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SILICON TIMES REPORT ==================== INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ============================= from STR Electronic Publishing June 18, 1993 No. 9.25 ========================================================================= Silicon Times Report International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221 ~ 6155 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor ----------------------------------------- Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST STR Publishing Support BBS Network System * THE BOUNTY BBS * FIDO 1:112/35 ~ FNET 350 ~ Nest 90:21/350.0 904-786-4176 USR/HST 24hrs - 7 days 2400 - 38.4 bps V.32 - 42 bis 16.8 Dual Standard FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST ----------------------------------------- Fido 1:112/35 The Bounty STR Support Central 1-904-786-4176 FNET. 620 : Leif's World *<FNET Home of STR>*.1-904-573-0734 FNET.. 18 : ///Turbo Board BBS Support...1-416-274-1225 FNET. 690 : PASTE BBS....................1-206-284-8493 FNET. 460 : The Atari ST Connection......1-209-436-8156 FNET. 489 : Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981 _____________________________________________________________________ > 06/18/93 STR 925 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!" """""""""""""""" - The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS - CENSORSHIP! - MISTFEST V - OREGON RESEARCH - KCFEST'93 - PEOPLE TALKING - STRAIGHT FAX NEWS - CODEHEAD NEWS! - BLUE RIDGE FEST - STR Confidential -* CTFEST'93 EYEWITNESS REPORTS! *- -* ATARI'S BRODIE TO ATTEND MIST V *- -* FALCONS SHIPPING SLOWLY *- ========================================================================= STReport International Online Magazine The Original * Independent * Online Magazine -* FEATURING WEEKLY *- "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================= STReport's BBS, The Bounty, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the Fido/NEST/Atari F-Net Mail Network. You may also phone The Bounty BBS direct @ 904-786-4176, and enjoy the wonder & excitement of exchanging information relative to computers, worldwide, through the use of excellent International Networking Systems. SysOps, worldwide, are quite welcome to join the STReport International Conferences. The Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 620. All BBS systems are welcome and invited to participate. Support your favorite computer! Teleconference Today! ========================================================================= CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ NVN ~ FIDO ~ FNET ~ NEST ~ EURONET CIX ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ~ GEnie ========================================================================= ============= * ATARI EDITION * ============= 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 18) NEW JAGUAR AREA IN ATARI 8-BIT FORUM With the announcement from Sunnyvale on the new JAGUAR Multimedia Entertainment System, we've added a Message Section and Library to the ATARI8 Forum. We invite you to join us in sharing news and views of what promises to be an exciting machine. GO ATARI8 for Section 15 [Jaguar]. TWENTY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FALCON ... ANSWERED BY ATARI CORP. Download file 20Q_01.TXT from LIBRARY 15 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for the first 20 QUESTIONS file of questions submitted by the members to Atari Corp and answered by Bob Brodie, James Grunke and Bill Rehbock. AGITATION PUZZLE GAME Download file AGIT.ZIP from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for Agitation. Agitation is easy to learn, tough to solve. This is the most indescribably difficult, infuriatingly impossible program you could choose to run! * create custom puzzles * upload and share * point and click puzzle solving * multiple cheat, peek and help modes * watch the computer solve puzzles * custom graphics and dialogs * check out the other puzzles here online! mono freeware B/STAT VERSION 2.46 NOW AVAILABLE Download file BSTAT4.LZH from LIBRARY 5 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for version 2.46 of B/STAT. B/STAT is a shareware statistical analysis and business graphics program. It requires a 1 megabyte machine and double sided drive at a minimum. B/STAT makes use of GDOS or SPEEDO GDOS if installed but requires neither. This is version 2.46 of B/STAT and offers some improvements in graphing over earlier versions. B/STAT may be registered online by GOing SWREG and selecting ID # 263. OREGON RESEARCH JOINS ATARIVEN! Message Section 12 and Library 12 have been established for online support of Oregon Research's products. Please read OREGON.TXT in Library 12 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) for an overview of the company. Also, be sure to check out the other files in the Library for in-depth information on their entire product line. NEW SOFTLOGIK DEMO IN ATARIVEN Download file FLAGS.LZH from LIBRARY 11 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) for Sample EPS (Adobe Illustrator) files of the new Flags of the World clipart collection now being sold by Soft-Logik Publishing. The archive contains four flags. THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM" "ENJOY CIS' ATARI FORUMS WHERE CENSORSHIP IS A DIRTY WORD!" """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" It's showtime!! Shows are opening up all around the country in the next few weeks. Let's hope the flow of Falcons can keep up with the numerous shows and the Falcon hungry users out there wanting the new machines. Atari should've planned on the show circuit placing an extra demand on the availability of the new Falcons. I'm sure they did plan on it and simply have to get the planned accommodation of the show demand into place. Not too much to talk about except that the "behind the scenes games playing by the "same old few" hasn't stopped for a single moment. The threats, the castigations and maneuvers in the many futile attempts at silencing STReport have reached new and rather interesting heights. Thankfully, there are still principled people in this world who will have none of the "arrangement seekers" pressure filled entreaties. This latest spate has to be the very worst in terms of blatant attempts at censorship and derisiveness at hiding the truth. Forget about righting the wrongs that would be too much to expect. The "summer doldrums" have been accused of setting in, but you can't prove it by me. The action on the networks around the world are simply hopping like crazy. The amazing thing is its happening on all the platforms. Even those long thought to have been dead and buried. The International BBS scene is very much alive and well. Ralph... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""" Publisher - Editor """""""""""""""""" Ralph F. Mariano PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Roger D. Stevens Robert Glover R. ALBRITTON STReport Staff Editors: """"""""""""""""""""""" Dana P. Jacobson Michael Arthur John Deegan Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando Steve Spivey Doyle C. Helms Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor Emeritus Contributing Correspondents: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Michael Lee Richard Covert Scott Birch Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Harry Steele Clemens Chin Neil Bradley Eric Jerue Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing James Nolan Vernon W. Smith Bruno Puglia IMPORTANT NOTICE """""""""""""""" Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve.................... 70007,4454 Delphi........................ RMARIANO BIX........................... RMARIANO FIDONET....................... 112/35 FNET.......................... NODE 350 NEST.......................... 90:21/350.0 GEnie......................... ST-REPORT """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CTFEST'93 REPORT I STR SHOW NEWS """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" CONNECTICUT ATARIFEST '93 A SUCCESS =================================== by Joe Mirando On the weekend of June 12/13 Atari computer users from across North America flocked to the Windsor Court Hotel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The showroom, which was larger than last year's, enjoyed an constant flow of enthusiastic users eager for hardware and software, as well as a peek of the fabled FALCON030. Although the crowd was a bit smaller than last year's and indeed, smaller than projected since the Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts (WAACE) computer club will not be sponsoring a large show this year, the turnout was still a respectable one. The show, which was sponsored by the ACT (Affiliated ConnecticuT) Atari User's Groups, an umbrella organization of Users Groups throughout the New England area, brought dealers such as The Computer Zone, Derric Discount Electronics, East Hartford Computer Repair, and Toad Computers. Developers included Barefoot Software, Gribnif Software, A&D Software, Clear Thinking, Straight Edge Software, Evangilo's Software, Best Electronics, BaggettaWare, Lexicor Software,CodeHead Technologies, Kurlan Music, Megatype Software, Oregon Research, Software Spectrum, Wizztronics, Soft-Logic Publishing, and ABC Solutions. While vendors and developers alike sold less than they did at last year's show, all went home happy with the results. The crowd of showgoers eagerly surrounded vendor tables looking for bargains on merchandise and to get a glimpse of Atari's new wonder, the FALCON030. The developers that had Falcons gladly showed them off (in conjunction with their own products, of course). While the 'fest was coupled with a small business show this year, the lion's share of the activity went to the AtariFest. Most participants in the small business end were philosophical about the light turnout for their offerings. The applications that were shown on the Falcons were nothing short of astounding. The application that first caught my eye was a true-color video digitizer. The images were sharp, with great color. The screen was updated at a rate of somewhere between three and five seconds. Other new apps for the Falcon included a new version of CodeHead Technologies' WARP 9, which was displayed, but not quite ready for sale. On display at the Lexicor booth were their amazing Nova card, and the video "roaster". The graphics on display were, to say the least, astounding. On a less happy note, Atari had much less to do with this year's show. Last year Atari not only sent Bob Brodie, Director of Communications, but a truck-load of equipment including TT030s, MegaSTEs, and monitors. This year Atari, as a result of shortages both in personnel and equipment, sent no one and no equipment. The Affiliated Users Groups were able to cover the deficit of equipment for use by vendors and developers, but the Atari personnel would have been nice. The inconvenience of Atari not sending equipment or personnel would have been forgotten by attendees if only they had been able to ensure that the dealers that were present had a adequate supply of Falcon030s. Although there were two dealers authorized to sell Falcons at the show, only one, The Computer Zone, had any available. The Falcons arrived during the early hours of the show and were greeted by enthusiastic "Falcon Groupies" outside the hotel as they were unloaded from the delivery truck. The small crowd followed the machines into the showroom in hopes of snaring one of the elusive birds for themselves. Four Falcon030s were delivered to Bob Leviton of The Computer Zone. The machines were sold within a matter of minutes, including one to the other authorized dealer, Tom Allard of East Hartford Computer Repair, for use in his display. Much has been made of the effort put forth by Atari to "sign up" a local authorized dealer in time for the show and, because of this rush, there were some "T"s not quite crossed and "I"s not quite dotted. The reasons given for East Hartford Computer Repair not receiving Falcons for the show were that, A) There was a dispute over commissions for the Regional Representative and, B) Gary Tramiel had reservations about authorizing a dealer who's store was actually a large room on the first floor of his house. These excuses are poor at best. Even taking into account that the paperwork was put through and approved more quickly than in other cases, there was still more than enough time to inform the dealer that the "Falcons had flown the coupe". The first excuse shouldn't have affected the dealers receipt of machines under any circumstances. It is purely a matter to be kept between the representative and Atari. Above and beyond the disappointment of the crowd over the lack of salable Falcons, this episode left many with the feeling that Atari is, again, not serious about selling their wonderful machines. Throughout both days of the show many individuals could be heard uttering phrases such as: "They dropped the ball", "Its the same old story", and my personal favorite, "Why am I not surprised?" If Atari is to market this computer successfully, they must, first of all, produce them in numbers sufficient to satisfy at least the majority of the demand. Once production is up to speed, they must work harder at convincing us (customers and dealers alike) that they are serious about and committed to this machine. Glib lines such as "We sell all we make" are not acceptable to many who have seen it all before and are now tired of excuses and delays. Although the shortage of available Falcons at the show was due in part to the aforementioned dealer sign-up problem, it still casts more of its shadow upon Atari than it does the dealers. East Hartford Computer Repair lost at least two sales because there were no machines to sell, but Atari itself may have lost dozens. To his credit, the dealer resisted taking deposits for the Falcon until the problem has been sorted out. I don't know what criterion Atari uses to decide who is good enough to be a Falcon dealer (actually, I do. But let's not get into that), but this single move on the part of the dealer should prove to the powers that be in Sunnyvale that he is worthy. On the subject of the machine's capabilities, I can only say what I have said all along: The Falcon is a wonderful machine. While it lacks the blinding speed of the fastest processors available, it also lacks their price tags. The machine is a worthy entry level computer for the home entertainment/productivity market, and comes with features and abilities that could easily cost the price of the machine itself to add on to other platforms. Despite the lack of available Falcons and Atari personnel, most showgoers were happy just to be among other people who knew that Atari didn't just make game machines. The mood was generally upbeat, as anyone who has spent any time in the Atari arena is now use to ball-dropping and such. The innovative products sold by the attending dealers and vendors got the attention they so richly deserve, and the glimpses of the Falcon that vendors had brought with them seemed to impress almost all. For the Falcon030, only time will tell if it will succeed. For the Connecticut AtariFest, time has already told the story... And.. it had a happy ending. ________________________________________________________ > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando 73637,2262 Hey there folks, I hope that your week has been better than mine. With the Connecticut AtariFest last weekend, and the hectic time both before and after, I'm about ready to fall down. I can hear some of you thinking to yourself "why is he telling me this?"... The answer is that I'm letting you know gently that this week's column will again be shorter than normal. So let's get to it... From the Atari Productivity Forum ================================= On the subject of CompuServe's "20 Questions" project, Bob Brodie, Atari's Director of Communications, tells us: "Glad you liked the 20 Questions project. We enjoyed it here, too. Although I think it took longer than the typical real time conference would. Anyway, let's see what happens on the conference. I'm certainly up to it, I enjoy those a lot." Jim Ness tells Bob: "I'd like to think that the 20-Questions project took longer than a conference because you had the chance to do some research in the office, and give each answer extra consideration. Things that are hard to do in a conference, when 25 people are waiting for an answer. It took more of your time, but the result was longer and more informative than the normal conference transcript. I think they both have their place, though." Tim Myers says what a lot of us are thinking: "It's good to see Atari Corp establishing a presence here on CIS. I look forward to more of the 20 questions type of event and I'm still looking forward to the conference !" On another subject, Michael Robillard tells us: "I have a MEGA2 with TOS 102.I was wondering when I format my disks is there a limit to how many tracks and sectors I should have or is the sky the limit." Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine tells Michael: "There are two factors. The formatting program itself and drive mechanism. Most of the time its a physical hardware limit of the drive itself that does impose the limit on the number of tracks, etc." Robert Aries adds: "The limitation is in your drive, not in the particular version of TOS. Formatting from the desktop will always give you 9 sectors/80 tracks; this is for compatibility with the IBM format. There are extended formatters available that will do up to 11 sectors/86 tracks. I have used 11/83 before but I don't believe that will work with an Atari drive. Not only that but you run the risk of disk errors if the drive goes slightly out of alignment or you try to use the disk on another system (or you eventually get a different drive). I have used 10/82 with no problems. If you browse the libs you'll surely find several formatting programs. The best way to see what will work for you may be to just go for it...if your drive can't handle past track 79 you'll know immediately as the head will make a clicking noise as it hits against a stopper. I might keep my finger on the power switch to shut the system off if I hear that, though!" Sysop Bob Retelle tells Michael: "There are two limitations to how far you can push a floppy disk format (even with software that will go beyond that)... The first is how fast the disk spins.. putting more sectors on a track depends on cutting down the space between the sectors, and how much time it takes for each sector to pass by the disk head. If you speeded up the disk rotation, you could put more sectors on the same track.. but then the drive wouldn't be compatible with anything else.. (another way to accomplish the same thing is to speed up the clock signal that the floppy controller uses to write the data to the disk.. which is exactly how the "High Density" 1.44 Megabyte drives do it.. they write 18 sectors in the same space as the normal ST drive can write 9..) The practical limit on an unmodified ST floppy drive is 11 sectors, and even that requires that your drive is running on the fast side of "normal". The second limitation is how many tracks the drive will physically write. Every drive has a "Track Zero" sensor, which is where it gets its basic positioning information. When you hear a drive going "Honnnk Honnnnk" when it tries to read a bad sector, it's "recalibrating" by finding its Track Zero sensor, then trying to read the track with the bad sector again. Track Zero is thus defined by the way the drive is built. How far the drive head will step out in the other direction defines how many tracks the drive can write. The specification for a 3.5" floppy drive is 80 tracks, but many will actually write a few tracks beyond that before the head can't physically move any farther. The problem is that not all drives have the same amount of "slop", and so a disk you format to 83 tracks on one drive may not be able to be read all the way on a drive that can only move out to 81 tracks. Also, some people are concerned that driving the head against a physical stop may in time damage it, or force it out of alignment. The total storage of a drive is found by the number of bytes per sector, times the number of sectors in a track, times the number of tracks on the disk. The only practical way to determine the maximum for a particular drive is to experiment with a formatting program that lets you change the number of sectors and tracks. I found that one of my ST drives would do 82 tracks, but the other will only go to 81 tracks. I used to format all my disks at 10 sectors, 81 tracks until I started using a PC heavily, at which time I started using the standard 9 sectors and 80 tracks format so I could use the same disks on both systems. It's up to you whether any risks or incompatibility are worth the extra disk storage gained by an "extended format" Tim Myers talks about the scourge of all computer platforms... Piracy: "...Just about every program on every platform can be found in pirated form ( I was offered MSDOS6 for a fraction of it's retail cost in some very poorly copied packages at a car boot sale ) This state of affairs is sad. The computer and it's software have become status symbols to a certain section of our society and what they can't buy legit they'll pirate. Where there's a market there's a supplier....." Rob Nicholson tells Tim jokingly (I hope): "What's worse is many young people are turning to crime to obtain Nintendo and Sega consoles and/or carts. Very sad :-(" Tim adds: "A bit of a sad comment on the state of our society isn't it? It's not the actual hardware but the kudos of saying that you own it that counts. We've bred a society where you're judged on what you own and what you look like instead of who you are. Superficiality seems to hold the cards at the moment... Chasing the Gods of status seems to have been the start. Media created images of how we should look and behave are major contributors as well as images of what we must own to be seen to have succeeded. That's why I like e-mail so much, we are judged on what we SAY not how we LOOK." From the Atari ST Arts Forum ============================ Darkin asks: "When is the release date for the Jaguar? Will Atari actually be able to support *this* machine with good software and licensees? Also, will they be able to stick to the amazing $200 price they gave? 2) Can anyone with first hand experience with the Falcon give me the lowdown. How do Falcon prices run?" Rob Nicholson tells Darkin: "I don't think an exact release date has been given yet. As for the price, yes - I'd say it's just about achievable. Although the machine is very powerful, all of the hardware is crammed into a few chips. It all depends upon how cheaply the VLSI chips can be made I'd guess. In terms of amount of bits, there's probably about the same amount of hardware as in the SNES and Genesis." Master Sysop Ron Luks tells us: "The old 8-bit Forum will be restructured into an Atari Games forum, specializing in the Lynx, the Jaguar, and will still contain 8-bit support. The forum name will be changed when we do the formal overhaul later this summer. We are waiting on some new software from CompuServe before restructuring all the Atari forums. We opened up the Jaguar section a bit early because of Atari's pre-release press announcement." On the subject of the Jaguar's release date, Bob Brodie posts: "The specific release date for the Jaguar has not been given, all we have said is that it will be sold in the fall, in time for the holidays. We're targeting NYC for the initial shipments, and we will support the product in a big way with advertising. And yes, we will stick with the "amazing $200 price". :) Glad you like it. Re Falcon prices, for the US they are as follows: Falcon030 1/0 $799 Falcon030 4/0 $999 Falcon030 4/80 $1299 Falcon030 14/80 $1899 These prices are MSRP, video adapters are extra. Units with hard drives include MultiTOS, SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works, and a cadre of other programs that we bundle at no additional charge." Greg Kopchak tells us: "Photo CD for the Falcon is now REAL. We will be shipping a Photo CD Slide Show program for the Falcon in the next two weeks. Run out and buy a roll of Kodacolor Gold before you leave for vacation. True-color on a 27 inch monitor is impressive. We hope to have a demo of Photo CD at the KC show if all goes well. Stay tuned here for more information here later in the week." Albert Dayes, having the keen technical mind that he does, asks Greg: "How programmable is the Photo CD slide-show? It it similar to the portfolio format where you can mix Photo CD images and audio?" From the Atari Vendors Forum ============================ Richard Casey asks about "setting up" a system for a friend: "I have to set up a musician friend of mine with an ATARI computer. The AMEK / TAC recording console he purchased only works with an ATARI computer (Not the Falcon) because the automation software was written specifically for it. They are writing an IBM Version due to be out in a few months but for now they recommend an ATARI STe I believe. My question is this. Will this GEMultor run all software written for the ATARI on an IBM PC? Where can I get more info on the gemulator? Any tips or info would be appreciated." Ron Luks, the Sysop big Cahoona, tells Rich: "No, the Gemulator will not run *all* Atari software, but it will run a remarkable amount of it. You should post a message in the EMULATOR topic of AtariPro to get more information." Sysop Bob Retelle adds: "Specifically, the GEMulator doesn't support the Atari ST's MIDI ports as yet... If the application your friend needs uses MIDI, it won't run on the IBM under the emulator..." Oscar Steele of Purple Mountain Computers tells Rich: "Like Ron said, Gemulator won't run all software. But it will run most applications. Games are an iffy subject, if you want to run the hottest in technology games, you'd want to get a PC anyway to run them. Send us e-mail with your address and a request for Gemulator information. Currently, Gemulator does NOT support MIDI. Ron, is there any way you could just set up a category here for us so that users don't get confused over where to post about Gemulator. On GEnie we have a topic dedicated to Gemulator and it makes it so much easier to support the product. I hope we can continue to do so here, and I'd appreciate if you would set up a Purple Mountain Computer topic. Then we could also support the Freedom Floptical Drive and the newly released Removable Mountain 105mb Drive." Ron Luks tells Oscar: "Our software doesn't work quite the same way as GEnies. I can set up a section for you. Would you want it called GEMULATOR or Purple Mountain Computers? (I'd recommend the latter since it covers more products.)" In the ICD (which stands for _I_ncredibly _C_ool _D_evices) area, Mike Mortilla posts: "Help! My Link works great. So great that I sold my megafile 30. But I cannot auto-boot from the hd (a Syquest 44 from Spin). The drive gets up to speed but won't auto boot and the default desktop appears or (if there's a desktop on the floppy, the floppy desktop's appears). If I do a warm reset (ALT-Delete) the HD will auto-boot, but it would be nice if it did it every time. I've used ID#'s 0 and 1 on the HD with the same results. It seems the drive isn't recognized at boot up for some reason. Can you help? Pretty please..." Mike now answers his own question: "I'll do the inane and answer my own question, but I'm leaving it posted for those who might have similar problems. I was able to solve the boot up problem by installing the prog WAIT_HD from the Ataripro lib. It works great as long as you have the correct disk in drive A. If there is another work around I'd like to hear it. My HD *was* ready to boot, but I suspect that the WAIT_HD prog forces the ST to look for a HD. Go figure." Last week someone mentioned that the CodeHeads were working on a "front end" for Microsoft Bookshelf. This week, Charles F. Johnson tells us: "That rumor about CodeHead developing a front end for Microsoft Bookshelf is not true, I'm afraid. More than two years ago we did start researching such a project, but Atari's failure to ship a CD-ROM drive forced us to put it on hold. Since then the market has deteriorated drastically, and we'll need to see some positive signs of improvement before committing any more development time to this project. Sorry to have to quash this rumor, but them's the facts." Ron Luks asks Charles: "Have you seen any hint of a pickup with the Falcon now shipping?" Charles tells Ron: "No, not even a hint. At present, the number of Falcons that are available for sale in the US is *very* small (measured in the hundreds). And since Atari's long-standing policy of not advertising or promoting their computers is still in effect, the only people who'll be buying the few Falcons that are available will probably be current Atari owners, who have already bought most of the software they're interested in. This means no new customers, which in turn means no new sales. I think it's obvious to most people who have a stake in this business that the future of the Atari platform is in very serious doubt. And from what I've learned about Atari's marketing and manufacturing plans, I don't have much hope that the Falcon will turn things around. I wish I could be more positive, but when months go by with almost _no_ orders (even for our most popular products), it's a little hard to keep my rose-colored glasses on." From the Atari Portfolio Forum ============================== Joe Lensbower tells us: "To those wishing a memory upgrade for the Portfolio: there is the BSE Universal 512K Interface. It is a small box that clips onto the Port and becomes almost a part of it. It has a serial and a parallel port and holds 512K. The current list is $249. I bought mine 3 weeks ago. ** BUT *** I couldn't get the 512K to be recognized! I kept getting "RAM TEST FAILURE A 0F00:0000 " when I'd reboot. I called Dan at BSE today and he acknowledged that it is a bad unit and I need to send it back. My first peripheral and it's a dud! I explained to Dan that I'm a new Port owner and that, without the interface I'm going to have a close-ended machine and he said he'd try to get it back to me quickly... I'll keep all who are interested in doing business with BSE (602-527-8843) posted as to how long this turnaround will be..." Robert Kelsoe tells Joe: "A lot of us have purchased from BSE. I think that you will find that they give good service and have great products. I bought a portable HD from them that I use every day." I'd just like to add here that I talked BSE into sending a FlashDrive for the Connecticut AtariFest. I'll tell you, this is a great piece of work! The drive is small, connects easily to the Portfolio, is fast, easy to use, and, if the truth be known, impresses the hell out of people. Don't tell the good folks at BSE this, but they're going to have a _tough_ time getting this baby back from me. Well folks, that's about it for this week, tune in again next week to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING *********************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= STReport International Online Magazine is available every week in the ST Advantage on DELPHI. STReport readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of Atari enthusiasts there. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN -- DELPHI -------------- Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002 then... When connected, press RETURN once or twice and... At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's Basic Plan offers access for only $6.00 per hour, for any baud rate. The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online. For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005 DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, MA. Try DELPHI for $1 an hour! For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only $5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan, where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum $10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry, this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET> again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll officially be a member of DELPHI! TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (6/16/93) (1) ANTIBOMB, CRASH STOPPER! (2) STREPORT 9.24 06/11/93 (3) ZNET9318, JUNE 6 (4) ATAX.ZIP (5) SPEED OF LIGHT 2.6 (6) GEM-VIEW VERSION 2.24 (7) GERMAN TO ENGLISH 3.0 (8) SOS HANGMAN V.2.01 (9) SUPREME SCREEN SNATCHER (10) SCROLLING THUNDER DEMO All of the above files can be found in the RECENT ARRIVALS database for at least one week after the posting of this list. Please Note that in the case of online magazines, only the most current issue in the database at the time of this compilation is considered for the Top 10 list. Also, for all files, a submission is eligible for the Top 10 list for only four weeks after its original uploading. DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! *********************************************************************** > CTFEST'93 Report II STR SHOW NEWS """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ATARI WEEKENDS - LET THE SHOWS BEGIN! THE '93 CT ATARIFEST SUMMER STARTS OFF WITH FALCONS FLYING! (SORTA) by Dana P. Jacobson Well, it appears that the summer Atari show started off a tad early this year in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The '93 ACT AtariFest, although not an overwhelming show attendance-wise, appeared to be a success. Having a "dual" role at this year's show, as one representative of my Boston user group (South Shore Atari Group) and as an STReport staff editor, it was a long weekend. I found that the change of "scenery" this year was a plus for the show. The exhibition area was larger than the hall last year, making it much easier for vendors and attendees to move around more easily. The only complaint about the hall that I heard, as well as echoed, was that some vendor booths had round tables intermingled with rectangular tables making it somewhat difficult to utilize all of the available table space. However, after a while, most people managed to work around it. Vendor booths were designed to maximize space, and it worked out very well; it was easy to get to everybody without having to walk all the way around the room to find a specific vendor. The show actually consisted of two events going simultaneously. The Atari show was on one side of the hotel while the Home Business & Entertainment Expo (BREE) filled the other. The Atari show had approximately 25 vendors (including dealers, developers, and online services) as well as almost 10 user groups from around the New England area selling public domain software and miscellaneous other items. The BREE group had almost 20 vendors in attendance. One of the biggest highlights of the event was the fact that there were Falcons for sale, albeit extremely minimal. Although all three New England dealers (one from Connecticut and two from Massachusetts) were promised a supply of Falcons for sale at the show, only one dealer managed to have any; and those _few_ machines (4-5) arrived by UPS the day of the show. To give you an idea how badly people wanted them, one person happened to see the UPS truck pull up and bring in the boxes. Realizing what they contained, the attendee waited to see who claimed them. As soon as the dealer claimed them, the attendee pulled out his credit card and said he wanted a Falcon! The machines hadn't even made in to the showroom yet! Unfortunately, the other two dealers didn't receive any machines (one dealer actually bought one from the dealer receiving his shipment). The available machines were gone in less than a couple of hours. There were numerous new offerings to be seen and had at the show, some designed to take advantage of the long-awaited Falcon. Lexicor Europe's Yat Siu was amazing everyone who stopped by the booth with Lexicor's new Nova Graphics card, the "Video-Roaster" prototype, as well as some of their well-known software. If you are interested in graphics, the Lexicor booth was the place to visit. All weekend long I kept hearing great things that were going on at that booth. Humorously, a friend of mine mentioned later in the day on Saturday that he wished that he had brought his son along to the show so that he could have sold him off to be able to afford everything that he wanted from Lexicor! As it was, he had a bundle of new software under his arm when he left. CodeHead was well-represented this year by Tomas Ensley. Among the CodeHead's normal excellent assortment of software, this was the first time that the public had an opportunity to see and hear DigiTape. Some of the sounds coming from the CodeHead booth were amazing, although Tomas somehow had occasional trouble with the volume, blasting out the SSAG members next door!! Don't worry, Tomas, everyone's hearing finally returned to normal. Marcel Software was showing their newly-released word processor, Marcel Word. It's a good word processor worth checking out. There's a demo version that has been released to the various online services and local bulletin boards, so if you weren't at the show (or somehow missed it while there), make sure to download it. Marcel works with Word Perfect, 1st Word, ST Writer, RTF, and ASCII files. Straight Edge Software was selling their popular print accelerator/spooler, OutBurST (the only piece of software that I bought, finally!). If you're a DTP-user, OutBurST will speed up your printing immensely. Straight Edge was also showing what appeared to be a real-time screen-grabber. He had a video camera hooked up and was able to grab real-time pictures and show them. The picture quality was incredibly good; looking forward to seeing this software when finally completed. Bob Luneski's Oregon Research was showing off a number of their hard drive utilities (Diamond Back 2 and Diamond Edge) along with showing off True Paint on the Falcon. They were also touting DataLite, a file-compression package similar to DC's DataDiet program. As far as I know, DataLite isn't quite ready for sale yet, but look for it soon. BaggettaWare's Albert Baggetta was showing off the newly-enhanced Eliemouse Coloring book and their Shakespearean sonnets program. Every time that I see that Eliemouse I wish that I had a houseful of kids to enjoy those programs! Barefoot Software's Dana Byrd and Jeff Naideau were back again this year with their collection of music software. Jeff Naideau was constantly at his MIDI keyboard cranking out some beautiful music via numerous MIDI software. It's too bad we didn't try to convince him to go onstage later that night in the hotel's pub and show the "band" how to really play! Maybe next year... Best Electronics was there this year with just about every part possible that you could ever want. Their booth was always crowded with people searching for some needed part that is probably impossible to find anywhere else in the world! On many an occasion I'd hear someone walking away from the booth with a small package in hand muttering that they've been "searching everywhere for this part!" If you ever need parts, Best is the place to call for it. MegaType Software was there selling their numerous font packages and quality clip art packages, along with their numerous font-handling programs such as FontVerter, BitMaker, Font Designer, and MegaKern. They also had some great Star Trek fonts and clip art for the Trekkies! Toad Computers was another of the numerous dealers attending the show. Although Toad was not allowed to sell Falcons due to the dealer agreement stipulations, Jennifer Troy was always busy with other hardware and software sales. Toad, as well as a few other dealers, had a number of new products available, most notably was Compo's new SpeedoGDOS Starter kit. Something that I didn't take advantage of last year, but finally made sure to do this year was to visit Tom Allard's East Hartford Computer Repair booth. Like last year, Tom was offering to do various upgrade and repair work right at the booth. I finally convinced myself that it was time to upgrade my trusty 520ST from 2.5 megs to 4. Tom was busy throughout the weekend with machine cases and parts spread out in his booth. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was missing a few ribbon cables to complete my upgrade (he even searched a local Radio Shack for them) so I had to leave my machine with him. Hopefully, I'll get it back shortly so I can let my wife have the Stacy back before she decides not to let me use it anymore!! Sheesh, to think just a few months ago she'd never dream of using a computer and now she's using one to do some word processing! Now, if I can only convince her to...... The most popular place to be all weekend was at one of the two Lynx tables. The tables were always crowded with people trying their driving and shooting skills on the soon-to-be-released game, Battle Wheels. From numerous reports, this game is going to be one of the most enjoyable ones available. One of SSAG's helpers was at the "tables" off and on Saturday; and on Sunday was playing Battle Wheels for over three hours non-stop!! This sounds like one Lynx game I'm going to have to see a little bit more of first-hand. I know that I've left out a number of the vendors showing off products at the show; I'm sure that others will probably mention them in other show reports so I won't attempt to list them all here. The show was well-rounded with dealers, developers, user groups and other vendors. One event that I've come to look forward to at these shows, when the opportunity arises, is to be part of the seminar schedule representing STReport. None of us knows what to expect at one of our seminars, including us! Joe Mirando and I conducted the STReport seminar again this year. We were the last seminar scheduled for the show, on a beautiful, slow Sunday afternoon. Our topic focused on current events in the Atari community, some dealing with current issues being discussed in STReport itself. We had anticipated a number of attendees to react much differently than they did. Surprisingly, for the most part, peoples' heads were nodding in agreement with our assessment of current events. Our question and answer period went very well, with a number of interesting questions and comments. I think one of my most enjoyable moments of the seminar came (and I think Joe would agree) when a gentleman got up, stated that he was a professional journalist, and heartily thanked us for reporting beyond the hype and bringing to the users a different view. The most enjoyable moment came after the seminar when a young lady stayed to ask a couple of questions. She was a concerned Atari user who wasn't sure how to progress to improve her computer use. She wanted to upgrade her system, but didn't know whether or not to move up to the Falcon, or go to another platform to fulfill her needs. It was a discussion that many of us have had with friends and fellow Atari users. It was an interesting discussion, and included a number of observations made by this woman who didn't appear to be one of the typical mainstream of Atari users. She was delightful to talk with and I hope that we see her again at another CT show, still using Atari computers. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this year's show, I can't help but wonder about a number of things. First of all, with rumors flying that there will be no WAACE show this year, I was surprised that some who might have considered going to Virginia in the fall didn't come to this show instead. The attendance was not overwhelming as I mentioned earlier. With the Falcon currently available, it would seem as if more people would be out to see and possibly buy one at this show, or any show for that matter. Is this possibly an omen of things to come; that even the various Atari shows are rapidly shrinking as quickly as the Atari marketplace? Or, was it because this particular weekend was a gorgeous one and people decided they'd rather be somewhere else? I don't think so, to be honest. Was the show poorly planned and/or advertised? Again, no. The ACT group, under the leadership of Brian Gockley and Doug Finch did an excellent job again this year. I can't think of a thing more that they could have done for this show short of dragging people inside! The ACT group did its part. Some show-goers asked where Atari Corporation was; why wasn't there a representative at the show promoting the Falcon? Was this a reason? Nope. It's really not a necessity for Atari to attend ALL of the shows. It can't hurt, but I don't think having them there would have made a difference. If you ask my opinion (I'll give it anyway!), I believe there were a number of reasons. First of all, people are being disillusioned by Atari's track record of the past. Atari has made many announcements for product and just plain missed them, some altogether. The release and availability of the Falcon is just another missed opportunity. There's only so much that Atari can tell its userbase before it starts to doubt whether or not Atari can produce any longer. People have been waiting for Falcons a very long time now; it's essentially the only machine being supported/produced by Atari these days. There should have been more Falcons at this show. Whether it was up to Atari or its regional distributor, Atari should have made sure there were more than 4-5 machines available for sale. Up until the day of the show, no one knew whether or not there were going to be any machines present, for sale. Why? Miscommunication? Foul-ups? Available stock? Up until a few days before the show, one Massachusetts dealer wasn't even sure if he was going to be able to afford to buy machines to bring to the show. The consensus was that he was going to take orders at the show. The other dealers were extremely disappointed at their predicament. You should have heard them lament lost sales and potential new customers. It was a shame to hear them tell customers: "Well, we may have some in a few days or so, would you like me to put your name on a waiting list?" These people were promised machines to have for sale; why weren't they there?! If it was a matter of money up front, why didn't Atari send machines on consignment? It just doesn't make any sense. The Atari shows are a guaranteed sales event. Where else are you going to have hundreds of Atari users in one place, at one time? Atari should guarantee that every show has dealers with ample supply of Falcons! I think this one blunder made me more upset than anything; I really felt badly for these dealers and users who expected to be able to take a Falcon home. To those few who were lucky to get one, congratulations on a fine purchase. This is just one more of those missed opportunities for Atari. Their lack of a focused marketing plan and advertising is not going to help the situation. Other than most of the remaining userbase, who know these new machines exist? It's time Atari took a chance and spend some advertising money. Atari also needs to boost Falcon production to be able to keep up with the demand. Show these machines, have them available, and eventually the old standard word-of-mouth scenario will take hold again and help to maintain some interest and enthusiasm. Let's hope that Atari takes a lesson and makes sure that the upcoming shows are handled differently. I guess we'll all have to wait and see. As this show seasons gets rolling with numerous shows rapidly approaching, I suggest that if you have an opportunity to attend one or more of them, to do so. Not only are these shows a great opportunity to find plenty of software and hardware; but also the time to meet new people and renew old friendships. To me, this is the Atari community's way of life, and the most enjoyable aspect of using Atari computers. To Brian and Angela Gockley, Doug Finch, and all of the rest of the ACT group, thanks for another enjoyable Atari weekend. Thanks for having us all!! See you all next year. __________________________________________________________ > Lazarus Long V II STR Feature Thank you for the humor.... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG Issue #2 Compiled by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Various real-life sayings (some attributed, some not) that could fit in- to the Notebooks of Lazarus Long. From the Jerry Pournelle RT on Genie Cheap, fast, good - pick two, "We must be open minded, but not so open minded that our brains fall out." -- James Randi "If it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober. -- William Butler Yeats "The only thing worse than not getting what you want, is getting what you want." Any benevolent system designed to aid the truly needy will be abused by the truly unworthy. Wherever I go, there I am. Despite its high cost, living remains popular. "To desire the end is to desire the means." That which does not grow stronger, kills us. --M. Dederian Most people would sooner die than think; in fact they do so. -- Bertrand Russell "Beware of cookies bearing fortunes" -- Found in a fortune cookie In ten seconds I can tell you more than I know. -- Anonymous Government Employee Being right too soon is always socially unacceptable. "Arguments are debatable." Politicians hate to see a beautiful theory mugged by a gang of ugly facts. Never carry a knife to a gunfight. The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his. -- Gen. George Patton I think the past is behind us - it'd be real confusing if not. From the Blues Traveller song, "But Anyway." _________________________________________________________________ > CODEHEAD NEWS! STR InfoFile CODEHEAD SLASHES PRICES!! """"""""""""""""""""""""""" CodeHeadQuarters For Immediate Release --------------------- CODEHEAD SLASHES PRICES ON WORD PROCESSING AND GRAPHICS TOOLS! NOW SAVE UP TO 63% !! Effective immediately, we have lowered the retail prices of the following products: Product New Price Old Price Savings ------------------------------------------------------- Calligrapher Gold $169.00 $250.00 32% Calligrapher Professional 119.00 175.00 32% Gold Extension 50.00 100.00 50% URW Font Disks 25.00 34.95 28% Avant Vector 199.00 545.00 63% MegaPaint 99.00 175.00 43% Genus Font Editor 79.95 175.00 54% Cherry Font Packs 25.00 42.95 42% ------------------------------------------------------- For more information, contact: CodeHead Technologies P.O. Box 74090 Los Angeles, CA 90004 Phone: (213) 386-5735 FAX: (213) 386-5789 Hours: M-F 9AM-1PM _____________________________________________________________ > MCI 800 COLLECT SERVICE STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" MCI's 1-800-COLLECT =================== MCI has announced 1-800-COLLECT, a new way for consumers to make collect calls. Beginning today, children, students, men and women in the armed services, travelers, truckers -- everyone who takes advantage of long distance collect calling -- will be able to save their parents and loved ones up to 44 percent (vs. AT&T operator-dialed rates) on collect calls they make from any phone in America and Puerto Rico. Americans now make 1 billion collect calls each year, spending more than $3 billion. "Until MCI's 1-800-COLLECT, collect calling lagged far behind advances made in other products and services in the long distance marketplace," said Gerald H. Taylor, president of MCI Consumer Markets. "Reversing the charges, which dates back to the 1890s, is one of the oldest services available. Contemporary collect callers have been stuck with some very old-fashioned constraints." When the consumer makes a "0+" collect call today, the person he or she is calling is charged by the long distance provider of the phone from which the call is placed. Demand has been suppressed due to complicated dialing schemes, high prices and the absence of any true competition. "In a world where consumers usually make choices about services, collect callers are simply left out," Taylor continued. To use the new service, callers simply dial 1-800-COLLECT (1-800-265-5328) to reach an operator who will connect the call. Neither the caller nor the recipient needs to be an MCI customer. 1-800-COLLECT is made possible through billing arrangements with local telephone companies and MCI's proprietary ISN (Intelligent Service Network), a specialized software - controlled network for MCI's Calling Card and Operator Services. The ISN enables MCI to provide the customized call handling and network routing for 1-800-COLLECT calls. The network efficiency provided by the ISN is passed on to consumers in the form of lower rates. MCI launches today a multi-media national advertising campaign to introduce 1-800-COLLECT. Advertising will appear on network and cable television, in print publications and outdoor media throughout the United States. CONTACT: Kate Fralin or Su-Lin Cheng of MCI, 1-800-436-9749 ___________________________________________________ > BLUE RIDGE ATARIFEST'93 STR SHOW NEWS "The Summertime Atari Event!" """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 1993 Blue Ridge ATARIFEST """"""""""""""""""""""""" FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION """""""""""""""""""""""""" The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer Studio invite you to participate in the Fourth Annual Blue Ridge AtariFest in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. Show dates and times are: Saturday July 24, 1993 10am - 6pm Sunday July 25, 1993 Noon - 5pm Just as in previous years, we have arranged for FREE Booth space for Atari developers!! (We're only requesting the donation of a door prize). We can promise both developers and show-goers an energetic and exciting show with as enthusiastic a crowd of Atarians as you'll find anywhere, plus the support of Computer Studio in the mall. We're once again taking over the Courtyard Shop (mall) area at Westgate Shopping Center for the show (location of Computer Studio), plus the use of vacant store spaces for seminar sessions. Seminar sessions will be 45 minutes in length, and developers are welcome to conduct a seminar on their product line or approved topic of their choice (seminar sessions are limited, so first come, first served). This year's show dates also coincide with Asheville's annual Bele Chere street festival, when downtown Asheville is closed to vehicular traffic and becomes what must be one of the largest street fairs in the country. Westgate Shopping Center is one of the primary Park-and-Ride shuttle centers for transporting people to and from downtown, and we've arranged to have the shuttle service pick up at the front entrance of the mall and drop off at the rear entrance, so everyone taking the service from Westgate WILL walk through the AtariFest exhibition area sometime during the day. This will be a great opportunity to showcase Atari and Atari related software and peripherals, and introduce them to people who aren't already Atari owners. Bringing in NEW blood is the key to the growth of this platform, and this will be our opportunity to begin that process with a captive audience. Additional discussions of the show, as well as confirmations of your participation, are welcome in GEnieMail and in the Blue Ridge AtariFest topic 13 in Category 11 here on GEnie. HOPING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON. HAPPY ATARI COMPUTING. IT'S HAPPENING IN ASHEVILLE! Where: Westgate Shopping Center - Asheville, N.C. Take any major highway into Asheville (US 19-23, US 26 or I-40) to the I-240 loop, then take the "Westgate/Hilton Inn Drive exit" into the Westgate Shopping Center parking lot. When: 24-25, July 1993 Time: 10:am to 6:pm SAT 12 Noon 'til 5pm SUN Points of contact: Come for a day or come for the weekend, but do come and enjoy yourself. Great Smokies Hilton Resort Hilton Inn Drive (704)254-3211 Toll-free reservation phone number 1-800-733-3211 Radisson One Thomas Wolf Plaza (704)252-8211 Rate: $62.00 per room (1-4 people) ====== Additional Hotel / Motel Information =========== Days Inn I-26 and Airport Road (704)684-2281 I-40 Exit 55 (704)298-5140 Econo Lodge US 70 East, I-40 Exit 55 (704)298-5519 Holiday Inn 275 Smoky Park Hwy (704)667-4501 Toll-free reservation phone number 1-800-HOLIDAY Red Roof Inn I-40 and US 19-23 Exit 44 (704)667-9803 Toll-free reservation phone number 1-800-843-7663 Budget Motel I-40 Exit 44 (Enka-Chandler) West Asheville Exit (704)665-2100 Best Western Asheville Central 22 Woodfin St (704)253-1851 ========= Local Bed & Breakfast lodging Information ========= Aberdeen Inn 64 Linden Ave (704)254-9336 Albemarle Inn 86 Edgemont Road (704)255-0027 Applewood Manor 62 Cumberland Circle (704)254-2244 The Bridle Path Inn Lockout Road (704)252-0035 Cairn Brae B & B 217 Patton Mountain Rd (704)252-9219 Carolina B & B 177 Cumberland Ave (704)254-3608 Cedar Crest Victorian Inn 674 Biltmore Ave (704)252-1289 Corner Oak Manor 53 St. Dunstan (704)253-3525 Cornerstone Inn 230 Pearson Dr (704)253-5644 Flint Street Inn 100 & 116 Flint Street (704)253-6723 The Lion and The Rose 276 Montford Ave (704)255-7673 The Ray House B & B 83 Hillside St (704)252-0106 Reed House 119 Dodge St (704)274-1604 The Wright Inn 235 Pearson Drive (704)251-0789] (1-800-552-5724) A more complete listing of Bed & Breakfasts can be obtained through the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. Reservations should be made immediately, as July is the height of our tourist season. =========== CAMP GROUNDS ================ (reservations are a must during this time of season): Mount Pisgah: About 20 miles southwest of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile post 408.6 (National Park Service). 690 acres. Elevation 5000'. One of the nicest campgrounds in Western North Carolina. 67 tent sites, 70 RV sites. For reservations: P.O.Box 749, Watnesville, N.C. 28786; phone (704) 235-9109. No showers. Groceries and restaurant. Nature program. 14 day stay limit. Lake Powhatan: 4 miles south of Asheville on State road 191, 3.5 miles west on SR 806. 30 acres. 98 tent/rv sites. Reservation available thru Mistix 1-800-283-CAMP. Disposal station. No showers. Swimming; lifeguard; fishing; nature trails; bicycles. 14-day stay limit. While in the area, you might want to consider a little sightseeing, and include a visit to the Biltmore House here in Asheville (the largest single family residence ever built in the U.S.--its a "castle"). A visit to the Biltmore can be a full-day's activity as you will want to view the house, visit the winery, and walk some of the grounds and gardens. Hours: The House 9 am to 6pm The Gardens 9am to 7pm Conservatory 9am to 5:30pm The Winery Monday-Saturday 11am to 7pm Sunday 1pm to 7pm Other areas of interest include; the Thomas Wolf home (adjacent to the Raddison), the Blue Ridge Parkway and Folk Art Center. A drive up the Blue ridge Parkway to enjoy the higher elevations and incredible views of our mountains. Perhaps a hike up to Mount Pisgah and look back down to Asheville(you can see Mt. Pisgah from most anywhere in Asheville). A short drive from Mt. Pisgah will take you to Sliding Rock (for those of you travelling with kids who are still kids at heart), the Cradle of Forestry (first forest school in the country), waterfalls, trout hatchery, etc. For the adventurous, white water rafting on the Natahala River near Bryson City (approx one and a half hours from here). There's obviously loads more to see and do around Asheville (in addition to the Blue Ridge AtariFest and a visit to Computer Studio :-). If any of y'all would like maps and additional tourist info of the area I might suggest contacting the Chamber of Commerce: Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce 151 Haywood Street P.O. Box 1010 Asheville, NC 28802 704-258-6111 FAX: (704)251-0926 The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer STudio invite you to participate in the fourth annual Blue Ridge AtariFest on Saturday, July 24 and Sunday July 25, 1993. The show will take place in the Courtyard Shop area of Westgate Shopping Center in Asheville, North Carolina (Home of Computer STudio). We are still signing up additional exhibitors, but those who have already made a firm committment to attend include (Alphabetical Listing): Accusoft-ST ............................. PD/Shareware Software (Clip Art Libraries) Barefoot Software ....................... Professional MIDI Software applications (SMPTETrack, EditTrack Platinum, GenEdit, EZ Score Plus, etc.) Codehead Technologies ................... Productivity software & enhancements (G+Plus, MultiDesk Deluxe, HotWire, CodeHead Utilities, Warp 9, Calligrapher, MaxiFile, Lookit & Popit, Avant Vector, MegaPaint, TOS Extension Card, etc.) Computer STudio ......................... Visit a 'real' Atari Dealership in the mall (Atari computer systems, software and accessories) DMC Publishing .......................... Desktop Publishing System Solultions (Calamus/SL, PKS Write, Outline Art, Invision Elite, tms Cranach Studio, etc.) GEnieLamp/GEnie ......................... Telecommunications and Electronic Publishing Magic Software .......................... Entertainment Software (New products unveiling!) Missionware Software .................... (Flash II, lottODDS, Printer Initializer, etc.) Showtimes are 10:am - 6:pm on Saturday, and noon - 5:pm on Sunday. Seminar sessions will be scheduled throughout the show. Since this year's show coincides with Asheville's annual Bele Chere Street Festival, we are not having a Saturday evening banquet, but are instead encouraging guests to hop the shuttle bus at the front entrance of the mall and spend Saturday evening downtown enjoying the outdoor festivities (live entertainment, food booths of all types, dancing, etc.). Advance registration is only $3, or $4 at the door. Additional information about the show and Asheville's Bele Chere festival will be mailed to all who pre-register in advance. Door prize winners will also be selected from registered guests. Advance registration checks should made out to "COMPUTER STUDIO" and mailed 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 ___________________________________________________________________ > OREGON RESEARCH INFO PART I STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" DATAlite 2 ---------- Real Time Disk Compression - Disk Doubler How would you feel if you woke up one day and found that your 50 megabyte hard disk had suddenly turned into a 100 megabyte hard disk! You'd be stunned, amazed, and pretty HAPPY! Well, that's exactly what will happen to your disk when you install DATAlite 2. DATAlite is a sophisticated, powerful program providing real time online data compression for floppy and hard disks! Amazingly fast you won't ever know it's installed, DATAlite transparently doubles the storage size of your disks! DATAlite is completely safe and reliable because it does not patch any GEMDOS calls. Incompatibilities are impossible. It works its' magic as a BIOS level device driver completely transparent to the system. All you know is that your 50 meg hard drive is now a 100 meg hard drive! WOW! * Automatically compresses all programs AND data while storing and decompresses when loaded again * Datalite's efficiency results in a doubling of the usable amount of disk space * Many different compression methods automatically chosen to maximize storage capacity. * Optimum compressing method can increase disk capacity as much as ten times! * Completely safe and reliable. * Does not patch any GEMDOS functions. * Supports all ST/STe/TT/Falcon030 computers * Supports all TOS versions including MultiTOS * Supports all memory and hardware configurations * Supports ALL disks, including hard disks, removable disks, and floppy disks DATAlite 2 retail price: $79.95 Devpac Version 3 ---------------- 680x0 Assembly language development system This new package has had a complete face-lift, from the editor through to the debugger. Devpac 3 is the ultimate assembly language developement system for your Atari ST/TT/Falcon Devpac 3 includes a new multi-window editor which has been designed to be easy-to-use, using sub-menus and pop-up menus for swift selection. It offers a powerful editing environment with bookmarks for remembering key positions, mouse block-marking, complete window flexibility, extensive user configuration and full integration with the other Devpac programs. The heart of Devpac Atari 3 is the fast and powerful 68000-68040 assembler, which is now at least 40% quicker than its predecessor giving assembly speeds of typically 80,000 lines/minute on a standard Atari 520ST computer. The 68881/2 math co-processors and the 68851 MMU are supported. There is a wide range of switchable options allowing full control over the assembly process, including complete listing flexibility. In addition, many optimization choices are available, either automatically or selectively. In addition to other standard features such as conditional assembly, repeat loops, text include and macros, the assembler also offers: * Completely integrated: from the editor you can assemble to memory and then switch to the debugger or any other program. When you have finished, you are returned to the editor. * Include files are read only once, and the binary file is buffered. * Stand-alone assembler for those who have a favorite editor, or who use a command line shell. * INCBIN directive: takes a binary file and copies it to the output file, ideal for sprite data. * No Limits: Macro calls, IFs and Includes may be nested. * Three types of local labels Devpac 3 is provided with a powerful debugger/disassembler for bug hunting and ease of learning. You can have as many views on your program as you like, including its source code; Then set breakpoints, single-step instructions etc. even at the source code level. There is also full debugging support for the new 68030 processors and the floating point chips. The debugger has all the standard features like full register and memory display, locking windows to expressions, comparing blocks of memory, searching for bytes, words, longs, strings or parts of instructions and uses its own screen so that it does not collide with your program's output. It also offers: * Conditional breakpoints for even faster searching and destruction of bugs * Full expression evaluator * Executable and binary file load * Disassembly direct to disk, with auto label generation * Load symbol table and debugging information - ideal for working with desk accessories * View and debug source files from within the debugger Devpac Atari 3 comes complete with all the include files for the Atari's operating system, GST and Lattice compatible linkers, many examples. A comprehensive 350 page manual is included including specific information on the latest versions of TOS. Devpac 3 retails price: $149.95 Diamond Back II --------------- Hard Disk Backup and Restore Diamond Back II is the most complete hard disk backup and restore program available for the Atari ST/STE/TT range of computers. Diamond Back II provides a true file backup at image backup speeds with more power and flexibility then all of the other backup programs combined. Here are just a few of the features you will find in Diamond Back II: * Extremely fast. In fact, the fastest that we know! * Easy to use 100% GEM user interface with on line help * Backup/Restore any number of drive partitions, directory paths, single directories, or specific files in a single pass * Flexible creation of backup sets from different paths or partitions * Wild card masks to include or exclude files, which may be different for each path * Incremental backups by date/time or by archive bit (TOS 1.04 onwards) * Load and save custom backup configurations for ease of use * Flexible disk formatting options, pre-formatted disks do not have to be of the same type * File compression and encryption, disk usage estimation, disk statistics and assorted disk utilities * Backup to floppies or to other partitions * Automatic drive switching during all program functions * Very flexible Full or Partial restore options, restore original directory tree or specify new structure * Create file listings during the backup, create CRC validation logs to Hard disk or floppy files Extra Special Features * Backup and restore Spectre GCR partitions! * Full Support for High Density 1.44Mb floppies and 21Mb Floptical drives. * Intelligent Image backup option that only backs up sectors that contain data * Restore partition images to different size partitions * Hard disk to hard disk copies 10 times faster than desktop copies * State of the Art file compression speed Diamond Back II allows you to maintain a secure backup of your data and provides a flexible and efficient way to restore files to your hard disk; it is an invaluable tool for anybody that keeps important information on a hard disk. COMING SOON DIAMOND BACK 3! Exciting new enhancements include SCSI Tape backup, Full Windowed interface for background backups under Multi TOS, DSP compression! Diamond Back II Retail Price $49.95 Diamond Edge ------------ Disk Diagnostics, optimization, data recovery, and repair Your disks and disk drives are frequently used and rarely appreciated; that is, until something goes wrong. Diamond Edge is a complete set of disk management, optimization, diagnostic, repair, and data recovery tools for use with any floppy or hard disk. Whether recovering from a catastrophic disk crash or optimizing your drive for increased performance, Diamond Edge is an essential tool for all Atari owners. Disk Diagnostics * Analyzes your disk for critical errors that could lead to data loss. * Complete reporting of all disk errors and the files effected. * Assess media integrity and mapbad sectors on your disks. * Assess the integrity of the data on your disks with CRC and checksum validations. Disk Optimization * Analyzes level of fragmentation to assess disk performance. * Improves Disk Access. * Defragments files and directories, consolidates free space and optimizes data locations to improve disk performance. * FAST disk optimization for reading or writing. * Complete optimization or consolidate free space. Repair * Repairs damaged disk structure, damaged files, and maps bad sectors. * Save, restore, edit critical disk information to repair information on very badly damaged disks or to recover crashed disks. * Assessment and validation of the integrity of recovered information. Data Recovery * The Complete Undelete. Diamond Mirror system automatically saves critical disk information that allows you to recover deleted files. * Undeletes fragmented files AND subdirectories!!! Recover as much of original file as possible and validates integrity of the result. * Identifies and recovers data from lost data clusters. Unzero Disks. General Disk Management * Powerful set of General disk management and information tools * hard disk partitioning, copying, zeroing, wiping, and much more. * All program functions work with any hard or floppy disk. * Supports any size disk partition or sector size. * Supports both Atari and ICD extended partition standards. * Compatible with all Atari ST/TT/Falcon computers and disks. * Full online Help * Expert and Novice Modes Easy to use powerful disk management, Diamond Edge is an essential part of every Atari owners software library. Included in the 80 page wire bound manual is a complete disk tutorial that will take the mystery out of your disk drives. Diamond Edge Retail Price: $69.95 For more information contact: Oregon Research 16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy., Suite 162 Tigard, OR 97224 Telephone: (503) 620-4919 1:00PM - 5:00PM M-F Pacific Time FAX: (503) 624-2940 24 hours a day _____________________________________________________________________ > PRICE WHAT??? STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""""" The Great GENIE or When Is a Price Increase a Not a Price Increase? by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. A long, long time ago, in a far off world, there was a rich and powerful land called GEIS. The ruler of GEIS was so rich that he only used his lands during the daytime throughout the week, leaving the lands virtually empty during the nights and weekends. One day a cousin of the ruler of GEIS came to him with a plan. The cousin, known as the Great GENIE, said "Why not rent me the use of your kingdom when you're not using it? I know of many people who would pay for the right to have some place to play in the evenings and weekends. This way you and I can make a few extra dinars while supplying these people with something they want." The ruler of GEIS thought that this was a good idea but warned his cousin, "Make sure that you don't rent out more space than we have. I will not spend dinars to expand my kingdom just to give your people more room." So the Great GENIE came to control a vast territory. However, much of this territory was a vast waste-land (what came to be known as the Basic areas). True, there were a few oasis' with popular settlements in this wasteland (SciFi, Religion and a few others) but most of this territory was sparsely settled and seldom visited. Most of the population and visitors to his land stayed in the civilized areas (what came to be known as the Value areas) and seldom ventured into the unsettled territories/wasteland. While the Great GENIE was a mighty man inside his own lands, he was considered a 'minor monarch' in comparison to some of the other countries that surrounded his territory. The empires of CIS, Delphi, Prodigy and others all had populations greater than his. The Great GENIE knew that population was the key to power and riches. His country had the resources (known as CPU power) to handle 2-3 times as many people as it currently held without expending much of the gold contained in his tightly held purse strings. With more population, there would be more tax money and more people to spend money in the civilized areas. With more population, the Great GENIE would be a power to be reckoned with. After long and detailed consultations with his viziers, the Great GENIE came up with a plan that would entice some of the people from the surrounding countries to his territory. He would allow them to settle into is wasteland for FREE. There they would be free to build the types of communities that they wanted. Social and conversational intercourse would spread throughout this once desolate area, making it bloom. To make the deal more enticing, the Great GENIE decided to include free access into the few oasis/settlements in this wasteland. The Great GENIE was nobody's fool. While he would allow them to settle for free, he would charge them a small monthly 'settlement' fee (aka, service charge). This settlement fee would cover the small additional expense that they cost him (remember, the Great GENIE had all of this extra resources/CPU setting idle, so his additional expenses weren't great), while adding greatly to his coffers. Not only would he make money from the settlement fees, he knew that many of these new settlers (aka, newbies) would also go into the civilized areas - thus spending money there and increasing his tax revenues. The Great GENIE decided to use part of his new settlement fees to reduce the tax-burden on his current subjects. This would keep them happy and not be too upset over the newbies getting free what they had to pay for. For several years, everyone prospered. People came and settled the previous wasteland, creating new and exciting societies. As word spread, more and more people came to settle. Prosperity was had by all. Almost everyone raved about how wise the Great GENIE was. But a dark cloud hovered on the horizon, a cloud that kept growing and coming closer, a cloud that brought cold winds and omens of bad things to come. As more and more people came to this land, more and more of the Great GENIE's resources were needed to handle them. Roads that used to be clear and fast, now became crowded and slow. People used to be able to visit other parts of the land in just seconds, now sometimes had to take many minutes to make the same trip. Even inside the civilized enclaves, the area that was still being taxed, citizens found things rapidly growing sluggish. The newbies were clogging up streets and taking up space at the restaurants and shops. Resources that were needed to keep the enclaves running smoothly had been shunted off into the wilderness in an attempt to keep that area running smoothly. It wasn't long before everyone started to blame everyone else for the problems. Some blamed the Great GENIE for not having more resources to handle things properly. They forgot that the Great GENIE was not the real ruler of this land and had no power to get more resources/CPU. Others blamed it was the newbies for not paying their way and for being system hogs. They forgot that these newbies 'settlement fees' had helped to lower their taxes - and that the newbies in many cases had created paradises out of former wastelands. While others blamed it on the old citizens for taking too much of the system resources to play games, grab files and chat, all the while forgetting that without the old citizens taxes, there would have never been the new territories. The Great GENIE decided to play Solomon. In order to restore his kingdom back to normal, he would cut taxes in half!! All of his citizens would now pay taxes, but at only half of the previous rate. Also, to help cover the additional costs of giving service to his now inflated population, the Great GENIE decided to increase the settlement costs by almost 80%. The Great GENIE knew that his new tax plan would be unpopular with some, and that some of his citizens would leave. While this saddened him, he knew it was for the best. With these citizens gone, many of his resources would be released so that he could give better service to the citizens that remained. On hearing this news, a great uproar was heard throughout the land. The citizens of the civilized territories shouted in glee. Their taxes had been lowered again!! Not only that, but those ungrateful system hogs, those newbies would now be paying 'their fair share'. However, many of the newbies did not view the new taxes with the same enthusiasm as their brethren in the civilized lands did. They felt that they had been enticed to this new land with the promise of free lands, and now that they were here that promise had been broken. They didn't see themselves as system hogs, but rather as people who had created a paradise where none existed before. Now that a paradise had been created, the creators were being asked to pay to use their creation. Some even felt that they'd been enticed to do a job and once it was done, they weren't wanted anymore - that the new tax was just a way to chase them off. What will the future hold for the Great GENIE's territories? No one knows for sure. Most of the old citizens will stay around but some will leave. Some had gotten used to visiting the new territories and find the new taxes there unacceptable - unacceptable enough that they will move to other countries instead of staying. But will enough of the newbies stay? Will there be enough to keep the quality of life in the new territories up to the current levels? Will there be enough to keep the quality of life in the new territories at an acceptable level? Or will enough newbies leave so that the new territories will gradually sink back into a wasteland - a wasteland with memories, echoes of better times and filled with ghost towns? The Great GENIE hopes for the first, will settle for the second and fears the third. Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr __________________________________________________________ > NVN WANTS YOU! STR InfoFile Another Network Supports Atari! """"""""""""""""""""""""""" NVN - THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK! =============================== The Atari computer platform has support on yet another top notch telecommunications service! National Videotex Network (NVN) maintains an area just for our favorite computers. Type GO ATARI Order an extended NVN Membership of 6 or 12 months, pay for it in advance and receive a bonus in connect time at no additional charge. NVN lowers its connect time charges! $5/hour non-prime time (EST. 7pm - 9am weekdays and all day weekends) $8/hour prime time (EST 9am - 7pm weekdays) Choose from two great subscription plans: 6-Month Membership ================== Pay just $30 for a 6-month Membership and receive a usage credit that entitles you to $15 of connect-time in the Premium services of your choice. Your total savings using this plan would be over $20! 12 Month Membership =================== Pay $50 for a full year's Membership and get even more free time on-line. We'll give you a $25 usage credit to use in your favorite premium services or try out new ones. You could save as much as $45. NVN now offers Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). For a $2 per month service charge, customers may have their NVN online charges automatically debited from their personal checking accounts. Please contact Client Services for this new feature! For more information about either of these plans.. Please, give us a call at; 1-800-336-9096. You can join NVN one of two ways... By voice phone 1-800-336-9096 (Client Services) or via modem phone 1-800-336-9092. NVN Highlights -------------- 1. For the newcomers .... 2. NEW (MODIFIED) REFERRAL PROGRAM LET'S YOU EARN $10 USAGE CREDITS! 3. A library built *just* for business people 4. Board Certified Psychiatrist heads up the new Substance Abuse Forum 5. VETERANS: Please report to the Military Forum <GO MILITARY> for C&D. 6. Step out into the Great Outdoors Forum <GO OUTDOORS> 7. We've got just the cure for your medical information needs 8. The Diabetes & Hypoglycemia Support Forum is now online. 9. SOUND OFF!!! Take our Game Survey 10. Let's talk about Coins 11. Call all DISNEYphiles! Join the gang! <GO AMERICA>. 12. Amiga Forum now available for Amiga and Desktop Video enthusiasts! 13. NEW Email enhancements are on-line. Including personal mailing lists! ___________________________________________________________________ > KC SHOW'93 STR SHOW NEWS """""""""""""""""""""""" KANSAS CITY ATARI CONNECTION IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE... KANSAS CITY ATARIFEST '93 ========================= The location for the show is Stadium Inn, 7901 E 40 Hwy., The date of the show will be June 26th and 27th. Ticket prices at the door will be 5.00 dollars each. Advance tickets will be 4.00 dollars each. For advance tickets, please send 4.00 dollars per ticket to: Kansas City AtariFest, P.O. Box 1653, Lee Summit, MO 64063 or if you belong to a user group, please mail a request for a user group information pack. To make room reservations please call 1-800-325-7901, we are also working with a local travel agent to get special airfares for the show. You may call 1-800-874-7691 to take advantage of the special fares. For more information please leave Email as follows; GEnie, B.Welsch, B.Frazier2, J.Krzysztow, for CompuServe, Leave for Jeff Krzysztow at 74027,707, for Delphi, Bobtrow or you can call (816)224-9021, or mail to the address listed above. We hope you will join us to welcome the following companies; Cali-Co software, ChroMagic Software, Clear Thinking Software, The Codeheads, Compu-Seller West, D.A. Brumleve, Electronic Spinster Graphics, Fair-Dinkum Software, Gribnif Software, ICD, MegaType, MissionWare Software, Muller Automation, New Dimensions Computer Center, Oregon Research, Paper Express, S.K.Ware, Soft-Logik Publishing, Systems For Tomorrow, Taylor Ridge Books, Toad Computer and a lot more!! For the 8-bit users, American Techna-Vision. For the latest information on GEnie, please check cat 11, topic 8. Watch for updates to this list. Look for the show reports right here in STReport following the show. Bruce Welsch KCAC Special Events Coordinator """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo) Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. GEnie 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 Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CENSORSHIP? STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""" CENSORSHIP FIGHTS HEAT UP ON ACADEMIC NETWORKS ============================================== Excerpt From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Monday, May 24, 1993 Page B1 INFORMATION AGE/By William M. Bulkeley Has political correctness gone on-line in academia? Battles are raging over freedom of speech in university-oriented bulletin boards, one of the few places in academia that hasn't been racked for years by this kind of strife. A mild-mannered microbiologist from Rootstown, Ohio, has stirred up a storm among on-line computer users by devising a computer program that automatically wipes out anonymous messages on Internet, the nation's largest on-line network, which is widely used by scholars. He was offended by an anonymous user who posted a joke about the last words of the Challenger space shuttle crew in a scientific discussion group. In other cases, Canadian colleges have blocked electronic discussions of sex. A California community college recently suspended a journalism professor for running a computer bulletin board on which male students wrote messages that allegedly harrassed a female. Many on-line veterans complain that such actions threaten freedom of expression. "This shows how the censors are all among us," says Larry Detweller, a recent graduate of Colorado State University, who studies free speech and "hangs around the Internet," which is often seen as a prototype for the information highway that the Clinton campaign described in last year's presidential election. Such issues are likely to increase as the highway connects more and more computers - especially if the federal government funds it. In fact, Congress has ordered a study of whether electronic bulletin boards, on-line services and public-access cable television are being used to encourage "crimes of hate." For some time now, commercial on-line services such as Prodigy have used computer programs that automatically delete messages that contain certain words. Group moderators who often guide discussions on services such as H&R Block, Inc.'s CompuServe also have the power to remove hateful messages as soon as they see them. But many volunteer-run bulletin boards decline to control what people write. Legally, they aren't required to play the censor: Board operators aren't responsible for things other people write in the wake of a court ruling that CompuServe wasn't liable for what people wrote any more than a bookseller is responsible for the contents of the books it sells. These cozy volunteer communities, the electronic equivalent of Boswell and Johnson's 18th century London coffeehouses, police themselves informally. People who are offensive or irrelevant are shouted down by "flame mail," a barrage of messages by angry users that sometimes can even overwhelm an offender's computer. Other times, the indignant wage "cancel wars" in which they send commands to cancel the foe's message from the bulletin board. On Internet, people order their computers not to accept any messages from particular senders. But a few years ago, users developed "anonymous servers" - computers connected to the network that stripped away the original sender's name before sending it on Internet. The capability was designed to encourage open discussion among victims of child abuse or AIDS and originally was used in only such groups. However, a computer in Helsinki, Finland, was designed to send anonymous messages wherever the sender wanted. Some of these messages on the "sci." section of Internet's Usenet subsystem ticked off Richard DePew, the professor of microbiology and immunology at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. "The anonymous servers were breaking down some of the barriers and traditions that keep the Internet useful," says Dr. DePew, whose battle was reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade weekly. After numerous on-line discussions of the anonymous-server problem, Dr. DePew wrote a program he called ARMM for "automated retroactive minimal moderator." Although the program ran on the computer he operates in Rootstown as a local node of Internet, it canceled messages from the Helsinki computer to any sci. discussion group. As soon as he activated it in April, Dr. DePew was flamed by other users, illustrating the passion with which people defend computer speech. He was called a "maddog (sic) on the loose who needs to be sedated." He was called a "rhinocerous (sic) ." He was compared to "a child-molestor (sic) who goes out and re-offends immediately upon release." He was called an "ignorant petty tyrant." Within 12 hours, he shamefacedly recalled the program, admitting he made a mistake. He says he will never do it again. In another controversy, bitter debates raged at many Canadian universities last year over three Internet discussions: "sex: bestiality," "sex: torture" and "sex: bondage." Some weeks, those discussions were dominated by legal scholars, but other weeks, they included brutal stories and pictures of screaming women. Several colleges, including Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, cut those discussions off their computers. In the U.S., California's Santa Rosa Junior College recently suspended tenured journalism teacher Roger Karraker while it tries to determine whether he's responsible for student messages on a school bulletin board that he operated. The board has some 200 discussion groups that are used by faculty and students. Earlier this year, at student request, Mr. Karraker started men-only and women-only conferences in which users had to promise not to reveal the contents. When one woman learned about what allegedly obscene messages that an ex-boyfriend had written about her on an all-male board, she complained to Mr. Karraker. He immediately shut down the conference and banned the students who had broken the confidentiality pact. She then complained to the college of sexual harrassment based on the messages, and Mr. Karraker was put on paid leave. James Mitchell, the college's personnel director, said the leave was "for his own protection" and isn't a punishment. He says that under California harassment laws, "we had a situation that appeared to be serious." Mr. Mitchell says that if the item had been in a student newspaper, it probably would have been protected under the First Amendment. But outside of student newspapers, speech can be challenged as harassment, he says. Even if it was written on a bathroom wall, and the janitor didn't wash it off, "we'd warn him" of the risk of harassment charges. Mr. Karraker says that as a bulletin board operator, he's protected just as booksellers are. "This isn't publishing in the sense that there's an editor who knows everything that goes in," he says. _________________________________________________________________________ > STRAIGHT FAX INFO STR InfoFile """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Notice to all registered STraight FAX! Owners ============================================= Enhanced versions of the STraight FAX! Printer Drivers along with new drivers for Speedo GDOS and Compo's That's Write 2 and the STraight FAX! Manager TSR/CPX that simplifies the printing to disk of FAX files are available free of charge to registered STraight FAX! owners via the Toad Computers BBS. The enhanced drivers include support to communicate with the STraight FAX! Manager TSR (Auto Folder Program) and CPX Module for the eXtensible Control Panel (XCONTROL) Desk Accessory to specify the file path/name that all of the drivers will use when generating FAX files from popular applications such as Pagestream, Calamus, Atari Works, That's Write 2, Calligrapher 2/3, Word Flair II, and other GDOS compatible applications. The STraight FAX! original GDOS, FSM/Font GDOS and Speedo GDOS drivers also will utilize the "Quality" parameter in the Printer Drivers ACC/PRG provided with Speedo GDOS and the GDOS Printer Selector CPX/ACC provided with FSM/Font GDOS to select between Fine Resolution (Fine) and Normal Resolution (Draft). To obtain the STraight FAX! Manager and drivers, call the Toad Computers BBS at 410-544-6999 (300-14400 baud). Fill out the new user account information and send private E-Mail to the Sysop or User #6 requesting the STraight FAX! Manager and drivers. A valid registration must be on file with NewSTar Technology Management before the STraight FAX! Manager and drivers are sent to your account on the BBS via F-Mail. If you have purchased the STraight FAX! and have not re-registered with NewSTar Technology Management (since January 1993), then please include the following registration information in your E-Mail request: 10 Digit Registration Number (used to install STraight FAX!) Name Address City, State, Zip Code, Country Phone Number FAX Number (if applicable) Date of Purchase (approximate if not exactly known) Place of Purchase Version Purchased (i.e. 1.06, 1.07, etc.) GEnie E-Mail Address (if applicable) CompuServe E-Mail Address (if applicable) Internet E-Mail Address (if applicable) If you have purchased the STraight FAX! and have never sent in the Registration Card, now is a better time than ever to mail it to NewSTar Technology Management at the address below. The archive file sent to your account on the Toad BBS will contain the following files: README.1ST Read Me File Documentation STFAXMGR.PRG STraight FAX! Manager TSR STFAXMGR.CPX STraight FAX! Manager CPX STFAXSPD.SYS STraight FAX! Speedo GDOS Printer Driver STFAXFSM.SYS STraight FAX! FONTGDOS/FSM GDOS Printer Driver STFAX.SYS STraight FAX! Original GDOS Printer Driver STFAX21.PRT STraight FAX! PageStream 2.1/2.2 Printer Driver STFAX18.PRT STraight FAX! PageStream 1.8x Printer Driver STFAX.CPD STraight FAX! Calamus 1.09/1.09n Printer Driver STFAX.CDT STraight FAX! Calamus S/SL Printer Driver STFAXNOR.DRV STraight FAX! That's Write 2 Normal Rez Printer Driver NewSTar Technology Management P.O. Box 122 Columbia, Maryland 21045-0122 Tech Support Line (410) 544-6943 FAX Line (410) 544-1329 BBS (410) 544-6999 (300 to 14400 baud) GEnie: C.S.SMETON GEnie Support Area: Atari ST Roundtable (M475 or ST) Category 4 (Hardware) Topic 24 (STraight FAX! Product Support) CompuServe: 73047,2565 Compuserve Support Area: Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) Telecommunications Message Area ___________________________________________________________________ > MIST ATARIFEST V STR SHOW NEWS """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" MIST Announces AtariFest V! The Mid-Indiana Atari ST users would like to take this opportunity to invite you to one of the most successful annual one-day shows in the US. MIST AtariFest V will be held this year on Saturday, July 31st from 10am until 5pm at the Best Western Waterfront Plaza Hotel at the crossroads of America, Indianapolis, Indiana. Admission to this great event is still only $3 for the entire day. Door prizes of all shapes, sizes and function will be given away all day, and Lynx and MIDIMaze tournaments will be held with prizes going to the top players. Limited edition T-Shirts and special price MIST memberships will also be available. Many of your favorite vendors and user groups have already committed to our show, with many more still planning to come. Some that have already indicated that they'll be with us include: Atari Corp's Bob Brodie Missionware Software (Flash II, CyberPaint) Mars Merchandising (software and hardware distributors) KidProgs (KidPublisher Pro, Super KidGrid, MultiPlay) Gribnif Software (NeoDesk, Arabesque, STalker, CrazyDots, PureC) LCACE (Waukegan, IL) CUSTUG (Champaign, IL) STAR (Belleville, IL) CRAG (Crown Point, IN) THEAUG (Terre Haute, IN) ASCII (Indianapolis, IN) BLAST (Bloomington, IN) Space is still available to both commercial vendors and users' groups. The deadline for reserving tables has been extended until July 1st. Our price is still a modest $50 per table ($10 for users' groups). Contact me for reservation forms or more information. The Best Western Waterfront Plaza offers discount prices to attendees of the show. Mention us and get a single room for $53 or a double for $59. The Waterfront features large rooms and exceptional pool and recreational facilities. Special arrangements can be made for non-smokers, handicapped and those guests with small children. We're located just 5 miles from the Indianapolis International Airport. Shuttle service is available to those travelling by air. For those arriving by car, take I-465 to the Speedway/Crawfordsville exit (I-465 South from I-65 Chicago or I-74 Terre Haute or I-70 Columbus Ohio, I-465 West from I-69 Fort Wayne or I-65 Louisville, I-465 North from I-70 St. Louis). Go west on SR 136 and take the first left outside of I-465. The Waterfron Plaza is 1/2 ahead on your right. I hope to see you there on July 31st. If you'd like more information about our show, contact Bill Jones at The Zoo BBS (317) 356-5519, or direct at (317) 352-9878. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > A "Quotable Quote" "Some things NEVER Change..." """"""""""""""""" "WHETHER THUMBSCREWS, STOCKS, PILLARS OR BARRISTERS PREVAIL... TRUTH... THE ALL CLEANSING AGENT.. SHALL FOREVER TRIUMPH!" .....unknown """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > DEALER CLASSIFIED LIST STR InfoFile * Dealer Listings * """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" --------------- ABCO COMPUTER CONSULTANTS ========================= P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672 Est. 1985 1-904-783-3319 ATARI-AMIGA-PC-CLONES-MAC HARDWARE, SOFTWARE & SUPPLIES """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" COMPUTER STUDIO =============== WESTGATE SHOPPING CENTER 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 1-800-253-0201 Orders Only 1-704-251-0201 Information Authorized Atari Dealer """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" EAST HARTFORD COMPUTER ====================== 202 Roberts St. East Hartford CT. 06108 1-203-528-4448 Authorized Atari Dealer """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" MEGABYTE COMPUTERS ================== 907 Mebourne Hurst, TX 76053 1-817-589-2950 Authorized Atari Dealer """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" SAN JOSE COMPUTER ================= 1278 Alma Court San Jose, CA. 95112 1-408-995-5080 Authorized Atari Dealer """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" CompuSeller West ================ 220-1/2 W. Main St. St. Charles, IL., 60174 Ph. (708) 513-5220 Authorized Atari Dealer """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (DEALERS; to be listed here, please drop us a line.) """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport International Online Magazine -* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" June 18, 1993 Since 1987 copyright (c) 1987-93 All Rights Reserved No.9.25 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Messages quoted in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use provision of the US Copyright Laws. USPC Title 17. Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff of STReport International Online Magazine. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STR, STReport and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. STR, STReport, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STR, STReport, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""