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*---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" _____________________________________ from STR Publishing Inc. """""""""""""""""" September 07, 1990 No.6.36 ======================================================================= STReport Online Magazine™ Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 USR/HST DUAL STANDARD FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ ** F-NET NODE 350 ** 500mb Online ** STR'S owned & operated support BBS carries ALL issues of STReport Online Magazine and An International list of private BBS systems carrying STReport Online Magazine for their users enjoyment __________________________________________________________________ > 09/07/90: STReport™ #6.36 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine! ------------------------- - The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - CPU MacNews - SPECTRE 3.0! - Glendale Updates - HyperLINK! - FUTURE WARS Review - PROTEXT Ver 5 - STR CONFIDENTIAL * EXCLUSIVE! EYEWITNESS REPORT - DUSSELDORF * * "REVAMPING" HAS BEGUN AT ATARI! * * ISD HAS CALAMUS UPDATE READY! * ========================================================================== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE™ "Only UP-TO-DATE News and Information" -* FEATURING *- Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== STReport's support BBS, NODE # 350 invites systems using Forem ST BBS to participate in Forem BBS's F-Net mail network. Or, call Node 350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging ideas about the Atari ST computers through an excellent International ST Mail Network. All SysOps in the F-Net are welcome to join the STR Crossnet Conference the conference code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is #350. Join Today! ========================================================================== AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ~ F-NET ========================================================================== > The Editor's Podium™ This is the beginning of the fall season show circuit. Glendale's big annually set Atari show is upon us and believe me, as with all usergroup sponsored shows, deserves the support of the entire userbase. Those of you who are attending this fine show are in for a treat. Good luck to Glendale ..have a terrific success! This is the show that starts it all for this season, Glendale then WAACE, then NE AtariFest and Comdex... STReport will be at Comdex and WAACE and possibly a few of the other shows .. "twixt and between". Please support your usergroup's show efforts and by all means support all usergroup sponsored shows.... Usergroups are the number one supporter of Atari and all of us! Thanks Again.... Ralph...... *********************************************************************** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; STREPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE """""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! Call any of the STReport Official BBS numbers (Listed Above) or Leave E-mail to STReport - R.Mariano Be sure to include your full mailing address so your Compuserve kit can be immediately mailed to you! NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE *********************************************************************** > CPU REPORT™ ========== Issue # 81 ---------- by Michael Arthur Remember When.... In 1984, Apple won a copyright-infringement suit against Franklin Computer (who had pirated the Apple II ROMs for use in its own clones), establishing that unique elements of software were protectably by copyright? Or how Lotus used this precedent to sue several 1-2-3 competitors in 1987, followed by Apple's lawsuit against Microsoft in 1988? CPU MacNews™ =========== APPLE, ADOBE SIGN AGREEMENT FOR EXPANDED LICENSING OF POSTSCRIPT ---------------------------------------------------------------- Apple Computer has now expanded its Postscript licensing agreement with Adobe Systems. Under this new agreement, Adobe and Apple will cooperate in making Postscript technology work with the TrueType outline font standard developed by Apple and Microsoft. This means that future Apple products, such as Version 7.0 of the Mac's System Software, will be able to use TrueType and Postscript fonts simultaneously. Apple has also reaffirmed their current Postscript license with Adobe, and will continue to use Adobe Postscript to develop products like their LaserWriter printers. This represents a policy change for Apple, which had previously sold its 16.4 percent stake in Adobe stock, licensed a Postscript Clone from Microsoft, and rejected Adobe's Display Postscript utility for use in System Software Version 7. APPLE DROPS MAC IICI PRICE BY 20 PERCENT ---------------------------------------- Apple Computer has announced that it is lowering the price of the 25 MHZ Macintosh IIci by $1500.00. In a recent test marketing effort, Apple offered special dealer discounts for the IIci to its dealers. Mac IIci sales skyrocketed because of this, prompting Apple to reduce its price to a level near the range of the 16 MHZ Mac IIcx. Apple is also selling its Mac IIci CPU Cache Card, which speeds up the IIci's speed by up to 30 percent, for $400.00. Interestingly, the Macintosh IIci is very popular among users of A/UX, Apple's version of Unix. Here is a list of new price changes for the Mac IIci: New Price | Old Price ----------+---------- - Mac IIci with 4 Megs of RAM, Disk Drive: $5969.00 | $7469.00 - Mac IIci w/4 MB of RAM, 80 Meg Hard Drive: $6669.00 | $8169.00 - Mac IIci w/4 MB of RAM, 80 Meg HD, and A/UX: $7269.00 | $8769.00 > CPU STATUS REPORT™ >>>>> LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS <<<<< ================= - Washington, DC JAPANESE MAKERS CHARGED WITH UNFAIR PRICE "DUMPING" -------------- The US Commerce Department will conduct an investigation into whether Japanese companies are charging abnormally low prices for LCD Screens, in order to gain market share in the US. Japanese LCD makers now own around 90 percent of the US market for LCD screens, which are used in products from scientific instruments and calculators, to screens for Laptop computers.... The International Trade Commission recently found that pricing on some imported LCD screens were sharply below the worldwide market value for LCD screens. Hitachi and Sharp are two of the 12 Japanese companies that are suspected of selling liquid crystal display (LCD) screens at a price below their cost to manufacture them. This business tactic, known as "price dumping", is commonly used to quickly eliminate competition in a given industry. Interestingly enough, Japanese DRAM Chip Vendors used this tactic to wipe out much of the US Memory Chip Industry, and to dominate the industry.... The Commerce Department will rule on this issue on December 28. If it finds that Japanese LCD Makers have engaged in "dumping", the US will put stiff import duties on Japanese LCD imports. Interestingly enough, several major US Computer makers (including Compaq, Apple, and Tandy) say that if anti-dumping tariffs were imposed on LCD Imports, that they would order to be able to sell their products at a "competitive" level.... - Berkeley, CA UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SILICON SUBSTITUTE ------------ Chemists at the University of California at Berkeley have recently announced the development of a polymer that can not only act as a coating for microchips, but could actually replace silicon as a major component of computer circuits. Called APPS (or arylated poly-p-phenylene sulfide), this substance was designed as a photoresist (or insulating coating) for computer chips. However, APPS can be converted into a semiconductor, and can be effectively used in chip manufacturing. Thus, several chip makers are interested in using this substance, as it could eliminate many of the steps needed to make microcircuits.... - The Netherlands PHILLIPS RETREATS FROM MAJOR EUROPEAN CHIP VENTURES --------------- Phillips, a major Dutch electronics company, has recently pulled out of several of their operations in the microchip industry, as part of a restructuring plan. Phillips is now dropping out of the Joint European Submicron Silicon Project. Known as JESSI, this project is an attempt by several major European chip makers to stave off Japanese competition in the memory chip market. SGS-Thomson and Siemens finance much of JESSI, which is estimated to cost over $4 billion dollars, over a 7 year period. Phillips had invested $1 billion dollars in this program, and has said it will continue its development of a 1 Megabit Static RAM chip for the JESSI project. However, it is now dropping plans to build a new DRAM chip factory, and is eliminating 4,000 jobs in its microchip components division. Curiously, the European Economic Community has said that Phillips' departure won't hurt the JESSI project..... - Palo Alto, CA ADOBE POSTSCRIPT FOR LASERJET, NEW DESKJET SHIPPING ------------- Hewlett Packard has introduced the DeskJet 500, a middle-end inkjet printer designed to replace previous DeskJet models. It prints 2-3 pages per minute at a 300 dpi resolution, can use plain paper, and features new cartridges with water-resistant, nonsmearing ink. It also includes four new font cartridges, and has better font spacing. Cost: $729.00. Adobe Systems has also announced a Postscript Cartridge for the HP LaserJet II line of printers. This cartridge is 1 1/2 times faster than similar products out on the market, includes the 35 Standard Set of Adobe Postscript fonts, and can automatically switch the LaserJet printer from HP's Printer Control Language to Postscript. Cost: $500.00.... _______________________________________________________ > DUSSELDORF - EYEWITNESS REPORT STR INTERNATIONAL HOTLINE™ ======================================================== EXCLUSIVE Report for STReport™ Online Magazine DUSSELDORF THE MAJOR ATARI WORLD CLASS SHOW =========================================== by Jim Allen Hi Folks, I just arrived back home from my trip to the Dusseldorf show. I also spent a few days seeing some sights, after all how can you go to Europe and not sightsee? The Dusseldorf Atari Faire was extraordinary. The air was filled with excitement and the ST was definitely regarded with real respect. There is no prejudice about the ST being a game machine like here in the US. European, and especially German, business people shop for the best solution at the best price and if that turns out to be an ST, GREAT!! Highlights of the faire would include the new color Calamus, Calamus SL. DMC WAS SHOWING IT ON A 32MHZ TT WITH A BIG OPTICAL HARD DISK FOR STORAGE. I was surprised at the level of sophistication of the DTP software and publishing products. An equivalent would be for Linotronic to have a booth at Glendale or WAACE. The Atari booth was as big or bigger than their booth at Comdex. There were dozens of DTP, CAD, scientific, and business solutions represented. The level of high quality workmanship was very evident. They even had Unix on display running X Windows. TTs were abundant...of course. The speed of the TT made the software demonstrations that much slicker. Two companies of interest were Maxon and Matrix. Maxon is a kind of jack-of-all-trades. They have video boards, PLD/EPROM programmers, all sorts of I/O and hard disk stuff, and accelerators. They make this awesome video card, the MGE, that has an Intel video accelerator on it and produces a mean color display. I hope someone gets around to importing it here. Maxon was showing two accelerator boards, a T16 type device (not quite as good though) and a 68020 device based on the first. Matrix is THE video board company in Europe. They have Moniterm like monochrome systems and they have many sophisticated color systems also. They have very excellent customer service and whenever someone asked about T16 compatibility they always asked about the Matrix cards. On the PC emulator front, there was Supercharger from Beta Systems who were showing an ethernet add-on card. There was Sack with the ATSpeed which is a 286 based PCSpeed and it was getting loads of attention. There was also Vortex with their ATOnce 286 based emulator. Both ATspeed and ATonce were fast and very compact. You would be impressed by the quality of the designs. The show was based in two big buildings, maybe ten times the size of the Anaheim WOA. In one building was Atari Germany, in the other buil- ding was a booth put up by "other" Ataris. Atari UK, France, Netherlands, OZ, etc. Noticeably missing was Atari US. They had interesting displays of local developers, this was great since most couldn't afford to go to the faire and rent their own booths. Just an example of the good support many Atari subs give their developers. Also in the second building was ICD, they were showing their latest host adapter, a "smart" unit that has it's own processor and implements true SCSI. This is considered a professional device and should allow interfacing to a whole world of real SCSI add-ons. They were also showing a neat, totally rewritten TOS. One of ICD's programmers was responsible for it and he has done a SUPER FANTASTIC JOB!!! Atari should really hire this guy. Chock full of neat new features, smaller than the original, and much faster (lots of assembly), it is something Atari should take a loooong look at. I was impressed....can't you tell. Also on display was ICD's accelerator board. The latest in a what is now 8 accelerators for the ST. Where was everyone last year? A couple of really neat tower cabinets were available. These units have the rear panel sheet metal done to accept an ST or STE or MegaST. The neatest one was called the "Manhattan" and was covered in a really slick paint job. The tower cases let you free your ST from the confines of its case. There's room for a whole herd of add-ons!!! The other is called the Power Tower and has a neat keyboard housing to make your STs keyboard look like a MegaST external keyboard. The quality of both towers was great, but the Manhattan's paint job sold me. The US DEVELOPER contingent included: Fast Technology Gribnif Software Goldleaf Publishing ISD Marketing ICD Codehead Software Even JMG Software was there...in the mobile unit. Other US developer's products were represented by their distributors. Fast Technology was represented by me, in our distributor's booth. The T-16 has a great reputation in Europe...which comes from working well...and was selling quite well. Although selling was allowed at the show for 3rd parties, most were making deals with dealers rather than moving product to individuals. Atari distributors were not allowed to sell Atari equipment at the show other than 520s. Don't know why, but that was the rule. Since Fast Tech's distributor also distributes for Atari they sold lots of Megas, only they had to deliver them "later". I would say the attendance was close to 55,000 people. The problem was the weather...it was great!! So the turn out wasn't as high as it could have been. But that is still one MAJOR crowd. Considering many were dealers, the level of sales was quite high. The German Atari market is quite healthy, wish we could even come close. After the show many of us US people got together for a nice quite time, I had fun, they're really a great bunch ISD/Goldleaf/Gribnif/AtariOZ and Germany's Computerware. I left Dusseldorf and headed for Berlin. With all that has happened I really felt drawn to it. I stayed in East Berlin in a hotel formerly used by Soviet diplomats. Nice place but the furniture is a little rickydick. Don't even think about trying to call East Germany on the phone, permanent busy signal is all my brother got. In the morning I went to the Brandenberg Gate. It was being restored, and the area around it looked like a war had just happened. The WALL was gone, nothing left but dust. I met a vendor...a new entrepreneur...and had the chance to help him at work. We walked about a mile from the gate to where the wall was still standing, and I help him chip away pieces ..for SALE to the tourists!!! What a neat business, selling free rocks for $10+ each. They had even been sold, by West Berliners, neat little plastic boxes labeled "Berlin Wall" for packaging. Amazing. Of course I have a couple pieces for myself. A little silicon glue, snap the cover on, and presto instant profit. Berlin is a very international city. Hustle and bustle. Open all night, and tons of tourists from everywhere. I'd love to go back in Oc- tober when George, Gorby, Maggie, and Francis will turn control back over to the "New/Improved" Germany. ____________________________________________________ > GLENDALE ATARI FEST! STR SHOW NEWS™ "don't miss this one..." ================================== SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATARI COMPUTER FAIRE ======================================== GLENDALE SHOW HEATS UP FOR SEPT 15-16 ------------------------------------- Confirmations are still coming in for next weekend's SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATARI COMPUTER FAIRE, also called the GLENDALE SHOW. A floor plan has been distributed showing nearly 50 booths populated by at least 35 now confirmed vendors, PLUS a massive area for Atari Corporation's display on the Stage of the Glendale Civic Auditorium. A large LYNX PLAYGROUND will be set up in front of the stage for the ongoing multi- -player LYNX games throughout the show. A full snack bar and eating/res- ting area adjoins the show floor. A very large seminar room will be in the lower level of the Center, with continuous presentations on both Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16. Confirmed for attendance at this time are: ATARI CORP American Music Beckmeyer Development Tools Best Electronics Bill Skurski Enterprises BRE Branch Always Software CodeHead Software Computer Network Computer Office Products D.A. Brumleve Double Click Gadgets by Small GoldLeaf Gribnif Software Groves School of Music ICD, INC. ISD Marketing Kings Domain Michtron Mid Cities Migraph Neocept Rio/Datel Soft-Aware Soft-Logik/Safari Fonts Software Development Systems SliccWare Sprokits ST JOURNAL ST INFORMER Talon Technologies WuzTek Xoterix Zubair Interfaces Z*NET News Service More confirmations may be received before the show opens next weekend. The seminar schedule at this time includes (subject to change): Saturday September 15 11 AM: ATARI CORPORATION OPENING CONFERENCE with Bob Brodie and friends. 12 PM: CODEHEAD's Charles F. Johnson and John Eidsvoog on the CodeHead Integrated Desk System. 1 PM: MEET THE ATARI PORTFOLIO - What the Palmtop Miracle can do for you. 2 PM: NEODESK 3 and the future of the desktop metaphor, hosted by GRIBNIF SOFTWARE's Rick Flashman. 3 PM: DAVE SMALL of Gadgets by Small... talks about Macintosh emulation and other things. Always a favorite. 4 PM: CALAMUS and Desktop Publishing, presented by Nathan Potechin of ISD Marketing. 5 PM: MUSIC of the HOTZ MID TRANSLATOR and the Atari in professional sound work, with Jimmy Hotz Sunday, September 16 11 AM: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATARI DEVELOPERS, open meeting conducted by IAAD Chair Nathan Potechin. 12 PM: PAGESTREAM Desktop Publishing, presented by Jay Pierstorff. 1 PM: MIGRAPH's latest graphics application products for the Atari ST. 2 PM: SPEEDING THE ST with Darek Mihocka, developer of Branch Always Software's QUICK ST. 3 PM: PUBLISHERS SPEAK in an open panel on Atari publications. Speakers to include staff from ST JOURNAL, Z*NET, ST-INFORMER, START, and more. 4 PM: GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR NEW PORTFOLIO - a hands-on clinic and seminar for new Portfolio users. Door prizes, including a wide variety of software, accessories, and computer paraphanalia, will be awarded every hour, with some extra special drawings as well. The show will be held September 15 and 16, 1990, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 Verdugo Road, Glendale, California, across from Glendale College. Glendale is a Northern Central Suburb of Los Angeles, California. Hours are 10 AM - 6 PM Saturday, and 10 AM - 5 PM Sunday. Admission is $5.00, or only $3.00 with any Atari User Group membership I.D. Lodging information: The Burbank Hilton (weekend rate: $59 per day) is adjacent to the Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena Airport, and will be where the Atari Corporation employees will be staying. Contact the Burbank Hilton at 818-843-6000. The Glendale Holiday Inn is the closest hotel to the show itself, and the weekend rate is $89 per day. Contact the Holiday Inn at 818-965-0202. More information is available from the show organizer: John King Tarpinian, call: 1-818-246-7286 or by mail at: 246 North Brand #321, Glendale, California, 91203. _______________________________________________________ > Stock Market ~ STReport™ Watching the Sheckles Grow! ======================= THE TICKERTAPE ============== by Michael Arthur On Monday, Atari stock shot up by 1/2 of a point, and went up by 1/4 of a point on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the price of Atari stock dropped by 1/8 of a point, but went up 1/8 of a point on Thursday. On Friday, the price of Atari stock went down 1/8 of a point, finishing up the week at $3.625 a share. The price of Atari's stock had gone up 5/8 points since August 24, 1990. This week, the value of Atari Stock rose by 17 percent, while the value of Commodore stock rose by 13 percent. Jack Tramiel's 36 million shares of Atari Stock were worth 130.5 million dollars on August 31st.... Apple Stock was up 1 1/2 points from Friday, August 24, 1990. Commodore Stock was up 3/4 of a point from 8/24/90. IBM Stock was up 1 1/2 points from 8/24/90. Stock Report for Week of 8/27/90 to 8/31/90 __________________________________________________________________________ STock| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Reprt|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.| -----|-------------|------------|-------------|------------|-------------| Atari|3 1/2 + 1/2|3 3/4 +1/4|3 5/8 - 1/8|3 3/4 + 1/8|3 5/8 - 1/8| | 158,200 Sls | | | | 12,500 Sls | -----|-------------+------------+-------------+------------+-------------| CBM |5 1/2 + 5/8|5 1/2 ----|5 1/2 ----|5 5/8 + 1/8|5 5/8 ----| | 123,900 Sls | | | | 30,000 Sls | -----|-------------+------------+-------------+------------+-------------| Apple|37 3/4 +2 1/4|38 1/8 +3/8|37 1/4 - 7/8|36 1/4 - 1| 37 + 3/4| |1,048,800 Sls| | | | 88,800 Sls | -----|-------------+------------+-------------+------------+-------------| IBM |104 3/8 + 4|103 5/8 -3/4|103 7/8 +1/4|101 3/4 |101 7/8 +1/8| |1,575,100 Sls| | | -2 1/8| 885,400 Sls | -----'-------------------------------------------------------------------' 'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day. 'CBM' refers to Commodore Corporation. '----' means that the stock's price did not change for the day. ____________________________________________________________________ > FUTURE WARS STR Review™ "..a brilliant job.. both graphics and music" ====================== FUTURE WARS REVIEW ================== by Mike DeMellia Its been a long while since I felt that I had the time to play an adventure game. Between editing a newsletter, writing articles and manag- ing my finances the ST rarely sees any game but Falcon. Keeping this in mind I find myself amazed that I've spent every spare moment in the last week or so playing one of the best adventure games to come down the pike since Zork! The game I've been playing is called Future Wars. It's a graphical adventure from a French software company named Delphine. Some- thing else that amazes me is that the game is relatively unknown here in the states. At the French Tilt D'Or awards it won two major awards; best adventure and best soundtrack. Mind you, that award was for all software, not just ST software. Once you've booted the game you'll have to agree with the judges. Delphine has done a brilliant job with both the graphics and music. If you're used to the graphics in programs from Magnetic Scrolls (The Pawn) you'll be amazed to see the same kind of excellent artwork but now with animation! The music from the opening screen will stay with you for hours after you've put the program away. I've even found myself loading the game just to let someone listen to it. Even though the music is wonderful on a standard ST, Delphine has optimized the routines to take advantage of the enhanced stereo sound capabilities of the STE. It may be the first program to take advantage of the new STE hardware. The main theme in Future Wars is the paradox of time travel. Sometime in the Earths future the planet is under constant attack by an alien race, the Crughons. Thanks to planetary defenses most of the assaults have been repelled. Frustrated in their attempts to conquer the planet with or- dinary weapons the alien scientists have discovered a means of travelling through time itself. Using their new found technology the aliens have travelled through the planets history, past and future and have come upon a way to defeat the earthlings once and for all. Of course, your charac- ter has somehow managed to stumble upon one of the alien outposts in the earths past and has become thoroughly embroiled in the fight for the planets future. In order to play the game you've got to identify a section of a color screen from a picture in a booklet provided with the game. There is no disk based copy protection. Once the game proper has started you'll note that the entire adventure can be played without typing a single keystroke. Future Wars uses a player interface similar to that used by Lucas Films in games like Maniac Mansion. French programmer Paul Cuisset spent three years developing a program for people who enjoy adventures that needs no typing. The technique, which he calls Cinamatique, relys heavily on animation. Moving the mouse will cause a crosshair cursor to move about the screen. If the left button is held down the character will walk to it. Click- ing the right mouse button will bring up a menu with a list of options such as - EXAMINE, TAKE, INVENTORY, USE, OPERATE and SPEAK. Choosing EXAMINE will provide a detailed description of your current location. You can choose examine and then click on an object in the room to get a closer look at something. If you choose EXAMINE and then move the cursor around the screen you ll get a list of every object that the cursor passes over. This can come in handy when you are trying to find something in the room that you may not be able to see clearly on the screen. The detailed nature of the screens allow objects to be placed in front of other objects or inside them. Doors and cabinets can be opened and closed. Some things in the game become even more magnified when you pick them up to examine them. Its completely intuitive to move the mouse around the screen and to choose actions from the list presented. I imagine that people who have avoided adventure games because they dislike typing all the commands will find Future Wars more enjoyable than other games they've tried to play. The puzzles in Future Wars require imagination to solve. Experienced adventurers will find them to be of medium difficulty in most cases, although a few of them are very difficult. Novices may struggle at first, but the easily managed interface will keep them from becoming completely frustrated and giving the game up. The puzzles have a definite style and once you catch on they become easier to figure out. (But not easy!) Interestingly, the typical novice ploy of picking up anything that they find will work very well here. (Is that a hint?) The visual effects, as I said earlier, are excellent. In this case they are essential to the game. The freedom to move your character anywh- ere on the screen and manipulate nearly anything you can see gives Future Wars great depth and makes it very addictive. This depth adds to the complexity of the game as well. I should mention that Future Wars inclu- des two arcade "interludes". Both of these games within the game fit very nicely into the plot and add to tension as the story comes to its climax. Delphine is actually a French music publishing company so its no surprise that the soundtrack from the game is so much better than the usual fare. As a matter of fact, Delphine has released a compact disc of all of the tracks from the game. Future Wars is going to become the standard against which a whole new breed of adventure game will be measured. Even if you re a dyed in the wool text only adventurer this it the game that will get you to make the switch to graphics. The new adventurers that have been brought up on graphics will find Future Wars better than anything they ve played yet. ____________________________________________________ > SPECTRE 3.0 STR InfoFile™ "It is VERY close." ======================== Courtesy of the Gadgets RT THE CURRENT "STATUS" OF SPECTRE 3.0 =================================== STACE [RT SysOp] at 01:20 EDT Dave has given the O.K. to go ahead and "divulge" some of the "good- ies" that will be in Spectre version 3.0. First of all, as of this writing, Spectre version 3.0 is still in beta test. It is VERY close. The remaining bugs are few and very minor in nature. On the other hand, the added features are too many to count on both hands and feet! <grin> IMPORTANT!! PLEASE!! DO NOT CALL GADGETS TO REQUEST SPECTRE VERSION 3.O OR TO ASK ABOUT THE "STATUS" OF SPECTRE 3.0. Spectre 3.0 is NOT ready yet...it is getting quite close but telephone calls requesting information about the availabi- lity of version 3.0 will only tie up the valuable time needed to get 3.0 out the door. All registered users will be notified via the next issue of the Gadgets Newsletter when Spectre 3.0 is ready to ship. The upgrade price to Spectre 3.0 has not been set yet. OK...that out of the way, here are some of the "goodies" you will find waiting for you in the next revision of Spectre software! * Spectre now supports up to 16 HD partitions * The Spectre "function key" keyboard mapping has been changed as to support the added HD partitions as well as to "standardize" Spectre's other various key functions! Example: Color mode Scrunch and Scroll modes have been moved to CONTROL-F1 and CONTROL F2. * Alternate-Control-Delete does a Warmboot back into Mac mode * Alternate-Control-RightShift-Delete does a coldboot into ST mode (You see...standardization was the key word with this release!) * Keypad and arrow keys now function the same as a Mac Plus * Sound Manager (used in System 6.0+ and HyperCard) now works. (HyperCard now has sound!!) (Currently, Sound Manager does not work in 832K mode) * Serial port advanced control call for setting baud rate works (CDC Connect now works) * LaserWriter driver now supported (Print thru the serial port to a PostScript laser printer!) * Spectre code now works with 68020 and 68030 CPUs. * Mac mode *Spectre* disk formatting now supported * Aladdin format disks now supported * DOS Mounter and Apple File Exchange now work (Use MS-DOS disks in Mac mode) * New HD formatter (now called OOP instead of ACK) provides several different improvements: 1) PARAM RAM/CONFIG PAGE settings are saved WITHOUT the need for progr- ams like Disk Param INIT 2) New partition format now works properly with Disk First Aid, Disk Express II and Mac HD backup programs * MegaTalk option added to the Spectre menu * User selectable vertical blank interrupt allows support of many MIDI programs that rely on screen for timing, etc. * Spectre menu page has complete redesign and new layout * The Mac's RESTART menu option now works properly * System's 6.0.4 and 6.0.5 now work 100% properly * Numerous "clean-up" bug fixes to the Bus handler and serial drivers allow many problem programs to work. Grammatik Mac now works. PageMa- ker 4.0's print PostScript to disk now works. Many HyperCard stacks that locked up before now work. Well...believe it or not..there is more!! The README file that accom- panies the beta 3.0 release is 9 1/2 single spaced pages long!! Hope everyone is excited! <grin> Mark _____________________________________________________________ > The Flip Side STR Feature™ From a different viewpoint.. ========================= A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT ================================== by Michael Lee Are you a GfA Basic user? Have you been wondering what new upgrades are available or where you can get user support? Maybe some of these posts will answer your questions. ---------------- I was contacted today by the GFA gebruikersgroep (GFAgg) of the Netherlands. What a fantastic setup they have! They publish a _thick_ bimonthly newsletter (60 pages!) filled with programming tips and code samples. They have their own pd and low-cost commercial library which generates funds for the group. They supply educational software developed by members to some 600 schools. They have between 600 and 700 active members. Write (English works for me) to: Lou Meijers GFA-gg Frankrijklaan 14 2034 BA Haarlem THE NETHERLANDS For the really adventurous, the telephone number is 011 31 23 336 946. I haven't tried that, so I don't know if Lou answers it. Lou and two other group members have called me and they've all had excellent English skills so we have not needed to stumble around in Dutch or German. Their news- letter is in Dutch though. Their software is largely in Dutch, but not exclusively so. (From Dorthy Brumleve - Genie) ---------------- The GFA Basic update "kits" are on their way (from England). They should be in within 2 to 3 weeks (NOTE: this was posted in July). It looks like update pricing will be in the $15-$25 range. The update (so far) includes replacement disks, and a 30 page manual addendum. (From Bill Rehbock - Genie) ---------------- I recently had an opportunity to tour the local Radius facilities (NOTE: a monitor manufacturer). One of the things that I got out of the tour was confirmation that turning a monitor on and off is one of the way to wear them out the fastest. Before they release a monitor, they test it on a line that powers it on and off for an equivalent of a years' daily switching. I asked them why and they told me that surges produced during the switching on process is the hardest on a monitor. If it's going to fail early, it's usually due to these surges. I have always left my own monitors on continually, just turned down the brightness or used a black screen blanker. The ones on the old Atari BBS where I used to sysop, ran for at least a couple of years, 24 hrs/day without a single problem. On the other hand I know of several mono monitors which are turned off when not in use that have died after seemingly short periods of time. (From Dave Flory, sysop on GEnie - slightly edited for easier readability) ---------------- Question: Does anyone know if I can swap a 12 mhz 68000 chip for the 8 mhz 68000 chip in my Ste and if so, will it improve the speed of the STe at all. I know both chips have the same # of pins. Also the 12 mhz 68000 is cheap, I've seen them selling for $20. (Peter Greci - CIS) Answer: Sorry, but putting in a 12Mhz chip won't speed anything up. The "12Mhz" is the speed rating. External clock signals (which are fixed in most computers) decide the actual running speed. Figure it like this: it'd be like putting 120MPH tires on a car which runs at 80MPH. Unless you speed up the car itself, putting faster rated tires on it won't do anything. (From Kevin Darling - CIS) ---------------- Question: I have a Mega 2 rev 1.0 and on occasion (once every six months) it will stop booting. I get a put..put sound and the power light on the keyboard flashes in time with the sound. When the power is turned off the put..put rate decreases until the power is totally off. I have been able to get the system back up and running by opening up everything and putting it back together. That's right, no repair, just dis-assembly and re- assembly. (From Joe Meehan - Genie) Answer: That's a classic heat related problem. I'd check the power supply connections and make sure they're tight and not corroded. Also, sometime when this happens, try using a blow-dryer to heat up the power supply - I bet the machine will come on as soon as it's warm enough. (From Doug Williams - Genie) Answer: We have had exactly the same thing happen on two machines. In both cases it was a simple matter of replacing the capacitors in the power supply. The symptoms are as you described; the machine goes "put-put" from being reset repeatedly due to the lack of power. As the power supply warms up from being turned on awhile, the "putting" decreases to the point where the machine actually runs continually. Of course, the problem will get steadily worse unless you replace the caps. Give Best a call (NOTE: Best Electronics), they will send you a complete set of them. (From Gribnif Software - Genie) Reply: Thanks for the information about my power supply. I had guessed that it was power supply related, I just was not thinking about being too cold. The hairdryer worked and I am planing to tear it down this weekend and check and clean all the power supply connections. (From Joe Meehan - Genie) ---------------- Until next week.... ____________________________________________________________ > HYPERLINK STR FOCUS™ "...a major new application" =================== JMG Software International, located in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada) and Niagara Falls, NY (US), announces development and pending release of a significant new product for the Atari ST market. This product is called >HyperLINK<, and represents a major new application combining hypertext features with graphics, sound and data manipulation. HyperLINK actually has many different facets, depending upon the user's requirements. It can function as a hypertext controller, or a database system combining relational features with graphics and object support, or a front-end for special hardware devices. But much more importantly, it can generate "HyperLINK Applications", self-contained programs that can be any combination of the above. HyperLINK is scheduled for full release by Fall COMDEX, in November; shipments of a subset of the full Hyperlink system may start as early as the German Atari Fair at Duesseldorf in August, with free upgrades to the full system by November. JMG Software encourages interested people to contact us if interested in being entered onto our HyperLINK mailing list; in addition, any questions, comments and especially suggestions are encouraged. Please forward any comments/suggestions, etc. to GEmail address G.GECZY1. A sample HyperLINK application will be uploaded to Genie within the next few weeks to give some feel as to the power and versatility of this product. JMG Software International Inc, Canada: 801 Mohawk Road West, Hamilton, Ontario L9C 6C2 US: 2201 Pine Ave, Niagara Falls, NY 14301 Voice Phone: 416-575-2867 Fax: 416-575-0283 - George Geczy, President. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The following is a more detailed description of this powerful new Atari ST product: HyperLINK ========= What is HyperLINK? ------------------ HyperLINK can be viewed as quite a number of things. Most simply, it is a managing program for any (reasonable) number of HyperLINK Applications and Modules. A HyperLINK Application can be something as simple as a flat filing system, or as complex as a mini word processor or relational database. A HyperLINK Module is more of a "tool", for use by HyperLINK Applications in manipulating or collecting data, or controlling external devices or actions. A simple example of a HyperLINK Module is a routine to convert graphics for display in a database Application, or a driver for a CD-ROM or Laserdisk, as well as sound, music, and speech Modules. The true power of HyperLINK lies in its Hypertext-like capabilities. Hypertext is a system (or theory) developed mostly in 1970's that aspires to replace normal, linear text with smaller text topics "linked" to each other. This system can be applied beyond simply text to encompass data, graphics, sound, and external control as well (these days, this is popularly called Multi-media). An example of Hypertext ----------------------- As a simple example of Hypertext, imagine a file listing software for the ST. In the title page, you select the heading "Multimedia Applications", and a list of available multimedia programs is displayed, possibly with some information on multimedia programs in general. You then select HyperLINK from this list, and a page of information on HyperLINK is displayed. If it were a very comprehensive file, it might even let you select topics like "hypertext" and "database" and look up general definitions or explanations. Or, from the HyperLINK description, you could select JMG Software's name and be shown a list of all the applications we develop and general information about us. (To take things one step further, under our company listing you could select "ST Software" as being our specialty, and that link could take you right back to the table of contents of the ST software guide - a complete circle. That's the fun of hypertext.) An example of HyperLINK ----------------------- One of the simplest examples is the Message/Address/Calendar Applica- tion set developed for HyperLINK. The phone Message App lets you take standard phone messages, enter them on a graphics-based screen and store them in a database. But then, to call up information on a company or a person named in that message, just click on the name and it will display the Address book form with any information available. Then you could click on the Appointments link and it would display on the Calendar form any appointments made with that person. You could then zoom in on one particular day's schedule, and even go look at the Address or Message record of someone else from that day. Another example developed is a "Music Sampler", which uses a HyperLINK module to control the Atari CDAR CD-ROM Player in music mode. It would display a list of CD's on which data has been entered, and let you pick one to sample. Assuming you put the correct CD into the drive, it would give a list of all tracks on the CD, and from it's database provide infor- mation on each track. You could then call up an extended information screen on that track, providing some history or information, or you could call up text on the composer/artist or author (with picture of course). All while having the computer play the requested selection for you. HyperLINK capabilities ---------------------- HyperLINK can create links between any sort of data (one Application to another) and Modules. All you have to define is how to do the link, and HyperLINK will do the rest. For instance, Hyperlink has a build-in dBASE compatible database manager. It automatically knows how to look up a name found in one database from another, you just tell it what fields to use. For more involved links, you can include custom modules for the application. An assortment of such modules is provided with HyperLINK, and any others can be added at any time (i.e. programmed in C and loaded into HyperLINK with it's Module-load feature). Each Application is provided its own windows for its forms, so a full history of links can be present on the screen at the same time, and you can effectively edit all the data displayed at the same time. A single application (i.e. the Message App) can have multiple windows displayed at one time as well (making this the first ST program to use the "cluttered desktop" metaphor). Some Specs: ----------- - Fully dBASE III / dBASE IV compatible database manager included. - Support for Moniterm and other special monitors; support planned for all TT graphics and colour capabilities. - Custom windowing feature allows greater than 7 windows active. - "Launch" feature to run other programs from within HyperLINK; includes parameter passing and clipboard use if the destination program sup- ports it. - dBASE data support, Text Support, Graphics Support, Digitized Sound Support, Speech Support, and HyperLINK Module Support all as standard. - Document hypertext capability standard, allowing use of existing or new text files as hypertext documents or HyperLINK control forms. (i.e. link text to text, text to graphics, or text to another Hyper- LINK form, Application, or Module.) - Ability to actively link two computers together to share information in real-time. (via Serial or MIDI ports). - Support Modules for Atari's CDAR-504 CD-ROM player also included. - "HyperLINK Module Protocol" will be published and distributed via public domain to allow third parties and experienced end users to create HyperLINK Modules for special purposes. (Use of custom HyperLINK Modules will effectively allow virtually anything to be linked to anything.) - Allows compiling "HyperLINK Applications" into stand-alone programs that may be distributed either commercially or public-domain. - To be distributed with sample HyperLINK Applications: Message, Phone List, Address Book, Calandar and To-Do; Document Hypertext Sample; Database/Graphics/CD-ROM Sample. The possibilities are endless.... ------------------------------------------------------------------ HyperLINK specifications are Copyright (C) 1990, George Geczy and David Thompson, JMG Software Int'l Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------ \\\\===//// > NE AtariFest! STR SHOW NEWS™ =========================== //////NEW ENGLAND ATARIFEST '90\\\\\\ Scheduled to attend: Atari Corp. In the personage of Bob Brodie, and anyone (or anything) he may bring along with him. Bob may be hosting a seminar, or at least one of his infamous question-and-answer sessions. BCS/Atari The Boston Computer Society's Atari Group will be there, and why shouldn't they? Not only is the BCS the world's largest computer interest group, they're also sponsoring this event. Bit Bucket The oldest surviving Atari dealer in Massachusetts, with locations in West Newton and Sudbury. The Bit Bucket will have a massive booth for the AtariFest, featuring software and hardware. The Bucket is also a Roland authorized dealer, so don't be surprised if the booth has a strong musical bent to it. Computer Zone A dealer, from North Attleboro, MA. Bob will be bringing a wide variety of software, magazines and other goodies. Fast Technology Jim Allen, everyone's favorite jovial techie will be there, fresh from his sojourn to Germany. Turbo16s and friendly tech-talk are expected in abundance. Jim is tentatively scheduled to host a seminar. More details as they become available. Granite Computers Hard Drives and modems for every occasion is the specialty of this company from out neighbor to the north: New Hampshire (did you think I meant Canada?). Gribnif Software Those wild 'n crazy desktop crusaders from Western Mass. will be on hand, undoubtedly with a good supply of NeoDesk 3: The Ultimate Desktop. Chor-Ming Lung The author of Sheet, a commercial-quality shareware spreadsheet. Sheet has been called "The most powerful PD spreadsheet bar none" (ATARI ST USER magazine). NAACC North Attleboro Atari Computer Club. A user group based in North Attleboro (you never would have guessed THAT, right?), MA. NaVAUS The Nashoba Valley Atari Users Society, a user group from Massachusetts' Nashoba Valley (of course). Former- ly known as ABACUS (Acton-Boxboro Atari Computer Users Society). Nevin Shalit ST INFORMER's "Rumor City" columnist will be on hand for the 'Fest. Nevin may bring along copies of his mail-merge/person-tracking utility, Tracker/ST. Nevin is tentatively scheduled to host a seminar, either on Color DTP with PageStream, or on Tracker/ST, or maybe both! SSAG South Shore Atari Group. A user group that began South of Boston, but whose membership has since grown to represent virtually the entire Greater Boston area, as well as portions of the NORTH Shore, and Southern New Hampshire. Syntronics The only Atari dealer physically located in Boston proper. John K. carries the full line, and is well- versed in the musical aspects of the Atari Experience. TidBit Software Jeff Lomicka, author of The GOOD Backup Utility, will be on hand to discuss, well, "good" backup practices, and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to show you a certain utility that makes "good" backups practically second nature. Things are shaping up nicely...I DO hope you'll be able to join us! Remember the date: October 27, 1990, from 9:00am to 4:00pm, at the University of Massachusetts (Harbor Campus), Boston. See the previously uploaded announcement (NEA_ANNC.ARC, file #16141) for more details, or pursue the following options: GEnie: Send E-mail to D.ANDERSON22 or check Cat 11 Topic 20 in the ST RoundTable. DELPHI: Send E-mail to DPJ or NORMAN238, or check the SSAG area on DELPHI/Boston. BCS/Atari BBS: (617) 396-4607. 300/1200/2400/9600 baud, 24 hours. Write to: New England AtariFest '90 c/o The Boston Computer Society One Center Plaza Boston, MA 02108 __________________________________________________________________ > STReport CONFIDENTIAL™ "BLOCKBUSTER ATARI NEWS FIRST!" ===================== - Sunnyvale, CA. ATARI ENGINEERING TO MOVE! ------------- Last Friday, the entire production engineering group at Atari was laid off. It seems they are moving the group to Styra in Dallas. Also, the second longest original Atari employee was terminated, John Hinmanwho was terminated. The longest, Lane Winner left last year. Let's see, of old timers left, there's Diana and John Skrutch, both very well liked. Rumor has it that a MAJOR midwest Atari dealer is SUPER upset with Atari's dealer service people. Apparently, this fine dealer cannot seem to get any satisfaction. Our snoop tells us there is more to come on this one. - Los Angeles, CA. SUPERCHARGER READY FOR GLENDALE SHOW! --------------- The new 1.4 version of SuperCharger Software should be Available by the end of this month. We are mailing out notices to all registered SuperCharger users now. If you would like to order the new 1.4 version of SuperCharger Software please call Ashley Miller at (619) 792-6511. The new software will allow "Real Time" program switching between the Atari ST and SuperCharger (no more re-setting your ST when using the "Hot Key". If you have more then one SuperCharger, you can "multitask" between them. The new version of software runs as an accessory. More documentation for Programers. Includes a new manual and 3 new floppy disks. The price is $29.95, Shipping and Handling are included. Tech Stuff If you are using a 5 1/4 floppy drive with SuperCharger make sure you set the SC_INST.TOS for 6ms seek rate for an external 5 1/4 floppy drive. IF you don't you will be able to read the directory but not run any progr- ams. To prevent any damage to files on your hard drive or floppy disk always leave SuperCharger on when your computer is on. If you using NUMBER LOCK (key pad) the arrow keys will not work. Try holding down the left shift key and the desired arrow key at the same time. This will allow you to use the key pad and arrow keys in most cases. We will be Attending the "HACKS" Atari show in Glendale Ca.. This is sounding like it might be a great show! So, if you can make plans to be there, you won't be sorry. >Richard Betson >Talon Technology Inc. - NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. NINTENDO PLANS TO PENETRATE HOME MARKET! ------------------- Nintendo, famous for their game machines, has indirectly made it known that they have an extremely low priced home PC computer product planned. Apparently, according to our reports, this device will be a 32bit machine manufactured and sold by Nintendo. Nintendo seems to be approaching the sales and promotion of this machine using the 'power without the price' adage. It will be interesting to see if they do indeed pursue this marketplace and succeed. If such is the case, then the game machine image premise is not the detrimental force it has been thought to be. More than likely, the premise of anemic advertising will prove to have been the negative force for those companies who seem to refuse to advertise their products properly. - Peterborough, UK PROTEXT V5.0 ANNOUNCED FOR PC, AMIGA & ATARI ST! ---------------- Arnor Software has announced that a major revision of its Protext word processing software will be launched in August. Version 5.0 of Protext will, said the company, be available for the PC, Commodore Amiga and Atari ST computers. Among the new features of ver. 5.0 of Protext include a pull-down menu interface. A new tutorial has been written. Other new features include: Enhanced printing capabilities Multi-file (36 files maximum) editing Multi-graphics mode support 132 columns, 75 lines on the PC A 116,000 word spell checker. Other language spelling checkers are also available. Protext v5.0 on the Amiga requires 1MB of RAM. On the Atari ST, STe and TT series, as well as the IBM PC and close compatibles, 512K of RAM is required. - Markham, Ont. Can. CALAMUS 1.09N.. NOW AVAILABLE! ----------------- Calamus 1.09N is now available for release. For the very first time, since December 1988, there will be a small charge to update, US $29.95 or $34.95 CDN. Visa, Mastercard or Money Orders only. Further, ISD is making available another clip art library than's quite good. Again, it's GEM Metafiles. This is a totally new library, it's called library #3 has an excellent selection. It includes well over 300 files and will cost US $49.95 or $59.95 CDN. The price is excellent value for this library. Contact: ISD Marketing Inc. 2651 John street, Unit #3 Markham, Ontario Canada, L3R 2W5 Tel: 1-416-479-1880 Fax: 1-416-479-1882 __________________________________________________________ > SEURAT 2 STR InfoFile™ VERSION 2.0 is a POWER TOOL ===================== ================= ===================== PRESS RELEASE SKWare One PO Box 277 August 30, 1990 Bunker Hill, IL 62014 ================= ===================== ANNOUNCING A MAJOR UPGRADE OF THE POPULAR ATARI ST PAINT PROGRAM: SEURAT VERSION 2.0 ----------------------------------------- * Create and Edit Degas, MacPaint and GEM IMG files (any size!) Largest workspace onto IMG's of ANY program! (reqs. mono mon.) Now, you can use the full resources of SEURAT to create and edit images for your Desktop Publishing, using powerful raster tools and working in a familiar Paint Program environment! Enjoy the best of both worlds! * THE FASTEST Multi-Ratio Zoom (2X to 8X) there is for the ST! SEURAT Vers. 2.0 is 121 times faster than Vers. 1.0 and TWICE as fast as Degas! * System, Degas and GDOS fonts on-line for text (with no GDOS.PRG re- quired!) You can Scale, Style, Color and Rotate Text! * Automatic Smooth-Curve Spline Drawing Tools! Let your ST draw for you! * EIGHT Image Buffers available on a 1-Meg ST! * SlowMouse! Variable-Speed mouse makes Drawing Easier! * Anti-Alias (and it's goof-proof)! Powerful Palette Editor with video like color controls! Modify whole palettes with a single mouse stroke! * Loads and Saves Compressed & Uncompressed Degas, MacPaint, and GEM IMG files; IFF (Degas) and GFA blocks; fill, brush and palette files. * There's also 11 block shapers & twisters to modify image blocks (now full-screen, too); 92 color & mono fill patterns; 42 brushes inclu- ding user-defined and multi-colored; 4 graphic write modes & 21 block & mask write modes; circle, ellipse & filled disc in free, repeat & concentric modes; round- & square-cornered rectangles & solids; rays; airbrush; clear-circle & clear-box; vertical, horizon- tal & free lines; polylines & polygons in line-edge or spline-curve; area & seed fill; user-set clipping ("invisible windows"); color remap; mirror; screen shift, flip, invert & rotate; fill editor; brush editor; line editor; gobs of great disk utilities; and a hundred or so other featu- res there's no room to mention... whew! * INDISPENSIBLE for GEM IMG graphics for your Desktop Publishing! More graphic tools and operations for creating and editing .IMG files than ANY OTHER PROGRAM (no matter how much it costs)! * DON'T BE FOOLED by SEURAT's low price! VERSION 2.0 is a POWER TOOL that out-performs the "big-name" programs! ---------------------------------------------------- Now, for a limited time, you can purchase SEURAT VERSION 2.0 at a special, pre-mass-distribution price ONLY $25.00! Two-disk set, with 30,000-word User's Manual on-disk; includes BOTH Color AND Mono Programs! (Requires 1-Meg ST with doublesided drive) MasterCard/VISA accepted SKWare One / P. O. Box 277 / Bunker Hill, Illinois 62014 ________________________________________________ > Hard Disks STR InfoFile™ Affordable Mass Storage.... ======================= NEW LOW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!! =============================== ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC. P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672 Est. 1985 _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET _____________________________________ All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s). -ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE- (you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!) (all cables and connectors installed) * ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS * * ICD ADVANTAGE+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED * * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS * Conventional Shoe Box Model Description Autopark Price =================================================== SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 519.00 SGN6177 62Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 619.00 SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 649.00 SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 889.00 SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1069.00 SGN4077 230Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1669.00 ================================================== WE HAVE A COMPLETE LINE OF 3.5 LOW PROFILE HARD DRIVES for USE IN MEGA ST COMPUTERS AND RELATED CONFIGURATIONS. 20mb #AI020SC 379.95 30mb #AIO3OSC 419.95 50mb #AI050SC 449.95 65mb #AI065SC 499.95 85mb #AI085SC $559.95 MEGA ST Internal Hard Drives CONNOR HIGH PERFORMANCE MECHANISMS >>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<< (500 - 600k per sec @ 23 -33ms) CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS FROM 30mb 28MS @ $419.00! Ask about our "REBATE SPECIALS" --==*==-- SHIPPING AND INSURANCE INCLUDED ============================================ * SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE * - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A - ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable - Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart. COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN! --->> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$719.00__ <<--- *** SPECIAL SYQUEST OFFER!! *** ORDER YOUR CUSTOM SYQUEST UNIT NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT! ***** for $50.00 LESS! ***** * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT * SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1339.00 ** * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS * - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives - 50mb SQG51 $1079.00 30mb SQG38 $1039.00 65mb SQG09 $1119.00 85mb SQG96 $1129.00 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE Listed above are a sampling of the systems available. Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited) *** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms *** ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR LARGER units are available - (special order only) NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets - Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *- (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE) QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE! _________________________________________ DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED! please, call for details Personal and Company Checks are accepted. ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY! CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319 Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service 9am - 8pm EDT Tues thru Sat ********************************************************************** :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. **** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED **** The system will now prompt you for your information. ********************************************************************** > A "Quotable Quote"™ ================= "EVERY KNOCK IS A BOOST!!" by Max Knockworst -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STReport™ "Your Independent News Source" September 07, 1990 16/32bit Magazine copyright © 1990 No.6.36 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors, staff, STReport™ CPU/STR™ or ST Report™. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. The contents, at the time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors, contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. --------------------------------------------------------------------------