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Atari Explorer Online Issue 1993 06
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:: Volume 2 - Issue 6 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 20 March 1993 ::
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:: ::
:: ATARI .............. News, reviews, & solutions ............ ATARI ::
:: EXPLORER ............ for the online Atari .......... EXPLORER ::
:: ONLINE ................. Community .............. ONLINE ::
:: ::
:: Published and Copyright (c) 1993 by Atari Corporation ::
:: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Editor .................................. Travis Guy AEO.MAG ::
:: Assistant Editor GEnie................ Ron Robinson EXPLORER.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor CompuServe.......... Albert Dayes AEO.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor Delphi......... Andreas Barbiero AEO.2 ::
:: News Editor ............................... Lyre AEO.3 ::
:: Editor-at-Large ..................... Ed Krimen AEO.5 ::
:: Hardware Editor .............. Britton Robbins AEO.4 ::
:: Internet Editor .................. Tim Wilson AEO.8 ::
:: Atari Artist ..... Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek EXPLORER.2 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: Editorial Advisory Board ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: President, Atari Corporation........................Sam Tramiel ::
:: Director of Application Software...................Bill Rehbock ::
:: Director, Computer Marketing ........................Don Thomas ::
:: Director of Communications...........................Bob Brodie ::
:: Corporate Director, International Music Markets....James Grunke ::
:: Atari Explorer Magazine............................Mike Lindsay ::
:: ::
:: Telecommunicated to you via: ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: GEnie: AEO.MAG ::
:: CompuServe: 70007,3615 ::
:: Delphi: AEO_MAG ::
:: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 706 ::
:: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/10 ::
:: ::
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Table of Contents
* From the Editors ............................................ Comings...
* Atari Works Adds Up ................... Lyre tallies up the capabilities
of Works' spreadsheet.
* Atari Artist .................... Exciting Cubase Audio / Falcon030 news
from the 93 Frankfurt Musik Meese and
much more in this new AEO column!
* Andreas' Den .................. Falcon030 graphics, Macs, hard drives...
Andreas clears out some hard info.
* Delphi MultiTOS RTC ........... Bob Brodie, Eric Smith and John Townsend
discuss Atari products and news.
* Krimen on GIFs ......... Ed discusses various GIF viewers for the Atari.
* Atari Users Online: Notes from the Internet ........... New format, same
quality info.
* GEnie News ........................... New files & happenings on Atari's
Official Online Resource.
* AEO Calendar of Events ............... Atari shows for the rest of 1993.
* Developing News! ................................ More STraight FAX news
Cyrel Sunrise
" Pallette Master
" Serial Mouse Master
MiGraph Sale Extended
Fair Dinkum is Falcon030 Compatable
Flash II - 2.1 Available
Outline Art 3 Released
* Shutdown ............................................... ... and goings.
--==--==--==--==--
||| From the Editors ....... Atari Explorer Online: The Next Generation
||| Travis Guy
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's hoping that everyone over on the Right Coast has made it
through that nasty storm of last week. For those of you who live
elsewhere, starting last Friday night, running the length of the
entire Eastern US Seaboard, thunder crashed, winds howled, phones and
electricity were cut off; then temperatures plummeted, and the snow
fell, and fell, and fell! (I watched snowflakes dance around outside
my kitchen window for several hours... in NW Florida!)
I'd like to say up front that I'm very proud of the staff here at
AEO. Stored in the RAM of your computer at this very moment is the
best, most information packed issue of this (still young) magazine
yet. Lots of Atari Falcon030 tidbits abound throughout - I don't know
where to tell you to start reading at. Read everything, I'd suggest.
There's no guessing, no rumors, no waffling. Just good, honest
reporting on The World Atari.
The one area where I feel I have to direct your attention to is the
AEO debut of Atari Artist. Atari Artist is a continuing column
devoted to informing you of the newest and best ways to get the most
creative use out of your Atari computers. From MIDI to digital audio
to desktop video, we hope to make Atari Artist _the_ source for the
creative Atarian.
As always, we welcome your input. If you feel you would like to
contribute to AEO, or if you have something to get off your chest,
please direct your messages to me.
On with the show.
(The preceeding written in the finished version of Atari Works, March
20, 1993 at 1:06 PM CST.) (Great work, Pradip!)
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Works Adds Up
||| By: Lyre
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.3
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In the last two issues of AEO, Andreas has provided an overview of
Atari Works and a review of the word processor portion of the program.
My review addresses another portion of Atari Works; specifically, the
spreadsheet and graphing capabilities.
Having re-entered the software development arena, Atari has created
within Atari Works an integrated suite of productivity tools
considered by most computer users to be mandatory. Every computer user
obtains word processor, spreadsheet and database software to address
their information and communication needs.
Imagine, if you will, that you are a business person and need to
create a report from some of the data you have in a spreadsheet. To
transfer the data in years past, you were required to save your
spreadsheet data, exit the spreadsheet software, enter your word
processor and import the spreadsheet data. This became necessary as
more and more computers were utilized to create final versions of
important business documents. However, they suffered from an
inability to produce decent output. Eventually the use of fonts and
more sophisticated technology allowed the spreadsheet software itself
to produce appealing output.
However, the spreadsheet software still lacked the ability to handle
large amounts of text or complex layouts.
It is the combination of these previously separate tools that makes
programs like Atari Works so necessary.
The spreadsheet available from within Atari Works utilizes GEM to its
fullest. The ease of use associated with a graphics environment
supersedes command lines or the necessity of remembering an endless
series of key strokes to perform a particular function. When using the
spreadsheet, every feature you need is available through a hotkey
combination or through a dialog box available from the menu.
This fundamental difference in program design has a huge impact on
the average user's ability to become proficient with the Atari Works
spreadsheet. It makes more sense to be able to click the mouse on a
cell and be able to edit its content; or to drag the mouse across
several cells in order to change the cell format. If you need to
change the size of a column, simply drag the column divider to the new
location and release the mouse button.
Until the advent of reliable voice recognition and artificial
intelligence at the consumer level, a graphic environment can not be
surpassed for ease of use. This is where the beauty of the Atari Works
spreadsheet makes itself felt. All of the spreadsheet functions are
available through a hot key or a menu option. Since the mouse is the
standard means of interacting with programs, the use of these features
is almost totally intuitive. Since many users prefer to try software
out before reading the documentation, software of this calibre is
particularly appreciated. After all, features that are just a hotkey
or mouse action away are easily remembered. Working with a deadline,
such features are worth their weight in gold.
At this point, you are undoubtedly wondering what features are
present within the spreadsheet. Well, I shall not tease you any
longer.
The first thing that needs to be said is that Atari Works operates if
Speedo GDOS is available or not. With Speedo GDOS installed, you can
take advantage of the Bitstream fonts supplied or any of the
additional fonts you purchase. Considering the number of programs
using fonts that are not visually appealing or are too small, this
feature is particularly useful. If you do not like the font used,
Speedo GDOS allows you to replace it without fuss. You can also change
the size of the font - something particularly useful for the visually
impaired.
Then there are all of the features available through using the mouse
on the spreadsheet window itself. As mentioned earlier, you can change
the width of a cell by dragging the column divider. Dragging it to the
right increase the size, dragging it to the left decreases the size.
Alternately a menu option performs the same function. If you need to
copy the contents of a cell or series of cells, you can do so by
dragging the mouse across these cells and pressing CONTROL-C. The
content of numeric cells is taken "as is"; formulas are copied as
relative cell references so that they automatically adjust themselves
to account for the new location. However, you can include absolute
references within a cell, and when copied, these references will be
maintained.
Obviously this feature is available through the clipboard. The other
features of the clipboard are also supported - cut, copy, paste and
clear.
If you need to add a row or column to the spreadsheet, simply
highlight the row or column that you want moved and press CONTROL-I
(or alternately use the option under the Edit menu) and the new row or
column will appear. In the process, relative cell references are
adjusted to keep them accurate. If there are several rows or columns
to add, simply use the mouse to drag across the cells you want to
insert and press CONTROL-I. Deleting cells operates in the same
manner except that you have to choose Clear from the Edit menu.
Bold and underlining are also available through hotkeys so after
entering data you can immediately change their appearance. Reverting
to normal text is simply another hotkey away. This allows you to alter
your spreadsheets look on the fly - and change it back if the results
are not acceptable.
The mouse can also be used when entering formulas into your
spreadsheet. By choosing the Paste Function option from the Edit menu
a small dialog with a list of functions appears. Having selected the
appropriate function for your needs, the cell is pre-filled with the
function you want. The cursor is automatically placed with the
parenthesis so that you can begin entering the cell references or
numbers as quickly as possible. For instance, the SUM() function
appears in a cell as "=SUM()" upon leaving the dialog box. Then, by
clicking on individual cells a plus sign and the cell reference are
added. So clicking on A1 causes the formula to appear as "=SUM(A1)",
clicking on A2 changes this to "=SUM(A1+A2)." You can continue in this
manner as required. Of course, for groups of cells, there is an easier
way. Simply click on the upper left cell to start the sum and drag the
mouse to the lower right cell to end the sum - the formula
automatically changes to "=SUM(A1:A13)." You can combine these two
methods also.
For users who are familiar with Excel, you will notice that the
functions are entered in a similar manner. Being able to use the same
type of "syntax" as utilized on the IBM and Macintosh platforms makes
it very easy for users to transfer data to and from their home
computer. Their are 53 functions available within Atari Works, I have
included a list and a brief description of these features at the end
of this article for the truly inquisitive.
Another vitally important aspect of the spreadsheet is the ability to
import data from other programs. The spreadsheet can import or export
DBF files as well as tab and comma delimited files. To try this
feature out, I loaded a few of the databases I created with
DataManager ST from Timeworks and another file from dbMAN 5.21 from
VersaSoft. Both imported without any difficulty.
There are any number of other features that I could mention. The
ability to move cells, go to a particular cell, find the cell with
particular information, align cell contents left, right or center,
fill cells, change the type of numerical data (general, currency,
scientific, etc.) and several more. But then I would run out of space
to tell you about the graphing capabilities available.
Once you have entered your spreadsheet data, creating graphs based
upon that information is simple provided that you have set up your
spreadsheet correctly.
The types of graphs available are broken down into two categories:
Series and Pie Charts.
Series charts contain line, bar and stack charts since these charts
are all dependent on several pieces of data on a particular subject.
The numerical data on this subject represents a series of points in
the subject's range. An example of this might be charting the sales
figures of each quarter. Each quarter would represent one point in
time.
Series charts are created based on the data available in a row or
series of rows within your spreadsheet. If you have arranged the
quarters as column headings, then you will need to move them so that
each quarter's figures are in a row. Otherwise the results of your
charting attempt will be inappropriate for your requirements.
Pie charts represent a graphic model of the parts of a spreadsheet
that make up a whole. It allows you to see the how much of your
business is involved with a particular subject in comparison with
other aspects of your business. To continue the example used above,
you could show how much of a particular quarters sales results
represents the annual sales figures for the company.
Pie charts are derived from data appearing within the columns of your
spreadsheet.
Creating a chart - assuming it has been laid out correctly in your
spreadsheet - is very simple. Choose either New Series or New Pie
from the Chart menu and a dialog box will appear. This dialog is
different for each category of charts, but in general they allow you
to specify the cells in your spreadsheet to be used.
In the Series dialog, you choose the type of chart and enter such
things as the minimum and maximum value of the chart, the column to
use for labelling your data, the horizontal and vertical headings and
several others.
In the Pie dialog box, your options are simpler. By entering the
starting and ending cells, the column to use for labelling your data
and which row, if any, that you want to have exploded (protruding from
the rest of the pie chart).
Having set these options, clicking on the "Plot it!" button causes a
new window to appear which contains the resulting chart. This window
can be re-size and the window contents will automatically adjust to
remain as centered as possible within the new window size. This
includes the graphics (i.e., the chart itself) and the font size used.
Except in windows that are extremely small, the chart will remain
fairly legible (it depends on the number of cells that are included
within the chart).
This automatic adjustment to the chart is extended to alterations in
the spreadsheet data itself. If you realize that a figure is wrong,
you can enter the correct value on the spreadsheet and the chart will
be updated instantly. This can be particularly helpful when dealing
with data that constantly needs to be altered.
Well, this ends the review of the Atari Works spreadsheet. Hopefully
this article has increased your understanding of the capabilities of
the spreadsheet's functionality. In the next issue we will explore
Atari Works a bit more thoroughly.
But first....
There is one thing that I would like to leave you with; a list of the
spreadsheet functions available in Atari Works. This list is not
meant to be fully featured, instead it is meant to make you aware of
the types of mathematical functions you can utilize in your own
spreadsheets. Where there is no description of the function, I could
not determine an easy way to convey the function. Sorry about that.
Financial Functions:
FV Future Value
IRR Internal Rate of Return
NPR Number of Periods
NPV Net Present Value
PMT Periodic Payment
FV Future Value
RATE Interest Rate per Period
Logical Functions:
AND Logical And
CHOOSE
FALSE Logical False
IF Determines if a user-definable condition exists
ISBLANK Determines whether a cell is blank or not
ISERROR Determines if a user-defined error condition exists
ISNA Determines if cell contents is not applicable
NOT Logical Not
OR Logical Or
TRUE Logical True
Mathematical Functions:
ABS Absolute value of a number
EXP Exponentation
INT Integer
LN Natural logarithm
LOG10 Base 10 logarithm of a number
MOD Modulus (remainder from division operations)
PI Pi
RAND Random number between 0 and 0.999...
ROUND Rounds to the nearest decimal place
SIGN Determines whether a number is positive, negative or null
SQRT Square root
Special Purpose Functions:
ERROR Establishes an error condition for testing with ISERROR
HLOOKUP Horizontal Lookup and comparison of cell contents (by row)
INDEX Provides the value of a cell from offsets
LOOKUP Lookup and comparison of cell contents within a specified range
MATCH Determines matching cell values within a specified range
NA Establishes an error condition for testing with ISNA
TYPE Determines the category of cell contents
VLOOKUP Vertical Lookup and comparison of cell contents (by column)
Statistical Functions:
AVERAGE Determines the average value of a series of numbers or a
specified range
COUNT Determines the number of items in a series of numbers or a
specified range
MAX Determines the highest value in a series of numbers or a
specified range
STDEV Determines the standard deviation of a series of numbers or a
specified range
SUM Determines the total of a series of numbers or a specified
range
VAR Determines the variance in a series of numbers or a specified
range
Trigonometric Functions:
ACOS Arccosine of a number (angle in radians)
ASIN Arcsine of a number
ATAN Arctangent of a number (angle in radians)
ATAN2 Arctangent of X and Y numbers (angle in radians)
COS Cosine of a number (angle in radians)
DEGREE Converts an angle in radians to degrees
RADIANS Converts an angle in degrees to radians
SIN Sine of a number (angle in radians)
TAN Tangent of a number (angle in radians)
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Artist ............... Falcon030s at the Frankfurt Musik Messe
||| By: Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
And now, introducing....
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ ATARI ARTIST ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Preface
Back in January of '92 Atari Explorer magazine gave birth to a
one-time publication, Atari Artist, which had its official premier at
the annual NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show in
Anaheim, CA. Produced under the auspices of Atari Explorer's
then-editor and publisher John Jainschigg and myself, the concept was
the original brainchild of James Grunke, Director of Atari Music.
Nested between one of Explorer's most popular covers to date
(featuring Starr Parodi and Jeff Fair from the Arsenio Hall show),
Atari Artist was designed as a pull-out for distribution in music
stores and shows. The magazine featured an in-depth survey covering
MIDI and music related software and hardware product by third party
developers for the complete line of Atari ST/STe/TT030 computers.
Acting as both an informative reference guide and showcase for Ataris
as a serious computer, the issue also included profiles and interviews
with some of the biggest and most creative names in the music industry
today.
There was some brief talk about the magazine possibly continuing on a
quarterly basis. It was thought the publication could function both as
an artistic computer chronicle, engaging the reader's eye with a
myriad of art forms which all shared a common inspirational tool,
namely the integration of computers as an essential element in the
creative process, and as an attractive vehicle for showcasing what
Atari computers could do. Having covered music, other issues could
concentrate on desktop publishing, graphic illustration/animation and
setting up an office or small business at home.
Ultimately it was decided that the cost in time and manpower in order
to establish a second publication and do it the justice it deserved
was not feasible. Atari Artist - the magazine - will remain strictly
as a one-time publication, and there are no plans to pursue its
further production. We did, however, develop somewhat of a fondness
for both the name and the concept, hence the use of its name for this
column, which we hope will appear within the pages of Atari Explorer
Online on a regular basis.
Bob Brodie, Atari's Director Of Communications, has welcomed the
notion of having a column devoted to the aspects of integrating an
Atari computer within the creative process, and we feel excited about
being a regular contributor. Thanks Bob, for the warm welcome and
support, and for affording us the opportunity to be a part of what we
feel is the best on-line mag anywhere!
Lacking the impact of a direct, integrated marriage of visual graphics
set within the body of varying-styled type, we'll endeavor, with the
kind assistance of your collective imaginations, to conjure form,
shadow, color and texture from a palette of evocative and colorful
descriptives. Where possible, we'll also be offering companion screen
shots of artwork and programs, as well as animations, midi sequences
and soundfiles to accompany products or mini-reviews, which you can
download to enhance your further understanding of what's discussed.
Along the way, we'll hopefully manage to avoid the pitfalls of insipid
poetic pretense, tepid meandering diatribes and otherwise try to
restrain our pontifications to a dull roar. Simply put - you're in for
a good time!
Though its final format and content may undergo some changes here and
there to better serve you as we go, we initially see our regular
column cycling its focus alternately between music and another
selection from among a rotating variety of other artistic-related
subjects. This will be presented in a mixture of news and mini-reviews
of hardware and software products, along with excerpts from interviews
with artists, both famous and undiscovered (could be you!), who are
doing all kinds of interesting things with their Ataris.
We'll keep you posted on the latest computer developments that will
affect both the aspiring artist and the weekend dabbler, as well as
report on the "cutting edge" of new and exciting technology that will
soon be available for your own machine. Round this out with tips and
suggestions for using your Atari computer to enrich, inspire and
otherwise delight your sensibilities, and you have some idea of what's
in store for you in future columns. Along with coverage on a host of
both present and soon-to-be-released applications for Atari's Falcon
030, we'll also endeavor to keep TT/STe/ST users abreast of their
favorite computer in regards to its capabilities and compatibilities
with both existing and new hardware/software releases and updates.
We do feel it's our solemn responsibility at this point to issue a
word of caution, however. Continued exposure to Atari Artist may
ultimately put into play a powerful sequence of events in your own
life, resulting in mounting uncontrolled desire. If you soon find
yourself on your knees, desperately trying to convince your wife,
husband, domestic partner or significant other that, "Yes - you really
do need this second (or third, or fourth,) computer in order to truly
satisfy your otherwise insatiable appetite for midnight, carnal bytes
and bits, and no dear, it's not yet another pet bird, it's a monster
68030 with truly awesome multi-media capabilities!"...well, don't say
we didn't warn you!
Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- -=-=-=- [ M U S I C N E W S ] -=-=-=- -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
! ! ! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! ! !
In what is probably the biggest news to hit the Atari market since
Atari first announced production of its Falcon 030, Steinberg has
released CUBASE AUDIO for the Falcon in not one but, TWO versions.
Making its debut at the recent Musik Messe, held this past weekend in
Frankfurt, Germany, the program was demonstrated utilizing Yamaha's
impressive CBX-D5 4 track hard disk digital recorder to handle the
digital audio processing portion of the program - which now becomes
seemlessly integrated with the program's 60 tracks of MIDI sequencing,
as well as all the other features of Cubase. All digital recordings
are treated as parts, enabling them to be cut, pasted, copied and
repositioned effortlessly, with no loss of quality.
In what was a stunning piece of news however, Steinberg also released
another version of CUBASE AUDIO, which offers 8 channels of digital
audio recording on an Atari Falcon 030 WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL HARDWARE
other than an external SCSI hard disk!
The program will be able to handle digital audio three ways: hard disk
recording, RAM recording and Sample recording. With a maximum of 14
megs installed in the Falcon, you'll be able to access four channels
of digital audio from hard disk and four from RAM.
In addition, Sample Playback will allow a sample loop to be assigned
to a portion of RAM memory and triggered by CUBASE AUDIO as many times
as you want. This is great for drum loops, horn (or other) hits, and
short vocal samples. Another great aspect of the program is its
ability to take full advantage of the Falcon030's built-in DSP chip to
add reverb, chorusing and digital delay to your digital sound tracks
as well!
Steinberg is cautious about having this second, alternate version
being perceived by the consumer as capable of yielding the same
quality of results as CUBASE AUDIO when paired with Yamaha's CBX-D5.
Although the Falcon030 is certainly an impressive and formidable tool
for enabling the average home recording to incorporate digital audio
recording at an amazingly reasonable price, the version of CUBASE
AUDIO which is intended to work with the CBX-D5 has additional
features which place it in a professional recording/post-production
studio category.
The CBX-D5 supports professional AES/EBU and consumer S/PDIF formats,
offers two balanced analog inputs and four balanced analog outputs, as
well as a Word Clock input/output for fine synchronization in
professional broadcast applications. Four different sampling rates,
including the professional 44.1 kHz rate used by CDs and the even
higher 48kHz rate, are also offered (the Falcon030 requires additional
external hardware, such as Singular Solutions' A/D 64X, to accomplish
those sampling rates).
Its on-board multi-effects consists of no less than two professional
Yamaha SPX1000s, which offer reverb, delay, flanging, phasing, pitch
change, chorusing, ring modulation, compression/limiting, expansion,
and noise gating. There's even an Aphex Aural Exciter effect, and you
can assign up to four different effects simultaneously in the digital
domain. In addition, each of the CBX-D5's four audio channels has its
own dedicated digital equalizer equal in quality to those found on
professional audio mixing consoles. You can also use it with any Atari
computer, from the 1040ST (with at least 2 megs) on up to the Falcon
030.
The big difference here is in the cost comparison between the two
systems. A Falcon 030 with the minimum of a 250 meg SCSI hard drive
allocated to four tracks of digital recording (yielding approximately
10 minutes of recording time at a 50 khz sampling rate) and the CUBASE
AUDIO software, will cost around $3,000.00 list price, as compared to
$5,200.00.
The implications for Atari in regards to the release of both versions
of CUBASE AUDIO are awesome, but having a program which takes direct
advantage of the Falcon030's impressive digital audio capabilities
will undoubtedly have independent producers, bands, song writers and
composers literally breaking down the doors to get a Falcon! This
promises to give Atari a very strong beginning in an explosion of
volume sales that is anticipated to hit music retailers around the
country.
-=- Steinberg / Jones 17700 Raymer Street Suite 1001, Northbridge, CA
91325 (818) 993-4161.
-=- Yamaha Corporation P.O. Box 6600 Buena Park, CA 90622-6600 (800)
443-2232.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
James Grunke, Atari's Director of Music, has announced the hiring of
no less than 16 independent rep firms for the sole purpose of selling
Atari computers to musical stores across the country. Expressing
Atari's continued strength within the music industry, Grunke expects
this significant decision to ultimately result in a doubling of
distribution, by way of establishing a broader discreet sales channel
of authorized Atari musical instrument retailers throughout the
greater continental US.
This is the most aggressive move Atari's ever made into the area of
retail music sales. Following up this push for wider exposure of
product in more outlets with strong support for all authorized Atari
music dealers clearly reflects the steady, growing commitment Atari
has to increasing its overall domestic market share.
Falcon030 demo models will be shipped by the end of March to all
authorized Atari dealers who have recently signed Atari's new dealer
agreement. The particulars of this agreement are primarily aimed at
emphasizing the advantages of being an authorized Atari dealer. As a
stipulation of being authorized, all dealers are asked to refrain from
advertising any discounted prices for Atari products. Initial orders
for Falcon stock will see fulfillment soon after.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Preliminary reports of Atari's reception at the recent Frankfurt Musik
Messe fair, held this past March 5th-7th in Germany, painted a picture
of wall-to-wall showgoers, all eager to get a glimpse of the latest
software releases for the Falcon. The big news of course, was the
afore mentioned Falcon030 version of CUBASE AUDIO. Information is
still coming in, so consider this a preliminary report, with more
details to follow in upcoming columns.
Steinberg-Jones also showed off their new Cubase Score version of
Cubase, as well as the long-awaited Studio module for Cubase, their
computer interface with Alesis's ADAT 8 track digital audio recording
system, a DMA/SCSI small computer system interface. More details to
follow in an upcoming column.
E-Magic, formerly C-Lab, introduced NOTATOR LOGIC, an impressive major
upgrade of their popular Notator program, with a number of new
features that bare a striking resemblance to Cubase. Individual
sequences are now treated as "parts", and offer a more comprehensive
music editing environment while still retaining their strengths as a
superb musical scoring and notation program.
-=- E-Magic, Distributed in the US by Ensoniq 155 Great Valley Pkwy
Malvern, PA 19355 (215) 647-3930
D2D Systems was there with D2D EDIT, their comprehensive digital sound
editing software for the Atari Falcon 030. They were also demoing
their next offering, 4T-FX which will offer four track recording
capability by direct utilization of the DSP engine built in to the
Falcon 030. Although they plan to release 4T-FX in '93 a more specific
release date remains unconfirmed at this time.
-=- D2D, distributed in North America by: Digital IO 2554 Lincoln
Blvd. Suite #122 Marina del Rey, CA 90291 (310) 398-3993 Fax (310)
822-1360
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
In other related news, Barefoot Software is anticipating an April '93
release date for their new notation program, which they'll be
distributing here in the US. Originally from Europe, MUSIC DTP will
offer full orchestral scoring capabilities. Though 16 staves will fit
comfortably on a page in regular format and 24 staves in a reduced
size, the program has no actual limitation as to the number of staves
per page or number of pages per score. Scores can be constructed by a
number of methods: you can import them as a standard MIDI file, enter
them in either real or step time, or place notes individually in a
DTP-styled approach. The program will also offer a number of drawing
tools for creating borders, circles and ellipses, as well as the
ability to import .IMG files. Basic sequencing capabilites will also
be available from within the program, and G-DOS is also supported.
Price is tentatively set at $380.00 retail.
In development from Barefoot is AUDIO TRACK which will offer all the
features of their popular MIDI sequencer, SMPTE Track/Edit Track
Platinum, and allow users of D2D's D2D Edit and 4T-FX the ability to
sync their MIDI tracks with digital audio files. AUDIO TRACK will be
able to reserve a MIDI channel which will be used by a special D2D
pull-down Desk Accessory, which will allow a note to be assigned to
trigger a specified audio file. An existing file can be either
recorded over or played back after initial recording. AUDIO TRACK PRO,
which is scheduled for a later release, will enable sound files to be
chase-locked to SMPTE as well.
Other plans on the drawing board include comprehensive digital audio
file editing capabilities from within the AUDIO TRACK program
environment, though these last two features are as-of-yet not planned
for the debut release. Price for AUDIO TRACK is set at $199. Release
is also scheduled for April'93. For information on AUDIO TRACK, MUSIC
DTP, SMPTE/Edit Track Platinum and all their other fine products.
-=- Barefoot Software 19865 Covello Street Canoga Park, CA 91306
(818) 727-7143 Fax (818) 727-0632.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- -=-=-=- [ D T V i d e o N E W S ] -=-=-=- -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Things are heating up for processing photo images and video on the
Falcon030. There are a number of exciting products in various stages
of development which promise to mine the full potential of Atari's
exciting new offering that combines all the elements that are
essential to true multi-media applications. Here's a round-up of
what's around the corner.
-=- Kodak's Photo-CD technology enables the transferring of film
images to a CD-ROM compact disk in a very high resolution digital
format for use on the Atari Falcon 030. A Photo-CD slide show package
developed by German-based Color Concept's Michael Bernards, a
well-known member of the team that brought us Calamus SL, as well as
Rufus (his graphics-based telecommunications program) has worked on
the software engine which will enable Falcon030 users to call up
individual photos as well as set up a "playlist" of specific photos
which they can use to pull together their own Photo CD albums. Michael
was chosen to go to Eastman Kodak's headquarters in Rochester, NY,
where the final pieces of his software were put into place for
enabling the Falcon 030 to be able to access the Photo-CD, as well as
his developer tool kit that will allow third-parties to directly
access all levels of Photo-CD in their programs and applications.
Price on the developer kit has not been set at this time. Atari plans
to offer the software to directly view the Photo-CD images at a very
competitive cost. Additional features planned include enabling the
Falcon030 to perform the same functions as a Photo-CD player from
Kodak, such as rotate and zoom. The images can then be saved in such
standard formats as TIFF and Targa. The Photo-CD will work with any
standard CD ROM XA unit, easily hooked up to the Falcon030's SCSI II
port.
-=- PICTURE heads a series of new applications from Digital Arts in
Germany, which Goldleaf will be distributing here in the states as
part of their continuing emphasis on high end publishing. PICTURE is a
powerful image editing application that directly supports the Kodak
Photo-CD, and allows users to combine images and retouch photos, as
well as cut, copy and paste between images. DA's PICTURE supports all
Atari Falcon030 video modes, and will be available in the first
quarter of 1993.
-=- A genlock product from John Russell Innovations was demonstrated
at COMDEX running on an Atari Falcon030. His prototype unit was
connected to a video camera, which focused in on show attendees while
they walked by the booth. As their image was placed on the monitor, a
video titling program scrolled text across the screen explaining the
many features of the Atari Falcon030. The video titling program was
written by Atari's Mike Fulton, and utilized Atari's next giant step
in font management technology, Speedo GDOS, for all the font displays!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// On The Drawing Board?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=- D2D Sytems is planning a comprehensive video editing program.
Although not much is being said at this point, Paul Wiffen of D2D has
intimated it will be a very ambitious piece of programming which will
bring Video Toaster-like capabilities to the Falcon 030 at a fraction
of the cost. A release date is hopefully targeted for sometime in '93,
but again, this remains unconfirmed.
-=- Steinberg is rumored to be working on a product which, lacking a
title at this early stage, is being nicknamed "Cubase Video", which
promises to offer the ultimate marriage of video, digital audio and
MIDI. Although there has been no acknowledgement of the existence of
an such program by either Steinberg Germany or Steinberg/Jones here in
the US, the product is rumored to feature cut-and-paste of video
clips, which will be handled in a similar manner to Cubase Audio, and
may also offer a number of special digital video effects and wipes.
Speculation is that integration with CUBASE AUDIO will either be
handled through M-ROS, Steinberg's multi-program switching
environment, through Atari's MultiTOS, or possibly have CUBASE AUDIO
run in a module form that will able to load into "Cubase Video" and
run from the video end of the program's environment.
If this does turns out to be nothing more than a unfounded piece of
wishful thinking, it could be something for Steinberg to seriously
consider. DeskTop Video will be a huge market in the coming years and,
in retrospect, the tail end of the 20th century may very well come to
be known as the "Digital '90s".
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Well, that's it for now. We welcome your comments, suggestions and any
interesting things you may want to see mentioned here, so feel free to
write to either of us on Genie at EXPLORER.2. Next issue we'll take a
brief look at the latest version of Steinberg's Cubase 3.0, along with
a host of exciting new additions to the Steinberg line. We'll also be
assembling a lexicography of acronyms and terms commonly used in
talking about MIDI, and future columns will extend this to also cover
video, DTP, graphics and animation.
Until next time, just remember...
-=-=-=-=- Today Is The Tomorrow You Dreamed About Yesterday -=-=-=-=-
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||| Andreas' Den ....... Fatherhood, Macs, good pasta, and hard drives.
||| By: Andreas Barbiero
/ | \ Delphi: ABARBIERO GEnie: AEO.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Eclectic title huh? This month I am expecting my second child,
another boy, and I am looking forward to it very much. Too much... the
last two weeks of pregnancy makes my time in the Prisoner of War
training camp look like fun!
In addition to the changes in the Navy, my time will be limited until
I can find a new home for my now larger family, and make my move to
deployment sites in Japan, Australia, and other Pacific Rim
destinations. Sounds like fun! The only thing I know I will miss is
the immediate access to the Atari community back here in the United
States. Its been a lot of work, but still fun! I will continue to
write regular game reviews and articles on general computing trends,
along with my usual Atari columns from overseas, and hopefully six
months from now I should be back in the thick of things.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Mac-attack
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Apple has introduced a few new machines in the last several months,
and while this may seem to be GOOD for Mac people, or attractive to
Atari users looking for a second platform, there is a touch of grey to
the silver lining. The new low end 040 machines, the Centris 610 and
the 650 are good machines, but, they still suffer under System 7 and
its quirks. However the updates to the OS is helping a bit. For a
while now, in the local Silicon Valley newspapers, people have been
trying to sell off older Macs in anticipation of the new ones, and
there has been some serious heartburn over the process. Apple
manufactured small quantities of the new machines, the Mac Color
Classic, LC III, Centris 610, and the Centris 650. Basically there
are enough machines to give one or two to most of the dealers in the
country, but VERY few to purchase.
From talking to several Mac only dealers in the Silicon Valley area,
it seems that Apple is waiting to see which models garner the most
orders, before the manufacturing any of them in quantity. The Mac
IIvx, an 030 machine, was released a little while ago with a similar
marketing plan, and when the sales were sluggish because it wasn't
really a step worth investing in from the existing Macs, lo and
behold, here comes some 040's, selling for the same price!
There have been some castigating remarks made from Mac owners over
this rapid turnover of new machines, and complaints about a bait and
switch tactic being enacted all over the country. People go in to buy
a Centris, and although there is one on display, they are told that
they can wait up to 12 weeks for one, or they can go ahead and
purchase a suddenly available IIvx! I have been told of an individual
who sold his 20 megabyte Atari TT030, and tried to get a Centris,
first through the school he teaches at, and then from the general
market. Both places told him that he would have to wait for between 9
and 12 weeks!
Will the performance of the Mac Centris REALLY outweigh that of the
Atari TT030? I don't think so, at least not as noticeably as the
performance of an upper end Quadra might be able to. The EC040 does
not include the on-board math co-processor, which is used to the
benefit of the benchmark programs, as well as the software written to
use the co-processor. From what I understand, the full 040 can run
instructions up to 2X as fast as a similar speed 030. Will an EC040 at
25MHz beat out a 030 at 32MHz? Well, it depends on what you are doing.
For software like DynaCadd which really takes advantage of the math
co-processor, a TT030 with 68881/2 co-processor would probably do very
well against a similarly engineered system running an EC040.
But, we are not talking TT030 vs TTEC040, (say that three times,
quickly) we are talking TT030 vs Centris. And knowing Mac architecture
I will leave this one alone, as I might be tempted to say the TT030
would show off more than admirably. To support this, here is a tid-bit
for the Mac VS Atari battle lovers out there. The Atari Falcon030 can
display Kodak PhotoCD pictures up to 4X as fast as a MAC IIfx, and
that graphics mode you see the SuperNES use with Mario GO-KART (and
other machines that use a rapidly moving 3D playing field), can be
done on the Atari Falcon030 using only 10% of the processor bandwidth.
I wish I could show you the demo Bill Rehbock has displaying this
graphics mode, but suffice it to say, it is amazing. Against the
current crop of game consoles, you will find no peer to the Atari
Falcon030, especially when you want to run something else, like
Calamus SL, or Outline Art 3. Try that on a Sega Genesis!!
There are still some interesting rumblings from Dave Small. Dave has
stated that a color Mac emulator is not out of the picture, and
version 3.1 of Spectre is coming soon. Now that reversed engineered
Mac IIs are going to be produced on the open market, the idea of
having a HARDWARE Mac running inside an Atari on the PDC or the VME
would not be out of the question either!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Parity, We Don' Need No Stinkin' Parity
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I recently put together a Maxtor 130 megabyte hard drive for a
friend, and came across an interesting helpful hint for those of you
in the market for a fixed drive. In order to get the drive to run, an
extra jumper had to be installed, on the parity disable jumper...
without this extra jumper the drive would not be recognized. So if you
want to upgrade your computer to one of these excellent new hard
drives, make sure you get the instruction pamphlet along with the
drive, and check those jumpers!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Atari On Delphi
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bob Brodie, Eric Smith, and John Townshend found some time in their
busy schedules to hold a formal conference on Delphi last week. Bob
filled in the Atari faithful on concerns with the Atari Falcon030,
MultiTOS, and general Atari questions. Eric Smith, the author of MiNT,
the precursor to MultiTOS answered questions on the operation of the
software, compatibility, and its operations. A full transcript should
be available on Delphi for those who were unable to attend. I did note
that there were many more actual users hanging around than usual. This
is probably due to the affordability of the service, especially under
the 20/20 plan, giving you 20 hours of online time for $20! You can
call Delphi direct, via modem, 1-800-695-4002, and upon connection hit
return once or twice, and at Password: type Atari. Enjoy yourselves!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Sacramento... Northern California Atari Central!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 13 and 14 saw the return of the northern California show in
Sacramento. This show had been tried before, in different locations,
and by different people, only this one actually happened! I went up
there on Saturday, not knowing what to expect. After Glendale, I would
have expected to see only a scattering of people and few dealers to
attend a second show in California. The Towe Ford Museum is a nice
place, with some AWESOME Ford motorcars on display, including my
favorite, the Shelby Cobra 427. And next to all these wonders was the
other passion in my life, an Atari show! There were at least five
dealers here, selling all sorts of hardware and software. YES money
was changing hands quite readily as attendees browsed through the
racks of hardware and software. Breaking up the buying spree were
plenty of developers. Displaying their wares were the following:
BAREFOOT SOFTWARE-- carrying everything the musician might want in
computer music software.
YOLO ATARI CLUB-- Only $5 a year for a full membership which includes
a $5 rebate card to STeve's software!
COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS-- Lexicor Software shared the booth area with
these deal-making dealers, it's always great to see Lexicor, and the
amazing things they can do with an Atari!
COMPUTER SAFARI-- You need a font? They got 'em. For Pagestream or
Calamus, in any form you need.
OREGON RESEARCH-- Diamond Back and Diamond Edge are REQUIRED for
every harddrive owner, and these are the guys that made them! They
also carry Hi-Soft's UK line of software here in the USA.
SAN JOSE COMPUTER-- The place for graphic manipulation. From layout
to litho to printing T-shirts, SJC will do it for you, or set you up
to do it yourself! PLI- cancelled at the last minute... premium stuff,
at a premium price... maybe next time??
COMPUTERTIME-- Sacramento's only retail store-front. New or used,
they have it. Also had a neat Kodak PhotoCD display.
SST-- Sacramento ST Users Group, the people who made it all possible.
THANKS! MARCEL SOFTWARE-- Another fine word processor for the Atari,
supports Microsofts' Rich Text Format! If Shakespeare was alive
today, he would be writing on an Atari!
MEDICAL DESIGN SOFTWARE-- MultiWriter, fully compatible with ST
Writer, and can be run on an Atari Falcon030, and under MultiTOS. They
also put out some of the most useful shareware/freeware around.
BRANCH ALWAYS SOFTWARE-- Darek Mihocka and the GEMulator. From the
author of Quick ST, comes the ST emulator for PC clones!
BECKEMEYER DEVELOPMENT-- Tape backups for harddrives. Years of
reliability in providing help for mass storage needs.
APPLICATION & DESIGN-- UIS, Universal Selector, Tax Wizard, and the
sister company to ST Informer magazine. They also distribute
Redactuer, the French word-processor for the Atari that many French
newspapers use to get their product to market!
CODEHEAD TECH-- As if I could say anything about these guys.... the
best utilities in the marketplace, including the newest incarnation of
Darek's Quick ST, WARP 9! They promise some excellent screen savers
for Warp 9 as a package, they have been incredibly creative with the
freeware ones, I can't wait! Calligrapher is distributed by these
guys, and supported in their classic style!
Bob Brodie, Bill Rehbock, Pradip Fatehpuria, Mike Fulton, Jay Patton,
and the rest of the crowd from Atari came by and did some wonderful
demos of the Atari Falcon030 and the abilities of this machine.
Everyone there was wowed by the graphics and power of this computer.
Several people came up and told me that they could not believe that
the machine was displaying the marvelous graphics on a SC1224 and a TV
monitor. YES 640X400 in 65,000+ colors is fantastic, and the computer
is far more than the specs would suggest to a jaded clone user. Bill
Rehbock showed everything from the amazing Tina Turner demo, to
playing Autodesk FLIs right from the desktop. Atari Works was shown to
a packed crowd, and the flexibility of this program made everyone look
forward to its release. It works as nice on an Atari Falcon030 as it
does on my Mega STe!
I think that this show was a success, and if I have any negative
comments, its that some developers and dealers might have shied away
from attending a new show, but as was proved by the Atari users,
dealers, and developers there willing to buy and sell, anyone who
didn't show up, missed out!
Congrats to Nick Langdon, president of SST for a fine show, and good
luck for next year, I fully expect it to be bigger, and better. Maybe
they ought to call it Glendale North?
That's about it for this time, and concerning good pasta, in case you
were interested, there is none of that available in Japan. This
concerns me, and haunts me in my sleep! Now, if Kirin beer is
affordable I might feel a bit better about it all....
--==--==--==--==--
||| Delphi's MultiTOS RTC
||| Courtesy: Delphi's Atari Advantage
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************
This transcript is copyright 1993, DELPHI and DELPHI's
Atari Advantage SIG. Permission to reprint is granted,
as long as the transcript is left intact and unchanged.
To try DELPHI for 5 hours free, use your modem to call
1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once or twice. At Password:
type IP26 and press <RET>. If you have questions about
DELPHI, call 1-800-695-4005 and ask for member services.
**************************************************************************
Official Transcript - MTOS Formal Conference
DELPHI's Atari Advantage
Tuesday, March 9th, 1993
.Gordie>
Welcome to DELPHI's Atari Advantage, and tonight's special Formal
Conference. The topic tonight is MultiTOS, and we have with us
some Atari staffers who can tell us everything we want to know
about MTOS. I'd like to welcome John Townsend back to DELPHI
after an absence of a couple years. And, I'd like to welcome
Eric Smith to our friendly little community for the first time.
And, it's always nice to have Bob Brodie with us.
For those of you who don't get out much, Eric is the author of
MiNT, the basis for MultiTOS. MiNT originally stood for MiNT
is Not TOS, but has evolved into MiNT is Now TOS. <G> John is
a longtime TOS programmer, and between the two of them, they
know MTOS better than any other two people. Maybe any other
5 people...
I want to remind everyone that this is a Formal Conference
tonight, so you'll have to use the /q command to ask a question
or make a comment.
That said, let me turn things over to Bob, who will give us an
overview of MTOS, and how it works.
Bob?
.Bob @ Atari>
Once again, I'm delighted to be here on Delphi! It's been quite a
while since COMDEX when I last participated in a formal live CO here!
Our correspondent for Atari Explorer Online Magazine, Andreas
Barbiero has been instrumental in encouraging us to arrange tonight's
CO here on Delphi, along with Gordie Meyer of the Atari Advantage SIG.
Thanks to both of you for your efforts at making this evening
possible!!
Tonight, I'm pleased to welcome two of the engineers from our
software group, Eric Smith and John Townsend to join us online to
discuss MultiTOS. I know that you're all very anxious to hear as much
as possible about the capabilities of MultiTOS, and Eric and John are
well equipped to answer those questions about MultiTOS. As many of
your may know, Eric developed a program called MiNT (which stood for
Mint is NOT TOS). Originally, MiNT didn't multitask with GEM
applications, but rather gave users a multi-tasking environment to
operate TOS applications from. MiNT is now incorporated into
MultiTOS, and has changed dramatically since Eric first wrote it.
Obviously, we were impressed enough with his efforts to offer him a
position within Atari! <grin> Tonight, Eric is using the Ataritech
account here on Delphi.
John Townsend has been with Atari over five years now, and has been
an important member of the software engineering group during the last
3 years of his tenure with us. John has also been one of our
stalwart online support people as well, and I know that he's excited
to be here with us tonight on Delphi!! John is using the AtariCorp
account tonight!
Before we begin with the MultiTOS portion of our CO, I'm sure that you
are all very interested in the status of the delivery schedule for the
Atari Falcon030 here in the US. We have had a small setback in the
manufacturing of the unit. One of our suppliers is running about 10
days behind in providing us with a couple of components that we need
for the US machines. This means that the machines will probably
arrive in late March to early April. We expect to be able to provide
our dealers with demo units this month, and quickly follow that up
with a better supply of units that can be sold to the public. All of
the units that we will have during the month of March will be
configured with four megs of ram, and sixty-five megabyte hard disks.
The reception that we've had for the machines has been nothing short
of sensational!! The phone has been ringing constantly, with many,
many people interested in signing up as Atari dealers. As you might
expect, a significant amount of interest is coming from the music
field, as few other computer systems can match the digital sound
capabilities of the Atari Falcon030 right out of the box!! We have
enough orders in hand that we expect to be sold out quickly.
This is the same type of reception that the Falcon030 has gotten in
the rest of the world, for instance in Germany, where it was literally
sold out in a matter of hours!!!
Much of our efforts here in Sunnyvale over the course of the last
month has revolved around finalizing plans for dealer agreements. It
is our hope that we'll be able to restore the value of an Atari
dealership, and help the dealers be able to be more profitable. We
will be soon going over the new arrangements with all of our current
dealers, as we release the pricing, and other sales related
information to our current dealers.
This means that we will be speaking to every one of our existing
dealers, either directly ourselves or via one of our rep firms. Among
the very firm requirements that we will have is that the dealer must
have a storefront in order to sell the Atari Falcon030.
Now, we'd like to tell you a little bit about MultiTOS! After all,
that's the main thrust of our visit tonight here on Delphi is to
discuss MultiTOS with you!
MultiTOS provides your Atari computer with multitasking, the ability
to run more than one application at a time. Since your computer spends
much of its time waiting for user input, multitasking makes more
efficient use of processing power--when one application, say, your
word processor, is waiting for input, the rest of your computer's
attention is turned to other tasks.
MultiTOS includes several important features that make multitasking
reliable and efficient. Adaptive prioritization gives the most
processing power to the most important program running-- the word
processor you're typing into receives higher priority than the
processor-hungry compression program running simultaneously in the
background. Memory protection prevents one program from interfering
with another active program's data in memory. And if one program quits
unexpectedly or "crashes," MultiTOS protects other applications, which
continue to run; only in the most extreme circumstances will you need
to restart your computer.
MultiTOS runs existing, correctly-written TOS programs--as many as
your computer's memory allows. Some programs are already being
upgraded to take advantage of MultiTOS features, and more programs
written especially for MultiTOS are on their way, from Atari and
third-party companies.
MultiTOS can run as many programs simultaneously as will fit in
memory; GEM programs, Desk Accessories, and TOS programs can all
peacefully coexist under MultiTOS. You can move from one to the other,
using whichever you need. When one program is busy, you can set it
aside and work on something else until it's done. When you finish with
a program and exit it, the memory it occupied is freed for other
tasks.
All running programs share the screen, each putting up its
own
windows; with several programs running, windows may overlap or be
hidden altogether by one another. The application that receives input,
like keystrokes, from you is called the foreground or topped
application, and other programs running simultaneously are background,
or untopped applications.
Unlike TOS, MultiTOS allows you to operate any window's gadgets to
move, resize, or scroll the window, even if the window is not topped.
When you click within a window (but not on its gadgets), that window
is topped, and so is the application that owns it. The topped
application's menu bar is displayed, unless it doesn't have a menu
bar--in that case, the menu bar is unchanged.
Running GEM programs under MultiTOS is straightforward: simply
double-click the program's icon. The MultiTOS Distribution Kit
includes two simple GEM programs, "Clock" and "Lines." Double-click
on CLOCK.APP, and an analog clock appears in a window, but the
Desktop's icons and menu bar are still visible. Double-click on
LINES.APP, and a graphics demonstration appears in a window. Resize
the Lines window so that you can see the clock and some of the
Desktop. Both programs and the Desktop are running simultaneously!
From here, you can run still other programs, or perform Desktop
operations like file copies.
As with TOS, you can access your Desk Accessories from the "Desk"
menu. Unlike TOS, MultiTOS can load Desk Accessories as you need them.
Double-click on a ".ACC" file to run it, just as you would another GEM
application. You may want to keep only the essential Accessories
loaded at all times, and load others when needed. You can do this by
putting your ".ACC" files in a directory other than the root of drive
C:\.
TOS programs present a special problem for multitasking, because they
usually assume they are the only programs running, and that they have
the whole screen to themselves. Since TOS programs don't know how to
share the screen, MultiTOS does it for them, by giving them their own
"screen," within a window. When you double-click a ".TOS" or ".TTP"
program, MultiTOS runs another program, "MINIWIN," which sets up a
window in which the TOS program runs. MINIWIN lets you select the
size of the window TOS programs are given, and the font they use. You
can change this information by choosing "Configure..." in the leftmost
menu when running a TOS program. Note: TOS programs assume they're
using a "monospaced" font, where all characters are the same width.
MINIWIN allows you to choose "proportionally spaced" fonts, where a
"w" is wider than an "i," for example. If you choose a proportionally
spaced font, the program may look strange, but is otherwise fine.
When several applications are running, the topped application presents
its menu bar and receives your keystrokes. The others are in the
background, where you can still move and resize their windows, but you
can't click on their menus or give them keyboard commands. MultiTOS
provides several ways to manage all the applications you may have
running, and to choose which of them is topped.
The leftmost menu in the menu bar is called the "Desk" menu, because
that's what it's called when the Desktop is topped. When another
MultiTOS-friendly application is run, and the application has its own
menu bar, the application's name replaces "Desk" in the menu bar--this
is one way to tell which program is topped. Some older applications
will not do this, but will otherwise work fine.
The Desk menu contains the names of all installed Desk Accessories and
below, the names of all applications currently running, with the
topped application indicated by a checkmark. You can top another
program by clicking on its name in this menu; its windows (if it has
any) spring to the front, and its menu bar (if it has one) appears.
You can run as many programs as your available memory allows, but
there are reasons why you may not want to. Often, there is very little
difference in system performance with several programs running, since
many of these programs are just waiting for input. When programs are
actively processing, or reading and writing data on a disk, they
consume more of your Atari's processing power. You may be tempted to
leave things running in the background because it's so easy, but if
they make too many demands on the system, performance will suffer.
It's best to shut down any programs you're not planning to use, just
as you would exit them in TOS. This makes the most memory and
"computing horsepower" available for the programs you really need.
Experiment, and see what combinations of programs work well together.
Shut programs down with MultiTOS the same way you would with TOS:
save whatever you're working on, then select "Quit," click the "close"
gadget on a window, type "exit," or whatever. This gives the program a
chance to save and close any files it has open and exit cleanly,
returning your computer to its normal state. As always, it's best to
save your work and exit from all running applications before
restarting or turning your computer off.
Occasionally, a program may "hang" in a state where it is no longer
running correctly, but does not exit. When this happens, you can shut
the program down from the Desktop. Select "Install Devices" under the
"Options" menu, then open drive U:\, and then the "PROC" folder. This
folder contains "files" that represent all the programs currently
running under MultiTOS, along with parts of MultiTOS itself. To stop
or "kill" a program, simply drag it to the trash. Be very careful with
this technique. Kill only programs which have not responded otherwise,
or are otherwise behaving incorrectly. Be careful what you throw away,
because it is possible to shut down a part of MultiTOS itself, after
which it can be difficult to recover without restarting. If you aren't
sure what something is, don't kill it.
Although Atari has made every effort to accomodate even ill-behaved
TOS programs, you may occasionally encounter programs that are not
compatible with MultiTOS. These programs may "crash," (exit
unexpectedly) or "hang," (keep running without accepting input,
refusing to exit). Usually when this happens, MultiTOS continues
unharmed, along with any other programs running at the time of the
crash. Sometimes, if a program crashes in an especially spectacular
way, it can interfere with other parts of MultiTOS operation, or other
programs. If you see error messages on your screen, or if you notice
peculiar behavior from other programs, save your work and reboot your
computer. Try to isolate the problem to the particular program and
action that caused the crash, and report the problem to the program's
authors or publisher.
When you encounter a program which doesn't run under MultiTOS under
any circumstances but you need to run nevertheless, you can
temporarily disable MultiTOS, and restart your computer with TOS. To
do this, save any work in progress, shut down any running
applications, and restart your computer. You can use the Reset button,
or hold down <Control> and <Alternate> and press <Delete>.
Immediately after restarting, hold down the left <Shift> key. You will
be asked, "Load MultiTOS? (y)es (n)o." Press the <n> key, and your
computer will start up without MultiTOS.
With the power of MultiTOS comes responsibility. Since some older
programs expect to be the only thing running, they may not guard
against some things which can happen "when their backs are turned."
You can avoid these problems by not using one program or the Desktop
to interfere with another active program. For example, don't move
configuration or open document files for your word processor while
it's running; the program may assume the files are in their original
place, and behave unpredictably. Similarly, be careful with programs
that manipulate disk data directly; don't run a hard disk
defragmentation program in the background and save a file to the same
disk, or the results could be unpleasant. As more MultiTOS-aware
programs become available, these problems will be minimized.
It was hoped that we would be able to simply upload MultiTOS to the
online networks, and "allow nature to take it's course." During the
course of that discussion, it was pointed out that we have an
arrangement that requires the payment of a royalty for each copy of
GEM that we sell, which makes the uploading of MultiTOS impossible to
do. Pricing on MultiTOS hasn't been set, but it would not be
unreasonable for you to expect it to be selling at a suggested list
price of $75 US.
At this point, we're ready to take on all your questions about
MultiTOS, or any other Atari specific topic that you might want to
ask about.
.Gordie>
Okay, I've got about 4 questions up already, so if anyone else has
one, use the /q to get it in.
Bill has a question about pricing...
.Bill in ATL>
Thanks Bob, I am indeed excited about the MultiTos as everyone
else. And was curious as to whether the dealers would be the first
or would that be strictly a distributorship handling affair. ga
.Bob @ Atari>
The first people that we will be dealing with is the dealers.
We are crafting a separate agreement with the distributors. ga
.Bill in ATL>
Thanks, and I hope to be one of those shortly.
.Gordie>
Next is a question from Hudson about TOS versions...
.Hudson>
Will Multi_TOS work with all versions of TOS?
.Eric @ Atari>
It should work, but we haven't tested it with TOS 1.0. We strongly
recommend that users upgrade if they're still using such an old version
of TOS. ga
.Gordie>
Joseph has a question about recruiting converts to MTOS...
.Joseph T.@ATA>
Would you consider supporting the idea of, if necessary, helping ensure
that MultiTOS can work on an Atari emulator running on an Amiga?
I'm certain that if it was done, there'd be plenty of "Workbench's"
ditched in favor of a better OS and more powerful computer, I know
this because the SysOp of a local Amiga BBS seems very interested
in the Falcon, particularly the DSP and the MultiTOS operating
system....<It's nice I CoSysop both a 486/33 and Amiga 2000 BBS,
this gives me access to many potential new customers!!!!>
I love my ORPHANe, STill!!!! >>>
.Towns @ Atari>
I don't think so ;-)
.Joseph T.@ATA>
Why not?
.Bob @ Atari>
I don't think so either,...
.Joseph T.@ATA>
Think of it, stick 'em with something they can't touch unless
they get the real thing!!!!
.Towns @ Atari>
Why should we bother supporting Hardware that we don't sell?
.Joseph T.@ATA>
And, couldn't you sell MultiTOS in a way that it'd be an upgrade
of GEM, and perhaps bypass royalties? ga
.Towns @ Atari>
Royalties isn't the issue. It's licensing. Atari can't just give
away other people's property on an online service.
.Gordie>
Next up is a question from Dana. If it'll go through after he left...
.Gordie>
Okay, it didn't go. I'll ask it. What are the minimum requirements to
run MTOS, and what's the maximum number of programs that can be run?
.Eric @ Atari>
MultiTOS will run on any ST, STe, TT, or Falcon. We suggest that
users have at least 2 megabytes of memory and a hard disk, but it
will run on a 1 megabyte system with a floppy disk. You can run as
many programs as memory will hold. ga
.Gordie>
Thanks, Eric. Next is a question from Nick about disk space...
.Nick>
I understand that MultiTOS is disk-based. How much space will it
occupy on a hard drive (approximately)?
.Eric @ Atari>
It takes up about 800K or so. (Actually a bit less; it will fit
on a double sided floppy.) ga
.Nick>
Does MultiTOS work equally well with programs whose flag bits are set
to load and/or allocate from ST RAM (on a TT), as with those set to
use TT RAM?
.Eric @ Atari>
Yes. ga
.Gordie>
Sam has a question about an expansion buss.
SSINCLAIR>
emulation. I would like to know what other options are or will be
available this year that you might be able to disscuss.
.Bob @ Atari>
I didn't see that entire question, but I take it that you're
asking about what emulation modes will be available for the
Atari Falcon030. There is a firm commitment from one of our
developers in Holland, COMPO, to produce a 486SX PC Board to go
into the Direct Parallel Processor slot on the Atari Falcon030.
As well as our good friend, David Small, who is hard at work
on his version of a Mac emulator to go into the same slot.
ga
SSINCLAIR>
I am not interested in emulation,what other options ga
.Bob @ Atari>
I'm afraid that your question is not coming across clearly,
I think it would be best if you sent me email on the subject,
and outline your question clearly. I'll be happy to respond to
it in email, in extensive detail. ga
.Gordie>
Okay, how about Hudson with a question about software...
.Hudson>
Since software sells hardware, maybe you can give a little insight
on the players (Microsoft, NeXT) that you've rounded up to produce
some high profile software for the Falcon and other Atari Computers.
Thanx in advance ga.
.Bob @ Atari>
We presently don't have anything in the queue with MicroSoft,
or NeXT. We do have some other very interesting discussions
underway with other developers, especially on the game side of
things. However, since those products are still in development,
in wouldn't be prudent to mention those names at this time. ga
.Gordie>
Can you comment on rumors about video manipulation software
(Toaster-type) from anyone? <g> ga
.Bob @ Atari>
Are you referring to the post from the German non devs in Germany
that was on Usenet a couple of weeks ago?
.Gordie>
I was thinking about someone a little closer to home, actually...
Lexicor?
.Bob @ Atari>
Ah, gotcha! Lexicor has a number of very interesting products
in line for the Falcon030. For example, Phoenix Render...which
looks very fast, and is very, very fast! I've heard that Lee
Seilor has plans for a product (working title of Toaster Roaster)
which should blow the doors off of the Video Toaster. GA
.Gordie>
LOL! I asked because that kind of thing would fit in perfectly with
the concept of Personal Integrated Media that Atari has developed. ga
(Which, by the way, is a big enough subject for a whole other CO...)
.Bob @ Atari>
Which we'll be happy to do at another time with Lexicor.
.Gordie>
How about one from Paul about the MTOS manual...
.Paul>
What type of manual will accompany MultiTOS? Will it be just a user's
guide, or will it have some meat in it? I.E. technical/programming
info?
.Eric @ Atari>
The guide that comes with MultiTOS is for users (it's similar to
the manuals that come with other Atari products). We will have
extensive documentation for developers. ga
.Paul>
Great. Thanks.
.Gordie>
Now, one from Bill on support...
.Bill in ATL>
Bob, What type of support can the new user to the Atari platform
reasonably expect Atari Support via an 800 number?
.Bob @ Atari>
Bill, I think I have the gist of your question now. We have
had discussions about adding an 800 number for customer support.
At this point, the dealer is still going to need to be the
forefront of the support effort, and as business improves, we'll
be able to add additional support mechanisms, like 800 numbers.
ga
.Gordie>
That seems to fit in with the requirement that dealers have a
storefront.
.Bob @ Atari>
Exactly, Gordie. We're very set on that requirement, too. ga
.Gordie>
Okay, Chris has a question about the expansion bus...
CMILLAR>
You mentioned that the expansion bus is a "Direct Parallel Processor"
slot. Does this mean that a 486 emulation card would allow DOS and
TOS apps to be run concurrently?
.Bob @ Atari>
To be honest, Chris, I don't see anything to prevent it. But
I have only seen it demo'ed with one or the other running.
You sure started a discussion here in the office with that one.
<grin> I have seen the PC Card, as did Gordie, at COMDEX.
ga
.Towns @ Atari>
The slot wouldn't prevent such a thing, but the emulator software
would have to support it. That's up to Compo. ga
.Gordie>
Next up... Andre with a question on multiple resolutions at the same
time...
AMWILLIAMS>
Can programs needing to be run in different resolutions be run at
the same time?
.Towns @ Atari>
Sorry.. When you are running programs under MultiTOS, they must
all be running in the same resolution.
Does that answer your question?
AMWILLIAMS>
yes
.Towns @ Atari>
Atari encourages its developers to make their applications work
in any resolution ;-)
.Gordie>
Run in, or be launched from?
.Towns @ Atari>
same thing, Gordie. ga
.Gordie>
Next is Richard with a question about larger IDE drives...
BONDSERVANT>
Will larger IDE drives w/software be available from Atari or
Dealers later? Thanks for coming here @ Delphi tonight.
.Bob @ Atari>
Hi Richard, there will be larger drives available from Atari,
as well as many other PC vendors that sell standard IDE 2.5"
mechanisms. We're planning on getting 80, 120, 200 meg units.
and they will come with Speedo GDOS, and MultiTOS on each of the
drives that we will be selling here at Atari, to add an incentive
to purchase the drives from us. :) Thanks for the welcome...
I enjoy being online here, and only wish that there was more time
to be online. :)
.Gordie>
If the hypothetical 2 piece cased Falcon were to come out, would it
still be restricted to a 2.5" drive? Hypothetically? <g>
.Bob @ Atari>
Gordie, sorry...we can't comment on non-existent product.
.Gordie>
Somehow, I had a feeling you'd say that... <G>
Next is JJ with a question about Falcon numbers...
.**JJ**>
In light of the recent second shipment of falcons to gemrnay that is
bouncing around the internet, what kind of nuimbers can we expect to
see on the first shipment to the US?
.Towns @ Atari>
Shipments of Falcon's bouncing around the internet? Wow! ;-)
.Bob @ Atari>
Hi JJ, first of all, I doubt that the Falcons are on the Internet
although the idea of it is really interesting...<grin>
.Gordie>
Think of the money you'd save...
.Bob @ Atari>
Second, we're not confirming or denying how many shipments we
have made to any of the countries that we do business with.
Our initial shipment for Falcons in North America will be for
dealer units and perhaps some review units, or perhaps even some
support people ( Hello, Gordie! ). After that, there will be a
good supply of units going out for sale. Overall, we're really
pleased with the amount of demand that we are getting for the
product, and very pleased that there is good press as well. ga
.**JJ**>
ok, thanks. done
.Gordie>
And now one from Hudson on advertising...
.Hudson>
What is Atari planning planning for advertisement (Print as well as
TV, etc.) to help hype the US debut (selling debut at least:))?
.Eric @ Atari>
Just a sec...
.Bob @ Atari>
OK, I ran out to check with Garry Tramiel our GM for the US to
make sure that I had everything down right for this answer, and
apologize for the delay in responding. At this point, as we
have started re-signing our dealers, we are making arrangements
er...that should be provisions for advertising plans by our
dealers via a market development fund. Then, as production
continues to ramp up, and we can supply the demand that we will
create with the advertisements, we will be doing print ads on a
national basis. I don't forsee TV at this point, it's a truly
extraordinary expense. Although via the market development fund
program, we'd be pleased to do things like local cable TV ads,
which can be done in some areas of the country for a very, very
reasonable amount of money. ga
.Gordie>
Aw, gee. I was hoping to see Atari Falcon030 ads on ST:TNG, ST: DS9
and B5... <g>
.Bob @ Atari>
I'm hoping to still see B5, Gordie! :)
.Gordie>
Next is one from Joseph, on a pause mode in MTOS...
.Joseph T.@ATA>
You mention that tasks should be turned off if unused, is there a
feature that allows you to "turn off" a program, yet it still be
ready and waiting to resume, sorta like a pause mode?
.Eric @ Atari>
Joseph: You can just "ignore" a program. Every program has its
windows on the same screen, so you can very easily switch between
programs. They're all ready and available all the time. If the
program isn't doing anything, it won't take up any processor time.
Does that answer your question? ga
.Joseph T.@ATA>
I think so, but can MTOS pause or shut it down and leave it intact
while doing nothing, with MTOS in control? ga
.Eric @ Atari>
The MultiTOS desktop is always available, so in some sense MTOS is
always "in control". The Desk menu has a list of all accessories and
applications, and you can switch to a different application by
selecting it from the menu (or by clicking on one of its windows).
ga
.Gordie>
Andreas had a question...
.Andreas@AEO>
Eric, I was wondering if you could expound on the need for an 030 to
run MTOS and the less-than-stellar results that can happen from
running MTOS on a 68000. GA
.Eric @ Atari>
On a 68000 based machine (like an ST or STe) there will be no memory
protection (since the 68000 doesn't provide this feature). On a 68030
(a Falcon or TT) programs can be protected from one another.
.Andreas@AEO>
Just so no-one has any doubts or misunderstandings.
.Eric @ Atari>
That generally means that badly behaved applications will crash only
themselves on a 68030 machines, whereas on a 68000 they can cause
trouble for other applications that are running at the same time
(or even crash the system). Plus, if you have several applications
running at the same time, the extra speed of the 68030 will really
help :-).
.Andreas@AEO>
On my Mega STe, programs would run nicely together several times
in a row, and then when a spurious bit of data would be encountered...
blammo! It was STILL a REALLY nice experience to have several
programs ALIVE at once, and have those Atari Falcon030 icons around.
I know all the hackers out there will be happy to run it on their
venerable STs!!!
.Eric @ Atari>
ATARIPOWER7: There is no "pause" feature such as you describe built
into the desktop, but the OS could support this if a 3rd party
supplied it.
.Bob @ Atari>
Thanks for your comments, Andreas... the icons ARE really neat.
.Gordie>
Okay, Andre has a question about MTOS and the SST...
AMWILLIAMS>
I hear that its better to run MultiTOS on a 68030 rather than a
68000. If this is true do you know of any problems with using
MultiTOS with the SST board ( P.S. I love my Mega St ).
.Eric @ Atari>
MultiTOS should work fine on 68030 boards. I don't know about the
SST specifically, but I'm sure it would be OK. (I know that some of
our developers were running MultiTOS on 68030 equipped ST's.) ga
.Gordie>
Bob T. has a question about Atari & the KCAC show...
.BobT>
DONE
.Gordie>
<g>
.Bob @ Atari>
Well Bob...<ahem>
We're really excited about the amount of interest that has been
exhibited by our user groups for the show schedule this coming
summer. KCAC is planning on having a terrific show, as our many
other groups throughout the US. At this point, because our plans
for CES are unclear, it's difficult to project what our exact
participation will be at ALL the shows upcoming this summer. In
particular, June looks to be a VERY busy month, with events in
Indy, Asheville, and Kansas City. From time to time, I do like
to spend a weekend at home (and my family still likes it, too),
so we'll see what happens. I certainly want to take this
opportunity to encourage everyone to get out to as many of these
events as they possibly can...in particular the KC Show, as it
is their very first effort at a show. I wish you every success!
ga
.Gordie>
And don't forget to bring lots of money! The developers can use it!
(End of unabashed plug) The Georgia Catfish has a question about
DELPHI support...
.Bill in ATL>
Bob, as director of Communications would it be impractical to ask
for a more frequent presence here on DELPHI even though The "G" is
the Official Atari Online service?
.Gordie>
And no, I didn't prompt him to ask that... <g>
.Bob @ Atari>
Actually, it's not unreasonable to ask, but at this point I
cannot commit to it. With the workload of the dealer agreements
and dealing with the press, I actually haven't been posting on
any of the online services very much at all. Part of the reason
that we have obtained the extra accounts for use on Delphi is
to have another group of people that we can send online to
provide you with the support that you deserve. We certainly
enjoy being on Delphi...but you are also correct when you note
that GEnie is our number one online service. I expect our
arrangement with GEnie to remain a VERY long term one, but will
make every effort to be on Delphi as much as time permits. At
this point, the ATARIMUSIC account has been assigned to one of
the Music staff, and Mike Fulton from Developer support will be
using the AtariTech account here. So, we are TRYING...but one of
the more precious commodities that we have here at Atari right
now is PEOPLE, and TIME. We must be certain that we use both of
them as wisely as possible. ga
.Gordie>
Wimp has a question about the Falcon market...
WIMP>
What do you see as the demographics of the Falcon market? And what
platforms do you see as competition for the Falcon?
.Eric @ Atari>
There really is no competition <grin>
.Bob @ Atari>
The intent of the Falcon is to finally penetrate the home
market with a machine that brings the promise of multimedia to
the home user, and provides them FINALLY with a reason for them
to purchase a computer. Many thousands of people (unlike you and
I) still fail to find a compelling reason to purchase a computer.
We believe that the Falcon030 will give those people a new reason
to consider purchasing a computer. In addition, there are some
compelling professional applications that will make people that
have specific professional needs (like MUSIC) that will place
the Atari Computer line in the limelight of the computing world.
WIMP>
so you think the Falcon can compete with the Mac and PC clones on
their turf?
.Bob @ Atari>
Re Competition...the part of me that is the company man says
there is no competition...we have the superior product! On the
other hand, the realist in me says that the competition is the
PC Clones....and they are not doing anything that is in any form
technically innovation in their hardware. All of the innovation
is coming in software. This is where we have an advantage...we
have innovative hardware, and compelling software applications as
well! ga.
.Gordie>
Richard has another question, this time about prices...
BONDSERVANT>
any news on prices on the various Falcons concidering the market
changes since fall?:-)
.Bob @ Atari>
The MSRP for the Falcon is unchanged since fall, with the
exception of the additonal pricing for two models: The Atari
Falcon030 with four megs of ram, and no hard disk will retail for
$999, and the 14 meg with 65 meg hard disk will retail for $1899.
We have also expanded the accessory line to include things like
SCSI-II cables, hard disk drives, and added a composite video
adapter for people (like G44!) to use with their monitors. ga
.Gordie>
Glenn has a question about the Falcon as a Studio in a Box...
.Glenn>
I read an article about how you can plug a guitar in and use it as a
de facto multi effects machine, and record direct to disk and master
to DAT. What kind of software is complete for this type of
application and what is planned?
For comparison, the SGX-2000, the top of the line guitar processor,
is nearly as much as what the Falcon costs, and it is not a full
fledged computer. By touting the Falcon's ability to be a "studio in
the box" it would certainly get people to buy, me included, since
as long as the applications are there, conforming to some MS-DOS or
MAC standard (a business concern) is not important.
.Bob @ Atari>
Glenn, thank you for your question! You're referring I believe
to the article in BYTE Magazine, where Tom Halfhill of BYTE
described plugging his electric guitar directly into the Atari
Falcon030, and using Musicomm, from COMPO Software to do all of
the special effects that he did. BTW, Musicomm's list price is
just $69! In addition to Musicomm, you can probably do similar
effects with things like the Audio Fun Machine, which is one of
the eight software titles that we bundle together with the
Atari Falcon030. ga
.Glenn>
Is the Falcon capable of multitrack recording without an interface?
What is needed?
.Bob @ Atari>
Yes, it can record two tracks out of the box. For more than
two tracks, you need an external box connected to the DSP port,
like the product that Singular Solutions is offering. The
Atari Falcon030 ships with a product called FalconD2D that will
allow you to do direct to disk hard disk recording. With the
addition of the external boxes, you can do up to eight tracks at
the present, although technically it is possible to do 16 tracks.
One of the limitations on the number of tracks is the speed of
the hard disk (actually, the access time of the HD). As the HDs
get faster, it will be easier for our developers to create more
tracks to be recorded at once. ga
.Gordie>
Okay, we've been going for almost 2 1/2 hours. Time to wrap it up.
I'd like to thank John, Eric and Bob for their time tonight. I
learned a few things, I know, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as
much as I did.
Closing comments, guys?
.Bob @ Atari>
We're very excited to have been here with all of you here tonight
and look forward to the opportunity to come back again in a few
months to discuss things with you. I hope to be online more
often, and if there is anything that you wanted to ask tonight
and didn't have a chance to, please send EMAIL to me. Eric is
just using the AtariTech account for the night...and I will be
happy to forward any of your questions on to him for his review.
Thanks again for coming....and good night!
.Towns @ Atari>
Good Night everyone!
.Eric @ Atari>
Thanks for having us here!
.Gordie>
This party is over!
*************************************************************************
Some minor editing of the transcript was done to facilitate readability,
and correct minor spelling and grammar errors. Portions were omitted to
enhance readability, and to cover up any glitches DELPHI was having. <g>
-- Gordie Meyer <BIBLINSKI>
*************************************************************************
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||| Krimen on GIFs ..................... Finding the perfect GIF viewer
||| By: Ed Krimen
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.5
------------------------------------------------------------------
So you're cruising around some of the DOS-based bulletin boards in
your area, and you download some GIF images. You wanna know how to
view them on your ST.
Or, your office buddy just got a bunch of GIFs from a friend of his.
You copy 'em, and you wanna know how to view them on your ST.
You could even be perusing the file area in the Photo Roundtable on
GEnie, and spot a few GIFs that sound pretty good, so you wanna know
how to view them on your ST.
Well, there's a few ways you can do this, and with all of these
methods, you'll obtain good to excellent quality results depending
upon which machine and which programs you use. With some of these
graphics utilities, you might even be surprised how well a stock ST or
STe can display images. Some of these utilities offer a whole host of
features, while others just get right to it and display the images on
the screen in the best manner than they can.
Let's start with GEM-View. This wonderful utility has been around for
a couple of years. When I encountered its first version, I thought it
was so good and well-done that I wrote of review of it for Z*Net. A
couple of years later, it's still pretty good, and gets updated
regularly, mostly with feature enhancements. What's nice about
GEM-View is that it operates in a window and does everything in the
background when run as an accessory. It's so resolution-independent,
I've heard that it even runs on the Falcon030! If there's one thing I
would change about GEM-View, it would be its speed. It seems to be
very slow when loading and processing images. At its latest version,
2.13, GEM-View has color adjustments, dithering options, iconification
of images, and a slew of other things. GEM-View is shareware at $20.
Next up is ViewST/TT 1.32d. This program is distributed with two
versions in the same archive; one version is for the ST and the other
is for the TT030. This utility is one of those that you classify under
the quick and dirty category, but it does an excellent job of
displaying images. Like GEM-View, it supports a variety of graphic
formats, not just GIF. View ST/TT is much, much faster than GEM-View,
while also allowing the user to view images in any TT030 resolution
(except TT high) at any time. (GEM-View will only display images in
the resolution in which you've run the program.) So, for example, I
run the program in TT medium and when I want to view a 256-color GIF,
ViewTT will momentarily switch to TT low to view the picture, if I so
desire. I can also be in ST high, for example, and view the image in
any of the other resolutions. If there's one thing I would change
about ViewST/TT, I would like everything done in a window. But I
wouldn't want any other modifications to the program (er, except maybe
JPEG support); the beauty behind ViewTT is that it's simple and quick!
ViewST/TT is freeware.
Some of you might remember PicSwitch 0.7. It was one of those programs
that everyone was waiting to get updated, but it never seemed to
happen. Well, at long last, John Brochu has done it. PicSwitch 1.0.1
has been totally rewritten with no resemblance to the previous
version. It has a GEM windowing interface with a cornucopia of
advanced functions, such as color adjustments, aspect ratio selection,
window preferences options, and printer support. Image processing is
quite fast, and when the program is thinking, it displays a bar so you
can see how long it's going to take; the bar usually isn't on there
for long though. If there's was one thing I would change, I would like
to see the TT low resolution display fixed. John doesn't have a TT030,
so he couldn't test it out; but if anyone can lend him one for a short
period of time, he said he can get it fixed. There is also support for
the Crazy Dots board in 256 colors from Gribnif Software. PicSwitch
1.0.1 is shareware at $10.
For the ST and STe users, there's Photochrome. This program might be
termed a "Super Spectrum Viewer" since it allows the display of 19,000
colors on an STe, while it "only" allows an ST to display a couple
thousand. This utility imports GIFs images (as well as other formats)
and outputs them in a PCS format, of which there are also viewers.
Performance when converting images is slow, so you'll need some
patience, but the results are well worth the wait. Because of the
hardware timing constraints required to show thousands of colors on
screen on an ST or STe, the program won't view images on a TT030, but
it will convert them; I'm sure it'll work on a Mega STE at 8Mhz, and
I've heard it doesn't run on the Falcon030. If you have an ST or STe
and you enjoy viewing GIFs from time to time, you should definitely
check out this program. It's shareware at 5.00.
DMJ GIF has a lot of devoted followers and it should - it's a great
program. It allows you to convert GIF files to SPC format. One of this
program's biggest assets is that you can set up a queue of images and
have it convert them. Additionally, you can have different dithering
algorithms and other adjustments attached to each image when it's
processed. I would like to see the program written with a standard GEM
interface, instead of the non-conventional one it uses now. The latest
version is 3.0, and if you register, you get a version that's much
faster than the one distributed on networks. Rumor has it that a
version 4.0 is coming out shortly. DMJ GIF is shareware at $15.
Two other programs you should be aware of when converting GIF images
are MacVert and 89a to 87a. MacVert strips the Mac header that
Macintosh computers place at the beginning of GIF files. To use this
program on a TT030, you need to run 24BIT.PRG from the AUTO folder.
Some GIF converters, like ViewST/TT, don't recognize the GIF 89a
format, so you can use the 89a to 87a program to convert them to the
87a format. If a GIF viewer doesn't like a specific GIF, try these two
programs on the file first.
As you can see, there are a good variety of GIF viewers out for our
ST-compatible computers. They all differ in processing speed, image
quality, and features. Check 'em out.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Users Online: Notes from the Internet
||| Compiled by: Tim Wilson
/ | \ Internet: GEnie: AEO.8
-------------------------------------------------------------------
News from Usenet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am introducing a new way of presenting news from the Internet,
The actual posts aren't listed, but rather a summary/editorial
of many posts. Anything in quotes "" are exact words of the original
author. A persons email adress is in brackets {}.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Falcon030 Graphic Flexibility
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Here are some tibits on the new Falcon030's graphic power. In the
midst of a amiga/atari flamewar (thankfully most of the garbage was
over on comp.sys.amiga.advocacy) I noticed an interesting post from
Ewald Seibert {seibert@informatik.tu-muenchen.de} that claimed
640x1440x4bit, 832*600x4bits without hardware. Wary I was, for they
also claimed 1024x1440 with some hardware.
The Amiga owners were also intriuged (rather unconvinced), and we all
awaited futher news. Lots of times, something like this is second hand
info (or 3rd or 4th hand).
Ewald then posted again, this time, he specifically stated this was on
_his_ Falcon030! And more resolutions: 880x608x8bits with no hardware
and 1024x672 (no bits given, most likely 16 colors), Non Interlaced
with hardware. He also gave the monitor type: NEC3fg. (~$800) He ended
that by saying "You'll be able to buy it when we are ready." Another
poster added that "it does one thing: feed a higher pixel clock rate
into the machine" The rest is software.
Georg Acher and Michael Eberl{eberl@informatik.tu-muenchen.de} created
Super_78, a TSR that puts you into a 78hz mode. Usually, the pixel
clock is set to 25Mhz, but it can be set to approximately 32mhz,
(which is what super_78 does). If you don't want higher frequencies,
one can increase the resolution. From Michael's post, he claims
800x600, no hardware, and 16 colors. Also, 1024x768 interlaced at
83hz! (16 colors). Michael states that you can go higher, but then the
flicker gets more apparent.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Demo-coder Comments about the Falcon030
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Another interesting post showed up, it was from "Griff" of Electronic
Images {Martin Griffiths: mdg@ukc.ac.uk}
Titled: The Falcon: A programmer/demo writers view!
Graphics----
He states the Blitter is "redundant". While it moves 3.2 megs a
second, the CPU is stopped, _or_ it can be run in a shared mode (64
cycle segments), While in 320*200 true color mode, the 030 can move
10megs a second (200k or so per vblank). "...so why bother with the
Blitter." He mentions that because of the caches, and shifters on the
030 all types of sprite/scrolling can be done in about 1/2 the time
that it takes the blitter in 'hog' mode. As an example, he created a
25fps, 190 pixel high, rotating, texture mapped cube!
Sound-----
Griff wrote the Protracker module player (at atari.archive: in the
Falcon directory), it plays mods at 50khz, using 15bits per channel (2
channel stereo). The tech details are: 32-bit interpolation with an
8->15 bit volume conversion table, it consumes about 30-35% cpu time.
He estimates a 3% cpu time if the DSP is utilized. A trick from
Douglas Little (Mr. Photocrhome): Griff mentions is that you can turn
off any external sound inputs, set all 8 channels to sample at 50khz,
with the output to the screen. Bam! 0 cpu time screen clear.
DSP-----
Griff didn't have docs on the DSP, but by dissassembling the ROMs he
figured a 3-5 meg/second transer rate between DSP RAM, and normal RAM.
(1meg/sec with the OS) Although probably conjecture, he says the DSP
will be able to rotate about _1_million_ vertices per second. (Tim's
note: not that hard to believe, one of the new Falcon games does real
time goraud shading). His ending comment is that he has a DSP book on
order. I guess we will see what Griff cranks out in the near future.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Fortran for TT030
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
For those few who use FORTRAN, Stig Hovland {stigvi@lise.unit.no}
stated that he compiled SPICE version 2G6 using F2C, a free fortran to
C converter, and GCC, with no changes to the source. This in response
to a TT owner who wanted to get a FORTRAN working for his 16 meg/FPU
TT. Other netters sugguested the TT version of Prospero FORTRAN.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New MiNT controller DA
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jan Willekens {jan@nextjk.wlink.nl} announced a new DA called MiNT
Control. Jan asks for ideas, and plans to release it soon, I'll let
Jan explain it:
" Let me list some of these functions present in the current beta
version:
- All processes can be displayed, killed, halted, continued, their
priorities can be changed and various amounts of information on a
particular process can be listed. (e.g., how much memory it consumes)
- Information on global system memory usage can be listed.
- Program flags can be changed. Supported are: fastload/TT Ram run/TT
Ram malloc, private/global/super/readable and the shared text flag.
- The MultiTos config files (MiNT.CNF and GEM.CNF) and the system
environment can be easily edited through the use of popup menus.
- Processes can be started through the use of a kind of batch files,
which enables the user to run one or multiple processes with a given
priority, maximum memory usage, environment,command line, default
directory, etc. A comfortable full-GEM editor is implemented in the
program.
- At startup, the processes running (eg. your Auto folder programs and
accessories) can be given a certain priority through the use of a
configuration file.
"MiNT Control runs on (Mega) ST(E)'s, TT's and Falcon030's. It requires a
minimum resolution of 640 x 200.
"What we would like to hear from YOU are suggestions. While reading
the list above, has a certain feature come to your mind which hasn't
been listed? Tell us! If there is anything you want to see implemented
(like process startup time scheduleing), please do let us know! We can
think of lots of things, but don't want to overload the program with
features. It's better to have a functional not so extensive program
which people USE than to have a large program, loaded with exotic
features which nobody uses, and which only consumes a lot of memory.
"So give us your ideas!"
Jan can also be reached at 2:281/202.12 on FidoNet. Diederik
Hoogenboom {diederik@gadget.hse.nl} is working with him.
Supposedly Atari was working on something similar, but is wary about
the damage a new user could do with such a utility. (Making the
desktop have zero CPU time, or other nasty type of things.)
Understandible, but Jan's DA seems like a utility I'll be picking up.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Empire Deluxe
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Kenneth Love {kllove@bearcat.ecn.uoknor.edu} contacted New World
Computing about Empire Deluxe, they said they didn't have one planned.
If you want to see Empire Deluxe for the ST, Kenneth sugguests you
call New World at 1-818-999-0607.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// TT030 gaming
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
It seems a few people are trying to get games to work with their TTs.
Various solutions being to turn off the cache and get a Drive A: boot
program. To get Dungeon Master to run, a TOS 3.06 user Yves Pelletier
{Pelletier@Nyongwa.CAM.ORG}, boots from a floppy with perfect timing
of the 'Alt' key. Ctrl-Alt-Del, and then hits Alt-1 just after the
Atari Logo pops up.
Here are some TT compatible games listed by Joe Tapply
{jdmt@dcs.ed.ac.uk}
" F16 by Digital Integration
Robocop 3 Ocean - really,really cool on a TT!
Microprose Grand Prix - also good at 32MHz!
Starglider
Drive Harder Domark - faster than the arcade!
Falcon Mission Disk 2 (STE version)
Interphase
"
This is only a very small list, but the only ones he could think of.
As usual, games that follow the rules are the ones that run.
Many of the copy protection schemes are based on the system clock,
not the real time clock. And of course, they don't boot when used in a
fast 030.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// NetHack release
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
For you NetHack fans, the new 3.1 version was recently announced.
Branching dungeons, a unifying mythology that has different quests for
the different classes, a multi-level endgame, monsters can now wield
and use wands, scrolls, and spells, a new line of sight display It
seems Christoph Koerner {christof@wowbagger.pc-labor.uni-bremen.de} is
working on a <1 MB version of Nethack, while Eric Smith recently
compiled nethk311.zoo at atari.archive.
While I haven't played NetHack, its the original game that Rogue was
patterned after, it also seems to be rather adictive.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// 32 MHz Falcon030 board?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Torbjoern Ose {tose@brosme.dhmolde.no} says that GE Soft is working on
a 32Mhz card without a second level cache but with FASTram, (up to
32MB) for the Falcon030. He says that GE Soft will display this new
board at CeBit. This was 'second hand' info, (he read this in a German
magazine). CeBit is coming up quick, so we'll see.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// GFA BASIC
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
John "Hutch" Hutchinson of Fair Dinkum Technologies called up GFA
Software Technologies. The 'unofficial' word on GFA Basic version 3.7
is that it is on hold pending evaluation of how the Falcon030 sells.
Steve Wells {wells_s@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz} claims that GFA-Basic 4.0 is
operational, and running on Atari Austrailia's Falcon030's. (or so he
has been told.)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// PD Falcon030 files
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
New Falcon software at atari.archive:
WinRec 1.0: a PD Direct to disk recorder, allows real time effects as
you record or playback. Includes some .LOD files. (.LOD files are DSP
programs)
Fortune: Your Falcon030 will _say_ a quote from a famous actor or
person upon boot up. Capt. Kirk, The Terminator, and others are
included.
Super_78: Puts your Falcon030 into a 78hz refresh rate. It kills that
interlace flicker on your TV or SC monitor!
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| GEnie Atari ST RoundTable News
/ | \ Courtesy: GEnie
------------------------------
Atari Roundtable Weekly News 3.3
= DARLAH'S TREAT =
NEW DARLAH'S TREAT CLUBDEMO.LZH Option 9 on PAGE 475
INFOworks presents Club Dominoes, the most authentic and realistic
dominoes simulation available for ANY computer. If you enjoy playing
Mah Jong, Ishido, Backgammon, Yahtzee or Cards, you'll like Club
Dominoes! For ANY Atari ST/STe/TT w/512k, low or med rez, and hard
disk installable. Download from page 475 Option 9 for FREE!!!!!
NEW DARLAH'S CLASSIC TREAT MJ30DEMO.ZIP Option 10 on PAGE 475
This DEMO of Mah Jong solitare from Cali-CO. is a PLAYABLE demo that
contains 3 layouts, 3 tablecloths and 3 tile sets. All the layouts are
winable, but they will all be the same! The REAL version has MANY
layouts, tile sets, tablecloths and ALL the Games are DIFFERENT!
= REALTIME CONFERENCES =
= Scheduled Wednesday RTC =
Have an idea for an Realtime Conference? Wish to promote a product,
show or service? Atari Roundtable Realtime Conference provides an
excellent platform for announcements and discussions. Contact RTC$,
for requirements and information on holding formal RTCs. We also
capture and edit the formal conferences and uploads them into the
Atari RT's Library for you.
= Monday Realtime Conference =
Stop in for Monday's Desktop Publishing Realtime Conferences. Hosted
by Lou Rocha with regular guests dealing with all aspects of DTP and
associated topics.
= Atari ST Help Desk =
Atari ST Roundtable holds a Sunday Help Desk to answer your questions
on GEnie, Atari ST Roundtable and the line of Atari computers. Stop in
and ask questions or just visit the Atari RT staff and users. The Help
Desk starts at 9:00 pm EST Sunday on page 475;2.
= RTC Transcripts =
--------------------------------------------------
28072 CYBER_CO.ARC X ST.LOU 930316 18048 30 13
Desc: Cybercube RTC Transcript
28067 TWS_RTC.ARC X BRIAN.H 930315 11904 31 13
Desc: TWO WORLDS SOFTWARE RTC 10Mar 93
27953 BRODIE6.ARC X ST.LOU 930306 22016 583 13
Desc: MultiTOS Preview, Falcon030 News
27777 CODEHEAD.ARC X BRIAN.H 930218 16640 216 13
Desc: CODEHEAD RTC dated 18 Feb'93
27614 BRODIE5.ARC X ST.LOU 930206 16896 532 13
Desc: Brodie RTC Transcript Feb 1993
--------------------------------------------------
For Realtime Conference inquires and comments contact: RTC$
= LIBRARY =
Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities:
---------------------------------------------------
28021 PICSW101.LZH X JAKOB 930310 83072 548 28
Desc: PicSwitch 1.0.1
28015 MCGUN.LZH X TQUINN 930310 5120 176 21
Desc: Machine Gun Desk Accessory
27989 GFA_4_E.ASC X OUTRIDER 930308 2560 159 3
Desc: English docs for GFA 4.0 editor.
28019 PTPLAY12.ZIP X L.SMITH70 930310 15360 158 29
Desc: SUPER new MOD player with 11bit!!
28025 COCKTAIL.LZH X LOTSABYTES 930311 42880 156 21
Desc: Over 600 mixed drinks, with details
27988 GFA_4_PD.ZIP X OUTRIDER 930308 69504 149 3
Desc: GFA BASIC 4.0 Editor - Public Domain
28029 MDP_210.LZH X GRMEYER 930311 25728 127 2
Desc: MegaDePack v2.10
28034 PUNK_MAN.LZH (LH5) X R.QUEZADA 930312 86272 123 8
Desc: Excellent pacman clone w/board des.
27987 JPEG4BIN.ZIP X OUTRIDER 930308 62464 111 28
Desc: GREAT JPEG Compression/Decompression
---------------------------------------------------
Last Week's New Demos:
---------------------------------------------------
28068 HEIDDEMO.LZH X M.BURKLEY1 930316 62464 3 10
Desc: Heidi Seek v.2.06a file finder +
28054 ARTIS3.ASC X D.A.BRUMLEVE 930314 7296 35 10
Desc: Improved READ_ME for ARTIS 3 DEMO
28038 MSPYDEM2.LZH X J.EIDSVOOG1 930312 39168 69 10
Desc: New demo of MIDI Spy Sequencer
27995 ARTIS3.LZH X D.A.BRUMLEVE 930308 277632 49 10
Desc: Demo of ARTIS 3 for Graphics Design
---------------------------------------------------
Last Week's Press Releases in the Library
---------------------------------------------------
28061 MIST5.TXT X W.JONES43 930315 2688 30 14
Desc: MIST AtariFest V (Indianapolis show)
28055 FLASH_21.TXT X J.TRAUTSCHOL 930314 5504 113 14
Desc: Flash 2.1 Press Release
28051 1SHOW4.ASC X B.WELSCH 930313 1664 26 14
Desc: KANSAS CITY ATARIFEST LIST OF VENDOR
28007 PROCDIRE.DOC X S.DOUGHERTY1 930309 3712 182 14
Desc: Info on new Falcon magazine
28001 OL3_PRES.TXT X POTECHIN 930309 2176 118 14
Desc: Press Release for Outline Art 3.0
---------------------------------------------------
Contact: LIBRARY$
= COMMENTS =
You are free to use anything in this brief but files and Bulletin
Board quotes must be made in accordance to Atari ST Roundtables, Atari
Corporation and GEnie policies.
Feel free to contact me on any questions, comments or suggestions.
John G. Hartman [J.G.H.] Atari Roundtable, PR Sysop
--==--==--==--==--
||| AEO Calendar of Events
||| Compiled by: Lyre
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.3
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have been wondering where the next Atari computer show is going
to be held, look no further!
Computer shows where Atari Corp and/or Atari User Groups will be
attending are listed below. This includes important conferences held
online by Atari Corp or developers. Maybe your group, or one that you
know is hosting a show - if you are, please send me a note on GEnie
and I will gladly add your information to the listing.
While all of the material is factual, it is subject to change without
notice. Any announcements concerning the show will be included as long
as AEO hears of them.
//// PACS March 20, 1993
For those living in the Philadelphia, PA area, the PACS group is
sponsoring the Computer Festival at the Drexel University Main
Building on the corner of 32nd and Chestnut Streets between 9am and
4pm. Although a multi-platform show (in its 16th year), Atari
computers will be represented by NEAT, CDACC and JACS user groups.
For more information, call (215) 951-1255. Or to arrange for a booth,
contact for Atari display: Alice P. Christie, 207 Pontiac Street,
Lester, PA 19029. Alternately, by phone, call (215) 521-2569.
//// ACE HI May 15, 1993
<<[[ New Show ]]>>
The Hale Moku Community Center, just outside of Pearl Harbor, will be
the setting for the second annual ACE HI (Atari Computer Enthusiasts -
Hawaii) computer show. Starting at noon and ending at 6, every half
hour of the show will provide an event or door prize. So come down to
paradise; enjoy the sun and beautiful sights of the island state.
Including Waikiki Beach and the Arizona Memorial.
For more information contact ACE HI, Attn Otto Cleveland, P.O. Box
30957, Honolulu, HI, 96820. Or, inquiries may be sent to Jim German on
GEnie as J.GERMAN3.
//// CT AtariFest '93 June 12-13, 1993
The Connecticut AtariFest was such a rousing success last year
that it has been moved to the Windsor Court Hotel in Windsor, CT.
This major northeast computer event is once again being sponsored by
ACT - an umbrella organization consisting of Atari user groups in
Connecticut.
Although the show has moved from last year's location, it is only a
mile away. Yet it is still convenient to I-80, I-84, I-90, I-91 and
I-95 and to Bradly International Airport. Windsor Court Hotel offers
an excellent room rate of $35.00 per room. Otherwise, all prices
remain the same as last year. However, vendor booths will be almost
50% larger! Additional floor space, free parking, more vendors and
alternative activities for family members are available (a craft fair
and consumer electronics show are running concurrently).
Already, commitments from A&D Software, Gribnif Software, Barefoot
Software, Toad Computers, Computer Studio, Baggetaware, Derric
Electronics, E.Hartford Computer Repair, Wizztronics, and GFA Software
Technology have been made. There are other vendors making inquiries
also. Last year there was fourteen user groups in attendance, we
expect even more for this year's show. Come and see a Falcon030 at the
show. For further information, call Brian Gockley at 203-332-1721 or
Doug Finch at 203-637-1034.
//// Kansas City AtariFest '93 June 26-27, 1993
Join the members of the Kansas City Atari Connection for their first
major Atari show at the Stadium Inn, 7901 E 40 Highway, Kansas City,
Missouri. The show date, which conflicted with two other shows, has
been changed - please make a note of the new date. Advance ticket are
$4.00 per day or tickets may be purchased at the the door at $5.00 per
day.
Attend the show and visit the commercial developers: Cali-Co
Software, ICD, MissionWare Software, Fair-Dinkum Software, Systems For
Tomorrow, New Dimensions Computer Center, Compu-Seller West, ChroMagic
Software, Paul's Software, CodeHead Technologies, Clear Thinking
Software, SKWare, Electronic Spinster Graphics, D.A. Brumleve, Gribnif
Software, MegaType, Muller Automation, Oregon Research Associates,
Soft-Logik Publishing, Taylor Ridge Books and many others.
For advance tickets, please send payment to: Kansas City AtariFest,
P.O. Box 1653, Lee Summit, MO 64063. User groups may request a User
Group Information Package.
To make room reservations please call (800) 325-7901. If you will be
arriving by plane, you may call (800) 874-7691 and a local travel
agent will arrange a special airfare rate for those wishing to attend
the show.
For more information, you may leave inquiries on GEnie to B.WELSCH,
B.FRAZIER2 or J.KRZYSZTOW. On CompuServe, contact Jeff Krzysztow at
74027,707. On Delphi, contact BOBTROW. Or you can call (816) 224-9021,
or send mail inquiries to the post office address listed above.
//// Blue Ridge AtariFest July 24-25, 1993
<<[[ New Show ]]>>
This year the Blue Ridge AtariFest is growing bigger and better then
ever with a weekend of excitement in the Westgate Shopping Center. As
the home of the Computer Studio, the mini-mall area will be showing the
latest and greatest Atari products on Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and
Sunday from noon till 5 pm.
Join the weekend fun and activities, see the hardware and software
available and meet the developers and nationally known personalities
in the Atari marketplace. You can even watch them demonstrate their
incredible creations in person.
If the show itself is not enough to draw you to the festivites, the
annual Bele Chere street festival will coincide with the Blue Ridge
AtariFest.
//// MIST AtariFest V July 31, 1993
The fifth annual MIST AtariFest will be held on Saturday, July 31 from 10
am to 5 pm at the Best Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel. The Mid-Indiana
Atari ST Users play host to
this excellent one day event with its proven
method of success.
This year a new location has been chosen for the MIST, the Best
Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel. Offerring free shuttle service to
Indianapolis International Airport, which is just minutes away, Best
Western is convenient to both air and car travel. Several major
highways allow acces to the hotel for motorists. An assortment of
dining and entertainment choices provide interesting diversions once
the show is complete.
Whether you are a novice or a professional user, their is something
for every Atari enthusiast. Seminars, held throughout the show, can be
attended by guests or show-goers can engage in Lynx or MIDIMaze
tournaments with the best players receiving prizes. Winners of the
rafle can pick up their prizes in a number of shapes, sizes and
purpose.
Hotel reservations can be arranged by calling (317) 299-8400; mention
MIST AtarFest V and take advantage of the discount rate. For single
occupancy. guests may stay in the hotel for $53 or for a double, $59.
Special facilities for the handicapped, non-smokers and small
children is available.
Admission to this show is still only $3.
For more information, send mail inquiries to ASCII, c/o Bill Jones,
6505 West Castle Avenue, Indianapolis, IN, 46241. Or, by phone, call
(317) 856-4260. Online via GEnie, messages may be sent to W.JONES43;
on FidoNet Mail at Bill Jones at 1:231/370.0 or by InterNet/UUCP at
Bill.Jones@f370.n231.z1.fidonet.org.
//// The Glendale Show September 18-19, 1993
The Southern California Atari Computer Faire, version 7.0 takes place
in Los Angeles, California. The largest domestic event for Atari
computer enthusiasts for the last several years, many developers and
vendors attend to show off their latest products. For more
information, contact John King Tarpinian (of the HACKS user group) at
(818) 246-7286.
//// COMDEX November 15-19, 1993
This industry-wide computer show occurs in Las Vegas, Nevada each
year. More info as it becomes available.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Developing News! ............
||| Compiled by: Lyre
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.4
------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't even want to hear about snow!
Have you ever had to shovel out a three car wide, two car deep
driveway? Well, I've done it just this last weekend. We got at
=least= 16" of snow here with 2' or higher drifts.
Why am I mentioning this in the Press Releases information? Because
the "Storm of the Century" impinged on my writing schedule for the
latest issue of AEO. I am writing this introduction at the last
minute, having put together some of these press releases the minute
before!
Well, "stiff upper lip" and all that kind of stuff.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// STraight FAX!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
NewSTar Technology Management, the developer of the STraight FAX!
is asking all STraight FAX! owners to please re-register, since
some users Registration Cards were not made available from the
previous company that marketed the STraight FAX! software.
Many owners have already re-registered and we wish to thank them for
taking the time to re-register.
Registering with either Toad Computers or NewSTar Technology
Management is acceptable. You do not need to register with both
companies. The registration information obtained by either party
is inputted to the same database - so no one will be lost.
STraight FAX! version 1.07 is about to be released and since only
registered users are eligible for updates, all users need to be
registerd.
To re-register, please send us:
- Your 10 Digit STraight FAX! Registration Number, this is the
number that was typed into the Installation program to install
the STraight FAX!.
- Name under which the program was registered, include a company
name if applicable.
- Address, City, State, Zip Code and Country.
- Voice Telephone Number (optional).
- FAX Telephone Number (optional).
- CompuServe and/or GEnie E-Mail Address.
- Date of purchase (approximate if not exactly known).
- Where the STraight FAX! was purchased from (or was the STraight
FAX! purchase an upgrade from the JuST the FAX! Send FAX
Software/Modem).
Using one of the following methods:
- In a private E-Mail message to the Sysop on the Toad Computers
BBS at (410) 544-6999 (300-14400 baud).
- Via a FAX to the FAX Support Line at (410) 544-1329.
- Via a letter to NewSTar Technology Management at the address
provided below.
- In a Private E-Mail message to 73047,2565 on CompuServe.
- In a Private E-Mail message to C.S.SMETON on GEnie.
Please do not post your Address, Telephone Number, Registration
Number, or Credit Card Numbers in any public message areas on the
Toad Computers BBS or the online services where we provide support.
If you are in doubt, please post a test message with no private
information or try to send E-Mail to the Sysops.
We also ask that any owners who have never registered their copy
of the STraight FAX! do so by filling out the Registration Card
and mailing it to our new address:
NewSTar Technology Management
P.O. Box 0122
Columbia, MD 21045-0122
If a registered user has had a change of address or phone numbers
or has transferred the ownership to another person, we also ask
that you re-register so that we can make sure that you are in our
customer database. Please include your previous address or the
previous owner name/address.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CyRel Sunrise M16-1280
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Suggested Retail: $1499.00
Cybercube Research Ltd has announced the release of the CyRel Sunrise
M16-1280, a True Color high resolution VME bus graphics card for Atari
TT030 and Mega STe computers.
Incorporating a fully programmable Color Video Controller with 2 Mb of
32-bit video RAM, custom designed components and more then 70 video
clock frequencies (up to 120 Mhz), a new level of performance,
integration and high speed graphics has been set for Atari computers.
A wide range of operating modes are supported; from economic
monochrome displays to dazzling True Color imaging capabilities. The
CyRel Sunrise M16-1280 can be operated with any standard analog
monitor. This means you can continue to utilize 12" analog greyscale
monitors, 17" VGA monitors - or even high end multi- synch monitors up
to 37" in size!
With built-in expansion connectors, further opportunities for
enhancement provide a flexible path for future computer system
upgrades.
Utilizing custom True Color capable VDI drivers, compatibility with
almost all GEM applications. A number of system accessories increase
the comfort and ease of configuring the various features of the
graphics cards.
An additional product, the CyRel VidiMix8 Desktop Video expansion
module, allows multi-media application to take advantage of the
Sunrise M16-1280 graphics card. You can record live video clips or
instantly resize and capture True Color video images in real- time.
The VidiMix8 encodes computer generated pictures, animation and images
in twelve internationally used TV broadcasting standards while
providing a plethora of special effects.
The cards are being distributed by DMC Publishing Inc. and have a SRP
of US $1,499. Visit our new GEnie Support area (Category 16, Topic
12).
For more information or to purchase this product, contact DMC
Publishing Inc., 2800 John Street, Suite 10, Markham, ON, L3R 0E2,
Canada. Alternately, call (416) 479-1880 or by FAX (416) 479- 1882.
You may also contact Cybercube Research Limited, 126 Grenadier
Crescent, Thornhill, ON, L4J 7V7, Canada. Or call (416) 882-0294, or
by FAX (416) 886-3261.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CyRel Palette Master, Release 3.6e
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Suggested Retail: $ 17.00
Cybercube Research Limited has announced the release of the CyRel
Palette Master.
Palette Master originated as an interactive color handling utility
designed to facilitate color control on the CyRel Sunrise M16-1280
True Color graphics cards. The newly revised version now operates on
any Atari computer model in monochrome, 4 colors, 16 colors, 256
colors, Falcon030 High Color modes and even in the True Color modes of
the CyRel Sunrise M16-1280 graphics card.
Palette Master provides smooth shading, the ability to cut and past
color clipboard images, swap, copy, rainbow, color and greyscale
conversion, palette or profile operation with multiple undo functions,
gamma correction and color level adjustment.
Although designed for high resolution displays, this version operates
on screens as small as 320x200. A special screen layout is used
whenever resolution drops below a certain threshold. Some features
are not available in modes with less than 16 colors.
Palette Master makes extensive use of icons and sub-menus to provide
all of the options available. Including on-line help functions to
help familiarize the user with all of the features available.
Operating as a program or an accessory, the Palette Master completely
replaces and surpasses all existing color handling utilities. It is
highly recommended that Palette Master be utilized as an accessory.
Pallette Master comes complete with installation instructions, help
file, tutorial and more than 30 pre-defined color palettes to
customize any desktop. A free demonstration package is available
through many BBSs and information services such as GEnie.
Palette Master, release 3.6e, is available for $17 US or $20 Canadian
(add $1 for shipping) for a single copy. Shipping prices vary with
larger orders. All orders must be prepaid by check or money order in
Canadian or US funds only.
If you would like to know more about this products, please contact
Cybercube Research Limited, 126 Grenadier Crescent, Thornhill, ON, L4J
7V7, Canada. Or, by phone (416) 882-0294 or by FAX (416) 886- 3261.
Online you may send inqueries on GEnie to CYBERCUBE, or contact our
own bulletin board system at (416) 882-5895.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CyRel Serial Mouse Manager, Release 1.02c
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Suggested Retail: $13.00
The CyRel Serial Mouse Manager, a product of Cybercube Research
Limited, provides a device driver for any Atari computer allowing the
use of high resolution serial mice compatible with the MS- Mouse or
PC-Mouse standard or any graphics tablet compatible with the
Summagraphics MM series.
A Device driver is software that controls and communicates directly
with system hardware, harware expansion modules and other peripherals
to extend the scope of the features provided by the built-in operating
system. Making interaction with the computer system more flexible.
As a device driver, the CyRel Serial Mouse Manager enhances the GEM
operating system by allowing the use of any mouse that conforms to the
MS-Mouse or PC-Mouse standard. Additionally, it adds the ability to
allow Summagraphics or compatible drawing tablets utilizing the MM
series standard to be added. The mouse or tablet may be attached
through any of the serial ports. Either the original mouse or the
serial mouse may be used at any time.
The Serial Mouse Manager current works with:
Microsoft(R) MS-Mouse (serial type)
MSC(R) Mouse Systems Corporation PC-Mouse
Summagraphics(R) MM961 Graphics Tablet
Summagraphics(R) MM1201 Graphics Tablet
Summagraphics(R) BitPadII Graphics Tablet
SummaSketch(R) Plus Graphics Tablet
The program allows easy configuration of input devices through a GEM
based configuration utility. Thereafter allowing automatic serial
port configuration depending on the selected input device.
The CyRel Serial Mouse Manager is actually three utilities in one. A
mouse accelerator, a screen saver and the serial mouse driver. The
mouse accelerator provides advanced mouse speed control features
including ballistic responce, dynamic speed regulation and mouse
resolution compensation. It supports the CyRel Sunrise M16-1280 True
Color graphics card.
An it does all of this without requiring soldering, hardware add- ons,
patch cables or any other system modifications. Simply use the Serial
Mouse Manager program and you're ready to go.
A free demonstration package is available on many BBSs and information
service such as GEnie.
The Serial Mouse Manager, release 1.02c, is available for $13 US or
$15 Canadian (add $1 for shipping) for a single copy. Shipping prices
vary with larger orders. All orders must be prepaid by check or money
order in Canadian or US funds only.
If you would like to know more about this products, please contact
Cybercube Research Limited, 126 Grenadier Crescent, Thornhill, ON, L4J
7V7, Canada. Or, by phone (416) 882-0294 or by FAX (416) 886- 3261.
Online you may send inqueries on GEnie to CYBERCUBE, or contact our
own bulletin board system at (416) 882-5895.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Migraph Sale Extended
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Migraph, makers of Migraph OCR, OCR Jr and Touch-Up has announced
that their Christmas Sale on scanners and scanner related software
has been extended. The extension will be in effect until April
30, 1993.
Migraph OCR and OCR Jr have the following features. Migraph OCR
Jr does not have the features preceeded by an asterisk.
* Process any scanned text in IMG, IFF or TIFF format.
o Save scanned text in ASCII format.
o Direct support of Migraph, Alfadata and Golden Image
hand scanners.
* Allows use of other scanners - including flatbed, but not
directly supported.
o Omnifont technology (mathematical definitions, not raster
images) used to recognize text.
o Automatic recognition of 20 fonts (including Courier,
Helvetica, Times, Bookman, Letter Gothic and Artisan).
o Font sizes recognized for included fonts is between 8-18
points.
o Reads 8-18 point proportional or monospaced fonts, whether
typewritten, typeset, laser printed or NLQ dot matrix.
o Linguistic databases for English, German and French make
intelligent interpretations of unusual, defaced or
questionable characters.
o Use locator, multiple zoom levels and polylines to view
and select text to save time and disk space.
o Works on any ST, STe, Mega or TT computer with 2MB of
memory and a hard disk. (4MB recommended for flatbed
scanners.)
Migraph OCR Jr has all of the power and features of the full
Migraph OCR software except that it does not allow loading of
image files of any type. Instead, images must be scanned in
directly using a Migraph, AlfaData or Golden Image hand scanner.
Migraph OCR Jr is upgradeable to the full Migraph OCR software for
an additional fee of $50.
* Super Scanner Bundle $299.00
includes Hand Scanner, Touch-Up, and Migraph OCR Jr.
* Hand Scanner & Touch-Up $199.00
* Migraph OCR Jr. $149.00
* Scanning Tray w/Merge-It and Scan & Save $ 69.00
* PS-400 Wand Full Page Scanner $649.00
Scan full page images in a single pass with the
PS-400 full Page Scanning Wand. 100-400 DPI
scanning resolution, 4 other settings, 1 line art
setting, adjustable contract, up to 256 grayscales
via software conversion. Includes Wand, Touch-Up,
Migraph OCR (full version), interface and
power supply.
* PS-400 Sheet Feeder $199.00
Scans pages automatically. Requires PS-400 Wand.
Visa, Mastercard and personal checks are accepted. Their is an
additional shipping charge. Items may be sent out UPS Blue Label
upon request. Sales Tax where applicable. No cash refunds.
Exchanges only.
For more information contact Migraph, 32700 Pacific Highway South,
#12, Federal Way, WA 98003. To place an order, you may call (800)
223-3729 (sales inquiries only) or by FAX at (206) 838-4702.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Fair Dinkum is Falcon030 Compatible
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
FairDinkum Technologies has announced that updates to Crossword Creator
II, Word Search Creator and The Cryptographer are now available which
make these products Falcon030 compatible.
Although these updates do not include additional features, they are
capable of taking advantage of the ST medium and high resolution modes
offered by the Falcon030. If you own a Falcon030 you can obtain these
updates by contacting Fair Dinkum Technologies; this update will
either be free or cost $5 depending on your current version.
Depending upon user demand, Falcon030 specific versions of Crossword
Creator II and Word Search Creator will be dependent upon the demand
of users.
Owners of Cyberdrome - The Hoverjet Simulator need not worry as the
program is already Falcon030 compatible.
For more information, contact Fair Dinkum Technologies, P.O. Box 2,
Los Alamos, NM, 87544. Or you may call (505) 662-7236. Alternately,
on GEnie, inquiries may be sent to FAIR-DINKUM.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Flash II v2.1 Upgrade
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Suggested Retail: $49.95 Upgrade Price: *Free*
March 14, 1993
Missionware Software, as the exclusive distributor of this best
selling telecommunications software, is pleased to announce the
release of version 2.1 of Flash II.
Completely rewritten by Paul Nichols of Australia, Flash II still has
the look and feel of previous versions of Falsh - and a host of new
features to increase your online productivity. No matter what your
level of telecommunications knowledge, the pro and the beginner can
learn and use Flash II quickly and easily.
Here are just some of the features of Flash II and what this
telecommunications software can do for you:
DO script files compatible with older versions of Flash!
All macros use the familiar Flash DO script format!
Easily setup the parameters for each BBS you call...this includes
everything from ASCII upload/download options to baud rate!
You can program up to 20 individual and separate macros for each
BBS plus an additional 10 global macros !
Displays RLE & GIF pictures either on or off line! You can also
save or load these pictures for later review!
Supports the following terminal types: TTY, VIDTEX, VT52, ANSI,
VT100, VT101, VT102, VT200, VT300 & PRESTEL.
Now includes full support for RTS/CTS. This mode can now be turned
on and off by the user.
Includes Automatic Answer mode!
Includes Auto Boards mode - Preselect the board(s) you wish to dial
and when Flash II is launched either manually from the desktop by
you, or automatically by some other program launcher, Flash II
will wakeup and dial the board(s) you've got selected. It will
also wait for the proper time to dial these boards.
Includes full featured GEM text editor with: merge, block commands,
cut & paste, search & replace, paragraph reformating; user tab
settings, page width, full keyboard cursor and delete control and
more!
Supports the ST, IBM and DEC character sets, including IBM
graphics characters!
Includes Silent Line for background file transfers!
Supports the following upload/download protocols: ASCII, Xmodem,
Ymodem, Ymodem-G, Zmodem, Modem7, WXmodem, CIS B, Kermit and
SEAlink! All of these protocols are built into the program...
no external modules required!!!
Zmodem now supports the selection of AutoStart and Streaming
options. If you prefer to use an external Zmodem protocol with
Flash II, you can now force Flash II's Zmodem autostart mode to
off. For BBS' that don't support "streaming", this too can now
be turned off.
Logs all on line time and calculates your approximate costs for
you!
New version written in assembler! Fast!
Runs on all ST, STe and TT's
Now supports "Install Application". You can create a DO script
that can be used to launch Flash II from the desktop and force
it to dial up and go online for you, all automatically!
Both the Terminal and Editor have been enhanced significantly for
both speed and ease of use. You'll be amazed at how fast the
new Flash II is!
A new "BReak" script command is added which permits the sending
of a terminal break to the host computer while a script is
running.
Flash II version 2.00 was released in April last year and was updated
to version 2.01 a few months later. The upgrade to version 2.01 was
necessary to several problems discovered within the software.
As a full upgrade, version 2.1 is being sent out to all currently
registered customers - free of charge - on a brand new disk as
promised.
During the next several weeks upgrades will be mailed out in serial
number order. Users with lower serial numbers should be receiving
their upgrades shortly, while higher numbers will be mailed later.
All registered users should have recieved their upgrades by mid April.
If you are a registered customer and have not received your upgrade by
mid April, please contact us.
In addition to the enhancements listed below, this upgrade includes a
new installation program that all users will need to run. It is
imperative that the software be re-registered (on the new master disk
for version 2.1) before being copied to another disk. Also,
re-registering the software allows you to take advantage of
maintenance upgrades which will be available online as a patch file.
Missionware Software's upgrade policy remains the same for the new
version 2.1. Any older versions of Flash! (copyrighted by Antic
Software) can be upgraded for just $30 plus $4 shipping and handling
in the US or Canada, or $8 shipping and handling world wide.
Or, you may purchase Flash II version 2.1 directly for only $49.95
plus the applicable shipping and handling charges for your area.
For more information, contact Missionware Software, 354 North Winston
Drive, Palatine, IL, 60067-4132. By phone, you may call (708)
359-9565. Online inquiries, via GEnie, may be sent to J.TRAUTSHOL or
posted within the ST RT in Category 8, Topic 2.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Outline Art 3
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Suggested Retail: $149.95 Upgrade Price: $49.95 US
$175.00 $59.95 Canadian
DMC Publishing has announced the release of the long awaited upgrade
to Outline Art now available in version 3.0.
DMC Publishing, announcing the release of the long awaited upgrade to
Outline Art, has stated that Outline Art 3.0 is currently available.
Including all of the features that made the original version famous,
additional features expand the capabilities of this vector graphics
program. These new features include color support, exporting in PS or
EPS formats, macro keys, a user-definable Undo function, context
sensitive help and much more.
Their are two versions of Outline Art 3.0 which are available; either
two or four megabyte configurations. Dependent on your existing
hardware, when placing your order please indicate your specific Atari
computer.
All existing registered owners of Outline Art can upgrade to version
3.0 at the introductory upgrade price of $49.95 US or $59.95 Canadian
until May 30, 1993.
Those interested in creating vector graphics who do not currently own
Outline Art 1.0, can purchase Outline Art 3.0 at the introductory
price of $149.95 US or $175.00 Canadian.
Due to the release of the latest version, effective immediately the
price of Outline Art 1.0 has been changed to $89.95 US or $109.95
Canadian.
The July/August 1992 issue of Atari Explorer carried the winners of
the second annual Outline Art contest. The contest attracted entries
from professional and amateur Outline Art users, worldwide and is
indicative of the position long held by this vector graphic drawing
program from DMC. (All winning entries are available for downloading
from library 30 in the Atari Roundtable Library on GEnie.)
A four megabyte DEMO version of Outline Art 3.0 is available for
downloading. This demonstration program is entirely functional with
the exception of saving, exporting and the context sensitive help. As
you explore the features of the demonstration program, you will gain
first hand experience of this industry standard vector graphics
program and learn why Outline Art is famous.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact your
nearest Atari Dealer or DMC directly. DMC would be pleased to answer
any questions you might have.
To contact DMC Publishing, mail may be sent to 2800 John Street, Unit
10, Markham, Ontario, Canadao L3R 0E2. By phone, (416) 479-1880 or by
FAX (416) 479-1882. Online, you may send inquiries via GEnie to ISD,
or on CompuServe at 76004,2246 or on Delphi as ISDMARKETING.
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| Shutdown ............................. Power off, EXIT, BYE, Logoff
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We at AEO would like to wish a fond farewell to a longtime Atari
employee and online presense - John Townsend. John is leaving Atari
to continue his programming career at Taligent. Here's John's
"farewell" message, reprinted courtesy of the GEnie ST RoundTable:
Category 14, Topic 13
Message 109 Wed Mar 17, 1993
TOWNS [John@Atari] at 19:51 EST
Permission to reprint this message is granted as long as the
message is printed intact, as is. Thank you.
Hello Everyone. I just wanted to share a piece of news with you
personally before it made its way to the rumor mill. I want you
to hear this from me directly, not someone else.
I offically resigned my position as a Software Engineer at Atari
Corporation on March 16th, 1993. I will work for Atari until the
26th of March. After that I will be joining Taligent, Inc. to
work on their new Object-Oriented Operating System products.
First, I would like to tell you why I have made this decision.
I have been studying Object-Oriented Design (OOD for short) on
my own for quite some time. I have really developed an interest
in the technology and wish to work with it. When the opportunity
arose at Taligent to do this kind of work, I jumped at the chance.
Second, I am _NOT_ leaving Atari because they are going out of
business. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, as
many of you know, Atari is working on some really exciting
products. Some of which you know about, some you don't (No, I
won't tell you about them! ;-) that I think have a very good
chance of drastically improving Atari's marketshare on a number
of fronts. I wish them the greatest success with these products.
Third, just because I am leaving doesn't mean that the world is
going to end. Atari still have _MANY_ talented people working
for the company. They can (and I think will!) get the job done
and bring to Atari the success that has evaded it for so long.
Fourth, I will still be around. I plan to get my own GEnie
account and I will stop in on a regular basis and say hello. I
have many friends online and would like to stay in touch with
all of you!
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for their support over
the past 5 years. You have helped to make this one of the
greatest learning experiences of my life thus far and I thank
you for that.
So, don't get mad at Atari for my depature.. they didn't do
anything to drive me away. In fact, they took steps to try to
make me stay and I was happy here. The fact is that an
opportunity came along that I want to take and I am going
for it! I wish all of you the best of luck and look forward
to seeing the Falcon030 soar with the "eagles" of the computer
industry!
Sincerely,
John Townsend
------------
John, you will be missed here. We wish you happiness and success.
Until the next issue of AEO, I remain,
Your Editor
Travis Guy
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine is a bi-weekly publication covering the
Atari computer community. Material published in this issue may be
reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain unedited
and include the issue number and author at the top of each article
reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted at the
beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and not for
profit publications. Opinions presented herein are those of the individual
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of Atari
Corporation.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, Mega STE, TT030, Atari Falcon030, TOS,
MultiTOS, NewDesk, BLiTTER, Atari Lynx, Atari Jaguar, Atari Portfolio,
and the Atari Fuji Symbol are all trademarks or registered trademarks
of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned in this issue
belong to their respective owners.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine
"The Official Atari Online Journal"
Copyright (c) 1993, Atari Computer Corporation
* * *
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:: Volume 2 - Issue 6 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 20 March 1993 ::
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