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Ictari Issue 42
ICTARI USER GROUP ISSUE 42 January 1997
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* m a g a z i n e *
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I C T A R I U S E R G R O U P
8 Denmark Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5PA
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INDEX FOR ISSUE 42
==================
ASSEMBLY Long integer multiplication & division routines.
Date display program.
Virus detector program.
C Routine to enlarge section of screen.
Card game called Mountain.
GFA Encryption program.
Picture display program.
Fast variable text output routine.
STOS ACB loader program.
Slideshow tutorial Part 2.
MISC System variables list.
Resource file converter program.
Current membership list.
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EDITORIAL
=========
A CHANGE OF EDITOR FOR ICTARI
-----------------------------
As I mentioned last month I have decided to step down as editor of
ICTARI and I am pleased to say that Giles Greenway has volunteered to
take over as from next month. As he also runs the ICTARI WWW site he
is well placed to co-ordinate the monthly disks and any InterNet
messages, etc. From now on all correspondence and contributions should
be sent to him at :-
Giles Greenway
8 Denmark Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 5PA
E-mail augeas@elis.demon.co.uk
I am sure Giles will do as good a job as I have (probably a lot
better) and I would also like to thank all the members who have
expressed their gratitude for my efforts over the last three years. I
have enjoyed putting together the disks and have also learnt a lot
about the Atari and programming in the process. The number of members
has declined somewhat over the last few months, mainly defecting to
the PC like me I suspect, but providing the remaining members are
prepared to contribute regularly I think the group should continue to
exist for quite a while yet. Giles tells me that there have been
several enquiries via the Web site from various programmers around the
world which may be a source of programming material in the future, no
doubt Giles will say more on that in later issues.
Anyway, best wishes for the future to all ICTARI members, Peter Hibbs.
MOUNTAIN GAME
-------------
In the C folder is a card game called Mountain which I could not get
to work very well on my machine as there is not much help provided
with it. The one thing that may be of interest to some programmers,
however, is that there are two Degas picture files which contain all
the images for the playing cards which could be used in other
programs. Of course, you may need permission from the programmer if
you intend to publish a game that uses his graphics.
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CORRESPONDENCE
==============
To: ICTARI
From: John Oakes
Please find enclosed a disk with a piece for the Assembly section (see
the SHOWDATE folder), I hope it will be useful. May I ask, can this be
made into a ACC and how would I achieve this? Also is there any way of
introducing a READERS AD section for anyone who wish to sell any Atari
bits. I have noticed with the last two Atari Computing mags none at
all, maybe this is the policy of the company itself. "I don't know".
Does anyone own a Falcon as I am very much interested in finding out
what it is like to work with, mainly as the only source is System
Solution which is a little out of reach at the moment for a C LAB MK1.
All the best in the future for the old ED and welcome to the new ED. I
will still keep supporting ICTARI as long as it remains.
**** HAPPY AND EVENTFUL NEW YEAR ****
*/ Thank you. We usually allow any member to advertise Atari items
although we don't, of course, accept any responsibility for such
transactions. ICTARI /*
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To: Peter Hibbs
From: Mrten Lindstrm
Gemulator
---------
Yes, Gemulator - even though software emulated - certainly does run
significantly quicker than a standard ST. I only have a 75 MHz Pentium
myself on which it claims to be about 4 times faster than an ST (i.e.
comparable to a standard TT).
Actually, for all the negative things that can be said about the PC,
its hardware really is very fast if you have been used to a standard
old ST - and even to a Falcon as long as the Falcon DSP isn't
utilized. From what I understand the hottest Motorola processors
(68060) still are very good compared to the Intel ones but more
expensive. So a software Atari emulator on the PC does make a lot of
sense. This way you will immediately benefit from the increase in
Intel processor speed that has been realised only from the time when I
bought my PC until the time when you bought yours. And if/when we
upgrade our PC processors we also get an upgrade of our emulated STs
for free so to speak. (Only one of the four Atari emulators I have
heard of on the PC is a hardware emulator - the Janus.)
To: Pete Bailey
I haven't seen _any_ interrupt routines that themselves disable
interrupts. The hardware (MFP and processor) should normally be
capable of dealing with clashes. The VBL interrupt - handled directly
by the processor (unlike most other interrupts that are handled via
the MFP) - does use a semaphore variable though, in plain software, in
order to stop it from interrupting itself.
I haven't researched the inner workings of the GEM that much but you
must certainly be right in that the VDI interrupts are called as sub-
routines from some other interrupt routine (such as the VBL I think;
the GEM makes use of the first vector in the VBL vector list).
Thanks for the appreciation of the poem :-). No, I don't know if I can
come up with any further Swedish cultural gems.
To: Internet users
My new e-mail address is:-
marten.lindstrom@swipnet.se
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To: Pete Bailey
From: David Preston
I was interested to read that your mother used to use 'swiz', mine did
too. Both the noun 'swiz' and the verb 'sprag', I am pleased to
report, do appear in my dictionary - Webster's Third New
International. Swiz (or swizz) as you know means a swindle but its
origin is, apparently, unknown, while sprag means to use a 'sprag' ie
"a rod or shaft applied between the spokes of a wheel of a vehicle to
prevent rotation", which, if you picture it happening, fits the
situation I was trying to describe beautifully.
By the way, although I don't have Bill Gates' phone number, I believe
his e-mail address is askbill@microsoft.com or something similar. You
tell him!
To: Mrten Lindstrm
Re - CAB / HTML
Your description of HTML in Ictari 41 was most enlightening, thank
you. Regarding CAB, it does work in low-res as you say, but at least
the way I have it configured, doesn't use any colours. I tried to
create a document as per your description, with some success, but
found that, at least on a bare system (ie no GDOS or SpeedoGDOS or
NVDI or anything) did not seem to display the idiomatic markup
commands successfully. Any comments would be most welcome - is this my
setup or CAB or what?
To: *.*
One crumb of comfort to those of us staying with the Atari platform
for the foreseeable future - there are some bargains to be found if
you keep your eyes open. I wandered into a 'Cash Converters' shop (a
franchised second-hand dealers we have in this part of the world)
recently and you could pick up a pre-owned ST for just 45 - they had
3 on display. No need to be without at that price!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Peter and *.*
From: Jim Taylor
It is after much heart searching and agonising that I have finally
decided to give up the Atari scene. I find that I am, less and less,
using my trusty Atari in favour of my PC system. It is for this
reason that I am putting my Atari gear on the open market.
My Atari stuff consists of the following:-
Hardware
--------
* ST 520 enhanced to 4Mb
* 270 Mb HD
* 2 x 1Mb FD's
* SM124 mono monitor
* BASIC in ROM (Computer Concepts)
* Forget-me-Clock
* HP Deskjet 520 black & white inkjet printer
Software (all originals)
------------------------
* Hisoft Lattice C++
* Hisoft BASIC
* Hisoft WERCS
* Hisoft Devpac
* Protext
* 270+ disks with software too numerous to mention -
please call.
Books
-----
* Anatomy of the Atari ST
* Atari 3D Graphics
* Atari Programmers Reference
* Atari ST Graphics & Sound
* Working With the Atari ST
* Lattice C for the Atari ST (Metacomco)
* Introduction to C (Boris Allan)
* Atari ST Tricks & Tips
* Concise Atari 68000 Programmers Reference Guide
* Atari magazines going back to 1994 + ST Club magazines
All offers will be considered. I am prepared to split up some of the
gear (eg. the printer) but other stuff I'd prefer to sell together.
Please contact me on 0191 536 2165 with your offer.
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