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Current Notes Vol. 14 No. 03
===================================================
C U R R E N T N O T E S
Helping Atari Owners Through the World of Computing
===================================================
For the very first time ever, here is a complete ascii version of
CURRENT NOTES. It includes every article from the April, 1994 issue. Not
included are advertisements, illustrations, screen shots, graphics, etc.
For those Atari users who have never seen a copy of CN, here, at least, is a
sample of a typical month's contents. --Joe Waters, Publisher, Current
Notes.]
This document, in its entirety, is (c) 1994 by Current Notes, Inc.
=================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================
Vol. 14, No. 3: April 1994
REGULAR FEATURES:
=================
(Note: page number refer to the hardcopy edition. However, the order of the
articles in this ASCII version is as indicated by the page numbers below.)
Letters to the Editor.................................... 4
News and Announcements................................... 7
STatus Atari, Paul Lefebvre.............................. 12
"Powerful Alternatives?"
Atari Myths & Mysteries, David Troy...................... 14
"The Information Highway:
Is This the Correct Paradigm?"
ST Toolbox, J. Andrzej Wrotniak.......................... 18
"Spies, Morons and the Rest of Us:
How to Run Circles Around KGB and NSA"
Running Out of Ram, David Barkin......................... 22
"Graphic Cards: Crazy Dots II and Cyrel Sunrise"
GEnie Notes, Lou Rocha................................... 27
Around GEnie: The FAX RT, by Lou Rocha
RTC Highlights, by Brian Harvey
Cat's Eye View, by Brian Harvey
ST Library, by Gordon Meyer
Hot Topics, by Terry Quinn
8-Bit Tidbits, Rick Reaser............................... 34
"Latest News for the Classic Atari"
TextPRO: Part 7 - Printing Tips.......................... 38
by Frank Walters
Rebuilding the TAF 8-Bit Library......................... 41
by Robert Boardman
Atari Works, Michael 'Papa' Hebert....................... 43
"Page Setup, Labels and Graphics"
Woods Music, Gary Woods.................................. 46
"Cubase Score"
Atari in the STicks, Henry van Eyken..................... 50
"The Little Engine That Could've"
Geneva - Part 2.......................................... 56
Review by Jim Fouch
Stalk the Market vs Stock Smart.......................... 58
Review by Terry Quinn
Using Two Computers and One Monitor...................... 60
By Alvin Riesbeck
Squish II................................................ 62
Review by Paul Lefebvre
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Current Notes (ISSN 8750-1937) is published monthly (excluding January
and August) by Current Notes Inc. 122 N. Johnson Rd, Sterling, VA 20164
(703) 450-4761. Direct subscriptions in the U.S. to Current Notes are
available for $27/year. Second Class postage paid at Sterling, VA and other
offices.
Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual
authors and do not represent or reflect the opinions of Current Notes.
Current Notes is not affiliated with Atari Corp.
PUBLISHER: Joe Waters, 122 N Johnson Rd, Sterling VA 20164 (703)
450-4761.
GEnie: JOE.WATERS, CIS: 74005,1270.
ST EDITOR: Paul Lefebvre, 78 Winter St., Portland, ME 04102; GEnie:
P.LEFEBVRE; Internet: P.LEFEBVRE@genie.geis.com; Delphi: PLEFEBVRE. (207)
828-1225.
8-BIT EDITOR: Rick Reaser, 5510 W. 140th Street, Hawthorne, CA
90250-6404; GEnie: R.REASERJR1; CIS: 72130,2073; Internet:
reaser@mt2.laafb.af.mil. Phone: (310) 643-8626.
COPY EDITOR: Joyce Waters
CN's ANSWERMAN: Dave Troy, (410) 544-6943. Write c/o Toad Computers,
570F Ritchie Hwy, Severna Park, MD 21146. GENIE: Toad-Serv.
CN COLUMNISTS: D. Barkin, L. Duke, H. Van Eyken, B. Harvey, M. Hebert,
T. Quinn, L. Rocha, D. Small, D. Troy, A. Wrotniak, G. Woods.
Articles or review material and press releases should be sent directly
to the appropriate editor. Deadline date for articles is the 1st of the
month.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $27 per year ($48/2 years). Foreign surface subscriptions
are $36/year, ($66/2 years). Disk subscriptions are $60/year ($115/2 years).
Foreign disk subscriptions are $71/yr ($137/2 yrs).
AIR MAIL RATES: Canada/Mexico $44; Cen.Am., Caribbean, $57; S.Amer.
Europe, N.Africa, $69; Mid East, Africa, Asia, Australia, $80. Foreign
subscriptions are payable in US $ drawn on a US bank.
Send check, payable to Current Notes, to CN Subscriptions, 122 N.
Johnson Rd., Sterling, VA 20164. NOTE: VISA and MasterCard accepted. Call
(703) 450-4761.
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Joyce Waters, 122 N. Johnson Rd, Sterling VA 20164
(703) 450-4761. Call for rates.
BACK ISSUES: 1987/88/89 ($2 ea), 1990/91 ($3 ea), 1992 ($4 ea), 1993 ($5
ea).
CN FAX: (703) 430-2618.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=====================
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
=====================
ATARIWORKS TOO BIG
Dear Joe:
I applaud Current Notes' decision to add a regular AtariWorks tutorial
to their pages. Too often last year it seemed as if your columnists wanted
to talk about anything BUT the Atari ST. It's good to see some
meat-and-potatoes articles about getting the most from one's machine.
AtariWorks does sound like a great program. Of course, I'll never know
because I have only a one meg machine and, by all accounts, AtariWorks takes
at least two megs to run. I have to question the wisdom of releasing a
program which, by its very size, excludes the vast majority of Atari owners
who, like myself, have never upgraded their RAM from the original 512 or
1024K configuration, especially when it doesn't have to be that way.
AtariWorks itself only runts to a half meg in size, and looks as if
features were intentionally left off so that it would remain small enough to
run on a 520ST. Then they went and added SpeedoGDOS to it. While SpeedoGDOS,
by all reports, is everything GDOS was supposed to be, it gobbles up a whole
megabyte of RAM to install. GDOS was never that bad. Even Pagestream, which
also uses scalable vector fonts, doesn't consume that much RAM. It can be
run on a one meg machine!
I can't imagine that it would take all that much effort to add a module
that would enable AtariWorks to use system and printer fonts in place of
SpeedoGDOS. Making AtariWorks run on a one meg system (and, optimistically,
a half-meg system as well) would add tremendously to its value.
Brian Earl Brown
Detroit, MI
A MATTER OF ETHICS
Dear Joe,
The Atari "Industry" seems to be fading and blinking out more and more
each day. Much of the Atari user's demise and disappointment, the vendors of
the all-important Atari compatible "stuff," seem also to be unable to
deliver at a time when they should be in a desperate need to win more of the
diminishing market share. This isn't, however, just about market share. It's
really about ethics. You know, that old fashioned word that our parents used
to teach us that meant honor, reliability, word/bond, etc. This practice, of
course, has been discontinued due to a seeming lack of interest in the
concept.
As a small business owner/manager/worker in a two person (my wife and I)
printing business, I can vouch for the undisputable FACT that the customer
is always 100% correct. Of course, we know that isn't true literally, but if
you want to stay in business, thus feed your family, etc., you must do
exactly what the customer asks and deliver it EXACTLY when they ask for it.
They are not concerned about your problems. If I have the flu, I come to
work and work as if I didn't. If there is a major ice storm (we live 20
miles away), we somehow make it to work on time. In other words, there is NO
excuse for non-performance. It really doesn't matter if you died, the
customer would still be there at the pre-determined deadline asking for
their "stuff."
And they get it. And with a smile, too. Because once you open your mouth
about a mutually agreeable delivery time, that is it. If everyone went to
work with this degree of dedication to deliver exactly what they say, we
would have many fewer social problems in this country. . . .
I'm upset with folks like Jim Allen who promised delivery on the Tiny
Turbo board last June and still hasn't delivered, even though he has had
everyone's money since about May, 1992. When the UPS or FEC-EX systems can
have anything you want delivered to your door on the same day you order it,
I want to know exactly what these people are thinking when they promise a
specific delivery date then make excuses day after day for going on a year?
Isn't that fraud? Can't that be prosecuted?
Before I learned how to print, I was an electronic tech. I understand
the engineering problems can be unrelenting, and that sometimes when all you
have is YOU to rely on, things get frustrating and almost impossible to
overcome. Again, that is NOT the customer's problem. We all assumed all of
that was behind these people when they made the promise. When I keep
hearing, "Two weeks, the manual is at the printers," over and over again, I
can't describe the anger and frustration I feel. Am I alone?
Aside from the radical thought of prosecution, . . . doesn't it occur to
anyone that it just plain isn't right (ethical)?? One of the best guys in
the Atari high tech aftermarket business, Dave Small, is also very guilty of
this. Just read the messages on GEnie in the Gadgets SIG. The common, "It's
due any day now," or "That's our next project," or whatever excuse that
would actually excuse them from delivering promised goods on time, is
everywhere! We all know Atari does this all the time. (Where's the Falcon?)
But just because it's common, doesn't mean it's right; and if we are to
have an Atari market in this desperate time of diminishing support, doesn't
it make sense to gear up instead of gear down? Lead, Follow or Get the H_
out of the way! This concept of making excuses has got to stop. Once
something is promised, I for one, expect programmers, engineers, etc. to
work all the way around the clock, if necessary, to deliver promised goods.
Then, if they don't make it, they can bow before their customers and BEG for
forgiveness. Maybe we will forgive; then again, maybe we will go someplace
else that is more reliable. In the mean time, before I go out and buy a TT,
does anyone have a suggestion on where to get a 030 system with at least
virtual memory expansion for my Mega STe right NOW??
Dave Krehbiel
McPherson, KS
MAKING LIFE EASIER
Dear Mr. Waters
. . . I am not one of those who intends to give up using Atari
equipment.
I use MS-DOS clones and Apple Macintosh computers at work, which is fine
by me, because I get paid by the hour. I also used a Sun WorkStation, with a
Motorola 680x0 processor inside, on a Unix mainframe system, and found it a
little slow, but likeable enough. One would expect an operating system made
up of two to three million lines of C code to be at least as competent as
one in 192K of ROM.
I own a DOS machine, which is stacked in a pile in the corner of my
bedroom. I bought it because I was taking a course in C, as part of a
masters program in computer science, and needed to use the same compiler as
everybody else. Having a lower-paying job now, I dropped that class, honor
student or not, and put that computer away.
In my not-humble opinion (IMNHO), a computer is supposed to make my life
easier, at least when I'm not getting paid for my time.
Part of what I want out of a computer is that it save my time, and
present me with the least inconvenient way of doing things. For those
things, I prefer Atari.
And I do use my 1040STf pretty heavily. It is on its third floppy disk
drive, and my 24-pin printer is on its third head.
The dying gasps of my second floppy drive marked the only time I almost
lost data, even though I have been formatting disks 10 sectors skewed for
years.
IMNHO, the layers of non-woven cloth inside a 3 1/2 inch floppy are
intended to provide damping, to keep the disk from flopping around too much,
and bouncing across the heads. The failed ones I have taken apart have worn
through to a high spot in the plastic and send the disk whipping around.
That makes a growling sound. Before it gets that bad, the sound from the
drive is a tick-tick. What happened was that the drive spindle bearing,
running out of oil, provided enough drag to keep worn-out floppies from
acting up, until one day it got too bad, and suddenly I had quite a few
disks to redo, with a drive that could only keep up to speed for long enough
to copy short files. I presume that this has happened to other people, who
think that the formatting did it.
The printer's third head is made up of parts of the first two. The first
one died of a broken flexible cable circuit. The second one died when drive
transistors on the mother board went up with a plume of smoke and a flash of
light, and in doing so, burned out four pin-driver coils, and took out the
printer's custom logic array chip. Those got replaced, and I learned how to
work with surface mount components.
Urethane adhesives, sold as GOOP or Shoe Goo, trademarks of whoever
sells the stuff, are good reinforcements for a patch on a broken flex cable
conductor, and masking tape is what to use to keep 23 pins firmly in place
while replacing the 24th. My experience is that if you don't tape things
down, it will be about 16 hours before you have it back together.
This has nothing to do with the fact that I have been re-inking printer
ribbons for so long that the foamy ink reservoir rollers have turned to
something that does not bounce back, and does not hold ink, but are still
basically round.
My monitor (SM124) is on its third flyback transformer. The second one
probably failed early because I damaged it trying to get the shield can from
the first one over its replacement. My best guess so far is that the flyback
has an IBM number, three numbers removed from one in replacement part
catalogs. I got a local repair place to order the transformer, the vertical
output transistor and the nonpolarized resonating capacitor, and installed
them. Those, I think, came from Best, who will sell only to service
operations. The cost was reasonable, considering.
In other words, I am not just a casual user of computers, and have a
reason for my preferences.
James P. DeClercq
Roseville, MI
ULTIMA VI GAME FOR ATARI
To Joe Waters
I'm looking for the game Ultima VI (6) for the Atari ST 1040. I called
all your advertisers in the November 1993 issue of Current Notes. They all
say that their distributor does not carry it. I called Origins also and came
to a dead end there,
also.
Somebody must have a copy of Ultima VI. Do you have any suggestions as
to where I might get access to Ultima VI? I loved playing Ultima I, II, III,
IV, and V. Even though I'm very slow at completing these games, I would like
to at least finish the series up to Ultima VI, since the first six games
were made for the Atari.
I appreciate any help you can give me. My son, Chris Hinds, insisted
that I renew my subscription to Current Notes, in order to "support" Atari,
but now that I do this, I find there is no support for Atari machines. I
can't find the games I want, and the local computer service center I was
using only services "IBM" now.
Pat Hinds
Orono, ME
TOPIC SUGGESTIONS
Dear Joe:
I see that my subscription is due for renewal, so here's my check for
$27 for another year of Current Notes.
I still value CN as an outstanding Atari magazine and resource.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much happening with Atari
computers to report on except a lot of Jaguar hoopla. I hope it works, and
enables and inspires Atari to pump new energy, bucks, creativity,
production, and market support into non-obsolete and appropriately priced
computers.
Here are some article topics that I'd like to see in the next six
months:
- Reviews of the European accelerators for the STs, Megas, and Falcons.
- How to adapt a decent $100-$200 PC graphics card to the STs (not just
Megas with the Megabus, but all STs) and TTs too--and the magical
availability of a good driver for the adaption.
- Whatever happened to Pixel Wonder, the alternative overscan type of
product for the STs and Megas from Maxon of Germany?
- How to get AtariWorks to bypass the SpeedoGDOS fonts and use the fonts
that are built into my printer. (Graphics-mode printing of Speedo fonts is
too darn slow--at least with my old Panasonic 1092I-II 9-pin printer.)
- Why Atari now must sell the new production of TTs with 8 MB of RAM and a
big hard drive for well under $1000 to be competitive at today's PC and
Macintosh prices (probably followed by another article about why Atari will
do no such thing.)
- How to adapt low-cost surplus 19-inch to 24-inch monochrome ECL
high-resolution monitors for use with the Mega, the STs, and the TTs. Maybe
the Falcons, too.
- Reviews of some of the new inkjet/bubblejet printers by Epson, Canon,
etc. and some of the low-cost laser printers (Sharp, HP, Epson, Panasonic,
etc.)
Thank you and continued good luck keeping the magazine timely, relevant,
and solvent.
Donald J. Wilhelm
Menlo Park, CA
P.S. Also an update article on 1) the SST (Gadgets) and 2) Jim Allen's
68030 accelerators; and why can't somebody do it better (cheaper and more
available) than these guys--although I note that accelerators for the
various Macintosh computers are just as pricey. Yep--the old production
volume-demand issue--in part.
DAVE & DAVE TIP THE SCALES
Dear Joe,
I just wanted to thank you and Joyce for all your work on such a fine
magazine. When STart magazine went belly-up I really had no clue where to
look to find a publication that could fill the gaping hole. I wanted a
magazine that would give me more than just "news and reviews."
As it happened, I was given a few back issues of Atari User, one of
which (Aug. '91) contained a review of other Atari-oriented publications, by
someone I knew at Phillips Music & Sound in Phillipsburg, NJ. The place must
be good luck for me because, if I'm not mistaken, I believe I only became
aware of the existence of the ST line of computers when I saw them on
display at Dave Phillips. After reading the glowing review of Current Notes
in AU, I believe I wrote to you to confirm the subscription information
given in the article. You subsequently sent me a free trial copy. I was
happy to see that the praise was justified. I found the candor refreshing.
I'll admit it's taken a bit of getting used to! At the time, my main source
of information on the world of Atari computing was the "Official Atari
Journal," which I had subscribed to for some time. I had become less and
less enthusiastic about the idea of renewing my subscription as the delays
between issues grew. With the big shake-up in the "Journal's" editorial
staff, I knew it was time to "explore" my options.
I must admit that I looked into a few other magazines before finally
settling on CN. They were all fine publications and worthy of consideration.
In the final analysis, it was the little differences that tipped the scales.
Or should that be the Small differences? I had become quite fond of Dave
Small's columns during his days at STart. (Only Dave could have made reading
about Unix so enjoyable!) Dave's presence at CN combined with that of Dave
Troy, the "Director of Propaganda" at Toad Computers. I knew I had found a
home.
Before I close, I'd just like to praise the gang at Toad. Just knowing
that they exist takes away a lot of the anxiety of owning an Atari computer.
Jennifer's friendly, helpful voice at the other end of the phone is enough
to make you want to buy more stuff just to keep them in business. Besides,
their catalogs are almost as fun to read as CN! ...almost.
Paul Doerwang
Washington, NJ
P.S. The game, "Thurg'n'Murg" on PD disk #852 is a great addition to
your PD library. "Droid" (on #855) looks good, too. Unfortunately, my drive
light won't go off when I play it. I don't know if this is more cold-related
damage or a bug that affects Megas STs, or something else altogether. Has
anyone else reported any similar problems?
NOVA CARD NOTES
To: Joe Waters, Current Notes
In your February issue, David Barkin said he was still unable to get his
Nova color card working. If he is still having problems, or just wants to
compare notes, I am running a TT with the Nova card and would be glad to go
over things with him. A friend is using the card with his Mega STe. We both
have settled on 1024x768x256 as our boot-up setting.
I can't get Calamus SL to show graphics past 256 colors, but I
understand there is an Auto folder patch for that. Pagestream is happy up to
2546 colors, but won't let me set palette colors in 256 color mode and only
uses the 1st 16 colors anyway. Retouche Pro CD* goes up to 32,000 colors. In
either 256 or 32k colors, the outline color for blocks is virtually
invisible. GEMView seems to work in any rez/color setting. The only program
to work correctly at 16M colors. Flash 1.52 works in 640x400x2. Touch-Up
works in some 2 colors rez's and 640x480x16. ImageCopy II and Style don't
show pictures with board. (ImageCopyII also doesn't show pics with a
friend's Cyrel board. He said this is normal with CodeHead products.)
Hope this is of use.
Jim Hood
Concord, CA
P.S. It was David's review that finally convinced me to get Retouche.
[You will have noticed in the March issue that David has surrendered his
Nova card, but your information may be helpful to others who have the card
or our considering purchasing it. Thanks. -JW]
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
======================================
ATARI INDUSTRY: NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
======================================
PROCESSOR DIRECT MAGAZINE UPDATE
--------------------------------
Two Worlds Publishing is happy to announce that the first issue of
Processor Direct Magazine is fast approaching, and we are now looking for
dealers interested in selling the magazine in their stores.
The first issue is expected to be mailed to dealers and subscribers in
the month of February (1994). All of our subscribers were mailed a notice
regarding this on January 18, 1994. If you have subscribed and did not get
one, or have moved since sending in your subscription, please contact us so
we can update our records and make sure you get the first issue as quickly
as possible.
Subscriptions to Processor Direct are still $25.00 ($32.00 in Canada)
for 12 issues, and are payable by check or money order made out to Two
Worlds Publishing, paid in US funds drawn from a bank in United States or
Canada. Individual issues can be purchased directly from TWP for $3.50
($4.00 Canada) each, paid in the same manner as subscriptions.
[Two Worlds Publishing, Inc., 3837 Northdale Blvd. #225, Tampa, FL 33624.
GEnie: P-DIRECT; Internet: p-direct@genie.geis.com]
IAAD ELECTION RESULTS
---------------------
November 11, 1993: The Independent Association of Atari Developers
(IAAD) is pleased to announce the results of the annual election of our
Board of Directors. Newly-elected Board members include Greg Kopchak of It's
All Relative, David "Dr. Bob" Parks of Dr. Bobware, and Charles Smeton of
NewSTar Technology Management. Nathan Potechin of DMC was reelected to a
fifth term, and Dorothy Brumleve of D.A. Brumleve was reelected to the Board
and to the Presidency by a unanimous vote.
The IAAD is an organization of third-party commercial hardware and
software developers supporting the Atari ST family of computers, including
the ST/STe, TT030, and Falcon030 series. An IAAD Membership Directory,
including product listings, is updated regularly and made available on major
online services.
Commercial developers are encouraged to apply for membership by sending
GEMail to the PERMIT$ address on GEnie. Developers, or individuals who would
like to contact Atari develoeprs, may contact D.A. Brumleve at (217)
337-1937, DABRUMLEVE on GEnie or Delphi, dabrumleve@genie.geis.com on the
Internet, or 76004,3655 on CompuServe.
MOUNTAIN SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES NEW PRICES
--------------------------------------
Mountain Software has lowered the retail price of four of their products
(Easy Base, $10; Easy Go, $15; Mountain QWK, $30; and The Recipe Box, $35),
They are also now providing free shipping on all direct orders. (Residents
of Washington state, please add 7.6% sales tax!)
For more information, or to place an order, write to: Mountain Software,
6911 NE Livingston Road, Camas, Washington 98607. GEnie E-mail to:
A.WATSON6. (Make check or money order payable to: Mountain Software.)
CONNECTICUT ATARIFEST '94 ANNOUNCED
-----------------------------------
10am-5pm, Saturday, August 27;
10am-4pm, Sunday, August 28
ACT Atari Group is running another major Northeast computer event. Last
year's successful move to the Windsor Court Hotel means only one thing:
Encore! CT Fest '94 is just as convenient to reach as ever--only two hours
from Boston or New York. The hotel has excellent room rates, easy access
from Interstates 91, 95, 90, 84, and 80 and plentiful parking.
It is located just one mile from Bradley International Airport (free
shuttle service for hotel guests). Join us for an informal, low cost, dinner
Saturday night, and mix with old friends.
What about the Jaguar? Come on out and get (64)BIT! We'll have the
largest Jaguar competition in New England, with the latest games and gear.
We'll have our Lynx Competition, with multiple Comlynxed competitions
underway at all times, the Portfolio Corner, staffed with industry experts,
an endless stream of door prizes and seminars in abundance (in the past
we've had everyone's favorite Atari Corp. personality--Director of
Communications Bob Brodie, John Eidsvoog of Codehead, Jeff Naideau from
Barefoot, Dave Troy of Toad Computers, Joe Mirando & Dana Jacobson from ST
Report and many others). Stay tuned for this year's list of speakers.
All in all, we hope to have the best Northeast show yet, and we look
forward to your participation. Make your plans now for the most exciting
Atari Weekend this summer!
The Windsor Court will be offering special rates for CAF '94 attendees,
call them at 203-623-9811 (Fax 9808).
For further information, call Angela or Brian Gockley at 203-332-1721.
E-mail can be directed to 75300,2514 on CIS.
HEATSEEKER ALLOWS SLM LASER PRINTERS TO CONNECT TO FALCON030
------------------------------------------------------------
Specification: Interface between Falcon030 and SLM 804 or SLM 05.
Supplier: O.M., Berlin, Raschdorffstrasse 99, 13409 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 / 30 492 41 27
FAX: +49 / 30 491 93 67
If you're calling the phone lines, please think about time differences.
Berlin's in the Central European Time Zone (CET), which is Greenwich Mean
Time plus one hour. FAX lines are open 24 hrs. a day.
Includes: Heatseeker interface-hardware; GDOS-driver software; Diablo
printer-emulation; Drivers for 1st Word Plus and similar Drivers for That's
Write, Composcript etc.; Installation, setup and test software; FontGDOS;
Special configuration CPX for the Diablo emulator; Documentation.
Price: 99 DM (currently $110)
Optional: SpeedoGDOS 4.2 package., Calamus / Calamus SL drivers.
Features: The hardware was designed to be very error-tolerant. The problems
you might have had using the old "SLMC" controller when switching off the
laser with the computer turned on or booting with an offline laser no
longer
exist. You can now turn the laser on and off whenever you want. The hardware
is very small and handy and does not consume as much space as the
SLMC-controller. Its current size is 50mm xz 77mm x 13mm. The Heatseeker is
easily installed and can, as well, be easily removed with a single grip. The
software provides a maximum of compatibility, since it is licensed original
Atari software that was modified to control the Heatseeker hardware. This
allows you to run even those programs that are relatively close to the
hardware.
Programs printing plain ASCII text work, as well as those printing bitmap
rasters through the functions provided by the Diablo emulator.
Gnu-Ghostscript, Gnu's postscript emulator, runs without any problems. The
memory consumption is very low (at about 100 k). Compatibility to
GDOS-applications such as Xact, Prolist or such is provided through a GDOS
driver that can handle scalable SpeedoGDOS vectorfonts as well as graphics.
The package includes special drivers for some programs, such as That's Write
or Composcript. Easy-to-use CPXs allow fast configuration of your system.
MARCEL 2.2 RELEASED AS SHAREWARE
--------------------------------
Marcel Software is pleased to announce the release of its latest word
processor--Version 2.2. Marcel WP is now SHAREWARE! This means you can make
free copies of it for yourself and your friends and, if you use Marcel
regularly, you pay only a $10 user registration fee. The fee also gets you a
free manual. (And you get a free bonus gift poster, while supplies last.)
Marcel v2.2 is packed with new features, like paragraph sorting and line
centering, PostScript output, revamped print options, improved text
insertion, to name but a few. Marcel has always had a reputation for being
easy to learn and use. Now it's even easier. And it even has a built-in
screen saver!
Marcel v2.2 requires 512KB RAM (1MB recommended), 1 720KB diskette
drive, and medium resolution screen or better. It is MultiTOS-compatible and
uses RTF format for file exchange with AtariWorks, MS-Word, etc. The new
version employs the same easy-to-use word processing engine as the earlier
version, but many improvements have been added: revamped print control for
easier selection of page layouts, simpler paragraph indenting, paragraph
sorting, keyboard commands for saving and printing, line centering, easier
text-to-function-key assignment, multi-user switching, revamped help
screens, and ready-made templates for personal and business use, to name a
few.
Marcel Word Processor made its debut early in 1993. It is a GEM-based,
user-friendly, low-fee shareware program for anyone who likes to write.
Marcel has loads of features, like auto-reformatting, instant-access
writer's note pad (saved with file, but not printed or exported), easy
accented-letter entry, easy keyboard selection of clauses, sentences, and
paragraphs, word erase, and hundreds of other features, many not found in
other word processors.
Marcel can export in the following formats: Rich-Text-Format (RTF),
1st-Word, and 7- and 8-bit ASCII. With RTF, files can be exchanged with
numerous programs in the Macintosh and DOS worlds, and with such programs as
Calligrapher and the new AtariWorks from Atari Corp. 1st Word format may be
used with programs like Pagestream. Marcel can read RTF, 1st Word, Word
Writer, ST Writer, WordPerfect 4.1, and several other file formats.
In addition to the new PostScript support, Marcel WP can print to Epson
and compatibles, Atari Laser, HP DeskJet and LaserJet. Users can create
their own printer drivers by editing a simple file.
Marcel runs on the full range of Atari 680x0 machines, from 520ST all
the way up to the Falcon. It is MultiTOS-compatible. To get your registered
version of Marcel (including manual), send $10 to: Marcel Software, 318
Mendocino 051, Santa Rosa, CA 95401.
CEEJAY SOFTWARE SPECIALIZES IN RECYCLED ATARI PRODUCTS
------------------------------------------------------
CeeJay Software is a new company specializing in the selling, trading
and purchasing of used Atari software and hardware. It was started by Carey
and Janette Cates in 1993 as an outlet for Atari users to recycle their idle
pieces. With over 500 software titles, games and productivity programs,
available and a continually changing inventory of hardware, they offer a
varied selection for their customers.
As a long time Atari user himself, the Cee half of the business, Carey,
has a first-hand understanding of the problems facing the average Atari
enthusiast. The Jay portion, Janette, while a relative newcomer to the Atari
computers, has found the platform to be very interesting and exciting. Both
are very willing to answer any questions you might have.
There is a listing of the available items uploaded on GEnie every two
weeks in the ST Software Library.
[CeeJay Software, P.O. Box 1303, Mt. Vernon, IL 62864. Phone: (618)
242-0405; Genie : C.CATES]
TEXAS ATARI FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED
------------------------------
S.A.L.S.A. (ST Atari League of San Antonio) invites you and your friends
to join us at the Texas Atari Festival '94 Computer Show! This amazing
amalgamation of technology and wonder will take place June 4th and 5th from
10am to 5pm on the campus of St. Mary's University.
This is a fantastic chance to see the newest software and hardware in
the world of Atari as well a great excuse to come to San Antonio and take a
little weekend vacation!
S.A.L.S.A. is targeting the general public, not just Atari or other
computer users. Because of this we want to show off the multitude of things
that can be done with computers and Atari computers specifically. That is
why we are asking users and user groups who attend to bring some of their
vast knowledge and experience and share it with us. If there is a program or
area of computing that you have expertise in, we'd love to have you or your
user group do a one-time demonstration.
This is the best way to help others learn what you've learned as well as
a great way to draw someone into our world of Atari. If you'd like to come
spread your knowledge around, please let me know ASAP. We are beginning the
schedule of events and the sooner we hear from you the better.
One other request for help from you: We are working from a small list of
user groups and developers/vendors. If you know of anyone who would be
interested in attending TAF '94 or might like to display their
products/services at the show please pass this information along to them. We
appreciate your support!!
There are a limited number of rooms available for lodging on the St.
Mary's campus. One night single occupancy is $20. One night double occupancy
is $16 per person. Now these rooms aren't fancy but they are CHEAP and only
a short walk from the show building. We need to have your reservations AND
your money by May 25th. Also admission will be $3.50 at the door but each
ticket will be eligible for one of many door prizes!
For more information, contact: R. Scott Helsel, Event Coordinator, 13938
Brantley, San Antonio, Texas 78233. Phone: (210) 655-4672; GEnie mail:
R.Helsel; Internet mail: r.helsel@genie.geis.com.
MIGRAPH SHIPS SCANNER FOR TT
----------------------------
Migraph, Inc. began shipping the new Migraph ColorBurst color hand
scanner exclusively for Atari TT computers. The ColorBurst has four scanning
modes: Super Color Mode (18-bit), Color Mode (12-bit), Greyscale (64
levels), and Monochrome/line art (text). Resolutions from 50 to 400 dots per
inch are available. Migraph Color KiT software scans, displays, and saves
color, greyscale, and monochrome images in TIFF, IMG, TARGA, and IFF file
formats. Migraph OCR Jr. software for scanning and reading text is
optionally available.
The ColorBurst for the TT is available separately and bundled with
Migraph OCR Jr. Omnifont Optical Character Recognition program. The
suggested list price is $519 ($569 with OCR). The Migraph ColorBurst runs on
Atari TT computers with 4MB of RAM. A hard disk is recommended.
[Migraph, 32700 Pacific Highway S., Suite 14, Federal Way, WA 98003.
Phone: (206) 838-4677; Fax: (206) 838-4702.
CLEVELAND FREE-NET ATARI SIG
----------------------------
In an effort to bring professinal support to Atari users at absolutely
no cost, the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG has released a new version of its
SIG. The main goal of the Cleveland Free-Net Atari Sig is to offer the most
support possible to Atari users. The Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIGOps feel
that this new version is comparable to that of Atari SIGs on pay systems.
The additions to the Atari SIG include:
* Direct access to Atari related International Usenet newsgroups.
* An enhancement of the already popular "8-bit Computers Support
Area," which now includes ALL the issues published of Z*Magazine and a new
improved Technical Forum for 8-bit programmers and hardware hackers.
* A restructured "16/32-bit Support Area," which now includes more
infomation text files than ever before. The support area includes a large
list of files that can be received from popular FTP sites like
atari.archives.umich.edu. Over 400 online magazines are included online with
every issue of Z*Net and ST Report from 1989. All issues of Atari Explorer
Online are also available.
* Also available is an improved "Lynx Support Area," a new "Jaguar
Support Area," and an "Atari Library" that is truly a library for Atari
users. The Atari Library includes: many information text files and
documents; a "Time Capsule" for old, but important, information; online
publications; Usenet newsgroups; CAIN Newsletters; and Atari SIG logs. The
Atari Library also includes the Atari SIG's "Who's Who in the Atari
Community" e-mail address directory.
The Cleveland Free-Net Community Computer System is a multi-user system
that supports hundreds of users online, simultaneously. Internet users may
access the Cleveland Free-Net at the following telent address:
freenet-in-a.cwru.edu,
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu,
freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
(129.22.8.32 or 129.22.8.51)
The Cleveland Free-Net is accessible via modem by the phone number:
216/368-3888.
If there is a Free-Net in your city, the Cleveland Free-Net is
accessible through the "Teleport" option.
The Cleveland Free-Net is not just a local community computer system.
Atari users from all over the world access the Atari SIG on the Cleveland
Free-Net daily to participate in bulletin board conversations and to
contribute news and information.
Atari conferences are usually held once a month on the IRC (go irc). If
interested in participating in these conferences, check the Cleveland
Free-Net Atari SIG's General Bulletin Board for time and date information.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=======================
STatus: Atari
by Paul Lefebvre
=======================
POWERFUL ALTERNATIVES, MAIL-ORDER FALCONS, CURRENT NOTES RTC
Hello again, everyone. The response to my becoming editor has been
wonderful, and I wish to thank everyone who has taken the time to send me
mail. Now, on with the news.
POWERFUL ALTERNATIVES?
In the February issue of UNIX World's Open Computing there are reviews
of Norton Desktop and x.Desktop, two programs that provide desktop functions
to PC's and Unix Workstations, respectively. The reviews weren't lengthy,
but they did focus on some of the unique features of each product:
Norton Desktop:
- will allow you to drag a data file on an application icon and have
the application load and open the data file.
- needs 500K RAM and 9MB disk space
x.Desktop:
- will allow you to link data files with program applications so that
a program will automatically load and open the data file when the data file
is double-clicked.
Hmm... do these two features sound very familiar? Yes, that's it: We
have had the "link" feature (we call it Install Application) since 1985 with
GEM and the "drag and drop" feature with NeoDesk (and now Newdesk) since
1988. Granted, these programs do lots more than what I have listed here,
but the reviewer chose to focus on two features that we Atarians have had
for many years. Our Atari's may not have the most sophisticated software
available, but it is probably the most useful.
TIME FOR A DIATRIBE
I think the preceding paragraphs completely describe the dilemma people
have when using and choosing a computer today. Often, software publishers
keep adding features to their programs (just to sell upgrades, I imagine),
without any consideration as to what would be genuinely useful. DOS (and
Windows) machines are incredibly powerful computers, but also incredibly
complicated to use and set up.
I spend a lot of time in my day job dealing with MS-DOS machines, and
look forward to the chance to use my Atari. I've seen many people completely
screw up their machines because they don't understand how a CONFIG.SYS or
AUTOEXEC.BAT file works. End-users shouldn't be expected to understand the
intricacies of a computer, but with DOS (or Windows) you have no choice.
Regardless, I have found that people migrate to DOS machines, mostly for the
following reasons:
1. They are the standard so there is much software.
2. They are readily available.
3. They are inexpensive.
These same people also tell me that they would love to have a system
that is not so complicated to use, but still provide the functionality they
need. I feel that the Atari provides the ease-of-use that many are looking
for. How many users really need the power that Microsoft Word or WordPerfect
6 have? These programs require something like six megabytes of RAM before
you can even load them. Is that necessary? People are always amazed at how
easy it is to use my MegaSTe setup and want their DOS machine to also be as
simple to use, but it just won't happen. Granted, Atari machines are less
sophisticated than 486DX2 machines with OS/2, but is that much power really
needed by the average computer user?
CURRENT NOTES REAL-TIME CONFERENCE
There will be a Current Notes RTC on GEnie this month. Show up
Wednesday, April 27 for the RTC. Many of your friendly Current Notes authors
will be there: Joe Waters, myself, Rick Reaser, Dave Troy and (possibly)
J.A. Wrotniak. We will even give away a free subscription.
MARCEL IS NOW SHAREWARE
Be sure to read the news and announcements this month. Marcel, the word
processor that was reviewed by John Godbey in the September issue is now
shareware with a registration fee of only $10! This is an exceptional
bargain for a complete word processor with spelling checker. Registration
also includes a manual. See the press release for more details. (Available
on CN Disk #884.)
ST GAMING DIGEST CEASES PUBLICATION
This online ST games magazine has stopped publishing, citing the lack of
new game releases for Atari machines. ST Gaming Digest has been publishing
since October, 1991. I have never been much of a games person, but it is
always sad when another Atari publication is unable to continue.
MAIL-ORDER FALCONS
No longer the oxymoron it once was, Atari has decided to allow dealers
to sell Falcons via mail order. What this means is not exactly defined;
perhaps Atari just wants to more completely focus its energy on Jaguar.
There have been rumors around that Atari is planning on clearing out
existing inventories of Falcons--don't believe them. Atari is still building
and selling the Falcon. Hopefully, Atari didn't wait too long to implement
this. On another note, the TT030 is now available again as is Atari's co-op
advertising program. Signs of good things to come? We hope so.
CURRENT NOTES SHAREWARE CORNER
Current Notes is testing a new method of distribution for shareware
programs. We will be taking orders for several shareware programs
(shareware authors: contact us if you want to be added to the list).
Currently, we have the following titles available: (These are the FULL,
REGISTERED versions.)
* DataBasement Registration Deal, $30. (See the press release in the
March News and Announcements.)
* MasterBrowse - Text File Viewer, $15.
* Oracle - GEnie or Delphi front-end for STalker 3, $15. You can
order with your Visa or MasterCard through the Current Notes Library.
ATARI SHOWS
When I started to write this month's column, I was going to comment on
the lack of Atari show announcements so far this year. Well, if you read
the News and Announcements section you should now know that the Connecticut
AtariFest is returning for its fourth year. Hopefully, there will be as many
attenders and vendors as there were last year. I have had a good time
attending the Connecticut AtariFest the last couple of years, especially
since I don't have a local dealer (closest is in southern
Massachusetts--about three hours away). Reserve your room now. I'll see you
there!
TEMPEST 2000 FOR JAGUAR
During the weekend of March 4th, Atari offered Tempest 2000, one of the
most eagerly awaited Jaguar games, to folks online. GEnie, Compuserve, and
Delphi members were allowed to order Tempest 2000 via email for two days at
a reduced price. Ten lucky people were also randomly picked to receive
Tempest 2000 now, instead of waiting the several weeks for its normal
arrival. Jay Millar (JMILLAR) of Delphi was a lucky winner of a Tempest 2000
cartridge and received it just two days after he was notified.
OTHER NOTES
I still have many products that are awaiting reviews. If you are
interested in reviewing software, please get in touch with me. I don't like
to have software sitting around and would like to see reviews appear quicker
than they have in the past.
Developers, send us your new products. As they say, the best way to
increase a product's sales is by having it reviewed.
How to reach me.
U.S. mail:
Paul Lefebvre, ST Editor, Current Notes
78 Winter Street
Portland, ME 04102
Phone:(207) 828-1225
E-mail GEnie: P.LEFEBVRE
Delphi: PLEFEBVRE
Internet: plefebvre@delphi.com
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=========================
ATARI MYTHS AND MYSTERIES
(c) 1994 David C. Troy
=========================
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY:
IS THIS THE CORRECT PARADIGM?
Have you ever experienced deja vu? Have you ever sensed a "message" or
"feeling" that seems to come from a remote place? Have you ever felt like
you had ESP? Everyone has a story. Sometimes it seems that everything in
your life seems to revolve on a common theme. Coincidences, dreams,
sensations, premonitions. All of these can be said to be the product of a
common source.
In his 1952 essay, "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle,"
Carl Jung says that human beings are connected together in a kind of way
that defies common sense ideas about the physical world. We, as humans, are
conditioned to thinking that the world operates on the basis of cause and
effect--that is to say, that for every event occurring in the world there is
some antecedent cause that came first in time. Newton's Natural Philosophy,
the cornerstone of modern mechanical physics, is built around the
spatio-temporal theory of causality. Every reaction (cause) has an equal and
opposite reaction (effect). Because Newton's view of the natural world (and
the theory of causality) works so well in everyday practice, it has been
applied non-stop to other areas of natural science. The theory of causality,
along with the baggage it carries, is something that most of us have come to
take for granted as plain common sense.
Jung says that there is reason to believe that the theory of causality,
so important to philosophers like Kant, is suspect at best. Jung, a great
student of dreams and other quasi-respectable psychological phenomena like
ESP, says that there are undeniable examples of "meaningful coincidences"
everyday in our lives. To his credit, Jung says that there are many
coincidences, however improbable, that can be explained away as being within
the range of mathematical probability. Jung says:
"To mention but one example of many, I noted the following on April 1,
1949: Today is Friday. We have fish for lunch. Somebody happens to mention
the custom of making an 'April Fish' of someone. That morning I made a note
of an inscription that said, 'Est homo toto medius piscis ab imo.' In the
afternoon, a former patient of mine whom I have not seen for months, showed
me some extremely impressive pictures of fish which she painted in the
meantime. In the evening I was shown a piece of embroidery with fish like
little sea monsters in it. On the morning of April 2, another patient whom I
had not seen for many years told me a dream in which she had stood on the
shore of a lake and saw a large fish that swam straight towards her and
landed at her feet. I was at this time engaged in a study of the fish symbol
in history. Only one of the persons mentioned here knew anything about it."
Jung then says that he had written this passage by the lakeside. He got
up and went to observe the water. At the edge of the lake was a dead fish,
apparently uninjured, bringing the grand fish total to eight.
However, Jung believes that this Monty Pythonish string of events is,
however startling, a coincidence that fits well within the bounds of
probability and causality. He goes on to cite various other experiments and
occurrences that might be a little more difficult to reconcile.
J.B. Rhine, a contemporary of Jung, conducted various experiments where
test subjects were asked to identify 25 cards with geometric patterns on
them. (The subjects had their own deck and would guess which card was
selected by Rhine.) The decks were shuffled and the test subjects were
separated from Rhine by a wall. Many of the test subjects performed no
better than chance would dictate. But several subjects were able to
consistently guess these cards at odds well above probability. One young man
was able to guess all 25 cards correctly with odds of over 1 to 2 million.
The next test was to determine whether these results would be affected
by distance. So on one occasion, test subjects were placed in Zagreb,
Yugoslavia while Rhine remained in Durham, North Carolina. The results were
not significantly affected--even by the huge distance. The best subjects
still performed well above average.
The last step was to remove the factor of time--and of causality--from
the testing. Test subjects were asked to predict the order of the tester's
deck beforehand. And again, the results held up. It appeared that there were
some people who were able to sense the arrangement of the cards--even before
they had been arranged. This led Jung to renounce, or at least amend, the
theory of causality. Jung's corollary is that of a theory of synchronicity.
Jung believed there was no way to reconcile arguably impossible
coincidences with the prevailing theory of causality. Jung said that for
causality to explain the copious examples of "meaningful coincidence"--and
he goes on to cite many others, such as a man sensing a distant newspaper
headline as it is printed, and another man who sensed the death of a
far-away friend--it would have to rely on energy-based theories. That is to
say, that somehow these receptors of remote messages are somehow "picking
up" what could be thought of as weak radio signals being transmitted through
the atmosphere by their source.
But if this were the case, how can we explain instances of precognition,
such as we saw with the cards? Our test subject would have to be picking up
a radio signal which did not exist yet. How could this be? Is he picking up
a molecular configuration which did not exist yet? Apparently not. Somehow,
by reaching through time, our subject is able to predict the arrangement of
these cards without relying on any causal relationships at all. So, he says,
given that causality seems to be flawed, he proposes synchronicity as a way
in which meaningful coincidences may be explained. He says, as in the title
of the essay, that synchronicity is "an acausal connecting principle."
Whether you believe in Jung's conclusions or not, there is an
interesting conclusion that we pawns of the information age can take away
with us: synchronicity is the elemental particle of the fabled information
superhighway. In fact, synchronicity is such a good model for discussing
this issue that it may warrant a reevaluation of the discussion.
One last Jungian interlude. He cites Wilhelm von Schols, a fellow
German, who was told a story of a mother who had taken photographs of her
boy in the Black Forest. She left the film in Frankfurt in 1914 to be
developed, but due to the outbreak of the war was unable to pick it up. In
1916, she purchased some film so she could take a picture of her baby girl.
When she developed the film, she noticed that it had been exposed twice; the
first time with her boy, the second time with her girl. Somehow the film, in
the confusion of the war, had re-entered circulation and inexplicably
re-entered her hands two years later. This story led von Schols to conclude
that there is a "mutual attraction of related objects" and that there is a
"greater and more comprehensive consciousness which is unknowable."
If synchronicity is the network protocol of this human information
infrastructure, then this comprehensive consciousness is, in fact, the
network. Ponder this.
COLONIZING THE UNKNOWABLE
Think about what the world ultimately hopes to gain from an information
infrastructure. Ideally, the goal is to provide individuals and companies
with the ability to open multiple instantaneous bi-directional communication
links with any number of information sources (could be computers, video
sources, telephone systems, audio servers, etc.), anywhere in the world.
The world at large is uncertain what to expect from an "information
highway." The digital information link that the world knows best at this
point is that of a modem and a telephone line. It allows one single computer
to connect with one other computer. If people perceive that an information
highway would work in the same fashion--like a really fast point A to point
B modem--then the value of this highway would be hard to see. Subsequently,
the White House, or anyone else who is excited about implementing this kind
of infrastructure is going to have a hard time justifying its costs to
taxpayers and to corporate America.
Perhaps, then, we ought to reconsider the name we've chosen for this
ubiquitous '90's craze, lest it become a pet rock. The term highway implies
a single connecting link between point A and point B. You take I-95 to get
from Philadelphia to New York quickly. While a highway does link together
many, many destinations, its structure forces you to choose just two points:
a source and a destination. Point A and point B. It is never possible for a
single user to drive from point A to both points B and C simultaneously, nor
can he do it infinitely fast. Is this the kind of infrastructure we're
after, an information infrastructure that will last into the 22nd century?
Arguably it is not. We want to be able to connect to many different
destinations simultaneously and instantaneously. If you need proof of this,
look at this scenario.
You want to pay your credit card bills. You bring up two (or more)
windows on our screen. One window is connected to your bank's computer. The
other windows are connected to your various credit card companies. In the
bank window, you see a listing of your current (up to the second) bank
statement. In the bill windows we would see a listing of our current credit
card bills (up to the second).
To pay an item on your bill, click on it and drag it into your bank
window. The charge disappears from the credit card bill window, and a
"payment" line appears in your bank window. Your balance would drop from
$1490.50 to $1169.02 automatically. If you decide that you're not ready to
pay the bill, simply drag the payment line back into the Credit Card window.
Or, just press undo.
While you're doing this (on your AT&T 21" InfoTerm), you have another
window connected to the computer at your office. You can keep an eye on
sales for that day and make sure that everyone's working hard. It keeps a
running sales total displayed at the top of the window continuously.
You have another window connected to the New York Stock Exchange. You're
keeping an eye on your Atari stock, and you watch its price as it bobs
through the day. The price is displayed in the left half of the window while
a graph plots its hourly progress on the right.
Another window is connected to a friend's hotel room in Los Angeles,
where he is on a business trip. You're typing back and forth about the
weather, but you tell him that you really must go because you're trying to
pay the bills, unless of course he wants to go to teleconference mode, which
you do. It slows down the machine a little, but you can see him, in a
resizable window, as he speaks to you from afar in stereo surround sound.
Next to him is a muted TVLink window, where you're watching Sanford and Son
reruns.
This is what people want from a global network. To do all that stuff
(without using 10 phone lines or a bunch of satellite downlinks), it is
essential that the network allow multiple simultaneous bi-directional
connections with an unlimited number of other destinations, and this desire
is not explicitly addressed in the current term "information highway." So we
have to change what we call it.
Recall now Wilhelm von Schols, and his "greater and more comprehensive
consciousness."This consciousness has none of the limitations of a highway.
It is synchronistically available to everyone, everywhere, all the time. It
is so vast and so comprehensive that it allows a single person an infinite
number of "connections." It offers simultaneous (or faster, as in the case
of the precognito test subjects) data transmission. It is, thus, what we are
after. What we want to build is not an information highway, but a global
information consciousness.
Once we have defined that this is what we are, in fact, building, this
information consciousness, we can start to snap puzzle pieces together.
Remember that von Schols said that this greater consciousness is unknowable
to us, except when it is revealed to us by coincidences or people who seem,
for whatever reason, to be in touch with it.
If we have established that both von Schols's consciousness and our
ideal information consciousness are infinitely fast, infinitely connectable
networks, then they are equivalent entities. The thing that we are trying to
build is the same thing that von Schols and Jung and countless others have
already discovered. Remember, though that von Schols said that this
consciousness is unknowable. This is precisely what we are reversing. We are
making this shared human consciousness knowable.
As we have already started this process with a dizzying myriad of
on-line services, and, of course, the Internet, we have begun the earliest
stages of mapping this unknown. The information consciousness is Cyberspace
and Cyberspace is von Schols's comprehensive consciousness. An information
consciousness may be more than just a way for business to work better and
for individuals to communicate. When it reaches equilibrium, it may, in
fact, become the key that unlocks the secret of the human condition. It may
answer the question that we alone cannot answer: why are we here?
This is a lofty claim, to be sure. But no one can know what the
implications of a worldwide, practically instantaneous (ATM derivatives
ought to deliver 1000Mbit or better transfer rates) infinitely connectable
network would be. Some people worry about the effects of information
overload (57,000,000,000 information servers and nothing's on). Can we, as
humans, endure the tidal wave of information that we are trying so
desperately to seed?
Marshall McLuhan was the poster child of media in the '60's. As people
began to struggle with the power of television, film, radio and print,
McLuhan was there to post a unifying theory. The medium is the message, he
said. He also made some startlingly Jungian claims that directly support the
idea of re-soundbyting "information highway" into "information
consciousness."
Jung's biggest gripe with causality is the evidence that disagrees with
it. To believe in causality, he says, you must also believe in three
dimensional space and time as given and a priori. Three dimensional space
and time cannot work as we think they do. If they did, the evidence he has
against it (precognition, ESP) could not exist. He believes that space and
time are crutches that we have developed to help us through an infinitely
dimensional universe which operates with synchronicity at its core.
McLuhan said the same thing of the print medium. "[The Alphabet]
fostered and encouraged the habit of perceiving all environment in
visual
and spatial terms--particularly in terms of a space and of a time that are
uniform." McLuhan, then, cannot believe that causality works. And, in fact,
he does not. He believes that only the print medium is subject to causality.
One must assume, then, that he intends for all other media to operate using
some other principle as its ground rule. That principle is, it is fair to
assume, synchronicity. He says, "The alphabet and print technology fostered
and encouraged a fragmenting process, a process of specialism and
detachment. Electric technology fosters unification and involvement. The
instantaneous world of electric informational media involves all of us, all
at once. No detachment is possible." These words are 27 years old and just
as applicable to the "information consciousness" now as they were to Viet
Nam then.
So consider it, then. Cyberspace, electric media, the human
consciousness, and the information consciousness we are trying to build.
They are all the same things. They all run off the same batteries. It all
runs on synchronicity.
It's understandable that Al Gore would have wanted to call this thing
the information highway. It was his father who helped create the interstate
highway system in the 1950's. It was about 10 years ago that Gore himself
first began to use the phrase "information highway," and at that time, the
only digital communication metaphor was that of a modem. Americans like
cars, and they understand highways. But to get at what this thing really is,
we must turn to a new description.
So the next time you experience an "extra-sensory" phenomenon, consider
that the incident itself may be a glimpse of the kind of transcendental
network that may one day arise out of the Internet and its National
Information Infrastructure child. While it's a stretch to say that a digital
conscious network is going to glue the world together and solve the riddle
of humanity in one shot, there's a good chance that it could come up with an
answer that is at least more satisfying than the "42" proposed in Douglas
Adams' "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Give connection machines and
neural nets time to develop. Hook them up to a worldwide network. Give
people personal digital assistants. Develop brainwave decoders. All of these
things are on the stove, and they are laying the groundwork for a vastly
comprehensive consciousness that will allow humans to interact as quickly as
neurons fire in our own brains. Only time will tell what the results will
be.
REACHING ME:
Genie: TOAD-SERV.
Internet: TOAD-SERV.@genie.geis.com
BBS: (410) 544-6999
FAX: (410) 544-1329
Mail: 570-F Ritchie Highway
Severna Park, MD 21146
If you have any comments on this subject, specificially on its relation
to transcendentalism, please write.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================
ST TOOLBOX
by J. Andrzej Wrotniak
========================
SPIES, MORONS AND THE REST OF US
HOW TO RUN CIRCLES AROUND KGB AND NSA
If the allegations against Mr. Ames are true, then he is
not only a traitor and a spy, but, in the language of political
correctness, an intellectually disadvantaged person, and very
much so. Unfortunately, the last can be said, also, about those
in the CIA whose task was to prevent such cases.
Here we have the head of the Soviet counterintelligence in the,
supposedly, leading intelligence (huh?) agency in the world, selling top
secrets to the competition, at the same time throwing his money all around,
keeping stacks of supersecret documents on his front porch, and, mind you,
being able to get away with it for eight years or so. These are strange,
strange times. . .
From what I have read, the CIA was unable to spot the suspect during a
meeting with any of his Soviet/Russian contacts, but they have found quite a
lot of incriminating information in the disk files of his home computer. And
this is what worries me: with some elementary precautions, the guy could
easily have avoided that. Here, I am going to write about just one aspect of
this problem.
Welcome to the wonderful world of mathematical cryptology. (And do not
even think about turning this page before reading the rest of it; this
article does not assume any math skills beyond the fourth grade!)
CRYPTOLOGY 101
Not only in the busy and complex world of military and industrial
espionage, but also in many areas of business, a capability to store and
transfer information so that only the intended recipient is able to read it,
is a very important problem.
Here is the most common model: Ms.S (for Sender) has to send some
supersecret message [M] to Mr.R (for Recipient), but the channels through
which the message is passed to Mr.R (computer network, postal service,
messenger, denoted shortly as "mail") is insecure, i.e. the message can be
intercepted by the competition. Therefore, sending [M] "as is," i.e. in
plain, easily readable, form, does not make sense. This can be written as
S -> [M] -> mail-> [M] -> R
(which can be read as, "Ms.S writes message [M] and mails it, and then Mr.R
receives the message and reads it.")
Therefore, Ms.S will use some prescription, called encryption key (EK)
to transform [M] into an encrypted form, [EM], hopefully unreadable for the
prying eyes (or computers) of the competition. On the other end of the mail
pipeline, Mr.R will use a matched decryption key to transfer [EM] back into
[M], which he can read:
S -> [M] -> EK -> [EM] ->
-> mail ->
->[EM] -> DK -> [M] -> R
(I am not explaining my ad hoc invented notation here, but it should be
clear by now; please only notice that the square brackets are used to denote
the information being passed.)
This scheme has been used for about two thousand years, with mixed
results.
First of all, usually each of the keys EK and DK consists, really, of
two parts. One is the algorithm used for transforming [M] into [EM] and back
again; the other part is some numerical (or textual) parameter value used in
the process. It is convenient to use the same algorithm in various exchanges
(e.g., sending mail to Messrs. R1, R2, R3 and so forth) with various
parameters (or parameter pairs) for use with individual recipients. The
competition may have our algorithm, so that we have to assume it does have
it. Therefore, the security of our system depends on the assumption that
only Mr.R has the key parameter used in DK. Quite often, instead of key
parameter, we just say key without causing any ambiguities.
Second, most of the classic cryptosystems require that the length of the
key parameter be comparable to the total length of exchanged messages (and,
please, let me spare you the details). Otherwise, the eggheads in Fort
Meade, MD (National Security Agency: my neighbors, a few miles down the
road), or somewhere near Moscow, would be able to crack our key with their
supercomputers in no time. They are good, or at least so we believe.
Third, Ms.S has to know ahead of time that she will be sending a message
to Mr.R, and she has to provide him then with the decryption key. This,
again, calls for a secure channel of information. This is frequently done in
the world of spying (say, Chuck, why don't we meet in Vienna, nyet?), but it
may be unacceptable in sensitive business situations, when an urgent need
may arise to send a secure message to a party with whom we never dealt
before.
PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOSYSTEMS
What can be done, can be undone, they say. For a long time it was
understood that the knowledge of the encryption key, EK, is equivalent to
the knowledge of the decryption key, DK, i.e. that if we know one, then
(with some effort, of course), we can obtain the other.
This, indeed, was at one time true about all known cryptosystems. Let
us, for a while, assume that things do not have to be this way. In such a
case, our recipient, Mr.R, could have published his encryption key, EK, in
his corporate brochure, phone directory, or in the yearbook of the KGB,
inviting anyone to send him encrypted messages, which only he, Mr.R, would
be able to read! The same could be done by any other potential recipient
(R1, R2, R3. . .) and we could have a global network of secure
communication, with anyone capable of sending secure mail to anyone. All it
takes is to publish your EK, while, of course, keeping your DK for
yourself.
Note that the competition, now also capable of sending Mr.R an encrypted
message only he can read, is, under this assumption, unable to figure out
the decryption key, DK, even having at their disposal both the plain
message, [M], and the encrypted one, [EM].
Unfortunately, Mr.R cannot be sure from whom is he receiving all these
messages. Should he follow the one asking for six more pounds of plutonium
sent to Baghdad, or maybe the one asking for six pounds of sand?
This means that, in addition to secure encoding of messages, we also
need a secure way of message authorization, or a kind of unforgable
signature. This will require one more assumption about our keys. In addition
to the obvious
[M] -> EK -> [EM] -> DK -> [M]
we will require that
[M] -> DK -> [EM'] -> EK -> [M].
The last formula means, that using the decryption key DK on the message [M]
will also somehow encrypt it into some [EM'] (different than the [EM] in the
previous case), from which [M] can be extracted by applying EK.
Look: if I receive some encrypted letter [EM'], and then use your public
encryption key, EK to decode it and get something meaningful, then I can be
sure that the only person in the world who could have sent (or, more
precisely, encrypted) it, is the owner of DK, which means you! We have a
situation here, where anyone can read your encoded message, [EM'], but only
you could have written it. This is an unforgeable signature.
To have it both ways, i.e. to be able to send messages which only Mr.R
can read, but only Ms.S could have written, both of them need to have their
public (i.e. known to anyone) keys as well as the private ones. Let us
denote the keys belonging to Ms.S as EKS and DKS, and those of Mr.R as EKR
and DKR. Now, let us submit our original message [M] to the following
procedure (read it slowly and you'll be just fine):
S -> [M] -> DKS -> [EM'] -> EKR -> [EM] ->
-> mail ->
-> [EM] -> DKR -> [EM'] -> EKS -> [M] -> R
This scheme is critical to the concept of public key cryptosystems, so
forgive me offending your intelligence and translating everything in a plain
(if accented) English:
1. Ms.S writes the message [M].
2. She uses her private decryption key, DKS, to encode it into
[EM']--this is something only she can do, as only she has the DKS.
3. Then she uses Mr.R's public encryption key, EKR, to generate a
doubly-encoded version, [EM]. This stage can be done by anyone, as anyone
can have EKR.
4. The doubly-encoded message [EM] is sent via an insecure mail
channel to Mr.R who receives it.
5. Mr.R uses his private decryption key, DKR, to transform [EM] into
[EM'], exactly the same as the one generated by Ms.S in point (2). Oh, yes,
only he can do it, as only he has the DKR.
6. Now he uses the public key of Ms.S, EKS, to decode [EM'] into [M].
If the result makes any sense, he can be sure that it was Ms.S who produced
[EM'].
7. Mr.R reads the message [M], laughing.
The importance of this procedure cannot be overestimated. Suddenly, even
with use of insecure communication lines, anyone can send secure messages to
anyone (for example, authorizing huge money transfers) and sign them with a
signature that is impossible to forge!
The discussion above, made under an assumption that it is possible to
invent an encryption key, EK, from which one cannot compute the
corresponding decryption key, DK, should suffice to explain the search for
DK/EK algorithms meeting this requirement.
THE RSA ALGORITHM
In 1978 three American mathematicians, named Rivest, Shamir and Adelman,
published an article in a technical journal. They proposed an
encoding/decoding algorithm (abbreviated as RSA, from the authors' names) in
which the knowledge of the public key parameter is not sufficient to learn
the private one.
To encode a message, you need an appropriate computer program (and a
relatively simple one) and the public key parameter, which is a very large
integer number, being a product of two primes.
A prime number, or just a prime, is a positive integer number divisible
only by one and by itself. For example, 18 is not a prime number: it can be
expressed as 3*6 or 2*9, but 17 is a prime: you cannot decompose it (the
only two products giving 17 are 1*17 and 17*1).
The private key parameter, which every participant of the mail network
keeps secret, is the pair of primes, which multiplied give the public key.
Wait a minute, some would say, this is too simple! Obviously, if I have
a large number, N, and if I know that this number is a product of two
yet-unknown primes, P and Q, and if I have all those supercomputers,
mathematicians and programmers, then I will certainly be able to find these
primes such that P*Q=N--you cannot be serious!
Well, this is true--as long as N is not too large. When N reaches, say,
100 or 200 decimal digits, even the computer search becomes too
time-consuming to be feasible, even with the most efficient algorithms! It
may require a cluster of Cray supercomputers working for, say, ten billion
years. Fine, the computer technology is progressing; maybe before the year
2000 we will be able to cut this down to just 500 million years? If this is
not safe enough, then adding just one or two more digits to our key will let
us sleep safely again.
Some of the Readers may ask how do we come up with the two primes for
our private key; if N is 200 digits long, then P and Q have to be about 100
digits each, and testing such numbers for primality is not a trivial
matter.
It is, however, possible, except that the best method I know works on a
statistical basis: it may give me a probability as close to one as I want,
but never exactly one, that a given M is prime. Fair enough, and, again, let
me skip the details, because playing with prime numbers is more than enough
for a whole series of articles.
Anyway, after the RSA breakthrough the world will never be the same.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENTS DO NOT WANT US TO KNOW
Back in 1979 (or was it 1978?) I found a popular article about the
RSA-based public key cryptosystems in the Scientific American magazine. I
still consider that article the best introduction to the topic. It contained
almost enough information to write a computer program implementing the RSA
algorithm. If you want to learn more on the subject, spend an hour in a
library and you will not regret the time.
At the same time, the US Government was busy working on its own
public-key encryption standard. Together with IBM (whom else?) they have
devised the DES, Data Encryption Standard. Do I have to tell you more? You
can not just keep throwing money at a big company and hope that it will come
up with something brilliant, or even useful. DES turned out to be a dog, a
laughingstock of the mathematical community: complex, mathematically unsound
and, on top of that, quite insecure.
In the meantime, all mathematicians and their mothers kept spending
countless hours trying to break the RSA algorithm. As far as I know, not
much progress has been made: the most promising approach requires the owner
of the secret key to encrypt a special message prepared by the opposition.
(Simple protection: never use your private key to encrypt messages given to
you by strangers, at least not without modifying them first. Don't accept
candy, either.)
Number factorization has been one of the most researched topics in
mathematics for the last 150 years. The problem belongs to the so-called NP
(non-polynomial) class; let us just say that the time needed to factorize a
number increases very, very fast with the number size itself. Computers or
not, RSA seems to be safe.
This is why many (possibly most) governments, except those few who do
not give a damn, like the Fiji Islands, are very unhappy. Imagine a
situation where a hobbyist teenager (or a terrorist, or an S&L embezzler)
can exchange email with his buddies, and all the learned people of Fort
Meade can only watch? Or where millions of Chinese (at least those who have
computers) are exchanging subversive literature, like copies of Orwell's
Animal Farm, and the secret police cannot participate in the reading?
The US law enforcement agencies also seem to be quite nervous. There is
a new encryption standard being prepared (what? is not DES the best?) and
there is a discussion, whether to make the standard weaker (so that you
cannot break the code on a PC, but you can on a Cray) or to make it more
secure, but giving the keys to some very honest, very trusted people (like
Mr. Ames?), who would use them only when authorized and only for our own
good.
This is not as funny as it may sound. There is a thin line between
government's protection of law and order on one hand, and violating our
privacy rights on the other. A few years ago, the Polish police could just
beat a (suspected) thief up and he would show them gladly where the stolen
goodies were; now they can't do it, and the recovery rate is drastically
down. Still, most of us would agree that this change in procedures was
rather a good thing. We should pay more attention to this encryption thing.
Whatever the future of the government-approved encryption standard will
be, the genie is out of the bottle. Nothing can stop you and me from
developing our own public key cryptosystem, giving the software to anyone we
want, and putting this thing to any use we want: good or wrong, legal or
not. And the governments of the world will have to learn how to live with
that.
FURTHER READING
Sorry, I'm too lazy to look up the Scientific American article of 1978
(79?) mentioned in the text. Finding it in the index should not, however, be
a problem if you need an hour or two of education and entertainment. Here
are two other positions which you may find interesting:
1. Possibly the most readable, simple, yet complete, introduction to
the public key cryptosystems based on the RSA algorithm can be found in the
article by Diffie and Hellman, "Privacy and Authentication: an Introduction
to Cryptography" in the Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol.67, March 1979.
Amazingly, it does not really require almost any math beyond the high school
level.
2. There is a monograph: "Mathematical Cryptology" by Wayne Patterson
(Rowman and Littlefield, 1987). Some parts of it require more math
background, but the book contains an appendix with a number of useful
procedures programmed in Pascal, including the complete code of the RSA
algorithm. If you are looking for a do-it-yourself kit, this may be it.
I have also seen a few Public Domain implementations of the RSA system
on GEnie or CompuServe (in the PC-DOS areas). At least one of them comes
with the source code in C, which may be portable to the ST.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
================================================
CURRENT NOTES ST PUBLIC DOMAIN/SHAREWARE LIBRARY
New Disks for March and April
================================================
MARCH 1994
==========
#874/#875: Towers (2 disk set) a complete game with all the functions
intact. Works on ST/STE/Mega/TT/Falcon computers; Req 1 MB.
#876: Color Games. LANDMINE-A strategy game based on a popular game for that
other computer (c/m). MATCH_UP-For 1-4 players, this colorful game lets you
test your memory skills (c). PEARL_93-Demo version of Super Dark Pearl 3D
game with 10 levels. HTU-"Highscore Terminal Utility" maintains your high
scores in your favorite video games.
#877: Second GFA Basic Manual. 3rd Edition. A collection of example code and
text files that will help you with GFA Basic. All files compressed with
ZIP.
#878: Binkleyterm. First full release of BinkleyTerm ST includes the Binkley
program, docs, and optomized high speed serial routines.
#879: Utility #28: A host of small utilities provided by Atari Explore
Online. AFMT, ALASPEC, BIT, BITMASTR, BLKOUT, BOMB, BRDLFRMT, COLOREMU,
COPYCART, CPBOOT, DISKDOUB, DSKFIL20, F11GEM, FASTER2, FCPY_III, FIXDISK,
FLEXCOPY, FLIP, FMTUTIL, FORMATTP, KILLDRVB, KNUTSOFT, MUTATE, PCFORMAT,
PD_QUICK, SALVAGE, SPECSTUF, STDUP, STMIROR2, SUPER, TASKCOPY, UNFORMAT,
UNHIDER.
#880: Utility #29: More utilities provided by AEO. BELLTST2, B_BOOT, CDC220,
DECOMPRE, DF_SUITE, DISKSCAN, DSKMAP, DSKSPEED, DSKSWICH, FASTFIND, FF,
FOLDRSRT, GCLOCK, HDDIRECT, HDWBOOT, ICONES, KBD, LOAD_INF, MAKE512, MAPMEM,
MEMCHECK, MEMFREE, MEMTEST, MINIVIEW, RESET, RSC_VIEW, SEL_PROG, TOS_VERS.
#881: Utility #30: Still more utilities from AEO plus others. ARDVARK,
AUTO_SET, BKITE110, BOOTSIE, CLEO, CPP2, JOSHUA, SDDFR_12, SHORTBIN,
SINF158, SPLITIT, SUPRSHUF, TIMECODE, TVST15, UNDOUB, UNIX2DOS, UNIXFLOP,
VECSHOW, WO
#882: Shocker2-Mono German shareware game. Manipulate the marble to get a
hold of hearts in each level, avoiding the traps and monsters along the way.
One or two-player mode. 100 levels, with an extra 100 levels in two-player
mode.
#883: Atari Works No.4: AWHP3ENV-template for printing addresses onto
standard size envelopes to an HPIIIp printer, using Print Merge in Works.
AW_ROTAT-Text rotation in AtariWorks. AW_HMINV-AtariWorks Home Inventory
Database template and tutorial. AWNO10MP-How to print #10 Envelopes on the
Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4 MP. AW_FNFNT-17 Calamus fonts converted to GEM
fonts for use with AW. CN_DATA-Includes 1993 CN index, Atari vendors, Atari
retail stores, and CN Library.
#884: Marcel V2.2-The Marcel Word Processor is now Shareware! Marcel v2.2 is
packed with new features like paragraph sorting and line centering,
PostScript output, revamped print options, improved text insertion, to name
but a few.
APRIL 1994
==========
#885: Turbo BBS & HSModem. Turbo Board ST, Shareware V1.0, by William
Miller. Here is a full-featured bulletin board system including everything
you need to crate and run your own BBS. HSMODEM is the modular serial
fix/serial port accelerator for all ST(e)/Mega ST(e)/TT/Falcon machines.
#886: ZX81 Emulator. This is V2. 1 of an emulator program for the legendary
Sinclair ZX81 homecomputer of the year 1981. It should work on all Atari
computers of the ST(E)/TT series. The emulator needs no hardware support,
nevertheless nearly everything works and looks like on the original ZX81.
#887: Euler. Euler is a full-featured rival for the famous (and expensive)
engineering program called Mathematica, while at the same time offering even
more power in some major ways. Runs on all Ataris.
#888: The Printing Press. v.3.03 is an excellent mono-only program that will
allow you to print out Letterhead, Envelopes (with both address and return
address, and a graphic!), two types of disk labels, banners, and cards.
Includes drivers for 9 and 24-pin printers. Geneva and ST/STe compatible.
#889: Utility #31. Two in One archive shell. v1.03 . Nice-looking archive
shell for all types of archivers. Shareware from Germany (translated to
English). Ocultar v.3.01b is a shareware AUTO folder program that will
protect your hard disk from unauthorized access. ST/STe/TT compatible.
Profile v1.5 is a superb "sysinfo" type utility by Mark Baines. Not too
fancy, but the level of detail it displays about the 'innards' of your
machine is unsurpassed. Freeware from the UK.
#890: ConNect. Here is the latest version (2.46) of the CoNnect terminal
emulator. This version has improved online help, faster transfers, etc.
Still with internal x/y/zmodem/kermit, VT52/VT100/VT102/VT220/Tek4014,
multitasking. Supports ALL ST/TT/Falcon modes.
CN PD/Shareware Disks
$4 each
10 or more: $3.50 each
CN disks are, generally, double-sided. Add $1 for every 5 disks for
postage and handling. Order disks from CN Library, 122 N. Johnson Rd.,
Sterling, VA 20164. You can charge your order using your VISA or MC card by
calling (703) 450-4761. Note: DOM disks are $5 each.
CN DataBasement Special
-----------------------
DataBasement Software's ShareWare Registration Deal is now permanent!
Receive the full registered versions of 5 share programs for $30: Die
Blitzschnell Hard Drive Defragmenter/Optimizer (GEM and TTP versions); Kitty
Lock; Volume Utility; 5-of-a-Kind; and Euchre.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================
RUNNING OUT OF RAM
by David Barkin
========================
GRAPHIC CARDS: CRAZY DOTS II AND CYREL SUNRISE
Readers may not be aware of my recent promotion to head the New York
branch of the Current Notes Hardware Testing Division. Armed with a $500,000
budget, I've decided to dedicate my first article to graphic cards. Taking
advantage of the prestige of this new appointment, I ordered 500 Crazy Dot
boards and 500 Cyrel boards. I also took advantage of my friend Cliff
Steward and borrowed his NOVA Board. The first, and of course, most
important, test was the torture test. How much physical abuse could these
boards take and still run? I'm sorry to report that of the 998 boards
subjected to this test, none survived. A couple of the Cyrel cards did
manage to make it through the "five little kids with sledge hammer test,"
while the Crazy Dots boards all shattered into a million pieces. But even
the Cyrel Cards failed the Oxyacetylene Cutting Torch Test.
I was unable to put the NOVA through these tests because, when Cliff
observed my testing methods, and the special, "Battery Acid Dip Test," that
I had reserved for his board, he backed out of lending me his card. No, I am
sad to relate that this kind of data from the NOVA was not done in CN's
up-to-date lab, but was phoned in by Cliff from his Long Island home.
If you followed last month's column, you are probably aware of the
review of the NOVA board. This month I will cover the Crazy Dots Board,
distributed by Gribnif Software, and the Cyrel Board, sold and manufactured
by Cybercube Research. In the tables of data, I will also include results
from the NOVA Board, distributed by Lexicor Software.
INTRODUCING THE BOARDS
To begin with, both the Cyrel and the Crazy Dots Boards are designed to
fit entirely within your computer. With the TT and Mega Ste, this is done by
removing the access plate from the VME slot on your machine, inserting the
boards, and locking the boards into place with the integral plate and
screws. Since, on the TT, this also means removing and disconnecting the two
serial ports, one result is that these serial ports are gone. If you want
them restored, it's possible to cut new holes in the back of your computer
and mount the ports in the new location. Unless you know what you're doing,
better hire a technician to do this job. With the Mega Ste you only
eliminate one of the serial ports, while with the Mega ST, the board is
connected internally to the Mega bus expansion slot. At any rate, once done
with the installation of the board, your machine presents a finished
appearance. With the Crazy Dots board you now have a new monitor port and an
auxiliary expansion port, reserved for future hardware releases. The Cyrel
Card gives you one monitor port and a LAN expansion port.
A word here on the instructions that come with these boards. The Crazy
Dots Board comes with a full printed manual. While short, being only 30
pages, it's quite complete. Aside from telling you how to install the board
and software, it gives comprehensive instructions for the accessory, and
other programs that come with the package. The manual that comes with the
Cyrel Card is really meant for people with a technical background. I really
found it inadequate. There is a comprehensive manual, but it's on the disk,
in the form of extensive "read me" files. When I say extensive, I am talking
about hundreds of pages. These pages are divided into sections with such
clear and helpful titles as "Xbios parameters" or "Vidimix8 Doc." These last
comments perhaps reflect an unnecessary "turning of the screw" on Cybercube.
There are titles like "Overview Doc" etc, but the point of this criticism is
that I would much prefer a printed manual.
The saving grace for the installation of the Cyrel Board is the install
program. This is a program for complete morons, taking you by the hand,
step-by-step, with cute little pictures showing you exactly how to install
the board, and finally, this program will install the software. I appreciate
this approach to installing expensive pieces of hardware, where the fear of
mistakes has often resulted in gigantic visible ulcers, so large and painful
they assumed a life of their own. This is, in fact, how I acquired my dog.
I became intimate with this program because it has one little bug. When
I arrived at the point where you install the software (clicking through 30
or more steps to reach this point) I would get the message, "I/O Error," and
the program would crash. After running this program 20 times, it started to
look cruel and vindictive instead of cute and cuddly. It turns out that the
program expects that it will not find an Auto Folder on your hard drive. If
it finds such a folder, the program will crash. If no such folder exists,
the program will happily create its own, and load in all the necessary, and
for that matter, unnecessary software it can find.
OPERATING THE BOARDS
Once the boards are installed, they take two different approaches to
operating. Before I describe this, let me say that when you purchase a
graphics card you must have either a second monitor or a monitor switch!
While your main monitor is connected to the board, you can still plug in a
monitor to your regular ST/TT monitor port. Since many programs will not run
with either board, in many resolutions, a monitor switch becomes a
necessity. A good switch will cost $40, tops, and should not be regarded as
a handicap.
The Crazy Dots Board depends on software to boot your computer and
change the resolution of the board. The Cyrel Card, while still dependent on
software, uses re-programable Eprom chips to select different resolutions.
What does this mean, in practice? Both boards will automatically boot in the
last selected resolution. If you are working in 800 by 600 with 256 colors,
then the next time you re-boot, this will become the default. But the boards
differ in the following way. With the Crazy Dots Board, holding down the
space key during boot-up will give you access to the management program.
Here you can change the resolution and colors that the computer will boot
in. Holding down the escape key will bypass the board entirely and you will
boot in your regular ST/TT resolution. You can then either turn your monitor
switch to your normal monitor port, or if you have a second monitor, turn
your head in the direction of the second monitor.
The Cyrel Card has no such accessible management program. The computer
boots in the last selected resolution. If you wish to change resolution, you
must do so after you boot. This is done by running a separate program and
selecting your resolution from there. This is not as difficult as it sounds.
My solution was to move this program to the desktop, move the folder that
contains the various possible resolutions to the desktop and save my new
desktop. This assumes you have either TOS 2.xx or 3.xx ROMS. When I want to
change resolutions, I just drop one of these resolutions onto the "Xchange"
program and this reprograms the eprom chip on the Cyrel Card. The Cyrel also
comes with a utility program to make these changes on the fly. I couldn't
make head or tail of this utility and, even if I did, it doesn't seem
greatly superior to the method I use. I rarely change resolutions, anyway.
There is also a program to reprogram the default factory settings. You
can access the normal computer resolution by holding down both shift keys
during the boot process, and you will be presented with a simple dialogue.
"Install M16 Board: Yes/No." If you hit "n" the board is ignored and the
computer boots in normal resolution. If "y" is your response, then you are
presented with two choices. You can either select the previous default or
you can choose the eprom default settings that the board either came with or
that you later modified. In other words, when you boot the Cyrel Card, you
have a choice or two resolutions or the normal computer resolution. I prefer
the Crazy Dots method, but in practice, it really doesn't make that much of
a difference. Why do I say this?
The plain fact of the matter is that these boards are valuable in
running programs that can take advantage of the higher resolutions. Quite a
few programs can not. I run my Cyrel Board in 800 by 600 with 256 colors.
The most common change I make is to disable the board entirely. The Cyrel,
unlike the Crazy Dots, has no monochrome mode, but what if it did? I would
still have to reboot the computer to access the monochrome mode of either
board. The monochrome mode on the Crazy Dots, as long as the resolution is
the same as the programs I want to run, is compatible with just about every
program I've run. But there's no benefit in running in "Crazy Dots
monochrome" as opposed to normal ST High. Yes, the screen is larger, but the
screen is fuzzier. The screen redraws are fast, but not as fast as if I run
Warp Nine (the software screen accelerator). In other words, who cares?
Either way, I have to reboot. These boards have to be judged on their
compatibility in higher resolution and their speed in higher resolution. If
you're not interested in the type of program that benefits from more colors
or higher screen resolution, then a
graphics card is just a big waste of money.
I must admit that the NOVA Board's accompanying program, Resolution
Switcher, although not compatible with everything, did allow me to use some
monochrome programs while I was running in higher resolutions and a greater
number of colors. Of course, since I couldn't get this board to work
properly in these higher resolutions or colors, this ability is academic.
Which brings us to the next question, just what resolution and color choices
do these boards offer?
RESOLUTION AND COLOR
The Cyrel comes with predefined choices and no way to alter these
choices. You are presented with 86 different files. Each file represents
both a different resolution and a different number of colors and a different
monitor. There are a number of repititions of colors and resolutions. 800 by
600 is repeated 13 times, with each file having a slightly different name.
At least one of these files will run on your monitor.
Keep in mind that different monitors have different capabilities.
Selecting the wrong choice can terminate your monitor. If you don't have the
specifications of your particular monitor, Cybercube thoughtfully provides a
list of over 300 monitors and their exact specifications. When I realized
how this system operates, I created a separate folder containing the files
compatible with my monitor.
There are choices galore for everyone, ranging from 128 by 400 to 1600
by 1200 in 256 color mode. The other color choice offered by the Cyrel is
24-bit mode (16.7 million colors). Once again, the choices are enormous,
ranging from 128 by 400 to 1024 by 512.
Keep in mind that these are non-interlaced modes. Higher resolutions are
possible in interlaced modes. Interlacing is a way of getting around the
limitations of your monitor by constantly redrawing each line of your screen
when you are in modes that are larger then your monitor is capable of
displaying. Interlacing produces a constant, subtle flickering. I have
enough problems with my eyes as it is, and as a gesture of utter disregard
for potentials, I disregard interlaced modes. If you feel that your vision
is impervious to harm, you can go as high as 2000 by 1000 in interlaced
mode.
One might think that the Cyrel, by offering only two color modes, has a
great handicap. Such is not the case. My working mode is 256 colors and true
color (24-bit) is for final proofing. As I said before, you have to reboot
the computer to change modes, so you might as well reboot in normal mode if
you need monochrome or 4-bit color.
As far as I can determine, the Cyrel is as compatible in 24-bit mode as
in 256-color mode. There is a patch program that must be run for 24-bit
operation to eliminate color inconsistencies with some programs, like Studio
Photo, but everything I ran, with the exception of Retouche, worked
flawlessly. Also included are patch programs for Calamus SL and Outline lll
in 256-color modes. I found, after a while, that these programs ran fine
without these patches. Go figure.
The Crazy Dots Board allows choices of different colors from monochrome,
4-bit, (16 colors) 8-bit (256 colors) and 15-bit (32,000 colors). Software
is under development to run the board in 24-bit color. The Crazy Dots Board
has half the memory of the Cyrel Card so that the upper limits of resolution
are less. In 15-bit color, the maximum screen resolution is 800 by 600,
while with 256 colors, it's possible to go up to 1024 by 768. When true
color software is developed, the maximum resolution will be 640 by 480. In
monochrome mode, it's possible to go as high as 1664 by 1200.
Unlike the Cyrel Card, the number of resolutions is limited to a dozen
or so pre-prepared monitors. Once again, if you pick the wrong monitor, your
monitor's second hand value can drop significantly. To deal with this
problem, Gribnif includes a program to create your own monitor resolutions.
This program, the VMG Program, is thoroughly explained by the manual. Within
an hour, assuming you know the specifications of your monitor, you will be
up and running. Cybercube intends to release a similar program shortly, but
while I appreciate this, it's not as important as it sounds. The Cyrel Card
already comes with an abundance of selections.
One major problem with using the Crazy Dots Board is that, when running
in colors above 256, a number of programs would not run properly. These
include Calamus SL, Outline lll and Studio Photo. The included demo versions
of Chagall and Papillon ran flawlessly in higher resolutions, but these
programs are unavailable at this time and, even if they were, what about SL?
One can only hope that Gribnif, as well as releasing software to run in
24-bit, will release patches to run SL and Outline as well as others.
WHAT ABOUT SPEED?
At the present time, there are no programs capable of testing the speeds
of these boards with any consistant accuracy. Results from Quick Index gave
wild measurements. Originally, I laboriously assembled a number of tables of
data. These tables bore no relationship to the actual results of using these
boards. I put so much work into making them, and they filled up so much
space, that I almost included them anyway. Finally, just before I sent this
article out, I discovered the NVDI testing program. I had already sent the
Crazy Dots Board back to Gribnif, but I did manage to get a copy for Cliff,
so that he could test the NOVA.
In 640 by 480 by 256 colors, the Cyrel redrew screens and scrolled
slightly faster then the Crazy Dots and slightly slower then the NOVA. This
difference in speed was hardly perceptable. At that resolution, all the
boards compared favorably with TT Medium running with Warp Nine. However,
just before I returned the Crazy Dots Board to Gribnif, I tried the "text
mode" of the Crazy Dots Board. The Crazy Dots allows two methods of running
the board. Text Mode and Graphics Mode. The manual seemed to imply that you
should choose "text" for programs like Word Perfect and "graphics" for
programs like Calamus. I just follow directions. Running the Gribnif Board
in "text mode" caused a 50 percent leap in speed. Thus, in any 256-color
option, the Crazy Dots Board was clearly the fastest. Unfortunately this did
not hold true in 15-bit mode, where choosing "text" had no effect. I should
add that running programs that I think of as "graphics" programs did not
seem to faze the Gribnif Board at all. The Cyrel was noticably faster then
the Crazy Dots Board in true color mode and was much faster then the NOVA.
EXTRA'S AND PROBLEMS: THE CRAZY DOTS BOARD
The Crazy Dots Board comes with the capability of future expansions.
Genlock potential, color and resolution upgrades are all possibilities built
into the board. There is, however, no release date for these potentials, at
least as far as I know. The only real improvement promised for quick release
is the software to run in 24-bit mode. Along with the software to get your
board up and running, there is a very useful accessory program. This
program, as well as giving you the power to fine tune the color display on
your monitor, has one really useful function. Many VGA monitors do not come
with the ability to control both the size and position of the display. In
other words, booting in different resolutions may leave your display high
and to the right, or all the way to the left, etc. Using this
accessory/program, you can center your picture and save this information so
that each time you reboot, the display will always be perfectly placed.
Another advantage of this capability, even for those people with adjustable
monitors, is that when you bypass the card your normal resolution will be
properly displayed.
Another capacity of the Crazy Dots Board is "Virtual Screen." If you
boot in 800 by 600 and select the virtual screen option, for example, you
could have an actual screen of 800 by 600, but only 640 by 480 is visible.
As the mouse or cursor moves to the edge of your display, the screen shifts
the picture. Both Gribnif and Cybercube regard this option as important;
personally, I find it disconcerting and annoying and couldn't care less.
Some people will no doubt appreciate this option. Using virtual screen acts
like setting a zoom level. The Cyrel Card does not have this capability,
although they are about to release it. I have no use for this option.
When I first plugged in the Crazy Dots Board I had trouble accessing the
management program. In addition to this problem, after booting, the desktop
and programs that I ran would often display garbage, which is to say,
illegible characters and other display problems. The problem turned out to
be my ICD Professional hard drive program. Gribnif gave me two fixes that
would work. I could either run my original Atari Hard drive software or use
the optional NVDI screen accelerator program. Reinstalling the Atari driver
cured my problem. Users who have the standard version of ICD's software
should also have no problem. I had also tried this fix with the NOVA Card,
but without any improvement.
Finally, although Gribnif never sent me a copy, they are selling, as an
option for $99, the NVDI Screen Accelerator. This version of the software
will only work with the Gribnif card. While I didn't have the opportunity to
test this software, I'm sure it will speed the performance of this already
fast hardware. It will also eliminate the problems of people who use ICD's
Pro hard drive system.
This little experiment with using Atari's hard drive system also taught
me a new trick. Up until now I was under the impression that using this
software would not allow me to use my Epson color scanner. But in the
intervening time since I first ran into this problem, I installed
terminators on the mother board of my TT. With these terminators installed,
the Atari software allowed me to use my scanner without problems. This
installation of terminators is an interesting topic for a future article,
hopefully by Dave Troy, since I really don't understand what the heck they
terminate. I can repeat the verbal description. SCSI devices form a chain,
each end of this chain must have terminators, little chips that end the
chain. What does this mean? By all the known laws of relativity, if
something is plugged into your SCSI port then that device must be turned on
for the system to operate. Any computer repair person will tell you that.
But, if terminators are installed on my TT mother board, the SCSI device can
be on or off and my computer doesn't even blink.
THE CYREL SUNRISE CARD
The Cyrel Card has numerous built-in expansion capabilities. Genlock and
video control hardware are available. There is an optional adapter, which
will allow you to plug in up to four Cyrel Cards and link them together. One
of the most interesting facets of buying the Cyrel is the capability of
using standard IBM serial mice or Summagraphic Compatible graphic pads. I've
always wanted a graphics pad. My main reason for not getting one was that if
you plug in a graphics pad, you have to unplug your mouse. It's often been
said that drawing with a mouse is like trying to draw with a block of soap.
On the other hand, operating a regular program with a graphics pad is like
trying to wash with a pencil eraser. Cybercubes mouse/graphic pad manager,
allows you to use both your Atari mouse and the graphic's pad at the same
time! This potential puts a graphics pad high on my buying agenda. This
program is provided free with the Cyrel Card, but can be purchased
separately from Cybercube and does not need the Cyrel Card, or any other
card, in order to work
The Cyrel comes with an accessory program to control colors. This gives
much more extensive control over color then the Crazy Dots. You can load,
save and create new color palattes; 35 palettes come with this accessory,
but I'm not sure if this isn't overkill. It's probably much more useful if
you're also taking advantage of the video capabilities of the card. There is
also an accessory to control the operation of the card. Using various
control parameters you can set up various options to make non-compatible
programs compatible. I was able to make Touch-up and Convector Professional
run in resolutions they weren't meant for, but I found that it was easier to
simply boot my computer in a normal ST/TT resolution and not bother with
setting up the accessory. Cybercube has just released a monochrome package.
I intend to try this package out, but how useful it will be, I'm not sure.
The only real lack of the Cyrel software is no VMG program like the one
that comes with Crazy Dots. As I said before, Cybercube presents so many
choices that such an option is not a necessity as it is with Gribnif's
package. But even so, I'd like to have it.
I also want the ability to position my screen via software controls as
opposed to hardware. I use a Nec 3FGx monitor, which has hardware control
over screen position, so software control is not crucial. If I didn't use
this monitor, my screams would be audible in Canada. Cybercube promises a
quick release of such software. This brings up a big advantage of the Cyrel
Card. This is a Canadian company. The board is manufactured in Canada. This
provides a quicker response, quicker updates and someone close by to
complain to. Improved software drivers are constantly being created. At some
point this should result in quicker performance. As is, the board is very
fast, if not up to the Crazy Dots speed. The above is not meant as a
criticism of Gribnif's support. The support is excellent, but they get their
updates and hardware from Germany. This gives them less control of the
entire process.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I hope that this article is giving you some idea of what to expect from
a graphics card. This is a tool for professional work. If you're doing word
processing it may very well come in handy with word processors that can take
advantage of larger screen sizes. This seems like a lot of money to spend
just to see a higher proportion of a text only program. Even the speedy
Crazy Dots Board will not improve much, if any, over software accelerators
like Warp Nine.
So why buy a board? For desktop publishing, video, CAD, graphics and
related programs. Running these programs in higher screen resolutions and/or
colors has become a necessity to me. It's much like getting your first hard
drive; you don't miss it until you use it. At 256 colors, photos spring into
life. At 16 million colors, you are looking at immense blow ups, the details
of which will take your breath away. With a slew of image processing
programs, either just released or about to be released, these boards will go
a long way in making full use of them.
The same can be said about video. A program like Calamus SL in 800 by
600 mode, runs much faster. By this, I don't mean that the program actually
runs faster, I mean I run the program much faster! Instead of constantly
changing my zoom mode, I use only two zoom levels. At half page, I can
actually read the text. The improvement in speed of use is phenomenal. Let
this be a warning, the whole process of using a graphics cards is highly
addictive. You might ask why don't I run my board in even higher screen
resolutions? My monitor is simply too small. In order to take full advantage
of 1024 by 768, I would need a 15-inch or better monitor. Running at these
higher resolutions can produce text on menu options that is not easily
visible. If I had a larger monitor (someday, someday), this would not be a
problem.
Video or graphics work in 15-bit or 24-bit color shows me exactly what
my visual display will look like. This raises the question, "What is the
difference between 15-bit or 24-bit mode?" With a 15-inch monitor, like
mine, (actually 13-inch) there is no, or very little, difference in how a
full color picture appears. On the other hand, I may someday, as I hope,
purchase a larger monitor. At that point, there is a difference. I ran next
door to the neighboring design studio with a 24-bit TIF file and had them
display the file in both 15-bit and 24-bit. I could, indeed, clearly see the
difference on their big 17 and 21-inch displays.
In the interest of science, I constantly try out this kind of thing with
my neighbors' Mac's. They let me get away with this for three reasons.
First, because I'm such a nice guy, second, because they're a bunch or
weenies and easy to intimidate, and third, because the owner of the building
hired me to take care of his heating system. As a shocking coincidence, when
they refused to let me take advantage of their computers, the heat went off
in the building. This was in early January when the temperature in New York
went below zero. Ethnic and racial differences between people tend to
disappear at these temperatures. Yes, as it turns out, whether you're white
or black, or any shade in between, you just look a bright chrome blue at
these temperatures. In fact, even sexual differences are hard to determine,
due to the fact that bodies tend to be a blur of confusing motion.
Overall, this question of color should only be a relatively small factor
in determining which board to purchase. But the Cyrel Board has a big edge
because it was capable of running every 24-bit capable program I threw at
it. This could not be said for the Crazy Dots Board. It could not run
Calamus SL, Outline lll, or Studio Photo. Although the NOVA could run
Calamus, it couldn't run Outline lll or Studio Photo. If you're looking to
do professional level work, this becomes a major issue. Running in 256-color
mode is quite spectacular and adequate for many jobs, but for professional
level work, higher color modes are a necessity.
There is not a dramatic price difference between these two boards. The
Crazy Dots has a list price of $799, while the Cyrel lists for $995. You can
expect discounts on the Crazy Dots Board from retailers; even so, they are
both expensive. Gribnif is one of my favorite companies. It seems a shame
that their fine board has so many incompatibilities with 24-bit software in
true color mode. This is especially true since they were kind enough and
confident enough to lend me one of their boards. If the only factor you're
looking for is speed, then the Crazy Dots was the clear winner in 256 colors
or under, although all the boards were fast enough.
Cybercube has a written policy where, in addition to a one-year
guarantee, you have 10 days to change your mind after receiving their board.
Gribnif has a similar policy. Lexicor's policy is that, once you've
purchased the board, you can not return it, even if the board is
incompatible with your computer. They guarantee that the product will work
with their computer.
Crazy Dots ll, $795. Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 779, Northhampton MA.
01061. Tel: (413) 247-5620, Fax: (413) 247-5622.
Cyrel Sunrise, $995. Cybercube Research Limited, 126 Grenadier Crescent,
Thornhill ON,. L4J 7V7, Canada. Tel: 905-882-0294. Also available from DMC
Publishing, 2800 John Street, Unit #10, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R OE2.
Tel: (416) 479-1991; Fax: (416) 479-1882.
NOVA CARD, $529 + $40 shipping. Lexicor Software Inc., 1726 Francisco
Street, Berkeley CA. 94703. Tel: (510) 848-7621; Fax: (510) 848-7613
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=======================
GENIE NOTES
by Lou Rocha
=======================
April showers in your neck of the woods? Personally, I would be happy
with anything that doesn't need to be shovelled! Cabin fever is rampant and
even my computers are begging for a change of venue. Speaking of changes,
this month we have some new items to share with you. Around GEnie visits
another new RT; Gordon Meyer makes his first contribution to the library
corner; Terry Quinn returns with a couple of new Hot Topics and Brian Harvey
presents a new feature for GEnie Notes-CAT's Eye View. Take your Current
Notes out to the backyard and relax with us.
------------------------
AROUND GENIE: THE FAX RT
------------------------
Continuing on our tour of relatively new services on GEnie, this month's
visit stops in the FAX RT. For those of you just getting in from the outback
of Australia, Facsimile machines have become nearly as common as cellular
telephones for the small business and for many homes. Although the prices
are falling almost as fast as hard drives, some people still don't own their
own FAX machine. Enter GEnie FAX Service!
GE Mail to FAX will allow you to send text messages to Group III
facsimile (FAX) machines. Here is some information on how to send send a FAX
via GE Mail.
To get to GEnie FAX, type "FAX" at any system prompt. This brings you to
the front door of GEnie FAX where the FAX Menu is ready to serve you:
1. About GE Mail to FAX
2. GE Mail to FAX Rates
3. GE Mail to FAX Country Codes & Zones
4. GE Mail to FAX Instructions
5. Common Questions about GE Mail to FAX
6. Send a FAX Message
7. Check Delivery Status of FAX
8. List Non-Delivery Notices
Select #2 to get an overview of the rates for this service. You can FAX
anywhere in North America for $1.15 per page. Rates to other destinations
range up to $6.50 per page and you can even send a FAX to a ship at sea for
$25.00 per page!
To get a very helpful tutorial on the use of this service select menu
item #4. Four pages of text provide very clear examples on how to use the
service. You can also send a FAX direct from GEnie e-mail. A FAX address can
be entered at the TO: or CC: prompt and be formatted as follows:
TO: JOHN SMITH/1-301-251-6421@FAX#
NOTE: JOHN SMITH is the receiver's name; 1 is the country code (U.S.
destination); 301 is the area or city code; 251-6421 is the extension; @FAX#
is the name of the connector system (it will always be called FAX#)
You also have the ability to check if your FAX has been delivered by
selecting item #7 on the FAX menu. It will bring up a list similar to the
following example:
FAX
Delivery Status Check
Queue# Item From To Sent Subject
1 1234567 PAM FAX# 90/12/27 Test
Upon entering the list number, the following information will be
displayed about your FAX message:
Status of item: 1234567
Sent 92/12/27 09:44
PAM listed 92/12/27 09:44
JOHN SMITH/1-301-251-6421 @FAX# 92/12/27
10:15 delivered
This has been a very brief tour of GEnie FAX services. There are other
features that you can explore and, of course, some helpful sysops around in
case you need assistance. The FAX RT-one more reason to come to GEnie!
---------------
RTC HIGHLIGHTS
by Brian Harvey
---------------
Welcome again to another month of Real Time Conferences (RTCs) on GEnie!
For a change this month, I will be brief, which will probably amaze Lou and
anyone who regularly reads this section.
First, I would like to remind everyone about the Programming RTCs held
the first and third Thursdays of each month. Again, you don't need to be an
expert with code to get the most out of these RTCs. Also, more goes on than
just coding, such as the camaraderie of talking with other programmers of
all levels. Plus, it's a good place to network concerning others' programs.
For example, Mike Allen was in contact with Karsten Isakovic, the author of
SysMon and informed everyone at the 17th February RTC that 1.0.9 is in beta
test. Mike stated that Karsten will no longer allow SysMon to be uploaded
onto BBSs. SysMon remains as shareware and costs $40 for non-commercial use
and $80 for commercial use.
Lou Rocha opened this month's Dateline Atari RTC on March 4, 1994 with
extending his condolences to the family of comedian John Candy who passed
away in his sleep that morning. John may not have been an Atari user, but in
this writer's opinion, he was one of the most underrated comedians in the
business. His talent will be deeply missed.
This RTC had some special guests in the form of four "new" (online)
Atari personnel; Tom Gillen, Hank Cappa, Joe Sousa, and Faran Thomason. Tom
Gillen (GEnie address TOM.GILLEN), is the Software Test Group leader at
Atari. Tom has been with Atari since back when Warner owned the company. He
has always been involved with the Software Test side of things with some
hardware testing. Joe Sousa and Hank Cappa are two of Tom's testers. The
Test Department consists, not only of play testing, but also of providing
game ideas and enhancement suggestions. They focus on the Jaguar but still
are testing LYNX games. For FALCON software, testing has been moved to the
United Kingdom. Faran Thomason (GEnie mail address F.Thomason) is a former
tester.
Bob then went on and gave out the GEnie addresses of other new online
personnel who couldn't make it that night. This list included Hans Jacobsen
(H.JACOBSEN), Sean Patten (SEAN.PATTEN) Ted Tahquechi (TAHQUECHI), and Susan
McBride (S.G.MCBRIDE).
Remember, it pays to attend these RTCs since Bob made a special offer to
celebrate the release of Tempest 2000 for Jaguar. Sorry, the offer is over
now, but maybe next time.
Of course, the big news is still the Jaguar, with the national rollout
being very close to occurring. Bob mentioned that they have 48 new Jaguar
developers, bringing the total to 86. However, not all the news was Jaguar
news. There are more TTs being shipped and information was presented
concerning the 040 board for the Falcon. Also, Atari is creating a new co-op
program in place to help dealers advertise their Atari products.
I asked Bob about the BPS (Black Page Syndrome) on later versions of
Atari Works (AW) and he stated "Pradip is deeply concerned about the Black
Page Syndrome and is hard at work on it, but you are correct . . . it is not
his number one priority." However, even after a RTC, news can be spread!
Pradip stopped by Bob's office and told Bob he thought he may have fixed the
BPS! In the meantime, Bob is talking with his bosses to get a earlier
version of AW.
Bob was asked about Atari's cash flow for supporting the Jaguar and he
commented that Sam Tramiel mentioned that Atari is planning to go to the
equity markets to raise cash. This was planned even as far back as the
November Jaguar launch.
Well, that's it for another month! Good Atari computing and don't forget
to drop in sometime to the RTCs!
------------------
CAT's Eye View
by Brian H. Harvey
------------------
Hi, everyone! This section is a small occasional column that will focus
on one or more categories in the Atari RoundTable (RT). Hence, the name of
this column. It will be only a brief look at the category and is in no way
meant to be definitive nor provide a repeat of messages in the category.
(Categories are the way thematically similar sections of an RT are
organized.) It is aimed to be a bird's, or should I say, CAT's eye view of
the category. (I will try to keep the puns to a minimum.)
What better place to start this column than highlighting the CodeHead
Product Support Category, which is category 32 in the Atari RT! These
versatile programmers, musician, developers and loyal Atari users frequent
the RT everyday. John (GEnie address J.EIDSVOOG1) and Charles (CODEHEAD)
with Tomas (MUSE) not only provide online daily support for the simplest or
most complex questions, but also talk about what they have in the works and
the chances of one of their products being upgraded shortly. Having them
online not only means quick solutions to your problems, but also provides a
medium for you to pass on your compliments and perhaps even a constructive
criticism, though their products are
rock solid!
If you haven't heard of the CODEHEADS, then you, obviously, are not an
Atari user. However, just in case, here is a list of ten of the more than 37
topics they have in their category:
ARC Shell
Ask the CodeHeads
Calligrapher-the Writer's Tool!
CodeHead Quarters BBS
CodeHead Technical Info
CodeHead Update Information
HotWire
MaxiFile
MegaPaint Professional
MIDI Spy, the Background MIDI Recorder
Mouse-Ka-Mania II
MultiDesk
Troubleshooting
Warp 9, the Accelerator
Were you counting? OK, more than ten, but I can't just name ten. They
have so many great topics and it shows by the traffic they receive daily. Of
course, since they are online all the time, a search of the library would
find a ton of files with numerous updates/patches reaching GEnie before
anywhere else! This means that most of these topics seldom go long without
traffic and when these topics reach approximately 200 messages they are
archived and placed in the library for others to use. Why archive them? I
will give you an example from my personal experience. Over the past two
years I have bought almost everything sold by the CODEHEADS that could be of
use on my computer. When I bought Codekeys, I downloaded all the messages in
that topic and also the archived files in the library. Between these two
sources, I acquired an excellent knowledge of this product, which months of
use wouldn't supply. I saw others' mistakes and tricks and knew exactly what
I needed to do to make some neat Codekey files for different programs.
If you don't want to spend that much time in reading, then you can ask a
question right in any of these topics and get answers back from both the
CODEHEADS and other users. Believe me, there are any people who have a setup
similar to yours or who have made the same errors.
Well, that's it for the first time with this column. If you like it,
then let us know; if you don't, tell us how to improve it!
---------------
ST Library
by Gordon Meyer
---------------
Gordon Meyer is one of the library sysops in the ST RoundTable and he
has joined us this month to preview one of the new files in the ST Library.
This month we're going to focus on a file of interest to many Aladdin users,
particularly those with Falcon030 computers. But even if you haven't yet
upgraded to a Falcon, read on to discover what this program can offer to all
ST users.
LOADALAD
by Keith Gerdes/Trace Technologies
LoadAlad is a utility for use with GEnie's "frontend" interface program,
ST Aladdin. It permits Aladdin to address any of the serial ports on Atari's
newer machines and also includes some features of benefit to all Aladdin
users, even if you don't need additional serial port support.
The most impressive feature of LoadAlad is that it allows TT, Mega STe,
and Falcon users to use Aladdin with any of the serial ports available on
these machines. You see, Aladdin addresses the standard ST serial port
directly and doesn't know that the other ports are available. This means TT
and Mega STe users have to connect their modems to the one specific port
Aladdin knows about. And the people who use Falcons are simply out-of-luck
because the ST serial port hardware Aladdin is looking for doesn't exist at
all on their machines.
LoadAlad works by altering, or "patching," Aladdin's serial port access
routines. You simply run LoadAlad, which, in turn, loads, modifies, and then
runs Aladdin. All changes are done to Aladdin in RAM so the original
ALAD.PRG file is unchanged. If you ever want to skip the LoadAlad routines,
simply run Aladdin directly.
Even if you don't need access to the other serial ports, you can still
benefit from LoadAlad. Another feature is that it allows you to specify a
"time out" value. If you use this feature, LoadAlad will automatically
disconnect Aladdin if there hasn't been any modem activity for the number of
minutes you specify. GEnie will automatically do this, too, but LoadAlad
lets you decide how long of a delay you'll tolerate, instead of letting
GEnie make the decision for you.
Finally, a side-benefit of LoadAlad's serial routines is that you can
now use other programs that access the serial port (such as dialing with
CardFile) even while Aladdin is loaded. As long as Aladdin isn't actively
using the modem, other programs can have at it, something that was nearly
impossible before LoadAlad. This alone makes LoadAlad a boon for users of
multi-tasking operating systems like Geneva.
LoadAlad support is in the ST Aladdin RT (Category 2 Topic 6). For a
limited-time demo, download LDALDEMO.LZH (File #330) from the ST Aladdin RT
Library. LoadAlad is shareware ($15.00); try out the demo and then contact
Trace Technologies via GEnie mail K.GERDES to obtain a registered version.
----------------
Hot Topics
with Terry Quinn
----------------
One concern not far from every Atari user's mind is whether or not he is
missing out on something by not switching to another platform (most
particularly DOS/Windows) since there seems to be so much "nifty" hardware
and software available. Have all of the "switchees" been happier as a
result? To paraphrase John Wayne, "Not Hardly!"
EXPLORER.1 [] Ron [] To make room for 50-meg word processors, I just
spent three days trying to add a Quantum 540 drive to a 486 that had a
Quantum 240 already installed. This is a process that takes about 15 minutes
on the ST.
The first day is spent learning you can't use all of a 540 meg hard
drive on a PC (500 meg is the limit) without a boot loadable disk driver.
The "fun" part is if you set up the drive parameter table with a drive
larger than 500 meg, even though FDISK recognizes the larger drive, the
partitioning option only recognizes the 40 meg it can't use.
A quick trip to CompUSA to get a loadable boot driver is taken in an
attempt to be able to use the entire drive. Then another day is spent
finding out it's not compatible with DOS 6.2. A call to "dog-patch disk
driver company" tells me the loadable boot driver won't work but an update
is out. But the update will cost what I just paid yesterday for the old
version that
doesn't work.
At this point, I'm starting to see the advantages of selling hotdogs on
the beach. On the third day, we go back to the drive parameter table (why
can't it load this from the drive boot sector anyway?) to reconfigure the
drive as a 500 meg and we start to make progress. Whoops, now it won't boot
from the new drive until we go back and use Norton Utilities to edit the
partition table to toggle the boot bit.
Except, now, when we add the second drive back in, the first partition
pops up in the D: slot throwing all of Window's application paths out of
kilter. Of course, DoubleDisk freaked at its compressed partitions now being
on disk two and won't let me do hard disk to hard disk restore. Time to
re-Fdisk both drives and reload everything, yet again, from tape.
I get to go back in Saturday and let Word 6 for Windows kick sand in my
face. I think I'll bring the Falcon along for entertainment, since I'm sure
another complete re-load from tape is in my future.
I, in fact, enjoy using a full range of computing platforms as much as I
like driving different kinds of automobiles. But crank starting the engine
in this day and time is not my idea of a good time.
Superior hardware is such fun ;-)
K.RICHARD2 [Bondservant] Ron, I suppose that it would be worth noting
that it took about two minutes to add a Quantum520s as my ) id scsi (I have
THE 80IDE in my Falcon.) Just set ID to 0, plug ribbon with scsi add scsi to
scsi2 cable, boot up, format Atari HDX; only got 500 megs, but for a 520, I
was happy.
Rick
Actually, most of the time, you really have to wonder about what other
computer companies think about those poor schmucks who are their primary
customers. While effective, it appears as if most of what you read that is
directed at other platforms' customers makes you believe that those folks
have IQ's lower than their shoe sizes!
POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] "Darlah and I recently picked up one of the
"XXXX for Dummies" books that are available for many of the leading PC
applications. They weren't kidding. You should have heard us laughing at
some of the explanations inside. One classic comes to mind, although I don't
remember the wording they used:
WARNING: DO NOT FOLD THE FLOPPY DISK IN HALF.
I remember wondering, after I stopped laughing, if they were worried
that someone would try and fold a 5 1/4" floppy to fit into a 3 1/2" disk
drive. ;-)
Nathan
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] Nathan, if you fold a 5.25" floppy to fit a 3.5"
drive, does it still format as double-sided? :-)
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] Lou, to format a folded floppy on both sides, you
need MOEBIUS.PRG.
Al
Then, just when you begin to think that the "dumbness" tales are
exaggerated, along comes proof that DOS/Windows types really are clueless:
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] Nathan, I have received more than one call from
readers who took my advice straight to heart (bypassing the head) when I
said they should format many floppy disks at the same time. One reader
complained that two would fit in the drive, but not three or four. . .
Al
POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] Al ... I'll go you one better. ;-) One of the
guys came in here yesterday and repeated this story he'd just heard. It
seems that this new computer owner took advantage of the 1-800 numbers now
being advertised by IBM to offer support to everyone. The story goes that
this person called up to complain because her floor pedal wasn't working and
wondered what she needed to do to get it right. She was greeted by a long
pause while the person on the other end first figured out what she was
referring to and then controlled her initial response. It took me a few
seconds as well. Fortunately, I've used the floor pedal on our sewing
machine and was able to make the leap. But I must say, I don't think I would
have ever placed the mouse on the floor and stepped on it, even the first
time in my life I turned on a computer. Go figure. ;-)
Nathan
SIGN OFF
This month's column was a little briefer than I intended due to a number
of mishaps and best laid plans... etc. Next month is going to be much
better. I will bring back a new series of GEnie Tip features that focus on
the Aladdin terminal program, which Gordon mentioned in the library corner.
Aladdin is the front-end terminal program that makes using GEnie a snap for
even the faint-hearted novice. With the price of 2400 baud modems dropping
well below $100.00 (or USED for $40.00), the availability of a free terminal
program like Aladdin brings telecomputing within reach of every Atarian.
If you have a GEnie account but don't have Aladdin, just type "ALADDIN"
at any system prompt to get to Page 1000. There you will find notices to
help you get your free copy of the latest version. If you don't have a GEnie
account but would like to learn Aladdin, send mail to Joe Waters here at
Current Notes. I'm sure Joe has Aladdin on his PD disks and for a small fee,
Joe will ship you a copy on disk. Make sure you get your Aladdin so you can
follow along next month.
[CN Library disk #829 includes a number of programs useful to GEnie
users including Air Warrior, Aladdin, the Aladdin Manual, Genie's Assistant,
Aladdin's Magic Browser, Aladdin Script Manual and Tutorial, Aladdin Viewer.
The disk also includes a program for CompuServer users called QuickCIS. CN
disks are $4.00 each. -Joe Waters]
SIGN UP
GEnie's new rates are attracting a lot of users to telecommunications.
For $8.95 US per month you get four hours of free connect time-long distance
and sprint node charges extra. Additional time is charged at only $3.00 per
hour.
To sign up, just follow these simple steps:
1. Set your communications software for half duplex (local echo), at
300, 1200 or 2400 baud.
2. Dial toll free: 1-800-638-8369 (in Canada call 1-800-387-8330).
Upon connection, enter HHH
3. At the U#= prompt, enter XTX99437,GENIE and then press [RETURN].
4. Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S. you may also use your
checking account number.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=======================
8-BIT TIDBITS
by Rick Reaser
=======================
MO' MOA IMPRESSIONS
My kids and I have been playing a lot of Maze of AGDAgon (MOA) lately.
Since my last column, I received my cartridge and buffered tri-link cable
from Chuck Steinman. (I ordered by credit card over GEnie e-mail, which I
thought was pretty slick.) It is a great game and the kids even have had
friends over to play it. (Put that in your Sega Genesis or Super NES and
smoke it!)
The tri-link cable has three SIO connectors, as you might expect. One
goes into my 130XE, the others go to my 800XL and vanilla 800. The cable is
expandable so that you can easily hook another to it to double the number of
computers that can play. What a clever design!
The only problem I've really had with MOA is forgetting to hold down
[OPTION] on my 800XL. I do have a few suggestions for future versions.
1. It would be nice to have different colors or "insignia" for each
player so you can tell who you are blowing up.
2. The lack of "peripheral vision" is a little discomforting as
mentioned by Dave Paterson in his review last month. The old game Wayout had
a similar maze visual environment and I never noticed this problem. Maybe
something could be learned by looking there.
3. The rule where you can't move after you drop a bomb should be an
option. When you are face to face, whoever pushes the trigger first wins, if
you both press. It would be nice to be able to run away after you drop.
Not to be outdone, Chuck Steinman and Jeff Potter are ready to embark on
another GameLink II Odyssey-mAGDAr Invasion Force. This one involves a
contest. See the contest rules at the end of my column for further
information.
INFO HIGHWAY BLUES
Just when I get my full up Internet account, they pull the plug on the
Atari8 digest. This situation has caused quite a bit of consternation in the
8-bit community, but no one has stepped up and volunteered to crosspost the
thing from usenet to the Internet. In the interim, it is possible for those
with full Internet access to telnet to the Cleveland Atari Freenet and
participate directly. Just:
telnet freenet-in-a.cwru.edu (129.22.8.32).
You usually get a menu first thing. Once you're actually on the system,
even as a visitor enter "go atari" to reach the Atari SIG. Thanks to Michael
Current for providing this tidbit.
My FidoNet quest continues. I have a very cooperative SysOp on this end
helping me out. Larry Black, the Atari 8-bit Echo Coordinator, has been in
contact with us via NetMail to give suggestions. Hopefully, I will be back
up on the echo soon.
ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE
Robert Boardman joins us for the first time with a short piece on how
his club reorganized their 8-bit library. Robert used his first Atari
computer in April 1986, a 130XE, which he still has and uses. He joined the
Toronto Atari Federation in 1989. (It's getting to the point where over half
of our 8-bit authors are Canadian. <grin>) He was elected 8-bit Vice
President in 1993. In real life, Robert helps people learn how to use IBM
compatible computers and software. In the near future, we should be
publishing Robert's review of UltiFont from TWAUG.
This month marks the last installment of Frank Walter's series on
TextPRO. If there is further interest in this topic, please let us know.
UPDATES AND ERRATA
In the February issue of CN, many of you noticed that we failed to print
the DATA listing to generate the Card Macro, CARDER.MAX, from Frank Walters'
article. So we are printing it here along with the DATA statements for
DATA.MAX, which allows you to type the data items directly into the TextPRO
editor. When using DATA.MAX, do not type 155; enter 30 instead, since
TextPRO swaps these two characters when it saves the text.
There was not enough room to fit Bill Mims' DOS comparison article in
the February issue, for those of you still looking for it. We'll try to
squeeze it in at a later date.
Margo Sullivan posted an example of one of her Public Access TV images
mentioned in her article last month to CompuServe (CIS). (See "Back to the
Future-Atari 8-bits take on Wayne's World," Mar '94 CN) It's called
ROTV.ARC and it's in CIS 8-bit Library 4. Display it using Picture Plus or
Atari Artist.
JVIEWXL Version 1, which was previewed for you by Tom Andrews, is now
available on GEnie as file #6792 (JVIEW1.ARC).
ON THE HORIZON
Craig Rothman is preparing to write an update to his previous review of
BBS Express Pro! v4.0b. Apparently, it has a lot of new, fantastic features.
Bill Mims is ready to dig into an update of his review of PabQWK to cover
the nuances of the recently released version 2.0. John Harris is still
putting his thoughts together on a piece on Assemblers. (He's writing an
assembler himself!) If you have a neat idea for an article, please contact
me.
PC XFORMER UPDATE
Darek Mihocka did the first real public demo of a workable PC Xformer at
the Sacramento show (which is today as I write this). Progess on the
program is really picking up according to Darek.
Here's what the program supports so far:
- All graphics modes GR.0 through GR.8
- ST Xformer virtual disk files for floppy disk support (up to 8
at a time)
- Interrupt support for the vertical blank, display list, and
keyboard interrupts
- 256 colors, on the fly color updates (i.e. rainbows), support for any
kind of funky display list you can throw at it
He's still working on support for:
- Joysticks
- Sound
- Player missile graphics collision detection
Darek's getting steady response from the community on the project. He's
spoken with Nick Kennedy about SIO2PC to investigate ideas on that front.
Right now, 8-bitters without STs would need a way (or friend) to convert
their 8-bit stuff into ST virtual disk files (probably via Darek's Xformer
Cable).
We're working with Darek to do a "pre-release" preview of the program
here in Current Notes like Tom Andrews did with JVIEWXL.
PRISM STUDIO UPDATE
Michael St. Pierre sent me the following additional information about
his new Prism Studio product. Chuck Steinman will be writing a review of
Prism for an upcoming issue of Current Notes. Here's a list of what Prism
Studio does:
* Combines the graphic capability of your Atari 8-bit computer
with live action video, for realtime FULL COLOR video overlay.
* Supports all Atari graphics/text modes, including custom display
lists for split-screen effects.
* Overlay of computer video based on luminance key principle
(whenever the computer's image possesses luminance, this image
will take the place of the live video).
* External key input and video pass-thru provided for future
expansion.
* Special fade effects provided by two front panel controls,
allowing selective or non-selective fades of computer imagery,
determined by luminance value vs. control settings.
* Comes with its own painted enclosure and power supply.
* Simple plug-in installation on all standard NTSC compatible
Atari 8-bit computers prior to the XE/XEGS models (400, 800,
600XL, 800XL, 1200XL).
The price is $179.00. (CA residents will need to add sales tax.) S&H:
USA $5.00, Canada $10.00. Allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. For further
information or orders contact: MYTEK, P.O Box 750396, Petaluma, CA
94975-0396. FAXLINE: (707) 527-0674; GEnie: MYTEK.
FINE TOONED ENGINEERING (FTE)
FTe has BASICXL, BASICXE, MAC65, ACTION! and R-Time 8 Carts available
for $49.95 including shipping. The OSS Carts are bundled with their
respective toolkits. FTe also has a few P:R: Connections left for $34.95.
FTe will also upgrade your SDX to the 4.21 ROM for $12.95, and you don't
even have to send the old ROM in! U.S. Doublers are also available again for
$24.95.
FTe has decided to release SpartaDOS 3.2d & the SpartaDOS Toolkit (both
disk based) as shareware. A one-time registration fee of $19.95 is
requested. This will get you both manuals, as well as on the FTe mailing
list. If user response is sufficient, upgrades will be provided to those who
are registered.
For those of you who have not used the Toolkit, it contains "Cleanup"
and "DiskRX," as well as seven other very useful utilities. Disk Images of
these disks will be uploaded to the networks, hopefully by the time you read
this. If you've been using a "copy" of SpartaDOS, here's your chance to get
legit! If you've already purchased 3.2d, the Toolkit utilities alone should
be worth registering. If you actually have purchased "both" programs, you
are welcome to support the cause (and be upgraded) if user response is
sufficient.
I failed to mention last month that the GEnie mail address for Mike
Hohman and FTe is: F.TOONED. To register your SpartaDOS 3.2 contact: FTe,
P.O. Box 66109, Scotts Valley, CA 95067. Phone: (408) GET-REAL.
GENIE NEWS
Current Notes will be featured at a GEnie Real Time Conference (RTC) on
Wednesdady, 27 Apr 94, on Page 475, 10PM Eastern. Page 475 is the ST side of
GEnie, but this is a combined 8-bit/ST Atari event. So, don't be shy guys.
It should be a good time and we'll have banners up on the 8-bit side.
In spite of the recent problems with crossposts of the comp-sys-atari8
digest from usenet to the Internet, GEnie subscribers are still in the know.
Mike Todd has been crossposting the digest onto GEnie. BRAVO!
According to a recent post on the GEnie Bulletin board, the OASIS
International Network (OIN) is still hanging on. There have been a few
hardware problems here and there that set things back at times. OIN is
looking at using the Internet FTP to exchange the packets with New Zealand
and Canada to help these folks cut down on toll charges. I am trying to find
someone to tell us more about OASIS.
There were so many good files on GEnie this past month, I thought I'd
just list them here, before I mention what they are about.
File Name Description
6793 QWK8.COM Offline reader for unexpanded XLs
6792 JVIEW1.ARC GIF decoder viewer for XL/XE's
6774 PABQWK20.ARC Ver 2.0 of PabQwk offline reader
6767 MEETCOWS.ARC Visual Poetry Program
6764 TAX93FED.SC SynCalc '93 Tax Template
QWK8.COM is a simple Off Line Reader that doesn't have all the
functionality of PabQWK, but has been getting good reviews because it is
somewhat simpler to use and requires a simpler set up.
I mentioned JVIEW1.ARC and PABQWK20.ARC earlier. Both are very
impressive programs by all reports. (Both of these are also available on
CompuServe as well.)
I thought MEETCOWS.ARC was really cute and so did my kids. It was a
little poem set against a semi-moving graphic. It would be a great user
group demo.
I thought I'd never see it, but someone actually put up the SynCalc
template for the '93 tax year. Of course, I already did my taxes by hand and
got my refund back. Rats!!
BEST ELECTRONICS UPDATE
I touched base with Brad Koda of Best to see how his new catalog is
coming along. He's holding it up so he can add more stuff to it. It seems
that Brad won another bid for items from Atari Corp. The new batch of stuff
includes XM-301s, which will go for $19.95, and SX-212s, which will run
$29.95. In addition, Best has a few more European titles to offer like
Operation Blood and a Lemmings clone called Brundles. Both are big hits "on
the continent," according to New Atari User.
Brad is still working on his clock cartridge. I didn't realize this, but
it will be an internal mount. You will unplug a chip on your motherboard and
plug this module in, instead. It will be something, when it is finished. The
planned price for the clock module with be less than $35.
To me, the biggest news was that Brad has lowered the price of his XE TT
Touch keys mod from $29.92 to $14.95. I was so excited, I sent him a check
that day and will report my impressions when I get the thing installed.
Essentially, TT Touch is a new set of contacts for XE machines that help
eliminate "spongy keyboard syndrome."
COMPUTER SOFTWARE SERVICES (CSS) NEWS
I also chatted with Bob Puff this past month. He will be lowering the
price on his Multiplexer device by the time you read this. So check with CSS
if you are in the market for one of those things. BBS operators like them a
lot.
Bob also mentioned that he has worked with Mike Hohman of FTe to fix
bugs in several of the OSS products. The MAC65 will now compile to disk
under SpartaDOS. Several bugs in the MAC65 Toolkit are now fixed as well.
ACTION! incompatibilities with SpartaDOS have been addressed as well. This
is great news for all of us and all the fixed versions are available now.
That's all for now. You can contact me via the snail mail or e-mail
addresses at the front of the magazine.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TEXTPRO: A GUIDE FOR BEGINERS
PART 7 - PRINTING TIPS
by Frank Walters
-------------------------------------------------------------------
KEY BOARD CONVENTIONS: Keys on the keyboard are surrounded by brackets.
[START] means the START key. Inverse characters are bracketed by "less than"
and "greater than" symbols. <=> means inverse =, which is entered from the
keyboard by first holding down [SELECT] then typing the [=] key. Multiple
key strokes are indicated by an "underline" symbol or _ connecting the
indicated keys. "CTRL" indicates a "control character" which means the
[Escape] key must be pressed prior to entry. [CTRL_G] indicates that you
would first press [Esc] once then hold down the [CONTROL] key while pressing
[G]. <CTRL_G> means to first press [Escape] once then hold down [SELECT],
then hold down [CONTROL] key and while holding down both of those keys,
press [G]. [CONTROL]_[G] is not to be a control character, so no [Esc] is
required; just hold down [CONTROL] while typing a [G]. The same is true for
[SHIFT]_[G].
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I never considered using TextPRO as my word processor until it included
the feature that saved the printer equates in the configuration file. Then I
could assign inverse upper case letters to send printer codes,0 and not have
to go back to my printer manual every time I wanted to print using TextPRO.
In this article, I will explain how to set up a print driver for your
printer. I'll give you some ideas about additional help files and their
associated macros, so you can review which special inverse print letters you
have defined for each printer function. I'll present a simple idea to print
an entire address list on labels. Finally, I discuss printing in two
columns with TextPRO and a shortcut you can use to make the last page come
out in equal length columns.
PRINT DRIVER
First, you have to get out your printer owner's manual to look up the
ASCII codes for various functions. Next, decide which special inverse print
key (letter) to assign for each function you wish to use. Finally, save
these codes and associated print key in your TEXTPRO.CNF file so they are
available whenever you load TextPRO.
The easiest way to create a print driver is by typing all 26 inverse
upper case letters in the editor like this:
<A>=0
<B>=0
<C>=0
Pick which letter to use for each printer code. Try to use letters that
are similar to the function selected. I use <E> for Elite; <P> for Pica;
<C> for Condensed; <D> for Double Strike; <I> for italics; <Q> for NLQ font;
<R> for Reverse Linefeeds; <S> for Super and Subscript; <U> for continuous
underline; and <W> for double Width. I assign the remaining codes to the
letters left over. If you go overboard and use up all 26 upper caseletters,
there are two lower case letters that have no current function and can be
defined exactly like inverse upper case: <a> and <v>.
Now look up the ASCII codes that require escape (27) followed by another
number. Replace the 0 (zero) with the ASCII number (following 27) in your
printer manual. On the same line, type a description of the code so you can
make up a help file using that information:
<E>=77 E=77 Elite draft (12 cpi)
<F>=111 F=111 Elite NLQ (12 cpi)
For any function requiring three characters, just use the value immediately
after the 27.
Some printer codes require three characters. My printer uses 27,45,49 to
turn underline on and 27,45,48 to turn it off. Since I use 48 and 49 for
several other 3rd characters, I've defined the following inverse numbers:
<0>=48, <1>=49, <2>=50, in my print driver. By using inverse numbers (which
do not cause ESCape to be sent), TextPRO will not count the inverse numbers
for computing where to break the line when it prints. For example, if <U>1
is used to turn underline on, TextPRO would count the "1" as one of the 80
characters even though it is part of the printer escape sequence and would
not actually print on the paper. Using <U1> instead, TextPRO ignores the
inverse characters in the count, as it should. The <U> sends 27,45, while
the <1> sends 49, to complete the 3-character printer code for continuous
underline on.
When you finish, you may still have some unassigned letters that are
equal to zero. You can always redefine them later. Now you are ready to
force TextPRO to read the equates into the configuration section of memory.
There are two ways to do this. You can move the cursor to the bottom of the
text and use [CONTROL]_[W] (in Text Mode) to find the page and line at the
cursor position. This forces the equates into the configuration section of
memory as long as the cursor is below all the equates. Or you can actually
print the file to get a hard copy of your equates list. This will install
the equates in memory at the same time.
Before saving the configuration, make sure TextPRO is configured to send
the ESCape (27) character whenever it sends the value of an inverse upper
case letter. Type [CONTROL]_[;] and reply [N] to both the "ASCII CR" and
"Linefeed" prompts. Reply [Y] to the "Add ESCape" prompt. Type
[SELECT]_[CONTROL]_[S] to save the configuration to TEXTPRO.CNF on your
default drive so it will load automatically whenever you load TextPRO.
HELP FILES
Now you are ready to make a print driver help file. I use the same
format as other help files. What mine looks like is shown in Table 1. Print
Key letters, numbers and some other characters are inverse, along with
heading and bottom line:
---------------------------------------------------------------
TextPRO 5.0X Print Driver
Key Panasonic 1092i set p/x
A 6 lines per inch [default] p66
B 8 lines per inch p88
C Compressed draft 4 OFF x137
D Double strike ON X OFF
E Elite draft x96
F Elite NLQ x96
I Italics ON J OFF
N Pica NLQ x80
O Proportional O1 ON O0 OFF x85
P Pica draft [default] x80
Q NLQ Q1 Courier Q2 Bold PS Q0 OFF
R Reverse Linefeed Rn/216" n=36/line
S S0 Superscript S1 Subscript
T Sub/Superscript OFF
U Underline U1 ON U0 OFF
W Double Width W1 ON W0 OFF x40
Y Paper-out DISABLE Z ENABLE
#13 HELP> Menu START> Load Macro
---------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1. Print Driver Help Screen
Notice the right side includes lower case letters (p,x) which should be
inverse. They indicate the values you also need if you use the printer
commands on that line. This is a reminder that page width is changed and you
may also need to change your margin numbers for different sized fonts.
When you finish your help file, save it to disk with your other TPHELP
files. Notice the bottom line of mine is #13, so I use the name: TPHELP.13.
Now you have to load TEXTPRO.MAX and add the macro to display the new help
file. I decided to use [OPTION_P] for my macro key for the print driver help
file:
P<=><CTRL_G>pp<=><CTRL_Q>TPHELP.13,E:[RETURN]
Notice the "Goto" macro key, linking the upper case "P" to lower case
"p" since you want it to work with either case.
Save TEXTPRO.MAX to your default drive and then load it into the macro
buffer with [CONTROL]_[V]. Test it out by pressing [OPTION]_[P] to see the
help file displayed on the screen.
If you redefined some inverse numbers in your print driver, edit
TPHELP.06 to reflect the new values for the inverse numbers. Load TPHELP.00
and add the macro keys to display your new help files and then save it back
to disk.
DISK MACRO HELP FILE
While on the subject of help files, I made another help file shown in
Table 2, listing all my interactive disk macros with short descriptions:
---------------------------------------------
TextPRO 5.0XMacro Library
Macro Function
CARDCR CL PS Card: Cond.(17): Rgt/Left
CARDER EL PS Card: Elite(12): Rgt/Left
CR Remove Carriage Returns
DUAT DTC DUAT flight plan
ENV ENV2 Envelope PS size envelope
LINK Link-load to bank |2| & |M|
#14 HELP> Menu START> Load Macro
----------------------------------------------
T
able 2. Macro Help File Screen
I only included an abbreviated listing to show you how to do it. The
text in the top and bottom lines are inverse. Do not put a [RETURN] at the
end of the bottom line of any TPHELP file. This will retain the cursor on
that line when it is displayed on screen, giving you one extra line before
it scrolls the title. Save this as TPHELP.14. Add another macro key to your
TEXTPRO.MAX file to display this help file. Since macros use [CONTROL]_[V]
to load, I used [OPTION]_[V] to read it, but [OPTION]_[M] (for Macros) would
work just as easily. Use the example for [OPTION]_[P] above and substitute
the new letter and change the file extension to .14 instead of .13.
PRINTING ADDRESS LABELS
Here is a tip I worked out for my sister who had to mail 250
newsletters. She needed to print labels from her address list. This is an
easy way to do it.
The address list must be a simple text file, which you can create with
any word processor. Each address must have enough carriage returns to total
six lines. A 3-line address should be followed by three blank lines with
[RETURN] characters only. A 4-line address would be followed by two extra
[RETURN] characters. Save your address list to disk.
If your list is over 200 addresses, you might consider splitting the
list alphabetically, i.e. ADDRESS.AM and ADDRESS.NZ. This will keep you from
filling the buffer. You can print the two files separately, using wild cards
in the DOS commmand.
A standard 3 1/2" x 15/16" label will permit about 30 characters per
line at 10 cpi pitch, or 36 letters at 12 cpi. Set the labels in your
printer with the print head on the second line of the first label. A label
will hold 5 lines at the default 6 lines/inch spacing. Use DOS to copy the
address list from disk to printer, typing the source and destination like
this:
D:ADDRESS.??,P:[RETURN]
That's all there is to it. Pretty simple, huh? You can send any font to
the printer before copying the address file, but do not turn off the printer
between installing the font and copying the file. Do not try to print the
address list from TextPRO as it will set margins and send page breaks. But
you can use TextPRO to configure the printer as desired using the previously
described print driver commands and then exit to DOS and use the Copy
command to print the address file(s).
PRINTING TWO COLUMNS
I made a hard copy of my sister's address list for her and printed it in
two-columns per page to save paper. I'll explain how to format TextPRO for
two-column printing.
For an address list like above, you have to make a separate file with
only five lines per address. Load the 6-line list. Use [CONTROL]_[G] and
type [CTRL_+] three times. (Remember to type [ESC] before the [CTRL_+] to
get the special "Control Character that looks like a bent arrow.) This
enters three [RETURN] characters at the "Find:" prompt. Press [RETURN] and
enter two [CTRL-+] characters at the "Change:" prompt. After the global
replace, your address list will have one [RETURN] character removed from
each address, leaving 5-lines each. This will allow 11 addresses per page in
each column. Save it under a diferent filename than your 6-line list.
At the top of the list, insert the following two printer format lines:
<?>1<!>1<l>1<r>38<t>4<b>59
<i><?>2<!>1<l>41<r>78<t>4<b>59
The top line is for printing the first pass. The bottom line follows an
info <i> character and is not used until the second pass. With the top and
bottom margins set at 4 and 59, it will allow exactly 55 printed lines, or
11 5-line addresses. No addresses will be split between columns or pages.
<?>1 tells TextPRO to start printing at page 1. The second line starts
at page 2.
<!>1 tells TextPRO to skip 1 page when printing. Thus it will print all
the odd numbered pages when the first format line is active (1, 3, 5,
etc.).
If there is more than one file in your list, add the "goto" command for
printing linked files at the end of each file except the last. Due to a bug
in 4.56 and 5.0, the maximum length of the dev:filename.ext recognized by
the "goto" command is 14 instead of 15. My example only uses 12:
<g>D:ADDRESS.NZ[RETURN]
Insert the paper with the top line under the print head and print the
address list with [CONTROL]_[P]. When finished, roll the paper back to the
original position. Insert an inverse <i> in front of the top format line.
[CONTROL]_[DELETE] the <i> from the second format line. Print the second
pass with [CONTROL]_[P]. It will start printing the right column with page 2
and all the even-numbered pages.
I wanted to print a footer with page numbers and a title, so I counted
the total printed pages and made a new file to print just the footer line.
Let us assume it is six pages. Set the paper back to the first page, clear
the editor and enter a footer line like this:
<f> TITLE OF ADDRESS LIST<e>page <#>[RETURN]
<nnnnn>
The left margin of our document was set at 1 and footers ignore the left
margin so I left a space after the <f> so the title would line up with the
left column. Since I want to print footers on six pages, I needed to add
five inverse <n> characters, to force next-page five times, for a total of
six pages.
Print the "footer" file and it will add the footer text and page numbers
on your two-column document. That wasn't too difficult, was it?
You can use the same principle and similar margins to print two-column
text files. You might want to include <q>1 in your format lines to justify
the right margins, like in magazines, although it is not necessary. When
printing text files this way, the last printed page will not come out even.
There is an easy way to correct this.
Print the two-column text file as explained above. Tear off the last
printed page with uneven columns. Delete the two printer format lines from
the top of your file with [CONTROL]_[D] and [P] twice.
Use [SELECT]_[CONTROL]_[F] to find the first few words at the top of the
last page. Put cursor on first word and enter [SELECT]_[CONTROL]_[U] to
"Delete to TOP" of text. Reply [Y]es and you will be left with only the text
on the last page.
Type [CONTROL]_[R] to replace the format lines from the paste buffer. Be
sure the <i> is in front of the second line, not the first. Count the total
lines on your printed last page and divide by two to find how many lines you
want on each side of the page. Assume you have 84 lines and want 42 in each
column. Add the top margin (4) to find line number 46. Change bottom margin
to <b>46. Print the left column and reset the paper to the top. Move the <i>
from the second format line to the top and print the right-hand column. Load
your footer file and replace the <#> with the actual page number and remove
the inverse <n>s at the end. Reset the last page and print the footer.
Voila! You now have an evenly spaced last page to add to the other
two-column pages of your document.
CONCLUSION
These printing tips should make TextPRO more useful to you. If you
implement the HELP screens, TextPRO will be more user-friendly, as well.
I've enjoyed writing this series of articles about TextPRO for you.
Hopefully, this series has shown you that a kinder, gentler TextPRO is out
there waiting for you to customize.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
REBUILDING THE TAF 8-BIT LIBRARY
Tips to Help Your Organize Your Library
(C) 1994 Robert W. K. Boardman
The Toronto Atari Federation (TAF) was established in 1981 by users of
8-bit Atari systems. At present we have over 200 members, a monthly
newsletter, and a very active BBS. Since 1981 technology has changed so that
almost all TAF members own 16-it machines. Despite the change in
technology,we have a small (8-15) group of members who are actively involved
with software and hardware on their 8-bit machines.
Since the first Public Domain (PD)/Shareware floppy disk was sold to
members, over 240 disks were compiled by the TAF 8-bit librarians. Until
recently, the librarian could easily put together four disks a month of
newly released PD/Shareware. About two years ago, the library went "on
hold," because there wasn't enough software being written or released to
warrant the release of new disks. We have released five disks of new 8-bit
software since Sept 93, and more may be coming.
All of those 240 disks were arranged numerically and in chronological
order. We had both a printed catalogue and a catalogue on disk, which was
given to all new 8-bit members. A printed chronological listing has its
advantages for historical purposes, but makes it difficult for the
inexperienced library user to find what they want. To make the library more
"useable," in the summer of 1993, I decided to rebuild the library by types
of programs rather than by dates. Three TAF members, Mike Seaman, Jeff
Thomas and me, have worked on this project so far. The TAF ST librarians
made a similar change the summer before and have found the new format easier
to work with, particularly for new members or those members who have a need
for one particular type of software.
We had to work within some long established guidelines. All disks had to
be single density, with no ARC or DCM files. (We had to work with the
membership's lowest common denominators: 810 disk drives and no archiving
software.) All disks, except those dedicated to one game or demo, have to
include DOS (usually 2.5 but we used others), our TAF logo, and a menu
programme. All disks should also have on-disk documents explaining what
programs did and any restrictions (load with Basic out for example). We also
included a Ramdisk file for those who could use it.
We had some equipment restrictions that made some of the work more
frustrating than it might have been otherwise. While my 130XE has been a
320XE for a few years, and my 1050 drive has a U.S. Doubler, I have only one
drive. During some of the process we were able to use another drive and
another 130XE, which certainly helped a lot. The ideal, of course, would
have been a hard drive. Since almost all our disks have an overhead of about
180 sectors (roughly 20 Kbytes) a 20 megabyte hard drive would have been
perfect. That we were able to accomplish this reorganization on the
equipment available is a tribute to the flexibility of these computers as
well as to the patience of TAF 8-bit members.
The first step in the process was discovering what we already had in the
library, and building a classification scheme. Our present (and long term)
librarian, Dave Lee, made an excellent up-to-date printed catalogue, which
we took apart, disk by disk, until we came up with the following classes:
games, utilities, productivity, home use, education, text and DTP, graphics,
music, communication, programming, hardware hacks, demos. Some classes were
obviously going to be larger than others, and some material was difficult to
classify. We wanted to avoid having the same programs in two different
classes so sometimes we made arbitrary decisions. We decided that utilities
would generally be small add-on programmes that directly affected other
computer material, for example, ARC, SDV. Productivity programs allow the
user to do a particular task more efficiently.
We made a split between DTP and graphics because there is a large pool
of material for the 8-bit built around text and graphics on paper (Textpro,
DaisyDot, Printshop), and a separate pool for graphics on screen (animation,
logos). We have some disks, which are not games, that have both animation
graphics and sound. Most of these were placed in the Demo category. The
Programming class includes what others might call utilities or productivity
aids: renumbering, Pascal, etc. This class is of specific interest to
programmers in various languages. The Home Use group includes a full disk of
material for calculating the costs of running a car, various income tax
programmes and templates, loan calculations, shopping list makers, and
more.
Once we had an idea of what classes of material we had, and how much
there was, we started building the new disks. If we were recycling, we had
to remove just the programmes and keep the standard overhead (DOS, logo,
menu, ram). We also had to format many unused disks and put our standard
files on them. Each disk in the old library was numbered in the on-disk menu
as well as on the label, so we had to change all the numbering on recycled
disks, and put it in place on the new disks.
To take advantage of Ultraspeed on the U.S. Doubler, we formatted as
many disks as we thought we would need for a particular session with DOS 2.5
and added the DOS files. Next the TAF logo (62 sector graphic), menu (in
Basic) and ram driver were copied from RAM onto each new disk. We then
switched over to Sparta and copied files from the old library disks into RAM
until there were about 500 sectors used. Then we copied from RAM onto the
disks. The process was usually so straight forward that it became very much
like an assembly line. Put the original in the drive. Do a directory and
copy what we want into RAM. Is RAM full enough yet? If Yes, copy RAM onto a
new disk; if No, grab another original disk and copy more stuff into RAM.
The work was fairly straight forward, repetitive and at times a little
boring. However, we did discover several programmes that none of the three
of us knew existed in our library. We also discovered how many programmes we
have called "calendar.com"--three at last count--and how many different
versions of Blackjack we have (more than three).
With work and family obligations getting in the way, the transfer was
put on hold in mid-December. We are about 2/3finished with the transfers of
files. Adding a short document file to each disk is yet to be done (we'll
use the old descriptions as often as possible). Textpro allows the user to
copy a disk directory into a document, so we used that facility to keep an
on-disk catalogue as we worked. At the moment it has only file names, soon
we will add 20-30 character descriptions and then issue this new catalogue
in both disk and printed form. The disk will have an ASCII text file in
40-column format (as well as the Textpro file) so any word processor can
read it. Users will also be able to print the catalogue direct to the screen
if they don't have a word processor. Since Textpro is part of our library,
we will encourage members to own a copy so they can search the new catalogue
easily.
Once the job is finished, TAF is willing to share the resources of our
library with other users and user groups, particularly those in Canada. Reg
Loeppky, president of the Winnipeg users' group, is heading a movement to
share newsletters and resources among all Atari user groups in Canada. The
work TAF has done with Reg has so far been of benefit to 16-bit machine
users, but there's no reason it shouldn't include the 8-bit veterans.
Because of the efficiencies of programming for 8-bit machines and the
size of their RAM, 240 90K diskettes hold an enormous number of programs. We
are very pleased with the work so far, and have generated some new interest
in the 8-bit library (even sold a few disks) since the rebuilding. If it
weren't for the conscientious record keeping of the previous librarian, Dave
Lee, our job would have been much more difficult. Having an accurate printed
catalogue made the job straight forward. For user groups who wish to
reorganize, I strongly suggest you find someone with a hard drive and do the
work on it.
If you want an electronic version of our finished catalogue contact me:
GEnie: R.Boardman
Internet: r.boardman@genie.geis.com
CompuServe: 70034,3052
Printed copies can be ordered through (send large size SASE or $2 for
copying and postage) to: Toronto Atari Federation, 5334 Yonge St, Suite
1527, Willowdale Ontario M2N 6M2 Canada
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
========================
EXPLORING ATARIWORKS
by Michael 'Papa' Hebert
========================
PAGE SETUP, LABELS AND GRAPHICS
In last month's review, I extolled the virtues of AtariWorks' paragraph
formatting capabilities. Without a doubt this is the single most powerful
feature in the AtariWorks word processor. This month we will be looking at
some features that enhance AtariWorks' flexibility.
MARGINS AND MODES
AtariWorks provides a very comprehensive set of tools for defining the
type of page that is to be printed. When you click on "Page Setup" under the
File Menu, a large Dialog Box with a multitude of options opens (see figure
1). Your current printer selection is shown at the top of the Dialog Box. A
click of the mouse button on the printer name will drop down a Selector Box,
giving access to any other printer drivers you may have loaded in SpeedoGDOS
(yes, you can have more than one). Along the left side is a row of Selector
Boxes with three common paper sizes predefined. When you click on one of
these boxes, the paper size will be shown in the Width and Height boxes.
Clicking on the Others box allows you to enter a paper's size in the Width
and Height boxes. Clicking on "Set Size to Current Printer" may be used with
laser printers that register the size of paper in their tray and communicate
that information to the computer.
Printing orientation may be set to Portrait (upright) or Landscape
(sideways) mode. The Landscape mode may be used to create banners up to 36
inches long.
The Margins dialog permits defining Left, Right, Top and Bottom margins
independently. This is an essential bit of flexibility. Some printers, such
as the HP Laserjet, offset the top of the page downward. The offset can be
compensated for by decreasing the top margin and increasing the bottom
margin. Left and Right margin offsets may be used with tractor feed dot
matrix printers if you find your pages not centered properly and do not want
to shift the tractor positioning.
The "grayed out" Print Row and Column Headers' selection becomes active
when printing from the AtariWorks Spreadsheet. It gives the option of
printing or not printing the row and column headers.
You can check the Page Setup even while editing a document. If you find
that the margins or any of the other parameters are not what you want, the
appropriate changes can be entered. A single click on OK will return you to
your document where you will find AtariWorks busily implementing your
changes. It takes only a few seconds for AtariWorks to reformat a 10-page
document. If you decide that the current settings are just what you need, a
click on "Cancel" will send you right back to your document with no
changes.
Page Setup parameters are saved with your document and also in
WORKS.INF, which is updated each time you exit AtariWorks. This is a
blessing to some and a curse to others. If the last document you created had
a peculiar page setup, you will find that setup repeated the next time you
select New to start a document. This can be tremendously convenient, if you
always use the same set of margins and print mode, but downright annoying
for people who use several different layouts. The workaround is to create an
assortment of "blank page" documents with your most used page setups.
Loading a "blank page" document loads the proper page setup parameters at
the same time.
LABELS, LABELS, LABELS
Clicking on Label Setup takes you into another one of AtariWorks' unique
features (see figure 2). While many other word processors allow you to print
labels and even do mail merge operations, very few permit you to define the
label size. AtariWorks takes the Labels per Row and Labels per Column
figures, compares them with the page margins and calculates the proper
sizing of labels. A whole sheet of return address labels can be printed
after entering the data in just the first label. It will be automatically
repeated on each label. If you are printing mailing labels, the data may be
merged into the label from an AtariWorks database and each label will be
printed using the data from a different record (see figure 3).
The Label Setup option is useful for any operation that involves
repeating the same text and/or graphic layout several times on a page. I
have used this option to print invitations, announcements and even a
Thanksgiving table "pop-up" place marker (see figure 4). One user in
Wisconsin has designed a postcard layout that prints an announcement on one
side of cardstock paper. Flipping the paper over he loads his database and
merges the addressee data on the second pass, complete with return address.
All of the AtariWorks word processor bells and whistles are available for
use in making custom "one of a kind" multiple labels.
WOULD BE, COULD BE DTP
AtariWorks, as I have said before, is quite capable of doing desktop
publishing. The SpeedoGDOS fonts, combined with Paragraph Format/Style
macros and AtariWorks' graphic handling abilities, create a fertile
environment for all sorts of unique, eye catching documents. AtariWorks can
import only two types of graphics formats : GEM metafile vector graphics and
IMG bitmap graphics. Complementing AtariWorks with a shareware graphic file
conversion utility, such as PicSwitch or GEMView, allows the use of all
sorts of bitmap file formats, including photographic formats. GEM vector
graphics created in any of the commercially available editors are usable as
are those done in MyDraw and Kandinsky, which are readily available as
shareware. Programs such as Avant Vector give the ability to convert Calamus
CVG and Postscript EPS files to GEM format for use in AtariWorks.
The graphics that are imported into AtariWorks can be resized,
positioned at will, and even overlaid. Ordering the placement of combination
graphics is a simple cut and paste procedure. Text elements can be created,
then "metafile copied," with an undocumented [Alternate]+Copy command. The
original can then be deleted and the metafile copy pasted in and
repositioned just like any other graphic. In the screen shot illustration in
figure 5, I used one bitmap graphic (the "X'ed" box), two GEM vector
graphics created in MyDraw (the diskette and the word "Bodacious!") and four
metafile copies (the word "Positively," and each of the three lines of text
overlaying the bitmap graphic box).
Bitmap IMG graphics will not appear on the AtariWorks screen except as
an "X'ed" box. Initially, this can be very disconcerting, but you get used
to it very quickly. It has two very positive advantages. One is speed, since
the bitmap does not have to be redrawn every time you scroll the page. The
other is file size. AtariWorks does not store the IMG with the text. Rather,
it stores the path to the IMG as part of the file, just like Ventura
Publisher.
GEM graphics will show on the screen and they do slow down screen
redraws considerably, especially in larger sizes. Once they have been sized
and positioned, they can be "hidden" with a click on Hide Picture under the
Edit Menu. When this has been done, the slowdown of screen updates is barely
perceptible. Unlike IMG's, the GEM graphics typically have small file sizes
and are stored in the AtariWorks file. Print speed will be affected to some
degree by the number and complexity of graphics on a page. SpeedoGDOS has to
take extra time to convert them into commands the printer can understand.
The slow down is just perceptible on an HP Deskjet or Laserjet but can be
very noticeable on older 9-pin printers with small buffer sizes.
ATARIWORKS NEWS
Is Black Page Syndrome fixed? Is Version 2 of AtariWorks imminent? The
latest word through the ever "reliable" rumor mill is that Pradip is still
working on the BPS fix--on his own time! Atari has him hard at work on
Jaguar projects. And Version 2? I seriously doubt we will see that for some
time to come. Am I worried about all this? Not really. I don't have enough
sense to be worried. But what about BPS? We all know what the "cure" for
that is--and it is being implemented through the "Decentralized Customer
Support" network. Need I say more?
AND NEXT MONTH . . .
I plan to wind down the word processor portion of this review with an
examination of AtariWorks' block operations. Following that, I will move on
to the database and then the spreadsheet. 'Til then, keep healthy and
practice a little "guerilla mode" thinking!
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=======================
WOODS MUSIC
by Gary Woods
=======================
CUBASE SCORE
For the past few months I've been Beta-Testing the latest offering from
Steinberg/Jones, Cubase Score for the Atari. For the foreseeable future they
are going to be marketing three different versions of the program. The first
is Cubase 3.02, which retails for $599; the second is Cubase Score, or
version 3.5, which retails for $699; and the third is Cubase Audio, which
allows the user to record audio direct to hard disk and retails for $999.
For the purposes of this article, I'm going to confine most of my
comments to the Score Editor on Cubase Score, because it has undergone the
most radical changes. There is also a new MIDI Mixer Module in the package,
and some other goodies that I'll talk about later, but the Scoring function
is the real focus here. Cubase is such a great sequencer that the addition
of a wonderful scoring module has really enhanced the overall product.
The Tools available in the Editor (figure 1) are the "Arrow," which is
used to move elements like notes, text, and barlines. The "Eraser," which is
used to remove objects. The "Rest," which is used to put rests in the score
with the cursor changing shape to reflect the type of rest being placed. The
"Scissors," which break the staff where desired, meaning you can have 2, 3,
4, or more measures per staff. The "White Arrow," or Layout Tool, which is
used to adjust the layout for things like how far apart the staves are from
each other. The "Magnifying Glass," which allows the user to hear particular
notes in the score. The "Pencil," which is used to place objects like text,
clefs, chords, or any of the other marks which the program generates onto
the page. The "Note," which, like the "Rest," changes the shape of the
cursor with the value of the note being placed, is used to input notes. And
finally, the "Glue Stick," which is used to bring staves from different
lines together.
When you start working with the program, the first thing you'll notice
is that everything moves much quicker. The programmers have really worked
hard to speed up all the screen redraws and the placement of notes and text.
This is particularly evident in the Score Editor, but the entire program
works much faster. Also, as long as I'm talking about speed, run, don't
walk, to your nearest purveyor of Atari software and get Codehead
Technologies, Warp 9 Version 3.81. This
little screen accelerator placed in
your Auto Folder at boot up will immensely increase your enjoyment of all
Cubase programs, not just Cubase Score. The only thing to remember is to
copy a program called CUBASE.DAT from the original Warp 9 disk onto your
root directory and rename it WARP9.DAT. If you don't do this, the screen
saver will engage and Cubase will crash. But now, back to Cubase Score.
When you first bring up the Score Editor screen, you will see displayed
just above the manuscript area, boxes with the numbers 1-4 in them. These
are for use with what is called Polyphonic Voices. Cubase can display up to
four separate voices on each line, which is very handy for those of you who
deal with choral music. Each voice can be displayed with the stems up, down,
or automatically, and with the rests shown or hidden. Also, each voice can
have a different quantization, or, for that matter, different sections of
the same voice can be quantized differently. And, as with all Cubase
quantizing that hasn't been Frozen, it can be unquantized to the original
value. The display is quite flexible and very easy to manage.
Next to the numerals 1-4 are note values from a whole note to 64th.
Also, there is a "T" for Triplet, and a "." for dotted values. These notes
are for "Step-Time" entry of music onto the score and make it quite easy to
change note durations. As you can see in figure 1, the note icon has been
highlighted; this is the tool used to input new notes into the score. Unlike
previous versions, notes are placed onto a snap grid, which is set to the
value of the note being placed. Also, notes may be moved up and down
chromatically now instead of diatonically as in the previous versions. This
means you no longer have to press Control to place a note outside the
current scale.
The next area across the top is for Enharmonic Shifts. Clicking on a
note, then on one of these symbols will, for example, change a note from an
F Sharp to a G Flat to an E Double Sharp. You can change several notes at
the same time by holding down the shift key and then clicking on each of the
notes you want to alter, then making your selection. On the subject of
Enharmonic Shifts there is an adjunct to a feature called "Make Chords"
that, when activated, will apply the correct Enharmonic Spelling for notes
throughout the score. The option is called "Use Chord Track for Accis."
(More on this later.)
Moving on down the line, next to the Enharmonic Spellings is a large
bold faced "I" (see figure 2). By inversing a note and clicking on the "I,"
a box that allows the user to change such attributes as the Note Heads comes
up. There are many different types available, from harmonics to various
kinds of percussion notes. Below the note heads, bowings can be selected for
string instruments. Next, a stem direction option can be chosen with Up,
Down, or Auto being the choices. On the other side of the page, you can
choose to make a note a grace note, or make it a small or "Cue Note," which
is used to indicate activity on other parts of the score.
Back on the main Score Editor Screen, next to the "I" icon, are two
arrows pointing Up and Down. These are also used for Stem Direction, and
like the Enharmonic Spelling, can be used on several notes at once by
holding down the shift key and continuing to select notes. Also, as I stated
before, when used in conjunction with Polyphonic Voices, for example, you
can have all the Stems for a particular part going up or down as needed.
Next to the up and down arrows is a tool that has saved me a lot of
time. The icon has four arrows pointed in four different directions and it
is the symbol for "Auto Layout." By selecting this feature, it will
automatically proportionally space out your score, making it very readable.
This feature can be applied to a single staff, a single page, or the entire
composition. In the previous version of the program, there was a great deal
of time spent moving items one way or another, and combined with the general
slowness of the editor, it really made laying out a score very tedious.
Next to Auto Layout are four eighth notes with a grayed out portion
between notes two and three. This is used to separate eighth notes into
groups of two instead of groups of four, and, like all the other features,
it can be used with the shift/click feature to apply it to many notes
simultaneously.
The last command on the line is simply labeled "Hide." In a program that
automatically places a great deal of information on a score, the Hide
feature is very helpful. It's surprising how many extraneous elements can
creep into a score, and with Hide you can remove everything from a dot to an
entire stave of music. On the other side of the coin, under the "Options
Menu," is something called "Show Invisible," which will display items such
as Stem Lengths, Split Rests, and all the stems that were previously
hidden.
Running down the right side of the score are the various Symbol Menus.
There are six in all, including those for Chord Symbols, various layout
features like 1st and 2nd endings, tablature, bowed tremolo marks, and
dynamics. I haven't found a symbol yet that I needed that was not
represented on the Symbol Menus.
Also on the symbol menus are several representations for Text and
Lyrics. Text can be placed as part of a layout so that, as the layout is
edited, the text moves with the stave that it was originally attached to, or
it can be placed independently so that edits don't effect its placement.
Lyrics are placed in relationship to noteheads, and this is one area that I
really noticed how much quicker this program works than the previous
edition. Text input, editing, and placement all work much quicker than
before, cutting the amount of time that it took me to do a composition about
in half.
On the subject of Text and Lyrics (figure 3), the program now has a 3rd
font called "Antigua," which is an Italic Font and looks great. For things
like "Ritardando" and "Accelerado," this font should be ideal. Also on the
disk, there is a new Geramont font that looks quite good. All of these fonts
can be displayed with different characteristics like Bold, and Underlined,
as well as with Boxes and Ellipses around them, so there is quite a variety
of looks available for your text.
Lest you think that this program is all about look and not about sound,
there is a whole page of MIDI Meanings for Symbols. Such things as Staccato,
Tenuto, and accent can all have a MIDI meaning that is user definable. Also,
there is a Drum Map so you can Map pitches to the individual sounds in your
modules, yet display them however you would like on the score, with
different note heads and positions on the staff.
A couple of interesting features are something called "Score Notes to
MIDI" and "Build N Tuplet." Score Notes to MIDI takes the notes from a score
and realigns the MIDI data so that it plays back exactly as it is on the
score. This is helpful, for instance, with the other feature Build N Tuplet.
This feature takes several notes and combines them into irregular groups
like 5's, 7's or whatever is required. Then, by applying Score Notes to
MIDI, they can be played back correctly. This saves a lot of time trying to
arrange them into exact rhythmic groupings in the other editors.
Figure 4 displays the options in the box called Staff Settings. In this
area, the way the part is displayed on the screen can be manipulated and
then saved as a preset. Such things as No Overlap, meaning that if a note is
held slightly longer so that it goes into the next note, this overhang is
not displayed. Also, there is a setting called Clean Lenghts. This means
that if a note is not held exactly to be a quarter note or whatever, it is
not displayed with 4 dots behind it, or instead of a quarter note displaying
it as an 8th note tied to a 16th tied to a 32nd, etc.. You can also set up
separate quantized values for notes and rests so that you don't end up with
unreadable and cumbersome rest patterns, like a quarter rest followed by a
sixteenth followed by a thirty second. There is an option for setting a
split point so that a keyboard part played in as one part can be displayed
on two staves, and also an option for setting up Polyphonic Voices, where
more than one voice is displayed on one staff.
In another menu, there is something called Explode (see figure 5.) This
would allow you to play a three note chord, for example, and expand it out
automatically to three parts to be printed and played by three different
instruments. For someone who has copied a lot of parts by hand, this is a
real time saver.
On the next menu down, is something called "Make Chords." This feature
is great if you are unsure of what to call a chord because it will name all
the chords in your score automatically. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there
is an option that will help you display the accidentals correctly so that
they agree with the key signature and chords. I was really quite impressed
with this feature; its accuracy was amazing, even when I tried to trick it
with some oddball extensions and root notes.
After you've spent the time to create a perfect layout for a song,
there's a provision that allows you to save it so that you can use it with
other parts or other songs. Some of the elements saved are Repeat Signs,
Double Bars, Rehearsal Letters, and Text. There is also a command that would
allow you to see exactly what is saved before you save it.
A real space saver is the implementation of "Multi-Rests." This feature
will take a string of rests and reduce them to one multi-bar rest. This rest
can be broken up into more than one multi-bar rest, like taking a seven bar
rest and dividing it into three and four bar segments. Also, it
automatically breaks a multi-bar rest at places like double bars.
In the Options area, there is a great deal of control over things like
how far apart the sharps and flats are in the key signature, how close the
clef is to the bar, how wide the slurs and beams are, placement of bar and
page numbers and many more options. With the potential of up to 127 staves,
you can deal with as large an orchestra as required and still have staves
left over. Added to all this are the normal Cut, Copy, and Paste features
you would expect on a sequencing package and it really makes for a full
featured music manuscript program.
When it comes time to print out your score, there is something called
"Fast," under the print menu. This prints out the part in about a third the
time it would normally take so you can make final adjustments without having
to wait. The normal printout on my Hewlett Packard LaserJet II is
approximately five minutes a page, and it looks great.
Bundled with Cubase Score are some other goodies. First, is a rather
good Arpeggiator. You can have as many as four different arpeggio patterns
loaded at any one time, using the preprogrammed patterns or making up your
own. Some of the variables are quantization, length of the longest note,
length of the shortest note, whether the pattern goes up only, down only, or
both directions. I found it very easy to use, and quite useful in some of
the things I was working on. I've never used an arpeggiator before, but this
module could prove to be useful for me.
The next item in the bundle is a Sysex-Editor for editing large Sysex
Dumps. I've also been testing the "Studio Module," which does similar types
of manipulations; I'll talk about it in another column. So the Sysex-Editor
didn't have much use for me.
Something else in the bundle is called "GM Name." This works in
conjunction with the Part Inspector, and instead of displaying program
numbers, it shows first the name of the class of instrument, like Piano,
Organ, Bass, etc. Then off to the right of that is displayed the exact
preset name like Slap Bass, Synth Bass, etc.. It is really a very slick
module for someone who uses General MIDI devices in their setup.
Cubase Score is also up and running on the MacIntosh and PC platforms,
with Cubase Audio running on the Mac, but not the PC, at this time. The
Score Editor is a real full-featured module that has finally come up to the
quality standard set by the sequencing part of the program. I recommend it
for anything from lead sheets to full scores and parts.
If you have any questions or suggestions on anything I've written, or
for future articles, please don't hesitate to contact me at:
Gary Woods
6428 Valmont St.
Tujunga, CA 91042
818-353-7418; FAX 352-6559
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
=======================
ATARI IN THE STICKS
by Henry van Eyken
=======================
THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD'VE
Or
How many times can you fold a sheet of paper
in this Age of Oversimplification?
Question: A package of 500 sheets of paper is one inch thick.
How thick is one sheet of paper after folding it over
52 times?
Solution: 252/500 inches = 9 trillion inches.
Question: The average distance between Earth and Sun is about 93
million miles. What is this distance expressed in inches?
Solution: 93x106 x 5280 ft/mile x 12 in/ft = 6 trillion inches.
Compare answers.
* * *
Try folding a sheet of paper more than seven times and you'll know it
isn't easy. But the calculation for folding a sheet 52 times is, and the
answer dramatically demonstrates the awesome power of exponentiation. Yet,
the continued linefaction of a paper plane while it is of paper no more is
only whimsically relevant, a virtual reality, an abstraction, a game if you
wish. Its relevance lies not in the blunted edges of the folds, but in
sharpened razors of mind. It helps develop insight.
Closer to reality is the scenario of the next problem, reportedly taken
from a first-year algebra book:
"Mary's mother needs three hours to do the laundry. If Mary helps her,
they can do the laundry in only two hours. How long would it take Mary to
do the laundry by herself?"
An educator had selected it for thougHtful analysis:
"This problem was obviously written by someone who had never done the
laundry. Doing the laundry is usually not a two-person activity ... various
quantities of soap ... machine goes through its cycles ... not make the
agitator go faster ... soggy mass is then transferred to dryer ... search
for the missing sock. The point is that most of the problems presented to
students in mathematics classes are patently unreal. Rather than motivating
the students to solve problems and study more mathematics, these problems
teach ... that mathematics has nothing to do with the real world."(1)
All very true, but I don't think that's the main point. Neither does
Mary. More likely, the right brain is convulsed into urging the left brain
to make an excuse for getting out of this dull chore. Heck! Laundry is no
fun.
"Mathematical learning should be integrated with play," says no less
than the American Association for the Advancement of Science.(2) That should
make math fun by association. What student in his rightsided mind would
welcome less than that?
* * *
The full title is:
The Very First Original Fleabyte Course
On
How To Program And Make Good Use
Of
A Casio Or Tandy Pocket Computer
& Guide To Provide An Insight Into
Why And How The Pocket Computer Can Play
A Vital Role In Education And Work.(3)
Whimsical? Of course. But I was not selling snake-oil. I wanted those
teachers who were thinking of taking this three-credit course to have some
idea of what they would be in for. Academic officialdom shortened the title
to a sober Pocket Computers in Education. We shan't have PCs that aren't
PC.
THE DEARLY DEPARTED
Those Casio and Sharp and Tandy programmable pocket computers are little
marvels. Too bad they don't sell them anymore in Canada nor, I believe, in
the U.S. Casio and Sharp used to make model after model, some sold under the
Radio Shack or Tandy label as well. My first one (bought in 1985, I believe)
is a Radio Shack PC-4, which had all of 544 bytes of RAM to play with. I
soon raised my investment from $90 Cdn by another $25 to triple its capacity
to 1.568 bytes. This can be divied up among ten stored programs. Straight
from electronic memory they come; no waiting. Additional programs may be
stored on magnetic tape, which is a pain. However, my Sharp computers can
share intelligence with an ST as well. Figure 1 depicts the Casio FX-730P.
The PC-4 has a 12-character-wide scrollable liquid-crystal display:
[Insert graphic.]
Other models have displays of up to 24 characters. Using a small, 0.2-K
program, these windows are more than sufficient to show that 252 thicknesses
of paper = 4,503,599,627,370,496 thicknesses of paper. If desired, another
1-K program will put this number into words, four quadrillion five hundred
and three trillion &c. Nevertheless, the small windows make it often
necessary to employ a tiny printer. Casio's produce 1.45-inch-wide thermal
hardcopy; Sharp's are twice that width. One Casio, the FX-820P, has a
printer built in, Fig. 2.
What makes these, now unavailable devices so interesting? Well, they are
more than computers; without any programming they are also full-function
calculators. And, like calculators, they really do fit in a pocket and,
hence, may be used anywhere, be it for serious work or for turning math into
play. They should be great for kids, inside and outside our classrooms, and
great for professionals of various stripe. As a teacher, I still use them to
check students' work, using a glue stick to fasten the narrow strips of
rice-paper print-out to their laboratory reports, and I am sure others must
have found their own good uses.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
I know, no longer does programming computency make, not by popular
concensus anyway, but why blindly follow the crowd? Let's keep our own minds
open. Let's dabble in it a bit, if for no other reason than to understand
why we feel the way we do.
Only a few commands are needed to program one of those pocket computers
(see Box). Essentially, they allow one to make loops for repetitive
operations, to make conditional statements (if ... then ... statements), and
to manipulate character strings. Here, as an example, is a program for
averaging numbers. For readers unfamiliar with programming, I have included
a separate column, headed Data Flow, whose vertical columns show how data
change during the running of the program when averaging 58 and 84:
PROGRAMDATA FLOW
10 CLEAR|I=0, T=0
20 PRINT "E for exit"|
30 LET I=I+1|When I= 1 2 3
40 INPUT "Value",V$|then V$= 58 84 E
50 IF V$="E" THEN 80|
60 LET T=T+VAL(V$)| T= 58 142
70 GOTO 30|
80 PRINT "Ave ";T/(I-1)|T/(I-1)= 71
The letters I and T, in lines 30, 60, and 80, represent numerical
values. At the outset these are set to zeros by CLEAR. A single letter
followed by a dollar sign, like V$ in lines 40 and 60, represents a string
of characters, which may consist of letters, digits, and other symbols. (A
string may be as short as zero characters, which I then identify by "".) The
program's lines are read by the computer in the order of increasing line
numbers preceding them.
When the program runs, it first reminds the user to press E when
finished with typing in the numbers to be averaged. The sign "=" means
either equals or, particularly in a statement beginning with LET, replace
by. Thus line 20 replaces the existing value of I by I + 1. In this
instance, zero is replaced by one. The computer then asks: Value? You type
in the first number-58 in the above example. Because you entered characters
other than an E, the computer will replace the existing value of T, which is
0, by VAL(V$), which is the value read from the character string just
entered. The computer then returns to statement line no. 30 and asks again:
Value? Cycling continues until you enter E. Then the conditional statement
of line 50 makes the program jump to line 80 where the average is calculated
and displayed.
The example contains a loop and a condition to be met. It also offers an
example of string manipulation: VAL(V$), which takes the value of a string.
The programmer might include a guard against mistakes. Anticipating, for
example, that the word EXIT is entered instead of the single letter E, a
potential error can be avoided by changing line 40 to:
40 IF MID$(V$,1,1)="E" THEN 70
to isolate the first character of EXIT. MID$(V$,1,1) is another example of
string manipulation.
To readers in-the-know: Sure, this is "Street" BASIC and the program is
sensitive to input errors. I merely want to show how a program works and
thereby help the reader balance cost versus benefit.(4) The point is, it
doesn't require much imagination to realize that fine computing can be done
with a simple, and cheap!, pocket computer without a long list of commands
to memorize. It doesn't require extraordinary powers of reflection that such
computing might have pedagogical value by developing greater comfort with
numbers and, thereby, superior numeracy. And that it insists on users
assuming a habit of discipline without which programming is impossible. And
when all is said and done, it shows students that memorizing formulas is not
the same as getting an education.(5)
MUTILATION BEYOND HOPE
Why were programmable pocket computers taken off the (North American)
market? Presumably, there was not enough demand. There is resistance to
learning how to program.
The Fleabyte course was mostly well received, but having given it a few
times, I know that there are outstandingly bright people who find it hard to
come to grips with this particular activity-programming. Maybe they feel
they have little use for it. Maybe this is because of minds differently
formed, maybe because of a different path through life or because of other
matters vying for attention. Or maybe I still had to learn how to better
conduct such a course, how best to adapt it to a variety of individuals, how
better to demonstrate its immediate value and its potential.
Ultimately, the course could no longer be offered because those
programmable pocket computers were withdrawn from the market and
non-programmable, personal organizers such as the Sharp's Wizard and Casio's
B.O.S.S. began to take their place. Please, do not ask me why anyone would
prefer an electronic diary over an old-fashioned one made of paper. Somebody
else will have to explain that one. This essay is about cheap, programmable
pocket computers, not about organizers.
When desktop computers made their grand entree, the argument was less
whether students should learn to program than what programming language is
best. BASIC had acquired a bad odor emanating from its GOTO statement. The
sample above shows such a statement explicitly in line 80, and there is one
implied in line 50 because that line really means to say
50 IF V$="E" THEN GOTO 80
Word had gotten around that, "It is practically impossible to teach good
programming to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential
programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration."(6)
"The unbridled use of the go to statements ... is too much of an
invitation to make a mess of one's program."(7)
GOTO, critics say, allows budding programmers to create unstructured
code that makes detour after detour. This spagheti code is hard to trace by
people (no, not by computers) and, hence, hard to correct or otherwise
modify. But for the kind of programming I am writing about here, with very
short programs, GOTO shall not mutilate impressionable minds anymore than
learning to write English can. The unbridled use of pencil or ink creates
far more unstructured code than the GOTO statement ever will. It's a matter
of practice and discipline.
Properly structured programming is well accomodated by such new BASICs
as our GFA BASIC and Microsoft's Q-BASIC. Here, for comparison, is the
averaging program in GFA BASIC with statements written to fit a 24-character
display window. It is easier to read than Casio's Street BASIC, especially
because indenting, which is done automatically, makes loops stand out
visually. And it shows no GOTO.
PROGRAMDATA FLOW
CLR i,t|I=0, T=0
PRINT "E for exit"|
REPEAT|
LET I=I+1|When I= 1 2 3
INPUT "Value", V$|then V$= 58 84 E
LET T=T+VAL(V$)|T= 58 142 142
UNTIL MID$(V$,1,1)="E"|
PRINT "Ave ";T/(I-1)|T/(I-1)= 71
TAKING CUES FOR CLUES
Not only do many students enter college illiterate, many arrive also
without much skill and insight in arithmetic and algebra. They meet my
chemistry problems by fiddling with numbers till something comes up they
pray is reasonable. Is this only a consequence of that proverbial grasping
for straws, or is it the outcome of a history of brainwashing in exploiting
clues that may be utterly irrelevant?
I recently attended a session on numeracy conducted by a teacher who has
served in various capacities in the American Mathematical Association of
Two-year Colleges and, hence, is well placed to deal with that topic.(8) It
gave me an opportunity to see classroom interactions through the eyes of a
teacher in another discipline. These included stories about children's
approaches to problem-solving. One boy who had done quite well throughout
school said that if a problem contains two big numbers, he subtracts; if one
number is big and the other small, he divides; but if the division doesn't
come out even, he multiplies instead. Apparently, that works well enough to
get passing grades.
Among the examples given, I like this little design for finding out what
fraction of college students fall for clues that aren't pertinent:
"Judy is 33, unmarried and quite assertive. A magna cum laude graduate,
she majored in political science in college and was deeply involved in
campus social affairs, especially in anti-discrimination and anti-nuclear
issues. Which statement is more probable?
(a) Judy works as a bank teller.
(b) Judy works as a bank teller and is active in the feminist
movement."(9)
Non-pertinent clues are the Achilles' heel also of chemistry.
Familiar to me was the observation that many textbooks are cooked to
meet the market of this Age of Oversimplification; written to lessen
short-term pain at the expense of long-term gain:
"Some textbooks, and even some tests, seem to have been written by
people who have joined in a conspiracy to make it appear that children have
learned to solve problems when they have in fact only learned how to take
certain kinds of tests. Such activity is harmful largely because it takes
time and effort away from the serious goal of helping children understand
and deal with the real world."(1)
Did I not write the same in this column a few months ago?
"The prescribed course text was a "How-to" manual more than a proper
textbook... . The book had given my student a sense of security ... and her
mascara began to run when she recognized her sense of security had betrayed
her. She had already crossed too many bridges without having accomodated
needed concepts and principles. By now she was thoroughly confused and
frustrated... ."(10)
Too many textbooks simply emphasize what formulas must be memorized,
then add some dumb drill. It all goes something like so:
Memorize: Surface area of a sphere: 4 ã r2.
Exercise: What is the surface area of a sphere with a radius of 4
inches?
Problem: What is the radius of a sphere with a surface area of 100
square inches?
The exercise demands of a student to perform at the intellectual level
of a cheap calculator. To solve that what I loftily called a problem, he
must aspire to be like a slightly more expensive calculator. Often
(usually?) not required is practice that leads to more readily recognizing
what neuronic or electronic algorithms to apply in tackling real, worthwhile
problems, or, possibly, to scorn algorithms altogether.(11) Small wonder
that college students' approaches to problem solving are too often
haphazard. Students who can't read grasp for clues that are not at all
pertinent because they can't discern what is pertinent. So, there you have
it: a sad truth about how well young people are prepared for our global
village, prepared neither for competition nor cooperation.
ALGORITHMIC PROGRAMMING
Every so often I encounter arguments for chess in school. The needed
concentration and discipline make for better minds. No question about that,
but I propose that we take a hard look at computer programming instead of
chess as the means. Programming requires discipline to handle it logically
and systematically. It has the added advantage of being useful. There is
good reason for having kids program at as young an age as maturation allows.
By using, especially in the beginning, a language with few commands should
help focus on what is needed most: developing problem-solving strategies or
algorithmics.(12) Irrelevant clues will not see them through. Once students
can write programs, they may use them to rapidly generate
insight-engendering numbers from given data. One may expect that this will
further improve learning.
The reader will understand why I think it is a pity that those cheap
Casio and Tandy pocket computers went off the market. But understand
correctly, I never did consider them quite good enough as they are. Their
merit is that, with minor improvements, they can help prepare students for a
more demanding future. Beyond that, fully-featured pocket computers may well
evolve into tools that will be part of that future by providing
on-the-person intelligence.
Pocket computers have returned to the market. They range from expensive
Hewlett-Packard products to the more reasonably priced Atari Portfolio with
its uncertain future. Should we pick up where we left off?
For now, we work mainly with our desktops. If one overlooks their lack
of mobility, they are more convenient even for exploring the pedagogical
games that may be played with pocket computers (eventually?). But for such
applications we want only a small command set with a view to easy mastery.
Learning the language must not get in the way of learning to program. We
want students to become better problem solvers, not bigger catalogs. This
points to a need to distinguish the kind of programming I have in mind (call
it algorithmic programming, if you wish) from professional and hobby
programming. Look at writing. Schools teach students how to write up to a
point; they don't teach writing poetry and novels.
What programs might students make?
The variety seems endless. Most of all, I think, we must value those
that expand their sense of numbers and grasp of number systems. Many would
fall in the fun-with-numbers category such as algorithms for generating
triangular numbers, a Fibonacci sequence, the sum of an algebraic or
geometric series, residues with repeating and non-repeating decimals, the
prime number sequence, common factors, conversions between number systems
(such as to and from Roman numerals, of course!), iterations, what-have-you.
Then, there are all sorts of algebraic and geometrical algorithms they might
develop, e.g. for solving simultaneous equations and Diophantine equations,
for calculating ã.(13) How about monetary problems with their variety of
interesting interest algorithms for those who either borrower or lender be?
How about sorting routines and solving alphanumeric puzzles in which letters
parade as digits? The Sun is the limit.
TRAINS OF THOUGHT
In keeping with this essay I like to conclude with another simple
program, one that might make Mary take notice. As I remember, there used to
be a lot of ditch digging going on in math classes, with scenarios like
this:
Peter's father needs three hours to dig a ditch. If Peter helps him,
they can dig the ditch in only two hours. How long would it take Peter to
dig that ditch by himself?
After working the problem, Peter, who would rather help out in the yard
than attend classes, went on to create a program for problems of this ilk.
He decided he might as well generalize it to meet various contingencies. For
example, it might accomodate more than two people on a job or the finding
out how long it takes to complete a job by people with different personal
productivities. Here is his program, along with an indication of the data
flow for the problem as posed above. (See program listing in box.)
The Number to be entered is the number of people participating. After
One, enter the time it takes one person to do the job; if nothing is
entered, the program will later ask how long it should take the team to do
the job.
If you have GFA BASIC, you might copy it and have it answer the question
that follows, or else you might find the answer by tracing the above data
flow layout:
It would take Peter's father three hours to dig a ditch and it would
take his big uncle two hours to do the same job. They want to get the job
done within one hour and decided to work together and ask Peter to pitch in
as well. The three made it just in time. How long would it have taken Peter
to dig the ditch by his lonely self?
And how about this problem, so much dearer to my heart?
It takes Little Red Engine six hours to pull a train from Montreal to
Ottawa. The Silver Streamliner can do it thrice as fast. How soon could they
be in Ottawa by pulling together?
Yes, indeed, it is the thought that counts! Algorithms are not to be
applied blindly. We shan't take thinking out of service too rashly, as many
of our textbooks do.
Neither should little Fleabyte have been taken out of service too
rashly. We need product cycles that allow us to come to terms with what's
new on the market. We need time to crystallize experience in how computers
may serve students preparing for their future. Building that experience
demands a broad view of things, a systems view. It just isn't good enough to
know something about computers, or about modern educational technology. It
isn't good enough to know something about people, or about their learning.
And it isn't good enough to know something about the planet we share and
about separatist habits of mind. We must also vanquish that paralysis
mislabeled realism and move on, dreaming of better ways.
Surely, we can think we can. ;)
CONTACT:
On GEnie: H.VANEYKEN
Address:
11 Falcon
Lakefield, Quebec, J0V 1K0
Canada
NOTES & REFERENCES
(1) Stephen S. Willoughby, Mathematical Education for a Changing World,
ASCD, Alexandria, Virginia (1990), p.41.
(2) The reference is to an aspect of the AAAS' Project 2061: Science For All
Americans that defines literacy goals in science, mathematics, and
technology.
(3) Pocket Computers in Education. Course for educators given under the
auspices of the University of Sherbrooke. 1987 - 1989.
(4) This level of programming skill is also needed for (many, all?)
proprietory scripting languages, such as for automating telecommunication
programs. That's Write 2 employs a scripting language called Follow
Instructions. And who never heard of Mac's HyperTalk?
(5) Quipped behaviorist B.F. Skinner, "Education is what survives after
what has been learnt has been forgotten."
(6) Edsger Dijkstra, "How Do We Tell Truths That Might Hurt?" Selected
Writings on Computing, 1975.
(7) Edsger Dijkstra, "Go To Statement Considered Harmful." Note in Comm ACM
11, No.3: 147-148 (March 1968).
(8) Brian E. Smith, Numeracy: The Relationship Between Mathematics and
Language. Discussion organized by the Centre for Literacy of Quebec, Inc.,
at Dawson College, Montreal, Feb. 10, 1994.
(9) The scenario was developed by psychologists Tversky and Kahneman and
quoted in John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy. Vintage Books, 1990. Tversky and
Kahneman found that 85% of college students erroneously responded that (b)
was more probable. But, then again, that could happen to the best of us if
we don't attend to what we read.
(10) vE, "Changing Minds," Current Notes, Oct. 1993, p.22.
(11) From "Reading in the Mathematics Classroom: Unresolved Issues," J.
Reading, Feb. 1994, p.389: A survey of 114 U.S. middle school math teachers
finds reading comprehension rather than "computation or decoding" [Roughly:
"plugging-in numbers," vE.] prevents students from doing word problems.
(12) I would suggest that college departments of mathematics formally become
departments of mathematics and algorithmics. Suggested reading: David Harel,
Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. 1987.
(13) Though 3.1415... is customarily generated from a geometrical
foundation, a simple exercise in string manipulation may produce its digits
from such letter-counting mnemonics as How I like a drink, alcoholic, of
course, after all these chapters involving quantum mechanics. Or from this,
perhaps educationally more correct, pious poetry:
Now I will a rhyme construct,
By chosen words the young instruct
Cunningly devised endeavour,
Con it and remember ever
Widths in circle here you see
Sketched out in strange obscurity.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
GENEVA
PART 2
Reviewed by Jim Fouch
Introduction
If you haven't read last month's review of Geneva yet, you may want to
read it now. This is the second part of a two part review. Last month we
covered the fundamental features of Geneva and the concept of a multitasking
environment. This month we'll go into greater detail of specific Geneva
features. Because of the magnitude of Geneva, we will not cover every
feature. Just the really significant ones.
SETTING UP GENEVA THE RIGHT WAY
To get the most from Geneva, you should spend some time configuring it
to your particular system and needs. This is achieved with the use of the
Task Manager, a desktop accessory provided with Geneva. This program is the
heart of Geneva; it controls the way Geneva runs and acts.
The Task Manager is accessed via the desk menu. It places a small window
on the desktop. See figure 1. This window will list all current applications
in memory. Notice the way the listing of applications loaded is printed.
Small text indicates a program that is single-tasking. Italics mean an
application is sleeping. The small circle next to an item means it is
running as an accessory.
You can use the Task Manager to switch between applications. Within the
Task Manager there are two menus, File, for controlling the running of
applications and, Options, for general setting of Geneva.
The File menu will allow you to open (run) an application/program. This
is the same as if you were to run it from your shell/desktop (maybe
NeoDesk). Once the program has been run, the Task Manager gives you a number
of options. You can put an application to sleep, or terminate it. Note: most
programs will never need to be terminated; however, most accessories never
expect to be ended so they will need to be terminated. With normal programs,
when you exit, they release any memory they were occupying and remove
themselves from the Task Manager's menu.
SETTING YOUR EXECUTION FLAGS
Because of the magnitude of programs available for the ST/TT/Falcon,
Geneva had to have a way of changing the way it handled many different
programs. This is done with use of execution flags. See figure 2. These are
probably the most significant settings in Geneva.
These execution flags are stored in a file called geneva.cnf. Geneva can
keep many different execution flags. Some may point to a specific file or a
range of files. Geneva controls this by use of a filename that it compares
when it launches an application. The use of wildcards is allowed, so you
could use "WP*.PRG" for any program starting with "WP." I don't think there
is a limit on the number of execution flags that can be set.
I will explain the major flags. The Multitask flag tells Geneva if a
program should multitask. This is the standard method. However, some
programs simply just won't share your computer with others. For these types
of programs, you tell Geneva to put all other applications to sleep and run
the current application by itself. If you switch to another application that
is multitasking, the current single tasking application is put to sleep and
all other multitasking applications wake up. If you then switch back to that
single tasking application, it will be awakened, and all other applications
will be put to sleep.
The limit memory option is also very important. It limits a program from
taking all the available memory in your computer. For example, PageStream
will try to take every byte of memory when run. This is fine in a single
tasking environment. But in a multitasking environment, when you try to run
a program after you have loaded PageStream, there won't be enough free
memory. Knowing what the limit memory setting should be is a hard call to
make. It may change from one program to another. Some programs don't try to
take all memory, some do. This is something you will have to experiment
with.
The Clear allocated memory flag is also important. This is similar to
the fast load option in TOS 1.4 and above. When this flag is set, Geneva
will clear all the memory a program will use. Most programs do not need this
flag set. However, some programs expect all memory to contain zeros, and
when they don't find them they do funny things. This flag is to keep that
from happening.
The Automatic keyboard equivalents flag will allow Geneva to use the
keyboard to access exit items on dialog boxes. This is similar to a utility
called form-do-it. A letter in each option is underlined to show what key
will activate it. This is a nice feature that will keep you from going from
your keyboard to your mouse every few seconds. However, this may cause
problems with some programs and this flag will allow you to disable it for
those programs.
The last flag, AES 4.0 extended messages, tells Geneva if an application
should use the new AES calls. Most applications just ignore any newer AES
calls; some do take advantage of these newer calls.
EVERY PROGRAM HAS ITS OWN KEY
One very powerful feature of the Task Manager is the ability to define a
key combination to call an application/desktop accessory to the foreground.
(Notice at the bottom of the Execution flags dialog box, the button marked
Keys.) For example, you could define the key combination
[Alternate]+[Control]+W to bring the Warp9 Control Panel to the front. The
feature will only work if the application/desktop accessory is already
loaded.
CONTROLLING YOUR WINDOWS WITH KEYS
Geneva will allow you to program keyboard equivalents for most of the
window commands. For example, you could program the [Alternate]+[Esc] key
combination to close the active window. This comes in handy when you don't
want to take your hand away from the keyboard. Geneva comes already
programmed with default key combinations, but you can change these to
satisfy you own preferences.
To program or change the window keys, use the menu selection labeled
"keyboard... ." under the Option menu.
WALKING THE DROP DOWN MENUS
Like with the window keyboard equivalents, Geneva also allows you to
access the drop down menus in a similar manner. You simply press the
[Alternate]+[Space Bar] key combination. This will drop down the left most
menu. Simply use the arrow keys to highlight the option you would like. Then
press [Enter] to make your selection. Note: These keys are not user
definable.
CHANGING THE GEM WINDOWS
Geneva will allow you to modify the way GEM windows appear. This feature
is accessed using the windows ... menu select in the Task Manager. See
figure 3. The size of the title and info lines, and the right vertical bar
can be changed. This will allow more working area. As little as it may be,
it can sometimes help.
Geneva also lets you change the font and size used for text in GEM
windows. You can use the standard system font, or a monospaced GDOS font.
For my uses, it seems faster to use the system font.
SPICING UP YOUR PLAIN LOOKING DIALOG BOXES
You don't have to live in the past with your old, dated-looking dialog
boxes. Geneva replaces the boring-looking box type buttons with neat, 3D
type buttons that appear to move into the screen when you select them. This
gives you the NEXT / ZEST type looking interface.
You also can define a different looking background for dialog boxes. For
color users, you can define color buttons, borders, text, and fills.
CONCLUSION
As I said in the first part of this review, I think Geneva is a very
well thought out program. When doing a review, I try to do it as objectively
as possible, pointing out any problems I find. The only dilemma with
reviewing a program like Geneva, is there are so few problems, it's tough to
do a review without seeming partial toward the developer. In all honesty, I
think Geneva is one of the best programs to come to the Atari market place
in recent history. It truly breathes new life into your computer.
[Geneva, Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 779, Northampton, MA 01061. Voice
(413) 247-5620, Fax (413) 247-5622.]
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
STALK THE MARKET VS STOCK SMART
A Comparison of Competing Investment Analysis Tools
by Terry L. Quinn
If you are an Atari owner and you are looking to get more for your
savings, you might want to take a look at a couple of programs which make
"investing" much easier. Stock Smart by Mark Cawthon and Stalk the Market by
Tom Bushaw are a couple of expertly written programs that will let you
establish what are called "portfolios" and track how much the contents are
worth, without all of the confusion and eyestrain of decoding the Wall
Street Journal.
Both of these programs are useful tools for maintaining a historical
record of stock investments and keeping track of the value of those
investments. Beyond this, both of them will also put some analytical tools
at your fingertips to help you maximize your return. They also make very
pretty charts of the basic price information together with the appropriate
analysis information. Both provide a means of directly importing price
information from GEnie, Compuserve and other services to save you the
nuisance of manually entering the information from listings printed in your
local paper. In fact, this process is so easy, if you have any investments
at all, the convenience of obtaining price information this way is well
worth the modest cost of these programs.
One weakness that both of these programs share is that neither one
provides you much, if any, clue as to what to do with the information they
provide you. Stalk the Market is considerably better in this respect than
Stock Smart in that it provides a useful listing of reference works if you
wish to learn the principles underlying the features of the program. Stock
Smart, on the other hand, does not give you any idea where to get
information on the hows and whys of investing and investment analysis. It is
the opinion of this reviewer that if you don't know what you're are doing, a
program like this will usually multiply your confusion if you don't do some
additional study; so reading beyond the documentation is recommended.
There are substantial differences between each of these programs in
terms of how they gather the basic information on each stock. Stock Smart
uses an included external terminal program with a powerful macro capability
to gather the basic information, which is then converted by yet another
program to a format the basic program can use. There are several places
where this process can go awry. First, when setting up the terminal program,
it will not display your logon password sequence after you type it (as a
security measure). If you make a minor typographical error and it doesn't
run properly, this characteristic makes it rather difficult to determine the
problem. Second, it uses a complicated naming system for capture file,
which, if you don't study the documentation carefully, will cause you to
lose the data you just downloaded. Finally, since the process is essentially
manual with a complicated series of commands, captures and saves, the
possibilities of screwing something up are considerable.
Stalk the Market, on the other hand, is simplicity itself in this
respect. You enter a portfolio (a collection of stocks) which you want it to
follow, select the service (GEnie, CompuServe, DJNS, etc.) from a menu, add
the local phone and your password and turn it loose. No macros, manual
operations, or converting. In fact, you don't even need to own the stock in
question. One of the great strengths of this program is the ability to
create "hypothetical" portfolios so you can play "what if" before you
actually spend any money. This gives you the opportunity to really learn
what you are doing before you make a *serious* investment.
Versatility is another important characteristic for any program of this
sort. Stock Smart is designed to handle any Common Stock whether NYSE, AMEX
or whatever. It will accommodate stock splits and will give you what the
program calls a total return on investment. It only has a couple of flaws in
this department.
First of all, there is no intuitively obvious manner in which to record
Dividends. If you are primarily interested in Capital Growth and the
companies you invest in don't pay dividends, this will not present a
problem. However, a large number of large companies do pay dividends and the
fact that they do so will have a positive effect on your total return.
Second, this program is not designed to be able to handle any security
other than common stocks. This omission is particularly painful when one
reflects on the popularity and easy availability of mutual funds. These two
disadvantages are enough to severely limit the usefulness of this program
for many individuals.
Stalk the Market, by contrast, is considerably more versatile. To begin
with, any securities product, whether a stock, mutual fund, or whatever, for
which there is a standard abbreviation can be accounted for in this program.
It is supplied with files to allow you to download prices from stock
exchanges in the United States and Canada via any of four online services.
It also features accounting functions to handle several types of
transactions including dividends (whether reinvested or cashed out), capital
gains (both short and long term), stock splits, and others. It will keep
track of your gains and losses for each individual investment as well as for
the portfolio as a whole. One of the features of this program, "Smart
Ledgers," provides some checks and balances to ensure that the information
retained by this program is accurate by calculating certain items of data
from other information that you had previously provided.
Since both of these programs are marketed as investment analysis tools,
it seems only fair to evaluate them in this respect as well. Ideally, all
programs of this type should provide you with a variety of statistics to
assist you in the decision as to whether you should buy or sell a particular
security.
Stock Smart provides two basic statistical tests: Moving Average Current
Values (MACV) and Stochastics. To their credit, they describe in detail how
each of these is calculated and how you should recognize the indicated buy
and sell points. These features work well, in that the calculations are
accurate, and buy and sell points show up clearly. The only drawback is that
you don't have a clue as to what the significance of these tests is and why
you should consider buying and selling according to the results of the
indicated calculations.
Stalk the Market has a richer set of calculations than does Stock Smart
and shares at least one of the statistical tests (MACV) with its competitor.
Unlike Stock Smart, however, it provides you with the basis on which certain
tests were included, how to evaluate them, and reference works if you wish
to understand the investment management theories that use these tests.
Besides, you have other buy and sell indicators like Valid Trend Lines, and
Trailing Loss Levels. It will also do cyclic analyses like Fourier
Analysis, and Residual Analysis, as well as a full blown historical
simulation. While it does not provide formulas (some like Fourier Analysis
are too complex), it does provide a useful background for all of them.
One might easily conclude that this author considers Stock Smart to be
distinctly inferior to its competitor, Stalk the Market. While true, it is
obvious that this is not an isolated opinion if one carefully examines the
documentation supplied with Stock Smart. Mark Cawthon, the creator of Stock
Smart strongly recommends acquiring a copy of Stalk the Market in addition
to his own program and provides an excellent facility for importing data
from this program into his own. The only problem here is that once you have
used both, you probably will want to stick to Stalk the Market exclusively.
Both of these programs were provided courtesy of Horizon Computers at 695
South Colorado Boulevard #10 in Denver, Colorado.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
USING TWO COMPUTERS AND ONE MONITOR
By Alvin Riesbeck
Photograph by Jennifer Riesbeck
When the Falcon first arrived on the scene, I, like the other Atari
faithful, went to see the Falcon at my Atari dealer. What new special
hardware features would be built into the Falcon and could the Falcon
produce a desire for me to buy it? I asked Don Barr of Computer Sellers West
the following questions about the Falcon. Would it support VGA graphics
(640x480 with 256 colors)?
Don replied, "Yes." An additional hardware package, Screenblaster by
Overscan, would support even higher graphics resolutions: 1152x832 with 16
colors or 800x600 with 256 colors or 1280x960 in 2-color interlace mode. The
interlace mode has a lot of screen flicker and I do not believe it is
useable. Screenblaster is also capable of various lower resolution VGA
graphics. To obtain the VGA graphic modes with the Falcon, you must use a
VGA monitor.
More questions. Can the Falcon use the same WAV sound files the
Microsoft windows system uses? Do Windows BMP, GIF and PCX bit map
pictures work? Could my Atari Megafile 44 megabyte removeable be used with
the Falcon?
Don replied, "Yes!" to all these questions. I told Don I would be back
with some of my software and bit map pictures, etc.
FALCON ABILITIES
I returned to Computer Sellers West with the following software in tow.
Bit Map picture files, which included Windows (BMP), PC Paintbrush (PCX) and
GIF. I also brought Windows WAV sound files and Michton's 3D-Calc
spreadsheet program that is now being sold by Oregon Research. The Falcon
demo machine had several application programs loaded, including LDW
spreadsheet, Pagestream desktop publishing, Atari Works, and True Paint by
Oregon Research. The demo machine also had the Screenblaster hardware
installed.
I first tried the WAV files and they worked using the Atari system audio
manager software. Next came the test of the software package 3D-Calc, and it
worked. I then loaded the BMP, PCX and GIF picture files using the software
program True Paint. The displays were at 800x600 w 256 colors; in fact, the
bit map pictures looked the same when displayed from the Falcon or from my
IBM. Thinking about the Falcon, I realized it would cost me almost the same
amount of money to upgrade my old system to the capabilities of the Falcon
as it cost to just buy the Falcon. The Falcon came with bundled software,
had more computing power, built in stereo sound, 1.4 megabyte floppy disk
drive, the latest GEM operating system and it could display VGA graphics.
Because of my work environment, I already owned an IBM system with a super
(1024x768 dot .28) VGA monitor. I wanted to buy the Falcon, but I did not
want to buy another VGA monitor for about $400.
THE NEED TO USE ONLY ONE VGA MONITOR
I turned to members of my computer club for some help. Wayne Booth
suggested I purchase an A/B switch box and use my IBM monitor for both
systems. Wayne, conveniently, had an extra 15-pin VGA A/B switch box for
sale and I bought it. The plan to buy a Falcon was now in full swing because
I had a way to use my IBM monitor for both computer systems.
I ordered a 4 megabyte Falcon with an 85 megabyte hard drive from
Computer Sellers West. Don would install a SCSI cable allowing my 44
megabyte removable to work on the Falcon and I would buy two cables to
connect to the A/B box from the two computers. Everything seemed just fine
until I discovered the VGA cables at the discount computer stores were
mainly made for extension purposes and were constructed with one male and
one female connector. What I needed was a female connector on both ends of
the cable because the A/B switch had male connectors.
I went back to Don Barr and explained the problem. He said it's no
problem; just buy two female connectors remove the male connector from the
cable and attach the female connector. I then confessed to Don that I do not
solder. Don said he would take care of the problem. About a week later Don
called me and said the my Falcon was at his store waiting for me to pick it
up and the cables were ready. All I had to do was bring the Megafile 44 to
the shop and he would install the SCSI cable onto the Megafile drive. Yes! I
did get the hardware ScreenBlaster with my Falcon.
WILL IT WORK?
When I got the Falcon home, the work of installing the new setup did
not take very long. I disconnected the VGA monitor from the IBM. I then
connected the cable from the Atari computer to the 'A' connector of the
15-pin VGA switch box. The next step was to connect the second cable from
the IBM computer to the 'B' connector of the switch box. I then connected
the monitor to the input/output connector of the switch box. When I set the
A/B switch to the 'A' position, the monitor will display from the Atari
computer; and the monitor will display from the IBM computer when I put the
switch box into the 'B' position. After connecting all the rest of the
cables on both the IBM and the Atari computers, I was now ready to test my
new system. The system worked flawlessly.
The photo included with this article displays my two-computer, one
monitor setup. In the upper left corner is the 44 megabyte removable hard
drive. To the right of the hard drive is an A/B switch box for the printer.
(Yes! one printer for two computers.) The VGA monitor is on top of the IBM
keyboard that is housed in a keyboard case and the IBM mouse is to the right
of the monitor. In the lower left corner is the Atari Falcon with the Atari
mouse to its right. In the shelf under the IBM keyboard is the A/B switch
that controls the monitor. Next to that switch is a US Robotics modem.
Finally, to the right of my computer desk is the Mid tower IBM clone box.
NECESSARY HARDWARE
To share a monitor between an Atari Falcon and an IBM compatible, you
will need the following hardware:
* An IBM computer system with a VGA card.
* An Atari Falcon computer with a VGA adapter.
* One VGA monitor.
* One 15-pin VGA A/B switch box.
* Two VGA cables with female 15-pin connectors at both ends of the
cable.
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SQUISH II
Reviewed by Paul Lefebvre
Squish II is the update to the popular DC Squish program that was
included in the old DC Utilities package. Squish II promises faster
compression time and smaller executables. Does it deliver? Read on.
SETTING IT UP
Squish II is very easy to set up, involving only a quick copy of
UNSQUISH.PRG to your auto folder. Squish II delivers smaller executables, in
part, by requiring the decompresser to be loaded as an AUTO program. This
allowes the uncompression loader that was previously tacked on to each
squished program to be removed. The net result is that a small amount of
space is saved for each file, but a large amount is saved over an entire
drive. UNSQUISH.PRG only requires about 2K. Since squished programs will
not run without UNSQUISH.PRG loaded, distributing squished files is
impossible (and not allowed, anyway). Trace Technologies recommends that you
reorder the AUTO folder so that UNSQUISH.PRG runs near the beginning since
you can only squish auto folder programs that run after UNSQUISH.PRG.
USING SQUISH II
The SQUISHII.APP program (as before, it can work as an accessory by
changing the extender to .ACC) has an entirely new interface and can now
multitask. It is even possible to squish files in the background. Unlike the
original DC Squish, Squish II has ten different levels of compression,
called CF (compression factor) 0-9. CF0 is about the same compression that
Squish v1 would give you, but selecting a higher CF value will lead to
a
smaller executable. The only drawback is that it takes longer to compress
the executable with a more efficient CF. Trace Technologies recommends
using CF6 for most of your files (and I agree) as it is the best compromise
between compression time and size of the executable. Decompression time is
always constant, whether you use CF0 or CF9, so if you have time to kill
while Squish II compresses your executables, feel free to use CF9.
Squish II is able to convert most other compression methods to its own
(more efficient) method. This is a useful feature that eliminates having to
decompress anything you might already have compressed.
One of the most useful features of Squish II is its ability to perform
batch squishes. Squish II can search an entire drive or directory and squish
every executable in it without any interaction from the user. This is where
the background operation comes in most handy because it can take a while to
squish an entire drive.
As an example of the type of compression you can expect, these are the
results from squishing all the executables on my system:
Drive Before After Savings
Squish II Squish II
----- --------- --------- --------
C: 2.4MB 2.9MB 0.5MB
D: 10.2MB 11.2MB 1.0MB
E: 16.4MB 18.5MB 2.1MB
F: 3.5MB 4.3MB 0.8MB
Total Savings: 4.4MB
I freed 4.4 megabytes of space on my hard drive by squishing every
executable. Considering that I had already been using DC Squish v1 on almost
every file, I find it to be an impressive reduction. According to Data Diet
Tools, which is included free to examine disk usage, I saved over 10
megabytes of disk space by using Squish II (versus not using any
compression).
Users of DC Squish v1 will remember the annoying little
"DCSquish-FILENAME" that appeared on the menu line when a program was
executed. Thankfully, it has been removed from Squish II. The only time you
will notice if something has been squished with Squish II is if you forget
to boot with UNSQUISH.PRG in the AUTO folder (you will get a "File not
found" message when trying to execute Squished executables). I no longer
notice it is installed (except when I check my free disk space and see the
appreciated savings).
MANUAL
The 42-page owner's manual is a no-frills affair; graphics are inserted
where appropriate and it reads well. Squish II is so easy to use, you may be
tempted to not read the manual. I have always maintained that to make
maximum use of a product, you need to read the owners's manual--whether it
is a toaster or a computer program. There are plently of little tidbits in
the manual, so please do read it.
SUMMING IT ALL UP -- POSITIVES
extremely easy to use
multitasking-friendly
great support
SUMMING IT ALL UP -- NEGATIVES
squished files cannot be distributed
This program is strongly recommended. Do not steal it. Do not borrow it.
Purchase it. You will not regret it.
[Squish II, Trace Technologies, PO Box 711403, Houston, TX 77271-1403.
Phone: (713) 771-8332, Weekdays 1PM-5PM CST). List: $39.95.]
(c) 1994, Current Notes Inc.
(Reprinted from the April, 1994 issue of Current Notes.)
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Current Notes Disk Subscription
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With every issue, you will receive a CN public domain Disk of the Month
(DOM), filled with the finest in PD software, delivered right to your door.
For only $60/year, $33 over the standard CN subscription rate, you receive a
double-sided disk packed with games, utilities, demos, and application
programs for your Atari. See page 2 for a listing of the titles available on
this month's DOM.
Note: if you are a current subscriber, you can convert to the disk
subscription for only $3.30/month over the balance of your current
subscription. CN DOMs will be available in the library for $5 each (plus $1
S&H).
INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL: Note: anyone beginning or switching over to a disk
subscription with the March or April issue will receive the February DOM
FREE! With that initial DOM, you will be able to easily uncompress any of
the files in the CN library. Offer expires May 1, 1994.
Canadian Subscribers: A disk subscription is available for only $35 over
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Subscriptions: only $60/year!
CN DOM-2 - April 1994
=====================
All files on this disk are compressed in ZIP format.
Alice, Another Little C Editor, V1.42, is a GEM-based text editor for ATARI
ST. ColorBurst III, a full-featured paint program that is SpeedoDOS,
Multitos compatiable. The Clipboard Setter, accessory allows you to
redirect the system clipboard to the drive of your choice. The Atari
Glossary, emphasizes the jargon that is specific to Atari, TOS and GEM. HD
Free - A CPX that shows a graphical representations of your free hard drive
space and Memory. Maus-Window, v.1.25 of this .acc/.prg allows you to "top"
a window (bring it to the top of all the other open windows and activate it)
simply by moving your mouse pointer over it. MemWatch, graphically displays
memory usage in your system so you can spot memory fragmentation when it
occurs. Mouse-Ka-Mania II, lets you replace any of the standard mouse
cursors with fun and flashy animations; more than 140 animated and
single-frame mouse cursors are supplied in the package. QSort, v1.0 rapidly
sorts up to 65535 ASCII lines. Searcher, search your floppy or hard drive
and, when you find the files you want, you can delete them, change their
attributes, hide them and more. ST_Tools, unfragment your hard drive, edit
sectors and files, etc. Whatis, v6.6 identifies over 160 different file
types--ARC, LZH, ZIP, ZOO, pics, accessories, animations, etc. Wing Lord, a
great 'Joust' clone with a few new twists added to give the game a new
feel.
CN DOM-1 - March 1994
=====================
All files on this disk are compressed in ZIP format.
Ascii-View, v3.75, Text viewing program developed to replace the
[Show]-[Print]-[Cancel] feature of the standard ST Desktop. Clock, Clock
dispalys an analog clock on you monitor. Grammarian, V1.4.0. Examine text
files for word usage, spelling, and grammatical rules. Magic Spell, V2.1.
Shareware spelling game/program for young and old alike. MasterBrowse v3.5,
The *BEST* ST/STe/TT/Falcon/MultiTOS Text File Viewer! Recipe Box, The
Recipe Box provides easy entry, storage, and access to all your favorite
recipes. Shareware. Sleuth, Colorful arcade action fun game created with
M.A.G.E. Teddy-TERM v2.10, a fully functional communications terminal that
support many of the external protocol programs available as well as
ANSI/VT100 and VT52 terminal emulations.
CN DOM-0 - February 1994
========================
This disk includes the latest versions of two of the most popular
compression programs for the Atari. The files are not compressed and are
ready to use. One or both of these programs will be needed to uncompress
files on other disks in the CN library.
ST ZIP v2.4 (c) Vincent Pomey 1990-1993. STZip allows you to compress
and decompress files, i.e. to reduce their lengths. You saves space on your
disks and reduce the transmission time if you send the files by modem. It
also allows you to group several files in one single file, whose extension
in general is ZIP. STZip uses files that are compatible with PKZip
2.04 on the IBM PC, and the Unix Info-Zip programs Zip 1.9/Unzip 5.0.
LZH v2.99. Latest version of LHARC from Christian Grunenberg now
includes an English language shell that takes advantage of all LHARC
features and allows you to compress and uncompress files with ease. Includes
an English manual plus documentation.
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