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SILICON TIMES REPORT ==================== INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ============================= from STR Electronic Publishing Inc. July 15, 1994 No. 1029 ====================================================================== Silicon Times Report International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 R.F. Mariano Publisher-Editor ----------------------------------------- Voice: 1-904-783-3319 10am-4pm EST STR Publishing Support BBS Network System * THE BOUNTY BBS * ITCNet 85:881/253 JAX HUB ~ FNET 350 ~ Nest 90:301/3 904-786-4176 MULTI-NODE 24hrs-7 days 2400-57.6 bps V.32-42 bis 28.8 Hayes Optima 28.8 V.FC Data/FAX USRobotics Dual Standard 28.8 V.FC Ready Fax FAX: 904-783-3319 12am-6am EST ----------------------------------------- Fido 1:374/147.3 The Bounty STR Support Central 1-904-786-4176 FNET. 620 : Leif's World ................1-904-573-0734 FNET. 690 : PASTE BBS....................1-206-284-8493 FNET. 489 : Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981 MNET - Toad Hall BBS.....................1-617-567-8642 ______________________________________________________________________ > 07/15/94 STR 1029 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!" """"""""""""""""" - CPU INDUSTRY REPORT - HAYES OPTIMA 28.8 - WinCIM v 1.3 - Livermore & PORN! - NEW MAC OS! NOW! - DELL CUTS RETAIL - KIDDIE CORNER - QEMM & DOS 6.22 - DOOM & WFWG 3.11 - EPSON 800c SCAN - FUTURE OF CD ROM - EXPANDED SCES NEWS! -* INTEL CUTS PRICES OF PENTIUM CHIPS! *- -* 'CHICAGO' TO USE TRUESPEECH! *- -* TCI NOT INTERESTED IN PRODIGY! *- ====================================================================== STReport International Online Magazine The Original * Independent * Online Magazine -* FEATURING WEEKLY *- "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ====================================================================== STReport's BBS - The Bounty BBS, invites all BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the ITC/PROWL/USENET/NEST/F-Net/Fido Mail Networks. You may also call The Bounty BBS direct @ 1-904-786-4176. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of excellent International Networking Systems. SysOps and users alike worldwide, are welcome to join STReport's International Conferences. ITC Node is 85:881/250, The Fido Node is 1:374/147.3, Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is #620. All computer platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. ====================================================================== CIS ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ~ PROWL ~ ITC ~ NEST ~ EURONET ~ CIX USENET ~ USPOLNET ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ~ FNET ~ AOL ====================================================================== COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; STREPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198 You will receive your complimentary time and be online in no time at all! "Enjoy CompuServe's forums; where information is at its very best! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" I hope everyone's fourth was as much fun as mine. You see, the third of July is my and my first born son's birthday. Ok, so I'm 52 now and he's 30 ... I still feel like I did the day he was born. Oh well, enough of the personals. It was a wonderful weekend though. In this issue of STReport, we begin the group of articles aimed informing you of the a number of the new products available which are designed for ease of use and high levels of productivity. The learning curves of most new products both software and hardware are fast becoming minimal. This week we look at the Hayes Optima 28.8 Smartmodem in the first of a group of articles dedicated to modems. With emphasis on power, reliability and performance. We will be covering scanners, hard disk mechanisms and certain computer bundles. Rest assured, we will not bore you with the normal expected review/test format. We are going to look at these products like "Joe everyday SOHO User". Hopefully we'll be able to give you a much better overview and still cover the "sacred territory" perhaps less sanctimoniously, but we'll still cover it and report our findings in understandable lingo. <g> The major online networks, Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, GEnie, etc. are all (except Compuserve) scrambling to come forward with comfortable, easy to use front end software. The software itself will have all sorts of "catchy" names but the bottom line is; the software is meant to maximize the user's (subsciber's) access to all the resources of a particular service. While the advertising for AOL and other even smaller services is approaching the rediculous (trying to tell everyone how "great" they are), Compuserve is still, by the example it sets, setting the standards and calling the innovative shots in the industry. Compuserve's front-end is by far, the best among them all. The new features and upgrades for WinCIM are listed in this issue. The full name of the program is WinCIM ver 1.3. It is simple to install, use, and most of all ... it works and works well! Ralph.... """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""" Publisher -Editor """""""""""""""""" Ralph F. Mariano Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors """"""""""""""" PC SECTION AMIGA SECTION MAC SECTION ATARI SECTION ---------- ------------- ----------- ------------- R.D. Stevens R. Niles J. Deegan D. P. Jacobson STReport Staff Editors: """"""""""""""""""""""" Michael Arthur John Deegan Brad Martin John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando Doyle Helms Frank Sereno John Duckworth Jeff Coe Steve Keipe Guillaume Brasseur Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian Contributing Correspondents: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Tim Holt Norman Boucher Clemens Chin Eric Jerue Ron Deal Mike Barnwell Ed Westhusing Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith Bruno Puglia Paul Haris Kevin Miller Craig Harris Allen Chang Dominick J. Fontana IMPORTANT NOTICE """""""""""""""" Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve................... 70007,4454 America Online..................STReport Delphi......................... RMARIANO BIX............................ RMARIANO FIDONET..................... 1:347/147.3 FNET........................... NODE 350 ITC NET...................... 85:881/253 NEST........................ 90:21/350.0 GEnie......................... ST-REPORT Internet.............RMARIANO@DELPHI.COM """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS """"""""""""""""" IBM/POWER-PC/PC SECTION (I) =========================== Computer Products Update - CPU Report ------------------------ ---------- Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Issue #29 By: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. ******* General Computer News ******* ** Jaguar Engine in Coin-Operated Games ** Atari Corporation this week announced that it has signed an agreement with the coin-operated game division of Time Warner Interactive, Inc., a worldwide leader in video games and entertainment software and creator of such arcade hits as "Hard Drivin,'" "Race Drivin'" and "Roadblasters" The agreement will make Jaguar's award-winning 64-bit technology engine available for Time Warner Interactive arcade games. The deal also states that all software titles developed on the Jaguar platform by Time Warner Interactive will also be available on the Jaguar home video system. "Embedding the 64-bit horsepower of Jaguar in our coin-operated video games will enable us to broaden our presence in the largest sector of the arcade market that demands high performance at competitive pricing," said Geoff Holmes, CEO of Time Warner Interactive. "We believe the Jaguar engine will be instrumental in helping us meet this important goal." "We are pleased that Time Warner Interactive has chosen the Jaguar engine to power its outstanding arcade video games," said Sam Tramiel, president, Atari Corporation. "This agreement will give a new segment of game players access to Jaguar's unprecedented performance and provide a host of hot, new titles for Jaguar. We look forward to continuing to expand Jaguar's market reach." Time Warner Interactive, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., is a lead- ing developer and publisher of interactive consumer entertainment pro- ducts that span across platforms from coin-operated video arcade games and home video games systems, to game-based CD and computer CD-ROM platforms and interactive TV applications. ** Atari Corp. Announces Manufacturing Plans ** Atari Corporation confirmed this week a majority of its 1994 300,000 piece production of Jaguar will be manufactured by IBM in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jaguar is the only 64-bit multimedia entertainment system and is the only video game system made exclusively in the United States. Sam Tramiel, President, said, "We are pleased to have IBM's manufac- turing strength and support as we commence volume production for the Christmas selling season and we are proud that this relationship has enabled us to competitively manufacture Jaguar in the United States." ** 'Chicago' to Use TrueSpeech ** DSP Group Inc. says its TrueSpeech speech compression technology will be used by Microsoft Corp. in the software giant's upcoming Windows "Chicago" release, the much anticipated multimedia operating system for 32-bit computers. DSP and Microsoft officials said that speech compression is needed for applications that link computers with telecommunications such as voice mail and personal computer-based training. "TrueSpeech speech compression simplifies sharing digitally processed speech between computing devices. ... In addition, TrueSpeech is being included in product development by a variety of personal computer and semiconductor companies." ** Apple Shipping New Newton Kit ** Version 2.0 of the Newton Connection Kit for Windows is being shipped by Apple Computer Inc., priced at $99. Registered users of Version 1.0 can upgrade for free to the newer version. ** DEC's Alpha Ahead of Schedule ** Digital Equipment Corp announced this week it will ship large volumes of its Alpha AXP 21064A reduced-instruction set microprocessors ahead of schedule. Reports say the company has reached volume production for the 64-bit advanced chip ahead of its original schedule that had targeted the date for this fall. If Digital can boost unit shipments of Alpha, then reaching its pro- duction goals early could make a difference. However, analysts note the company has been slow to win customers. Digital President Robert Palmer said the firm has signed 75 contracts for customers to design Alpha into their products, including E-Systems and Fuji Photo Film. ** U.S. Leads in Installed Computers ** According to a survey incorporated in the new 1994-95 Computer Indus- try Almanac, the United States has six times as many computers as Japan and seven times as many computers as Germany. It also finds that as of the end of last year: -:- Worldwide a total of 173 million computers are installed, up from 148 million a year ago. -:- Eighteen countries have more than a million computers in use. Three more countries may surpass the million mark in 1993 (Denmark, Finland and Switzerland). -:- Compared to all of Europe (with 37.5 million computers), the U.S. has nearly twice as many computers in use (74.2 million). -:- The U.S. also leads in computers per capita with 288 computers per 1,000 people. Australia, Canada and Norway are next with 193, 188 and 173 computers per 1,000 people. Japan has 98 and Germany 128 computers per 1,000 people. Worldwide average is 31 computers per 1, 000 people. ** Altera Buys Intel Division ** For about $50 million in cash and stock, Intel Corp. has sold its programmable logic business to Altera Corp. Reports say the deal, which includes $25 million in cash and $25 million in Altera stock, is expected to be completed Oct. 1, pending approval from U.S. regulatory agencies. The division makes the tools that allow engineers to create designs on personal computers, then program that into desktop computers to design chips. ** WordPerfect Sets Upgrade Deal ** Novell's WordPerfect subsidiary says that current DOS customers can take advantage of a special WordPerfect summer promotion through Aug. 31. "The Perfect Upgrade" allows current WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS users to upgrade to WordPerfect 6.0a for Windows or WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS for $99, or to WordPerfect 5.1+ for DOS for $49.95. The software publisher reports that more than four million WordPerfect 5.1 DOS users have already upgraded to new versions of WordPerfect. ** Seagate Buys Equity Stake in Dragon ** Seagate Technology announced it will purchase an equity position in Dragon Systems Inc., a developer of advanced speech recognition techno- logy. Seagate will own 25 percent of the Newton. A leader in speech recognition technology, Dragon has licensed its products to leading hardware and software developers, including IBM, Compaq Computer, Microsoft, Analog Devices, Digital Equipment Corp. and WordPerfect for use in systems and software products. ** AST to Use Some Cyrix Chips ** Intel Corp. rival Cyrix Corp. has landed a deal in which computer maker AST Research Inc. will begin using Cyrix as an additional source for microprocessor components for selected PCs. Reports say Intel will remain, however, AST's "primary microprocessor supplier and strong strategic partner and will continue to provide a majority of the microprocessors for AST's Manhattan superservers, Bravo and Premmia business desktops and Ascentia notebook computers." Incidentally, AST now is the world's fifth-largest PC maker, with revenues of $1.78 billion for the first nine months of fiscal 1994, a 78 percent increase over the comparable prior period. ** TCI Not Interested in Prodigy ** Despite rumors, cable TV giant Tele-Communications Inc. says it has no interest in making a bid for part-ownership in the Prodigy OnLine service. Earlier rumors said that TCI was offering about $400 million for a one-third interest in the IBM/Sears OnLine service. However, late yesterday, a TCI spokeswoman in Englewood, Col. said the firm will not make a bid. ** Adobe Ships ATM 3.0 for Windows ** Adobe Systems Inc. has released Adobe Type Manager 3.0 for Windows. The Mountain View, California- based software publisher is also shipping all 14 of its new multiple master typefaces for Windows, supported for the first time by ATM 3.0 for Windows. ATM 3.0 for Windows gives users access to any of the multiple master typefaces in the Adobe Type Library. A Font Creator allows users to develop and view multiple master typefaces via sliders that can adjust a font's weight, width, optical size and/or style, depending on the design axes incorporated in the font. ATM 3.0 for Windows users can now install the software on a shared version of Windows using any Windows supported network, with no depen- dency on the network protocol installed. By sharing ATM and font files on the network, users can save disk space on local workstations. ATM 3.0 for Windows provides built-in support for 10 languages. The product also includes 17 additional typefaces beyond the base 13 found in most PostScript printers. ATM 3.0 for Windows costs $60. Registered users of any previous ver- sion, including bundled editions, can upgrade for $29.95. The multiple master typefaces range in price from $75 to $205. ** Lab Finds Porn on Its Computers ** Computers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have been used to store pornographic images. Officials there say at least one lab employee is believed to have been involved in a porn ring that used the computers. The employee has been placed on leave. In Los Angeles, Chuck Cole, deputy associate director of computing at the nuclear weapons lab, is quoted as saying more than 1,000 porno- graphic images were found on the computers. The computers were shut down after an investigation uncovered soft- ware piracy on Internet global network. Peter Beruk of the Software Publishers Association said, "We are cur- rently tracking over 1,600 pirate sites on the Internet in a joint investigation with the FBI. It is a very serious and costly problem." ** New Mac OS Available This Summer ** System 7.5, the latest version of the Apple MacIntosh operating system, will be available later this summer. Apple Computer Inc. has not disclosed the price of the software. Reports say System 7.5 is easier to use than its predecessor, System 7.1, and Microsoft Corp.'s competing Windows system. System 7.5 integrates several time-saving features previously avail- able at additional cost. Apple Guide, for instance, is a built-in, in- teractive guide that leads the user one step at a time through tasks with on-screen visual cues such as arrows and red circles around words. Another feature lets users set up a "drop" folder that lets other workers linked on the same computer network share files. ** Compaq Working on TV Computer ** A television-computer hybrid apparently is being built by Compaq Computer Corp. Compaq Vice President Robert Stearns has told The Houston Chronicle that prototypes will be tested soon with major cable TV companies and programming producers, though he declined to name them. The Chronicle says Sterns sees the machine being linked to devices in other parts of the home, including a terminal in the kitchen that might display recipes or enable a user to order groceries OnLine. Stearns told the paper these things "have to be done in partnership," adding, "If there is nothing to connect to, no one is going to buy it." ** Dell Stops Retail Sales ** Dell Computer Corp. announced this week it will stop selling its pro- ducts through retail stores. CEO Michael Dell said the firm has been losing money "for some time" in this area and will stop sales to its five retail partners. He admitted it will take some time before all the inventory at the stores is gone. The five retail partners are CompUSA Inc., Best Buy Co., WalMart Stores Inc., Sam's Club, Price CostCo Inc. in Canada and PC World in the United Kingdom. "We have been losing money of late in that channel," Dell said. "This [retail channel] is a no or low return business. For us it has been losing money for some time." The company is likely to incur some exit costs, but that will be off- set by "not having sales into a channel losing money," Dell explained, noting that sales to consumers through retail stores were expected to contribute less than two percent of consolidated revenues in the firm's second fiscal quarter. ** Intel Cuts Prices of Pentium Chips ** Prices on Intel Corp.'s top- of-the-line Pentium microprocessor have been reduced. Reports say: -:- The 60MHz Pentium is reduced 13.9 percent at $581 for 1,000-up, and will fall another 28 percent to $418 on Aug. 1. -:- The 90MHz Pentium is cut 16.7 percent to $707. -:- The 66MHz 80486DX2 is cut 25 percent to $271. __________________________________________ > WinCIM 1.3 STR InfoFile Changes in WinCIM 1.3 """"""""""""""""""""""" COMPUSERVE'S WINCIM V 1.3 ========================= Changes in WinCIM 1.3 --------------------- * A "Show Graphic Menus" preference was added to the General Preferences dialog. This controls if WinCIM will request/display the new enhanced menus that will appear in some services shortly. * The disconnect logic was re-ordered to avoid a GPF error. This corrects a GPF error that beta testers encountered when marking and retrieving items. * Various internal changes were made to better support the enhanced menus/articles that will appear in some services soon. * A couple of references to ENS were changed to "News" (so the News desktop can be used for other services). * The buttons on articles have been placed back on at the bottom of article windows. * Added support for multiple palettes in graphic display dialogs. * The "trailer" information for filing cabinet objects is now updated as users advance through filing cabinet articles. * When articles are filed into the filing cabinet, WinCIM will now use the "title" in place of the "header" if no header exists. * Some changes were made to better handle the setting of fonts (internal changes only). * A problem was corrected in the way WinCIM handled some failures when sending CompuServe Mail messages. * WinCIM will no longer cache the relationship between a volatile menu and its children. * A fix was made to the way WinCIM handles text in the conference window. Users should now be able to see the complete text of what has been sent. * Additional functionality was implemented to enhance the support for the CompuServe CD product. These changes include: - Support for multiple recipients of messages - Better disconnect logic * Additional functionality was implemented to better handle the new style of menus that will start appearing shortly. * A debug switch was implemented (for WINCIM.INI) that causes WinCIM to display (in the caption bar of a menu) if an item is marked as volatile and/or session only. The switch is "Display-Flags" and the setting is either ON or OFF. * Move some strings from the WinCIM code into a string resource. * NEW CONNECT DIALOG: ------------------ A new "Connect" dialog has been implemented. This new dialog allows users to easily connect to CompuServe. The dialog will appear when the program first starts and can be disabled by un-checking the "Show at Startup" option (located on the dialog). Choosing the option to connect causes WinCIM to access the What New Information. The dialog can be displayed (if it was closed) by selecting the "Connect..." choice on the File pull-down menu. * SUPPORT FOR ENHANCED MENUS: -------------------------- Support for enhanced styled menus has been implemented in WinCIM 1.3. These menus will be used in some CompuServe services that will be available soon. * EXPANDED BROWSE SERVICES WINDOW: ------------------------------- The Browse Services window has been redesigned to contain more categories. * ABILITY TO ENABLE CARRIER DETECT: -------------------------------- Carrier Detect (primarily used for modems) can now be enabled or disabled by clicking the "More" button on the Session Settings dialog. The default setting for this option is "ON". If WinCIM is being used with a modem that does not support Carrier Detect, this option can now be disabled. * COMPUSERVE MAIL - SEND FILE DIALOG CHANGES: ------------------------------------------ The Send File dialog (under the Mail pull-down menu) now allows for longer file names. *ARTICLE BUTTONS MOVED TO RIGHT SIDE OF WINDOW: --------------------------------------------- The buttons on certain article windows (ie. AP Online, What's New, etc..) have been moved to the right side of the window. * ABOUT BOX CHANGES: ----------------- Changes have been made in the way we handle the About Box. They are: 1. A "splash" screen is now displayed when WinCIM is first started. box. After displaying for a few seconds, the dialog will disappear automatically. 2. The WinCIM About Box will only be displayed if the "About CIM" choice is selected from the Help pull-down menu. 3. The General Preferences dialog box has been changed. The "About Box" option has been removed from the "Initial Desktop" option. There is no way to prevent the splash screen from showing at startup. * CHANGES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF INT14: ---------------------------------- A change was made in the way WinCIM handles an Int14 connection. Previously, WinCIM would attempt to read a character and if the request failed, it was thought that no characters exist. WinCIM now checks to see if there is a character available before it attempts to read it. * SETTING FONTS/PRINTER DIALOG: ---------------------------- The printer dialog is no longer displayed when users attempt to set their fonts. * TYPO CORRECTION IN SESSION SETTINGS DIALOG: ------------------------------------------ There was a typo in the dialog that is displayed when a user attempts to use a duplicate session settings name. The word "Please" was being displayed as "lease". * MODEM INITIALIZATION ISSUES: --------------------------- Two items were resolved with how WinCIM initializes the modem: 1. A default modem initialization string was not being used in the Modem settings dialog. This dialog is accessed by clicking the "Modem" button on the Session Setting dialog). 2. The command "&D2" was included in the modem initialization string. This should address a number of the problems that some users had during the disconnect process. * PROBLEM WITH STATUS LINE TEXT: ----------------------------- A problem was fixed that caused unreadable characters to appear on the status line. This happened when users would attempt to "visit" a forum. * SCROLL BAR PROBLEMS: ------------------- WinCIM was not retrieving all of the information in certain menus if the user moved the scroll boxes to the bottom of the scroll bar. * DOSCIM ADDRESS BOOK PROBLEMS: ---------------------------- A GPF error could occur under some conditions when WinCIM attempted to view an address book that was created with CompuServe Information Manager, DOS Version (DOSCIM). * MODEM BREAK CHARACTER: --------------------- A problem with the use of the "break character" in the network scripts has been corrected. * FIXED GPF WHEN FORWARDING CERTAIN MAIL MESSAGES: ----------------------------------------------- A problem has been corrected that could cause a GPF error when mail message of certain sizes would be forwarded to other users. * FIXED GPF WITH "HIGH" IMPORTANCE AND PERSONAL MAIL OPTIONS SET: -------------------------------------------------------------- A problem was fixed that could cause a GPF error with certain text Mail messages when the options "High" importance and "Personal" sensitivity were set. * FIXED A RETRIEVED MARKED MESSAGES PROBLEM: ----------------------------------------- A problem that caused an "incorrect response packet" error message to appear when retrieving marked messages (in forums) has been corrected. WinCIM now disables talk/group "invitations" when it is retrieving marked messages. * SEND/RECEIVE ALL PROBLEM FIXED: ------------------------------ A problem was fixed that caused messages to not be sent from the Out- Basket if the "Do not retrieve" option was set for Mail messages that were marked as "Postage Due". * FIXED EDIT BOX HANDLING: ----------------------- A problem was corrected with how certain edit boxes were being updated. * WEATHER MAP (GO MAPS) PROBLEM FIXED: ----------------------------------- WinCIM was not displaying all of the available maps when using the keyboard (down arrow). * PROBLEM WITH MULTIPLE SOUND EVENTS: ---------------------------------- The problem with sounds cutting off previously playing sounds has been addressed. If there is a sound playing and another sound event is received, the second sound event is ignored - the second sound will not be played. * PROBLEM WITH DAMAGED ADDRESS BOOKS: ---------------------------------- A problem with reading certain "damaged" address books has been fixed. * GRAPHICS VIEWING PROBLEM: ------------------------ A problem was corrected with 2 color images when viewing them in 16 color mode. * COMPUSERVE-CD CHANGES: --------------------- The new CompuServe-CD can work together . Various changes were made so that the CD product can launch and communicate with WinCIM (to handle things like retrieving items "marked" from the CD). * GRAPHICS VIEWING PIXEL BUFFERING: -------------------------------- There were changes made to better handle the buffering of pixels when viewing graphics that are stored on the user's machine. This should speed up the viewing of some images that have been previously downloaded (and are already stored on the hard disk). Editor Note; I am using Auto-Pilot (an undocumented WinCIM feature) and its been working flawlessly. Believe me, I USE it. Don't be surprised if its "acknowleged" as existing very shortly. This program, (WinCIM ver 1.3) is really "good stuff". When used with ASPELL, it becomes "super good stuff"! <g> *** _______________________________________________ > Greatest Paper Airplanes STR Review """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Kids' Computing Corner ---------------------- THE GREATEST PAPER AIRPLANES ============================ from KittyHawk Software by Frank Sereno This week I'm going to look at a product intended for an older age group than my usual reviews. Also different is the fact that this product is shareware. The Greatest Paper Airplanes (GPA) is an entertaining program that can teach children and adults about the wonders of flight and aerodynamics. It also prints paper airplanes and uses a unique VCR-like video approach to instruct builders on how to fold these planes. GPA requires Windows 3.1, a mouse, approximately 2 megs of hard drive space and 2 megs of memory (but 4 megs is recommended). This program is contained in file named GPA.ZIP which can be obtained from many BBSes around the world as well as from the file areas of the commercial on-line services. While children of any age will enjoy the airplanes that can be built using this software, I recommend this program for children ages 8 and older due to the dexterity needed to fold the airplanes. Some of the terminology used in the program may be too difficult for younger children to read and understand so I recommend that an adult be available for assistance. Building these paper airplanes can be much fun and will promote bonding between parent and child. Installing this program is very easy by unzipping the GPA.ZIP file into a subdirectory named GPA. Then you run the GROUPAIR.EXE file from within Windows to create the GPA program group. Click on the GPA icon to run the program. The interface on this program is very interesting. It is in the form of a notebook with tabs on top denoting the different categories of information. All of the illustrations are animated and can be activated by clicking on them or on colorized keywords in the text. Also available to the user are drop down menus along the top of the screen with keyboard shortcuts. The book has 3 main sections on Flying, Paper, and Planes. Each of these sections is further divided upon entry into that section. The Flying section includes information on flight, history, aerodynamics, terminology and the proper method of safely flying the models built using this program. The Paper section teaches how paper is made, basic paper folding, more technical folding and a bit on craft. The final section is Planes and in this section the program shows how to make the planes. Planes can be printed with fold lines to make folding easier for the novice. Designs are available to make the planes more colorful or you can design your own by using your own paint program. The unregistered version includes 5 planes. Upon registration you get 20 more plus some other goodies. To fold one of the 5 included "darts" as these planes are called, first make your choice and then print it out. You can choose to print the top, bottom or both sides of the paper. Of course, printing both sides requires two passes. Once printed, the Fold option is selected. On the left side of the notebook is text describing the actions to fold the plane while on the right is an animated 3-D window showing the action. The video in the window is controlled by VCR-like controls allowing the user to advance or rewind frame by frame. Advance controls allow the user to zoom in on the plane, change the camera angle, the perspective and much more. These features are very fascinating! If you wish more information on this program, you can contact KittyHawk Software in several ways. A toll-free order line is at 1-800-388-9622 (have your charge card ready). E-mail can be sent to 72133,2216 on CompuServe or kittyhawks on America On-line. If you wish to send Internet e-mail, send it to kittyhawks@aol.com. By fax, send to 1-602-622-3700. U.S. mail can be sent to: KittyHawk Software P.O. Box 64189 Tucson, AZ 85728-4189 GPA is $29.95 plus an additional $5 for shipping, Arizona residents please add sales tax. Upon registration, the customer will receive the following goodies: sound effects and aircraft trivia will be added to the program, 20 more paper airplane designs, a Windows screen-saver, a pad of 50 pre- printed planes, a user's hot card, a handsome display box, information about updates and future releases as well as 24-hour BBS support and telephone support. I have built a couple of the designs so far and they really fly well. Flying paper airplanes can be a very fun and inexpensive hobby that parents can share with their children. Since this program is shareware, you can try it first and delete it if you don't like it. This is a very polished program and I think that most people will find it highly informative and entertaining. When reading the scores for this program, please keep in mind that the program is intended for an older audience than most programs I have reviewed to date. Graphics 8.5 Sounds Disabled in the shareware version Interface 9.0 Play Value 9.0 Ed. Value 8.5 Bang for the Buck 8.5 Average 8.7 I have 3 new commercial titles to review in the near future. These are Micrografx's "Crayola Art Adventure", Time Warner's "Word Tales" and Knowledge Adventure's "Bug Adventure." _______________________________________________ > DOOM & WFWG 311 STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""""""" DOOM & Windows for Workgroups v3.11 network =========================================== Note: much of this is based on work from Ron Kundla (kundla@cis.ohio-state.edu) and I'm indebted to him for taking the time to do the dirty work. Note: This worked on older versions of Doom and the early commercial version. I have not tested this method on v1.4 or newer versions, but it will probably work Note: (yes, again). This is for WFWG 3.1, which comes with all the necessary IPX drivers. Users of WFWG v3.11 will need to find some drivers not shipped with that version. One source is DOOMIP.ZIP, in the Action Game Aids Library (#8) of the GAMERS forum on Compuserve. Note: (the last, I promise) To be safe, save PROTOCOL.INI, SYSTEM.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and CONFIG.SYS before starting. If something goes wrong, restoring these files should get you back to the old system settings. 1. Start up Windows. Bring up the Main folder and double-click on the Control Panel. Double-click on the Network icon. Look at the bottom of the window this action generates and you should see several large, grey buttons, one of which is labelled Networks. Double click on it. 2. We now will be adding the Novell IPX network protocol drivers. Note this will result in the drivers being loaded at boot time, not just when WFWG is run; this procedure modified Autoexec.bat and Config.sys Let it do so - if you desire, later on you can create options within the files to use the drivers or not, but first let's get it working. The screen should now show two boxes, labelled "Available Network Types" and "Other Networks in Use", with Novell Network on the left box. (if it's on the right box, it is already installed - albeit maybe not correctly). Click once on the Novell line, then click on the ADD button (be sure to have your original disks handy, as you'll probably need to supply one or more as WFWG searches for the drivers). The Novell line should show up on the right box. Click on OK to exit the screen. Two files are installed to your hard drive: NETX and MSIPX. 3. WFWG will probably try to reboot, but click on Don't Reboot. Go to File on the menu, select RUN and type SYSEDIT. Click on the Autoexec.bat window to bring it to the front if it isn't there already and search for the line c:\windows\netx.exe change it to read rem c:\windows\netx.exe which will disable that line (netx apparently goes out and checks for a real Novell Netware net and load a shell program, which you obviously don't have). Save the file, exit Sysedit, shut down WFWG like normal (really! Shut it down, don't go to a DOS box) and reboot the computer. As it boots, look for comments about BINDING. If you don't get a msg about incomplete bindings, you're probably all set! If you get errors, then things are not going well - the ipx drivers didn't like your net- work card or ....something else is wrong <g>. 4. Now, at the DOS prompt (yes, DOS. The drivers are already loaded in memory; there's no need to go into WFWG), start the network with the command NET.EXE LOGON <username> <password> /YES where <username> and <password> are your userid and <password>, respectively, and the capital letters are literaly what you type in. If you don't have a password, then don't enter anything for it. This starts the network connection on your machine. Go into Doom's Setup and configure the game for network play. You'll need to select a socket number greater than 1 (think of a socket as a telephone number). All members (1-4) of a group must use the same socket number. Note: on older versions of DOOM, the sockets would not release after being used, so subsequent play required choosing a new socket. I haven't tried it, but assume that it was fixed in later releases. Oh, one other comment, one I get from a lot of newbie network doomers. No, some of the cheat codes just won't work in network play. Any command that starts with an 'i', for example, since pressing 'i' transmits the successive text to the 'indigo' (relating to the jacket color of one of the group's on-screen persona) player. Finally, if you have the older broadcast-method version of Doom and are playing on a company network, please, please, please, please? Get a newer version that doesn't use broadcast transmission, so you don't bog down the network for other people. Let's keep the killing on-screen <g>. Dave Timoney Humongous Entertainment 72662,1360 _______________________________________________ > EPSON 800C SCANNER STR InfoFile """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ES-800C PRO SCANNING SYSTEM FOR PC'S Features and Specifications EPSON America Inc. High speed, high resolution scanning. Perfect for professional graphics users. The Epson ES-800C Pro PC Scanning System comes with everything you need to scan and edit graphic images easily and professionally. This complete scanning system includes Epson's versatile 24-bit ES-800C color scanner providing unsurpassed system connectivity coupled with top performing software packages. It supports color, gray scale and black and white formats - producing the kind of crisp, clear images that bring presentations, brochures, newsletters and magazines to life. The affordable ES-800C Pro PC Scanning System offers an impressive list of unique standard features delivering the superior hardware scanning capabilities that professional graphics users demand. COMPLETE PRO SCANNING SYSTEM INCLUDES ------------------------------------- * Epson ES-800C color scanner * TWAIN scanner driver * Picture Publisher(TM) 4.0 * SCSI interface board * Cable * Terminator This system is also available as the ES-800C PC, which does not include imaging software. EASILY SCAN GRAPHIC IMAGES UP TO 800 DPI Incorporate graphics into your documents with over 16 million crisp colors. SCAN MULTIPLE PAGES AND TRANSPARENCIES Optional automatic document feeder available to scan multiple pages and transparency unit for 35mm slides, b&w negatives or transparencies. IMAGE "FINE TUNING" IS BUILT-IN Increase productivity with built-in image processing which lets you adjust color, gamma, brightness and sharpness in either preview or final scan modes. EPSON'S EXCLUSIVE TRUEPASS(TM) TECHNOLOGY Scan full-color, gray scale or black and white images in one single pass for better color quality and faster scan times. EPSON RELIABILITY One-year limited warranty and toll-free Epson Connection technical support hotline available in the U.S. and Canada. One-year extended warranty free when registration card is returned. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS ES-800C PRO SCANNING SYSTEM FOR PC'S COMPONENTS ES-800C Pro PCES-800C Color Scanner TWAIN scanner driver Picture Publisher 4.0 SCSI Cable SCSI interface board Terminator ES-800C PC ES-800C Color Scanner TWAIN scanner driver SCSI Cable SCSI interface board Terminator SCANNING SPECIFICATIONS Scanner typeFlatbed color image scanner Sub-scanning methodMovement of the reading head Photoelectric device CCD line sensor Document size 8.5" x 11.67" Light sourceNoble gas fluorescent lights SCANNING RESOLUTION Main scan 400 dpi Sub scan 800 dpi maximum Output resolution50 to 800 dpi in 23 levels Effective pixels 3400 x 4680 (400 dpi) Image data1 to 8 bits per pixel for each color, selectable Color separation By switching light sources (G, R, B) Gradation 8 bits/pixel per color maximum Zoom50% to 200% by 1% step Horizontal scan and vertical scan zoom Dimension can be independently set by software command Brightness7 levels Reading sequence Monochrome: 1 pass scanning (Dropout color selectable from G, R, B) Color line sequence1 pass scanning (G, R, B) Color page sequence3 pass scanning (G, R, B) Scanning Speed Monochrome Line art1.5 msec/line (typ.) Halftone3 msec/line ColorLine 30 msec/line (typ.) Page 6 msec/line Digital Halftone Bi-level3 modes (A, B, C) Dither 4 modes Quad-level1 mode (A) Only mode A is available for line sequence Gamma Correction CRT1/line art CRT2 3 printer modes (A, B, C) l user defined mode Color Correction 4 modes Impact-dot matrix Color thermal Color inkjet CRT display Interface: Bi-directional parallel Reliability MCBF 100,000 cycles Environmental Conditions Temperature 40 - 95 degrees F (5 - 35 degrees C) operating Humidity 10 to 80% no condensation Electrical Specifications Voltage120V, +/- 10% Frequency49.5 to 60.5Hz Power consumption50W Dimensions Width 14.5"368 mm Depth 22.5"577 mm Height 6.5"161 mm Weight 26 lbs12 kg (approx) Options Automatic document feederB813001 Transparency unit B813012 Warranty One-year limited warranty in the U.S. One-year extended warranty free when registration card is returned. SUPPORT EPSON Connection information hotline: U.S.A. 1-800-922-8911 Canada 1-800-463-7766 Faxback System 1-800-922-8911 or 310-782-4214 Electronic Bulletin Board 310-782-4531 EPSON USA: Call 1-800-289-3776 for the nearest dealer location Epson America, Inc., 20770 Madrona Avenue, Torrance, CA 90503 EPSON Canada: Call 1-800-463-7766 Epson Canada, Ltd. 550 McNicoll Avenue, Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2E1 Fax: 416-498-4574 EPSON Latin America: Call 1-305-265-0092 Epson Latin America 6303 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 390, Miami, Florida 33126 Fax: 305-265-0097 Epson Europe: Call (39)-2-262331 Epson PC Operations (Italy) Fax: (39)-2-2440641 Specifications are subject to change without notice. Epson is a registered trademark and Epson Stylus is a trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation; ActionLaser is trademark and EPSON Connection is a servicemark of Epson America, Inc. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. _________________________________________________ > OUTPOST UPGRADE STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""" OUTPOST UPGRADE ANNOUNCEMENT ============================ Sierra On-Line will be offering a free upgrade to the original OUTPOST game. Although we don't have a firm date on availability, since the new features are still in development, the upgrade will include the following items: * Roads * Monorails and the occasional Plague * Trade * Macromanagement * Tutorial -- this upgrade will include the tutorial that is being uploaded to bulletin boards this week. When it becomes available, the upgrade will be posted to bulletin boards and a notice will be sent to registered owners of OUTPOST advising them how to obtain their upgrade. We believe these features will satisfy popular requests and enhance the capabilities of the highly successful original game with a new layer of strategy elements. Make sure you send in your registration card to receive future notices and a free subscription to Interaction Magazine. __________________________________________________ > QEMM & DOS 6.22 STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Using MS DOS 6.22 DriveSpace with QEMM 7 Quarterdeck Technical Note #279 Filename: MSDOS622.TEC by Quarterdeck Quality Assurance Department CompuServe: DOS622.TEC Last revised: 06/05/94 Category: QEMM Subject: Using QEMM 7 with MS DOS 6.22 and the DriveSpace disk compression utility. Q: WHAT IS NEW WITH MS DOS 6.22? A: The major change from MS DOS 6.20 to MS DOS 6.22 is in its disk compression scheme. In changing this, Microsoft changed the name of the driver from DBLSPACE.SYS to DRVSPACE.SYS (along with DRVSPACE.INI, DRVSPACE.BIN, and DRVSPACE.EXE). If you are already using DbleSpace from MS DOS 6. or 6.2, then MS DOS 6.22 will default to leaving you with DoubleSpace. MS DOS 6.22 fully supports the continued use of DoubleSpace (in fact, Microsoft seems to encourage it). If you wish, you may convert your DbleSpace drive to DriveSpace by running the DRVSPACE utility. Note that the conversion process may take several hours. If you install MS DOS 6.22 & you're not already using DbleSpace from a previous MS DOS 6 version, you will not be able to use DbleSpace. You will only be able to use DriveSpace. Q: HOW IS QEMM 7 AFFECTED BY MS DOS 6.22? A: The ST-DBL.SYS (Stealth DoubleSpace) driver from QEMM 7.03 and later fully supports MS DOS 6.22's DriveSpace. Users of QEMM 7.02 and earlier will run into the same problems as with the DoubleSpace from MS DOS 6.20 related to AutoMount and DEFRAG. These users should update to QEMM 7.03 or later to use QEMM's Stealth DoubleSpace driver. If you have already installed MS DOS 6.22 and are using either DoubleSpace or Drivespace, the QEMM INSTALL program will insert the ST-DBL line into CONFIG.SYS, but won't remove the DRVSPACE line. This shouldn't cause any problems because the MS DOS INSTALL puts the DRVSPACE line at the end of CONFIG.SYS and the QEMM Install puts the ST-DBL line right after the QEMM line, which is near the beginning of this file. Thus, ST-DBL will load first and when DRVSPACE attempts to load, it will detect that a compression scheme is already in place (ST-DBL) and will refrain from loading. Fortunately, no error msg is displayed when DRVSPACE declines to load, so it does not matter if this line is removed or not. If for some reason the DRVSPACE line comes before the ST-DBL line in the CONFIG.SYS, ST-DBL won't load because DRVSPACE will have already been relocated by the DRVSPACE.SYS driver. In this case, ST-DBL will post an error message saying that it couldn't load. The solution is to remove the DRVSPACE line from the CONFIG.SYS. Q: IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT MSDOS 6.22 THAT AFFECTS QEMM? A: No, the features of QEMM 7.03 and later are fully compatible with MS DOS 6.22. ************************************************************************ *This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it* *is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. * * Copyright (C) 1994 by Quarterdeck Office Systems * ************************ E N D O F F I L E ************************* """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo) Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ___ ___ _____ _______ /___| /___| /_____| /_______/ The Macintosh RoundTable /____|/____| /__/|__| /__/ ________________________ /_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/ /__/|____/|__|________|__/ /__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/____ Managed by SyndiComm /__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/ An Official Forum of the International Computer Users Group *** STReport available in MAC RT *** ASCII TEXT for ALL GEnie users! MAC/APPLE SECTION (II) ====================== John Deegan, Editor (Temp) > SUPER CONTEST! STR Spotlight """""""""""""""""""""""""""" SOUND SENSATIONAL CONTEST ========================= Visit the CompuServe Music Hall and enter the Sound Sensational Contest. Prizes include: -------------- The Grand Prize --------------- A trip for two to one of the featured concert events. The grand prize includes two round-trip coach airline tickets from anywhere in the continental United States (if the winner resides outside of the continental United States they are required to pay their own travel expenses to the continental United States), hotel accommodations for two nights, car rental for up to three days and two tickets to the concert events selected. Approximate value of the grand prize is $2,000. In addition, the grand prize winner will receive two denim jackets featuring an embossed Gibson USA logo. The jackets are valued at $150 each. The grand prize consists of a trip to one, and only one, of the following concert events: 1. Aerosmith. Courtesy of Geffen Records. Prize package includes 2 tickets to an Aerosmith show on September 23, 1994 in Noblesville, IN or September 24, 1994 in Auburn Hills, MI. 2. Gerald Albright. Courtesy of Atlantic Jazz Records. 2 tickets to Gerald Albright show at the Catalina Jazz Festival, October 1st or 8th, 1994 and a CD Atlantic Jazz CD sampler. 3. Jimmy Buffett. Courtesy of MCA Records. 2 tickets to any Jimmy Buffett concert in the U.S.A., backstage passes, a Jimmy Buffett t-shirt and a Jimmy Buffett "Fruit Cakes" CD. 4. Cranberries. Courtesy of PolyGram Records. 2 tickets to a Cranberries concert in the U.S. after September 15, 1994 and 2 backstage passes. 5. The Grateful Dead. Courtesy of Arista Records. 2 tickets to any Grateful Dead show in the U.S. 1 Grateful dead T-shirt, 1 Grateful Dead 8-CD catalog, 1 Grateful Dead poster. 6. Melissa Ethridge. Courtesy of PolyGram Records. 2 tickets to a Melissa Ethridge show in the U.S. after September 15, 1994 and 2 backstage passes. 7. B.B. King. Courtesy of MCA Records. 2 tickets to any B.B. King show in the U.S. Also includes a copy of the B.B. King CD, "Blues Summit". 8. Kenny Loggins. Courtesy of Sony Wonder. 2 tickets to Kenny Loggins concert at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on October 8, 1994. 2 backstage passes, 1 Return To Pooh Corner CD, 1 Return To Pooh Corner autographed poster. 9. John Mellencamp. Courtesy PolyGram Records. 2 tickets to a John Mellencamp concert in the U.S.A. Special merchandise prize package includes special edition John Mellencamp book. 10. Lorrie Morgan. Courtesy RCA Records. 2 tickets to any Lorrie Morgan concert during current tour. 2 backstage passes, 1 War Paint CD. 11. Tom Petty. Courtesy Warner Bros. Records. 2 tickets to any Tom Petty concert in the U.S. and a copy of the new Tom Petty CD, scheduled for release on October 11, 1994. Other assorted Tom Petty music merchandise will be included in this prize package. 12. The Rolling Stones. Courtesy Virgin Records. 2 tickets to Rolling Stones concert in Pasadena, CA on Sept. 20, 1994. 1 Rolling Stones 11-album catalog, 1 CD of Voodoo Lounge Please Note: Other artists may be added to the grand prize package during the course of this contest. Actual content of individual grand prize packages may be revised periodically. Weekly Prizes ------------- 20 weekly prizes will be award from the following pool of prizes: 24 Rolling Stones "Voodoo Lounge" CD's 19 Kenny Loggins "Return To Pooh Corner" CD's 2 Kenny Loggins autographed posters 9 Lorrie Morgan "War Paint" CD's 24 EastWest Records CD Samplers (Includes tracks by For Love Not Lisa, Buffalo Tom, Dog Society Clutch, Pantera, The Wildhearts, The Dambuilders & more) 5 Tori Amos "Under The Pink" CD's 24 Atlantic Records CD samplers (Includes tracks by King's X, The Hatters, Billy Pilgrim, Tori Amos, The Lemonheads, Machines of Loving Grace, Melvins & more) 24 King's X CD/cassette samplers 9 Frank Kozik "Surgery" lithographs 24 Atlantic Jazz CD samplers (Includes tracks by Modern Jazz Quartet, Cyrus Chestnut, Gerald Albright, Jean Luc Ponty, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Lyle & more) 7 Grateful Dead 8-CD catalogs 7 Grateful Dead T-shirts 7 Grateful Dead posters 9 Jimmy Buffett t-shirts 9 Jimmy Buffett "Fruit Cake" CD's 10 Weezer debut CD's 24 Sarah McLachlan 3-Cd catalogs 10 Sarah McLachlan posters 24 Crash Test Dummies 2-CD catalogs 10 Crash Test Dummies posters 9 B.B. King "Blues Summit" CD's 10 Take 6 autographed posters 10 Seal electrostatic stickers 5 Deconstruction autographed posters For details on how to enter the contest, rules and to access the contest entry form, visit the CompuServe Music Hall (GO MUSIC), a part of Basic Services. ______________________________________________________ > HAYES 28.8 OPTIMA FAX Modem STR Review """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" HAYES Smartmodem OPTIMA 288 V.FC FAX ==================================== part 1 ------ by R. F. Mariano The modem itself is the fastest Hayes Modem for all communications especially SOHO applications. This modem, Optima 28.8 V.FC, provides over a megabyte a minute and up to 230,400 bit/s. Sound incredible? Maybe to some but to those who have seen these things happen... its pure reality. This is high speed telecommunications at its very best for the time being. To fully examine the Optima modem by Hayes, we set up two of these high performance units. One on a BBS and one on a regular system. Below we present our configuration setup all the way 'round. First for the calling system and then for the BBS. A WildCat! BBS ver 3.9 by Mustang Software. The systems used: ---------------- A) 486DX50 16mb, Hispeed Serial 16550 I/O, etc... Regular - Running Windows Only and Lockbaud @ 57600bps B) 486DX33 08mb, Hispeed Serial 16550 I/O, etc... BBS - Running under DOS 6.22, Wildcat! 3.9 BBS Software w/Intermail 2.29 Frontend. Lockbaud @ 57600 bps System.INI ---------- [boot] comm.drv=wfxcomm.drv ;comm.drv=comm.drv [386Enh] ;device=*combuff device=chcomb.386 COM2Buffer=8192 COM2TXSize=16 COM2RXSize=14 MinTimeslice=20 WinTimeslice=100,50 Com1AutoAssign=2 Com2AutoAssign=2 Win.INI ------- [ports] COM1:=57600,n,8,1,p COM2:=57600,n,8,1,p COM3:=57600,n,8,1,p COM4:=57600,n,8,1,p EPT:= FILE:= LPT1.DOS= LPT2.DOS= FAX:= FaxModem=FaxModem FAX/MODEM= HAYES OPTIMA 28.8 V.FC PROVEN INIT STRINGS/SETUPS -------------------------------------------------- WinCIM v 1.3 Setup (modem.db) ------------------------------ Entry (a) Hayes Optima 28.8 V.FC Data/FAX=Hayes Optima/VFC Entry (B) [Hayes Optima/VFC] Init=ATM0V1W2X4&C1&D3&Q9&T5S11=50^M Reset=&F Econ=&Q9S46=2 Dcon=&Q9S36=7 QMODEM Pro Windows V1.2 setup ----------------------------- @COMMON BLOCK Baud=57600 FaxBaud=14400 DialDelay=10 ModemReset=ATZ^M ModemDialPrefix=ATDT ModemDialSuffix=^M OKMessage=OK Connect=CONNECT NoConnect1=NO DIAL NoConnect2=NO CARRIER NoConnect3=BUSY NoConnect4=VOICE RedialCancel=^M HangupCmd=DTR CtsRtsFlow=TRUE DstDtrFlow=FALSE XonXoffFlow=FALSE LockDte=TRUE DtrDelay=1000 BreakDelay=500 AutoAnswerOn=ATS0=1^M AutoAnswerOff=ATS0=0^M HostInit=ATS0=0H0^M HostOK=OK HostRing=RING HostAnswer=ATA^M HostOffHook=ATM0H1^M @Hayes Optima 28800 V.FC+FAX ShortName=Hayes 28.8 V.FC FAX Baud=57600 ModemInit=AT&F^M ModemInit=ATM0&C1&D3S95=1S10=1S11=50&W^M PostSet=Your Optima 288 V.FC is ready to go! PostSet=Port speed of up to 115,200 may be used if supported by PostSet=your communications driver. WinComm Pro ver 1.0 ------------------- ATM0V1W2X4&C1&D3&K3&Q9&T5S10=1S11=50 ATS7=60 WinFAX Pro ver 4.0 ------------------ ATM0&F&C1&D2&K3S7=55S11=40\ ATZ\ The above settings yielded the very best performance we were able to muster from the Hayes Optima. (3445cps) We enjoyed a 98% success rate establishing 28800 connects with other V.FC modems. Sure, the condition of the phone lines had something to do with our success rate, but there is no doubt the noise cancelling features of the firmware had a great deal to do with the successful high speed connects and performance. The approval of v.34 technology is imminent, therefore the major modem manufacturers are gearing up for upgrade time. Hayes has already released their upgrade policy. It will, presumably include a daughter board and speedy installation for a small service fee. The Hayes Optima 28.8 V.FC Smartmodem performed flawlessly. If you seek sure footed high speed telecommunications, Hayes Optima can certainly satisfy your needs and then some. The time has really come for developers to pay particular attention to the duplex transmission protocols, larger XFER block sizes 1024 is most common. Most telcomm users would like to see it auto-size from 1024 to 8196 with the autosizing reacting to reliability and line conditions. On another note, the very new cable interface technology is really right around the corner. With the cable interface technology, 115200bps will be considered SLOW! part 2 will involve different brands of modems being compared and tested for intra-modem compatibility. ********************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= STReport International Online Magazine is available every week for your reading pleasure on DELPHI. STReport's readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of an extremely friendly community of enthusiastic computer users there. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN --DELPHI -------------- Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002 then... When connected, press RETURN once or twice and... At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's 20/20 Advantage Plan 20 Hours for Only $20! ----------------------------- Advantage Members have always enjoyed the lowest DELPHI access rates available. On the new 20/20 Advantage Plan, members receive their first 20 hours of access each month for only $20. If you happen to meet someone online or find some other diversion, don't worry because additional usage is only $1.80 per hour. 20/20 Advantage rates apply for access via SprintNet or Tymnet from within the continental United States during home time or via direct dial around the clock. Home Time is from 6pm to 6am weekdays. Access during business time carries a surcharge of $9 per hour. These rates apply for most services, but note that there are some surcharged areas on DELPHI which are clearly marked with a "$" sign. Who is eligible to take advantage of the plan? Any DELPHI member in good standing. Applications are reviewed and subject to approval by Delphi Internet Services Corporation. It's easy to join. If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can apply online -- at any time -- for membership in the DELPHI 20/20 Advantage Plan. Your membership becomes active at 4 a.m. Eastern Time on the first billing day of the following month. The $20 charge will be billed to you at the beginning of the month to which it applies. Any portion of the 20 hours not used in any month does not carry forward into the next month. Advantage rates may be changed with 30 days notice given online. TRY DELPHI FOR $1 AN HOUR! For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only $5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan, where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum $10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry, this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET> again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll officially be a member of DELPHI! DELPHI-It's the BEST Value and getting BETTER all the time! ************************************************************ ATARI/JAG SECTION (III) ======================= Dana Jacobson, Editor > From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""""""""" This week really started out nicely; the weather had cooled down with the humidity much lower than past weeks lately. My first of a few vacation weeks is almost here and I can't wait! All of the sudden, my workload at my real job started to pile up and I have to get it done before I go on vacation so I don't come back to a desk covered with incompleted tasks!! And then, the temperature and humidity is back on the rise and it's unbearable! I hear that Alaska is nice at this time of year.... Things are still quiet on the computing front (have they ever really been hectic?!). There are a few items that we'll be passing along your way this week, however the majority of our issue again this week will be focusing on our continued SCES reports and Jaguar news. This format may continue regularly rather than have Jaguar coverage in alternate week's issues. Jaguar news is picking up lately and we want to be able to report these things in a timely fashion. After all, it's apparent that any revitalization of Atari's full computer support hedges on the success of the Jaguar. So, while you're reading the rest of this issue, I'll get out the buckets of ice ready and cool off for a bit! Until next time... Delphi's Atari Advantage! TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (7/13/94) (1) AEO NEWS! #4 (6) CAIN NEWSLETTER (2) STARBALL (7) XAES-NEW LETEMFLY (3) TAZ-16 COLOR TERMINAL (8) GO UP! (4) SYSTEM INFO CPX *(9) THE OCTALYSER V0.96 (5) STREPORT SCES BULLETINS (10) TERADESK V.1.39 * = New on list HONORARY TOP 10 The following on-line magazines are always top downloads, frequently out-performing every other file in the databases. STREPORT (Current issue: STREPORT #10.28) ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE (Current issue: AEO - VOLUME 3, ISSUE 10) Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database. _____________________________________ > CAIN Atari Fun Fest'94 STR SHOWNEWS """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" CAIN Atari Fun Fest'94 ====================== CLEVELAND, OHIO is within 500 miles of half the population in the United States and a very LARGE population of Canada. The CAIN Atari Fun Fest 94 will be held in Kirtland, Ohio (very close to Cleveland) and will allow Lynx and Jaguar owners to have a lot of fun! There will even be a "Cleveland Lynx-Up" where Lynx owners can bring their Lynx and game cards and comlynx with other players! Who says that you'll never get the opportunity to comlynx??? There will also be dealerships attending this show that will be more than happy go give you great deals on game systems and game cartridges! If you are an Atari computer gaming fanatic, not to worry! There will dealers there to supply you with all your computer gaming needs... ALL INTERESTED ATARI DEALERSHIPS AND USER GROUPS SHOULD CONTACT THE SHOW ORGANIZERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Great spaces are on a first come basis! Atari user groups are given tables for free! PLEASE distribute this on BBSs, networks, and at your user group meetings! We want to have one heck of a gaming day! And a gaming day that might be closer to you than you think! CAIN Atari Fun Fest'94 ---------------------- Central Atari Information Network Presents C.A.I.N. Atari Fun Fest 94 August 7, 1994 / 10:00AM to 5:00PM Knights of Columbus Hall 7637 Chardon Road Kirtland, OH 44094 *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* * THE FIRST CLEVELAND-AREA ATARI SHOW IN YEARS!!! * *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^* Free Admission! What to See and Do! The New Jaguar Game System! The LYNX handheld game unit Bring your LYNX and games to COMLYNX with other players! The Falcon Multimedia computer Gemulator (IBM emulator running Atari ST Software) 8-bit computers and products 16/32-bit computers and products Portfolio palmtop computer Meet the editors of C.A.I.N. Classic game systems 2600/5200/7800 and games Catalogs and brochures for Atari line of products Atari products for sale / Plus Much More! Table pricing per 8 foot table $10.00 per table no electricity $15.00 per table with one outlet For more show or lodging info contact Fred Horvat P.O. Box 493 Chesterland, OH 44026-0493 216-729-0761 Internet ID : ap748@cleveland.freenet.edu ________________________________ > Binary Sounds! STR InfoFile! - Binary Takes Over Barefoot Software! """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Hello, Announcing.... Binary Sounds!!! Will be taking over the Barefoot Software Stuff. :} Bob Semaan and Myself, Richard Ladage (known as Bondservant@delphi.com) will be marketing and supporting Edit Track and Smpte Track and various programs. Platinum Manuals will be available with in 2-3 weeks!!! If you live near Indianapolis, I am going to try to be there!!! I'll post as soon as I see if I can Still get a table. :} Dana and Jeff are glad that we will be able to produce the manual and to support the users of Smpte Track. They were hit very hard by the quake in January and have not been able to recover. I will post our address and Phone #s with in a day or two. We hope that the future will be bright... Also, there will be a new pricing and Upgrade policies that will lower the prices from where they were, they will be announced shortly. We know that many have waited for a long time for manuals and upgrades. We promise to respond quickly, and Bob or myself will available by Phone most days, and will be online almost every day. So long for know Rick Binary Sounds Formerly Barefoot Software __________________________________________ > MIST Show News! STR InfoFile! - Indianapolis Show On! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Re the show; It is at the Best Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel. just minutes from the Indianapolis Airport on U.S. 136, just off Interstate 465 at the Speedway exit. The admission price is $3.00, with tables priced at $50.00 for vendors, and $15.00 for users groups. Individuals tables are $10.00, space permitting. The phone # at the Hotel is (317) 299-8400. Rooms are priced at $53.00 for a single, and $59.00 for a double, with special facilities provided for the handicapped, non-smokers, and guests with small children. Be sure to pack some "duck chow" for the ducks and geese on the lake. Contact person on the flyer is listed as Charlie Sears at (317) 535-4829. There is a flyer with a map. If you wish additional directions, I can scan it or Xerox the flyer and drop it in the mail. From the looks of the map, I-74 is on the West side of Indianapolis about half way between I-65 and I-70, and it is REAL close to the exit. Any further questions, just shout. Jim _______________________________________ > CD-ROM STR InfoFile! - The World of Today's CD-ROMs """""""""""""""""""" THE FUTURE OF CD-ROM and OTHER MASS STORAGE DEVICES by Marty Mankins CD-ROM drives are taking off like crazy and vendors cannot produce enough software fast enough to fill the demand. But what about the future of CD-ROM? This article will take a look at what the future could be like for CD-ROM and how it is changing the way we think about computers. A stroll through the massive shelves of software at your local computer superstore has you deciding which products that you will need to buy. After talking with the sales people a few times and trying a few of the programs on the demonstration computers, you decide on three titles. The first title is the latest version of Microsoft Office. This comes with a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentations package and a few other tidbits that you may or may not have a use for. The other program is one of the most popular games on the market "DOOM: Revisited". This game is chock full of graphics screens, characters and all kinds of interesting meanies. The last program is Lotus Organizer, one of the hottest personal information managers on the market and perhaps the biggest selling. You get these software titles home, crack open the package and realize that they all come on CD-ROM. "What???", you exclaim as you are madly looking for the number of the computer store. You call up and ask for a sales person. "Sir, are you not aware that all software now ships on CD-ROM?", asks the sales person. "No", you bellow in the softest yell you can exert, trying very hard to remain calm. The sale person continues, "It says what the media type is on the outside of the box. Can you look at the outside packaging of the software titles?" You grab the packages and look. Sure enough, it says that all of these programs come on CD-ROM. It also says that if you need 3.5" high-density floppies, you can send in a coupon for them. You now realize that you forget to follow the advice of others back in 1994 when all of your friends and co-workers were trying to get you to buy a CD-ROM drive. "NO!!", you told them, explaining that you didn't think you would need anything that big that had to fit on a CD-ROM. Is this the future of software? Is the 3.5-inch floppy disk going to go away like the 5.25-inch floppy has done? What about other storage devices for your computer? These are some serious questions that people really need to ask themselves. The issue of owning a CD-ROM drive is one that computer users - both home and business - need to evaluate and determine when they will get a CD-ROM drive. Several years ago, it was a sort of luxury. Now, that luxury has turned into a device that the world of computing can't get enough of. ADVANTAGES OF CD-ROM I decided to do some research. I contacted several software duplication houses that produce software. I asked them three questions: 1. Do you currently have a way to produce CD-ROMs in-house? If not, do you handle the orders for your clients? 2. If you do not currently publish CD-ROMs in-house, are you planning on it? When? 3. Has the level of requests to publish software on CD-ROM vs. 3.5-inch floppies increased significantly? By how much? Every single duplication company said they had some way of producing software on CD-ROM, with almost 50% of them doing the work in-house. And those that didn't have the facilities on-site, almost all of them said that was their first priority this year. The number of requests to publish software on CD-ROM have risen almost 300% in the last 6 months. All of these results point towards one thing: the CD-ROM media is the future of software distribution. Currently, there are about 5 million CD-ROM drives installed. This figure is one that will double in the next year. And will come close to tripling the current installed base. But, while 5 million seems like a large number, not every computer has a CD-ROM drive. This relates to some software titles that won't ship on CD-ROM as the demand for their product may not be enough to get the cost break of CD-ROM vs. floppy. It costs somewhere between 75 cents and $1.20 to press a single CD-ROM. In order to break even, the software vendor must press 100,000 CD-ROMs. They currently press a larger amount of floppy discs to ship their software, but the cost for each floppy disk is close to 20 cents a piece, label and packaging included. So the break even level becomes 4 floppy discs vs. 1 CD-ROM. The decision is made based on how many copies of the software they feel they will sell and how many of these people that buy the software currently have a CD-ROM drive. One of the biggest incentives to ship on CD-ROM is to save the user endless swaps of floppies when installing their software. Today's reason for CD-ROM is cost per floppy disc vs. the size of the program. Packages like Microsoft Office 4.3, Novell NetWare 4.0 and the popular game Dragons Lair are all disc space hogs. By putting these titles on CD-ROM, the user benefits by either an easy install or by running the program from the CD-ROM. The space for keeping 25 floppies or one CD-ROM is an issue to MIS departments. They store the software that is installed on their users computers. For each 4 floppies, they could store 1 CD-ROM. Another benefit for CD-ROM. Let's look at one software vendor who is really pushing CD-ROM. Corel Systems, based in Ottawa, Canada, is pushing their latest product - Corel Draw 5 - as the program made for CD-ROM. It takes up a good 75Mb of hard drive space. On floppy, this program costs more than its CD-ROM counterpart. And the pricing is not a matter of a few dollars. Our local Egghead store charges just under $600 for the floppy version of Corel Draw 5. The CD-ROM version is around $480, a good $100+ difference. What's the reason for such a big price difference? CD-ROMs are cheaper to make, they take less time to duplicate and the storage and convenience factors outweigh floppy discs 25 to 1. And there are many other advantages that could be listed. OTHER MEANS OF STORAGE It's apparent that CD-ROM is a great technology, but there are some disadvantages. The first is obvious to all computer types, but may not be known to those who are new to the computer age (technical types, please bear with me on this one!). The nature of CD-ROM is based on its post-fix acronym, which stands for Read-Only Memory. This type of storage can only be read from, not written to. So, if you had made a lot of documents and created some files that you thought you could backup to a blank CD-ROM, think again. They do make CD recordable drives, but they are expensive and each media can only be written to once, which can then be read by any CD-ROM drive. The idea of CD-ROM is then determined to be a media that has unchangeable information on it which can be transferred to your computer. This leads into other storage options which can be used by anyone, with a minimal amount of effort, but a large increase in removable storage. This increase will be less than CD-ROM, but often 100 times the storage of a 3.5-inch floppy disk. Users are creating larger documents. The programs are becoming bigger. The size of data files is growing on a daily basis. And there are some good solutions for storing this information. The most popular are Syquest drives and cartridges, which act like a hard drive, but can be removed and replaced with another cartridge. The storage capacities vary from 44 Mb to the current standard of 270 Mb. These cartridges are not that large. In fact, the newest 270 Mb cartridge is smaller in size, compared to a CD-ROM disc. There are other storage systems that are out there, but the most promising is MiniDisc Data, or MD Data for short. This system, created by Sony, offers the size of the audio MiniDisc standard, with 140Mb of storage. The disc size is about 2.5-inches in diameter and about as thin as 2 CD-ROM discs. The mechanism is Magneto-Optical and can achieve speeds of around 23 mili-seconds. The system can be written to literally millions of times with no signs of wear. MD Data is not currently shipping, but it is planned for release later this year or early 1995. Sony has been talking with portable computer manufacturers and wanting to include an MD Data drive in their machines. Sony has already shown a prototype drive for desktop computers. And the blank media cost will be around $20 per disc. That's a very affordable means of removable storage without the limitations of the current floppy disks. WILL CD RECORDABLE BECOME AFFORDABLE? While these other formats, including MD Data, look promising and may offer some good advantages now, the user base wants CD-ROM, but in a format they can write to. The current CD Recordable system, as previously explained, can only be written to once. If you find that there was a problem and some files are missing, then you need to throw away the CD Recordable disc and start over. This could get expensive. Companies are currently researching a way to get a read/write CD-ROM system that can be written to and read from just like a hard disk. There are currently no details available, only promises that engineers are working long hours to bring the computer industry a good, useful solution. When the system hits the streets, the price will be high for some time, but should drop faster than it has taken hard drives and other computer parts to drop. I would say that after a period of 6-8 months, a CD read/write system would be an additional $900 to add. After 2 years on the market, all CD drives will be read/write. This is my personal vision, but it's something that could happen once the technology has proven itself. A MIX OF FORMATS? So, now we have looked at a few formats that could offer some good solutions. But what about the standard of the future? Is there only going to be just one format? Or are we going to have several to choose from? I'll offer some of my feelings on this subject. I feel that CD-ROM will survive. In the next 2 years, software vendors will have reduced the number of 3.5-inch floppy disks they ship with their products by over 75%. By the end of the next 3 years, 90% of all software will ship on CD-ROM. Looking at the new MD Data format, it will take some time to get off the ground. If it does, it has the possibility of replacing all 3.5-inch floppy drives in all computers with an MD Data drive, further reducing the weight of portable computers. This could take at least 3 years, but no longer than 5. If the format fails, then there's bound to be someone else waiting in the wings with their offering to replace the 3.5-inch media. Compatibility between multiple computer systems (i.e. DOS/Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, OS/2) will no longer be a problem. All CD-ROMs will work with all operating systems, using universal data files and creating the proper program files for each system, with unique install programs for each system. Currently, only some of the CD-ROMs that ship work with DOS or Windows, Macintosh and OS/2. And in the next year, you will see more and more systems with at least two CD-ROM drives. More programs are becoming enabled to run directly from the CD-ROM (i.e. Borland C++ 4.0, Microsoft Office). This is fine until you need a file from a CD-ROM, like a photo or some other form of clipart. Then you must quit the program you are running, copy the file(s) from the CD-ROM, remove it and replace it with the program CD-ROM you were running and grab the file. This is not the best solution and defeats the purpose of owning a CD-ROM drive. So, if you find yourself in this situation, it's time to add another CD-ROM drive. It's the best way to take advantage of this incredible storage medium. CONCLUSION We all know that CD-ROM is here to stay. But there are some new technologies on the horizon that will allow us to become more productive and be able to handle the pressures of this growing industry. Keeping up with the larger applications and the data they create is a task that demands a new way of distributing software and information. CD-ROM and the mass storage devices will work together to bring us the best of all solutions to a more perfect way of working. ______________________________________ > Internet Web News! STR InfoFile! - Internet's Web to Be Reorganized """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Internet's famed World Wide Web feature, which enables users to enter databases around the world from a central starting point on the enormous network, will be reorganized. Associated Press writer Anne Thompson, reporting from Cambridge, Massachusetts, says engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the European Laboratory for Particle Physics have agreed to standardize how data is entered in and retrieved from the Web. Glenn Gabriel Ben-Yosef, a data communications analyst for Boston's Yankee Group research firm told Thompson, "Standardizing the Web would be like being an electronic janitor. It's like putting things in their proper bin." MIT graduate student Henry Houh said the Web, without a universally accepted language, is like a badly organized library, adding, "It's like anyone can go in and lay a book down on a table. In a small library, that's OK, but in a big library, it's going to take you days to find what you need." AP quotes Michael L. Dertouzos, director of the MIT laboratory working on the problem, as saying the scientists will survey Web users on how to best standardize the system. Within a year and a half, MIT should be ready to launch a pilot program, he added. "Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of computer owners use the Web to access an astounding volume of information and graphics from Europe and the United States," AP noted. "During a demonstration at a conference, an MIT professor turned up an ancient manuscript written in Greek from the Vatican archives; a draft of the 1995 national budget from the White House; the highlights from a Houston Astros baseball game; and a photograph and profile of a sixth grade girl from Lansing, Michigan." Reports from The Associated Press are accessible through the Executive News Service (GO ENS) and in AP Online (GO APONLINE). ATARI JAGUAR GAME CONSOLE SECTION ================================= Featuring: - More CES, New Devs, Atari Updates, and much much more! > From the Editor's Controller "Playin' it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""""""""" First of all, I want to apologize to STReport Jaguar section staffer Craig Harris, and to our readers. In last week's issue (10.28), we were supposed to have included Craig's firsthand account of the recent SCES. Craig had gone out of his way to finish it up so I'd have it time for that issue, and I somehow missed including it! In that same issue, I had mentioned that we'd be including "real life" interpretive reviews of Raiden and Dino Dudes. All that we had included was the Raiden review. I just forgot to edit out Dino Dudes as we decided at the last minute to hold 'Dudes" off for another issue. Sorry for the confusion - a number of readers had left me mail asking me where we had hidden that review!! This week, we'll continue with the SCES coverage and wrap it up. Various items that came out of CES will also be included, as separate items. The excitement is growing again! Speaking of excitement, I got a call from Atari's Don Thomas yesterday (Thursday). There has been a lot of talk online (and off, I'm sure) about the delays with "Kasumi Ninja" being completed, having been "promised" by CES. A lot of people have been expressing their displeasure with those delays, and creating potential rumors that the game was bug-ridden, hence the delay. Numerous statements to the contrary didn't seem to make a difference. What was causing the delays was the fact that the programmers, especially Atari's Ted Tahquechi, wanted to make sure that the game was a quality one. Don's call informed me that Ted got approval this past Wednesday to make 'Kasumi Ninja' a 4-meg cart rather than the original 2-meg design. What this means is that the quality images and voices that were desired to be included can now be done, with ease. What Don implied during our conversation was that this game will now be a really top-quality game with the graphics and sound effects that it deserved. Ted also told Don that the beta test version of the game should be ready by the end of August. If tests prove positive, the game should go into immediate production. I'm told that this delay will be well worth the wait! We're anxiously awaiting a review copy of 'Wolfenstein 3D' which has reached buyers in limited "pre-release" versions. The initial shipments were received at Atari on a Friday, and a "weekend" staff shipped them out to stores and dealers the very next day. Unfortunately, a number of copies weren't set aside for reviewers as is usually the norm. STReport is on the list slated for the next shipment, which is due in shortly. We're putting the finishing touches on a Jaguar-promotional contest for you! Look for details next week online and in next week's issue. There will be prizes!! Get your cameras loaded with film and start thinking JAGUAR! Prizes are being donated by Atari and are on the way to us as we speak. Well, we're jam-packed with information and news, so let's see what's new on the Jaguar front! Until next time... __________________________ > Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile - What's currently available, what's """"""""""""""""""""""""""" coming out. Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp. J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $49.99 Atari Corp. J9005 Raiden $49.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp. J9001 Trevor McFur/ Crescent Galaxy $49.99 Atari Corp. J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp. J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $59.99 id/Atari Corp. Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER CatBox $49.95 ICD CatBox + $69.95 ICD Brutal Sports FtBall TBA Telegames Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER J8001 Jaguar (complete) $249.99 Atari Corp. J8904 Composite Cable $19.95 J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp. J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95 Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile ======================================= > SCES Reports! STR NewsFile! - More Firsthand Reports From SCES """"""""""""""""""""""""""" SCES Reports ============ by Craig Harris For a system with only 5 games since its launch, the Jaguar needed the Summer CES to redeem itself. Boy, did it ever. Atari had the 3rd largest booth of the floor, and about 25 games displayed. They even placed giant bill-ads on the side of a couple Chicago buses. Standing around the Jaguar booth was kind of like hanging around the Who's Who of Atari. Meeting people like Don Thomas, Greg LaBrec, Susan McBride, the Tramiels, even catching a glimpse of Jeff Minter was quite an honor. If you decided to play Kasumi Ninja, don't be surprised if your opponent was the producer, Ted Tahquechi. And if you didn't see Atari folk, you most certainly saw 3DO people scoping out the competition...and boy, did they look concerned. Well, let's get on with the show, shall we? ========================== Jaguar CD ========================== The Jaguar CD player was displayed in two kiosks: One playing a non interactive demo that showed the system's internal video capabilities, the other playing the Tempest 2000 soundtrack CD while Jeff Minter's Virtual Light Machine translated the music into a stunning graphic display. The video demo strutted its stuff with clips from Back to the Future III and Jaws, and the entire Maverick theatrical promo. BTTF and Jaws looked and sounded GREAT. The video only seemed to pixelate when the camera moved in a quick motion. Maverick, on the other hand, looked a little rough throughout the promo. The Virtual Light Machine was quite a sight. The program will display and manipulate graphics on-screen in reference to the intensity of the music. Pressing keys on the Jaguar's pad will perform preset displays of graphic grandeur. The player itself looked very official, with the Jaguar name and the "Compact Disc" logo imprinted on the system in a raised red font. The spinning discs were visible through a small window on the top right of the player, so there was no doubt the demos were legitimate. ========================== Games at the Show ========================== The following is a first-impression account of the games displayed at the Summer CES. These are NOT reviews. -/- Alien VS. Predator -/- This was a title on my "Can't wait to see" list. On the up-side, I was very impressed in what I saw. On the down-side (if you can call it that), the game's so deep that I only got to see the Marine in action. Since this game is a first-person maze/shooter, there's no doubt that many people will compare this game to Doom (at least to the PC version). So, to prepare yourselves for many interpretations, here's mine: In Doom, you're a guy rushing through space station after space station, shooting first and asking questions never. In AVP, you're a Marine (at least of what I've seen and played) cautiously creeping through corridors with an arsenal of weaponry, trying to stay alive. So, with this in mind, AVP doesn't move as quickly as Doom. But, there's more depth, weaponry, and characters, sharper graphics, and better sound in AVP...a pretty decent trade-off. And from what I've heard at the show, the Alien moves FAST. -/- Arena Football -/- Another self-running demo. This game featured a similar perspective to Madden, but there were no crowds, no stadium, just players moving choppily across a plain green field. The play select screen looked nice, though. -/- Brutal Sports Football -/- Even though this game will/should be available in the next couple of weeks, I felt obligated to add this to the list. If you've ever played the old Bally/Williams football follow-up to Arch-Rivals called Pigskin, then you've got a pretty good idea how Brutal Sports Football works. Just get the football to the endzone...no matter what. The graphics and gameplay are standard fair (for a dedicated game system), but the scrolling is slightly choppy. Good, mindless fun. -/- Bubsy: Claws Encounter of the Furred Kind -/- This was a much-hyped game in 1992, being the first 16-meg platform game for both the Genesis and Super NES. Unfortunately, it was also a BIG disappointment (for me, at least). Fortunately, the game has another chance of redeeming itself. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to judge at the show. The Jaguar version, programmed by Imagitec Designs, takes the original Bubsy and converts it pixel-by-pixel to the Jag hardware. Not much was shown, but what WAS shown looked like a direct Genesis-to-Jaguar port (see Flashback preview). The graphics in some areas did look sharper...but the loose controls remained. -/- Checkered Flag -/- For a game that was slated to be released with the system, Checkered Flag had enough time in development to give Virtua Racing a run for its money. As it stands, though, the version at the show suffered from a very disappointing frame rate. Even the Genesis version of VR had smoother animation. I could give it the benefit of the doubt by saying that it could have been an early version at the show. This is a valid assumption, for the only track available was the "milkbone" road shown in many publications for months. Only until recently have new roads been shown in magazines such as Die Hard Game Fan. Accompanying these photos was the caption "The framerate has improved greatly." Keep your fingers crossed, folks. -/- Club Drive -/- Here's another title that I was really looking forward to, and another title that looked like it could use a couple more months of re-tooling. I've heard Club Drive being described as "Virtua Hotwheels" and "64-bit Indy 500" (classic Atari VCS game). From what I saw, both descriptions are correct. The player pilots a vehicle with his choice of color through his choice of scenery. The object in one game is to collect weird squiggles before finding the finish line, while in the other, you "tag" the other opponent (computer or human) and avoid him/it until the finish line. The graphics are constructed of polygons, with the occasional texture mapping thrown in. Very smooth polygons, too...just not very detailed polygons. The music existed, but because of the noise of the convention, it was mainly inaudible. During my short experience with the game, I encountered many bugs that hindered gameplay. I could drive through some walls and obstacles and I could flip in the air for no apparent reason. Heck, my car even disappeared. The camera sometimes had a problem following at a constant, realistic pace. Fun, but buggy. -/- Doom -/- The Jaguar version was a BIG disappointment. What was shown animated about as fast as a 486-25, and the resolution was half that of the PC version. Incidentally, the Jaguar version looks identical to the PC when it's set at "Low Resolution." If you've ever played Doom on the PC, you probably know how hard it is to see objects in the distance when the detail is set at "Low." -/- Double Dragon V -/- Ok, it's part of the Double Dragon series, but it's nothing like the Double Dragon series. It's yet another fighting game (sheesh, the Jaguar's starting to sound like the Neo-Geo!). The game contains cartoony graphics, mainly because the game is based on the weekday/Saturday Morning cartoon series. The version displayed still needs work in the gameplay department. Many times, one hit will have the opponent kissing the canvas. -/- Flashback -/- A lot of people missed this one, because it wasn't in the Jaguar area. A friend of mine at U.S. Gold presented this game to me when I visited him at his booth. Essentially, the Jaguar version is a direct port from the Sega Genesis. Nothing has changed, courtesy of the 68000 processor in both the Jaguar and Genesis. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this rendition, other than the fact that it may be coming to market a little too late. There has already been versions for the PC, Amiga, Genesis, and Super NES, so chance are good that most Jaguar owners have already played Flashback in one form or another. -/- Iron Soldier -/- Because there was such a crowd around this game, I didn't get a chance to hands-on test this puppy. From what I was able to see, the game takes place inside a giant robot (I can't say Mechwarrior, because that's a registered trademark), where you wreak havoc on a not-so-helpless city. You can blow-up buildings with your weaponry and crush tanks with your massive feet. The game consisted of extremely smooth and detailed polygons. And from what I heard at the show, the version displayed was a "quick hack." I can't wait to see what the finished version looks like. -/- Kasumi Ninja -/- Kasumi Ninja has been touted by many publications as "possibly better than Mortal Kombat", "MK's worst nightmare", and "gosh, what a great game", so I expected this game to be sitting on a gold pedestal with drooling fan-boys standing around the machine, itching to play. Well, there wasn't any pedestal, but there was definitely a large crowd around both kiosks. This fighting game definitely capitalizes on Mortal Kombat's success. (I could say "rips off," but I don't want to sound harsh.) Digitized characters, blood flies with every hit, and the player is given the opportunity to perform a "fatality" at the end of each match...three of the features that made MK popular. Currently, music only exists in the character-select dungeon...but what existed was definitely stunning. The character-select screen's 3D engine needs a MAJOR overhaul; it is EXTREMELY choppy. I had some fun with it, but the game still looks like a LOT of work is needed. -/- Rayman -/- Platform games on game systems are inevitable. Historically, these types of games sell very well on ANY system. I have no doubt that UBI Soft's Rayman will not be an exception. Even though the version displayed at the show still had a while to go, what was shown was truly amazing. The backgrounds looked like watercolor paintings and the animation was silky smooth. Your character could walk, jump, stand on his hands, and make goofy faces to scare enemies. The detail that went into this game was really something to see. Rayman was truly...er...exceptional. -/- Rally -/- Stuffed in a corner and strangely unlabeled, Rage Software's Rally was probably one of the best work-in-progress games I saw at the show. There wasn't much to the demo; just drive your 4WD vehicle in a scrolling, pseudo-overhead view around an off-road track. Turn too hard, and you'll slam into a cactus patch while leaving detailed skid marks along the way. That's it...no opponents, no music, one track. Heck, if THIS version was so much fun to play, I can't wait to see the finished product. A friend described the gameplay as "APB without the flashing lights." I think he's right. -/- Ruiner -/- Ruiner is the first original pinball game for the Jaguar. I say "original" because it's not based on any current arcade design. Rather, it's similar to Genesis's Dragon Fury and TTI's Devil's Crush, meaning the tabletop's ALIVE. The first thing you notice when playing the game is that your ball isn't the standard silver ball-bearing; it's a round, rolling skull. Bat's swoop around the playfield, and some channels are constructed of bones. Techno music plays throughout the game. Pinball is a game that's extremely difficult to simulate on a game system. Ruiner does a good job bringing all the physical properties of pinball to the video screen, and adding properties only video games can provide. -/- Space War -/- (tentative) This game had little resemblance to the original black & white vector game of the mid 70's. Rather, the game showed two cockpits; Left side for player one, Right side for player two. Both players duked it out in a 3D space environment, similar to the flash-in-the-pan Atari Games arcade title, Space Lords. -/- Ultra Vortex -/- This one snuck up on me, because it wasn't there the first day. Developed and produced by Beyond Games, designers of Lynx's Battlewheels, Vortex looked much further along than Kasumi Ninja did. As with all games of this genre, punching, kicking, jumping, and blocking are standard, as are special moves (accessible by the Jaguar's keypad...for now). My personal favorite character was Buzz-Saw, robotic-type character that can spin his torso in a...well, buzz-saw kind of way. Compared to Kasumi Ninja, the graphics of UV aren't quite as sharp, but the animation is much more detailed. There's also more characters and more secret moves than KN. Blood was present, but it didn't linger on-screen like KN's red stuff did. The action was faster than KN, but scrolling had a certain choppyness to it. Overall, I had more fun with this one than Kasumi Ninja. The gameplay was deeper and the action was faster. -/- White Men Can't Jump -/- I'm not sure why they bothered to display this very early demo, a basketball game without a basketball isn't what I call impressive. This game by Trimark DID feature some pretty snazzy scaling effects. You could move your digitized character into the foreground and background, and the "camera" would adjust to the position you were on the court. But like I said, without a basketball there wasn't much to do with this game. -/- Wolfenstein 3D -/- Originally programmed for the PC, and recently scaled down for the Super NES market, this game is a favorite in ANY form. The Jaguar version is the best yet; the resolution of the bitmaps are TWICE what the PC version had, and four times the detail of the SNES version. The sound effects were even better. Even though the noise of the convention drowned out most of the music, one could definitely hear the high quality of the speech and sound samples. What's more to say? A great version of a great game. And it's shipping in the next few days! -/- World Class Cricket -/- It's a shame this game was only a self-running demo of still screen shots. I really wanted to see how Telegames plans on converting this European game of bat-ball to the video game scene. I guess we'll find out when this game gets further into development. Winter CES, anyone? ======================= In conclusion... ======================= As you may or may not have heard, the Summer CES is moving away from its Chicago residence starting in May '95. Fortunately (for me, at least) they'll be setting up camp in my backyard...Philadelphia. Let's hope Atari decides to follow the convention wherever it goes. Judging from the reaction of this show, it's great publicity. _______________________________ > Jaguar Manufacturing to IBM! STR NewsFile! - IBM To Produce Majority """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" of '94 Jaguars! July 12, 1994 Contact: August J. Liguori ATARI CORPORATION (408) 745-2069 For Immediate Release ATARI CORPORATION ANNOUNCES MANUFACTURING PLANS Sunnyvale, CA-- Atari Corporation (ASE:ATC) confirmed today a majority of its 1994 300,000 piece production of Jaguar will be manufactured by IBM in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jaguar is the only 64-bit multimedia entertainment system and is the only video game system made exclusively in the United States. Sam Tramiel, President said, "We are pleased to have IBM's manufacturing strength and support as we commence volume production for the Christmas selling season and we are proud that this relationship has enabled us to competitively manufacture Jaguar in the United States." Atari Corporation designs and markets interactive multimedia entertainment systems. Atari is headquartered at 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, California 94089. ____________________________________________ > Time Warner Signs Coin-Op Deal! STR NewsFile! - TWI To Use Jag Engine! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" July 12, 1994 Contact: Sam Tramiel ATARI CORPORATION (408) 745-8824 For Immediate Release ATARI CORPORATION AND TIME WARNER INTERACTIVE INC. JAGUAR DEAL Leader in Coin-Operated Gaming Systems to Power Machines with Jaguar Engine Sunnyvale, CA-- Atari Corporation (ASE:ATC) today announced that it has signed an agreement with the coin-operated game division of Time Warner Interactive, Inc., a worldwide leader in video games and entertainment software and creator of such arcade hits as Hard Drivin', Race Drivin' and Roadblasters. The agreement will make Jaguar's award-winning 64-bit technology engine available for Time Warner Interactive arcade games. The deal also states that all software titles developed on the Jaguar platform by Time WarnerInteractive will also be available on the Jaguar home video system. "Embedding the 64-bit horsepower of Jaguar in our coin-operated video games will enable us to broaden our presence in the largest sector of the arcade market that demand high performance at competitive pricing," said Geoff Holmes, CEO of Time Warner Interactive. "We believe the Jaguar engine will be instrumental in helping us meet this important goal." "We are pleased that Time Warner Interactive has chosen the Jaguar engine to power its outstanding arcade video games," said Sam Tramiel, President, Atari Corporation. "This agreement will give a new segment of game players access to Jaguar's unprecedented performance and provide a host of hot, new titles for Jaguar. We look forward to continuing to expand Jaguar's market reach." Time Warner Interactive, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., is a leading developer and publisher of Interactive consumer entertainment products that span across platforms from coin-operated video arcade games and home video games systems, to game-based CD and computer CD-ROM platforms and interactive TV applications. Atari Jaguar is the world's first 64-bit interactive multimedia home entertainment system and is the only video game system manufactured in the United States. Jaguar, the most powerful multimedia system available, was recently named the industry's "Best New Game System" (Video Games Magazine), "Best New Hardware System" (Game Informer) and "1993 Technical Achievement of the Year" (Die Hard Game Fan). Jaguar also recently was given the European Computer Trade Show Award for "Best Hardware of the Year." Atari Corporation, based in Sunnyvale, California, Manufactures and markets 64-bit interactive multimedia entertainment systems, video games and personal computers for the home, office and educational marketplaces. ______________________________________________ > Beamscope Exclusive Canadian Jag Distributor! STR NewsFile! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" TORONTO, July 7 /CNW/ - Beamscope Canada Inc. and Atari Corporation announced today that Beamscope Canada Inc. has been appointed the exclusive Canadian distributor for the Atari Jaguar 64-Bit Interactive Multimedia System, including all hardware, software and peripherals. Listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol BSP, Beamscope is one of Canada's leading sales, marketing and distribution companies of brand name home office products, home computer software and video entertainment products for some of the world's top manufacturers, including IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Nintendo and Sega. Beamscope sells and markets more than 5,000 different consumer electronics products for these and other companies to over 6,000 retail outlets across Canada. Larry Wasser, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beamscope, stated, "We are very excited about representing Atari in Canada because it offers a tremendous opportunity for us to deliver the leading edge technology that the Canadian consumer has been looking for, as video game technology evolves from the current 16-bit-based systems to upcoming products featuring 32 and 64-bit. The Jaguar is available now and can deliver 64-bit well in advance of the new systems coming to the market. We believe the addition of Atari to augment our current video entertainment line-up will give Beamscope a clear market advantage. Atari has had a long and successful history in video games and almost any Canadian household has probably owned or used an Atari 2600, which was the beginning of the video game business more than 15 years ago. We hope to take advantage of the major brand recognition Atari carries and will advertise the product line exclusively this Fall." ___________________________________________ > Jaguar Developers STR InfoFile - Current Developer Lists & Titles """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Release: Immediate Date: July 14, 1994 PR Contact: Adam N. Bosnian Phone: (508) 970-0330 x112 Spacetec IMC Corporation Announces Plans to Release SpacePlayer on Atari Jaguar Game System SpacePlayer Unleashes PowerPlay on the Atari Jaguar with Unbelievable, Lightening Fast Interactive Motion Control for 3D Games Lowell, MA -- Spacetec IMC Corporation, Inc. (Spactec IMC), formerly known as Spaceball Technologies, Inc. (STI), today announced plans to introduce their exciting SpacePlayer hand-held multi-functional, fully dynamic, advanced 3D interactive (Advanced 3D-I) games controller for the Atari Jaguar. SpacePlayer, the first in a family of Advanced 3D-I multi-functional, dynamic controllers due for release by Spacetec IMC, breaks through the limitations of standard games controllers and blasts Jaguar gamers to a new level in 3D game action, interaction and control. Fight with Power! Race with Power! Scream with Power! Play the PowerPlay with the new SpacePlayer for the Atari Jaguar and Play to Win! Galaxys, the Original SpacePlayer, the PC version of the SpacePlayer, was successfully introduced at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in June. Hundreds of excited game enthusiasts came by to try Galaxys first hand and experience the Power that full interactive motion control puts in gamers hands for 3D games. With DOOM serving as the game test of choice for most attendees, game player after game player learned what it felt like to finally cruise through the dungeons of DOOM with smooth, dynamic, continuous motion. The same PowerPlay that excited PC users at the CES show will now be available for the Atari Jaguar. With the long list of 3D titles slated to be released for the Jaguar in the coming months, including blockbusters Alien vs. Predator and DOOM, the SpacePlayer has found the Atari Jaguar to be the first console game system ready for the power, fun and mind-blowing excitement of instantaneous interactive motion control. Targeted release of SpacePlayer for the Atari Jaguar is for Christmas of this year. The SpacePlayer for the Atari Jaguar combines the unique patented Spaceball multi-axis sensing mechanism for incredibly intuitive and realistic simultaneous six degrees of freedom (S6DOF) 3D control; a dynamic X-Y mouse control capability for typical point, click and drag operations; and five rapid action buttons for firing weapons, opening doors and selecting objects or modes. Just press, pull or twist the Spaceball with light fingertip pressure using the left hand for dynamic, simultaneous, multi-directional control of views, characters and objects (simultaneous X, Y Z positional and X, Y Z rotational control) or use the X-Y control or rapid action buttons with the right hand to open doors and fire or wield weapons on the fly. Just like moving about or moving things in real life, only better. As fast and reactive as your imagination can take you. Device support for the SpacePlayer on the Atari Jaguar is available by implementing the Atari/SpacePlayer protocol now available from the Atari Jaguar Development Team. Implementing this protocol insures that a SpacePlayer connected to a Jaguar delivers valid data to the active game or title. Integrating this datastream into a 3D title, and customizing and optimizing the interaction and feel for that specific title is accomplished though the SpaceWare Advanced 3D Interactive Motion Control interface (SpaceWare Advanced 3D-I interface). Integration of this proprietary interface into a title is established as a collaboration between Spacetec IMC and Atari Jaguar title developers. The SpaceWare Advanced 3D-I interface and SpacePlayer makes the 3D title come alive! Users literally feel the power of incredible real-time interactive motion control capabilities like they've never experienced before. Multi-directional movement in 3D ... smooth and dynamic in all directions, instantly and simultaneously; lightning fast responses and reactions at the touch of a finger, supersensitive, dynamic sensing for the gentlest of touches or the fiercest of twists; and realistic psycho-physical feedback so you can genuinely feel certain physical responses, like pushing a lever or twisting a faucet. Now, for the first time, with the SpaceWare Advanced 3D-I interface in favorite 3D game or multimedia title, and the use of Galaxys, simultaneous movements in 3DOF, 4DOF or 6DOF happen on the fly, with a quick flick of the wrist. Gamers will have the power at their fingertips to quickly spin around while rushing down a hallway, look up at the escape hatch above while simultaneously jumping to safety, turn instantly in any direction in midair, accelerate forward at light speed, or slowly step just one brick at a time in the nether regions of a dungeon. Gamers no longer just initiate a programmed slam dunk on the PC basketball court, they can now control all the moves - jukes and jives, spins and fakes - before slamming the ball through the net. Real-time power interaction. Real-time power feel. Real-time power fun. Real-time POWER PLAY!!! Galaxys, the Original SpacePlayer, will be released for the PC platform in September with Spaceware Advanced 3D-I support in over 25 of the hottest 3D titles including DOOM 2, hell on Earth from id Software, System Shock from Origin Systems, Rise of the Triad from Apogee Software, Delta V from Bethesda Softworks and Zephyr from New World Computing. Spacetec IMC Corporation is a privately held company, headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in April of 1991, the company is the worldwide leader in the field of developing, manufacturing, and marketing leading edge advanced 3D interactive hardware and software products. The company is headed by Dennis T. Gain, President and Chief Executive Officer. ### Galaxys, SpaceWare and Advanced 3D-I are registered trademarks of Spacetec IMC Corporation. ________________________________________________ > UBI Soft's Rayman! STR NewsFile! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mary Lynn Slattery (415)332-8749 TAKE THE PLUNGE INTO THE IMAGINARY WORLD OF RAYMAN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (June 23, 1994) -- During the Consumer Electronics Show this week, UBI Soft will take you on an adventure into the imaginary world of Rayman, UBI Soft's first game for the Atari Jaguar, scheduled for release during the 4th Quarter. Join Jimmy, a 10 year old who escapes reality by entering "Hereitscool", a fantasy kingdom he has created within the realms of his computer. When in Hereitscool, Jimmy becomes Rayman, a superhero who gives animated life to everything around him, (mushrooms, insects, trees, rocks, mountains...) creating an unlimited amount of friends and kingdoms. But an evil power has entered Hereitscool and is out to destroy everything he has created. He must use his superhero powers to save his friends before it's too late! Rayman has more than 10 levels, each level is 40 screens long by 4 screens high giving it a huge capacity for horizontal and vertical scrolling, the speed is extremely fast (25 frames per second) and the graphics are stupendous, offering more than 16 billion colors. There are more than 50 animated enemies Rayman must face, in addition Rayman himself has more than 50 animations including walking on his hands, doing a helicopter spin which enables him to fly, and when he gets impatient he dances or sticks his tongue out. Look for Rayman on the Jaguar during the 4th Quarter! We "hear it's cool"! # # # _______________________________________________ > CatBox Features! STR InfoFile! - ICD Discusses CatBox+ Features! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" From ICD's Tom Harker, on Delphi: All I can talk about right now are CatBox and Star Battle (from 4Play). I am working on a number of other Jaguar things as well like the IAJD. I'll upload press releases when I get a chance. CatBox supports three main functions on the Jaguar. These are Audio, Video, and Communications. There are two proposed models but I will be talking about CatBox+ which has all. I am not sure at this time if there will be two models or just one since most pre-orders have been for the + model. The pricing is between $49.95 and $69.95 but will be firmed when it/they go into production. Audio includes line level (600 ohm) phono plugs for left and right stereo and mono. Mono audio is also supplied out the Analog RGB connector for monitors that use it. (Atari SC series do.) There are two stereo headphone jacks with amplification and volume control. These take priority and turn off line level audio. Stereo sounds great with headphones in case you haven't experienced it yet. Video has an RCA for Composite Video, a standard S-Video connector, and an Analog RGB port. Adapters are available for the RGB port to fit most standard monitor cables. (RGB requires 15.75Khz horizontal sync so most VGA monitors (31.5khz) will not work. All Atari SCxxxx monitors are supported, Commodore 1080, 1084s, 1950s, etc. work great. The standard RF video cable can also be used so you can connect to 4 video sources at once. Communications includes ComLynx, RS232, and RS485 with activity indicators. Each port is exclusive. ComLynx uses the standard Lynx cable and will plug into a Lynx. Supports up to 16 devices but weaker than RS485. RS485 supports monster speed and cable lengths. 32 users can connect with RJ11s and standard phone wiring. Lengths are spec'ed up to 4000 feet and any baud rate that the Jaguar can produce is supported. RS232 is simple 3 wire RS232 with support up to 38.4k baud. There are LEDs for send data and receive data. This is all housed in a 6 x 2.5 x 1.25 inch box that matches the jaguar. No power supply required. Any questions? :-) - TOM - > Rainmaker To Produce Games! STR NewsFile! - Rainmaker Software on CIS! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Hi all ... I was over in the GamePub forum ... and, surprise, I found out some Jaguar info that I didn't know -- maybe y'all do ... but anyway, here's what was said ... Rainmaker Software is going to be producing games for the Atari Jaguar. In a public post to me, under Merit Software, they suggested we all support the Jaguar, because that was going to be one of their new programming platforms. A previous game they did was Isle of the Dead; a 3D Wolfenstein game with an adventure type engine built in ... so there were puzzles and interaction with characters -- it was a lot of fun. Their newest game is going to be similar to the Doom-engine and its called Tunnel Rat: The Vietnam Experience ... they said they should have a demo on CIS soon. I thought it was interesting ... it always boosts my confidence when I hear things like that! Jay And as if on cue, a day later on CIS, from Rainmaker themselves: Hello form Rainmaker Software! Yes, we are now official developers for the JAG and have numerous ideas: Our first port will be Tunnel Rat: The Vietnam Experience, a DOOM style engine except that it's based in the tunnels of vietnam in about '67. We have added lambert shaded polygons for emblems and a couple of new tricks that we discovered in development. Our second game is called Virtual Warriors : runs similar to vitua fighter except that it's based on medieval warriors with sword and armor. I don't know if there will be a PC version of this title because nothing compares to the power of the JAG when your working with inverse kinematics and collision detection on the fly. We are also planning a game that could probably be related to Master of Orion except completely different. 50 races, unlimited universe, full motion video via cinepak etc ... About us: We are old time UNIX programmers who cut our teeth writing model file and video conversion utilities on the SGI platform. We've had a lot of CUBICOMP experience, and if you know what CUBI is then you've been around a long time indeed. I have to admit that our first game ISLE OF THE DEAD, I didn't like that much but I'm glad to see that some people appreciate it. I guess after 5 months of writing a 3D engine and sound package etc .. I just got tired of it. WE ARE OPEN to all suggestions regarding ideas for games and we value feedback from the public. If you have any ideas no matter what they are, please tell us and get the wheels turning !! Any questions or comments can be directed to me (Rainmaker) at 74164,222 on cis or on internet at bkelsch@rainmaker.win.net. Thanx for your support, Mr. B (Bryan Kelsch) Hardware Engineer Rainmaker Software Inc. 13707 Gamma Rd. Dallas, TX 75244 > CAIN's Jaguar Writing Campaign! STR InfoFile! - A.C.T. Now Organizes! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" CAIN's A.C.T. Now (Atari Community Together Now) Jaguar Writing Campaign Contact: Len Stys (aa399@cleveland.freenet.edu) A.C.T. Now Organizer CAIN Assistant Newsletter Editor Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Manager Notice: This campaign is made by an organization that is independent of Atari Corp. This campaign is not endorsed by Atari Corp. The 64-Bit Jaguar is very important part of Atari Corp. staying in business. This is fact. If the Jaguar fails: say goodbye to any more new games for the Atari Lynx, say goodbye to any thought of a new line of Atari computers being released, and say goodbye to any thought of new software being released for the Atari ST/TT/Falcon030 line of computers. If you are a member of the Atari Community, you should be pulling for the Jaguar to be a success. This is the situation. The people at Atari Corp. are doing everything that they can to make sure the Jaguar is a success. But because the Jaguar is a new product and it is competing against systems like 3DO, SNES, Genesis, and future systems like Saturn and the Nintendo 64-bit, big name companies are wary about investing in the Jaguar. They are also not sure if there is a demand for their games on the Jaguar. Yes, Atari Corp. has 150+ companies developing for the Jaguar, but most of these companies are one or two man operations. And a lot of these people are writing games for the Jaguar as an extra to their full-time job. It could very well take these small companies a year or more just to finish one game. There is also no guarantee that these companies will even release the game they are working on and if they do release it, the game may not be that great. We are at the point where Atari Corp. is waiting for big name companies to decide to develop for the Jaguar. At the same time, these companies are waiting to see a demand for their games on the Jaguar. So when will these companies realize that there is a demand for their games on the Jaguar? One of two things must happen. Atari Corp. must sell 1 million or more Jaguar units before these companies will start making their games for the Jaguar. Since Atari Corp. will not be able to sell 1 million Jaguars without these companies selling their games for the Jaguar, the second thing must happen. This is for companies to receive hundreds of letters from Jaguar owners that want their games for the Jaguar. If these big name companies are not convinced to make their games for the Jaguar in the next few months, they will sign to develop for Sega's Saturn or Nintendo's new 64-bit. If this happens, Atari Corp. will be locked out once again from game companies. This happened when Atari attempted to get companies to make games for its 7800 game system. Nintendo already signed companies to make games for its NES. As you see, there is no other choice. The Atari Community will need to start writing letters to these game companies or we will witness Atari Corp. following Commodore International. Will writing letters work? Yes, they will work. I have a degree in Business (Management & Marketing) and through my past business experience, I've learned that letters do make a difference. There are many ways of determining a demand for a product, but nothing is more convincing to a company than hundreds of letters from consumers that are asking for their product. Letters are concrete proof that demand exists. If you want to see big name companies and big name titles for the Jaguar, join in with this letter writing campaign. I'm participating in this campaign for three reasons: 1) I really think that my letter will make a difference in the decision making process at these companies. 2) I don't want to think "what if" in the future. I want to do my part now so I can say that I did my share. 3) It is my duty as a consumer to let companies know so I can satisfy my needs (or wants). I hope you will see a need to participate in this campaign as well. And don't think that someone else will write because if that person feels the same way you do, nobody will write. The Atari Community is small and this campaign will require everyone to participate. As soon as you are done reading this newsgroup, write these companies. Make it a priority in your already busy life. If you do not see the games you want for the Jaguar in this campaign, do not be concerned. There will be a Jaguar letter writing campaign taking place in the beginning of every month. Each campaign is strategically set-up in a way so that every Jaguar player's needs will be satisfied. But the campaigns will only work is you participate. You cannot participate in one campaign and not another. Each campaign complements the other. If you are an Atari computer user that is only participating in these campaigns because you believe it will provide Atari funds to concentrate on computers again, this is great! The result of the Jaguar's success will impact every aspect and every member of the Atari Community. Expect a Lynx letter writing campaign to take place in the middle of each month. There are FOUR letters to write. Its important! 1ST LETTER ---------- As of July 1, 1994, Mortal Kombat II is not being produced for the Jaguar. And Acclaim has no plans to produce Mortal Kombat for the Jaguar. But next year, Williams will be able to release Mortal Kombat II for any game system that the company wishes to release it for. The time is now to let Williams know that we want to see Mortal Kombat II for the Jaguar. Mortal Kombat II is by far the #1 most wanted game for the Jaguar according to the Most Wanted Games for the Jaguar listing published by CAIN Newsletter. If this game is released for the Jaguar, the name "Atari" will once again be a household name. The letter to Williams should include: Dear Sir or Madam, 1) How much you enjoy Mortal Kombat II at the arcades. 2) How you like the games that Williams makes. 3) How you enjoy the Atari Jaguar. 4) How you think the Atari Jaguar is the only game system that will do the game justice. 5) How you will run out and get the game for the Jaguar as soon as it is released. 6) A thank you to the person reading your letter and for considering making Mortal Kombat II for the Jaguar. The address of Williams is the following: Williams/Bally/Midway Attn: Console Software Development 3401 North California Ave. Chicago, IL 60618-5889 2ND LETTER ---------- Electronic Arts is the publisher of some incredible games such as: NBA Showdown, FIFA International Soccer, PGA European Tour Golf, NHL Hockey '94, Wing Commander, Super Wing Commander, John Madden NFL Football, Escape from Monster Manner, Twisted, Mario Andretti Racing, MLBPA Baseball, and many more! Electronic Arts also owns several other software companies that they may give the OK to develop for the Jaguar if they see there is a demand for Jaguar games. Unfortunately, Electronic Arts is also a major backer of 3DO, a company that is a big competitor of Atari Corp.. Electronic Arts is spending a lot of time and money on making games for 3DO that it could be spending on the Jaguar. There is hope though! Electronic Arts is a licensee. This means that the company has Jaguar developers units. Electronic Arts' management just has to give the OK to make games for the Jaguar. The letter to Electronic Arts should include: Dear Sir or Madam, 1) How much you enjoy Electronic Arts games. 2) How you have been buying Electronic Arts games for your 8-bit Atari since the company was started (if this is true). 3) How much you enjoy your Atari Jaguar. 4) How you feel that the Jaguar will be the video game system of the future due to its high-performance/low-price. 5) The games that you would love to see on the Jaguar (choose two or three Electronic Arts games). 6) How you believe Electronics Arts' games will be unbelievable when using the graphics and sound capabilities of the Jaguar. 7) How you will run out and buy Electronic Arts' games if they produce them for the Jaguar. 8) A thank you to the person reading your letter and a thank you for considering producing games for the Jaguar. The address of Electronic Arts is: Electronic Arts, Inc. Attn: Production Teams P.O. Box 7578 San Mateo, CA 94403-7578 3RD LETTER ---------- Capcom is known for producing the Street Fighter II series of games. The company is also known for producing games such as The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Demon's Crest, and Saturday Night Slam Masters. The company also does conversions of popular titles such as Wizardry V and Eye of the Beholder. Super Street Fighter II is second only to Mortal Kombat II on the Most Wanted Games for the Jaguar CAIN Newsletter list. If the game existed for the Jaguar, it would no doubt sell a lot of Jaguars. But Capcom is not making Super Street Fighter II for the Jaguar and no plans have been announced to do so in the near future. The letter to Capcom should include: Dear Mr. Tresidder, 1) How much you enjoy Street Fighter at the arcades. 2) How you like the games that Capcom makes. 3) How you enjoy the Atari Jaguar. 4) How you think the Atari Jaguar is the only game system that will do the game justice. 5) How you will run out and get Super Street Fighter II for the Jaguar as soon it is released. 6) A thank you to the person for reading your letter and for considering making Super Street Fighter II for the Jaguar. The address of Capcom is: Capcom USA Inc. Attn: Mr. Corey Tresidder 475 Oakmead Parkway Sunnyvale, CA 94086 4TH LETTER ---------- Atari Corp. recently announced an agreement which will use Phylon's voice-data modem technology into a Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator. This Jaguar modem will allow Jaguar game players to play against or with friends that might be miles away. And it will also allow game players to talk with their friends while playing with them. There are a few announced games that will use the Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator such as Club Drive and DOOM. But there is really no reason why ALL Atari multi-player games cannot use the Jaguar modem. Checkered Flag, Kasumi Ninja, Spacewar, Star Raiders 2000, and all future Jaguar games that are at least two player should allow for Jaguar modem play. Atari Corp. should also be doing everything it can to interest third-party software companies into making use of the Jaguar modem. Modem games and networking games is the next generation of video gaming. Virtual Reality is still a few years away, but modem and networking games are here and now. The main goal of this letter should be to convince Atari Corp. that the company should take steps to make all future games so that they utilize the Jaguar's Voice/Data Communicator. The letter to Atari Corp. should include: Dear Mrs. LaBrec, 1) How much you enjoy the Atari Jaguar. 2) How much you enjoy modem games. 3) How you believe that modem games/networking games will be an important part of the video gaming future. 4) How you would like to see ALL Jaguar games make use of the Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator or Jaguar modem. 5) How you believe that Atari Corp. should be working closely with third-party game companies to make sure that they make use of the Jaguar modem in their games. 6) How you will be more willing to buy Jaguar games that make use of Jaguar modem/networking. 7) A thank you to the person for reading your letter and for considering your suggestions. The address of Atari Corp is: Atari Corp. Attn: Sandy LaBrec 1196 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94089 It is imperative that you write all of these companies. Even if you do not care for fighting games, you are still encouraged to write Williams and Capcom because these companies will help get other games for the Jaguar. And lastly, please spread information about this campaign around! Give it to your friends and have them write too! In order for this campaign to be effective, hundreds of letters will need to be sent to each of these companies. It is possible for this to happen!!! You will just need to help get the word out about this writing campaign. THANK YOU! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Central Atari Information Network (CAIN) is no way affiliated with Atari Corporation or STReport. Views, and opinions expressed herein are those of the article's author only. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Atari, ST, TT, Falcon030, Atari Lynx, ComLynx, Atari Jaguar, and the Atari Fuji Symbol are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks and identifying marks mentioned in this article belong to their respective owners. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Yet another week has come and gone and we find that the summer is now, undeniably, with us. With both the temperature and humidity soaring, about the only comfortable place around is a room with an air conditioner. Gee, I wonder what people did before the air conditioner was invented. I can remember my grandmother telling me stories about swimming in the local pond on hot days and "ducking" the truant officer, as she put it. Since most of the ponds in my area are either too polluted or too crowded for my taste, I'll simply be content to sit here at my desk and cruise the online waters. Although the fishin' hole seems to have dried up a bit, there are still lots of cool currents where one can splash about and enjoy the company of others. Well, let's jump in... and no belly-flops, please. From the Atari Productivity Forum ================================= Henri Tremblay asks: "Is there any chance to see in Atari libs the programs reviewed by Michael Burkley in AEO. I was looking especially for the Starball game mentioned in the latest AEO." Our own Atari Section editor, Dana Jacobson, tells Henri: "I have Starball and I'll send it up. It may go in ATARIGAMING, however. It'll be somewhere!! <<grin>> BTW, Starball is a fantastic pinball game, and much much more!! This is one game where I'll hunt down a bank for an international cashiers check for the shareware donation!" Dazzz Smith (gee, they must have had a sale on "Z"s or something), adds his opinion: "Yes Starball is a good game Dana, I was surprised to see the author only lives just down the road from me as well." Dana continues: "Is he planning on doing other games as well, Dazzz? This was an incredible "first" effort as far as I'm concerned. As soon as I find a bank that will give international cashiers checks, I'll be sending him a donation!!" Dazzz tells Dana: "I don't know... can't find him on-line anywhere so I've asked one of the guys I know who live near him to contact him and find out. I was pretty impressed with it myself, in fact I just scored over 10 million today for the first time! :-)" Dana replies: "That would be great, Dazzz. The game continues to amaze me and I'm still finding "new" things with it. The other day I managed to finally clear the complete screens of all 4 bonus levels. I was amazed at the five _million_ point bonus _and_ the eye-appealing "announcer" of that notice! I manage about 18 million for that game. My best so far is 48 million, without the 5 million bonus achieved (Eggball defeated me!)." Dazzz exclaims: "Argghh! I thought I was doing OK till I saw that!!!!" Dana consoles Dazzz: "But remember, you had only played a game or two, so your score is an excellent one!! It took me a few games before I broke a million; now I consider a 5 million score "average"!" Lloyd Pulley jumps in and adds his thoughts and experiences: "My high is about 26 million but I've never reached 5 million point bonus screen. That stupid breakout screen gets me every time! I love the one screen though - Revenge of the Mutant Ninja Lama Camel Sheep. I've found the trick to get to it without having to go through the other 3 screens. The one thing the game needs though is a 'Safe' feature. After a while, you want to keep your high scores and compete against them. The only other complaint I have, and it could be my system, is the random bombing. It usually only happens when you've been playing for a while - 30-90 minutes - and hit one of the features that leads you to a bonus screen. Balooey!! Bombs and system freeze up. But it isn't consistant in it's bombing - it might go 5 hours and never bomb...and hit the same screens. "Gee Ralph, I couldn't put the news column together this week. I was too depressed after the Mutant Ninja Lama Camel Sheep trompled all over me." Dana tells Lloyd: "Yep, that Breakout/Arkanoid level usually does a job on me too!! Those foolish disrupters always seem to appear right in front of my flipper as I hit the ball! I love that Llama level also; the flying toilets and hamburgers are a riot!! Which "trick" are you referring to to get to that screen, the "super" thingies at the top screen, and then "the arrow shot" (being as vague as possible!). I agree that it would be nice to have a save high score feature. I also would like to see the score screen in a different color as it's difficult to read them with that color scheme. About the bombing... EXACTLY!!! I think part of the problem is that the game can't react fast enough for some scoring actions. You may hit one bonus feature and immediately hit another one. Maybe that causes the problem. I don't know, just a guess! It usually happens to me when I'm having a great game and close to achieving Pinball Wizard Nirvana or something! <<grin>>" On another subject, Paul Seniura posts: "A few weeks ago I sent e-mail via Internet to the person listed in the ProTracker v2.0s documentation. Haven't heard back at all yet. Curious if I should even try sending the registration fee from Oklahoma USA to Norway(!), if e-mail doesn't get thru to him, ya know. I have some detailed questions about what v2.1 will let me do, with my upgraded 520ST (Turbo16 & 4-meg w/ TOS 1.04 & Warp-9 etc.). I can play most MODs at 27 kHz, sometimes have to step down to 24 when it gets too busy (it'll stop & tell me automatically). No real bugs to talk about at all! So I'm merely wondering if they've been able to "push" it some more, and also give us the kind of 11-bit resolution found in PT-Player v1.02. A similar question (for y'all who might know) is whether I can get/build something to give me stereo DMA sound a-la STE for my 520ST? Afraid to spend more $$ for a STE (assuming I can find one :) cuz I need OS-9 from Cumana & it might cease to work with an STE. And would love to come up with DMA sound drivers for OS-9, too, hint hint, but I hafta be able to just upgrade my ST by adding the DMA circuits to it. Note: not just merely stereo 8-bit DACs (like STReplay & similar hardware), but DMA as well. A third question for the people who might know: I'm *very* adept in doing circuit upgrades (practically rebuilt & redesigned my CoCo3 system, see). So I'd like to do the "38400-bps" upgrade which consists of a single 74LS74 chip wired to the MFP. The IMG drawing & doc was written by Jurgen Meyer & can be found at the Atari FTP archive sites. Only part of the doc was translated to English. I've got a 74F74 & switch ready to go if someone could tell me how it's working for you, and what-all does it really affect, etc. Fourth & last question: It's only been a couple of weeks since sending in my payment for GemView, so I don't yet have the full-working version. I'm very interested in getting Canon's BJ-600 I believe it is: their color bubble-jet printer with separate ink carts for each color. Contrast it to the HP-550C which has the 3 primary colors in *one* cart and a second one for black (similar to Canon's early low-rez color printers, which I also have one but with Tandy's ROM in it). If ya run out of only one color, gotta replace all 3, and that's a waste not to mention costly. So does the BJ-600 work with the HP-550C drivers in GemView? Does GemView merely "print what you see on the screen"? I.e. I would need "full-color" printing rather than "what you see", cuz my ST of course can only do 4K palette & 16 color registers, maximum. So getting a color printer (no matter what model) would be a big waste if all I can do is "print what I see", and I would consider my $30 payment to Cybercube a big waste as well. (but monochrome mode printing works real good with my BJ-200 using the NEC 180-dpi driver, but I want to use 360-dpi mode!). Someone's going to tell me to "look at the BJ-600 book and see if it does such-&-such". I don't have access to the book, and the sales people don't know either; I need to know if _you_ know if it handles the codes for a HP-550C. :) Thank you for your time. If you would, please respond privately as I may not see your response before the system wraps it off the list." Tony Barker at Moving Pixels tells Paul: "Just one quick comment about the BJ600C, it is a fine printer and I do like the separate carts for each color, but there are a few other things to consider. First, the printer primes itself when it is reset or switched on by squirting some ink from the head of each cart into a little container. When the container is full you have to get a qualified service tech out to empty it (over here minimum charge starts at $100 for the honour). This also wastes an appreciable amount of ink. The HP series does not do this. Second, when you replace the cartridge in a HP you also replace the print head, which means you always have a new print head. Quotes for replacement of the head in the BJ over here (Australia by the way) start at around 40% the cost of the entire printer in the first place. Personally I can see very little differrence in the output between the 560C and the BJ600C, I may actually come down on the side of the BJ if pushed, but the costs I have calculated indicate the HP is better overall. Plus in the Atari arena you know you can get drivers for the thing. Theres always the new color stylus from epson which on special paper will do 720DPI, I found the qulaity to be quite reasonable although not as differrent as the resolution would lead you to believe. It's around the same price as the other two. It uses a combined CYM and separate K cart ala HP550/560C, although it is considerably larger. On Epsons own costings, it is the cheapest of all the printers to run by about 50%. Of course you've got to take those figures with a grain of salt." Meanwhile, Rob Rasmussen asks a question about his Falcon030: "I ran a program called FalconBoot, which installs a boot sector on the disk in drive A. When I boot the HD with this disk in drive A, it gives me the options of toggling the internal speaker on or off, and toggling the 68030's cache. First, what exactly is this cache, what is the benefit of using it, and why would I ever need to toggle it? I assume there are types of programs, or specific ones that the cache should be off for. I thought a cache was a section of memory set aside for often-accessed files, but I get the feeling there's more to it than that. Also, I'm not sure I want the FalconBoot options to come up every time I boot with that disk in A. How can I remove it from the disk? When it installed, it didn't become a file I can delete. If it installs a boot sector, how can I erase it?" Sysop Bob Retelle tells Rob: "...you're right about what the basic concept of a cache is... There are three kinds of cache memory though... there can be an area of main memory set aside for often accessed files, as you described, and there can also be dedicated memory which is only used as cache, as we see often now on PC style motherboards. This second kind of cache is often implemented using faster (and more expensive) static RAM chips than those used in main memory, to get even faster access times. The third kind of cache is memory that is actually contained within the CPU chip. The 68030 and other advanced CPU chips (like the 80486) have this kind of cache RAM built right into themselves. This memory can be accessed very quickly, since the CPU doesn't have to set up external memory accesses to get to it. Well written programs may have tight loops and small routines which reside entirely within the on-chip RAM cache, and thus execute extremely quickly. The option you described to turn the 68030's cache on and off would control whether or not the CPU chip uses its internal cache or not. I'm not 100% certain why it would ever be desirable not to use the cache, unless it might be to ensure compatibility with programs that can't use it for some reason... As for the boot sector, the only really easy way I know of to remove it is to reformat the floppy. As you noticed, there is no file added to the disk which you could delete, because the program is actually written into the first sectors of the disk. That means you can't get at it with the normal means of controlling files, like copy and delete. You COULD use a disk sector editor to change the boot sectors, or even possibly a virus detection and removal utility, as the boot sectors are where disk viruses normally reside... but it would be tricky. Would it be possible to just pop the disk out of the floppy drive when you don't want the boot program to run..? Or do you have other things on the floppy that you want to load at bootup time..? Another possibility would be some kind of "boot manager" program, but I'm not sure if anything we have available for the ST or Falcon would work.. maybe someone else has some experience with something that you might be able to use." Rob tells Bob: "Yes I can easily make a new boot disk without FalconBoot ingrained in the boot sector, but I was curious about how to remove it (from a copy). I have a virus killer that came with the Falcon, but not Diamond Edge. I have Codehead's Lookit disk editor, which I've never actually used. Seems like you would have to somehow "see" what you were doing to do this, unless it was a definite piece of the sector(s) that you wanted to eradicate, or replace. So would I be looking at hex bytes or sectors in the disk editor that I could tell were FBoot? On my ST I used to use a cache prg (from Atari I think)in the Auto folder that I could set the size in it's name. I realize this is not the same kind of cache as in the 030, which I apparently cannot set the size. The ST cachebactually took up RAM I think, while this one has it built into the chip with a separate memory area? My Falcon manual says that in a CPX of XControl, there is a 'Chip set' feature to toggle the cache and the blitter. It's not there, though. Can someone tell me how to find what version of XControl this is? I can't find it anywhere. Maybe I need to find a newer version if there is one. Anyway, assuming there is a blitter on this Falcon, what does it do, and again, why would I need to change it's setting? Is it a kind of graphics accellerator? My ST didn't have this. I have a version of Backwards, not the full version I don't think, which must disable some of these features to make the Falcon an ST." Bob tells Rob: "...you can easily take a look at the sectors on your disk with the disk editor you mentioned having... All you need to do is to tell it to read Sector 0 and it should display the contents of that first sector on the disk, probably both in Hex digits and ASCII text... then you should be able to "page" through the subsequent sectors to see what all's there. The first few bytes of the first sector are the "boot record".. it's the first thing the computer tries to read when you first turn it on. If it doesn't find a certain set of bytes there, it assumes the disk is not "bootable", and will just transfer control to the TOS ROMs. If it finds a "jump address", it will transfer control to the program code found later in the same sector, which may load in more sectors, or call a specific file, or... in the case of a virus, may do nasty things..! You'll also encounter the directory sectors, which you can look at directly with the editor, and the FAT tables, which won't contain any readable ASCII text.. but it's interesting to see how it's all laid out. You can also use the same kind of tool to actually write to the disk and change the contents of the sectors, but that has to be done with extreme care, as you can easily destroy the disk that way too... (be sure to work with a copy of a disk, or one you don't mind losing if you want to try messing around with the boot records)... You can use the editor to compare the boot records of "normal" disks with the one that has the bootable code on it to see the differences too. Most virus checkers will detect that the disk has executable code in the boot record and will warn you that it's there. That doesn't necessarialy mean there is a virus present, but it's enough to be suspicious of, especially if you don't know that the disk should be bootable... (this is how "autoloading" games work.. the boot record contains code that executes and loads the rest of the game in so you don't ever have to click on the filename). If you use a "virus killer" to "clean" the boot sectors, it will re-write the sector with the code that indicates the disk is non-bootable, and usually will write zeros over the executable code in the boot sector to eradicate it.. that would do what you asked about too.. Yes.. the program you mentioned sets up a "cache" in the computer's main RAM.. making the cache bigger takes memory away from the other programs you want to run, so there's usually a tradeoff between increased performance and loss of memory unless you have a large amount of RAM to start with. The "on-chip" cache is always the same, and is created when the chip is manufactured. The only control you have over it is whether the CPU will actually use it, or ignore it. It's completely separate from the "normal" RAM in your system. The blitter chip is essentially a very fast memory copying device. It takes a block of data from a specified address and copies it very quickly to another place in memory. There are software routines in the TOS ROMs that do the same function, but much more slowly, since the CPU has to do the actual work of fetching the bytes one by one, and moving them to their new locations. The blitter does it all in hardware, thus relieving the CPU of the task. One use for the blitter would be to set up a screen display somewhere in memory while something else is actually being displayed on the screen, then copying the new screen data into the visible screen area very quickly. This can be used for fast animation effects. The blitter also has some built-in functions to modify the data as it copies it, to give special effects to the displays... You can turn the blitter off, so the software routines are used, in cases where the software has some kind of conflict with the hardware method. When the first blitter equipped STs appeared, there was a lot of trouble with compatibility with older software, so that used to be needed a lot. Newer software, and particularly Falcon specific software shouldn't be a problem..." From the Palmtop and Palmtop B Forums: ====================================== Sidney Ripkowski asks: "I have heard that Atari is no longer going to build any computers, only game machines. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this nasty rumor?" The big boss himself, Sysop Ron Luks, tells Sidney: "That's pretty much the case. Atari hasnt had a new model for awhile, the last Falcon was a bust, they havent done anything with the Portfolio for years and years, and all corporate efforts are going into the Jaguar game machine." Robert Quezada adds what he knows: "I've heard that the computer side of Atari has been put on hold now, but there is an Atari TT clones availble from some company. I think it's called Medusa. From what I can imagine, maybe Atari planned ahead for their putting the computers on hold by allowing other companies to make clones of Atari computers. This would keep the Atari computer market alive while they concentrated their efforts on making the Jaguar successful." Sysop Ron tells Robert: "Yes, there is an Atari clone called the Medusa, but I dont think Atari had anything to do with bringing it to market, nor do they care how well it does. Just my opinion. They're now in the video game business 100%." Dan Shearer at BSE, the makers of the amazing FlashDrive, the portable, battery powered hard drive for DOS-based computers, including the Portfolio, adds his opinion: "It's a shame that it came to this. The Portfolio was a great machine and at least 2 years before its time. The Falcon was/is a great machine, but their marketing people really blew it. (as with all of their machines so far.) Game machines are used by mindless twits and the only thing they're good for is target practice at 1000 yards. (My opinion.) I would like to see Atari succeed for once, but everytime they seem to drop the ball. They need real marketing people and the drive to make the product successful!" Well folks, that's about all for this week. There was lots more that I could have included, but space is always a concern. Be sure to tune again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > A "Quotable Quote" "A sign of TRUE PROFESSIONALISM?" """"""""""""""""" "THE PITIFUL TRACK RECORD OF THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE!" *** Comments being heard around the nation; -------------------------------------- "They've been too close to "The Movies" for far too long. Obviously, the "visual" priorities being evidenced are in desperate need of analysis and complete review." "This unsavory business of "leaking" volatile "tidbits" obviously aimed at swaying public opinion is a blatant travesty and a pure raping of the principles of "Justice for All" on which this country is founded. With each and every new "leak" by the D.A. it becomes more and more obvious Garcetti's office has little or no real evidence in the purely circumstancial case with the Simpson matter." """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > DEALER CLASSIFIED LIST STR InfoFile * Dealer Listings * """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" --------------- ABCO Incorporated ================= P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 Est. 1985 1-904-783-3319 1994 SUMMER SPECIALS NOW IN EFFECT! TWO WEEKS ONLY ** SPECIAL SALE!! -------------------------------- ABCO manufactures custom storage devices! INTEL 32 BIT 486/66, VLB w/Math CoProcessor 8MB ram upgradable to 64MB 1MB SVGA VESA VIDEO CARD Sound Blaster Compatible Stereo Sound Card DOS 6.22 - Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Included 256K CACHE - 1.44/1.2 FLOPPY Drives, Mouse & 101 deluxe Keyboard 340MB IDE hd - 2 SERIAL, 1 PARALLEL, 1 GAME PORTS 250W POWER SUPPLY TOWER SYSTEM 14" SVGA 1024x768, 28dpi Monitor 66Mhz, S&H Incl 1495.00 695.00 with order, balance COD other higher powered packages available or, design your own! Call for value added pricing! 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Main St. St. Charles, IL., 60174 Ph. (708) 513-5220 FULL LINE COMPUTER DEALER """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (DEALERS; to be listed here FREE of Charge, please drop us a line.) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport International Online Magazine -* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *- AVAILABLE ON OVER 20,001 PRIVATE BBS SYSTEMS """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 15, 1994 Since 1987 copyright (c) 1987-94 All Rights Reserved No.1029 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and Editorial Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff of STReport International Online Magazine. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without prior written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""