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Text File | 1990-02-23 | 61KB | 1,333 lines

////// // // ////// ////// // \/ /// // // // // /// // // // ////// // // /\ // /// // // ////// // // /////// // Atari Online Magazine Issue #508 ========================================= (©) 1990 by Rovac Industries, Inc. Post Office Box 59 Middlesex, New Jersey 08846 ======================================================================= Publisher/Editor - Ron Kovacs Editor - John Nagy Z*Net Online 24 Hour BBS (201) 968-8148 3/12/24 CompuServe 71777,2140 GEnie Z-NET ======================================================================= FEBRUARY 23, 1990 *********************************************************************** CONTENTS - ISSUE #508 *********************************************************************** - Z*Net NEWSWIRE Latest Atari News and more................................ - GCR/STACY MAKES MAC USERS GASP Bob Brodie at MACTECHNICS........................John Nagy - FCC UPDATE Latest happenings with the FCC................Eric Florack - ST STACK Latest PD Report...............................Alice Amore - COMPUSERVE ATARI UPDATE New file-finder area...................................... - PC-DITTO 2 UPDATE Text files available............................Ron Kovacs - 8 BIT QUESTIONNAIRE Request.....................................Elliott Coerper - STE AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS More on the STE..................................Ctsy PSAN - PUBLIC NOTE Commentary.......................................John Kent - SUPER BOOT 6 Review.......................................Bruce Gardner *********************************************************************** Z*NET NEWSWIRE *********************************************************************** NEOCEPT UPDATE: WordUp Version 3.0 is just about 2 weeks from beta testing. WordUp is a graphics word processor that integrates pictures and text as it always has but the new version will include a regular printer font output. It will support the big screen monitors such as the Moniterm, a contextual spell checker and a smart spell checker. A thesaurus that will let you select near and true antonyms as well as synonyms. ONLINE UPDATE: Gordon Monnier has admitted to using the BSTONE account name during the recent PC-Ditto message battle on GEnie. No comments were made during the episode after the original accusations, but this week a message was posted explaining the situation by Monnier. GRIBNIF NEWSLETTER RELEASED: Gribnif has released a new customer newsletter. A new version of NeoDesk is discussed in this release with some of the following features expected. Full resolution support including low, split windows, resizing of background windows, windows can independently display icons or text, separate sort for each window, display font changing, faster file sorting, file search functions, and the ability to place a folder on the desktop. The new version is being written in Borland Turbo C which will make the program faster and smaller. Expect to see something in late spring. The newsletter itself is six pages long and interesting reading for NeoDesk owners. LYNX GIVEN AWAY: WHTZ Z100, a local radio station serving the New York area was giving away Atari Lynx machines during the Morning Zoo program Friday. The radio show which regularly gives away prizes, tickets and record albums, was the first station in the area to give away Atari equipment. FEDERATED SOLD - UPDATE: Atari received $17 million, plus stock options, for this transaction. The options are a part of a deal that will allow Atari, over a 5 year period, to purchase up to 3.87 million shares in Dixon Group, the parent company of Silo. It is apparent that Atari is not actually getting out of the superstore business, just shifting financial responsibility a bit. In case you are curious, Dixon Group is a rather large firm, based mostly in the U.K. at this time, and to give you a feeling for their size, they recently held off a takeover offer of $1.4 billion from a competitor. ELECTRONIC SKETCH PAD: Sony is set to release its "Electronic Sketch Pad" that will allow children to draw and design animations on their home TV. The unit is set to retail for $130 and should start shipping in April. $599 FAX MACHINE: U.S. Marketing is due to release a new low cost, plain paper FAX machine. This item will sell for $599, and is the first unit at this price to make its appearance in a non-office model. These units have been previously available, but only at much higher prices and were designed for commercial use only. TRAVEL COMPUTER COMING SOON: Radar detector giant, Whistler, is set to unleash its "Interstate Travel Computer" on an unsuspecting world! This system will allow its owners to obtain data on food, gas, hotels, hospitals, rest stops, and local points of interest when they merely input their location (such as closest mile-marker, direction, and state highway number). Data is stored under super-compression in a 1 meg rom, and manipulated by the four-bit microprocessor system. This LCD, battery powered wonder will retail for $99, and should make its appearance in stores in April. HP LASERJET SERIES III: Hewlett-Packard will soon release the LaserJet Series III, and stop production on the LaserJet Series II. Features that will part of the new Laserprinter are: Scalable fonts, Font outlining, 8 totally new typefaces, 9 Gray scales, and increased output speed. HP will continue to support the Laserjet Series II. This may be the time for folk to consider their laser purchases carefully. If you hold off for a bit, you will be able to obtain the top-of-the-line LaserJet Series III, or a reduced price Series II following the announcement of the Series III. TRAVEL PILOT: Blaupunkt displayed its "TravelPilot" system which is currently in use in Germany. This auto navigation system uses a CD-ROM mapping system to show the car's actual position, destination, and preferred route to get there. This 5 piece system (digitized map on CD-ROM, CRT, CD-ROM player, compass and wheel sensors) sports zoom capability (1/8 mile to 30 miles) and menu driven software to allow user to plot their position and destination. CD UPDATE: Camerica/PowerMaster of America will soon release CD-ROM kits for the Nintendo, Atari St, and the Commodore 64. The unit will retail for $199, and will include interface and 3 game disks. OTHER PIRACY PROBLEMS EXIST: Computer software folk are not the only people sufferings from "piracy". An interesting study of home satellite distribution and usage revealed a similar alarming trend in this field as well. Conservative estimates put the total of households with dishes at 2 million, and the study pointed out the fact that 60% of dish owners also own a descrambler. This works out to almost 1.6 million descramblers currently in use, while General Instruments, maker of the VideoCipher descrambler system, revealed it currently only has 680,000 subscribers on its logs. Quick calculations show us that over half a million, or one in four dish owners, are pirating the signal, if we are to go by these figures. Irregardless of the accuracy of this supplied data, the trend toward piracy is indeed alarming. HEWLETT PACKARD UPDATE: Hewlett-Packard has recently made several announcements: The first is that they have now extended the warranty on all Deskjet and Deskjet Plus printers from the old period of 1 year to 3. This covers all Deskjet/ Plus printers purchased on or after Feb 1st, 1990. Officials at HP stated that the reason they are able to offer this extended warranty is due to the fact that over time the Deskjet series of printers have proven to be an extremely durable product, coupled with the fact that the print head is actually replaced each time the owner replaces the ink cartridge. Effective February 1st 1990 thru June 30th 1990 HP is offering a $150 rebate on all Deskjet Plus purchases, and a $75 rebate on all Deskjet purchases made within this same time frame. TELEVIDEO REDUCES PRICES: TeleVideo reduced list prices this week on its computer products by as much as 20 percent as it continued to experience cost reductions. The price reductions cover most configurations of TeleVideo's 386-based systems and the 286-based diskless workstations for local area networks. TeleVideo credits its transfer of systems manufacturing from Korea to the United States for its ability to be more aggressive on pricing. COLOR NEXT: Steve Jobs told reporters this week that a color version of his NeXT machine will be out later this year. Jobs said that NeXT has delayed introduction of color machines in order to develop a full 32-bits per pixel version rather than use the small screen 8-bit systems, as in the Apple Macintosh. NeXT will offer a plug-in board including a custom chip as graphics accelerator. APPLE UPDATE: Apple Computer announced this that it will trim its workforce by approximately 3 percent. As part of a company wide cost reduction program designed to bring expense growth better in line with current and anticipated business conditions, about 400 positions will be eliminated. The reductions are occurring in the Human Resources, Finance, Customer Service and Information Technology, and Community and Government Affairs groups as well as the Marketing and Distribution groups of the Apple USA Division. Shortly after this announcement, Apple said that it will decrease the suggested retail price in the United States on all models of its Macintosh SE and SE/30 personal computers and LaserWriter IINT and IINTX printers. *********************************************************************** GCR/STACY MAKES MAC USERS GASP - by John Nagy *********************************************************************** As part of the User Group Coordinator and general Atari man of the world Bob Brodie's Michigan tour last weekend, Bob addressed the MACTECHNICS meeting. The MacIntosh User Group had over 400 visitors packed in at the Ann Arbor, Michigans Crisler Center, at the University of Michigan Campus. They weren't there just to see Bob though, also on the agenda was Timeworks, Adobe and Articulate Systems. Timeworks showed Publish It (for the Mac of course), and it is quite different from the PUBLISHER ST we are familiar with. Selling for $349.00 there is little to give us hope of an ST version of the upgraded DTP system at least in the near future. Articulate Systems, from Boston, demoed a $1250.00 voice recognition and response system. The version they showed the MAC group was setup to run with a CAD program, and required a mear 5 meg of RAM to operate. Adobe, the DTP trend setter, had a new product called PHOTO SHOP selling for $850.00, this is a color compatible draw and paint application that is said to be pretty dazzling. Bob spoke for about half an hour as did the other guests, showing the Stacy (The four meg ram 40 meg HD version), with Gadgets By Small's Spectre GCR Mac emulator, Bob found the audience to be very receptive. When Bob got around the mentioning cost for the Atari product line a gasp, a physical reaction from virtually every person, rolled through the meeting hall. After a moment of stunned silence meeting organizer Doug Houseman, who is also a writer for MacUser Magazine took the microphone. He said, "In case you missed the significance of what this gentlemen just said, let me repeat it. You can get one machine with four meg of RAM, a forty meg hard drive, monitor, laser printer and mouse plus IBM compatibility and MacIntosh compatibility and it will even run ST software, all for less then the cost of a Mac LaserWriter Laser printer ALONE." Again the gasp followed by numbers of questions not the least of which was "Where can we get one of these!?!" After the presentation part of the meeting Bob was approached by the Adobe people who wanted to try out their Photo Shop software on the Stacy GCR. Bob started to back pedal a bit saying "You know, if your system makes an illegal call to the MAC hardware, it's not there..." Adobe loaded their application...and it ran. Properly. Bob breathed easier and the audience breathed harder even more enthused at what Atari was doing for (or, PERHAPS to the MacIntosh community). Proof of the success of the Mac meeting was available the next day when Bob spoke to the largest Detroit area user group, MACE. Attending were about 150 Atari users ... and a group of MACTECHNICS members who wanted to see and here more, and get some hands on time on the Atari equipment. Also attending the MACE meeting were group of Canadian users, they indicated some dissatisfaction with the support being given them by Atari Canada and asked Bob what Atari USA could do to help them. The answer is likely to be nothing, the curious thing is that all prior experience with Atari Canada has seem to indicate that their presence in the market and support of users has, if anything, been more satisfying then the Atari USA response. Users from several Michigan Atari user groups were in attendance at the MACE meeting, they included MAGIC and GAG. MACE had a good return on the event booking many new members and selling lots of disks from the library. One estimate showed that MACE profitted approx $600 at the single meeting, making Bob Brodie and even more desirable commodity on the meeting circuit. *********************************************************************** FCC UPDATE - by Eric Florack *********************************************************************** I got word just prior to Christmas, that a new bill was before the New York State Senate. I note that it was mentioned on CUGOR BBS before I got a chance to upload an info file about it. (Good!) Many of you know, I've long been of the opinion that most of our government types don't have the foggiest of what tele-computing, or for that matter, computing itself as a hobby, is all about. With the following bill as example, I rest my case. The bill in question would amend section 94-a of the public service law. Read, in particular, the words in ALL CAPS. This is the section that would, if enacted, change the existing law. 5604 1989-1990 Regular Sessions I N S E N A T E May 15, 1989 Introduced by Sen. Dunne -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to protecting the confidentiality of individuals in whose name identifying information is entered into advertisements on electronic bulletin board or interactive phone services. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby finds that while the content of private communications and advertisements should be afforded the fullest protection practicable and due under the constitutional protections of free speech, there is also vital considerations of privacy and the emotional well-being of the residents of New York state that require a balancing of those interests. It is the intent of the legislature that the public service commission promulgate regulations that will serve to prevent the invasion of privacy and severe emotional stress imposed upon persons whose names and and other identifying information such as numbers or addresses are placed in advertisements on electronic bulletin board or interactive phone services without verification of their voluntary informed consent. Section 2. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 94-a to read as follows: Sec. 94-a. PROTECTING CONFIDENTIALITY IN ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD AND INTERACTIVE PHONE SERVICES. THE COMMISSION SHALL HAVE THE POWER AND DUTY TO PROMULGATE SUCH RULES AND REGULATIONS AS ARE NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICABLE, THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANY RESIDENT OR DOMICILIARY IN WHOSE NAME ADVERTISEMENTS OR COMMUNICATIONS ARE PLACED ON ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SERVICES OR INTERACTIVE PHONE SERVICES. IN CARRYING INTO EFFECT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION THE COMMISSION SHALL TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE EXISTENCE AND RELIABILITY OF PROCEDURES TO VERIFY THE VOLUNTARY INFORMED CONSENT OF ANY DOMICILIARY OR RESIDENT OF NEW YORK STATE TO THE PLACEMENT AND CONTENT (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE NAME, TELEPHONE NUMBER AND ADDRESS) OF ANY ADVERTISEMENT OR COMMUNICATION PLACED BY OR ON BEHALF OF SUCH RESIDENT OR DOMICILIARY ON ANY ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE OR INTERACTIVE PHONE SERVICE. NO TELEPHONE CORPORATION SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, FINES OR OTHER PENALTIES RESULTING FROM (i) ITS GOOD FAITH EFFORTS TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SECTION OR RULES AND REGULATIONS PROMULGATED HEREUNDER, OR (ii) ITS GOOD FAITH EFFORTS TO COMPLY WITH ANY COURT OR REGULATORY ORDER OR REQUEST FROM A GOVERNMENT LAW ENFORCEMENT OR REGULATORY AGENCY CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROCEDURES THAT MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION OR RULES OR REGULATIONS PROMULGATED HEREUNDER. Sec. 3. The public service commission shall promulgate rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this act within 180 days of the effective date of this act. Sec. 4. This act shall take effect IMMEDIATELY. Comments from Kevin McLeavey, SysOp of THE BIG EXPERIMENT BBS from the Albany area say it far better than can I, so.... with thanks to the TBE BBS: While the actions in Texas and Florida may be old news to a lot of you by now, the Proposed NY state law and the NY PSC hearing may have the most potential for killing off the BBS hobby. NY Senate Bill S5604, proposed by State Senator John R. Dunne (Nassau County) would have far reaching impact on the BBS hobby. Sen. Dunne's law, if enacted would seem to require that a SYSOP must validate each and every message posted on his board, in addition, it would require him to have a signed sworn affidavit in hand before any message containing a real name, an address or a phone number could be released on the board. Further, it would also seem to require that he install, at his own expense, a device that would automatically record the telephone number of each person who calls his BBS. It would affect small, free hobby type BBS systems, as well as systems such as Compuserve and GEnie. Communications such as E-mail, which are considered private would have to be monitored to ensure compliance with this law. This would seem to fly in the face of numerous Federal laws governing the right to privacy, if not the First Amendment to the Constitution. While I can applaud Senator Dunne's ultimate goal (preventing a repeat of an incident on a BBS in Nassau County, NY where the name address and phone number of a 12 year old girl was posted on an adult BBS stating that she was available for "fun and games"). He is going about it in the wrong manner. NY already provides for criminal sanctions against those who gain access to computer systems without authorization. It would seem that the expense to the SYSOP imposed by this law would mean the death of the small free hobby type BBS that many of us now use or run, and it would also mean an increase in the cost of using commercial services such as Compuserve as the would have to comply with the provisions of this proposed statute. It could, in fact, mean the cessation of operations by Compuserve within the New York State as NY would become the only state requiring such safeguards. Sen. Dunne would better serve his constituency by addressing the problem through strengthening and fine tuning the existing laws. --------------------------------------------------------- The bill, itself, is currently in the energy committee, where all bills pertaining to the PSC go. It's to be acted upon this spring. (Not so far off!) Meanwhile, you might want to contact your state senator's office, (you DO know who that is, right?) and secure a copy of S-5604. It's free for the asking. If they get enough action, they will want to know WHY so many folks are interested in this bill. Then, it's our turn to TELL them. I'll keep you posted. Lest you think this is a one time deal, here, let me clear that up right now. This type of bill is coming on more all the time. Every time you turn around of late, there's another proposed law that will either regulate the modem user, or place some new fee on us. Here's another example, this time at the Federal level: MOBILIZE! ========= Two years ago the FCC tried and (with your help and letters of protest) failed to institute regulations that would impose additional costs on modem users for data communications. Now, they are at it again. A new regulation that the FCC is quietly working on will directly affect you as the user of a computer and modem. The FCC proposes that users of modems should pay extra charges for use of the public telephone network which carry their data. In addition, computer network services such as CompuServe, Tymnet, & Telenet would also be charged as much as $6.00 per hour per user for use of the public telephone network. These charges would very likely be passed on to the subscribers. The money is to be collected and given to the telephone company in an effort to raise funds lost to deregulation. Jim Eason of KGO newstalk radio (San Francisco, Ca) commented on the proposal during his afternoon radio program during which, he said he learned of the new regulation in an article in the New York Times. Jim took the time to gather the addresses which are given below. Here's what you should do (NOW!): 1- Pass this information on. Find other BBS's that are not carrying this information. Upload the ASCII text into a public message on the BBS, and also upload the file itself so others can easily get a copy to pass along. 2- Print out three copies of the letter which follows (or write your own) and send a signed copy to each of the following: Chairman of the FCC Chairman, Senate Communication Subcommittee 1919 M Street N.W. SH-227 Hart Building Washington, D.C. 20554 Washington, DC 20510 Chairman, House Telecommunication Subcommittee B-331 Rayburn Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Here's the suggested text of the letter to send: Dear Sir, Please allow me to express my displeasure with the FCC proposal which would authorize a surcharge for the use of modems on the telephone network. This regulation is nothing less than an attempt to restrict the free exchange of information among the growing number of computer users. Calls placed using modems require no special telephone company equipment, and users of modems pay the phone company for use of the network in the form of a monthly bill. In short, a modem call is the same as a voice call and therefore should not be subject to any additional regulation. Sincerely, [your name, address and signature] It is important that you act now. The bureaucrats already have it in their heads that modem users should subsidize the phone company and are now listening to public comment. Please stand up and make it clear that we will not stand for any government restriction on the free exchange of information. Thanks for your help. Dan Garnitz, Sysop The Pedalers Palace BBS 703-532-3051 GT Net 033/006 AdultNet 703/000 FIDO 1:109/120.106 =============== A good deal of the problem, as I see it is that most of the people attempting to regulate us, while trying to do so in good faith, I'm sure, really don't have the foggiest of what we are all about. Thing is, WE AREN'T TELLING THEM...I strongly suggest you act on this information presented here. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" " S T S T a c k " by Alice Amore """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" RUNNER.ARC <--------- !This file is SHAREWARE! Programmer: Dave Thorson RUNNER, a "desktop alternative", has a wealth of useful and interesting features. Here are some: * It runs in any resolution. * Programs can be run without worrying about which folder or disk they're physically stored in. RUNNER switches to the program's disk and folder automatically. * TOS-Takes-Parameters (.TTP) programs normally require a command line or parameters to be entered. RUNNER prompts you for this. Command lines can be longer than the 20 characters allowed in the desktop's dialogue box. The previous command line can be recalled and edited. * RUNNER lets you install up to 15 programs per menu. Any of these programs can be run with a mouse-click. No more waiting for the desktop to redraw; on exiting a program, you are returned immediately to RUNNER's screen. Programs are installed by simply selecting them from a file selector box, regardless of drive or folder. Additional information may be entered about each program to customize its installation. * Any of the 15 programs in a menu can be a menu itself, giving you access to 15 more programs or menus by clicking on the menu. * Menus can be nested up to 15 levels deep. This means you can logically arrange your programs for quickest access. RUNNER can theoretically store many billions of programs in its menus. * Programs and menus are listed using descriptions rather than filenames. Descriptions can contain up to 20 characters. * Programs and menus can be installed to appear only in certain resolutions. "Spectrum 512" won't appear in the list when using a monochrome monitor, for example. (It is possible to override this and list all programs when needed.) * RUNNER can force the screen resolution on a color monitor from low to medium or from medium to low, and this is remembered independently for each installed program. * Programs and menus can be added, removed or changed at any time. * Access to a file selector is always a mouse-click away. If a selected file is a program, RUNNER will run it as if it were installed in a menu. Otherwise, RUNNER will display the file on the screen. "Funny" characters are stripped out, and the text is wrapped at the appropriate place. Low resolution is temporarily switched to medium during file views. RUNNER's file view fixes text files in "strange" formats (such as "ST Writer" data files). * Up to 16 programs can be "installed" in a fashion similar to the desktop, with support of wildcards in the extensions (for example, ".PI?" will load a program for files selected with extensions of .PI1, .PI2, and .PI3). * If you use an advanced file selector (such as "Universal Item Selector"), all of its features will still be available to you. * RUNNER will use any DEGAS-compatible picture as a background display. Pictures for the current resolution can be loaded on start-up or after RUNNER is running. If memory is short, a picture can be unloaded to free up 32,000 bytes. Template "guide" files are included to help you design your own background scenes. * Desk accessories are available while in RUNNER. * RUNNER's menu lists can be saved any time, loaded on start-up, or loaded from within RUNNER. You can save different "configuration" files (containing menu lists and color selections) for different purposes. * The palette used for running programs and viewing files can be selected to be the desktop colors, the colors last saved in RUNNER.CFG, or the colors of whatever picture file is loaded at the time. This palette selection does not affect the displayed picture (unless you want it to). * RUNNER will not permit the selection of "bad" colors (colors which would deem the screen unreadable to the human eye). If a loaded picture file causes the text and background colors to be too close, RUNNER changes the text color. It's obvious that RUNNER has a great deal to offer the user, so go ahead and look in the refrigerator. (Only after you see RUNNER will you understand what "the refrigerator" has to do with all this.) """""""" BGIF.ARC Programmer: Bradford W. Mott BGIF does a beautiful job converting .GIF pictures to .PI1, .PI2 DEGAS, or .SPU (Spectrum) pictures. I converted many pictures and never encountered a glitch. It was also quite interesting to convert the same .GIF file to more than one other format for comparison/educational purposes. """""""""""" BLOCKADE.ARC Programmer: David Scantlebury BLOCKADE-types of games have been around for a long time. This version from Europe, ALIEN BLOCKADE, is nicely done. Starting with the second level, background pictures are slowly revealed as each part of the picture is eliminated. """""""""""" GRAFX_09.ARC Programmer: Jeffrey Kinzer GRAFX, not yet up to version 1.0, will load D.E.G.A.S. (compressed or not) or NEOchrome pics automatically, regardless of resolution. Color- cycling is supported, as is variable-speed page-flip animations of any group of pictures in memory. More features are promised. Let's hope we see this program expanded. What already exists is quite good. """""""""""" HAMPSOMS.ARC Programmers: M. Hampson, P. Dalesio Although entirely different, this puzzle recalls Rubic's Cube in its ability to frustrate. By clicking on a "cube", the cubes immediately surrounding it are turned either on or off, but the object of the puzzle is to turn ALL the cubes on or off. This is a puzzle only for the hair- pullers among us. """""""""""" QUICKTOS.ARC Programmer: Darek Mihocka With all the versions of TOS in use, it's no wonder that some programs have problems running on certain machines. QUICKTOS allows you to circumvent your TOS in ROM and load in the TOS you need in order to run these "uncooperative" programs. To use QUICKTOS, you must have a DISK VERSION of TOS. Try to get a copy from your Atari dealer. """""""""""" SKG_DEMO.ARC Programmer: D. A. Brumleve Here's a demo of SUPER KIDGRID, a creative graphics design program for children (ages 3-11, but I suspect others will enjoy it as well). Triangles in any of 14 colors are placed on a grid to make designs and pictures. Finished products may be printed, and a "picture show" is sure to delight children of all ages. Attention to detail has made this program 100% child-proof. """""""""""" TV_TITLE.LZH <--------- !This file is SHAREWARE! Programmer: J. P. Deziel This is the demo version for TV TITLER, a shareware program which allows you to create video titling effects (such as scrolls, spirals, dissolves and fades). To transmit your work to your VCR, you will need a 520STFM, Video Key, or JRI Genlock. """"""""""" """"""""""" STEPIX1.LZH, STEPIX2.LZH Courtesy: Z-NET These two files contain 4 digitized pictures (in DEGAS .PC1 format). - The 4160STE logo on the top of the machine. - A close-up view of the SIMMS RAM card cage. - The "naked" STE motherboard. - Internal shielding showing changes. """"""""" ST_CD.LZH Courtesy: Z-NET Here are digitized views of the compact disc from D&C Enterprises for the Atari ST. Although the CD player couldn't be captured, there are four views of the CD presented here, including one of the CD in its case. """""""""" ACYPRY.ARC Programmer: Tim Ekdom To conserve memory (and for other reasons), some programs require that you remove all .ACC files from memory plus any .PRG files in your AUTO folder. ACYPRY makes easy work of this by renaming the files in question automatically. The first of ACYPRY's programs renames the files so that they're disabled at boot-up, and the second program restores the original names to the files. """""""" DEPS.ARC Programmer: Larry Weinheimer For users of DEGAS ELITE, this desk accessory allows replacement of pixels within the workscreen from one palette assignment to another. """""""""""" DICTNARY.ARC <--------- !This file is SHAREWARE! Programmer: Dan Panke This "dictionary program" lets you create your own dictionary. About 32,000 words can be stored in your personal dictionary. You can then use the dictionary to spell-check documents. """""""""" """""""""" DITTOA.LZH DITTOB.LZH Uploaded by: G. Cross For those having problems installing PC-DITTO II, here are a total of 15 low resolution DEGAS pictures (made using VIDI-ST) which outline the installation process in pictures and words. """""""""""" FINDSALE.ARC Programmer: Merlin L. Hanson A one-of-a-kind program, FINDSALE helps all you garage sale freaks (I don't exclude myself, here) locate sale sites more easily. When you're through entering your data, take your hard copy with you. Drive safely, arrive early. """""""""""" INF_LOAD.ARC Programmer: Vince Averello This will be of interest to owners of NeoDesk 2.05 and above. It is a loader accessory for .INF files, and was written using the NeoDesk Programmer's Kit. """""""""""" LASBRAIN.ARC Courtesy : Atari Corp. LaserBrain 1.31 is the Epson emulator for the SLM804 laser printer. ARCed with ARC 6.02, it requires at least 1 meg of free space on your drive to deARC. Mono only. """"""""" ORBIT.LZH From: Plexus Systems Limited Here's a whiz-bang Arkanoid clone. Beautifully done. This game is included when you buy STOS, but it is also in the public domain. """""""""""" SPACEACE.LZH Courtesy: ReadySoft A demo of SPACE ACE from ReadySoft. The sound and graphics are so far advanced, I won't begin to describe them here, since you'll be hearing so much about them in the future. Be aware that this demo uses a highly non-standard disk format. Even OPENING the disk directory can cause system crashes. After deLZHing the file, run ULTRA.PRG (included) which will set up the files for you on your floppy. Then reboot your ST, disabling any hard drives on your system. It sounds like a lot of work just to see a demo, but in this case, it's worth it. """""""""""" TEMPEL19.ARC <--------- !This file is SHAREWARE! Programmer: Thomas Tempelmann A machine language monitor and debugger, TEMPLEMON preserves your program despite any bombs your system produces. Instead of bombs, you will get a message telling you what happened. Supported are all STs, color/mono, and screens that "overscan". """"""""""" T_RECTS.LZH Uploaded by: C. Lichtenste Interesting program which locates rectangles randomly, then tweens them to the next set randomly. Several functions are user-settable. """""""""""" WFHLPDOC.ARC Courtesy: Dave Heine If you need help with the Wordflair demo (filename: WF.ARC), see this file which is a Wordflair tutorial of sorts, and includes screen shots of the various icons. *********************************************************************** COMPUSERVE ATARI FORUMS UPDATE: WHAT IS THE ATARI FILE FINDER? *********************************************************************** File Finder is an online comprehensive keyword searchable database of file descriptions from Atari related forums. It was designed to provide quick and easy reference to some of the best programs and files available in the following forums: Atari Productivity Forum Atari ST Arts Forum Atari Vendors Forum Browsing through files has never been easier or more time efficient. File Finder provides you with seven common search criteria for quickly finding the location of a wanted file or files. You can search by topic, file submission date, forum name, file type, file extension, file name or submittor's userid. File descriptions, forum and library location are displayed for the matched files giving instant information on where to find a most wanted file. HOW TO ACCESS THE ATARI FILE FINDER The Atari File Finder can be accessed by selecting the appropriate menu choice from the ATARINET Menu (GO ATARINET) or by typing GO ATARIFF at any CompuServe service "!" command prompt. HOW TO USE THE ATARI FILE FINDER The File Finder database consists of files from various CompuServe Forum Libraries. This database allows you to search for files under the various criteria, which are listed below. The area also gives you the date the file was uploaded, the Forum where you can download the file, the library where the file resides, and a description of the file. You can locate your file of interest by using the search procedure that is available from the menu and based on one or more of the following categories. KEYWORDS You are prompted for the keywords you would like the software to search by. This would be useful when you would like to find a file relating to a certain topic, but you are unsure of the filename. If you would like help in locating keywords, choose choice 3 from the preceding menu. SUBMISSION DATE This search criteria selection will allow you to search the database for files submitted during a specific time period. You will be prompted for the upper and lower limits of the range. If you know that a file was submitted to a forum during a certain period of time, you might use this method to locate the file. FORUM NAME Searching by Forum Name will allow you to select the forum you want to search from. You will be given a menu of available Forums. If you know the forum where a file resides, you can search that particular forum under any of the other search criteria that are listed. FILE TYPE You will be prompted for the type of file you would like to search by. Your choices are: ASCII Binary Image Mac Graph FILE EXTENSION This option will allow you to search a file by its extension, such as ASC, TXT, ARC, DAT, or BIN. FILE NAME If you know the exact filename, this option will allow you to search for the file by name. FILE SUBMITTER This criteria will allow you to search for the files in the database that were uploaded by a particular User ID#. Should your search criteria come up with nothing, you will be prompted for your "Next Action", which could be: 1. Begin New Search 2. Restore Previous Selection Set After a search has been completed, if the number of files found is larger than 19, you will be prompted to take an additional action. Your options would be: 1. Display Selections 2. Narrow the Search 3. Begin a new search Option 1 will allow you to look at the files that have met the criteria that you specified in your search. When you choose to display the selections, you will be presented with a menu. Once you select a file from the menu, you will see the forum name, the library number of the file and the filename. By selecting option 2, you will be able to continue to do a search using the selection set that was created by your initial search. Option 3, will allow you to start all over and begin a new search through the database. If your search criteria comes up with less than 19 files, the filenames will be displayed to you and you can select the file that you would like to review. *********************************************************************** PC-DITTO 2 UPDATE *********************************************************************** by Ron Kovacs (Courtesy GEnie ST RT) Avant Garde released the following files this week in response to much online chatter about the product and other topics. You can find these articles on GEnie's ST Roundtable. This is a capture of the files available and the description left. Number: 14094 Name: PCDII10.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 1260 Number of Accesses: 69 Library: 24 Description: Avant-Garde STs used in testing pc-ditto II (for the curious) Number: 14093 Name: PCDII8.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 2520 Number of Accesses: 64 Library: 24 Description: pc-ditto II new connector for STs with 68000 under spacebar Number: 14092 Name: PCDII7.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 1260 Number of Accesses: 72 Library: 24 Description: pc-ditto II diagnostics and missing program info Number: 14091 Name: PCDII6.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 1260 Number of Accesses: 73 Library: 24 Description: pc-di II Mega Expansion bus connector info Number: 14090 Name: PC_D2.2 Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 54180 Number of Accesses: 85 Library: 24 Description: pc-ditto II Version 1.0001 file B - fixes a video glitch, speeds up the video, and increases the compatibility. Number: 14089 Name: PC_D2.1 Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 52920 Number of Accesses: 81 Library: 24 Description: pc-ditto II Version 1.0001 file A --fixes a video glitch, speeds up video even more, and provides more compatibility. Number: 14088 Name: PCDII2.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 1260 Number of Accesses: 107 Library: 24 Description: Info on smaller pc-ditto II board Number: 14087 Name: PCDII1.DOC Address: AVANTGARDE Date: 900220 Approximate # of Bytes: 1260 Number of Accesses: 65 Library: 24 Description: Info about pc-ditto II missing warranty card and user manual. *********************************************************************** 8-BITTERS QUESTIONNAIRE *********************************************************************** by Elliott John Coerper Hello, it's me again. No article this time, but some questions. Sorry, but Sunday is when I fine tune my articles for Z*Net ONLINE. And this Sunday the local Korean TV stations showed the Buster-Tyson Boxing match, live! Anyway, what I'm looking for is some advice from you, the Atari 8-Bit user. What kind of articles would you like to see in Z*Net ONLINE? I have ideas for about 15 or so more articles, but I would like to know what is on your mind. So, if you will send me a letter answering as many of the following questions as possible, I'll do my best to get reply articles out. Thanks for your help and advice! 1. What Atari computer(s) do you own? 2. How much memory do you have? 3. What kind of disk drive(s) do you have? 4. What do you primarily use your Atari for? 5. What other kind of computer(s) do you own (if any)? 6. If you have a modem, what baud rate is it? 7. What kind of printer(s) do you own? 8. What kind of printer interface do you own (if any)? 9. What is your favorite program? 10. What are your top 10 favorite games? 11. What languages (if any) can you program in? Basic__ Fourth__ Assembly__ C__ Pascal__ 12. What new product (hardware or software) would you like to see for the Atari 8 bit line? 13. What kind of articles would you like to see? 14. What would you do if you were the CEO at Atari? 15. What is your age? 16. Are you male or female? 17. Why did you buy Atari? 18. Will you buy Atari in the future? 19. Other Comments When sending me your answers, please ensure that you have the correct Zip Code. If you are one number off, it could be sent anywhere in the Pacific (Guam, Philippines, Japan....). Thanks again for your help and always remember, keep the faith, support the Revolution and always talk up Atari computers. Elliott John Coerper Box 7137 APO SF, CA 96366 __ _ _ ___ __ / ` // // _/_ _/_ ( > / / ) /-- // // o ____/ / __/______/_ ____ / ____/> __ _ _ __ (___, </_</_<_(_) (___<__ / / (_) / /_/ / < (__/ (_) (__/ (_/_)_</_/ ( <_/ / ' Editor's note: Elliott can also be reached via Internet at the following address: COERPER@lognet2.af.mil or by sending email to 71777,2140 on CompuServe or Z-NET on GEnie. *********************************************************************** STE AUDIO-ENHANCEMENTS *********************************************************************** by Rich Gratzer of S*P*A*C*E (Reprinted from the Puget Sound Atari News, February 1990) My original intention for this article was to discuss all of the enhancements inside the new Atari STE. It seems however, that Darek Mihocka has saved me the trouble by writing an in-depth report based on first-hand experience with one. For that reason I will limit this article to a brief discussion of the much improved Audio capabilities of the STE. Not too long ago I was looking through a European magazine that had an article with pictures of a dis-assembled STE. It looks quite nice inside, but what caught my eye was a new National-Semiconductors chip. Of course being the hardware Nerd that I am, I had to go right home and look up the part in my Data Book. The new part is an LMC 1992/3, a Computer Controlled Tone and Volume Circuit. This IC is truly a marvel! It is controlled entirely by a serial digital interface. The maximum clock frequency for data transmission is 500 KHz and the word length is 11 bits minimum for an impressive control bandwidth of approximately 45 KHz. The serial data stream contains information as to which function of the chip is being accessed and also the control data that is intended for that function. The available functions are Volume control, Treble and Bass cut and boost, Fader (balance ?) control, Input Source select, and also Loudness if they used the 1993 chip... I don't remember which one it was!? OK, on to the spec's. SPECIFICATIONS The Volume control circuitry provides a dynamic range of 80dB in 40 steps of 2dB each, thus the total range for volume control is about 10,000 to 1 in coarse increments. This is about 40 times greater range than an 8-bit Digital Audio Signal is capable of! (Dynamic Range is a ratio of the Loudest to Quietest sound and is usually referred to a specific signal level. The tremendous Dynamic Range of CD based audio equipment (approx. 88-96dB) is the reason that they sound sooo.. good.) The Tone controls are capable of providing Bass and Treble cut and boost of up to +/- 12dB in 2dB increments. The plus and minus 12dB relates to a 4 to 1, or a 1 to 4 ratio respectively. This should be sufficient for tone equalization since many inexpensive graphic equalizers provide about the same range. Also, a Bass-boost/Treble-cut configuration can provide Lo-Pass filtering to smooth out some of the distortion created by the Digital to Analog conversion process. The Fader controls along with multiple outputs allow a great deal of flexibility, however they will most likely be implemented as a balance control for the stereo outputs on back of the new STE. The Fader control circuitry provides yet another 40dB of dynamic range in 2dB increments; 40dB being equal to a ratio of 100 to 1. That's plenty of range for some nifty sweeping effects and providing good stereo separation. On top of all this, Atari has also included true 8-bit DAC's (Digital to Analog Converters) in the new machine. How many is still a mystery to me. Different sources have speculated 4 to 8 DAC's (or voices). With all the potential of the LMC 1992/3 it would be possible to effectively double the number of voices (via software) while providing only 7 bits of resolution per voice, and still suffer only a small loss in sound quality. In other words, as long as we have just a couple DAC's we're in fat city! Also, most importantly, the new DAC circuitry will be DMA driven. No longer will graphics intensive games be bogged down by the sound processing (like Falcon...). DMA hardware allows the sound chips to receive data at optimum speeds without requiring the 68000 to handle the exception processing which is significantly slower. Good move Atari! SUMMARY Well, what does all this information really tell us? At first glance, it looks as if the sound hardware is capable of absolutely incredible dynamic range. This is true, except that in reality, the 'peak to peak output voltage' and the 'noise floor' of the system will determine the actual limits. I think we can reasonably expect 'near' CD quality sound out of the STE. We won't have the luxury of a straightforward 12 to 16 bit-wide Digital to Analog output, but we will realize a significant savings of storage space. If properly utilized, the LMC 1992/3 IC, along with the new DMA driven DAC's' could make the STE the uncontested leader in the Musical Applications field. The LMC 1992/3 could be used to control audio- envelope information while allowing the 8-bit DAC's to retain accurately detailed waveforms. This gives the STE the ability to 'emulate' CD- Audio technology. It will also be possible to generate several distinctly clear voices, independent of the number of DAC's provided (within reason, of course..). This must be handled via-software and the data must be pre- mixed prior to updating the DAC's. None-the-less, it will be done. I'm sure! With the Audio-hardware that Atari has designed into the STE, there are no other Personal Computers, currently available, that remain competitive. Yes, that includes the Amiga! I believe we can now say that Atari 'owns' the Audio Spectrum! *********************************************************************** A PUBLIC NOTE OF GRATITUDE *********************************************************************** Feb 21/90 by John Kent, MD through TRACE: (604)272-5888 Quick Utilities Policy =Branch Always Software =Darek Mihocka & Ignac Kolenko These two Great Canadian Programmers are doing wild things in Waterloo, Ontario. Just hiding out until the world grabs them, I think. They are the most professional and ethical people I've seen yet in software and here's why: Their programs were previously shareware and include ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL ones like: QUICKST screen speedup, as quick and CHEAPER than TURBO-ST QUIKVIEW TXT file viewer "par excellence," keyed to skip quickly through STReports and Z*NET by topic, plus other valuables QUIKFIND file search utility for forgetful hard drive owners QINDEX benchmark testing of ST speed in 11 categories (AWESOME) QUIKINF desktop information editor, works with QUICKST QPRINT text-only screen dumper: [ALT]-[HELP] produces text output, not a full graphics dump, in seconds QUIKLABL label generator for multiple diskette, etc., output ALL of these utilities could be run as ACC or PRG applications simply by renaming them. ALL of them were available for a one-time $30.00 charge, with updates available for $3.00 + return of original diskette. The documentation is complete and very professional. When Branch Always decided to market QUICKST commercially (with other utilities added on), particularly a "Version 2" quicker and smaller than TURBO-ST I thought to myself "Oh no, there goes my shareware contribution down the drain, 'cause they're going to want top dollar for store-bought stuff." NOT SO. Those of us who gave them shareware support are _REWARDED_. Even though these guys are successful enough to go commercial, shareware contributors will be FULLY SUPPORTED by them with the original upgrade promise. That means $3.00 + disk for new-version, outstanding programs, not just rehashed, Tweaked, Tinkertoy Toss-offs Targeted To Toiling Trolls with Tiny Timex Z28s To Toy with. Version 2 of QUICKST is now out, with Version 2 of most of the other utilities targeted for release by March 1, 1990. Those shareware supporters who send in for upgrades now will have their orders held until the very newest versions are available for release. I'm talking Ethical with a capital "E." I often wear a hat, and it is off to Darek and Ignac, particularly in view of the very rough treatment given them by Atari officials in the past few months. Darek certainly had every right to drop Atari programming forever, just because he "dared" to criticise Tramiel publicly for the very poor track record of Atari in programmer support. Yet he not only stayed on but has redoubled his efforts to bring truth to the Branch Always slogan -- "...the way the ST could have been is now a reality..." The preceding was neither paid, nor political, nor an announcement. Just a statement of fact, with grateful thanks to two people who are showing the world that you CAN be a nice guy and still make it! *********************************************************************** SUPERBOOT 6.0 REVIEW *********************************************************************** Reviewed by Bruce Gardner, S*P*A*C*E (Reprinted from the Puget Sound Atari News, February 1990) I have been using Super Boot, by Gordon W. Moore, for almost two years now and I look at this program a lot like I look at my hard disk.... It becomes psychologically addicting after using it for a while. Now with his latest update, version 6.0, being rapidly distributed, I think a quick review of what this program does and what new things have been added would be warranted. Super Boot is an "all-in-one" type program that does just about everything you could ever want to do each time you boot your computer. It allows you to: - Auto boot any GEM program. - Choose which Accessories to load in. - Choose which AUTO programs to run. - Select the most used file configurations by simply pressing a function key, with up to 30 function keys supported. - Choose from a number of DESKTOP.INF files, allowing you to change your resolution, color scheme, etc. on each boot. - Customize Super Boot the way you want it using The Super Boot Construction Set -- a separate, easy to use GEM program. - Choose from a number of ASSIGN.SYS files for GDOS. - Choose other data files used by up to 8 different programs. - Display a welcome screen from any picture in Degas, Neochrome, or Tiny-stuffed format, even on systems with both color and mono monitors; and it can rotate colors on color systems. - Set the date if you so choose. - Set the time if you so choose. - Choose whether or not Super Boot will run by holding down a "hot-key", by a time delay feature, or by both to restrict access to your system by use of a password (mainly useful for hard drive owners). - Set the floppy disk seek rate. - Have Write Verify turned off if desired. - Set a default configuration if Super Boot is bypassed. Super Boot works on all Atari ST models, from any boot drive, and on both color and monochrome monitors. And Super Boot now supports all versions of TOS including TOS 1.4 (Rainbow TOS). In addition Super Boot utilizes the function keys by allowing separate file configurations to be assigned to each one (for 30 different function key combinations). When a function key is pressed, all files specified for that function key will be activated, and the other files not specified for that key will be inactivated. Now having stated what Super Boot does, let's look at the new items which Gordon Moore has implemented in version 6.0. First, of all, the program has taken on a optional new look on the menu screen. Now you can look at all 30 function keys at once if you choose either by default or by pressing the letter "F". Also, for those who have been using Super Boot, Gordon has thoughtfully included a conversion utility (in the archived file package) which will allow the user to convert the old data files to the new 6.0 data files. It took me all of five minutes to install the new version on my system! As noted above, the program now supports TOS 1.4. When using the Construction Set the user can specify whether they want to use "Startgem", "Headstart", or TOS 1.4 to auto start Gem programs. Supposedly Startgem had some compatibility problems with some programs, so we now have the option of using Headstart in place of Startgem. Another nice addition was to allow the user to "hide" selected programs from Super Boot 6.0. This is useful for programs like Fatspeed and Pinhead 1.4 which need to be placed as close to the top of the auto folder as possible. Since I use these programs every time I boot up, I placed them before Super Boot 6.0 in the auto folder and then hid them so Super Boot would not deactivate them. Placing new programs to 'auto start' in the menu is easier now also because Super Boot now uses the file selector box to help us select the path of the new program. What could be easier? One of the most requested features of the new program is that of mass copying and mass deleting. It is so easy now to copy an .ACC or auto program to all 30 function keys at once. Or, when we find that the program has incompatibility problems, to delete it from all the function keys at once. I've covered most of the new features, but not all of them. After all, what fun is it to run a new program and not be able to discover some of its secrets by yourself? This program is shareware. The author only asks $15 dollars for a program that I would pay much more to have. Please support him, so that he will continue to put out quality programs like this. Super Boot 6.0 and Super Boot Construction Set are Copyright (c)1990 by Gordon W. Moore. (Ed., Mr. Moore may be contacted at: 2300 W. Beech Street, Ashland, KY 41101; or via E-mail on Compuserve - 73647,2735; GEnie - G.W.MOORE; or The Abyss BBS (606-223-2782); or Fnet node 470.) ======================================================================= ZNET ONLINE Atari News and Reviews FIRST! Copyright (c)1990 Rovac Industries, Inc.. =======================================================================