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*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" from STR Publishing """""""""""""" June 26, 1992 No.8.26 ========================================================================== STReport International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor ----------------------------------------- Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST Support BBS Network System * THE BOUNTY BBS * * TURBO BOARD BBS SYSTEM * FNET 350 ~ Fido 112:35 ~ TNET 100:2/0 904-786-4176 USR/HST 24hrs - 7 days 1200 - 19.2bps V.32 - 42 bis 16.8 Dual Standard FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST ----------------------------------------- FNET.. 18 ~ TNET 100:3/0: ///Turbo Board BBS Support...1-416-274-1225 FNET.. 75 ~ TNET 100:28/0 Bloom County BBS.............1-415-965-9347 FNET. 350 ~ TNET 100:2/0 The Bounty *<Home of STR>*...1-904-786-4176 FNET. 489 ~ TNET 100:22/0 Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981 FNET 1031 ~ TNET 100:1/0 <<< INTERNET - UK>>>.... 011-44-296-395-935 _____________________________________________________________________ > 06/26/92 STR 826 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!" """""""""""""""" - The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - LYNX & BATMAN - JERRY, WHO? - AIM OFFER! - BLUE RIDGE NEWS - FSM RE-WRITE? - CT-FEST NEWS - MACREAD RIPOFF! - GLENDALE SHOW - WAACE'92 - STR Confidential -* NOTEBOOK TO BE REVAMPED! *- -* IS ANYBODY IN CHARGE HERE? *- -* AUA -> WHAT NEXT, ATARI? *- THE STORM IS COMING! ========================================================================== ST REPORT 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, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the Fido/TurboNet/Atari F-Net Mail Network. You may also call our BBS direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information relative to the Atari and other computers worldwide through the use of excellent International Messaging Networks. SysOps, worldwide, are quite welcome to join the STReport International Conferences. The Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All BBS systems are welcome and invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today! ========================================================================== GENIE ~ CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ FNET ~ TNET ~ INTERNET EURONET ~ CIX ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ========================================================================== COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198 You will receive your complimentary time and be online in no time at all! WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (June 26) * NEW SYSOP IN ATARI 8-BIT FORUM * Please join us in welcoming SYSOP*Jeff Kovach 70761,3015 to the staff of the Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8). * FONTGDOS AVAILABLE * FONTGDOS is now available (courtesy Atari Corp) in LIBRARY 9 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) along with Bob Wilson's help file. * NEW IN ATARI VENDORS FORUM (GO ATARIVEN) * SoftLogik Publishing Corporation is pleased to announce the release of PageStream 2.2 for Atari ST/STe/TT computers! Please read message # 27184. For users of PageStream 2.1: Download file PATCH.LZH from LIBRARY 11 to convert to version 2.2. Users of STalker version 3.01: Be sure to download STK302.LZH from LIBRARY 8 for a program that will upgrade a registered copy of STalker 3.01 to version 3.02. An original (unmodified) STalker 3.01 disk is required for the upgrade. * NEW FOR THE PORTFOLIO * The ULTIMATE PORTFOLIO DEMO is now available in LIBRARY 17 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO), courtesy Don Thomas and Atari Corp. (This demo runs on a PC, not on the Portfolio) Superb graphics and suitable for an in-store self-running demo/promotion. THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM" """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" About this business of; "Oh please, tell me where you want me" is ridiculous! I cannot believe Brodie feels the majority of the users worldwide cannot see through the smoke and mirrors of this latest insult to all who are not in the areas he's mentioned. Before anybody gets their nose all twisted outta shape, let me make this perfectly clear.. (where have we heard that before?) Bob Brodie BELONGS on GEnie.... period. GEnie is the support area for Atari Corp. and GEnie has a contract that sez so. But.. for Brodie to come forward and purposely generate a flatulent controversy over absolutely nothing is amazing. Apparently, the "tell me you love me" note was nothing more than an exercise in how to distract the users attention away from the reality of what is really going on (nothing) and give them something to do online. It really serves no substantially useful purpose other than massaging someone's ego. The worst part is the action itself makes for bad feelings among all the major services. At the same time though, Brodie mentions he needs to spend MORE time in the FNET. Less than 18 months ago, the very same network was termed an amateur hobby net, rife with piracy, by Mr. Brodie when he was asked to participate by many of the various sysops in the FNET. The time has come when it becomes necessary for the users to refuse accepting _any_ apologies for a lack of support by Atari's "Director of Communications" on ALL the MAJOR online services! The online services actually make his job a great deal easier. The sysops, Darlah Potechin, Ron Luks, Clay Walnum and all those who work with them are all highly experienced Atarians who are dedicated to serving the Atari userbase. These people are quite capable of offering assistance to Brodie. There is no excuse or need for such pleas other than to draw attention to one's self. On the onlines, Brodie is able to reach _many_ people with the same effort it takes to reach only one. What is the problem? Does Atari need this type of controversy now? Of course not. Its time we _all_ woke up and smelled the coffee. We simply must stop trying to find reason in insanity. Atari * MUST * support ALL their users if it is to survive and prosper. We, the users must tell them this fact in no uncertain terms. This business of seeing other users trying to constantly apologize for Atari's Director of Communications actions is getting old. It reminds me of the kindly old Reverend patting little "Bobby" on the head after the Sunday morning services he so thoroughly and completely interrupted and saying to Bobby's mother; "Its alright, He's only a little boy. He'll grow up one day." Enough is enough! Doesn't anyone notice that we are going through the same OLD discussions year after year? And.. year after year, we excuse certain Atari representatives while saying to each other they'll do better next year. They'll learn with time. After all... they're young. Its still the same old, "footshot per week" non-sense. Only now, others are being dragged in by these rank amateurs imitating professional PR people and publicity people. Its a disgrace my friends... Elsewhere in this issue, we show a number of posts that reflect user's feelings relative to this "plea". Also, we have the last in the AUA series (6) its quite informative. Almost forgot, the Crystal Ball is back too. Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""" Publisher - Editor """""""""""""""""" Ralph F. Mariano PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Roger D. Stevens Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON STReport Staff Editors: """"""""""""""""""""""" Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson Michael Arthur Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando Steve Spivey Doyle C. Helms Contributing Correspondents: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Michael Lee Richard Covert John Deegan Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Harry Steele Ben Hamilton Neil Bradley Eric Jerue Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing James Nolan Vernon W. Smith Bruno Puglia Clemens Chin IMPORTANT NOTICE """""""""""""""" Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve.................... 70007,4454 GEnie......................... ST.REPORT Delphi........................ RMARIANO BIX........................... RMARIANO FIDONET....................... 112/35 FNET.......................... NODE 350 NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS ================= Issue #25 Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. -- Atari Introduces 'Batman Returns' for the Lynx Atari is anticipating success of the movie 'Batman Returns' and is re- leasing a Lynx games console game of the same name. Atari is taking the games cartridge seriously -- it's secured the worldwide license for the game -- and expects the Batman game to boost games software and Lynx sales during the slow summer months. Other promotions are planned for the autumn and Christmas periods. Atari hopes to sell more than a million Lynx consoles this year alone. -- MiCC Announces Tiny Fax/Data Pocket Modems Micro Integrated Communications (MiCC) has announced a six ounce pocket data/fax modem for use with portable and pen-based computers that sends and receives data at up to 14,400 bps in data and fax modes. The $799 modem has V.32 bis in the data mode, V.17 in the fax mode, and V.42 bis data compression. The company says it started shipping this month. According to the company the modem will be Group III, Class 2 capable. -- Toshiba and IBM to Work Together on Flash Memory Sources say Toshiba and IBM are working on a joint development and sales agreement for a new memory chip with 'flash memory'. Flash memory, which was first developed by Toshiba in 1984, is an erasable and re-writable device on which the written memory does not disappear even when the electrical current is turned off. Also, writing and reading time is said to be much faster than hard disks. It is said to have great potential as a next-generation memory to replace hard disks and floppy disks. Both firms are reportedly planning to install flash memory on notebook- type personal computers, which will consequently be built much lighter than current hard disk models. Flash memory is expected to become a big hit by 1993, replacing hard disks and floppy disks on computers. -- Ruling Favors Software Firm In a case closely watched by the software industry, a federal appeals court has rejected an earlier decision giving broad protection to both the programmer's coding and to the function, or user interface, of a program. The Second Circuit appeals court in Manhattan this week affirmed a lower court's rejection of a controversial decision known as Whelan v. Jaslow. The court handed a victory to Altai Inc., a small Texas software publisher, against Computer Associates International Inc., the nation's second-largest software company. -- Toshiba and Apple Deal on Multimedia Toshiba Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. have reached an agreement to jointly license, develop and produce multimedia technology and products. According to sources, the first result of the tie-up will be a multi- media product based on compact-disc read-only memory, which the two companies expect to launch in mid-1993. -- Microsoft Expects '92 Revenues and Profits to Exceed '91 Microsoft Corp. told investors this week that they expect 1992 revenues and profits to exceed the software giant's 1991 results. According to a source at Microsoft, Microsoft has achieved a compound growth rate of 47% in recent years and expects this to be the 19th consecutive year of growth in revenues and profits. Microsoft expects 35% of 1992 revenues to be generated from new products introduced during the year. Revenues from DOS system software accounted for 39% of overall revenues, while applications software contributed 51%. Hardware products account for the remainder. -- Apple and IBM Looking into Possible National Information Service According to Apple Computer Inc. Chairman John Sculley, both Apple and IBM "at this time are looking at going into (the) information services" business. Reports from Seybold Digital World Conference this week IBM and Apple each is exploring the possible move both individually and jointly through their joint venture, Kaleida. -- IBM to Battle Clones Industry sources say that IBM plans a broad revamping of its personal computer division this fall and that among the changes will be the announcement of a new, low-cost PC line that is designed to compete head-to-head with the clones. This "value brand" will not contain as many features or the latest technology found on IBM's top line PS/2, it will likely use the "PS" name with another number or name appended to it, such as "PS Classic." The company's clone plans have been wracked with confusion in recent weeks. For instance, it was revealed that IBM is also considering selling clones in the United States that are manufactured by another firm but sport the IBM name and logo. In addition, IBM's top PC executive, James Cannavino, said last month "the IBM company isn't going to sell clones." -- Adam Osborne Takes on New Job Adam Osborne, the developer of the first portable pc 12 years ago, has been named CEO/president of a firm called Vision Logic Inc. The five year old company primarily has sold VGA boards, controllers and peripherals, but last month took a new direction, unveiling a 2 by 5 by 1 inch portable drive that comes with Vision's IDE interface controller. Osborne founded Osborne Computer Corp. in 1980. Three years later, he founded Paperback Software International. Before that he was president of Osborne and Associates, a microcomputer publishing business. In 1990, readers of PC Magazine named him one of the five most influential people in the industry. *********************************************************************** :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ To sign up for GEnie service: Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo) Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and weekend access to more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards on leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including the biggest collection of files to download and the best online games, for only $6 per hour. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month of membership if you are not completely satisfied, just ask for your $4.95 back. GEnie Announcements (FREE) 1. GEnie's Put a Price on Friendship.............................*BUDDY 2. LOVED ONES Apart: TOGETHER On GENIE RTC 6/28 at 9 EDT in......FAMILY 3. Meet writer MICHELLE SAGARA, Sunday at 8 EDT in the...........SFRT 4. Special Atari ST offer, for MEMBERS ONLY in...................SOFTCLUB 5. GEN CON/Origins - Register Online.............................TSR 6. BUY 1 Genesis Game, GET 1 FREE for a LIMITED Time at..........EADIRECT 7. FREE: LINUX operating system. Author in conference 6/27 4pm...UNIX 8. MoneyCounts(R) 7.0 =BRAND NEW= On SALE @ $35................PARSONS 9. Dragon's Gate Rap Night with DJ Gamester presiding 6/29.......MPGRT 10. 300 volume barrier smashed - thousands of Clipart images on...WP 11. New FREEWARE enhances shareware & newsletters: Download SEE...HOSB 12. ONLINE DIGITAL MUSIC REVIEW 55 ... the best music reviews.....MUSIC 13. Compaq assaults clones with new family; slashes prices on.....LAPTOPS 14. GENEDIT template library updates now available in . . ........MIDI 15. Astronomer discusses the science behind.....................ASTROLOGY ________________________________________________________________________ | | | Welcome to the Atari ST Roundtable | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | IMPORTANT!!! Please read Category 1, Topic 2 and add your voice to | | keeping Bob Brodie, Atari's Director of Communications, online and | | active here on GEnie's Atari ST Roundtable. Read message #1 for full | | details. To read, enter the Bulletin Board and type: rea 2 1 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities: --------------------------------------------------- 24519 STKR_302.LZH (LH5)LZH X GRIBNIF 920614 121344 193 7 Desc: Upgrade STalker 3.01 to 3.02 24539 ICONS.LZH (LH5)LZH X ST.REPORT 920617 22272 179 19 Desc: * Super Icon Collection - NEWDESK * 24529 HELPFGDS.LZH X G.KICHOK 920616 4224 138 1 Desc: Help file for FontGDOS installation 24530 MUSICAL.LZH X G.KICHOK 920616 7424 118 2 Desc: Musical NeoDesk 3 icons, NEW! 24550 CHERRYHI.LZH (LH5)LZH X CHERRY.FONTS 920618 2816 115 21 Desc: Nice Warp 9 screen font for high res 24502 SPC_3375.LZH (LH5)LZH X R.GLOVER3 920613 11136 92 28 Desc: DMJ's Spectrum Viewer for DMJGIF 3.0 --------------------------------------------------- Last Week's New Demos: --------------------------------------------------- 24564 URW_DJET.LZH (LH5)LZH X CODEHEAD 920619 363264 24 10 Desc: URW Font Chart for DeskJet Printers 24562 URW_9PIN.LZH (LH5)LZH X CODEHEAD 920619 218496 11 10 Desc: URW Font Chart for 9-Pin Printers 24561 URW24PIN.LZH (LH5)LZH X CODEHEAD 920619 125440 31 10 Desc: URW Font Chart for 24-Pin Printers 24509 CONVZWEI.LZH X GRMEYER 920613 194304 27 10 Desc: Convector Zwei demo from Germany 24506 DRUCKER.LZH X GRMEYER 920613 371712 10 10 Desc: Signum3 shell demo version 24500 G_MAN30D.LZH X DRAGONWARE 920613 139520 25 10 Desc: Demo of the G_MAN3.0 and MORE! --------------------------------------------------- GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission *********************************************************************** > JERRY, WHO? STR Feature Who is this guy, Jerry?? """"""""""""""""""""""" JERRY - WHO? ============ Editor Note: ------------ During the past week, occurring in the Atari ST RT on GEnie, a discussion developed that was quite interesting and at the same time very humorous. The main body of the discussion was written in two extremely entertaining posts by the ever-enjoyable... John J. Jainschigg, writer "extraordinaire" John begins... As I've been suggesting patiently for years, the real reason Jerry Pournelle no longer pays much attention to Atari hardware (besides the fact that the last call Mr. Pournelle got from Atari was probably from Neil Harris, back in 1985 (grin)) is because nobody has suggested piquant NAMES for his Atari machines. As any real Pournelle fan will tell you, naming computers is absolutely fundamental to the Pournelle ethos of hardware evaluation. Early Chaos Manor scholarship ascribed Pournelle's naming habit to projective futuristic anthropomorphism: By naming his computers, he was merely anticipating such time as literally intelligent, fully-individuated computing machinery would become available. Subsequent scholarship has pointed out, however, that instead of coming up with "computery" names for his systems (C3P0, R2D2, 21MM392, HAL, etc.), Pournelle continues to prefer organic-sounding names such as Ezekial, Lucy Van Pelt, Big Cheetah, and the like. One school of thought now suggests that Pournelle performs the act of naming as a divinatory gesture based in animism or pantheism. Before one can propitiate the capricious _anima_ or spirit of the machine (deus ex machina), one must determine its name -- the first step in determining where a particular anima stands in the greater hierarchy of spirits, which will in turn determine its area of specific influence, threat-value, and to some extent, elucidate the protocols and ceremonies required in its worship. Extending the above thesis, a few Manorologists have suggested that the ultimate goal of naming is not worship and propitiation, but indeed _control_ of the hardware anima. In this formulation, if Pournelle knows the name of a computer's demiurge or loa, he can summon it and to some extent, control its behavior. Even if this so-called "Voodoo" hypothesis is correct, however, it should not be carelessly assumed to presuppose that Pournelle views computers as inherently dangerous or maleficent entities -- i.e., as demons. While this characterization may indeed inform Pournelle's view, it should be noted that the demonic picture of the anima is largely restricted to medieval and post-medieval Judeo/Christian traditions of sympathetic magic, whereas Pournelle's thinking may derive from older African, Mediterranean, and/or Asian traditions, that view the generic anima as being fundamentally unconcerned with human affairs. Even in the somewhat ill- reputed Voodoo tradition, per se, most loas are perceived as neutral -- the practice of Voodoo "demonology," or "dealing with the left hand" is associated only with a few specific spirits, most notably Le Baron Samedi (Baron Saturday), the loa of Death. While many of us, indeed, experience the use of IBM-compatible hardware as being somehow akin to death, this is doubtless related to the fact that IBM computers are, according to a Mambo of my acquaintance, under the especial protection of Lemonmedselma, the loa of segmented-addressing and 640K limitations, who is cousin to Samedi in the traditional Voodoo familial pantheon. On the other hand, some have argued that Pournelle's having chosen the name Ezekial for his CP/M system -- that name figuring significantly in Revelations -- is evidence of precisely this type of demonologic turn in the author's metaphysics. We feel this argument is without merit. Instead, we suggest that while the name Ezekial certainly derives from mystic New Testament sources, Pournelle chose it because Ezekial's peculiar vision was especially meaningful to him, as a science-fiction writer. As the spiritual recounts: "Ezekial saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the air ..." This vision of a fiery flying wheel, along with subsequent descriptions of multi- headed, winged figures, have, of course, been popularly put forward as scriptural evidence of extraterrestrial visitation. In the final analysis, we feel that Pournelle's naming of his computers is essentially Adamic. It derives in kind from the story of Genesis, wherein Adam's first task, as prototypic human, was to name the animals, asserting Man's natural dominion and expressing his essential relationship with God the Creator. The creating God, of course, has established the identification of naming with dominion "... and he called the light Day, and the darkness Night, etc.," and is identified in apostolic scripture with the primal word, or Logos. Having reviewed this analysis, it should be obvious that if Mr. Pournelle is ever to take Atari systems seriously, appropriately evocative and meaningful names for them must be provided. Ideally, of course, we might hope that Mr. Pournelle would invent his _own_ names -- but he may still be awaiting delivery of evaluation systems. In the interim, I suggest that it would do no harm, and may do some good, to suggest a few tony monikers: Binky, Doogie, Semiramis, Carpaccio, Lucrezia Borgia, Lizzy Borden, Murphy Brown, Elizabeth Regina, Rosenkrantz, Despina, Count Ugolino, Blackadder, Lt. Commander Data, Spock (sigh), NOMAD, Tinkerbell, Bazooka Joe ... Please feel free to add your own. Then, John continues in the second post... Actually, DD, Dr. Jerry Pournelle, PhD is more than "some kind of computer guru." Let's see ... He's got a doctorate in Psychology, and is (I seem to remember) also degreed in Aeronautical Engineering or some related science. He regularly consults with the U.S. Govt., and is a key figure in the civilian lobby to support the U.S. Space Program. Pournelle is best known for his science-fiction novels: He's one of the, say, ten (?) most significant science-fiction writers of the late 20th century -- very much a proponent of the "hard science" school that tries to handle futuristic topics in a lively and interesting fashion without making stupid math, physics, terminology, and continuity errors. (e.g., "Jake looked out the launch window and saw the moon hanging low in the sky. 'Thank gosh it's on _this_ side of the Earth,' he thought to himself. 'We can fly right up to it in a straight line, and don't have to turn left, first. Hmmm ... five minutes to launch ... Better suit up!") In particular, the novels he's lately written in collaboration with author Larry Niven have been both significant works of science-fiction and, I'm given to understand, great commercial successes. Check out "The Mote in God's Eye," "Lucifer's Hammer," "Footfall," and others. My personal favorite is Footfall, in which Earth is menaced by interstellar armies of elephant-like herd animals. I read it as an allegory of the present state of the computer market. (grin) Seriously, it's an allegory on human nature, and involves one of the most successful efforts I've ever read to invent and animate a believable alien culture based on understandable biological imperatives (i.e., "what if, instead of having an intelligent life-form that evolved out of monkeys swinging in the trees, we made one up that evolved out of cud-chewers that hung around mud holes on the plains?") (Note to make myself seem cool by association: My brother, Nicholas ("The Famous Sci-Fi Artist") Jainschigg, was actually written into the latest of Dr. Pournelle's books -- "Fallen Angels," done in collaboration with Larry Niven and Mike Flynn. One of the characters in the novel, a collector of sci- fi and fantasy art, is described as owning an original Jainschigg illustration of one of Mr. Flynn's stories. Is that cool, or like ... what?) Re: Computers, Pournelle was an "early adopter" of the microcomputer ethos, and is best-known for his continuing work for Byte Magazine. Now called (I think) "Computing at Chaos Manor," his column represents a body of work going back for more than a decade. As industry rumor describes it, Pournelle got into computers very early, and recognized right off the bat that much of the information available on computers was canted towards a techno-hobbyist's range of interests, rather than those of a real, basic computer "user"-type. So he went to Byte with the idea of writing a column from the perspective of somebody who, while they indeed _liked_ computers, basically just wanted to _get some work done with them._ His columns were immediate standouts in Byte, which back in the late '70's and early '80's was truly a hands-on technical journal. They were long, highly anecdotal, self-revelatory grab-bags of information, wherein Pournelle would write about whatever he was doing with his computers at that moment: getting them fixed, making them do stuff, writing BASIC programs on them, playing with software, etc., illuminated with frequent digressions into computing philosophy, space science, writing, metaphysics, and other peripheral topics. One of the wonderful things about these early columns was that Pournelle never apologized for writing about his particular interests in great detail, and made little attempt to "generalize" his personal experience to appeal to some kind of hypothetical user-profile. Instead, the very "homeliness" of his work is eloquent testimony to the fact that the experience of using computers is intensely and intimately personal, that it involves deep learning and works vast changes on individual consciousness. Pournelle's columns may, indeed, eventually be recognized as an important primary resource for understanding the sea-changes wrought by computing on human society and spirit. In more practical terms, Pournelle's columns have always managed to put across the extraordinary _glee_ that intelligent people feel when they play around with technology and end up learning something new or doing something useful. It's very, very valuable to recognize this glee, and to distinguish it from other emotional responses to tech ... if you don't, you end up in the unfortunate position we're presently in as regards the automobile, where it's not so much the quiet glee of the ingenious and loving mechanic that drives the industry (if it were, we'd have non-polluting cars that ran 100 miles on a glass of water), but the macho posturings of speed freaks and consumerists who buy cars "off the rack." In the end, I think one of the great values of Pournelle's contribution is that his work recognizes that (at present) the computer system each of us owns is a product of collaboration between the industry (such as it is or may be), and our own desires and energies and ideas about how we want to work or play with our machines. Even today, everybody's hard disk looks different. Everybody's AUTOEXEC.BAT file or \AUTO folder is (or at least has the potential to be) unique. Unfortunately, I can see this sense of necessary uniqueness eroding as computer technology becomes more and more a part of daily life. Me, I still have the feeling, when I get up from my workstation at 5:00 PM (okay, okay, more like 2:00 AM) that heck -- whatever went wrong today, whatever nasty phone calls I had to field -- STILL, I was privileged to sit for eight (ten, twelve, sixteen) hours in front of a machine that's a dynamic monument to human (and indeed to my own) ingenuity. But all too often, I see co-workers get up and go home with none of the sense that they've occupied a shrine, or participated in the unfolding of a mystery. All joking about "naming computers" aside, the real reason Jerry Pournelle should take a serious look at his TT is because the human culture of Atari users seems to be one of the few hardware-associated attitude spaces where self-sufficient, quirky, nerdy, down-and-dirty, old-style computing is still going on. Tell him.. it'll make him feel young again. Boy .......... was THAT a diatribe! (grin) John Jainschigg Note: This editor/publisher is going to sorely miss John's eloquent, expert writing style we became ever so used to finding in Atari Explorer. John made the term "phoenix" come true as far as Explorer is concerned. Good luck to you John... I, like most other Atarians, will miss your honesty, clarity and above all else your genuine sense of humor and fair play. ________________________________________________________________ > AIM SPECIAL OFFER! STR InfoFile "Bon Voyage John" Special """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ATARI INTERFACE "Bon Voyage John" Special* The July/August issue of Atari Explorer is the last issue to be produced by John Jainschigg and his capable staff. John and his people brought Explorer back from certain death. Now, Atari is pulling Explorer in-house and Explorer's future is once more in doubt. We're going to miss John and the great things his staff has done with Explorer. But that doesn't mean YOU have to miss a great source for Atari news, reviews and editorials covering the Atari 8-bit, ST/TT, Portfolio and Lynx. Just take advantage of the special discount AIM subscription rates on the form below. Fill out and return the form, or call (313) 973-8825, have your MasterCard or VISA handy and say "I want the 'Bon Voyage John' special!" You don't have to be an Explorer subscriber to get this great deal. However, this special is NOT valid for current AIM subscribers (i.e., you can't extend/renew an existing AIM subscription via this offer). This offer ends October 31, 1992, so don't miss the boat on this one! cut here """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "Bon Voyage John" AIM Special Offer Form (OFFER EXPIRES OCTOBER 31, 1992) Name: ____________________________________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________________ City: _____________________ State/Country: ______________ ZIP: ________ Rates: ____ $12 for 1 yr. US 3rd Class ____ $36 for 1 yr. Canadian ____ $30 for 1 yr. US 1st Class ____ $42 for 1 yr. Foreign (1 year = 12 magazines) ____ Sign me up for your Disk(s) of the Month as well! ____ ST/Mega (12 DS disks) $50 additional ____ 8-bit (12 SS/SD flippies) $50 additional ____ Mac/Spectre (12 DS disks) $50 additional Format: ____ Mac ____ Spectre ____ I wish to pay by VISA/MasterCard! Card Number: ___________________________ Exp. 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DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! *********************************************************************** > BLUE RIDGE FEST STR SHOW NEWS Summer Fun with Atari! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" BLUE RIDGE ATARIFEST '92 ======================== Press Release - June 26, 1992 FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer STudio invite you to participate in the third annual Blue Ridge AtariFest on Saturday, July 18, 1992. The show will take place in the Courtyard Shop area of Westgate Shopping Center in Asheville, North Carolina (Home of Computer STudio). Our list of exhibitors continues to grow. This week's additions include Maxwell CPU (Silhouette -- Bit image & vector graphics drawing program with auto-tracing), Applied Audio Marketing (Atari's Southeast Rep Firm) and Steinberg-Jones (Cubase, etc.). Applied Audio Marketing and Steinberg Jones will be teaming up to bring the latest MIDI technology to the Blue Ridge AtariFest. Their display and demo will include: * Computers and music sequencing software. * MIDI Machine Control. * Interfacing the computer and music software with personal multitrack tape recording equipment (i.e. Fostex). * Demo of Steinberg Cubase 3.0 with Fostex R8 with MTC-1. * Getting your song copyrighted and published. Exhibitor's who have already made a commitment to attend include (Alphabetical Listing): Accusoft-ST (Michael Cooper) ................ PD/Shareware Software Applied Audio Marketing, Inc. (Bob Edsall, John Spencer)............ Atari Southeast Regional Rep Firm Atari Computer Corporation (Mike Groh) ...... ABC Solutions (Peter Zalesak) ............... Publisher ST2, First Word, First Graph, tbxCAD, Kuma's KSpread4/Lite Clear Thinking (Craig Harvey) ............... EdHak CodeHead Software (John Eidsvoog) ........... Midi Spy, TOS Extension Card, Megapaint II Pro, Hotwire, G+Plus, LookIt/PopIt, etc. Computer STudio ............................. Visit a 'real' Atari Dealership in the mall DSA (Robert Dytmire & David Munsie) ......... GP Graphics Engine - New product unveiling! Goldleaf Publishing (John Fox) .............. Wordflair II, Didot, Retouche, Sherlook, etc. KAUG (Knoxville Atari Users Group) .......... P/D Library Disks KAUG (Seminar by Erik White) ................ "Beginning MIDI" Lexicor Software (John Cole) ................ Desktop Video Software Maxwell CPU (Julie Reyes) ................... Silhouette Reed Mountain Press (Don Terp) .............. Desktop Publishing Seminar Software Development Systems (Scott Sanders). NewDesk Icon Editor CPX, Printer Utilities Pak ST Report/ABCO Computer (Ralph Mariano) ..... Seminar on current events in the Atari marketplace. Steinberg-Jones ............................. MIDI (Cubase, etc.) Step Ahead Software (Nevin Shalit) .......... Tracker ST (Nevin is Current IAAD Pres.) Twilight Zone Software (Wayne Watson) ....... Transcendence BBS software. Willard Productions (Clifton Willard) ....... Professional Desktop Video WorldComm (Ralph Roberts) ................... Author of several computer books incl. "Computer Viruses" and hint books Showtimes are 10am - 6pm. Advance registration is only $2, or $3 at the door. Door prize winners will be selected from registered guests. Advance registration checks should made out to "BRACE" and mailed to: Cliff Allen/BRACE c/o Computer STudio Westgate Shopping Center 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 A Southern-style banquet will follow the show at the Pisgah View Ranch. This will definitely be somewhat different from the usual semi-formal type hotel affairs of the other shows, and will be a real down-home, country party in the mountains! Dinner will be served family-style....... as long as you keep eating, they'll keep serving! And check out the menu: Tossed Salad Country Ham Fried Chicken Cornbread Dressing Rice and Gravy Green Beans Sweet Potato Souffle Homemade Rolls Beverages Homemade desserts After dinner, there will be live entertainment in the air-conditioned barn, guaranteed to bring out he 'country' in everyone! There's also volleyball and shuffleboard if anyone still has the energy after the excitement of the show. Or how about just sitting on the porch and enjoying our clean mountain air. Advance reservations are required for the Blue Ridge AtariFest Banquet as seating space is limited to 100 people. Cost is $17.50 per person (children under 6 are half-price). If you're planning on attending, please return the following reservation form along with you payment check as soon as possible. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" BLUE RIDGE ATARIFEST '92 - BANQUET RESERVATION FORM: Name: _______________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ City: _________________________ State: _________ Zip: ___________ Phone Number: ( ) _________________________________ Number attending: ______ Adults @ $17.50 each = $_______________ ______ Children under 6 @ $8.75 = $______________ TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED ............ $_______________ Banquet tickets and a map of directions to the Pisgah View Ranch will be mailed to those with confirmed reservations. PLEASE MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO "COMPUTER STUDIO" and mail this completed reservation form along with your check to: Computer STudio Westgate Shopping Center 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" For additional information, please contact either: Sheldon Winick Cliff Allen, Show Coord. GEnie: S.WINICK GEnie: C.ALLEN17 Computer STudio Internet: CALLEN@UNCA.EDU Westgate Shopping Center phone: (704) 258-3758 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 (704) 251-0201 or the Blue Ridge AtariFest topic on GEnie (Atari Roundtable, Category 11, Topic 7). ______________________________________________________________ > WHY?? STR SOUND OFF "Is Anybody in Charge here?" """"""""""""""""""" "IS ANYBODY IN CHARGE HERE?" ============================ by Beth Jane Freeman Fellow Atari stockholders, I did not come here simply to complain about the poor performance of Atari Corp, or the kvetch about the way business is handled here. Merely to point out what is wrong with this company would be counter-productive, leaving all of us feeling rather depressed. Kvetching in itself will not solve these problems, and they must be solved. I have several reasons for addressing you today. First, of course, I'm an Atari shareholder, second, I am the owner of two Atari computers, a 1040 ST and a 1200 XL, along with software and peripherals. My first experiences with Atari computers go back to when the company was part of Warner Communications. I am also the chairperson of my user group, which is a woefully small sub- set of the Long Island Computer Association. As you can see I have a rather large vested interest in what happens to Atari. I guess you're wondering what qualifications I have to suggest ways of turning this company around. Just because I own and use an Atari computer doesn't necessarily mean I know about running a business. I bought my first Atari to run my own business. I found many ways to use the computer to keep track of all the pesky paper work that comes with a retail jewelry business, inventory, bookkeeping, letter writing, and so forth. I became very adept at using the computer, writing a few programs here and there, and when I got my ST, I availed myself of the desktop publishing software and used it to enhance my business. I have also taken courses in advertising at my local community college in addition to my bachelor of science degree from a prestigious eastern university. I have found many ways of using the software I have for many different and useful purposes, all to the end of working faster, better, and more creatively. It is this knowledge and experience that I bring to this meeting. I think that one of the biggest problems facing Atari is its woeful lack of customer and dealer support. I find this inexcusable. In my business we have a saying that when you sell a customer a ring, you're married to them. They will come back to you when the slightest thing happens to their purchase, and they will want you to make it right. Handled correctly, this can mean that this customer will come back again and again to make additional purchases, and encourage their friends to do the same. In the computer industry, I believe that WordPerfect Corporation is a prime example of excellent customer support. A customer buys the program, and they can count on a friendly voice at the other end of an 800 number to guide them through any problems they might have. I realize that this sort of thing requires considerable expense (for the telephone lines and the people to staff them), but Atari can do more, much more than it is doing now, which is practically nothing. We can develop a system to speedily respond to problems through the mail. This is a computer company and we can use computers to streamline to process of answering customers' problems. First of all, we have make sure that all of our customers understand what Atari needs to know about the problem, so that we can determine what should be done to remedy it. Atari can post notices about this on Genie and CompuServe, as well as printing this information in Atari Explorer magazine. We need to explain to the customer that he or she needs to tell us what program they were using when the problem occurred, what programs are in their AUTO folder, and in what order. In addition Atari also needs to know which peripherals are hooked up to their machine. This should be explained in detail, including how to display the AUTO folder so that the files inside of it are in chronological order. Now, a way is needed for Atari to respond quickly and concisely to its customers. It should not take a registered letter to get the attention of Atari's staff. That is where the computers come in. Each problem that Atari is already familiar with will have a solution recorded as a file on the computer. For example, if the user's computer crashes each time they try to load a certain disk with a particular combination of AUTO folder programs, we can tell them that program XYZ must be placed after program ABC, and explain to them how to do that. If the problem is rather serious, requiring the services of an authorized repair service, Atari should send them the name address and telephone number of the nearest repair center, and if there is more then one, Atari should list all of them in the area. A list of these service centers can be put in a data base for easy access and incorporation into the reply letter. Each known solution can be a macro or a file that is pasted into the letter to the user. If the problem is totally the fault of a particular piece of third party software or hardware, that is possibly being used incorrectly, the user should be referred to the company who makes that software. There are also the severe problems of the Atari service centers, one of which is the scarcity of replacement parts. I had a problem with my 1040 ST, and I had to bring it to my Atari service center for repair. One of the little pins on my MMU chip broke off chip, and the chip would not function correctly. The service center had no replacement available, and they had no idea when they would be able to obtain one. All they could do is diagnose the problem. That was appalling to me. They gave me back the broken chip, and I brought it to a friend of mine and fellow LICA member. He thought that we might be able to solder on a new leg for it. First I had to scrape away some of the black plastic on the chip to allow for a place to solder on the new leg. I had to use my microscope to clearly see what I was doing. My friend's brother had to finish the scraping job, and another friend soldered the new leg in place. This was all because my Atari Service Center had no MMU chips for replacements. This sort of thing must not be allowed to continue. As I understand from some of my more techie friends, you can program blank chips to perform almost any task necessary. While you cannot do that with the MMU chips, you can do that with the TOS ROMs and several other chips inside the computer. Blank chips can easily be obtained, as well as a small hand held device that will allow a person to test chips to see, not only whether they are good or bad, but what kind they are. All of this can be purchased a stone's throw from here, right in San Jose. The same store also has a mail order department and a catalog complete with toll-free telephone numbers. That leaves the matter of programming the chip. What I propose is another BBS at Atari headquarters. However, this BBS is only available to Authorized Atari Service Centers. On this BBS, the technicians can download the software that is contained on various chips and program their own chips. This way they will not have to wait to get one from Atari. The service technician can purchase an EPROM burner, chip tester and blank chips, and make his own replacements. Upgrading TOS will take a few days at most, depending on how busy to service center is. A message base should also be available so that experiences and ideas can be exchanged among technicians. The number for this BBs would only be given to Authorized Atari Service Centers. Each Authorized Atari Service Center should be easily identified by the consumer, perhaps with a sticker for the front door. All service centers should have up-to-date information for each computer Atari makes. This does not have to some elaborate bound book. It could merely be pages of bond paper that the service tech keeps in a loose leaf. All that is required is clear diagrams and neatly written information, along with the names and addresses of places where various generic parts can be ordered. Atari owes it to its service technicians to keep them informed and to make replacement parts readily available to them. Disgruntled customers have to be made a thing of the past, or we will lose even more of our market share to MS DOS and Apple. Service technicians should not have to get repeated calls from their customers inquiring if the part for their broken computer has arrived. Atari basically has a good product, be it seems that Atari Corp has done everything possible to hide its light under a bushel basket. In the long run, that is a very expensive way of doing business. (Chorus from "Throwing It All Away") Another problem that needs to be addressed is advertising. I believe that the executives are under the erroneous impression that only a full page four color ad will attract anyone's attention, and television is way too expensive for Atari to engage in except right before Christmas and Chanukah. There are many ways to advertise, and not all of them are expensive. First and foremost, Atari must see who their customers are. Since we have our own magazine, Atari Explorer, and Atari forums on Genie and CompuServe, the answer is very easy. Look at the lists of subscribers and learn their names and ages. I assure you, not all Atarians are thirteen year old boys with mischief on their minds. We are older than you think and more serious. As to print advertising, we must help what is left or Atari's retail outlets to push our products. It is sad to say that in some stores, the Atari ST is sitting out there, just running the desktop, without even a control panel for a passerby to fool with. This is totally non-decorous, and inexcusable. Of course not every retailer who sells Atari is an advertising genius or has the time or creativity to devise his or her own promotions. That is where Atari can be of help without dipping very far into the advertising budget. Many of the finest programs available for the Atari ST have demo versions. Pagestream is one, and many Codehead products have demonstration versions. I strongly recommend that Atari gather these demo programs, which should be very simple to do, since Atari has direct contact with all of its software developers. It would be a very simple matter to contact all of them and ask them to send the demos to Atari for advertising purposes. There is also Degas Elite, a long time Atari ST program. Degas Elite has a slide show program that has been put in the public domain. Atari could also prepare a Degas slide show that dealers could run to show off what the Atari computers can do. Another way Atari can help its retailers (and itself) become more well known is by giving its retailers a kit containing suggestions on how to promote Atari computers in their store. Again this does not have to be an elaborate glossy rendition. There could be explanations of how to run an Atari day with demonstrations of various programs, a floppy disk with desktop publishing materials for creating advertisements with both Pagestream and Calamus, demonstrations of MIDI music, and other things that will make customer sit up and take notice. This type of project would be rather inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising like television commercials. Atari has to get on the stick and do something to help its retailers sell Atari computers. We are losing outlets. Only recently, Atari lost 47th Street Photo and J and R Music World. Both of these stores used to carry Atari computers, but not any longer (chorus of "Another One Bites the Dust"). That is only in the New York metropolitan area. Atari cannot afford to lose any more market outlets. With so many computer stores devoting themselves exclusively to MS DOS machines or MacIntoshes, there is very little room for Atari on the shelves. Atari must be accessible. It does no good to make the name a household word if the public cannot find it at the store. There are clone manufacturers who have more consumer recognition than Atari does, and this is absolutely pitiful. Even though Atari is a smaller organization than its major competitors, IBM and Apple, it still would be costly if it went under. If Atari closed its doors, we stockholders would all be left hanging out to dry, but all of the people here at the executive offices would lose their jobs, as well. The people at the software houses who make Atari computer programs and third party products would also lose their jobs, and retailers would also probably trim their staffs because there is less inventory to sell to fewer customers. A failure on the part of Atari will have ripple effects across the country. In these critical times, it is morally reprehensible to cause people to lose their jobs when it could have been prevented. Already, we have seen that Supra Corporation has announced it will cease making Atari specific products. (Another chorus of "Another One Bites the Dust") This effect were to continue, other companies who make products for the Atari will follow. Although Atari ST and STe can use any brand of external modem and any type and make of printer, when it comes to disk drives, and hard drives, they must be Atari specific. This is also true of mice and scanners. We cannot afford for this condition to continue. Our users need choices when it comes to peripherals. As a positive note, and a way to make the public aware of just what an Atari computer can do, Atari should make the public aware that you can get Word Perfect for the Atari, that we have two very fully featured spreadsheet programs, VIP Professional and LDW Power, that rival anything on the MS DOS market, and visually blow Lotus 1-2-3 right out of the water, for less money, too. Atari also has relational databases similar to dBase, desktop publishing software that have the same kind of high end features as Venture and Pagemaker, without the price tag that goes with the IBM programs. Our telecommunication programs can take advantage of more than just the basic X modem and ASCII file transfer programs. We have programs that can use Kermit, Y modem batch, and Z modem. Some of them can even emulate MS DOS's ANSI graphics. Any company that Atarifies their software should be recognized and encouraged, even if the Atari version came out after they made an IBM version. What should we do with this information? We should advertise it. "Power without the Price" is a very good slogan, but it does not tell the public what they can do with all of this power. That is where our list of excellent programs comes in. The public needs to see that not every great program is the exclusive province of that unfriendly MS DOS type of computer, and you can have it all for less than you'd pay for a comparable IBM or MacIntosh program. CompuServe and Genie are crawling with all sorts of shareware and public domain programs, and for those Atarians without modems, shareware and public domain programs can be purchased for a small price from various distributors. Very budget-minded Atarians could conceivably have an excellent computer system without buying any commercially produced software, just by availing themselves of the various public domain and shareware programs that can be obtained at minimal cost. No matter how an Atari owner does it, he or she can have a computer that does all sorts of wonderful and useful things without straining his or her budget. We can never sit back and just assume that the public knows this. We must pound this message home loudly and often if we want to keep this company afloat both in Europe and here in America. -*- Please Note: This above is what I was going to say to the stockholders' meeting on June 2nd, 1992, but I got my annual report four days before the meeting, and I had no time to make arrangements to get out to Sunnyvale. I live on the east coast. _______________________________________________________________ > CT FEST STR SHOW NEWS Air Travel Tips """"""""""""""""""""" CONNECTICUT ATARIFEST '92 TRAVEL TIPS ===================================== Getting here by Air AIRLINE RESERVATIONS: The following airlines serve Bradley International Airport. Call these toll-free numbers for information about fares, schedules, restrictions, etc., and to reserve a flight to Hartford: AIRLINE & CODE TELEPHONE Air Alliance (3J) (800) 776-3000 Air Ontario (GX) (800) 422-6232 American Airlines (AA) (800) 433-7300 American Eagle (AA) (800) 433-7300 Business Express (HQ) (800) 345-3400 Continental Airlines (CO) (800) 525-0280 Continental Express (QO) (800) 525-0280 Delta Airlines (DL) (800) 221-1212 Mohawk Airlines (ZO) (800) 252-2144 Northwest Airlines (NW) (800) 225-2525 Northwest Airlink (2V) (800) 225-2525 Trans World Airlines (TW) (800) 221-2000 Trans World Express (TW) (800) 221-2000 United Airlines (UA) (800) 241-6522 United Express (UA) (800) 241-6522 U.S. Air (US) (800) 428-4322 U.S. Air Express (US) (800) 428-4322 When you arrive, no need to worry about your room if you're booked at the Sheraton Hotel. It is located in the airport. If you're staying at one of these hotels or inns, you can make arrangements for a courtesy van by using one of the phones in the baggage claim area: Bradley International Motor Inn, Budgetel Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, Days Inn - Tobacco Valley, Fairfield Inn, Harley Hotel, Holiday Inn - Windsor Locks, Homewood Suites, Journey's End - Springfield (Mass.), Ramada - East Windsor, Sheraton - Hartford (Downtown), Sheraton Tara - Springfield and Simsbury Inn. CAR RENTALS Some car rental agencies offer special rates and courtesy pickups from the airport or off-site hotel. Contact these companies directly for more information: At Bradley International Airport: RENTAL AGENCY TELEPHONE Alamo (203) 623-7732 Avis (203) 627-3500 Budget (203) 627-3660 Dollar (203) 627-9048 Hertz (203) 627-3850 National (203) 627-3470 Off-Site Car Rentals: RENTAL AGENCY TELEPHONE Airways (203) 623-9333 Payless (800) PAYLESS, (203) 623-5488 Thrifty (800) FOR-CARS, (203) 623-8214 BUS/LIMOUSINE/SEDAN & SHUTTLE SERVICE Other services operating at Bradley include: CARRIER TELEPHONE Airport Connection (203) 627-3400 Airport Taxi/Limousine (203) 627-3210 The Connecticut Co., Inc. (203) 527-8060 Mount Snow Vermont Tours (802) 464-5431 Peter Pan Bus Lines (203) 627-3210, (413) 781-2900 Thomas Transportation (203) 627-3434 Valley Transporter (800) 872-8752 (Source: Connecticut Department of Transportation) ___________________________________________________________________ > The UNTOLD Story! STR Spotlight PITTSBURGH.... Finally, the TRUTH! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" THE UNTOLD STORY OF PITTSBURGH, PA ================================== by DC Signorini (c) 1991, 1992, 1992 ======= PART VI ======= [This is part 6 and conclusion of a 6 part story concerning the Atari arena in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. You are encouraged to read all 6 parts in their entirety. If you missed Part I, II, III, IV, or V, you are encouraged to read these Parts before reading further.] WHAT NEXT, ATARI? ----------------- I find it very difficult to understand exactly what Atari has attempted to accomplish by letting the ST die in the states. Obviously, Jack must be making money somewhere with the company, but not by selling units in this country. After all, one is in business to make money and if Jack is not making money, then why is he in business? I am not going to speculate how Jack is making his money and why he is still with Atari. Companies like Apple are making millions and have millions of users in the world. Atari has maybe 1 million users? And how many are in the US? Not many. In order for a computer platform to thrive, there must be users. At this time, I find it difficult to speculate as to how Atari plans to turn the market around here in the US. The ST is no longer the "power without the price" computer. It is slow -- 8Mhz. Its graphics are dated. There is very little software being developed for the computer. And, have you priced one lately? In 1985, an 8Mhz machine was fast. Almost twice as fast as an IBM clone running at 4.77Mhz. Today, you can purchase a 32bit 80386 computer running 33Mhz and super VGA, hard drive, dual floppy, and 4 megs of RAM for under $2000. An Atari MEGA 4 STe, Hard drive, color system is well into the $2500 range and is only running at 16Mhz. Ask yourself this question -- Can you recommend the purchase of an ST at this time to a friend? Is he (or she) a real friend, or just an acquaintance? Would you put them into the position where they would have to buy their software from mail order and never walk into a book store or a software store to see one Atari ST piece? During the past 5 years, I have recommended the Atari ST to nearly 15 people - Friends, relatives, and acquaintances. They all purchased the ST thinking that it was the up and coming computer. Little did they know that today, they would have to purchase software and hardware via mail. This has put me in a very awkward position of trying to help people such as these cope with having spent a great deal of money on a machine that has been orphaned in the United States. One guy called me a few months back and asked if I knew where he could sell his ST because he is tired of walking into computer stores to see IBM clones running software that he can touch, hear, and purchase there on the spot as opposed to having to order from a catalog or a leaflet and waiting a week to get a product that really was a piece of junk. A REVOLUTION ------------ How many of you remember or even know about the Revolution that was instituted in 1989? This movement was started by a guy named Donald Thomas and was an attempt to spread word of the Atari ST via mailing campaigns, group participation efforts, and word of mouth advertising. Many of you will say that you have heard of the Revolution and are aware of what it was all about. And, many will say they have heard of it, but have no clear understanding of it. Last, there are many who have never heard of it. Instead of going into detail of what the Revolution was, I would like to address those who knew all about it. Question 1 -- What did the revolution hope to accomplish and what did it eventually accomplish? Question 2 -- How many of you knew that Donald Thomas was an employee of Atari? The second question is rather loaded and maybe uncalled for in this story. However, I felt it necessary to discuss this issue since no one else in the journalistic community has been willing to do so. The Revolution was supposed to re-vitalize the Atari ST in the United States. It was an attempt to jump start massive purchasing of ST equipment and software. Atari has officially supported the Revolution from the beginning. Bob Brodie told me himself back in 1990 that they supported the Revolution. Yet, Bob to this day has been unwilling to even look at what the AUA has done over the past 2 years. Why? This is my personal theory. The revolution was concocted and funded the Atari Corporation. They put Donald Thomas in charge of the Revolution effort and gave him their blessing to succeed. After all, this was an inexpensive way to advertise and also lay a smoke screen for their lack of a major advertising effort. I believe that Atari felt that this "revolution" would help to keep the Atari ST userbase quiet for awhile. Atari at that time was being screamed at to advertise in the US, and they felt that maybe if they gave this power to the people, it would appease the masses. It worked for a while. Users were happy to participate in something that would help promote the ST and provide the ST with a future in the US. And Atari sat back and watched and to this day, there have been NO MAJOR ADVERTISING expenditures on the part of Atari Corporation. How can you sell computers if you do not advertise???!! I can attest that I am not an employee of Atari Corporation at this time, nor was I ever, nor do I ever care to be. What Tony and I do for AUA is on our own time, out of our own pocket, and out of our own insanity. Donald Thomas was placed on a pedestal by Atari as if to say, "Look here, here is the king that will lead our people..." And the people were frenzied. I for one supported the efforts of the Revolution up until the time I found that Donald Thomas was employed at Atari. If you don't believe me, pick up a copy of Atari Explorer and look at the credits page and see. I may catch a lot of heat for this section about the Revolution, but I really do not care since I, like many others, am scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep the ST alive in my soul and the US. CONCLUSION ---------- I tendered my resignation to the Atari Elite shortly after the PACE show in 1990 because of my involvement in the AUA and all of the controversy surrounding the Atari Elite and the software library. AUA could not withstand the controversy regardless of the outcome, and I could not personally devote the time necessary in my defense. So, I took the easy route and completely dissolved the ties with me and Atari Elite. I left behind many friends, many of which I think about quite often. My resignation came as a shock to them, and while they may not have understood then why I did what I did, I think they may now realize that the AUA would not have survived the controversy. I do not regret my decision I made to leave the group, however, I feel that I could have perhaps done it in a better manor than I did. I often wish that those I left behind would not hold grudges and realize I did what I did to survive. AUA has become a very large organization in a very short time period. I owe a great deal of thanks to the Atari Elite for backing the AUA when it came to Pittsburgh. AUA would not have survived without their confidence and financial support in 1989. Where we go from here is unknown. I have a very uncomfortable feeling about being so comfortable with my achievements with the AUA. Tony and I have spent thousands of hours of our time (all un-paid) to bring the AUA to the 1600 member level in only 2 years and plan to begin handing down to others responsibilities that we have carried for so long. The future of Atari Computers is very uncertain. As I write this, Atari has just sold its Taiwan plant for $60,000,000. They have promised a new marketing campaign in the USA, one that is 6 years overdue. Yet, nothing has been seen on the horizon. Groups like Atari Elite and PACE must learn to cooperate and join forces instead of wasting time clashing foreheads. And others must also learn to get along as we ride this ship in rough waters. While I know that I am only one person in this field of dreams, I do feel that I can influence others to see things from all sides, and not only those which are presented to them. Seek out information and form your own conclusions based on fact, not hearsay. Keep in mind that we as Atarian's must form a unified userbase and eliminate bickering that will certainly bring the downfall of the ST platform. Times are rough, but I feel that there is hope somewhere on the horizon. We must find the insight to discover it. ======== EPILOGUE ======== Isn't it ironic how the phrase "to die by thine own sword" is exemplified so often in our every day lives in so many ways? I received news the other day that the PACE organization of Pittsburgh has finally collapsed. I am not happy at all to see this happen. Actually, I am not really even shocked at this news. No one likes to see an Atari organization crumble, especially when they are as scarce today as a patch of fresh, unpolluted air. Two years ago, PACE attempted to deliver a fatal blow to the Atari Elite, their cross-town rivals in the Atari scene. The 1990 PACE show was the scene of some really ugly accusations and many people were affected by it. And here we are, 2 years to the day later as I write this, hearing news that the group has folded. And their rivals, the Atari Elite, who were labeled at one time as the "Pittsburgh Pirates," are alive and well. The Atari Elite, over the course of the last 2 years have abolished the software rental library that was the root of all of the problems. They have held their own pretty well, and developed into a solid group. And, their accusers are now beating down their doors to become members of the organization because their group is now a pile of dust. It is sad because if both groups would have just sat down in a room 2 years ago to settle their differences, they may have both been around today to read this. Instead, PACE wanted too much, too quickly, and their stunt to damage the Atari Elite over the years has finally caught up to them. The poison that they had used on their daggers accidently crept into their organization. During the last two years, PACE has died a slow and aggravating death, a death caused by their own aggressions. All of the turmoil that they caused concerning Pittsburgh was wasted energy. They would have been wise to channel all of that energy into a positive stream to unite the Pittsburgh Atari user and to put an end to the years of bickering. Instead, PACE no longer exists. Whose fault was it? Was it really PACE? Or was their an even greater evil at work here? Perhaps it was all of the back stabbing that took place during the late 1980's. Or maybe the lack of support by Atari for the area caused the attrition that PACE had faced. I dare not speculate. Nor do I really want to point a finger at any person or organizations. But the events that were printed in the six Pittsburgh articles were documented by me a year ago. As I went back to read what I said a year ago, I almost laughed because anyone could see exactly what direction things were heading in the Pittsburgh arena. And now to hear that the end has finally met PACE, I wish that someone would have had the foresight to help ease the tensions and possibly avert what has occurred here. Regarding the AUA, Eric Lambeth has elected to take over our operations. I wish Eric the best of luck with the venture and ask that you readers give him the support he needs to get things back on track. AUA is not a scam or gimmick. It is a large and potentially powerful organization that can help to mold the community into a better place to compute. To Eric, I wish you all the success that you deserve. END ==================================================================== Permission to Re-Print is granted as long as no part of this work is changed in any way and credit is given to the Author and the AUA. ==================================================================== > AUA - OR? STR FOCUS! What must the organization do? """""""""""""""""""" AUA - OR? ========= by John D. Barnes (CN's Junkyard Pussycat) On May 2nd E.LAMBETH signed on to indicate that the AUA had experienced some serious problems. The problems do indeed appear to be formidable, but we have heard nothing further from Mr. Lambeth to indicate what steps, if any, the AUA is taking to reconstitute itself. Before I became aware of the AUA's existence I devoted one of my columns in Current Notes to a discussion of the attributes that an organization should have if it was to serve as a focal point for the interests of the broadest possible cross-section of the Atari user community. Once I became aware of the AUA I undertook discussions with Derek Signorini to see what help I could give toward further developing the AUA. It soon became apparent that their agenda and the one that I had laid out were too divergent for fruitful collaboration. In particular, I believed (and I still believe) that a successful user organization should have the following characteristics: 1). It should develop its charter from the ideas of its members. This implies a democratic process for developing a written charter and for selecting its leadership. 2). It should operate with sufficient financial resources derived from dues and sales of services to its membership to provide for at least a paid executive secretary. 3). The services that it would provide should not duplicate those available elsewhere within the community. 4). It should not seek to reinvent the wheel, rather it should use the existing media and institutions within the community to serve its members, developing new programs only where these are needed. 5). The organization should be run on a not-for-profit basis, with all of its resources dedicated to serving the interests of its members. I believe that these principles set forth a structure that would preserve the integrity of the organization and allow it to function as an adjunct to the other providers of services. If the organization were able to attract a technically competent corps of activist volunteers it could provide services that are sorely needed by today's Atari user. Judging from the few items that have appeared here the AUA has failed to do these things, at least up to now. This brings us to the following question: "Should the AUA be replaced by a different organization?" I believe that question deserves a loud "YES" for an answer. Once that is established one gets to the "Who, what, when, where,why, and how". I think that this should be a special topic of discussion at the shows that are coming up in Asheville, Indianapolis, Connecticut, Glendale, Washington DC, and elsewhere. I look forward to hearing from people who have similar interests. Please reply to me in this topic or via GEmail. Look for messages similar to this one on GEnie, CIS, Delphi, and the Internet. _____________________________________________________________ > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando Okay friends and neighbors, I'm sure that some of you are saying "Just what the world needs: Yet another column". Well, before you skip on down to the next feature, let me tell you a bit about what I'm planning. Because there are a great number of people that receive STReport from local bulletin boards, but do not have access to any of the commercial on-line services, they may be missing out on a lot of what is going on in the Atari world. Therefore, each week I will be compiling posts from CompuServe's Atari Productivity, Atari Arts, and Atari Vender forums. The posts I'll be including in this column will have to do with questions, problems, and solutions as they affect the users. Because I've taken up some room this week with this paragraphs, in this issue I'll be covering just the Atari Productivity forum. Just in case some might have trouble figuring out where the actual posts end and my commentary begins, I've indented the posts (which, except for a few spelling corrections, are exactly as posted). I hope this helps head off any confusion. I'm sure that this post from Robert Aries sounds familiar to some and makes ALL of us cringe: I have a power failure story...I was working on a music mix that had to be Fedexed by 7PM. At 6PM I was ready for the final mix. I reached around the back of my mixer to unplug a cable and accidentally disconnected the power to the computer. Since noon that day I had been tweaking the midi data in my song, and saving it...to a ramdisk! Talk about learning the hard way! On the topic of SCSI (The kind of hard drive that STs use) versus IDE (The kind of drive that a lot of DOS machines use), Albert Dayes of Atari Advantage Magazine tells Greg Wageman: Greg, IDE is the rage for small hard disk and non critical applications but it is dying slowly but surely ... everyone is seeing the benefits of SCSI since you can always move a SCSI device from machine to machine so its a much better investment. Most computer dealers are probably selling IDE stuff so they get to upgrade later to SCSI when you want a good, fast CD-ROM drive -- Albert Dayes @ Atari Advantage magazine Greg replies: Albert, As a matter of fact, the current issue of MicroTimes has an article about hard drives, and recommends IDE. The author claims that this is by far the most common interface for PCompatibles. Now this is only one author's claim and doesn't "prove" anything, but it does agree with my own observation that the vast majority of the adds in such tabloids are pushing IDE over SCSI. In the Mac world, and of course the workstation world, SCSI is the norm. Heavy-duty, buss- based file servers are moving toward IPE, and away from the older SMD interface. SCSI seems to have hit on just the right combination of speed vs. complexity vs. expandability trade-offs. I suppose we'll need a new standard when SPARCstation 10's are seen as old and slow. With any luck, I'll be retired by then... -Greg Albert continues the thread: Greg, That is true since its much easier to sell someone an IDE harddrive for $300 then inform the buyer that a SCSI controller costs $300 and a SCSI hard disk is $500. But once the SCSI controller makers realize its in their best interest to support all SCSI devices people will begin to see the benefits. Since you can have SCSI printers, scanners, plotters, hd, cd-roms and the list goes on. Corel has claimed that they will support every SCSI device (I suppose that means within reason (GRIN)) with their new SCSI card. -- Albert Dayes @ Atari Advantage magazine Pat Augustine gets into the conversation: I think the clone world will only move to SCSI when the SCSI manufacturers get their act together and make compatible equipment. Currently, SCSI is a mess on an AT, with serious conflicts, and the problem of different SCSI controllers only working with certain products, and CD-ROM drives coming with their own SCSI cards which won't function if the SCSI HD controller is installed (!), but which won't drive the Hard Drive, etc, etc. I tried to move my UNIX system to SCSI when my Priam 330 drive failed, and was unable. Turned out my expensive Everex Step 25 had a motherboard incompatibility with the Adaptec SCSI bus-mastering controller, which was the only controller supported by SCO UNIX. Even though Everex claimed they had fixed that, my motherboard was early enough in the run to have problems. So I was forced back to ESDI. Not a real problem, but it would have been nice to free up a slot by combining my HD controller and my tape backup controller! Albert puts it all in perspective: As operating systems get larger and larger it going to become very important to have good disk i/o performance and SCSI will be the lone surviving member. -- Albert Dayes @ Atari Advantage magazine Gee, isn't it nice to know that our computers have had SCSI capability all along? Well, that's it for this week folks. Tune in next time for more information about everything Atari. _____________________________________________________ > WAACE'92 STR SHOW NEWS "The Premier East Coast Show!" """""""""""""""""""""" WAACE'92 ======== The Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts will sponsor W.A.A.C.E. AtariFest 1992 on October 10 and 11. The show will again be staged at the Sheraton Reston Hotel in Reston, VA. Show hours will be from 10 am to 6 pm on both days. In addition to the shopping bargains available from over thirty vendors there will be a full round of demonstrations, tutorials, and seminars. A banquet on Saturday evening will feature a special speaker on Atari matters and Current Notes Magazine's "Author of the Year" award. Special mixers will cap off the evening's festivities. The 1990 and 1991 editions of the show attracted approximately 2000 visitors. The Sheraton Reston Hotel is a spacious, attractive facility located in a park like setting near Washington, DC. The hotel is offering a special room rate of $59 per night plus tax to 'Fest attendees. Call 1-800-392-ROOM or 703-620-9000 for reservations. Be sure to mention W.A.A.C.E. AtariFest '92. The number of rooms available at this special rate is limited, so make your reservations early. The price that W.A.A.C.E. will have to pay for the exhibit space is directly tied to the number of hotel rooms that are rented out. If you have any expectation at all of attending the event we would like you to reserve a room for Friday and Saturday nights. Immediately following the 1991 show Charles F. Johnson of Codehead Technologies announced that W.A.A.C.E. '91 was the most profitable outing that they had ever had, anywhere. For eight years W.A.A.C.E. has provided a complete Atari experience. 1992 promises to be in that same tradition. For additional information please contact: Charles Hoffmann 5908 Bayshire Road Springfield, VA 22152-1146 (703) 569-6734 GEnie : S. Hoffmann CompuServe : 73740,1507 Delphi : CHUCKHOFFMAN ______________________________________________________________ > STRAIGHT FAX! STR InfoFile Just the FAX ma'am... just the FAX! """""""""""""""""""""""""" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Joppa Software Development announces the release of: STraight FAX! Version 1.03 Send/Receive FAX Software for the Atari ST/TT Computers Manufacturer's Suggested List Price $89.95 STraight FAX! is the first Atari ST/TT FAX Communications software package that supports industry standard send/receive Class 2 FAX Modems. Version 1.03 of the STraight FAX! adds many new features, corrects problems and allows a greater level of compatibility with other programs. Joppa Software Development also has available to registered STraight FAX! owners the complete FONT GDOS package from Atari Corporation. The three disk FONT GDOS package comes complete with an Installation program, the FONT GDOS program, three Desk Accessory/Control Panel Module utilities for customizing the FONT GDOS setup, bit mapped screen and printer fonts in various point sizes in the Swiss and Dutch type styles, printer drivers for several popular printers and documentation for installation and use. The FONT GDOS package may be ordered direct from Joppa Software Development for $10 (US), shipping inside the US and Canada included. For a limited time registered STraight FAX! owners may also receive the STraight FAX! version 1.03 update with the FONT GDOS package, by sending the STraight FAX! master disk to Joppa Software Development at no additional cost. The STraight FAX! version 1.03 update may also be ordered separately by registered STraight FAX! owners by sending in the master disk along with $2 (US). Outside the US and Canada, please call for pricing. Version 1.03 Enhancements ========================= Atari Clipboard Support ======================= The STraight FAX! now supports the Atari Clipboard standard for Cut/Paste of graphics and text to a Clipboard. Information placed on the Clipboard may be used by other Clipboard "aware" applications and the STraight FAX! will use information placed into the Clipboard by other applications or itself. A new menu title "Edit" adds the following commands for View Windows: Cut ^X Copy the clip area to the clipboard and erase it. Copy ^C Copy the clip area to the clipboard. Paste ^V Paste the clipboard to the clip area. Clear Del Erase the clip area. Graphics from a View Window are placed into the Clipboard in standard image (.IMG) file format. Graphics may be copied and pasted between View Windows in the STraight FAX! program or other applications. Text from the Cover Page message is placed into the Clipboard as a standard ASCII text file. Text may be copied and pasted into the Cover Page message with other applications (i.e. desk accessory text editors). Environment Variables ===================== The STraight FAX! will look for an environment variable "STFAX=" to find its home path. Many desktop replacement programs allow the user to specify environment variables as well as some shareware utility programs. The use of the STFAX environment variable will allow some menu launcher programs that do not properly execute programs to allow the STraight FAX! to determine where its home directory is located. View Windows ============ Many new features have been added to enhance the Viewing of FAX, Image or DEGAS files. 1) The View Window Command Menu may now also be displayed (centered over the mouse position) by clicking the right mouse button while the mouse is over a View Window that is the top GEM window. 2) The View Window Command Menu has a new command: Invert Clip Area which will invert the color of all pixels within the clip area outline. 3) The Convert Menu now has a new command: Cycle Windows (Alternate-N), which will bring the bottom most View Window to the top or if the top most View Window is not the top GEM window, this command will bring the top most View Window to the top. This feature allows easy paging through multiple page FAX files. 4) The image in the View Window may now also be positioned with the keys: Clr Home - Move to the top left edge of the image in the View Window. Control Clr Home - Move to the bottom right edge of the image in the View Window. 5) The STraight FAX! will now allow Viewing and Converting of Monochrome Image Files that have extended headers (i.e. greater than the standard header size of 16 bytes). Images files with extended headers are produced by some European software packages. 6) The Close Window command may be issued with the Alternate-Y key combination. This will cause the top View Window to be closed. 7) The Flip Graphic command allows the graphic displayed in the View Window to be flipped upside down (this may be useful when viewing a received FAX page that was sent upside down). Auto Scan Merge =============== The STraight FAX! now includes the capability of merging the left and right sides of a page that were scanned using one of the supported hand scanners, Dr. Bobware's ScanLite desk accessory, and a scanning tray such as The Tray from The Lyra Group. The user scans the left and right sides of the page, using the scanning tray to align the vertical starting point as accurately as possible. The left and right scans will each be placed into separate View Windows. From the left scan's View Window, the Merge Scans command is then selected from the View Window Command Menu. The merge process will take a few seconds depending on the speed of the computer, the height of the scans and how accurately the two scans were vertically aligned. The scans should be no more than one inch out of alignment, or else the merge will be unsatisfactory. If sufficient RAM and a View Window are available, the merged scans will appear in a new View Window, otherwise the File Selector will be displayed prompting for a FAX file to save the merged scans. If the merged scans are unsatisfactory, one side of the scan may have been scanned too slow or too fast. If this occurs, the user may re-scan one of the sides of the page and perform the merge again. Cover Page ========== The STraight FAX! will look for a default Cover Page Parameters file named: STFAX.COV located in the STraight FAX! home directory and load it into the Cover Page parameter entry fields. Intelligent Parameter Passing ============================= In addition to accepting Image (.IMG), DEGAS (.PI3), DEGAS Elite (.PC3), ASCII Text (.TXT), FAX (.J01 to .J99) and File List (.FLT) files as command line parameters, the STraight FAX! will now also accept Preference (.INF), Phone List (.PLT) and Cover Page Parameter (.COV) Files. This allows the user to override the default files that will normally be loaded (i.e. the default phone list file is STFAX.PLT located in the STraight FAX! home directory or path as defined above.) The user may specify an alternate Cover Page Parameters file, Phone List file or Preference File that will be loaded at startup. Many Desktop replacement programs allow multiple file parameters to be passed to an application. From the original GEM Desktop or the new Desktop (on TOS 2.00 or greater), only one parameter may be passed at a time to an application. STraight FAX! supports the capability in Atari's (forthcoming) Multi TOS that allows several files at a time to be dragged to a program as parameters. The STraight FAX! will sort out all parameters with the extensions listed above and perform the appropriate action. ASCII Text File Conversion ========================== The time for ASCII Text file and Cover Page to FAX file conversion has been reduced. This process will also benefit when a Blitter chip is available in the computer and enabled. Some screen acceleration programs may also improve the performance of this process. Serial Ports ============ The STraight FAX! will operate with the freeware Serial Fix Version 1.00 program/CPX from Medical Designs Software to correct problems with the Modem Port 1 in the RTS/CTS Flow Control mode. The STraight FAX! will also now utilize increased Serial Port buffers for enhanced serial port operation for sending and receiving data from the FAX Modem. Serial Port buffer size programs such as the AUXINIT program that is packaged with Gribnif Software's STalker 3 terminal program package can enhance serial port efficiency and increase reliability when used with Floppy Disk based systems. FAX Modem Compatibility ======================= The STraight FAX! has been updated to function with Class 2 FAX Modems that are based on chipsets/firmware from the following companies: Rockwell International Sierra Semiconductor Exar Corporation These include FAX Modems manufactured by companies such as Supra Corporation (FAX Modem Plus, V.32 and V.32bis), Zoom Telephonics (FX9624), Best Data Products, Inc. (Smart One), GVC Technologies (Fax Modem 9696) and Image Communications (TwinCom 24/96 and 14.4DF). Support for additional vendors FAX Modem products is under evaluation, including support for Class 1 FAX Modems. In addition, the STraight FAX! now uses a more robust algorithm to establish communication with the FAX Modem. Previously the user may have been presented with an alert box asking to check the modem connection and to toggle the modem power in some situations (usually after a transfer with errors). The STraight FAX! will now properly restore the FAX Modem to its reset state after exiting the program in all situations. Misc User Interface Enhancements ================================ 1) The arrow boxes in sliders will be inverted when the left mouse button is pressed to scroll the slider. 2) The mouse cursor will change shape as follows to indicate actions and modes of operation: a) The mouse cursor will change to an "X" when it is located outside an active dialog box. b) When sizing the clip area in a View Window, the mouse cursor will change to a double arrow shape that points in the directions in which the clip area may be sized (i.e. up/down, left-right, or diagonal). 3) Expanded Online Help is now available. 4) During immediate or scheduled FAX transfers, the conversion status messages will appear in the Send FAX Status dialog box. 5) The Schedule Date or Time may now be entered numerically from the keyboard as well as by using the mouse to click on the up/down arrows. 6) Dialog boxes may be repositioned on screen as follows, by hold the Control and Alternate Keys down, and dragging the dialog box background. The new position will be saved in the preferences file for later use. What You See Is What You FAX! ============================= STraight FAX! is bundled with special printer drivers for the following applications that allow "print to disk" of document pages to FAX files that are ready to send by the STraight FAX! program: PageStream 2.1/2.2 (SoftLogik) PageStream 1.8x (SoftLogik) Calamus S/SL (ISD) Calamus 1.09/1.09n (ISD) FSM GDOS/FONT GDOS (Atari) Including any GDOS/FSM GDOS/FONT GDOS compatible application. An updated driver for PageStream 1.8x is included in the STraight FAX! version 1.03 release that corrects a minor problem when attempting to print a page to a FAX file on a system with limited memory. The STraight FAX! Pagestream 2.1 printer driver has been tested with the recently released Pagestream 2.2 and has found to be compatible, with out the need for any changes. New printer drivers for other applications are currently under evaluation. -------- STraight FAX! Features ====================== Compatible with all Atari ST/TT Computer models: - 1 Megabyte of RAM Required - 2 Megabytes of RAM and a Hard Drive Recommended. - Shielded RS-232 cable required. Compatible with Class 2 Compliant Send/Receive FAX modems. - compatible Send/Receive FAX Modems include: - Supra Corporation (FAX Modem Plus, V.32 and V.32bis) - Zoom Telephonics (FX9624) - Best Data Products, Inc. (Smart One) - GVC Technologies (Fax Modem 9696) - Image Communications (TwinCom 24/96 and 14.4DF) - other Class 2 Compliant modems based on chipsets from: - Rockwell International - Sierra Semiconductor - Exar Corporation Compatible with Send FAX modems that use the Sierra SendFAX command set. - compatible Send FAX Modems include: - Zoom and Zoom Generic 4800 baud Send FAX modem - Zoom and Zoom Generic 9600 baud Send FAX modem - Joppa FAX! SF-01 4800 baud Send FAX modem - Joppa FAX! SF-02 9600 baud Send FAX modem The STraight FAX! can be used with all standard serial ports on ST, STe, Mega STe and TT/030 computers and peripheral serial ports that support the "Bconmap" specification for additional serial ports. - Note: Some options are not available on serial ports that do not support all RS-232 signals. The STraight FAX! supports all TOS versions 1.00, 1.02, 1.04, 1.06, 1.062, 2.05/6 and 3.05/6. - Note: Supplied patch programs from Atari are required to be installed when using TOS 1.04, TOS 2.05 and TOS 3.05. The STraight FAX! supports all supports all ST/TT graphic resolutions with a minimum screen width of 80 characters, including Moniterm and software large screen emulators. The STraight FAX! User Interface Features: - Full GEM Application - Drop Down Menus with keystroke command equivalents. - On screen movable Function Key Bar for most common commands. - Context sensitive On-line Help available by pressing Help Key. - Popup Menus make system preferences easy to choose. - Optional sound effects. - Enhanced Dialog Box Interface: Alternate Key button selection Arrow Key selector list movement Position Text cursor with mouse over any character of any text edit field. Undo Feature Insert/Type over Text entry modes. Delete to end of Line Insert any GEM character using Alternate Key and Numeric Key Pad (on any TOS version). FAX Features: - Supports from 2400 to 14400 Baud Send and Receive FAX rates (maximum baud rate depends on the FAX/Modem utilized). - Fine Resolution (203 x 196 DPI) and Normal Resolution (203 x 98 DPI) FAX modes supported. - Tone or Pulse Dial. - Full control of FAX Modem speaker and speaker volume. - Displays 20 character FAX Identification string of Remote FAX. - Allows specification of 20 character FAX Identification that is sent to remote FAX. Send Features: - 100 Number FAX Dialing List. - Automatic Cover Page Generation. - Multi-Page FAX Documents of up to 255 pages. - ASCII, Image and DEGAS file formats supported. - Full GEM Character set supported for ASCII to FAX conversions. - Send Logs indicates status of all FAX documents transferred. - Broadcast FAX documents to up to 100 destinations per FAX document. - Schedule FAX transmission at a delayed time. - Schedule up to 30 Multi-Page Multi-Destination FAX documents for delayed transmission. - Scale Image/DEGAS files during conversion with page positioning options. - Automatic optional Page Heading added to the top of each page. - Automatic Redial upon busy or failed FAX transfer. Receive Features: - Receive Logs indicates status of all FAX documents received. - Automatic Receive FAX can be active while waiting for scheduled outgoing FAX documents to be transmitted. - Manual FAX Receive. FAX View Features: - View up to a total of four Image, DEGAS or FAX files each in a separate GEM window. - Reduced 50% size view. - Stray pixel clean up. - Save portion of graphic in view window as an Image or FAX file. - Auto correction of detected errors in received FAX (due to line noise). - Scan into a window using a Hand Scanner and Dr. Bobware's ScanLite (Migraph, Golden Image, Datascan and Geniscan Hand Scanners supported). Printing Features: - Print Image or FAX files to any printer supported by user supplied GDOS or FSM-GDOS printer driver (GDOS, GDOS compatible, FONT-GDOS, or FSM-GDOS required along with the appropriate printer driver). - Special support for Atari Laser Printers (SLM-804/SLM-605). - Convert FAX Files to Image format with optional GEM metafile for printing via GEM OUTPUT program or importing into any application that supports Image format files. - Auto correction of detected errors in received FAX (due to line noise). Printer Drivers: - "Print to Disk" FAX Files from the following applications: - Calamus 1.09x - Calamus S/SL - PageStream 1.8x - PageStream 2.1/2.2 - FSM-GDOS driver for applications that support GDOS or FSM-GDOS printing. - Printer driver output file path set program/desk accessory allows the destination FAX filename to be set any valid file path. Utilities: - Time Set Utility for ST's without battery backed clock. - Line Impedance Trimmer adjustment utility for Send FAX modems. --------- (C) 1992 Joppa Software Development Member Independent Association of Atari Developers (IAAD) P.O. Box 214 Dallastown, PA 17313-0214 Tech Support Line (717) 438-3231 FAX Line (717) 428-0424 GEnie: JOPPA-SOFT Genie Support Area: Atari ST Roundtable (M475 or ST) Category 4 (Hardware) Topic 24 (STraight FAX! Product Support) All products are trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies. _________________________________________________________ > FLASH II CO STR OnLine CIS' Guest J. Trautschold of MissionWare Software """""""""""""""""""""" FLASH II ONLINE CONFERENCE ========================== from CompuServe Pattie) Tonight, we have as guest speaker John Trautschold of MissionWare Software. John's company brings us FLASH II, the long-awaited sequel to Antic's popular telecommunications package. Please indicate you have a question for John by typing a question mark (?). WE're on the honor system to not talk unless it's your turn to ask John a question. You can also tell me you want to get in line by using the /sen command...for example, /sen 3 Pattie, I have a question. I will let you know when it's your turn to grill John. :) First off, John, would you like to share any opening comments before we take questions? John Trautschold) Not really...I'm basically here to answer any questions anyone may have. Pattie) Ok... I'll get the ball rolling. What made you decide to market Flash II? John Trautschold) The opportunity came up to pick up the program from Antic. They were originally going to market Flash II from SunSoft Systems. When Antic went under, we moved in and bought the rights to the program. Missionware Software needed something big and this was it! Pattie) Terrence has a question. Terrence M. Miller) There has been talk about Flash II supporting Shadow transfer protocol. Comments? John Trautschold) Flash II doesn't support Shadow, however, it includes its own background transfer program called Silent Line. Terrence M. Miller) What form of protocols does Silent Line support and does it use the "ramdisk" method that Shadow utilizes? John Trautschold) Yes, Silent Line is a type of RAMdisk...it's reset proof so it should maintain any files in the system if the system crashes or is reset. Right now, SL supports Xmodem, Ymodem, Modem7, WXmodem and SEAlink. It'll eventually support Zmodem and (hopefully) CIS B as well. Pattie) Thank you, Terrence. Now Bill @ AIM has a question. Bill @ AIM) If I'm a fence sitter currently using some other package (Flash, Interlink, STalker, etc.), what specific features does Flash II have that could lure me into getting off the fence? John Trautschold) ooohhhh...big question. Let me try to answer in general terms and then let you all ask any specifics. First of all, Flash II fully supports Vidtex here on CIS as well as the B transfer protocol. Additionally, we support VT100, 101, 102, 2 and 300 emulations. Online GIF and RLE viewing is also possible (87a GIF only for now). All popular protocols are built in, as just mentioned earlier for the Silent Line question. Unlike Flash I, you can now "point and click" all of your setup parameters for each board you call. You don't need to create a DO script for that purpose anymore (although you still can if you want). We now support a total of 30 online function key macros...20 are individually set for *each* board, the other 10 are global. I've probably forgot a bunch, but let's leave it at that for now... Pattie) Bill, a follow up question? Bill @ AIM) Yes...The DO file capabilities of Flash II are compatible with the old Flash...are all the old commands still implemented? They do the exact same things? John Trautschold) Yes, all old commands are still implemented. We have found, unfortunately after the first release, of some incompatibilities. We've now got Al Fasoldt on board as a beta tester. Al's rather famous for his extensive notes on DO scripts, and he's helping us find problems. We've also added some new script commands for the added features in Flash II. Pattie) OK...let's move on to John Barnes. john barnes) Is Flash II MultiTOS aware? John Trautschold) Well, let's say we're working on becoming MultiTOS compatible. Currently we are not, but we should be by the time Atari releases MT. john barnes) What about Kermit support for mainframe users? John Trautschold) oops...yea, I forgot (see, I told you) to mention that Kermit is also supported. john barnes) Thanks, on to the next. Pattie) Thank you, John. Just a reminder for those who came in late, if you have a question for John, just type a question mark (?) to get into the line! Now, RobH has a question. RobH) Back to protocols, I'm afraid. Will or does Flash II support the CIS B+ protocol. I want those resumable d/l's on my Atari. John Trautschold) Yes, Flash II fully supports CIS B+ and B. Pattie) Before we go to Terrence again, let me ask John when Flash II will be available? I understand it's being upgraded? John Trautschold) Flash II is available right now. We're working on a maintenance upgrade which will be made available to all current owners. It's not quite ready yet...I'm hoping it'll be done in a month or so. It'll be shipped to all registered owners for free. Pattie) Thanks John! Ok, let's move on to Terrence. Terrence M. Miller) What is the suggested retail on Flash II? And why should the added protocols entice me from some excellent (cheaper!) shareware? John Trautschold) The suggested retail is $49.95. We're also upgrading from older versions of Flash for $29.95 (plus $4 shipping and handling). As far as why to upgrade to Flash? Well, it depends on your needs. There are some good shareware programs out there. In addition to the added protocols, we've also got much more support for terminal emulations, and will be adding more later. We've also got support for ANSI emulation and support the IBM graphics character set. Again, it all depends on what you are happy with and what your needs are. Terrence M. Miller) FULL ANSI emulation? John Trautschold) As far as well can tell, yes! I regularly dial in to one ANSI board that uses a lot of graphics, and it works great (with a caveat I'll explain later) and we also have a beta tester who's been testing ANSI games and is quite happy with the results. Now, the caveat. We've got a bug we're working on the TT *only* that munges up the lower half of the IBM graphics set. Paul is working on that and should have it fixed shortly. There are no problems on an ST though in either color or mono. Pattie) OK, let's move on to John Barnes again. john barnes) Are there any enhancements in the typeahead and editing areas? Does it support the Clipboard using, for example, STeno? John Trautschold) Typeahead first...We now support a separate pseudo typeahead 3-line window. We currently do *not* have a TA history buffer, but we'll get that in eventually. The TA also has limited (replace only) editing capabilities (I'm using it now). We don't currently support the Clipboard protocol, but it's on our to-do list and will be included in a future upgrade. The editor has a lot of enhancements, such as better cursor control, the ability to separately edit line feed and carriage return characters, and the ability to either display or turn off the control characters separately from the CRs. Added cursor controls include control cursor functions for moving a word at a time or to move the cursor to the top of the window or the bottom; shift cursor functions for page scrolling, home to move the cursor home, or shift home to move the cursor to the end of the buffer. We also support more block functions such as cut and paste and copy and move functions. john barnes) Sounds good. How well does three-line TA work for conferencing? John Trautschold) Well, I'm using it now and it works great! I can pre-edit my message and send the whole buffer at once! john barnes) Finally, will you support an X-Windows server soon :-)? John Trautschold) Uh.... Pattie) Just a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question of John, just type a ? (question mark) to get into line. OK, let's move on to Ron Hunt. Ron Hunt) John, what do I need to do to upgrade my old (1.52) version of Flash? John Trautschold) All you need to do, Ron, is send in your old Flash 1.52 master disk, along with a check for $34.00 (or $33.95 if you prefer). You'll get your old disk back, along with an entirely new Flash II package, including a 226 page manual, etc. Ron Hunt) That's all I need to know! :) Thanks! John Trautschold) BTW, for those of you interested, the address for upgrades and orders is: Missionware Software, 354 N. Winston Drive, Palatine, IL 60067-4132...or call 708-359-9565. We take checks, Visa & MC. Pattie) Brian Amundsen is next. Brian Amundsen) John your new program sounds really nice. Will my 1.6 script files import and be used by the new version? John Trautschold) Well Brian, they should, however, as I mentioned earlier, we've found some incompatibilities, especially in the area of the use of double and single quotes for strings, '|' conversions to CRs, etc. We're working on fixing those problems. You may have to make some modifications to get your current scripts to work. If in doubt, you could email me a script and I could check it out ahead of time for you. Brian Amundsen) If my master disk was Version 1.12 but updated from CIS downloads what will be my upgrade costs? John Trautschold) No problem...as long as you've got a master disk. The upgrade is still $30 plus the $4 s&h. Pattie) John Barnes has another question. john barnes) Sorry Pattie, it got answered. Pattie) OK... Bill has one! :) Bill @ AIM) John...what shows will Missionware be attending in the "near term" and do you do upgrades at the shows for people who bring in their old Flash master disks? John Trautschold) Right now we'll be at Milwaukee this Sunday and in Indianapolis in July. We're also making plans for Glendale, although that's not firmed up yet. Yes, we do upgrades at the shows as well, but of course you don't have to pay s&h there! :-) Upgrades at shows are the same as by the mail...you get an entirely new package...I just need to see and mark your old disk. Pattie) Let's move on to BobC! He gets the last question for tonight! Bob Cummins) OK, will there be any converter for dial directories? John Trautschold) No, at the present time there is no plan to convert the old dial.dir file into a flash2.lst file. The differences between the two are so many, it would be quite difficult to do. Bob Cummins) OK, thank you. Pattie) Before we close up, John, can you tell us about the other products MissionWare has? John Trautschold) Yes, Missionware Software has two other products. One is called lottODDS and is a lottery game playing program. The other is a printer text driver utility program called Printer Initializer. Pattie) Thank you for coming tonight, John! We appreciate you taking the time out to answer all of our questions about Flash II! Do you have any closing comments before we move into "frenzy" mode? John Trautschold) "Frenzy Mode?" No, no other comments really. Pattie) Ok, that's it then! Frenzy mode on! (grin) Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight! john barnes) John, what about coming to WAACE? CFJ can tell you that it can be VERY profitable!! John Trautschold) We're thinking about it...but no firm plans yet. Pat Augustine) Yeah, John, go to WAACE! Good idea! John Trautschold) Why, are you going to be there Pat? Pat Augustine) I've requested the time off from work and I'm planning on it! Pattie) Pat, great! We expect to be there too! :) John Trautschold) Well...we'll certainly try to make it then! My wife has a sister that lives in the area so we might make a vacation out of it. Ron Hunt) John> a quick question about GIF...how do you implement it in medium resolution? 4 colors? Also, does the GIF option work in monochrome and if so do you use dithering? John Trautschold) Ron...yes, 4 colors on the ST but a full 16 on the TT. No dithering Ron...at least not yet. GIF does work in monochrome but it takes the lighter colors and makes them white and the darker colors and makes them black! :-) Pattie) John, how are the sales of Flash II doing? I understand that Antic was proud of the number of Flash packages out in the market over time. John Trautschold) Pattie...sales have been pretty good! I think they'll pick up even more when we start heavy advertising later, in conjunction with the upgrade. Bob Cummins) John, will Flash II run on a 520ST if there is low memory? Flash won't unless I disable DAs? BobR) BobC...what kind of ACCessories are you running? Bob Cummins) BobR, Deskcart, UIS, Butler James. John Trautschold) Yes Bob, Flash II will run on a 520 ST, but you won't have much of a capture buffer...there certainly won't be much room for DAs and such. Flash II is a much bigger program than Flash I due to the added protocols and emulations. BobR) BobC, I used to use Flash all the time in 512K, but I guess I didn't have much in the way of accessories. Bob Cummins) I do have a Mega4, but I wanted to use my 520ST to port files over from my 8-bit Atari. BobR) BobC, you could always just boot from a floppy without those accessories when you want to run Flash (1 or 2) in 512K. Brian Amundsen) I missed the beginning of the formal CO what add'l PROTO's? John Trautschold) Brian...Zmodem, Ymodem-G, WXmodem, Modem7, SEAlink, and Kermit. Brian Amundsen) How does Flash II's Kermit change from what Antic had out? Bill @ AIM) Brian...you mean the Kermit ACC Antic sold? Brian Amundsen) Bill, yes. John Trautschold) Brian...I'm not familiar with Antic's Kermit so I can't really answer your question...sorry. Bill @ AIM) Brian...well, it's built in for one thing. (big grin) John Trautschold) Gang...gonna cut out to hit the sack. It's been fun! G'nite! ______________________________________________________________ > GLENDALE! STR SHOW NEWS The West Coast's Premier Show """"""""""""""""""""""" THE GLENDALE SHOW ================= PRESS RELEASE June 24, 1992 Are you ready for the next Southern California Computer Faire? Yes, Version 6.0 will soon be upon us. We anticipate that this year's Glendale Show will be the largest ever. We also expect that there might possibly be a new machine on display. Hint. Hint. There will be over fifty developers, retailers, user groups and ATARI personnel on hand to make this event a must. The show will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 12-13, 1992 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1041 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA. Hours are 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday. General Admission is $6.00 per person with a two day pass costing only $10.00. If you plan on attending and you live outside of Southern California you may get FREE admission by sending a self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope to H.A.C.K.S., 249 N. Brand Bl. #321, Glendale, CA 91203 and get a one day pass for two. For those of you who will be needing lodging we have made arrangements with the Burbank Hilton. Regular rates are $119.00 per night but if you mention ATARI you will get a room for $65.00 per night, single or double occupancy. Executive suites are also available for a per night charge of $95.00. Reservations may be made by calling the Hilton at 800-643-7400(in California), 800- 468-3576(inside the USA) or at 818-843-600(outside the USA). The guaranteed reservation cut-off date is August 20th. If you are quoted another rate ask for Roy Butler, Sales Manager. This year The Glendale Show will be holding Desk Top Publishing Classes. This has been a very popular addition at other shows. There will be a $25.00(US) fee for these hands-on classes. ISD Marketing will be holding Beginners and Advanced classes for owners and prospective owners of Calamus SL. Classes will be held on Saturday and Sunday. Classroom size is limited. Make your reservations by sending a check for $25.00(US) payable to H.A.C.S.K., 249 Brand Bl. #321, Glendale, CA 91203. Be sure to state the preference of day and class level. A confirmation will be sent, about two weeks prior to the show, by return mail stating which class you will be enrolled in. Enrollment in the classroom will also entitle you to admission to the rest of the show for the day of your class. Look for our full-page advertisements in upcoming issues of AtariUser and Atari Explorer magazines. If you have any questions send mail to H.A.C.K.S., 249 N. Brand Bl. #321, Glendale, CA 91203 or leave GEmail to John.King.T or call John King Tarpinian at 818-246-7276. John King Tarpinian Faire Chairperson The Glendale Show ___________________________________________________________ > STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips" """"""""""""""""""""" - San Francisco, CA Marketing MACREAD w/o a License! ----------------- One of the principles of Compu-Seller West attended the recent ACE show to find a program on sale at the show by the west coast firm they were negotiating with to distribute the program. The program's name is MACREAD.TOS. It appears the company on the west coast wanted to buy the rights to the program, they never did... but were caught selling it at this show! The program reads MAC HFS disks on the Atari computer. Needless to say, the folks at Compu-Seller were upset. So upset they released the initial version of the program into PD! Its available on all the services for download and ... the WHOLE story is in the file. CRYSTAL BALLS -O- FIRE! +++++++++++++++++++++++ Here we go again folks, let's see I'll try and do this is my very best "Walter Winchell" voice.... :-) Dateline! New York; Word has it the Atari Notebook is on a trip back to the drawing boards... seems somebody decided it needs to be backlit and go faster... Also, a number of the notebooks that reached the US shores arrived DOA. Time for some serious adjustments. On the International Scene.. the word is; FSM GDOS is up for a serious rewrite. Appears certain code in the program must go and new "just as good or better" code implanted! Word just in; the "Falcon" ie., the new 16mhz 030 single piece machine will debut on time but that full mass distribution may not be seen until the middle of the first quarter of '93. It appears there is a 'log-jam' on the acquisition of the "special chips" needed to complete these new machines. On to the west coast.. in Sunnyvale some astonishing changes are a foot.. according to our snoop... the changes are only for the good of Atari and its future. Online activities are being curtailed in certain areas due to recent embarrassments. This reporter was told "we'll not hear about the changes as such.. they'll just happen ....quietly. Personnel changes are also expected. ____________________________________________________ > STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard" """"""""""""" STReport's MailBag """""""""""""""""" From GEnie's ST RT What... are the REAL motives, are GEnie's good online people caught in the middle? Category 1, Topic 2 Message 1 Sun Jun 21, 1992 JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 14:07 EDT In the current issue of Atari Explorer Online, Bob Brodie (Atari's Director of Communications) writes... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-= It's obvious to me that my time for onlines has dramatically diminished. So I want YOU to help me decide what networks I need to be on. Right now, I have accounts on GEnie, the FNET, CIS, and Delphi. It's my opinion that I'm being unfair by having those accounts if I'm not going to be online there. So this is your chance to guide my decision about what networks I should be on. I'll be tracking my e-mail in the next month closely on all of these services, looking to see where the most activity is. My guess is that it will end up being GEnie and the FNET. But I don't want to guess! Please send me your feedback on where you'd like to see me online to the following addresses: GEnie: BOB-BRODIE CompuServe: 70007,3240 Delphi: BOBBRO FNET: Bob Brodie at Node 319 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-= If you would like to make sure that Bob Brodie continues his online presence on GEnie, please reply to this topic with a simple "Yes" or a very brief message. This topic is only for telling Bob you want him to keep his GEnie account and his ST Roundtable presence. To vote for other services, please do that on those services or in email addressed privately to Bob. ALL RESPONSES TO THIS TOPIC WILL COUNT AS A VOTE FOR BOB BRODIE TO CONTINUE HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE GENIE ST ROUNDTABLE. Any other types of messages posted here will be deleted. And please keep your response very brief because there will be a lot of responses here. Please reply once only to this topic. The results of this poll will be forwarded to Bob Brodie. Thank you. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-= For the record, I vote for Bob to remain on GEnie. ------------ Category 1, Topic 2 Message 72 Tue Jun 23, 1992 J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 20:43 EDT I, too, would like Bob Brodie to continue his support here on GEnie. But I do have to wonder two things: 1. It seems to me that _everyone_ on GEnie would want Bob to give support here. Is there really a need for a vote here? 2. If there happened to be someone here that _didn't_ want Bob to be here, how would we know? The topic header says, "Reply to this topic _ONLY_ if you want Atari's Director of Communications, Bob Brodie, to spend online time here in the ST Roundtable on GEnie". It sounds like a South American presidential election. "You can vote for anyone you want, as long as it's Bob." <grin> John ------------ Category 1, Topic 2 Message 82 Wed Jun 24, 1992 JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 12:16 EDT John E., You've raised some very good points and while I really don't want to get this topic sidetracked from its original purpose, I'd like to address the issues you raised. If this is going to become an ongoing discussion, then we can start another topic right here in Category 1 for it (to stay close to this one). - 1. It seems to me that _everyone_ on GEnie would want Bob to give - support here. Is there really a need for a vote here? I may be misinterpreting it, but I believe Bob Brodie essentially said in his column in the latest AEO (quoted in message #1 of this topic) that he will remain active on the onlines where he is told he is most wanted, encouraging folks to send him messages saying they want him on their favorite service. Is this kind of a turn-out necessary? It appears that Bob has made it necessary (again, if I haven't completely misunderstood his column). Personally, I would think that Darlah, Ron, and Clay could simply provide Bob with a total of the active memberships in their respective Atari support areas and that should point out where Bob can be spending his time most productively, because I should suspect that virtually every Atari user subscribing to that service will want Atari's Director of Communications active there. (I don't know how one might quantify the active userbase on FNet.) Or, Bob (and Atari) could find some way of maintaining his presence on all the services, eliminating the competition for Bob's time that the services and users have undertaken. I don't know if that is possible though. Bob is already spread very thinly what with his responsibilities to Atari in addition to the online time he has (or doesn't have?) available. Ideally, I would love to see someone at Atari (preferably Bob, or at least someone working with Bob) whose responsibilities include online support on the major services who would be given the time and the salary to perform them. (I can dream, can't I?) <grin- But as things stand, Bob has asked for the people to tell him where to spend his online time. Send him email, send him faxes, fill his answering machine at Atari with those messages to tell him where you want him to be. And one other thing that the sysops of Compuserve and GEnie (sorry, Clay, I don't know what, if anything, you're doing on Delphi regarding all this) are doing is to rally their memberships to tell Bob he needs to be on their respective online services. This topic is an easy way for folks to get the message to Bob to remain active on GEnie. No one has to post here. I would hope if they don't post here, that they'll consider sending him GEmail, a fax, or making a phone call to him. I think the word "vote" is not a good word for what is happening here. I know it's the word I coined in the topic header, but I was at a loss to come up with anything else that would fit in the brief amount of space allowed in the topic name. - 2. If there happened to be someone here that _didn't_ want Bob to - be here, how would we know? The topic header says, "Reply to this - topic _ONLY_ if you want Atari's Director of Communications, Bob - Brodie, to spend online time here in the ST Roundtable on GEnie". I'll admit that it is decidedly one-sided and self-serving. This _is_ the Atari ST Roundtable on GEnie and the whole point is to tell Bob that all these people, in addition to those sending email, faxes, and making phone calls, want him here. He can be on Compuserve, Delphi, FNet, Prodigy, America Online, the USS Bounty, or where ever, just so long as he is _here_. If anyone wants him to be elsewhere, please let him know that, but not in this topic. <smile- This message is already much longer than I wanted to see _any_ message in this topic become. This topic will be an incredible wall of text for all the folks who only log onto GEnie once a week or less frequently...that is why we want to keep messages in this particular topic very brief and very specific. So if anyone wants to discuss the merits of all this, I'm all for it, but let's do it in another topic. Just say so and I'll create one. Or anyone else can get it started and I'll move this message and any others that are relevant over there. I apologize for the length of this message, but I think John addressed some very good issues that warranted explanation. We can continue this discussion elsewhere if anyone would like to. Thank you. - Jeff Williams ------------ Category 1, Topic 2 Message 85 Wed Jun 24, 1992 G.T.GRAY [Gary Gray] at 21:10 EDT I would like to see Bob here! But look at it this way, he couldn't be here much less. I don't see how all this voting is gonna give Bob anymore time for us regardless of how we vote. ------------ From CIS Another Country heard from... #: 65761 S1/Forum Business 25-Jun-92 14:00:33 Sb: Online support survey Fm: nicolas lecuona 100015,57 To: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254 Hi, Ron! Well, my vote goes to the "C" option; we need some kind of official news source. Actually we get around 85% of our info about Atari from gossip, and a little of official support would be needed. And GEnie is not available from Spain, so I would be unable to keep in touch. It is sad enough not having any kind of support here at Spain (spanish Atari bosses are bunch of &/%#). Regards, Nick.- Indignation runs high... #: 65825 S1/Forum Business 26-Jun-92 05:11:32 Sb: #65794-Online support survey Fm: MYLES COHEN 71570,3142 To: Bob Brodie [ATARI] 70007,3240 As an interested and unbiased observer of the recent "goin' ons" about this here on-line survey and based on your insistence for E-mail only and very "polite" answers that you have given so far...it seems to me that you really are trying to move heaven and earth to keep from having your presence on CIS... Let me reassure you...that if anyone has anything that they would like to say to you in "private" or are afraid to vent in public...they surely would do it with E-mail (Isn't that what it's for?) If'n you don't wanna be here...then don't come...but yes, it is in ATARI's best interests to have a presence on this here service...so one of you'se guys should be our resident ATARI guru... So...what I'm really trying to say is that you should accept the survey as being a legitimate indication of the users' desires... And, oh yes, you, like most advertisers should conclude that for every-one you do hear from in this survey...that there are several times over that many "lurkers" of the same opinion who for one reason or another, don't write... This " my excrement is not malodorous" attitude of not accepting anything but E-mail as being "weighted by the opposition" seems almost paranoid... or am I being paranoid... From Delphi The indignation continues... 39012 25-JUN 02:50 General Information RE: BOBBRO wants mail from YOU! (Re: Msg 39005) From: DAVIDNIELD To: ALL Whether or not Bob Brodie "visits" Delphi or not is the question, right? I have to wonder what kind of friend we have in Bob if we have to beg him to "come over once in a while." I hope he decides that he would like to see what we are up to on Delphi, the more often the better, right? But, I feel that writing him to plead with him not to leave is putting myself in a position of weakness with a man I've never talked to.... Sure, I know, its not just that he is a fine man who could add alot to the forum, he is also Director of Communication for Atari.... It is sort of scary to think of having to go without his presence here, and interpreting that as a further sign of being some- how abandoned. But, if we all write and he decides to stay, there is a danger that he'll feel we owe him something, because he stayed online when we asked him to...? I guess what I'm saying is: I'd like to write, and if I thought it would clinch the deal for once and for all. I'd write him. But, I guess if he doesn't want to be online here than I can live with that too. I would like to say that if the decision has anything to do with his busy schedule, I understand, but I'd like to point out that he could spend prime-time hours here for the same price as non-prime-time hours on GEnie. I would like to add too, that in my time on GEnie I found it very difficult to spend relaxing time in conference knowing that the clock was clicking off a dime a minute. Some previous messages on the subject have questioned what impact the cynicism on our "phone away from home" may have on the psyche of an Atari employee, and I would have to say that by and large this place is a very friendly and comfortable place to come and have a read. No Atari employee can be blamed for the way the alleged attitude of the company. Unless the very top manager has the goal of improving the quality of support to the after-market, the lower employee has no ear for proposed change. Bob, if you read this... please visit us once in while. If not, I won't be writing.... Dave From CIS Another Sad Indicator #: 27434 S16/CodeHead Software 21-Jun-92 21:01:57 Sb: #27402-#Calligrapher!! Fm: Jody Golick 73217,3246 To: Charles F. Johnson 76004,2232 (X) Aaah Charles. Good to see your voice. I hope all the assorted barbs and flames I've been seeing around the ether aren't effecting you in any way. What a silly bunch of baloney. I am an unshakable CodeHead fan (though I preferred the old logo with the background of bits). For design, execution and support there is no software group in the Atari world that can compete with y'all. Thanks for the rapid and comprehensive response. About G+PLUS. I believe you have said that G+CALLIG is identical to G+PLUS. Since Calligrapher is the only G-type program I use, do you think G+PLUS would be a wise purchase? It sounds to me like I would be buying it for the DA - which I don't need - and the docs - which I want to read. By the way, is software taking up all your time or are you still playing? -J- #: 27438 S16/CodeHead Software 21-Jun-92 22:22:55 Sb: #27434-#Calligrapher!! Fm: Charles F. Johnson 76004,2232 To: Jody Golick 73217,3246 (X) Jody, "Silly bunch of baloney" -- you said it! Don't worry about me, though; I stopped caring what most of these people say about me a long time ago. They're gutless cowards, who spread lies and slanderous comments behind my back on the "FNET," and they don't have the courage to say these things to my face. The truth will come out in the wash. On to more pleasant subjects. :) G+CALLIG isn't quite the same as the full version of G+PLUS; the difference is that G+CALLIG doesn't have the "hooks" to communicate with the G+PLUS desk accessory. Honestly, if Calligrapher's the only GDOS program you ever use, you probably don't need to buy G+PLUS. Just today, John and I talked about including the complete G+PLUS package with Calligrapher. If we do, we'll probably be sending it free of charge to anyone who's already purchased Calligrapher without it -- so you still might get your hands on the docs without having to buy G+PLUS. :) Yes! I am still playing, lately more than ever. I just played on a track on George Duke's new album, and I'm going to be doing some shows next week in LA and San Jose with the koto player from the jazz-fusion band Hiroshima (she's incredible). If anyone reading this would like to see me torture my guitar, live and in person, the shows are on June 24th at At My Place in Santa Monica, and the 26th and 27th at Club Jazz in San Jose. - Charles @ CodeHead Tech """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > A "Quotable Quote" "...A very wise expression!...." """"""""""""""""" "Reason does not make an action right... it only makes the wrong actions easier to live with!" Doyle C. 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