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Atari Explorer Online Issue 1993 17
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:: Volume 2 - Issue 17 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 2 October 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 Subspace Publishers ::
:: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Publisher ........................... Michael Lindsay EXPLORER ::
:: Editor .................................. Travis Guy AEO.MAG ::
:: News and Features Editor ............... Ron Kovacs Z-NET ::
:: Assistant Editor GEnie............... Ron Robinson EXPLORER.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor CompuServe......... Albert Dayes AEO.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor Delphi........ Andreas Barbiero AEO.2 ::
:: Assistant Editor Internet....... Timothy Wilson AEO.8 ::
:: Atari Asylum .................. Gregg Anderson AEO.7 ::
:: Unabashed Atariophile .... Michael R. Burkley AEO.4 ::
:: Atari Artist .................. Peter Donoso EXPLORER.2 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: Telecommunicated to you via: ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: GEnie: AEO.MAG ::
:: CompuServe: 70007,3615 ::
:: Delphi: AEO_MAG ::
:: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 593 ::
:: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/13 ::
:: Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com ::
:: ::
:: Internet subscription service: stzmagazine-request@virginia.edu ::
:: (Internet subscription requests ONLY!) ::
:: ::
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Table of Contents
* From the Editors ................................. From Jaguars to glory.
* Z*NET Newswire ...................... The latest computing industry news.
* Dateline: Atari! ................... Bob talks Jaguarese and Falconspeak
in his monthly GEnie RTC.
* Atari Artist .................... Another look at Wizztronics' Falcon030
h/w add-ons - Cubase Audio at AES.
* Jaguar Editorial ............... A gamer's reasons why the Jag will make
it big - a reprint from the newest
Die Hard Game Fan magazine.
* Geneva ...................... Gribnif's new multitasking AES replacement
- Ed Krimen reviews it.
* News from Usenet .................. Tim goes 3DO hunting in the Bay Area.
* The Unabashed Atariophile .............. New PD and Shareware files made
for _your_ Atari computer.
* GEnie News ........................... New files & happenings on Atari's
Official Online Resource.
* Developing News .............................. Taylor Ridge Sale
Font Resource Guide
Atari United DiskMagazine
* Shutdown ........................... "Barney: Introduce to Purple People
Eater. Death is immediate."
--==--==--==--==--
||| From the Editors ....... Atari Explorer Online: The Next Generation
||| Travis Guy
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to another issue of Atari Explorer Online, your window on
events in the World Atari. The main focus these days at Atari is still
on the Jaguar. It's set to debut in about 50 days time in its initial
target cities, and Atari is in the process of putting the finishing
touches on the little things.
Back in the 70s, Atari invented videogaming - now in the 90s, Atari is
about to reinvent videogaming. A year from now, the old pitch phrase,
"Have you played Atari today?" should be back in vogue.
Reactions from people who have had hands-on time with a Jag are still
overwhelmingly positive. One such reaction can be found in the lead
editorial in Die Hard Game Fan magazine. We've been given permission
to reprint, and we have the Atari-related excerpt for your
consideration in this issue.
As the Jaguar leaps onto the gaming scene, look for its older brother,
the Atari Lynx, to resurface - ready to challenge the Lame, Bored
handheld videogame market. Always acknowledged as the technologicaly
superior handheld unit, I predict the Lynx will find its place, helped
by "name association, " tie-in advertising with the Jaguar, and if
rumors are right, a hefty price cut. Will Toys R Us pick the Lynx back
up? Stay tuned....
In addition to the Jaguar (the best videogame Not Yet For Sale), Atari
also makes (IMO) the best personal computers on the planet. While
Atari's focus has shifted from the Falcon030 to the Jaguar, third
party developers are beginning to crank out new and exciting products
to support and compliment the base h/w. Check out Peter & Fadi's Atari
Artist, and Ed Krimen's Geneva review. Michael Burkley's Unabashed
Atariophile is a keeper this time, dozens upon dozens of PD &
shareware files.
That's about enough from me. First up is the Z*Net Newswire, followed
by Bob Brodie's Dateline: Atari RTC. Read it several times, there's a
good many nuggets of information tucked inside.
One final note: AEO is adjusting our publishing schedule again - look
for our next issue in THREE weeks time. Then back to every other week.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Z*NET Newswire
||| Compiled and Edited by Ron Kovacs
/ | \ GEnie: Z-NET CIS: 75300,1642 Delphi: ZNET
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###################
#####(((((((((( ###
############(( ####
#########(( #######
######(( ########## This column contains the latest Atari News
#####(((((((((( ### with an update of the Computing Industry.
###################
//// ATARI ANNOUNCES FIRST JAGUAR DEVELOPERS - Atari has announced
============================================ its initial list of
developers for the Atari Jaguar 64-bit Interactive Multimedia system.
Since July, 20 developers have signed license agreements to publish
game titles for Jaguar. Additional high-profile developers and
publishers are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
"Developer response to Jaguar has been overwhelming - we've
accomplished what we set out to do by attracting the industry's top
developers," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. "The tremendous
power of Jaguar removes the programming barriers that exist on all
other gaming platforms, allowing developers to focus their energy and
imagination on creating truly revolutionary video games. The
technological prowess of our developers coupled with Atari's
aggressive marketing and comprehensive developer support program will
create a new industry standard for multimedia performance."
The developer list includes: Anco Software Ltd., Maxis Software,
Telegames Beyond, Games Inc., Microids, Tiertex Ltd., Dimension
Technologies, Midnight Software Inc., Titus Eurosoft, Ocean Software
Ltd., Tradewest High Voltage Software, Rebellion Software Ltd.,
Trimark Interactive, Krisalis Software Ltd., Retour 2048, U.S. Gold
Ltd., Loriciel S.A., Silmarils.
The strength of the Jaguar platform has attracted the industry's
premier developers, allowing them to immediately begin programming the
industry's first 64-bit video games. Comments include:
[] "We're excited about the reality of an advanced video game system
retailing for approximately $200 and delivering technology comparable
or superior to announced systems costing over three times as much.
Atari pioneered the video game industry - it's good to see them at the
forefront of innovation once again." - Kelly Flock, executive vice
president of Trimark Interactive.
[] "Kids, don't waste your Christmas money on something else, this Cat
is the new king of the video game jungle." - Terry Grantham, president
of Telegames Inc. (Telegames will release "Ultimate Brain Games" and
"European Soccer Challenge" for Jaguar in the spring and summer of
1994.)
[] "The 64-bit power of the Atari Jaguar allows us to move light years
beyond today's game standards." - Kris N. Johnson, president of Beyond
Games Inc. (Beyond will release "Battlewheels" for Jaguar in the
second quarter of 1994.).
The power of the Jaguar development environment allows programmers to:
Create the industry's first 64-bit video games, Deliver unprecedented
true-color graphics, stereo CD-quality sound and animation speed,
Enjoy unsurpassed ease in creating real-time 3-D virtual worlds,
Unleash programming creativity previously hampered by the restrictions
of all other gaming platforms.
//// ATARI APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR OF MARKETING - Atari announced last
============================================= week that Terrence
Valeski, a 22-year veteran in consumer electronics marketing, has
joined the company as director of marketing and advertising for
Jaguar. Valeski's immediate responsibility will be to execute the
national roll out for Jaguar - Atari's new high performance gaming
system. He reports directly to Sam Tramiel, president of Atari.
"We are very pleased that Terry has joined Atari. His experience is
invaluable to us," said Tramiel. "Developing strong relationships with
retailers and developers as well as communicating with consumers will
be critical to our success as we get ready to market and distribute
Jaguar world-wide."
In an industry dominated by foreign companies, U.S.-based Atari
announced this summer that it has developed a high-performance, 64-bit
home video game system called Jaguar, capable of delivering faster and
more powerful video games to the home market. Atari will make the
Jaguar in America and has signed IBM to manufacture the Jaguar in its
Charlotte, N.C. plant.
"Jaguar has truly leaped ahead of the competition in terms of quality,
price and performance," said Valeski. "My job will be to ensure that
we attract the best and the brightest and to market aggressively
through the channels of distribution. You can expect to see some major
shifts in the way Atari markets." Jaguar is expected to be available
to consumers before Thanksgiving 1993.
In an effort to develop strong marketing programs, Atari recently
chose Cunningham Communication Inc. as its marketing/communications
counsel. Cunningham is a Santa Clara, California-based public
relations firm specializing in high technology.
Before joining Atari, Valeski was founder and chief executive officer
of Intellivision, a leading home video game manufacturer in the 1980s.
Prior to that he was senior vice president for the Mattel Electronics
division of Mattel Toys. Valeski also held several senior positions at
Teledyne Waterpik and J. Walter Thompson Advertising, San Francisco.
//// IBM ANTIVIRUS PACKAGE - An enhanced version of IBM's AntiVirus
========================== package now is being shipped with the
various IBM systems. IBM AntiVirus 1.03 recognizes more than 2,000
viruses and resulted from five years of research. The software costs
$29.95, with one version for DOS and Windows systems and another for
OS/2.
//// NEC RECALLS BATTERY - The main battery used in NEC Technologies
======================== Inc.'s original notebook computer, sold in
the U.S. and Canada from December 1988 to April 1990, is being
recalled by the company. More than seven incidents in which a short
circuit occurred when the battery was being recharged, causing
irreparable damage and sometimes smoke or fire. The defective lithium
metal battery is found in NEC computer models PC-17-01 and PC-17-02
and that about 13,000 units are affected. NEC will replace the battery
with a nickel-metal-hydride battery, which uses newer technology.
//// NINTENDO WINS SUIT - Twenty-year-old Laura Moceri of Fraser,
======================= Mich., has lost a suit in which she
contended that playing a Nintendo video game caused her to have an
epileptic seizure. According to The Associated Press, the circuit
court jury in Mount Clemens, Mich., rejected the suit. Moceri sought
at least $10,000, claiming that five years ago she suffered a seizure
while playing the "Kid Icarus" video game. Moceri had said it was the
first of a number of seizures she suffered over the next several
years. The suit said Nintendo should have warned her playing the game
could bring on a seizure. For its part, Nintendo argued Moceri was
born with epilepsy and had played other video games without suffering
seizures, so it should not be held liable. It also said Moceri's case
was the first it had heard of seizures caused by video games.
//// COMPUSERVE TO OFFER CD-ROM SERVICE - CompuServe announced last
======================================= week that a project with
Metatec to publish a multimedia extension of the information service
on CD-ROM disk beginning in the first quarter next year. CompuServe
and Metatec told reporters the project will enable those with
CD-ROM-equipped computers to receive constantly updated online
information enhanced by audio and video components. Said CompuServe
President Maurice Cox, "This alliance with Metatec allows us to help
define the consumer information services of the future. We can use our
extensive network and database capability with the multimedia
capabilities of CD-ROM to deliver a broad array of new services to
CompuServe Information Service members." Metatec, which is based in
nearby Dublin, Ohio, produces Nautilus, a multimedia magazine
published monthly on CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows platforms and
featuring text and software.
//// WANG EMERGES FROM BANKRUPTCY - Wang emerged from bankruptcy
================================= protection, a little over a year
after it entered Chapter 11. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William C.
Hillman confirmed Wang's reorganization after hearing attorneys
describe how the once-powerful computer company has remedied its
troubled finances over the past 13 months. It is now possible for Wang
to step out from the court's protection as early as Sept. 30, which is
when the appeal period expires. The new Wang will primarily sell
software and services, unlike the old company that was founded by
Chinese immigrant An Wang and rose to prominence as a manufacturer of
computer hardware. The only connection to the Wang family will be
through the founder's eldest son, Frederick, who will maintain a seat
on the board of directors.
//// APPLE EXEC LEAVES AND FILES SUIT - Albert A. Eisenstat, Apple
===================================== Computer's executive vice
president and secretary, left the company abruptly today and has filed
a lawsuit over compensation related to his departure. Eisenstat's
position was eliminated in a company restructuring. Although he was
offered an executive severance program, he declined the package saying
it was insufficient. Apple said Eisenstat's suit is without merit.
//// PRODIGY LAUNCHES NEW COMPUTER SUPPORT BBS - The Prodigy service
============================================== has launched a new
computer support bulletin board where a growing list of hardware and
software companies have representatives available to electronically
answer consumers' questions about their products. The board is open 21
hours a day, seven days a week. It provides a direct connection with
vendors and other members who have the skills and knowledge to help
with a variety of technical problems. Helping Prodigy get the board
started are Gateway 2000, Meca Software, Timeworks, Alpha Software,
Niche Software Products, Masterclips, ETM Services, and Pastures. More
vendors will be added in the coming weeks.
//// LAP&PALMTOP '93 - The computer industry's major manufacturers,
==================== most of whom have state-of-the-art competitive
products, many trendsetting computing and communications products will
be on first time display at the Chicago Merchandise Mart InfoCenter,
October 7th & 8th. New products will be on display from: IBM, Apple,
NCR, Intel Corp. (who co-sponsors the show), AT&T, Lotus, NEC, Husky,
Olivetti, Ministor, Panasonic, and the local manufacturer in Chicago,
Zenith Corp. At an 8 a.m. keynote (which is free to the public) on
Thursday, Oct. 7th, Ted Waitt, president of Gateway 2000 and maybe the
industry's next Michael Dell, will discuss his company's portable
plans for 1994. For information on this event, call 800/444-EXPO or
212/682-7968.
//// VERBATIM TO MARKET IBM OPTICAL DISK - Verbatim announced that it
======================================== has signed an agreement
with IBM's Storage Systems Division which authorizes Verbatim to
manufacture, market and distribute the IBM brand 650 MB and 1.3 GB
5.25" optical disk cartridges for the IBM 3995 Optical Library
Dataserver products and IBM 0632 CB Models Multifunction Optical
Drives. The agreement, effective Nov. 1, 1993, makes Verbatim the
distributor of IBM brand WORM media in the United States, Canada and
most of Latin America. For more information contanct Verbatim at
704-547-6500, by FAX at 704-547-6609, or by writing 1200 W.T. Harris
Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28626.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Dateline: Atari!
||| Captured and Edited by: Lou Rocha
/ | \ Courtesy: GEnie
------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
(C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign
up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection
type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE
and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information.
==========================================================================
Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie
Oct. 1, 1993
Host - Lou Rocha
<[Host] ST.LOU> Good evening and welcome to Dateline Atari! with Bob
Brodie. It is my pleasure to welcome Bob to our monthly gathering on
GEnie, the official online home of Atari Corp. Our guest is Bob
Brodie, Director of Communications for Atari.
As we begin tonight's session, I would like to once again thank Bob
for his live conference from the Glendale show on September 18th. The
transcript is available here in library 13 of the ST RoundTable. That
conference generated a lot of interest, specifically around the Jaguar
rollout. We also heard a little more about TT production and I see
that a Current Notes ad for Computer Studio says they will be
restocking soon.
Bob's Glendale conference was picked up by Atari Explorer Online and
published in AEO_2016. Apparently, another online magazine also picked
up the transcript and used it to provide their own show 'report'
(along with an error that has become routine in their reporting). I
guess we should be flattered <grin>.
There is one other item of business to clear up related to the
Glendale conference. In response to my question to sysop Mike Allen
about the demos at the Lexicor booth, Mike posted that he hadn't seen
the booth because of the crowds but that he thought it was near the
washrooms. It has been noted that Lexicor posted some objection to
this comment on another service. In checking with show organizer John
King Tarpinian, it seems there were some booths in the area and one
was mistaken as the Lexicor booth. In fact, Lexicor was unable to
attend the show due to last minute problems. On behalf of Mike and
myself, we regret the error.
This evening I anticipate lots of questions about the Jaguar, the
Falcon, TT production, Atari stock and a number of other related
topics. I am ready to open the floodgates after Bob's opening
comments. Sit back and enjoy the October Dateline at GEnie's new
reduced rates. Bob, the floor is yours! GA
<BOB-BRODIE> Good evening, one and all! Welcome to the October
installment of our Dateline: Atari session!!!
It's crunch time here at Atari. Upstairs, even as I type this, there
is a host of people hard at work on getting Jaguar titles ready to
send out the door for the big Jaguar roll out next month. Game
testers, programmers, artists, and musicians are all on hand as we
labor to get this exciting product out the door.
Earlier this week I had an opportunity to take a fresh look at how
some of the titles for the Jaguar are coming along. To say that I'm
impressed is an understatement! The art work on the titles is truly
striking, and the game play has improved dramatically since I last
visited them.
This month, you'll have a chance of the initial reactions of some of
the game press. Be sure to check out the October issue of Game Pro,
where the Cutting Edge feature showcases the Jaguar in a full four
color page layout. Just Fed Ex'ed up to me today is issue 11 of The
Die Hard Game Fan...possibly one of the most colorful magazine out on
the market has started a whole new section for the Jaguar called
"Jaguar's Domain", as well as a really flattering editorial about the
Jaguar. The Jaguar's Domain also features a four page, full color
layout of screen shots from Jaguar titles including Raiden, Tiny
Toons, Crescent Galaxy, Club Drive, Cybermorph, and more. Be sure to
look for copies of those screen shots to be uploaded here to GEnie,
our official online service! As always, you'll find these files online
here FIRST!!! The pictures will be 24 true color Targa files, so you
will have a chance to see the images in the very best possible format.
On the computer front, we just completed a terrific show in Glendale,
and the sales results were terrific. The San Diego Computer Club also
hosted a multiplatform event, which the Atari Club won an award for
the best booth for their presentation of MIDI Maze at the show.
Congratulations to both John King Tarpinian for another successful
Glendale Show, and to the members of SDACE for their efforts at making
their appearance a success at the show.
With all of the hectic preparations here at Atari for the Jaguar, I
regret that time hasn't given me more time to prepare a long set of
opening remarks. So, rather than tie up our time any longer, let's cut
straight to our users and their questions, Lou. As always, I'm excited
to meet with all of our customers here on our official online service,
GEnie. Let's go, Lou.
<[Sir Fransis] K.DRAKE> Bob, are there any plans in the immediate
(spring '94) future to introduce any advanced controllers? By
advanced, I mean (NO GUNS) a steering wheel or analog joystick.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Kenneth, I am not aware of any plans for Atari to do
so, but spoke with a game developer earlier this week that is working
on a fighting game to compete with Street Fighter II. He plans on
making a new controller to sell along with the game.
<[steve] S.OLSON2> Can you give us a time frame of when to expect the
next list of developers and can you give a background of some of the
little known ones already announced?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Steve, hmmmm we really haven't set a date for another
press release to do that. What I plan on doing is meeting with Bill
Rehbock late next week (he's out of town right now) to discuss the
"credentials" of the developers.
<BOB-BRODIE> I agree with you that we need to do a better job of
telling the public who the developers are. Some of the names that are
in the press release are the finest game developers in Europe.
<[steve] S.OLSON2> Bob, real quick can you explain why EGM has a
biased against Atari and will they get a black box so they can rate
lynx games again?
<BOB-BRODIE> I've had a number of discussions with EGM about their
attitude about Atari. There is hope for things to improve. I think
part of the issue might be that there are a number of people there
that are former employees of Atari, including the publisher.
<BOB-BRODIE> On the other hand, when they go out of their way to blast
the president of the company in a sister publication of theirs, they
don't give me a lot of ammo to try to change the way things are
between us.
<BOB-BRODIE> Re the Black Box...they don't need a black box to rate
the games. We send them pre-release eprom cartridges of the games, and
provide them with slides of screen shots of the games. This is the
same level of support that we give to all of the other magazines as
well, and none of them are complaining about. The reality is that the
"Black Box" is a development tool, not just something to take screen
shots with. It is NOT an essential tool for them to have for their
Lynx coverage.
<B.AEIN> Bob, will there be a CD-rom derived from the Jags for a low
cost Falcon one? I would like to say that as a new Falcon owner that
Atari Must take the SCSI to DMA (SLM) project in house and DELIVER as
promised! Any comments?
<BOB-BRODIE> No the interface for the Jaguar CD ROM is different from
the Falcons, so I don't see that as a common project. I share your
thoughts about seeing the SCSI to DMA project getting done, and spoke
with Bill about it at length earlier this week. I can assure you that
he is working on a solution, and believes that it is close at hand.
<[Sam030] SAM-RAPP> Hey Bob! Can you give any SPECIFICS as to Jaguars
where/when? Are there boxed production units in a warehouse somewhere?
Can I have one? Now? Please? ;-) AND.... Is there anyone on GEnie that
can discuss the Jaguar development process in the RT? Thanks!!
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Sam, as to exact locations, no...I can't give you that
information tonight. No, there are not stacks of boxed productions
units sitting in a warehouse somewhere, but there has been a pilot
production run made, and now units are being sent to developers for
use, and to potential developers for evalution.
Bill Rehbock is capable of discussing the development process, but I
don't think he has the time to do it, at least right now. Please
understand that it really is a "CRUNCH TIME" for us here right now.
We're all trying to stay very focused on getting a quality product out
the door with a great release as well.
<[Sam030] SAM-RAPP> When will the first consumer run be made?
<BOB-BRODIE> Rather than tell you when it's being made, look for it to
be available for purchase (much more significant) the weekend after
Thanksgiving.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Is that Canadian Thanksgiving, Bob? :-) <Oct. 12th>
<BOB-BRODIE> We're not shipping to Canada til '94, Lou. Sorry.
<[SPEEDO Racer] J.TORRES17> This may have been covered previously...
Since I am nowhere near a test market. Is Atari going to set up a 1800
number (like for the LYNX) and a Jaguar help line?
<BOB-BRODIE> Initially, we will not have the Jaguar available for sale
via the 800 line. This is at the request of our retailers. Yes, there
will be a Jaguar section on our help line to give out hints, tips, and
easter eggs.
<[Graham] B.STEVAN> Bob, thanks for joining us again tonight. I have a
question(s) about Atari's servicing. We spoke to Shirley Taylor just
yesterday regarding a bunch of Portfolios we sent back for an
exchange. We were informed that NO Portfolios will be available until
the NEW YEAR! The customers have already been waiting for about 2
months, as we had to try to get an RMA#, then had to wait for delivery
to Atari, then wait to get info from Atari. Needless to say we have
several customers that are very angry! We also have a similar
situation with 2 1040STe warranty units that we sent down. My question
is...what is causing the delays with the Portfolios? Why does Atari
seem to treat customer service as a low priority, the lack of parts
and replacement units being an example. On the positive side I have
had tons of customers asking about the Jaguar. Is there any chance
Atari would consider releasing it everywhere before X-Mas rather than
just the announced test markets. I can't see any reason (other than
lack of promotion) why the Jaguar wouldn't succeed everywhere,
especially if a ton of them were sold over Christmas.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Graham, Shirley is being a bit pessimistic about the
Portfolio situation. We simply ran out of units, and as I'm sure you
know, we typically replace the defective Ports with another. We are
bringing in Ports from another subsidiary in Europe to re-stock our
supply, but are finding that we need to have a subcontractor to rework
the keyboards to a North American type set. Finding the right company
to do that is a bit of a problem right now. We changed our entire
manufacturing and warranty process on the Falcon030 so that we would
be providing our customers with .... higher level of customer service,
and eliminated the need to replace on board components. Instead on
the Falcon, all that needs to be done is that there are 6 main
components that a dealer has to worry about replacing. The keyboard,
the ram board, the floppy disk, the hard disk, the power supply and
the mother board. So you see, we ARE improving our efforts at making
service much more efficent.
Re the Jaguar...remember that the chipsets Tom and Jerry, are very
special chips. We will not be able to get more than 50,000 units made
before the holiday season. We feel that we can sell that many units in
the markets that we've chosen. In addition to that, we can do a very
well planned, and executed campaign in those two cities.... for an
affordable amount of money. Trying to go national or global at this
point is simply too expensive in terms of promoting the product.
<[Sir Fransis] K.DRAKE> Will the .GIFs be uploaded right after the
conference? Also, the polygon game screenshots are non-texture mapped.
Is this by design or for necessity?
<BOB-BRODIE> Not right after the conference, but thanks for your
interest. :) I will be sending some to the staff of Atari Explorer
Online for them to bundle with their issue, and allow them (just like
we do the other mags) decide which ones they want to see printed. Re
the polygon screen shots, gee...I don't know. Sorry.
<[DarkChild] R.HALL49> This question applies to when the cd-rom unit
is in place because I know that video\audio takes up an enormous
amount of storage space, but how does video playback look? ummmm I
don't mean digital "stills" either...thanx ga.
<BOB-BRODIE> It looks terrific! We won't have any of the "loading"
messages that some of the other CD units have.
<[Chris] C.OATES2> A while back, the possibility of a Falcon special
issue of BAM was mentioned. Was this shelved or just delayed? Also,
any other Falcon related Press coverage lately?
<BOB-BRODIE> Chris, I don't know what happened to that special issue
of BAM. James isn't on hand for me to consult tonight on that. My best
guess would be that they decided to hold off with it until they have a
real "killer app" like Cubase Audio for Falcon to really showcase the
unit. And no, we've not pursued any additional press on the Falcon
lately.
<[Iver] I.POSSEHL1> Bob - I'm looking for a dealer near Fargo, North
Dakota. Could you again give us the number to call at Atari for this
info? I'm getting the itch to buy a Falcon. :-) Also - for those of us
living in the sticks. Will there be a way to mail-order a Jaguar?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Iver, I'm sorry that we don't have a dealer in North
Dakota right now. We are in discussions with a VAR in Mynot, but
nothing has been firmed up yet. From North Dakota, I'd say your
closest dealers are in Minnesota. Try Roger Doger Music in North
Hopkins, MN. The phone number is 612-932-9441. Re the Jaguar...in 1994
we'll be going National, so you should be able to buy via mail order
then.
<ARCHIVIST> Bob, there has been a lot of speculation about TOS 5
lately. Is this a new TOS for the falcon or will it be for general
use like TOS 2.06?
<BOB-BRODIE> Charlie, I'm not 100% sure on that. From what I know, the
plans for TOS 5 are "Multi-TOS" like...I don't expect it to be an
EPROM or ROM for the other machines. But I really want to empahsize
that I'm not up to speed on that. Sorry.
<B.AEIN> Will Atari try to censore either violent or sexually( R rated
in movie land) orientated games? When will the ad's for the Jag start
showing up? When will the V.R. helment be anounced, as it should cause
an ATC stock leap.
<BOB-BRODIE> I am not aware of any plans to censor any of the titles.
However, I have also not seen any titles to date that might have those
kind of problems (specifically sex and violence). The only thing I can
point to is the Dracula game, which had been "accused" having a lot of
cleavage in a couple of scenes with the brides of Dracula. Most of the
ads will run concurrent with when the Jaguar is released for sale. And
the VR helmet is not a project that we're doing, there is a developer
doing it, so I can't comment on when that will be done.
<[F.S.U. #1!] AEO.MAG> Bob, while in my lurkings on several online
nets, I've seen people claim that mail order houses are NOW taking
orders for Jaguars. Some houses (I don't remember any names) were
claiming 1993 delivery. Some, even October 1993 delivery. Would you
care to comment on that before Atari gets a "black eye" from these
tactics?
<[F.S. WHO???] BOB-BRODIE> Sure Travis, we have a very clear policy on
mail order for the Jaguar. We are not selling to any of the mail order
firms this year. We will, however, be selling to a single distributor
in NYC. We expect that he will be able to sell his units in the metro
NY area. The possiblity exists that there may be a few units that do
make it to the mail order arena. We also expect that at least one of
the retailers will, over our objections, try to go national with their
units.
<[Kool-Aid Man] C.CASSADAY> Bob, can you comment on the rumor about
Dallas being a third test market for the Jaguar? Also, the picture of
the Jaguar in the October GAMEPRO only shows three plugs and the
expansion bus. (I think... I lent the issue out to a friend.) Has the
Jaguar changed since GAMEPRO took the pictures of it? I ask this
because of the statement by Atari that the Jaguar has SVHS, Composite,
etc. video. Are there more video ports on the sides of the Jaguar?
<BOB-BRODIE> I've got my issue right here, Chris...lemme look at what
the shot. Ah, nope. They are showing the correct images. The S Video
output comes off the expansion port on the rear on the unit, as shown
on page 16 of the October issue of GAME PRO. We're making a separate
set of cables that will give SVIDEO, RGB, etc. The RF connector is
just to the side of the expansion ports. BTW, the screen shots that
are in Game Pro were taken with an RGB cable connected up to a Jaguar
unit, with input to a video board on a Mac.
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> Is the Jaguar price DEFINITELY set now (at
$199.95 or whatever)? We've only been told "around $200" so far.
Also, one of the mags said the 'JagCD' might cost as much as $350 --
can you say it WILL only be $200-$250? GA
<BOB-BRODIE> There are no plans for the Jaguar's CD unit to cost as
much as $350. May I ask where you read that?
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> It was one of the game mags, but I forget
which.
<BOB-BRODIE> Does Ralph do a game mag now??? :)
<[SPEEDO Racer] J.TORRES17> Is Atari developing CD's for the
STe/Falcon? Encyclopedias? Jaguar Encyclopedia? Can you hook a Jaguar
to a SC1435?
<BOB-BRODIE> We are creating a developer CD for the Falcon. But not
encyclopedias. We don't have enough manpower here to be able to do a
project like that ourselves. We have suggested to a number of
developers that it would be a good project for them to do. Hopefully,
one of them will be up to the task. Re the Jaguar to an SC1435...YES!
And it looks fabulous!!!
<S.CHAPMAN> Will Atari have a booth at WCES. If so, how big and where?
<:^)
<BOB-BRODIE> Our recently hired marketing director, Terry Valeski, is
hard at work on a number of things, inlcuding the CES Show. I don't
know where our booth will be, but I'm sure we will have a very big
presence at the show. We really want to show the Jaguar off in a big
way at this show.
<[DarkChild] R.HALL49> With price cuts by nearly every other
competitor, will we see a slash in the price of the Falcon? (I think
it's worth every cent...but am curious). Same question in regards to
the STe (especially with the STe price cuts in the UK). One more
thing, is there a cd-rom being developed for the Falcon...would love
to see this even though the user-base is still small (for now). Oh
yeah, ATARI RULES!!! (overly enthusiastic shot in the arm!) thanx GA.
oops, Joe took my question...
<BOB-BRODIE> Ron, there are presently no plans to cut prices on the
Falcon030. Here in the US, we're not selling the STE at this time, so
we can't cut the price on the unit. :) The Falcon030 can use industry
standard CD ROMs _right now_ via the SCSI port. There are even
developers with CD ROM products for the Atari Falcon030. Send email
here on GEnie to GREG for information on his products. That's Greg
Kopchak. I'm sure he has a topic in the Bulletin Board as well.
<[Sam 030] SAM-RAPP> Hi again Bob! While waiting for my Jaguar T-shirt
I was wondering what the pack-in will be?
<BOB-BRODIE> Sam, you're greedy! I tell ya gang, I sent this guy a
really neat RED Atari hat (limited edition, mind you!), and a truly
cool Lynx T-Shirt (also a collector's item), and all I hear is where
is my Jaguar t-shirt!!!! The pack in game hasn't been 100% decided. I
think it should be Crescent Galaxy, but there are others that are
pushing for Cybermorph.
<[Host] ST.LOU> I never got one <sniff>
<BOB-BRODIE> Bill Rehbock is among them, and threatened to wrestle me
for it. That's good news for Crescent Galaxy. :)
<[Anthony] A.DIPIETRO> Atari out-sourced MultiTOS is there any chance
of outsourcing GEM? (not the AES or TOS just the Desktop portion)?
<BOB-BRODIE> We really didn't outsource MultiTOS, we bought it, and
then hired the developer. At this point, I'd say NO...no chance of
that happening.
<[Steve @ NLS] STEVE-J> Could you answer my previous question (if the
Jaguar's price is definitely set and, if so, what it is)? My NEW
questions are: Can you name any Jaguar retailers (in the test
markets)? Also, when the Jaguar goes national, will marketing
progress from the coasts inward (I live in Portland, OR)?
<BOB-BRODIE> The price is set, but we're not announcing it tonight.
Nor will we name the retailers yet either. As we've stated in the
past, virtually every major retailer has expressed interest in
carrying the Jaguar.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Bob, if you would like to ship me 100 Jaguars, I will
handle the sales on GEnie for you :-) You pick a price! <grin>
<BOB-BRODIE> Re the marketing effort, yes...we will properly support
the Jaguar in all of the markets that it will be sold in. That's part
of the reason we want to control where it goes to for the roll out, we
want to be sure that we properly support it where it is sold.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Jim Thornhill gets the wrap up tonight......
<[JaguarJim] J.THORNHILL> Bob, I have heard that Atari has purchased a
4 ft display section at TRU for the Jaguar, is that true?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Toys R Us..!
<BOB-BRODIE> Not that I'm aware of, Jim. Sorry.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Well, that brings us to the end of another session and
once again I am thrilled that Bob has chosen this service to meet with
Atari users each month. The transcripts seem to be more popular than
ever and the last edition has been downloaded almost 650 times so
far.... Bob, we really appreciate your efforts at the end of a long
work week. I have enjoyed this session and surely look forward to our
meeting in November.
<BOB-BRODIE> Thanks for such a wonderful job of moderating tonight
Lou. This time always serves as a reminder of why GEnie is the Number
1 online service for Atari owners world wide. The staff of the Atari
RTs have always gone out of their way to serve the needs of the users.
As always, I appreciate the opportunity to meet with our customers
online in a live setting here on GEnie! Thanks to all for attending
tonight!!
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Artist
||| By: Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ ATARI ARTIST ] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Things have been kind of quiet these past few weeks. Anticipation for
the release of the Jaguar has been mounting steadily. Of course, being
geographically situtated in New York conveniently affords us not only
a birdseye seat for catching the consumer feeding frenzy, but an
equally well-positioned oppportunity to stake out an early claim at
the merchandiser's tableau for obtaining one of our very own!
This issue we'll be filling you in on Wizztronics' adventures at
Glendale, as well as some changes and improvements they've recently
made to their video capture board. We'll also be taking a look at an
interesting new European product that's recently been released over
there, and give you the latest scoop on Steinberg/Jones' eagerly
awaited Cubase Audio for the Falcon030.
Although this may seem a relatively short flight, we're nevertheless
advising you of the following: keep your seat trays in their upright
positions and please observe that the "Caution - Hang Tight!" sign has
definitely been turned way on! And away we go....
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- - -=-=-=- [ VIDEO NEWS ] -=-=-=- - -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Wizztronics made it to the Glendale expo fully expecting to demo their
video capture board to hoards of enthusiastic videophiles. Steve Cohen
put in triple overtime and was working right up to day 1 of the show,
making sure everything was running smoothly and that there'd be no
unwelcomed surprises for their premier demonstration the next day.
Officials from Atari were just as eager as the many showgoers, some
who had come from as far as Maine, and people started milling about
the Wizztronics booth on Saturday morning, hoping to get a first
glimpse before the crowds started to build. On Saturday afternoon,
Steve was finally satisfied (if you've sent Wizztronics an Atari or PC
product for either a hardware upgrade, installation or repair, you
already know Steve's personal interpretation of that particular
turn-of-phrase) and the stage was set. Apparently, however, the Fates
had some other ideas for this board, and seemed very eager for Steve
to persue them.
So much so in fact, that they conveniently arranged for a power supply
to be mistakenly connected prematurely to the board by a somewhat
overly-enthusiastic associate... and the Fates breathed their sighs of
satisfaction. Although it took a couple of days for Steve to recover,
he eventually understood the message, and buried himself at the old
proverbial drawing board until he emerged with an even better design.
Let me mention as an aside here that, despite this disappointing
incident and the subsequent lack of an actual working model,
Wizztronics got over 90 serious inquiries concerning purchases, half
of which were adamantly insisting on reserving their unit ahead of
time, with full payment in hard cash! Steve modestly declined, feeling
somewhat uncomfortable in taking money for a product that had yet to
reach the manufacturing stage, and promised to send everyone that left
their name and address advance notice when it was ready so they could
get first dibs.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New... and more than just impoved!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Turning what some might have otherwise viewed as a total disaster into
an opportunity for improving upon initial success did indeed bring
about a shift towards new and more exciting (is that really possible?
- you bet!) directions. It might interest you to know that these
improvements are not just video related - a lot of Falcon owners will
be clamoring to get the Wizztronics video capture board for the
non-video exclusive aspects alone!
For starters, the board itself has been moved out of its original
cartridge housing and will now reside within the Falcon casing. This
offers a number of definite advantages for direct address of the
motherboard's various processors, chief amongst them being the
addition of an on-board 68030 processor running at 33MHz! Not an
add-on accelerator, this processor will actually replace the Falcon's
original 16MHz processor, and more than double its processing speed
while also ensuring professional capture rates of 30
frames-per-second.
In addition, after having encountered some rather disturbing
discrepancies in development standards as well as a disappointing
level of developer support, Wizztronics has decided to abandon the
Sony standard in favor of using Philips semi-conductors. This will
allow them to be able to implement both PAL as well as NTSC capability,
a move which will benefit both developer and customer. Apart from
facilitating full compatability with a wider, global user-base, it
will also hedge the odds that Wizztronics will recoup their somewhat
sizable R&D and initial start-up costs, and maybe even show an
eventual profit!
The on-board 4-meg RAM capture buffer will enable saving in truecolor,
640x480 24bit format from composite input, and an additional option
for enabling S-video compatability will also be available for those
who want that capability as well.
We visited Steve recently at his base of operations. As we walked in
to the shop I had to pause for a moment to readjust my bearings. It
looked like a Falcon 030 was running MicroSoft Windows 3.1 with Corel
Draw and MS Word running in seperate windows on an Atari monitor. Oh
right, it's probably one of those FalconSpeeds that Compo's
distributing here in the states.
Steve must have read my mind when he responded to my animated facial
expressions with, "No, it's not a FalconSpeed..." Oh right, well then,
it must be... "and it's not a Gemulator either.", he added. Well, what
the hell was going on here then?
Although the decision is not final, Steve got to thinking about adding
a 386SL emulator mounted to the main processor board as well, and
managed to work out a way to implement addressing the Falcon's
printing, modem, SCSI, keyboard and mouse ports, as well as RAM and HD
paritions (sorry, MIDI is the one port not addressed... yet) Windows
was indeed running at what appeared to be the same speed as my
girlfriend's 386, with no appreciable delays!
This was all too overwhelming; being able to impliment video capturing
on the Falcon at 30 frames per second while more than doubling the
speed of the CPU - giving you in effect a Falcon 030/33... AND the
added option of being able to implement realisitic PC emulation for
running DOS and Windows programs was really quite impressive.
Steve did made it a point of stressing to me that he's not quite
committed to making this aspect of PC emulation a definite option yet.
It really depends on whether there's enough of a demand to warrrant
the cost of including the add-on capability to the existing board
prototype.
What's your feeling? Steve has told me that he would welcome any
thoughts, comments or suggestions from AEO readers on this, or any
other options you'd like to see. You can send him Email on Genie at
S.COHEN27, or give him a call at (516) 473-2507.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Blow Up your Falcon
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Not surprisingly, Germany seems to have found great affection for the
Falcon. BlowUp 030 is a rather unique graphic resoultion enhancer -
the technical difference between the former and a color-card is still
uncertain.
No less than three variations on this product are availble: one is
software-based, while the remaining two are comprised of a software
/hardware combination. The really interesting aspect of the hardware
versions is that they can be implemented without having to open up
your Falcon to do any internal installation or modifications!
The software-only version uses the Falcon's on-board video-clock,
running at either 25 or 33MHz. This will allow, for example, an Atari
VGA monitor resoultion capabilities of 896 x 554 non-interlaced in 256
colors at 54MHz, and a driver program can set resolution changes in
real time without the need for re-booting.
The hardware versions are positioned between the Falcon's video port
and the monitor cable, while an external lead from the unit's housing
plugs into the Falcon's enhanced joystick port. Both units include a
48MHz clock. This enables up to 1280 x 960 in 16 colors at just below
70MHz. There are a large number of resolutions supported, and the
deluxe version offers, among othe additional features, a virtual
screen mode which can render an image on your screen to a whopping
5,000 x 5,000 pixel display.
You should note that word "virtual", however which in fact refers to
the unit's ability to present a portion of your total image for actual
display on your screen. Still, what is also quite impressive is the
price - about $25 for the software version, and $75 / $95 for the
hardware versions, exclusive of any duty and shipping costs. At the
present time there's no U.S. distributor, but if you just have to have
this and aren't easily disuaded by the particulars of overseas
communication, contact: Archer Eberl Seibert GbR, Eslarner Str. 34,
81549 Munich, Germany.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- - -=-=-=- [ MUSIC NEWS ] -=-=-=- - -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Steinberg has recently announced the successful implimentation of a
full 8-tracks of supported simultaneous digital hard disk recording,
running in seemless integration alongside 64 tracks of MIDI sequencing
from within their soon-to-be-released Cubase Audio for the Falcon. As
you may recall, Steinberg had initially decided to require Cubase
Audio to utilize Yamaha's CBXD5 in conjunction with any Atari
computer, including the Falcon.
Then, in a move which reportedly had Yamaha execs turning livid shades
of red and blue, Steinberg made the decision to forego the requirement
of using the CBXD5 and took the more logical approach of integrating
Cubase Audio with Atari's Falcon 030 internal DSP to offer a
combination of four independent tracks of digital hard disk recording
with four simultaneous tracks of RAM-based sampling and 64 tracks of
MIDI sequencing. All versions will treat individual digital recordings
as parts, enabling them to be cut, pasted, copied and repositioned as
effortlessly as a MIDI-based recording track, with no loss of quality.
Steinberg/Jones will premier Cubaser Audio for the Falcon at the
upcoming prestigious AES (Audio Engineers Society) show, held in New
York city Oct 14 to 16. Needless to say, apart from being the first
multi-channel digital audio/MIDI software package to be released for
the Falcon, it also represents a "major" Falcon-based application, one
which will rocket the sales of Falcon computers world-wide, and keep
dealers scrambling to satisfy the mushrooming demand.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Say, "Bye-bye"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Well, that's it for this edition. Next time we'll have a report on the
AES show, with updates on a number new as well as established Atari
music programs. We're also hoping to be able to take a look at the
number of recent European music imports now being distributed here in
the states by Oregon Research.
Until next time, this is Pete Donoso & Fadi Hayek reminding you
that....
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- - [ "Today is the Tomorrow you dreamed about Yesterday." ] - -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-
--==--==--==--==--
||| Jaguar Editorial
||| By: Dave Halverson, Editor, Die Hard Game Fan
/ | \ Reprinted with permission from Die Hard Game Fan
-----------------------------------------------------------------
//// Editor: The following is an edited excerpt from the current
//// issue (Volume 1, Issue 11) of Die Hard Game Fan magazine. Die
//// Hard is a high quality glossy magazine covering the videogaming
//// scene, and features in its latest issue, a four page, full color
//// Atari Jaguar section. Look for it on newsstands soon!
//// Subscriptions to Die Hard Game Fan are $59.40 a year ($4.95 US
//// per issue - $5.95 CAN), and they can be reached at Die Hard Game
//// Fan, 18612 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356.
Welcome to issue number 11. Putting this one together was an
interesting and exciting experience, we are truly entering the next
generation. I'm not talking about a mild upgrade but an entirely new
genre to explore. It didn't really dawn on me until I saw the first
few Atari Jaguar shots, I was and am excited about the incredible 3DO,
but too many simulations and learning games kept me from believing
this might replace our SNES's or Genesis's, not to mention the high
price tag. When we talk 3DO we're talking about an entirely new
approach to a wider and more varied audience. But when you see the
games in our new "Jaguar's Domain" section, you are going to want a
Jaguar.......bad. Forget any preconceived notions you may have
harvested in the past, the way that Atari has planned this attack is
brilliant. No one ever really knew what was up, and now all of a
sudden here it is, just around the corner is a 64 bit system with
ready games at an unbelievable price! You aren't going to see any
learning games or point and clicks either, this is a game system,
priced with the Sega and Nintendo user in mind. Many third party
companies may say that Atari has burned too many bridges, but let's
face it folks, the bottom line in any business is money and if the
Jaguar sells as good as we think it will many 3rd parties will develop
titles, I guarantee it. No executive is going to say "I know we could
make a ton of money but I'm still mad at those guys." Remember we are
in a totally different industry than we were when the Lynx came out.
Nintendo no longer pulls the strings, cross licensing is the norm and
with several formats present in the market, developers have more
freedom than ever before. I think the Jaguar will get good support,
just look at the games in this issue, and you be the judge. All I know
is that as a hard core gamer, judging from what I have seen, Nintendo
and Sega can start worrying, along with everyone else. America is
about to make a comeback! Of course Sega has the Saturn 32 bit system
ready to go which will undoubtedly be a huge success, but it won't be
available until mid to late 94, Nintendo is introducing a 64 bit
monster in late 95 and the 3DO should be out by the time you read
this, and let's not forget about Hudson's 32 bit Iron Man (scheduled
for a Japan only release at this time) and the supposed SNK CD ROM is
rumored to be out in Japan by May 94. Things are getting very
exciting, but did Atari get the jump on everyone or what!
--==--==--==--==--
||| Geneva: Revolutionary Software for your Atari
||| By: Ed Krimen
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.5
------------------------------------------------------------------
Few software or hardware purchases can bring new life to your mundane
computer experience. The purchase of a software screen accelerator, a
desktop replacement program, a true-color graphics card, a large
screen monitor, a processor accelerator, a larger, faster hard drive,
or even a new computer might make computing more productive and more
fun. Unfortunately, you don't get to buy these new toys everyday
because they can be expensive, but when you do, they sure are
exciting!
In the recent past, there really hasn't been a piece of software
released that revolutionizes Atari computing. Revolutionary software
is used during every computer session and improves the way you use
your computer. Revolutionary software doesn't get in the way of your
computing, but it enhances it instead!
Geneva from Gribnif Software is revolutionary software. Like Windows
on the PC, Geneva will change the way you use your Atari computer -
whether it's a 1040ST, a TT030, or a Falcon030. Unlike MultiTOS,
Geneva can be used in any software and hardware configuration,
providing multitasking to your GEM applications. Compatibility is
unequivocally one of Geneva's strong points.
You should be familiar with Gribnif Software. Their most popular piece
of software is NeoDesk, the wonderful desktop replacement that gives
you custom icons, special window controls, and many, many other
fantastic desktop features.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Miraculous
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I've been beta-testing Geneva for several months and it's simply a
miraculous achievement by its author, Dan Wilga. I never boot my
system without it. Why? Well, here's why:
First, you are no longer limited to six desk accessories. In fact, you
can load and remove desk accessories on the fly!
Second, you are no longer limited to one program running at a time.
You can run as many programs as memory will allow!
Third, you are no longer limited to seven windows. You can open as
many as 256 windows!
Fourth (and now we're into aesthetics), you are no longer limited to
that flat, boring windowed interface. Geneva gives buttons and other
objects a 3D appearance, similar to what MultiTOS and TOS 4.04
provides. Even if you don't have a Falcon or MultiTOS, if a program,
such as Diamond Edge or Straight FAX, supports the standard Atari 3D
environment, then you too will get that look with Geneva. You'll also
notice that regular GEM applications will have windows with "beveled"
buttons and scrollbars, for that ultimate, cool look.
Seemingly, with Geneva, you are no longer limited by anything. You can
change the way your screen looks, from the fonts you use, to the width
and height of your scrollbars, to the look of your mouse pointer and
busy-bee replacement. You can even "tear-off" the drop-down menus at
the top of your screen, whereby the menus themselves become individual
windows.
All of these goodies work with every compatible program, not just in
the Geneva Manager (discussed later) or in NeoDesk! For example, I
just switched to Aladdin, one of the lesser-compatible, system-hog
programs on the market, and tore off one of its menus! The Aladdin
program itself was unmodified. In another example, with Aladdin,
NeoDesk, and two copies of STeno running, I can run Calamus SL and use
all of the window enhancements that Geneva provides on an unmodified
copy of SL! Oh, and I tore off a couple of its menus too, just for
fun. By the way, Aladdin was "singletasking" while the others were
multitasking. What's the difference?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Managing Tasks
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Geneva features a Task Manager which enables you to customize many
things in Geneva's environment. You can change the look of the
windows, the dialog boxes, the menus, the application keyboard
shortcuts (such as Alt-Tab for switching programs), and the system
flags for each application. Each application you designate in the Task
Manager can be assigned a series of parameters ranging from the amount
of memory it should be limited to, to telling Geneva if this program
should receive AES 4.0 extended messages.
Perhaps the most significant setting here is whether a program should
be multitasking or singletasking. In multitasking mode, a program will
peacefully coexist with other multitasking programs. Multitasking
programs are those like STalker, STeno, LDW Power, STraight FAX!,
Calamus SL, PageStream, Superbase Pro, Tempus II, Word Plus,
WordWriter, Word Perfect, and SimCity. Programs that work best in
singletasking mode are those like Aladdin, Speed of Light, Arabesque
Pro, ARC Shell, DEGAS Elite, Easy Draw, Flash, Flash 2, GFA BASIC, and
ICD HD Format. These programs were written with the concept that they
would be the only programs running at one time, so they more or less
hog the system.
When handling singletasking applications, Geneva is quite elegant. It
automatically puts the multitasking applications to "sleep" so that
the singletasking one can work
independently. If the singletasking
application has a GEM menu bar, you can switch to one of the sleeping
multitasking applications, in which case the singletasking application
will be put to sleep and the multitasking applications will come back
to life. It's very nicely done.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Desk Accessories
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
As I mentioned earlier, Geneva will enable you to load as many desk
accessories as memory will allow. But the fun doesn't stop there. You
can load and unload desk accessories on the fly! To install a desk
accessory in a slot, simply run the desk accessory like you would a
program. When you close the desk accessory it will remain in memory.
To remove the desk accessory from a slot and from memory, terminate it
from the Task Manager or hold down the Control key while selecting the
desk accessory in the pull-down menu. Poof - it's gone!
=-=-=-=-=-=
//// HELP!!
=-=-=-=-=-=
In addition to all these wonderful features I've discussed so far -
unlimited desk accessories and programs, expanded window limits, and a
cool, new interface - you also get a Windows-like context-sensitive
help system! This help system can be accessed from the Geneva Manager
or any program that supports it. For example, from the Task Manager,
click the Help button in the Video dialog box or the Help key on your
keyboard, and the Help window will appear, displaying the information
relative to the Video dialog box.
Moreover, this help system features "hypertext" linking. Click on an
underlined word already displayed in the help window, and more
specific info about that particular function will appear.
Details about how to create help files for your own programs are
included with Geneva.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// No Desktop?!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
At this point, I think some clarification must be made as to exactly
what Geneva is. Geneva is not a desktop replacement. Geneva replaces
the part of TOS called the AES, or Application Environment Services.
When you run Geneva either from the standard TOS desktop or from the
AUTO folder, you don't get a desktop, but only three drop-down menus
and a blank screen. One of the menus lists the programs and desk
accessories currently running while the others enable you to open an
application or desk accessory, quit Geneva, display the ASCII table,
and display the context-sensitive help system.
If you miss the desktop, that's too bad because Atari's desktop is
incompatible with multitasking environments; Atari's MultiTOS even
replaces the TOS desktop with its own. Because the Atari desktop is
intertwined with the AES that Geneva replaces, Geneva cannot replace
the entire AES while still allowing the ROM-based desktop to run.
However, you can use NeoDesk or any other desktop replacement
compatible with Geneva to run programs. Just double-click on programs
and they run like they usually would. Switch back to NeoDesk, and
double-click on another program, and another, and another, and
another. It's really amazing. Now, if you don't have NeoDesk, I'd
recommend getting it too. Otherwise, you'll just have to resort to the
Open command under the File menu to run programs from an item selector
- which isn't too bad, but Geneva is much more fun with NeoDesk. And
NeoDesk works so well with Geneva, it's fantastic! (Shoot, NeoDesk
works well even without Geneva!)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Buy It!!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Now that I've told you what Geneva does, order it right this minute!
You won't regret this purchase. Like desktop replacements, screen
accelerators, and third-party file selectors, Geneva is one of those
landmark products that everyone must have. Geneva will revolutionize
Atari computing just as Windows has revolutionized the PC.
--==--==--==--==--
||| News from Usenet
||| By: Timothy Wilson
/ | \ Internet: wilsont@rahul.net GEnie: AEO.8
------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, hey, hey! I'm back again. Since no one has complained, I'm gonna
continue my little rantings and ravings... errr "editorializing."
Its been quite a month for the articles - I've added
"rec.games.video.misc" to the list I peruse when doing this article,
since there's a lot of Jaguar talk going on. Yeah, there's still some
Falcon030 and ST news in here, so don't worry. But as always, if you
want to see more of any subject, I'll be happy to refocus.
What the heck, I'll start with the biggest issue, the Jaguar.
Believe it or not, I'll try to be objective here. (Gasp!) There seems
to be a few "camps" that exist regarding the Jaguar and 3DO. They are
(as I see them):
[] Jaguar and/or Atari devotees
- Current Atari owners, Lynx fans, and people sick of Genesis/SNES
[] 3DO devotees
- Anti-Atari people, Electronic Arts fans, jump-on-the-bandwagon
types, people who like the latest technology
[] Game players
- They don't care either way, they want GOOD games. They don't care
if there are a kazillion colors or 128 sound channels (oh, it
helps, but flash ain't everything to these people). GOOD games
are games that are original, uncensored, balanced, and don't have
tons of FMV (full motion video). The game players all seem to
despise this new trend in CD games.
Being a "game player" (with a bit of Atari devotee thrown in of
course) I decided to go out and see the 3DO for myself. Living only 50
miles from 3DO HQ, and knowing that the Panasonic R.E.A.L 3DO player
would be available on October 1st, I figured I could walk into one of
the bigger electronics stores (Fry's Electronics) and ask to see the
3DO in action. Well, I was wrong. None of the departments I went to
had even heard of the 3DO! Fry's salespeople are usually very
knowledgeable, but they struck out on this one.
Or did they? I haven't seen anything at all from 3DO personally, not
on TV, not in newspaper ads. Perhaps there have been ads in video
magazines or videogame magazines, but all I've seen are occasional
briefs and articles on the 3DO when I look in them.
Well, anyway, I *did* find a 3DO, Electronics Boutique in Palo Alto
had a few. But alas, they only had units for sale, not display. This
particular store had zero available titles for the 3DO. There is a
pack-in game "Crash and Burn," and a demo disk included with the
Panasonic unit. I asked about other titles and the person running the
store had no dates on when new software would show up. He's even
pestered 3DO developers that have came in to the store, but they
didn't reveal much, according to the clerk. He did have a waiting
list, so some people do want this machine.
I did get to see a 3DO brochure, the stills presented therein were
actually nifty looking. The Star Trek: Next Generation game showed
what looked like a large dome-ish room, with Capt. Picard in the
foreground, with a few lizard alien thingies "deeper" into the room.
It was obviously 3D modeling (done well, mind you). Picard kinda
looked like one of those "Crash Dummies" (the computer generated
ones). I've heard that close-up shots of Picard's face are done with
5000 polygons as well. Its really hard to tell from still shots (1.5"
on a side) what the real stuff looks like. *Sigh*, I actually thought
I would see a 3DO running "Crash and Burn" much like a Sega Genesis is
seen demoing "Sonic The Hedgehog". Perhaps in the next few weeks.
OK, that's the 3DO, what about the Jaguar? Well, I'm getting to it, I'm
just going over the "other guys" first.
A week after the first Jaguar press conference, Nintendo put out a
press release on their "Project Reality". At first it reads like
Nintendo is gonna come along and trash both 3DO and the Jaguar before
they start with a 100Mhz, SGI backed, 64 bit machine. Well, they do
plan on doing that, but not till 1995. Yes, that's right: 1995. They
plan on using low cost SGI technology as well. Initially they plan to
build arcade games in 1994, with a $250 home version coming in 1995.
Gee, I think the big "N" needs to get a bit of reality for itself,
that's a year and a half, for 3DO, Atari, and Sega to grab larger
market shares. The PR is floating around, pick it up and read it for a
good laugh.
Well, being right here one of the first test markets, I hope to see
those Jaguar ads, I'll let you know when I start seeing them. Usenet
believes it'll be November 15th, I think there was an official release
about the date there somewhere, but don't take my word for it. It'll
be here in AEO if anywhere.
//// Editor: Not yet....
Well, I lost a point in there somewhere, uh... oh yeah... If the 3DO
group isn't advertising, and there is only ONE game available as I
write this, Atari has a good chance to come along and slap people
upside the head with the Jaguar with a good ad campaign.
Whoa, I just checked the net again, it looks like 8 games are due the
next week or so for the 3DO, and someone just tried out a 3DO unit and
was impressed. His wife would kill him if he bought it though.
"Hey, Tim about that developer list for the Jaguar..." Uh, yeah, well
about that... I only work here. :)
I know there are more developers to be "released" but I can't even
give you hints. Sorry.
The Usenet guys weren't impressed, as they saw a lot of the developers
as kinda... obscure. Although a few Lynx owners screamed
"BATTLEWHEELS" when they saw Beyond Games on the list. (B.G. _will_ be
making B.W. for the Jag as far as I know... Coolness)
All in all, about 8 or so of the developers were matched to a product
or two. Unfortunately, I lost the match list.. uhmmm...
(list of what they *have done*, not a list of what's coming up)
Maxis: The "Sim-" series, SimCity, SimEarth, SimLife..etc.
Titus: Crazy Cars I, II, III, and others.
Ocean: Gobs of stuff.
US Gold: More gobs of stuff.
HandMade Software: Some Lynx games
Telegames: Lynx games (Chess and others...)
Tradewest: These guys sound familiar don't they?
I seem to recall a few companies that made some sports games in there
as well.
And no, I haven't seen a Jaguar yet either. :( I have used the
Jaguar controllers, they aren't as bad (truly) as they might look. I
for one, need a joystick to play games, so out will come the
soldering iron and old Wico when I get a Jag. (By the way, the same
controllers are used for the Falcon and STe, that's how I got to use
them.)
I do have some pretty pictures from a press kit, vibrant colors. Alien
Vs Predator looks great, and its NOT like the other versions. The Jag
version is 3D first person view.
Hooooboy, ok on to the rest of the stuff.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Epson GT6500 A4 scanner ---> Falcon
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A user wanted to know a little more about this scanner, Peter Missel
<Peter_Missel@m4.maus.de> replied as such:
Dual or single SCSI ports?
Dual 50 pin SCSI, parity configurable with a DIP switch
What SCSI device numbers can it be configured to?
Any.
Software?
The 'Look' software runs on TT's, it should work on a Falcon030, but it
doesn't work on ST's with SCSI adaptors.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Using X11 or Word Perfect 6.0 Speedo fonts
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
While poking around in your X-windows files, you may have noticed some
.spd font files. Well, they won't work. They are encrypted with a
different ID.
David Paschall-Zimbel <davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu> says that a user
group member purchased the WP 6.0 for DOS font package (which includes
Speedo Fonts of course) and it works fine.
Alex Kiernan <alex@falcon.demon.co.uk> sheds more light on the
subject: "It depends whether the fonts are encrypted with retail font
encoding or with OEM coding. All Speedo engines can read retail fonts,
but only their own OEM coded fonts."
"If the Speedo fonts shipped as part of Speedo are OEM coded WP6
wouldn't touch them, if they were retail coded then no problem."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Cubase Lite, Q&A
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dani Roloson <daroloso@math.uwaterloo.ca> asked a few questions about
Cubase Lite:
"1) How do you find and delete program changes? In one of the demos,
"piano" is my keyboard's "sound effects" ... I change the PRG for the
track to my keyboard's "piano" but the demo changes it back to "sound
effects" half way through."
Howard Chu <hyc@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov> replied that he had Cubase 3.02,
but....
"Do you have a List Editor? (It's Ctrl-G in my Cubase...) That'll let
you edit all MIDI events at the lowest level, you can find the PRG
Change and delete it in there."
David Stevenson <djs@jet.uk> also has the 'real' Cubase, but he gives
it his best shot as well:
"Use Grid Edit, ensure that the list of events displayed includes
program changes by checking that the 'pc' in the box about 2/3 across
the top of the window is in upper case. If in lower case then program
changes are not displayed. Then select and delete the events.
OR: Filter program changes."
Dani's question number...
2) In "Score" edit, I set SNAP and QUANT to 8 and the note cursor
becomes an eighth note but whenever I place it on a beat (tick 0) it
is shown as a quarter note with 96 ticks until I place another eighth
note 96 ticks after it.
Howard:
"This confuses the hell out of me too, don't know what to do about
it. I don't bother entering music in the score editor, it's too much
hassle. The Key Editor is a lot handier..."
David doesn't use score edit.
Dani's....
3) A piece has a bar of 2:4 time signature in the middle of 4:4. Even
when I make the bar a separate part, a change in the time signature
affects the whole piece. How do I get around this?
Howard:
"Go and edit the Master Track. Insert a new event at the bar where
you want the time change (insert a new time signature). The master
track is where you enter time, tempo, etc. changes..."
David:
"Time signatures should be set using the Master Track. This enables
you to specify that the song is in Common Time, switches to 2/4 at bar
23, say, then back to 4/4 at bar 24. This is where you put any tempo
changes too."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Another Falcon FTP site
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
FTP to: ftp.tu-clausthal.de
in the directory:
/pub/atari/falcon
This seems to have the same stuff as of ftp.uni-kl.de though, but
there's another FTP site for you to use.
A few Falcon II rumors were floating around, I'm not going to repeat
them. As usually, wait for official PR's from Atari before believing
what you hear.
Hey, I got a Falcon030 this month! I'm working on a project that I've
already made several hundred dollars on, and more on the way. (Yes,
the project is on a Falcon030.) And that's no joke.
I got to try out some screen enhancers and some Falcon demos -
impressive. For those of you with a large 17" TV or multi-sync, you
should check out SWABS.PRG if but only for kicks. It gives something
like 1600x580 in 16 colors. (low refresh though...50Hz?). I couldn't
get the ScreenBlaster nor the Blowup30 demos to work with my SVGA
monitor, but I did get FalconScreen (FS5) working. With FS5 I got
832x624 with 16 colors at 50hz. Eh... it's tolerable for a while, and
GEM programs seem to work well.
Until next time!
--==--==--==--==--
||| The Unabashed Atariophile
||| By: Michael R. Burkley
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.4 Delphi: MRBURKLEY
----------------------------------------------------------------
//// Editor's Note: Due to personal reasons, Michael was was unable
//// to provide an intro for his column this issue.
On with the software reviews!
[] ACCNT20_U is Accountant v.2.0 by Mindbomb Developments (dated Sept.
1993). This is a TripLinK! FEDBBS utility that will display TripLinK!
v.4 through v.7.1 users account information onscreen. Accountant will
display for you the useful information you want displayed, and not the
"junk" you don't want. It does it in it's own sometimes polite,
sometimes sarcastic, and always interesting way! Accountant now
supports ANSI/VT52 graphics coding as well as ASCII. This version now
includes SABRe, a spoof of the "Word-Power" tags found on some boards.
It gives you it's own special dafinitons. Some other improvements and
bugs fixes as well. At least STE compatible. Docs included. Shareware
(free registration to Delphi users!).
[] ALW2 is Clay Walnum's "The Assembly Language Workshop, Vol. 2.
Volume One was on paper, volume 2 is on disk and released as
Shareware. There are five chapters in this book, each chapter being a
combination of text, source code and executable code for that
chapter's programs, and sometimes .PC3 files containing that chapter's
illustrations. The source code illustrations contain versions for both
Hisoft's DevPac2 assembler and Atari's MadMac assembler. This version
of the ALW can help you learn to program the AES and VDI, including
such topics as starting and ending a GEM application, adding menus to
a window, designing and controlling dialog boxes, using the VDI to
draw shapes on-screen, and more.
[] AVON is two scanned 400 dpi .IMG pictures of the Avon Logo. The
first is tipped on its side and has a broad brushstroke underlining
(sidelining!?) the word. This .IMG file has some stray pixels here and
there, but nothing too bad. The next is the Avon logo without the
underscoring. This .IMG file is very "clean."
[] AZ_ILLUM is a series of .GEM metafiles (vector graphic images) of
the Capital letters A-Z in an illuminated format. These were uploaded
several weeks ago, but I just had a chance to view them. The trouble
is, I couldn't view them, at least at first. They will not load into
Calamus 1.09N, PageStream 2.2, or Easy Draw. I finally got a look at
them using GEM View v.2.46 (recently uploaded as well). But that
doesn't help me for DTP work. They were converted from a series of PD
.IMG files of the same letters using Convector Pro. Something must
have happened between there and here.
[] BACKWARD is Backward v.1.43, "the" ST emulator for FALCON O3O by Mr.
Cyrille Dupuydauby. While the Falcon TOS is compatible enough with
older versions of TOS so that about 90% of GEM programs will run fine,
the game compatibility is something else. About 75% of games won't work
because of Hardware differences. Here's where Backward can come to
your rescue! It is designed to handle those hardware differences so
that instead of 75% of games not running you will find that about 70%
of your games DO run. Now that's an improvement! Requires a Falcon
with at least 4 Megs of RAM and a color monitor. Send a donation to be
registered for v.2.00 (which won't be free).
[] BARN is a 400 dpi+ scanned .IMG drawing of a well-kept wooden barn
with attached shed. The barn is surrounded by grass, and a root cellar
is covered off to the left by a small shed. It reminds me of an
Illinois farm.
[] DAWN125 is Before Dawn v.1.25 by Arne Rudolph (dated Aug. 26, 1993).
This name of this .ACC screen saver just might have some distant
relation to a well-known screensaver in the Mac (and now Windows)
world, but who can really tell! This version offers three modules,
each of which may be customized using a wide choice of IMG files
(flying Toasters, and LOTS more included) and, if your computer has
DMA sound, .MOD files. The program and the docs are in English (or in
German--the resource file and docs are in both languages). This
version includes an Animation Editor so you can even more easily
change your screen-saver display. I like the fact that this .ACC can
interface with the .MOD player Paula (when Paula is run as an .ACC
outside of MultiDesk). Color or mono. ST/STE/TT/Falcon compatible.
306K uncompressed. SHAREWARE.
[] MOVIEPAC is another set of "At the Movies" .IMG animations (19 of
them) for use with Before Dawn v.1.25 (DAWN125) by Arne Rudolph. 349K
uncompressed.
[] MOREMOVI is More Movies, an extensive series of 26 GEM .IMG file
animations for use with Before Dawn v.1.25 (DAWN125) by Arne Rudolph.
Over 730K uncompressed, so be prepared with an extended formatted
floppy or hard drive.
[] CLIPART4 is a series of fourteen 300 dpi scanned .IMG files of a
variety of subjects. Included are the following files...
CARPOOL: This .IMG cartoon of an old convertible packed with people,
perhaps going to a game (one of the people is carrying a banner).
They all look a bit wacky, and the car is kicking up quite a bit of
dust.
CHEF is an .IMG cartoon of a fat and happy chef holding a plate
covered with a domed cover.
DRUMMAN is an .IMG drawing of a tin soldier drummer all dressed in a
fancy uniform and a high hat.
LEPRECAN is an .IMG cartoon of a fat, pointy-eared leprechaun with a
Large pipe in his mouth. In the background is a field of three leafed
clover, with not a four leafed clover among it!
MADMAN is an .IMG drawing of the torso and head of a man who is
ANGRY! He is holding his head, gritting his teeth, and stars are
circling around his head.
NITEOWL is an .IMG drawing that reminds me of a woodcut. It features
an Owl with the moon and stars in the background.
ODDNENDS is an interesting .IMG drawing of a creature climbing out
(or having been put in?) a barrel named "Odds and Ends." The creature
looks like a meld of at least a dozen differing creatures, ranging
from an insect to a human.
PARACHUT is an .IMG drawing of a pig, carrying two smoking flares,
floating down by his parachute. The view is from the below front.
PEACEKID is an .IMG drawing of two little children, one carrying a
candle and wearing a holly wreath, and the other wearing a yarmulka
and carrying a menorah. The banner in the background shouts out
PEACE!
PILOT1 is an .IMG cartoon of a "hayseed" fighter pilot with buck
teeth, a jutting Adam's Apple, a huge nose, bug eyes, and a sprig of
hay between his teeth!
PREACHER is an .IMG file that I'm not exactly fond of! It features a
slobbering, bug-eyed, "preacher" leaning over his pulpit and pointing
his finger at, or more rather more accurately, using his finger to
squash in the nose of his one person scared congregation. Yuck! I
don't do that, and you're welcome to come to the church I serve any
time you are in Niagara Falls to find out for yourself!
SOLDIER is an .IMG file of what would appear to be the Nutcracker
from the ballet of the same name.
TENNISPL is an .IMG cartoon of a young and smiling girl holding her
tennis racket high and surrounded by tennis balls.
YOYOBOY is an .IMG cartoon of an apparently bored young man sitting
on a fire hydrant playing with his yo-yo.
[] DELIVERY is a PageStream 2.2 .DOC file that is a simple delivery
notice for your home or office to instruct any delivery person (UPS,
Post Service, Federal Express, or whatever), what to do when you are
not present for a delivery. By Michael Mastaler.
[] DICTION is the source code (GFA Basic v.3.5) for Dan Panke's spell
checking program Diction v.1.11 (dated July 3, 1991). By correcting
documents you build Diction's dictionary file. It will always give you
the opportunity to either correct or add to the dictionary any word it
does not recognize. Since this is the source code (.GFA) you must have
GFA Basic 3.5 or the runtime version of GFA Basic to use this. Color
or mono. Docs included.
[] EVERST is Everest v.1.5, a "simple and genial" GEM ASCII Text Editor
by Oliver Schmidt. It is compatible with TOS 1.0--4.0x and most if not
all graphic cards. I found this program very easy to use and very fast
as well. Using a standard GEM interface, this editor will allow you to
large files (>300K) blazingly fast with no problems, uses either the
mouse or keyboard shortcuts for every function, and even uses GDOS if
available! Text scrolling is smooth and easy on the eyes with no
"jumps". There are several other nice features as well: Everest
employs dynamic memory allocation to leave the maximum possible memory
for other applications (great for multitasking!); it takes advantage
of the GEM Clipboard (a feature I use all the time in STeno!), and
allows for multiple files to be loaded at one time (wonderful!).
Everest can also accept a command line so you can call it from a shell
if you wish. Docs included. SHAREWARE.
[] FLCAT_14 is The File Catalog v.1.4 by Randy Hoekstra (dated Sept.,
1993). The File Catalog is a simple utility that keeps track of the
files on a disk or hard drive partition and allows you to monitor
changes to your files. The program reads in all the files on a disk or
partition and stores them in an ASCII file. With this update you can
copy, move, show, rename, and delete files, along with many other
options. Later, a new list can be generated and the old and new lists
can be automatically compared to see what has changed. The 'delta'
(changes) of the old and new file lists will show all files that have
been deleted, added, or changed (size or date).
FileCat can now also back-up those files that have been added or
changed (based on your delta list), with a simple menu command. This
allows for very easy and reliable incremental back-ups. This seems
like an excellent program for your hard drive upkeep. Color or mono.
ST--TT compatible. Docs included. Unfortunately, this program doesn't
work with most of my Hard drive partitions because I have too many
files! As the author has told me "File Cat is currently hard coded
with a limit of 200 folders per drive (partition), 1000 files per
folder, and 5000 total files per drive. Exceeding any one of these
limits will cause the program to crash. These limits are due to the
memory intensive requirements of having three complete lists of file
information loaded at one time (plus a possible text file display) and
an attempt to remain compatible with the original 520ST computer. A
future version is planned to allow these limits to be user defined
within the limits of available memory and according to the needs of
each user. I doubt that you will have any problem though, and I
recommend it to you.
[] FRTUN230 is an ASCII text file intended to be used with CodeHead's
Warp 9 (v.3.70 or newer) screen saver module, Fortune Cookie v.1.2.
This file contains 230 fortunes, observations and quotations. There
are some excellent quotes in this file. One I particularly like is
"Old age is always 15 years older than I am." --Bernard M. Baruch.
[] GBNCH325 is GEM Bench v.3.25 by Ofir Gal (dated September 19, 1993).
This program was designed to provide you with a reality-based
benchmarking tool. Using a simple, GEM based interface this utility
tests the speed (and much more) of features you usually use and so
gives you a realistic view of your TOS 1.0--Falcon computer. It will
test the graphic screen drawing speed, the CPU speed (math and memory
access tests), and more. You can also use this program to tell you
your computer type, TOS version, MultiTOS (MiNT) version, Blitter
status, AES and GEMDOS versions, NVDI (a screen accelerator like Warp
9), FPU and other information about the system. You can even force the
system (if you have a TT!) to run in ST RAM or Fast RAM. It will also
let you compare your system against other Stock Atari machines. Now
even GEMulator aware and still fully MultiTOS compatible. Color or
mono. Docs included. This version has some improvements to make it an
even more accurate reflection of your computer's status. SHAREWARE.
[] HARDWARE is the Atari ST/STe/MSTe/TT/F030 Hardware Register Listing,
v.6.0 by Dan Hollis (dated September 1, 1993). This 100K+ long ASCII
listing brings you, the programmer, a complete reference of (almost)
all of the Hardware registers for the above computers. I imagine that
this would be quite useful to those of you who know what to do with it
(but that's not ME!).
[] HAUNTEDH is a 400 dpi .IMG silhouette of a peaked and gabled haunted
house perched on the top of a hill. A full moon is shining behind the
house and scores of bats encircle it.
[] IBIIIV14 is Iron Bomber III v.1.4 (dated July 23, 1993). Iron Bomber
III: Alien Defense is an over-the-modem game that can be used with
either ST BBS Express or Turbo BBS. Now, the player controls a space
ship. You must destroy all of the alien ships before moving onto the
next wave or level. Level 50 has a mother ship. Destroy it and you win
the game. There is also a password function to allow you to go to the
higher levels. A password is given every 5 levels. There is a high
score table for 1200 baud users, 2400 baud users, and High speed modem
callers. Since the difficulty varies with how fast the modem can
transmit data, three tables were necessary. The remote user needs to
have ANSI or VT-52 emulation in order to play the game. Docs included.
SHAREWARE. 116K uncompressed.
[] ITCHYSCR is two 400 dpi scanned line art .IMG pictures, one of
"Itchy" carrying a HUGE club and looking mean (he's a mouse) and the
other of "Scratchy" the cat carrying a large wooden mallet, and
looking even meaner than Itchy. Itchy and Scratchy are characters on
Fox's "The Simpsons."
[] KAL101u is Kalender v.1.01 by Blintzer Butane III. This program/
accessory (just rename it) presents you with a calendar which can be
scrolled forwards and backwards in 1 year, 10 year or 100 year
increments. Curious as to the day of the week on which you were born,
or the day on which your next birthday will fall? Then Kalender can
help you out! It also includes options for setting your computer's
clock and for keeping handy notes. The program is in German but the
docs are in English. ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions.
[] LIMBAUGH is a very good scanned .IMG drawing of Rush Limbaugh III.
This would be suitable for DTP work.
[] LZH2LZH is v.1.00 of a program by J.Watts that can help you to save
a lot of space on your hard drive. It will take any ARC, LZH, or ZIP
file (these archivers are included on the disk, but more on that
later) and convert them into the version of LZH which you choose.
Docs are included. Color (maybe Mono, but I haven't checked). The
problem I have with this file is that he has included the compression
programs without any docs or supporting files. He has even included
Charles Johnson's ArcShell v.3.1 without any docs. That program is
Shareware. He has also included LHA_201m which he says is the newest
version of Lharc. Unfortunately, that isn't the newest version. As I
understand it someone last year changed the version letter from "L"
(the latest as far as I know of Quester's LZH) to "M," probably to
upgrade their upload/download ratio on some BBS. In any case, I find
it unfortunate that the docs for the various programs weren't included.
BUT...read on
[] LZH2LZH1 is just the above program (even minus it's OWN docs!) which
the author uploaded on GEnie. It might be a newer version, but I can't
tell from the program. (note: check below to Uncle Carl's BELEF202 for
a similar program)
[] L_NET13 is LittleNet v.1.3E by Dirk Woitha. This is an amazing .ACC
that will allow you to link together two ST's (compatible up to TOS
2.06, at least) via MIDI cables. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to
access the hard drive, high density floppy or standard floppy drive of
another ST/STe/TT--even if it's up to 200 feet away! With LittleNet
you can! This .ACC will allow you to transfer files and load programs
from another computer at speeds just slightly slower than a standard
floppy disk. The previous version I have seen (v.1.0) had complete
German docs along with some brief helps in English. This version only
has the brief English helps. The previous version also had Al
Fasoldt's excellent "Secrets of LittleNet" article included in it, but
v.1.3E doesn't include that either. Color or mono.
I am assuming (you know how dangerous THAT is!) that the limitations
of the previous version still apply to this current version, but since
there are no original docs for this I can't tell you for sure. Version
1.0's limitation was that Warp 9 screen acceleration must be disabled
during file accesses and the .ACC is only compatible with 512 byte
sectors (no BGM partitions--sigh because that leaves me out!), but
those are the only bugs reported for this excellent utility. You might
want to get LITTLNET (that's v.1.0) for those other support files.
[] MAGI is a program from France (1993) that will allow you to
reconfigure your Falcon (temporarily!) so that it will stand a much
better chance of running older software (primarily games). Just run
the program, answer the prompts, and you're off. (Lucky you!) Docs
included.
[] MAGSPELL is Magic Spell by Thomas A. Savino, RPh (dated September 6,
1993). This is an excellent program that was designed to encourage
people to improve their spelling skills. As u no I dont hav ne problem
with mi speling abillidy, but I still enjoy this program. After a
brief initialization the Wizard (the Spelling Wizard, that is)
presents you with a number of letters at the top of the screen (the
most letters at the Easy level, with fewer at the Medium level, and
the fewest at the Hard level). Your task is to try to make up to ten
words using those letters (mor then once, if nesessare). The length of
the words, and the frequency of the letters involved (a "Z" scores
more than an "A") determine your score. After you are done you can
access the dictionary to see all of the words you could have picked (A
LOT!). You can also add to the 2300+ word dictionary included with
this file, either from within the program itself or with the included
editor. Brief appearances by the Wizard and many other "touches" to
this program that show that the author has done his homework in
program design and friendliness. Color or mono. Docs included.
Recommended. TOS 1.0-1.62 compatible, at least (and I suspect more).
450+K uncompressed.
It was the week of QWK compatible readers...
[] MMST296 is MaxiMiser*ST v.2.96 by Shawn Smith (dated August 31,
1993). MaxiMiser is a program that will allow you to read and respond
to messages that you have downloaded from BBS through a QWK compatible
door (e.g., Qmail for PC Board or Maxidoor for FoReM). You just take your
favorite terminal program, call the BBS that you wish to download your
messages from (they must have a QWK compatible Door), enter that door
(Have the SysOp point you in the right direction if you can't find the
right Door), configure the program to your liking, download your
messages and logoff. Sign-on at a later time to send off your replies.
Save lots of money! This version uses GDOS if available. Docs
included. He has been regularly improving this product. SHAREWARE
(slightly limited until registered). This works best with 1 meg of RAM
or more, but will work with less. ST/STe/TT compatible. Color or mono.
[] MTN_QWK is Mountain QWK v.1.11 by Mountain Software and Anthony
Watson (dated Sept. 11, 1993). This is a demo of his first commercial
release (other than some excellent Shareware, which _is_ commercial
software in my book!). Mountain Software has provided us in the past
with some of the prettiest, most functional programs around, and this
time is no exception. This program is a QWK reader/mailer with just
about every feature you could wish for. It can save you Big Time in
your telecommunication costs. There are mountains of messages piling
up each day on BBS's around the country. If you are like me (I log on
to Delphi, GEnie, Toad Hall, the Boston Computer Society's BBS, and
CodeHead BBS daily) the number of messages to read are almost
overwhelming (not to mention the replies!). Reading them all online
can add up to a bunch of money! That's where Mountain QWK can come in
handy. Using the QWK format available on many BBS's, message bases are
collected, compressed, and transferred out to you. You can search
through them for specific messages or read them all off-line (i.e.,
saving Money!) and reply to them off line as well, using your favorite
editor as an external program if you wish.
Everything you need (except the compression programs - and a computer
setup with modem!) is included. This demo is limited (by even less
than in previous versions) in the number of messages it can capture
and the replies you can send (plus some other minor irritants designed
to get you to buy the program!) Clearly written docs (Yeah!) are
provided. Requires at least one meg of RAM (more is better) and an
ST--Falcon computer.
[] MT_QWK_R is the microTalk QWK-Reader v.1.08 by Wolfgang Zweygart
(dated April 5, 1992). This program will allow you to read and reply
to messages that you have downloaded from a BBS through a QWK
compatible door such as Qmail for the PC & Turbo Board ST or Maxidoor
for FoReM. Messages bases of your choice are scanned on the BBS,
compressed and, after downloading the prepared QWK packet can be read
and replied to offline, resulting in not only considerable savings
both in time and costs, but also the added convenience of replying at
leisure without the time constraints in force on most Bulletin Boards.
The microTalk reader is feature packed, making full use of GEM and has
such features as multiple windows, allowing instant movement from one
message base to another, user defined Macro menu, standard block
commands, Clipboard, full mouse or keyboard operation and much more.
Color or mono. Docs included.
[] NEG_TIME will invert screen and enter current date and time, for
MONO users who prefer a black screen and white characters. Sets
printer to Epson line width as well.
[] OVERNUKE by M.G.Lawson is for those of you with the Universal
Military Simulator II and the simulation "OverLord." Simply rename and
replace your OverLord DAT & IND files (keep those extenders!) on your
game disk. Don't erase your original! German V-1 weapons have been
upgraded to V-3 tactical nukes. German victory conditions have been
raise from 3.0 to 4.0 to even things out. I don't have UMS II so I
can't tell you more about this.
[] PHOTOSHO is Photo Show for the Falcon. This program, created by
Randall Kopchak of It's All Relative Software, will make use of the
Falcon's built in true color graphics, SCSI-2 port, and CD quality
sound recording and playback capabilities to directly view pictures
from the Kodak Photo CD disc (but not in this demo) or scripted into
custom slide shows that allow you to mix graphics and sound into a
multimedia presentation. Presentations can be played in a continuous
loop. Several picture files and a .AVR sound file are included.
Requires a Falcon with 4 meg of RAM (or more) and an Atari color
monitor, TV, or VGA monitor. 1.45 Meg uncompressed.
[] PPLATES is a press announcement from Carter's Creative Computer that
details their new product for Calamus users (all varieties). Dated
September 6, 1993 this ASCII file tells how you can get their over 100
Calamus Templates for use with PaperDirect's (PD's) Letterheads,
Tri-fold Brochures, Tri-fold Mailers PLUS (heavy-weight Tri-fold
Brochure pre-scored for easy folding w/rotary index-card punchout),
Desktop Messages, Business Cards, Post Cards, Certificates and Frames
(full-page borders).
With these templates you can easily take advantage of PD's unique and
colorful paper supplies to create promotions that look like there were
produced by a color graphic design/printing business. Jimmy Carter,
the owner (not the former President!) has previously offered Shareware
versions of some of these Templates, but these commercial versions
have been cleaned and spruced up even more. Ordering information is
included. He helps make a fantastic DTP program even better!
[] PRISMDEM is a demo of the new Prism Paint II by Wolfgand Ante and
Alexander Beza and distributed by Lexicor Software. Prism Paint II
shares the name with PP 1 and 1.5, and the .PNT picture format, but
nothing else (Oh yes, if you have a previous version of PP you may
upgrade). It is a completely new program that combines a huge array of
features into an outstanding paint program with extended animation
features. Name a raster graphic format and it will probably support
it. The program utilizes an icon interface (like Calamus) common in
many European programs. Powerful, and yet easy to use, this program
can be fully integrated into the entire Lexicor line of products. It
will run in any resolution and on any ST--Falcon, and run well! This
demo is not complete in any sense, but is complete enough to whet your
appetite. Docs included. 712K uncompressed.
[] PT_20S is ProTracker ST v2.0s by Karl Anders ²ygard and Hans-Arild
Runde. ProTracker ST v.2.0s is a .MOD composing and playing program
written for the Atari ST--TT series (it's not yet _fully_ Falcon
compatible). It is a highly flexible system, allowing for up to four
separate channels of samples, digital reproductions of real
instruments, each with separate volume and pitch. ProTracker ST turns
your ST into a fully capable sample synthesizer that's a pleasure to
look at as well! According to the authors this program implements all
of the features of ProTracker 2.0 Amiga--and more. They say this
program has notably better editing, offering to you more
possibilities, easy recording and an easier and more powerful sample
editor. It also makes full use of the STE's stereo sound introducing
bass and treble control.
Both on the ST and STE, the digitized sound is of a quality superior
to anything else, yet leaves far more time for other tasks to run
simultaneously. Furthermore, replay routines comes together with the
ProTracker ST, making it easy to implement soundtracks in demos and
games. This is a Shareware program ($15 US), and the docs are the
first two chapters of the full 130K of ASCII docs you get when you
register. This is more than enough to get you started. Color only.
Tutorial and sample files for you to learn on are included. If nothing
else you can use this as an excellent MOD player (that's my speed)!
[] REN_LHA is Rename LHA v.1.00 by Rich Tietjens of Grunt Software
(dated July 24, 1993). This is a utility that will allow you to rename
LHArchived files according to compression type. Have you figured out
all the different varieties of LHA (LZHed) archives there are? It is
frustrating to only find out that you are using the wrong archiver to
uncompress a file only _after_ you have already begun to (try to)
uncompress it. REN_LHA will allow you to rename the files to show (by
the extender) exactly what type of archive it is. The program reads
the compression type in the file header and renames the file. Of
course you could recompress all your files to one format (using a
program such as BELEF v.2.02 by Uncle Carl) but that takes time which
sometimes you don't have. This program avoids the time, and solves the
problem. Docs included.
[] RKODEMO is the RKO-Guitar .SEQ animation. This is a very colorful
animation that begins with a guitar in space being "refueled" by a
space-going tanker. The words "Falcon Power" stand out in the
background (the titles in this animation were made using Speedo GDOS,
by the way). The scene shifts and the guitar lowers itself to in front
of the RKO Theater (color and color cycling are used very effectively
here). The Falcon zooms in through the door and the theater sign
lights up with "Time to Rock N' Roll...The Falcon is Here Now." Color
only. Use ANIMATE4 to view. 540K uncompressed.
[] SKULPHON is a small 144 x 71 pixel .IMG drawing of a grinning skull
with deepset "eyes" wearing headphones!
[] SLUSER_2 is the complete transcript of the User to User Tips Forum
for Calamus S & SL from August 10, 1992 through September 5, 1993 as
found on GEnie and the Atari Roundtables. GEnie is the source of all
sorts of all sorts of helpful hints and files through DMC's User to
User program. Unfortunately for those of you not on GEnie, those files
should be found nowhere else (that's DMC's rules for the User to User
program).
[] SPADD630 is a file that contains many (190!) modules and accessories
for use with the new Hi-Tech Advisers Sales-Pro v.3.60a demo (see
SPRO_630). You can use these files to add customer records, payables,
receivables, mail-merge, general ledger, sales kits, floor planning,
service center accounts, purchase orders, recall proposals, and much
more. Using these files can give you an even better understanding of
the full Sales-Pro program. You must have Sales-Pro v.3.60a to use
this (see below).
[] SPRO_630 is the new Hi-Tech Advisers Sales-Pro v.6.30a demo (dated
September, 1993). This demo is a complete Point-of-Sale, Inventory
Control, and Accounting system that is designed to handle most aspects
of any normal store operation. This is a do-it-all program that allows
you to manage your store, edit text files, manage normal file
operations, run external programs, and much more. It is a
menu-oriented program (easy to learn and use), but also allows you to
use GEM so that you can easily access many secondary program
functions. Color or mono. Docs included. Hard Drive required. It works
on my TOS 1.62 machine and, I expect, the TT and Falcon as well
(though I can't find out where that is said). SPADD630 is a companion
file to this program, that greatly expands its capabilities.
[] SPRITE is the Sprite Designer by Robert Warnestam (May 3, 1990). It
is a program that will allow you to design your own sprites and
incorporate them into your own GFA Basic 2 or 3 programs. It also
comes with the GFA Basic sprite routines and assembly routines for
your use. A demo program is included which will show you just how fast
your sprites might zip across the screen. Low rez color only. No docs
except commented sources (sigh). 220K uncompressed. Runs on my STE.
[] STK2QBBS v.1.04 (dated Sept. 9, 1993), by Rich Tietjens, is a
utility that will allow ST-Keep SysOps to create and use the file
search control file (FILES.BBS) used by "Latest Files Announcer" (LFA,
by Robert Darling) to create your own FILES.BBS list for each of your
designated ST-Keep download areas. LFA will then read the FILES.BBS
lists and create a nice message in a Fido-style message base, telling
your users about the latest files on your BBS. Docs and LFA v.0.32
(dated June 13, 1993) are included.
[] STKCLEAN is ST-Keep Cleanup v.1.2, a program by Rich Tietjens and
Grunt Software (dated September 9th--a very good date, being it is my
birthday!) that is designed to work with the ST-Keep software package
for your BBS. All it does is compare the contents of your \FILES\
folders with the associated download folders, and when it finds a
description for a non-existent file, it deletes the description. The
program uses alert boxes and plain text to keep you up-to-date on its
progress and ask for your input. It comes in both a TTP and GEM
version. You only need this is you have ST-Keep, that excellent
Shareware BBS program. Docs and .BAS source code included.
What is ST-Keep like? I thought you'd never ask!
[] STKEEP is the ST-Keep Bulletin Board System v.5.35 by Andrew P.
Studer (dated March 6, 1993). At first, ST-Keep appears to be a
Citadel (room based) type bulletin board system. However, once you
begin working with it, you will notice that it takes on a very unique
appearance of its own along with adding a great many features not
found in Citadel programs. This will run on either a color or mono
system, only requires 512K RAM (but you are limited with less than 1
MEG in your choices) and a Hard Drive is absolutely recommended
(though you can get by with floppy drives).
This program allows up to 32,000 users, 32,000 rooms, 32,000 messages
per room, 255 floors, 255 doors (for on-line games, other BBS's),
ANSI, VT-52, IGS and ASCII graphics support! Supports Xmodem CRC,
Xmodem 1K, Ymodem Batch, Zmodem Batch, download ratios and more! Fido
networking support. Modem transfers up to 14,400 baud (using XYZ201,
included here, except he didn't include the docs for this excellent
SHAREWARE program! Get the full program and pay the Shareware fee - I
did! He also didn't include the docs for COLOUR.ACC, LZH201G [both
Shareware programs], and FOLDERXXX). It seems that this program will
do just about anything you need a BBS to do. SHAREWARE (well
supported) with no feature disabled. Docs included. Many upgrades and
bug fixes from previous versions. 692K uncompressed.
[] STM_1 is a CodeKeys Macro by B. Aein that will might help you in
three ways: 1: It speeds up the use of the commercial program "Stalk
The Market!"; 2. It has the ability to select the first nine files in
Charles F. Johnson's excellent shareware file selector, "Little Green
Selector, v.1.8" (this can be used in other Macro files you create as
well), and 3. It can call up the CodeKeys editor so you can mix up
your own Keys. The author cautions that since he has MultiDesk loaded,
this Macro might not meet your exact setup (maybe YOU should have
MultiDesk loaded as well!), so you might need to fiddle with the Macro
to suit.
[] STOBERON is the 68000 version of the OP2-Oberon-Compiler of ETH
Zurich (I think this is a University) as of June 21, 1993. The current
version of the compiler is 1.00. This file contains: The adapted error
list; The compiler; The error file converter; The linker; The symbol
file decoder; The written result of the study work (in German and TeX
format); The runtime system; A tool module for input/output; A tool
module consisting of a subset of TOS system calls; A sample
implementation of a binary tree abstract data type; A sample module
using BINTREE, and the special features of Oberon. Docs for compiling
the whole thing are included. Unfortunately, I have very little idea
of what this does, but I hope it helps you!
I just found a neat new series of animation files. Here they are!
[] 6CYLTAT is a .TAT animation of the crankshaft and pistons of a six
cylinder engine in motion. Converted from a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator)
animation using Martin Packer's FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL.
[] BART1TAT is a .TAT animation of Bart Simpson pulling out his
slingshot and letting off a fast one at your monitor screen. Run this
and you will wonder if you should duck, but by then it will be TOO
LATE!!! Converted from a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator) animation using
Martin Packer's FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL. Color only.
[] BARTBTAT is a .TAT animation of Bart Simpson licking the beaters on
his electric hand mixer. Do you remember your Mom or Dad telling you
not to lick the beaters with the cord still plugged in? Well, either
no one told Bart that or (more likely) he ignored their advice!
Converted from a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator) animation using Martin
Packer's FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL. Color only.
[] BART_TAT is a .TAT animation of Bart Simpson walking up to the
screen and politely introducing himself and then asking your name
(again with only the grace he exhibits). If you believe that about
Bart Simpson, I have a slightly used bridge for sale... cheap!
Converted from a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator) animation using Martin
Packer's FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL. Color only. 127K
uncompressed.
[] DINO is a .TAT animation of a T-Rex walking along a mountainous
trail. Anachronistically, a fighter plane passes overhead. I expected
the T-Rex to jump up and munch the plane, but apparently the plane was
too far overhead because after a brief look the T-Rex just keeps
walking. Converted from a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator) animation using
Martin Packer's FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL. Color only.
[] HARRITAT is a .TAT animation of a Harrier Jump Jet taking off. This
is from an actual movie made into a FLI (PC Autodesk Animator)
animation and then converted to the .TAT format using Martin Packer's
FLICONV. View using his ANIMTOOL. Color only.
[] HIT_ANY is a .TAT animation file converted from a .FLI (PC Autodesk
Animator) animation using Martin Packer's program FLICONV. It is an
EXCELLENT animation! A well-dressed duck walks up to a computer and
taps the keyboard. You are then shown a screenshot which read, "Hit
any key to continue _ " with a blinking cursor. So the duck taps the
key again, and gets the same message. He scratches his head and taps a
key again. Again, the same message. He then rummages around in his
pocket and pulls out a mongo sledgehammer, and HITS a key! The screen
gives the same message again! This time the duck wallops the whole
computer, not just a key, and that's the end. Well, not quite. The
computer has the last word. The duck gets fried to a crisp and falls
to the ground, ala' roast duck! Color only. Use Martin Packer's
ANIMTOOL to view this file. Uncompresses to 1.03 Meg!
[] TRACTEC2 is the complete transcript from May 10, 1993 through
September 7, 1993 of the TraceTech's Data Diet, Squish II, and Data
Rescue topic on GEnie and the Atari RoundTables. If you want to hear
the inside scoop about these three very useful programs (and see the
high level of support that Keith Gerdes gives his products) then see
this file.
[] TRUCKIN is a nicely done .IMG file (417 x 217 pixels) of the classic
"Keep on Truckin'" poster by Crumb.
[] UK_MATCH is Match Maker by Dave Cobbledick (dated October, 1992).
This color game is an excellent adaptation of Concentration. This
program not only provides you with excellent graphics and digitized
sounds, it gives you a challenge as well! You are given the task of
finding the matching pairs of symbols that lie hidden behind a grid of
squares. Finish one level and you are advanced to the next level (with
lots more squares to keep track of). There are six levels with five
"lives" in all (I've gotten all the way to the end!!! Whew!). Mouse
controlled. Very well done. I recommend it to you. My wife and kids
love it! Written in STOS, and compatible with TOS 1.0-1.62. I
recommend STOSFX21 by Robert Quezada for all of you with higher TOS
versions which will easily adapt this program (and all other STOS
programs) to your version of TOS. SHAREWARE.
[] YAHTZEE is a file by Frank Lowe (dated 1993) that is a Calamus SL
(or S) .CDK that will provide all you Yahtzee players out there with
an environmentallly sound method of scoring your games. Yes, score up to
16 games using only one sheet of paper. This requires Calamus S or SL
to print out. A laser printer is recommended, but a dot matrix printer
will work as well.
[] ZR1 is an excellent color PhotoChrome3 picture (.PCS) of a 1991 ZR-1
Corvette sitting on a beach with a beautiful sunset in the background.
Found on the Boston Computer Society's Atari BBS.
Finally, you know (very likely) that I like Carl Hafner's (Uncle
Carl) programming. Here are some of the newer programs he has
recently released...
[] BELEF202 (pronounced: BELL*EFF) is v.2.02 of Uncle Carl's Universal
Compression Utility Manipulator. Besides its ability to perform the
functions of a standard archive "shell" (it's wonderful just as
that!), this program will also allow you to convert any of your
archive files from ANY one format to another, easily and safely! When
I say easily, I mean easily. Clicking on a button replaces typing.
You mouse "learns" your common mouse positions. Much more has been
done to make this program easy and safe to use. Other programs are
sometimes "version dependent" in that they only work with the
compression utility version that the author was using when they wrote
their program.
Belef is designed in a way which will allow it to work with
compression programs past, present and future ! Now if you have a
zillion .ARC format files and want to save space you can just convert
them over to .LZH (or ZIP or ZOO or whatever) format with minimal
effort. Belef EVEN allows you to identify the compressed files format
(ex: -lh0-,-lh1-,-lh5- ) before acting upon it! This is especially
handy since not all LZH utilities work with all of the different types
of LZH files. You must supply the various compression utilities. Docs
included. ST/STe/TT compatible. Color or mono. DEMO (you can't save
your specific configurations, but the program still works).
[] CFSEL102 v.1.02 (dated August 25, 1993) is a small PRG/ACC which
allows access to the GEM file selector (or any replacement selector)
whenever you like. When the panel appears you have the choice of
selecting any ACTIVE drive, from A-P, selecting a search "mask", such
as .ACC or .PRG, and then opening the file selector to that drive and
mask. This can be useful if you are running a program and wish to
check a drive for a file without having to quit to the desktop. If you
have an older version of TOS this program saves you the trouble of
editing the path specification line in order to change masks. Up to 16
user definable masks and 10 preset paths are available on screen and
all 16 "masks" and "paths" can be saved right into the program!
CarlFsel also supports the UncleMouse CURsor file format! ST/STe/TT
compatible in ALL resolutions.
[] CLOCK_8 is Uncle Carl's Famous Clock Accessory Version .8 . This is
a desk accessory clock, for those of you who like lots of accessories.
When you select it from the menu, it will prompt you for the time
(a.m. or p.m.) and date. You may also use it to determine on what day
of the week, a date between 1900 and 1999, occurred. This version also
supports the UncleMouse CURsor file format. ST/STe/TT compatible in
ALL resolutions. Docs included.
[] FASTBITS (dated August 27, 1993) is a program that you will find
very useful if you have TOS 1.4 or above and would like your programs
to load fast (and who doesn't ?). This program achieves its end by
turning a files "FastBit" on, or off if you so choose. This archive
now includes the GFA Basic .LST file (demonstrating how to set a
"fastbit"). ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions. CHARITYWARE.
[] FSTOP is Uncle Carl's Famous F-Stop Utilities v.1.01 (dated Aug.
27, 1993). This is a program which allows you to view any DEGAS format
(PI?) picture OR take a "snapshot" of your current desktop/program and
save it as a DEGAS picture file. Since the snapshot utility runs as an
ACCessory, you must have access to the GEM "Desk" menu in order to use
it. Color or Mono. ST/STe compatible.
[] MOONTRK2 is MoonTrek Release 2. This file includes desktop pictures
in DEGAS and TNY format for use with either NeoDesk or Warp 9. The
pictures (which come with their own templates so that you may create
your OWN custom pictures) include standard "icon placement grids" for
both the GEM desktop and NeoDesk as well as "filled in" pictures of
the USS Enterprise circling some distant moon. Also included are 16
Warp 9 QSF (fill pattern) files, a NeoDesk icon (NIC) file and a small
accessory which helps fill in the holes which some accessories "punch"
in the screen. Docs included. 649K uncompressed!
[] NEORAM10 is NeoRam v.1.0 (dated: Sept. 5, 1993). NeoRam is a small
program which you will find very useful if you use NeoDesk and an AUTO
folder RAM disk. Usually, when you turn off your computer, everything
on your RAM disk is erased (since it only existed in RAM), including
your NeoDesk volume label. For this reason many people may not even
bother creating a NeoDesk volume label ON the RAM disk. Well now you
can! NeoRam works by allowing you to create a NeoDesk volume label and
to save that label right into NEORAM.PRG. The next time you boot up,
NeoRam creates your NeoDesk volume label FOR you (before you even
reach the NeoDesktop)! Many other user configurable options and
features! ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions. SHAREWARE.
[] OCULT301 is Ocultar v.3.01 (dated August 12, 1993). This AUTO folder
program will protect your hard disk from unauthorized access through
the use of a User Defined Password. No one is getting into your
computer if they don't have the password! It allows up to 10 users
with their own passwords, DEGAS or NeoChrome pictures to be displayed
at bootup (several included), up to 30 different setup configurations
of DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF files, AUTO programs and desk ACCESSORIES to
copy, activate or deactivate at bootup (this is worth getting the
program for all by itself!), up to 8 "extra" files per setup (240
total) to copy at bootup, plus more! It even includes a special .ACC
that prevents any attempts to bypass your hard disk driver with a
floppy! It also supports the UncleMouse .CURsor file format (use any
mouse shape you wish) and KILLIT.DAT files (delete un-needed files at
bootup). ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions. Docs included.
SHAREWARE. (Register! I have).
[] PFILE101 is ProFile! v.1.01 (dated Aug. 29, 1993). ProFile! is the
upgraded and completely re-written version of UncleLib. This Floppy
and Hard Disk librarian is an excellent tool! It really has too many
features to mention here (I took a page and a half to describe
UncleLib, but this time I've decided that's just too much! Just get
this, OK? After I say this here are some of the features! Not only
will ProFile! allow you to catalog all of your disks in a quick and
easy manner, it also allows you to save your library files in 3
possible formats (each containing differing levels of information).
One feature that is FANTASTIC is that all files are saved as ASCII
text making it possible to review them in any text editor or from the
desktop. But that's not all! Profile contains an extensive text
editor, a multitasking floppy formatter, user defined mice,
configurable printer fonts, and much more. Docs included. Color or
mono. SHAREWARE. Highly recommended. This demo is save and convert
(for upwardly converting file formats) disabled, but it is STILL very
useful as is (but make sure to register anyway-- I have--support
SHAREWARE authors !!!).
[] PROLOCK! is ProLock! v.1.05. This program/accessory (just rename it)
allows you to lock access to your computer by entering a USER DEFINED
password. This is especially handy if you have to step away from your
system for a minute, don't want to turn it off and don't want anyone
playing with what you're working on. You can also hide the screen from
view during the lockout so that no-one can see what you're doing !
ProLock! also supports the UncleMouse .CURsor file format. ST/STe/TT
compatible in ALL resolutions. DEMO
[] UNCLMAU2 is UncleMouse v.2.0. UncleMouse allows ANYONE to create
their OWN custom mouse cursor shapes, and to employ the new CURsor
within ANY program which supports the .CUR file format ! UncleMouse
can also create the necessary source code which allows GFA programmers
to merge the new cursor within their OWN program ! Best of all, you
don't NEED to be a programmer to use UncleMouse. Your imagination is
the limit ! V.2.0 now includes OVER 60 custom mouse cursors !
ST/STe/TT compatible in medium and high resolutions.
SHAREWARE.
[] UNCLRAM3 is UNCLERAM III, (dated April 21, 1993). A younger brother
to UncleRam I, this PRG/ACC will tell you (only when you ask though,
it's very polite) the amount of the LARGEST block of free RAM in your
computer as well as the TOS date and version of your operating system.
You also have the OPTION of either a WARM or COLD rebooting of your
computer. This version now includes the source code in .LST format.
ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions. FREEWARE.
[] VOLUME is Uncle Carl's Famous Volume Labeler v.1.01 (dated Aug.
27,1993). This program or accessory will allow you to rename the
volume label on your floppy or hard disk. Normally you can only give a
volume label to a disk when you format it. Suppose you name a floppy
"GAMES" but later on erase all the games and use it for word
processing. You're in trouble unless you have a program like this one.
ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions. FREEWARE.
That's ALL for now. I think this is my longest column yet!
I hope to be here in two weeks!
Michael
All of these files can be found on one or more of the following
on-line services: GEnie (M.BURKLEY1), Delphi (MRBURKLEY), The CodeHead
BBS (213-461-2095), Toad Hall (617-567-8642), and The Boston Computer
Society's Atari BBS (617-396-4607) (Michael R. Burkley). Drop me a
line!
Michael lives in Niagara Falls, NY. He is a former Polyurethane
Research Chemist and is presently the pastor of the Niagara
Presbyterian Church.
--==--==--==--==--
||| GEnie Atari ST RoundTable News
||| Courtesy: GEnie Atari ST RT (with thanks to John Hartman!)
/ | \ GEnie: J.G.H.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Atari RT Weekly News 10.1
= ATARI RT LIBRARY =
= RTC TRANSCRIPTS =
------------------------------------------------------
30232 FDMISSON.ARC X BRIAN.H 931001 11008 5 13
Desc: Fair Dinkum/Missionware 29 Sep93 RTC
30083 GLEN_7.ARC X ST.LOU 930918 10752 515 13
Desc: Live from Glendale!
30067 GENEVART.ARC X BRIAN.H 930916 12800 150 13
Desc: GENEVA RTC 15 Sept 93
29907 BRODIE13.ARC X ST.LOU 930904 17536 651 13
Desc: The Latest News from Atari Corp.
------------------------------------------------------
= LAST MONTH'S PRESS RELEASES =
-----------------------------------------------------
30208 TRB_SALE.TXT X C.WALNUM1 930930 4224 42 14
Desc: Big discounts at Taylor Ridge Books!
30180 AUOCTOBR.LZH X ATARIUSER 930926 46848 47 14
Desc: AtariUser Oct. Contents, Cover IMG!
30133 MAGENOTE.TXT X M.STAUFFER1 930923 2688 91 14
Desc: Create and Design your own Games!
30074 CSPECIAL.ZIP X CYBERCUBE 930917 4096 73 14
Desc: CyReL M16-1280 Special Offer
30073 W9UPDATE.TXT X J.EIDSVOOG1 930917 4096 453 14
Desc: Warp 9 3.80 is ready!
30066 G30DEMO.TXT X BRASOFT 930916 3584 46 14
Desc: Glendale show / Gemulator demo video
30048 STFAX2PR.ZIP X C.S.SMETON 930914 5248 148 14
Desc: STraight FAX! 2.0 Press Release
30044 ATDEVWRK.TXT X MIKE-FULTON 930913 3328 76 14
Desc: Atari Developer Workshop Announced!
29992 COMPENDM.TXT X S.SANDERS2 930911 3840 314 14
Desc: The Atari Compendium - Press Release
29982 GEMVW246.ZIP X CYBERCUBE 930911 5504 125 14
Desc: GEM-View 2.46 Release Notes
29975 GLMPR331.LZH X R.FAULKNER4 930910 28544 101 14
Desc: GEnieLamp Press Release #3.31
29948 DISCOUNT.ASC X P-DIRECT 930907 2688 72 14
Desc: User Group Discount Subscriptions!
29934 PPLATES.ASC X J.P.C. 930906 2688 97 14
Desc: Templates for Calamus
29909 PRISM_II.ZIP X Y.SIU 930904 65536 80 14
Desc: Press Release of Prism Paint II
29902 GLMPR330.LZH X R.FAULKNER4 930903 27648 90 14
Desc: GEnieLamp Press Release #3.30
29900 FAUGSH.ASC X PMC.INC 930903 2176 12 14
Desc: PMC will be at the FAUG Show in AK
29888 CYRELCAT.ZIP X CYBERCUBE 930901 2560 51 14
Desc: CyReL Catalog Disk now available
-----------------------------------------------------
= LAST MONTH'S DEMO RELEASES =
------------------------------------------------------
30174 M_QWK114.LZH X A.WATSON6 930926 82048 30 10
Desc: Mountain QWK Offline Reader (1.14)
30072 ROT2DBMP.ZIP X L.SMITH70 930917 13952 60 10
Desc: 2D rotate bitmap demo for Falcon030
30015 MSPYDEM3.LZH X J.EIDSVOOG1 930912 20864 63 10
Desc: Free demo of CodeHead's MIDI Spy 1.2
29951 MC204.LZH X C.MULLER3 930908 262400 89 10
Desc: The Ultimate Finance Manager
29930 PRISMDEM.ZIP X Y.SIU 930906 259968 115 10
Desc: Demo of Prism Paint II (Lexicor)
29917 SPADD630.ARC X HITECH 930904 538496 16 10
Desc: Sales-Pro Modules & Accessories
29916 SPRO_630.ARC X HITECH 930904 614272 29 10
Desc: Point-of-Sale, Inventory, Invoices
29910 RAYDEMO.ZIP X Y.SIU 930904 606976 53 10
Desc: Demo version of Raystart 1.1
29880 PHOTOSHO.ZIP X GREG 930901 694784 41 10
Desc: Demo of Photo Show (FALCON ONLY)
------------------------------------------------------
= LAST TWO WEEK'S TOP 10 DOWNLOADED PROGRAMS =
------------------------------------------------------
30059 MR_DASH.ZIP X GRMEYER 930915 77696 171 8
Desc: Boulder Dash clone color/mono
29987 GBNCH325.ZIP X BRASOFT 930911 77568 129 2
Desc: GEMBench 3.25, benchmarking utility
30130 3D_CABLE.ZIP X B.SEMAAN 930923 6272 115 27
Desc: Build a cable for ST -> NEC 3D
30045 FPATCH2.ZIP X H.CARSON1 930914 1024 107 2
Desc: Falcon DMA and Bconmap patch.
30128 SILKMOUS.LZH X M.SLAGELL 930922 21632 100 2
Desc: v 3.2; has Falcon-ready screen saver
30057 BOUNCE.ZIP X GRMEYER 930915 9472 100 8
Desc: Monochrome game from Germany
30056 AUSPCK15.ZIP X GRMEYER 930915 42496 96 40
Desc: GEM based Archive Shell from Germany
30004 EDPATCH3.LZH X C.HARVEY 930912 46976 95 2
Desc: EdHak patch from 3.0/3.01 to 3.02
29984 LASTBOOT.LZH X K.MEIERE1 930911 15744 94 2
Desc: Records Up-Time System History
30079 TOSX_2.LZH X STEVE-J 930918 2048 93 2
Desc: TOS Exit v2 - TTP/desk color utility
------------------------------------------------------
= LAST MONTH'S TOP 10 DOWNLOADED PROGRAMS =
------------------------------------------------------
30059 MR_DASH.ZIP X GRMEYER 930915 77696 179 8
Desc: Boulder Dash clone color/mono
29987 GBNCH325.ZIP X BRASOFT 930911 77568 131 2
Desc: GEMBench 3.25, benchmarking utility
29966 MB28ABIN.ZOO X A.WEST 930910 74752 121 2
Desc: Multi-function text viewer! V2.8a
30130 3D_CABLE.ZIP X B.SEMAAN 930923 6272 120 27
Desc: Build a cable for ST -> NEC 3D
29930 PRISMDEM.ZIP X Y.SIU 930906 259968 115 10
Desc: Demo of Prism Paint II (Lexicor)
30045 FPATCH2.ZIP X H.CARSON1 930914 1024 108 2
Desc: Falcon DMA and Bconmap patch.
29933 AW_BSCRD.LZH X M.HEBERT1 930906 4352 108 21
Desc: AtariWorks Business Cards
30128 SILKMOUS.LZH X M.SLAGELL 930922 21632 107 2
Desc: v 3.2; has Falcon-ready screen saver
30057 BOUNCE.ZIP X GRMEYER 930915 9472 101 8
Desc: Monochrome game from Germany
29975 GLMPR331.LZH X R.FAULKNER4 930910 28544 101 14
Desc: GEnieLamp Press Release #3.31
------------------------------------------------------
= LAST MONTH'S INTERNET ARCHIVES =
------------------------------------------------------
30211 INET58.ARC X DARLAH 930930 5120 8 48
Desc: Internet Sepember 30, 1993
30189 INET57.ARC X DARLAH 930927 54656 29 48
Desc: September 27, 1993
30141 INET56.ARC X DARLAH 930924 27008 37 48
Desc: Internet September 24, 1993
30135 INET55.ARC X DARLAH 930923 35968 26 48
Desc: Internet September 23, 1993
30131 INET54.ARC X DARLAH 930923 148736 24 48
Desc: Internet 9/17 to 9/22/93
30064 INET53.ARC X DARLAH 930916 34432 38 48
Desc: Internet September 16, 1993
30055 INET52.ARC X DARLAH 930915 19968 26 48
Desc: Internet September 15, 1993
30039 INET51.ARC X DARLAH 930913 44416 24 48
Desc: Internet Archive Sept 13, 1993
29964 INET50.ARC X DARLAH 930909 15872 45 48
Desc: Internet September 9, 1993
29954 INET49.ARC X DARLAH 930908 76160 24 48
Desc: Internet September 8, 1993
29920 INET48.ARC X DARLAH 930905 24448 35 48
Desc: Internet September 4, 1993
29903 INET47.ARC X DARLAH 930903 20992 43 48
Desc: Internet September 3, 1993
29893 INET46.ARC X DARLAH 930902 3456 28 48
Desc: Internet September 2, 1993
29892 INET45.ARC X DARLAH 930902 29056 27 48
Desc: Internet September 2, 1993
29883 INET44.ARC X DARLAH 930901 9856 25 48
Desc: Internet September 1, 1993
------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| Developing News
||| Important Items from TOS platform developers and supporters
/ | \ ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Taylor Ridge Books Fall Sale
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Taylor Ridge Books is happy to announce a special Fall '93 sale of all
books in stock. If you order before October 31, 1993, you can save a
whopping 35%! The titles available are (all Atari books include a
disk):
--------------------------------------------------------
Title Regular Price Sale Price
--------------------------------------------------------
C-manship Complete $29.95 $19.50
The ST Assembly Language
Workshop, Volume 1 $24.95 $16.25
GFA-BASIC Toolkit $34.95 $22.75
AES Quick Reference $16.95 $11.00
VDI Quick Reference $20.95 $13.75
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EXTRA SPECIAL OFFER: Order all five books for $79.95!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shipping and handling is $3.00 for the first book and $1.50 for each
additional book. Visa and MasterCard accepted, but you MUST place your
order before October 31, 1993 to get the special prices. Fill in the
special order form below and mail or FAX to:
Taylor Ridge Books
P.O. Box 78
Manchester, CT 06045
FAX: (203) 643-9477
Voice order line: (203) 643-9673
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Title |Qty | Unit Price | Total |
===========================================================
| C-manship Complete | | $19.50 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| ST Assembly Language Wrk. 1 | | $16.25 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| GFA-BASIC Toolkit | | $22.75 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| AES Quick Reference | | $11.00 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| VDI Quick Reference | | $13.75 | |
===========================================================
| ---> IBM PC Titles by Clayton Walnum also 35% off <--- |
===========================================================
| Borland C++ Power | | $26.00 | |
| Programming (w/disk) | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| QBasic for Rookies | | $11.00 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Turbo C++ for Rookies | | $11.00 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| Adventures in Artificial | | $16.25 | |
| Life (w/disk) | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| The First Book of Works | | $12.25 | |
| for Windows | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| PC Picasso (Child's computer| | $13.00 | |
| art book, w/disk) | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| DataMania (Child's database | | $13.00 | |
| book w/disk) | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| MatheMagic (Child's computer| | $13.00 | |
| math book, w/disk) | | | |
===========================================================
| SHIPPING FOR 1ST BOOK | 1 | $ 3.00 | $ 3.00 |
-----------------------------------------------------------
| SHIP. EACH ADDITIONAL BOOK | | $1.50 | |
===========================================================
GRAND TOTAL: | |
__ Check or money order enclosed. -----------
__ Bill my Visa or MasterCard
Card #___________________ Expires: ________
Name _____________________________________
Address _____________________________________
City _____________________ State ___ Zip __________
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// The Atari Font Resource Guide
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Atari Font Resource Guide is the largest collection of Public
Domain and Shareware fonts for Atari(.CFN, GDOS, ATM Type 1), Amiga,
IBM/Windows etc... The AFRG is $14.99 and presently includes 350+
Calamus/Calamus SL fonts and 170+ ATM Type 1 fonts. All fonts are
shown in their native form at 20 points. Purchasing the guide entitles
you to receive $3.00 off your first order plus you receive all future
updates to the guide.
The whole idea of purchasing fonts this way is it saves you time and
money. You will never have to buy a disk full of fonts you already
have, nor will you have to download a font only to find out that you
already have it and the file was 167K!!! You pick only the fonts you
want. You buy fonts in sets of 15. When you buy in bulk, you can buy a
set for as little as $3.50 per set!
For more information please contact:
Graphic Effects
197 North Washington Avenue
Centereach, NY 11720-1925
(516) 471-1529
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ATARI UNITED! announced that the first regular issue of its
DiskMagazine will be released in mid-October, 1993. A special
preliminary issue of the DiskMagazine was released through STeve's
Software at the Glendale Atari Show in September. The magazine will
contain news, reviews, press releases, program demos, public domain
software and any other information that might be of interest to owners
of Atari TOS computers. The floppy-disk based magazine features an
interface developed by Bry Edewaard and Scott Ettinger. The reader is
compatible with any version of TOS, from the original STs to the
Falcon030 of today and is readable in any resolution with at least an
eighty column display.
Gordie Meyer, managing editor of the ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine,
expects the contents to cover a wide range of topics that most users
in the Atari community will find beneficial. While a small part of the
community is active online, and gets word of new or improved products
almost immediately, most Atarians often get that information weeks or
months after it first appears, if at all. The AU! DiskMagazine is an
attempt at bridging that informational gap. The DiskMagazine will
strive to be a source of solid information and support that the
average user needs. It will also focus on providing support of user
groups, with a regular "showcase" column featuring various user groups
through out the United States. In addition, ATARI UNITED! is offering
blanket permission to user groups to reprint or reproduce any or all
contents of the DiskMagazine unless specifically noted otherwise.
This will aid the user groups in putting together newsletters and
disks of the month.
ATARI UNITED! is seeking advertisers for the DiskMagazine, to keep the
cost of obtaining the DiskMagazine at a minimum. Anyone interested in
advertising in/on the DiskMagazine should contact Gordie Meyer at one
of his addresses listed below. ATARI UNITED! is also looking for
volunteer writers, and also welcomes the submission of any press
releases related to the Atari TOS computer.
ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine is available for individual subscription at
$16.00 a year. (4 issues a year, published quarterly). Individual
issues may be purchased at $4.95 by contacting Gordie Meyer. User
groups that would like to subscribe at a special rate should contact
Gordie Meyer at the address listed below.
For information regarding the DiskMagazine or to subscribe to the
magazine, please contact:
ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine
Gordie Meyer
P.O. Box 1982
Ames, IA 50010-1982
515/232-1627
biblinski@delphi.com
To subscribe to the ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine please fill out the
information below, enclose a check or money order and mail it in!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Name (Last, First, MI): _________________________________________
Mailing Address: _________________________________________
_________________________________________
City, State, Zip: _________________________________________
Phone Number: _________________________________________
Online Address: _________________________________________
Computer Model: ___ 520 ST ___ 520 STe ___ TT
___ 1040 ST ___ 1040 STe ___ F030
___ Mega ST ___ Mega STe
Computer Serial Number: _________________________________________
(OPTIONAL)
User Group (if a member):________________________________________
( ) Yes! Please include me in your list of possible contacts
for isolated Atari TOS owners in my area.
( ) Also please make my name and address available to other
Atari related concerns.
(
) Please keep all information on my registration form
confidential.
------------------------------------------------------------------
*Note: Unless you specify otherwise, ATARI UNITED! will
automatically register you in the database with your subscription.
If you do not wish to subscribe to the ATARI UNITED! DiskMagazine,
but do want to register free of charge, please send the above
information to:
Patti Barbiero
P.O. Box 691
Mountain View, CA 94042-0691
415/903-9787
abarbiero@delphi.com
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| Shutdown ............................ Power off, EXIT, BYE, Logoff
/ | \ ------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm pleased to be able to offer the many readers of AEO who can only
access us via the Internet a chance to obtain AEO through a
subscription service. If you have an Internet connection, drop Greg
Lindahl a request at <stzmagazine-request@virginia.edu>.
We welcome feedback from all of our readers; feedback both positive
and negative. Whatever you think of our efforts, we sincerely would
like to know. Our EMail addresses are sprinkled throughout each
issue - with the new Internet gateway into GEnie, you can reach us
through the Internet also. Append "@genie.geis.com" to any of our
GEnie addresses.
Until the next issue of AEO, I remain,
Your Editor
Travis Guy
Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
DNFTEC
--==--==--==--==--
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 the
publishers.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, Mega STE, TT030, Atari Falcon030, TOS,
MultiTOS, NewDesk, BLiTTER, Atari Lynx, ComLynx, 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
"Your Only Independent Atari Online"
Copyright (c) 1993, Subspace Publishers
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A E O :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Volume 2 - Issue 17 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 2 October 1993 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
