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Silicon Times Report Issue 1119
SILICON TIMES REPORT
====================
INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
=============================
from
STR Electronic Publishing Inc.
A subsidiary of
STR Worldwide CompNews Inc.
May 12, 1995 No. 1119
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Silicon Times Report
International OnLine Magazine
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> 05/05/95 STR 1118 "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!"
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> From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""
It was as inevitable as the march of time itself... The Information Highway has
proven itself to be _the_ coming thing. Of this there can be no doubt. On the Highway,
there are no real or implied impediments to the wonders of creativity other than good
moral sense and taste. As such, there are very little, if any, of the narrow minded
corporate types that infest the online services uttering; "we (meaning Mr.. high and
mighty himself) don't feel that type of product is exactly what we are looking for.
Controversy and the true stories, honest reviews and faithful endorsements, Pictures and
voice overs don't attract?? Up to date news and inside track scoops don't attract
readers, users, subscribers?? These stagnant corporate types are the very pitfalls
(cancerous growths) the major networks are slowly dying from. Sure, they (the major
networks) are offering freebies and candy now, but as soon as the new users SEE what's
really on the Internet and the WEB especially, the major networks are in very serious
trouble. What are the majors going to offer once the new users see they can get so much
more in value by going through a server such as InternetMCI than accessing the Internet
via an expensive online service?? These "pinstripe suits" are actually deadly
liabilities to these online services their elitist attitudes have actually allowed the
Internet and all its "warts" to literally "blow away" even the biggest of big when it
comes to online participation. This very narrow-minded pinstripe suited group are the
very ones that literally killed an online service that we are all familiar with. The
"wake-up alarms" are ringing. I'm willing to bet they're too deaf from all the applause
they've given themselves instead of paying attention to the users.
The Internet is growing in leaps and bounds. Most all major software publishers
are making powerful provisions in their new software or updates to allow users to enjoy
the 'net to its fullest degree. The WEB.... the name's not pretty, but it sure tells
the true story. It is like a spider web. Once you've seen it and used it there is no
turning back. Its fantastic. Of course at slow modem speeds the graphics can drag on a
bit. Sure, you'll hear the "purists" say they go in using text only mode. Hah! They
remind me of the types who say; "it was good enough for my father.... its good enough
for me." Who do they think they are fooling? Its only themselves they are fooling.
Honestly, you do need a fast modem and a good connection. You need that anyway if you
are doing any type of serious modeming. The Online Services had better wake up and
"get with it" or the 'Net is going to take it all. As it appears now, this reporter's
opinion is, ("saying it like it is"), "the Internet is well on its way to obliterating a
number of the online services in fact, in mho, of the big five services; (CIS, AOL,
Delphi, Prodigy, Genie), only one stands any chance at all. The rest will soon be
pricey and slow gateways to the 'Net or gone.
The Telecommunications Revolution is upon the computing community. The shame is
the powerful decision makers at the Online Services appear to have little or no clue as
to what its all about. They're still busy being smug, conservative pinstriped dregs in
the face of the telecommunications awakening. We will, over the next few years, be
witness to the "big shake out" of the online pay services. The signs are all there.
Certain of those connected with these services who are "savvy" have already made changes
and shifts to ensure a spot in the scheme of things for themselves. Unfortunately, some
still haven't a clue. Some because of themselves and others because they are not up to
another competitive climb. The stiffly structured Online Service (again the big five)
of today, that tells you what you are going to and not going to see, do, post, etc.. Is
dead meat. The wide open, free style of the 'Net is what's happening ..period. Sure,
there are the political Exon's out there who'll try and tell you the "Net is the Devil's
Playground" these _panic mongers_ and wacky zealots who love to complicate our lives
with goofy laws hoping to make names for themselves are not going to survive the
efficiency of the 'Net. You see, no sooner do they jump up with this nonsense, the
modern day Paul Reveres notify the entire country in a matter of moments of the pending
skullduggery. This, coupled with the fact that the computing community is far better
informed and educated than the politicians give them credit for. Yes indeed you are
correct, I put the crafty politicians in the same class as the "enlightened executives
at the Online Services. They haven't a clue as to how far ahead the 'Net and its users
are.
Ralph...
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STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
""""""""""""""""
Publisher -Editor
""""""""""""""""""
Ralph F. Mariano
Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs
Section Editors
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PC SECTION AMIGA SECTION MAC SECTION ATARI SECTION
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R.D. Stevens R. Niles J. Deegan D. P. Jacobson
STReport Staff Editors:
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Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach
Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian
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> STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
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IBM/POWER-PC/PC SECTION (I)
===========================
Computer Products Update - CPU Report
------------------------ ----------
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Issue #19
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
******* General Computer News *******
>> TI Wins $51.8M Patent Judgment <<
After an eight-day trial, a federal jury in Dallas has awarded Texas Instruments Inc.
a $51.8 million patent-infringement verdict against California semiconductor makers
Cypress Semiconductor Corp., VLSI Technology Inc. and LSI Logic Corp.
Reports say the jury decided the three firms violated two TI patents that covered a
process to encapsulate semiconductors in plastic. (TI says its technology reduced costs
by providing a reliable packaging alternative to ceramics.)
Commenting on the ruling, TI attorney Richard J. Agnich told McCartney, "We continue
to wage the fight for intellectual-property protection worldwide, and it is heartening
that this jury agreed with our contention. We're very pleased with the decision. Respect
for intellectual-property rights is critical to the health of our industry."
It isn't over, though, because Cypress, LSI and VLSI say they will appeal. Says
Cypress CEO/President T.J. Rogers, "We will fight it with every means at our disposal."
>> Gateway Offers Home Pentium PC <<
Gateway 2000 Inc. has announced the P5-100 Family PCT, the newest member in its line
of home-oriented multimedia computers.
The P5-100 Family PC, based on a 100MHz Pentium CPU, is priced at $2,999 and joins
the company's current 66MHz 486DX2 and 60MHz, 75MHz and 90MHz Pentium Family PC models.
The P5-100 Family PC comes with a 1GB hard disk and a 64-bit PCI graphics accelerator
with 2MB of DRAM. Other standard features include a 17-inch Vivitron monitor; a
CompuServe starter kit; 8MB of RAM; a four speed, three-CD-ROM changer; and a TelePath
IIv 14.4 data/fax modem. Numerous software titles are also included.
>> IBM to Preload Win95 on PCs <<
Despite its substantial investment in OS/2 Warp, IBM Corp. has announced that its PCs
will also run Windows 95 when the new Microsoft Corp. operating system becomes
available.
IBM says it is working with Microsoft to ensure system compatibility and support of
Windows 95 for its customers, including support of the Plug and Play Specification 1.0A.
IBM also says it intends to preload Windows 95 on selected desktop and mobile systems
and will provide customer support for these preloaded systems through IBM HelpCenters
worldwide. In addition, IBM will work with Microsoft to establish a technical support
team to ensure customers that Windows 95 is compatible with IBM hardware.
>> Microsoft Unveils Kids Mouse <<
Microsoft Corp. has announced EasyBall, a computer mouse designed for children ages 2
to 6.
Compatible with Windows- and DOS-based PCs, EasyBall is designed to resemble a bright
yellow sun surrounded by Saturn-like rings. The device will ship with a copy of
Microsoft Explorapedia: The World of Nature, a children's interactive encyclopedia.
Microsoft notes that EasyBall's design offers improved control for little hands as
well as flexible software that's designed to grow with the child. In Microsoft usability
testing, EasyBall was preferred by kids over all the other mouse products tested, says
Microsoft.
EasyBall is scheduled to become available in September for $54.95.
>> Toshiba Cools Oregon Rumors <<
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. says that, while it is considering a new
chip plant abroad, it is not confirming reports it will build a $1 billion facility near
Portland, Oregon.
The Electronic Engineering Times is reported as saying it has learned the plant is
coming to Oregon, possibly with some investment from IBM. (It would be the first chip
facility for Toshiba outside of Japan).
However Toshiba officials as saying no decision has been made on location, form and
size of investment, or products to be manufactured at the prospective factory.
>> Dell Preloads Win95 Beta <<
Dell Computer Corp. says it's offering customers a limited number of computers
preloaded with an evaluation copy of Windows 95.
"The Dell evaluation platform for Microsoft Windows 95 will allow some Dell customers
the opportunity to preview Windows 95 before its official release," says Sue King,
director of software development at the Austin, Texas-based computer maker. "This
offering will allow Dell and a group of interested customers to experience Windows 95 in
a controlled, limited environment, before the large scale launch of Windows 95, which is
expected later this year."
Upon official release from Microsoft, Windows 95 will be offered across Dell's
desktop and notebook products and will also be the default operating system available on
all of Dell's desktop and notebook lines.
Windows 95 is scheduled for an August release.
>> Nintendo Unveils Virtual Boy <<
Nintendo of America Inc. reports that Virtual Boy, its new video game system, will be
launched in the U.S. on Aug. 14.
The $179.95 unit, which Nintendo describes as a "three-dimensional, virtual
immersion, 32-bit video game system," will be backed by more than $25 million in
marketing.
Virtual Boy will be bundled with a game title and a double-grip controller. An AC
adapter will become available later this year.
Virtual Boy is a RISC-based, 32-bit system that uses two high-resolution, mirror
scanning LEDs to produce a 3-D experience. Notes Nintendo: "Its unique design eliminates
most external stimuli, totally immersing players into their own private universe with
high- resolution red images against a deep, black background. The 3-D experience is
enhanced through stereophonic sound and a new, specially designed, double-grip
controller which accommodates multi-directional spatial movement."
"We're bringing a totally unique, 3-D gaming experience to market at an affordable
price and in time to get a jump on the holiday shopping season," says Peter Main, vice
president of marketing for the Redmond, Washington-based company. "We expect to sell
more than 1.5 million hardware units and 2.5 million pieces of software by the end of
1995."
>> Panasonic Cuts Notebook Prices <<
Price cuts of up to $1,100 are being made by Panasonic Personal Computer Co. on its
high-end multimedia notebook computers with integrated CD-ROM drives.
Reports quotes officials with the Panasonic unit of Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co. Ltd., as saying prices on the V41 line now start at $3,199 and vary depending on the
memory, the display monitor and hard disk capacity, among other items. The company
listed its highest V41 price as $7,399.
The officials also said the company has cut prices on its V21 notebook computer line,
offering them for a range of $2,099 to $4,099.
>> Japanese Firm Re-Packs Floppy <<
Working with two U.S. firms the Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries Ltd. has
developed a floppy disk and compatible drive with the largest-ever storage capacity of
120MB.
Sources say the new drive can read and write data on existing 3.5-inch floppy disks
as well.
The company says it has developed the products jointly with Compaq Computer Corp. and
3M Data Storage Products.
The developers say the new disk's capability equals the data storage potential of 83
3.5-inch high-density floppy disks, noting that the previous best was a U.S.-developed
floppy disk capable of storing 100 megabytes.
Look for the new disk and drive to be commercialized later this year.
>> Game Software Alliance Formed <<
Entertainment software publisher Electronic Arts says it has acquired a minority
stake in NovaLogic Inc., an interactive game maker.
Electronic Arts also reports that NovaLogic has signed a four-year agreement under
which Electronic Arts will have exclusive distribution rights for NovaLogic's CD- and
floppy- based entertainment software in English-speaking countries.
Founded in 1985, NovaLogic's products include Comanche, Armored Fist, WolfPack and
Ultrabots. Electronic Arts says the company pioneered real-time interactive 3-D
rendering for the PC with its proprietary Voxel Space technology.
The NovaLogic deal is the latest in a string of software publishing investments and
acquisitions made by Electronic Arts over the past several months.
>> HP to Use AMD '486 Clones in PC <<
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. says Hewlett-Packard Co. will begin producing PCs powered
by AMD's Am486 microprocessors.
According to AMD, HP will use the CPUs in some of its desktop PC systems. The models
are scheduled to begin shipping this summer.
"Because of continued, strong demand for 486 microprocessor-based systems, we need to
take advantage of the opportunity to solidify our microprocessor supply," says Richard
C. Watts, vice president and general manager of HP's personal information products
group.
AMD is the world's second-leading supplier of Windows-compatible PC microprocessors,
following only Intel Corp. AMD has shipped more than 75 million microprocessors since
1982 and more than 30 million CPUs in the last three years.
>> IBM Unveils New ThinkPads <<
IBM Corp. has added two new models to its ThinkPad notebook computer line. One of the
systems features a unique screen that allows the PC to work with an overhead projector.
The ThinkPad 755CV's snap-off active-matrix screen panel gives the system the ability
to "piggyback" onto standard overhead projectors. With the PC's rear panel removed,
images on the computer's screen become a see-through "slide show" that can be projected
on a wall or screen by the overhead projector's lamp. An infrared remote control with 22
special effects and built-in telephony features are also provided.
The ThinkPad 755CV is set to become available on May 31. Prices will start at $6,799
for a system featuring a 100MHz 486DX4 microprocessor, a 540MB hard disk and 8MB of RAM.
IBM is also offering the ThinkPad 755CX, which includes a conventional active-matrix
color screen, built-in telphony features, a lithium ion battery pack and a 75MHz Pentium
CPU.
The ThinkPad 755CX, with a 540MB hard disk and 8MB of RAM, is available now for
$6,549.
>> HP Offers New Home Printer <<
Reacting to the continued blossoming of the home PC market, Hewlett-Packard Co. is
introducing new color inkjet printers designed specifically for households.
Reports from HP's headquarters say the new printers include:
-:- The HP DeskJet 660C printer for IBM compatibles, to replace HP's DeskJet 560C.
-:- The DeskWriter 660C, to serve the Apple Macintosh market.
Michele Hamilton, HP deskjet product manager for the U.S. and Canada, said the
printers, both of which will sell for about $499, are intended to offer improvements
over earlier models in terms of print quality and ease of use for no additional cost.
"We're seeing a precipitous drop in PC prices fueling rapid growth of PCs into
homes," she said, "and where PCs go, printers go."
Hamilton added the new printers will be available in volume through retail outlets
nationwide next month.
>> Intel Makes WavePhore Deal <<
In a project to develop data broadcasting technology to receive data sent in TV
signals, chipmaker Intel Corp. has formed a technology alliance with WavePhore Inc.
Sources say Intel has agreed to pay $500,000 cash along with license fees and
royalties and may buy up to a quarter million shares of Wavephore.
Reports say the agreement provides for WavePhore's licensing of technologies to Intel
and Intel's granting to WavePhore of rights on the sale and distribution of products
incorporating WavePhore technologies.
>> IBM OS/2 Warp Sales Soar <<
A study by Computer Intelligence InfoCorp (CII) reveals that sales of IBM's OS/2 Warp
operating system have increased more than 300% since the product first became available
late last fall.
According to CII's StoreBoard Channel Tracking service, sales of Warp in March
surpassed 46,000 copies. In November, Warp's first month on the market, just under
11,000 copies were sold.
StoreBoard also says its most recent figures indicate that Warp edged out Windows 3.1
in retail market share during the first three months of 1995 - 19.5% versus 17.9%. Only
DOS managed a higher percentage (55.2%).
CII ascribes much of Warp's success to the large investment IBM made in marketing,
particularly in advertising targeted at the consumer market.
>> Apple Unveils TV Venture <<
Apple Computer Inc. says it will provide the interactive TV set-top technology for a
six- state trial of educational programming created by The Lightspan Partnership Inc.
The computer maker notes that Lightspan is creating an interactive television service
that will provide schools and homes with interactive curriculum programming for
children. The will include a programming series for teaching reading and mathematics to
children ages 4 to 12 and will be tested in ten school districts.
Additionally Apple and nCUBE Corp., a leading provider of interactive digital media
server solutions, have announced a low-cost interactive TV development system which will
allow information service providers and content developers to create home shopping,
education, video-on-demand and other ITV applications.
The development system, dubbed nVision, will be marketed by nCUBE and will
incorporate Apple technology. nVision, which includes nCUBE's video server, media server
software and Apple's interactive TV set-top technology, is among the first turnkey
end-to-end development packages on the market.
>> HP Unveils Printer Promotion <<
Hewlett-Packard Co. has unveiled Cash In & Trade Up, a promotion that's designed to
encourage customers to trade in their HP and non-HP laser printers for credit toward the
purchase of new HP LaserJet printers.
HP notes that by program participants can choose from new HP LaserJet printers that
include faster-page-per-minute engines, high-speed RISC processors, JetAdmin network
printing management software, 600 dpi resolution, duplex printing options, microfine
toner and Resolution Enhancement technology (REt).
"There are millions of earlier LaserJet printer models in good working order that are
still being used by customers," says Carolyn M. Ticknor, general manager of HP's
LaserJet printer group. "HP customers have asked for a way to upgrade to new LaserJet
printers without losing the value of their older printers."
To simplify trade-ins, HP will send packing and shipping materials and pay for
freight costs. Deinstallation assistance will be provided for trade-ins of 25 or more
printers.
All laser printers received by HP through the Cash In & Trade Up promotion will be
recycled and refurbished by HP's service organization.
The promotion begins May 1, and runs through Oct. 3. All authorized HP dealers will
honor the promotion.
______________________________________________
> PP'95 STR InfoFile
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Micrografx Announces Preview Version
------------------------------------
PICTURE PUBLISHER FOR WINDOWS 95
================================
Fully Multi-Threaded Image Editor
to Highlight User Benefits of Windows 95
Richardson, Texas (April-May, 1995) -- Micrografx, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGXI) has announced the
availability of a preview version of Picture Publisher for Windows 95 beta. The
application, which is the most complete multi-threaded and multi-tasking product
currently available, allows Windows 95 users to experience the true productivity and
performance enhancements provided by the operating system.
Anyone interested in Windows 95 ( including Microsoft's 400,000 Windows 95 preview users
( can receive Micrografx Picture Publisher for Windows 95 beta by calling
1-800-765-7859. The cost is free to registered users of the Windows 3.1 version of
Micrografx Picture Publisher 5.0, and $19.95 to all other users.
"I am extremely enthusiastic about Windows 95 and the advantages it gives to people
using computer graphics," said J. Paul Grayson, founder and CEO of Micrografx.
"Micrografx is poised to meet with great success as we execute our Windows 95
development strategy, and it's important we continue to share our success with users."
Micrografx Picture Publisher for Windows 95 is a fully exploitive 32-bit application.
The use of multithreading is extensive throughout the program's features, including all
image enhancements and filters. Users will experience a 50% improvement in performance
when working with large files and up to a 200% performance gains when applying filters.
Other enhancements include complete Windows 95 common dialogues and a customizable
interface.
To help users fully experience Windows 95, Micrografx is offering a CD-ROM preview
version of Micrografx Picture Publisher for Windows 95 to all users running the Windows
95 beta software. The program is the most comprehensive Windows 95 application
available today, and employs multithreading for all commands in the application.
"Since the beginning of the PC and GUI revolution, Microsoft has always worked will with
Micrografx and are very pleased with their application plans for Windows 95," said Brad
Silverberg, vice president of Microsoft's Personal Systems division. "Picture Publisher
for Windows 95 offers Windows 95 users tremendous performance gains, and we expect the
application to be a leading example of true multithreading on the desktop."
Micrografx Continues to Lead in 32-Bit Application Development
--------------------------------------------------------------
One of the first independent software publishers to deliver graphics software for
Windows 1.0 in the mid-80's, Micrografx continues to help computer users fully exploit
the power of their PC.
The company's work with Windows NT and Windows 95 began in the summer of 1993, and
resulted in a "shipping beta" version of Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT, which was
available to registered users of Picture Publisher. The project satisfied the needs of
the most technically demanding user of the product, and also provided valuable insight
into the process of porting and refining a true multi-threaded, multi-tasking
application. This experience has been leveraged during the Picture Publisher for
Windows 95 development, and has allowed Micrografx to enjoy a strong lead in Windows 95
applications.
Micrografx develops and markets graphics software to meet the creative needs of everyone
who uses a personal computer. Founded in 1982, Micrografx has become a leading software
publisher by responding quickly to customer and worldwide market needs. The company's
U.S. operations are based in Richardson, Texas, with a development office in San
Francisco. International subsidiaries comprise Canada, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and Japan.
________________________________________
> Internet Publisher STR FOCUS!
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NOVELL OFFERS INTERNET ACCESS
AND
PUBLISHING TO END USERS
Palm Springs, CA -- Spring 1995 -- Novell, Inc. Has announced WordPerfect
Internet Publisher for Windows, a free add-on to WordPerfect 6.1 that allows users to
easily create and view documents on the Internet--without having to learn hypertext
markup language (HTML). Novell also announced WordPerfect Internet Publisher Pro for
Windows, an open solution that provides users with seamless connectivity to the Internet
from within WordPerfect 6.1. The two products will be available in early second quarter
of 1995.
"With the simple click of a button on the WordPerfect 6.1 toolbar, Internet users
will be able to create, publish and view information anytime, anyplace," said Mark
Calkins, general manager of Novell's Business Applications Division. "Novell continues
to define its vision of pervasive computing by providing the tools and the access for
electronic publishing in a global data network."
Using WordPerfect, the world standard in word processing, anyone will be able to
create documents for the World-Wide Web, a global document network of servers, and
communicate with millions of people. With support for the most popular Internet
protocols, WordPerfect Internet Publisher and WordPerfect Internet Publisher Pro will
give users the tools and the access to global information through the world's most
popular word processing interface.
Easily Create and View Internet Files
-------------------------------------
The Internet Publisher gives WordPerfect 6.1 users everything they need to create
hypertext markup language (HTML) documents, the original document format of the
World-Wide Web. A template guides them through the process of creating an HTML document,
and a conversion program automatically converts the WordPerfect document into a native
HTML file. Users can access HTML features such as hypertext links, graphics and bullet
lists through the WordPerfect toolbar. With these tools, users do not need to learn an
HTML authoring tool or have a detailed knowledge of HTML.
In addition to the HTML template, the Internet Publisher includes NetScape
Navigator, a sophisticated browser for the World-Wide Web, with integrated WordPerfect
and Envoy viewers. The free availability of the WordPerfect and Envoy viewers enables
users to publish documents directly on the Web in native WordPerfect or Envoy formats.
No conversion to HTML is required. WordPerfect Internet Publisher can be downloaded
from the Internet, from the World-Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/ and from online
services.
Connect to the Internet
-----------------------
For users who need to get connected to the Internet, WordPerfect Internet Publisher
Pro on CD-ROM provides all the tools in the Internet Publisher, plus dial-up Internet
access software from Novell's LAN WorkPlace product, and a trial subscription to any of
several Internet service providers. The suggested retail price for Internet Publisher
Pro, including connecting software and service provider access, will be $49
(US).
Maintain Internet Files
-----------------------
Using the soon-to-be-released WordPerfect 6.1 SGML Edition, Internet users can edit
HTML documents in native format and re-post them to the World-Wide Web--a capability no
other word processor provides. HTML documents can also be converted into WordPerfect
documents by importing them into SGML Edition. When the document is saved, the user can
choose to save it as a WordPerfect or an HTML document. Users do not need to have a
detailed understanding of HTML to edit ASCII text and tags manually. The document can be
pulled from the Internet, edited and re-posted without any lengthy conversion or
learning of an authoring system.
For more information about the WordPerfect Internet Publisher, WordPerfect Internet
Publisher Pro and WordPerfect 6.1 SGML Edition, customers can call (800) 451-5151.
Information is also available on Novell's World-Wide Web home page at
http://www.novell.com/.
_______________________________________________
> Novell - Word Perfect STR FOCUS! Internet Gains More Support!
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NOVELL
INTERNET PUBLISHING SOLUTION
WHITE PAPER
Introduction
------------
The evolution of widespread computer use in the early 1980's was hailed by
environmentalists as the end of unnecessary deforestation because information could be
shared electronically rather than on paper. unfortunately, the exact opposite happened!
Paper use increased. In spite of this, buzz words such as 'paperless office' and
'paperless publishing' are still being used in discussions about the future of
computing. In the past, electronic documents presented few advantages over paper.
Software was engineered for document creation, not document consumption. Documents were
not distributed electronically because paper and monitors were different sizes, the
recipient didn't have the application used to create the document, and graphics and
fonts did not properly display on different systems. Furthermore, computers were
generally standalone machines and platform dependent, making document interchange no
easier than transferring documents on paper.
Finally, in the 1990's, the vision of publishing documents electronically is gaining
more credibility. Applications whose specific function is distributing and consuming
electronic documents are just now becoming available. The realization of a society that
consumes less paper is coming to fruition due to better networked environments and E-
mail systems to aid in document transfer, and most important, the ability of local
networks and individuals to connect to the Internet. Because electronic documents can
be distributed both faster and cheaper, they now have a great advantage over paper.
What's more, documents can be stored and accessed by users in disparate locations, using
different systems.
The Internet was developed by the U.S. military for the purpose of transferring
information to remote locations and has been in use by the government since the early
1970's. The Internet is a massive worldwide network of computers. The word 'Internet'
literally means 'network of networks.' The Internet comprises thousands of smaller
regional networks scattered throughout the globe. The Internet generally refers to the
physical side of the global network, the cables and computers. It does, however,
include some software that routes information packets to the correct address. The
Internet structure has significantly contributed to other projects that have used its
infrastructure.
The World-Wide Web (WWW or Web) project, which originated at CERN in Geneva Switzerland
in 1989, made the Internet more useful by using it as a backbone to connect over 7000
servers. The Web provides locations for information storage and is often referred to as
a body of information or an abstract space of knowledge. The 1993 introduction of
NCSA's Mosaic viewer transformed both the Internet and the Web from systems used
primarily by education and government, into an information exchange medium for the
masses. The Internet is now becoming the standard information storage and interchange
mechanism for many organizations including large business and government.
As a testament to its growth, on any given day in 1993 the Internet connected roughly
15-million users in over 50 countries. In 1994, that number grew to at least 30-million
users (according to a Honolulu Community College Study). Traffic growth, in bytes, was
even more impressive. From 1993 to 1994, traffic on the Internet doubled, and traffic
on the Web increased by over 1400% (according to gopher://nic. merit. edu:
7043/11/nsfnet/statistics).
By facilitating the exchange and reuse of information to connect suppliers, customers
and business partners worldwide, the Internet has the potential to change how businesses
operate. Businesses who fail to acclimate to this change could easily find themselves,
in only a few years, hopelessly outdated. It is interesting to note that currently over
50% of white collar workers have not heard of the Internet. This figure illustrates the
growth that is still to come in this market.
Electronic Publishing Problems on the Internet
In spite of its steady growth, interacting with the Internet is not an easy process. In
fact, an average computer user would have a very hard time even getting connected to the
Internet, not to mention retrieving information from or publishing information to the
Internet. Some of the problems include:
1. Connecting to the Internet
--------------------------
Connection requires a number of pieces, which, if the user knows little about
them, can be very confusing. Adding to the problem is that as the Internet
gains in popularity, so does information about available options. Additional
information about options that one does not understand is only more confusing.
What the average user needs is all of the tools delivered in one package, not
multiple options for each tool. Some of the pieces needed for Internet access
are:
* Web Browser -- An HTML browser that allows users to access Web documents.
NetScape and Mosaic are the most widely known.
* TCP/IP Stack -- TCP/IP is the Internet's communication protocol. The TCP/IP
stack is the software that, when loaded on a PC, interprets the information
that is sent over the Internet.
* SLIP-PPP, and LAN Drivers -- SLIP and PPP are two protocols that allow dial-up
access to the Internet through a serial link over normal phone lines. The LAN
Driver is used to connect directly to Ethernet.
Internet Access Providers -- The service providers have the service and servers through
which a user must call to access the Internet through standard telephone lines or direct
LAN connections. The service provider uses the server to house and administrate the
user's account on the Internet. The number of service providers is increasing rapidly.
In additional to the traditional niche players, software, hardware and
telecommunications firms are entering the market by either setting up their own
services, or purchasing smaller providers. This consolidation will bring even more
choice to Internet and Web users.
Some Internet Access Providers also provide Web Server Service. Users can
rent server space from Web Server Service Providers to house documents that
they wish to publish to the Web. Without space on a Web server, a user cannot
publish documents to the Web.
2. Publishing Documents
--------------------
HTML is the standard document format on the Internet. While many document
formats may be on the Internet, HTML is the Web standard and required for home
pages. All Web browsers (software that allows one to navigate the Internet or
"Surf the Net'), have the ability to view only HTML formatted documents.
HTML is subset of SGML. It is a special format of documents, including text
and graphics, that allows information to be viewed using Web browsers. HTML
strips a document of its formatting and layout and maintains only its content,
in the form of ASCII text, and its structure, in the form of tags that
encompass each element of the document. These tags define the location of
content, style, and hypertext links. Specifically, each element of a document
is preceded by an open tag and followed by a close tag. For example, the
title of a document would be preceded by a 'begin title' tag and followed by
an 'end title' tag. The title would look like this:
<title>This is a Title</title>
For this example, the tag was rather descriptive, but HTML tags arc very
cryptic. For example, a specific level heading tag in a Web document would
look like this:
<Hl>This is a Level One Heading</HI>
Without a very good understanding of HTML and the tagging structure, any given
tag would be meaningless.
Creating HTML documents is difficult. To author HTML documents, users are
typically technical and have a high level of understanding of Unix, SGML, and
HTML, meaning that few mainstream users author HTML documents. In fact,
entire service industries now exist around creating, tagging and validating
SGML/HTML documents because average users simply do not have the time or
expertise it takes to work in the SGML environment. These service industries
have used niche tools for authoring and validating SGML structure, and were
designed with the technical SGML user in mind. Because authoring in HTML is
difficult, the average computer user has been locked out of Internet
publishing.
Computer users generally create their documents in a proprietary file format
such as WordPerfect or MS Word. The average computer user who wants to author
and publish documents to the Web has only a few choices. The user can:
* Author their documents directly in HTML. This method requires
the user to learn HTML and possibly a different authoring system.
* Convert their proprietary documents into HTML for Internet publishing.
Without an automated tagging software configured for their needs, this
requires manually adding tags to ASCII text. To configure the automated
tagging software to their needs the user must either understand both HTML and
the tagging software, or employ an SGML expert requiring additional expense.
* Access proprietary file formats with viewers created specifically for that
purpose, alleviating the need to convert documents into HTML.
The optimum solution to HTML publishing would incorporate HTML authoring in a
mainstream word processing envirom-nent. This would require the HTML
authoring to be either transparent or easy for the user to accomplish.
Another key would be the use of a Web browser that allows not only the ability
to view HTML documents, but other standard document formats, such as word
processing and portable document formats. Then the user or consumer of the
information could get at not only Web home pages, but other types of
information as well over the Internet.
3. Managing Documents
------------------
Once documents are posted to the Internet, they must be maintained and
revised. Because of the difficulty in working with the HTML format, HTML
documents have been viewed as static or non-editable. Considerable effort is
expended to convert documents into HTML; to edit and revise existing documents
would require a similar effort. It is seldom the case that documents are
static. By some estimates, 85% of published information changes at least once
a month. This is hardly a new problem. In the past, one of the larger users
of the Internet has been education, an institution that is ripe with cheap
and/or free labor. Many graduate students have been kept busy maintaining
educational servers. Unfortunately, business doesn't have access to the same
quantities of free labor. They must pay competitive wages, so Web server
maintenance becomes quite expensive. Publishing houses experience yet another
problem. A publishing house that intends to publish up to 1900 magazine
documents to their Web server as an additional service to their subscribers
finds its efforts have been stalled because of the lack of electronic
publishing tools available to maintain and revise the Web documents.
One of the big advantages of HTML is that information can be stored, used and
reused without the worry of disparate operating systems, non-compatible
proprietary file forinats, or the need to continually reformat. Both of these
activities require editing existing HTML documents. The same problems with
publishing HTML documents apply to editing them. There are no mainstream
editing tools. To edit HTML documents, users must:
* Edit pure ASCII text, including the manual editing of tags and
understanding HTML structure. This requires that the user has
patience and a good knowledge of HTML.
* Convert HTML information into a proprietary forrnat for editing
and convert back to HTML for Web posting. This is a three-step
process and still requires knowledge of HTML codes for tagging,
and a validation process for correct HTML output.
* Learn a new document processing system, which requires knowledge of HTML and
leaniing an unfamiliar authoring envirorunent.
Each of these options involves time-consuming processes and aid the perception that HTML
documents are difficult to create and edit. These methods also force document revisions
to be document rewrites. As Web documents grow in number, it will become unacceptable
to rewrite each document that only needs revision.
The Internet Publishing Solution
--------------------------------
For over a decade, WordPerfect has been the world-wide standard for word processing.
With over 17-million users, WordPerfect documents is one of the most familiar
environments in which to author documents. As technology has changed, WordPerfect has
integrated such changes to give users the most advanced technology in document
processing. The recent release of WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows is a testament to this
philosophy. The following are excerpts from the press:
"In our view, WordPerfect 6.1 is the strongest of the three [Windows word
processors]. WordPerfect has always been laden with features, but this latest
version makes significant progress in making these features simple to use ...
Word for Windows lacks some of the sophisticated document filing capabilities
of WordPerfect, which could make finding documents more of an ordeal on a
complex system."
Business Consumer Guide, December 1994
"WordPerfect 6.1 is a coup d'etat over Microsoft's Word and Lotus's Ami Pro.
You'll find many improvements in WordPerfect 6.1 that you didn't think were
possible ... Usability is just about as good as it gets ... An unparalleled
combination of power and ease of use."
Five-star rating in the November issue ofPC/Computing
"PerfectSense is the first breakthrough in editing that I've seen in a long
time," said Jeffrey Tarter, editor of Soft*letter in Watertown, Mass.
"WordPerfect's a good two years ahead of the competition."
Quoted in PC Week, August 15, 1994
Over three years ago, WordPerfect Corporation saw that electronic document delivery was
the wave of the future, and formed an electronic publishing team. This team is
comprised of electronic publishing tools experts who have studied market research,
reviewed customer feedback, and developed the strategy and tools for bringing electronic
publishing and document interchange to the mainstream. The electronic publishing tool's
group has been involved in various consortiums that explore electronic document
delivery, such as SGML Open and the ODA Consortium. WordPerfect Corporation has
actively supported non-proprietary file formats (e.g., SGML and ODA) and has released
electronic publishing tools (e.g., Intellitag, Envoy, ConvertPerfect/ODA) that make
electronic document delivery a reality.
Because WordPerfect Corporation has established itself as the first major vendor to
provide a complete electronic publishing solution, the merger with Novell, Inc. only
only added to the work that had been accomplished over the past three years. The
Internet is the next technological frontier in electronic document delivery, and Novell
is poised to deliver the tools its users need for a successful Internet publishing
solution.
In establishing the strategy for Internet Publishing, Novell has three goals:
1. T o e n able users to use WordPerfect as their authoring system of
choice for Internet publishing and electronic document delivery.
2. T o e n a ble users to view not only HTML formatted documents, but
also native WordPerfect documents and Envoy portable documents.
3. T o p rovide users with the first superior Web document maintenance
solution.
To achieve these goals, Novell realizes it must provide a family of electronic
publishing tools the customer can choose from to access, author, and browse the
Internet. The choice will be based on the pieces the user currently owns and currently
needs.
The products are:
Internet Publisher
WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows SGML Edition
Internet Publisher
------------------
This product is designed for the WordPerfect user who is already connected to the
Internet. As stated in the introduction, one of the problems that Internet users have
is that they must either publish HTML documents to the Web, or they must have access to
viewers for proprietary formats. The Internet Publisher solves this problem as well as
achieving the first two goals of the Internet family of products. Specifically, the
Internet Publisher provides:
Puhlishing Solution
-------------------
Internet Publisher contains everything a WordPerfect 6.1 user needs to create
HTML documents. A WordPerfect 6.1 template is provided, which guides a user
through the process of creating an HTML document. This allows the user to
easily create HTML documents from within WordPerfect. A conversion program is
also included which will automatically convert the document to native HTML and
bring up the included Web browser to view the 'final form' of the Web
document. HTML features such as hypertext links and bullet lists are accessed
through the toolbar. With this tool, the user does not need to learn a new
HTML authoring tool or have a detailed knowledge of HTML.
With the WordPerfect viewer (explained helow), users simply need to create and
publish WordPerfect documents, bypassing HTML altogether. Users can also
publish Envoy documents and view Envoy files existing on the Internet. The
HTML browser allows users to automatically access WordPerfect and Envoy
formatted documents, along with the corresponding viewers.
Viewing Solutions
-----------------
The Internet Publisher provides:
Netscape's Web Browser to view standard HTML docs & Home Pages
WordPerfect viewer to view native WordPerfect documents
Envoy Mini-Viewer to view Envoy (.evy) documents
WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows SGML Edition
----------------------------------------
Documents on the Internet must still be maintained, and WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows SGML
Edition gives users that ability. SGML Edition allows users to create SGML documents
using WordPerfect 6.1 rather than requiring a completely separate editing application.
Users will be able to leverage their existing knowledge of WordPerfect.
While a template-based approach to HTML document creation is useful for small numbers of
documents, it does not scale well to maintaining servers full of documents. SGML
Edition was designed for this type of task. Moreover, as electronic publishing and
digital commerce applications demand ever more complex SGML document types, SGML Edition
will provide a viable solution.
SGML Edition allows direct editing of HTML documents that can then be revised, re-saved
and published back to the Internet. Because SGML Edition is a complete solution, the
user is not limited to the HTML template p
rovided with the Internet Publisher. SGML
Edition gives users the ability to create forms for Internet distribution and high-end
customized HTML documents.
As the Internet and the Web evolve, so will HTML. In time, HTML will need to
incorporate more of the robustness of full SGML, and will become closer to SGML. For
example, HTML 2.0, the current Web standard, is much closer to full SGML than was HTML
].O. By using WordPerfect 6.1 SGML Edition, the publisher of Internet documents will be
ready for future HTML specifications changes. To publish with each change, all the user
will need is a new DTD for the enhanced HTML specification. Because the SGML Edition
will support any DTD, it will automatically support new HTML specifications and will
always ship with the most recent HTML DTD. New HTML DTDs will also be available free of
charge from Novell.
Other features of the SGML Edition include:
-------------------------------------------
Layout Designer
---------------
The Layout Designer allows the user to assign format to SGML or HTML documents
which contain only content and structure. The layout designer, through the
macro language of WordPerfect 6. 1, also allows batch tagging of documents.
Document Type Definition Support
--------------------------------
SGML is defined by a Document Type Definition, or DTD. The DTD defines how
the document is structured and facilitates the publishing of information
between different applications. SGML is extremely flexible to enable
organizations to design their own userdefined or use an industry DTD that is
similar to their organizations style. The SGML Edition of WordPerfect can use
any user defined DTD, and ships with a good number of industry defined DTDS.
HTML is basically a DTD that was defined specifically for the Web. It will
certainly change in the future to accommodate changing nature of the Web.
Because the SGML edition supports any DTD, it %ill always be up to date with
the Internet.
File Support
------------
Either WordPerfect, SGML or HTML documents can be retrieved
directly into SGML Edition without conversion,
Alias Support
-------------
As is often the case with HTML (recall the cryptic tag used as an example
above), a DTD may contain tags that are not identifiable by name to the SGML
author. Using an alias allows the author to assign an alternative name to the
tag. For example, using the case above the level one heading tag <HI> could
have an alias that states the ftmction it plays in the overall HTML tag. This
feature greatly simplifies the HTML authoring and editing task.
Interactive Validation and Error Reporting
------------------------------------------
As the user tags a document for SGML output, an interactive validation feature
walks the user through the tagging process. As determined by the DTD, HTML
for this example, the validator will indicate what tag should be applied at
that point in the document. Error reporting occurs when a tag is improperly
placed in the document.
Conclusion
----------
The recent announcement from Novell stated plans to deliver a full range of Internet
access, hosting, and application development tools for NetWare. The Internet Publishing
Solution is the first step along a path to a complete Internet connection, access, and
application family of products from Novell.
Novell is moving forward in its promise to provide additional electronic publishing
tools to easily act upon information available on the Internet. This is Pervasive
Computing ... It's connecting people with other people and the information they need,
giving them the power to act on that information -- anytime, anyplace.
_________________________________________________
> Frankie's Corner STR Feature
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The Kids' Computing Corner
--------------------------
SUPER SOLVERS SPELLBOUND!
=========================
Dual format CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows
ages seven to twelve
suggested retail $49
by The Learning Company
6493 Kaiser Dr.
Fremont, CA 94555
510-792-2101
IBM Requirements Macintosh Requirements
---------------- ----------------------
CPU: 386/25 CPU: Mac Color Classic
RAM: 4 megs RAM: 4 megs
Video: 16-color VGA (256 SVGA rec.) Video: 256-color
Hdisk: 1 meg Hdisk: 1 meg
CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed
OS: Windows 3.1 OS: System 7.0.1
Misc.: Sound card, mouse
by Frank Sereno
Are you ready for an exciting and difficult challenge? "Super Solvers Spellbound!"
offers several vocabulary and spelling exercises besides a traditional spelling bee.
Featuring graduating degrees of difficulty, "Spellbound!" offers a continuing challenge
to children. With the option of adding your own word lists, this program can even be
beneficial to adults.
"Spellbound!" includes four activities. These are Word Search, Criss Cross, Flash Card
and the Spelling Bee. The player must gain enough points in the first three activities
before he can enter the Spelling Bee. Advance through the five rounds of spelling bees
and you become a national champion.
Word Search is a game of finding words in a matrix from a list of eight. On the lowest
level, the words are hidden vertically and horizontally. As the player moves to the
harder levels, diagonals are added. On the final level, the letters can be connected in
an almost infinite array of patterns. This makes the game challenging for players of
all ages.
Criss Cross is similar to a crossword puzzle but there are no written
clues. The squares are laid out so that each word intersects with at least one other
word. To place the words correctly, one must place the words in the proper places.
Attention must be paid to the length of each word and the letters which will be in the
intersections with other words. Criss Cross uses combinations of four to eight words.
Flash Card is a spelling game. The player may choose to see the word flashed before
him, hear the word pronounced or both. He must correctly spell eight words to earn
points. If a word is misspelled, the correctly placed letters will be shown. After
three attempts, the correct spelling is displayed. On higher levels, the player will
have to spell the eight words, then he will have to unscramble them.
The Spelling Bee is the final activity. After the player has accumulated enough points,
he can go to the spelling bee. He will face two computer opponents. The contestants
will spell words in turn until each has made an error. Words from the included lists
will be announced aloud but created words will be flashed on the screen.
"Spellbound!" has eye-pleasing graphics and excellent sound. The interface is point-
and-click and it includes help text files. The program provides audible encouragement
and the player is never penalized for an incorrect answer. The game play does not
include any arcade action but children are encouraged for doing well. If your child
enjoys puzzles and challenges, then he will enjoy "Spellbound!" Educational value is
excellent. The program teaches vocabulary, spelling, word recall, auditory recognition
and problem solving. By using the word list creator, "Spellbound!" can be used to study
vocabulary, technical terms and even other languages.
"Spellbound!" offers excellent value and it is backed by The Learning Company's 30-Day
guarantee. If you are displeased with this program, it can be returned for an
equivalent program from TLC's library or for cash.
Ratings
Graphics ........... 8.5
Sounds ............. 9.0
Interface .......... 8.5
Play Value ......... 8.0
Educational Value .. 9.0
Bang for the Buck .. 9.0
Average ............ 8.67
Activision's "Atari 2600 Action Pack"
-------------------------------------
Are you ready for some gaming nostalgia? Did you sell your old Atari gaming system
years ago at a garage sale and wish you could play some classic games from yesteryear?
If you have an IBM compatible running Windows and a spare $25, you need look no further
than the "Action Pack."
Activision has included some of its greatest hits from the early days of video gaming.
You can relive the thrilling action of fifteen classic games all on one CD-ROM. These
are the games with the same code that you played a decade ago.
What makes this all possible is the Atari 2600 emulator. The emulator does have some
pretty heavy hardware requirements. It needs at least a 486DX-33 CPU and a 256-color
display. Activision recommends that you have the latest drivers for your video and
sound cards as well. It is hard to believe that so much horsepower is needed to emulate
an 8-bit game machine!
Here's your chance to show the younger generation what gaming was like in the dark ages
of video games, back when there was no full motion video and three-dimensional graphics.
Yes, those were the days when gamers had to have active imaginations plus quick reflexes
and sore trigger thumbs.
"Action Pack" includes Boxing, Chopper Command, Cosmic Commuter, Crackpots, Fishing
Derby, Freeway, Frostbite, Grand Prix, H.E.R.O., Kaboom!, Pitfall!, River Raid,
Seaquest, Sky Jinks and Spider Fighter.
This is only the first volume. I'm not certain what titles will be included in the
future. It's possible that Activision may obtain the rights to other companies'
software. I'd love to play some of the old Imagic games brought back to life.
I'd also like to see some of these titles enhanced with better graphics and story lines.
Maybe an educational game could be incorporated into Freeway. "Retro" or nostalgia
gaming may be gaining popularity but I want more than that.
If you are looking to re-experience the dawning age of video gaming, the "Action Pack"
does an excellent job. Just do not be disappointed with how the old games looked
compared to today's best. If gameplay is your thing, then these old classics still have
it.
As always, I thank you for reading!
_______________________________________________
> NOVELL SUPPORT STR InfoFile
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
NOVELL ENHANCES ON-LINE TECHNICAL SUPPORT OFFERINGS
===================================================
Customers Access Novell's Electronic Technical Services
More Than 3.5 Million Times Monthly
OREM, Utah -- May 8, 1995 --Novell today detailed the company's expansion of
on-line technical support services, highlighting Novell's strategy of providing
electronic support options that allow customers to be more productive, increase
self-reliance and reduce technical support out-of-pocket expenses. Chief among the
elements of the announcement was the consolidation of electronic-based technical
resources from Novell, Inc., WordPerfect Corporation, the Quattro Pro business and
SoftSolutions Inc., providing the industry's most comprehensive set of electronic
services and tools.
Other enhancements include branding Novell NetWire as the name of the company's
technical support presence on all major on-line services; expanding Novell's strategy to
broadly place Novell NetWire on additional on-line services; creating dynamically
updated "Top 20" lists based on customer usage; increasing the number of forums
maintained on CompuServe; and other initiatives that make the company's services easier
to learn and use.
"Novell has always had an extremely active relationship with its customers via
on-line technical support, but further advancements in technology and management
expertise have immensely increased our customers' use of and satisfaction with these
services," said John Lewis, senior vice president of Novell Technical Services (NTS).
"We expect this rapid increase in usage to continue as we also continue to innovatively
enhance our electronic support solutions."
The increased customer usage of Novell's electronic technical services is evidence
that customers find value in the services provided by Novell. Accesses to Novell's
electronic technical support services increased more than 500 percent between March 94
and March 95.
"In March 1994, we received around 600,000 accesses to our electronic technical
services," said Michael Bishop, director of Electronic Support at Novell Technical
Services. "This March, we topped 3.5 million accesses, and the upward trend is
accelerating monthly."
Novell recently consolidated the technical information for all major company
products and is now branding Novell NetWire as the name of the company's technical
support presence on all major on-line services. Novell NetWire is currently on the
Internet, CompuServe, and SpaceWorks. The company's strategy includes aggressively
reviewing all on-line services for possible placement of Novell NetWire content. The
current review includes America Online, Interchange, Prodigy and expansion of the
company's presence on SpaceWorks. Novell plans on placing Novell NetWire on AT&T NetWare
Connect Services (ANCS) when the service is available.
Novell NetWire provides online access to technical, corporate and product
information from Novell through remote access 24 hours-a-day. Novell NetWire includes
message forums, easily searchable online databases and libraries of downloadable
files. Novell NetWire is best known for providing quick, inexpensive access to technical
solutions from experienced system operators (SYSOPS) and other knowledgeable users.
Technical questions posted on Novell NetWire usually receive a response within 24 hours.
Advanced questions are routed through Novell's direct technical resources, the same
resources used to solve hotline support problems.
Novell has also created two "Top 20" lists on Novell NetWire. These lists provide
customers with the top 20 Technical Information Documents (TIDS) and top 20 downloadable
files based on customer access to each Novell NetWire on-line service. Automatically
updated according to customer usage, the "Top 20" lists represent the most common
technical solutions delivered on-line to customers by Novell.
Additional expansion of Novell's electronic technical support offering includes
adding 11 public forums on CompuServe, where information on all Novell Business
Applications, GroupWare and Consumer Products will be maintained by Novell. Novell
NetWire is also receiving an updated look, as Novell switches from the current bookshelf
metaphor interface to an icon-based interface.
Novell's electronic technical support offering aligns with the company's vision of
pervasive computing by providing Novell's service partners, large accounts, customers
and technical support engineers with access to comprehensive technical information on
Novell products, anytime, anyplace. Novell is establishing the electronic support
programs and delivery vehicles required to provide technical assistance to a billion
users worldwide by the year 2000.
______________________________________
> Integrity Master STR InfoFile
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
INTEGRITY MASTER DATA GUARD & VIRUS HUNTER
==========================================
Integrity Master(tm) provides complete, easy to use, data integrity for your PC plus
virus protection. It can also be used to provide file change management and security on
your PC. It scans for viruses like other anti-virus products but it also protects you
against more than just viruses.
Integrity Master provides function and performance far beyond any other anti-viral or
data integrity software, yet is easy enough for novice users. Integrity Master is
written 100% in assembly language and provides the utmost in speed and small size. It
is certified as a virus scanner by the National Computer Security Association (NCSA).
Integrity Master is the recommended anti-virus in "The 1995 PC Magazine PC Buyer's
Guide" and recommended by John Dvorak in his "Inside Track" column in PC Magazine (see
below).
Distinguishing features:
------------------------
1) Integrity Master recognizes known viruses by name and will describe their
characteristics and then allow you to (optionally) remove them.
2) It can detect not only existing viruses, but also as yet unknown viruses.
Unlike other programs, which you must constantly update to keep ahead of
the current crop of viruses, Integrity Master continues to protect you.
3) Unlike other programs, it detects sectors and files which were damaged by
a virus not just those that were infected.
4) Integrity Master understands which files and areas on your disk are
special and provides special specific diagnosis and recovery if these
areas have changed.
5) Integrity Master can reload system sectors on disks which are so badly
damaged that DOS can no longer recognize them.
6) Integrity Master detects any form of file or program corruption, not
just that caused by viruses. This makes Integrity Master a useful tool
to provide PC security, change management and hardware error detection.
Why spend your time merely checking for viruses when you give your PC a
complete check out with Integrity Master?
7) Integrity Master provides easy to use menus with context sensitive
help plus a complete tutorial. Integrity Master is designed so you
you can start using it immediately -- no need to open the manual!
8) Integrity Master is useful as an aid to PC security. If someone changes,
adds or deletes any of your files you will know.
9) Integrity Master is useful with disk diagnostics. You can run your
normal test programs to check if your disk drive is working OK right now,
but was it working correctly at 3 PM yesterday? Integrity Master will
detect any disk errors which caused data damage earlier.
10) You just restored your files from a backup. Are all the files really OK?
Integrity Master will tell you.
11) You just deleted *.BAT rather than *.BAK. Integrity Master will
tell you exactly which files you need to restore.
12) Your hard disk is having problems. Now DOS will not even recognize it as
a disk. IM can diagnose and then reload your partition and boot sectors
to "fix" your disk!
John Dvorak wrote in the May 17, 1994 (V13#9) PC Magazine "Inside Track"
column:
"Genuinely Interesting Software Dept.: A friend of mine called me a
month ago telling me that he had made the mistake of booting his
machine on a Sunday when that old Michaelangelo virus would
activate. It did. No backups, either. In time for the next year's
outbreak, it's not too late to get what's considered by almost all
experts to be the current state-of-the-art anti-virus package on
the market: Integrity Master from Stiller Research (2625 Ridgeway
St., Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.;phone, 800-788-0787,
314-256-3130). In a side-by-side comparison, this product beats
everything on the market. With its built-in scanner, Integrity
Master will not only find every known virus, it will also handle
polymorphic and other odd type viruses. This is the anti-virus
software I use. It's only $39.95 in the U.S. and $44.50 elsewhere.
Shipping and handling is included in the price. Get this package
and you will be glad you did."
What's new?
-----------
Version 2.42d:
This release fixes false positive virus indications in MSAV/CPAV products
as well as DM300, Neuroquila, and ViennaF.
Version 2.42c:
This release fixes a false virus indication for: Auspara4 and Shiny.
Version 2.42b released 3/17/95:
1) Small addition to IM's scanner of a few more viruses including Diehard2
and a correction to the Ming detection algorithm.
2) Adjust alignment of text on IM's Option menu.
3) Allow IM to update integrity data in initialize mode even when
"Integrity Update" is set to Never.
4) Fix false detection of Freddy2 in Cheyanne's INNOCULAN anti-virus.
5) Corrected false positive of Auspara4 and Phalcon
Version 2.42a released 2/28/95:
1) IM supports a new option to allow rapid screening of diskettes for
boot viruses. This is available through the Check menu as well as
the "/VB" command line switch. This also allows IM to read boot
sectors on diskettes that are unreadable to DOS. Researchers can use
this option when testing IM since IM will also check the boot sector
for partition sector (MBR) viruses.
2) New "Force update" option on the "Integrity update" options submenu.
Selecting this option or using the new "/UA" command line switch will
force integrity master to update integrity data for all files. Normally
IM will not update integrity data for what appear to be corrupted files
when it is running unattended.
3) When run from a diskette, IM will now automatically offer to change to
change to another disk.
4) New easier install. SetupIM will now offer a super fast install that
usually gets IM installed in under one minute.
5) IM tolerates a wild card spec on it's /P (disk and directory change)
parameter. This allows you to use IM with some programs that insist
on including a wild card with the directory to check. For example:
IMSCAND C:\DOS\*.* will scan all files in subdirectory \DOS.
6) Changed colors on some help/tutorial screens to improve legibility.
7) SetupIM changed so it will correctly recognize drive characteristics of
disks using Symantec's Ncache.
8) IM will not pause even if severe hardware errors occur when the /ND
command line option is used.
9) IM identifies over 600 new viruses by name and characteristic
including: 7thSon2, Ambalama, Andromeda, Ansibomb, AntiCleric,
Asexual, Attitude, Aurea, BNB, BigX, Big_Bang, Bloody_Warrior,
Breaking, CarpeDiem, Centenary, Click, DA'BOYS, Dementia, Dichotomy,
Dillinger, ESP, Emma, Felize, Galicia, Geek, Gipsy, Greetings, Heja,
Hellspawn, Human Greed, Taslehoff, Icecream, Infernal, Iron, Jack,
Jimmy, Jpage, Kode4, Kode4b, Kohn6, Kommuna, Leningrad, Leuk, Loki,
Merde-3/5, NoLimitz, Ntit, Nygus.278, Offspring, Override, Ovile,
PHB, Panek, Panic, PeaceMan, Peanut, Peter2, Phantasm, Pirate,
Polifemo, Praying, Psychosis, Rambo, Raptor, Rattle, Redstar,
Rubbit2, Saigon, Sampo, Sandy, Santa, Satyricon, Semtex6, Shin,
Smallcomp, Soupy, Soupy-Death, Sov1, Sterculius, Strange, Sword,
Teraz, VLamiX, Vampiro, ViNCHuCa, ViroGen, Wet, YB2, Zombie, and Zulu
as well as the usual new but trivial ARCV, Australian Parasite,
Jerusalem, Leprosy, PS-MPC, VCL and Vienna related viruses.
Versions 2.40a, 2.41a and 2.41b are restricted beta versions please
do not use or distribute these versions.
New in Version 2.31:
1) New /ND parameter allows even faster execution of IM in unattended mode.
This works the /NE parameter but eliminates further pauses and screen
displays.
2) The primary display has been simplified and now displays license
information.
3) You may now choose report filespecs (disk, directory and filename) of
up to 30 characters using the /RF= command line option.
4) IM now supports a home directory so you can keep autonamed reports and
reload files in a single subdirectory.
5) Integrity Master now supports an option to never update integrity data
under any circumstance.
6) Registered users of IM can now download evaluation (shareware) versions
from any of thousands of BBSes world wide and convert them to the
registered version.
7) IM identifies over 300 new viruses by name and characteristic including:
3Tunes, 4Pirates, Accept, Agena, Aija, Aragon, Bengal, Berlusconi,
BRAVO, Bruchetto, BuffEater, Chill, Chromo, Cobra, Curse, DAS_BOOT,
Double heart, Dicker, Epidemic FeelBad, Fifo, Firefly, Fission, FLAME,
Genesis, Gidra, Goga, Gusano, Hbex, HOP, Hot, JoeAnthro, Junkie, Kaos4,
Khizhnjak, MidNight, Ming, Modor, MZ, Natas, Neuroquila, Nika,
Noncemale, One_Half, P.Enemy, Paola, Phunnie, Plagiarist, Pure, Razor,
Ritzen, RMBD, Scratch, Simplex, Slash, Slub, Smoka, SofiaTerm, Stimp,
Stunning, Sunrise, Sybille, Sze, TaiPan(Whisper) Tajfun, Tamanna, Taurus,
TISO, Trumpery, Tver, Veronika, Aver_Torto, Villino, Warlock, WXYC,
W_Cards, XUXA2
8) We've eliminated several Mutation Engine (mte) false virus indications.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
___ ___ _____ _______
/___| /___| /_____| /_______/
/____|/____| /__/|__| /__/
/_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
/__/|____/|__|________|__/
/__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____
/__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/
________________________________________
/_______________________________________/
MAC/APPLE SECTION (II)
======================
John Deegan, Editor (Temp)
> eWorld Updates STR InfoFile
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
eWORLD BRINGS VOICES TO ON-LINE CONFERENCING
UNVEILS NEW HOME MARKET CAMPAIGN
CUPERTINO, Calif., May 9 /PRNewswire/ via NewsPage -- Today, Apple Computer, Inc.
(Nasdaq-NNM: AAPL), announced that users of its on-line service, eWorld can now actually
listen to an on-line conference instead of watching a screen of scrolling messages. The
feature, entitled "Speak" is one of the many capabilities of the service's next
operating version -- code named Golden Gate -- that is available ahead of schedule.
Golden Gate is expected to be released later this quarter and aims to enhance the
service's ease of use and communication capabilities with expanded Internet access,
intelligent electronic mail management, and other features.
Separately, eWorld unveiled a new marketing campaign that focuses on the home/consumer
market, leveraging the company's strengths in this area. Using Apple's Plain Talk
technology, Speak allows users to actually listen to the conversation in a conference
room by assigning a different voice to conference members. The feature creates a richer
conferencing environment by letting users participate in a conference while doing other
things on the service. Moreover, the company expects the feature to be an important
tool in creating disability solutions, especially for kids and adults with learning
disabilities and to some extent, the visually impaired. eWorld is the first commercial
online service to incorporate this technology.
"Apple has a legacy of making all our products accessible to people with disabilities,
so it's natural that the company pioneers this solution to the information superhighway
with its own on-line service," said Alan Brightman, manager of Apple Worldwide
Disability Solutions -- whose group also publishes the "Disability Connection" in
eWorld. "One of the things eWorld Speak allows us to do is explore ways to provide on
line solutions to the learning disabled and the visually impaired," he added.
In addition to Speak, other features of Golden Gate that are now available for users to
download include:
-- Faster access to eWorld in 250 U.S. cities through support of 14.4 kpbs
high speed modems -- at no additional cost.
-- Exclusive on-line support from Apple. Users post a question and receive
an answer directly from an Apple support professional the next business
day. (Editors Note: See release 4/17/95, "Apple Offers Direct On-line
Computer Support via eWorld.")
-- An auto-open feature that opens to a specific eWorld area when logging
into the service.
-- Playful variations of the eWorld Town Square for users to download into
their art folder, including Winter, Martian, Desert, Valentine, St.
Patrick, Jurassic and Spring versions.
When released later this quarter, Golden Gate is expected to include greater access to
the Internet, more multimedia capabilities, and an electronic mail agent that allows
users to automatically filter and better manage incoming mail. The company expects World
Wide Web access -- also ahead of original schedule -- to be available to eWorld users by
mid-year.
New Home/Consumer Campaign Levers Apple's Strengths
In addition, eWorld has launched a new advertising and direct marketing campaign that
focuses on the home/consumer market. Executed by Wunderman Cato Johnson, San Francisco,
the campaign shows a family at home exploring eWorld on their computer. The campaign's
message is that eWorld brings solutions to family's real-world needs.
"The home and consumer market is a key market for us because eWorld provides an on-line
environment that is appropriate for every member of the family," said Peter Friedman,
vice president and general manager of eWorld. "Not only is the company strong in this
area and eWorld offerings on target for families at home, but our studies are showing
that our most recent subscribers are coming from the home market."
The ads hit the newsstands this month in major Macintosh and computer industry
publications. The company is also synchronizing an aggressive direct mail campaign to
complement the advertising placements.
eWorld is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, global family of on-line services from Apple,
which include eWorld for Macintosh and NewtonMail -- eWorld's messaging service for
Newton personal digital assistants. Included on most Apple Macintosh computers, the
software is also available free to all U.S. Macintosh users by calling 800-775-4556.
eWorld is available in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
eWorld for Windows-based personal computers is expected to be available in 1995.
Apple Computer, Inc. an information industry innovator, creates powerful solutions based
on easy to use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, on-line services and
personal digital assistants. Based in Cupertino, CA., Apple develops, manufactures,
licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education,
consumer, scientific, engineering and government markets in more than 140 countries.
NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, and Newton are registered trademarks and
NewtonMail and eWorld are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are
owned by their respective companies.
**********************************************************************
ATARI/JAG SECTION (III)
=======================
Dana Jacobson, Editor
> From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's been a really slow week with regard to Atari computing news. I often
wonder how much time remains before there's nothing to report, on a regular basis. It
must be the weather that is putting me in a dreary mood tonight. It may also be due to
the fact that I spent the best part of my day off today packing up most of my unused ST
software and spare hardware and storing it in my basement.. it was taking up way too
much space laying around spread out all over the place. My wife is still in shock that
I moved it all!
Last week I mentioned that I'd be including an article on Europe's latest
Atari-specific magazine, Atari World. Well, I finally had a chance to put it all
together and you'll find that article this week.
Unfortunately, that's about all we have for you in this issue pertaining to
the computing side (other than Joe Mirando's "People Are Talking" column). Hey, it
happens. So, let's get the show on the road!
Until next time...
_______________________________________________
Delphi's Atari Advantage!
TOP FIVE DOWNLOADS (5/10/95)
(1) SPEED OF LIGHT 3.8
(2) NISHIRAN!
(3) UNIVERSAL PRINT CONTROL ACC
(4) SILKBOOT 3
(5) LITTLENET/MIDI PORT NETWORK PRG.
* = New on list
HONORARY TOP 5
The following on-line magazines are always top downloads, frequently
out-performing every other file in the databases.
STREPORT (Current issue: STREPORT 11.18)
ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE (Current issue: AEO: VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4)
Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database.
_________________________________________
> New HardCopy MAG STR Focus
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Atari World Debuts!
===================
A rare occurrence in today's world of Atari computing is the advent of a new
magazine devoted to Atari products. Well, Europe is more supportive than North America,
so I guess it's not toostrange that a new magazine would originate from there.
Out of the "ashes" of "ST Review" comes Atari World. Many of the same names that
you remember from Review are with Atari World. It's hard to break up a good team,
apparently. Vic Lennard, former editor of ST Review, maintains his editor role with
Atari World. Along with Lennard comes Ofir Gal, Andrew Wright, and Nial Grimes. There
are also other contributors whose names are readily recognized from their activity on
the UseNet. These people havesome good experience; the magazine proves it.
Atari World, as briefly mentioned last week, is actually a publication made up of
three individual magazines: Atari World, Atari Pro, and ST Source - each with a specific
purpose and slant.
The main focus of the magazine is Atari World. There are 84 colored-glossy pages
jam-packed with information and ads. Atari World covers just about all aspects of Atari
computing and gaming news. There is a news section covering show reports, product
announcements, Internet news, etc. There is news about public domain software,
programming news, feedback (letters), telecommunications, user groups, and more. There
are feature articles as well as a number of reviews.
Atari Pro is a 16-page magazine devoted to the Falcon (this month's issue). This
issue deals with DTP info, MIDI, graphics, and a question/answer section. I found the
articles to be quite informative; and I don't even own a Falcon!
ST Source is also a 16-page magazine, but it deals with the "practical" side of the
ST. The articles are those which help you learn about the machine - primarily for the
beginner/intermediate user. Source has articles such as making a boot disk, formatting
disks, desk accessories, AUTO folders and programs, and more.
ST Source is a magazine that I wish that I had access to when I first started with
my ST; it would have save me a lot of the frustration that I went through. At that
time, I needed to make calls to various people to understand these things. The info in
ST Source would have made all of the difference!
Atari World and its accompanying magazines were special for me as I was enticed to
read everything. I've read a number of Atari magazines over the years, but I usually
only read a select few articles and skipped over the rest. There are (or were) only
a few magazines that made me want to read them from cover to cover. Atari World is one
such magazine. I must say that this is unique because this is the first European
magazine that has warranted it. Now if I can find a local source to buy it!
If you haven't seen these magazines yet, I suggest that you make an attempt to find
them. I have heard that some dealers in the U.S. carry it; I doubt that bookstores will
stock them.
Subscription info:
Atari World Subscriptions
Unit 3 Green Farm
Abbots Ripton
Huntington
Cambs PE17 2PF
____________________________________________
JAGUAR SECTION
==============
E3 Debuts!
Hover Strike Codes!
CatNips!
The "Other" Guys!
Ultra64 Delayed!
And more....
> From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The E3 show has begun and it's likely to dominate the gaming industry's news for
the next few days. If you recall, this show is a departure from the traditional SCES.
From all preliminary reports, this show will be dominated by the Sony PlayStation and
the Sega Saturn machines. Nintendo's Ultra64 has been delayed, but may make an
appearance at E3. Early reports tell us that Atari's presence at E3 is smaller than its
competitors. However, with the focus likely to be on the newer machines, Atari really
needs to make a better-than-usual showing to take away some of the attention. As the
show progresses, we hope to have some details of Atari's "performance" at the show.
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.
J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp.
J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9007 Checkered Flag $69.99 Atari Corp.
J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp.
J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp
J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp
J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp
J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp.
Cannon Fodder $69.99 Virgin
Syndicate $69.99 Ocean
Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams
Theme Park $69.99 Ocean
Sensible Soccer Telegames
Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams
Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Corp.
Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
Pinball Fantasies $ 59.95 Computer West
Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari
Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER
J8001 Jaguar (complete) $189.99 Atari Corp.
J8001 Jaguar (no cart) $159.99 Atari Corp.
J8904 Composite Cable $19.95
J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp.
J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95
CatBox $69.95 ICD
> Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-/- Nintendo Delays Ultra 64 -/-
Video game maker Nintendo says its much-anticipated 3-D Nintendo
Ultra 64 home game system is being delayed until after Christmas, a
development seen as giving a huge jump to rivals Sega, Sony and 3DO Co.
Reporting from Nintendo of America's Redmond, Washington,
headquarters, United Press International quotes company officials as
saying the Ultra 64 video player, designed with Silicon Graphics Inc.,
will be launched next April at a retail price under $250.
The company officially will unveil the unit at its annual video game
exhibition Nov. 24-26 in Makuhari, Japan, and at the Consumer Electronics
Show on Jan. 5 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UPI says U.S. Nintendo Chairman Howard Lincoln sought to downplay
the moving by saying, "We have made a conscious decision not to rush
Nintendo Ultra 64 to market. We've decided to give our software
developers additional time to maximize the power of this system in their
game creation."
However, the wire service notes Sega has said it will have its new
3-D models in stores in September. Sony also plans to enter the fray
before Christmas. "And interactive game producer 3DO Co. of Redwood
City, California, said this week it will launch an upgraded 64-bit
machine later this year that it claims will re-shape home
entertainment," UPI says.
-/- Nintendo Unveils Virtual Boy -/-
Nintendo of America Inc. reports that Virtual Boy, its new video
game system, will be launched in the U.S. on Aug. 14.
The $179.95 unit, which Nintendo describes as a "three- dimensional,
virtual immersion, 32-bit video game system," will be backed by more
than $25 million in marketing.
Virtual Boy will be bundled with a game title and a double-grip
controller. An AC adapter will become available later this year.
Virtual Boy is a RISC-based, 32-bit system that uses two
high-resolution, mirror-scanning LEDs to produce a 3-D experience. Notes
Nintendo: "Its unique design eliminates most external stimuli, totally
immersing players into their own private universe with high-resolution
red images against a deep, black background. The 3-D experience is
enhanced through stereophonic sound and a new, specially designed,
double-grip controller which accommodates multi-directional spatial
movement."
"We're bringing a totally unique, 3-D gaming experience to market
at an affordable price and in time to get a jump on the holiday shopping
season," says Peter Main, vice president of marketing for the Redmond,
Washington-based company. "We expect to sell more than 1.5 million
hardware units and 2.5 million pieces of software by the end of 1995."
-/- Virtual Reality Headgear Ships -/-
Forte Technologies Inc. says it has started shipping its VFX1
Headgear Virtual Reality System. The company, based in Rochester, New York, notes that
the unit is the first truly integrated headset designed for PCs. The $995 product
includes high-contrast 789- by 230-dot LCDs, a three-axis head tracker, high-fidelity
stereo headphones, a microphone and custom lenses. Also provided is a CD-ROM with
virtual reality versions of several popular PC games.
"The VFX1 Headgear system is the only complete virtual reality
headset system available today," says Paul Travers, president of Forte
Technologies. "Unlike other head-mounted display systems that are bulky,
uncomfortable and allow outside environments in, the VFX1 Headgear is
ergonomically designed and truly immersive to enhance the computer
gaming experience."
On CompuServe, virtual reality is discussed in the Cyber Forum (GO
CYBERFORUM).
-/- Game Software Alliance Formed -/-
Entertainment software publisher Electronic Arts says it has
acquired a minority stake in NovaLogic Inc., an interactive game maker
located in Calabasas, California.
Electronic Arts, based in San Mateo, California, also reports that
NovaLogic has signed a four-year agreement under which Electronic Arts
will have exclusive distribution rights for NovaLogic's CD- and
floppy-based entertainment software in English-speaking countries.
Financial terms of the agreements weren't disclosed.
Founded in 1985, NovaLogic's products include Comanche, Armored
Fist, WolfPack and Ultrabots. Electronic Arts says the company pioneered
real-time interactive 3-D rendering for the PC with its proprietary Voxel
Space technology.
"NovaLogic has some of the best creative talent in the interactive
entertainment software industry," says Larry Probst, chairman and CEO of
Electronic Arts. "This is an investment in a successful, growing
publisher with great products, a proven track record, and leading-edge
technology."
The NovaLogic deal is the latest in a string of software publishing
investments and acquisitions made by Electronic Arts over the past
several months.
___________________________________
> Jaguar Easter Eggs/Cheats/Hints STR InfoFile - Solving Those Riddles!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> Hover Strike "Secret Missions" Codes!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
From CompuServe's Atari Gaming Forums:
-------------------------------------
Just got some codes off the net c/o Jeremy Haines. After completing
Hoverstrike you are given codes for the game. The codes allow you to
access a secret mission on each level which is filled with powerups.
If you enter the codes correctly you will receive a tone. I have not
tried them yet but here they are.
Level 1: 2+3+6+up
Level 2: 2+6+7+8+down
Level 3: 3+5+6+right
Level 4: 2+5+8+up
Level 5: 2+4+5+6+right
[Editor's note: These codes are not confirmed]
_____________________________________
> Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
CATnips... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
E3 is NOW!
The first wave of Atari people have invaded the Los Angeles area with
several more waves to follow. Along with them are boxes sealed with
pilfer-proof tape and scores of developer carts. While the U64 has been
delayed and 3DO makes promises of a machine that has yet been shown to
exist, the 64-bit Jaguar has passed its most difficult hurdles. Atari
has proven 64-bit technology does exist. Atari has proven they are here
for the long haul and Atari has some really cool things to show the
industry at E3. You will undoubtedly hear reports early on. In fact, the
pros at Atari Explorer Online will be filming two separate and intensive
videos at E3. Make sure you pick up their issue to be released this week
for ordering info.
As E3 progresses through the weekend, two teams of us will be sneaking
away from the convention center with E-Proms to show at selected Jaguar
retailers in the LA area. There will be hundreds of T-shirts given away
and we will share the latest E3 news.
On Thursday night (May 11) from 6pm to 9pm, John Skruch will be leading
the "TRF" (Thea Relm Fighters) team to the Virgin Megastore located at
8000 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. John has produced countless game
titles back to the 8-bit days and remains faithful to the fun-factor
philosophy at Atari.
Also from 6pm to 9pm Thursday night, Don Thomas and Tal Funke-Bilu make
an encore appearance at the Wherehouse located at 3115 Foothill
Boulevard in La Cresenta. Don and Tal travelled last weekend. They met
with Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online and Juan Gonzalez who is
active on the Internet. They even met Ed of Industrial Light and Magic
and we saw a prototype of Darth Vader's stunt double's helmet for the
upcoming film. Ed got two T-shirts! <g>
On Friday from 6pm to 9pm, see John and the TRF renegade at Electronics
Boutique located at 108 Lakewood Center in Lakewood. OR see Tal and Don
at The Good Guys at 1401 Hawthorne Boulevard in Redondo Beach.
I apologize to all CATscan members for not getting the latest issues
of online mags up sooner. It is now up to date and I will refresh it
again as soon as I return on Monday. CATscan BBS may be accessed by
dialing 209/239-1552.
****
Sb: Jaguar CD - Release Date
Fm: Laury Scott [ATARI] 75300,2631
To: All
We will be announcing at E3 an August release date for the CD. It will
be $149 and will include 3 CD's - Vid Grid (music videos in a puzzle
game), the Tempest 2000 audio CD and one other CD game.
The software development has taken longer than expected and is the main
reason for the delay.
We expect to have 6-8 game titles available at the time of shipment.
The following titles will be coming out with or shortly after the CD
player:
Demolition Man
Baldies
Creature Shock
Highlander I
Myst
Blue Lightning
Battlemorph
Dragon's Lair
Note: As many of you have speculated the Hardware has been done for some
time and we have just been waiting on the software. The software is
coming along fine (as anyone attending E3 will be able to see) and we
are now able to commit.
-Laury
Sb: New Hardware Info
Fm: Laury Scott [ATARI] 75300,2631
To: all
I will take this opportunity to give you all a preview of the new hardware that will be
shown at E3 -
Jag Link Interface - The Jag Link will be in stores next month at about $30. This
product will allow you to connect 2 Jaguars to play such games as Doom, Battlesphere,
etc.
C2 (I don't know what name Marketing has settled on) - The new 6 button controller will
be released during the summer and should sell for around $25.
Team Tap - The 4 player adapter will also be available during the summer and should sell
for around $25. It will be available by the time we ship White Men Can't Jump which
will be the first title to support it. Arena Football will also support it and I am
hearing rumors about it being able to support 8 players.
Jaguar VR - We will be announcing the Jaguar Virtual Reality System at E3. I will
provide some more information about it later this week.
-Laury
*****
PRE-E3 SHOW NEWS
================
by Andy Eddy, Delphi's Video Gaming Forum manager
Okay, here's some news from the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Excuse my generality,
because all the news hasn't been fleshed out.
* As you probably know by now, Nintendo has delayed the Ultra 64 to April 1996. A
presentation downplayed the delay, and emphasized the system it will be bringing out in
August, Virtual Boy. The show hasn't started yet, so we can't say how good the games
will look, but Nintendo claims close to 100 VB licensees.
* Software for Nintendo includes Killer Instinct for SNES and Game Boy(?!), Donkey Kong
Country 2 (which focuses on Diddy's adventure and a new female sidekick who can
propeller her ponytail), Donkey Kong Land for Game Boy and Earthbound for SNES.
* Sony is gearing up for the PlayStation's release. I didn't get a firm price and date,
but I heard about $350 and September. Again, as the show goes on, I'll have more info.
Many of the people I talk to (including journalists and developers) seem to think that
Sony will have the upper hand in sales vs. Sega and even (later) Nintendo. Games in the
Sony booth will be reported on later.
* Sega reportedly thought that Sony was going to have a *giant* booth at E3. So they
went wild spending money, only to find that Sony had a pretty *normal* booth. (g) Sega
also has been buzzing the various pre-show parties with a slew of Sega Saturn vans with
Cherry Coke logos on them too. However, the big news is Sega's release of the Saturn to
three chains of stores (so far a rumor and with the three store chains unknown by me at
this point) TOMORROW (May 11)! Price isn't determined, but pack-ins are reported to be
Virtua Fighter *and* Panzer Dragoon.
* 3DO again demo'ed the M2 upgrade, which was *very* impressive. However, very few
people (because the demo was on video) believed that this truly existed. Even so,
there's no announcement of price, availability or who the hardware manufacturer(s) will
be. Trip Hawkins told me that they are looking to the current hardware manufacturers for
its construction and release. A reporter from Time asked how 3DO would compete against
"a company with deep pockets, Sony," and Trip answered that they are in good shape and
that his personal commitment was far beyond any other company head in the industry.
* Not much to report on Atari, because they didn't have a pre-show event, but I did talk
to Garry Tramiel, who gave a very confident dissertation on how they are in a great
position with a $159 price against Sony, Sega and 3DO, with a CD unit just around the
corner.
I'll definitely have more to report on as the show progresses. Heck, it hasn't even
started yet as I write this!
A E
_____________________________________
> ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by
Joe Mirando
73637,2262
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I just got back from Washington DC for a friends
wedding. I took a couple of extra days so that I could see the sights.
I made my usual pilgrimage to the Air and Space Museum in the Smithsonian where I got
the chance to see a "show" at the Einstein Planetarium. If you ever find yourself in DC
with a couple of hours to kill, go directly to the Air & Space Museum! Next we (my wife
and I) walked to the Washington Monument and along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln
Memorial. Even though the Parks Service is now working to determine the best way to
restore the memorial (there are scaffolds everywhere), this was still my favorite place
in all of Washington. I've never thought of myself as an especially patriotic person
but I've found that when I'm standing inside the Lincoln Memorial, reading Honest Abe's
words, peering into that huge, weary, ever-so-slightly down-turned face, and even
looking at the profile of Mary Todd Lincoln in the curls of Abe's hair, I feel oddly at
peace. Even with the ever-present noise within and without the monument, it's like I'm
all alone with the giant Lincoln, waiting for a bit of wisdom or a sample of his famous
humor from across more than a century. Yes, there is much that we can learn from
Lincon... much that we should have learned already perhaps, but perhaps there is still
time.
Well I guess that's enough of my babbling. Let's get on with the real reason for this
column... all the great news, hints, and tips available every week right here on
CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forums
===============================
On the subject of accessing the Internet with an ST, Chris Roth tells us:
"I had my first PPP connect to CompuServe today! And I even managed to
try a ftp session. Unfortunately it was slow again, but I don't know
how far that depends on the business hours in the States, where the
Internet, meanwhile, seems to be helplessly overloaded.
However, I am kind of happy..
I'll post instructions and the setting files in the next messages."
Michel Vanhamme tells us:
"I've been trying to contact Behne & Behne (makers of NVDI) for upgrade
information by mail and e-mail for quite some ime now, and have had no
reply yet. I'm wondering if, just maybe, the addresses I have are
correct, so I'd be glad if someone could correct/confirm this
Behne & Behne Systemsoftware GbR Lindenkamp 2 31515 Wunstorf Germany
e-mail: Wilfried_Behne@H.maus.de
BTW I had the same problems with OverScan (makers of Screenblaster) so
I'm still trying to find their address too!"
Simon Churchill asks Michel:
"Are you in Europe or the U.K.?
If so then you can get details about NVDI from System solutions and
details about Screenblaster from COMPO, they are both well established
companies and give all the help they can."
Michel tells Simon:
"I'm in Europe (Belgium).
Re: Screenblaster, the dealer I bought it from told me I had to contact
OverScan in Germany directly. But your reply gave me an idea: I might try Compo
in the Netherlands one of these days (no Compo in Belgium, alas).
Also, I'll annoy the dealers here one more time..."
Back to accessing the 'net with an ST. Chris Roth tells us:
"Since I managed to get a PPP connect with the NOS package (available
here in the Libs) I want to share my 'knowledge':
I have put NOS in the directory c:\nos and start it with the parameters
"-dc:\nos", so that I don't have to keep startup.nos nd dialer.pp0 on
the root directory. I noticed that on my Falcon NOS bombs on exiting
when run in 16-color mode. As it doesn't do so in mono mode, I didn't
try to locate the failure.
Here is my startup.nos file:
------------------------------------------------------------
# startup file for KA9Q-NOS ST (DIS Version)
log c:\nos\nos.log
# Attach the SLIP driver to the serial port
# if port 0 slip dev buff mss baud
# --- ---- - ---- --- ---- --- ----
attach asy AUX: 0 ppp pp0 4640 1500 19200
#dialer pp0 dialer.pp0
#
ppp pp0 lcp local accm 0
#ppp pp0 lcp local compress address on
#ppp pp0 lcp local compress protocol on
ppp pp0 lcp local magic on
ppp pp0 lcp open active
#
ppp pp0 ipcp local compress tcp 16 1
ppp pp0 ipcp open active
#
route add default pp0
domain addserver [149.174.64.41]
# how many hops before a packet is discarded (Time To Live)
ip ttl 64
# tcp parameters can be tuned.
tcp mss 960
tcp window 5000
echo refuse
# Start the servers
start smtp
start ftp
start echo
start discard
start finger
start telnet
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I used pricipally the startup.nos found in the archive here in the
Libs. I have commented out two of the "ppp pp0 local compress ..."
commands because the resulted in error outputs at startup. Also,
there's a commented dialer c
ommand in the file that can be removed for
automatic connect.
The login script (dialer.pp0):
-------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Sample login script for CIS
# replace tel number, User ID ad password!
#
configure:
init "ATZ\"
dial_cmd "ATD"
ld_code ""
number "12345678\r"
retries 1
#
execute:
init
cwait 10000 "OK"
dial
cwait 45000 "CONNECT" "BUSY" "NO CARRIER"
wait 2000
send "\r"
cwait 50000 "ame:"
wait 1000
send "CIS\r"
cwait 50000 "ID:"
wait 1000
send "User,ID/GO:PPPCONNECT\r"
cwait 50000 "ord:"
wait 1000
send "YourPassword\r"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
With the command "dialer pp0 dialer.pp0" the login script starts and
connects your modem to CompuServe, establishing PPP protocol. You can
issue "ppp" after a few secs to see your current ip address. I suggest
one also could configure a name for the own host in startup.nos with
the "hostname" command. I tried "100321.1763@compuserve.com" but don't
know which effect it produces.
It was interesting to learn that you can open more than one session
and switch between them. F.i. I did a hopcheck to various Austrian
sites (which took quite a time ;-) and then opened a ftp session. F10
always takes you back to the commando cental. There you can view your
current sessions or switch to a specific one with the "session"
command.
Note also the file domain.txt that grows in your nos directory - hehe.
I hope that's help for some of you and I didn't forget something
essential."
Michel tells Chris:
"I'm glad you're getting somewhere!
Hum, I'm afraid you're way ahead of me for the moment. So, what you'll get for
now is just a bunch of questions <g>.
Anyway, I _think_ I got logged on... but I couldn't do anything afterwards.
I'll start with 3 questions:
1) > You can issue "ppp" after a few secs to see your current ip
address. "ppp" alone just got me a "usage: ppp <iface>". So I
tried "ppp pp0", and NOS issued a bunch of cryptic messages. Among
them, though, were 2 IP addresses. I assumed that meat that my
connection was OK. On the same note, I tried the command "ip
address", which also gave me an address. Am I right so far?
2) Then I tried anftp session. I typed "ftp site.name" (site.name
being sites that I know for sure to exist), with different sites.
Every time NOS issued a message "Resolving site name" or something
similar, ad after a while, "host unknown", or something similar. So,
either I did something wrong at this stage, or I had been wrong
before (wrong connection from the start)... :-(
3) How do you get the thing to hang up? I thought that when typing
"exit", the program wouls also hang up, but no..."
Chris tells Michel:
"...you were connected to the internet!"
There is lots more folks, but let's move on to something else. Milton
Horst tells us:
"I'm getting tired of finding CIM-only applications on CompuServe that
I can't access with my ST. The new United Airlines is CIM-only, and
Worldspan Travelshopper plans to discontinue their ASCII support.
We need a CIM for Atari. I have a couple of C compilers and would be
willing to try writing one if I could get the interface specs."
Ethan Mings tells Milton:
"I agree. It is frustrating to find a "CIM alike" for the atari
computer. What I don't know is, how many people still have ataris and
how many are willing to stick with the plateform for a least the next
five years. I know I have a mix of atari and DOS based machines at
home. Even DOS based applications are not being upgraded. Instead
programmers are spending their resources on windows based applications.
Maybe, before you committee the time, you should post a quick
questionnaire in the fourm to find out how many people would be willing
to commit and what type of hardware they currently are using.
I'll start. Mega st4, 250 hard drive, TOS 2.06. Yes I purchase the
software for a maximum of $50.00. I'd want upgrades through the fourm.
Hope this helps.
PS I am computer user not a programmer. So my comments are from a
user standpoint."
Alberto Sanchez adds:
"I absolutely agree. I have Falcon 030 and (for BBS -NeST system- and
communications) a MegaSTe 4Mb I also agree paying for that AtariCIM
round $50. I feel it just for programmer and cheap enough to be
successfull. Please, do it!!!!!! Saludos."
Sysop Jim Ness bursts our bubble:
"CompuServe protects the HMI protocol (used within CIM) by providing
compiled object code to developers, and giving devs the spec for
accessing the module.
They only distribute the module compiled for DOS, Windows, OS/2, Mac
and certain palmtop portables. There is no ST version, therefore there
is no way to use HMI on the ST."
Chief Sysop Ron Luks adds:
"While I appreciate the offer to write a CIM for the Atari, you can't
write a CIM without a CIS-provided CIM toolkit which they are not
porting to the Atari OS.
There will be more and more CIM-only areas on CompuSErve and someday
(regretably) this may turn into a CIM-only service. Thats definitely
the way its headed.
You wont see a CIM for CP/M or the Coleco Adam or the Atari ST. Just
like you can't go to the local movie store and rent beta-format movies
for most releases, the Atari ST like Beta, CP/M, and other discontinued
formats is simply being left behind."
Chris Roth summarizes:
"That's simply bad news.
So the only hope to stay tuned with the Ataris is that there will be a
WWW Browser and you'll find an Internet provider."
Michel Vanhamme tells Chris:
"I think there will be a WWW browser. The problem is when... ;-)
A little namedropping to lift our hopes, maybe? There's a WWW browser
called Lynx currently under development. It seems you can even download
a beta version. Here's an address : ftp.twi.tudelft.nl, directory:
pub/atari/lynx/. Of course, you must be able to do FTP, which brings
us back to square one. <G> Oh, and it can be tried out by telnet to
www.twi.tudelft.nl, login as 'lynx'. Better than nothing...
On the subject of this HMI protocol that's only distributed in
compiled form: maybe we should do a fundraiser and buy the CIS guys a
compiler for our machines..."
Shelly "G" asks:
"What's new with Compo's latest Falcon Speed emulator. Does anyone
know?"
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Shelly:
"Currently still the 286 version. Nothing much has been said about the
486 version."
Michael Gaitor asks:
"Does anyone know of a disk editing utility for the 1040 ST that is
comparable in ability to the PC's NU or DiskEdit (Norton Utilities) or
DE (Central Point PC Tools, which is sadly disappearing after being
bought by its main competitor, Symantec/Norton, apparently to crush
competition)? I really screwed up an ST floppy disk by trying to
unerase a file from it on my PC using NU. Now the disk is all but
totally useless on my ST and I lost valuable data. (No HD on my ST, so
no backup, either.) I did nothing else to the disk so I'm hoping
there's _some_ way to salvage the data, though I've been totally
unsuccessful so far."
Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Michael:
"There is Disk Mech which should be in the library which is a good
sector editor for floppy disks. The newest version of ORA's Diamond
Edge has a sector editor (I don't know the quality of it). Then there
is Knife ST by HiSoft/ORA.
You can find ORA and HiSoft/ORA products at an Atari Dealer like (Toad
Computers).
Can you read the floppy disk on the PC? If so it might be useful to
copy all of your files to another disk or hard drive on the PC. Then
copy them back to newly formatted PC disk (720K) and see if that
works."
Michael tells Albert:
"Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I _did_ try copying the files to
the PC, copying to another diskette and then moving back to the ST, but
apparently the directory structure is corrupted ('think there are also
two physically bad sectors) and neither NU or DE will read the
directory and FAT correctly. The files, when moved back to the ST, are
just garbage. I think the FAT may be incorrect or offset by some
factor and everything else is being thrown off."
Sysop Bob Retelle tells Michael:
"We should have a program in our library here called RECOVR (I
believe that's the name), which lets you read the sectors from a disk
one by one and selectively save them into a disk file sequentially.
It's not much good for binary files, but for readable text it can help
you recover lost files. Naturally, it works best if the file is
completely contiguous on the disk, but you can also save out sections
and rearrange them in a word processor if necessary.
I've only had to use it once or twice myself, but when I did need it,
it worked pretty well."
Michel Vanhamme asks about a particular file extension:
"I downloaded a file with the .tgz extension from a BBS. I assume tgz
stands for a compression protocol, but I have no utility that
decompresses such files. I browsed the libraries with the keyword TGZ
but nothing came up. Can anyone help?"
Albert Dayes tells Michael:
"It sounds like the file has tar and gnu zip used to create it."
Carl Barron adds:
"In Unix the command is gzip -dc filename | tar xf -
In pre mint atariland this done as
gzip -dc filename >tempfile.tar
tar xf tempfile.tar
delete tempfile.tar.
Some pre mint cli's will accept the unix syntax but do it as I showed
above. A mint aware shell can do it the same way unix does and avoid
the HUGE tempfile.tar
Also beware unix filenames are not restricted to 8.3 and this can cause
some conflicts in names chosen by tar during extraction. There are
ways to get all the files out of the tar file even if they all would
reduce the the same 8.3 name."
Eric Minoli asks for help:
"I have a PC computer. I would like to copy my ASCII files from my
atari Mega ST to my PC. I used STTOPC.COM but it didn't work (error
message is : Unable to read boot sector - status byte is hex 10). I
try to use FDREAD.EXE and other program but without good results.
May be someone can help me to copy my atari files to my PC."
Albert Dayes tells Eric too...
"Format a 720K floppy on the PC and then use on your Atari to transfer
files in both directions."
Sysop Bob Retelle asks Eric:
"Do you still have your MegaST computer..?
If so, then Albert's suggestion to format a floppy on the IBM computer
and use it to transfer the files should work well...
If you don't have an Atari computer any more, it's more complicated.
I do know that we've had members here report that they've used the
STTOPC program successfully, so maybe they can give you some help in
that area..."
My old pal Doug Finch asks for help:
"Atarians past, present and [:)] future: I realize that I'm about five
years late (or more), but I recently picked up somebody's unused Zubair
Z-RAM 3-D/4MEG upgrade kit for my old Atari 520STFm. Came with 2MB f
RAM seated on the board, would like to add 2MB more to get full use of
its capacity. Have some questions for anyone who has done the upgrade
and knows what they're doing (or did):
1) Board was populated with Samsung(?) RAM chips (KM41C1000P-10). In
obtaining extra RAM, do I need to get EXACTLY the same type of
chips to fill the restof the board, or are others OK as long as I
match the speed of the existing ones? Do I need to know anything
about the limitations of the ST with regard to faster RAM chips? Can
anyone direct me to distributors that carry these chips for a decent
price?
2) My unit has the original TOS 1.0. When I get around to upgrading
this, are any more recent versions of TOS incompatibl with the Z-RAM
upgrade?
3) MMU is older CO25912-38, so I apparently do NOT have to replace it
to accomodate all 4MB, right?
4) Would appreciate additional tips anyone might have to make the
upgrade a successful one."
Andreas Rosenberg tells Doug:
"Re: 1) Any one mega bit chip that's organized 1M*1 (NO 256K*4) that is
faster than 150ns should work.
Re: 2) TOS versions below 1.04 are a little bit slow in dealing with 4
megs. You should upgrade to 1.04 (or even 2.06) because you will get
more speed, more comfort and less bugs. You could make the TOS
switchable if you have older programs, that won't run on a newer TOS.
Re: 3) No idea. I've running a 4MB upgrade in a 260ST for several years
and it works perfectly."
Sysop Bob tells Doug:
"Do you have the installation instructions for the Z-RAM board..?
The ST can only address 2 banks of memory, no matter how large each
bank may be.. the motherboard RAM is one bank and the 2 Megs currently
on the Z-RAM board is the other. If you go to 4 Megs, both baks will
be on the Z-RAM board, and the original RAM will have to be disabled.
The Z-RAM documentation should detail how to do that.
As Andreas mentioned, any 256K x 1 RAM chips should work. There
shouldn't be any speed related problems at all, as long as you keep the
same speed within the individual banks of memory."
George Kopeczky asks for opinions...
"I'd like to hook up my Atari ST 1040 with a host adapter to my Mac's
SCSI chain. (consisting of a CD-Rom, HD, Syquest, Bernoulli, 600 Meg
optical, & scanner) to access these goodies.
The scanner might be impossible to use without additional software, the
Mac-formatted HD won't work, but the remaining remvables should work (
I guess ).
Any suggestions from someone who already managed to carry out a such
feat?"
Kevin at PG Music tells George:
"I too would like to connect my Falcon030 and Quadra 660av together via
SCSI.... mainly so I could share the CD-ROM and SyQuest drives.
Let me know what you find out. I haven't tried it yet. :)
It is one of those things I just haven't gotten around to tinkering
with."
Chris Roth tells Kevin:
"I did and still do sometimes connect my Kurzweil K2000 Sampler/Synth
via SCSI with the Falcon. They share a Syquest reovable. It works, you
just have to pay attention that they NEVER try to access the same
device at the same time.
I once destroyed a whole partition byaccessing the Syquest with the
Kurzweil and meanwhile started SCSI-Tools on the Falcon...
Anyhow, if you're using advanced hd drivers, you can write protect
partitions."
George Kopeczky asks:
"I wonder, what does an ICD Host adapter (with a box) for the ST 1040
cost. (Are there several versions or only one, BTW?)"
Albert Dayes tells George:
"The most current ICD host adapter is the AdSCSI+. There are also
external ones like the LINK and LINK 2. Both the AdSCSI+ and the LINK 2
support parity.
You can have dealers build boxes for you. Atari dealers like Toad
Computers is just one of many."
George asks Albert:
"So, all in all, there are three kinds of host adapters. OK. Which is
the best if I want to hook up the cheapest 'big' Mac-compaible SCSI
drive I can find?
(Something like the second hand optical removable 600Meg for $800 I
run into from time to time on AOL Classifieds?)
I can understand the difference between an internal and external host
adapter, but the meaning (and role) of parity isn't quite clear to me."
Albert explains:
"I don't think ICD makes host adapters anymore that do not support
parity. It is good to have the parity option (so you can use it if you
need it). Anyway Link2 and AdSCSI+ are the adapters too look for.
I think of AdSCSI+ as an internal board which must be placed into a box
or cabinet. The LINK 2 is about the size of a seral (25 pin) gender
changer. It plugs into your DMA port and then you plug the SCSI cable
into the LINK 2. The SCSI cable would be coming from your device which
could be anything like CD-ROM, Hard Drive, MO drive, etc...
Parity is basically a simple error checking scheme. You basically add
up all the bits and set the parity bit based on the result. There are
different types of parity (odd, even and none). If the result of
adding all of the bits is odd then the odd parity would be set (if
using odd parity). If the result of adding all of the bits together was
even then the parity bit would be set to zero."
From the Portfolio Section of the Palmtop Forum
===============================================
Jeremy Setter posts:
"I have noticed several messages mentioning DIP in the UK who can
supply replacement Portfolios and accessories. I have used them
frequently for memory cards and for Portfolio programmes.They can be
reached at:
DIP Systems Limited:
Tel: +44 1483 301555
Fax: +44 1483 578072
Mob: +44 831 513938
32 Frederick Sanger Road
Surrey Research Park
Guildford GU2 5XN, UK"
Alan Ogden tells Jeremy:
"I beleve that DIP developed the Portfolio and Atari just badged and
sold it. One may still get Ports from DIP and there is at least one
deler who advertises them in U.K. computer mags at about 100 pounds.
DIP will do repairs too but they are not cheap. The main problem
seems to be the cable to the screen which wears with the constant
opening and closing of the case."
Well, that's about it for this week. Join me again next week, same time, same channel,
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" A true "Sign of the Times"
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How to Change a Lightbulb
Q: How many WordPerfect support technicians does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: We have an exact copy of the light bulb here, and it seems to be
working fine. Can you tell me what kind of system you have? OK. Now
exactly how dark is it? Ok, there could be four or five things
wrong....Have you tried the light switch?
Q: How many managers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We've formed a task force to study the problem of why light bulbs
burn out, and to figure out what, exactly, we as supervisors can do
to make the bulbs works smarter, not harder.
Q: How many testers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We just noticed the room was dark; we don't actually fix the
problem.
Q: How many Microsoft technicians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Three. Two holding the ladder, and one to screw the light bulb into
the faucet.
Q: How many MIS guys does it take to change a light bulb?
A: MIS has recieved your request concerning your hardware problem and
hads assigned your request service number 39,712. Please use this
number for any future references to this light bulb issue.
Q: How many C++ programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: You're still thinking prodeduraly. A properly designed light-bulb
object would inherit a change method from a generic light-bulb
class, so all you'd have to do is send a light-bulb-change message.
Q; How many developers does it take to change a light bulb?
A:The light bulb works fine on the system in my office...
Q: How many shipping department's pesonnel does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: We can change the light bulb in seven to ten working days, but if
you call before 2 p.m., and pay an extra $15, we can get you the
bulb changed over night.
Q: How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Bill gates will just redefine Darkness [tm] as the new
industry standard.
Q: How long does it take a DEC repairman to change a light bulb.
A: It depends on how many burnt out light bulbs he brought with him.
Q: How many Microsoft vice presidents does it take to change a light
bulb?
A: Eight. One to work the light bulb, and seven to make sure Microsoft
gets $2 for every light bulb ever changed around the world.
Q: How many Atari execs does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We no longer support that product, however the new Jaguar CD does
include a virtual light bulb that never needs changing!
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STReport International OnLine Magazine
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STR OnLine! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" May 12, 1995
Since 1987 copyright 1995 All Rights Reserved No. 1119
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All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of The Fair Use
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or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
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