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Z*NET Online Magazine Issue 540
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Z*NET ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE October 5, 1990 Issue #540
Copyright (c)1990, Rovac Industries, Inc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDITORS DESK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
by Ron Kovacs
The WAACE show is on this weekend and we hope for a good show. Bob
Brodie and other Atari personnel are said to be on hand and the
meeting with Atari Elite members is also expected.
Z*NET NEWSWIRE / Z*NET ENGLAND NEWSWIRE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ATARI SOFTWARE UPGRADES
Hyperpaint has been revamped to make better use of the features of the
STE. Notable improvements in Hyperpaint 2 include hardware scrolling of
IMG screens if a blitter is fitted, access to the STE's 4096 color
palette, IMG screens may now be set to any size within RAM constraints,
and many other features quickened. It is also possible to run the new
version of Hyperpaint without GDOS installed.
Atari has also relaunched their comms package FaSTcomm. Nicely GEM'd,
FaSTcomm supports VT100/52 and Viewdata, bachground up/downloading, call
log and built-in text and Viewdata editors. Waiting in the wings is
"the official Atari hard disk back-up package..." - Archive.
Hyperpaint 2 costs UK$34.95 (UK$10 for the upgrade) and FaSTcomm now
retails at UK$49.95 (UK$15 for the upgrade).
NEW PRODUCTS FROM KUMA
Kuma has a couple of exciting looking products due for release soon.
The first is Polyfiler, an innovative Hypertext style database that has
been in the making for sometime. The second, Adimens, has been a very
popular database in Germany for a few years now. Kuma will be plugging
a gap in the UK market when they launch an English version of Adimens in
late September, early October.
DELUXE PAINT ST
The ST version of what is generally regarded as the standard paint
package for the Amiga is now available from Electronic Arts. Deluxe
Paint will read all popular ST picture file formats, plus Amiga IFF
files, and boasts 999 animation buffers each of which can hold up to 999
frames. Proportional fonts, font editing, color mixing airbrushes, STE
extended palette support, and real-time magnification are amoung st wide
array of features available. Deluxe Paint will cost UK$49.99 until the
end of November when the price will rise by UK$10.00.
CALAMUS PRICE CHANGES
To make room for Calamus SL, the price of the current version will drop
to UK$265.00. Calamus SL, which includes full color seperation
facilities will retail around UK$500.00.
AT CONFUSION
Gasteiner has announced that they are the sole UK distributors of AT
Speed at UK$239.99, and that Full Circle Technologies, who had announced
they were supplying AT Speed at UK$269.00, are unable to supply the
product. AT Speed offers IBM ST emulation with CGA, Olivetti, Hercules
and Tandy 1000 display modes as well as full Atari mouse, RS232 and hard
disk support. Atari SLM804 support will follow.
DATALIFE 3-1/2 INCH ED 4 MB MICRODISK
Verbatim introduced the DataLife 3-1/2 inch Extra High Density (ED) 4
MB microdisk this week. DataLife 3-1/2 inch ED 4 MB microdisks can be
easily formatted for Macintosh and IBM systems. A number of
manufacturers are developing compatible 4 MB disk drives which prompted
Verbatim to make 4 MB media available now. DataLife 3-1/2 inch ED 4 MB
microdisks are currently being used by several manufacturers in the
testing of their disk drives. The disks suggested retail price is
$14.77 each, or $147.70 per 10 pack box.
IBM ANNOUNCES PS/2 REDUCTIONS
IBM announced a price reduction on one version of its PSystem/2(a) Model
80 by 7 percent. In addition, IBM has withdrawn four models of the PS/2
the PS/2 Model 30-001 and -021 and Model 80-111 and -311. The
withdrawals are effective December 27, 1990.
IBM FORMER NEW STANDARD
PERSONAL SYSTEM/2 PRICE PRICE CONFIGURATION
Model 80-121 $7,495 $6,945 20 MHz 80386; 2 MB RAM;
1.44 MB diskette drive;
120 MB fixed disk.
C++ CREATOR IN SPECIAL GENIE CONFERENCE
The Borland Round Table on GEnie will have a special guest November 4,
1990 at 8pm. Bjarne Stroustrup, the originator of the C++ language at
AT&T. Mr. Stroustrup is also the author of the book, "The C++
Programming Language". He will be answering questions about the nature
and philosophy of C++. To enter the Borland conference area, it's
located at page 765;2. The general format of the conference will be a
question and answer session, with all submitted questions answered
first. If time permits afterwards, there will be an "open microphone"
question period. All questions for this conference must be submitted
by November 1, 1990 and addressed in email to K.KLOP.
ELECTRONIC ARTS SHIPS
Electronic Arts announced that in the week ending Sept. 23, the company
shipped over $1 million worth of game cartridges for the 16-bit Sega
Genesis console.
Z*NET ENGLAND UK NEWSWIRE brought to you Ctsy of Paul Glover of the
ST Club Newsletter of Nottingham England.
Z*NET NEW ZEALAND
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by Jon Clarke
(o)(o)
(.
~~
============================Pun of the day==
= Hussa'n I said that? =
============================================
This week we are going to look at some of the top software titles across
the Alantic in the United Kingdom. Current for October 1990.
Top 10 budget games titles.
---------------------------
1. Italia Code Masters
2. Pro tennis Simulator Code Masters
3. Grim Blood Mastertronic
4. Targhan Action 16
5. SAS Combat Code Masters
6. Formular 1 Grand Prix Micro Value
7. Advanced Ski Simulator Code masters
8. league Challenge Atlantis
9. Rock Star Code Masters
10. Fast Lane Action 16
Top 10 PD / Shareware titles.
-----------------------------
1. ST Writer Word Processor
2. Sheet spreadsheet Spreadsheet
3. Spell Checker and word counter Word Processing
4. FastCopy Copier Utility
5. Ani ST Graphics
6. Kid Publisher Eduction {Dot does it again}
7. Neochrome Graphics
8. UniTerm Communications
9. S-Copy3 Copier Utility
10. Virus killer Utility
The top 10 selling full priced games.
-------------------------------------
1. Kick off Anco
2. F-19 Stealth Fighter Microprose
3. F-29 Retaliator Ocean
4. Imperium Electronic Arts
5. Italy 1990 US Gold
6. World Cup Soccor 1990 Virgin
7. MidWinter Rainbird
8. Flood Bulldog
10. Emlyn Hughes International Soccer
----------
NB: Budget games are priced under ten pounds Sterling.
Full priced games are priced over five pounds Sterling.
Not all these tiltles are available in the USA.
PD list from the top UK PD libaries over the last six months.
Other lists sourced from Gallup.
----------
START ONLINE PREMIERES
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Compiled by Ron Kovacs Ctsy CompuServe
Recently, Antic Online changed it's name to STart Online on CompuServe.
The area previously dedicated to Antic Online reports has been changed
and now contains direct reprints from STart magazine. Here is a recent
capture of the area.
CompuServe START
1 Introduction to START ONLINE
2 Feature Stories/Reviews/Atari News
3 Software Shelf
4 RLE Art Gallery
5 Atari Users Group Listings
6 The Atari Forums (SIG*ATARI)
7 ANTIC/START ONLINE Archives
INTRODUCTION TO START ONLINE
START ONLINE magazine offers exclusive coverage of the Atari computer
world, specializing in the ST and 8-Bit computer lines. Our online
magazine offers the following features:
* DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE
* INDUSTRY NEWS
* ONLINE ART GALLERY
* ST AND 8-BIT FEATURE ARTICLES
* NATIONAL USERS GROUP LISTINGS
...and much more.
SOFTWARE SHELF
You can download software from START ONLINE! Every month, our Software
Shelf will feature programs from previous issues of START Magazine.
Download as many as you like: they're all available at normal
CompuServe connect charges.
At the end of every month, Software Shelf programs will be moved into
the appropriate Atari Forum Libraries, and new programs will appear on
the Shelf. (Type GO ATARINET to get to the Atari Forums.)
USERS GROUP LISTINGS
Although the online community is probably your best and most effective
link to the Atari world and other Atari computer users, local Users
Groups also offer a valuable service in providing support and offering
assistance. Our Users Group listings will put you in touch with your
local organization.
MORE FEATURES
Look for more current Atari news. We've streamlined many procedures
and made many technical improvements which let us offer hot news and
timely features very quickly (usually within 24 hours).
START ONLINE copyright 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 by Antic
Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. Antic, Antic Online and START are
registered trademarks of Antic Publishing Inc. 544 Second ST, San
Francisco, CA 94107. (415) 957-0886. Antic Publishing is an
independent corporation not affiliated in any way with Atari Corp.
Atari is a trademark of Atari Corp. All references to Atari products
are trademarked and should be so noted.
Z*NET CANADA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
by Terry Screiber
SHAREWARES
Ever tried to get the latest version of a shareware program? Now where
is that address, I'm sorry, we don't take credit cards! A quick trot to
the bank or post office to get that U.S. or Canadian money order or
maybe not so quick. There are other problems involved as well but I'm
sure you know most of them.
Commercial software houses have distributors so why not the small
independents? Dammed good idea? I thought so, thus along with our
retail store we are opening an area called Sharewares, a one stop
clearing house for Atari ST shareware software. Shareware will be taken
on consignment and offered for sale through outlets in Vancouver and
Seattle via Visa or Mastercard with royalties paid on sales at the end
of each month.
We are also planning on advertising in Club newsletters and magazines,
this should help those Authors on a small budget to get some exposure.
For more information contact me at (604) 278-2099 during business hours.
SERVICE FACILITY EXPANDING
Atari Canada's General Manager Geoff Earle announced today a one hundred
thousand dollar expansion to Atari Canada's service area. This includes
new equipment and more staff to handle the service and shipping of
repaired equipment. "We realize there have been some problems with the
service department in the past" said Geoff, "but with this expansion and
an inter-departmental network online we hope to become one of the elite
that is know for their service as well as their product lines".
Recent marketing studies done by Atari in Canada have found the consumer
is not buying on price but after market service. Atari is taking steps
at this time to bring their service up to standards which will equal or
surpass most in the consumer market. This will also reflect on dealer
orders with a faster turn around on parts and supplies.
ATARI IN BUSINESS
The Pacific Rim Computer and Communications Show is Western Canada's
answer to Comdex. This is held in Vancouver every year, this year
falling on January 14th to 16th and attracts the who's who of the
computer manufacturers. Atari has attended this show before in
conjunction with dealers but this year there are a few changes.
Atari is serious about business applications and this show will be the
first in a line of a new business campaign. Atari users have long known
the positive aspects of the computer and now with the new "Atari TT"
they have a more serious contender for this market.
In attendance will be Jimmy Hotz (Hotz Box), Nathan Potechin (ISD
Marketing), Geoff Earle (Cdn General Manager), Denise Carrol (Marketing
Coordinator), Murray Brown (Western Canada Sales and Marketing Manager)
as well as Tim Breck and Paul Garay, two notables in the MIDI field.
The Atari area will be a show within a show featuring demonstrations on
Desktop Publishing, Desktop Music, MIDI, Networking, Educational and
Research, Word Processing and more. The entire line of products, Stacy,
Portfolio, and MS-DOS line as well as the Emulators for display and
demonstrations and of course, the 68000 and 68030 line.
LUNACY 3.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release
> LUNACY 3.0 IS DONE! *
NETWORK 23 ANNOUNCES LUNACY 3.0 FOR ST USERS!
After many months of long, hard work...not to mention a lightning strike
or two, LUNACY 3.0 is now available to registered users! New features
to 3.0 include:
* TOS 1.4 compatibility.
* Start level selection (1-20).
* Joystick and/or keyboard control.
* Repeat block sequence...play same game again and again!
* Save configuration of keyboard layout, sound, and preview selections
to be loaded every time.
A playable version of this shareware program will be uploaded to GEnie
for distribution everywhere, but with some changes...
1. As of the date 3.0 is uploaded to GEnie, registration for LUNACY!
will change to $12, up from $10 for LUANCY! 2.0.
2. Instead of a 20-second delay before each game, the version uploaded
will, in essence, be a "demo." Only 75 blocks will be able to be
placed before the game ends...I am trying this tactic in an effort
to get more registrations (looking at GEnie alone, the ratio of
downloads to registrations is greater than 40-1 and from the
responses I've been getting about the quality of this game, I feel
that registrations are a small price to pay for a quality game).
3. Because this will be a demo game, I am offering the following
registration procedure...
a. Before I upload version 3.0, I will still honor any and all
registrations for $10 as long as they are postmarked the day
before LUNACY! 3.0 appears in the GEnie libraries. The day V.3.0
is available, the registration cost will be $12. Anyone
registering from now on will recieve LUNACY! 3.0 for their
registration.
b. Tentatively, 3.0 will be uploaded within the next two to three
weeks.
c. If you do wish to upload, send $10 to:
NETWORK 23 SOFTWARE
7 Sarah Avenue
Springfield, IL 62703
and make sure you send your return address.
I hope this new NETWORK 23 policy will not offend too many people. I
am just trying different methods to entice people to register shareware.
All shareware authors NEED registrations to survive! I realize that the
size of 3.0 as a download file and the fact it is only a demo will scare
some people away from downloading it. For this, I am sorry, but I also
know that many people will put up with a 20-second delay. How about a
minute delay? or 5? where does it end?
Hopefully this file will also show people that I am dedicated to working
on and improving LUNACY! I believe (or would LIKE to believe) that many
people did not register because of the untested "promise" of future
upgrades...upgrades that may NEVER materialize while one is stuck with
paying $10 for a one-shot deal. If you are one of those people, now's
your chance to register and get an improved LUNACY! Future work will be
dedicated to a true 2-player game mode and new, exciting options that
are described in the game manual.
If you have any opinions, or want to attack or praise this stand I am
taking with a demo version, feel free to write me at R.MARTIN22 (maybe
soon to be changed, watch this area) and tell me what you think. I am
not trying to make people angry with me...that is not my intent. I
would just like to see some return on my hard work.
FASTER THAN LIGHT!
FastCopy III vs DeskTop Formatter 1.1 and Others!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
by John Strand
(Reprinted from the Puget Sound Atari News, August 1990)
First I would like to say that I am not an expert on copying or
formatting programs but FastCopy and DeskTop formatter really intrigue
me so I thought I would compare the two and also some other copying and
formatting programs.
FastCopy III is a new freeware copy/format program from Germany by
Martin Backschat. DeskTop Formatter 1.1 is a shareware copy/format
program from John Harris of California. These copy/format programs are
to be use with one or two disk drives; and yes, the programs do make
copies very fast!
FastCopy III
FastCopy not only makes copies, it will format disks very fast (fastest
I have seen so far). You can format a disk on one or two sides, up to
11 sectors, and up to 86 tracks. The program has many other functions
and most are self explanatory, but not all. There is a >HELP< menu to
explain the functions, however it's in German! The author offers a
manual printed in English that explains every function of the program
for 50 Deutsch-Mark (about $30.00 U.S.). With this purchase you'll also
receive the latest version of FastCopy.
FastCopy has ten main buttons located in the middle of the screen that
do the following; copy disk, scan disk, format disk, directory, quit,
new conf, virus check, soft format, streamer, and help. These functions
are straight forward with the exception of the 'streamer' function.
This function is supposed to let you read and write to a hard disk
partition, but I could never get it to work (maybe this is where English
manual would help!).
When clicking on the 'directory' two boxes will appear in the upper
right of your screen. One is a standard Atari close-window box with up
and down arrows below it so you can move one file at a time through your
directory. The other box has an X in it to exit the directory. Below
the X box is an Atari slider box which allows you to click on or drag
(like the standard Atari window) to check on your files. Below the main
buttons are three boxes with more buttons. The lower left box has the
following buttons: Verify Destination, Fast Format Destination, Read
Disk Configuration, Multiple Copy and Get Sectors. The lower center box
contains the Source and Destination buttons (A: to A:, A: to B:, B: to
B: or B: to A:) and there are some buttons for 2, 3, 6 and 12 ms which
is the step rate ('mit shift' - whatever that is?). The lower right
box has buttons for disk configuration that can be set for one or two
sided disk, sectors (01 to 11), starting track and ending track (00 to
86).
DeskTop Formatter 1.1
This is another copy/format program that will format a disk on one or
two sides, up to 11 sectors, and up to 82 tracks. The shareware cost is
$10.00, but this also includes RamPlus, a ramdisk and printer spooler
program plus a mouse doubler, screen saver and a cluster fix program to
fix a bug in GEM DOS. The DeskTop Formatter's 'window' looks like that
of most other format programs. The top half of the window has buttons
for doing the formatting chores which includes one or two sided disks,
sectors/track from 01 to 11, and tracks from 80 to 82. The format can
be normal or twisted. The lower half of the window is used for copying
disks A: to B:, A: to A:, etc. There are Auto or Manual modes for
copying. The Auto mode detects how the original disk is formatted and
makes the copy the same way. The Manual mode allows you to choose the
starting and ending tracks to be copied (this is mainly for use when
copying a non-TOS formatted disk). There is also a 'Test' button that
will test for errors on the disk. The 'Erase' button quickly erases the
directory and FAT sectors of the disk. 'Verify' and 'Format
Destination' buttons complete the available options.
Although Desktop Formatter is not as sophisticated as FastCopy, it is
still a very good program (and, you get the ramdisk/printer spooler,
mouse doubler, screen saver and the cluster fix programs too).
Well, now down to the nitty-gritty. How fast are these programs? The
following information tells just how fast these two programs are by
comparing them to the standard Atari desktop and other popular copying
and formatting programs.
FORMATTING SPEED COMPARISONS
Time Required
Formatting --------- Disk Parameters --------- (minutes:seconds)
Program Sides Sectors Tracks Bytes Verify Off/On
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Atari desktop 2 9 80 726,016 n.a. / 1:39
FastCopy III 2 9 80 737,280 0:36 / 1:08
(Extended 2 10 82 839,680 0:53 / 1:27
Formats) 2 11 82 924,672 1:10 / 2:17
DeskTop
Formatter 1.1 2 9 80 728,064 1:07 / 1:40
(Extended 2 10 82 830,464 1:09 / 1:42
Formats) 2 11 82 912,384 1:09 / 2:15
Univ. Item
Sel. III 2 9 80 726,016 n.a. / 1:32
(Extended
format) 2 10 82 828,416 n.a. / 1:43
Formatter 4.0 2 9 80 726,016 1:09 / 1:44
(Extended
format) 2 10 82 828,416 1:10 / 1:47
DC
Formatter 2 9 80 726,016 1:09 / 2:13
(Extended
format) 2 10 82 828,416 1:11 / 2:17
Synchro
Express Format 2 9 80 726,016 1:07 / n.a.
(Extended 2 10 82 828,416 1:09 / n.a.
Formats) 2 11 82 912,384 2:12 / n.a.
COPY SPEED COMPARISONS
For testing copy speed I used a disk formatted to 2 sides, 10 sectors,
82 tracks (839,680 bytes) and copied 692,869 bytes of information to the
disk. Here are the results:
Copy Format Destination Time Required (min:sec)
Program Disk While Copying Verify Off / Verify On
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Atari desktop No n.a. / 2:58
FastCopy III No 1:11 / 2:03
Yes 1:57 / 2:19
DeskTop formatter 1.1 No 1:21 / 2:11
Yes 2:21 / 3:17
Universal Item Selector No n.a. / 3:50
DC Formatter No 1:57 / 1:57
Yes 2:57 / 2:57
ProCopy No 1:19 / 1:51
Yes 2:15 / 2:10
Cheetah ver 2.0 No 2:12 / ----
Synchro Express No/Yes* 0:47 / ----
* Note: Synchro Express is a hardware chip that plugs into both your
printer port and second floppy drive port. This disables your second
floppy making it a 'receive data drive' only. It did not matter if
the disk in the second drive was formatted or not, it still copied in
47 seconds.
In fairness to Atari it is my understanding that the Atari desktop
verifies each track while doing formatting and copying. This means that
FastCopy (with the verify option on) is only 31 seconds faster for
formatting and 55 seconds faster for copying than the Atari desktop.
However, using FastCopy without verify these speed increases jump to:
1 min. 03 sec. for formatting and 1 min. 47 sec. for copying. This
seems to not be too risky. I've been using 'no-verify' standard format
and copy with FastCopy and DeskTop Formatter and have had no problems.
One thing I found strange was during the writing of my review. I bought
a Megafile 30 hard drive and apparently when the the Atari hard disk
driver is installed you can get a few more bytes when formatting.
Without hard disk driver installed you get 839,680 bytes with FastCopy
for a 2 side, 10 sector and 82 track format. With the hard disk driver
installed for the same format you get 841,728 bytes and there were
similar byte gains with all the formatting programs.
As you can see both FastCopy and DeskTop Formatter are very fast at
doing copying and formatting (most of the other programs are fast too,
just not as fast). I do not know if I will send $30.00 to Germany to
get the English manual since I am able to use most all the functions of
FastCopy. But I will send the $10.00 to John Harris for DeskTop
formatter and RamPlus because these programs are worth it and I want to
support American developers. A word of warning when you use the
extended formats (11 sectors and higher than 81 tracks) the disk might
be incompatible with other drives (especially older drives). I found
this out at one of our meetings when I tried a file copy on a disk
formatted to 11 sectors and 82 tracks. The club's IB drive didn't
understand the format, so I had to reform at my disk. Good thing I had
FastCopy along to do it with!
Well there you have it. I hope you have enjoyed reading this article as
much as I have in writing it.
Happy Atari computing! 'Till next time....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Z*NET Atari Online Magazine is a weekly publication covering the Atari
and related computer community. Material contained in this edition may
be reprinted without permission except where noted, unedited and
containing the issue number, name and author included at the top of each
article reprinted. Opinions presented are those of the individual
author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff of
Z*Net Online. This publication is not affiliated with Atari
Corporation. Z*Net, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net News Service are
copyright (c)1990, Rovac Industries Incorporated, Post Office Box 59,
Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0059. Voice (908) 968-2024, BBS (908) 968-
8148 at 1200/2400 Baud 24 hours a day. We can be reached on Compuserve
at PPN 71777,2140 and on GEnie at address: Z-Net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Z*NET Atari Online Magazine
Copyright (c)1990, Rovac Industries, Inc..
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