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ST-REPORT ISSUE #4 AUGUST 1, 1987 FROM THE ZMAGAZINE INFORMATION NETWORK BBS =============================================================================== Publisher/Editor:Ron Kovacs Assistant Publishers: Susan Perry, Rich Decowski Columnist:Calamity Jane Welcome to another edition of ST-Report. Late breaking news on the last issue! CompuServe has been granted permission to reprint the GEnie news. In Issue 3 and in Zmag62. Both of these releases were delayed until we could permission from Atari. _______________________________________________________________________________ GARBAGE-ON-THE-LINE (A Weekly Column by Calamity Jane) Garbage-On-The-Line Ron has asked me to write a regular column for Z Mag... Maybe he doesn't know what he is in for?? Time will tell. Telecommunications is the main use of my 520 STs and my main interest. Space Cowboy and I run the Prairie Chip BBS. Thus the title of this column. On to... A Word About Handles By Calamity Jane SysOp -- The Chip NOTICE: If you wish, feel free to use a handle instead of your real name..... Log On Now..... Press the button my friend, and send me back in time... Some SysOp's prefer the use of your real name when you log onto their BBS... hey, I respect that. On the other hand, I prefer the use of handles. However, I do ask a caller's real name. Besides on a REAL NAME BBS, how many John Doe's or Mary Smith's do you get?? I argued with a SysOp over this for 30 minutes once... was a waste of my time. Nicknames or 'handles' were popular in the old Wild West... here in Wyoming we are part of the new Wild West. It was considered impolite to ask a stranger's full name or to inquire into his background. So cowboy's merely asked, "What's your handle?" How did a man get his handle or nickname?? Usually because of something he had done, or his reputation, looks or actions, or the place he came from. As a Westerner explained to a tenderfoot in warning him not to try to find out a cowboy's full name, "He most likely has given a first-class funeral to the rest of his name, and I wouldn't ask him for no resurrections!" Some of the handles mentioned here, I have seen on various boards. Some of them are callers on my board and with their permission I will explain: I am always interested in how someone comes up with their handle. Some of them you automatically know, like Mad Max... Mine, Calamity Jane is the same way. Characters from fiction or fact are very popular. Biggs Darklighter, James T. Kirk, Stringfellow Hawk, King Tut, Frankenstein, Spiderman, Kid Sheelen, Baby Huey... Baby Huey ?? hmmmmm. Why I have even heard of GOD running around. Ego... ?? What is running in the mind of Disk Butcher or Virgin Killer ?? I tend to think that some of your personality comes thru in your handle... what you would like to think or see of yourself. What will the other callers associate with you?? You create your handle, then must live up to it. Half the time, when people call me voice they call me CJ. Something, somewhere happened to my real self. I mean after all, most of us will never meet except via the keyboard at 3/12/2400/9600 baud. We have to come across somehow. Why would The Rag, choose that... How 'bout Daytripper?? Another popular method of choosing ones handle goes to what you do for a living or have for a hobby. Rotor-Head IS a rotor-head, as that's what a helicopter pilot is called. Magician has entertained me with his magic on many occasions, with Hoghead driving those locomotives for the RailRoad, Salad Man makes salad's and states he uses 5 types of beans in HIS 3-bean salad. The Helper truly is and Runner truly does!! Does JunkMan have junk?? Is Crazy Lady crazy?? Is Mad Mike mad?? Will Slow Leak run out?? The Loner lonely?? Pizza Man, what is this with you and pizza's?? The Gray Mouser explained his to me once, (Copy Cat was involved) but it was a loooong story... I have a feeling many are. Screaming Donkey, Thirsty, The Vulture, The Great Vine, Smoking Dog, Head Shot, Crimson Avenger, Inner Space Ace, Captain Insanity, Skrzypczak..... Music and its influence plays its part in the phenomenon of choosing ones handle. I must assume Dr. Doo is a Steely Dan fan, Mr. Mustard finds himself walking Abbey Road and Space Cowboy -- well, what can I say, "I really love your peaches. I wanna shake your tree!!" Yes, Steve Miller Band. The Sphinx! always thought that would make a good name for a rock band. What are these Captains commanding?? Nemo gives me an idea, Morgan doesn't, but Captain Insanity... well, I can figure right where his head is at. Moon Knight, Black Knight, Jedi Knight, and Celestial Knight... Do you take up arms for your Kingdom and The Lord?? The Baron and The Baroness do you support King Arthur?? A regular commune going here. The Greenie is from Colorado, The Swede is from Sweden, where are you from Big Brother?? Shadow, do you lerk in them?? Do you have your own pond, Ducky?? Snowbird & Snowplow must ski, Crossfire got caught in the crossfire (luckily it was paint shots), and I had EVERY spelling of Joe Cool they could think of!! Uneasyrider are you ridin' ?? Dilemma: Riley needed a handle. Solution: a handle contest. The winning handle was 'STP' thought up by Magician... the prize was a trip to Nunn, Colorado or Laramie, Wyoming. Which Rotor-Head voluntered the trip by helicopter!! It is fun to help someone choose a handle when you know each other. You know something about them. However, I am involved in helping a caller I don't personally know, choose one... my choice from his messages is Mr. Nowhere Man. If someone signs on with a 'real type' name, I always mention handles. Some must give it thought, but others want to go for it, and change right then and there... Fixed Wing is my latest, hmmm, must be a pilot. Yup, he is. The Chip is a place to escape the everyday world, to have some fun and explore your fantasies. Here, you feel there's something calling you, you're wanting to return. Where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn. A place you can escape the world where the Dark Lord cannot go. Peace of mind and sanctuary, by long waters flow. Stop here for awhile... until the world calls you away. -=-CJ-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ ZMAG USER GROUP SPOTLIGHT CHY-WY-'TARI By Daytripper Editor... The RAM There is an Atari User Group located in the area of 41 and 45 degrees Latitude and between 104 degrees 3' and 111 degrees 3' W. longitude, deep in the heart of the silicon desert. We are CHY-WY-'TARI located in Cheyenne, Wyoming for those of you without a globe. The Club began some 4 years ago, as the result of me selling my 400 computer in the quest for an 800. A fellow Atarian saw my ad and called to talk me out of selling it. We talked, a friendship developed, we decided we ought to get together, and well the rest is history. Our Club membership fluctuates as the result of the military base here. But, those military people DO own Atari's. During their stay here, a true friendship develops. As they move on, we connect with the next group they join. I can truly say I have friends all over the world. One friend wanted so much to see how we were doing, he called the BBS from Germany. 30 minutes at $250.00. He's nuts, which I think most computer people are. But a nicer bunch you couldn't find. Always willing to lend a helping hand with any problem. We have members from all walks of life, all ages, interests and experience. As members, we don't just get together to share our computer knowledge, but enjoy doing it. We have done many things with the Club, since 5 guys met at Terry's house. The second President's goal, was for all members to own modems, which we met last year. We bought a modem to rent, to get them hooked on telecommunications. We have bought other pieces of software and equipment to rent and is a good way for someone to give it a test run. We then raffle it. We have a nice library for the 8 bit and ST and the Club supports the BBS for the members exchange of ideas, help and constant harrasement of each other. We have no Atari dealers here and must rely on each other. CHY-WY-'TARI has not had many of the problems that some of the larger Clubs are having. I think it helps being a smaller town. Our goals are to continue learning our machines and what we can offer each other. Even tho I have had a disk drive since '81 and a modem since '82, we have members just getting these. We are there for their many questions. You know, "See this? It is a disk, you must format it first." You then get, "What is format?" A friendship has begun. For the longest time I was the only 'female type' that attended the meetings and I felt like an outsider. But they soon realized I knew what I was talking about and I became part of them. Finally, a few more of the ladies started coming. Now, we have several Non-Atari computer users attending, so we get to learn about their machine, while they are continually impressed with ours. We have even had a demo of Gunship, that is available for the Commodore. The Cheyenne people get together with Clubs from the surrounding towns and we all helped with the Rocky Mountain Atari Expo. It was good experience and we all had a good time. We put out a newsletter, The Ram Gazette. Gladly exchanged with other User Groups or for 5 bucks you can get a copy by writing in care of: CHY-WY-'TARI 4604 E. 16th ST. Cheyenne WY 82001, Earth. The main value of a User Group, is in having a friend to call for help and advice when you find yourself with problems late Friday night before a three day weekend! _______________________________________________________________________________ SURGE PROTECTION Copyright (C) 1987 by Garry Jones DO-IT-YOUSELF SURGE PROTECTION FOR YOUR COMPUTER When setting up a computer system, one piece of equipment which might get overlooked is a surge protector. The purpose of a surge protector is to protect equipment from voltage spikes and surges caused by lightning strikes on power lines (c'mon, it never rains is Southern California, does it?), electrical equipment turning on and off (you didn't really plug your computer into the same circuit as your refrigerator, did you?), the crummy wiring in your apartment that your landlords won't fix because they're too cheap, and just plain lousy performance by your friendly local Edison Company. A surge protector works by clamping the voltage and preventing it from rising beyond 130 volts when a sudden increase occurs. To do this, a surge protector uses a device called a metal oxide varistor, or MOV for short. Of course, you want to know if they wear out, and when they do, how to tell. MOVs do have a finite life, depending on the number and severity of surges they're exposed to. When they fail, they typically create a short which will pop a circuit breaker if one is included in the circuit, immediately shutting off the power and saving the equipment. Buying a surge protector is something of a problem, since not all surge protectors are created equal. Good ones are fairly expensive (there's plenty of expensive junk out there, too); how do you tell the good from the bad, and what do you do for cash after you spent the last of it on some superwhizbang software for your new computer? Good news for you clever hacker types who can tell a hot soldering iron when you pick it up (by the wrong end): Make your own surge protector. It's easy, it's cheap, and best of all, it might even work. For the rest of you who haven't developed opposable thumbs yet, watch the ground for pennies, steal candy from babies and sell it to bigger babies, see a loan shark, and read PC (Can you say, "PC?" Sure. I knew you could. It does mean IBM, but your tongue didn't dry up and fall out of your mouth, did it?) Magazine's product tests and take their advice. Anyway, on to the project. You'll need a power strip (make sure you get the kind you can disassemble with a screwdriver instead of a hacksaw), three metal oxide varistors (General Electric part no. V130LA20A (which means 130 volts 20 amps) or Radio Shack catalog no. 276-568B), some rosin core solder (DO NOT USE ACID CORE SOLDER OR FLUX: it will corrode the solder joints in time, ruining them), some miscellaneous tools, like Xacto knives, alligator clips, wire cutters, etc., and a soldering iron. Three hands would be nice, but you can probably manage with two. Most of us do. Take the back off the power strip and look inside. It probably looks like the drawing included in this archive. If it doesn't, don't worry. If it has outlets, wires (three of them?), and a cord, it'll work. Notice the three wires inside: they're probably black, green, and white. White is the hot wire, green the ground, and black the common. Now, strip some insulation off the wires as shown in the illustration. Take one varistor and solder one of its' wire legs to the white wire, and the other leg to the green wire as shown. Fasten an alligator clip to the leg being soldered between the solder joint and the varistor to prevent heat damage to the varistor while soldering. Do the same thing with the second varistor, except it should be soldered to the green wire and the black wire. Solder the third varistor to the black wire and the white wire. Clean the solder joints with a rag dipped in a little alcohol, and examine the joints. There should be a smooth shiny flow of solder between the wire leg of the varistor and the copper wire in the power strip. If the joint is dull, lumpy, or flawed in appearance, resolder it. When all the joints look good, reassemble the power strip. Sit back. Relax. You're done now. Wasn't that easy? Can you say, "Easy?" Sure. I knew you could. -Garry Jones- Compuserve: 72030,273 GENIE: GXRAY _______________________________________________________________________________ ST MAGAZINES PART ONE Copyright (C) 1987 by Garry Jones. ST World, a tabloid format publication, first appeared about a year and a half ago. Put out 10 times a year, it costs $2.00 per issue or $15.00 for a subscription, and qualified readers, such as bookstore owners or consumer electronics dealers, can obtain complimentary subscriptions. Interestingly, ST World's copy has always been prepared on an ST computer. Visually acceptable since the beginning, thumbing through back issues of ST World provides a history of desktop publishing as the appearance of the publication has steadily improved as ST desktop publishing systems have grown in sophistication. Currently using Abacus' Textpro and Paintpro, Softlogik's Publishing Partner, and a QMS PS800 laser printer, ST World's appearance is indistinguishable from copy produced on much more expensive systems, showing the considerable capability of the ST as a professional graphics tool. As visually presentable as the paper was in the beginning, the writing in the early issues was almost equally objectionable. Fraught with grammatical errors and incomplete sentences, it was almost as if no one had ever heard the terms "proof reading" or "copy editing." (At least the spelling was good; hooray for spelling checkers.) More recent issues do show considerable improvement in the quality of the writing, however. As the name implies, ST World focusses exclusively on the Atari ST computer, with an emphasis on timely reviews and product announcements. Most of the reviews are fairly brief, but usually cover the subject well enough to give the flavor of the program being reviewed. On the plus side, ST World maintains a good balance between game, hardware, MIDI, business and productivity software, and programming language reviews. Generally, ST World seems to try to select products for review that can be reviewed positively, as I found no truly negative reviews in several issues. In ST World's defense, however, their reviewers did point out the ease with which text can be lost in Zoomracks, and the slowness of play and lack of information available to the player in the game Gateway. While featuring mostly reviews and product announcements, ST World occasionaly prints articles covering major computer shows, like COMDEX, CES, and the Atarifests (maybe the clones don't care, but they are a big deal to us Atarians.) ST World has also published articles on programming, and recently, has begun a series on MIDI by series on MIDI by Malcolm Cecil, head of Electronic Music Publishing House. Overall, I like ST World. It has a good cross section of reviews, and probably the most up to date product announcements of any Atari publication available. The poor editing in the early issues irritated me ("Don't these people know what a sentence is?" I wondered), but the copy editing is much improved in the current issues, leaving nothing truly objectionable. ST World is available in most Atari computer stores, and subscriptions and back issues can be ordered from ST World at 1385 Cleveland Loop Drive, Roseburg, OR 97470-9622. -Garry Jones Compuserve: 72030,273 Genie: GXRAY _______________________________________________________________________________ NON COMPUTER EXTRA T H E B E A T L E S Record Titles American Issues and Dates (Thru December 1970) This chart lists all American issues of Beatles record titles and issue dates (when known). Included are individual (solo) releases after The Beatles as a group officially ended. Legend: (A) 33rpm Album (LP) (E) 45rpm Extended Play (S) 45rpm Single The following titles are the initial Beatles releases in the U.S.: TITLE (A) INTRODUCING THE BEATLES Vee-Jay VJLP1062 (A) JOLLY WHAT! (with Frank Ifield) Vee-Jay VJLP1085 (A) THE BEATLES vs. THE FOUR SEASONS Vee-Jay VJDX30 (A) AIN'T SHE SWEET AND OTHER GROUP SOUNDS FROM ENGLAND * Atco 33-199 (A) MY BONNIE * MGM ESE4125 (A) THIS IS WHERE IT ALL STARTED * Metro 563 (A) THE AMAZING BEATLES * Clarion 601 (A) THE SAVAGE YOUNG BEATLES * Savage BM69 (S) Please Please Me / Ask Me Why Vee-Jay VJ498 (S) From Me To You / Thank You Girl Vee-Jay VJ522 (S) Please Please Me / From Me To You Vee-Jay VJ581 (S) Do You Want To Know A Secret / Thank You Girl Vee-Jay VJ587 (E) Misery / A Taste of Honey / Anna / Ask Me Why Vee-Jay EP1903 (S) She Loves You / I'll Get You Swan 4152 (S) Sie Liebt Dich / I'll Get You Swan 4182 (S) Twist And Shout / There's A Place Tollie 9001 (S) Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You Tollie 9008 (S) Sweet Georgia Brown / Take Out Some Insurance * Atco 6302 (S) Ain't She Sweet / Nobody's Child * Atco 6308 (S) My Bonnie / The Saints * MGM 13213 (S) Cry For A Shadow / Why * MGM 13227 (S) Twist And Shout / There's A Place Capitol 6061 (S) P.S. I Love You / Love Me Do Capitol 6062 (S) Please Please Me / From Me To You Capitol 6003 (S) Do You Want To Know A Secret / Thank You Girl Capitol 6064 (S) Roll Over Beethoven / Misery Capitol 6065 (S) All My Loving / This Boy Capitol 6066 * Recorded in Hamburg, Germany; some vocals by Tony Sheridan. The following releases are on the Capitol label: (S) I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There 13 Jan 64 (A) MEET THE BEATLES 20 Jan 64 (S) Can't Buy Me Love / You Can't Do That 30 Mar 64 (A) THE BEATLES SECOND ALBUM 10 Apr 64 (E) Roll Over Beethoven/All My Loving/This Boy/Please Mr. Postman --- 11 May 64 (A) A HARD DAY'S NIGHT [United Artists] 26 Jun 64 (S) A Hard Day's Night / I Should Have Known Better 13 Jul 64 (S) I'll Cry Instead / I'm Happy Just To Dance With You 20 Jul 64 (S) And I Love Her / If I Fell 20 Jul 64 (A) SOMETHING NEW 20 Jul 64 (S) Slow Down / Matchbox 24 Aug 64 (S) I Feel Fine / She's A Woman 23 Nov 64 (A) THE BEATLES STORY 23 Nov 64 (A) BEATLES '65 15 Dec 64 (E) Honey Don't/I'm A Loser/Mr. Moonlight/Everybody's Trying. --- 1 Feb 65 (S) Eight Days A Week / I Don't Want To Spoil The Party 15 Feb 65 (A) THE EARLY BEATLES [compilation] 22 Mar 65 (S) Ticket To Ride / Yes It Is 19 Apr 65 (A) BEATLES IV 14 Jun 65 (S) Help! / I'm Down 19 Jul 65 (A) HELP! 13 Aug 65 (S) Act Naturally / Yesterday 13 Sep 65 (S) Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out 6 Dec 65 (A) RUBBER SOUL 6 Dec 65 (S) Nowhere Man / What Goes On 7 Feb 66 (S) Paperback Writer / Rain 23 May 66 (A) YESTERDAY AND TODAY 15 Jun 66 (S) Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby 8 Aug 66 (A) REVOLVER 8 Aug 66 (S) Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane 13 Feb 67 (A) SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND 2 Jun 67 (S) All You Need Is Love / Baby You're A Rich Man 24 Jul 67 (S) Hello Goodbye / I Am The Walrus 27 Nov 67 (A) MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR 27 Nov 67 (S) Lady Madonna / The Inner Light 18 Mar 68 The following titles are on the Apple label: (S) Hey Jude / Revolution 26 Aug 68 (A) THE BEATLES ["White Album"] 25 Nov 68 (A) YELLOW SUBMARINE 13 Jan 69 (S) Get Back / Don't Let Me Down 5 May 69 (S) The Ballad Of John And Yoko / Old Brown Shoe 16 Jun 69 (S) Something / Come Together 31 Oct 69 (A) ABBEY ROAD 1 Nov 69 (A) HEY JUDE [compilation] 26 Feb 70 (S) Let It Be / You Know My Name 2 Mar 70 (S) The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue 7 May 70 (A) LET IT BE 15 May 70 _______________________________________________________________________________ PC DITTO UPDATE #: 70004 S5/Business Users 19-Jul-87 19:02:38 Sb: #pc-ditto support online Fm: bill teal 73537,617 To: Antic Software 76703,202 (X) Chuck Sadoian, The answer to your monochrome question is in our general comment message which follows this one (and follows, and follows... Sorry, but Compuserve message sizes limit message lengths, and I could talk the labels off keycaps at fifty paces) ---------------- Ken Cheek 1. Bugs are fixable in the field. See following message. We're just gathering all the bugs, before we issue a patch. 2. DOS 3.3 may have strange bugs concerning the fixed drive. We have not run into them ourselves yet. Be cautious of booting DOS from the hard drive with 3.3. Let us know if you have any random problems with disks and directories. 3. Regarding the 5.25" drive, we're not engineers. So, we hesitate to recommend anything about connecting drives. Rather, we refer you to I.B. Computers for their drives, or others here may be able to provide you with complete info. 4. The SF354 will format an 80-track single-sided DOS disk under pc-ditto. Check our message last week, or let me know and I will upload text files of examples to perform it under DOS 3.2 and 3.3. (However, if errors are causing formatting problems, our next patch should fix the problem). ---------------- Julius Oklamcak Thank you for your kind words. Also, we change the precomp write for use with 5.25" drives under pc-ditto. (Incidently, this is one reason why we ask for the type of drive in our pc_dmenu configuration program). A general commentary message follows. Avant-Garde Systems pc-ditto general support information Field error corrections policy: We plan to notify dealers shortly of error corrections for several products. They will have a disk which will patch the pc-ditto disk. We are currently researching the copyright provisos for this online system, before uploading patch programs here. (This system may copyright our material, which is a no no. If this is true, we may provide alternative field update procedures for owners not near dealers. If this system, however, does not copyright our material, then we will upload There our patch systems.) This is not an update, only a bug fix to original versions (2.0). Updates contain product enhancements. The next update is due this fall. Sorry, we forgot something... Definitions: Update Version of product is the number before the period (currently that is a 2). Minor version is number after the period (currently 00). Updates increase the Version. Patches increase the Minor Version. Updates are issued on new disks to owners of the product. Dealers with old versions are asked to return their packages onhand and are provided with replacements. Patches are provided to dealers and consumers in various forms. No replacement of packages are performed. Instead, the consumer or dealer may use the patch to revise the product. For example, if you purchase version 2.00 from a dealer, and version 2.01 patch is available, you may apply the patch to a backup of your product. The main reason for this approach is to provide fast, economical fixes for bugs and other minor problems (such as disk documentation) in the widest medium format possible. Fixes do not add to a product's features. Updates do. Fixes are short, but enhancements are usually long and involved. Hopefully, this will meet most of your needs. The following is a status update on current problem field reports we have received to date: 1. Some DOS operating systems do not work entirely: Zenith, Blue chip, PC's Limited, Hitachi lap top. We originally tested DOS-es which were widely available and which are assured to provide fully compatible system interfaces. IBM, Compaq, and Eagle were found to provide this without exception. We realize that other manufacturer's provide DOS. Regretfully, we have not been able to provide a DOS ourselves, ...yet. In the meantime, we will test some of the more popular DOS-es. But, let us caveat that some versions just may provide too much difficulty to make compatible with standard DOS applications. Avant-Garde has to define some standard of compatible with which we will provide. We use the IBM PC XT, for now. You can imagine the impossible task if we tried to become compatible with all other compatibles on the market, as well. This is why some DOS-es may never work completely on pc-ditto. If nothing else comes of our exercise, at least we will let you know which DOS-es to definitely stay away from. Therefore, here's how we will proceed. Let us know of your favorite DOS maker. (we'll try to get as many as we can, but some may only be bundled with hardware -- and, DO NOT, please, send us your DOS -- you may break your vendor's license). If the DOS does work correctly on a stock IBM PC XT, then it should work on pc-ditto. But, the DOS may not work correctly on pc-ditto. So, we will fix pc-ditto. 2. Hard drive owners: a. Drive letters on start-up screen show assigned to partition 0. b. Reading files on any hard drive letter still gives only drive C: files. c. Accessing drive letters on 3 and 4-partition drives gives disk error message ("Bad sector...", "I/O error on drive...", etc.) The reasons for these problems are varied: they depend upon the DOS used, the type of hard disk and controller, and how the disk is partitioned and formatted. Some of the problems have been duplicated and are being corrected and tested. This and the next field report are the highest priority. 3. Single-sided drive owners (SF354): Disk errors on reading disks written and formatted on single-sided drives are occurring occassionally. There appears to be no special case causing the error (i.e., 520 and 1040, one and two drives, etc). We have found the following error messages to be caused by the this problem: "Boot disk failure" "I/O error" However, we have received one of the offending drives and have duplicated the problem. 4. PC_DFMT Unusable is the common complaint. The cause is the program can not format a virgin disk (i.e., never formatted disk) without an error. Some users tell the program to retry the error several times, and the program formats successfully. But afterwards, the system locks up. Other users find the program never formats or does anything at all. Explanation: There is a bug. In our production testing environment, our test matrix said format a blank disk. We did not realize until we began getting reports from you that the testing had been done with blank, but pre-formatted disks. Virgin disks, were never used. Thus, a bug to be fixed in an upcoming patch. A note for some DOS users: the format programs used by DOS are very sophisticated. That is, they perform more than what on the surface may appear to be simple formatting. Furthermore, format programs cannot be interchanged. One manufacturer's format should not be used with another's DOS. I won't get into why now, but this should be a word of warning to the wise. Therefore, pc_dfmt was designed for IBM, Compaq, and Eagle DOS. Other DOS-es may cause it to hiccup. We will do what we can to broaden pc-dfmt's usage, but we may be limited to purely practical needs, time, and whether we can quickly learn a manufacturer's DOS internal's (which is tough without the source). 5. Multimate (version unknown) Supposedly, there is a lockup on the file selection screen. We have not duplicated this, but are trying a new version. We will notify when we have found the problem. 6. Screen colors change after using certain programs. Some applications, such as Turbo Pascal and the pfs: series, change the screen colors. After exitting the application, the original colors are not always restored to their original settings. This occurs on an IBM and compatible also. This is the fault of the application. We have found that the clear screen command (cls) to correct for this. 7. Atari black and white monitor does not work. You're right. And, we hear you loud and clear. Please be patient. It's not supposed to work right now. There will be a free update this fall for it and other enhancements. Also, the black and white monitor will support the IBM Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) and the Color Graphics Adapter(CGA), just as the color does now. Color will be 16 levels of grey scale. 8. Files on some diskettes and the hard disk are shown under the GEM directory, but not when directory is listed under DOS. DOS uses the file attributes in the directory. Specifically, hidden and system attributes cause a file not to be shown under the DOS (although some programs, such as Norton Utilities(TM), will show them). You may have to change the attributes, using a public domain or commercial utility. Let us know if you need more specifics on the attribute or special utilities for this problem. By the way, since we're not GEM programmers, others here may provide help for you with GEM programs (to whom we owe our gratitude in advance). ******end of general message******* UNTESTED SIDE NOTE: #: 70092 S5/Business Users 20-Jul-87 15:11:26 Sb: pc-ditto support online Fm: Richard Morris 72327,1323 To: bill teal 73537,617 To those who have bought pc Ditto and want to run it on monochrome, heres how you can patch out the monochrome 'off' routine. Using Disk Doctor go to sector 124 and search for this hex string, 670A19405E1C. Change the 67 to 60 and save the sector. This changes a conditional jump to a jump. The video quality is somewhat strange (you are in the wrong rez) but it does allow it to run. Richard Morris, sysop Chem-Link BBS 918-437-3837 90 megs 9600 baud _______________________________________________________________________________ ZMAG SOFTWARE REVIEW Federated Atari ST Enthusiasts Regrouping Montreal, Canada (BBS-(514)489-0680) Review by Stephane Lavoisard (ST Magazine - Issue #10) Edited and translated by Andre Lafreniere and Alain Plouffe from FaSTer. "Star Trek" Star Trek was certainly, with Dungeon Master, the most awaited game since with every new computer show, we could observe a new pre-release version. We've finally received it, surrounded by rumours claiming that this was the software of the 1990s. It's thus with excusable eagerness that I threw myself on this program and I might as well tell you that after I started playing, I found it difficult to stop long enough to write this article. First, the authors have had the excellent idea not to base their scenario on either the films or the series. Hence, it's an original scenario to which they treated us. Since a while back, numerous spaceships are mysteriously disappearing in a certain part of the universe. The Federation has mandated you to go with the Enterprise to resolve this affair. The loading of the program is such that one gets impatient to see the game. Effectively, after only a few seconds, the digitized voice of Captain Kirk sounds: "Space, the final frontier", accompanied with the familiar sound effects, which are followed by the theme (not digitized this time, because this little folly grabs a lot of memory). Might as well tell you that you'll be thoroughly seduced by this grand presentation, accompanied by a superb rendition of the ship. At last, the main game screen appears. This one is composed of one large display surrounded on two sides with seven smaller screens. The main screen is the flight deck of the Enterprise, digitized for sure, and all the actors of the series are present. If you click on single individuals, their picture appears in the main screen along with the actions he or she is able to accomplish. If the main screen is in one of the mini-screens, all you need to do to bring it back to the main display is to click on it. As you've probably understood, this game is played with the mouse only, which speeds it up and makes access to your information easy. I click on Sulu, who is the navigator. Three control panels are at his disposition. First, you have the general layout of the area, represented as a spinning 3-D universe which makes it very realistic. You may obtain a zoom view on the regional zone, and even the local area. You only need to click on a solar system to obtain its name and distance. If you then click on Spock, he will indicate if a system is Romulan, Klingon, or Federation. Click again on Sulu to indicate the cruising speed you want. I chose to navigate at Warp 10, the maximum speed. After a few moments, the digitized voice of Scotty reminds me: "We must slow down or otherwise the ship will desintegrate!". I thus slow down to Warp 8. I arrive in the Zuner solar system, containing 6 planets. I click on a planet in the view of the system obtained by Sulu, and then on Spock to find out what we can expect here. A digitized voice informs me that a message has just been received. I click on Uhura, who tells me that there is a fleet of over 1000 enemy ships in the galaxy. Since Zuner is controlled by the Federation, I am almost assured not to make any unfriendly encounters. On Zuner I, an energy station can be found which recharges my energy for navigating between the interior planets of the system. Zuner IV is a repair station which might come in handy if the vessel is attacked. Lastly, Spock informs me that Zuner IV supports life forms. On the Zuner system plan given by Sulu, I click on Zuner IV to get there at full impulse power. After a few seconds, a beautiful picture of the Enterprise in orbit appears along with a message from Sulu. I click on Scotty who indicates the remaining amount of Warp energy for travelling between systems, and the level of impulse power for travel within systems. Time to click on Kirk, which advises me to teleport 6 or 7 members of the crew on the planet's surface. (Ed: do I need to mention that you have to be somewhat familiar with the series to understand?). The choice is up to you. You'll rapidly discover that having only one person on a planet is near useless. Also select among the equipment found on other planets the one which you will need and then teleport your personel. The digitized sound of the teleportation is amazing (Ed: Woosh!). Then is the planet surface exploration phase, a primordial aspect of the game, but not with such elaborate graphics as the other parts. The faces of the six crew members are represented along with the object or the person in front of you in wireframe form. According to the nature of the object blocking your way (door, robot, security bomb, etc...) each person suggests a different solution. The doctor often wants to get closer, while Spock will rather use logic, Kirk will often look for hidden mechanisms and Sulu proposes to destroy everything. You're the one choosing an appropriate course of actions. If this works, no problem; you move ahead and get to the following obstacle. If it doesn't work, nothing might happen, or your crew members might be wounded. Teleport yourself back on the Enterprise and click on the doctor who will heal the crew, as indicated with a life bar under the person's figure. Back on the planet, continue until you find an interesting object. Spock often knows what to use it for and you can take it for someone's use or teleport it aboard. Some objects can be used against doors, robots or bombs while others can be installed aboard the ship to increase its resistance, its weapons, etc... It's equally possible to meet on these planets superior races, often friendly, but sometimes dangerous. In this case, it's the way to communicate that you have to select. The doctor offers to simply dialogue, while Spock prefers ESP, and Kirk is often menacing. Most often, the alien will reveal the location of a useful object. A new message from the Federation makes me more aware of my ultimate goal, because roaming aimlessly around the universe is not too productive. It's right then that the red alert sounds. I click on the main deck and turn off the alarm. I then click on Checkov who takes care of battles. On his screens appear three Klingon vessels. I select the phasers, and click on one of the points on the radar. This puts me in battle mode. The ennemy ship in wireframe representation heads towards me. You manoeuver a red circle which diminishes in size as the other ship comes closer. (Ed: we have unfortunately attempted an experience: the author of this review played the game and gave his impressions vocally as we were faithfully writing down every word. Honesty forces us to admit that the poor fellow at this point had his eyeballs bulging out of his head, tongue hanging out, foaming at the mouth and for awhile, his brick-red complexion made us fear the worst. He came out of it ok though). You must click on the enemy ship in such a way as to center the firing circle. When you click on the fire button, a shot lands arbitrarily somewhere inside this circle. You will then understand that the circle needs to be as small as possible if you really wish to hit your opponent. After two or three shots, the vessel disappears into space. But after the first few battles, my phasers are completely empty. I then select the torpedoes and head back into combat. During all battles, Spock indicates your vessel's energy level and that of the enemies. I've suffered serious damage and repairs are compulsary. Before anything else, I select Kirk and save my game position, fearing another encounter with the Klingons. I first go to a Dilithium mining complex planet and fuel up on energy for intergalactic travel, on another planet housing an energy complex for travel between planets, on a weapons dump planet where I find torpedoes, phaser replenishment and at lastly, to a repair center. All the damage has been repaired and I'm now able to resume my search. Star Trek is certainly the most polished game to be found on the ST. The graphics come straight from digitized scenes reworked from the series, the sounds are wisely balanced between digitized and non-digitized, and finally, the interface is very efficient thanks to the use of the mouse and the seven mini-screens. The richness of the game (Star Trek contains over 1000 planets out of which about 450 to explore) makes the potential life span of this program almost unlimited. To conclude, it seems that this is simply the best game available for now, and for a more than reasonable price. And that non-Atari Trekkies are not awaiting a version for their machines, since the programmers from Beyond Software have said that if they were ever to make versions for other computers, it would likely be much less attractive. So to all of you Trekkies, if you want to play heroes, you only have one thing left to do. From Beyond Software. This review is made available to the users' community as a public service by the FASTER Disk Magazine's staff. We will be posting these reviews of the latest releases here on a regular basis. We'll be releasing many different informations about American, European and Australian markets. _______________________________________________________________________________ FASTER DISK MAGAZINE FASTER Disk Magazine for the Atari ST is a Montreal based publication releasing a new issue every two months. It is sold as a single sided disk with all material compressed. This means your 400K disk is over 550K full. It's compatible with all ST models and with color or monochrome screens. The NEWS program takes care of managing the disk contents and offers you a GEM interface for maximum ease of use. You can read your articles with windows and sliders (or print them), run our programs and get back to the menu all with a simple click of the mouse. Each issue contains programs with source code, news, information, illustrations, comments and reviews from all around the world. We include new features in each issue. Single issue retail price is 9.95$ US or 12.95$ CAN. Our latest issue is July 1987 (Vol. 2 No. 2). We offer you the slickest presentation of all the Disk Magazines, the best programs, AND the most timely information. Subscription rates are: 70$ CAN for 6 issues, 50$ US " " " , or 75$ CAN for foreign countries. Order directly from: FASTER P.O. Box 474 BBS: (514)-489-0680 Boucherville, Quebec (514)-489-3489 CANADA J4B 6Y2 (24Hrs, 2400 Baud) (or from your local retailers). Producers, dealers and customer inquiries invited. _______________________________________________________________________________ ST-REPORT Issue #4 August 1, 1987 Next regular edition in two weeks: August 15, 1987 (c)1987 Ron Kovacs _______________________________________________________________________________