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Atari Explorer Online Issue 1992 09
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ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE MAGAZINE
July 25, 1992 Volume 1, Number 9 Issue #92-09
Published and Copyright (c)1992, Atari Computer Corporation
1972-1992 (20 Years Of Service)
~ Editor In-Chief......................................Ron Kovacs
~ Contributing Editor...................................Ed Krimen
~ Contributing Writer...................................Bob Smith
~ Contributing Writer..............................Ron Berinstein
~ Contributing Writer.................................Stan Lowell
~ AtariUser Magazine Editor.............................John Nagy
~ Atari Corporation....................................Bob Brodie
| | | TABLE OF CONTENTS | | |
||| The Editors Desk.............................Ron Kovacs
AEO Update
||| Z*Net Newswire.........................................
Atari News Update from the Z*Net News Service
||| The Blue Ridge Atarifest.....................Ron Kovacs
GEnie messages reprinted about the event
||| AtariUser Reviews......................................
Reprints from the July 1992 Edition
||| Growing Up With Atari - Part 3................Bob Smith
Final installment of series
||| New Supra Modems - SysOp Offer.........................
Reprint from Z*Net Atari Online Magazine
||| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...............Walter Wilbury
Frequent Asked Questions answered
||| FoReM Net Nodes........................................
BBS Listing
||| Perusing GEnie................................Ed Krimen
FSM, Spectrum, Macsee and more....
| | | THE EDITORS DESK
| | | By Ron Kovacs
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
Changes are taking place behind the scenes here are new editors for
Atari Explorer Magazine settle into new responsibilities. You will
here more about this in future issues as I am sure "they" are going to
want to address our readers. So stay tuned for more details.
Bob Brodie will be attending the MIST Atarifest THIS WEEKEND and will
share the details next week. The Blue Ridge Atarifest took place last
weekend and we have included reports from attendees from the GEnie ST
RT Bulletin Board.
Falcon rumors are still flying all over the place. And though there are
members of the staff "in the know" on facts about the machine, we are
not at liberty to share them. The Z*Net Newswire however has attempted
to search out information and has included a report on the rumors and
some information from the upcoming Atari Advantage exclusive article on
the Falcon.
And last, for Star Trek fans, we have included a column about the new
series "Deep Space Nine" that answers some questions frequently asked.
Don't worry though, it isn't that long and is interesting reading. (At
least I think so!)
Thanks for reading!!
| | | Z*NET NEWSWIRE
| | | Latest Atari News and Industry Update
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
(Editors Note: The following article produced for the Z*Net Newswire
was NOT discussed with Atari directly. This feature is an independent
column. Comments and views presented here are those of the Z*Net News
Service and does not reflect the views of Atari Corporation.)
IN SEARCH OF THE ATARI FALCON 030
Even though no official word is available, even though Atari has
maintained a lid on details, and even though some leaks claim that the
new computer to be unveiled this fall won't bear the name FALCON, the
rumor mill has provided ample pseudo-information on what is expected to
be a remarkable machine.
Atari held an invitation-only Falcon developer conference in London on
June 27th, attended by over 120 developers. Sam Tramiel, Bill Rehbock,
and John Skruch were among those attending the conference for Atari. In
addition to the Atari personal, a few experts were brought along to
discuss features of the Falcon and programming the Digital Signal
Processor. Reactions from the intense one day affair varied from the
positive to the wildly enthusiastic. A number of the developers that
attended are not currently working on Atari platforms, but the
demonstrations and discussions appear to have convinced all of them to
either reconsider their position or to immediately add Atari to their
development programs.
Sam Tramiel has planned to reveal the Falcon technical details in live
conferences on the GEnie and Delphi telecommunications networks in early
August. This will be in preparation for the huge Dusseldorf Atari Messe
("fair") in Germany, August 21-23, where the public should see the
Falcon for the first time. Commercial availability for the units is
projected for later this fall.
A first look almost came early, through the efforts of Atari Advantage
Magazine. An exclusive Falcon story, complete with photographs of the
outside and even the motherboard of the Falcon, was planned for their
June issue. However, delays in production caused that issue to become
the June/July issue, and then negotiations with Atari Corp regarding
non-disclosure matters caused the photographs to be dropped and the
printing to be further delayed until late July. The photographs will
instead be featured in an upcoming issue of Atari Explorer (see related
story, below). The Atari Advantage Falcon article remains generally
complete, and is recommended reading, even getting "thumbs up" from
Atari officials. The Falcon issue should be available at Atari dealers
well into August.
Speculative Specs
The Falcon 030 (it may still be called something else when released, but
this name is now seeming to stick) will feature a 68030 running at
16mHz, be in the 1040-style one piece cabinet, and feature "more colors
than you can see, more sounds than you can hear", and use a Motorola
Digital Signal Processor DSP 56001 (like in NeXT). It will have an
updated TOS operating system that will include MultiTOS multitasking.
That much is official. The rest is via leak and speculation, and as
such, subject to change.
MultiTOS was developed by ATARI Corp. in cooperation with Eric Smith of
the Mathematics Department at the University of Western Ontario. Eric
designed the multitasking kernel called MiNT, which forms the basis for
MultiTOS, a combination of ROM code in the TOS and extensions on disk.
Message pipelines exist between parallel running applications, allowing
controlled interaction of simultaneous processes in different windows.
Old-standard desk accessories now unnecessary due to CPX modules and the
ability to run programs simultaneously, in effect, making every
application work like an accessory. Under MultiTOS, if one of many
parallel running applications should crash, the others remain protected
and safe. A more limited version of MultiTOS for older ST computers is
expected to be available as software.
According to the Atari Advantage Falcon story, the Falcon case will be a
dark grey, similar to the color of the Portfolio and STacy. It will
feature an STe/TT compatible LAN port plus and industry standard SCSI II
peripheral port, stereo microphone and headphone jacks, STe extended
joystick ports, a DSP port, and a built-in speaker. This last item is
important as the Falcon will be able to use standard high resolution
color multisync monitors which typically have no audio. Older Atari
monitors will also be usable with an adaptor. Broadcast quality TV
compatible video is offered with built-in genlock and "true color"
32,768 color capacity plus a variety of other modes (including all ST
modes).
Sound? Yikes. Sixteen-bit digital record/playback in resolution up to
50 kHz (better than an audio CD) in up to eight channels, with direct-
to-hard-disk recording, with a DSP port allowing digital audio transfer
rates of up to a megabyte per second. And STe 8-bit and ST three-voice
sound will be supported, making the Falcon as close to 100% backwards
compatible as possible.
Also in the copyrighted Advantage article are observations of on-board
sockets that appear ready for addition of alternate CPU devices, such as
PC or MAC emulators. With the dramatic speed and PC compatible video,
emulation should be a snap. Other internal items included a fan and an
internal hard disk--a 2.5" 40 meg unit in the one Advantage cracked
open. A daughter board held 16 meg of RAM in a plug-in module.
Price? It is rumored that the Falcon 030 will start at under $700.
ATARI EXPLORER TAKES ADVANTAGE
Atari Advantage has ceased publishing operations after only three
issues, as the publisher and editor have been hired to take over
production of Atari's in-house magazine, Atari Explorer. Mike Lindsay
and Darren Meers are relocating to Sunnyvale to pilot the glossy bi-
monthly Explorer after their short but well-received stint producing
their own Atari magazine. According to Lindsay, many subscriptions were
either not billed or charged in anticipation of the move. Paid
subscribers will be given options on conversion to a subscription to
Atari Explorer.
Lindsay and Meers were part of ST-INFORMER for four years, and both left
Informer in January 1992 over a dispute regarding ownership and control.
Their own magazine, Atari Advantage, had established a respectable
circulation, but Atari Corp. elected not to bring Advantage in-house as
an additional magazine.
The naming of editorial staff for Explorer ends months of conjecture
about who would take over for John Jainschigg. John declined to move to
Sunnyvale from his New York offices where he produced Explorer for the
last two years.
Bringing Atari Explorer to the home offices is part of an overall
consolidation of executive effort and attention at Atari. Overseeing
the magazine operation will be Atari's Bernie Stolar.
LYNX GOES WEST
As Atari gears up for the Jaguar game console to be released in 1993,
the Lombard Illinois offices of Atari Entertainment are being relocated
to Sunnyvale. Home of the Lynx development team, Lombard will remain
open as a programming center, but sales, marketing, and support for the
Lynx and soon the Jaguar will be part of the California operation under
the guidance of Bernie Stolar. Leaving Atari are Larry Seigal and Dana
Plotkin, who did not wish to relocate.
ATARI IN FORBES
The August 3, 1992 issue of Forbes Magazine recounts the Atari story in
a two-page article called "Cheap Didn't Sell" by Dyan Machan. The famed
business/industry reporting magazine blames Atari's troubles on the
Tramiel family's penny pinching. Machan claims that second-quarter 1992
financial statements (unavailable at press time) will be far worse than
the first quarter when Atari lost $14 million on $44 million in sales.
Further, the article says that Jack Tramiel has personally taken over
day-to-day operation of the company, moving his son Sam out of his
former office. The article does mention the new line of Falcon
computers and the Jaguar game console, but speculates that Atari has
less than half of the cash needed to perform an appropriate roll-out of
the new products. Atari officials aren't happy with the Forbes
article's tone, but some observers are saying, "Any press is more press
than we have had. A lot of readers will discover that Atari is not
dead, at least."
NEW SUPERBASE COMING
Superbase database systems for the Atari have been acquired by Oxxi Inc.
who now offer upgrades for the popular line of software. The charge to
upgrade either version of Superbase Personal to SB Pro 3 is $85,
available only through Oxxi. The upgrade includes full product, manuals
and all. A new product, Superbase 4, is expected in the near future.
Oxxi Inc., P.O. Box 90309, Long Beach, CA 90809-0309, USA, FAX (310)
427-0971.
NEW HOST BRINGS CD, FLOPTICAL TO ATARI
ICD Inc. has announced a new host adaptor that will enable standard ST
computers to use industry standard SCSI devices, including hard drives,
CD ROM drives, and flopticals designed for IBM, MAC, and Amiga. Pricing
has not been announced, but "The Link" will be a self-powered molded
cable-box affair that will connect to Atari's DMA (ACSI) port and plug
directly to standard 50-pin centronics style SCSI ports, giving instant
and complete access to virtually any peripheral using SCSI, with up to 8
devices at one time being supported. Better yet, MS-DOS formatted
devices will read and write directly and transparently from the ST
without modification, using ICD's driver software. CD-ROMs are now
supported through The Link's extended SCSI commands, with a re-written
MetaDOS driver to support the SCSI-2 standard for CD-ROM players. The
ICD Link will be premiered at the Atari Messe in Dusseldorf, Germany in
August. ICD is taking orders now with shipments expected in mid-August.
For further information, contact Thomas Harker at ICD by phone (815)
968-2228 extension 120, or FAX (815) 968-6888.
CD's, PHOTOS, AND ATARI
Atari's been dodging the CD-ROM technology for almost three years, and
now it looks like the wait might pay off. New CD technology is becoming
available that makes most older disk players obsolete. The Kodak Photo
CD system provides a way for consumers to have their color photographs
printed to a CD in resolutions exceeding all but the most sophisticated
computers and monitors. But the new format can't be read by many
current CD player drives. The new system is called Mode 2, XA, multi-
session capable. If you are buying a CD ROM, look for those
specifications to preserve your value. New format drives might be
readable using the ICD LINK (see story above) or by using ICD's revised
MetaDOS on a TT or Falcon.
PHOTO CD CONVERSION FOR ATARI
Picking up the torch of CD photos and accessibility to quality color
conversions of photographs, Randall Kopchak of It's All Relative is
offering to make ST-readable STe Spectrum format files of any photograph
on a Kodak CD for only fifty cents each (PC standard GIF files will be
made at $1 each). The first ever published STe conversion is of a
fountain in Keiner Plaza in Saint Louis, Missouri, and shows dramatic
detail in the water and sky. Originally shot on standard film, it was
converted to CD by Kodak, stored in 24-bit RGB at a resolution of 2048
by 3072 pixels. Kopchak says that when Atari settles on the CD driver
systems, his company will offer a direct view software system for the
Kodak CD's. In the meantime, the company does offer software to convert
CD photographs to GIF format via "Virtual BookMaker PC", available for
$25, and requiring a 386 or better PC with VGA or better, 2 meg or
better memory, XA CD ROM drive, running Windows 3.1 or higher. For
processing CD's to regular computer disk files, enclose the required
payment plus $3 per order for postage and handling, and send your Kodak
CD to Randall Kopchak, It's All Relative, 2233 Keeven Lane, Florissant,
MO 63031, (314) 831-9482, GEnie address: GREG, CIS address: 70357,2312.
ATARIUSER REDUCES SUBSCRIPTION RATE
AtariUser Magazine, a monthly Atari publication with coverage of the
entire Atari line of computer products, has announced a promotional
price cut in their home subscription rates. New and renewal subscribers
can take a $5 discount and pay just $15 for one year, 12 issues of the
magazine with standard 3rd class delivery. A new offering of FIRST
CLASS DELIVERY is now also available for only $5 more than the standard
rate, or $25. "We had complaints from parts of the country where 3rd
class takes three or more weeks to deliver," said AtariUser Editor John
Nagy, "and since we publish our issues in real-time rather than
'newsstand time', our August issue is shipped July 30. That allows us
to include news we receive as late as July 24. But it means that a few
subscribers get the August magazine on August 24." Dealers and user
groups are shipped their copies of AtariUser via UPS, which takes about
one week to cross the USA. The FIRST CLASS HOME DELIVERY OPTION will
allow home subscribers to get the magazine within three days of printing
at a total yearly (12 issue) subscription rate of $25. The $15 standard
and $25 First Class subscription rates will be good for orders received
by October 1, 1992. For this promotional rate, payment must be included
(by check, money order, or VISA/MASTERCARD number and signature) and
orders may ONLY be by mail. Be sure to include your complete address
and phone number. Send your order to QUILL PUBLISHING CO., 113 W.
College Street, Covina, CA 91723-2008.
I DON'T LIKE YOUR TONE
It can happen to you: replace your toner in your Atari SLM laser printer
(or others!) and suddenly you get light print with streaks. You can
keep increasing the toner darkness dial inside the SLM until it's all
the way on, to the point of spooning toner onto the drum, and your
printouts are still light and streaky. Woe is you, you need an
expensive new drum. NOT. Although it is a little known fact, all toner
is not created equal--even name brands. Differences between production
runs, age, storage, etc. can each affect the quality of the toner, and
your new toner may be the culprit. Before you shell out for a drum,
replace the toner again with a fresh box, bought somewhere or sometime
other than the first box. You are likely to find, once the new toner
circulates, that your printer is happy again. And you can't lose if the
drum is to blame after all, just use the replaced toner later. But
store it carefully--its a mess.
| | | BLUE-RIDGE ATARIFEST
| | | Compiled by Ron Kovacs from the GEnie ST RT
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 174 Sun Jul 19, 1992
C.ALLEN17 [Cliff] at 00:39 EDT
Just got back from the Banquet. For some reason, I am sitting a little
further away form my computer. (Must still be full from all the food I
ate, 3 helpings of everything except dessert).
Thanks to all those that attended and those that wished for use a good
show. One of the reasons I like these shows, is that I get a chance to
meet the people behind the software I am using.
For those that couldn't attend the show, I think you missed one of the
best little shows in the south.
A special thanks to the following;
Accusoft-ST:
I will be spending quite a few days looking through all the Clip-Art
disks I got.
ABC Solutions:
Sorry I was unable to visit your booth. Every time I started over your
way, I was called to do something else.
Clear Thinking:
Will try the Metapsychology Primer in a couple of days. I hope I don't
prove to be sane, it's more fun when your slightly crazy.
CodeHead Software:
John, thanks for checking on my version numbers.
DSA:
Every time I looked, your booth was full of kids playing your software.
Joppa Software Development:
Sorry I didn't get a chance to visit your booth until close to closing
time. From what I could see, your product does look like the one for
me. Have a safe trip back.
KAUG:
Thanks for the assist with the registration desk.
Erik White (KAUG):
Good seminar.
Lexicor Software:
Thank you again for the door prize.
Maxwell CPU:
With all the IMG clip art I got at the Accusoft-ST booth, your program
will get a work out.
Read mountain Press:
For the second year in row, you've packed the seminar. Am looking
forward to reading your new book.
Software Development System:
As soon as I pick up my new MegaSTE tomorrow, I will install the NewDesk
ICON CPX.
ST Report:
Another packed house in the seminar room.
Step Ahead Software:
Nevin, sorry to hear about the flight snafu, but glad you made it. Your
southern drawl is getting better.
Twilight Zone Software:
Glad you make to the show this year.
Applied Audio Marketing Steinberg/Jones:
Thanks to developers for submitting door prizes.
Once again, thanks to all for making this show winner.
Cliff
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 179 Sun Jul 19, 1992
HAINES at 17:37 EDT
Well, after a few hours sleep, I thought I would post here for any
monitoring this topic as to what was shown at the show.
Starting at the front door was Accusoft, which has some really excellent
and very clean monochrome img files on a very wide variety of topics. I
bought a sample pak from them, consisting of 8 of their most popular
disks, each with a viewer program, for $24. It also came with a nice
disk holder.
Next was Worldcomm, with Chris Roberts. I saw him inside at several
booths, but never saw him outside. He might have decided to look more
than sit.
Registration desk next, with the Knoxville Atari Users Group (KAUG)
table beside it. They were showing some nice demo stuff when I went by,
but I don't think they were showing any product.
When you went in the front door to the main hall area, all the booths
were on your left. The first was Lexicor Software, which was showing
the Phase 4 paint and rendering software. They were running a videotape
showing previous efforts, and these could only be described as stunning.
Some were done on the Matrix card, some on their 24 bit video card.
These videos were incredible. You would never believe the video. If
you ever saw the movie Tron, you would have a idea of the possibilities.
They just started there. The video was a little worn, but running at
every show would make it so, because anyone that looked at it stayed for
a while. Very impressive.
Next was SDS, showing the Deskjet Utilities pack, Newdesk icon editor,
and a product I was very excited about, the Logitech Fotoman Camera.
This is a new product, to be on the market August 15. It is a 372 by
256 pixels 256 gray-scale camera than can take and digitally hold 32
pictures. The software was very nice, and controlled the camera, though
it still has a few features they want to add. The SDS fellow (can't
read his name) told the guys at the Lexicor booth to smile, and snapped
their picture. He placed the Fotoman in its cradle, and selected the
directory function in the software. In a few seconds, a thumb-nail
preview of all the pictures in the camera appeared on screen. They can
be saved in TIFF, EPS, and another I don't remember (IMG?). It connects
to the serial port, and runs at 9600 baud now, release version will
possibly run at 14 to 19k, depending on how reliable they find these to
be. At 9600 it is really fast. A seamless, quick, and impressive way to
get pictures in to the ST. They hope to have a Calamus SL import module
later. Priced at $700 for complete system, to $100 if you already own
the hardware. Separate versions for ST or TT though, some specific
functions needed for each.
Next was Step Ahead Software, showing Tracker ST and Gemvelope. I think
Nevin was a little late getting in, but he did make it, and showed these
excellent products to many interested users.
Craig Harvey of Edhak fame was next at the Clear Thinking booth, showing
his fast and excellent file/memory/disk/next editor. He was also
showing a Metapsychology primer program (?) which several people bought
as a package along with Edhak, I think it allows you to look at (I don't
know about editing) your head. Nothing really like it in the ST market,
one of the buyers can explain it more easily than I.
ABC Solutions was showing First Publisher 2, tbxCad, Kspread 4 and
Kspread Lite, First Word Plus, and the one I really liked, Firstgraph.
If you have played with he demo, you know this is an extremely powerful
graphing package. It is also very fast. They showed me the current
versions speed by having a 3d bar graph drawn, with a perspective view
shown from off center. He then grabbed a camera view icon, and dragged
it around, changing the perspective. Redraw was basically
instantaneous. Very fast, very clean. You can place labels anywhere on
the graph, rotate then, etc. Very powerful for the price. They were
upgrading the other packages at the show.
Next was DSA, showing their new product, the DP graphics engine. This
is program for drawing graphics, sprites, background screens and more,
for inclusion in your GFA Basic programs, somewhat similar to the
utilities in STOS, but more full featured. They were showing 3 games
programmed in the engine, for a total of less than 30 hours programming
time. One was Ms Pacman, the other an invaders clone, the other a nice
platform game, as good as anything I have seen out of Europe. Smooth
graphics, detailed sprites, and nice sounds. Looks good. They are also
going to mail out a shareware drawing program, they showed a version of
it at the show, but it was not complete enough to let loose. It has
several functions not present in any of the drawing programs I have
seen, including the ability to grab any portion of a picture and create
an instant border around it. It has text, and very interesting gradient
fill brushes that can change gradients as they move, making very nice
pictures. It looks like a good replacement for Printmaster.
Next was a music booth, but I can't read what I have written. I don't
know much about the music scene, but the software was very professional
looking, and the sounds very nice. Someone else can cover this.
Next was the Codehead double table. They needed it. From the time John
got there and set up, till he left, there was a group of people around
him two, and sometimes three deep, watching him put Calligrapher,
Megapaint II, and Avant Vector through their paces. If he sold as much
as people were interested, it should have been very successful.
Across the way was Joppa Software, showing their Straight Fax software
for the ST. They held a seminar, telling of the possible future
features to be included in the software as newer Fax modems come to the
market, and invited anyone to come over to their booth and try the fax
software, using a hand scanner or a page scanner. They have Pagestream
and Calamus export drivers, and the fax pages produced from these are
virtually indistinguishable from the original produced on a laser
printer.
Beside them was Maxwell CPU, showing off Silhouette, the American, low
priced alternative to the European programs, combining auto-tracing and
editing of bitmap and vectors in one program. Very impressive.
Mobile Ohm Software was next, they got in a little late, I only got a
peek, showing some music software.
Twilight Zone Software was showing Transcendence BBS, which looking very
nice and full featured.
Steinberg-Jones had a seminar room set up, where they showed their wares
and held their seminar. Very interesting abilities with their programs.
The demo they held was like something off a rock concert stage. I may
have missed someone, as I jumped around some.
Ralph from ST Report did have a table, and was handing out No More Real
Soon Now badges. He was a very interesting person to talk to. A lot of
people think he is down on Atari, but I found him to be up on Atari,
kind of down on the people at Atari, or certain ones anyway.
The seminars were well attended. Don Terp of Reed Mountain Press spoke
some on publishing, but mainly on how to use your system to run a
business, and stay in business. Joppa spoke on the features they have
in their software, and future development. A KAUG member put on an
interesting beginning Midi demo, as he is the leader of his church
choir, and uses his ST and midi software and keyboards to make church
music! Definitely a long way from the Rock and Roll we usually
associate with the St and Midi. Steinberg-Jones had a very nice seminar
demonstrating the abilities of their products, with very wild sounds
issuing forth. Ralph of ST Reports seminar was very well attended. He
is pretty upbeat about Atari this year, with the wait for the new
machines, and feels that Atari can make a real comeback, but they have
to push the new machine. If they wait, they will loose the advantage of
the advanced technology for the price like they used to have. He more
or less stated that a lot of the details everyone has been hearing from
Europe about the Falcon contain a lot of the truth. He also urges
everyone to write to Atari to encourage them to push now. When he asked
who plans to buy one of the new machines, almost the entire room raised
their hands.
Mike Groh of Atari had no formal presentation, but instead had a
question and answer period. He would not confirm or deny the Falcon and
its release date, but stated that if others in the company had stated it
might have a fall 92 release, that there might be a release then, as
Atari is always in product development, he just was not able to say
what. He stated the ST Stylus had been dropped because of the extreme
manpower needed to get market penetration with this type of new product.
He stated that the ST Book would not be sold here now, but is being sold
in other parts of the world. A 4 meg version, maybe or maybe not with
back-lighted screen will be available here later in the year, possibly
fall 92.
FSM GDOS is to be rewritten so that it can use fonts that can be
obtained at any PC store, though he did not say which, Ralph thinks
Bitstream. He spoke about the advertising Atari is doing, and markets
they thing they can move into. A lot of questions, many of which he
could not give real answers to, as the questioners knew, they were just
hoping for a little slip, but Mike was on top of it. Other than the
above, and a little info on Multitos, nothing new was released.
Well, I probably missed as much as I saw. I thought it to be a very
successful show. I don't know about how many attended, but every time I
left a seminar, the hallway was packed. Computer Studio had a line at
the cash register each time I went in. I know I enjoyed it, and hope it
was good for the developers.
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 181 Mon Jul 20, 1992
L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:35 EDT
Well! The Blue Ridge AtariFest was a great success for me and I'll be
sure to attend again next year! I got updates, I got demos, I spent
money! Who could ask for anything more!
It was great to actually meet Ralph Mariano, John Eidsvoog, Sheldon
Winick, Craig Harvey, and all the rest of the crowd!
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 182 Mon Jul 20, 1992
S.WINICK at 07:15 EDT
Doug,
Thanks much for the well-wishes. I'm just getting back to catching up
on the past few day's messages. It has been a little 'busier than
usual' around here lately. ;-]
The Blue Ridge AtariFest was a fantastic success. Everything ran
smoothly, the crowds were heavy and sales were brisk. The developers
who exhibited at the show were kept busy all day showing off their
latest products. Seminars were well-attended and interesting, and the
door prizes graciously donated by our exhibitors and developers who
couldn't make it as well, were a fantastic bonus.
A good time was had by all. As you know, it takes an awful lot of hard
work by dedicated volunteers and developers to put on a successful show
and keep it running smoothly. Our thanks to everyone who helped make
this year's event so memorable. And our thanks especially to all those
fine Atarians who supported our efforts with their attendance and
participation. Without them, it would all have been for naught. Their
support of has made all of this possible.
Now it's your turn, Doug. From what I've seen posted so far about the
Connecticut AtariFest '92, it looks like you 'Yanks' are fixin' for a
fine 'Fest yourselves. I may very well just drop in myself for the
party. I know y'all are going to be very busy during the next few weeks
making sure the Atari community will be treated to another fantastic
event. ;-]
Message 189 Wed Jul 22, 1992
John,
There's nothing finer than 'wall-to-wall Atarians'!! You know the great
feeling after a successful show when the feedback keeps coming back so
positive. All the hard work and dedicated efforts of our show staff
payed off with all aspects of the show running so smoothly. And the
great attendance by loyal Atarians here in the southeast (and some from
even further away ;-) made it a fantastic success.
Sales were definitely brisk -- we had our best day ever at Computer
STudio!
Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC)
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 190 Wed Jul 22, 1992
BOB-BRODIE [Atari Corp.] at 19:22 EDT
Mary,
Those fellers down in Houston have be acallin' me Bubba for a couple of
years now. I'm fixin' to head back down there in October. :)
I'm glad to hear that the BRACE Show lived up to everyones expectations.
I've already gotten a phone call from inspired southerners that are
anxious to talk about trying something similar in their neck o' the
woods.
Hopefully, things will work out better next year so I can return to
Asheville for BRACE IV.
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 192 Wed Jul 22, 1992
NEVIN-S at 22:15 EDT
I had a great time, even though:
My first US Air flight was delayed by 1 1/2 hours, so I missed my
connection;
They lost my box with my TT and all the software I was going to sell,
and put me in a panic until they found it;
They sent me to a hotel for a free night in Charleston, but did not
check to see that the hotel was sold out! So I had to switch to a
SECOND hotel;
My flight on Saturday morning was about 45 minutes late in leaving, and
I had the thrill of seeing them working on the engine right there at the
gate. Gave me lots of confidence!
Sales were very slow, because there are so few new Atari users that I
had already sold to all area ST enthusiasts (it was nice to see them,
though it was sad to see that the market really is shrinking in a big
way);
On my flight back, we landed on time in NY, only to sit 50 yards from
the gate for 45 minutes since all gates were full.
Seriously, even with these bad points, I had a very good time. Thanks a
TON to John Eidsvoog for letting me share his room on Saturday night,
and thanks to Sheldon and his crew for all of their hospitality.
--Nevin
------------
Category 11, Topic 7
Message 199 Fri Jul 24, 1992
K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 02:09 EDT
I'll be uploading a NEW demo of the latest DrumKitz (Alesis D4 ed/lib)
and another NEW application soon. I'm sure everyone will like the
quality of these applications TBA.
--Kevin (Mobile Ohm Development)
PS. I'd like to find out about any other Atari Fests (hint, hint) in the
Southern region well in advance so I can plan ahead. Hopefully, at the
next one I won't have so many hardware problems (monitor dying, computer
tiring out, lack of sleep, etc.)
------------
| | | ATARIUSER REVIEWS
| | | From the July 1992 Edition
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
The following article is reprinted in Atari Explorer Online by
permission of AtariUser magazine. It MAY NOT be further reprinted
without specific permission of AtariUser. AtariUser is a monthly Atari
magazine, available by subscription by calling (818) 332-0372.
HotteST Game of the Month: EPIC (ST, STe, TT)
/////////////////////////////////////////////
After months of advertising and teasing, the "Wing Commander" for the ST
is finally here. But EPIC is more like a flight simulator crossed with
that old TV series Battlestar Galactica. Not bad, but not what we
expected.
The sun of your home system is about to go super-nova, so a huge fleet of
assorted spaceships is assembled, and the entire population is evacuated
to a new planet in a different system 560 light years away. Problem is,
to get there, the fleet must go through Rexxon territory, and the Rexxon
Empire doesn't believe in the super-nova story. So you must fly a
series of missions against Rexxon installations planet side and defend
your fleet from enemy ships.
Those of you who have played F-29 Retaliator (Ocean) will feel instantly
at home, since this was also programmed by Digital Image Design, and has
the same overall structure: it's mission-driven, has access codes, all
the data for the missions is in the manual only, you can fly out of the
game world, and your ship has a normal airplane-style compass (000
through 359 degrees). The manual devotes a lot of space to background
story and information, but doesn't fully explain the mechanics of the
game. So, you'll spend a lot of time just flying around and shooting
things experimentally to see what makes your mission completion gauge
(percentage) go up. Refueling is particularly difficult in space, as
the fuel modules are rather small. I still haven't figured out how to
refuel from fuel ships! But that skill must be mastered, as your Epic
fighter is one heck of a gas guzzler.
The graphics use nice 3-D polygons for just about everything, and
gorgeous pictures for the animated game sequences. The various ships
are easily recognizable, so the risk of gunning down a friendly by
mistake is limited. The space battles can get pretty exhilarating as
you whiz past ships of all shapes and sizes while gunning down enemy
crafts. There is one little bug though: sometimes, a ship jumps around
for no apparent reason when you fly fast toward it. Something wrong
with the graphics system I guess. The screen update is fast, and you
can adjust the amount of detail to suit.
EPIC's controls are extremely sensitive, so the joystick is next to
useless. You're better off using the mouse. The thrust system is weird
--you seem to have to choose between "crawl" and "Warp 9". I haven't
found a way to set the throttle at any point in between.
Overall, EPIC is a nice game, but it's not the earth-shattering
blockbuster it has been made out to be in the promotions. It works on
everything from a 520STm to a TT (make sure your TT boots in low
resolution though), but you need 1 meg of RAM to listen to the digitized
score. Epic comes on two double-sided disks and supports two floppy
drives. From Ocean UK, $54.95 -- Eric Bitton
BATMAN RETURNS (Lynx)
/////////////////////
Bruce Wayne's back in this superlative Lynx treatment of the 1992 summer
movie with Keaton, Pfeiffer, and DeVito. While almost all other
platforms will wait until Fall or even Christmas for their versions, the
Lynx "Batman Returns" premiered the same week as the movie itself. In
what may be the most complex and realistic game for the Lynx yet,
Catwoman and the Penguin have formed an alliance, with a plan to defame
Batman and place themselves in power. Now Batman must save both the
town and his reputation, and bring in his opponents.
Closely mirroring the movie's plot, Batman Returns makes you the
defender of Gotham City, as you run, jump, and fight. Your enemies are
a motley crew of thugs, police, and penguins, while you fight back with
weapons and fists. Even with battle armor, Batman has a limited amount
of health, and if he takes too much damage, the game ends.
This is a hard game, as the deck is clearly stacked against you. While
the general location of Batman's enemies is fixed, their actions and
appearances are not, making pattern learning impossible. You have one
life, no continues, and no passwords to defeat a seemingly endless
number of opponents and their various attacks. You have four scrolling
levels to complete: The Red Triangle Circus Gang; Batman Confronts
Authorities; Beneath Gotham City; Batman Discovers the Artic World.
Though four levels might not sound like much, each level holds dozens of
screens, and the high difficulty of this game will make finishing even
the first stage a major accomplishment.
The graphics on Batman Returns can do no wrong. The images and actions
of the characters are remarkably accurate. Gotham City on the Lynx
perfectly captures the unique architecture and moody atmosphere of the
movie. The enemies are distinctive and easily identified, and Batman's
acrobatic flips and cape-flapping jumps are among the best effects ever
on a Lynx. A repetitive theme music plays in the background, while the
majority of game sounds are recognizable but not noteworthy. It's all
remarkably good use of 256K of card memory.
Batman Returns is a respectable action game, and the Lynx version would
be equally enjoyable on any other platform. It offers basic fight
action and a serious challenge in a hot package that's guaranteed to
sell Lynxes. Atari Corp., $49.95. -- Robert Jung.
EdScheme: Learning Language (ST, STe, TT)
/////////////////////////////////////////
Scheme, developed in 1975, is a dialect of Lisp, a list processing
language whose strengths lie in the evaluation of symbolic rather than
numeric data, the use of highly flexible data structures, and the use of
recursion. It's the basis for many artificial intelligence
applications. EdScheme, from Schemers Inc., offers a complete package
with an editor and a 128 page fully indexed User's Reference Manual.
Two interpreters (one with full editor, turtle graphics interface and
debugger) come on a single 3 1/2-inch disk and work on all ST/TT models
regardless of memory. The disk also contains two game utilities and
various other utility files. A comprehensive 328 page tutorial designed
for novice and experienced programmers is available separately.
EdScheme greets you with an arrow prompt and a blank screen on which
statements and commands are typed and evaluated. Despite its DOS-like
appearance, the interpreter employs an automatic indentation and bi-
color code system in which EdScheme evaluates black functional
expressions into red data expressions. The integrated editor features
WordStar-like editing commands, automatic indentation of program lines,
highlighting of expression subgroups and parenthesis matching by showing
the user the code for which the closing parenthesis must match.
EdScheme excels as a teaching tool. The available tutorial introduces
Scheme and nurtures good programming practices. It introduces the
reader to the algorithmic process by first diagraming operations in an
organized manner even before tackling the code syntax--no mindless
typing programs into the computer, enforcing ritual before reason. The
exercises and sample answers in the tutorial are plentiful.
The advantages of a list processing language like Scheme over the
standard BASIC or PASCAL is in its ease. The novice can be writing
powerful programs in Scheme sooner than in BASIC or PASCAL, and the
expert can explore more advanced programming techniques such as
recursive and curried functions, procedural abstraction, and binary
trees. Scheme itself is a more user-friendly language than the widely
distributed XLISP, making EdScheme an easier language to debug.
EdScheme is efficient, easy-to-learn, and inexpensive. The versatility
of Scheme has made it the language of choice for those just learning
computer programming. Scheme is already being taught in freshman
classes at Universities such as Columbia, Yale and U.C.L.A. EdScheme,
$49.95; Tutorial, $29.95; from Schemers Inc., 4250 Galt Ocean Mile,
Suite 7u, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308. -- Kevin Festner
RAMPART (Lynx)
//////////////
Longtime players remember when flashy graphics and sound didn't matter
as much as a solid idea with good game play. Such is the case with
Rampart, an adaptation of the Atari Games' arcade title. The player is
the war-lord of an enclosed castle; cannons are placed behind the walls
and used to repel enemy attacks. After each battle, holes in the wall
must be patched with Tetris-like pieces before the next attack, else the
game ends. One player can compete against a computer-controlled navy
through eight levels, or two players can fight each other, with or
without the computer.
Lynx Rampart is moderately hard to win, and a near-complete copy of the
original. The Lynx controls are a respectable substitute for the
arcade's trackball. In a one-player game, a level ends after enduring a
number of attacks, and survival is the final goal. A two-player game
ends when one side loses, and all games have a limited number of
continues. There is one difference that devoted fans will notice: on
the Lynx, all ships can drop off ground forces, which makes defending
your shoreline very important. This makes the game more difficult, but
not unplayable.
Rampart in the arcade used simple and uninspired graphics, which the
Lynx duplicates exactly. To compensate, this version also shows a
number of elegant animated and still images between breaks in the
action. There are not too many sounds, but the ones present are well
done, with explosions, musical themes and dirges, and digitized voices.
Rampart on the Lynx is a good adaptation and a welcome change from
today's recycled arcade themes. For those who have never tried this
unusual game, its original blend of action and strategy can be quite
addictive, and is well recommended. Atari Corp., $29.95. -- Robert Jung
STRAIGHT FAX! (ST, STe, TT)
//////////////////////////
STRAIGHT FAX! allows your ST/TT to send and receive FAX files using a
Class 2 FAX/modem. This will enable you to send ASCII, monochrome IMG,
and DEGAS (PI3 or PC3) files directly from your Atari computer to a
Group 3 FAX machine (most all of them). A minimum of 2 meg of RAM in
your ST is "recommended." STRAIGHT FAX! has the added feature of being
able to convert Calamus, Calamus SL and PageStream documents to a FAX
format that can be sent using STRAIGHT FAX! Most FAX machines operate
at 9,600 bps, but you are able to use FAX speeds up to 14,400 bps if
your modem and the receiving machine can both operate at that speed.
STRAIGHT FAX! keeps a log of incoming and outgoing FAX's, and can send
scheduled FAX events. Operation is within a somewhat standard GEM
screen, with ten function keys across the bottom for easy access of
standard commands. All the function key commands are also available
from the drop down menus or as keyboard commands. The Phone/dialer
list, FAX log, and Scheduler are easy to understand and straightforward
in operation.
FAX files can be created on disk for later use. You also have the
ability to convert an IMG to FAX, Degas to FAX, ASCII to FAX and FAX to
IMG. With the ability to convert a FAX document to an IMG, you can
easily import a document into other DTP or Document Processors. You can
view am IMG, DEGAS or FAX on the screen or print an IMG or FAX document
using GDOS. There's support for directly scanning images into the FAX
software.
A great manual (but no index), handy on-line help files along with the
expected set-up screens make things even easier. Dialing Preferences
are similar in nature to the setup in a terminal program. These are
FAX/modem settings that can also be set with AT commands as are some of
the Receive FAX Preferences of Answer After and Receive path.
I've been using this software for about a month now and I'm completely
satisfied with its ease of use and versatility. This software is on an
equal or higher par with any PC or MAC FAX software I've seen.
Background operation for receive or scheduled sends would be a great
feature, but are neither available in this release nor predicted for the
immediate future. Joppa has a software package they can be proud of as
is, but they have upgrades in the works even as you read this. $79.95,
Straight FAX! is by Joppa Software (not Joppa Computer Products, a
Maryland retailer), P.O. Box 214, Dallastown, PA 17313-0214, 717-428-
3231. -- John King Tarpinian
Supra FAXModem (all computers)
//////////////////////////////
Warning: techie language ahead. If necessary, skim along until you see
parts that make sense to you. You don't need the rest--yet.
The modem I used to test the STRAIGHT FAX! software is the SupraFAXModem
V.32bis. This is their top-of-the-line FAX/modem. You can set this
FAX/modem for speeds up to 14,400 bps with up to 57,600 bps throughput
with its V.42bis capacity. It supports levels 2-5 MNP and has
compatibility with the AT command set. The FAX/modem supports Group 3,
CCITT V.27ter and V.29 which are the FAX machine standards in common use
today, as well as the Class 1 and Class 2 FAX standards. The
SupraFAXModem is the same super-compact size as their 9,600 bps modem,
so desk space is not a consideration.
There are a few cautions that apply to all modems above 2400 bps. You
may need a new, more heavily shielded cable that safeguards data
compression and error correction. And, if you have a MEGA STe with TOS
below 2.06 or a TT with TOS below 3.06, you will need a patch program
such as SERPATCH.PRG in your auto folder, and will have to set up flow
control.
The Supra FAXModem comes with a Getting Started Manual, a Reference
Manual and a Reference Card, and has a five year warranty. It's
virtually as simple to use as any other modem, although I initially had
a problem using the SupraFAXModem with Aladdin on GEnie. The profusion
of commands required to operate modern feature-rich modems make it
necessary to set up the initialization with care. The simple fix is to
change the ATZ command in Aladdin to AT or ATZ1.
After only a week of use, my SupraFAXModem started to have intermittent
problems. I called Supra's customer assistance number and explained
what my FAX/modem was doing. I was told, "No problem," and was given a
choice of sending the modem back for replacement, or of giving them my
credit card number as a deposit they would send me a replacement FAX/
modem by UPS Red Label and include a prepaid Federal Express return
mailer. I opted for the latter and had the replacement the next
business day. All this at NO cost to me. I give this type of customer
service an A+. The replacement unit operates flawlessly, and I can move
data at breakneck speed without breakneck prices. That's a winning
combination. Retail: $399 for the top of the line FAXModem, other
models available at lower prices. Supra Corporation, 7101 Supra Drive
SW, Albany, OR 97321, 503-967-2410. -- John King Tarpinian
| | | GROWING UP WITH ATARI - PART III
| | | By Bob Smith
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
As I had previously mentioned, it had been a real pleasure to be
involved with the Atari Computer and all of the outstanding people that
I have met along the way. These people range in all sizes, shapes,
walks of life and have all had the common interest of this fine machine,
in whatever form.
One of these people that I had the pleasure of meeting is Bob Brodie.
As most of you know, Bob is the multi-talented high profile person of
the Atari Corporation. In the several years that I was president of the
Mid-Florida Atari Computer Club, I spoke to Bob by phone on a fairly
regular basis and he always had time for our conversations and was most
patient with me. I gained an insight into the Atari Corporation from
Atari's side. Bob has been candid and straight forward in his dealings,
both from a public relations standpoint and more to the point, a
humanistic standpoint.
As a case in point, early last year I had spoken to him about the
possibility of his taking part in our booth at the Great Southern
Electronics and Computer Expo. He said that because of the time at
which it would take place, October, he had other commitments, but would
visit our Club on regular meeting night. It was set up to take place in
the early summer and the membership and a lot of other people were
notified. Due to some conflicts in scheduling it was reset finally for
September. Being the upstanding type of person that he is, he
apologized and said that he would make it up to us at the September
meeting. Well, Bob came loaded for 'Bear'.
This particular meeting was nothing like we had ever seen. The
equipment that Bob brought with him made everyone drool, including and
especially me. He put on a show which included a tape of his visit to
the Atari Fest in Germany. He had taken this tape himself and might
have a career in the future as TV camera man, if it were not for the
beard. (Just kidding, Bob). The demos were outstanding and his
expertise in making presentations on behalf of Atari truly showed
through. Too bad I wasn't successful in getting him to forget to take
some of the equipment that he brought from California. The next night I
was privileged to have dinner with Bob, one on one and I learned more
about the man than I had hoped for.
One of the fun things that a person can do with a computer is to "go
online". What this means is that you can use your computer and modem
and connect with a Bulletin Board. On a BBS you will usually find
message bases that cover everything from Politics to Cooking, to
Fashion, to computer help. I am fortunate that I live in an area that
has several Atari bulletin boards, which cater to both the 8 Bit and ST
computers. I use these facilities to increase my enjoyment and limited
knowledge of my computers. I have also learned that there are many
differing types of personalities that run these boards.
These people are called SYSOPS and it took me quite awhile to figure out
what that meant. (Sysops = System Operators). These people range from
passionate to downright fanatical about their systems and setups. They
remind me of the classic car owners, who spend all day just polishing
and primping over their 65 Corvette or 37 Chevy. Sysops provide a
service to the computer community which is unique in many ways. Where
else can someone get the latest news and as many differing opinions on a
given topic in one source.
The message bases on the BBS can provide many different points of view
not often available to the general populace and usually at no more cost
than a local phone call. You can play many types of games, get
technical help in abundance with a particular computer problem that you
just cannot figure out and get a variety of programs for your computer.
Sysops by and large invest a good deal of money in this passion and the
only reward is the Bulletin Board user's thanks.
In my education, I have been fortunate and lucky to have had the
opportunity to learn how to be a backup and co-sysop. Believe me, this
can be a very enlightening and happy experience. At the same time, it
can be the most frustrating thing in the world, especially when you
cannot find that very small error that is causing all of the problems
with the board.
As I have stated before, one of the advantages of growing up with a
computer, such as Atari, is that you meet a very diverse group of
people. It has been and will continue to be a very illuminating
experience for me and I continue to marvel at the lengths that people
will go to be of help with problems, ideas, and just plain being
friendly. I have met by way of the computer, people from almost all
over the world, in such places as England, Canada, South America,
Europe, United States, etc. I still have a great deal of growing up
with the computer to do and I hope I never stop but it is nice to know
that I'm not alone.
I can watch my children start their learning and growing with their
computers and at the same time relive my own very shaky beginnings. I
guess that is what "computering" is all about.
We hope you have enjoyed this three part series of articles.
| | | SUPRA'S NEW 9600 MODEMS
| | | From Supra - Reprint from Z*Net Atari Online Magazine
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
Supra has released 2 new 9600 modems - the 9600 Supra FaxModem v.32 and
the 14400 Supra FaxModem v.32bis at a retail price of $299.95 and
$399.95 respectively. Supra is offering these NEW modem at special
prices for BBS SysOps.
Both modems support 300-2400bps (Bell 103/212A, V.21 / 22A&B / 22bis /
23), v.32 (9600bps), MNP 2-5/10, V42bis, 9600 send/receive fax (v.27ter/
29), class 1/2 (fax software-fax modem communication standard), caller
ID and voice. (Voice and caller ID can be enabled through low-cost, user
-installable firm-ware upgrades available mid-1992.) The v.32bis model
adds v.32bis (14400bps) and v.17 (14400 fax). This is all packaged in
Supra's famous small case (1" high x 4.5" wide x 6.5" long).
The modems have 4 lights (RD/SD/OH/TR) and a LED display. The display
will show the connection rate, compression protocol, error correction
protocol, etc. in a rotating fashion.
HOW CAN SUPRA SELL A 9600 MODEM FOR 1/2-1/3 THE PRICE OF CURRENT MODEMS?
This year the price of v.32/v.32bis technology will tumble to new lows.
Supra is continuing its proud tradition of being a leader in using new
chip-sets to lead the modem industry to a new price point.
IF SUPRA IS USING A NEW CHIP-SET, HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT THE NEW MODEMS
WILL NOT HAVE SOME PROBLEMS WHEN THEY ARE RELEASED?
Supra is using a new Rockwell chip-set which condenses several of their
older chips into 1 chip. Rockwell is the leader in building modem
chip-sets. A majority of current 9600 modems are based upon the older
Rockwell v.32 technology. We do not foresee any problems, but if a
problem does occur, Supra is committed to solving it as quickly as
possible. Supra also offers a 30 day Money Back Guarantee for products
that are purchased directly from Supra.
MY LOCAL USERS USE USR HST MODEMS. WILL I BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE AT
9600 BAUD WITH THEM?
The maximum baud rate you will connect at with a HST modem is 2400.
Depending on the age of the HST modem, you may also get a v42bis data
compression connection. If the user uses the USR Dual Standard modem,
and it is setup correctly, you will connect at a baud rate of 9600 (or
14400 if using v.32bis). We expect that most owners of the HST modems
will be upgrading to v.32 modems.
I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SUPRA. HOW RELIABLE ARE THEIR MODEMS?
Supra Corporation has been providing personal computer users with high-
quality, low-cost peripherals since 1985. In addition to manufacturing
a very successful line of modems, Supra makes a variety of peripherals
for Mac, IBM, Amiga and Atari computers. Supra has excelled because of
its unique combination of quality products, competitive prices, and
excellent customer support.
Supra has a complete line of modems from a standard 2400 modem to a 2400
v.42bis, a 2400 FaxModem, a 9600 FaxModem and a 14400 FaxModem. We have
internal versions of most of these modems for the IBM and Amiga. As
with most of our products, every modem that we manufacture is tested and
burned in on our test machines.
To obtain one of the new modems under this Sysop offer, please complete
the following information, include a copy of your phone bill for your
BBS phone line and send them to:
Supra Corporation
ATTN: Sysop Order
7101 SW Supra Dr.
Albany, OR 97321 or FAX the information to 503-967-2401.
(Orders will take 3-4 weeks to be processed.)
ATTENTION! SYSTEM OPERATORS FROM FINLAND
The price for finnish SupraFaxModem v.32bis version is FMK 2.300,00
including VAT. For further information, please contact directly WestCom
System OY, telephone 952-184 665. All sales to Finland will need to go
through WestCom.
If you have any questions, please contact either Supra's Sales
Department or the Technical Support Department at:
503-967-2400 (main 8-5pst)
503-967-2401 (Fax)
503-967-2410 (Sales 7-5pst)
800-727-8772 (Sales 7-5pst)
503-967-2440 (Tech Support 9-4pst)
503-967-2444 (BBS, 2 lines, v32bis)
CompuServe 76004,565
GEnie SupraTech
Bix SupraCorp
American Online SupraCorp2
SYSOP INFORMATION
BBS Name:________________________ BBS Software:________________
BBS Phone:_______________________ Type of System:______________
No. of Phone Lines:______________ Type of Modem used:__________
No. Calls per Month:_____________ No. of Modems:_______________
How long in operation:___________
ORDER INFORMATION Date______________
BILL TO:_________________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________________
City______________ State_____ Zip________ Phone____________
Contact Name:____________________________________________________
Circle one of the following: VISA MASTERCARD Pre-Pay
Cashiers Check
($5.00 charge)
Card Numbers__________________________ Expiration Date_________
SHIP TO:_________________________________________________________
Address__________________________________________________________
City______________ State_____ Zip________ Phone____________
Referred by:_____________________________________________________
PRODUCT
Model: Price: Quantity:
SupraFAXModem V.32 $199.95 (modem only) _____
SupraFAXModem V.32bis $249.95 (modem only) _____
SHIPPING
Route: Price: Quantity: Billing:
___ Ground $ 8.00/pc _____ VISA _______________ exp___
___ Blue Label $14.00/pc _____ M.C. _______________ exp___
___ Red Label $30.00/pc _____ COD Cashiers Check ($5 chg)
___ CANADA Mail $16.25/pc _____ Pre-Pay
___ CANADA Express $43.25/pc _____
COMMENTS:______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
| | | STAR-TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
| | | By Walter K. Wilbury
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
In an effort to help solve problems for those who aren't "in the know,"
here's something that may become a weekly feature like the Echo Rules if
the response is good (and if the moderators like it as well!).
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file
(information culled from Brian Hall, Joe Siegler, Robert Heyman, and
sundry others)
(warning - parts of this are written almost as if to cue in someone
who's missed a year or two of "The Next Generation," but that's just to
make sure everyone's running at the same speed while reading this)
Just what is this "Deep Space Nine" we keep hearing about?
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" is a new, hour-long series produced by
Paramount. The show will not be seen anywhere until January 1993, when
it will premiere with a 2-hour television movie (rather like "The Next
Generation" debuted with 'Encounter at Farpoint'). The show was created
by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, both executive producers of "The Next
Generation." (By all accounts so far, "Deep Space Nine" WAS examined by
Gene Roddenberry, who approved it before he died in 1991.) Piller plans
to spend most of his time on the new series, and the supervising
producer of "The Next Generation," Jeri Taylor, will take on whatever
work Piller is unable to complete on "The Next Generation."
Where and when can I see "Deep Space Nine?"
Currently, the series has been sold to 84 stations across the U.S. (see
list below). It is likely that "Deep Space Nine" may be uplinked via
satellite around the same time as "The Next Generation" on Sundays, but
there is no concrete confirmation of that as yet. (One might also
assume "Deep Space Nine" will be transmitted via the same satellite as
"The Next Generation," but that's really academic unless you've got a
satellite dish.) Television stations carrying "Deep Space Nine" include
to date:
Abilene - KRBC Los Angeles - KCOP Albany (New York) - WXXA
Louisville - WDRB Albuquerque - KGSW Lubbock - KJTV
Amarillo - KCIT Madison - WISC Atlanta - WGNX
Memphis - WLMT Augusta - WRDW Miami - WCIX
Baltimore - WNUV Milwaukee - WCGV Birmingham - WTTO
Minneapolis - KMSP Boise - KTRV Monterey - KNTV
Buffalo - WUTV Nashville - WZTV Cedar Rapids - KCRG
New York City - WPIX Charleston - WVAH Norfolk - WGNT
Charleston (SC) - WTAT Oklahoma City - KOKH Chicago - WGN
Orlando - WCPX Cincinnati - WXIX Philadelphia - WTXF
Cleveland - WUAB Phoenix - KNXV Colorado Springs - KOAA
Portland (Oregon) - KPTV Columbus (SC) - WLTX Providence - WNAC
Corpus Christi - KDF Raleigh - WLFL Dallas - KTXA
Reno - KAME Dayton - WRGT Richmond - WRLH
Denver - KWGN Roanoke - WSET Des Moines - KDSM
Rochester (NY) - WUHF El Paso - KVIA Rockford - WQRF
Eugene - KEZI Sacramento - KTXL Fargo - KVRR
St. Louis - KDNL Fort Myers - WFTX Salt Lake City - KSTU
Gainesville - WOGX San Antonio - KRRT Grand Rapids - WXMI
San Diego - XETV Greensboro - WNRW San Francisco - KBHK
Greenville (NC) - WFXI Savannah - WJCL Greenville (SC) - WHNS
Seattle - KCPQ Harlingen - KRGV Shreveport - KMSS
Harrisburg - WPMT Spokane - KXLY Hartford - WTIC
Syracuse - WSYT Honolulu - KHNL Tampa - WTOG
Houston - KTXH Toledo - WUPW Huntsville - WZDX
Tucson - KMSB Indianapolis - WXIN Waco - KWTX
Kansas City - KSHB D.C. - WDCA Las Vegas - KVVU
Wichita Falls - KJTL Little Rock - KTHV Wilkes-Barre - WOLF
The first season of "Deep Space Nine" will feature the premiere two-hour
episode, followed by 18 or 19 regular hour-long episodes. There's no
word on what kind of timetable "Deep Space Nine" will run on in relation
to "The Next Generation."
What will "Deep Space Nine" be about?
The series will take place aboard a Cardassian-built space station,
designated Deep Space Nine, which orbits the planet Bajora (Ensign Ro
Laren's home world, by the way). Fed up and weakened by Bajoran
terrorists, the Cardassians vacate the station, and Starfleet - in an
effort to gain a foothold in the strategically important area around
Bajora - assigns a crew to take over the station (characters are
described below). Rumor has it that Deep Space Nine may be the seedy
place seen in the "Star Trek" universe to date, complete with casinos,
holo-deck brothels, and lots of low-life characters lurking about in the
lower levels.
As if that isn't enough for the crew of Deep Space Nine to worry about,
a stable worm hole in space suddenly opens up right next to Bajora,
leading to parts of the galaxy previously unreachable within any
starship crew's life span. Trying to regulate the flow of traffic into
the worm hole - and dealing with whatever new life and representatives of
new civilizations emerge from the other side of the galaxy through the
worm hole - will be the crew's main concern.
Michael Piller, co-creator of the series, has stated that "Deep Space
Nine" will be darker in tone than "The Next Generation," allowing the
writers to tell stories that the usually stable and healthy environment
of the Enterprise would not support. There are also hints that "Deep
Space Nine" may have more violence than an average "Next Generation"
episode.
What does the space station look like?
According to Paramount's press releases to date, the station will be the
same Space Dock model seen in "Star Trek III" and "Next Generation"
episodes such as '11001001.' If the promotional materials are any
indication - keep in mind, it's very early on and the model could be
changed by the time the series is broadcast - the space station model
will look almost exactly the same.
Who will be aboard Deep Space Nine?
(This is the sketchist part - very few names are available at the time
I'm writing this, so don't hinge any bets on this part...) The
commanding officer of Starfleet's team on Deep Space Nine will be
Captain Cisco, a seasoned commander whose wife was killed by the Borg
when (as told in the "Next Generation" episodes 'The Best of Both
Worlds' parts I & II) the Borg ran the Federation blockade at Wolfe 359.
Cisco himself barely escaped the same attack, and he still harbors a
grudge against Captain Picard for that incident, as Picard was subdued
by the Borg at that time and the Borg had excised the information
necessary to defeat the blockade from Picard's mind. Cisco has a young
son named Jake.
Another interesting character will be the science officer (although some
reports have described the following as the security officer instead),
who will be a "shapeshifter" whose natural form is not unlike a pool of
jello. Supposedly this character will, like Data and Spock before him,
examine humanity from a puzzled alien perspective.
According to other reports, the rest of the crew will include a
Starfleet engineer who is constantly agitated by the unending ability
of the station's non-Starfleet technology to elude his attempts to make
it work right. The chief medical officer is rumored to be a Trill -
seen in the "Next Generation" segment 'The Host,' the race of parasites
who live within voluntary human hosts.
There were reports early on that the chief medical officer was going to
be a woman born on a low gravity world who has to use a special low-G
wheelchair for mobility in normal gravity; however, this concept has
been dropped due to the concept of the wheelchair in this character's
every scene being too costly to realize.
(There are other faces among the main crew - but see the next question
for that answer.)
In the lower levels, most of Deep Space Nine's casinos, concessions and
holo-brothels will be owned and operated by the Ferengi was all know and
love, and two Ferengi in particular will be recurring characters. One,
an adult male Ferengi who's a real stinker, is in charge of most of
those facilities and quite a few of the other Ferengi on board. The
other recurring Ferengi character is his son, a teenager with a nasty
streak who is hellbent on getting Jack Cisco into trouble.
Is anyone from "The Next Generation" moving over to "Deep Space Nine?"
At the moment, one confirmed move is that of Ro Laren, who will
reportedly be promoted to lieutenant early in the sixth season of "The
Next Generation" and will transfer to Deep Space Nine from the
Enterprise for a number of reasons - the station orbits her home world,
Picard advises Cisco that Ro's knowledge of Bajorans may come in handy
when dealing with the natives, and so on. (Recently there has been a
rumor that Michelle Forbes, who plays Ro, may not be joining "Deep Space
Nine" after all; if anything like this happens, you'll hear about it
here.
Numerous rumors have said that Chief O' Brien, Keiko and their baby will
be moving to "Deep Space Nine," but so far this is still just a rumor.
Another character who is often mentioned as moving to Deep Space Nine is
Wesley Crusher, but that too is still a rumor at the moment (aside from
the obvious question of "how would they justify assigning Wesley to this
station?").
Will we hear about or see the Enterprise crew on "Deep Space Nine?"
The answer is a resounding YES! <grin> The two-hour series opener will
heavily involve the Enterprise, as she drops the Starfleet team off at
Deep Space Nine. We can probably expect to hear Captain Cisco mention
Picard a few times as well. There WILL be crossover stories involving
both crews as well.
According to TV Guide, Guinan will visit Deep Space Nine every once in a
while to visit an inmate in the station's jail: her son. (Nothing
concrete on that at the moment, however.)
Other reports say that Lwaxana Troi will be a recurring character on
"Deep Space Nine" when she develops a crush on the shapeshifting science
officer - but again, watch this space, because we're all running on
conjecture here.
(Speaking of conjecture: when "The Next Generation" leaves TV and
becomes strictly a movie venture, you can count on "Deep Space Nine"
having a "lead-in" story, much like the 'Unification' two-parter on "The
Next Generation" hinted at events in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country.")
What will become of "The Next Generation?"
"The Next Generation" is, of course, moving on to its sixth season right
now. After that, we can expect one more season, and that will probably
be the final year for NCC-1701-D on television.
There are numerous reasons for this. Both series will be enormously
expensive: "The Next Generation" costs an average of nearly $2 million
PER EPISODE to produce, and "Deep Space Nine" is expected to have a
budget of about $1.6 million per episode (not counting the series
premiere, which will probably be twice as expensive since it will
involve building many of the show's standing sets). That's nearly $4
million of "Star Trek" between the two shows, and popular as it may be,
it is not practical financially for Paramount to produce two such
ambitious shows simultaneously. And once it leaves television, "The
Next Generation" will almost certainly work its way to the big screen.
"Deep Space Nine"'s first season will begin in January '93, about
halfway through the sixth season of "The Next Generation." Assuming, of
course, that "Deep Space Nine" survives to see a second season, that
will begin and end at roughly the same time as the final season of "The
Next Generation." At that point, "Deep Space Nine" - again, if it meets
with viewer approval - will be the only new "Star Trek" series on TV.
"The Next Generation"'s 278 hours will be put into strip syndication
(most of the first four seasons already are, with the fifth on the way
this fall), plus it'll be available on videotape. "Deep Space Nine"
will likely follow that path in time as well.
Walter "Puck" Wilbury
[self-appointed/self-inflicted keeper of the DS9 FAQ file!]
| | | FOREM NET NODES
| | | Created Jul 5, '92
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that NOT all of these systems are operating. It is provided
as a service. Any system knowingly down or temporarily out of service
has been removed.
NODE SysOp BBS Name Number ST BAUD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 David Chiquelin Atari-OH! 713-480-9310 TX DS 14.4
5 Jim Goedhart Mile High 303-431-1404 CO DS 14.4
18 John Miller Turbo Board Support 416-274-1225 ON DS 14.4
19 John G. Atari Elite BBS 412-384-5609 PA DS 14.4
66 Don Liscombe The Brewery 416-683-3089 ON HST 96
74 Lamarr Kelley HAUG BBS 205-722-0900 AL V.14.4
78 Neal Baker The Stun Bolt! 801-968-3921 UT 2400
111 Len Waller Conan's Den 416-285-9328 ON HST 96
133 Dean Lodzinski Hologram Inc. 908-727-1914 NJ HST 96
168 Bob Dolson C.C.B.B.S. 609-451-7475 NJ V.14.4
181 Brett Hainley NovelConcepts BBS 713-729-7555 TX 2400
185 Bill Turner Billboard BBS 203-598-0354 CT 2400
204 Steve Rider Full Moon 408-736-0563 CA HST 96
209 Rick Kerns Ez STreet 609-724-9503 NJ 2400
213 Nate Orzoff Crooked Dragon Inn 407-382-5275 FL 4800
224 Dick Pederson Flash BBS 314-275-2040 MO HST 96
304 Bill Scull The Twilight Zone 407-831-1613 FL DS 14.4
319 Bob Brodie Atari Base 408-745-2196 CA DS 14.4
345 Jay Carter RAM Wasteland 401-295-2710 RI V.9600
350 Ralph Mariano The Bounty ST BBS 904-786-4176 FL DS 14.4
390 Joe Burke Bear's Den 803-574-6738 SC 2400
422 Ben Hamilton Virtual Reality 817-547-1734 TX DS 14.4
423 White Seeker BILINE BBS 303-791-2592 CO 2400
429 Valeriano Meneses MASATEK 213-518-9524 CA HST 96
437 Scorpion Stinger STinger BBS 805-834-9405 CA HST 96
440 Uncle Albert Realm of Chaos 602-789-9426 AZ DS 14.4
441 Don Dettmer The Boiler Room BBS 313-562-1142 MI HST 96
442 Craig Milton CMFM Blaster-Mix BBs 416-637-5001 ON 2400
448 Raymond Skibo Crash BBS 604-299-6581 BC HST14.4
478 Dennis Mcguire Spectrum Atari Group 814-833-4073 PA 2400
479 Al Cummings Cave Creek BBS 206-525-7046 WA 2400
489 Alan Kloza STeal Your Face 908-920-7981 NJ HST 96
494 Ray Baggs Top Gun BBS 407-381-5403 FL V.9600
497 Tim Mccoy Prime Time 805-987-6985 CA HST 96
500 Mike Austin Battlezone 410-969-0621 MD HST14.4
501 Obliterator STormShadow 410-437-0243 MD HST14.4
504 Quartermaster Media 2000 410-360-1356 MD HST14.4
508 Dave Best The SenTinel BBS 403-782-7835 AB V.9600
511 Steve Barnes Hammerlab 705-560-3115 ON 2400
512 Big Brother The Asylum BBS 415-362-8470 CA 2400
523 Lesley-dee Dylan Leftover Hippies BBS 416-466-8931 ON DS 14.4
555 Larry Anderson Jr The Grid BBS 510-351-1385 CA HST14.4
557 Mike Berngard Software Syndicate 708-894-9241 IL DS 14.4
564 Neil Bradley PBM GAMERS 302-791-0518 DE DS 14.4
574 Nathan Murff Asylum 505-897-4306 NM 2400
576 The Scottsman The Loch BBS 818-766-5277 CA 2400
592 Drazil Reptillian The O-Mayer V BBS 213-732-0229 CA HST 96
593 Ron Kovacs Z*Net News Service 908-968-8148 NJ DS 14.4
595 Barry Torrance Temple of Doom 403-436-0328 AB DS 14.4
596 Jay L. Jones Super 68 206-630-1261 WA DS 14.4
602 Bruce Faulkner Cartoon Haven BBS 719-574-7406 CO HST 96
610 Frank Kish The Songwriter's Den 908-859-5999 NJ HST 96
621 Tom Guelker The Garage 618-344-8466 IL HST 96
625 Philip Hanze Phil's Hangout 412-331-2795 PA 2400
632 Clueman London Smog BBS 714-546-2152 CA HST 96
633 Randy Rodrock Dark STar BBS 801-269-8780 UT DS 14.4
635 White Dragon STormbringer 307-638-7036 WY HST14.4
643 Ron Debug The Ringworld 303-699-0402 CO HST 96
645 J.d. Knight Orion Spaceport 407-830-8962 FL 2400
648 Waltzer The Mosh Bit 206-574-1531 WA HST 96
668 Michael Bacon ARGONAUT'S BBS 714-361-1112 CA DS 14.4
669 Al Petersen Dateline: Atari BBS 718-833-0828 NY DS 14.4
677 Ray Paladino Space Station One 609-426-4472 NJ DS 14.4
678 Kim Stahn A.C.O.R.N. 219-744-1396 IN DS 14.4
680 Rex Hewitt The Revolution 702-644-8857 NV DS 14.4
681 Sandman The STation 681 513-753-3001 OH DS 14.4
685 Gary Gorski JACG BBS 201-690-5224 NJ 9600
686 Jerry Bechard Sewer Rats Domain 306-522-1959 SA HST 96
690 Kerry Bowman Progressive Atari 503-686-3276 OR 2400
693 Chris Thorpe Z*Net South Pacific 644-4762-852 NZ HST 96
702 Long John Silver Mother of All BBSs 416-332-5810 ON 2400
705 Charles Riley Hacker's Haven 512-653-3056 TX V.9600
706 Bob Brodie Z*Net Golden Gate 510-373-6792 CA DS 14.4
711 Steve Scott Spider-Man's Web 607-844-3744 NY HST14.4
712 Jim Thingwold H. B. Smog 714-969-5486 CA DS 14.4
720 Ethan Rider East of The Moon 508-393-1362 MA 2400
733 Anthony Lee Gay Atari BBS 415-771-8867 CA 2400
736 Jason Alexander MIDI Clinic BBS 613-523-6434 ON 2400
745 Warren Lerner MyABBS 703-938-8125 VA 2400
| | | PERUSING GENIE
| | | By Ed Krimen
| | | ----------------------------------------------------------------
Some messages may have been edited for content, correct spelling, and
grammar.
FSMGDOS's FUTURE
----------------
-=> In the "Goldleaf" category (35)
-=> from the "Wordflair II support" topic (3)
Message 142 Mon Jul 20, 1992
B.GOCKLEY [Brian G.] at 09:17 EDT
Hi John,
Mike Groh announced at BRACE that FSM was being rewritten to utilize a
new font format. It is rumored that it is Bitstream, but I am
interested in how we end users will go about trading in our Lucida fonts
for the new ones. I don't imagine that they will still be usable, or
am I wrong? Maybe a conversion program is out there to help us?
BTW, if anyone is interested, Wordflair is an ideal companion to
STraight FAX from Joppa. You just use the FAX driver instead of your
usual one, and ANY Wordflair page can be saved as a FAX. People have
commented that the FAXes I have sent using this method are the best
they've seen! Of course, the fact that WF follows the GDOS rules
(unlike MANY pseudo-GDOS programs) makes this work so well.
Thanks for the great product, keep on improving!
Brian D Gockley ST Informer
----------
Message 150 Wed Jul 22, 1992
WORDFLAIR [Lauren] at 21:39 EDT
Hello:
Regarding new FSM versions: we are pleased to know that Atari has made a
public statement regarding new technology going into FSM. We have been
promised that the final *public* release of FSM will be able to use
other font formats besides the current one based on QMS's. Brian
Gockley's reference to Atari's post mentioned Bitsream. Bitstream is US
company that has developed a font scaling technology called Speedo,
which consists of source code for a font scaler/rasterizer, and a new
file format for outline fonts. Speedo is meeting with a lot of industry
interest by different hardware and software vendors. Since Bitstream
already sells an extremely large catalog of outline fonts in Type 1
format, I assume that any new scaler based on Speedo will be able to use
Type 1 fonts, even if only through the use of a conversion program.
The fall out of all this for FSM users is still not exactly clear. Our
opinion is that any technology from Atari that respects industry
standards is a welcome thing. We will do all we can to make sure that
Wordflair II/FSM users are "rewarded" for their patience. If this means
font conversion programs, or advantageous pricing, or whatever, we will
make sure that our users are cared for in whatever new direction FSM
takes.
As soon as we have concrete details, we'll pass it on.
John Fox
======================================
LYNX HARDWARE ISSUES
--------------------
-=> In the "Lynx - The Game Machine" category (36)
-=> from the "General Lynx Info and Discussion" topic (5)
Message 192 Mon Jul 20, 1992
E.GINNER at 03:49 EDT
The maximum Lynx cartridge size is 2 megabytes. The hardware can
support up to 18 players, but the comlynx software may support a maximum
of 16 players.
----------
Message 193 Mon Jul 20, 1992
K.DRAKE [SirFransis] at 07:56 EDT
Eric,
About screen graphics, I note that even when there are a ton of sprites
on the screen, the characters never flicker. How does the graphic chip
manage so many sprites on 1 scan line with no flicker (or have the
programmers just been very careful)? Also, what are the max number and
max size of a given sprite.
Thanks, Sir Fransis of the Software Seas
----------
Message 194 Mon Jul 20, 1992
J.JENKINS19 at 18:30 EDT
SirFrancis,
The info in the book (the Lynx instructions that come with it) says that
"unlike any other portable system, the Lynx is not limited to a finite
number of objects that can appear on the screen at one time, and the
size of screen objects is limited only by the borders of the spacious
Lynx screen" (Lynx owners Manual page 1 INTRODUCTION paragraph 2)
----------
Message 195 Mon Jul 20, 1992
E.GINNER at 23:24 EDT
There is no maximum number of sprites that can be drawn, but a game will
slow down at some point if you draw too many. You can easily draw
hundreds of sprites and still have reasonable speed. I don't know the
technical reason why there is no flickering. The Amiga program that
converts Dpaint brushes to source code limits brushes to a size slightly
bigger than the Lynx screen. The limit is because of ram usage on the
Amiga. If you scale a sprite really big on the Lynx, it can be many
times larger than the screen. The maximum width or height is 65535
pixels.
======================================
IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD DOS WORLD
-----------------------------------
-=> In the "Flaming - Debating - Discussions - Rumors" category (18)
-=> from the "Atari 'Falcon' Project" topic (20)
Message 41 Thu Jul 16, 1992
C.HERBORTH [-Chris-] at 00:58 EDT
After installing myself a '486/33 Micro Channel at work (8M, 200M hard
drive) in "only" 10.5 hours, I will never, EVER buy a klone. No way
hose. 30,000,000 users in the user-base, they must all be STUPID to put
up with that sort of crap.
At least Widoze 3.1 now runs as fast as GEM on my "toy" 8Mhz ST... DOS
is still running at 4Mhz speeds...
-Chris-
----------
Message 89 Mon Jul 20, 1992
C.KLIMUSHYN at 23:06 EDT
Greetings All,
Since it's almost been a year to the day that I smugly left the Atari
World for DOS, it's fitting I write this letter.
I return from the dark side battered, bruised, and broke. It's not that
I couldn't handle the PC's operation. I learned to write my own
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. I learned the difference between
expanded and extended memory (when is a 1 meg of RAM not a meg of RAM
<grin>), and I even had DR. DOS's graphic interface, Viewmax (which is
stripped down GEM anyway), doing a reasonable imitation of my ST.
The problem was I always needed one more thing, be it a sound card or an
extra meg of RAM. The last straw came when I found myself walking out
of a trade show with a new motherboard to replace the one in my eight
month old computer so I could run Wing Commander II "smoothly."
I really don't care if another program ever comes out for the ST, I'm
content with my system as it is. If Falcon comes out and looks like it
will give me another 4 years of minimal needs to upgrade like my
faithful ST, I will strongly consider buying one no matter if the rest
of the world has gone DOS-Mad....
Best Regards, -Chuck-
----------
Message 90 Mon Jul 20, 1992
C.HERBORTH [-Chris-] at 23:14 EDT
Jerry,
I have a '486/33 8M RAM (Micro Channel) at work. When running Windoze,
it feels as fast as my 8Mhz 1040, which has 2.5M RAM. That's pathetic.
Turn off the virtual memory, it feels like a 16Mhz Atari. I've only got
3.5M of free RAM then though.
Since the File Mangler is like using oven mits for brain surgery, I have
to do all my file maintenance in DOS. Isn't the point of Windoze to
rip off the Mac interface? When will Microsloth decide that THE WAY THE
ST AND MAC HAVE ALWAYS HAD IT is the right way to do it? Never, they're
Microsoft, and their way is Law.
The "multitasking" under Windoze is a joke, too. Open a DOS window.
You'll probably have to make DOS into a window by typing Alt-Enter
(since it defaults to gross, vile, full screen). Make sure there's no
floppy in A:. Type "dir a:". WHAM. DOS is full screen again. Can you
say "bug"? Open a DOS window, and use zoo or lharc to make an archive
with lots of files. While it's archiving the files, switch to something
else. The DOS application STOPS COMPLETELY until you switch back to it.
Bleh. And for this we paid at least $200? (since we had 3.0 before we
had 3.1)
Stick a 16Mhz '386 running Windoze beside a 16Mhz "Falcon". The
"Falcon" will sell, unless the twit is there to get a Wing Commander II
compatible machine. Even then the '386/16 is too slow.
-Chris-
----------
Message 92 Tue Jul 21, 1992
N.WEINRESS [Norm] at 00:24 EDT
I did my best to convince my doctor he should be using an ST. To the
point, I _gave_ him a 520. He bought a 386 clone and multisync monitor, and I set it up as a dual system. Yesterday, I went there
to install Windows 3.1 and Word for Windows. Those two programs occupy
_half_ of his 40 MB hard drive, and I advised him to get a second drive.
What incredible inefficiency!
======================================
GEMULATOR AND LAPTOPS
---------------------
-=> In the "Emulation for the ST" category (19)
-=> from the "GEMULATOR (Atari ST emulator)" topic (15)
Message 175 Wed Jul 22, 1992
J.E.DONOHUE at 08:27 EDT
Will the Gemulator work on any of the PC Notebooks? (room?) I've gotten
tired of waiting for the ST Notebook and have been contemplating the
purchase of either a NEC or Toshiba notebook.
IF the Gemulator will run on one of these, are there minimum system
requirements I should look for?
Thanks!
john
----------
Message 176 Wed Jul 22, 1992
BRASOFT [Darek] at 22:10 EDT
J.E., for notebooks and laptops, the same requirements apply as for
desktop machines, i.e. 4 meg of RAM minimum, a 386 or 486 processor, and
a VGA display. The machine must also have an empty slot to plug the
Gemulator board into. Most notebooks don't have any slots, but a lot of
laptop machines do. For example, the machines I carried to Toronto and
will be showing on this weekend at the MIST show is a 10 pound 486
portable that is smaller and lighter than a Stacy. So if you can
tolerate a machine that's bigger than a notebook but smaller than a
Stacy, just get a Computer Shopper magazine and there are plenty of such
machines available.
- Darek
======================================
MACSEE READS MAC FILES
----------------------
-=> In "The Software Library and Other Utilities" category (2)
-=> from the "MacRead: Mac to ST Transfer Program" topic (29)
Message 25 Sun Jul 19, 1992
REEVE.SOFT at 13:24 EDT
No, there will not be a Demo version. I'm sorry that MacRead was
released the way it was, but that was not my decision. My job was to
write a program that reads Mac files and MacRead worked. The
forthcoming MacSee has the GEM interface, the translation modes, and the
ability to copy TO a Mac disk as well. A Demo might convince you to
purchase the program immediately, but as word of mouth spreads and
magazine reviews appear I'm sure that if it's the type of program that
you're looking for you'll buy it. I'm not worried about making a few
overnight sales.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but there will also be a DOS and
Windows version of MacSee. All three programs are in working order.
MacSee, for the Atari ST, will go through final testing this week and
assuming no flaws are uncovered it will start shipping next Monday. I
will post with further details as the time comes. The program will be
marketed through CompuSeller West as I personally don't have the time
to do so with my big move coming up and all (any S. Carolinans out
there?).
I will say that the following bugs have been corrected:
A bug involving reads on hard disks of sectors beyond 32767 (the magic
number).
A bug involved in reading disks with a large number of files (latter
files wouldn't be shown).
Inability to recognize/find all Spectre formatted partitions on a hard
disk.
Wouldn't handle QuikCore/Ontrack formatted hard disks.
I'll post the final specs on the program and if possible send up a
picture of the program when it's shipping.
Alan
======================================
SPECTRUM 512 ADDITIONS TO LEXICOR'S SOFTWARE
--------------------------------------------
-=> In the "Atari Corporation Online" category (14)
-=> from the "Atari's new TOS 2.06" topic (8)
Message 71 Tue Jul 21, 1992
J.COLE18 [John Cole] at 15:08 EDT
Spectrum is a hack and is no longer supported. That being said, Lexicor
is adding Spectrum animation file support to Chronos and Monalisa.
While you will not be able to edit in Spectrum mode, people who have a
320x200x256 (or better) will be able to edit Spectrum pictures and
animations (or transfer older 256 animations to Spectrum types) This
gives all the older ST's a chance at creating some fantastic animations
directly from Chronos and all the new-fangled computers to create
something that can be appreciated by all the 'outdated' folks ;-) When?
RSN ;-) (let's see how this holds up to the RSN test, shall we? :-)
John @ Lexicor
======================================
FALCON TALK
-----------
-=> In the "Flaming - Debating - Discussions - Rumors" category (18)
-=> from the "Atari 'Falcon' Project" topic (20)
Message 40 Thu Jul 16, 1992
J.ALLEN27 [FAST TECH] at 00:15 EDT
The Falcon has the potential with some software and a simple genlock
device of being a Toaster Jr for a lot less than a comparable Amiga
setup would cost. Also, a 33Mhz 040 of immense speed can be slapped
inside real easy ;-)
----------
Message 51 Fri Jul 17, 1992
LEXICOR [Lee] at 01:59 EDT
SJ,
I don't think that doing a "COMPUTER CHRONICLES" Falcon vs AMIGA show is
a very good idea. Not yet anyway. There are some very good animation
packages and 24Bit cards for the AMIGA.
In six months or a year, after the new ATARI systems can mature that
idea might be first rate. Bear in mind many users make great
assumptions about a system's value based on very brief observations and
reviews. If the Falcon is not well along the way, it could do more harm
than good.
But the idea is sound and you might consider writing to ATARI proper
with a brief one-page letter outlining your idea. If you keep it brief
and to the point, I am sure it will be read and considered. Don't be
offended if you don't get a reply. I can assure you from personal
knowledge that if you address such a letter to Bill Rehbock or Sam
Tramiel it will be read.
Lexicor
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