEIDA), has announced a new industry standard.
The PCMCIA notes that the new PC Card standard is designed to enhance
compatibility and functionality among PC Card products and provides for
future high-performance PC Card applications.
PC Cards are credit-card- sized peripheral devices that provide users
with universal expansion capabilities for mobile and desktop computing
platforms as well as communications and peripheral devices. PC Cards are
used in a wide range of applications to provide memory, data/fax modem,
local area network (LAN), mass storage, wireless communications
capabilities and other functions.
The PCMCIA notes that the new PC Card standard contains a wide
variety of new enhancements and features designed to broaden the market
for PC Card technology. The new standard includes support for multiple
function I/O cards, low power cards and hosts and DMA. It also includes
an interface to industry standard power management services, a 32-bit
CardBus interface, and several features to enhance PC Card
compatibility.
PC Cards designed to the new standard will be able to offer users
multiple functions on the same card, energy saving solutions by
extending battery life, and support for performance-intensive
applications such as multimedia, full-motion video and 100Mbps Ethernet.
The PCMCIA is a non-profit trade association founded in 1989 to
establish technical standards for PC Card(TM) technology.
_____________________________________
> 32bit File & Disk Access STR FOCUS!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
When the update to Windows, v.3.11 appeared and then WFWG v3.11
became available a term became a buzz word in the computing community.
That was.. 32bit access. As far as a technical explanation is concerned,
we'll leave that to the boring technocrats. We more are interested in
letting you know its worth the effort to get it working properly on your
system. As stated elsewhere in this issue, (the Zeos Pentium article)
waste no time in obtaining WGWG v3.11 and upgrading your Windows setup to
this level. The increased performance and reliability is well worth the
minimal investment required. Windows will become the considerably more
reliable and faster as an added treat. The 32 bit file and disk access
configuration setup that's available in the virtual memory area of the 386
enhanced choice on the control panel is straight forward and easy to
configure.
One point though. MS has always seemed to tell its users to make
these huge swap files etc.. Not really needed! If you are running a 4mb
machine... get more memory please ...get more memory. You will find that
8mb is more than sufficient for most everything except the high demand
Graphics and DTP applications. Back to the swap file, a swap file of 4-
7mb is more than enough with a systme running 8mb of ram or more. The
32bit cache should be allowed to configure itself progrssively. I use a
2048k 32b cache and a 4mb swap file. Its plenty. Needless to say, my
system flies. Anybody can use 32bit access if they approach its setup
carefully. Its not difficult at all its simply new. Below are a few
pointers and more detailed information about its use as applied to a few
of the most popular and reliable hard disk mechanisms in use today.
A point of information WDCTRL.DRV, the 32bit drive from Western
Digital will work with types of drives other than their own. This is
good. It makes the overall process easier.
Readme File For Caviar Drives
AC2540/AC2700/AC31000
06/17/94
Please read the appropriate section(s) in this file before attempting
installation of your Caviar drive.
Section 1. IBM PS/1 and PS/Value Point Computers.
Section 2. Gateway 2000 VESA Local Bus systems.
Section 3. Gateway 2000 PCI Bus Pentium systems.
Section 4. Gateway 2000 PCI Bus 486 systems.
Section 5. Using Windows 32-Bit Disk Access with Enhanced IDE drives.
Section 6. DMA Mode Problems on PCI Machines
Section 7. Using Windows For Workgroups 32-Bit File Access.
Section 8. Disk Capacities: Mega bytes versus Million bytes
Section 9. AST Desktop Systems With Translating BIOS
Section 10. Installing OS/2 2.1 On Drives with More Than 503Mb Capacity
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 1.
Special Information for Owners of IBM PS/1 and PS/Value Point Computers.
IBM 386SLC based systems
Some models of these systems will not support drives with more than
1,024 cylinders (528 Million bytes which equals 504 Megabytes). This is
a limitation of the system BIOS in these machines. The systems in question
are primarily 386SLC based computers. In these models, the maximum
capacity you will obtain from a drive that has more than 1,024 cylinders
is the following:
AC2540 12.3 Megabytes
AC2700 202.3 Megabytes
AC31000 26.8 Megabytes
It is not possible to circumvent this limitation using the Disk Manager
software.
In order to determine if you have such a machine prior to installation of
the Caviar drive, you can use the DOS debug program to examine the system
model identification bytes. In order to do this do the following.
From the DOS prompt enter
debug <ENTER>
You will then see the debug "hyphen" prompt, a -
at the hypen prompt enter
d F000:FFFE <ENTER>
You will see the following display:
F000:FFF0 F8 30
enter the following to exit debug at the hypen prompt:
q <ENTER>
If the numbers on the right side of the display match those above
(i.e., F8 30) then you have one of the machines that will not support
the drive.
IBM 486 based systems
These systems will support drives with up to 1,024 cylinders. It is not
possible to obtain full capacity on some 486 models because of the way
these machines cloak, or hide from view, the hard disk registers. This
prevents Disk Manager from "seeing" the drive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 2.
Special Information for Owners of Gateway 2000 VESA Local Bus systems.
If your Phoenix BIOS revision level is below 4.03, you may not be able
to properly install any drive with more than 1,024 cylinders in your
system. This situation requires a BIOS upgrade. Micro Firmware of Norman
Oklahoma sells Phoenix BIOS upgrades that will permit the drive to
function properly in these machines. They can be reached at 405-321-8333.
In order to allow the drive to function correctly, albeit at reduced
capacity, you must *manually* enter the following drive parameters instead
of using the "AUTO CONFIGURE" option in the CMOS setup.
Type Cylinders Heads Sectors Per Track Capacity
User definable 1,023 16 63 503MB
IMPORTANT! DO NOT use "AUTO CONFIGURE" to set up a WD drive that has more
than 1,024 cylinders if you have a VESA Local Bus System. Choose User
Definable instead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3.
Gateway 2000 PCI Bus Pentium systems.
The Gateway P5-60, P5-66, and P5-90 systems have a BIOS that will support
the AC2540/AC2700/AC31000 drives at full capacity. In order to accomplish
this, the CMOS drive typr MUST be set to "AUTOCONFIGURE". In the Advanced
CMOS Setup option screen, "LBA Translation" should be "Enabled".
Type Cylinders Heads Sectors Per Track Capacity
AUTOCONFIGURE 1,048 16 63 516MB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 4.
Gateway 2000 PCI Bus 486 systems.
The Gateway P4D-33, P4D-66, and P4D-100 systems also support the
AC2540/AC2700/AC31000 drives at full capacity. In order to accomplish
this , the CMOS drive type MUST be set to "AUTO TYPE". In the Advanced
CMOS Setup option screen, "LBA Translation" should be "Enabled".
Type Cylinders Heads Sectors Per Track Capacity
AUTOTYPE 1,048 16 63 515MB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 5.
Using Windows 32-Bit Disk Access with Enhanced IDE drives.
If you are using Windows v3.1 or Windows For Work Groups 3.11, you will
not be able to use the built-in 32-Bit Disk Access driver named *WDCTRL.
This is due to the fact that this driver was written prior to the
introduction of Enhanced IDE drives and it therefore does not recognize
drives with more than 1,024 cylinders. Included on this diskette is
a replacement driver, WDCDRV.386, which will provide 32-Bit Disk Access
on Western Digital Enhanced IDE drives.
However, be aware that some third party software can interfere with
32-Bit Disk Access. Below is a partial list of software that has been
identified as having an adverse impact on 32-Bit Disk Access drivers.
There may be other software that prevents WDCDRV.386 from loading.
The following lists some of the more common reasons why WDCDRV.386
may refuse to load, or may lock up the system in Windows 3.1 and Windows
For Workgroups 3.11.
1. HIGHSCAN is present on emm386.exe command line.
Remove the HIGHSCAN option.
2. There is another Virtual Device Driver (VxD) loaded in system.ini, or
a DOS device driver loaded in config.sys, that is also talking
directly to the hard disk drive. This includes but is not limited to
the following:
* VL-bus IDE controllers with drivers.
* PCI-bus IDE controllers with drivers.
such as DTC2130.SYS and DOSEIDE.SYS for Gateway 2000
PCI Bus Computers.
* symevnt.386 from Symantec's Norton Desktop and
the Norton Utilities version 8.0.
In order for WDCDRV.386 to work, you must remove the other drivers
from the system.ini and/or config.sys files.
3. DOS Undelete is in use (it uses Int 26h).
Do not use UNDELETE.
4. "NoEMMDriver=ON " in system.ini causes 32BDA driver to lockup
and will prevent 32-Bit FIle Access from working
in Windows For Workgroups 3.11.
You may have other software that *requires* this entry. However you
must check the documentation for your other software to determine
what impact removing this line will have on your system.
5. QEMM in Stealth mode must be setup as follows
device=qemm386.sys RH:N SH:N XBDA:L
or
device=qemm386.sys ST:M
must be changed to
device=qemm386.sys ST:m
Stealth mode moves certain data into high memory changing the address
at which this data is located. This makes it impossible for the 32BDA
driver to find this data and prevents it from loading.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 6.
DMA Mode Problems
If DMA mode was selected but the IDE channel does not support DMA, the
system will lock-up. To prevent this, you must set the DMAFlag=Off
option in the [WDCDRV] section of your system.ini file.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 7.
Using Windows 32-Bit File Access.
Windows 32-Bit File Access will not load if there is a file open when you
start Windows For Workgroups. Some TSR programs will maintain an open file
for such things as Print caching (the program PrintCache does this), or
virus checking.
Windows 32-Bit File Access will not load if there is disk compression in
use. 32-Bit File Access can be made to work with Stacker 4.0 and
Doublespace 6.2 by replacing the line
device=*BLOCKDEV
with the following two lines
device=ios.386
device=VxDLdr.386
in the [386Enh] section of system.ini. In addition, the file RMM.D32,
the Real Mode Memory Mapper, must exist in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
subdirectory. The line
device=C:\WINDOWS\ifshlp.sys
must exist in the config.sys file and the file ifshlp.sys must exist in
the Windows subdirectory.
The line
NoEMMDriver=ON
must NOT appear in the [386Enh] section of system.ini as it will prevent
RMM.D32 from loading which will prevent 32-Bit File Access from loading.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 8. Disk Capacities: Megabytes versus Million Bytes
ALL drive manufacturers state and advertise capacity in Millions of Bytes.
Some utility software will state drive capacity in what is called binary
millions (1,024 squared which is a Megabyte), while some software will
state drive capacity in decimal millions (1,000 squared). FDISK and the
CMOS will use Megabytes (1,048,576) while CHKDSK uses millions of bytes.
For example, an AC2540 at full capacity will be described by FDISK and the
CMOS as having a capacity of 516Mb: this is equal to 540.3 million bytes,
which is what CHKDSK would report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 9. AST Desktop Systems With Translating BIOS
In order to obtain full capacity with an AC2540/AC2700/AC31000 drive the
system BIOS must support some form of translation in order to accomodate
the number of cylinders these drive have.
The following AST desktop systems support CHS to CHS translation. All
these systems have AST FlashBIOS support so that they may be field
upgraded using a BIOS upgrade disk from AST. The BIOS Revision column
indicates the first BIOS revision released by AST which supports CHS to
CHS translation.
System BIOS Revision
Premmia 2.00
Premmia MTE 2.00
Premmia SE 2.00
Premmia LX P/60 (AMI BIOS) -
Premmia Business Multimedia 2.00
Bravo LP 1.01
Bravo LC 1.01
Bravo LC Business Multimedia 1.01
Bravo MT 1.01
Advantage! Pro (Bravo LC) 1.01
Advantage! Plus (Bravo MT) 1.01
Advantage! Adventure (Bravo LC) 1.01
Advantage! Adventure 486DX266mt (Bravo MT) 1.01
Advantage! EXP/60 (AMI BIOS) -
The AST Technical Support numbers is (714)727-9630 and (800)727-1278. The
AST BBS telephone number to obtain AST FlashBIOS upgrades are
(714)727-4132.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 10. Installing OS/2 2.1 On Drives with More Than 503Mb Capacity
There is a problem installing OS/2 on drives with more than 503Mb. This is
due to a bug in OS/2 that won't allow it to boot from a partition larger
than 503MB (528 million bytes). OS/2 will not install into or boot from a
partition larger than 503MB. The following information will allow you to
install and boot OS/2.
1 - During the install process, your are asked to accept or define the
partition to install OS/2. CHOOSE DEFINE PARTITION, this will
run OS/2's FDISK utility.
2 - Define the primary partition to be less than 503MB. Set the remaining
disk space to an extended partition. (Normally the remaining free
space is set to an extended partition or other configuration as
desired).
3 - Set the primary partition to installable.
4 - Exit FDISK utility and follow the prompt to replace the floppy disk
in drive A and reboot the PC.
5 - The installation should now continue normally.
NOTE: If you initially tried to setup the whole disk as one bootable OS/2
partition, you will get a big red screen (INSTALL ERROR) from disk 1.
Solution:
- Boot DOS and run the DOS FDISK utility.
- Check the current partition data using option 4, DISPLAY PARTITION.
- If it shows 516MB and a file system (FAT or HPFS), go back to the main
FDISK menu and choose option 3, DELETE A PARTITION OR DRIVE.
- From the next menu choose option 4, DELETE A NON-DOS PARTITION, and
delete the OS/2 partition.
- Exit DOS's FDISK utility, and reboot to the OS/2 installation diskette
and continue at step 1.
In order to get the additional drive space formatted (13MB) in the
extended partition, you will need to format that drive using
the HPFS file system. (DOS's FAT16 file system is not supported
because this drive will start above cylinder 1023.)
****
Western Digital Corporation
32-bit Disk Access Issues
WDCDRV.386
October 1, 1994
Quick List Of Error Messages Covered In This Document
1. WDCDRV can not load due to conflict with another virtual device.
2. WDCDRV can not load. Unrecognized disk software installed.
3. WDCDRV Validation Failed At Phase 01,00.
4. This program tried to access your hard disk in a way that is
incompatible with the Windows 32-bit disk access feature
(WDCTRL). This may cause your system to become unstable.
5. WDCDRV Validation Failed at Phase 09,1F.
6. Application Error: Control Caused a Load Segment Failure in
module CPWIN386.CPL at address 0001:3CCA.
7. WDCDRV Validation Failed at Phase 0A,1F.
8. None. Windows For Workgroups locks up after the customer exits
Windows For Workgroups and then restarts it.
9. None. Windows For Workgroups locks up when the customer starts
Windows. Page 8
10. Fatal Error #2 - Turn Off Your Computer Now!
The following; lists the error message (where applicable), along with
the probable cause of the error message, and one or more actions to take
to correct or eliminate the problem.
Error Message:
--------------
WDCDRV can not load due to conflict with another virtual device
Probable Cause:
---------------
1. The line
device=*int13
is probably missing from the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI.
2. There is another VxD (Virtual Device Driver) loaded through the
[386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. This is probably the SYMEVNT.386 driver
from the Norton Desktop for Windows or the Norton Utilities v8.0. This
driver must be removed for 32-bit disk access to load.
3. The CMD Windows VxD CMD640x.386 or the CMD DOS TSR driver
CMD640x.SYS is loaded. If using these two drivers. WDCDRV.386 is redundant
and should not be loaded. This is seen on the Gateway BATIP-3 Anigma 486
PCI motherboard. These drivers provide EIDE functionality and 32-bit Disk
Access.
Action:
-------
1. Insert the line
device=*int13
in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI.
2. Remove the SYMEVNT.386 driver from SYSTEM.INI file. Or contact
Symantec for an updated version of this driver.
3. Try to identify other recently installed VxDs or other device drivers
that attempt to program the hard disk controller I/O ports directly.
Remove them if you want to continue using WDCDRV.386.
Background:
-----------
The WDCDRV driver was unable to register itself to Windows 3.1 as a
device driver, or it wasn't able to take over exclusive control of the I/O
ports used by the hard disk controller. At this point, the controller has
passed compatibility tests but software initialization of the control
parameters hasn't been done yet. Some other VxD has already registered
with the same VxD ID as WDCDRV or has already taken over the I/O port
addresses that WDCDRV wants to take over. This can happen if you try to
load WDCDRV more than once, or a vendor-supplied VxD wants to reserve the
same I/O addresses or uses the same VxD ID as WDCDRV. Microsoft registers
all VxD IDs to try to prevent these conflicts. The proper action is to
identify recently installed VxDs or other device drivers that attempt to
program the hard-disk controller I/O ports directly and remove them if
you want to continue using FastDisk.
Error Message:
-------------
WDCDRV can not load. Unrecognized disk software installed.
Probable Cause:
---------------
1. The most probable cause is STEALTH mode in QEMM v7.0x.
2. This error can also mean that a DOS device driver has hooked the ROM
BIOS Int 13h incorrectly. WDCDRV checks for correct hooking of the
interrupt by looking at the address of the interrupt handler. If it
is not in conventional memory, and WDCDRV is loading , WDCDRV
considers the address incorrect. Begin removing device drivers that
hook Int 13h until you can successfully enable FastDisk. These device
drivers can be identified by most diagnostic programs. If you still
have problems, verify that all device drivers that hook Int 13h are
up to date and follow Microsofts guidelines for hooking disk
interrupts.
NOTE: WDCDRV checks the BIOS Int 13h interrupt vector value to see if it
is "acceptable". It broadcasts an Int 2Fh that asks DOS Int 13h hookers if
they are "BLOCKDEV Aware". If they are aware of BlockDev and want fastdisk
drivers to load then they will return 0 in CX.
Action:
-------
1. Removing the command line option ST:M (or possibly ST:F) from the
QEMM command line will disable STEALTH completely. The customer can
also use the command line options XSTI=13 x=ssss-nnnn, where ssss is
the segment address of the Int 13h handler and nnnn is the offset
address. Information on obtaining the correct numbers for ssss and
nnnn are contained in the file XSTI.TEC on the Quarterdeck BBS and on
their Compuserve forum.
2. Run FINDHOOK.COM (available in Lib 1 of IBMHW on Compuserve in the
compressed file FHOOK.COM) to identify the software hooking Int 13h.
Determine if this software is critical to proper system operation. If
it is not, remove it. If it is critical, do not use 32-bit disk
access.
Error Message:
--------------
WDCDRV Validation Failed At Phase 01,00
Probable Cause:
---------------
1. The values returned by Int 13h Function 8h (Read Drive Parameters) do
not match the values stored in the Drive Parameter Table or Enhanced Drive
Parameter Table pointed to by Int 41h (drive C:) or Int 46h (Drive D:).
This can happen if the STEALTH feature of QEMM v6.0 and above relocates
the DPT or EDPT to protected mode memory. Since the FastDisk device is in
its initialization phase and running in real mode, it cannot access the
DPT or EDPT and cannot verify the the values contained therein match the
BIOS Int 13h FUnction 8h values.
2. The BIOS is operating the drive in LBA (Logical Block Addressing) mode
but has not built a valid Enhanced Drive Parameter Table. Either the
signature is invalid (does not conform to the Axh pattern) or the checksum
is invalid.
Action:
-------
1. Removing the command line option ST:M (or ST:F) from the QEMM command
line will disable STEALTH completely. Customer can also use the command
line options XSTI=13 x=ssss-nnnn, where ssss is the segment address of
the Int 13h handler and nnnn is the offset address. Information on the
correct numbers for ssss and nnnn are found in the file XSTI.TEC on the
Quarterdeck BBS or their Compuserve forum. These options prevent Stealth
from relocating the Drive Parameter Tables and the Int 13h handler.
2. Run WDTBLCHK.EXE to determine if the BIOS is operating the drive in LBA
mode and whether it has created a valid EDPT. If there is no valid
Enhanced Drive Parameter Table, WDCDRV cannot determine the translation
mode and therefore cannot load. A BIOS upgrade is necessary in this case.
(WDTBLCHK.EXE is available in Lib 1 of IBMHW on Compuserve in the file
CHKBIO.COM)
Error Message:
--------------
This program tried to access your hard disk in a way that is incompatible
with the Windows 32-bit disk access feature (WDCTRL). This may cause your
system to become unstable.
Probable Cause:
---------------
A device driver, TSR, or application tried to access the hard-disk
controller ports directly while WDCDRV was loaded. WDCDRV returns an error
code without performing the operation. This is probably a Virus Checker
writing directly to the drive. This also occurs with the DOS UNDELETE
program when run from a DOS window.
Action:
-------
Find the application or device driver that attempted to program the
hard-disk controller ports directly. If you discover that the offending
application or device is essential to the operation of your system, your
only alternative is to disable FastDisk. Disable the 32-bit disk access
checkbox in the Change Virtual Memory Settings dialog in the 386 Enhanced
section of the Control Panel.
Error Message:
--------------
WDCDRV Validation Failed at Phase 09,1F
Probable Cause:
---------------
You attempted to use WDCDRV.386 in a system with no Western Digital high
capacity drive installed. WDCDRV.386 will only load if there is at least
one Western Digital drive in the system.
Action:
-------
1. Remove the line
device=WDCDRV.386
from the [368Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI.
2. Install a Western Digital drive.
Error Message:
--------------
Application Error: Control Caused a Load Segment Failure in module
CPWIN386.CPL at address 0001:3CCA
Probable Cause:
---------------
WDCDRV.386 has a Block Count set which is greater than 0 and Windows For
Workgroups is using 32-Bit FIle Access which uses Scatter/Gather DMA .
This only occurs under the following conditions:
Windows For Workgroups is in use
32-bit File Access is enabled
WDCDRV.386 is loaded
ROCKET.BIN is loaded in config.sys
Action:
-------
1. Run the CAVIAR.EXE program and set the WDCDRV.386 Block Count to
zero (0). If the customer has the older version of CAVIAR.EXE have
them insert the following line in the [WDCDRV] section of SYSTEM.INI:
BLOCKINGFACTOR=0
or
2. Place the command line option /W=1 ( or /W=1,1 for a two drive
system) on the device=rocket.bin command line. This disables block
writes in rocket.
Error Message:
--------------
WDCDRV Validation Failed at Phase 0A,1F
Probable Cause:
---------------
The BIOS has built an invalid Enhanced Drive Parmeter Table.
Action:
1. Run WDTBLCHK to verify that there is an invalid/no Enhanced Drive
Parameter Table.
2. Inform customer that a BIOS upgrade is necessary.
Error Message:
--------------
None. Windows For Workgroups locks up after the customer exits Windows
For Workgroups and then restarts it.
Probable Cause:
Customer is running WFWG on top of Novell Netware 3.12 and using the
Microsoft supplied ODI support layer VxD MSODISUP.386 (in the [386Enh]
section of SYSTEM.INI). The Microsoft supplied ODI support driver
MSODISUP.386 is incompatible with WDCDRV.386 v2.5.
Action:
1. Disable WDCDRV.386. This allows network drivers to load.
2. Start WFWG with the /N command line option. This prevents the network
drivers from loading and allows 32-bit Disk Access but no network
access.
Error Message:
--------------
None. Windows For Workgroups locks up when the customer starts
Windows.
Probable Cause:
Customer is running WDCDRV with DMA transfers set to "Auto-Detect" and the
motherboard PCI-EIDE chipset does not properly implement DMA transfers.
Action:
1. Start Windows with the command line option /D:F to prevent WDCDRV.386
from loading.
2. Run CAVIAR.EXE and disable DMA transfers and Scatter/Gather DMA.
Error Message:
--------------
Fatal Error #2 - Turn Off Your Computer Now!
Probable Cause:
Customer machine has a Phoenix BIOS v4.03 dated prior to July 1994 (7/94).
This BIOS does not build a valid Enhanced Drive Parmeter Table yet it
performs LBA translations.
Action:
-------
1. Start Windows with the command line option /S to prevent WDCDRV.386
from loading.
2. Disable WDCDRV.386.
3. A BIOS upgrade is required from the motherboard/system OEM. One is
available from Phoenix, but only to the OEM.
_____________________________________
> Monker's Goodies! STR Feature Frank's Corner... for Kids
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The Kids' Computing Corner
--------------------------
Monker's Math Factory
and
Monker's Spelling Submarine
reviews by Frank Sereno
This week's article will include reviews of two more of Western
Publishing's Step Ahead Software products. These programs are available
for both IBM compatible computers running Windows and Macintosh computers.
Monker's Math Factory and Monker's Spelling Submarine have the following
IBM requirements: 386SX-20 CPU or greater, Windows 3.1, 5.5 megs of hard
drive space, four megs of ram, video display of 640 by 480 with 256
colors, a Windows compatible sound card and a mouse. Requirements on the
Mac are: color Macintosh II series or later with a high density drive,
System 6.0.7 or later, two megs of ram, 7.0 megs of hard drive space and
an 8-bit color monitor.
Installation is the same for both programs. On an IBM compatible,
simply insert the first disk and then run that disk's SETUP program while
in Windows. The program will prompt you to insert disks when necessary,
copy all files from the floppies to the hard drive and then create a
program group and icons. On the Mac, insert disk one, then click on
INSTALL. On screen instructions will again prompt the user to swap disks
while it copies files to the hard drive and creates a "Step Ahead" folder
and icons. Double-clicking on the proper icon on either type of computer
will start the program.
Monker's Math Factory is designed to teach early math skills to
children ages six to eight. Among the skills learned are place value,
one- and two-digit addition and subtraction, number families and counting
in multiples. Math Factory also increases children's computer skills,
problem solving and creative thinking skills. These skills will be
learned by playing fun games involving mazes or the math machine.
The main screen shows Monker and his friend Echo standing near the
Math Factory. A green hedge maze is located on the right side of the
screen. A picture consisting of three tiles is on the front of the math
factory. Children can match and mix animal parts to create new creatures
by clicking on each part. Several hotspots are located on the screen
which will run amusing animations. Clicking on the hedge begins the maze
games while clicking on the door to the math factory begins the math
machine games. The quitting icon is a picture of a hole in the ground
with a ladder emerging from it.
There are two maze games with two levels of difficulty. These games
require the child to guide Monker through a maze made of hedges and
slippery mud puddles. The maze screen features a large picture with an
overhead view of the maze. To the left are ten boxes which will be filled
with toys as problems are correctly solved. Along the left edge of the
screen is a box showing the number which is the key for the current maze
problem. Below that is an icon for going to the math machine. Next is an
icon featuring a pink flamingo. This moves the current game to a higher
difficulty level using larger numbers and placing a randomly moving
creature in the maze to impede Monker's travels.
An icon showing a plus sign and the number series "2,4,6" allows the
child to choose between the two available games. Below the maze is a
picture of the math factory which will take the child back to the main
screen when it is clicked upon. To move Monker about the maze, simply
move the cursor to the desired destination and then hold down the left
mouse button. Children will build problem solving and creative thinking
skills as they determine the best path to take to gather the numbers.
Often there will be no straight path to a number. Monker may have to walk
to several locations to access a single number. In some mazes the child
may have to use teleportation discs which magically transport Monker from
one disc to another.
The default maze game is the first level addition game. The child
will direct Monker to select number pairs which add up to a target sum.
Four numbers are in the maze. If the child picks an incorrect pair,
Monker will add the two numbers, give the sum of the numbers and then
repeat the target sum. On the second level, six numbers are now in the
maze and the number pairs can total up to twenty. In both levels, as each
number is chosen, it will be shown to the left of the maze as part of an
addit
ion equation.
The second maze game teaches children skip counting or multiple
addition. In the first level, four numbers in a series will be placed in
the maze. Monker will ask the child to count in multiples of the target
number or to keep adding that number. After finding the first number, the
child can get a hint for the next answer by clicking on Monker and he will
give the math equation. If the child chooses an incorrect number, Monker
will tell him which number should have been selected. On the second
level, two numbers not in the series are added and the child must find six
numbers in the series before he gets his toy prize.
Now let's examine the math machine. Available by clicking on the
door to the math factory or from the math machine icon in the maze games,
the math machine features ten chutes for dispensing toy prizes. These
chutes surround a large oval screen which is used to display a math
problem. Below that oval are ten ovals displaying the numbers zero
through nine. To the left of the math machine is a door back to the main
screen. To the right is the entrance to the maze games. Below the math
machine are the icons for controlling gameplay. When the green button is
depressed, the activity will be on the first level. The red button starts
the second, more difficult level. The plus sign starts adding games and
the minus sign starts subtracting games. The icon of a bar graph moves
the gaming to larger numbers. In each game, Monker will announce the
problem as it is displayed on the oval.
In the addition games, the first level features problems which will
add to less than ten. Each number will have a like number of objects
placed next to it so the objects can be counted to find the answer. The
child can click on the correct answer or type it in from the keyboard. On
the second level, the numbers can add up to twenty and no objects are used
to represent the numbers. If a wrong answer is chosen, Monker will tell
the child that the correct answer is either higher or lower. By clicking
on Monker, he will tell the child to "find the sum." Monker will repeat
the math problem if the child clicks on it.
The subtraction games are very similar. Monker will now tell the
child to "find the difference." On the first level, the minuend is placed
on the screen along with a representation in objects. Next the subtrahend
will be displayed and that number of objects will be crossed out so the
answer can be found by counting the remaining objects. The second level
removes the representation of the numbers and involves numbers up to
twenty.
The last two games involve big numbers. The lower level game teaches
place value by making graphical representations of numbers. The program
then asks the child to count the ones, tens and hundreds and then
correctly pronouncing the resulting number for the child. The second
level game mixes addition and subtraction problems. The numbers will be
represented graphically. In subtraction problems, the subtrahend will be
shown by turning the blue symbols of the minuend to orange or yellow. The
child will then be asked "how many ones" and then "how many tens." None
of these problems will involve carrying over numbers to the tens column.
The graphics in Math Factory are bright and colorful. The animations
are smooth and lifelike. Monker's lips are in sync with his voice, even
on a slow computer such as 386DX-40. His lips and tongue actually make
the correct movements to form the words he speaks although some movements
may be a bit exaggerated. The hotspot animations are very cute and
amusing. The sound portion of this program is excellent. The sounds are
vibrant and distinct. Monker's voice is clear and easily understood.
Many amusing and appropriate sound effects are used throughout the
program. The background music in the title and the main screen aren't
particularly interesting but that doesn't detract from the program.
The interface is extremely user friendly. From installation onward,
Math Factory is easy to use. The program provides much positive feedback.
Negative feedback is always very gentle. The user manual is concise and
easy to read. If it has a flaw, it is that it lacks a technical support
section to aid the user in case of problems. Support is provided by
calling to Washington state.
Math Factory is a very enjoyable computer activity. The animations
should provide much entertainment for your child. The toy prizes should
provide good incentive for your child to continue using the program.
Educational value is excellent. Children should learn the basics of
addition, subtraction, place value and other math lessons from this
program. The maze games not only promote math skills but also logic and
problem-solving skills.
This program has a suggested retail price of $24.95. Some
discounters will be selling it for under $20. Monker's Math Factory is a
very good program at an exceptional price.
Ratings
Graphics ............ 9.0
Sounds .............. 9.0
Interface ........... 9.0
Play Value .......... 9.0
Educational Value ...10.0
Bang for the Buck ...10.0
Average ............. 9.33
###
Monker's Spelling Submarine teaches word-building skills such as
rhyming, consonant blends and digraphs, long and short vowels and
beginning, middle and ending sounds of words to children ages six and
older. The main screen consists of the interior of a submarine. One set
of activities is accessed by clicking on the X on the large wall map and
the others are accessed by clicking on the ladder.
The map games are maze games which require the child to find or build
rhyming words. The maze is shown from an overhead vantage. Reefs and
islands serve as impediments to navigation. Various currents can aid or
hinder the player in his quest. Also available are two whirlpools which
can be used as shortcuts from one whirlpool to the other. Monker will
announce a target word and then it will be displayed in a small box.
The default game involves collecting words which rhyme with the
target word. On the first level, two rhyming words are placed in the
maze. Use the cursor to move about the maze and gather the words. Click
on the green sea creature to go the second level. This action adds
randomly moving obstacles such as waterspouts. Also adding to the
difficulty are more words, including one which doesn't rhyme with the maze
target.
Click on the "_op" icon to find word beginnings. These can be single
letters or two letter combinations. The resulting words must rhyme with
the target word. The first level only has two choices available and both
make legal rhyming words. On the second level, at least one choice will
not make a proper English word.
I think that the program designers missed some excellent
opportunities to teach children in this section of the program. When the
child clicks on a correct letter to form a rhyming word or a complete
rhyming word, it is not pronounced to the child. Wrong choices are not
pronounced either. When words are added to the list under the target,
these cannot be clicked on to have them read aloud either. If this had
been done, I believe it would aid children in reading and enunciation.
Click on the ladder to play more word games. Upon reaching the
observation bubble, the child will see a fish graphic separated into three
sections representing the beginning, middle and ending of words. When the
child clicks on that area of the fish, he must provide the missing
letter(s) from the corresponding section of the word. He will have three
choices. On the first level, a graphic of the object will be shown along
with a partial spelling of the word. The child will then have a choice of
three single letter answers. The sun lever is the difficulty switch. On
the second level, no graphic is shown and the answers can be two letter
combinations.
When the child makes an incorrect choice, that answer will be removed
and he will be prompted to "try again, Matey." Again, when the child
makes an incorrect choice, Monker doesn't pronounce it. Such an action
would help children identify better the sounds associated with those
letters.
Graphics and sound are again excellent. It is a delight to watch the
many animations and Bright Star's lip-synching technology is incredible.
The sound effects and voices are done extremely well. Monker's Spelling
Submarine even includes a bit more music than Math Factory, including some
songs from a steel drum band.
The interface is again very simple yet powerful. Navigation from one
section of the program or from one exercise to another is a simple mouse
click away. The manual is written well but it is missing information for
solving technical problems.
Play value is very good. Children should be entertained by this
program for many hours. The hotspot animations and animated toy prizes
will bring them back for more fun learning exercises.
Educational value is good. Children learn much about spelling,
rhyming and phonics. I do feel that some excellent teaching opportunities
were missed when rhyming words and combination letter sounds were not
pronounced.
This program is an excellent buy. Monker's Spelling Submarine offers
a great combination of entertainment and education at an extremely
affordable price.
Ratings
Graphics ........... 9.0
Sounds .............10.0
Interface .......... 9.0
Play Value ......... 9.0
Educational Value .. 8.0
Bang for the Buck .. 9.0
Average ............ 9.0
###
STR and The Kids' Computing Corner Educational Software Ratings
Title Software Publisher Rating
Alphabet Blocks Sierra 9.67
Beginning Reading Sierra 9.67
Monker's Math Factory Western Publishing 9.33
A.J.'s World of Discovery Sierra 9.16
1-2-3 with Hickory and Me Western Publishing 9.16
A-B-C with Hickory and Me Western Publishing 9.16
Early Math Sierra 9.09
Busytown Paramount Interactive 9.00
Monker's Spelling Submarine Western Publishing 9.00
Thinkin' Things Collection 1 Edmark 8.83
The Tortoise and the Hare Broderbund 8.75
The Greatest Paper Airplanes KittyHawk 8.70
Stradiwackius T/Maker 8.67
EcoQuest Sierra 8.58
Crayola Amazing Art Adventure MicroGrafx 8.50
Just Grandma and Me Broderbund 8.41
Millie's Math House Edmark 8.41
Bug Adventure Knowledge Adventure 8.25
Gus Goes to Cybertown Modern Media Ventures 7.83
Mario's Fun with Numbers Software Toolworks 7.75
Muppet Letters American Education Pub. 7.67
What Would You Do? At Home Digital Theater 7.25
Lenny's MusicToons Paramount Interactive 7.17
Math Rabbit The Learning Company 7.17
Reading & Phonics American Education Pub. 7.17
Mixed-Up Mother Goose Sierra 7.08
Word Tales Time-Warner Interactive 7.00
Snoopy's Game Club Accolade 6.83
Yearn 2 Learn Peanuts ImageSmith 6.50
Fatty Bear's Fun Pack Humongous Entertainment 5.25
These ratings are a combined average of scores for graphics, sound, user
interface, play value, educational value and bang for the buck. Readers
are invited to send comments, program ratings or suggestions to the
following addresses:
FidoNET: Frank Sereno, 1:2235/10
Internet: Frank.Sereno@uti.com
U.S. Mail: Frank Sereno
528 West Ave.
Morris, IL 60450-1768
_________________________________
> ZEOS International STR InfoFile STReport Mini-Series
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
ZEOS INTERNATIONAL, LTD.
A DREAM SYSTEM!
Let's begin the fourth article in an STReport mini-series on what can
only be called a "Dream System" with the ZEOS International 90Mhz Pentium
at the center. Through the course of the mini-series, we shall cover in
detail the installation of each of the custom peripherals which are listed
below.
The Peripheral List:
--------------------
A)- 2 1083 Mb Western Digital 31000a Enhanced IDE Hard Drives
B)- 1 Teac CDROM CD55a 4x Drive
C)- 1 Mitsumi IDE CDROM Drive
D)- 1 Archive Viper 250mb SCSI Tape Backup
E)- 1 Sound Blaster AWE32 Sound Card w 2mb & Roland SCD-15 Daughter
Board.
F)- 1 Maxtor 340Mb SCSI Hard Disk
G)- 1 Canon IX-4015 SCSI Color Scanner 1200lpi w/ADF
H)- 1 Fargo Primera Pro Color Printer 600dpi
I)- 1 Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 4P Printer 600dpi
J)- MAG Innovision MX17F Color Monitor 17" Non-Interlaced
K)- 1 USRobotics Dual Standard V.34/V.FC/28.8 External Modem
L)- Adaptec 1542cf SCSI Busmaster card & EZ SCSI Software
along with a few other items yet to be made mention of.
Installation of DOS 6.22 & WFWG 3.11
SET-UP of System
by Ralph F. Mariano
First things first, DOS 6.22 was installed in almost the blink of an
eye. Now then, during my ramblings and lurking about the various
messaging pipelines, I came across some banter about what I do or do not
write. I thought I'd mention it as a way of saying "thanks for reading
us" for whatever reason. For the record, STReport is put together with
the dedicated effort of quite a few people who really do care. Now, let's
get on with the installation of Windows for Workgroups v 3.11. The ZEOS
Pantera has performed flawlessly since it came out of the box. What will
WFWG do to the speed? We shall see. The installation was a breeze. Disk
after disk was gobbled up, (I used gobbled because the entire process was
fast) as the installation moved right along. Once completed, the re-boot
prompt smilingly greeted me and re-boot we did. Up came WFWG just as
neatly as you please.
Elsewhere in this issue you'll find all you need to know to get the
32bit disk access and 32bit file access working properly. If you ever
wanted to experience superior performance in a Windows environment, then
do not hesitate..... In Fact, RUN to your nearest software outlet and
obtain a copy of Windows for Workgroups v 3.11. You will thank your self
repeatedly. WFWG is a "sneak preview" of things to come as far as Windows
95 is concerned. I'll talk about that a little later. While WFWG is a
far cry from W95, it does give a very clear indication of what the new OS
in W95 will be capable of. Once the 32b D&F access is complete, the speed
performance is appreciable and of course, with this ZEOS Pantera Pentium
90, it is simply a blur. WFWG comes with many new faster drivers. Among
those are the comm dirvers, comm.drv and serial.386. One of the most
important features of WFWG 32bd&f access is that even though you may be
using smart drive when you boot, WFWG will "turn it off" when it boots if
you are using the 32bit disk and file access. This is a faster, highly
efficient mode, greater than smartdrive can possibly offer.
Many times in the past we've seen and heard the remarks about
Window's speed. Believe this... its a thing of the past. Sure, when I
began in Windows its performance left a great deal to be desired. But
now, once I began to use WFWG v3.11 there was a remarkable difference. My
old system flew (486dx50) with WFWG. With the Zeos, its amazing.. simply
amazing. I mentioned that I'd have a thing or two to say about W95. It
up to build two or so and one for the core group but the important thing
is its obvious reliability, compatibility and without a doubt its high
speed performance. Its not lacking any of these at all. In fact, its
"detractors" are going ot be hard pressed to find any real faults. I'm
willing to bet the best they'll be able to do is squawk about "cosmetics".
Now comes the fun, the installation of the various software packages
on this system. The Awe32 Sound Card by Sound Blaster and the daughter
board SCD-15 by Roland will also be covered, not only its installation but
the setup and configuration of the card and the CDROM it serves. So far,
everything has been a breeze to do. Needless to say the machine I'm
working with has a great deal to do with this. We've been calling a dream
machine but the truth is its a very access machine that's a real pleasure
to use. The Zeos Pantera is fast, reliable and simply put.. fun to use.
Next week, the installation of the AWE32 card, its entourage and the Corel
5 package. Once the software installations are done, we shall proceed with
the SCSI intallations.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N
FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI
For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent
to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY
600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed
Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to:
STReport's Fargo Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior
to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as
much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this
sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please,
allow at least a one week turn-around)
A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
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.
Fire up that high-speed modem and head for your favorite GEnie Software
Library! Effective October 10, 1994, you'll be able to participate in an
open beta test, offering access to GEnie Services at 9600 bps for as
little as $5.00 per hour.
As a result of an arrangement with Sprint, GEnie will be offering 9600 bps
access from almost 300 SprintNet locations. Best of all, this high-speed
access will not be subject to high-priced surcharges. The normal $2.00
per hour SprintNet surcharge will apply...even at 9600 bps! This open
beta test is expected to run through the end of the year.
To find the number of the SprintNet access number nearest you, simply type
PHONES at any GEnie menu prompt (or use the "Move To Keyword" option in
Genie for Windows and type PHONES). Remember, this rate applies only to
9600 bps access via SprintNet. So be sure to choose the access number
showing "9600" in the "Baud Rate" column AND "SprintNet" in the "Network"
column.
From the "Fine Print" department, please note that the $2.00 per hour
surcharge for SprintNet access is applicable even during your initial four
hours of monthly usage.
So, whether you're into downloading software, reading bulletin boards, or
accessing databases, it's about to become cheaper to do it faster!
GEnie Information Services copyright (C) 1994 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
___ ___ _____ _______
/___| /___| /_____| /_______/ The Macintosh RoundTable
/____|/____| /__/|__| /__/ ________________________
/_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
/__/|____/|__|________|__/
/__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/____ Managed by SyndiComm
/__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/
An Official Forum of the International Computer Users Group
*** STReport available in MAC RT ***
ASCII TEXT
for ALL GEnie users!
MAC/APPLE SECTION (II)
======================
John Deegan, Editor (Temp)
> NBA THRILLS! STR InfoFile A Thrill a minute!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
************************************************************
CACTUS LEAGUE PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL UPGRADE NOW AVAILABLE!
************************************************************
Cactus League Professional Basketball Version 4 is now available.
Here is a listing of new features and enhancements to the award-
winning Cactus League Professional Basketball Computer Simulation:
1. The rules enacted by the Professional Basketball Board of
Governors on October 6, 1994, have been added. These rules,
which went into effect at the beginning of the 1994-95 season,
include awarding 3 Free Throws when a player is fouled while
attempting (and missing) a 3-Point shot.
2. You may optionally save the Play-By-Play Text of a game. This
is the actual text that is displayed by the simulation when
you play a game. You can save the Play-By-Play text of a game
even if you play the game in Instant Mode!
3. Improved Computer Coach, especially at the end of close games!
4. More Rare Plays!
5. Improved Records Module. The simulation now automatically
maintains 198 different records for each league. You can View
and/or Print each league's Record Book independently. Now, you
can easily carry a league's Record Book from season to season,
without affecting the Record Book of other leagues. Also, you
may combine all of your leagues' Record Books to a Master
Record Book that contains your All-Time records!
6. We have taken the Play-By-Play text to a new level! The Play-
By-Play text has been freshened and lots more "Game Specific"
text has been added... especially at the end of close games.
The excitement of a close game is now incorporated more than
ever! You won't believe how realistic and exciting it is!
7. There is a new Game Speed option: "Fast 'til Close." The Game
Speed will be set to "Fast" (a key is required to continue at
the end of a quarter only) at the beginning of the game (or
whenever you select the "Fast 'til Close" option. If the game
is close in the final minute of play, the simulation will
automatically change to "Slow" game speed. "Slow" requires a
key press after every basket and dead ball. This game speed
allows you to savor the excitement of a close game. If the
game is not close, the game speed will remain "Fast." You may
adjust the text scrolling speed independently.
8. You may select "Instant 'til 4th" or "Fast 'til Close" as the
default Game Speed in the Configuration Module.
9. The Import/Export functions have been enhanced and made more
versatile and easier to use. Now all Export File are saved to
a separate subdirectory on your hard disk. You may then,
optionally, use an archiving program (such as PKZip) to
archive the files. Then, copy them to a floppy to be sent to
your league's statistician, or upload them to a BBS for him or
her to download. You statistician then unarchives them, places
them in an Import subdirectory on his or her hard disk and
runs the Import Program! Easier, faster, and more efficient!
Archiving utility not included. Because of the function
enhancements, all league members must use Version 4.
10. We are constantly "tweaking" the game's algorithms and
improving the simulation's accuracy. This version includes our
very latest efforts.
11. The Statistics Module now recognizes the changes in Minimum
Qualifications for Individual Leaders. These minimum
requirements have changed over the years. For example, before
the 1990-91 season, a player must have made 25 3-Point Field
Goals (over a complete season) to be eligible to be included
in the 3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders. In 1990-91, the
minimum was increased to 50. The criterion used to determine
some of the leaders has also changed. For example, before
1969-70 the Scoring Leader was determined by the total number
of points scored. Beginning in 1969-70, the Scoring Leader was
the player who averaged the most points and met a minimum
games played criterion. This simulation now allows you to use
(or change) the requirements that were actually used for each
season. Some later Version 3 Game Disks included this feature.
This feature was also available for downloading from The
Cactus League BBS.
12. When the "Home Court Advantage" option is enabled, the name of
the arena is now displayed during games played from the
Basketball Simulation or in Manual Mode from the AutoSchedule
Module.
13. When the "Display Tenths of Seconds" option is enabled, tenths
of seconds are included during the final minute of each period
in the Play-by-Play Report file (PLAY.TXT).
14. If you own Cactus League Professional Basketball AutoMerge, you
need AutoMerge for Version 4. Just mention that you own AutoMerge
when you order, and we'll include the upgrade free! (if you ordered
your original AutoMerge from Cactus) If you upgrade to AutoMerge for
Version 4 seperately, the cost is $5. plus shipping and handling.
This offer is only valid if you order the upgrade and AutoMerge for
Version 4 directly from Cactus.
15. Other miscellaneous enhancements have been incorporated. Many
of these are not visible to the user.
This is a listing of Version 4 enhancements only. Read the Cactus League
Professional Basketball bulletin for complete details about his
award-winning product.
Cactus League Professional Basketball System Requirements: DOS
Version 3.0 or later. At least 1 floppy disk drive. At least 1 hard
disk drive. 580K free memory. Printer recommended.
Copyright (C) 1994 Cactus Development Company, Inc.
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
STReport International Online Magazine is available every week for your
reading pleasure on DELPHI. STReport's readers are invited to join DELPHI
and become a part of an extremely friendly community of enthusiastic
computer users 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 20/20 Advantage Plan
20 Hours for Only $20!
-----------------------------
Advantage Members have always enjoyed the lowest DELPHI access rates
available. On the new 20/20 Advantage Plan, members receive their first 20
hours of access each month for only $20. If you happen to meet someone
online or find some other diversion, don't worry because additional usage
is only $1.80 per hour.
20/20 Advantage rates apply for access via SprintNet or Tymnet from within
the continental United States during home time or via direct dial around
the clock. Home Time is from 6pm to 6am weekdays. Access during business
time carries a surcharge of $9 per hour. These rates apply for most
services, but note that there are some surcharged areas on DELPHI which
are clearly marked with a "$" sign.
Who is eligible to take advantage of the plan? Any DELPHI member in good
standing. Applications are reviewed and subject to approval by Delphi
Internet Services Corporation.
It's easy to join. If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can apply
online -- at any time -- for membership in the DELPHI 20/20 Advantage
Plan. Your membership becomes active at 4 a.m. Eastern Time on the first
billing day of the following month.
The $20 charge will be billed to you at the beginning of the month to
which it applies. Any portion of the 20 hours not used in any month does
not carry forward into the next month.
Advantage rates may be changed with 30 days notice given online.
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 the BEST Value and getting BETTER all the time!
************************************************************
ATARI/JAG SECTION (III)
=======================
Dana Jacobson, Editor
> From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's amazing what an irregular work schedule can do to your
system, as I can reluctantly attest these days. It's getting to the
point where I sometimes don't know whether I'm coming or going! It's
still difficult adjusting to these odd working hours - hopefully they
will be resolved before the end of the year.
This week, we've learned of some additional CD releases from It's
All Relative's Greg Kopchak. The world of CD for Atari computers seems
to be growing, making it very inviting to consider this additional
hardware. A year ago, I would have told you that you'd be wasting your
money (as well as my own!) to consider a CD-Rom add-on. Now, with
ExtenDOS and a number of available players and software, it's not a bad
decision for those who plan to keep their Atari computers and looking
for ways to improve your systems. We've also heard that there will be
some additional announcements forthcoming to make this consideration
even more attractive. IAR's current announcement is contained later in
this issue.
We've also included an interview with TraceTech's Keith Gerdes, by
TAF's (Toronto Atari Federation) Howard Carson. Gerdes offers a candid
overview of his past and present experiences with the Atari platform,
as well as some thoughts for the future. My congratulations to TAF's
Carson for a great interview and a thanks for the opportunity to bring
it to you. I think you'll enjoy it.
Until next time...
Delphi's Atari Advantage!
TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (11/9/94)
(1) AHDI CONFIGURATION PRG. (6) AVP MAPS (SUB-LEVEL 3)
(2) GUCK 1.8 (ENGLISH) (7) OBSESSION PINBALL
(3) SPEEDO GDOS FONTS *(8) GUCK V1.8B ENGLISH DOCS
*(4) HACE NEWSLETTER ARTICLES (9) ESS-CODE V6.2
*(5) COMPLETE MAPS FOR AVP *(10) PAGESTREAM LABEL PRINTING
* = New on list
HONORARY TOP 10
The following on-line magazines are always top downloads, frequently
out-performing every other file in the databases.
STREPORT (Current issue: STREPORT 10.45)
Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database.
_________________________________
> Atari CDs Available! STR InfoFile! - New From It's All Relative!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The rain has started. We had promised users who bought Photo Show Pro
and a CD rom drive when it was the only thing available for the Atari
a flood of new CD's for the holidays. They are now arriving.
ATARI SPECIFIC CD's
Crawly Crypt CD .......................NEW................... $29.99
Atari Mega Archives CD ................NEW................... $39.99
CD Service German CD Volume 1 ............................... $39.99
CD Service German CD Volume 2 ............................... $39.99
CD Service German CD Volume 3 .........NEW................... $39.99
Atari Skyline CD ......................NEW................... $39.99
Atari GEMini CD ............................................. $29.99
Winning Pictures MPC CD - Falcon Edition .................... $29.99
Audio CD Master - CD Audio Accessory ........................ $29.99
GRAPHICS
--------
GIF's Galore CD ............................................. $29.99
Travel Adventure CD ......................................... $29.99
Visions CD .................................................. $29.99
Sentimental Wings CD ........................................ $29.99
Fractal Frenzy CD ........................................... $29.99
Clip Art Cornucopia CD ...................................... $29.99
Art For Kids - the world's loudest art program .............. $59.99
Multimedia Mania CD ......................................... $14.99
TEXT, INFORMATION AND DATABASES
-------------------------------
Internet Info CD ............................................ $29.99
QRZ Ham Radio CD ............................................ $19.99
Project Gutenberg CD ........................................ $29.99
Space and Astronomy CD ...................................... $29.99
Check here next week for a "coming soon" list. Got a few real surprises
in the works.
Photo Show Pro is now available for the STe as well as the Falcon for
$59.99. This is Kodak Photo CD at its best. Pick up ExtenDOS Pro for
$29.99 with any order from us. We highly suggest it for best use on all
Atari machines and SCSI-2 CD rom drives. If you are using anything else,
your not making the most of your CD rom drive. If you have any questions
about any of the above products, please post your questions here. Ask at
your favorite Atari dealer or order from us direct. All orders are
shipped postpaid, worldwide. Write Randall Kopchak, It's All Relative
Software, 2233 Keeven Lane, Florissant MO 63031 USA.
________________________________________
> TAF Interview with Keith Gerdes! - From Double Click to TraceTech!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Reproduced in electronic form by permission of The Toronto Atari
Federation (TAF). Originally published in the September/94 issue of
Phoenix (the TAF Newsletter). (c)Copyright 1994, Howard E. Carson,
Keith Gerdes and The Toronto Atari Federation. All rights reserved.
REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IS PROHIBITED. QUOTES MUST BE
ATTRIBUTED.
[Editor's note]: The following message was received in our query
to reproduce this interview. Our request was made to Keith Gerdes and
passed along to Howard Carson. Mr. Carson's reply:
"You have permission to reproduce the unabridged, unexpurgated and
unedited version of the Parameters I-Way Interview with Keith Gerdes.
Excerpting is forbidden, and any quotes must be attributed."
"I hope you can use the interview. It was a genuine pleasure doing it;
Keith Gerdes is forthright and presents well thought out opinion, and
thoroughly interesting viewpoints."
Regards, Howard
Editor's note: We agree with your assessment. We hope that our readers
will enjoy it as much as we did.
PARAMETERS
by
Howard E. Carson
"I-Way interviews with people who have been instrumental in making Atari
a brilliant computing platform."
=Interview with Keith Gerdes of Trace Technologies, Houston, Texas.
=Interviewed by Howard Carson via GEnie E-Mail
Phoenix: Keith, you've had a lot of time to think about the demise
(changeover?) of Double Click to, Trace Technologies. Are you happier
with the organization of TraceTech? Many are unaware that DC has
metastasized into TraceTech, and that Gerdes is not, in fact, dead(!).
Keith: That seems to be the popular misconception....
And I never "went on to greener pastures" either. As a matter of fact, I
never left the Atari market! There was a transition period in 1992 where
I was mainly behind-the-scenes (of GEnie primarily) trying to start a new
company and get two products beta-tested for release.
To be frank, there really wasn't a "changeover" from DC to TraceTech.
My only connection with DC, was DC's distribution of some of the programs
I wrote, but always retained complete control of. I'll try to be brief
and give a bit of history.
DC was a partnership composed of 3 people: Paul Lee, Michael Vederman
and Gilbert Callaghan.
The first real product DC released was DC Format. I helped work on
different versions with Paul and Mike.
STuffer was my first major programming project release. Since Shadow,
by Paul and Mike, was being commercially distributed through Antic,
I thought I'd try that route too. But it turned out Antic was on its
last legs, so I went with DC as the shareware distributor.
You'll find other programs by me, in the DCUtilities, DCDesktop and
DCShower packages. Basically, I was a part of every 'DC' commercial
release except Gilbert's DCPort cartridge. Get the trend? Everything
I wrote, published by DC, was actually just 'distributed by DC'. And
along the way, I was never an official part, just associated with them.
Looking back, I guess my mistake was not using a company name in
addition to my own name.
My last project distributed by DC was Data Diet v1, completely written
by me. Looking in my clouded crystal ball, I made sure I retained complete
control of this project from start to finish.
DC began "shutting down" during the beginning of 1992, although no
official statement was ever made to the effect - even 'til today.
Mike had been the only active partner for several years prior to '92.
I was working on the Data Diet v2 upgrade for a Summer '92 release.
Since details related to that upgrade became a washout, I started
working on a new project to be debuted by my company, Trace Technologies.
I assembled a team of beta testers that relied on GEnie Mail for message
and file transfers, gone were the "luxury" days of a beta CATegory, a DC
perk. This project, Data Rescue, was released in November 1992. It was
a new challenge for me since I had to do all phases of development and
marketing: manual, advertising, distribution, etc. Luckily I had
experience from my volunteer work in DC's office (to keep them going),
and from watching Mike use PageStream.
In December 1992, I mailed out a flyer announcing Data Diet v2 to
registered users, and shipped the upgrade later that month, which
also included a manual. Thus you could say I had been semi-busy
for a few months with beta testing and the two manuals.
In July 1993, just after moving beta testing from GEmail to a private
message CATegory (a nice step up), I released Squish II, an upgrade to
Squish v1 (aka DCSquish), available with Data Diet v1/v2 and the DCUtils.
Skip ahead to late 1994, and Missouri is being wrapped up for release.
This is a file viewing package similar to DCShower. It will include
ShowPics & ShowHex (my programs formerly distributed in Shower) and
two new modules, ShowText and ShowMe.
Back to your original question.....
Yes, I am much happier with the organization of TraceTech. Though as
chief bottle washer and sole proprietor, I find that I miss the team
atmosphere and the fact that I could program and not worry about
mundane (to me) chores, like documentation and advertising. Manuals
are fun, but writing is tedious, especially for THIS programmer.
I would much rather be *coding* in this Text Editor!
Phoenix: At the Toronto Atari Federation, we've currently got a group of
managing executives who are perhaps more dedicated to Atari computers as
eminently useful tools, than any other previous executive committee. We
feel that TOS and GEM provide a working environment (along with the
requisite software of course!), that is suited to a vast array of
endeavors and interests. Why have *you* stuck with Atari all these
years?
Keith: 'Beats me!' That's the usual answer us loons always give....
I started out with a 16K 800 in 1981. In 1986, I bought a 520STm.
Today I use a Mega2 and Falcon030.
I always ask people one question: Are you being productive with
your computer? I can honestly say that my computers allow me to
do just that! And I'm lucky enough to use them for both personal
and business purposes. Plus make a little money along the way.
Not a lot mind you, as most developers are too aware.
Actually the real reason I've stayed with Atari the past few
years is the users. Not because they're all so great (they are
though!), but because I feel it's my obligation to continue
developing software for the userbase and to continue supporting
the products my users have bought with their hard-earned cash. Way
too many companies have abandoned the market without a word; left
users in limbo waiting on product and/or support; etc. And don't
kid yourself, sadly it's still happening even today!
Phoenix: I'd like to get this question out of the way before we get too
deeply into philosophy, Keith (or maybe we can avoid the philosophy
altogether): What new products - commercial ones, that is - are you
planning on releasing over the next few months, including updates?
What about Shareware releases? What about Freeware releases?
Keith: I just released a program called Fast Path. It's
definitely the best adjunct anyone can add to their File
Selector! Installing FASTPATH in your Auto Folder, calls FASTPATH
every time any program calls for the File Selector (any File
Selector, actually: Geneva, Selectric!, UIS III, Boxkite, LGS and
so on). FASTPATH comes up and presents you with *32* different
file paths (and a choice of *34* different file extensions!),
enabling you to configure your most often used paths, save them
and then - forever after - be able to go directly to the data
files you want. My beta-testers have been absolutely raving about
FASTPATH. It really *is* an amazing time-saver; inexpensive
Shareware, too! The demo of FASTPATH is on most BBS's now - and
GEnie and CIS. Registration levels are rising - which shows that
FASTPATH is genuinely *useful*. There are three more projects in
the queue for release over the next few months: Falcon030 Toolkit
(F030TKIT)(ed. note: F030TKIT is out now), Missouri and Fast Menu
(tentative name).
There are plans for an upgrade to Data Diet v2, up to v2.5, maybe
by early next year. And I imagine both Data Rescue and Squish II will
see upgrades at some point next year as well. However, please do NOT
put off buying anything just because you are waiting on an upgrade. Many
times an upgrade is held up just because there are not enough registered
users, so never put off a buying decision!
Updates tend to be merely bug fixes, so I never know when they'll
pop up. They are generally "free" and uploaded to the online services.
Phoenix: There are rumors about the possible early '95 release of
TOS 5. I have been in contact with Mike Fulton about it actually.
Although Mike has not suggested a date (or even admitted to the
existence of anything but a buggy beta version of TOS 4.92), he
did state that TOS 5 should incorporate MultiTOS AES v1.08b (or
'c' ?) plus the rest of TOS 4.04. As long as the newest version
is only a software beta of TOS 4.92 (that seems to have escaped
the confines of Sunnyvale), what direction do you think Atari
should take with a new version of the OS?
Keith: That's all news to me. Atari's Developer Support Group has been
nonexistent for a few years. There have been rumors of a "TOS 5",
but it hasn't been seen in any developer online area. No file, no
messages. I suppose this is yet another time it pays to be
"in the grapevine".
It was kind of sad, or should I say maddening, to see the real TOS team
leave Atari: Pratt, Townsend, KBad, etc.
They should release the infamous "fast" MTOS. Yes, it does
purportedly exist and would be a welcome sight for users and
developers, not to mention nice competition for Geneva and MagiC.
As far as a suggested direction, I'd say continue with the
multitasking AES. It's a step in the right direction.
Phoenix: How often do you get to speak with other Developers,
Programmers and Distributors? I guess I'm asking whether or not you have
serious opportunities to bounce new ideas off other people who are also
working with the Atari platform; besides your beta-testers, I mean.
Keith: I speak with other developers on a periodic basis: daily, weekly,
monthly, once-in-a-blue-moon, only when I have to, etc. I try to help
other programmers whenever I get a chance.
Distributors are few and far between. With the weak market, I don't
get to talk to them enough. And we all know what that means...
When it comes to floating new ideas, I rely almost exclusively on
my beta testers. I will consult with other developers on occassion.
Distributors have a keen insight into the market, however they tend
to look way beyond my means of project development, ie: type and
required manhours. Gone are the days of longterm projects, such
as productivity software, for someone like me.
Phoenix: There has been a lot of talk about all the new operating
systems and desktops that have appeared in recent months: MagiC,
NeoDesk 4, OMEn, Geneva, SMS2, Ease and the upcoming DeXterous OS. Are
all of TraceTech's products (and the older DC stuff that you seem to be
upgrading) getting along in these new environments (except for the
OMEn environment, of course)?
Keith: Yes, all of TraceTech's products seem to be doing okay in the
compatibility department. I see that you left out MTOS; it *can* be a
problem for some TSRs.
Of the list, I have only used Geneva. Due to the change to AES4,
I did have to update a couple of programs while Geneva was in the
initial beta test release. I don't foresee any problem with
MagiC. NeoDesk 4 and Ease are simply desktops, not OS extensions
or replacements, so they shouldn't be an issue either.
Phoenix: Multitasking (pre-emptive or otherwise) is certainly a popular
word these days. But it's debatable whether most users actually have a
legitimate place for such software in their day to day work. How about
your opinions on the inherent value (or stupidity, if you prefer), of
all the effort being concentrated in this area of programming? After
all, Atari users still don't have any legitimate legal accounting
software. And Canadian Atari users don't even have a single income tax
package! I guess I'm asking if a lot of effort is being concentrated in
the wrong direction?
Keith: I see the debate boiling down to multi-processing, not
multitasking. A majority of users will never take advantage of running
multiple tasks at the same time. But they *will* have multiple processes
sitting in memory ready to be switched to when needed. So you end up
with a fancy "task switcher".
In theory, multitasking would be great, but I don't see the software
being updated/upgraded to take advantage of it. I guess that's where
the type of multitasker is critical, although I still do not see
steadfast singletaskers really taking full advantage of multitasking
due to their past computer usage (bad habits?), available software,
memory requirements and CPU speed.
Is it stupid to program such an environment? Nope. I'd say the
companies that have are doing quite well moneywise, right now. We'll
have to see if this is a manufactured or actual user requirement.
Is it stupid to program for such an environment? No, not at all.
Although most developers do not plan to update or upgrade their
product line. Taking advantage of AES4 is basically a step up:
enhanced system calls, new calls, etc. My first major experience
with AES4 programming started early this year with Fast Menu --
which works just fine on pre-AES4 machines, but gives extra features
under AES4 such as program launching and custom process tracking!
It's going to be another nifty Shareware release that will find a
lot of good uses, for a lot of current Atari users.
I guess I already stated my view on "productivity" software. Face
it, "utilities" take a fraction of the time and energy to publish.
Writing anything else takes the right perspective, gumption and
backing; the latter being what's lacking nowadays. Money to finance
a project and then some type of guaranteed payoff are hard to come by!
Phoenix: In a recent conversation, Peter Zalesak of ABC Solutions in
Toronto (distributor of 1st Word Plus, the K-Spread line, tbxCAD,
Timeworks, Home Accounts 2, etc.) stated clearly that he believed
many products - software products, that is - should be assigned a
legitimate shelf life in the marketplace. For instance, he doesn't look
for the venerable 1st Word Plus to be upgraded here in North America
(although it already has been upgraded in Europe), because he feels it
is now at the logical limit of what it was originally developed to do:
process words in a couple of different formats. Do you agree that such a
philosophy is good for the marketplace, noting that the WordPlus 4
upgrade includes SpeedoGDOS compatibility and a host of other features
which place it in the realm of Document Processor, and that WordPlus 4
looks an awful lot like That's Write 3. It was programmed by the same
team, from Compo, that coded TW3.
Keith: A product lifespan depends on the product and the publisher.
Obviously if the publisher dissolves, its product line will too if
(it's) not picked up. That would be considered natural attrition.
My belief is that the process of assigning a "shelf life" would be
very difficult. What do we do? Start putting expiration dates on
packages? I say leave this up to the entire marketplace: developer,
distributor, dealer and user. Otherwise you will not see longterm
support for, or upgrade of products, ie: Data Diet (v2), Squish (v2),
Data Rescue, Missouri, FastPath, LoadAlad, Geneva, NeoDesk (v4), etc.
Phoenix: Do you feel there is *always* an upgrade path? If so, does such
program mobility really allow for healthy competition between
developers? Or does the psychology of endless upgrading prevent real,
creative advancement in software development (or for that matter, the
most extensive exploitation of Atari hardware)?
Keith: Upgrade a program version or upgrade from one company's product
to another's product?
Phoenix: I'm interested in hearing your opinions on both scenarios.
Keith: Yes, I do feel upgrades are always possible. That seems to be
the nature of software development, whether the developer comes up
with new ideas or improvements, users make suggestions, or both.
Competition is completely reliant on the product and marketplace;
perhaps somewhat more on marketplace. I feel that we are long
past the competitive stage since there are a limited number of
users to sell to, although the number is comfortably stable.
If I have a choice of whether or not to write a program which
competes with a current or "announced" product, I would choose
not to write it. Different factors play a part in the decision
process, so this really is not very common.
One recent example was whether to write a full-blown alternate
file selector or write an extension to all file selectors. The
decision was to write Fast Path, enhancing File Selectors across
the board. In that arena, trying to compete against what's
currently available, not to mention those supposedly in the
works, was considered impractical, so a better solution was
devised.
However, if you are working on a competing product, then sure,
you will do everything in your power to upgrade this product
to ensure your current userbase and hope to expand the base
with new users and converts.
So, I would tend to agree that endless upgrading does hurt
creativity and advancement of software. A point is reached
where you have milked the market dry (a too-common occurrence
with many pricey upgrades I see) and you need to move on.
I do not feel there is always an upgrade path for a user.
The market dictates the availability of software and there are
not as many avenues available to a user currently. Sometimes
you have a fairly direct path, other times you will have to adapt
and on occassion you will be stuck with what you've got, which is
not always that bad a situation. Competition? Don't get me started!
Phoenix: Data Diet, Data Rescue and Squish II never went through the
frightening teething problems that beset Microsoft's DoubleSpace. That
would seem to indicate that Microsoft is so large, even monumental
errors like DoubleSpace can be absorbed, lawsuits and all. Has a
negative perception of disk compression caused by Microsoft's high
profile, affected the sales of Data Diet, Data Rescue and Squish II?
Keith: Months before DoubleSpace's snafus, I would have to say that
sales of TraceTech compression products were already affected by a
general slump in the Atari "compression" market. Various factors
have been attributed (to the slump): falling hard drive prices,
dwindling userbase, product confusion, user perception, etc. But
Data Diet v2 is an extremely stable, reliable product; it *will*
save enormous amounts of hard drive space, and provide the user
with superb control.
Phoenix: Not long ago, I registered LOADALAD, one of your very useful
Shareware products. It was certainly a relief to use Aladdin once again
to access GEnie. My Falcon had prevented me from using Aladdin up until
I acquired LOADALAD. Have you had a lot of requests for Falcon upgrades
of Double Click/Trace Tech products?
Keith: Most requests have been for DC Programs of the Week; a combined
programming effort by Mike and me. When I can, I try to oblige.
It really helps if I was the author, since I still have my source
code. Insider's note: the first name in the credits was always the
sole author. Otherwise, updating takes me a little longer.
The only required TraceTech updates were due to unannounced changes
in TOS4's GEMDOS. That seemed to catch several programmers by surprise,
and most of them still have not updated. After purchasing a Falcon for
development and support, all TraceTech programs were updated as soon
as I was made aware of a problem.
I've even received requests to work on other programs. We will have
to wait and see where that leads.
Phoenix: Your TOS4TRAP has been a boon to every Falcon owner I know,
principally because of how your excellent utility has fixed TOS 4
problems with MaxiFile and STalker - two programs which are used by
thousands of Atari owners. Has rooting around in TOS 4.XX code given you
some new ideas for another major application of your coding skills? I'm
asking specifically if you are planning any major projects as large as
Data Diet, Data Rescue and Squish II? There are certainly a lot of
people who would like to see TT's and Falcon's hooked up in LAN's!
Novell Netware is a royal pain to set up on DOS/Windows boxes; but once
it's in place, it is *useful*!
Keith: TOS4TRAP v1 has been upgraded to TOS4TRAP v2. It will be
available in the Falcon030 Toolkit (F030TKIT).
During the fourth quarter '94, a project tentatively named FastMenu
will be released. I would say it is fairly major. If you want instant
access to the menu bar anywhere on the screen or want to quickly run
programs under Geneva, FastMenu can do it; although that's only a small
part of its capabilities!
In the past I looked into writing drivers for devices hooked up
to the parallel port (ie. pocket LAN adapter, hand scanner and
tape drive), but that is so top secret, it's frustrating!!
Phoenix: What's secret, Keith? Your projects? Or the developers info
from Atari, necessary to access (via programming code), the various
ports and chips?
Keith: Funny you should say that! I guess I sometimes treat
'compression' and other specialized subjects I develop, as top secret.
So maybe I shouldn't gripe.
Yes, those third party parallel port devices are top secret. The
communication protocol to use each of them is kept under lock-and-key.
I made decent headway with pocket adapters, but the others were deadends.
Atari has been forthcoming with most of their hardware information.
The only chips I still have questions about are the Ajax floppy
controller and the Falcon030's video controller. The Ajax chip
was my main concern a few months ago since I was updating a floppy
disk formatter, TraceTech Formatter Jr CPX (fka DC Formatter Jr CPX),
for release in the F030TKIT. Atari Dev Support never replied to my
queries. I figured it out anyway!
Phoenix: There are important programs around right now (the
Marcel Word processor, for example), which are quite delightful in
their own right, but nonetheless suffered from some notable
errors in their commercial release. I feel that while Marcel is a
highly useful and worthwhile piece of work, its marketing was
slightly flawed. After all, Marcel started out as a commercial
package and turned into a piece of $10 shareware (and spectacular
value for the money!). That didn't please those folks who had
paid between $50 and $70 for the commercial release, however. The
WordPerfect standard (with its use of the 'clean sheet of paper'
approach; except in Windows of course), is a paradigm that lends
itself well to many different working environments. And many
working book and column writers I know, wish that Marcel and TW3
and some of the WordPerfect philosophy could blend. Have you
considered these sorts of arguments, and would you ever consider
approaching another programmer with such arguments (read:
criticisms), along with a desire to engage in a co-operative
venture with him (or her)? Despite my previous suggestions about
the validity of multitasking, there are quite a few people who
have suggested that a three way marriage between Data Diet,
Neodesk 4 and Geneva or MultiTOS or MagiC, could be the greatest
thing to ever hit the Atari market. Such a combo might be the
so-called 'Killer App', that could resurrect a lot of fortunes.
Such a combo, bundled with all new Atari computers, might be a
proposition that would make the Tramiels devote a lot more
resources to the computer side of their business.
Keith: ....not much to say....wasn't AtariWorks supposed to be the
'killer app'?
Phoenix: I don't know if it was or not. There wasn't enough advertising
or promotion to distinguish AtariWorks from other combinations of
existing stand-alone programs. AtariWorks has been popular, I believe
because of its use of SpeedoGDOS. AW is an 'o.k.' document processo
r;
SpeedoGDOS is what gave it popularity, I think. In any case, the
'killer app' I described above is a different combination of things,
compared to AW and Speedo. I suppose then, I'm asking if you think the
Atari market is ripe for a *real* 'killer app'?
Keith: Most definitely so! I guess we'll see if there are still
gamblers on the 'productivity software' development side.
The bottom line: MONEY. Isn't it always?
Phoenix: How's business in Texas and how's business in the 'States in
general, from an Atari businessman/programmer's standpoint?
Keith: In a general sense, business is pretty good in Texas, BUT we
really don't need any more out-of-state license plates. Please!
From an Atari perspective, things have been and will continue to be
lousy without changes at all levels, putting it bluntly, at the
user level first. No developer can survive without sales. The
product's out there, why don't the numbers reflect the userbase?
Once products sell, developers will expand their offerings.
What about poor (let me emphasize *poor*), gluttons like me? Okay,
so I'm stupid and I keep developing new stuff.
Phoenix: I am coming into contact with more and more people who
understand that Atari is a terrific platform (perhaps better than
ever before), now that virtually all of the latest applications
import and export, create, save and load file formats which are
perfectly compatible with DOS, Windows and System. Certainly
ASCII has always been ASCII, but it has never been a
consideration. So many graphics formats from other platforms are
now managed perfectly by Atari software, too. That seems to
indicate a very healthy future for this platform. Do you feel the
same way? Do you feel that the recently ended(?) recession has
created a false sense of how good or bad the marketplace really
is, for Atari products?
Keith: Yes, I do feel that we are just now starting to see a "healthy"
surge in "graphics" support. From what I've read and seen, this
support continues to be based overseas, but it is readily available
over here. Most of it is way too expensive in my opinion, just
like everything else imported, but that's another subject to pursue.
I'm really not into economics, other than the fact that the interest
rate return on simple bank investments are an utter crock! And you
know who touts the benefits of low rates; guess that's one man's
perspective. Invest in a gold safe, you might be better off some day.
Woops, back to Ataridom. The recession has been an influencing
factor on the marketplace, but because of the state of the market,
I doubt it is perceptible anymore.
Phoenix: Will TraceTech be attending any shows during 94/95?
Keith: At this point, I only know of one show which I will be
attending. It's a local one in Houston during the first part of '95.
Due to budget and time constraints, I'm unable to attend shows that
require much travel. However, I will try to find someone to
"represent" TraceTech at shows whenever possible, as I did with
Craig Harvey/Clear Thinking at some shows in 1992.
Phoenix: Keith, I'd like to thank you very sincerely for taking the
time to do this interview. The Toronto Atari Federation has always
been in the vanguard of Atari support, but it would certainly all be
pointless without the efforts of people like you and the benefits
provided by the excellent products you turn out. Thank you very much.
Keith: Thank you Howard. And thanks to TAF for this interview. I
appreciate the continued excellent support from y'all!
Keith Gerdes's Mini Bio:
Native Houstonian
Graduate of Texas A&M University
A Ford Mustang enthusiast, but not a fanatic like some people with
too much free time and money on their hands. I've owned a daily-driver
1970 Mach 1 since 1982 and I am constantly searching for just the
right replacement! Anybody know of a Shelby or a Boss in a barn?
END
______________________________________
JAGUAR SECTION
==============
Jaguar Developer Series, Part 1.5
Raiden, Revisited! Jag Contest #2!
Dorfman, Again?!? Cybermania '94,
Was That for Real? Rebellion and
Atari Online Conferences, and more!
> From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's six weeks away from Christmas, and to everyone's dismay (of
varying sorts), it's not going to be as successful a Jaguar holiday as
we had hoped. Even Atari has pulled back on its originally anticipated
30-50 games in time for the holidays. The current figure is now at 20
games out by Christmas - a figure that is more realistic but will
require a number of unknown (i.e. unannounced) 3rd-party releases.
Atari has still not officially announced the current games in
production, so it appears that the next few weeks will be full of
surprises, as well as, perhaps, a number of disappointments.
Disappointed? Personally, I have to admit that I share that
sentiment to a certain degree. I'm disappointed with the numbers, for
one. I had hoped that Atari would take this holiday season by storm.
I'm also disappointed because many at Atari have worked extremely long
and hard to make this holiday season a success. They're continuing to
work hard. Many, like myself, continue to appreciate what these people
have done to keep us informed, as well as happy with the current
selection of games (and wanting more!).
I know extremely little about stocks, but every time I hear the
name Dorfman, I get shivers! Good old Dan has struck again, the second
or third time in about six months, with his "words of wisdom" regarding
Atari and the Jaguar. Every time Dorfman makes an opinion based on
Martin Sass' comments about Atari, Atari stock seems to plummet. I
wonder if Dan had a bad experience with Pac-Man 20 years ago!! Well, I
congratulate Atari's Sam Tramiel for making a public statement in
response to Dorfman's latest statement made in USA Today's business
section. Unfortunately, time didn't allow me to reproduce Dorfman's
article, but we have included Atari's statement which does appear to
itemize a few of Dorfman's statements, with a rebuttal.
Marty Mankins provides us with his ongoing series of developer
articles; this issue gives you Part 1.5.
I missed the recent showing of Cybermania '94, the video game's
version of the Oscars. From what I've heard and read, I guess I didn't
miss anything worthwhile! When I first learned that Atari didn't have
any entries, I was disappointed, but after hearing about this awards
show, I was relieved. We've included a brief synopsis of the show, and
comments, from the Usenet.
Are you interested in learning how Alien Vs. Predator was done?
How about learning more about the folks at Rebellion, the makers of
Alien Vs. Predator? Well, in addition to the programming staff at
Rebellion, you can also get some questions from Atari answered in TWO
upcoming online conferences - one on Compuserve and the other on GEnie,
at the end of this month. These upcoming conferences should be
extremely entertaining and informative - I recommend that you try to
make at least one of them. The dates, and more info, are included in
an announcement from Atari later in this section. We hope to see you
there!! Come early and bring plenty of popcorn!! Need more of an
incentive? How about door prizes? Contests? Do the math, and be
there!
Dominick Fontana takes us on a retrospective look at an early
Jaguar release, Raiden. We reviewed it a number of months ago, but
thought that we'd take another look at it (and other games in future
issues) after seeing what later games looked like. We think you'll
like this retro-look!
We're also anxiously awaiting the next group of games for review,
for our upcoming issues. We've also learned that Marty Mankin's
impending AvP review has had its finishing touches delayed, so we're
hoping for it shortly. We're also planning another AvP review as well,
to truly give you an objective analysis with more than one overview.
That should also be forthcoming.
We're close to halfway home with our second Jaguar contest (see
details below!). We've had a number of interesting entries arrive in
the past few days. So far, some of them have some potential!! Don't
be left out. Check out the details for this current contest and have a
go at some fantastic Jaguar-related prizes!
Meanwhile, let's get on with the games!
Until next time...
_____________________________________
> Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile - What's currently available, what's
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" coming out.
Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $49.99 Atari Corp.
J9005 Raiden $49.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp.
J9001 Trevor McFur/
Crescent Galaxy $49.99 Atari Corp.
J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp.
J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp.
JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames
J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp.
Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
CatBox $49.95 ICD
CatBox + $69.95 ICD
J9007 Checkered Flag $69.99 Atari
Club Drive $59.99 Atari
Doom $69.99 id/Atari
Theme Park TBD Ocean
Syndicate TBD Ocean
Troy Aikman Football$69.99 Williams
Sensible Soccer
J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $59.99 Atari
J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari
Cannon Fodder TBD Virgin
Hover Strike $59.99 Atari
Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari
J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari
Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER
J8001 Jaguar (complete) $249.99 Atari Corp.
J8904 Composite Cable $19.95
J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp.
J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95
______________________________
> Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Contact: Don Thomas/Ron Beltramo
Atari Corporation
408/745-2000
For immediate release
JAGUAR ONLINE! MEET THE ALIEN VS. PREDATOR DESIGN TEAM!
FREE-POSTERS TO CONFERENCE ATTENDEES! WIN A JAGUAR!
Sunnyvale, CA-- November 7, 1994 -- As part of Atari Corporation's
celebration of new 64-bit game releases for the Jaguar Interactive
Multimedia System, online conferences on the GEnie and CompuServe online
services have been scheduled. Within weeks following Atari's highly
successful release of Alien Vs. Predator, comes a wide assortment of
additional titles exclusively on the Jaguar and just in time for
Christmas.
The conferences will be be held Tuesday, November 29th at 5PM (Pacific
Time) on CompuServe and Wednesday, November 30th at 6PM (Pacific Time)
on GEnie. The guest panel will feature the Alien Vs. Predator design
team, Mr. "Purple" Hampton, Senior Producer and Mr. James Grunke,
Director of Audio. They will be available to answer questions, provide
some great game tips and let everyone in on the inside story of the
making of Alien Vs. Predator. In addition, Atari's Mr. Ron Beltramo,
Vice President Marketing, will be in attendance with exciting news about
upcoming releases. Other popular Atari personalities will be in
attendance as well as members of the online press such as Mr. Travis Guy
of Atari Explorer Online and Mr. Dana Jacobson of Silicon Times Report.
All paid subscribers attending the conferences a minimum of 15 minutes
will qualify for a free Alien Vs. Predator cinema-quality poster. In
addition, all paid subscribers who attend each entire conference will
qualify to win a complete Jaguar system, an Alien Vs. Predator game
cartridge (autographed by the design team) or T-shirts. Winners will be
required to answer a fundamental trivia question about Alien Vs. Predator.
(Although the conference is open to subscribers worldwide, only North
American members are eligible to win prizes).
Also look for Atari's Fantastic Alien Vs. Predator online trivia contest
to begin November 29, 1994 and end on December 9, 1994. Win a Jaguar and
other prizes.
Due to the great number of people expected to attend, both services are
making special arrangements to accommodate the volume. For more specific
information, contact the System Operators. Type JAGUAR on GEnie or
GO JAGUAR on CompuServe to jump to the Atari Jaguar support areas. Both
services require a computer, modem and an account in good standing. Each
offers an excellent assortment of game tips, sample graphics and audio
files, interactive messaging with Atari personnel and many other
features. To subscribe, call 800/848-8199 to join CompuServe or
800/638-9636 to join GEnie.
# # #
Atari and Jaguar are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari
Corporation. All other products or services mentioned are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their owning companies.
# END OF FILE #
ATC ATARI CORP. (AMEX)
8-NOV-1994 09:32 ATARI RESPONDS TO DAN DORFMAN ARTICLE IN USA TODAY
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released
today by the Atari Corporation:
Atari senior management today rebuffed Dan Dorfman's November 7th
USA Today story. Commenting on Dorfman's report Sam Tramiel, Atari
President, said, "It is disruptive to the market to have a short position
fund manager such as Mr. Sass put out a self serving report with critical
information omitted and not even bothering to call the Company to confirm.
It is further disturbing that Mr. Dorfman condones such behavior and
comments on such positions." The article, with testimonial from Martin
Sass of M.D. Sass Investors, was misleading and contained many
inaccuracies such as:
1. Dorfman says that this is the second time that Sass shorted the
stock and that the first time was in April of 1993. From what Atari
understands the fact is that Sass did this in April of 1994 and that a
report by Dorfman in June of 1994 quoting Sass saying that Atari was a
bankruptcy candidate caused Atari stock to go down and benefitted Sass's
position of being short the Atari stock to the detriment of Atari
shareholders. In the months following the Dorfman report the Atari stock
recovered in price and closed on November 4th at 6 3/4. Sass again is
short. Atari and once more Dorfman issues a report quoting Mr. Sass and
Mr. Sass benefits as the Atari stock goes down from 6 3/4 to 5 1/2 at
closing on November 7, 1994.
2. Dorfman says that Atari officials were not available to comment.
The fact is that Dorfman called the Atari office on Friday November 4th
while a Board of Directors meeting was in progress.
3. Sass says that there is a shortage of software. The fact is that
available software for the Jaguar is increasing with the delivery of five
new titles by the end of November. These are, "Doom" from ID Software,
"the best version of Doom on any platform" says John Romero of ID;
"Checkered Flag" from Atari, a complete 3D world Formula racing game;
"Club Drive" a 3D world game of driving simulation and chase; "Brutal
Sports Football" from Telegames, a no holds barred game of football; and
"Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" from Virgin Software, an exciting fighting
game based on the Universal Studio movie of the same name. Sam Tramiel
says, "Software delays did occur as the development teams learned how to
harness the power of the 64 bit Jaguar system. Now the developers are up
to speed; we expect there to be a continuous stream of game releases
throughout the balance of this year and into 1995 and the future."
The most recent release "Alien vs. Predator"(TM, Twentieth Century
Fox) which hit the retail shelves in October, is selling briskly, is
indicative of the technically advanced gaming experience which is possible
on the Jaguar system. In order to achieve a high degree of game quality
and the overall success of the Jaguar platform, management has
intentionally delayed the publishing of some titles. Atari expects over
20 titles to be available by Christmas 1994.
4. Dorfman says that Sass sees a big write-off of the Jaguar system
as well as write-offs in Atari's PC business. The facts are that Atari
is out of the PC business and took write-offs in this area in 1993.
There are no more write-offs in the PC business for Atari. The Jaguar
is the leading technology in the interactive game market. Atari sees a
very promising future for this platform, which includes the introduction
in the near future of a CD peripheral and the possible entry into the
interactive cable market.
Atari will soon be publishing its third quarter financial results
and as expected will report a net loss of approximately $3.9 million as
compared to a $17.6 million loss for the same period in 1993. The loss in
the 1994 period was a result of delays in software releases as well as
expenses related to promotional activity.
An important fact omitted from the Dorfman article was the recently
announced agreements between Atari and Sega. Sega will license from Atari
a patent library for a one time cash payment of $50 million (Atari's net
being less contingent legal fees and costs). Sega will also purchase
$40 million of Atari stock at a price of $8.50 per share, the same per
share price paid by Time Warner in April of 1994. The agreement also
allows for Atari and Sega to cross license up to 5 titles per year on
their respective platforms. Finally, it also permits both companies to
be publishers on each others platforms if they desire. These
transactions are subject to regulatory approval and are expected to close
shortly.
"The Jaguar represents Atari's philosophy of offering leading edge
technology at affordable prices and we feel it has a very bright future,"
says Tramiel.
Atari Corporation (AMEX: ATC) markets interactive multimedia
entertainment systems, including Jaguar, the world's only 64-bit system,
and the only video game system manufactured in the United States. Atari
is headquartered at 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
-0- 11/8/94
/CONTACT: August Liguori, 408-745-2069, or Sam Tramiel, 408-745-8824,
both of Atari Corporation/ (ATC)
CO: Atari Corporation ST: California IN: CPR SU:
________________________________
> Jaguar Developers STR InfoFile - Current Developer Lists & Titles
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Game Title Date Game Type MSRP Publisher
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Air Cars 12/94 Racing $59.99 Midnight Ent.
Alien vs Predator NOW Role Play/Adventure $69.99 Atari
Arena Football 1Q/95 Sports TBD V Reel
Assault 1Q/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Midnight Ent.
Barkley Basketball 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Battlemorph 12/94 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Battle Wheels 1Q/95 Racing/Combat TBD Beyond Games
Blue Lightning (CD) 12/94 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Brett Hull Hockey (CD) 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Brutal Sports Football NOW Sports/Combat $69.99 Telegames
Bubsy 12/94 Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Burnout 1Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Cannon Fodder 11/94 Action/Adventure TBD Virgin
Checkered Flag 11/94 Racing $69.99 Atari
Club Drive 11/94 Racing $59.99 Atari
Creature Shock (CD) 1Q/95 Adventure/Sci-Fi TBD Atari/Virgin
Cybermorph NOW Flying/Action $59.99 Atari
Dactyl Joust 2Q/95 Action TBD Atari
Demolition Man 1/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Atari
Doom 11/94 Action/Combat $69.99 Atari
Double Dragon V 12/94 Action/Adventure $59.99 Williams
Dragon:Bruce Lee Story 11/94 Combat $59.99 Atari
Dragon Lair (CD) 1Q/95 Adventure TBD Ready Soft
Dreadnought (CD) 2Q/95 Adventure TBD Atari
Dungeon Depths 1Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Midnight Ent.
Evolution: Dino Dudes NOW Puzzle/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Flashback 12/94 Action/Adventure TBD US Gold
Fight For Life 1Q/95 Combat TBD Atari
Hardball Baseball 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Highlander (CD) 1Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Horrorscope 1Q/95 Combat TBD V Reel
Hover Strike 11/94 Action/Combat $59.99 Atari
Iron Soldier 11/94 Action/Strategy $59.99 Atari
Jack Nicklaus Golf(CD) 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari
Kasumi Ninja 11/94 Combat $69.99 Atari
Rage Rally 1Q/95 Racing TBD Atari
Raiden NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Rayman 12/94 Action/Adventure TBD UBI Soft
Robinson Requiem 1Q/95 Adventure TBD Atari
Soccer Kid 1Q/95 Sports TBD Ocean
Space War 12/94 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Star Raiders 1Q/95 Space Simulation TBD Atari
Syndicate 11/94 Simulation TBD Ocean
Tempest 2000 NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Theme Park 11/94 Simulation TBD Ocean
Tiny Toon Adventures 1Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
Trevor McFur NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari
Troy Aikman NFL Ftball 12/94 Sports $69.99 Williams
Ultimate Brain Games 12/94 Puzzle TBD Telegames
Ultra Vortex 12/94 Action/Adventure $69.99 Beyond Games
Val D'Isere Skiing... 12/94 Sports $59.99 Atari
White Men Can't Jump 1Q/95 Sports TBD TriMark
Wolfenstein 3D NOW Combat/Action $59.99 Atari
Zool2 11/94 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari
[Editor's note: Titles, scheduled release dates, and prices are verified
with Atari and Edelman Public Relations - all are subject to change]
___________________________________
> Jaguar Developer Concerns! STR Commentary! - Wanted: More Games!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Developer Series, 1.5
ATARI JAGUAR DEVELOPER'S CORNER
===============================
Send A Message: REQUEST MORE GAMES!!
------------------------------------
by Marty Mankins, STReport Jaguar editor
I've been around in the computer and consumer electronic industry
long enough to see new formats come and go. And the ones that stay
around are the ones that had the most money and support from the
consumers put into it. Some good examples are the compact disc and the
Sony Walkman line of portables.
Now let's take a look at the home video game market. Both Nintendo
and Sega have dominated the market. How did they do it? With lots of
money and support from consumers like you and I that bought their
product. We bought the games when they came out. Both companies have
built multiple levels of frenzied marketing plans to get new and
exciting games into our hands and onto the TV. Their success is based
on exercising these practices a lot.
Now is the time for Atari to get more of these consumer-based programs
in-line. Expand the market as much as they can. And make sure that the
Jaguar developers are making great and timely strides in bringing the
consumers more games. While we applaud the current games that are out
now and the effort that has gone into these games to make them incredible
journeys of play, I would say that we need to have more. And the
developers are going to need some prodding along from both Atari and all
of consumers.
So how does one let the developers know what we want and when? It all
starts at our dealers. Believe it or not, those retail outlets and
other places where we purchase our video game systems and software make
reports. Most of the reports have to do with inventory. But there are
several pieces of additional information that make it back to the head
company. A list of requests does make it back, but it may not be that
complete. The one area that helps is returns.
When a new game is produced, it is placed on the market for sale to the
customer, it is assumed that all of the money that went into research,
testing and insight will make this game a big seller. If something goes
wrong and the market decides to leave the game on the shelf because their
favorite magazine gave the product a lousy review, then they are stuck
with that game and must reduce the price enough to hope people will
"take a chance" and spend the money.
If this doesn't work, then the company must decide what games DO sell.
Then it's back to the drawing board and get some new research avenues
to pursue. These type of mistakes can cost a company unless they come
up with a big winner often enough to keep the profit level up and the
cost of loss offset enough to make sure there is a decent size profit.
So the message that goes out to the developers from all of us in the
Jaguar community is this: watch the patterns of failure with other games
and make sure that the games are top quality and will provide weeks and
months of entertainment, with a little boredom as possible. There needs
to be the level of excellence that is expected of Jaguar games. The
idea of a lousy game at over $50 is not my idea of "trying out a new
game". Before you know it, the games will start having some bad rap and
that's tough to avoid and deal with.
Now that we have some emphasis on the quality of the games, let's get
to the ultimate point of success for the Jaguar - more games. Now there
are a lot of ways to get games on the market. One is to create one
algorithm and then change the screens for different characters and games.
This is passed off on a lot of systems that people have no idea how lame
this is. The licensing folks are ones to make as much money as possible,
with some not having any quality standards, so long as the game plays and
the customer is happy. This is not acceptable with Jaguar games.
The system is too powerful to waste any slow or "dumb" looking code out
to the market. The games need to be good. They need to have some
lasting entertainment. There will also be that select few who will be
bored of any game in a week. So you take the best shot you have, making
sure that the game is as clean as it can be, burn it to ROM and ship it.
Some of the games that are created on the other video game systems are
nice, even if over-hyped. I would like to see Atari license games from
other companies to have the big game on that system. This will cause
people to jump ship where they are at and realize all of the new
features of a 64-bit system with incredible games. The number of games
currently on the market is small, but is growing each month and we should
see another 3 games for this season. But that is still too little. We
need more. Get to your resellers and let them know what system is best.
Let them know that we need to have good, strong titles on the market.
Let's not waste time. Call Atari. They do listen and may offer some
suggestions on the best way of getting information to others concerning
the Jaguar.
It's time that 64-bit is the king and with the approaching level of 30
games total for the Jaguar, we will start to see all sorts of things
happen for the 64-bit system. So don't lose your faith. Keep on Jaggin'.
______________________________________________
> Jaguar Raiden! STR Review, Revisited!
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RAIDEN
- Available Now -
Review By: Dominick J. Fontana
(CIS: 74766,2154)
Date of Review: November 4, 1994
Basic Information:
Difficulty Level: Hard
Type of Game : Vertical Shooter
Format : Cartridge
Developed by : Imagitec Design Inc.
Published by : Atari Corporation
List Price : $49.99
Opening Comments:
Raiden is a copy of the arcade game of the same name. It is said to be
an identical copy of its arcade counterpart, but since I don't remember
all the details of the arcade Raiden, I can't say for sure. However,
others who remember the original game better than I do, seem to agree
that the Jaguar version is virtually identical to the original. So if you
know and remember the arcade Raiden, they you already know the Jaguar
Raiden.
How To Play:
Raiden is a 1 or 2 player game and it does not come with a controller
overlay, but none is needed. You are the pilot of the Raiden Supersonic
Attack Fighter, which is a ship positioned at the bottom of the play
screen. Up/Down on the joypad moves your ship up or down within the
confines of the viewable play area. Left/Right on the joypad moves your
ship left and right. The right one-third of the screen displays game
information at all times, leaving only two-thirds of the screen to
display your ship and the surrounding terrain. When you move your ship
to the right, you can scroll a limited amount to see the terrain that is
covered by the game information and then you can scroll back to the left
one-third of a screen.
The A and B buttons on the Jaguar controller perform the same function.
They fire a shot from the front of your ship. The C button drops a bomb
below your ship. You cannot change the configuration of these buttons.
The 0 (zero) button toggles the music on and off. Pressing * and #
simultaneously resets the game. The Pause button toggles Pause on and
off. While in Pause mode, you can change the volume of the music and the
sound effects. The Option button is not used.
The game also keeps a high score table of the Ten Best Scores along with
the players' names. However, you can only view the High Score Table after
you set a high score or right after resetting the game. There is no
provision for viewing the High Score Table by user input. Volume and
High Score information are retained in the Raiden cartridge even after
the Jaguar game console is turned off.
The main game selection screen allows you to select 1 or 2 player mode
and the number of continue credits you would like. You can select from
3, 5, or 8 continue credits. During gameplay, after you lose all your
ships, you will receive more ships and continue play from where you left
off, if you have at least 1 continue credit remaining. After you lose
all your ships and all your continue credits, the game ends.
The game information screen shows the number of bombs remaining, the
number of continue credits remaining, the number of ships remaining, and
the score. It shows this information for 1 or 2 players. This information
is always displayed during actual gameplay and blocks your view of the
right one-third of the playfield.
The object of the game is to maneuver your ship on the playfield and
destroy the enemies, while avoiding enemy fire. The terrain
automatically scrolls upward, although you have some latitude to move
your ship up and down over the viewable playing surface. However, when
you reach the top or bottom of the screen, you cannot force the display
to scroll. The scroll rate is determined by the game. As previously
mentioned, you have limited left and right scrolling.
Your ship flies over varying terrain, although much of the terrain looks
similar. You fly over dirt, grass, bushes, roads, water, and bridges,
among other things. The enemies can either be in the air or on the
ground. The air-based enemies sometimes try to crash right into you and
sometimes they take a few shots and then retreat off screen. If you
pass some of them without destroying them, they will scroll off the
screen and not reappear. Others will always stay on the screen and
scroll along with your ship until you destroy them. The ground-based
enemies are sometimes stationary and sometimes they move. The stationary
enemies will always scroll off the screen if you don't destroy them.
Some moving ground enemies will scroll off the screen and others will
follow you, if you don't destroy them. However, you can fly over ground
enemies without being destroyed. If you crash into an air enemy, you lose
a ship.
Pressing the A or B button fires a shot or shots from the front of your
ship, using your current weapon. The current weapon used is determined
by the last weapon power-up that you collected. This shot can hit both
air and ground-based enemies. Some enemies take more than one shot to
destroy. You have unlimited ammunition when using the A or B button, so
you can always fire a shot.
Power-ups are items that are scattered throughout the levels or that fly
from enemy ships that you destroy. They either change your current
weapon, increase your weapon power, add to the number of Bombs you have,
or add to your score. You collect power-ups by simply flying over them.
The available power-ups are: Lasers, Automatic machine gun, Bomb, Direct
fire missile, Homing missile, 3,000 points, 10,000 points, and Super
Weapon Power-up.
After you collect a weapon power-up you immediately begin to use that
weapon. To increase the power of the weapon you are using, you must
collect a series of only that weapon-type. For example, if you collect a
laser, you will automatically use the least powerful laser. If you collect
three more lasers in a row, then you will be using a very powerful laser.
If however, you then collect an automatic machine gun weapon power-up,
you will be using the least powerful machine gun. This is tricky and
takes some getting used to. The Super Weapon Power-up takes you to the
maximum power of the weapon you are currently using.
In 2-Player Mode, you can use a Special Shot. This is not a power-up.
One player simply lines up behind the other player's ship and fires into
that ship's jetstream. This gives you a powerful dispersal beam. That
means that your shot goes through your teammate's jetstream, is broken
up into many powerful shots, and then these shots fly out of your
teammate's ship in all directions in order to kill the enemies.
When you press the C button you drop a Bomb, which can destroy both
ground and air enemies. The Bombs are generally more powerful than the
normal weapon you are using and can kill many enemies at once. However,
your supply of bombs is limited. When you run out of bombs, you must
collect a Bomb power-up in order to fire another bomb.
There are 8 levels in the game, each more difficult than the preceding
level. You fly through a level shooting the enemies, avoiding being hit,
and collecting power-ups. At the end of the level, you have the
equivalent of a so-called "End Boss." Sometimes there is more than one.
They are big enemies with a lot of fire power, that are difficult to
destroy. The game stops scrolling when you reach this point. That is,
you cannot continue the game until you have destroyed them. Once you do,
you are taken to a Bonus Screen, which displays the Bonus points you
have collected and adds them to your score.
A point to remember, that is not mentioned in the game manual, is that
you only receive Bonus points for Bonus power-ups that you collected
since the last time that you lost a ship. You do not receive Bonus points
for all the Bonus power-ups you collected since the beginning of the
level. So if you lose a ship towards the end of a level, you will only
receive Bonus points if you are able to collect Bonus Point power-ups
between that time and the completion of the level. Many times, you will
lose a ship when battling the "End Boss," and you will not collect any
Bonus power-ups between that time and when you destroy the "End Boss"
to complete the level. That means you will not receive any Bonus points
at all.
After the Bonus screen, you are taken to the next level. After you
complete all 8 levels, you then start back at level 1, but the gameplay
is more difficult. Any time that you lose all your ships and you have no
continue credits remaining, the game ends. Also, at the beginning and
end of each level there is a short take-off or landing sequence, which
is for your viewing pleasure only. You have no control of your ship at
that time. There is also a brief intermission, so to speak, between the
5th and the 6th levels, when you watch your ship fly through space. At
the beginning of the 6th level, you are in space and you are shooting
at space rocks that look identical to the space rocks that are in the
Jaguar game, Trevor McFur and the Crescent Galaxy. (A review of that game
is contained in a past issue of STReport). After a short time, you exit
space and continue with level 6 over the more familiar ground terrain.
2-Player Mode is a cooperative mode. You do not alternate turns with the
2nd player competing for a high score, nor do you try to shoot each
other. Both players play at the same time and they cooperate in trying
to destroy the enemies and complete the level. However, the bombs,
continues, ships, ad sncores are kept separately for each player. So
although you are cooperating to complete the level, each player is
still trying to get the higher score.
Opinion:
Raiden provided me with some fun, but it is a dated game. There's
really nothing new here. You steer your ship, blast and avoid the enemy,
and collect power-ups. It becomes monotonous after awhile. This game
doesn't add anything new to the vertical shooter genre.
In addition, I found the game to be too difficult. If I'm going to engage
in some mindless fun of blasting enemies, at least make it fairly easy
for me to have that fun. Or provide different difficulty levels for the
player to choose from. Even the Atari 2600 VCS had that. Raiden only
has one level of difficulty and it was probably intended to provide a
challenge. I found it frustrating Without the Continue Credits, I
wouldn't have gotten very far in this game at all. Technically, you're
supposed to be able to complete all 8 levels without any Continues.
Even with the Continues, I could never complete all 8 levels, so I tried
the Invincibility cheat. At that point I was able to complete all 8
levels in a relatively short period of time. Then the game just starts
over at level 1 and becomes even more difficult. So even if you are
proficient enough to complete all 8 levels without the cheat, the fact
is that Raiden is really a very short game, limited in both its appeal
and its scope. Having 99 levels would have been more appropriate.
Repeating the same 8 levels over and over again is boring. That is, if
you're even good enough to repeat the levels.
Another problem with the game is that there is no ending. There is no
ultimate goal to accomplish or feeling of satisfaction when you have
accomplished that goal. Every time you play, you're just trying to beat
your high score. And the game will always end with you technically
"losing," because it doesn't end until you have lost all of your ships.
So the game is a bit of a paradox. It's difficult to get very far in the
game, but if you manage to, you are not given an appropriate reward.
You simply start all over again. More variety and an ultimate goal are
needed in this game.
I also didn't think that there was enough variety among the 8 different
levels. All 8 levels basically looked and played the same. I would have
liked totally different scenarios from level to level.
The controller was very easy to use and it was a simple matter to master
the basic play mechanics. What made the game difficult for me was the
level of play of the enemies. However, it is easy for you to control
your ship and fire your weapons and bombs.
I didn't like the game information obscuring the right one-third of the
screen at all. The information should have been provided at the top or
bottom of the screen and the whole width of the screen should have been
available for gameplay.
The Bonus scoring method was another sore point with me. You only get
credit for the bonus points you collect from the last time you lose a
ship until you complete a level. That means that every time you lose a
ship, you also lose all your bonus points collected up to that point.
Since I usually lost at least one ship when fighting the "End Boss,"
I many times wound up with no bonus points. So I think that the bonus
point system is unfair. There is also no provision for getting free
ships.
Raiden was the third game released for the Atari Jaguar and it may have
been released because the Jaguar needed games quickly and it was an easy
arcade port. I also realize that if the Jaguar Raiden is indeed
identical to the arcade Raiden, then most of my complaints apply to the
original game and not to the Jaguar translation of that game. If
Jaguar Raiden plays like arcade Raiden, then Atari did a great job
with this game, but I guess that means that I don't like arcade Raiden.
In any event, I hope that when Jaguar games are more plentiful that we
don't see another game of this calibre.
Closing Comments:
Raiden is a simple vertical shooter that is too difficult to play and
that is lacking in variety, scope, and originality. It is not an
addictive type of game that keeps you coming back one more time to try
to get to the next level. And even if it were that type of game, there
are only 8 levels in the game before the levels repeat themselves. The
concept behind Raiden is not that much fun to start with, and once you
play it there is not much to bring you back for more. Raiden is a
difficult but short game, with limited replay appeal.
Ratings (based on 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest):
Graphics: 7
Sound FX/Music: 7
Control: 9
Game Manual: 1
Entertainment Value: 6
Reviewer's Overall Rating: 6
Quick Ratings Comments:
Graphics: The graphics were crisp, clean, and colorful, but didn't add
much to the gameplay.
Sound FX/Music: The sound effects were of good quality and music played
throughout the game. I also liked the selection of music and kept it on
during gameplay. It never got on my nerves. However, neither the sound
effects nor other music were of CD quality.
Control: Using the controller was a breeze. It was easy to understand
and remember what to do and then easy to do it.
Game Manual: One of the worst game manuals I have ever seen for either a
video game or a computer game. Atari really needs to do something about
the Jaguar game manuals. Most of them are pretty bad. The Raiden manual
only contains two pages of actual text devoted to the game. The manual is
eight pages long, but two are for the covers, one is for the Help Line
and Warnings, one is for the title page, one is for the Credits and
Warranty, and one is for the two illustrations. So that's six pages of
boilerplate and only two pages devoted to the game. And out of those two
pages, most of one page is devoted to starting the game and changing the
volume.
The only things mentioned regarding gameplay itself is Game Controls,
Main Game Selection Screen, and Weapon Power-Ups. In the Game Controls
section, it simply mentions what the A, B, C, 0, and Pause buttons do,
but it does not give a description of those functions. For instance, for
the C button it simply says "Bomb," but it doesn't tell you what a Bomb
is or why you want to use it. It also doesn't mention how to reset the
game. Plus,there is absolutely no mention at all of how to use the
joypad to control the ship.
The section Main Game Selection Screen (MGSS) is mislabeled. The manual
describes the Game Information that is displayed while you are playing
the game, such as ships remaining and score. However, the MGSS is what
is displayed before you begin the game and the manual does not even
mention this at all. It allows you to select the number of players and
continue credits.
The section Weapon Power-Ups lists the names of the power-ups and tells
you what they are. However, it does not have pictures of the power-ups
nor does it describe what the different weapons do.
Finally, there is absolutely no section describing how you actually play
the game and there are many things missing from the manual altogether.
The manual doesn't explain and/or mention what a continue credit is, or
that you have a limited supply of bombs, or how many ships you start
with, or the Bonus Screen and how the Bonus is computed, or the High
Score Table and how to enter your name, or anything at all about 2-Player
Mode, except for the mention of Special Shot that can be used in that
mode. In addition, in Fig. I, the Pause button was mislabeled and the
line points to the Option button instead. Atari has made this mistake
in their Jaguar manuals before. Very careless work.
I have spent so long on the manual because I think the Raiden manual is
a disgrace. It is everything that a good manual should not be. The Atari
2600 VCS manuals were much better than the Jaguar manuals and that
should not be the case. I always read my game manuals and I feel
cheated when I receive a poorly written one. Many developers lament the
fact that the users don't read the manuals. Atari should try to
encourage people to read them by devoting more time and effort to
writing good ones. The Raiden manual has the opposite effect and is
probably the reason that some people are put off by manuals in the
first place. If Atari continues this practice it will probably be the
reason why more people don't read the manuals in the future.
Entertainment Value: I found Raiden to be more fun than the Jaguar game,
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, but not by much. Trevor had better
graphics than Raiden, but I guess I just like vertical shooters better
than side-shooters. All in all, Raiden was fun for a short time, but
after the novelty wore off and I saw how difficult the game was, I
didn't play it much.
Reviewer's Overall Rating: Out of the eight games currently available for
the Jaguar (through Alien vs. Predator), I would rank Raiden number 7.
Only Crescent Galaxy is behind it.
Summary:
When I bought the Jaguar in January 1994, there were only 4 games for
it, so I bought them all. Raiden was one of them. I didn't think it was
that much fun to play. At the time of this writing there are 8 games for
the Jaguar and more are on the way. So unless you really liked the
arcade version of Raiden and want a copy for the Jaguar or unless you
really want a vertical shooter, I would stay away from this game.
___________________________________
> Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Cybermania '94
From: Benjamin S. Martin <bmartin@csugrad.cs.vt.edu>
Date: 5 Nov 1994 23:18:40
How many people actually watched this show. It was pretty bad.
They tried really hard to get a good show, and it was good in
the beginning. But quickly went downhill. They put too much
Hollywood bizzazz in it. Console gaming were hardly represented.
Computer games and console games were put into the same categories.
Most of the time the computer have better graphics, sound, music,
etc. (but have are VERY boring IMHO). And that held up here.
Computer games won 10 out of the 12 awards. And one of the awards
(Best Portable) was not really open to computer games. The other
console game winner was Mortal Kombat(they didn't say if it was I
or II). And that won Best Overall Game. This category that was voted
on by the players, Hmmmm... Think they will get the hint and
concentrate on Console gaming a little more next year. I mean, come on!
They had an award for best CD game, why not have one for best cartridge
game or Arcade game. And then they would stop the show to give out
'secret' tips and codes for games. This was REALLY cheesy. They also
had Leslie Nielsen(sp?), the host, go off and do things that had NOTHING
to do with games. They lost my attention big time here. They had a musical
segment too. I have nothing against Herbie Hancock, but I felt that this
could have been left out all together. The whole musical bit was what I
think is the low point of the show. Overall I think the show sucked.
Why?
1. Too much attention given to computer games.
2. Too little attention given to console games.
3. NO attention given to Arcade games.
4. Cheeesy game tips given out, that made the show really dumb!
5. Stupid Hollywood intermissions, that had no relevance here.
(Ex. Leslie's shootout with cowboys.
The ballon man-funny but irrelevant
That Roger Rabbit guys jokes- Scratch that. He was good.
The wrestlers- Why?
The Simcity competition, between the Mayor of SB,and the whiz kid.
The circus midgets.)
6. REALLY dumb categories
(Ex. Best Actor/Actress
Best Comedy- Huh?!
Best MusicAL- Not best Music, Best Musical, pointless)
7. No envelope please, the Newton please
8. Not enough categories, they could of had much, much more.
Anyway I thought there was definitely room for improvement.
And did anyone notice that while they were taking votes for
best overall game, that most computer votes were for Doom.
Yet most Phone votes were for Mortal Kombat. Hmmmm....
Maybe because those who have access to Prodigy play Doom.
And most who don't have access, don't have a computer,
and therefore don't play Doom. I was wondering if these if
these people had a clue of what is going on out there.
Here are the winners:
Best Action/Adventure: Doom (ID Software)
Best CD-game :7th Guest(Trilobyte Inc./Virgin Games)
Best Portable :Disney's Aladdin(Sega of America/Disney Software)
Best Comedy :Wacky World of Miniature Golf(Philips Interactive)
Best Art and Graphics:Myst(Broberbund)
Governor's Award for
Best Achievement in
Virtual Reality :Iwerks Entertainment
Best Musical :Explorer(Peter Gabriel)
Best Simulation
or Strategy :Simcity Enhanced CD-Rom(Interplay Productions Inc.)
Best Sports :Caesar's World of Boxing(Philips Interactive Media)
Best Actress :Grace Zabriskie(Voyuer)
Best Actor :Robert Culp(Voyuer)
Best Overall Game :Mortal Kombat
My question:
Which Mortal?
1 or 2? SNES, Genesis, or Arcade?
--
Ben Martin e-mail:bmartin@csugrad.cs.vt.edu
...Life is but a dream...
And Squaresoft makes it come true...
-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/
* *
J The STReport "Name the Jaguar Games" Contest J
A Win a Jaguar tee-shirt _and_ A
G An Official In-Store Atari Jaguar Banner!!! G
* *
J ____ ____ ___ ____ ___ __ / J
A / / / / ` / / / / / / / ` / A
G / /---/ / __ /___/ / / / /__ / / G
* \ / / / / / / \\\ / / / / / / *
J \/ / / /___/ / \\\ /___/ /___ /___ \__/ * J
A \\\ A
G \\\ G
* *
-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/-STR-/
As an avid Jaguar fan, we're sure that you've been keeping a careful eye
on the growing list of Jaguar games coming out. You _have_ been keeping
track, right? Well, we want to find out just how attentive you've been;
and we're willing to reward you for your concentration!
What do you have to do? That's easy, or is it...? We want you to name
the first 20 games available for the Jaguar - IN ORDER OF RELEASE - and
be the first one to do so!
That's right, just send us a card or letter with the first 20 games out
for the Jaguar! Games include cartridges and CD-games. Oh, there aren't
20 games out yet? Well, there has to be some challenge to a contest!
You'll also need to send us your name and address, of course.
1st Prize will be an official Atari Jaguar tee-shirt AND an official
in-store promotional Jaguar banner!
2nd prize will be a Jaguar tee-shirt (identical to the one above).
3rd prize will be a "JAG RULES!" rubber stamp which is normally available
exclusively from Artisan Software!
Entries will be judged, and prizes will be awarded by the Atari/Jaguar
editor of STReport, Dana Jacobson. Release dates are determined as
_actual_ first-time availability of games, including Atari-published
and 3rd-party games. The Jaguar pack-in game, Cybermorph, counts
(hint: it should be #1!!)
All entries must be received by December 20, 1994. The winners
will be announced in STReport online magazine, in the issue scheduled
to be released on Friday, December 23, 1994.
To be eligible, please submit your entry which clearly lists your choices
of the first 20 games (numbering them helps!) Also include your name and
address. Winners will be determined by a random drawing until the first
three winning entries are found. Contest is valid in the United States and
Canada only. Employees of Atari Corporation and staff members of
STReport or Amiga Report are not eligible to win. This contest is void
where prohibited by law.
Send your entry, your name and address to:
Jaguar First 20 Games Contest
STReport Online Magazine
1121 Saratoga Street
East Boston, MA 02128-1225
USA
Again, 1st prize includes a Jaguar tee-shirt and a Jaguar banner! The
tee-shirt is 100% cotton. It's a black crew-neck shirt with the Atari
Jaguar name on the chest. On the back is the famous Jaguar logo. The
banner is the same as you've seen at your favorite Jaguar dealer. What?
You haven't seen one? Well, it measures 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall!
The Jaguar logo consists of those piercing yellow Jaguar eyes above the
dark red Jaguar, claw marks and all! These banners are collector's
items which are almost impossible to get anywhere! Rumor has it that
this one may have been discovered in a rare cache somewhere in the
bowels of Sunnyvale. And it can be all yours! Show it off proudly on
the wall of your room or fly it out your window! All of your friends
will want one, but only you will have one. It's awesome! JAG RULES!
The 2nd prize consists of the Jaguar tee-shirt, as described above.
The 3rd prize is the official "JAG RULES!" rubber stamp! Use a bright
red ink pad (not included) for a vivid 2.25" by 1.5" image of JAG RULES in
the impact of the Jaguar logo type style. Use it as an economical way to
advertise your enthusiasm of the Atari Jaguar. Stamp your letters and your
envelopes. Stamp your arm as a tattoo. Stamp your money. Stamp school
notebooks and post-its. Writing a letter to your favorite software
company?
Stamp it! Sending a birthday card to your best friend? Stamp it!
Dropping a postcard to your brother at school? Stamp it! Let everyone
know you're a Jaguar gamer. After all, in the empire of high technology
entertainment systems, JAG RULES!
For an example of the JAG RULES logo, call the CATscan BBS. Dial
209/239-1552. Download file: JAGRULES.ZIP. File is ZIP'd and requires
PKUNZIP to decompress. Or, call your favorite online service to find it!
Need a tip to help you start thinking of these games? Drop us a line in
E-Mail to either DPJ on Delphi, 71051,3327 on Compuserve, D.JACOBSON2 on
GEnie, or Internet mail at dpj@delphi.com. Or, call us at Toad Hall BBS
at (617)567-8642 and leave a private message to Dana Jacobson.
Are you still here? Start your list of games now!! You may even get some
useful tips elsewhere in this and past/future issues of STReport!
Credits: STReport and its staff would like to thank Atari Corporation
for its generous donation of the banner and tee-shirts.
****
Tradenames herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning
companies.
Permission hereby granted to re-post this contest text, in its entirety,
anywhere that you feel it would be appropriate - your favorite BBS,
user group newsletter, magazine, etc. Please spread the word!
___________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by
Joe Mirando
73637,2262
Hello again good neighbors. I hope you've enjoyed the past week. It
looks like that was the last of the warm weather for a while, it now gets
dark earlier, and that certain "snap" is in the air. Can it be long 'till
the snow flies and we have to deal with one of the worst scourges the
planet has ever known... those stupid plow drivers that go up and down the
highway with the plow blades up for eight hours so that they are sure to
get some overtime. Gee, I guess I need a vacation, huh?
Well, at any rate, I'm glad that those guys don't ever have to plow
along our electronic highway. It works out very conveniently... no snow,
no snow plows. Line noise, on the other hand... <big smile>
Okay, let's get on with all the news, hints, tips, and info available
every week right here on CompuServe...
From the Atari Computing Forums
===============================
William Root tells us:
"My local public library here in Sacramento has opened up to modem use
to access their research files but I'm having trouble getting on. The
telephone ladies there are very helpful but are not computer literate.
They can tell me that most of the trouble is folks with modems that do
not have MNP. Can anyone tell me what that is? Also, they ask for VT102
and my comm.prg only lists VT100. My software is STTALK PRO and modem
is SMART ONE made by Best Data and platform is Atari ST."
Sysop Bob Retelle asks William:
"What exactly happens when you have trouble connecting to the
library..?
MNP is an older error correction and compression scheme for modem
communications that has been largely replaced by the v.32 and v.42
standards. Not having MNP shouldn't really be a problem for basic
telecommunications.
Also, VT100 should work just fine... VT102 is just another variation
on the same terminal emulation."
William tells Bob:
"When I call the number, it connects but then spits out ASCII stuff
always starting with WA. Could their computer be looking for IBM
specific and is confused by the Atari signal?"
Bob tells William:
"Hmm.. sounds like the library may be using a BBS program that uses
"ANSI graphics" to do things like draw boxes around text and change
colors on the screen. (IBM specific graphics)
Usually thoses are set up to start out in plain vanilla ASCII, then
ask if you want ANSI graphics.
You may have to try to get in touch with the specific person at the
library who set up the BBS, as it sounds like the ones you've talked to
don't have a clue as to what it's al about.
Your Atari and terminal program should be able to make a standard
connection with any ASCII service.. there really isn't anything special
or different about it."
William replies:
"Sounds like I should take a trip down to the library and pound on the
counter a little bit. ;)"
John Trautschold of Missionware Software (read his post and see if you
can tell what product he handles) tells William:
"If the library is spitting out ANSI/IBM graphics, you may want to
consider upgrading to a new telecom program such as Flash II. We fully
support IBM/ANSI graphics and have a number of folks use it to
regularly log onto library computer BBS'.
P.S. We've got a demo of Flash II in the library. Enter GO ATARIVEN
at the main CIS prompt and enter library, section 10, Missionware.
Look for the file FLS221D.LZH and download it. If you haven't already
got a program that can uncompress LZH files, you'll need that too. If
that's a bit more than you can handle right now <grin>, let me know and
I'll email you the demo... The Flash II demo is fully functional in
all regards. All it does is limit your online time and size of uploads
or downloads. ANSI mode should work just fine for him."
When Nick Nimmy asks about what he needs to add a hard drive to his ST,
Sysop Bob Retelle tells him:
"Just to list the essentials, you need basically three things to add a
hard drive to an Atari ST..
First of all is the host adapter... that goes between the ST and the
hard drive.
Next is the hard drive itself.. just about any SCSI drive can be used.
Last is a case and powersuppl to mount and power the drive.. a cheap
PC case is a good choice, and the host adapter can be mounted inside
too."
Brian Gockley of ST Informer Magazine adds:
"Most Atari mail order stores sell plug and play hard drives. Try
calling either Computer STudio or Toad: 1-800-253-0201 or 800-448-8623
respectivley. If you'ld rather build your own, then anyplace will do!"
Frank Heller tells Nick:
"The Supra Corporation makes a couple of "plug N play" hard drives for
the ST's. They come in 52meg and 120meg flavors. They are quite
reliable and they are pretty quiet (ambient noise-wise)."
Brian Gockley reminisces:
"My first hard drive was a Supra, it worked great fpr about 5 years. I
don't know if they are still available though."
While we're on the subject of hard drives, Gerard Bewick asks for help:
"I have a Mega ST2 with a Hard Drive problem. I cannot acces my ST
tools says I have a bad Boot Sector and cannot correct it. I have also
tried St tune up and it was not able to do anything. I cannot even Zero
the partition with HDX. My system has TOS 1.2 and a Megafile 30. If you
can help please contact VIA e-mail."
Andreas Rosenberg tells Gerard:
"You are in big trouble I think. First you need to know which sector
is bad on your drive. On fixed drives there are more 'boot' sectors
unlike to floppies, that have only one. On fixed drives you have a boot
sector on each partition (logical drive) and one for the physical drive
itself (mostly called the master boot record (MBR) or root sector). If
'only' a logical boot sector is bad you may be able to repartition your
drive and exclude this sector from being used by any partition. If the
MBR is bad you only have one chance. You could low level format the
driveand look if the MBR is working again. But I wouldn't store any
important data on this drive any more. If the MBR gets faulty again
(weak bits) your data is lost also. You should also check if your
drive is spinning yet. Media defects are quite seldom and result mostl
from shocks during operation or transport. More likely are
recalibration problems (the head cannot access tracks any more) or
other mechanical problems. You should also check the cable between
computer and hard disc. If one wire is broken you won't be able to read
correct data from your drive."
Mike Myers asks about his printer:
"I'm using a Star Printer and, when I bring the paper up to the bail,
printing doesn't start for about an inch to an inch and a half below
the top edge of the paper. Is there any way to get the print up to the
top edge?"
Sysop Bob Retelle tells Mike:
"It may be that the printer can't physically print any higher han
that..
It sounds like you're using single sheet paper.. with "pin fed" paper,
with the little holes along the sides, you can position the beginning
of the second sheet anywhere you want it, right to the top of the page
if you want, essentially wasting the first sheet... but with single
sheets, there's nothing for the printer to grab onto to hold the paper
until it gets that high.
My new HP DeskJet can't print any higher than about half an inch,
which means it offsets the print down and can only print about 60 lines
per page.. most software is set up for 66 lines per page, so it makes
quite a mess unless you have intelligent software and print drivers.
Unless you have the manual for the printer and can check to see if
there's any kind of setting you can change, you may be stuck with that
"feature" of the printer..."
Jonnie Santos shares his experiences:
"Having such large top and bottom margins is why I went to tractor
feed paper on my printer.
I know on the LJ4 at work I can get down to almost 1/4 inch which is
fine - so guess I should had a new printer to my wish list too...
...geesch! it never stops, eh?"
Peter Joseph asks Bob about his printer:
"About your new HP, which model did you get? I'm looking at the
DJ-560C to use with both my MegaST and PC with a switch. I hope the 60
line limitation you're talking about is with the Atari and not a PC.
I'd hate to find myself with that limitation on such a popular new
printer."
Bob tells Peter:
"I got the HP 520 Deskjet about a month or so ago.. now I see there's
an even newer model out that can be converted to color, and is about
the same price as I paid for mine...
The limitation on the usable page area is inherent in the Deskjet,
unfortunately. It's very similar to the situation with laser
printers.. there's just no way to be able to print right up to the top
of the page with the single sheet fed paper handling these printers
use.
With the proper printer drivers it's not as bad as it sounds, although
there ARE problems printing directly from DOS.. for example, just using
PRINT can give you a full sheet and a second sheet with three or four
lines on it, per "normal" page.
I ind that instead of just doing a quick dump of a doc file, say.. I
end up loading everything into MicroSoft Works which DOES have the
proper driver under DOS, and which does a very good job of printing on
the DeskJet.
And with Windows, there's practically no problem at all, once you
install the DeskJet driver."
John Masters tells Bob:
"I have had a DJ520 for about a month now and I use them in college.
With a little (all right a LOT) of paience and >>>the proper printer
drivers<<< you can get 64 lines per page, losing one from the top and
one from the bottom. You need to experiment with the page formatting in
your WP. Sometimes on the college machines, using Word for Windows, I
do not have time or patience to get it right so I bring the doc home
and print it from my Atari (Protext v6.5, brilliant).
My problem with the DJ520 is printing envelopes!"
Getting back to the original problem, Peter Joseph tells Mike Myers:
"I have a Star printer too and I have the same trouble. I have it
hooked up to my PC now and it continues to be a hassle. The stupid
bail bar is half the trouble. I'd take the front cover off, but the
printer won't work without it in place. I suppose I could jumper the
cover switch, but I don't really want to. Besides, the dang thing is
already loud enough with the cover on!
A worse problem for me however is getting ribbons and at a decent
price. I have the SR-15 from the early Jurassic era I believe <g>,
and I think the ribbon is proprietary! Anyway, from Star it costs
about $25. I've had the printer about 8 years and I've changed the
ribbon only twice I think, if that tells you anything."
"Jim" asks about upgrading his 520 ST:
"I am seeking help on upgrading a 520STFM from 0.5meg to 1meg. I
realise that this is something that most of you have done some time ago
so there may be some one out there who can help me. I would like to
know what chips I wil need to obtain and the general procedure on doing
the upgrade."
Bob Retelle, that Sysop guy tells Jim:
"If your STFM is the 520 that was based on the 1040 motherboard,
you're in for an easy memory upgrade...
You'll need 16 memory chips, 256K x 1 and just about any speed faster
than 150ns.
You'll also need 16 decoupling capacitors and three resistors... I'm
not sure what the exact values are, but you should be able to get ones
similar to the ones already in your ST.
The capacitors go next to the RAM chips, and the resistors go in the
traces from the MMU chip to the new bank of RAM. You'll probably have
to trace the lines leading back to the MMU (check the existing RAM bank
to see what they look like), to where you find two solder pads right
next to each other. That's where the resistor goes... there are
threeplaces like that, each in a different trace.
Perhaps the most difficult and time consuming part of the upgrade is
removing the solder that's in the holes where the new RAM will go.
During the manufacturing process, all the empty holes on the
motherboard get filled with solder. You'll have to use a low powered
soldering iron and a solder sucker or solder wick to remove the solder
in the holes. Be very careful and take your time.
One option to consider is to install IC sockets on the motherboard,
then plug the new RAM chips into them. It will make replacing a chip,
if it's ever necessary, a lot easier. It's also a lot safer than
soldering the RAM directly.
Let us know if you have any questions about doing the upgrade..."
Richard Detlefsen explains a bit about Ramdisks:
"Ramdisks use a section of ST memory for a disk lookalike. If the
power goes, so does everything in it. It is used only for temporary
storage of programs and data-but accessed very fast. Anything
important must be copied to a real disk/hard drive before turning off
the computer. If you only have 1 meg, then you don't have much space
for current applications. With 4 megs, there is plenty of room for a 1
or 2 meg ramdisk with most programs happy."
Mike Myers tells Richard:
"I think I have set up a somewhat better equivalent. I have UIS, and I
set up a folder for transfers, as needed. I can put files into it,
until I figure ut where they are to go later. And it survives shutdown.
my question is, is that all a ram disk does?"
Mike Mortilla adds his own thoughts on the subject:
"The real valuse of a RAM disk is in applications where temp files are
stored and accessed. For example, WordPerfct creates several temp
files during operation. If you use a RAM disk the program access to
these files is immediate. It also saves access to the HD or floppy."
From the Portfolio Topic in the Palmtop Forum
=============================================
Jon Sanford posts:
"I am expecting a Portfolio by UPS today. I had one before but lent it
to my son while he went to college. Since I would have to kill him to
get it back now I just bought a nother. It will take me a while to
remember & relearn.. Fortunatly I will be getting the original DOCs &
a 3rd party book.
Things to keep in mind:
1. check the for sale sections on CIS. I found the one i an waiting
for in the Atari Forum...Altho all inquires about Portfolio are
directed here from there.
2. There is a BASIC & FORTH that I know of.
3. see 1.
4. AtARI is not makeing computers now. They still sell some Falolns &
STs they have in stock. Don't expect anything from Atari... <B{(
5. the builtin spread sheet prg. is Lotis compatible. (Not from
experence just what i read)
6. Find the Book ..I can give you the name & publisher RSN.. there are
address, Data base, Calander, Calculator..Prgs buit in.. There are
lots of stuff in the librarys here.
Since I have been lurking this Forum I don't see a lot happening. But
in my experience Forums have quiet times with out really being dead...
I am always happy to share my ignorance & confusion...There is plenty
for everybody..<B{>"
James King posts:
"I've had mine for quite a while now and love it. My wife and several
of my friends have and use them. Although there are others with wider
sales and "press" the Port is still the best bargain. You might contact
Dave Stewart on CIS (73770,2021, I think), who has a service called
Re:Port, including a newsletter and "add-ons".
Because the editor and card files are TXT files, they are very
flexible. The worksheet is 1-2-3 compatible. My work and home computers
have successfully imported them ( as 1-2-3 files) into Excel.
I'm sure that you will enjoy it.
JF Davington tells about his uses for the Portfolio:
"I use the Portfolio and Lotus organizer and exchange data regularly
with Portman for Windows which is available in lib 9. I wrote the
program to learn how to program for Windows. Its not perfect but its
free and I expect to have The Portman 2.0 out within a couple of weeks.
This version will have field mapping and more. Keep an eye out for it.
The Portfolio may be a bit out dated but I still find it has *THE BEST
KEYBOARD* available on any palmtop I've seen (Well, if I'm wrong, will
someone please educate me?) and to me that counts a lot in a palmtop.
Any way that's me two bits."
Sysop Judy Hamner posts:
"The Port does not have expandable memory. If you are talking about
the RAM IC cards, I would assume that you can buy them from Atari as
long as their stock lasts. They may not have every size.
If anyone has contact with Atari, it would be appreciated if you
report your experience here. There are still a lot of Port fans who
want to know what is available and how to contact them."
Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week,
same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
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STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
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> A "Quotable Quote" He WANTS to be the US President!?
"""""""""""""""""
May 1, 1990 --
Quayle warns of the danger of asteroids crashing into Earth:
"It would certainly benefit all nations to know when such a natural
event might occur ... Those same asteroids which promise material
riches can be a threat as well."
hmmmmm.....
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> DEALER CLASSIFIED LIST STR InfoFile * Dealer Listings *
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ---------------
ABCO Incorporated
=================
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155
Est. 1985
1-904-783-3319
1994 Fall SPECIALS NOW IN EFFECT!
EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND!!
---------------------
ABCO manufactures custom storage devices!
TEN PERCENT OFF (10%) with this ad (clip)
INTEL 32 BIT 486/66, VLB w/Math CoProcessor
8MB ram upgradable to 64MB 1MB SVGA VESA VIDEO CARD
Sound Blaster Compatible Stereo Sound Card
DOS 6.2 - Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Included
256K CACHE - 1.44 FLOPPY Drive, Mouse & 101 deluxe Keyboard
340MB IDE hd - 2 SERIAL, 1 PARALLEL, 1 GAME PORTS
250W POWER SUPPLY TOWER SYSTEM - 14" SVGA 1024x768, NI 28dpi Monitor
66Mhz, S&H Incl 1295.00 - 595.00 with order, Checks OK, balance COD
Other higher powered packages available or, design your own!
100Mhz - Pentium Call for value added pricing!
Call: 904-783-3319 Anytime, Voice Mail
=====******=====
Syquest Removable 200mb 449.95 SCSI Drives(Priced Right!)
All Size Platters Available 200mb (84.95)
One Platter included with each Drive free!
Bernoulli! Call for Prices!
Diamond Computer High Speed Video Cards w/1-2mb VRAM
Greatly Enhances Windows SPEED and EFFICIENCY
Diamond High Performance Sonic Sound Cards Available
Soundblaster Cards and compatibles 8 & 16 bit
Creative Technologies' Sound Blaster 16 SCSI
&
Sound Blaster * AWE 32 * SUPER Sound Card
Media Vision Line - True Multi-Media
IDE Super IO cards & 16550 UART 2 & 4 Port Cards
SCSI ADAPTER CARDS & SCANNERS COLOR & MonoChrome
Call: 904-783-3319 Anytime, Voice Mail
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COMPUTER STUDIO
===============
WESTGATE SHOPPING CENTER
40 Westgate Parkway -Suite D
Asheville, NC 28806
1-800-253-0201
Orders Only
1-704-251-0201
Information
FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER
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EAST HARTFORD COMPUTER
======================
202 Roberts St.
East Hartford CT. 06108
1-203-528-4448
FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MEGABYTE COMPUTERS
==================
907 Mebourne
Hurst, TX 76053
1-817-589-2950
FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
SAN JOSE COMPUTER
=================
1278 Alma Court
San Jose, CA. 95112
1-408-995-5080
FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
CompuSeller West
================
220-1/2 W. Main St.
St. Charles, IL., 60174
Ph. (708) 513-5220
FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER
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(DEALERS; to be listed here FREE OF CHARGE, drop us a line in Email.)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine
-* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *-
AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON OVER 70,000 PRIVATE BBS SYSTEMS
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" November 10, 1994
Since 1987 copyright (c) 1994 All Rights Reserved No.1046
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of
The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and
Editorial 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. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein
may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without
prior written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication,
is believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of
STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and
contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use
or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained
therefrom.
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