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SILICON TIMES REPORT ==================== INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ============================= from STR Electronic Publishing Inc. A subsidiary of STR Worldwide CompNews Inc. June 23, 1995 No. 1125 ====================================================================== Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 R.F. Mariano, Editor Featured in ITCNet's ITC_STREPORT Echo ----------------------------------------- Voice: 1-904-783-3319 10am-4pm EST STR Publishing Support BBS * THE BOUNTY INTERNATIONAL BBS * Featuring: * 4.5GB * of Download Files Operating with * Mustang Software's WILDCAT! BBS v4.10 * Fully Networked within the following Nets: ITCNet 85:881/253 JAX HUB ~ FIDO Net 1:112/35 Prowl ~ USPOLNet ~ FNET 350 ~ Nest 90:301/3 Delivered via Subscriber List through Internet 904-786-4176 MULTI-NODE 24hrs-7 days 2400-115.2 bps V.32-34 v.42 bis 28.8 Hayes Optima 28.8 V.FC Data/Fax USRobotics D/S Data/Fax 28.8 V.34 Everything FAX: 904-783-3319 12am-6am EST ----------------------------------------- The Bounty STReport 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 ______________________________________________________________________ > 06/23/95 STR 1125 "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!" """"""""""""""""" - CPU INDUSTRY REPORT - Adaptec PCI Bridge - Panda Systems - NetScape 1.2b BETA - IBM PPC Ships - Lexmark Q & A - Personal Netscape - PowerMac Debuts - Parental S/W Locks? - D. Thomas' CatNips! - People Talking - Jaguar Newswire -* IBM to Block Win95 on OS/2 Units! *- -* Gingrich; "Exon Bill Dead!" *- -* Sierra Buys Impressions Software! *- ========================================================================== 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/Fido/Internet/PROWL/USENET/USPOLNet/NEST/F-Net 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 1:112/35, Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is #620. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial on all platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. ========================================================================== HTTP//WWW.ICBA.COM/STREPORT CIS ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ ITC ~ NEST ~ EURONET ~ CIX ~ USENET ~ USPOLNET CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ~ PROWL ~ FNET ~ AOL ========================================================================== Florida Lotto ------------------------------------------------------------ LottoMan v1.35 Results: 06/10/95: 3 matches in 5 plays ------------------------------------------------------------ > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" One of the many fascinating areas of computing today is the World Wide Web. It's a part of the Internet. Through the use of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), GIF Images and JPG Images, one can thoroughly enjoy the dazzling eye candy the Web offers. While digesting the hordes of highly informative articles to be found at the various Web sites, it becomes extremely easy to see why the very existence of the Online Services is demandingly at hand. The Online Services, while highly organized and full of glitter, offer little if any competition to the variety, spontaneity, timeliness and creativity levels the Internet and all its facets triumphantly offer. Product support from most all the manufacturers is available via the WEB and of course, email and FTP sites. This means the need to join an online service to obtain tech support has been greatly diminished in the last year. New sites are opening on a daily basis. One major drawing card for the WEB is the ease with which one is able to set up a site and almost immediately provide quality service to the users. With the online services, its virtually a ritual that is complex and drawn out. It almost resembles the complex phases one goes through when beginning to travel extensively. This is a major stumbling block the online services must overcome if they are to survive. Imagine this if you will, an online service offers 10,000 different areas a paying subscriber may visit. Some of these areas have additional fees that are charged when one visits ..others do not. Then, to top off the drawbacks.. Some online services have rather stiff rules and regulations about what may or may not be presented. Surprisingly, there are those services who still clearly state they are "exempt" from the Bill of Rights and in particular, Freedom of Speech. The Internet, on the other hand, suffers none of these unusual and possibly illegal impediments. On the Internet it is expected that one obey the laws of the land nothing more and nothing less. The next year or so is going to hold the "tale of the tape" as far as the online services are concerned. Either the services instill a rather hefty dose of creative marketing along with a crafty infusion of entertaining things to do or, they'll all wind up being nothing more than elaborate gateways into the Internet. Their "wake-up call" is at hand. Do you think they'll hear it in time? Of course, all this is my opinion, I could be wrong, but then ..that's why it only an opinion. Ralph... Let us know what you think about the way telecommunications is changing and which way you feel its headed. Let's hear from you. Of Special Note: ---------------- HTTP//WWW.ICBA.COM/STREPORT =========================== STReport is now ready to offer much more in the way of serving the Networks, Online Services and Internet's vast, fast growing site list and userbase. We now have our very own WEB/NewsGroup/FTP Site and although its in its early stages of construction, do stop by and have a look see. Since We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from a wide variety of Internet addressees, we were compelled to put together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wished to receive STReport on a regular basis, the file is ZIPPED, then UUENCODED. Unfortunately, we've also received a number of opinions that the UUENCODING was a real pain to deal with. So, as of May 12,1995, you'll be able to download STReport directly from our very own WEB Site. While there, be sure to join our STR list. In any case, our mailing list will continue to be used for at least the next eight weeks. At that time, however, it will be discontinued. Each of our readers will have by then, received their information packet about how they may upgrade their personal STR News Services. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 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 Paul Guillot 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: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Dominick J. Fontana 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 Tim Holt Patrick Hudlow Leonard Worzala Tom Sherwin Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: CompuServe................... 70007,4454 Delphi......................... RMARIANO GEnie......................... ST.REPORT BIX............................ RMARIANO FIDONET........................ 1:112/35 FNET........................... NODE 620 ITC NET...................... 85:881/253 NEST........................ 90:21/350.0 America OnLine..................STReport Internet.............RMARIANO@DELPHI.COM Internet.......70007.4454.compuserve.com Internet................STReport@AOL.Com HTTP//WWW.ICBA.COM/STREPORT IMPORTANT NOTICE ---------------- STReport, with its policy of not accepting any paid advertising, has over the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue. The Staff & Editors """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" SYSOP NEWS & CYBERWORLD REPORT ============================== The Leading Hard Copy News Source in the BBS & Online Telecommunications World Your own personal copy mailed to your home every month; STReport's special offer! Annual Subscription Rate of $15.95!! (normally 20.95). Include the STR offer number (STR-21) for your discount. You can send your subscription in to: ------------------------------------- BBS Press Services, Inc. 8125 S.W. 21st Street Topeka, KS 66615 Or, to order by phone, Please Call: 1-913-478-3157.....(Voice) 1-913-478-9239......(Data) 1-913-478-1189.......(FAX) Note: Checks, MasterCard & Visa ok, Please include Full Name, Address, ===== Phone Number, Card type, number & expiration date when ordering. If by mail, please _sign_ your personal order. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS """"""""""""""""""" Computer Products Update - CPU Report ------------------------ ---------- Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Issue #25 Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. ******* General Computer News ******* >> Panda Offers 'Flexible' Units << New machines called the Archistrat System from Panda Project Inc. promise an unusually high flexibility, able to be transformed into different models or upgraded to more powerful technologies by snapping in components. The Wall Street Journal writes, "The sleek-looking computers ... are aimed at overcoming a big frustration of computer owners: their machines become obsolete in less than two years because the technology advances so fast." Panda, founded by ex-IBM employees, says the systems can be equipped with different microprocessor chips as well as different operating system software and, says the Journal, "That could be attractive to big companies that need to use different types of computers for different tasks." For instance, "Instead of having to buy, say, a bunch of computers based on Intel Corp.'s chips as well as those that use the Alpha chip from Digital Equipment Corp., a company could buy the Panda machines and insert whichever chips it needs." The paper says the Boca Raton, Florida, company has created a new type of packaging process for the chips that takes up much less space, so they can fit onto a smaller circuit card that the user can interchange by snapping it out. The units cost about 20% more than traditional computers (starting at $10,490 for a base configuration of a "server" model powered by a 100MHz Pentium chip), but CEO Stanford Crane Jr. contends that price premium will be worth it to customers who worry about obsolescence. Panda also plans to make desktop models. >> Sierra Buys Impressions Software << For undisclosed terms, Impressions Software Inc., a developer with about 40 workers and offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the United Kingdom, has been purchased by multimedia game maker Sierra On-Line Inc. The company is quoted as saying as saying it will immediately begin publishing new titles developed by Impressions, such as "Breach 3," a futuristic space combat simulation scheduled for release this summer. (Impressions already has published such titles as "Lords of the Realm," "Front Lines," "High Seas Trader" and "PowerHouse.") Impressions President/founder David Lester, who will continue as general manager of the division, said, "We look forward to working together and delivering high quality titles under the Sierra brand name." >> Color Printer Market to Soar << Market researcher Dataquest Inc. see a bright future for the U.S. color printer market. Driven by lower-cost ink-jet printers, the U.S. color printer market will show a compound annual growth rate of more than 28% during the next five years. Dataquest predicts that color and color-capable ink-jet printer shipments will reach 6.4 million units in 1995, up from 3.4 million units in 1994. "Low-end color and color- capable ink-jet are now very affordable and offer novice users the opportunity to experiment with color," says Paula Bursley, a Dataquest analyst. "The tremendous growth in sales of these low-cost color and color-capable printers has been fueled by the exploding home market." Color has been slower to catch on in the business market, says Dataquest. The market researcher says applications must make a transition from full-color to integrated monochrome and color in order for color printers to become more popular with businesses. >> Canon Offers Workstation << Canon Inc. has introduced a new line of PowerPC-based personal work- stations that it says will enable users to run applications on the Windows NT operating system in a client/server environment. Consisting of desktops for notebook computers, a uniprocessor desktop and dual-processor desktop, the line is expected to be available in the third quarter of 1995. The line also includes the first PowerPC dual-processor systems running Windows NT for Fortune 1000 companies. >> Gateway Ships 3 Millionth PC << Direct-market PC specialist Gateway 2000 Inc. says it has shipped its three millionth system. The P5-120 model will be delivered to Clint Cormier, a recent college graduate in Bossier City, Louisiana. Gateway 2000 President and CEO Ted Waitt called Cormier to thank him for his loyalty and to tell him that the system would be arriving at his home at no cost. Since its founding in 1985, Gateway 2000 has grown from a two-person operation with sales of $100,000 to a Fortune 500 company with more than 5,400 employees and revenues in excess of $2.7 billion a year. >> IBM to Block Win95 on OS/2 Units << IBM says it will not being providing a way for its OS/2 Warp operating system to run programs designed for Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 95, due on the market in August. The Wall Street Journal this week termed this as IBM's "bold gamble that puts pressure on OS/2 to stand on its own in the market." The decision "means IBM is betting that it can persuade more software developers to create versions of their programs specifically for the IBM operating system," the paper says. Of course, this is risky business because if it backfires, says WSJ, "OS/2 could be reduced to an obscure niche product or ultimately fade away." The paper notes IBM already appeared to be "hedging the bet," noting that IBM could later decide to modify OS/2 to provide Windows 95 compatibility if customers show demand for it. >> HP Offers 3 New Workstations << Three new workstations have been unveiled by Hewlett-Packard Co., going up against comparable offerings from Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics, but carrying lower prices. Reports say the machines, aimed at technical markets for electronic and mechanical design automation and mechanical computer-aided design and engineering, are priced at $11,600, $15,000 and $21,000 and will go on sale during the third quarter. The company says the new machines enable engineers and architects to speed up two-dimensional graphic design programs and are upgraded models of the HP 9000 Model 712 and 715. HP adds the 712/100, priced at $15,000, runs 70% faster than Sun Microsystems' SparcStation 20 Model 51, priced at $16,000. The company said its 715/100 XC outperforms Sun's recently announced SparcStation 20 Model HS-21 and runs 41% faster than Silicon Graphics' SGI Indigo2R- 4400. >> Half of U.S. Teens Have Home PCs << Nearly half of Americans age 11 through 18 use a computer at home and more than one in five log onto an online service or computer bulletin board system through a home unit. So says a new survey by Chilton Research Services, which also finds that for teens, playing video games is the main attraction of online services, more popular than "chatting" online. The survey, which, sampled 752 teens nationwide between May 24 and June 1, also found teens generally much more savvy about high-tech products than the general population. For instance, 51% had used a CD- ROM player (often at school) and 6% have bought a CD ROM title in the past month. However, TV is still the teens' primary activity for pure entertainment. Says a statement from Chilton, "Twice as many of those teens who have used online services say watching TV is more fun than going online. For their TV fare, teens prefer sitcoms over other types of programs including music videos." >> Micron Adds High-Performance PC << Micron Electronics Inc. has added the Micron P133 Millennia to its high-performance PC line. Starting at $3,099, the Micron P133 Millennia includes an Intel 133MHz Pentium microprocessor, 256KB of cache memory, 8MB of RAM and a 540MB enhanced IDE hard drive. Also included are a four-speed CDROM drive, a SoundBlaster 16 sound card, speakers, a 64-bit PCI graphics accelerator and a 15-inch color monitor. Micron has also incorporated the 133MHz Pentium microprocessor into its PowerStation and Home MPC product lines. Entry-level system configurations start at $2,799 and include a 256KB cache, 8MB of RAM, a 540MB enhanced IDE hard drive, a four-speed CD-ROM drive, a SoundBlaster 16 sound card, speakers and a 64-bit PCI graphics accelerator. >> IBM's PowerPC Units Rolling Out << The new PowerSeries of PCs based on the PowerPC chip IBM designed with Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc. will hit the market next month, though IBM doesn't expect to be selling the machines in substantive volume until next year. IBM had planned to be selling PowerPC-based units a year ago and has sold advanced workstations that use the chip since late 1993. As noted, Apple last year switched its Macintosh line to the chip. In addition, several other companies -- among them Canon, Austin Computer, Firepower Systems, IPC Technologies and Zenith Data Systems -- will demonstrate PowerPC-based computers at a convention in New York this week. Most of them do not expect to begin selling machines until the fall and several will focus on versions that can only be used in a corporate computing center rather than an individual's office. IBM is said to plan two desktop and two laptop models with prices starting at about $3,000. The first versions will perform at the level of Pentium-based PCs. IBM hasn't commented about the PowerSeries, but its public relations representatives have said the first machines will use Microsoft Windows NT and IBM's AIX operating software (a program that is typically found on advanced workstations and minicomputers). >> Most Government PCs are Zenith, IBM << Some 60% of the 490,000 desktop machines the federal government bought in the year ending Sept. 30, many of them under the Air Force's huge Desktop IV contract, came from Zenith Data Systems and from IBM. That's the word from The Washington Post which notes Dell Computer Corp. was third top supplier to the government, according to research firm International Data Corp. >> New Power Macintosh Makes Debut << Apple Computer Inc. has introduced a new Power Macintosh model it describes as its most powerful and expandable system to date. The computer maker says the Power Macintosh 9500 combines a new Power Macintosh architecture with the next- generation PowerPC 604 micro- processor. The Power Mac 9500 provides users with up to two times the performance and over three times the memory expansion of Apple's previous top of the line model. The Power Mac 9500's PowerPC 604 processor -- running at 120MHz or 132MHz -- is a second-generation RISC chip that performs up to 1.5 times faster than the PowerPC 601 at the same clock speed. Targeted at professional users in publishing, technical and media authoring markets, the Power Macintosh 9500 is the first personal computer from Apple to feature the industry- standard Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. The move to a high-speed PCI bus provides Power Mac 9500 customers with significant performance gains and greater access to customized personal computing solutions via low cost PCI cards. Apple will ship two configurations of the Power Macintosh 9500. The Power Macintosh 9500/120 system is available with a 120MHz clock speed, 16MB of RAM, a 1GB hard disk, a quad-speed CD ROM drive and an ATI video card. The U.S price of the Power Macintosh 9500/120 is $4,999. The Power Macintosh 9500/132 is available with a 132MHz clock speed, 16MB of DRAM, a 2GB hard disk and a four-speed CD ROM drive. The Power Mac 9500/132 has a U.S. price of $5,799. >> Verbatim Offers Peek at Win95 << Verbatim Corp. says it will provide a preview of the forthcoming Windows 95 operating system on an interactive demo disk found in specially marked 11- and 24- packs of its floppy disks. The offer will also be available in specially marked packages of Verbatim data cartridges. "Windows 95 is the most talked about software product ever and it will not be on the shelves until August. But in July, Verbatim will be shipping an interactive demo inside specially marked products such as floppy disks and quarter- inch data cartridges. This demo shows many of the features of Windows 95, such as the start button, peripheral Plug and Play ability, Microsoft Exchange and The Microsoft Network," says Nicky Hartery, president of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Verbatim. >> IBM Cuts ThinkPad Prices << The price of IBM's ThinkPad 701 model has been lowered by $850 to start at $3,199. The company says it is passing on the savings from increased production capacity and part of its drive to build market share. This IBM 701's subnotebook dubbed the Butterfly, which has an expandable keyboard and weighs 4.5 pounds. The company says the increased availability of flat panel screens and aggressive manufacturing and distribution have eliminated the shortages in the ThinkPad product line. >> Gingrich Says Net Smut Bill Is Dead << A controversial amendment aimed at controlling smut on computer net- works may be dead, says House speaker Newt Gingrich, who adds he thinks the measure, backed by Sen. James Exon, D-Nebraska, violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. The Exon amendment to the Senate's Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995, which passed the full Senate 81-18 last week, will "have no real meaning and have no real impact and, in fact, I don't think it will survive," Gingrich said. Said Gingrich, "It is clearly a violation of free speech and it's a violation of the right of adults to communicate with each other. I don't agree with it and I don't think it is a serious way to discus a serious issue, which is, how do you maintain the right of free speech for adults while also protecting children in a medium which is available to both." The Exon measure targets pornography on the Internet and online services, calling for fines of up to $100,000 and prison terms of up to two years for people who distribute sexually explicit material over networks. >> New Means of Smut Control Seen << Two West Coast congressmen say government, instead of trying to regulate the flow of smut on computer networks, ought to give users the technological tools to prevent offending material from coming into their homes. Reps. Christopher Cox, R-California, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, have said that one way to help people find technology solutions could be to have the government establish a toll-free 800 number people could call to find out the latest in commercially available software or hardware. Another way, Wyden said, is for the government to set up a referral service that people could contact to get information on blocking technologies. "The government would refer people to private sector services," Aversa writes. "Some software programs already exist that let people block certain computer communications." ___________________________________________________ > ADAPTEC SUPPORT STR Feature """"""""""""""""""""""""""" SYSTEM & MOTHERBOARD PCI BRIDGE SUPPORT ======================================= Document #W21130 ---------------- AHA-3940/AHA-3985 Vendor System Processor AHA-3940W AHA-3980 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A-trend ATC1563P Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ACER AA700 Series System Yes ACER AA7000 Series System Yes ACER AA800 Series System Yes ACER AA900 Series System Yes ACER AEB8000 Series System Yes ACER AP5C Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ACER AP5CS Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ACER DP5 Motherboard DUAL P54C-100 Yes ACER LP5 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ACER M3 Motherboard P5-66 Yes ACER M5 Plus Motherboard P5-66 Yes ACER V12C Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ACER V12P Motherboard P5-66 Yes ACER V30 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes AIR(UHC) 486PI Motherboard 486 Yes Yes AIR(UHC) 54CDP Motherboard DUAL P54C-100 Yes Yes AIR(UHC) 54CMI v1.1 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes AIR(UHC) 54CPI Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes AIR(UHC) 54CSH v1.0 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes AIR(UHC) 54IDP Motherboard DUAL P54C-100 Yes ASI 4DUPC Motherboard 486-50 Yes ASI 4DUPM Motherboard 486-50 Yes ASUS P/I-P55TP4XE Motherboard P54C-75/100 Yes Yes ASUS PCI-486AP4 Motherboard 486-33 Yes ASUS PCI/E-P54NP4 Motherboard DUAL P54C-75/100 Yes Yes ASUS PCI/I-P54NP4D Motherboard DUAL P54C-75/100 Yes Yes ASUS PCI/I-486SP3G Motherboard 486-33 Yes ASUS PCI/I-54TP4 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes ASUS PCI/I-AP55T Motherboard P54C-75/120 Yes ASUS PCI/I-P54NP4 Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Yes ASUS PCI/I-P54SP5 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ASUS PCI/I-P5SP4 Motherboard P5-66 Yes Chaintech 486 SPM Motherboard 486DX2-33 Yes Chaintech 586IDM Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Chaintech 586UBM Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Compaq PCI Deskpro System Yes Yes Compaq PCI Prolinea System Yes Yes Compaq Proliant 1500 System P54C-100 Yes Yes Compaq Prosignia 300 System P54C-90 Yes Yes Compaq Prosignia 500 System P5-90 Yes Yes DEC Prioris HX590 System P54C-90 Yes DEC Prioris HX590DP System DUAL P54C-90 Yes Dell Dimensions Power Edge 5100-2 P54C-100 Yes Yes Dell Dimensions Power Edge 5120-2 P54C-120 Yes Yes Dell Dimensions Power Edge 5133-2 P54C-133 Yes Yes Dell Dimensions Power Edge 590-2 P54C-90 Yes Yes DFI 586VPM Motherboard P54C-100 Yes ECS SI54P-AIO Motherboard P54C-120 Yes ECS TS54P-AIO Motherboard P54C-120 Yes ECS TS54P-VIO Motherboard P54C-120 Yes ECS UM8810P-AIO Motherboard 486-33 Yes FIC PA2000 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes FIC PIO2/486 Motherboard 486-33 Yes FIC PN2000 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes FIC PN3000 Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Yes FIC PT2000 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes Gigabyte GA-486AM Motherboard 486DX4-75/100 Yes Yes Gigabyte GA-586AL Motherboard P5-60/66 Yes Yes Gigabyte GA-586AP Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes Gigabyte GA-586AS Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Gigabyte GA-586AT Motherboard P54C-75/150 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/AL-100 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/AL-90 Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/MN-100 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/MN-90 Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/ZP-75 Motherboard P54C-75 Yes Yes Intel Advanced/ZP-90 Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Yes IWILL 486SP Motherboard 486DX-33 Yes IWILL P54AS Motherboard P54C-100 Yes IWILL P54SP Motherboard P54C-100 Yes IWILL P54TS/TSW/TSW2 Motherboard P54C-75/133 Yes Yes Micro-Star MS-5117 Motherboard P54C-75/133 Yes Yes Micro-Star MS-5119 Motherboard P54C-75/133 Yes Yes Micro-Star MS-5120 Motherboard P54C-75/133 Yes Yes Micronics 09-00208-03A4 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes Micronics M54Hi Motherboard P54C-75/120 Yes Yes Micronics M54Pe Motherboard Dual P54C-90 Yes Yes MITAC PB5400D Motherboard P54C-100 Yes MITAC PH4500A Motherboard 486-33 Yes MITAC PL4600C Motherboard 486-33 Yes MITAC PL5400D Motherboard P54C-90 Yes Mitsuba Mitsuba Pentium Base System P54C-90 Yes Yes Muftek Mecer B885 Motherboard 486 Yes Yes Muftek Mecer B920 Motherboard P5 Yes Yes Olivetti SNX200 System P54C-100 Yes Yes Olivetti SNX400 System P54C-100 Yes Yes Siemens PCD-4H-PCI Motherboard 486DX2-66 Yes SOYO 37A2 Motherboard 486-33 Yes SOYO 5TA2 Motherboard P54C-100 Yes SuperMicro P55CM Motherboard P54C-75/90/100/1 Yes Yes SuperMicro P55CWA Motherboard P54C-75/90/100/1 Yes Yes SuperMicro P55CWS Motherboard P54C-75/90/100/1 Yes Yes TAKEN PCI580 Motherboard DUAL P54C-100 Yes Tatung TCS-9570 Motherboard 486-33 Yes If your system or motherboard is not on this list, IT MAY STILL WORK. This list is the latest information available to us through first hand testing. If your motherboard or system is not listed, it is possible that it has PCI Bridge support and will work. If not, the system supplier may have a BIOS upgrade available which will add PCI Bridge support. ___________________________________________________ > STR InfoFile """""""""""" COREL SIGNS BOOK PUBLISHING DEAL WITH OSBORNE/MCGRAW-HILL New York, New York--June 20, 1995--Corel Corporation has signed a book publishing agreement with Osborne/McGraw-Hill to develop a new line of books that focus on Corel's family of software products. Between five and eight books are scheduled to be published by Osborne over the next year and a half under the new CorelPRESS imprint. Future language versions are also being considered. "CorelPRESS will give us a commanding presence in the book market with an easily recognizable label and plenty of indepth and rich product information for our users," said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel Corporation. "The publications will serve as a excellent reference point for users both old and new." "We are proud and excited to join Corel as an authorized book publisher," said Lawrence Levitsky, publisher and general manager at Osborne. "With the state-of-the-art improvements to their best selling graphics and desktop publishing software products, Corel is poised to become the leading 'publishing solutions'software developer." The first book to appear will be The Official Guide to CorelDRAW 6 under Windows '95. This publication will provide an indepth overview of Corel's first Windows '95 offering. It is scheduled for a September/October release and will be quickly followed by The Official Guide to Corel VENTURA 6, a detailed work on Corel's upcoming all-in-one SGML publishing suite. Osborne/McGraw-Hill ------------------- Osborne/McGraw-Hill, headquartered in Berkeley, California, is a leading publisher computer books that include tutorials, references, and user guides for people at all levels of computer and software proficiency. Known for its best-selling Internet titles--The Internet Complete Reference and the Internet Yellow Pages--as well as its Made Easy and Complete Reference series, Osborne/McGraw-Hill also has established strategic publishing relationships with Corporate Software, Inc. (now known as Stream International), Oracle Corp., and several well-known McGraw-Hill magazines including LAN Times, and BYTE. A division of McGraw-Hill's Professional Publishing Group, Osborne/McGraw-Hill is targeting consumer support, emerging technologies and innovative applications for developing future computer books Headquartered in New York City, McGraw-Hill, Inc., is one of the world's leading publishing and information services companies, serving global markets in education, business, the professions, industry and government. Revenue for 1994 exceeded $2.7 billion US. Corel Corporation ----------------- Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as an award-winning developer and marketer of PC graphics and SCSI software. CorelDRAW(, Corel's industry-leading graphics software, is available in over 17 languages and has won over 200 international awards from major trade publications. Corel ships its products through a network of more than 160 distributors in 60 countries worldwide. Corel is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: COS) and the NASDAQ--National Market System (symbol: COSFF). All products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. CorelDRAW and CorelPRESS are trademarks of Corel Corporation. Corel is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation. ___________________________________________ > STR InfoFile """""""""""" MUSIC INDUSTRY APPLAUDS MICROSOFT'S SUPPORT FOR ENHANCED MUSIC CD FORMAT Microsoft Continues Leadership Role with Conferences, Tools, New Facility; Microsoft Windows 95 Offers Best Support for Enhanced Music CD REDMOND, Wash., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Music industry artists and executives today praised Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) for its leadership in facilitating rapid completion of the new enhanced music compact disc format (also referred to as CD Plus) for music CDs, which now enables customers to view music videos, photos, lyrics and liner notes when played on PCs that are compatible with the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 operating system. Microsoft has worked closely with the specification's developers -- Philips Electronics Corp. and Sony Corp. -- for the past 12 months and is continuing its strong support of the enhanced music CD format with new conferences, tools and a new interactive music and multimedia facility scheduled to open later this year. Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 95 will be the first operating system with full, integrated support for the enhanced music CD format. "For more than a year, Microsoft has been working closely with Philips and Sony to help ensure that these new initiatives could be exploited by both the technological and creative communities," said Rick Segal, manager of multimedia evangelism, strategic relations at Microsoft. "Microsoft is pleased that its tools and technologies are being well-received by the music industry." "Microsoft has helped us to develop the specification, to test it, and to distribute it to the music industry," said Harry Lakerveld, director of Philips Electronics. "We appreciate its leadership role in helping us to bring together the music and computer industries to make the enhanced music CD format a reality." "It's rare to finalize a specification of such breadth and significance so quickly," said Katsuaki Tsurushima, director of Sony. "Microsoft's support, in the form of software expertise and enthusiasm, has been a clear contributor." Expanded Support Includes New Conference, Facility and Tools Microsoft's continuing support of the enhanced music CD format includes an Interactive Media Conference that the company is hosting in Long Beach, Calif., July 18-20. Participants will learn how to develop for the enhanced music CD format and other new interactive technologies such as The Microsoft Network. Microsoft's planned interactive music and multimedia facility will assist recording companies that develop compact discs based on the enhanced music CD format. The company also is developing software tools for faster and more cost-effective development of enhanced music CD discs. Microsoft has held continuing consultations with Philips and Sony, promoted the enhanced music CD format to the music industry and solicited its feedback, and conducted in-depth discussions of the enhanced music CD format with CD-ROM vendors, OEMs and independent software developers. The company distributed enhanced music CD test discs to hardware manufacturers and provided testing support to help validate that enhanced music CD discs will work with computers and stereos already in the marketplace. Microsoft conducted the first music industry training session for the enhanced music CD format in November 1994. Features of Windows 95 Support Enhanced Music CD Format Microsoft contributed its Windows 95 CD AutoPlay feature to the enhanced music CD format, and the associated AutoRun file (.INF) will be included on every enhanced music CD disc. AutoPlay's AutoRun file contains the information an enhanced music CD disc needs to be played automatically when the user inserts it into a CD-ROM drive. Third-party operating system and application software companies that want to add extensions to the AutoRun file -- to support new platforms or new features -- can do so by registering those extensions with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The enhanced music CD format makes optimal use of a range of advances in Windows 95, including features providing unprecedented ease of use for customers. In addition to AutoPlay, the 32-bit multimedia subsystem and new CD file system in Windows 95 will enable smoother, faster playback of titles. Also, the Plug and Play support in Windows 95 will help make it simple for customers to install and use Plug and Play-compatible CD-ROM drives and related hardware. Windows 95 will also allow the link of enhanced music CD discs to The Microsoft Network to give users the best of both worlds (for example, the ability to get tour dates of the bands online from within the enhanced music CD title). Music Industry Praises Enhanced Music CD Format, Microsoft Role "The enhanced CDs we can create with the enhanced music CD format represent a major new opportunity for the music industry, one that's likely to be at least as significant as the introduction of audio CDs in the 1980s," said Nick Turner at Firstars, which manages Sting, Squeeze, Belinda Carlisle, Alannah Myles, Sky Cries Mary and others. "Microsoft has been incredibly effective in promoting this new technology to the music industry." "The enhanced music CD format enables writers and performers to express themselves in the most comprehensive way imaginable," said Grammy award- winning recording artist Randy Newman. "I never would have imagined what this technology enables one to do. Microsoft has done a tremendous service for those of us who create." "Microsoft has worked with the music industry to surpass the technical hurdles of this new format in order to offer the best solution for music buyers," said Todd Fearn, CEO of REV Entertainment. "Microsoft's support and cooperation has made a big difference in enabling the music industry to adopt the enhanced music CD format so quickly and enthusiastically." REV Entertainment is developing enhanced music CD titles for Warner Music Group, which includes Warner Bros., Atlantic and Elektra. "The enhanced music CD format is a natural merging of two different technologies," said Lars Murray, manager of special projects at Rykodisc. "We are excited about the enhanced music CD format and view this as the next logical step to delivering music to a growing audience." The new enhanced music CD format is based on multisession technology, which solves the "track one" problem that has prevented easy use of CD- ROMs in audio-CD players. Until now, CD-ROM titles have used the first track of a compact disc for data that produced static -- and potential speaker damage -- when played on audio-CD players. Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY 600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to: STReport's Fargo Printout Offer P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please, allow at least a one week turn-around) A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ___ ___ _____ _______ /___| /___| /_____| /_______/ /____|/____| /__/|__| /__/ /_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/ /__/|____/|__|________|__/ /__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____ /__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/ ________________________________________ /_______________________________________/ MAC/APPLE SECTION (II) ====================== John Deegan, Editor (Temp) > LEXMARK Questions & Answers STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" LEXMARK MOST ASKED QUESTIONS ============================ Top 10 Questions - Laser DOS ---------------------------- Q: In WordPerfect, I cannot pull from the envelope feeder or second tray? A: The printer sheet feeder is not set up properly. The sheet feeder can be chosen by : 1.Choose sheetfeeder sh-F7 - Select Printer - Edit - Sheet Feeder 2. Set up forms sh-F8 - Page - Paper Size - Edit formtype - Location Q: In WordPerfect, I am not getting the correct fonts when I print. I have already selected these fonts under sh-Ft - Select Printer - Edit - Cartridge Fonts and they aren't working. A: The fonts listed under this section, both under Cartridge and Soft Fonts should only be chosen if you own the named font cartridge or soft font package and have it installed on the printer or on your computer to be downloaded. If the font is not available, the printer will substitute another font or display a font error. Q: After installing the Lotus driver from the printer toolkit, the printer is still not listed as a choice in the Install program. A: After the initial install is run and the driver files are copied into the Lotus directory, the 4029LOAD.BAT or INSTDRV.BAT (depending on which driver you're using) needs to be run from the Lotus directory to finish the installation. This will add the printers as choices in the Lotus install program. Q: How can PPDS Migration Tool mode be enabled on an Optra printer ? A: There are two ways to do this, depending on your printer code level. 1. Some versions of Optra code will allow you to enable PPDS mode from the printer panel by powering the printer on with the Third and Fourth unmarked buttons depressed. 2. PPDS can also be enabled by using a PJL (Printer Job Language) command \027%-12345X@PJL DEFAULT LPPDS=ON\010 where the \027 refers to the ESCape character (ascii 27) and the \010 refers to a line feed (ascii 10). The carriage return MUST follow the sequence. Q: When printing, all I get is a bunch of hieroglyphics or words like STATUSDICT, ADOBE, etc. A: This is a driver mismatch problem. Make sure the printer driver emulation corresponds to the printer emulation mode, ie using an HP Series II driver for PCL4 mode. Check your printer Quick Reference for checking the operating mode on the printer. Q: When trying to use the printer toolkit, I get the message that SHARE is running and drivers cannot be updated. How can I install drivers? A1: The easiest way would be to rename SHARE.EXE. SHARE is going to be referenced in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file or it may be in your C:\ directory and is being run automatically. If this is the case, rename SHARE.EXE by the command REN SHARE.EXE SHARE.BAK reboot your computer and run the toolkit, then fix share by the commnad REN SHARE.BAK SHARE.EXE and reboot again . A2: Another way is to install the needed drivers manually. The newer toolkits have a file called UNPCKDRV on the driver disks. Run the program to unpack the drivers. There will be a README.1ST file with installation information. Older toolkits have a file called PKUNZJR on the driver disks. To use this you will need to make a temporary directory for each driver (ie MD C:\TMPDRV) and you will need to know the filename containing the driver from the driver disk (most are a little intuitive) and then run the program from the driver disk by "PKUNZJR filename C:\TMPDRV\" where filename is the desired driver file, and C:\TMPDRV\ should be replaced with the name of your temporary directory. The backslash " \ " after the filename is very important. When this is complete, there will be a file called README.1ST with installation information. Q: What driver should I use for my WinWriter 400 or WinWriter 200 when I'm using non-Windows applications? A: Use the HP Series II driver. Both WinWriters fall back to HP Series II compatibity mode when not in Windows. TOP TEN QUESTIONS FOR IMPACT PRINTERS ===================================== How do I set the Top Of Form on My Printer? Top of Form with Continuous Paper (All Models) 1) Begin with no paper in the printer. 2) Place paper in the tractor feeds. Align the left margin with the "[A". 3) Press FormFeed to load the paper. The READY light will be blinking when paper is loaded. 4) Adjust the TOF using the MICRO UP/DN keys. 5) When the desired position is set, press the START/STOP key to save this setting and bring the printer online. The READY light will come on solid. 6) The paper will advance to Tearoff. 7) Adjust the Tearoff position using the MICRO UP/DN keys. 8) When the desired Tearoff position is set, press the START/STOP key twice. The printer will beep twice, reset itself and be ready to print. TOP OF FORM WITH CUT SHEETS (All Models) ---------------------------------------- 1) Insert a piece of cut sheet paper into the manual feed door on the front of the printer. The printer will grab the paper and pull it in. 2) At this point, one of two things will happen: A) READY LIGHT COMES ON SOLID: If this happens, use the MICRO UP/DN keys to move the paper to the desired TOF and press the ALT + SET TOF. The position is saved. B) READY LIGHT IS FLASHING: If this happens, use the MICRO UP/DN keys to move the paper to the desired TOF and press START/STOP. The position is saved. TOP OF FORM USING MACROS (23XX-002 Plus Printers Only) ------------------------------------------------------ MACROS are turned ON in the Setup Menu by selecting Forms Macros Options / Set Default Macro / then choose a Macro as your default (See page 6-7 in the User's Manual). Continuous Forms ---------------- 1) Turn the printer ON. Paper should be placed into the push tractor feed pins and the doors closed and the paper select lever on the front right hand side of the printer should be in the down position. 2) If the READY light is solid, press the START/STOP key to turn it off. 3) Press the MACRO button until the light corresponding to the macro you want to select is lit. 4) Press the START/STOP key. The paper will move back and forth and the READY light will come on solid. 5) Turn the READY light back off by pressing START/STOP again. 6) Press the ALT + FORMFEED key. The paper should back out of the printer and the PAPER OUT light should flash. 7) Follow steps 2-8 in "Top of Form with Continuous Paper" above. 8) If you need to set the top of form in any other macros, return to step 2 in this section. Cut Sheet Forms --------------- 1) Turn the printer ON. The PAPER OUT light should be flashing. 2) Press the MACRO button until the macro you want to adjust top of form is lit. 3) Perform the "Top of Form With Cut Sheets" procedure on previous page. 4) If you need to set the TOF on another macro, follow the procedures again. 2: Presale Information. What are the "speeds and feeds" of the printers? 238X-002 239X-002 Speed 320 cps in FastDraft 233 cps in Fast Draft 270 cps in Draft 210 cps in Draft 67 cps in Near Letter Quality 70 cps in Near Letter Quality Memory 11 KB standard memory 32 KB Standard Print Quality 240 x 144 dpi graphics 360 x 360 dpi graphics Font Selection 4 resident fonts 8 resident fonts 7 resident bar codes 7 resident bar codes Maximum Print Line For the 23X0-002 Printers: 8 inches For the 23X1-002 Printers: 13.6 inches Paper Handling Virtually straight paper path; friction feed; movable push/pull tractors; four bottom/front paper feeds; auto-load assist Warranty -------- Two-year Express or Carry-in warranty. Extended warranty options available. 3: My PPSII Printer's platen knob is broken. How do I get another one? We can mail out a new improved platen knob and instruct them not to use the platen knob when the printer is turned on. We also instruct them on how to set the Top Of Form and Tearoff Positions with the instructions in Question 1. NOTE: The 23XX-002 (or Plus) Printers do not have a knob on the printer. This is due to the printer not needing the knob. The main reason for using the knob on the PPSII Printers is for clearing paper jams, with the printer turned OFF. 4: How do I set the page length on my printer? 23XX-001 The page length can be set up through the Printer Setup Menu for selections of 11 and 12 inches. Other than these two settings, the page length must be set through the application being used. The escape sequence used for setting the page length is: ESC C or ESC C 0. The details for this escape sequence can be found in the User's Reference in the Escape Sequence section under Page Settings. There is also available for these printers, a Variable Forms Length EPROM, which does allow the page length settings to be set from 1 line to 22 inches. The part numbers are as follows: For the 238X-001 Printers: 1180995 For the 239X-001 Printers: 1180997. These can be ordered through the Lexmark Parts Center at 800-553-9727. 23XX-002 The page length can be set up through the Printer Setup Menu for selections of 1 line to 22 inches. The ESC C or ESC C 0 commands can work also from the software, but these printers come standard with this option. 5: When using a multipart form the printer is light on the latter copies ? Check the position of the Forms Thickness Lever. It should be adjusted appropriately for the thickness of the form. Try using an NLQ font instead of a Draft font. Set the printer up for emphasized printing. The printer may need an internal adjustment to allow the Forms Thickness Lever to be adjusted properly. This is called the Printhead Gap Adjustment and will need to be performed by and authorized serviceperson. Some mulitpart forms do not transfer an images easily. 6: Where do you get a ribbon from ? The part number for the ribbon is 1040930. It can be ordered from Lexmark Supplies at 1-800-438-2468. 7: How do I attach my printer serially? The 23XX-00X Printers all use the Same Serial Interface Adapter. The part number is 1368162 and can be ordered from Lexmark Supplies at 1-800-438-2468. The serial interface cable recommended to use with this interface adapter can be ordered through Lexmark Supplies with the following part number: 1180786. 8: My printer is printing light. I just installed a new ribbon. What can I do to fix this? On the ribbon, there is a dial with either 2 or 3 positions. The latter, with 3 positions is an older ribbon with a position for 0, 1, and 2. When the ribbon is installed, the ribbon dial should be set to the 1 position. If the ribbon has 2 positions, the ribbon should be left on the 1 position. In both cases, printing a few pages should let the ribbon cycle through it's reinking process and get a good print. After printing for a period of time, the print may start getting light. Turn the dial to the position 2. Doing this prematurely may cause an over inking of the ribbon and cause smearing. 9: What printer do I select in my application? We have drivers available to send out freely to customers for certain applications. Some drivers that we do have are for the following applications: Windows, WordPerfect, Lotus, Works for DOS, Word for DOS, and more. If there is no driver for this specific printer in the application, the next best driver can be chosen. For the 238X-00X Printers, they want to select a printer in the following order. First, try selecting the top choice and then go down the list. 238X-00X 239X-00X Proprinter III/IIIXL Proprinter X24E/XL24E Proprinter II/IIXL Proprinter X24/XL24 Proprinter I/XL Proprinter I/XL Epson FX 850/1050* Epson LQ 850/1050* *When using the Epson selection, set the printer up in Epson emulation through the Setup Menu. 10: What kind of warranty does my printer have? The PPSII and Plus printers all have a 2 year carry-in or LexExpress warranty. There are both LexExpress and LexOnSite extended warranties available for purchase, while the printer is under warranty. TOP TEN QUESTIONS FROM WINDOWS USERS ==================================== 1. Why do I get an error code 4 displayed in the status window on my IBM 4019 Laserprinter when printing from Windows applications? Version 3.08 of the PPDS driver has a problem with downloading TrueType fonts (this is the version that is contained on the Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11 install diskettes). To check the version of the driver, open the MAIN group, CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS, then click on Setup of the IBM Laserprinter driver. On the Title Bar you will see the title IBM Laserprinter on LPTX, after the title you will see a "v". Following the "v" you will see the version of the PPDS driver. If the version is 3.08, you need to update the driver. The most recent version as of 1/11/95 is 4.41. You can however, turn on TRUE TYPE FONTS AS GRAPHICS in the driver setup, to allow the use of the 3.08 driver until you can update. Another cause of the problem could be that you are selecting optional cartridges or fonts as being installed when they are really not available. To check this scroll up and down the "Optional Cartridges or Fonts" list in the 4019 driver setup window. If you have any selection in that list highlighted and you do not have the card installed at the printer, remove the selection of that card from the list by clicking on that entry once. After you have removed all selections from that list Click on "OK", if you click on Cancel your changes will be lost. You may then Close the PRINTERS window, it may be necessary to exit windows and restart for your changes to take effect. 2. Everytime I print from WordPerfect for Windows to my WinWriter 400/600 it prompts for manual feed, and I have to Click on the Resume Button in the Print Status Window or on the printer operator panel, why? The selected paper definition in WordPerfect may default to manual feed. To change this, click on LAYOUT from the WordPerfect Menu Bar, then select "Page", "Papersize", then highlight the "standard" or "letter" paper definition. Click on "Edit" and select the Paper Location as "Upper Tray" or "Tray 1", then click on "OK", then "Select". The above setup is for letter size paper from Tray 1. 3. I can't print white text on black background from Windows applications when printing to my 4019/4029/4037 printer, why? It displays correctly on my screen, but will only print black on white. To make this work with IBM PPDS drivers in Windows you must select True Type fonts as the text, and you must turn on "True Type fonts as graphics" in the printer driver setup. For the 4037 you also need to make the following changes in the 4037 Driver Setup window: Use Printer Patterns = off Optimize for Performance = off Disable Device fonts = on To get to the printer driver setup open the MAIN group under PROGRAM MANAGER, then open CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS. Then highlight your 4019/4029/4037 driver, then click on SETUP. 4. When I try to print an envelope, from WORD for Windows from my 4019/4029/4039/Optra's envelope feeder, the printer prompts me for a manual envelope, why? You must tell Word that the printer's envelope feeder is installed. Instruction for Word 2.x: From Word's Menu Bar select Tools, Options... Then under category select PRINT. Then place a "X" in the box next to "Printer's envelope feeder installed", click on "OK" Instructions for Word 6.0: From Word's Menu Bar select Tools, Envelopes & Labels... Then click on the Envelopes tab. Click on the Envelope Options, then Click on Printing Options. Now you must select the Paper feed Location as Envelope instead of Manual. 5. When I print from WordPerfect for Windows (5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.0a) to my 4029 the text comes out too large and formatted incorrectly on the page, why? This may be a common problem that can be corrected by changing your software setup. If you are using the Windows PPDS driver version 4.2 or higher the problem may be that you are selecting a print resolution that your printer model doesn't support. (If you have a 4029-5E you can't print 600 DPI) On the printer operator panel press the "MAIN MENU" button until "Menu Settings" is displayed, then press "LIST +", then press "SELECT" to print menu settings page. After the test has printed, inspect the upper right hand corner of the page. It will read "P/N XXXXXX - XXX", t ndicate what firmware code level you have on the printer. If the number is less than 60D the highest print resolution supported in the PPDS mode is 300 DPI. If your printer doesn't support 600 DPI printing in PPDS make sure that you set the default resolution in the Windows driver setup to 300 x 300. And from within WordPerfect set the PRINT QUALITY or GRAPHICS QUALITY to Medium. To set the default graphics quality setting, goto FILE, PREFERENCES, PRINT, GRAPHICS/PRINT QUALITY=MEDIUM. Also, ensure that before you print, the PRINT QUALITY setting under FILE, PRINT is also set to MEDIUM. 6. When printing to my Optra from WordPerfect for Windows using the PCL driver some of my TrueType fonts (ex. Arial and Times New Roman) do not space out correctly on the screen and the print may run off of the page, why? There seems to be a conflict with WordPerfect for Windows and the PCL driver version 94.10.20. To work around goto the MAIN group, CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS, highlight the Optra R/Rx/L/Lx and then click on Setup. Next click on OPTIONS, ADVANCED, take the "X" out of the box next to "SCREEN FONT SUBSTITUTION". An updated version of the driver should be available soon. 7. When I print to my printer from any Windows application, my printer will go BUSY then WAITING, then back to BUSY. And a lot of times it will print out garbage, why? This is a very general question, but what might be the cause of this is the setting for "Fast printing direct to port" under the "CONNECT" window under "PRINTERS". This setting can cause problems on some computers. It may also be necessary to turn this setting off under the Lexmark/IBM printer driver "SETUP" window. The above suggestions assume that you are using the correct printer driver, and that you have a good local (not network) connection to your printer. 8. After installing my Optra or 4039 Plus machine, Windows trys to start but will lock up, why? This may be a IRQ conflict, it is best to have IRQ 7 servicing LPT1. If you have a Sound Card it may be assigned to IRQ 7, try a differenct IRQ for the sound card ( ex. IRQ5 or IRQ10). You may also adjust your DMA settings for your sound card to see if this helps. 9. The 4019/4029/4037 Windows drivers have been updated to version 4.41,4.41, and 1.41 respectively. Following is a list of known problems that they fix: a) Eliminates the "Invalid TrueType Font" error when first starting WordPerfect 6.0 or 6.0a. b) CorelDraw 5.0 will now maintain the print resolution setting when it is changed in Corel. c) Random incorrectly spaced characters when printed from Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0. 10. The WinWriter 600 has a bug in the machine code in certain conditions when printing envelopes. If a customer is using one of the word processors such as Word or Wordperfect, they may choose to print an envelope and a letter in the same print job. (this also may be done when printing mail merge jobs). When envelopes and letters are selected to print together, the envelope will come out either upside down or blank. There is a code release in the works to fix this, but it will not be completed until February. The current work around is to print the envelope and letter separately. This problem does not occur with the WinWriter 100, 200, or 400. Top Questions on the Macintosh ============================== 1. Question: How do I connect my Lexmark Laserprinter to my Powermac? Answer: The 4019 and 4029 printers require a third party connecting device. (Contact Lexmark Technical Support at 606-232-3000 for a list of companies.) To connect the 4039 or Optra printers, an Internal Network Adapter (INA) must be installed in the printer. The INA can either be LocalTalk, EtherTalk, or TokenTalk, depending on the type of network connection needed. These INA cards can be purchased through Lexmark Supplies (800-438-2468). The Laserwriter 8 driver along with the appropriate PPDs are shipped with the INA card. You must use this Laserwriter 8 driver when using a powermac. 2. Question: Can I connect the Lexmark Execjet IIC to my mac? Answer: We do not provide a direct connection to the mac for this printer. To connect this printer to the mac, you must go through a third party company. Contact Lexmark Technical Support at 606-232-3000 for a list of companies. 3. Question: How do I install the Laserwriter 8 driver? Answer: The driver that is sent out basically installs itself. Prior to installing the driver, it is best to start your mac with the inits off. To do this, hold in the shift key while starting up your computer. Once you have done this, you can double click on the US Installer and it will ask you to if you want to full install or just the PPDs. If you have Laserwriter 8 installed already, click on "Just the PPDs". Otherwise, do a full install. The driver will install itself into the extensions folder within the system folder. Once it has installed, you can select this driver through the Chooser. After going into the Chooser and selecting Laserwriter 8, you should see your printer appear on the right hand side. Click on your printer and go into "Setup". From here you can either do an "Auto Setup" or you can set this up manually. If you decide to manually set this up, you first need to go into Select PPD. You should see the name of your printer here. Click Select after highlighting the PPD. Then go into "Configure" (you also need to do this even if you choose "Auto Setup"). Here you can tell the mac the options you have on your printer, such as memory or optional paper trays. After setting this up, you need to go into "Printer Info" and update the information. This will bring you back information about your printer, such as memory installed, printer resolution and the correct PPD that should be used. After doing this, you need to get out of the setup and be back at the Chooser. You also need to turn off Background Printing because the print monitor can cause problems such as running out of memory or losing data. 4. Question: Why is it that when I try to choose the second drawer or feeder it is grayed out? Answer: This is because the printer in the Chooser was not configured properly. When using Laserwriter 8, you need to select the printer and go into "Setup". Once you enter this, you will either see the option for More Choices or Select PPD. The first thing you need to do is select the correct PPD. Once you have done this, you need to go into configure and tell the mac what options are installed in the printer. This is where you can tell the mac that you have a second drawer, feeder, or any extra memory that may be installed. After doing this, you should go into Printer Info and update the information about the printer. After exiting Setup, you should also turn off Background Printing. After doing this, you will have the driver setup correctly in the Chooser. 5. Question: What is Markvision for the Mac and what can I do with it? Answer: Markvision is a utility that will allow you to view and monitor the status of printers. It has tools that will allow you to change the name of the printer, display and print fonts, download fonts and Postscript files, get the page count, set configurations, and use a remote op-panel. The remote op-panel will actually let you control the op-panel on the printer from the mac. You can then check or change the settings of the printer without ever having to move from your mac. If your printer supports the Network Printing Alliance Protocol (NPAP), two-way communication between a printer and a computer is available. You can access a dialog box that will allow you too see a picture of the printer, the options installed, the remote op-panel, panel configuration, and any printer information. The printer pictures allow you to tell at a glance" if your printer needs to be checked, such as when the cover is open. If your printer does not support NPAP, you will not be able to use the remote op-panel and set configuration tools. Also, if you are running LocalTalk you will not be able to use these functions since LocalTalk does not support NPAP. Markvision for the Mac comes with the INA cards or you can contact the Lexmark Technical Support. 6. Question: Where can I get the latest printer driver, ppd, Quark pdf, or System 7.5 GX driver for the mac? Answer: You can download these files from the Lexmark Bulletin Board System at 606-232-5238. You can also get these files through the Lexmark Forum on Compuserve. If you have problems, you can contact the Lexmark Technical Support Center at 606-232-3000. 7. Question: I think I have the latest driver and ppd for the Optra, but I still cannot choose 1200 dpi from Freehand? Answer: When the first ppd for the Optra was released, it did not have the correct information to achieve 1200 dpi. Freehand looks at a specific section of the ppd for this feature. The ppd has been edited and we currently have the correct settings to achieve this. The INA's that are being sent out now are shipped with the latest ppd. Any INA's that could have been in stock before the release of this revision may still have this problem. You can get the latest ppd from Lexmark BBS, Compuserve or you can contact Lexmark Technical Support at 606-232-3000. 8. Question: What is the lpi setting or screen frequency for 1200 dpi and the corresponding level of gray for the Optra? Answer: The screen frequency for 1200 dpi is set at 106 lpi. This will give you 129 levels of grays. You can also achieve 129 levels of gray through 600 dpi. This is done by turning on Picturegrade through the printer control panel. This will give the appearance of 106 lpi screen frequency. If you are having trouble changing the screen frequency in 600 dpi, you need to check and see if picturegrade is turned on. When it is turned on, it "locks" the printer to the setting of 106 lpi. 9. Question: When printing from Illustrator on the IBM Color Jetprinter PS4079, I am getting poor print quality when doing gradients? Answer: You need to be using Laserwriter 8 with the 4079 PPD. If you do not have this, you can get this through Lexmark BBS, Compuserve, or Lexmark Technical Support. If you are using Illustrator 5.0, make sure under Document Setup that the "Output Resolution" is set to 360 dpi and that the "Use printer's default screen" box is checked. This is required in order to utilize the 4079's enhanced screening. Illustrator is optimized for printing to Postscript level 2 printers, which can cause some problems when printing to the 4079 (this is a Postscript level 1 device). If you are still having problems printing gradient fills, then you need to upgrade your application to Illustrator 5.5. In Illustrator 5.5, there is an option under File/ Document Setup menu to check the "Compatible gradient printing" box. If the file still fails to print, check the "Split long paths" box. These two options simplify the Postscript code being sent to the printer, ensuring that all your jobs will print. However, they will increase the print time, so only turn them on when necessary. (The Lexmark Technical Support Center has more information on getting the best quality from the IBM Color Jetprinter PS4079. Contact Lexmark at 606-232-3000 for further information.) 10. Question: I am printing okay, but my fonts are printing with jagged edges. Answer: Print the fonts directory of the printer to see if the font is installed on the printer, then check to make sure that the needed fonts are installed correctly on the Mac. The fonts must be installed and placed correctly to be downloaded to the printer. For System 6, the fonts should be located in the System resources in the System folder. For System 7.0 or 7.01, the fonts are located in the System Suitcase in the System Folder. The fonts are found in the Fonts folder in the System Folder for System 7.1. It is also possible that the selected download font is corrupt. This problem applies to all printers. If the font is a screen font, it will print with jagged edges. If the font is a TrueType or ATM Type 1, the font file itself may be damaged. Try removing it from the System Folder (this is important, as the Mac may not overwrite system files) and then reinstalling the font file with an original font file. If the font is an ATM Type 1, check the ATM version that is currently being used. This can be found under the Control Panel. Click on ATM and then File, Get Info. ATM Version 3.5 or above is required to download fonts with System 7.1. 11. Question: I have my printer connected to the LocalTalk network, but it is not showing up in the Chooser. Why not? Answer: There are several primary causes: 1) The wrong Network is selected under the Control Panels. For example, if the printer is connected to the LocalTalk network and the Mac is set for TokenTalk under Network, then the printer will not show up until the computer is set for LocalTalk. 2) For LocalTalk, verify that the printer cable is connected to the correct port. The Modem port is a serial 8 pin that is physically identical to the printer port. The printer port has a printer icon above it and the modem port has a phone icon above the connector. 3) The printer is turned off. LocalTalk devices won't show up in the Chooser unless they are turned on. 4) Farallon PhoneNet (LocalTalk) cables are being used, some of which are not properly terminated. PhoneNet products require that the end of the cable run be terminated with a resistor. If they are not terminated properly, LaserWriter devices may not be able to broadcast a signal strong enough to be transmitted to the Mac (i.e. they won't show up in the Chooser). Other possibilities include downlevel printer microcode, faulty printer or computer printing ports, or shorted/open network cables. The 4079 Color Jetprinter, microcode version 250.00, won't allow the printer to show up when going across a router. These early-release 4079s were also released with controller boards (system boards) that did not broadcast a signal strong enough to show up in the Chooser over Farallon PhoneNet. To determine the microcode level, press Main Menu twice, List + twice, then Select twice to print the test page. "Software Version" gives the code level. Lastly, the Apple system peripheral-8 cable will not work reliably with LocalTalk devices; this is an 8-pin to 8-pin straight cable. It is actually made for the StyleWriter printer, not a LocalTalk device. Also make sure that AppleTalk is active under the Chooser; this is how the Macintosh queries the printer. 12. Question: I was trying to print a document on the 4079 and the output looked okay but lines (or dots) were missing from the characters. Why? Answer: First see if the following or subsequent outputs also print with the horizontal voids through the characters. If they do, then the problem may lie in one of the four print heads being clogged. Run a "Long Clean" cycle to fix the problem. "Long Clean" is under the Test menu. Press Main menu twice, Select once, list + until Long Clean is displayed, then press Select. If two of these Long Cleans do not remedy the problem, then the print head may have to be replaced. It is also possible to run the Print Sample under the Clean Heads menu to see which print head is failing. The 4079 has a one year on-site warranty, so if the printer is less than a year old, call IBM service at 800-IBM-SERV (800-426-7378). The Lexmark Technical Support Center can be contacted at 606-232-3000. Lexmark Parts can be contacted at 800-553-9727. Lexmark Supplies can be contacted at 800-438-2468. ______________________________________________ > PARENTAL LOCKOUT CONTROL? STR Spotlight """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" LEADING INTERNET SOFTWARE COMPANIES ANNOUNCE PLAN TO ENABLE PARENTS TO LOCKOUT ACCESS TO MATERIALS INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN Three leading Internet software companies announced plans today to lead an industry-wide effort to create and implement standards that will enable parents, educators, and other adults to "lock out" access to inappropriate materials. The companies are: Microsoft Corporation; Netscape Communications, makers of the popular Netscape Navigator software; and Progressive Networks, makers of the RealAudio Audio-on-Demand system for the Internet. The joint effort, called the Information Highway Parental Empowerment Group, is focused on implementing an effective and easy-to-use system designed to meet the following goals: 1. The system would enable parents to ensure that their children do not unwittingly gain access to materials that the parent would deem inappropriate; 2. The system would make it easy for both content providers and third party rating services to characterize Internet content using whatever criteria they deemed appropriate; 3. The system could be implemented efficiently and would be designed in such a way that maximizes the likelihood that it will quickly become a standard part of Internet access systems "Clearly, as the Internet has grown, it's become increasingly important to give parents and educators the ability to control what children under their supervision can see and hear on the Net," said Mike Homer, Vice President of Marketing for Netscape Communications. "Fortunately, advances in software technology will soon make it possible for us to design easy-to-use parental filtering capabilities directly into Netscape software. We look forward to working with the industry to ensure that these capabilities become pervasive." "Microsoft thinks it's very important to help parents make the Internet a safe place for their children," said John Ludwig, General Manager, Personal Systems Division, at Microsoft. "We intend to play a leading role in ensuring that this happens. Moreover, we remain committed to enabling parents to use the Microsoft Network, from the day it ships, in a way that is family-friendly." The three founders of the Information Highway Parental Empowerment Group invite other industry companies to join their effort. The Group has agreed to issue a report by December 31st, 1995 which will analyze the myriad issues associated with integrating Parental lock-out capabilities into Internet access software and provide concrete recommendations. The members of the study group anticipate being able to incorporate the recommendations into their software products during 1996. "As the Internet becomes a multimedia place, the social issues associated with access to Internet programming become more important and more complicated," said Rob Glaser, President and CEO of Progressive Networks and chair of the study group. "We hope to move as quickly as possible to make our way through the issues so that we can come up with a stable and reliable technical solution to the legitimate issues that have been raised." ___________________________________________________________ > NetScape for Win'95 STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" NETSCAPE UNVEILS WINDOWS 95 VERSION OF NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR VERSION 1.2 BETA, AVAILABLE NOW ON THE INTERNET, IS AMOUNG FIRST BROWSERS TO INTEGRATE WINDOWS 95 FEATURES MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. (06/20/95)- Netscape Communications Corporation today announced Netscape Navigator 1.2, a version of its popular network browser designed for the new Microsoft Windows 95 operating environment. The beta version of Netscape Navigator 1.2 is available immediately for downloading from Netscape's home page for educational and charitable non-profit use and for evaluation by commercial users. The 1.2 version will be one of the first Internet browsers to integrate the Windows 95 user interface and advanced features. Netscape Navigator for Windows 95 builds on the success of the original Netscape Navigator, which currently accounts for more than 75 percent of browser traffic on the Internet, according to statistics from popular Web sites. "We designed Netscape Navigator 1.2 specifically for Win'95 to provide the best possible performance, ease of use, and integration for PC users taking advantage of this new operating environment," said Mike Homer, Vice President of marketing at Netscape Communications. "By incorporating user interface and other enhancements, Netscape Navigator 1.2 will makes it easy for Windows 95 users to experience the full breadth of Internet commerce and enterprise applications." The 1.2 version of Netscape Navigator now available on the Internet is a public beta version, enabling users to provide feedback on the software's features and functionality for Win'95. Netscape Navigator 1.2 also runs with Microsoft Windows 3.1, preparing users to upgrade to Win'95. This first beta version does not contain all of the features that will be available in the final version. As with the 1.1 release, Netscape will place the final version of Netscape Navigator 1.2, due out in September on the Internet for free downloading by students and staff in education and charitable non-profit organizations, and for free evaluation by individuals and commercial organizations. Available for all popular desktop environments, Netscape Navigator is a powerful commercial browser for the Internet, offering high-performance and secure point-and-click network navigation. It is optimized to run smoothly over 14.4 kilobit/second modems as well as higher bandwidth lines, delivering performance up to ten times that of other network browsers. Netscape Navigator provides a common feature set and graphical user interface across computers running the Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, or X Window System operating environments. The final version of Netscape Navigator 1.2 will include new features such as: * Windows 95 interface support including: Drag-and-drop URLs Support for Windows 95 native dialog boxes such as "Save" and "Print" * Windows 95 feature integration including Internet Shortcuts, which enable users to create icons to represent Internet URLs. When a shortcut is double-clicked, Netscape Navigator launches to display the URL. Shortcuts can be placed on the desktop or inside folders and directories, or can be embedded as mail objects. * Enhanced Bookmarks interface that provides drag and drop capabilities within a hierarchical folder-based interface. The interface will make it even easier for users to create and maintain a directory of their favorite Internet sites. * New interface for FTP downloads that provides increased feedback to users. The beta version of Netscape Navigator 1.2, available for Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, can be obtained via anonymous FTP from ftp.netscape.com. Users who download the software do so for evaluation use only. When the final release is available, users can purchase supported, licensed copies of Netscape Navigator directly from Netscape Communications or from a Netscape authorized reseller. Pricing starts at $39 per user, which includes a 90-day warranty and customer support. Volume discounts are available for multiple user licenses. Users who have purchased Netscape Navigator 1.1 or Netscape Navigator Personal Edition within the last 90 days are automatically licensed for full use of the 1.2 update, and can download it from the net when the final version becomes available. Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software to enable people and companies to exchange information and conduct commerce over the Internet and other global networks. The company was founded in April 1994 by Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., a Fortune 500 computer systems company; and Marc Andreessen, creator of the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California. __________________________________________ > Personal NetScape STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" NETSCAPE UNVEILS NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR PERSONAL EDITION TEAMS WITH NATIONAL INTERNET PROVIDERS TO BRING PC USERS CHOICE FOR RELIABLE, LOW-COST WEB AND EMAIL ACCESS MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ca. (06/05/95) -- Netscape Communications Corporation today announced Netscape Navigatorü Personal Edition, a new edition of the world's most popular browser software that gives PC users one button access to the Internet. As part of its new product offering, Netscape has teamed with leading national Internet service providers (ISPs) including MCI Communications Corporation, NETCOM OnLine Communications Services, Portal Information Network, and UUNET Technologies, Inc. to ensure that Personal Edition users in homes and small businesses can choose more easily than ever before the most reliable and lowest cost Internet access. Personal Edition includes the full capabilities of the original LAN Edition of Netscape Navigator, which today accounts for more than 75 percent of browser traffic on the Internet. The new product combines the rich features of the recently released Netscape Navigator 1.1, full email capabilities using Eudora Lightü from QUALCOMM Inc., easy net access, and remote connectivity capabilities to give users a complete dialup Internet solution. "Netscape Navigator Personal Edition delivers the dynamic world of the Internet to anyone with a PC and modem," said Marc Andreessen, co-founder and vice president of technology at Netscape. "By combining the world's most popular browser with easy signup, a choice of Internet providers and Eudora email capabilities, Personal Edition lets individuals easily explore media-rich Internet communications and commerce with the best online rates, reliability, and support available." Netscape has partnered with a number of leading Internet service providers to enable users to select the rates and services that best meets their needs. When first installed on a PC, Personal Edition's Registration Wizard presents a short series of one-button online forms that guide users through the installation process. Personal Edition connects to Netscape's hypermedia listing of available ISPs, including UUNET, Portal, NETCOM, and MCI. After users browse through the choices and select one, the software sets up an account with the chosen provider immediately and automatically. From then on, Netscape Navigator Personal Edition dials the service provider directly when launched. Included in Personal Edition, Netscape Navigator 1.1 is a powerful commercial browser for the Internet, offering high-performance and point-and-click network navigation. It is optimized to run smoothly over 14.4 kilobit/second modems as well as higher bandwidth lines, delivering performance up to ten times that of other Internet browsers. Netscape Navigator 1.1 delivers: * Ease of use, including a friendly graphical user interface and pop-up menus for context- sensitive access to advanced features * High performance, through such features as multiple simultaneous loading of text and images, continuous document streaming, and native GIF and JPEG image decompression * Support for World Wide Web and Internet standards including HTTP, FTP, Gopher, SMTP and NNTP (news) * Integrated security, through the Secure Sockets Layer open protocol. SSL provides encryption, which creates a secured channel to prevent others from tapping into the network; authentication, which uses certificates and digital signatures to verify the identity of parties in information exchanges and transactions; and message integrity, which ensures that messages cannot be altered en route * Advanced features, such as support for full HTML 3.0 tables and backdrops for more visually compelling pages; MIME-compliant news reading and posting for multimedia articles; and the Netscape Client Application Programming Interface for easy integration of third-party applications. In addition, Netscape Navigator Personal Edition includes: * Eudora Light email from QUALCOMM, which enables users to send and receive email; create a personal address book and distribution lists; attach files including graphics and sound, and read and create email offline to reduce access charges * Network TeleSystems protocol software for TCP/IP connectivity to the Internet * ShivaPPP client software from Shiva Corporation that provides users with high performance, reliable remote-access connectivity. "I was afraid of accessing the Internet because I heard it was expensive to find an ISP and to hook everything together, but Netscape Navigator Personal Edition created an instant gateway to the Internet at a great price," said Seth Tabb, an early user of the product. "It's so easy that it took me just a few minutes to install on my computer. With Netscape Navigator, I have no trouble finding information and I've discovered a lot more uses for the Internet than I ever imagined." "I'm not a computer-literate person, and it wasn't until I loaded Netscape Navigator Personal Edition that I realized how unbelievably exciting the World Wide Web is," said Mark Casebeer, manager of systems design for Pro Home Systems. "Suddenly, the Web was very easy to navigate. Netscape Navigator Personal Edition is truly point and click and the interface is fantastic. I'm sold on this product." "I'm extremely impressed with Netscape Navigator Personal Edition because the software installed and configured everything for me," said Dave Schwietz, a partner with Select Consulting. "All I needed to do was put in the disks and I was off and running. Netscape Navigator Personal Edition is the type of product that's going to bring the Internet to the mass market because it requires no technical expertise to use." Netscape Navigator Personal Edition for Microsoft Windows is available through retail outlets, through Netscape's online store on the Netscape home page, from Netscape reseller and OEM partners, or directly from Netscape. The estimated selling price is $39.95, which includes a 90-day warranty and customer support. Netscape Navigator Personal Edition requires at least a 386sx PC, a 14.4 kilobit/second modem, Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11, a recommended 8 MB of RAM, and 6 MB of hard disk space. Netscape Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software to enable people and companies to exchange information and conduct commerce over the Internet and other global networks. The company was founded in April 1994 by Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, Inc., a Fortune 500 computer systems company; and Marc Andreessen, creator of the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Netscape Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California. Find out more about Netscape at info@netscape.com, or call 415/528-2555. Copyright 1995 Netscape Communications Corporation ______________________________________________ > STR Mail Call "...a place for our readers to be heard" """"""""""""" STReport's MAILBAG """""""""""""""""" Messages * NOT EDITED * for content ----------------------------------- ----------------------- Date: 06-18-95 MSG.. # 188 From: DOWDLE Conf: (0) New Mail To: RMARIANO Stat: InetMail Subj: STR & Microsoft? Read: Yes ----------------------- Hello from Great Falls, Montana! I have enjoyed your magazine for some time... but it is beginning to disgust me more and more with each issue. As I see you turn into a spokes-person for Microsoft. No, I'm not an OS/2 flunkey. I do however, have quite a few friends who run OS/2 and love it. Why you dislike OS/2 is beyond me. I mean it works well for many people and just because it has a few people that are over-zealous enough to try and trash Win95 doesn't mean that the product (OS/2) is bad. I'll tell you an OS that blows both OS/2 and Win95 away... and this OS is completely free. Including source code and programming languages. Linux is a fantastic Unix clone/compatible OS for the Intel based machines and it's also being ported to several other platforms. Including the Amiga, the Atari Falcon, the Macintosh, the MIPS, the DEC Alpha, and the PowerPC. On the Intel machines it is a mature product and can be obtained freely via the Internet. Although commercial CD-ROM collections of various Linux distributions make things easier on the end-user. Unix is a REAL operating system that multitasks and is multiuser. It also has a fantastic GUI based windows server called Xwindows. Linux is considered by many to be the best Unix implementation on the Intel based machines. Yes, even better than the $1,500 commercial flavors. Linux was born in late 1991 and over the past few years has really grown and developed. As of late 1994, it became a mature OS with mainstream possibility. Linux USED to be just for hackers (using the good connotation, but now more USERS are using it than hackers. The only thing making it less mainstream than Microsoft products or IBM products is the fact that it's free and relies on the Internet for most of it's distribution. One cannot simply go into a local Software Etc. and pick up Unix software. Which doesn't matter a bit since most anything Unix wise is free on the network. I'd like to see a Linux column (or even a generic Unix column) added to STR. Press Releases like those from Red Hat Software and Caldera Corp. would really get more exposure in STR than not. RHS has the best "plug and play" distribution and Caldera is an offshoot of Novell that is making Caldera: Network Desktop for Internet Access. Linux is the first truly OPEN SYSTEM. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the Free Software Foundation or Richard Stillman. The FSF is responsible for hundreds of software tools that are freely distributed under the GNU (GNU Not Unix) name, including GNU C and G++, and the platform independent EMACS. The FSF is working on an OS called HURD. They have been working on it for years. However, in the mean time, they are assembling their own Linux distribution called the Debian Distribution. If you are new to Linux info, then you'll not know what a "distribution" is nor why it is significant that the FSF is working on their official Linux distribution. Linux brings back, for most people, the early days of computing when information and software wasn't such a heavy commercial market. A time when programming was an interest of the general home computer owner. A time when efficient and optimized software was in vogue. Please.. get some info on Linux!!! Regarding legal actions by the federal government against Microsoft. Regardless of how you want to paint the government as evil in this matter. Microsoft has a long history of unethical business practices. You have probably heard about many of them. Some of them have appeared in the pages of STR. Since Microsoft basically sold a copy of MS-DOS and MS Windows with every new clone sold, they weren't motivated to optimize it. In fact, the more system resources it took up the better because people were more apt to buy a new and faster machine. Thus, resulting another sale of Microsoft products. Computer makers just don't sell machines without an OS. Most of them were/are bound to buy a copy of MS-DOS and MS Windows with every machine they assemble. Every CPU they buy. No other OS maker has a chance really. IBM is giving it a go. There has always been Unix vendors on various platforms. Some people feel (I'm not sure if I agree or not) that whatever product Microsoft comes out with in the OS area will be the only thing mainstream available in five years. Except of course, Linux. Linux doesn't have to compete for sales because it isn't for sale. Microsoft rarely ever innovates. They remain on top because of four reasons: 1) They buy out the companies that do innovate. 2) They license things from innovators. 3) They set their factory programmers to work cloning and improving on someone else's ideas. 4) They blatantly rip off the innovators by stealing binary ideas because the other methods didn't work. One thing Microsoft DOES innovate and excel in like no other company is business deals, crushing the competition and marketing practices. Since you came from the Atari platform, it's plain that Atari's lack of marketing skills made you appreciate Microsoft's savvy in marketing. Don't let supreme greed trick you. Bill Gates reportedly controls over $11 billion in assets. You seem to feel this is an expression of attaining the American Dream. To be in control of that much wealth is immoral in my opinion. The American Dream isn't to be the richest man in America. It's to be comfortable and happy with a healthy family. Its not worrying about such things as security of oneself and family members due to the great lure of wealth to kidnappers. I'm not sure if I've expressed my opinions and feelings on the above in a presentable way. I tried my best. Although my goal of sending this E-mail to you isn't to sway you with dogma, I would appreciate if you could at least take my "soapbox-ish" E-mail into consideration. Microsoft virtually controls the personal computer industry. Now, Bill wants to move on to other industries. When is he going to exhaust his over abundant greed? Bill Gates claims that there is so much more that he wants to "make happen". He also states he will eventually give 95% of his personal wealth away. Yeah, it'll happen. :) Because of your journalistic contacts you must might be able to answer the following question. Ask any run-of-the-mill PC user and see what you come up with! Can you name any programmer responsible for bringing us MS-DOS and/or MS Windows? I can't. I've been around PCS since 1982. Apple has a little friendlier track record. But factory programming and corporate ownership of team code seems like a less than "better way". Type You Later, Scott Dowdle Great Falls, Montana p.s. Sorry about the typos and bad wordings that you'll have to figure out above... but I wrote it online! : Editor Reply; ------------- Mr. Dowdle, I appreciate your frank input, taking time to write your letter and finally for putting so much thought into your missive. One thing we certainly do not want to do is disgust you. However, to avoid such at any price would be too high a price to pay. Therefore I am left with one thing to do and that is to try to explain our position. Hopefully, our explanation will not disgust you. It doesn't take an OS/2 "flunky" to TRASH Win'95 or anything else these clowns decide to pounce upon. All it takes is a narrow minded zealot with horse blinders on. Please, draw a mental picture of this abomination of a computer user. For their own minuscule reasons, they'd eliminate entirely what others enjoy simply because they do not enjoy the same things. Now, you can see why, in all probabilities, its not simply an OS/2 user. What we have found is its usually the type person that nearly expired their total thought processes learning what little they have where they are and at the same time, deeply fear having to learn to use another OS. Our position is such because of our origins you factually mention. While an Atarian, it was terrifying to watch the pinheaded brownies apologizing away Atari blunder after blunder as we all watched the ST die a slow and agonizing death. Anytime we see the same types of bimbos surface yapping away at the moon or whatever, all the alarms go off at the same time. I agree with you completely about Linux and as such, throw down, to you, the Gauntlet. We need a competent individual to write a weekly column about Unix, Linux and Xwindows. How about it?? Now then, as far as Microsoft and Bill Gates are concerned. We shall have to agree to disagree. The American Dream is total success, not settling for something close that everyone finds agreeable. It is sheer victory over all adversaries and the achievement of total unmitigated success. Gates has proven that this is still achievable in the USA. He (Gates) and the entire Microsoft Crew have also proven beyond a doubt that the people in the USA and their technological capabilities still have "what it takes" to be a winner. I am weary of seeing the USA being told it has to take a back seat to this country or that country. Its not true, it never was true and as far as I can see, never will be true. At least in my lifetime. I don't know about anyone else, but I am sick and tired of reading, hearing and seeing commentators extolling the wonders of education in other nations and how it is so superior to ours. Sure, maybe is the case on the surface, but at least we (USA) are not raising generation after generation of fanatically obedient educated young people. Bill Gates, like most anyone else with a dream to fulfill while in possesion of obvious success, does not see the end in sight because he has yet to fulfill that dream. J. Pierpont Morgan, Averell Harriman, John D. Rockefeller, Armand Hammer, Aristotle Onassis, to name only a few, all had a vision, a dream if you will. A dream they were only capable of pursuing after having achieved financial success and independence. The problem, as I see it, is there are those in high places who literally fear the power Gates may amass and therefore are trying desperately to whip him and Microsoft into assuming a much less visible role in the worldwide scheme of things both current and to come. Not to mention the enactment of legislation effectively slowing of, if not stopping, Microsoft's growth in certain specific areas. I also believe that those in high places would attempt to do the very same things to any entity approaching such levels of power and influence. The real problems facing mankind cannot be addressed by any ordinary man. He simply does not have the resources to do so. In the next dozen or so decades, the manner in which mankind lives life is going to change dramatically. Radically in some folks eyes. The shame of it all is there are far too many individuals today who lack the ability to even slightly envision what living life will be like say, fifty to one hundred years from now. The changes are already, albeit slowly, beginning to take place. Unfortunately, the basic human trait of "fighting change" is quite a challenge to overcome. To Bill Gates and Microsoft... I wish continued success in their every endeavor. Every time Gates wins.. Thousands of families all over the world gain more independence and greater financial security. Free Enterprise is the only way as far as I am concerned. The answer to your question is no, but then.. you knew that would be the answer. I, however, offer this thought; Those products like many other superb American products are brought about by excellent teamwork. This is Microsoft's way. It's not unique though, you'll easily find teamwork in use in most every successfull enterprise. Scott, once again thanks for reading our humble offering and sending along your viewpoints. It is greatly appreciated. I do hope you take us up on our offer. Ralph... ********************************************************************** ATARI/JAG SECTION (III) ======================= Dana Jacobson, Editor > From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""""""""" I've been daydreaming lately - it's been awhile since I've had a real vacation; and it starts TODAY! I'll be "off" for a couple of weeks relaxing, doing a little reading, soaking up some sun, and making a few day-trips to visit friends and cool beaches somewhere in Maine. Don't worry though, we'll still be working here at getting out our Atari coverage! There's a really lot of news and information in this week's issue, so I'm not going to drag out my comments this week. Hopefully, I'll be writing next week's edition on my new Falcon (yep, I ordered it and it's on the way!). Until next time... ____________________________________________ Delphi's Atari Advantage! TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (6/21/95) (1) SEAWOLF ARCADE GAME (6) GHOST LINK 1.02 BETA (2) PICTURE FILE BROWSER 1.0A *(7) SUBSTATION NORTH AMERICAN DEMO (3) MUNSIE VIDEO NEWSLETTER (8) SQUARE OFF *(4) DUNGEON4.ASC *(9) RUFTRADE GERMAN TO ENGLISH (5) PSST! 1.0 *(10) BREAK * = 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 11.24 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE (Current issue: AEO: JAGUAR EDITION 3) Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database. ________________________________________ > Expose! STR InfoFile! - News on Expose/Titan Design Products """"""""""""""""""""" EXPOSE Expose, the true colour, real-time video digitiser for the Falcon, is expected to be ready by mid to end of June. Full production had been delayed due to the many improvements that have now been implemented to the RGB Splitter. The Splitter now includes full control over brightness, contrast and colour, compatibility with PAL, NTSC, composite and S-Video inputs and adjustment for sync and NTSC hue. Included in the package is FalCAM, a GEM ACCessory for viewing live video from within GEM based programs, and a demonstration program called Videobox which allows the live video to be texture mapped onto the surfaces of a cube. The cube can then be rotated and zoomed, while digitising, in real-time. See below for more details on FalCAM Tripod. Expose is also bundled with APEX Media for only L369, which represents a L50 saving. Provision is also made for existing APEX users to take advantage of the L50 discount, bringing the price of Expose down to L249 although the original APEX Install Disk and Registration Card must be forwarded to take advantage of this offer and to permit their copy of APEX to be upgraded. FALCAM TRIPOD Over the past couple of days we have thrashing out the specification for FalCAM Tripod. This stand-alone program now replaces the original idea of supplying an enhanced version of APEX due to the memory problems associated with hi-res, 24-bit images. FalCAM Tripod will be an executable program having variable exposure and image resolution settings, along with options to save JPEG, GIF, TGA or PPM file formats. Conversion between these file formats will be possible with variable adjustments to optimise the image. The live video image will always be present within the program so that 'Tripod' is best run using a 256- or true-colour video mode, although in practice any video mode can be used. The live video image also permits final positioning of the camera to compose the image prior to digitising. Because of the way in which the program operates, 'Tripod' is intended for capturing still images and is best used with rostrum cameras or VCRs with perfect freeze frame - hence the name 'Tripod'! BRIEF SUMMARY: Capture size: 768x576 (PAL broadcast) 384x288 (quarter size PAL) Bit planes: 24-bit File support: JPEG, GIF, TGA, PPM Please note that the exact specification is subject to change. We would nevertheless be interested in feedback as to other enhancements that could be included. The request for 1024x768 capture may be popular but this means reserving in excess of 2.3MB to retain the image in memory and APEX on a 4MB Falcon would not then be able to load it! It is possible that 'Tripod' will not be ready when Expose starts shipping, though it is envisioned that the development time-scale will be quite short. Customers who purchase Expose in the meantime will be sent 'Tripod' automatically when it becomes available. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ APEX UPGRADE Following is the history of changes made to APEX since the original v2.0 release. Apart from fixing some minor buglettes (small bugs which nobody seems to have reported :-)), there are some additional features to enhance the software. If anyone requires updating to V2.12 then they must return the original APEX Install disk and Registration Card (unless already done so). 17/05/95 Apex Animator bug fix & enhancement record ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apex v2.12: Fixed: * Overlays & underlays are no longer restricted to 'fix palette' colour reduction. Incoming palette can now be used if required. Other: * Some small bugs in editing system ironed out. Apex v2.11: Fixed: * Irritating chroma-key bug in jackknife tool fixed. (Black was assumed to be the transparent key at all times instead of the current background key - producing a solid black border on some objects when jackknifed in true colour and with key colour set to something other than black.) Other: * APXGIF18/24.TTP speeded up immensely. Also uses new hardware scrolling virtual screen which can be panned around using the mouse instead of squashing the image to fit the available resolution. Always uses at least 640*400 (no more low-res detect option as it makes images look rough) and now exits on mouse-click OR spacebar. Apex v2.10: New: * Playback speed now written into exported FLIC files as number of milliseconds per frame, the way it should have been all along. * Playback speed now retrieved from FLIC files in 'jiffies' (FLI) or milliseconds (FLC/FLH etc.). Again, a fairly important point. * Targas now written to disk using 32k buffer - much faster, especially when saving to floppies which was pretty chronic. * Gridlocking can now be toggled via the < ; > (i.e. semi-colon) key at any time, which includes compound-drag operations. * Dialog texture changed - I got bored of the other one. Fixed: * Bug in colour-reduction code fixed - greyscale mode works. * Export 'FLC' routines improved - compatibility increased. Date stamps encoded in files (for programs that get really upset). * Export 'TGA' routines improved - compatibility increased. Targa images saved now conform to TrueVision standards. * Video switching routines improved - now almost completely compatible with those nasty but necessary screen-boosters. We may just do our own anyway... :) * Error in file loading fixed ('Error writing file' for no reason). * Some other teeny weeny buglets ironed out. Other: * APXFLC16.TTP now makes use of playback rate held in animations. Apex v2.03: New: * Maximum canvas size increased to 4096 x 3072 for RAM freaks. * DSP now performs bitmap-conversion a little more often. Fixed: * Small improvements made in the 68040 compatibility department. * Video switching routines improved - better compatibility with nasty screen-boosting programs. * Daft spelling errors on dialogs for English, German & French translations now corrected. Somebody must have changed them when I wasn't looking... Apex v2.02: New: * Support for the Matrix ScreenEye 'Plus' digitiser implemented. * Support for the standard Matrix ScreenEye digitiser improved. * Undo-buffering inhibited on heavy canvas sizes for speed. * Expose digitiser support code optimised & improved. * DSP WaveBasin replaces PlasmaTunnel in TC mode. :) Fixed: * Problems caused by TC canvas widths not evenly divisible by '16' now corrected. (That was a particularly silly one). * Compatibility with MMU-based virtual memory drivers improved. Apex v2.01: New: * Can't remember - this record was started on v2.02... Apex v2.00: * First commercial release. THOUGHT! V2.2 Thought! is now shipping as version 2.2. This unique development and design tool has undergone a major upgrade and now includes Macro based text language, Drag & Drop, Clipboard, Template Editor and the ability to output the entire textual content of linked files to disk. Full colour support is now offered for TT and Falcon users with an improved interface that supports 3D icons. Colours are completely redefinable thanks to the 'drag & drop' system. Thought! V2.2 requires a minimum of 1MB of memory to operate and is priced at L79.95. Existing V1.53 users can upgrade for L25. BSS DEBUG BSS Debug is now available and is already proving to be an absolutely essential tool for any Falcon programmer. BSS Debug was written by Black Scorpion software and, not surprisingly, was used to develop APEX. Many innovative features are included to assist in the program development. BSS Debug is priced at L39.95. Demonstration disks are available for all products produced by TITAN Designs. 6 Witherford Way, Selly Oak Lexicor Software Birmingham B29 4AX. UK. 36 Queensberry Street, Suite 6 Boston, MA 02215 email: info@lexicor.com > MagiCMac! STR InfoFile! - Atari ST emulator for Macintosh """"""""""""""""""""""" From: Thomas Tempelmann <tt@muc.de> MagiCMac ******** MagiCMac is an alternate operating system for Apple Macintosh computers. It allows you to run Atari ST software on your Macintosh in cooperation with Macintosh applications. MagiCMac runs on Macintosh computers with System 7 and a 68030, 68040 or PowerPC CPU. We recommend at least 6MB of RAM installed on your Macintosh. On any of these machines MagiCMac is faster than an Atari TT, up to 4 times on average. The demo will run for 15 minutes. The english demo version 1.2.1 has been uploaded today to info-mac. Info-Mac mirrors are available all over the world. The file's name begins with magicmac-1.2.1-e-demo. It should be available on the mirrors in one or two days. To extract this archive you need Stuffit Expander (freeware) or Stuffit Lite (shareware). If you haven't downloaded this file using a program on a Macintosh, you'll have to decode it first using MacBinary (Stuffit Expander does this automatically, Stuffit Lite has a menu section for it). Contributor: tt@muc.de (Thomas Tempelmann) _____________________________________ > Atari WEB STR Feature """"""""""""""""""""" Atari Web Pages Latest News ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ Version 1.0 ~~~~~~~ ~~~ Date 6/6/95 ~~~~ ~~~~~~ by Mark Stephen Smith ~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ 6th Update ~~~ ~~~~~~ Foreword ~~~~~~~~ Hello and welcome to the news item on the Atari Web pages. This document will describe the Atari Web pages as provided by Mark Stephen Smith and will include a list of the latest updates for the month. Each month I hope to update this text with the very latest additions and news on the Atari Web pages. Hopefully these pages will provide an invaluable service to their users, but they are still at an early stage and developing all the time. As such any feedback and support you may have for these pages is more than welcome, it is in fact encouraged. The more input I get from its users the better, as then I will know what is good and bad about these pages and can change them appropriately in the hope of increasing their value to their readers. Now on with the show. News and Changes ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ Well since the original description a lot has happened. I'm now involved in several projects, and submit work to several Internet and diskmag sources for inclusion. I have also officially took over the maintenance of the Atari FTP list from Hallvard Tangeraas of which there have been a couple of updates. New items in this document since the last copy will be marked with **, updates will be marked with a U. All new items are also listed below according to the date they were added. I apologise for the lateness of this update but my workload has been too large to take the time until now to do this. Please make a note of the sites new address and update any links or bookmarks to the Atari pages to the new address. Thank you! The new items this month are: 2/6/95 -- Two Reviews of Checkered Flag added for the Jaguar 2/6/95 -- CAIN Newsletter Volume 2. No.4 2/6/95 -- HENSA Atari TOS Newsletter Volume 8. No.9. in HTML format 2/6/95 -- HENSA Atari TOS Newsletter Volume 8. No.9 23/5/95 -- Games Tips, Cheats and Solutions section added 23/5/95 -- Robinsons Requiems Tips 23/5/95 -- Iron Soldier All Weapons and Levels Available Cheat 23/5/95 -- Iron Soldier Unlimited Ammo Cheat 23/5/95 -- Coming Soon for the Jaguar Updated! 22/5/95 -- AEO Newsletter for Jaguar reporting on the E3 show in ZIP and text format 22/5/95 -- Falcon news section format altered so it links to Falcon Hensa newsletters rather than duplicating them here. 22/5/95 -- ST news section format altered so it links to TOS Hensa newsletters rather than duplicating them here. 22/5/95 -- Questions and Answers Q.3 answered, and Q.16 and Q.17 added 10/5/95 -- HENSA Atari TOS Newsletter Volume 8. No.8. update 10/5/95 -- Rod McCall's Falcon Pages link added 10/5/95 -- Bobby Tribble's Atari Link Directory Pages link added 10/5/95 -- Stuart Denman's (Author of Speed of Light) Pages link added 10/5/85 -- Promotional Video for Jaguar 10/5/95 -- Baldies CD Jaguar News 10/5/95 -- The Nordvic Atari Show 1995 Announcement 10/5/95 -- Fried Bits Coding Convention III Results 10/5/95 -- Freedom Fileselector Announcement 10/5/95 -- Substation News 10/5/95 -- Secret Level Codes for Hover Strike on the Jaguar 9/5/95 -- More Hover Strike reviews and comments for the Jaguar 9/5/95 -- Dragon : The Bruce Lee Story Review for the Jaguar 9/5/95 -- Small trick for Hover Strike on the Jaguar 9/5/95 -- Zool 2 cheat for the Jaguar 9/5/95 -- Jaguar FAQ update 9/5/95 -- Lynx FAQ update 4/5/95 -- Several Hover Strike reviews and comments for the Jaguar 3/5/95 -- Falcon Owners List by rod McCall 3/5/95 -- Falcon Developers List by Rod McCall 3/5/95 -- Falcon BBS List 2/5/95 -- 3 Demos each under 96K from the Fried Bits III Convention 2/5/95 -- Towers II: The Plight of the Stargazer Review by Mark Stephen Smith What are the Atari Web pages? ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ These are a collection of pages covering all formats of the Atari. In these pages may be found the latest news, reviews, software for downloading, and various other information and links to other places of interest to Atari users. I have tried to make the structure of these pages easy to follow and as intuitive as possible but there is still a lot of work to be done yet. How do I access them and what is the Web? ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ First of all I shall look at what the Web is or to use its full name the World Wide Web. The Web is new way of accessing the Internet, unlike previous methods where you were required to enter commands into the program you were using the Web uses a more user driven method of getting around the Internet. This method is much more graphical than former methods and as such is much easier to get to grips with. When using a Web browser (the name given to a program used to access Web pages) the control method usually consists of a point and click operation. A Web page will consist of text and graphics which are sometimes highlighted in some way to indicate that they are selectable and link to more information or a particular piece of data. Such a link is referred to as a hyperlink. In fact the whole system is a variation on hypertext and uses a script to create each page. Each script is written to a HTML (HyperText Markup Language) standard which contains the main body of text in the page and a few command tags for the browser as to how to format the page and what to do with links, etc. Web pages may contain text, graphics, sounds, and animations, although the later two are normally supported through external software. It is also possible using the Web to gain access to newsgroups, ftp sites, and gopher services all through the one program. As such this makes this a very powerful tool for Internet access, and coupled with its ease of use this has suddenly became the big thing in the recent Internet explosion into the media. Browsers can handle all properly written HTML scripts but may vary in operation when scripts are incorrect or contain mistakes. Browsers can be divided into to distinct types, graphical and text only. Popular graphical browsers include NCSA's Mosaic and the recent new browser NetScape. On the text side Lynx is the most popular textual browser (NOTE: text browsers don't show any form of graphics). To access the Web you must either use one of the above mentioned browsers on a machine such as a Sun, PC or Macintosh, or if you want to access it via your Atari you will need a copy of the Lynx browser as unfortunately there aren't any graphical browsers YET for the Atari. Where do I find the Atari Web page? ~~~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ From your Web browser choose to open URL and enter the following address: http://www.mcc.ac.uk/~dlms/atari.html If you can store a hotlist of addresses or something similar on your browser then it may be worth including this address for quick access in the future. Once you've done that you should see my main page so I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to write with your thoughts. (*NOTE*: This is the new site for the Atari Web pages, take note of it!) What you will find in the Web pages every month. ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ From the main menu you have several links available to you, some under miscellaneous and others specific to a particular machine, or collection of machines. It is now possible to mail me directly from the Web pages, special thanks also to Frank Charlton for the new Atari Logo. First I will look at what will be in the Miscellaneous section. ************************* Atari Related links, Documents, FAQ's and Newsletters ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ First in the list are "Atari Related Links", these links are to other sources of Atari information or data (such as files, etc.). There is a link to many of the major Atari holding FTP sites on the Internet. Links to several Web pages by different people on the Atari. This will grow as worthwhile sites come up. At the moment you can visit: - HENSA to download Atari files (Moderated by Denesh Bhabuta) - ZFC's Atari Pages by Annius V. Groenink. This has links to various Atari related places, along with talk of his own work on Edith and his new Drive U Project. Annius is also working on a version of the Mosaic browser for the Atari and the best of luck goes to him on that. - Christer Gustavsson's Atari Gem Programmers Page. Very useful information for programmers grappling with Gem and the operating system. Also offers help via his questions answers page. Some links can be found to Atari related places. - CAIN Atari Pages. CAIN is the Central Atari Information Network and they create a newsletter which is updated monthly on all things new to do with the Atari. There are also links available here. - Martin Maisey's Atari Pages. Contains information (downloadable) on programs written by himself for the Atari. Again there are links to other Atari places. - Toad Computers Pages. Stockiest and retailer of many Atari goods. - ST Format Pages. Information and previews of ST Format issues. - Volker Burggraf Atari Pages (German). - Desert Star Software Home Page. - ST Assembler Page - BSM's Home Page - ST Beer Mat Page - The Organised Chaos Licenseware Home Page - Index of /~jschlich/Jaguar/ - Lynx Pages - Atari Lynx Page - Atari Page by Frank Post (Partially German, partially English)- MiNTOS Distribution and Information Page - Julian's Atari Page - Atari Ghostscript - Atari Page by Robert Krenn - Simon Gornall's Atari Pages - Be Hnalls Page (KSculpt + Calamus Information) - "Data Uncertain" Software - Kay's Home (MintNet) - CNAM Atari Pages - EMAGIC Users Page (Covers Atari) - Helmut's Project contains Atari Links (English and German) - Eero Tamminen's Atari Pages - Atari Programmers Page - Atari Users List - Impulse Home Page (Demo Crew) - NPG Home Page (Demo Crew) - Atari Page by Dir Klemmtk - Steve's Atari WWW Pages - The Guitar Reference (For the Atari) - Musings of an Amateur Hacker - The Atari Home Page by Martijn Dekker - Tecnation Sonovista (Falcon based computer) - Cybercube WWW Page (Atari Products) - Yak's Zoo - Atari Jaguar 64-Bit Game Machine Stuff - 8 Bit Atari Page by Ivo van Poorten - Atari Jaguar Homepage by Christian Svensson (very good and kept up to date) - Jaguar directory **Stuart Denman's (Author of Speed of Light) Pages **Rod McCall's Falcon Pages **Bobby Tribble's Atari Link Directory Pages Documents ~~~~~~~~~ Useful documents will appear in here. At the moment there is: - Atari FTP List by Mark Stephen Smith (essential for the latest news on who provides Atari FTP sites). - Atari TOS Desktop Survival Kit by Thomas J Hopper. An essential guide to getting the most out of your DESKTOP.INF and NEWSDESK.INF files. - Recommended list of software for the Atari by Denesh Bhabuta. List compiled by Denesh for me of his best software for the Atari (updates coming soon). Mostly PD and Shareware, this list contains links to download most of the software mentioned. - Information on picture formats by Dave Bagget. Lots of information on the format of different picture files for the Atari. - Information on Viruses. FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Useful FAQ's will appear here. At the moment there is: - Atari ST SLIP FAQ. This is a guide to connecting your Atari to a network. All you want to know about networks and the Atari. - Atari CD FAQ. Information on getting and using CD's on the Atari. Regular updates to this can be found in my pages. - GDOS FAQ by Ger Castan. Got a question on GDOS then this is the place to look. - MiNTNet FAQ by Christer Gustavsson. Everything you wanted to know about MiNTNet. - AtariNOS FAQ by Frank Charlton. Answered questions and information on NOS. Newsletters ~~~~~~~~~~~ Although there may be more to come the following newsletters are updated promptly as I receive them. These have been re-organised to make it easier to keep track of. At the moment there is: CAIN Newsletter containing the latest Atari news. HENSA Newsletter containing the latest updates to the HENSA Atari archive. **The HENSA newsletters are now available in HTML form also. AEO Newsletter containing the latest Atari news. Newsgroups ~~~~~~~~~~ Atari related newsgroups. Send updates. The currently supported news are: comp.binaries.atari.st comp.sys.atari.advocacy comp.sys.atari.announce comp.sys.atari.st comp.sys.atari.st.tech comp.sys.atari.programmer rec.games.video.atari alt.games.lynx ************************* Questions and Answers ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ Submit your questions to here and get them included in this page. Answers are open to anyone who has something valid to say, and help is provided to me on Programming and Music questions by several knowledgeable sources. Please support this section, only by your interaction and questions will it survive. All answers are included in this page for anyone else with the same question and answers are also sent back to the person who submitted the question for those without Web access. If you feel you have an expertise in a particular area concerning the Atari and would be willing to answer questions on that area when and if I submitted them to you, then please let me know and you can join the team. Programming and Music are fairly well covered and I can cover Graphics programs, help with Technical questions would be appreciated. ************************** Reviews ~~~~~~~ Here I hope to include reviews of Atari products both new and old. So far I have the following reviews: - Kobold review by Andy Curtis (ST Format) - Flash 2 review by Frank Charlton (ST Format) - Edith Professional review by Frank Charlton (ST Format) - MagiC review by Andy Curtis (ST Format) - Stello v2 review by Mark Stephen Smith (Myself) - Sportster Modem review by Frank Charlton (ST Format) - Storm Tracker review by Andy Curtis (ST Format) - Connect review by Frank Charlton (ST Format) - Zero 5 review by Frank Charlton (ST Format) - MDII Grid review by Andy Curtis (ST Format) **Towers II: The Plight of the Stargazer Review by Mark Stephen Smith There are several reviews on the way by the above mentioned people as well as some by myself. This section is now growing well now and Nick Peers from ST Format recently expressed his interest in writing some reviews also. Again if you feel you would like to submit reviews for inclusion then please write to me. Please note these pages don't include Lynx and Jaguar Reviews, as they are contained within their own pages ************************** News and Announcements Page ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Latest Atari news, and announcements from the Atari World. Currently contains the following: **The Nordvic Atari Show 1995 Announcement **Fried Bits Coding Convention III Results **Freedom Fileselector Announcement **Substation News - Nova Graphics Board Announcement - Sozobon C Announcement - FTP site Announcement - Fried Bits Eastern Coding Convention 3 Announcement - Portfolio Club Announcement - Towers II release Announcement - Universal Virus Killer Book Announcement ************************** **Games Tips, Cheats and Solutions ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ This is a new section introduced to help the Atarigaming community. It covers all Atari formats but is currently divided into the following areas: Atari Computers ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Tips and cheats for all Atari computers. Cheats included are: **Robinsons Requiems Tips Atari Jaguar Console ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Tips and cheats for the Jaguar. Cheats included are: **Iron Soldier All Weapons and Levels Available Cheat **Iron Soldier Unlimited Ammo Cheat Atari Lynx Console ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Tips and cheats for the Lynx. This section is currently empty. Submission of game tips, cheats and solutions for any Atari format are welcomed and should be mailed to me. *************************** Updates and Information on these Web Pages ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ All updates and news on the Atari Web pages goes in here. Previews of what's to come soon are included and new items or updates to the pages are listed according to date with the most recent being first. Most updates contain links to the new material for instant access. Other things to be found in here are the number of accesses to the Atari pages. At the moment this is not supported. *************************** This now concludes the Miscellaneous section. Now onto the Other Pages. These pages are specific to a particular machine, or collection of machines. These are going to go through some major changes and you can expect a fair number of changes to be made to these in the next month or so. *************************** Falcon Page ~~~~~~ ~~~~ This will contain information and files relevant to the Atari Falcon, currently this page is divided into the following areas: News and Previews ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ In here expect to see any news or previews that come my way, whether they be small descriptions or full features with pictures. At the moment there is: - Pinball Dreams and Llama Zap News. - Apex News. This contains some information I got on Apex Media for the Falcon when I spoke to Douglas Little on the phone a few weeks back. Not very detailed unfortunately, but I'm waiting on my copy of Apex to give a full review so expect that to be rectified soon. - Dextrous News. Small description of some of the features of Dextrous with a picture. Only at an early stage of development, if I hear more it will go in here. - Towers II : Plight of the Stargazer. Pictures and description of this great looking Falcon-only sequel to Towers. Expect the demo soon. - Towers II : Plight of the Stargazer Update! The latest news on developments. HENSA Atari Falcon letters are no longer duplicated and held in this area. Instead there is now a link from this page to the HENSA Atari Falcon Newsletter page. Misc ~~~~ Miscellaneous information on the Falcon, including: - Falcon Demo FAQ. List of Demos for the Falcon, including some form of information on each. - Compatibility list of games with Falcon. - Compatibility list of applications with Falcon. - Falcon Specifications and Information compiled by Rod McCall. **Falcon Owners List by Rod McCall **Falcon Developers List by Rod McCall **Falcon BBS List New Software ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ The latest Falcon/enhanced software available for download. Major revisions to be done with updates here. All files now list there size so you can see how large they are before downloading. At the moment the following software is included, with more to come: **3 Demos each under 96K from the Fried Bits III Convention - Apex Media Demo (Demo version of the animation and art package for the Falcon) - Towers II (Shareware game) - Super Bomber Man (freeware) - Play MPEG v0.70 by M.D.Griffths (shareware) - Speed of Light v3.8 (shareware picture viewer) - Scape a planetary landscape generator. - Digital Tracker demo of commercial version. - Obsession 1 level demo. - FOG issue8 disk magazine for Falcon. Other software worth having ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ Software worth using on the Falcon. - Backward v2.52. For compatibility with the ST. Please send any versions which are newer than this. - MultiBlow. Configurable overscan utility. - Starball. Excellent pinball game (Falcon enhanced). - Berzerk. Excellent version of Berzerk (Faster on Falcon). - FOG issue 7 disk magazine for Falcon. - FOG issue 6 disk magazine for Falcon. **************************** Atari ST/STE/TT/Mega STE Page ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ This will contain information and files relevant to all the above mentioned Atari formats, currently this page is divided into the following areas: News ~~~~ In here expect to see any news or previews that come my way, whether they are small descriptions or full features with pictures. At the moment there is: HENSA Atari TOS letters are no longer duplicated and held in this area. Instead there is now a link from this page to the HENSA Atari TOS Newsletter page. New Software ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ The latest (most recent versions) software available for download. Major revisions to be done with updates. All files now list their size so you can see how large they are before downloading. At the moment the following software is included, with lots more to come: - Speed of Light v3.8 (shareware picture viewer). - ST Zip v2.6. Latest version of ST Zip. - Obsession demo. 1 level of this great pinball game. Other Software worth having ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ Software worth having on the Atari. - Utopus. Two player shootem' up (STE only). - Ozone. Good platform/puzzler. - Starball. Excellent pinball game. - Berzerk. Excellent version of Berzerk. **************************** Lynx Page ~~~~ ~~~~ All the latest news and reviews on the lynx, along with cheats, etc. This page is divided in to the following areas: News ~~~~ News on the Lynx and related material. At the moment there is: - Lynx Summer Steal Deal Extended to the Fall. News of price reductions for a limited period. Reviews ~~~~~~~ Reviews for just about every Lynx game ever released will appear in here. All reviews are by Robert Jung. At the moment the following reviews are included: APB Awesome Golf Baseball Heroes Batman Returns Basket Brawl Bill and Ted's BlockOut BattleWheels Blue Lightning California Games Checkered Flag Chip's Challenge Crystal Mines II Dino Olympics Dirty Larry:Renegade Cop Dracula the Undead Double Dragon Desert Strike Electro Cop European Soccer Chal. Ultimate Chess Chal. Gauntlet:3rd Encounter Gordo 106 Hard Driven' Hockey Hydra Ishido : Way of Stones Jimmy Conners' Tennis Joust Klax Kungfood Lemmings Lynx Casino Malibu Bikini Volleyball Ms.Pac-Man NFL Football Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden III : The Ancient Shop of Doom Other Lynx Stuff ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ Other items of interest to Lynx owners. At the moment there is the following: U Lynx FAQ - Lynx Tips and Tricks New Software Announcement ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~Currently empty. **************************** Jaguar Page ~~~~~~ ~~~~ All the latest news and reviews on the lynx, along with cheats, etc. This page is divided in to the following areas: News and Previews ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~ All the latest news and preview information I can find related to the Jaguar. **Baldies CD Jaguar News - ECTS News - Hyper Image page linked to (Makers of Jaguar game Hover Hunter). - Jaguar CD Specifications - Rebellion Development News - Sinister Developments News - Sensible Soccer News Coming Soon! - Hand Made Software News Reviews ~~~~~~~ A collection of reviews from different sources, hopefully I will be contributing more to this section myself. This page has been re-formatted thanks to Holger Kipp. Reviews so far include: Aliens vs Predator - by Eric S.Boltz Aliens vs Predator - by Robert Jung Brutal Sports Football - by Randy Bubsy Bobcat (in Fractured Furry Tales) - by Robert Jung Checkered Flag - by Robert Jung ** Checkered Flag - by Eric S. Boltz ** Checkered Flag - by Tom Georgoulias Cannon Fodder - by Holger Kipp Cybermorph - by Robert Jung Doom - by Robert Jung Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - by ????? ** Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - by Joe Cataudella ** Hover Strike - by Jeremy Haines ** Hover Strike - by Larry Tipton ** Hover Strike - by Scott R. Marrison ** Hover Strike - by Andrew S. Wheat ** Hover Strike - by Robert Jung ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Dr. Moze (Steve Marsh) ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Kevin Haley ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Robert Jung ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Jonathan J. Hunt ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Sal Manfredonia ** Hover Strike (Comments) - by Sal Manfredonia Iron Soldier - by Robert Jung Iron Soldier - by Holger Kipp Raiden - by Robert Jung Syndicate - by Holger Kipp Tempest 2000 - by Robert Jung Theme Park - by Holger Kipp Theme Park - by Robert Jung Trevor McFur in Crescent Galaxy - Jer Howitz Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding - by Robert Jung Wolfenstein 3D - by Robert Jung Wolfenstein 3D - by ????? There are many more reviews to come. Other Jaguar Stuff ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ Miscellaneous information on the Jaguar. Information included presently is: U Jaguar FAQ - Raiden Tips - Jaguar Game Cheats - Kasumi Ninja FAQ - Ultra Vortex FAQ update for Jaguar - 50/60 Hz, games adjusting to resolutions list - Jaguar Game Cheats - More Raiden Tips - Kasumi Ninja Moves List **Secret Level Codes for Hover Strike on the Jaguar **Small trick for Hover Strike on the Jaguar **Zool 2 cheat for the Jaguar **Promotional Video for Jaguar Other Jaguar Pages ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ Other pages specific to the Jaguar included in here. Currently there is: - Atari Jaguar Homepage by Christian Svensson There are others that will be included, some containing more recent news, but the one above is the most organised and intuitive one I've came across. **************************** 8 Bit Atari Page by Ivo van Poorten ~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ Not maintained by me these pages cover the 8 bit formats of Atari machines and are very comprehensive. Nearly everything you could hope to find is contained within these pages. **************************** What to expect in the future ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ Some structural changes are likely to appear in the next months. I have introduced an announcements page where you can tell the World of anything you have to announce. Please send news of updates to your programs, Atari stuff for sale, and any other Atari announcements here (NOTE : Commercial companies should send information on products to be included in here and in the news sections). This month saw the introduction of the games Cheats, Tips and Solutions area. Currently this is fairly empty but will grow, your support would be welcome. This section covers all Atari formats including the 8 bit machines and consoles. It is currently split into Atari computers, the Jaguar and the Lynx areas. In the near future I will be adding a Portfolio section to cover the portable computer by Atari called the Portfolio. This area will be supported by Jan Sedlak of the Portfolio club. There is an outside possibility of starting a programmers and/or MIDI section in these pages but this is as yet undecided. I will judge whether or not to do this based on the kind of response I have. I do not want to repeat any of the good work done in these fields however by other Web page writers such as Christer Gustavsson (Where is the response for these pages?) More support is needed for the questions and answers pages, although initially successful people just stopped posting their questions. Although the odd one is still coming and answers are still forthcoming. Please support this, it is of benefit to anyone who uses it. The Jaguar section should have a lot more news, pictures and reviews in the future. I have tracked down a fair bit of news and am in contact with a few companies now and hope to get news from them on their products. Both the ST and Falcon sections should contain much more news in the future, along with more of the best PD/Shareware, and PD/Shareware reviews. I should have several demos hopefully in the near future for games coming out on these formats. The Lynx section is to continue to get reviews and I will update the news as and when I get it. Sorry about the lack of updates recently, more to come. Expect more links to Atari related pages in the future. There will be more newsletters, documents, and updates to the FAQ's. Expect further reviews from Andy and Frank, along with myself (watch out for the Speed of Light review). Hopefully I can include more screenshots, and do a few program tutorials. Nick Peers of ST Format and Holger Kipp have offered to support these pages with contributions in the future. Please write with your ideas, criticisms, comments, submissions (software, news, reviews, questions, etc),to me and don't forget that I am now the official maintainer of the Atari FTP list originally by Hallvard Tangeraas. All updates to this list should now be sent to me. Thank you and see you with the updates to these pages next month! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Mark Stephen Smith m:sh@dl.ac.uk or dlms@nessie.mcc.ac.uk + + Atari Web Pages : http://www.mcc.ac.uk/~dlms/atari.html + +====================================================================+ + Atari FTP List maintainer, Atari Web Page creator and maintainer. + + Member and writer for CAIN (Central Atari Information Network) + + Atari 1040STF, 4Mb Falcon 127Mb HD, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > STR NewsPlus """""""""""" -/- Computer Developer Dead at 91 -/- John V. Atanasoff, the man who waited more than 30 years to receive credit for developing the first electronic computer, has died of a stroke at 91. Reporting from Monrovia, Md., The Associated Press notes Atanasoff conceived of the idea for a computer while a professor at Iowa State University, and his prototype was completed in 1939. "His machine was the first to use the binary system in electronic computing," AP observes. "It used vacuum tubes and could solve equations containing 29 variables. But his work was overshadowed by the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC, which was credited as the first computer. ENIAC was built by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert Jr. in Philadelphia in 1945. Mauchly had visited Atanasoff in 1941 and examined his computer." A federal judge voided Sperry Rand's patent on the ENIAC in 1973, saying it had been derived from Atanasoff's invention. The Smithsonian Institution exhibited Atanasoff's work in 1989, and President Bush gave him the National Medal of Technology in 1990. As reported earlier, Eckert died just last week at 76, after a long battle with cancer. -/- Ruling Won't Help Online Probe -/- Analysts say Microsoft Corp.'s appeals court victory yesterday in its antitrust case probably won't mean the software giant will have an easier time getting its planned online network by Justice Department scrutiny. However, says Dow Jones reporter Mark Boslet, "Overall, the company's relationship with the department might be slightly more benign." As noted, Microsoft plans to bundle its new online Microsoft Network with its Windows 95 operating system that rolls out this summer. Analyst Rick G. Sherlund of Goldman Sachs & Co. says the bundling issue and the consent decree approved yesterday remain independent issues, thought the ruling "takes the edge off of the Justice Department's need to talk and act tough." And, says analyst Ben Z. Rose of Hancock Institutional Equity Services, the appeals decision could signal a change in the antitrust environment between the department and the company. Boslet comments, "Following the announcement of the consent decree last year, the public perception has been that the government didn't extract enough concessions in its attempt to rein in Microsoft's pricing practices with computer makers. But while industry observers agreed that the appeals court approval would take the justice department out of the line of public fire, they agreed that the department would remain a vigilant watch dog." Furman Selz Inc. analyst Terence M. Quinn told the wire service that because the department lost face with the consent decree, it's likely to be tough, perhaps tougher, with Microsoft as it probes the bundling plan. He added that the decision to challenge Microsoft's purchase of Intuit Inc. with a lawsuit is an example of the department's resolve. As reported earlier, after the suit was filed, Microsoft dropped its proposed buyout. Meanwhile, Associated Press writer Laurie Asseo notes U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin, who originally rejected the government's antitrust settlement with Microsoft, came under harsh criticism in yesterday's ruling by the appeals court, which said it was "deeply troubled" and "distressed" by his handling of the case. Saying the settlement must be approved, the appeals panel took the highly unusual step of ordering the case assigned to a different judge. Sporkin declined comment in a brief telephone interview with AP, saying he had not finished reading the opinion. Asseo says the appellate judges criticized Sporkin for relying on information he read in a book about Microsoft and for allowing a group of computer companies to challenge the settlement anonymously. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit write, "The district judge's reliance on that book contaminated the entire ... review.... The book's allegations are, of course, not evidence on which a judge is entitled to rely." (The book Sporkin cited, "Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire," was written by James Wallace and Jim Erickson, who reported it originally for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.) Also, the court said, "We note that the district judge made several comments during the proceedings which evidenced his distrust of Microsoft's lawyers and his generally poor view of Microsoft's practices." Those actions would cause a reasonable person "to question whether Judge Sporkin would have difficulty putting his previous views and findings aside" in further proceedings on the case, it added. -/- Microsoft Network Probe Expands -/- The probe by the U.S. Justice Department of Microsoft Corp.'s plans for its new Microsoft Network online service reportedly has been expanded, with federal subpoenas now issued to publishers, broadcasters and others intent on supplying data for the service. The New York Times, noting Microsoft intends to bundle access software for the system as part of its new Windows 95 operating system to go on sale in August, writes this morning that the Justice Department is looking into whether this type of packaging gives Microsoft an unfair advantage over its online rivals. As reported previously, the Justice Department two weeks ago subpoenaed information from Microsoft competitors, including CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy. The Associated Press says the Justice Department now reportedly is asking information suppliers for any documents received after July 1993, written by either suppliers or by Microsoft, that relate to estimates of how many people will subscribe to Microsoft Network. Says AP, "Investigators appear to be looking for evidence suggesting that Microsoft plans to use its dominance in operating systems to dominate the online business as well. More than three-quarters of personal computers run on Microsoft operating systems." The Times says one company that received a civilian investigative demand, which is the equivalent of a subpoena, made a copy of it available to the paper. -/- Opponents Vow to Fight Porn Law -/- Opponents say they will go to court on First Amendment grounds if a Senate-approved measure becomes law making the transfer of sexually explicit materials over computer networks a criminal offense. As reported yesterday, the Senate passed by an 84-16 vote an amendment to its telecommunications reform bill that aims to crack down on pornography on the Internet and online services. The provision, which would impose fines of up to $100,000 and prison terms of up to two years for people who distribute sexually explicit material over networks, was sponsored by Sens. James Exon (D-Nebraska) and Dan Coats (R-Indiana). Jerry Berman, executive director at Washington's Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), told Kate Gerwig of Interactive Age that if the measure ultimately is approved by Congress and signed by the president, the issue "absolutely" would end up in court. "The problem with a court battle," Gerwig writes, "is that it could lead to several years of uncertainty over what materials are permissible to put on the World Wide Web home pages and online services, for example, Berman said." As noted, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) proposed an alternative to the indecency measure, that would have required the Department of Justice to study ways to deal with electronic distribution of sexually explicit material. Berman told Gerwig, "The Senate bill essentially bans adults from communicating about adult subjects on the Internet. Perhaps most important is that the action gives second-class rights to electronic speech over printed material you can buy in a book store or find in a library." The House is scheduled to take up its own communications reform bill after its July 4 recess. As reported yesterday, three software makers -- Microsoft Corp., Netscape Communications Corp. and Progressive Networks Inc. -- are proposing, as an alternative to federal regulation, an industry-based voluntary rating system and electronic filter that would allow parents, educators and other individuals to block access to sexually explicit materials. -/- New Means of Smut Control Seen -/- Two West Coast congressmen say government, instead of trying to regulate the flow of smut on computer networks, ought to give users the technological tools to prevent offending material from coming into their homes. Reps. Christopher Cox, R-California, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, have told Associated Press writer Jeannine Aversa one way to help people find technology solutions could be to have the government establish a toll-free 800 number people could call to find out the latest in commercially available software or hardware. Another way, Wyden said, is for the government to set up a referral service that people could contact to get information on blocking technologies. "The government would refer people to private sector services," Aversa writes. "Some software programs already exist that let people block certain computer communications." Noting the unlikely duo (a conservative and a liberal) are taking an approach quite different than a plan the Senate adopted last week to keep smut off computer services, Aversa quotes Wyden as saying, "We want to keep government out of micro-managing the Internet and computer services. We want to make sure people know where to turn to get the software and information that will allow them to have more control over their personal lives." AP says Wyden and Cox want to offer their plan as an amendment to a telecommunications bill that the House is expected to consider next month. "Their plan would not dictate a technological solution, such as requiring a special computer chip to be installed in computers," Aversa writes. "They don't want to preclude any technological solutions that have yet to emerge, and they want people, not government, to select which technology works best for them, the lawmakers said." The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other computer user groups have not yet seen the plan, but foundation staff counsel Mike Godwin told the wire service, "I share their focus on the need to empower individuals and families to make their own content decisions rather than having them made by Washington." As reported, the foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Clinton administration oppose the Senate's current anti-smut plan which would ban indecent and obscene communications over the global computer network Internet and on computer services. People who originate such messages would be criminally liable, not the online providers. However, Cox told AP, "It is hopeless for government to seek to censor or control such an enormous amount of information." He said as interprets the Senate bill, it would protect online companies from liability only if they do not exercise any control over the content of services, which he termed a "backwards incentive." As reported earlier, the Senate passed by an 84-16 vote an amendment to its telecommunications reform bill that aims to crack down on pornography on the Internet and online services. And, as noted, opponents vow to fight in court on First Amendment grounds if a Senate-approved measure becomes law. Wyden labelled the Senate plan a "constitutional glue factory," because companies will get stuck, he said, trying to figure out what they can and cannot do, retarding development of commerce over the Internet and computer services. -/- Ohio Porn Cops Raid BBS -/- Twenty-five computers have been taken from a Withamsville, Ohio, home near Cincinnati by police who say this is part of a continuing investigation into transmission of computer pornography. United Press International says the computers were seized from the home of Bob Emerson by the Regional Electronics Computer Intelligence task force from in Hamilton and Clermont counties in Ohio and Kenton County in neighboring Kentucky. "Officers did not make any arrests in the month-long investigation that was initiated after several citizens complained," UPI says. "Warrants were also served on four other locations, and computer hardware and software was seized by RECI officers." (RECI was formed by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and officers from the Cincinnati and Kenton County police force also participated.) Says UPI, "Emerson is the owner of The Video Barn, a rental shop raided several times previously for purveying allegedly pornographic videotapes. Hamilton County forbids adult shops selling books and videos said to exceed local community standards, but those the definition of those standards have never been the subject of a county referendum." The wire service says Emerson also is operates a computer bulletin board system with 5,000 users and 70,000 downloadable files. Emerson told The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper he didn't know whether his hard drive contains adult material -- "I'm assuming there probably was, but I'm not sure what they have" -- adding he thought the equipment seizure "was more politically involved." -/- Internet Fantasy Charges Dropped -/- Charges were dropped today against Jake Baker, a 21-year-old former University of Michigan student who published on the Internet a violent fantasy about another Michigan student, using her real name. In Detroit, Judge Avern Cohn, in dismissing the case, ruled publication of the rape-slaying story would have been better handled as a disciplinary matter by the university. Associated Press writer Amy Yuhn says Baker, of Boardman, Ohio, was accused of also exchanging electronic mail with an unidentified man in Canada in which the two allegedly discussed carrying out an attack such as the one in his story. The wire service says the charge, transmitting a threat over state lines by e-mail, carries up to five years in prison on conviction. As reported, prosecutors had contended Baker's fantasies about the woman and the discussion of carrying them out against someone constituted transmitted threats. Defense lawyers said Baker's writings were protected free speech. In his dismissal order, Judge Cohn wrote, "The government's enthusiastic beginning petered out to a salvage effort once it recognized that the communication which so much alarmed the University of Michigan officials was only a rather savage and tasteless piece of fiction. Why the government became involved in the matter is not really explained in the record." As noted, Baker was arrested after a university alumnus read the story on the Internet and alerted Michigan officials. He underwent psychological testing while jailed on the charges, while attorneys fought over whether he should be freed on bond. After Cohn subsequently ordered Baker released on bond, the student returned to Ohio and enrolled in school there, according to family members. -/- Senate Passes Telecom Reform -/- The Senate has approved a measure to de-regulate cable television rates and impose new restraints on TV and now the spotlight shifts to the House where an even farther-reaching telecommunications plan is pending. Associated Press writer Jeannine Aversa noted this morning that both the House and Senate bills "also would let telephone, long-distance and cable companies get into each other's businesses and free the largest electric utilities to provide an array of telecommunications services." However, she notes, the House bill, approved by the Commerce Committee, goes further toward de-regulation. It could be taken up on the floor for a vote next month. Also, "the House bill would provide fewer price protections for cable customers and it removes far more restrictions contained under existing laws and regulations on the ownership of media companies," AP says. The Senate bill, passed 81-18, included sweeping provisions that would ban smut on computer services and provisions that would let people block violent and other objectionable programs from their TV screens. Sen. Larry Pressler (R-South Dakota), the bill's author, told the wire service he doesn't like the computer provisions but predicted "a form of that will survive" a conference committee, expected after the House completes action. Meanwhile, "with the House more inclined to remove regulations from telecommunications companies than the Senate, it's unclear which form the final bill will take," Aversa writes. She adds, "The conventional wisdom on Capitol Hill is that Pressler's bill would benefit the nation's powerful Bell companies more, while the House bill, written by Reps. Thomas Bliley (R-Virginia) and Jack Fields (R-Texas), would favor the long-distance companies such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint. Consumer advocates insist neither bill would benefit cable and telephone customers or TV viewers, a contention supporters of the bills reject." -/- Half of U.S. Teens Have Home PCs -/- Nearly half of Americans age 11 through 18 use a computer at home and more than one in five log onto an online service or computer bulletin board system through a home unit. So says a new survey by Chilton Research Services of Radnor, Pa., which also finds that for teens, playing video games is the main attraction of online services, more popular than "chatting" online. The survey, which, sampled 752 teens nationwide between May 24 and June 1, also found teens generally much more savvy about high-tech products than the general population. For instance, 51 percent had used a CD-ROM player (often at school) and 6 percent have bought a CD ROM title in the past month. However, TV is still the teens' primary activity for pure entertainment. Says a statement from Chilton, "Twice as many of those teens who have used online services say watching TV is more fun than going online. For their TV fare, teens prefer sitcoms over other types of programs including music videos." And most appear optimistic about their technological future. "Overall," the statement concluded, "American teens have a very positive view of technology and its impact on their future. Most think innovations and advances in technology will help them gain a better lifestyle than their parents." _________________________________________ JAGUAR SECTION ============== CATnips! BattleSphere! Myst! Battlestar! Jaguar Feedback! Fun 'N' Games! And much more! > From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is! """""""""""""""""""""""""""" There's so much going on lately that I'm not sure where to begin! Most of the information that I'd like to relate to you in this week's editorial will certainly be reported elsewhere in this issue. However, I should point out a few things so you're not confused when you come across them. Atari, earlier in the week, hosted a get-together for the print media, including the online magazines. Unfortunately, we didn't have a representative from STReport at this event. Had it been a week later, I could have attended - darn! However, we do have a press kit coming with a lot of information and video included. We'll report more about this event in next week's issue. A few things to come out of that event were some game schedule changes. We'll have those updates for you next week. Also, we've learned that Ultra Vortex has been re-titled (at least tentatively) to Ultra Vortek. It appears that one of Atari's competitors already has a game out called Vortex, so it made sense to disassociate the name from this other existing title. Also, Hover Hunter has been re-named as Phase Zero (Hover Hunter was a working title). We'll also be adding a few new titles to the current list, such as Rocky Horror Interactive, Breakout 2000, Commander Blood, Redemption, and Sudden Impact. We haven't forgotten about those of you who have recently requested that we resume our game tips, hints, and cheats section. We're still busy compiling a lot of this information to make it easier to get out to you. Unfortunately, this requires porting over a lot of hardcopy information to the computer - it's extremely time-intensive. We're getting there, so please be patient a little longer. Well, even though this isn't our normal Jaguar edition, there's a TON of news and information this week. Let's get to it! 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 $29.99 Atari Corp. J9005 Raiden $29.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp. J9001 Trevor McFur/ Crescent Galaxy $29.99 Atari Corp. J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp. J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp. JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp. J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp. J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $39.99 Atari Corp. J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp. J9007 Checkered Flag $39.99 Atari Corp. J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp. J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp. Cannon Fodder $69.99 Virgin/C-West Syndicate $69.99 Ocean Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams Theme Park $69.99 Ocean Sensible Soccer Telegames Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams J9009E Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Corp. J0144E Pinball Fantasies $59.99 C-West Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER Super Burnout TBD Atari Air Cars TBD MidNite Entertainment Fight For Life TBD Atari Flashback TBD U.S. Gold Power Drive Rally TBD TWI Rayman TBD UBI Soft Ultra Vortex TBD Atari White Men Can't Jump TBD Atari Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER J8001 Jaguar (complete) $189.99 Atari Corp. J8001 Jaguar (no cart) $159.99 Atari Corp. J8904 Composite Cable $19.95 J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp. J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95 CatBox $69.95 ICD >Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr! """""""""""""""""""""""""" CATnips... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas (95.06.15) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A lot of people have been asking me about the status of the AEO/E3 video shipments. I understand they're wrapping and packing them day and night. In the last CATnips, I included some early feedback from viewers of the tape... mostly from GEnie. Here's a great one in the public Jaguar forum on CompuServe: Service: CompuServe Author: Brian McLaughlin 102006,3407 Posted: 06/13/95, 08:24PM Message #: 83070 Category: Jaguar General Topic: AEO tapes arrive Jag VR... The demo of Missile Command 2000 looked pretty slick, and the helmet did look quite responsive. If they can get rid of that seasick feel most VR helmets give you, then at $300 they should have a winner (as long as they get some software for it, however, there are LOTS of possibilities for some real kick games.) White Men Can't Jump... Looks like a nice street ball game. Nice zooming and panning, with a pretty decent framerate. The street talk was a nice touch, but seemed a bit repetitive. However, if they pack this with the 4 way adapter at no extra cost, then I'll definitely pick it up. Defender 2000... Even though only Classic and Plus modes were shown, they're enough to already have me drooling already. Great pixel- shatter explosions and I love the aurora effect in the background. Guess I'll have to live with the windows version of Defender available on the net until this one comes out, however, it's just not gonna be as fun! :) Ultra Vortex... Looks like a pretty cool fighting game, and I esp like the characters. And I love that announcers voice! Straight from, er, heck! My only complaint is I wish some of the animation was a bit smoother, but I'm still gonna pick this one up (been waiting for it for a while) Battlesphere... Great looking game with a great sense of humor. Some of those ships were hilarious, esp with the animations. I'd reveal some of them, but I think I'll hold off so that those who haven't seen the video yet can still be surprised. I know I was! :) Suffice it to say, the ships look great, the game looks well thought out, and the explosions are pretty cool (what more can you ask for?) This game looks real smooth and should be a real winner. On my "Must Buy" list. (Oh, that one ship looked A LOT like a Star Fury from Babylon 5. Hmmm...) Hover Hunter... This game looks real good, esp if they can put it on a 2 meg cart! Imagine what they could do on a CD. Yikes! It looks a lot like Comanche on the PC, and I was impressed with Hyper Image's support for items like the Catbox, Jaglink and even the VR helmet. If they can put in support for the VR helmet, I'll definitely get this game. (And for those who've seen the interview with the HI crew, I think we all need to buy this game, if only so those poor guys can get some shoes! :) Other Possibilities... Other games that show potential and I may end up getting: Soulstar (Only some FMV was shown, but I have high hopes for Core Design), Fight for Life (I'll wait till it's done to post a verdict on this one), Skyhammer (little smoother scrolling on this one would be nice, but still showed potential. That 1994 date on it has me wondering what it looks like now), Power Drive Rally (Like the little touches, like skid marks on the road), Thea Realm Fighters (Some smoother character animations, and this could be a winner), Primal Rage (Looked like it was lacking in the color department, but I'm assuming that's not a final version <g>), Brett Hull Hockey (Some more polishing and this could be a winner. Like polish up that rink, looks a little shabby. And how about changing camera perspectives during the game?) Battlemorph (I wasn't a big Cybermorph fan, but this looks a lot nicer. One complaint I had from Cybermorph that's been addressed is that the planets now have skies and landscapes in the distance, which I think adds a lot of atmosphere. Now if only everything would bank when you turn. That would help add more to the illusion of movement, etc.) and Deathmatch (Could be a decent platformer, but that's not my area of expertise) ... My favorite non-game "thrill"... Getting to see what some of these net people look like, from Sven to Jeff Minter. And where were you, Don? Don't tell me you're shy in front of a camera! <g> ... And that's my take on things. Sorry it's so long, but my fingers just wouldn't stop typing! (Just be glad I didn't type everything I wanted too! <g>) Later! BY Remember, the AEO/E3 tape is available now. If you want a great way to preview great new Jaguar games, get this video. For more info, contact AEO through the Internet: AEO.MAG@genie.com +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Another reminder, the next issue of Atari Explorer Online (AEO) will include a reprint of the "Pinball Fantasies" review from their January issue (and some great stuff on "Super Burnout"). A lot of people are bragging about their copies and it's a good time to see reviews since that game has just been released. Look for issue number 11.23 of STReport for their "Pinball Fantasies" review. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ One of the Atari Product Managers tells me I can now confirm "Super Burnout" IS in production. (It has been for a couple weeks) Look for it soon or place pre-orders with your retailer now. "Super Burnout" is an arcade favorite and the Jaguar version is extremely faithful to the arcade feel INCLUDING the fun factor Atari is known for! +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Ms. Kristine Chambers also tells me that "Defender 2000" has just been "promoted" to cart format. I say "promoted" because "Defender 2000" lends itself to a plug 'n play format in my opinion. When you have the urge to play, you're going to want to play! It's clear that a lot of CD titles are coming together as they are now planned and there's no reason to steal the cartridge appeal of the classic remake away. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Atari collectors and Jaguar gamers may like to look for page 133 of the July issue of GamePro magazine. Crave Division: Rockabilla, Inc. is offering a new variety of licensed Atari Jaguar T-Shirts including one that features "Hover Strike", "Tempest 2000", "Iron Soldier" and the Jaguar eyes. Each shirt is just $16.95 each and they sell Jaguar hardware and software too. For a free catalog or to order, call 612/942-9920. These T-shirts are 3rd party and not available direct from Atari. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ I don't often include news concerning competitors, since people on my distribution list are most interested in Jaguar specific information. Sometimes there's reason for exception. Please note, that although I am employed by Atari, any commentaries are my own and do not reflect the point of view of Atari Corporation. On June 13, Golin/Harris, Nintendo's PR Firm, issued a press release announcing Nintendo's intention to drop participation in the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The major significance of this is the gaming industry trend toward dedicated shows such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and away from CES. This new announcement from Nintendo comes within mere weeks of Nintendo's announced delay of Ultra 64. Trade shows are significant within the industry because it's a major thrust behind putting products on store shelves. It's an opportunity to lure the buyers of the major chain stores. Nintendo's announcement which they say, "cements industry support for single yearly show", will be a major sacrifice for them because it will eradicate an early 1996 opportunity to show off any progress they may have made on their Ultra 64 system. Meanwhile, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reveals Trip Hawkins' efforts to sell 3DO/M2 technology to a broader range of potential buyers. According to the article, Sega is targeted with proposals and analysts theorize that is because "(Sega) needs help with its technology." Mr. Jim Carlton, author of the article, points out that 3DO's "cumulative net loss is $113 million since it was founded in 1993." Gamers may recall that Sega of America scrambled to get the Saturn out earlier than originally announced in time to show for E3 as an effort to douse some of the impact of Atari's VR and Sony's Playstation. Backstage, Sega is literally giving away Sega CD systems to users in manufacturer-direct promotions in hopes of increasing the installed base of 16-bit CD users. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ A lot of people want to know where the best online support sites are. Here is a summary and in no particular order: CATscan BBS Dial 209/239-1552 * 24 hrs. 14.4 Free/except LD charges Toad Hall BBS Dial 617/567-8642 * 24 hrs. 2400 Free/except LD charges 617/569-2489 * 24 hrs. 9600 Free/except LD charges Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Dial 216/368-3888 * 24 hrs. 300/1200/2400+ baud Internet: telnet freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or 129.22.8.32 type "go lynx" or "go jaguar" from any menu STAR*LINX BBS Lynx / Jaguar / ST / STe / TT / Falcon030 Dial 602/464-4817 * 24 hrs. 14.4 over 500 megs online CompuServe Online Service (GO JAGUAR) [subscriber service] Dial 800/848-8199 (voice) Ask for op #198 for more info. GEnie (JAGUAR) [subscriber service] Dial 800/638-9636 (voice) for sign-up information. Delphi [subscriber service] Dial 800/544-4005 (voice) for sign-up information. Also interactive areas on America Online and Prodigy *** WORLD WIDE WEB and INTERNET SITES *** * * The following includes sites that may not be Jaguar * specific, but caters to Atari gamers and/or computer * users. Internet access and appropriate software required. * Sites have not been cross individually checked. * * Unofficial Atari Jaguar Home Page by Christian Svensson * www.bucknell.edu/~svensson * Yak's Zoo (Jeff Minter's Fun Farm) * hyrax.med.uth.tmc.edu/misc/zoo/zoo.html * Toad Computers (retail and information site) * www.charm.net/~toad/ * Jaguar Directory * akh104.rh.psu.edu/pub/Jaguar/ * Atari Jaguar 64-Bit Game Machine Stuff * wwwz.ecst.csuchico.edu/~jschlich/Jaguar/Jaguar.html * Index of/~jschlich/Jaguar/ * www.ecst.csuchico.edu:80/~jschlich/Jaguar/ * ST Format Page * www.futurenet.co.uk/computing/stformat.html * CAIN Page * ace.cs.ohio.edu/personal/mleir/cain.html * Cybercube WWW Page * www.interlog.com:80/~cyrel/ * Atari Home Page by Martijn Dekker * www.fwi.uva.hl/~mdekker/atari.html * Steve's Atari WWW Pages * www.wmin.ac.uk/~richara/suitaref.htm * Atari Page by Dirk Klemmt * www.uni-frankfurt.de/~klemmt/atari.html * Atari Users List * www.dtek.chalmers.se:80/~d4reine/atari.html * Eero Tamminen's Atari Pages * proffa.cc.tut.fi%7Et150315/atari.html * CNAM Atari Pages * web.cnam.fr/comp/atari/accueil.html * Simon Gornall's Atari Pages * www.ph.kcl.ac.uk/~sig/home.html * Atari Page by Robert Krenn * tpx5.htb.se:8000/~d93rkr/atari.html * Atari Ghostwriter * godel.ph.utexas.edu/members/timg/gs/gs.html * Julian's Atari Page * aire.ncl.ac.uk:80/Atari/index.html * Atari Page by Frank Post * www.gm.fh-koeln.de/~iss009/sonstiges/atari.html * Atari Lynx Page * math.ohio-state.edu:80/~harmon/lynx/ * Lynx Pages * www.mcs.usu.edu/~kuito/lynx/ * Volker Burggraf Atari Pages * www.hrz.uni-oldenburg.de/~burggrae/ * Martin's Atari Page * www.dur.ac.uk/~d408x2/ * ZFC's Atari Page * www.nl.net/~zfc/Atari/index.html * ***************************************** CATnips.... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas (95.06.21) """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" On June 20, 1995 (yesterday as I write this), Atari Corporation hosted an all day "Fun 'N' Games" event for select gaming industry press members. Valued online publication representatives were invited as well as the hard copy gaming magazines. After all the RSVPs were narrowed down, about two dozen hard core gaming reporters were hosted to an entire day of news, previews, and interviews. Events included structured, one-on-one, face-to-face, closed-door, candid interviews with Atari's most experienced programmers, producers and testers. Guests were given opportunities to take their own exclusive photographs and screen captures. Every visitor was provided an extensive press package with E3 releases as well as brand new material. Nagging questions were answered and undoubtedly new ones were created. When the festivities wound down at the end of the business day, Atari escorted the dazed bunch to Great America amusement park for the rest of the evening and in through the night. (Paramount's Great America, located in Santa Clara, California is the one used in Beverly Hills Cop III. No, Eddie couldn't make it.) (Regrettably, my son fell ill yesterday with some 24-hour stomach flu so I was unable to do much more than work from home. Consequently, I found myself playing catch up with everyone in the office today to see how it went.) Look for wrap-ups in upcoming issues of your favorite online Jaguar publication. In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of documents that were a part of the press kit handed out. There were a lot more materials issued to the guests; some were reprints of E3 materials found in past CATnips distributions. =+======================================================+= FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jessica Nagel or Tom Tanno Dorf & Stanton Communications, Inc., (310) 479-4997 or (800) 444-6663 ATARI PRESENTS NEW SOFTWARE TITLES AT "FUN 'N' GAMES" MEDIA DAY SUNNYVALE, CA (JUNE 20, 1995)-Numerous new titles for the Jaguar system and Jaguar CD were previewed at the "Fun 'N' Games" media event at Atari Corporation headquarters today. Hands-on previews and demonstrations were conducted by game producers and developers. In addition, the event highlighted marketing strategy, technology developments, and a presentation of peripherals including Jaguar VR. Atari Corporation continues its Jaguar software library expansion, approaching 100 titles for its 64-bit Jaguar entertainment system by the end of the year. "We will have every kind of game that players want, from the best developers and publishers in the world," comments Atari President Sam Tramiel. The titles demonstrated at "Fun 'N' Games" include: =*= Blue Lightning (CD) =*= Gamers pilot a chosen plane from a squadron of United Nations operatives as they fight to stop General Drako, the UN member turned terrorist. Players design flight plans and use their quick maneuvering skills to destroy key enemy locations and bases. Players also protect cargo planes and other UN planes transporting important government officials. =*= Hover Hunter (working title) (cart) =*= The age of limitless resources and vast armies is over. The battlefield now belongs to the elite; those with the speed, firepower, reflexes and intelligence to get the job done fast and done right. As pilot of a high-speed attack hovercraft, gamers man the most powerful tool utilized in this struggle for complete global domination. =*= White Men Can't Jump (cart) =*= Trash talk runs rampant on this in-your-face, two-on-two, blacktop basketball shoot-out. Automatic camera control zooms in and swings around to catch all the action in this fast-paced, hard playing new sports game for the 64-bit Jaguar. White Men Can't Jump will be released bundled with the Team Tap, the multi-player adapter for the Atari Jaguar, a $29.95 value. =*= FlipOut! (cart) =*= A puzzle game with an alien twist. Take a tour of the Cheese Planet (or as the citizens call it, Planet Phromahj) which includes nine different areas of game play, with multiple games per area, and four difficulty levels, from normal to psychotic. Whatever you do, watch out for those mischievous little aliens. Some of them will try to help you (if you can call it help), but most of them will try to trip you up for the fun of it. If they weren't so cute, you'd wring their necks. =*= Highlander (CD) =*= You are Quentin MacLeod, the hope of mankind. An immortal raised as an ordinary child, your destiny was unknown until the day slave traders destroyed your village, kidnapped the Dundees, and killed your mother. As she died, your mother called you "The Highlander" and urged you to seek out the stranger who would train you to fulfill your destiny--to wrestle mankind from the grasp of the evil immortal, Kortan. You must find this stranger, an immortal named, Ramirez, who will help you gather the knowledge you need to defeat Kortan. Your first quest is to rescue the Dundees from Kortan's stronghold. Highlander includes original dialog from the actors in the animated series and cinepaked sequences from the animated series as well. =*= Myst (CD) =*= Get lost in the worlds of Myst. Use your mind to unlock the secrets of ages past. What happened to the worlds Atrus created? Is one of his sons behind the destruction? It's up to you to find out. Take careful notes. Everything you see or hear, no matter how insignificant, could be the key to unlocking the mystery. =*= SuperX (cart) =*= Supercross enables the player to experience this exhilarating dirt bike ride and race from a realistic first person bikers perspective. The track is constructed from texture mapped polygons allowing full 360 degree 3D generation of the course. The game is based around three main modes: practice, single race, and championship/tournament. The riders have particular characteristics that affect performance, including strength, weight, agility and accumulated factors such as injuries and morale (based on recent from). Put on your helmet.... you're in for everything from tunnel jumps to triples... get out in front quick and you'll have everyone freight-training behind you. =*= Baldies (CD) =*= Ever want to rule the world? With Baldies, you have the resources but do you have the strategy and skill? Build your own society complete with workers, builders, soldiers, and scientists, and use them to create your own world and conquer the enemy. Use your scientists to invent creative ways to kill the enemy. Dropping a skunk into an enemy house to make them run out into a minefield you've laid is just one way to get rid of them. You can also drown them, electrocute them, and trap them, to name just a few of their useful ploys. You are only limited by your own imagination. This game is truly for all ages. With its advanced AI, it can be a "fishbowl" where you observe the baldies multiplying and living out their lives or you can interact, decide to conquer the world and attack the bad guys (those with hair). There are five areas of game play with literally hundreds of levels, including secret levels and secret warps to get to other levels. =*= Robinson's Requiem (CD) =*= This is the ultimate test of human endurance in an alien world-- a survival/adventure simulation set in a startlingly realistic virtual environment the likes of which has never before been seen. You are imprisoned on an alien planet --Zarathustra-- and your aim is to escape. If you have to amputate one of your own limbs in order to survive, then that's what you must do. To escape, you'll need to use the environment and your cunning, and do anything necessary to stay alive-- including amputating your own limbs. Features more than 100 variables in real time; your body temperature, stress, fatigue, pain, coughs, malaria, poisoning, fractures, gangrene, hallucinations... Deal with diseases and health hazards and fight off predators. This is no outward-bound weekend. Robinson's Requiem will test your survival skills to the limit. Keep your wits about you Robinson, and you just might make it. =*= Charles Barkley Basketball (cart) =*= Charles Barkley Basketball is an over-the-top, in-your-face two-on-two basketball game. The player has 20 characters to choose from including Charles Barkley. There are also two modes: versus and tournament mode. In versus mode, pick your players nd go at it. In tournament mode, if you're good enough, you can even end up endorsing products as your work your way through the tournament to meet Charles Barkley in the finals to see who really is the best. =*= Commander Blood (CD) =*= Bob Morlock, the oldest being in the universe, is the boss of Kanary Corp., a gigantic business he founded over two hundred thousand years ago. All of his millions of employees were built by and for Kanary, which spends colossal sums of money just to keep Bob alive. Bob has felt the end approaching so it is time to delve into the meaning of life, the central truth of existence. Bob has put together an expedition through time to the final destination: the Big Bang. The Kanary Research Corp. scientists have developed an amazing black hole, name Oddland; a new era in space travel has dawned. As Commander Blood, you take command of the Ark (the best spaceship anyplace, anytime), aided by Hank, the onboard bioconsciousness, and Olga, the onboard translator, with Morlock on board as well. Your job is to fly through Oddland as often as it takes to get to the Big Bang. However, black holes aren't just the natural boundary points between universes, they're also political borders and are heavily guarded by SCRUT ships. To make your trip a little easier, you have several identities: frozen meat salesman, roadie for the famous "Migrators" rock band, etc. Each universe contains not only business and military vessels, but also a number of planets. You'll need to make friends, do favors, or get involved in local wars to gather information you will need. Good luck! =*= Breakout 2000 (cart) =*= Breakout 2000 is an update to Atari②s classic game, Breakout. As in the original, the game consists of a paddle, a ball, and a playfield composed of bricks. The difference in Breakout 2000 is that it changes the viewpoint by rotating the playfield back into a 3/4 3D perspective. The objective will still be to get a high score by clearing the playfield of all removable bricks and not losing your turn by missing the ball. To make this more difficult, there are bricks that are non-breakable and some must be hit more than once to be broken. Also there are power-ups which may give you an extra ball, speed up your ball, slow down your ball, etc. If you loved the original, you'll love this. =*= Vid Grid (CD) =*= Here's a whole new way to "play" music videos. As you watch each video, the screen is divided into squares that are all mixed up. You have to unscramble each video while it's playing and before the music ends. You choose to divide the screen by 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 squares, upside down, to name just a few of the options. Vid Grid features some of your favorite full-length, uncut videos including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith, Sound Garden and more. It takes just minutes to learn, but provides hours of challenging entertainment. (And to make it even better, it will packed-in to the Jaguar CD player at launch). =*= Varuna's Forces (CD) =*= Varuna's Forces is an action strategy game with elements of a "shoot 'em up". You are in control of a team of four soldiers of the United Coalition of Planets, Marine Attack Division, nicknamed Varuna's Forces. The team is equipped with helmet cameras and microphones linked via radio to your tactical command console. You see, on your common screen, views from each of your soldier's cameras. Also at your disposal is an overall view of a plan of the area with your troops' positions indicated. Your soldiers have his or her personal characteristics and relationships with his or her teammates which change over time. Sometimes command decisions must be made not just upon the physical status of a particular soldier, but also upon his or her personal attributes. You are given a number of scenarios from which to choose, however, your objective is to successfully complete each one. You may need to obtain the release of hostages, or capture an entire area or base, or capture a particular piece of equipment. =*= Battlemorph (CD) =*= One of the most realistic 3D shooter/explorer games to date, Battlemorph picks up where Cybermorph left off. This sequel will have more unique worlds, more elaborate missions, and both underwater regions and underground tunnels to explore. Players can use the various formations of the war Griffon to battle into enemy territory, using fighter, tank, and amphibious forms to gain the edge over enemies. =*= Fight for Life (cart) =*= This 3D fighting game is set in hell, with each character striving for the ultimate prize: the chance to gain redemption and live again. Players choose one fighter from among eight different characters. They then battle the remaining characters one-by-one and proceed to the final showdown with the end boss. As they defeat each opponent, players can select up to two of each character's five special moves, in effect creating their own truly unique fighting character. =*= Space War 2000 (cart) =*= As a space knight, gamers vie for glory, honor, fame and fortune in this first-person perspective 3D adventure. With the proceeds from each successful intergalactic joust, players can procure multiple weapons to defeat the enemy and have their name cast for eternity in "The High Score Table". =*= Ultra Vortek (cart) =*= [Editor's note: tentative title change] Players become one of ten eye-popping, bone-crunching warriors of the underground who battle it out in mind-bending arenas carved from the living rock, with one goal in mind: Defeat the dreaded Guardian of the Vortex. This game features a "lock-out" code to limit violence within gameplay. =*= Creature Shock (CD) =*= The remains of the SS Amazon, a space-drifting ship abandoned in 2023, is the setting for this fully rendered 3D animation Sci-Fi / Adventure game. In the hopes of finding a new home for the dying planet Earth, players must kill the deadly, crawling creatures which have inhabited the ship, before the creatures literally slash and burn them first. Created by Argonaut, designers of Nintendo's Special FX(tm) Chip. =*= Demolition Man (CD) =*= Based on the movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, this title features several different types of gameplay including shooting, car chasing, tunnel hunting, and hand-to-hand combat. Players will actually control cinematic-quality live action footage of Stallone as Demolition Man in this game, which smoothly merges movie and video footage. Includes footage of Stallone and Snipes filmed specially for this interactive adventure. =*= Black ICE \ White Noise (CD) =*= No Respite. No Rails. No Rules. In Black ICE \ White Noise players take the role of a street-level cyberpunk in the urban blightscape of New San Francisco, walking a barbed wire tightrope between the crystalline informational world of C-Space and the grimy reality of The Street and The Meat. Gameplay features include point-of-view C-Space hacking, full-motion video encounters, and digitized video sprites of gangs, crazies, cops, Corps... and corpses. Play a good guy who fights the good fight...or a bad girl who left her heart in San Francisco a long time ago. Ooops--your mission went bad and you just blew away a cop. Now here come allllll his friends. Make a note: Better do some creative hacking on that lengthy police record of yours, after you get out of this alive. If you get out of this alive... =*= Defender 2000 (cart) =*= This arcade classic (from the creator of Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar) will feature autofire for the basic laser; loads of enemies; additional weapons; bonus rounds; a graphically enhanced ship and enemies; spectacular explosions; scrolling and warping backdrops; up to four modes of play (including "CPU assist"); and, of course, great music. =*= Thea Realm Fighters (CD) =*= As one of 12 digitized fighters, you must defeat all the others before facing SurRaider, a powerful warrior from another dimension. Four or more special moves and two "killer" moves will help you win your battles against hidden SubBosses and 5 secret characters. Defeat up to 21 characters in a single game or SurRaider will conquer the planet and add Earth to his vast empire. =*= Brett Hull Hockey (cart) =*= This 3D game offers the player two different perspectives and features a camera which zooms in and out and moves in all directions to keep up with the fast paced action. The power, colors, and speed of the Jaguar and texture mapping will give the gamer a true 3D experience. =*= Max Force (CD) =*= This game takes place at the Max Force Virtual Training Facility where you must be smart, quick, and accurate with over a dozen Nerf weapons in order to become a member of the elite Max Force Team. While shooting enemies and targets, collect all four pieces of the Max Force medallion and destroy the boss in each level. Three dimensional artwork and first-person perspective with action taking place in a Virtual Reality Simulator guarantee lots of Nerf fun where no one gets hurt. How Many Bits is Jaguar? (And what does it mean anyway?) The number of bits used to characterize a computing system is, in general, a fairly straightforward issue. The candidates for the number to use are: 1) The number of bits in the data bus. This is the number of bits that can be transferred from one part of the system to another at one time. 2) The number of bits in the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit). This is the number of bits that can be computed at once. 3) The number of bits in a data register. This is the number of bits that make up a value when stored inside a chip. The number usually used is the first one, the width of the data bus. This is because there are bottlenecks in all systems. These need to be avoided. The transfer of data is a vital aspect of performance and it has been seen to be an important way to judge overall system performance. First, a bit of history. The first popular microprocessor was the Intel 8080. It had an 8-bit data bus (meaning 8 bits of data could be transferred at one time), an 8-bit ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit, so it could compute 8 bits at once), and 8-bit wide registers. There was a universal agreement that this should be called an "8-bit processor". Another popular 8-bit processor is the 6502. Like the 8080, the 6502 has an 8-bit data bus, an 8-bit ALU and 8-bit registers. There was also universal agreement that this should be called an 8-bit processor. The 6502 is the processor used as the computation base of many popular systems. These include: game systems such as the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), as well as computer systems such as Atari 400, 800, Commodore VIC-20, C-64 and Apple II. These are the classic 8-bit machines. Now the confusion starts. Consider the Intel 8088. The chip has an 8-bit data bus, a 16-bit ALU and 16-bit registers. Intel called this an 8-bit processor because it has an 8-bit data bus to distinguish it from the 8086 which is the 16-bit bus version. The 8088 was used in the first IBM PC and IBM called it 16-bit. This was probably because the Apple II was 8-bit and IBM wanted to be bigger. In this case, the stretch is not completely ridiculous because the 8088 is identical to the 8086 except for the width of the databus. Next consider the Motorola 68000. This has h 16-bit data bus, a 16-bit ALU and 32-bit registers. It is also known as a 16-bit processor. The 68000 was the heart of the original Apple Macintosh. For reasons no doubt similar to IBM's, Applechose to call the Mac a 32-bit machine (although no one really really believed them). Intel actually worked a clever way around this problem when the 386 came out. The 386 is a true 32-bit chip with a 32-bit data bus, a 32-bit ALU and 32-bit registers. Intel also produced a version of the 386 that was identical except that it has a 16-bit data bus. Intel called the 32-bit bus version the 386DX and the 16-bit version the 386SX. The performance difference between these two chips demonstrates the validity of the data bus criterion. By the convention, the 8088 and 8086 should be called the 8086SX and 8086DX respectively. The concept of system architecture is quite useful here. The 386 is a 32-bit architecture and the 386SX is a 16-bit implementation of that architecture. Just to add confusion, Intel changed the meaning of DX and SX with the 486. The 486SX is missing an on-chip co-processor. In the video game arena, things were quite a bit simpler. The Sega Genesis used, as it main processor, the 68000. Either, as a result of a failure of marketing imagination or due to Apple's failure to convince anyone that the original Mac was 32-bit, Sega called the Genesis a 16-bit machine. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) is based on a 65816, a 16-bit version of the 6502. This is also a 16-bit system. Both of these systems use 16-bit graphic chips. This means that the graphics chips in the system are capable of moving data around the system 16-bits at a time. The NEC TurboGraphics 16 is an interesting machine. It used an 8-bit processor but contained 16-bit graphics hardware. This is the first popular example of the bit size of a system not being determined by the central processor, but by other parts of the system. Another example of a 16-bit system containing an 8-bit processor is the Atari Lynx. To recap the discussion above, there are several different numbers that can be used to classify a computing system. The one that has had the best historical success is the width of the data bus. At present, this is relatively easy to do. Just count the number of wires carrying data. As technology advances, this will become harder since the busses will be on-chip. This means that the actual 46 wires may not be visible on the circuit board, as they are now. The details may change, but the basic principal will remain the same. Now, how many bits is the Jaguar? The heart of the Jaguar architecture is a 64-bit data bus. This allows several of the system components to operate on 64-bits of data simultaneously and pass those results around the same way. These components are: =*= Object Processor =*= This system element takes an image from DRAM (main memory) to draw it on the screen. It reads DRAM 64-bits at a time. =*= BLiTTER =*= This moves data around the system. It is optimized for the transfer of graphics data. The BLiTTER is capable of 64-bit reads and writes. =*= GPU =*= This is the true computational heart of the system. It is a custom RISC processor, with a 64-bit data bus, a 32-bit ALU and 32-bit registers. There are other support components in the Jaguar that are not 64-bit in nature. This does not prevent the system from being 64-bit. From this, it should be easier to see that the Atari Jaguar really is a 64-bit system. (This document issued at Atari's "Fun 'N' Games" press event held June 20, 1995 at Atari headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Tradenames used are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of their owning companies.) =+=======================================================+= In my last CATnips, I captured a lengthy list of popular World Wide Web Sites that cater to Atari Lynx or Jaguar gamers. My captures were revealed simply by surfing the net and I am certain I missed others. One such site I missed was STReport International Online Magazine. Their site can be reached with the following address: http://www.icba.com/streport I visited the site and found it to be a convenient way to grab the most recent issue of "STReport" which has covered the Atari product line for about 8 years now. STReport can also be obtained from The Bounty BBS by dialing 904/786-4176 or CATscan BBS by dialing 209/239-1552. New issues of STReport begin distribution every Friday evening. Many BBS systems have them up by Saturday morning. =+=======================================================+= Travis Guy is hoping to get an issue of "Atari Explorer Online" out this coming weekend. Coverage will include an exclusive report from Adam Urbano of Atari's Fun 'N' Games event Tuesday. =+=======================================================+= Jeffrey Norwood has just released the June/July issue of "Jaguar Journal" online magazine. Look for it in online service libraries or grab a copy off CATscan. =+=======================================================+= Danny Miskin has just released the #2 issue of "Jag Zone" online magazine. Look for it in online service libraries or grab a copy from CATscan. Please note that ALL CATscan files may be re-posted on any public access service. =+=======================================================+= The July issue of "Next Generation" Magazine features and impressive 7-page pictorial interview with Mr. Sam Tramiel. PLEASE check this issue out even if you just read it at the magazine section in the store while the wife (husband) looks (and buys) new shoes (tools)! This one's a keeper! =+=======================================================+= Yes, the CD-ROM is still planned for an August release. Those of you asking for confirmations on that should be pleased to learn that marketing remains faithful to that schedule at this time. =+=======================================================+= I've been getting a lot of praise for the decision to put "Defender 2000" on cart. Apparently, a lot of onliners agree with Atari's observation that everyone wants that to be a "plug 'n play" game. Most everyone writing me realize that no game play features are being sacrificed with this decision. Atari just wants everyone to be able to enjoy this guaranteed Minter classic with or without the CD-ROM already attached to their system. =+=======================================================+= I am looking for the dates, how many members attended and where the first Atari computer and/or video game users' group meetings were held in their respective area. I would appreciate exact dates at least down to the month and year. Any history would be appreciated. If you have that information, please EMail me (Don Thomas) through the Internet at 75300.1267@compuserve.com. =+=======================================================+= Welcome to the newest members on my distribution lists. Thanks for your interest in the Jaguar and all your help to spread the word about our favorite machine! ***** Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Other products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning companies. Atari has been in the video game business for over twenty years. Today, A t a r i markets Jaguar, the only American made, advanced 64-Bit entertainment system. Atari Corporation is located in Sunnyvale, CA. __________________________________________________ > Defender 2000 Update! - D2K Format Change, from the Yak Himself! """"""""""""""""""""" From: YaK <llamaman@ix.netcom.com> Date: 15 Jun 1995 19:00:41 GMT Okay, it seems like the feline entity has emerged from the bag about this, so I'll make it official and say yeah, as of last Friday D2K is back on cart. The reason for this, I think, is that Atari doubtless want to have a lot of games, playable for the base system, available at the end of the year; with the Jag core system at a very low price compared to the new competition, and a lot of good games out, they could sell a lot of Jaguars. Plenty of time to do more CD stuff later. Of course this means that the redbook audio will have to go, and likewise the FMV intros (yeah, big loss, no FMV, hehe). The good news is that the gameplay shouldn't be unduly affected - Defender's not really that demanding of memory, after all. We'll probably be on a llarger cart size than T2K, and we'll be using updated sound drivers so I don't doubt that Imagitec will do a man's job of the music even in cart. Of course, we have the CD tunes as well now, so there'll probably be an audio-CD release like for T2K, and this time I'll leave hooks in the game so that if you have the CDROM and the disk you can use them with the cart game. Just thought you'd like to know... Oh, and by the way, yesterday I was at Atari and I saw a near-final Space War 2000. When you see this title you'll notice that Mr. Zdybel has been borrowing rather heavily from Yak's Little Book of Melt-O-Vision Tricks and Spells! There's a cool bit at the end of a round where Lance Chromedome appears in a field of melting with a third eye and grins at you! Hoots of laughter were heard around the test dept. when that came on... Sb: Battle Sphere Update! Fm: Larry Tipton 74127,601 To: All Fresh of the Internet's News Groups for your reading enjoyment! -Larry Tipton ------------- Subject: Battle Sphere News From: legrand@tesla.mbi.ucla.edu (Scott Le Grand) Date: 17 Jun 1995 01:16:33 GMT Message-ID: <3rtadh$fj2@saba.info.ucla.edu> Hi guys, here is the lowdown on Battle Sphere for June 16... Went away on vacation for a week. My nephews are to blame for slow going over that week, but several killer bugs were removed. Resumed coding last night on the sound manager which places sounds in the correct positions relative to the player. After that, I need to write the final component of collision detection, actual object-based intersection, and then it's off to the playtesters... I expect to finish the sound manager this weekend. It works, but it needs refinement i.e. right now it's dead realistic if one assumes there is sound in space, but that makes it suck IMO... Burning questions: ------------------ Currently, when you fire lasers, I play a sample straight out of Star Raiders. Some people love this, others find it hokey... Some want it as an option, others want it there at all costs. Comments? I have an idea how I intend to handle it right now and it's none of the above but I'm not gonna say what except that it's tied in with something else we planned if there is room... Moving Starfield: Tried it, it sucks in NTSC, looks like Tempest 2000, which color aliases like crazy, but looks cool in a color fest like T2K. When they're supposed to be stars, it's really dopey. Attempts to make the stars bigger sucked as well alas... Jump Drive: Still working on it, think it will start ala Star Raiders, but then I need some cool visuals for the ship while it does the transition. I'm thinking of color-shifting it to white as it speeds up, and then doing a jumpgate effect ala STTNG's warp drive... Scott Here's an interesting bit of info about an upcoming Jaguar game I pulled off of the Internet....Enjoy! ------------------ > Woah.. "Battlestar"? This is the first I've heard of this! Can you > even spill what type of game it's going to be? He didn't put me under any NDA, so I'll take that to mean I can spill the proverbial beans... :-) Originally, he wanted to license the original Battlestar Galactica names and characters and such, but unfortunately, whomever holds the copyright to those turned him down. However, ship designs have no copyright, so he's designing the ships after the Vipers, Cylon raiders, the Battlestar itself and so on. As you've probably guessed, it's a space battle sorta game and it sounds a little like Battlesphere. He didn't go on about plot or anything, but here's some features that I can remember he told me off the top of my head: - Spatial, Terrestrial and Underground sequences in the game; apparently you will be able to fly around in space, approach a planet and possibly go underground and fly around in 6 degrees of freedom ala Descent. (Actually he didn't say if it was 6DOF, but the comparison to Descent was his so I'm assuming here) - The planets themselves are apparently going to be very detailed. The terrain is comprised of realtime fractal landscapes; there will be polygon buildings, trees, roads, bridges and so on dotting the scenery as you fly around; he didn't tell me if you could blow them up or not. :-) - Aside from the buildings, bridges and various scenery on planets, everything else is fully texture mapped (ships, underground areas, etc.) Buildings will have spot textures for windows. - In spite of all the texture mapping, realtime calculated fractal landscapes and so on, he assures me he's getting no less than 25 FPS out of it. "It'll knock your socks off!" he told me, and if this is true, he's right! He's given it a November release date. I don't know whether this is when he will have completed it or when it will be on the shelves, so make of it what you will. Things I don't know and will ask him about next time I catch him in the IRC include whether or not the game is mission driven or more "freestyle" ala Battlesphere, what the plot of the game is if it is freestyle, and perhaps dig for more general info. -------------------- - Chris Sb: #83335-#MYST for Jag? Fm: Scott Sanders (Atari) 70007,1135 To: Cody Maloney 75204,3532 (X) Hi All, Myst is going well. You can play most of 'Myst Island' at this point. I've spent the last few days adding some of the full-motion video and will spend the weekend working on the sound engine. I first played Myst on a MacTV which was unbearably slow. Since then I've seen/played it on a PC and the Japanese Saturn version. I'm glad to say that Jaguar is much speedier than the PC and the Mac, in fact it outpaces the PowerMac 8100/100AV I use for graphics conversion. The graphics are also 16-bit instead of 8-bit on the PC and Mac. The Saturn version is about as fast as the Jaguar version and they use 16-bit graphics at well. For whatever reason, though, the Saturn's graphics look like they went through some grainy filter. True blacks are stippled grey. Also, the Cinepak movies look much better on Jaguar. Although many people I've talked to thought Myst was boring at first glance, most of those same people spent hours glued to their PC after they found their first puzzle to solve. Back to work... Bye. -Scott @ Atari Corp. ______________________________________________ > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando 73637,2262 Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, we just passed the longest day of the year... no, I don't mean waiting for the Jaguar CD to be released, I'm talking about the actual summer solstice. From now on the days will keep getting shorter (if you happen to be in the northern hemisphere, that is). Terrific. Just when I find that there's barely enough time in each day to do all the things I want to do, the days go and start getting shorter. Just my luck. Well, I guess that I'll just have to content myself with 'surfing' CompuServe for my online needs. After all, CompuServe is the oldest online service, and has loads of stuff for your Atari. And, every week, there are lots of folks just like you and me that ask and answer questions about using their computer. I've noticed one very interesting thing about differences between the questions that Atari users ask and the questions that users of other platforms ask. Atari users seem to have a more in-depth understanding of their computer than others do. Perhaps it's the fact that we've had to find answers for ourselves, or maybe it's that we've gotten used to helping each other out because the company that made our computers doesn't make them anymore and, truth be told, left this sort of thing to others (even their own employees on their own time) even when they were still in the computer business. Well, that's enough of that. Let's get on with the purpose for this column: All the great news, hints, tips, and miscellaneous information available every week right here on CompuServe. From the Atari Computing Forums =============================== Paul Peeraerts talks about using NOS to access the Internet: "I downloaded NOS yesterday but something seems to be wrong. 1) The function keys don't seem to be programmed. If I type F1, I get a colon (:), F2 gives a semi colon... 2) So I tried to type the command "dialer pp0 dialer.pp0" manually but then NOS said "Interface pp0 unknown". Does this look like NOS cannot find STARTUP.NOS? I've put it in the root directory and I've tried in the same directory where NOS.TOS is, but nothing helps. Any ideas?" Michel Vanhamme tells Paul: "I've "disabled" my startup.nos to see what it does, and the "symptoms" were exactly the same, so I guess that's the problem, yes. But why..? The archive worked "as is" on my system... I know I had the same problem when I first tried to install NOS, and that was because the NOS directory was nested in another directory. It could't find the file until I put the NOS directory on the root. For instance, on my system, NOS.TOS is in D:\NOS\ and my dialer and startup in D:\." Paul tells Michel: "Yep! That's the reason. I understood that you meant C: by the root partition, but now I have the main program in G:\NOS and the dialer and startup in G: and that seems to work!" Later, Paul adds: "I'm still fighting with NOS... Telnet sessions and FTP sessions work fine, but I don't succeed in getting Usenet News. When I type "nntp kick" nothing seems to happen. When I type "nntp status" I get the reply "no current sessions" or something like that. Afterwards in the LOG file there is a message "Can't lock file /spool/news/history". I've tried this in the C:partition, in the D:partition and in the G:partition (after having adapted the STARTUP.NOS file of course). I tried it after having put a zero lenght history file in /spool/news but also that didn't help. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?" Michel tells Paul: "Now this is a mystery... I had this problem with NOS on E:, and it disappeared when I put it on D:. This is why I assumed NOS didn't like E:. So I was wrong on that one. On reading your message, I don't understand why it suddenly worked on my system when I changed partitions..." Chris Gray adds his thoughts on NOS: "What I've found out about NOS so far: -- yes, the documentation is lamentable. -- turning off the blitter seems to help avoid hang-ups, or is it just me? (this is on a MegaST with ADspeed) -- there is a program call VT100EMU.PRG which replaces the VT52 routines of TOS by VT100 ones. Runs as an AUTO (or later if you like). -- use 'echo accept' to telnet to www servers and the like. -- perseverance pays." Michel Vanhamme posts: "Here's a list of Atari newsgroups I've found. It's probably not comprehensive (8 bit Atari newsgroups are not included) or up to date (I'm still waiting for my first article from some of them), but it's up to you to try... abg.atari (Probably English) comp.binaries.atari.st (Probably English) comp.sources.atari.st (Probably English) comp.sys.atari.advocacy (English) comp.sys.atari.announce (English) comp.sys.atari.programmer (English) comp.sys.atari.st (English) comp.sys.atari.st.tech (English) ctdl.sys.atari.st (?) de.alt.binaries.tos.d (Probably German) de.comp.sources.st (Probably German) de.comp.sys.st (German) demon.ip.support.atari (English) demon.tech.atari (English) fido.ger.atari (German) fr.comp.sys.atari (French) ger.atari (?) hannet.ml.atari.gem (?) ka.comp.sys.st (German) maus.sys.atari.desktop (Probably German) maus.sys.atari.f030 (Probably German) maus.sys.atari.gemini (Probably German) maus.sys.atari.hardware (German) maus.sys.atari.software (German) maus.sys.atari.talk msn.atari (German) muc.lists.atarix (?) resif.info.atari zer.z-netz.rechner.atari.programmieren (Probably German) alt.destroy.microsoft (Oooops! <g>)" Paul Peeraerts now asks: "Does someone know how to browse the WWW using NOS?" Michel Vanhamme tells Paul (and the rest of us): "You can't. NOS has no WWW browser (yet). I have heard that the author is working on it, but I'm not sure. There is another browser (or is it the same?) currently under development called Lynx, but I have no details on this one." Chris Gray tells Michel: "Lynx is the Classic text-only browser for the web; I suspect you'll find it at ftp.demon.co.uk, at least that's where I'll be looking ... there are a few servers about which you can telnet to, try www.cern.ch and read the error message. :) Some Atari users in Toronto (?) have put together a MiNT+X11+Chimera kit for the www, have you guys heard about that?" Carl Barron tells Chris: "I have heard of the TAF package. Are you sitting down? REQUIRES monochrome resolution at least 640x400, 4 megs of 'ST' Ram, 7-10 Megs of Hard Disk Space. Runs on ST[e]/TT and probably Falcon. Uses Mint and MintNet. It is on another online network as eleven zipped tar files! Requires a 'minix partition' for the file names are unix style. Not simple to set up and not for the faint hearted. That said it does look 'interesting' but I do not have it. If you don't want to be a 'systems adminstrator' you might not like it.:) It is an almost complete internet site, the works slip/ppp etc." Michel tells Carl: "...I must admit that the prospect of installing Mint+Mintnet et al gives me the creeps..." Christian (Roth?) tells Michel: "I went into that a couple of weeks ago. Spend one syquest cartridge as a minix partition. Although I liked the long filenames (very much!) the configuration work became more and more like "Learn the Basics of the Virtual Philosophy UniX", so I gave up. In the meantime I borrowed a PC (486DX4) from a friend and surfed thru the web with Mosaic. But it is soo slow (at least with CIS) that that isn't exciting either. So now I'm back again on my Falcon and thinking about a neat, automated setup. Probably it'll be a real provider with an uucp-spool and Upoint. <g>. Then I finally could quit this schizophrenic being in CIS/FIDO." Frank Heller tells us that all of this: "Makes me wonder if the Internet is really worth the trouble." Michel Vanhamme tells Frank that it... "Depends on what you're looking for. There's only ONE real reason why I installed NOS on my system, and that's FTP. Before that, when I wanted to get hold of certain files, I had to connect to French or German BBSes due to the lack of active Atari BBSes here in Belgium. Now I connect to an FTP site and pay local phone calls. But it's slow sometimes... with all these people jumping on the bandwagon lately (Who? Me? No! <g>). And the other things... For the Usenet I can still GO USENET, for Telnet I can still GO TELNET, for Email I can still GO MAIL. That leaves the WWW. Frankly, I can wait. If a graphical browser for Atari compatibles is released, fine. But it's not like I'm going to cry in despair if it isn't. And, from what I've seen, I'd say you can't beat the warmth of the Ataricomp forum... :)" Denis Postle tells us about his experiences: "I have lately got PPP up and running on a Mac with all the hassles that entails. Now I'm trying to do the same with a TT. So naturally I have been following the threads about setting up access to the WWW via NOS-042 with a lot of interest. I'd apprectiate some help with the initial hurdles of getting it to run on my TT. I'm really ignorant of what the TT can do in the way of Internet, but particularly WWW, access. Part of my igorance concerns what kind of a beast NOS is. I keep expecting a 250k application to launch and nothing does. Does it not launch until the PPP connection to the network is made? I'm not expecting Mosaic but something more like Mac Web which would be entirely adequate for my needs. Or is NOS entirely command line text based? I have once, but unrepeatably, had the dialler run and apparently go through establishment to network, at least there were the streams of rubbish after log on. What counts as as establishment of the ppp connection on the screen? Also can I limit the start up script to just launch the browser application if there is one in there? How would i do that? Oh yes and i would prefer to connect the modem, a Supra 144plus to the modem 2 port, what would be the id/command for that? A lot of questions. I'd be grateful for any answers you might have. I'll wait a bit for the Atari browser to arrive but meanwhile I guess it's back to MacWeb and maybe Netscape while the TT sits doing not a lot. BTW I didn't find a read me file in the archive I downloaded, I ALWAYS read read me's. I'll look again. I hear rumours via the demon service provider in the UK of a viable browser under rapid development. Pity about the command line stuff. I'm very visual and all that 'egyptian' text is very resistable. But thanks a lot for your info. I'll slow down my pursuit of atariweb." Well, I don't know about anyone else, but that's enough about the Internet for me for a while. Dennis Wright asks about equipment for his 8-bit Atari: "Is there a mail-order house, or any other hardware vendor, who still has 8-bit peripheral equipment for the 130XE. I'm looking for either printer or modem interfaces (like the old Atari 830 interface box) (or was it 850 [?]) that allowed RS232 or parallel printer cable connections to talk to the serial I/O on the Atari 8-bits. My 130XE is still working fine, but the printer and modem have gone 'belly up'." Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Dennis: "There is a text file in the software library of the Atari Gaming Forum (GO ATARIGAM) called SUPORT.TXT which contains a list of several vendors who still sell Atari related products like you're looking for." Well folks, I know that this column is short, but it's getting late and it's been one heck of a week. I usually try to include posts from the Graphics Support Forum, but I just didn't have time to get to it this week. I'll try to include some info from that area next time. There's lots of things going on there right now because of the GIF "situation". So tune in 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 true "Sign of the Times" """"""""""""""""" "THE BUSINESS THAT CONSIDERS ITSELF IMMUNE TO THE NECESSITY FOR ADVERTISING SOONER OR LATER FINDS ITSELF IMMUNE TO BUSINESS..." "DOING BUSINESS WITHOUT ADVERTISING IS LIKE WINKING AT A GIRL IN THE DARK. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, BUT NOBODY ELSE DOES..." ...business 1.01 psst; "thanks Newt!" 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