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Z*NET Online Magazine Issue 92-22
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Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE
----------------------------
December 13, 1992 Issue #22 Volume 7, Number 22
Copyright (c)1992, Syndicate Publishing Company
~ Publisher/Editor..........................Ron Kovacs
~ Senior Editor..............................John Nagy
~ Assistant Editor...........................Ed Krimen
~ Writer............................Michael R. Burkley
~ Writer.....................................Bob Smith
~ Z*Net News Service NZ.....................Jon Clarke
$ GEnie Address..................................Z-NET
$ CompuServe Address........................75300,1642
$ Delphi Address..................................ZNET
$ Internet/Usenet Address................status.gen.nz
$ America Online Address......................ZNET1991
$ AtariNet Address...........................51:1/13.0
* Z*Net: News Service FNET 593 AtariNet 51:1/13 (908) 968-8148
* Z*Net: Golden Gate FNET 706 AtariNet 51:1/9 (510) 373-6792
* Z*Net: S. Pacific FNET 693 New Zealand
**--CONTENTS--**
## The Editors Desk......................Ron Kovacs
## Z*Net Newswire........................Ron Kovacs
## 1992: Year In Review - Part 1.........Ron Kovacs
## Join A Music Coalition..........................
## AtariNet, Network Overview......................
## Perusing GEnie.........................Ed Krimen
## Open Letter To Atari Users.......Nathan Potechin
## Z*Net Calendar........................Ron Kovacs
## The Unabashed Atariophile........Michael Burkley
###### THE EDITORS DESK
###### By Ron Kovacs
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the horrible storm that hit our area this week, we have not been
able to produce a regular edition. However, since our phone lines have
cleared up, downed trees have been removed and communications links are
beginning to open up, we will release this issue on Sunday.
The Noreaster that hit this area was "The Storm of The Century" as
called by local newscasters and weathermen. There were wind gusts of
over 60 miles and hour, heavy rain which turned to snow. In northern
areas here, snow was the only product of the storm which piled to over
30 inches.
The storm began last Thursday and still effects our area today, Sunday.
However, many lucked out while others, especially those in New York,
Long Island and coastal New Jersey have lost homes and property. Not a
very nice Chirstmas is being offered to these people this year.
This week we will being the Year in Review 1992 along with our regular
columns.
###### Z*NET NEWSWIRE
###### Edited by Ron Kovacs
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Headlines:
Falcon bundled with D2D
Injunction Against Microsoft
Massive layoffs being considerd by IBM
Syquest Technology files lawsuit
Fujitsu develops first 256MB DRAM
Free upgrade available from WordPerfect
FALCON BUNDLED WITH D2D
D2D Software is being bundled with the Falcon. This product is a basic
direct-to-disk recorder and simple cut-and-paste editor. D2D Edit,
another product, is a fully-professional version with SMPTE drive and a
cue sheet-type editor. Also, 4T/FX is a multi-track program that
provides mixing of the four channels and two effects (reverb, echo,
flange, or distortion, etc., in any combination of two). It is going to
range $500-$600.
NEWSLETTER REPORTS INJUNCTION
The "FTC: Watch" newsletter has reported that attorneys sent an informal
250-page report to commissioners last week, suggesting they consider
seeking a court-imposed injunction against practices related to the sale
of Microsoft's DOS operating system using Intel Corp.'s microprocessors.
Rivals of Microsoft, have been complaining that the company uses
predatory practices in selling its operating systems, which give the
basic commands to personal computers. Microsoft offers discounts to
makers of personal computers that agree to pay for a copy of DOS
software for every personal computer they sell. Some rivals, such as
Quarterdeck, have decided to stop marketing operating system software to
PC makers because of Microsoft's dominance.
MASSIVE LAYOFFS BEING CONSIDERED BY IBM
Directors of IBM are being summoned to a special meeting next week amid
reports the computer-maker is considering a downsizing initiative,
including massive layoffs, that could cost up to $3 billion. A
spokesman at IBM headquarters refused to comment on the meeting. The
IBM board does not normally meet in December. This year, IBM has
already taken restructuring charges of $5.4 billion - before taxes - to
cover costs associated with the planned elimination of 40,000 jobs. The
company has been downsizing for six years. By the end of the year, the
IBM staff will have been reduced by more than 85,000 from its 1986 peak
of 407,000.
SYQUEST FILES LAWSUIT
SyQuest has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court against Nomai
S.A., a French start-up company, and Srinivasan "Ravi" Chari, a former
technical consultant to SyQuest, for theft of trade secrets, unfair
competition and other wrongful acts. The court has issued a temporary
restraining order enjoining Chari and anyone acting with him from
developing, manufacturing, marketing, distributing and selling removable
5.25 inch Winchester disk cartridges for use in SyQuest drives. SyQuest
is currently the only manufacturer of cartridges for use with SyQuest
disk drives.
FUJITSU FIRST 256MB DRAM
Fujitsu has developed the world's first 256-megabit-DRAM chip. The new
chip, measuring two by two centimetres, can store 64 times the amount of
data as current DRAM (Direct Random Access Memory) chips. The new chip
will be ready for serial production in 1996.
FREE UPGRADE AVAILABLE FOR WORDPERFECT
Users who purchase WordPerfect Office version 3.1 for DOS and Windows,
or WordPerfect Office 3.03 for the Macintosh between October 13, 1992,
and the initial release of WordPerfect Office 4.0 will receive a free
upgrade. WordPerfect Office 4.0, scheduled for release at the end of
first quarter 1993, is an electronic mail, personal calendaring and
group scheduling program. A trade-up platform administration package
will also be available for $220 with additional licenses ranging from
$25 to $30.
###### Z*NET NEWS YEAR IN REVIEW (Part 1)
###### By Ron Kovacs
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Once again it is that time of the year where we present the year in
review. There are going to be columns addressing the topic during the
next few weeks that detail different aspects of this year. What I am
going to do is focus on the news we covered in Z*Net and AEO (issues
that we produced), from the Z*Net Newswire and feature articles.
To begin 1992, we must go back to December 1991.
December 1991
Antic Publishing, Inc. is said to be planning to dissolve the
corporation at year's end, 1991, taking its debts with it. PC HOME
JOURNAL, Antic's other publication, is expected to be spun off to a
legally new and unrelated corporation as of January 1, 1992.
The announced and expected CDAR505 will NOT be produced at any time
soon. Intended for a fall 1991 release, the unit would be identical to
cheaper drives already on the market, making it a loss proposition for
Atari. They will now promote the use of the 500+meg devices by
releasing METADOS into the community as freeware. User can roll their
own players just as they do hard drive now.
The STylus pad-based ST that was said to be the future of computing and
was at one time expected to be the "WOW" unit at COMDEX is tabled by
Atari after market studies show that buyers are curious, but not willing
to buy one.
Darek Mihocka searches for a buyer of Quick ST as he prepares to leave
the ST market and finish development of his Gemulator, to allow ST
software users to follow him into the PC marketplace. Now working for
Microsoft, Darek has become an advocate of MS-DOS.
The Lynx is finally a major hit, with demand outstripping production
ability. New dealer penetration will have to wait until after
Christmas, as all current production is already pre-sold.
FSM GDOS is about ready to go to market, as soon as the packaging is
ready for dealer sale. It is expected in early January at about $50.
The Portfolio is selling well, at double the rate it was before the
double-priced and well promoted competition arrived from Hewlett
Packard.
The winners of Atari's STe/TT demo contest are announced. Noel Saw and
Arvin Castillo win an Atari TT030 for their massive entry.
Calamus S is scheduled to be released by ISD on December 15.
Atari stock is down to $ 1 3/4 at the close of 1991.
CodeHead Software announced the TEC -- the TOS Extension Card! This
circuit board, developed by Germany's Artifex, allows you to use the
very latest version of Atari TOS (2.06) in your existing 520ST, 1040ST,
or Mega ST!
Codehead also announced that effective January 1992, they will be taking
over development and distribution for Quick ST Version 3.0. Darek
Mihocka, the original creator of Quick ST, sold the product to spend
more time developing a PC based Atari ST emulator.
Gribnif Software announces the release of "XBoot - The Boot Manager"
program for the Atari ST, TT and compatible personal computers.
John Townsend from Atari Corp. states that with HDX 3.0x and above,
"you can create partitions that are a maximum of 256 Megabytes. That
means that the whole SyQuest cart could be one partition, but I would
recommend at least two." He adds, "Remember, the smaller the
partition... the fast[er] the read/write access will be. With big
partitions, you will have a slower drive as the drive get[s] full."
January 1992
WordPerfect offered a special First Quarter 1992 Competitive Trade-Up
for customers who currently own any version of WordPerfect for Amiga,
Apple IIe/c or IIGS, or Atari. Customers could trade-up to WordPerfect
5.1 for DOS, WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows, or WordPerfect 2.1 for
Macintosh for $150.US/$179.CN, or they can trade up to LetterPerfect for
$89.US/$110.CN.
Lexicor Software offered it's Virtual Cinematography and Graphics Arts
Class. The classes covered; Tweening, 3D Objects and Motion, Finishing
Animations and many others. These were online classes, being held on
CompuServe and GEnie.
The editorial staff of ST-INFORMER, a popular monthly Atari tabloid-
format publication, walked off the job on January 6, and plan to create
their own rival Atari magazine. According to Mike Lindsay, Oregon-based
editor for ST-INFORMER since its inception nearly four years ago, the
breakup is the result of a long-standing disagreement over ownership of
the magazine. Brian Gockley is the new editor-in-chief.
Greg Pratt leaves Atari as President for a new position with Creative
Labs, Inc., makers of the "Sound Blaster" series of sound cards for
MS-DOS computers.
Atari Canada released details on new package purchase plans. The
packages which include an educational institute, registered company
employee purchase programs and non-profit agencies. The pricing
structure, options and flexible payment plan ensures that a computer is
within the budget of anyone even in these economically troubled times.
The backstreets of the Atari community were abuzz with the word that
Atari Corp was being, in fact had already been sold by the Tramiel
family. However, official comment from Sunnyvale (after the Pratt
announcement) was "Absolutely not."
Taylor Ridge Books announces the release of The ST Assembly Language
Workshop, Volume 1, a novice's guide to assembly language programming on
the Atari ST.
Atari announces that the one millionth game cartridge was sold for the
Lynx video game system.
Shadowsoft which brought out the classic Robotron with Williams/Bally,
will put Joust on store shelves in April or May and will introduce two
original titles; a puzzle game and a superhero title for the Lynx.
The new Atari SM147 premiered at the National Association of Music
Merchandisers show. The SM147 is a 14" paperwhite monitor with a flat
screen.
Atari announces the inception of a new business division named Atari
Music. James Grunke will lead this new division and commented, "Atari
has always done a good job making computers with a lot of power and
benefits for the money."
Computer Chronicles, the PBS program with over 700,000 viewers was on
hand filming at the NAMM show. They focused on Atari in the MIDI field
and Atari Music.
Atari announces at NAMM that it's products will be serviced by the 250
strong General Electric Service Center network though the United States
and Canada.
Dr. T's announced a new Audio/Video production kit for the Atari ST.
The package includes the Omega music sequencing and editing environment,
Hitman cue sheet production tools, and Phantom SMPTE syncronizer.
Gribnif Software has announced the release of the "Crazy Dots" video
display adapter. The adapter allows the Atari computer to drive a
variety of VGA, Multi-Sync, and other high end color and gray scale
displays.
Bill Rehbock announces that Atari will make all of the released TOS
development information available to the general public. An order form
is included in the annoucement for purchasing the Atari TOS Developer's
Kit.
Atari was virtually the only computer being seriously shown at the
National Association of Music Merchants show. The Atari area was the
largest yet at any NAMM, apropos of Atari's new commitment to its
official new Music Division headed up by James Grunke. An open area
accommodated as many as 25 work stations manned in COMDEX fashion with
a host of third party developers. They included music specialty
developers Hybrid Arts, Thinkware, Roland, Steinberg-Jones, Dr.T's,
C-LAB, Fostex, JLCooper, Interval, Pixel, Korg, Hotz, and many more,
each showing off their latest products for the Atari platform.
Atari Advantage Magazine, from the creators of ST Informer Magazine is
announced.
ISD announces Calamus SL. SL marks the transformation of Calamus from
a desktop publishing program to an expansive DTP environment.
The Boston Computer Society announces that a meeting in April will
feature a special presentation and announcement of new hardware from
Atari Corporation. (The Falcon)
ST-Informer returns in a newsprint-with-color book format similar to
AtariUser magazine, publisher and now editor Rod Macdonald has enlisted
the aid of Brian Gockley on the East coast, Donovan Vicha covering the
central USA, and Robert Goff in the West, as principal contributors.
Atari Explorer Magazine releases copies of their February 1992 issues
BEFORE the January 1992 issue. The February issue was a special MIDI
issue, including a mini-magazine inside called ATARI ARTIST.
Ericsson GE released the Mobidem, the first mass market portable
wireless modem.
Next week we continue through our tour of 1992...
###### JOIN COMPUTER MUSICIAN COALITION!
###### A World of Electronic Music Excitement Awaits You!
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS CMC? Computer Musician Coalition
CMC is a worldwide coalition of individuals and institutions dedicated
to the advancement of electronics and computers used in music
applications. CMC encourages the creation and appreciation of music
created using high technology. CMC brings together people of many
perspectives and careers with the common goal of excellence in music
through the effective use of electronic and computer technology.
WHO JOINS CMC?
Everyone With A Taste For Fresh, Excellent, And Entertaining New
Experiences in Music!
The CMC membership includes individuals and institutions with diverse
musical appreciations. Members come from all walks of life, but all
have the same desire to experience and participate in the advancement of
electronics in musical composition, production, arrangement, and
performance.
YOU SHOULD JOIN TOO! CMC Member Categories
CMC memberships are open to anyone who supports the purposes of CMC and
wishes to receive CMC publications and services. There are four
membership categories -- Connoisseur, Artist, Dealer and Vendor. Each
category is specifically designed to benefit and encourage participation
by each membership group.
CMC MEMBER CATEGORY BENEFITS: CONNOISSEUR MEMBERSHIP
Open to any individual who supports the purposes of CMC and wishes to
receive CMC publications and services.
AFTERTOUCH CATALOG SUBSCRIPTION
CMC members receive a six-issue subscrition to AFTERTOUCH, CMC's
bimonthly catalog of New Electronic Music Discoveries.
AFTERTOUCH SAMPLER TAPES
CMC members receive six AFTERTOUCH Sampler tapes. Samplers include
compositions from associated AFTERTOUCH catalogs.
AFTERTOUCH CATALOG BINDER
CMC members receive a handsome binder used to store AFTERTOUCH catalogs
and materials.
AFTERTOUCH SAMPLER STORAGE CASE
CMC members receive a storage case which organizes the AFTERTOUCH
sampler tape library.
AFTERTOUCH PURCHASE DISCOUNTS
CMC members receive a special price list of reduced member prices for
AFTERTOUCH tapes, CDs and videos.
AFTERTOUCH VOTING RIGHTS
With each sampler tape, CMC members receive an AFTERTOUCH voters'
ballot. Members are invited to vote for their favorite artists and
compositions on the sampler. These votes are used to help decide
AFTERTOUCH artist awards.
Returned ballots are collected and, at season's end, twenty are chosen
randomly. The CMC members whose names appear on the selected ballots
will take part in the process to decide the final awards. These twenty
members will receive the complete library of nominated albums, utilize
them to make their final selections, and keep the albums for their
personal pleasure.
AFTERTOUCH AWARDS SAMPLER
CMC members receive an annual AFTERTOUCH Awards Collection sampler tape.
This tape includes sample compositions from the winning artists' albums.
AFTERTOUCH SURVEY CREDITS
CMC members who complete and return the rating surveys supplied with
each and every album purchased will receive one 25 cent coupon per
survey. These coupons may be applied toward the future purchase of
tapes and CD's from AFTERTOUCH catalogs.
AFTERTOUCH GROWTH INCENTIVE
Any CMC member who brings in additional new members may pick free one
AFTERTOUCH album per new member.
AFTERTOUCH UNCONDITIONAL GUARANTEE
CMC members receive an unconditional guarantee that every album
purchased must be pleasing. If for any reason an album is not
appreciated, it may be returned for credit toward a future purchase.
ARTIST MEMBERSHIP
Open to any individual or record label who wishes to have their music
marketed by CMC, supports the purposes of CMC and wishes to receive CMC
publications and services. ARTIST MEMBERS RECIEVE ALL CONNOISSEUR
MEMBER BENEFITS AND THE FOLLOWING:
CMC/PAN CONNECTION
Artist members receive a free membership in PAN -- the Performing
Artists' Network -- usually $225. With a modem and computer, artist
members have access to a wealth of professional musician information and
immediate communication with CMC headquarters.
AFTERTOUCH VIP SUPPORT
Artist Members receive priority handling for music submissions. Members
option to appear on sampler tapes and entry in the awards program.
Artist Members are exclusively chosen to appear in the PERSONAL TOUCH
profile column. Artist Members receive fifteen copies of the AFTERTOUCH
volume in which their music appears.
EXTENDED PROMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Artist Members receive the opportunity to have their music promoted in
various international AFTERTOUCH advertising campaigns and appear on
additional promotional projects. Artist Members' music is promoted to
radio stations and magazines for potential review and airplay. Artist
Members receive follow-up promotion in all AFTERTOUCH volumes.
DEALER MEMBERSHIP
Open to any company that retails products or services which benefit CMC
members, supports the purposes of CMC and wishes to receive CMC
publications and services. CMC DEALER MEMBERS RECEIVE ALL CONNOISSEUR
MEMBER BENEFITS AND THE FOLLOWING:
DEALER VIP BENEFITS
Dealer Members receive a free membership in PAN, twenty-five copies of
AFTERTOUCH catalogs per volume, a listing in the AFTERTOUCH Dealer
Directory, dicounts on AFTERTOUCH Samplers and selected albums purchased
for resale, one free 2" ad in AFTERTOUCH, discounts on AFTERTOUCH
advertising rates, and an invitation to participate in various
cooperative promotional campaigns.
VENDOR MEMBERSHIP
Open to any company that makes products of offers services which benefit
CMC members, support the purposes of CMC and wishes to receive CMC
publications and services. CMC VENDOR MEMBERS RECEIVE ALL CONNOISSEUR
MEMBER BENEFITS AND THE FOLLOWING:
VENDOR VIP BENEFITS
Vendor Members receive a free membership in PAN, a listing in the
AFTERTOUCH Vendor Directory, a company profile write-up in AFTERTOUCH,
regular informational write-ups in AFTERTOUCH which help CMC members to
better understand the company and its products, twenty-five copies of
AFTERTOUCH per volume, discounts on AFTERTOUCH advertising rates, and an
invitation to participate in various cooperative promotional campaigns.
CMC MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
In addition to the benefits stated above, CMC members receive a
membership certificate worth framing, a CMC "MIDI Doesn't Byte" button,
a CMC T-shirt, a survey response program wherein listeners communicate
with artists and vice versa, a toll free phone number for placing orders
and asking questions, the joy of participating in the musical wave of
the future and, finally, unannounced program benefits which we are not
at liberty to discuss currently, but will amaze and surprise.
So there you have it folks! If your involved in electronic music at
all, be it as a listener, artist, dealer, or vendor, you owe it to
yourself to checkout CMC! If your interested, just Email me your name,
address, and what membership type your interested in and I'll have CMC
mail you an info. Packet and a free issue of the AFTERTOUCH catalog.
My Email address is: S.GARRIGUS. (On GEnie)
###### ATARINET
###### Network Overview
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
So, you've heard about AtariNet. This is a network for any BBS that
supports the Atari platform of home computer. There are already several
bulletin board systems worldwide participating and more are joining. A
listing of the current BBS's that are participating and the echos that
are available follow:
Zone 51 AtariNet Headquarters
Region 100
Host 1 - Twilight Zone, Longwood FL, Bill Scull
1-407-831-1613
4 - Steal Your Face, Brick NJ, Ed Lynch 1-908-920-7981
6 - MySTery BBS, Goose Creek, SC, David Blanchard 1-803-556-9730
8 - Alien BBS, Burlington NC, Mark Cline 1-919-229-4334
9 - Z*Net Golden Gate, Sunnyvale CA, Bob Brodie 1-510-373-6792
10 - Atari Base, Sunnyvale CA, Robert Brodie 1-408-745-2196
11 - Sunfox's Realm, Orlando Fl, Erik Williams 1-407-384-8138
13 - Z*Net News Service, Middlesex NJ, Ron Kovacs 1-908-968-8148
Host 4 - Hologram Inc, Old Bridge NJ, Dean Lodzinski
1-908-727-1914
3 - Assasins Grove, Oshawa Canada, Jeff Mitchell 1-416-571-6965
4 - Aces High BBS, Matawan NJ, Richard Guadagno 1-908-290-1133
5 - StormShadow, Pasadena MD, Robert Lovelace 1-410-437-0243
Region 200 - AtariNet Headquarters II
Host 2 - AtariNet Nevada, Las Vegas NV, Terry May
1-702-435-0786
4 - Sports Line BBS, Henderson NV, Nick Hard 1-702-565-5271
5 - Left Over Hippies, Toronto Canada, Lesley Dylan 1-416-466-8931
10 - STarship, Lake Charles LA, Rich Tietjens 1-318-474-9432
11 - The Choice BBS, Las Vegas NV, Mark Woolworth 1-702-253-6527
12 - Thunder Hold, American Fork UT, Todd Harrington 1-801-756-2901
13 - Conqueror Connection, Fort Hood TX, John Curtis 1-817-539-1469
Host 201 - The DarkSTar BBS, Salt Lake City UT, Randy Rodrock
1-801-269-8780
5 - Acme BBS, Salt Lake City UT, Eric Nikolaisen 1-801-272-4243
Host 202 - The Wylie Connection, Wylie TX, Wes Newell
1-214-442-6612
7 - Aaron's Beard, Dallas TX, Troy Wade 1-214-557-2642
13 - The Wylie Connection, Wylie TX, Wes Newell 1-214-442-6612
20 - Outland Station, Ft Worth TX, John Stiborek 1-817-329-1125
21 - Psychlo Empire, Irving TX, Mark Corona 1-214-251-1175
Host 203 - AtariNet Midwest, Indianapolis IN, Bill Jones
1-317-356-5519
1 - The Zoo BBS, Indianapolis IN, Bill Jones 1-317-356-5519
2 - The Music Station, Webb City MO, Chris Richards 1-417-673-4926
3 - The Maligned ST, Urbandale IA, Mike O'Malley 1-515-253-9530
4 - The Crawly Crypt, Joplin MO, Jim Collins 1-417-624-1887
Region 300 - AtariNet Headquarters_III
Host 3 - The Space Station, Canyon Country CA, Tony Castorino
1-805-252-0450
3 - Atari ST Connection, Fresno CA, Brian Watters 1-209-436-8156
4 - Autoboss Atari Elite, Bunola PA, John Graham 1-412-384-5608
5 - The Yakima Atari ST BBS, Yakima WA, Pat Moffitt 1-509-965-2345
6 - FIDOdoor Support BBS, Vandenberg AFB, Bryan Hall 1-805-734-4742
7 - cyberSecT BBS, Cheney WA, Chuck Aude 1-509-235-4875
9 - The Mosh Bit, Vancouver WA, Mark Wallaert 1-206-574-1531
10 - Target Range, Paramount CA, Alan Dietrich 1-310-634-8993
11 - Sanctuary From The Law, Inyokern CA, Sean Price 1-619-377-3611
12 - MASATEK, Torrance CA, Valeriano Meneses 1-310-518-9524
13 - The Mind Keep, Citrus Heights CA, Jeff Fehlman 1-916-723-1657
14 - Callahan's Place, Ashford WA, Brian Lane 1-206-569-2911
15 - ST-Keep, Citrus Heights CA, Andrew Studer 1-916-729-2968
16 - H.B. SMOG, Huntington Beach CA, Jim Thingwold 1-714-969-5486
17 - Acey BBS, Yakima WA, Dick Grable 1-509-966-8555
Region 400 - AtariNet Headquarters IV
Host 5 - The Brewery, Ajax ON Canada, Don Liscombe
1-416-683-3089
3 - Rather Digital, Sudbury ON Canada, Steve Barnes 1-705-560-3115
Region 500 - AtariNet UK
Host 6 - AtariNet NW England, Stockport Cheshire UK, Daron Brewood
44-61-429-9803
2 - STun NeST Central, Stockport Cheshire UK 44-61-429-9803
3 - DigiBBS, Nykobing F Denmark, Flemming Nielsen 45-54-858385
Region 600 - AtariNet Headquarters VI
Host 501 - AtariNet Germany, Koeln Germany, Frank Brodmuehler
49-221-248285
8 - Apolonia, Essen, Peter Kaszanics 49-201-237509
Hub 100 - Hub AC, Aachen, Benedikt Heinen 49-241-408593
101 - Firemark BBS, Aachen, Benedikt Heinen 49-241-408593
102 - Dao-Lin-H'ay, Luegde, Joerg Spilker 49-5281-79372
103 - AtariNET, Milano Italy, Magic.Alex Badalic 39-382-488-515
||| AtariNet EchoList -- 31-Oct-92 |||
/ | \ Compiled by Terry May @ 51:2/0 / | \
-> The following echo is _required_ for ALL AtariNet sysops.
-> ONLY AtariNet sysops may have access to this echo.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_SYSOP AtariNet SysOps 51:1/0 - Bill Scull
-> The following echoes are _required_ for AtariNet moderators
-> and hosts, but may be picked up by ANY AtariNet sysop.
-> ONLY AtariNet sysops may have access to this echo.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_ECHO AtariNet echoes discussion 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_TEST AtariNet test echo 51:1/0 - Bill Scull
-> The following echoes are available to all interested AtariNet sysops.
-> These echoes can and should be accessible to all users and points.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_4SALE Atari products for sale/wanted 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_ATARI Atari general discussion 51:2/4 - Nick Hard
A_BBS_ADS Atari supported BBSes 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_BBS_DOORS Atari BBS doors (externals) 51:1/6 - D Blanchard
A_COMMERCIAL_ADS Atari Commercial Ads 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_DTP Atari DeskTop Publishing 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_EXPLORER Atari Explorer Magazine 51:1/13 - Ron Kovacs
A_FIDODOOR FIDOdoor Support 51:3/6 - Bryan Hall
A_GENERAL General discussion 51:2/4 - Nick Hard
A_GRAPHICS Atari graphics 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_PROGRAMMING Atari programming 51:5/0 - D Liscombe
A_SOUND Atari sound/music 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_TECH Atari hardware tech talk 51:202/0 - Wes Newell
A_ZNET Z*Net Online Magazine
A_BINKLEY BinkleyTerm ST support [ Gated from Zone 1 ]
A_FIDO_ST FidoNet ST discussion [ Gated from Zone 90 ]
A_IOS_HELP IOSmail Support [ Gated from Zone 1 ]
###### PERUSING GENIE
###### Compiled by Ed Krimen
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
SUPPORT: WHERE TO FIND IT
-------------------------
-=> In the "Hardware" category (4)
-=> from the "Straight FAX! and Joppa FAX/Modems!" topic (24)
Message 93 Sun Dec 06, 1992
C.S.SMETON [Charles S.] at 21:37 EST
The price of FAX Modems changes very frequently due to the rapidly
changing marketplace. Atari users have benefitted from the fact that
there is a lot of competition from many modem vendors; this results in
lower prices and a quicker pace of technological advancement. The
result is that it is possible to buy a 14,400 bps V.32bis FAX/Data Modem
for less than the price of a 9600 bps data-only modem was just a year
ago.
Many users feel that they have been ripped off or are now stuck with
obsolete equipment when this happens. Unfortunately, this is the way
the computer world operates. There is little anyone in the Atari market
can do to change this. There are several things an consumer can do to
minimize being "stuck" with a product that is about to become obsolete
or have its invested value be sharply reduced.
1. Stay informed. GEnie and the other online services and BBS networks
are a good place to start. I am sure other GEnie users can point
you in the proper direction.
2. Read the various magazines (print and on-line) and stay aware of the
changing marketplace, product reviews, product announcements, and
ads. I would suggest reading non-Atari specific magazines such as
Byte or Computer Shopper, as they keep up on the trends for non-
platform specific items such as printers, modems, disk drives,
memory, monitors, etc.
3. Join a user group if one is available in your area.
4. Call the manufacturers of products and request information. For
instance, all GEnie subscribers receive the GEnie magazine in the
mail. Supra has been running ads for several months that have
stated that their modems will be upgradable to support new features
such as Caller ID, Silent Answer and Voice Mail. The first two are
now available options. This is one way to avoid buying an obsolete
product, i.e. buy one that advertizes upgradability. This is the
primary theme that Intel has been advertizing with their "Vacancy
Inside" ads that indicate that a PC can be upgraded with their new
clock doubler processors.
Joppa Software Development
========================================
REPAIRS: WHERE TO GET 'EM
-------------------------
-=> In the "Atari Corporation Online" category (14)
-=> from the "Mega STE" topic (14)
Message 115 Fri Dec 04, 1992
J.PIERCE5 [Rob] at 22:36 EST
Now we have another problem, though. As I've been posting in the Atari
Service topic, I can find NO authorized service center that will service
the machine under warranty. They say that Atari has stopped reimbursing
them for repairs, so they no longer do warranty service. So I'm
screwed.
Rob
----------
Message 119 Sun Dec 06, 1992
M.DRYSDALE [Drys] at 07:18 EST
Rob, I have not tried this......I'm not sure it will work.....
Send your dysfuncional ST to either Sheldon (Computer Studio) Winick (I
just volunteered you) or to me (I volunteered too). We can try to send
it back to Atari for warranty exchange. All you'll be out is the
shipping and the machine for several weeks.
OR
You might send E-Mail to BOB-BRODIE (yet another volunteer<g>)
describing _in detail_ your problem and politely requesting a warranty
exchange direct to Atari or through a dealer.
Important info Atari will need at some point: Serial number, sales
receipt (charge card is best) for proof of purchase date, any shipping
addresses on the original box, and all accessories.
Mike, TEAM COMPUTERS now POWER Computers
========================================
JUST WHAT -IS- THE KODAK PHOTO CD SYSTEM?
-----------------------------------------
-=> In the "Graphics" category (7)
-=> from the "Kodak Photo CD Access System" topic (9)
Message 86 Sat Dec 05, 1992
EXPLORER.5 [Robert Goff] at 17:21 EST
Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I'm confused.
Just what _is_ the Kodak Photo CD system? Do you have to buy hardware
or software, or just the CD?
How do the photos get on the CD? Do you have to buy a special camera and
hook it to a special CD deck?
How do you display the photos? Can a regular CD deck hook up to a
television, or do you have to buy some more hardware?
Thanks for any light you can shed.
----------
Message 88 Sat Dec 05, 1992
EXPLORER.1 [ Ron ] at 23:33 EST
Bob, Stop by most any camera store to see PhotoCD. Quality and
resolution is excellent, even in 256 color VGA.
The process involves taking your negatives to your film processor and
asking to have them transfered to PhotoCD (about $15 for 24 photos). A
few days later, you get a CD back with your digitized photographs. The
CD can then be played on a video disk player capable of displaying
PhotoCD format. Consumer players list in the $500 range but I have
already seen them advertised for under $350.
----------
Message 90 Sun Dec 06, 1992
GREG at 00:52 EST
EXPLORER.5 (Bob): Photo CD is a storage system for negatives or slides
that are scanned by Kodak onto a CD-ROM disc. You can take either an
undeveloped roll of film, loose negatives or slides into any of several
thousand locations across the country and get them scanned onto a CD-ROM
disc. Best Buy and a lot of corner drug stores are also doing the
scanning now through Kodalux.
After creating the disc, Photo CD can be many things:
1. The disc can be "played" on any Kodak CD rom player using your home
television for viewing.
2. The disc can be put into any CD-I player and viewed.
3. The disc can be put into an XA-capable CD -ROM player connected to a
home computer or workstation.
With options 1 and 2, the software for viewing is already in the machine
or on the disc.
With option 3, you will need software to access the data on the disc and
convert it to a form viewable on your system. Software is currently
available for the Mac and PC Windows environment. Software will be
released in the coming months for viewing and editing on the Falcon.
The photos can also be viewed on the ST and STe, but suffer from the
color and pixel resolutions of the machines (See FOUNTAIN.LZH in the
libraries here). The graphics are still impressive.
If you would like to see what true color looks like using the Photo CD
process, the new Hot Stuff II CD by Screen Artists has examples of Photo
CD converted to 16 million color Targa format. Even at 512 by 768 pixel
resolution, the Targa or TIF files are still over 1 meg in size, and
this is still only one-fourth of the available resolution.
If there's interest in a download this size, we can upload an example to
the libraries here.
A Photo-CD disc can travel across platforms as it uses what is called
the 9660 standard for file storage. In fact, there is a series of stock
photos being released on a "rights-free" use basis that will include
software for viewing on Photo-CD, CD-I, Mac, Windows 3.1, and Multimedia
Windows right on the disc. Atari support for this series in also being
planned, but was held up due to lack of development hardware and a
license snag.
The BIG advantage of Photo CD is that your picture data is stored in a
format better than most systems can currently use. In other words, the
next generation of computers will be catching up with Photo CD
technology rather than passing it up. The photos are stored at 3072 by
2048 pixels in 16 million colors. The actual uncompressed file size is
over 18 megs per picture. Your software only chews enough off the disc
to match the capabilities of your system.
I hope this made Photo CD a little clearer for you.
----------
Message 92 Sun Dec 06, 1992
POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 14:21 EST
Atari already has working software for the Kodak Photo CD technology.
It is done and working and beautiful! ;-) It was shown at Comdex on a
couple of Falcons AND on a TT.
Greg, before you send Atari people off to view a Mac solution ;-), you
need to see Calamus SL, using a 24 bit color card, on a decent monitor
of your choice. The Kodak Photo CD import driver works beautifully! By
the way, if you have Calamus SL, I have a brand new beta driver for the
HP550C you might want to check out.
========================================
"YOU'RE A REAL COMPUTER GENIUS, RIGHT?"
---------------------------------------
(Jerry Pournelle RT)
-=> In the "Computer Science" category (4)
-=> from the "Atari TT030" topic (15)
Message 109 Thu Dec 03, 1992
C.WORTON at 22:53 EST
Had an interesting phone call the other day. "Charlie, you're a whiz at
computers, right?"
"Well, I know some. What did you need?"
"Here, talk to my friend." (Friend comes on line.)
"Hi, Charlie! You're a real computer genius, right?"
"Not really. What did you need?"
"Well, I just bought this computer, and I need to get into it."
"What do you mean, 'get into' it?"
"You know... make it 'do' something."
(sigh) "What brand of machine is it?"
"Uh... just a moment... oh, here. It's a Samsung."
"Are you reading that off the monitor casing?"
"Yes."
"What's the label on the computer casing?"
"Ummm.... Hyundai."
"Okay. What you have is a generic computer that runs an operating
system called DOS. In order to use DOS, you need to know the
abbreviations of the commands. You also need to know the correct order
of input; if you mistype the command, or type the command correctly, but
put it in the wrong place, you will receive an error response. I do not
know the DOS commands; I tend to work with computers that use a
graphical user interface, such as Atari, Amiga, or Macintosh."
"Well, I don't want one of those toy computers. I want a real one."
(sigh) "What programs came with the computer?"
"I don't know."
"You don't KNOW? Didn't your salesman tell you?"
"Well, I bought it at a pawnshop."
"You bought it at a... Listen, how much did you pay for this?"
"Hey, I got a really good deal. Only a thousand, for everything."
"Okay. I can't help you. Call the people at Softwarehouse; perhaps
they'll guide you through it over the phone."
"I already called them. They said to bring it down, and they'd set it
up for $65."
"Do it. Pay it. Get their opinion on the deal you made. Let them show
you other machines in a similar price range. They also sell Macs; look
at a Mac."
"Okay. Do you think I got a good deal?"
"I don't know what microprocessor you got, I don't know what graphics
card you got, I don't know what monitor you got, I don't even know if
your hard disk is functional. But considering what you paid, and where
you purchased it, I think you spent roughly a thousand more then you
should have. There's a REASON it was in a pawnshop. And while you're
thinking about that, think about what you want to use a computer FOR.
To this point, you haven't been able to achieve anything with the
machine, have you?"
"Well, no."
"DOS was designed to be used by data processing professionals. It was
never intended to be used by the general public, who often express
difficulty in running their microwave or programming their VCR. I would
suggest you go down to Softwarehouse, let the salesperson show you some
of the things that computers can do, and the two of you arrive at a
decision as to what you want to purchase. Then, purchase it. Do NOT
purchase a machine on the basis of its looks; buy it for what it can do
for you."
"What kind do you use?"
"I own an Atari ST. The Atari is, with the Amiga, one of the finest
machines on the planet. Unfortunately, there are no longer any dealers
for the machines in this city. Until that changes, it's pretty hard for
me to recommend them to someone who will need guidance. I would suggest
that you consider either the Macintosh line of computers, or a 486/33
DOS box running Windows 3.1. And I would further suggest that you deal
with a computer professional, not with a discount dealer. A
professional can save you more then he or she will cost you."
There was more, but you get the drift. I cannot fathom why people
purchase a machine that they cannot use, but they do... in droves. I
think I need some psychologist to explain it to me. It can't be just
marketing; it has to be some deep seated desire to be frustrated that is
operating here.
Regards,
Charlie
----------
Category 4, Topic 15
Message 112 Fri Dec 04, 1992
SLP at 19:49 EST
Charlie, my favorite story about the PC was told to me by an Atari
dealer (when there used to be one in town). He also sold software for
the C-64, Amiga, Apple, and IBM.
Anyway, one evening a frantic customer called him up and told him that
his (DOS) computer was broken. All he could get on the screen was a
letter C and a greater than sign.
This guy had been using the computer for 2 years and had never even seen
a DOS prompt. Apparently whoever sold him the computer had installed a
menu system that allowed him to pick which program he wanted to run. I
have the feeling that thousands of users are the same way.
Scott
========================================
###### OPEN LETTER TO ATARI USERS
###### By Nathan Potechin
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
An Open Letter to Atari Users
Regarding the STReport Editorial about Comdex 92
Nathan Potechin,
DMC Publishing,
Toronto, Canada.
Dec. 1, 1992.
Dear Atari Users:
I received a telephone call today from Mr. Mariano. He and his staff
have made it clear that they will not discuss last week's STreport
editorial "From the Editor's Desk" "Saying it like it is!" in Category
18. As most of you are aware, Category 18 was set up specifically to
discuss Rumours, Flames and controversial issues. Since I felt that
last week's Editorial was controversial - indeed, disgraceful and
personally repugnant - I started a new topic in order to have a place
for us to attempt to discern reality from the smoke and mirrors for
which STReport is justly infamous.
Sadly, Mr. Mariano and staff have chosen to refuse to respond. Senior
Editor Lloyd Pulley even went so far as to say they they would only
respond to "the public" implying that I don't count, that I have nothing
to contribute and that I have nothing to say. Well, I have a thing or
two to say alright and I thank you in advance for listening.
It is a rare occasion when anyone dares confront the STReport
juggernaut. Most of us simply do not have the hours in the day. As a
result, they get away with far too much of what I'd consider
inappropriate behaviour. When someone such as myself (let's use myself
as an example) ;-) dares respond to anything in STReport that might be
considered CRITICISM, I get attacked, my credibility gets attacked, my
judgment gets attacked, my impartiality gets attacked, my wife gets
attacked, the Atari RT's on GEnie get attacked, of course Atari gets
attacked in passing (STReport never misses an opportunity as we all
know) :-) my friends get attacked and everyone else associated with me
gets attacked - especially if they dare to speak out as well.
All that is a given. In spite of that, a few brave souls manage to
offer a CONCRETE FACT every now and then, a small glimmer of the TRUTH
sparkles briefly and then, just sometimes, some JUSTICE prevails. I'd
like to believe that bringing that small particle of TRUTH to light
makes all this worthwhile.
Since Mr. Mariano has refused to post in Category 18 (not that he is
posting much in Category 24 either) and Lloyd, as predictable as
gravity, is doing everything BUT address the issue, please allow me the
opportunity to discuss last week's editorial and explain EXACTLY why I
took umbrage with it. I wish to remove any possibility of confusion
once and for all.
Remember, this is a response to STReport. I am replying to last weeks
editorial, much of which specifically contradicted posts that I publicly
made in the BB during Comdex.
In his editorial Mr. Mariano said:
Here we are a week or so after Comdex and what do we find going on?
People are still discussing the pros and cons of Atari's performance at
Comdex. Odd... don't you think? When all one need do is use one's
eyes. After all, seeing is believing. There is strange word, (believe)
right in the middle of the word is a (lie)! More smoke and mirrors?
Maybe.
And I respond, just as if he had posted in the Bulletin Board rather
than from the comfort of his STReport bastion:
I was there. I used my eyes. I posted what I saw.
Am I to conclude that Mr. Mariano was calling me a liar? Doubtful. I
believe instead that Mr. Mariano was portraying Atari in the worst
possible light as has been the policy of STReport for years already,
regardless of the FACTS. The play on the word LIE was juvenile.
Mr. Mariano continued:
Atari's performance at Comdex is indicative of the times. They've
managed to disappoint the users and dealers every year since 1987 in
regards to big Christmas Sales seasons. Yet we see no-one trying to
make excuses for this obvious marketing blunder.
And I respond:
No way I defend the past performance of Atari Corp. in terms of
Marketing or Advertising in North America these past few years. They
have, sadly, not made it easy to be an Atari Dealer or an Atari
Developer.
Mr. Mariano went on to say:
Then why, in retrospect, do we find really decent people in the Atari
platform try like crazy to "explain away" the rather sedate 'action' at
Atari's booth this year?
And I respond:
I can only assume that I am one of the people to which Mr. Mariano
refers. The "sedate action" in the Atari booth actually had very little
to do with Atari themselves. No one tried "like crazy" to explain away
anything.
I did make some FACTS known in my posts based on my own experience at
Comdex these past years. I will share them with you again:
The Interface Group are the Show Organizers for Comdex. Coincidently,
they also OWN the Sands Expo Center. They built it. It was clearly
their intention to establish a rival to the main Las Vegas Convention
Center. This is the third year it has been in operation. After this
year it became obvious that they had, to date, FAILED in their
endeavour.
The first year, Atari had a great booth in a great location but there
were really no big names or big draws present, besides themselves :-)
The second year there were a few more NAMES and DRAWS but still the
traffic in this hall remained light. Remember, this was not supposed to
be a satellite hall but a second main hall. It is rather large and I
was told by one of the Interface Group representitives that they are
adding on to it.
This third year in operation they convinced a great many name brand
companies of worldwide reknown to exhibit in the Sands. I have
mentioned a few names in other posts here. I'll type in a complete list
if someone wants to read a who's who. The point is, the traffic should
have been there this year. It was not! Based on the best information
available to Atari last year, when they had to book the space, this year
should have seen serious action in the Sands to rival the LVCC. Again
it did not.
So Atari made the decision last week to exhibit in the main hall next
year. They have given up their large prime location and gone for the
guaranteed action instead of the potential action. I am personally and
professionally pleased with that decision. I wish hindsight could have
worked a year ago. Welcome to real life. :-) The Interface Group has a
very real problem on their hands now. They have a great many upset
exhibitors. When the LVCC sees upwards of 135,000 people and about
20,000 come through the Sands the entire week, (or some such nonsense)
you have to know there is a problem. :-) In my opinion, there simply
aren't enough hours in the entire week for a potential attendee to cover
it all so they tend to concentrate their time in the LVCC and that's
that! No smoke, no mirrors, just some FACTS.
But Mr. Mariano plowed onwards, digging himself a hole:
Granted there may have been a few thousand flyers and brochures handed
out, but in the busiest of years this was never looked upon as a solid
'rule of thumb' when gauging booth attendance. Why all of a sudden do
we see all sorts of reaching going on to justify the quiet booth.
And I respond:
I publicly posted, in the Comdex topic set up specifically for that
purpose, that to my delight, we went through all the brochures we had
brought to Comdex. This was a first for us. I usually have to ship
some back or better yet, pass them along to a Dealer that can use them
in a mailout or handout to potential customers. I also understood that
Atari used up all of their Atari Falcon 030 brochures as well.
Speaking for DMC and Calamus SL, I remind Mr. Mariano that the booth was
not as busy as we would have liked. :-) Since he has pointed this out
so adamantly, I wonder why it never occured to him that this meant that
we had the opportunity to spend one-on-one quality time with those that
did make it over to the Sands. That is exactly what we did.
Seeing the Kodak Photo CD import driver working in Calamus SL, using the
24 bit Cybercube Cyrel card to display on the 21" hi-res Mitsubishi
monitor is very impressive indeed. We had good, solid questions from
serious and interested people that were not aware that Atari had
anything of this calibre. (Where have we heard this before.) :-) In
other words, DMC took full advantage of every bit of traffic that came
into the Sands and through the booth and as usual - we opened some eyes!
I made NO attempt to justify the action in the booth except to make it
clear that the light traffic was prevalent throughout the Sands. I did
point out that we went through all those brochures, in fact running out
on Thursday, and that they went to people that took the time to look and
appreciate what they saw. So, in this particular case, the brochures
were indeed an excellent gauge of the action in the booth.
Mr. Mariano went on, digging deeper and deeper:
Biggest question of all, why are there people ever so busy trying to
tell the userbase that what was seen was _not_ really what they saw?
Sound ridiculous? Sure it does but that's exactly what is going on!
And I respond:
I beg your pardon? I, for one, told the userbase, my friends, my
customers and my associates, exactly what I saw. You were not in
attendance Mr. Mariano. With all due respect, and I mean that
sincerely, :-), the above paragraph is absolute nonsense!
Then Mr. Mariano threw out some more dirt:
Of course, there will always be the buck passing... since 1987, its
never been Atari's fault or the fault of the decision makers at Atari
for the dregs they've placed themselves in... This year we are being
told it was the Interface Group's fault (they organize and manage
Comdex). In particular, the dismal performance at the Atari booth is
being blamed on the manner in which the Sands expo center was managed.
Right... why is it through the years, its _never_ been acknowledged it
could've been the fault of poor management decisions etc..
Take a few of the glaring incidents in the past for example.. The
Federated Fiasco, Federated's fault - The ATW failure, "not our design"
etc.. - Upgraded Portfolio design, not our design etc..- Notebook, Pen
and Stacy... all accounting for huge sums of money gone south. Yet
none of these things or incidents have ever been attributed to or even
hinted at being the responsibility of Atari or its management or lack of
it.
Nope, in the broadest of terms everybody and his brother has been blamed
but never once was the real responsibility ever fixed where it really
belongs.
And I respond:
I have already addressed the facts surrounding the Sands Expo Center.
They are clear and obvious. Atari is certainly responsible for not
being called Microsoft. I cannot argue that at all. Yup, you're right.
If they would have only been named Microsoft, they could have exhibited
in Reno and still gotten the traffic. The point is, they made mistakes.
I do not defend them. They did make mistakes. That's a fact. I've
made them too. I hope I learned from mine. :-) Now can we get on with
our lives?
And Mr. Mariano finally concluded from his hole deep in the ground:
Now we are told that "Jack is back". To that I say I've been told that
a number of times in the past and still.... no real improvement. A
typical strong example of strange executive reaction was the statement
made by Sam Tramiel about the Forbes Article. A laugh? A joke? It was
sad to see that article hit, even for me. Atari has always had a
dynamite machine design but alas, its management team well.. that's
another story. Now that Comdex is behind us, let's see how long it
takes for the damage control smoothies to get started in trying to
convince all of us that what we saw really wasn't what we saw at all.
Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine
And I responded one last time:
Mr. Mariano, Jack is BACK! That's a fact. Atari has always had
dynamite machines and that's the truth too. Sam is President. Garry
runs North America and seems quite capable. Leonard is currently
betwixt and between but certain to appear in some challenging role in
the near future. A new head of TOS has been appointed in Sunnyvale and
one of these days, if we are real lucky, the Falcon will actually appear
on these shores. Isn't life grand. :-)
As a "struggling" Atari Developer, not supported by mail order sales
based on free advertising in an online magazine, I have earned the right
to be as pessimistic or as optimistic as I choose. I choose to be an
optimist because I love my Atari running Calamus SL and I'll stack it up
against anything!!
Sincerely
Nathan Potechin
President of DMC Publishing, Inc.
Member of the Independant Association of Atari Developers
ps; I held this letter, waiting to see what would happen in the next
STReport because Lou Rocha dared post publicly in Cat 24 accusing
STReport of much of what you read above. Typically and predictably, Mr.
Mariano did not post at all while Lloyd did his absolute best smoke and
mirror act on Lou and then both Ralph and Lloyd attacked Lou in this
weeks issue of STReport. This nonsense must stop. This is a travesty
and I, for one, have had enough.
=======================================================================
(C) 1992 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 hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information.
=======================================================================
###### THE Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR 1992-1993
###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences
###### ----------------------------------------------------------------
### December 20, 1992
Eugene, Oregon. Atari SWAP MEET planned at the GATEWAY MALL MEETING
PLACE. The hours have not been finalized yet but tentively they will be
10am - 5pm. There may be a small admission fee this year (no more than
$1.00) and there may be a table fee.
### December 24-25, 1992
Christmas 1992! Spend time with your loved ones! Hope you bought an
Atari product for your favorite person!
### December 31/January 1,1993
New Years Eve, New Years Day! Happy New Year! Make those resolutions
stick this time around!
### January 6-9, 1993
MacWorld Expo in San Fransisco California, Sponsored by MacWorld
Magazine. Titled San Fransisco '93 at the Moscone Center.
### January 12-14, 1993
Networld '93 in Boston, Massachusettes
### January 7-10, 1993
The Winter Consumer Electronics Show comes to Las Vegas, Nevada. CES is
an electronic playground, with everything in the way of high tech toys
for kids and adults. Game consoles and hand-held entertainment items
like the Atari Lynx are big here, and Atari will attend with a hotel
suite showroom. Contact Atari Corp for more information on seeing their
display at 408-745-2000.
### January 15-18, 1993
NAMM is the largest conclave of musicians each year. Held in Los
Angeles at the Anaheim Convention Center, the variety of sights at the
National Association of Music Merchandisers is wilder than at
Disneyland, just next door. Atari was the first computer manufacturer
to ever display at NAMM in 1987, and has become a standard at the shows.
A trade show for music stores, distributors, and professionals of every
strata, entertainers are seen everywhere at NAMM. Contact James Grunke
at Atari Corp for more information at 408-745-2000.
### February 2-4, 1993
ComNet '93 in Washington, DC.
### March 1993
CeBIT, the world's largest computer show with 5,000 exhibitors in 20
halls, is held annually in Hannover, Germany. Atari traditionally
struts its newest wares there, usually before it's seen in the USA or
anywhere else. In '93, the Atari 040 machines should be premiering, and
this is the likely venue. Third party developers also use this show to
introduce new hardware and software, so expect a wave of news from CeBIT
every year. Atari Corp and the IAAD coordinate cross-oceanic contacts
to promote worldwide marketing of Atari products, and this show is an
annual touchstone of that effort. Contact Bill Rehbock at Atari Corp
for information at 408-745-2000.
### March 13-14, 1993
The Sacramento Atari Computer Exposition is to be sponsored by the
Sacramento Atari ST Users Group (SST) at the Towe Ford Museum in
Sacramento, California. This show replaces the earlier scheduled, then
cancelled Northern California Atari Fest for the Bay Area, to have been
held in December 1992. A major two day effort, the SAC show is being
held in the special events area of the Towe Ford Museum, home of the
worlds most complete antique Ford automobile collection. As an added
bonus, admission to the museum is free when you attend the Expo. The
museum is located at the intersection of Interstates 5 and 80, just 15
minutes from the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport. Contact Nick Langdon
(Vendor Coordinator) C/O SST, P.O. Box 214892, Sacramento, CA 95821-
0892, phone 916-723-6425, GEnie: M.WARNER8, ST-Keep BBS (SST) 916-729-
2968.
### March 21-24, 1993
Interop Spring '93 in Washington DC.
### August 3-6, 1993
MacWorld Expo at the Boston World Trade Center, Bayside Exposition
Center and sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. This event is titled Boston
'93.
### September 18-19, 1993
The Glendale Show returns with the Southern California Atari Computer
Faire, V.7.0, in suburban Los Angeles, California. This has been the
year's largest domestic Atari event, year after year. Contact John King
Tarpinian at the user group HACKS at 818-246-7286 for information.
### September 20-22, 1993
The third MacWorld Expo, titled Canada '93 at the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre, sponsored by MacWorld Magazine.
### September 21-23, 1993
Unix Expo '93 in New York City, New York.
If you have an event you would like to include on the Z*Net Calender,
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###### THE UNABASHED ATARIOPHILE
###### By Michael R. Burkley
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Some people collect sports cards, others coins, old tools, cars,
animals, you name it someone probably collects it. What do I collect?
I collect ST's! I have five ST's (including one four Meg STe) which are
distributed among my family, myself, and my church. I also have five
single-sided drives, four double-sided drives, one 44 Meg SyQuest
cartridge drive (It's WONDERFUL), three color monitors (not counting the
broken one in the attic), an Ominmon Rainbow multisync monitor, and one
monochrome monitor. Oh yes, I also have a modem, a DVT video tape Hard
Drive backup system, a zillion floppies scattered all over my computer
room, and an understanding wife (and while I don't own her she's the
best of all!).
What do I do with all of that equipment? I use it, each and every bit
of it (though sometimes not often enough, but the story of my trashed
hard drive will have to wait until another time, perhaps next week). I
use my ST's to learn about the world, to have a lot of fun, to do _A
LOT_ of work, to meet many people, and to make new friends.
One of those people I've met through my ST is David Becker. David is
one of those amazing people who have all sorts of creative ideas AND the
skills and perseverance needed to bring those ideas to fruition. I've
seen at least thirty of his programs and files and I've been constantly
amazed and the quality, the originality, and the usefulness of them all.
He brings a certain zest to his programming that carries over to the
users of his programs. He makes them easy and fun to use.
CONNECT is Connections v. 1.0 by David Becker. Linking text, graphics,
------- animation and sound within interactive multimedia presentations
is not a new idea. Hypercard on the Macintosh has been doing it for
years. Many commercial programs exist for the PC as well. It's been
around in some form or another for the ST for quite some time as well.
TCOS by Matthew P. Aubury and HyperScreen by R.J. Pearson both allow
text and graphics to be combined in a linked environment. HyperLink by
JMG Software is a much more intensive and capable commercial database
that allows you to mix text, graphics, animations, and data all in one
seamless database. Now David has created his own interactive multi-
media presentation software that allows you to easily create your own
"families" of information that link graphics, text files, sounds, and
animation. He has designed it so you can pass on your information in an
interactive, informative, educational, entertaining, and fun way. He
provides you with all the tools you need to create your own multimedia
masterpiece. I really like this program, and recommend it to you
highly. Detailed docs and tutorial included. It requires at least one
Meg of RAM, a monochrome monitor (or a color monitor with a mono
emulator--see below), and a hard drive.
TREK_FAM is a Star Trek multimedia presentation by David Becker for use
-------- with his Connections program. This detailed family contains
much detailed information on both the original and the Next Generation
Star Trek series: A Star Trek time-line based on official sources
(beginning c. 2 million years ago), a descriptive listing with titles
and dates for each episode in both series, and pictures of most of the
major characters are included. Digitized sounds and two animations of
the new Enterprise in Warp and under Impulse power are also available.
Do you know who the actor behind the voice of the computer is? The same
person who played "Nurse Chapel" in the original series, Majel Barrett!
There's lots more where that came from!
SITKA_1 is another "Creation Family" by Wally for use with Connections.
------- This one takes you on a brief excursion through Sitka, AK, and
some of the activities and scenery available around there. You even get
to see what Wally looks like! This family includes text and graphics,
but no sound files.
ZOOPHONE is "Let's Phone the Zoo" by David Becker. This interactive
-------- storybook for kids is another neat Connections family. It
presents a short story about a little girl phoning the animals at the
zoo. Kids (or adults!) can click on words and sentences and discover
digitized sounds, animations and graphics. It's fun!
MISSING is another Connection family that is not so much fun to use.
------- David has created this listing of missing children throughout
the United States and Canada. It presents you with forty unsolved
cases. Photos of the children (and some of the abductors) are show
right on-screen, with some of the children's pictures having been age-
enhanced. A scrollable text file explains each case. This fully
interactive presentation shows you maps, contacts and much more in a
point and click environment. Thank you David for caring enough to do
something like this!
What else has he done with his "free time?" LOTS...
dbWRITER v.1.8 is his excellent and very full-featured word processing
-------------- program for your mono ST. It uses a fast custom graphic
user interface that closely resembles GEM. It will run on any ST (while
it works with a .5 meg machine it works best with one meg of RAM or
more). It includes a clipboard that allows multiple entries! Keyboard
and mouse controlled. It allows you to import various commercial
wordprocessing files automatically! This program and its accompanying
dictionary file (DBW_DICT, and DBWACC) and Thesaurus are well worth
getting! It's amazing that something like this is free! If you have a
mono monitor, I recommend this. Docs included.
DBWACC is the dbWRITER Dictionary and Thesaurus Desk Accessory (or .PRG)
------ v.1.0 by David Becker. This .ACC will allow you to: * Search
the 40,000 word dbWRITER dictionary from within any GEM application.
* Access the dbWRITER 30,000 word thesaurus from within any GEM program.
* Many different search and seek options including a recursive thesaurus
* Scroll through the dictionary page by page.
* Print out text from the dictionary or the thesaurus.
* Load and use custom supplemental dictionaries. It contains a built-in
help function and written docs. Mono only, Hard disk required. Use
with version 1.8 of his dbWRITER word processor.
DBWSUPP is a set of supplemental dictionary files for use with the
------- dbWRITER .ACC/.PRG (see DBWACC). It also contains the utility
needed to create your own supplemental dictionaries (plus docs).
Included in this archive are the following dictionaries:
MEDICAL medical dictionary
PHARMACAL pharmaceutical dictionary
LEGAL legal dictionary
BIBLICAL biblical words and names
COMPUTER names,terms and words used in the computing field
NAMES all sorts of different names, boys and girls
MATH mathematical dictionary
You can add to these using your favorite word processor. Mono only.
DBWTHESS is the Thesaurus files for use with the dbWRITER dictionary and
-------- Thesaurus .ACC/.PRG (see DBWACC) and dbWRITER v.1.8 and above
(see DBWRTR18) and text processor (version 1.8 of the text processor and
up). Having a Thesaurus is great (do you know that the word "Thesaurus"
is a Greek word meaning "Treasure"? Words _are_ a treasure to use
wisely!).
SEARCHME is Search Me, a puzzle generator that creates word searches
-------- just like the ones in the newspaper! You can use the dbWRITER
dictionary (see this above), the dictionary included in this file (a
very down-sized version of the dbWriter dictionary), your own custom
dictionary, or your own list of words. You can save and load puzzles to
disk, print them out, save them as DEGAS pictures or play them right on
the ST! You will need a monochrome monitor. Word length can be from 2
to 15 letters with up to 50 words per puzzle allowed. GEM based, this
program is very easy to use. Docs included.
COYOTE is Coyote Dave's Poker v.1.0. It's a great game. Sit down with
------ this program and you'll find yourself grabbing a chair, choosing
a table in the saloon and sitting down for some five card draw poker.
You'll have a chance to play against some of the most treacherous,
conniving and smoothest characters north of the Rio Grande! I'm not
talking about two dimensional computer simulations! These are real
folks, just like your irritating neighbor across the street. So pour
yourself a drink (watch it though!), relax and let's separate the real
poker players from the cattle rustlers! Mono only. Excellent sound,
excellent poker playing, and all sorts of fun (like when you're losing,
buy the other players some drinks and see what happens!). Detailed docs
included. Online helps. Recommended.
Those are some of David Becker's most recent programs, but as I've said,
he's done dozens more. You can find them all on GEnie, but I've seen
them on information services and BBS's everywhere I've been.
BGAMMON is Online Backgammon by David Becker. Online Backgammon
------- attempts to fill a void within the ST domain. First the lack of
monochrome specific leisure software. Second a lack of games that can be
played head to head online through the modem and last a shortage of
freeware backgammon games period! It assumes you know how to play
backgammon, and adheres to the games rules with only one exception (for
you to find out!) You can either play against a friend on line or
against the computer. Mono only. You must supply the modem! Docs
included. For any ST, STe.
CALVIN is a mono only animation of Calvin from the cartoon "Calvin and
------ Hobbes." Watch Calvin walk across your screen, at a speed
controlled by you.
CRISCROS is CrissCross by David Becker. It is a hybrid of Gomuku, Go
-------- and Othello. You play against the computer on a 20x18 grid of
360 squares. You and the ST take turns putting down coloured markers
and trying to get five in a row. When one of you is successful in
getting five diagonally, vertically or horizontally then you will score
1 point and the five markers are removed from the grid. The first
player to get 10 points will win the game. You play black. This is
another experiment with the ZeST alternative interface (that gives your
ST a NeXT look). For all ST's. Mono only (well, it will run in color,
but it's not as nice). Docs included.
DINGBAT by David Becker is a program that will allow you to include
------- those non-standard graphic characters that are hidden deep
within your ST but which you cannot access from within the desktop. How
about a little clock in your alarm accessory or a musical note in your
MIDI program? This program can do it for you! Mono only. Docs
included.
F11_23 is the function key template designer v.2.3 by David Becker.
------ Have you memorized all the key combinations and what they do for
that new word processor? How about the quick keyboard macros for that
desktop publishing package? Can you remember where you left your car
keys? This program can help (at least with the first two difficulties)!
Design and print out templates that line up right alongside your ten
function keys that give you all the reminders you need. Color or mono.
Docs included.
FASTFIX is Fast Fix by David Becker. It is a auto .PRG that turns off
------- that irritating keyclick and sets the ALT/HELP screen dump to
960 pixels/ line so that screens print correctly. Color or mono.
FRUSTRAT is Frustration! It is a two player word search game. Each
-------- player, in turn, tries to create words from a random
combination of letters spread over an 11 by 11 grid (that works out to
121 letters). Scoring is based on word length, the longer the word, the
better your score. Race against the clock and each other. Mono only.
Docs included.
JIFFYDRW is Jiffy Draw, a many-feature, DEGAS-compatible mono drawing
-------- and paint program by David Becker. You can do lots of things
with this program, especially some interesting manipulation of your
finished drawings! Docs included.
JUMBLE is ABC Jumble. This is an educational program for young children
------ in the 3-7 age group. This simple program lets kids sort the
letters of the alphabet after the computer jumbles them up. Its GEM
interface and point and click environment make it simple even for the
littlest user. Helps on-line, encouragements when you complete you
unjumbling, and more. Mono only (thanks David for producing so many
mono programs, especially this one for kids!) Docs included.
MONMAGIC is Monitor Magic, an .ACC that will let you change your color
-------- monitor into a green or amber monitor. When you return to the
normal colors the monitor no longer shows the green but a soothing blue.
It will also allow you to reverse the display on your mono monitor.
PAI_GOW is a computer poker game with a twist. You are dealt 7 cards
------- from which you must choose a two card and a five card hand. To
win you must beat both of your opponent's hands. Play against the
computer or with a person via modem. Mono only. Docs included.
POKERSQR is Poker Squared. If you like solitaire and you enjoy poker
-------- then you're going to enjoy Poker Squared. Runs on any ST with
a mono monitor. 25 cards are dealt, one at a time into a square on the
right side of the game board. You must decide where to place each card
on a grid of 25 squares. Create the 10 best possible poker hands (you
hope), five up and down, five side to side and two hands diagonally.
This game uses the ZeST interface for the NeXT desktop look. Docs
included.
SMARTDAT is SmartDate. This little AUTO folder program will prompt you
-------- to enter the day, month, and year when you hold down the
Alternate or Control key when booting your ST. It will write that info
to a small file. From then on, your ST will read that date on boot up.
This way, you only need to set the date once each day in order for it to
be correct. Great for keeping track of things! Docs included. Mono
only.
ZESTCLOK is a stand-alone version of the ZeST digital clock found in
-------- v.1.6 of David Becker's Zest Desktop. Click on this when you
want to turn your ST into a clock! Mono only. Interesting graphics and
animation.
ZESTKENO is ZeST Keno. This little program will allow you to play
-------- hundreds of Keno games really fast and let me test different
combinations of numbers. This version of Keno uses his ZeST alternative
interface and requires a monochrome monitor. ZeST Keno is not a betting
game as much as it is a tool for analyzing the game of Keno and the
outcomes using different combinations of numbers. (I can tell you how
it works out in the long run: the house wins and you lose!). Docs
included. Mono only.
ZESTPOKR is ZeST Draw Poker. He wrote this fun little program to show
-------- off the ZeST Alternative Desktop (a NeXT look-a-like). Deal,
draw, bet, check your winnings (we won't talk about the other
possibility-- probability?). This game can even turn into a slot
machine! Docs included. Mono only.
ZEST16 is ZeST Desktop Applications v.1.6. This program is an amazing
------ alternative interface for the ST! It looks like the NeXT desktop
with "sculpted" buttons and more. ZeST16.PRG includes a paint program,
calendar, typewriter and database in a desktop environment, and now, a
corner digital clock AND the ability to run other programs right from
the ZeST desktop! Each program is fully functional, and useful! This
guy is amazing. He keeps producing wonderful, Free programs. Also
included is the GFA3 source code so you can expand on this idea
yourself! Docs included. Mono only.
AUTOZEST is Auto ZeST v.1.1, a GFA Interface Creation Utility. This
-------- is a utility that completely automates the creation of ZeST
screens, front ends, windows, buttons, boxes and sliders! It's like a
poor man's NextStep in GFA. AUTO ZeST will save authentic GFA code to
disk that can then be merged right into the GFA editor. ST/STe/MSTe
compatible. Docs included. Mono only.
But have you noticed that all of David's programs only work with a
monochrome monitor? Are you stuck if you only have a color monitor?
Not at all! There are a number of excellent monochrome monitor
emulators out there. I'll only mention one today.
SEBRA is "The High-Res Monochrome Monitor Emulator" by Patrik Persson
----- of Sweden. This is simply the best monochrome emulator I have
seen as of today. It will work on any ST/STe/Mega with a color monitor
or TV set! It is fast, with lots of options to customize the speed,
screen display, and more to your satisfaction. The mouse moves SMOOTHLY
about the screen. With a few simple keystrokes you can set this program
up to run just as you wish. I recommend this highly. It works with
just about everything, too! Read the docs to see all that he has done
to optimize this program. It's exciting! Freeware.
Well, that's about all for now. Next week I'm not sure if I'll tell you
the story of how my hard drive almost led me down into the depths of
dispair, or just show you how much material is being produced for the ST
each week by just describing next week's downloads. Either way I hope
it will be interesting!
# # #
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