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*****THE ATARI GLOSSARY***** by Howard E.Carson (c)Copyright, 1993, a few rights reserved! This Glossary has been produced in ASCII form, specifically for the Toronto Atari Federation (TAF). TAF is a terrific user group based in Toronto, Canada. It is also a user group engaged in the production of an Archival Base in the files area of its B.B.S. The number of the B.B.S. is currently (416) 235-0318. If you are an Atari user and you live in the Southern Ontario region, TAF is a great user group to join. Monthly meetings, a great B.B.S. and the Phoenix monthly newsletter are only a few of the reasons to get involved! An Archival is a place where platform specific information like manuals, history, tutorials, back issues of important books and magazines - at least the important history and articles therein - and other useful tidbits of hard-to-find information can be stored for both new and experienced users of the Atari line of computers. This includes the XL/XE, the ST, the STe, the Mega ST, the Mega STe, the TT and the Falcon. Distribute this glossary in compressed or printed form to anyone and everyone who gives a darn. Please leave ORDER.DOC, README.1ST, GLOSSARY.DOC, AV.PRG and AVHELP.HLP altogether and intact and distribute them anywhere Atari users have access. Before you do anything else, make a copy of the above named files and put the originals away for safekeeping. Do yourself a favour - especially if you are relatively new to Atari, or even computing in general - and run GLOSSARY.DOC and ORDER.DOC through your printer. This is easily done. Simply double click on this file (GLOSSARY.DOC), and print it out by selecting PRINT in the Dialogue Box that pops up. If you have a fancy replacement desktop like Gemini, Kaosdesk, NeoDesk, TerraDesk, etc., just drag this file onto the printer icon and let 'er rip. Switch on your printer before you do it. If you don't feel like using thirty sheets of paper (and you really don't have to), double click on AV.PRG. AV.PRG is a great file viewer that will allow you to jump around in the glossary, do word searches, go to specified pages and more! If you leave AVHELP.HLP in the root directory of whatever disk or partition AV.PRG is on, you will have on-line help inside of AV.PRG! AV.PRG is a terrific piece of Shareware. It is very easy to use and about four times as fast as the GEM file viewer! Please register your copy. Support Shareware! A Glossary is really an abbreviated technical dictionary. It is nothing more than an explanation and key to pronunciation, of the most commonly used terms and acronyms which pertain to a particular branch of technology - in this case Atari computers. This Glossary of course, emphasizes not just general computing terminology but the jargon that is specific to Atari, TOS and GEM, as well. Keep this learned tome near to hand - in a cheap old ring- binder if you've printed it out. As a new user, you will be surprised how often it comes in handy! There is also a much larger glossary version available called THE GIANT COMPUTER GLOSSARY. It is approximately three times the size of this one. It includes all currently used terms that have anything to do with computing in general. THE GIANT COMPUTER GLOSSARY refers to all computers including Amiga, Apple, Atari, Cray, IBM, Mac, Mainframes, PC, Unix, and some really bizarre ones that never quite made it out of the gate. THE GIANT COMPUTER GLOSSARY, is updated twice a year. Use the ORDER.DOC to send for yours today! This Atari Glossary is Freeware, and should be distributed far and wide. For the full version of THE GIANT COMPUTER GLOSSARY, please send five bucks in Canadian funds - Postal Money Orders are great! - to: Howard Carson #601-2904 St. Clair Ave. East Toronto, Canada M4B 1N7 *****ALL PAYMENTS SHOULD BE MADE TO HOWARD CARSON***** Your five bucks includes all taxes and mailing charges, as long as you live somewhere in Canada, the U.S. including Alaska, or Mexico. Your disk will be in the mail to you within 48 hours. REMEMBER TO SEND US YOUR RETURN ADDRESS. See the ORDER.DOC file. It is really the simplest way to order your copy(s). Overseas orders need to add two dollars CDN. for each disk. You can also specify special instructions for shipping on the order form and add the appropriate cost to the total. THE GIANT COMPUTER GLOSSARY has been extremely well researched and professionaly edited. You will find that comparable texts retail for around twenty-five dollars. Although this type of shareware does not require programming, there is nonetheless a huge amount of work involved in compiling and checking and re-checking accurate information. Despite the time and effort involved, you'll find that the Atari glossary and the Giant Computer Glossary have a sense of humour. New and experienced users of all computer platforms alike, should find it all a good read. !Support Shareware! Enjoy. Regards, Howard. *************************************************************** *************************************************************** THE ATARI GLOSSARY *************************************************************** (C)Copyright, 1993, Howard E.Carson *************************************************************** 68000 - This is the series number of the Motorola microprocessors that are used in all Atari computers. The 68000 was introduced in 1979. Its largest advantages over other types of microprocessors are its large linear address space of 4 Gigabytes and its 32 bit registers. Unlike Intel chips, the Motorola chips have few memory boundaries to slow down processing. Here are the average speeds for some of the 68000 series processors: 68000 - 0.8 MIPS @ 8 MHZ, 16 bit data bus, 1979. 68020 - 2.5 MIPS @ 16 MHZ, 1984. 68030 - 8.0 MIPS @ 20 MHz, 1987. 68040 - 20.0 MIPS @ 25 MHz, 1990. 68040 - 26.0 MIPS @ 33 MHz, 1991. 68060 - 70.0 MIPS @ 50 MHz, 1993. 68060 - 92.0 MIPS @ 66 MHz, 1994. At the time of this writing, the last two on the list are projections. Don't ask me what happened to the 68050. By the way, Atari does manufacture a line of computers which use the Intel chip. They are PC type computers and I refuse to talk about them here. See also DSP, Microprocessors, MIPS, MultiTos, TOS. ACCESSORY - Accessories are great. They can also be a terrific pain in the butt. Accessories are comparatively small programs that reside in the root directory of a boot disk or a boot drive. For the most part, they can only be utilized if you boot your computer WITH THEM ALREADY IN PLACE. Adding an accessory after you have booted usually means that you have to re-boot (reset or warm-boot), to make use of it. An accessory can be anything from a pop-up calculator, a day-timer, an address book, a picture viewer, an emulator, a communications program, a control panel, a recoverable trashcan, and so on. The list is almost endless. On the Atari desktop and inside any GEM program, moving your mouse pointer up to either the Desk menu or the Fuji symbol, will cause your list of installed accessories to drop down. You can then select one by clicking on it. The Atari desktop usually has a limit of six installed accessories at any one time. You can select one at a time to use. Accessory programs have the filename extension .ACC. There are a couple of accessory loading programs around like The Chameleon, that allow you to keep dozens of accessories on your boot disk or boot drive - loading and unloading them as you need them. Always boot up only with the accessories you really might need. They take up valuable memory (RAM), and they have a bad habit of clashing with other programs. Many boot up problems can be traced back to a bad desk accessory. There are a few rare Accessories that must be placed in the Auto Folder. See also Auto Folder, Boot disk, Boot drive, Desk Accessory, Ram, Root Directory. ALERT MESSAGES - Alert messages tell you that the operation you want to perform is potentially dangerous, improper, goofy, or impossible. Alert Messages are always displayed in something called a Dialogue Box. They don't go away until you respond to them. See also Click, GEM, Window. ALT - This is the abbreviation for the Alternate key on your keyboard. It is used mostly with other keys, like Alt-B for instance, that will get you out of certain programs and games. By the way Alt-B, alt-b, alt-B and Alt-b are all the same thing. With computers in general, the only time that capitalization means anything is when you're actually typing something in a document. When you see the ALT-B instruction, what you do is simply hold down the Alternate key and then press the B key. See also Arrow Keys, Cursor, Mouse. APPLICATIONS - This word is almost the same as 'program'. You can have a word-processing application or a word-processing program. They are closely related. Applications are mostly used to make a general reference, like, "Hey Fred, that format changing program would make a good word-processing application!" Programs and Applications fall into the general category of Software....anything that arrives in your hands on a floppy disk. See also Accessory, Desk Accessory, Program, Shareware, Software. ARROW KEYS - Arrow keys are usually used to move the cursor, in your word-processor or text-editor. They are also used to scroll text in some file viewers. It is sometimes better to use these arrow keys, than your mouse. The rule is: If your hand is already on the mouse, use it. If your hand is already on the keyboard, use the arrow keys. If your mouse suddenly breaks, or if you accidentally smash it with a hammer, don't despair. Just hold down the Alternate key with your left hand and work the arrow keys with your right hand. This will allow you to use the mouse pointer, even though the little rodent himself is dysfunctional. Holding down the Shift AND Alternate keys with your left hand, and working the arrow keys with your right hand will give you much finer, albeit slower, movement. See also Cursor, Mouse. ASCII - pronounced 'ass-key'......no kidding! This is an acronym for "American Standard Code for Information Interchage. Unless you have a really weird keyboard, all of the characters and letters and numbers on it are ASCII characters, letters and numbers. The Atari keyboard does not use all of the available ASCII character set. Each ASCII character has a unique code. This is great for experienced users. They use the codes to alter what goes into their printers. These codes cannot be read by normal humans...I mean it. There are 128 different ASCII characters, letters and numbers. See also Bit, Byte, Data, READ.ME. AUTO FOLDER - The Atari operating system makes use of something called an Auto Folder. It is a folder that you create on your Boot Disk or Boot Drive. It should contain things like bug fixes to the operating system and other programs that you want the computer to run automatically, whenever you boot up. Very few setups can do without an Auto Folder. Auto Folders are necessary because of the fact that the Atari operating system is on ROM chips. Any problems cannot be addressed because of the fact that the operating system is in Read Only Memory. That means you cannot write to it, in order to make changes or fix problems. Auto Folder programs interpose themselves between ROM and the screen, between ROM and RAM, between ROM and Ports and between ROM and disk drives - depending on the programs functions. See also Bug, GEM, ROM, TOS. BACKUP - This is the single most important word in the computer lexicon. If you buy or otherwise acquire software from a store or a B.B.S., you should always - ALWAYS - make a copy. You then use the copy or 'backup' as it is called, to fiddle with, run, load into your hard drive, etc. When you are working in your word processor, stop every so often (15-30 minutes), backup your work and continue. Once you have developed the habit, it will become second nature. Back up all your active files to floppies. Active files, are the ones you use regularly - once a week or more. If you do not do regular backups, you will have only yourself to blame when your system fails or crashes and valuable data is lost. Forever. Remember this....all computers crash. All software crashes. Ninety nine percent of the time, the crashed hardware or software can be restored in a few minutes, with little permanent damage. Most of the time you will still lose what you were working on when the problem ocurred. The remaining one percent of the time is unavoidable, unfortunately. It WILL happen. DO your backups! See also Disk, Software. BASIC - Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. This is the programming language contained on the ST language disk - and others. It is very useful for learning simple programming. Among other things, BASIC can be used to send new or replacement control codes to your printer, when you can't find the right driver for your favorite word-processor or desk top publishing program. There is a book around, called the ST BASIC Sourcebook and Tutorial. If you can find a copy, it is an excellent way to learn how to program in BASIC. Although BASIC is not the most veratile or powerful language around, it is the ideal place for the beginner to start. Try it, it's not as difficult as it seems. BAUD RATE - Named for the French inventor, J. M. E. Baudot, who cast off his earthly veil sometime during the late eighteen hundreds. It is a unit of signalling speed in telegraphic code. Nowadays, it is used to express the number of bits per second that can be transmitted in a given computer system, or modem. It is pronounced 'Bod'.....as in "Hey, what a great bod!" Bits per second or B.P.S. is really the correct term to use when expressing the speed of a modem. Modems operate an awful lot faster than old analog telegraphic code ever did. A 1200 bps modem is kind of slow - if you're watching information scroll by you from a B.B.S. and you can read it with some ease, you have an idea of how fast data is transmitted or received at that speed. There are actually a few people who can read at 2400 bps. Nobody can read at the higher speeds of 9600 bps, 14,400 bps and so on. The higher the bps or baud rating, the less time it will take you to do things while you are on-line. See also, B.B.S, Modem, RS-2332. B.B.S. - This acronym stands for Bulletin Board System. It is a place where your computer can call another computer via a modem, in order to exchange files, exchange messages, do research, etc. BBSing, can be a valuable and fun pastime. Many businesses now use large BBS's to exchange information with other businesses and customers. Never log on to a new B.B.S. without first checking it out by regular voice call. Strange things can happen. B.B.S.'s have become a tremendously useful way of exchanging ideas and information. You can ask questions or begin discussions in the Forum, Roundtable or Message areas about everything from computing problems to social diseases. Information, News, On-Line games, 'live' discussions, International mail, etc., are just some of the things in which you can participate. There are also some B.B.S.'s that have become the domain of the sick and lonely. There are still more B.B.S.'s with system operators who subscribe to the notion that any file they can get their hands on - commercial or shareware - is fair game for downloading from their file area. Do not participate in or subscribe to or join, any B.B.S. that pirates software! Aside from the fact it is just plain wrong, you can get into serious legal trouble. Join TAF Online, CRS Online, GEnie, or Compuserve. Any of those fine B.B.S.'s will give you a taste of what the 'information age', is all about. See also Baud, Etiquette, Modem, RS-232, Serial Port. BEE ICON - Whenever your Atari transfers or receives information from the disk drives, the screen displays the Bee icon. After a while, this can become deeply irritating. This is why several programmers have developed accessory programs that allow you to replace the moronic looking Bee. While a program is loading and the Bee is being displayed, try buzzing him around the screen and smashing him into the edges; then pretend he falls to his death. Try it, it's fun! BINARY - This is a numbering system used by computers. It consists of only two numbers, zero (0) and one (1).....I agree, it's not much of a system. The ones and zeros represent the states of electrical current flow, on or off. It's a bit like transmitting electricity like Morse Code. The numbers of zeros and ones in a row and in combination, represent how long elecricity is allowed to flow in a given situation....much like dots and dashes and spaces in varying combinations. After that, I kind of get lost. Look it up yourself, become a famous programmer, and then write an educational package that will teach it to me..........please. The Binary system forms the basis of all computer programming. Various 'languages' have been developed to translate word commands into binary code, thereby instructing the computer to do different things. See also Basic, Bit, Byte, Gigabyte, Kilobyte, Megabyte. BIOS - This stands for Basic Input/Output System. It is a set of instructions coded into a 'chip', inside the computer. These instructions tell the computer how to work with all of its components: how to read a character from the keyboard, how to display a character on the screen, print, etc. BIT - this is short for BInary digiT or, if you prefer, Binary digIT. I'll bet nobody knows which version is correct. I'll bet nobody cares. A BIT is the smallest unit of information used by a computer or printer, etc. Binary means two - in this case a zero and a one. The bit is almost like an electrical switch. There are millions of such bits inside the typical computer, because they form the basis of all memory and disk storage. See also Binary. BOOT - This is what you do when you turn on your computer....you boot it. I don't know why the obscurely esoteric computer geniuses who came up with all of this stuff couldn't have just use the words turn on or turn off. But they didn't, so we're stuck with it. You can also coldboot or warmboot your computer. Coldbooting is literally turning off the power switch for at least ten seconds, while warmbooting usually means just hitting your reset button at the left rear of your ST. You can also warm or coldboot from your keyboard by hitting the Control, Alternate and Delete keys and holding them down - or by hitting the Control, Alternate, Right Shift and Delete keys and holding them down. Try it! BOOT DISK - This is a floppy disk which you insert into your 'A' drive BEFORE you boot the computer. Your boot disk should contain an AUTO folder in addition to any desk accessories that you happen to need. I emphasize the word need. Too many desk accessories on your boot disk (or if you're a hard drive owner - your, boot drive), will give you problems like system crashes, the inability to run certain programs, etc. The general rule is, the fewer the number of accessories, the better. See also Accessory, Auto Folder, Boot, Desk Accessory, Desktop Information File. BUG - In computer parlance, a bug is not an insect. It is a problem with the coding sequences or syntax used by the programmer of particular piece of software. There are literally thousands of things that can be mistaken in any given program - which is why bugs are fairly frequent occurences. Most bugs are minor and in some cases can even be circumvented. New versions of programs always address the problems of bugs that have been noted by users of the software. Hidden Bugs are another great reason to do frequent Backups. Some Bugs have occured in TOS and GEM. There are Auto Folder fixes for them. These small Auto Folder programs are available from every B.B.S. that has Atari software. Logging on to the larger B.B.S.'s, will also make available to you many shareware and commercial software bug fixes. Those fixes come in the form of both accessories and utilities. See Accessory, Auto Folder, Backup, Basic, GEM, ROM, TOS, Utility. BYTE - A byte is eight bits. Each byte is a unique character within the computer. For instance, every single one of the ASCII characters takes up one byte each of memory. See also Bit, Disk Drive, Format, Gigabyte, Kilobyte, Megabyte. CAD - This is an acronym for Computer Aided Design. CAD software can be absolutely fascinating. Even if you only use your Atari for wordprocessing, you should buy an inexpensive public domain or shareware CAD program. You will amazed at the results of your creative little mind's meanderings through the program. See also Application, Laser Printer, Printer, Program, Software. CAPACITY - This is the amount of stuff or data you can store - the total number of bytes that can be stored in memory or RAM or more likely, on a disk. Floppy disks have capacities ranging from 360 Kilobytes up to 2.8 Megabytes. Hard drives can be found in capacities of from 10 Megabytes all the way up to 1 Gigabyte and beyond. CD-ROM disks have capacities approaching 700 megabytes. Floptical disks can currently accomodate around twenty megabytes. See also Bit, Byte, Disk, Format, Gigabyte, Hard Drive, Kilobyte, Megabyte. CARTRIDGE - One of five means of entering data and programs into your Atari computer. The others are: disk drives (floppy and hard), the keyboard, a modem and a CD-ROM drive. CD-ROM's for the Atari are real hard to find. Disks for them are even harder to find. The cartridge port can be found on the left end of the ST. The cartridge port is a great place to plug in a system clock. Certain programs require the use of a cartridge called a 'Dongle', that allows the program to function and/or adds hardware inputs/outputs and/or prevents unlawful copying of the program. See also Ports. CLICK - This is what you do when you point your mouse pointer at something on the screen and use your left or right index finger to quckly push and release the left mouse button. The right mouse button is mostly useless, although some graphics and midi programs make use of it. Double clicking, means you do it twice, fast. See also Cursor, Double Click, Mouse, Pointer. CLOSE BOX - This is the tiny box with the 'x' in it, located in the upper left corner of a window, that you click on, to close any window you've been working in. See also Full box, Move bar, Size box, Scroll bar, Window. COLOUR PALETTE - This is one of the things you can fiddle with in the Atari Control Panel and the newer Atari Extensible Control Panel. You need an Atari colour monitor or a composite monitor or a colour T.V., for your fiddling to have any effect. Too much playing around can get you a colour combination that is truly hard on the eyes. Be subtle. See also Accessory, Control Panel, Desk Accessory, High Res, Low Res, Med Res, Pixel, RGB. COMPATIBLE - Any external hardware like floppy drives, hard drives, monitors, mice (mouses?), etc., must be Atari compatible. The same thing goes for software. RS-232 ports (the modem port on the Atari) have standard configurations from one kind of computer to another. When there is a standard, cross-platform configuration of any kind as there is for modems and printers, it can be said that a wonderful thing has happened. This is truly rare in computing! It means you can hook up almost any modem or printer to your Atari computer. See also Modem, Parallel Port, RS-232, Serial Port. CONTROL KEY OR CTRL. - See Alt key., and ignore the arrow stuff. CONTROL PANEL - An Atari accessory that appears in a Dialogue Box, that allows you to control some of the GEM desktop functions. The Colour Palette, Mouse Click response, Keyboard response, Clock/Calendar and Audio Feedback can all be adjusted in the Control Panel. Audio Feedback does not mean screaming electric guitar sounds, by the way. It just means you can switch the key clicks and/or the system bell, on or off. The latest version of the Control Panel is called the XCONTROL.ACC or Extensible Control Panel. The word extensible is used because you can add modules called CPX's and extend the number of accessories controlled by XCONTROL.ACC. It is a good idea. The CPX's are really just accessory programs. See also Accessory, Desk Accessory, High Res, Low Res, Med Res. CPS - This is an acronym for Characters Per Second. Daisy Wheel (if you can find one), Dot Matrix and Ink-Jet printers use CPS to tell you how fast they print. The upper limit for a dot matrix printer is somewhere around 300 CPS. The average is around 200 CPS. If your printer has some built in fonts, selecting one of them tends to slow down the printing speed drastically. The highest printer speeds are always quoted for the plain old draft font to which most printers default. See also Default, Font, PPM, Printer. CURSOR - This is the irritating flashing little rectangle, that shows you where the next thing you type, or delete or move or cut or paste, etc., is going to happen. Cursors never stop flashing. Ever. Some wordprocessors contain a utility that will allow to control the annoying flashing. This is a good thing. See also Arrow Keys, Mouse. CURSOR KEYS - These are also called the Arrow Keys. Your arrow keys can also be used to move around the cursor. This is sometimes faster than using the mouse. The general rule is: if your hand is near the mouse, or if you have to move the cursor a long way, use the mouse. If your hand is near the keyboard or if you don't have to move the cursor more than three words or so, use the arrows. See also Arrow Keys, Mouse. DATA FILE - This is a collection of information that is used by programs. A data file is not a program - it cannot be clicked on and run. On the standard Atari desktop, data file icons look like sheets of paper with one corner folded down. The newer desktops and replacement desktops generally use a variation of this. Data is the actual information you collect or create with your computer, like a letter, or the inventory of your child's bug collection. See also Backup Diskcopy, Files, File Copy, Folder, Icon, Program. DEFAULT - Many programs have default settings. These settings, or as they are sometimes called, default configurations, allow even the most inexperienced user of a new piece of software, to at least begin using it. Default settings or configurations are almost always the mostly widely used or standardized or typical settings. DELETE - This is what happens when you drag a file onto the trash can icon or select delete from the File Menu. Once a file is deleted it's gone. Usually forever. There are some newer trash cans and delete utilities and accessories however, that enable you to partially or fully recover deleted files. Do not rely on Undelete features or Recoverable Trash Cans too heavily. See also Accessory, Format, Save. DESK ACCESSORY - This is something that is accessible through a menu that drops down beneath either the word 'Desk', at the top of your screen, or beneath the Fuji symbol at the top of your screen. Desk accessories are usually short programs that give you some extra tools to use during the course of any session at the computer: things like pop-up calculators, file viewers, picture viewers, recoverable trash cans, etc. There are thousands of desk accessories. For a desk accessory to work properly on an Atari computer, it must usually always be located in the root directory of your boot disk or boot drive. See also Shareware, Software, Accessory (same thing). DESKTOP DISK - See Boot Disk. DESKTOP INFORMATION FILE - The very first time you make up a boot disk or boot drive, placing the icons where you want them and selecting the screen colours and so on, you will of course save the set up you have created by clicking on the words SAVE DESKTOP under the options menu. This action will cause TOS to create a small file on your boot disk or drive called DESKTOP.INF. TOS 2.06 and upwards will create a file called NEWDESK.INF. Every bootable disk or drive, needs one of these little files. They are very often only five or six hundred bytes in size. They contain the desktop configuration you have set up. Whenever you boot your computer, TOS checks the boot drive or disk, for a DESKTOP.INF file or a NEWDESK.INF file. If it doesn't find one, it defaults to the set up that is in ROM. See also Boot Disk, Default, ROM. DESTINATION - The destination is the place where you want your data to wind up after you copy it. The Source is where the data comes from. A Source can be a floppy disk or a hard disk. See also Backup, Diskcopy, Source. DIALOG BOX - Dialog boxes are interactive message boxes. They appear on your screen. They are interactive because you must acknowledge their message or choose one of their options, in order to exit from them. See also Window. DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR or DSP - This is a complex arithmetical processor designed to perform calculations at an extremely high speed. The newest Atari computer, the Falcon has this microprocessor. A computer with such a processor in it can perform complex mathematical operations a very high speeds, which of course makes that computer ideal for tasks like computer aided design (CAD), music recording, and picture and graphics manipulation and design. The Falcon uses the Motorola 56001 DSP chip. See also 68000. DISKCOPY - This is a program that makes an exact copy of all the data on a disk. To make a disk copy, drag the icon of the source disk onto the icon of the destination disk. The Diskcopy procedure always erases all the old information on the destination disk. See also Backup, Destination, Format, Source. DISK and DISK DRIVE - Disk drives are the primary storage devices for all computers. They come in several flavours, including hard and floppy. Most of all floppy disks you use will be of the 3.5 inch 720 kilobyte variety, double sided, double density. PC owners also get to choose between 5.25 inch and high density varieties of both sizes. Strangely enough, a 3.5 inch floppy usually holds much more information than a 5.25 inch floppy. Go figure. Hard disk drives are just that....hard. They are generally sealed to prevent anyone from getting at their sensitive mechanisms. Both hard drives and floppy drives store information in exactly the same way as audio tape - on a magnetic surface coating. The coated aluminum or glass disks in a hard drive can be stacked to greatly increase the capacity of a single 'drive'. The disk inside a floppy, is a flat circle of coated plastic about the thickness of a piece of writing paper. The coated disks are called 'media'. This media is written to and read by a very tiny moveable pickup head, that upon close inspection will reveal itself to be almost identical to the record/playback head in your cassette machine. The drive is just a small motor that is capable of spinning the disks at a very steady speed, along with a servo mechanism that is capable of moving the record/erase/playback head back and forth across the spinning disk surface. The more stable and accurate the mechanism, the better the drive. See Backup, Hard Disk, Load, RAM, Save, DISPLAY - This refers to whatever it is you can see on your screen, not the monitor itself. See also Dump, High Res, Low Res, Med Res, Pixel, RGB. DOT MATRIX - This is a type of printer that uses tiny pins in a tiny print head to make dots through an inked ribbon onto a piece of paper. Dot matrix printers are the most commonly used printer today. They are quick, cheap and unfortunately, noisy. They are not as fast or as effective at using colour, as a laser printer or a better inkjet printer. See Laser Printer, Parallel Port, Printer Driver, Printer Port. DOUBLE-CLICK - Two quick clicks on the left mouse button. Double clicks usually are used to open files, folders and disks. Most Control Panel Accessories including the Atari Control Panel, allow you to adjust the speed at which you have to click the mouse in order to get anything done. See also Click, File, Folder, Mouse, Program. DRAGGING - Dragging is the technique used to move an item on the desktop, such as an icon, file or window or trashcan. All you do is place the mouse pointer on the object you wish to drag, hold down the left mouse button and simply move the object wherever you want. On the earlier Atari operating systems you can't drag folders, files or applications and programs onto the desktop. You can do it with the newer versions, starting with TOS 2.05/6. You can also do it with the many replacement desktops that are available. See also Copy, Diskcopy, File, GEM, Mouse, TOS. DSP - See Digital Signal Processor. D.T.P. - This is an acronym for Desk Top Publishing. It is not some mysterious science, this DTP. It is merely using your computer and some appropriate software, to arrange a bunch of writing, pictures and/or drawings, add in some fancy fonts and print it all out in the form of a report, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, flyer, poster, bumper sticker, business card, etc. See also Application, Font, Laser Printer, Shareware, Software. DUMP - Dump is an old computer term that means to wash out one thing and dump it into another. The Atari makes it easy for you to do a screen dump into your printer. In some programs, you can print whatever is currently being displayed on your screen, Menu bar and all, simply by pressing and holding the Alternate and Help keys. Try it! DVORAK - See Touch Typing. EMULATE - Emulate means acting like something else. Many printers emulate either Epson or IBM standards for print codes. It is one of the few areas in computing where any sort of reliable standard actually exists. With some special software and hardware, an Atari ST or Mega can be made to emulate a PC. Why anyone would want to do this is still the subject of much discussion. However, some PC's can be made to emulate Atari as well. That of course, makes much more sense. Your Atari computer can also be made to emulate a phone terminal. And a Mac. There is actually an answer to all of this imitation, with respect to cross platform emulation. It is largely the result of too many people having to bring home their work (done on a Mac or PC) and at the same time not wanting to spend ANOTHER truck load of money on a new computer. See Modem, Protocol, RTS/CTS, Serial Port, VT-52, X-MODEM. ESCAPE KEY - This is the name of a key on your keyboard. It is in the upper left corner and is usually labeled 'Esc'. The escape key is used by many programs as a cancel key or an abort key. ETIQUETTE - Politeness, respect, courtesy and general all around niceness. This is not as unrelentingly disgusting as it sounds. It is a term bandied about incessantly on B.B.S.'s. It means sending messages to other members of the B.B.S. in respectful and understanding terms. It means going to whatever extremes necessary to relate to other users' circumstances and opinions. It means not cursing and swearing and insulting others simply because you feel brave behind the anonymity of your keyboard and screen. It means helping other users (who have asked questions), with thoughtful and helpful answers - if you have them of course! It means responding to the comments of others with something besides on-line wastes of time like, "Hey, right on man!" It means common sense. See also B.B.S., Modem. FANFOLD - This describes the continuous feed type of computer paper.....the stuff with the holes along both sides that a printer uses, to push or drag the paper as it is printing. The paper is perforated at regular intervals. The ripping sound you can get is very satisfying. Make note of the fact that the perforations are positioned and spaced very acurately. This allows your printer to stop or advance the paper at exactly the right spot, to print things like page numbers, etc. Many printers force you to fiddle with the way the paper is positioned to get things centered and evenly margined. Once you have discovered the exact right position however, it all becomes quite easy. Paper trays that are made for some printers allow you to use regular typewriter or bond type paper. Most printers will allow you to feed single sheets in, by hand. If you are going to be using single sheets a lot, check the tray and feeder mechanism IN THE STORE. Trust me, many of the tray and feeder systems don't work very well. FILE - See Data file FILE COPY - To copy single files from one place to another, just drag the icons or file names to the new place. The new place can be another disk (floppy or hard), or another folder on the same disk. Remember that with most ST operating systems, you can click and hold the left mouse button to draw a ghost box around several files at a time in order to group-copy them. See also Backup, Desktop, Diskcopy, GEM, Ghost, Icons. FLOPPY DISK/DRIVE - See Disk. FOLDER - A folder is something used to store a number of files; like all the files pertaining to your wordprocessor for instance. Double clicking on a folder opens it up to reveal all the icons or names of the files it contains. Folder icons look like real life paper file folders. Among other things, folders are great for organizing things into categories. For instance, all your DTP files pertaining to Xmas can be kept in one folder created inside your D.T.P. folder. Or all your Wordprocessor files pertaining to family correspondence can be kept in one folder while all the files of letters can be kept in another folder. You will no doubt be amazed at the number of computer users who don't organize their files into folders and waste enormous amounts of time searching through long lists of files. See also Files, Icons. FONT - This word is an old time typesetting term that is now used in computer desktop publishing. The word should really be 'typeface'. Different fonts are simply different styles of text. If you have not fiddled with your computer too much, you should be reading this in the boring old Atari system font. If you are reading this from your printer (and you haven't fiddled with it, either), you will be reading a draft font of some sort. Many daily newspapers use the 'Times Roman' font. The best thing about fonts, aside from how they can make a document look, are their fascinating names: Helvetica Bold, Slant Kabuki Fine, Palatino Proportional.......I could go on......By the way, beware of desktop publishing programs that promise to include dozens of fonts. In reality, the less worthy programs only give you two or three different typefaces. The 'dozens' they refer to are just bold, italic, shadowed, outlined etc., version of the typefaces supplied. It really isn't a rip-off, but it is a little deceiving. See also DTP, Laser Printer, Letter Quality, Printer. FORM FEED or FF - In printer parlance, this is a control code that your computer sends to the printer, telling it to advance the paper one page. FORMAT - This is one of the things you must do regularly with floppy disks. Information is stored on your disk in circular patterns. Each circular band is called a track. Each track is divided up into sectors. TOS and your floppy disk drive can format 80 tracks with nine sectors each (double density), quite reliably. There is formatting software out here which claims to be able to do even more, allowing you to store still more information on the disk. I do not recommend using such software. The tiny head inside your disk drive is designed to read tracks of a certain physical width and sectors of a certain length. If the sectors are too narrow, the information won't be read properly. If the magnetic coating on the disk cannot cope with the extra information it is being forced to record, some truly infuriating problems can occur. The process of formatting simply realigns the coating and clears all of the tracks and sectors. Remember that Formatting deletes/erases/kills everything on the disk. See also Backup, Delete, Disk, Sector, Track. FULL BOX - In the upper right corner of any GEM window, you will find a little oval. Clicking on this oval will cause the window to expand to the full size of your screen. You can use the Size Box in the lower right corner, to reduce the size of the window again. See also Close box, Move Bar, Scroll Bar, Size Box, Window. FUNCTION KEYS - The functions keys are located along the very top of your keyboard and are labeled 'F1' to 'F10'. These keys perform special commands and functions, depending on which program you're using. They are sometimes also used together with the Shift, Alternate or Control keys. Some computer keyboards have 12 'F' keys. GEM - This is an acronym for Graphics Environment Manager. It is a small program inside TOS (The Operating System), that creates and manages all the window icons, menus and graphics of the ST computer and all other Atari computers. See also Desktop, ROM, TOS, Window. GEM DESKTOP - This is the main screen for the ST computer. It includes the menu bar, two floppy disk icons and the trash can icon. If you have a hard drive, a third drive icon will appear, as long as the drive is properly set-up. If the drive is internally divided into partitions, a drive icon representing each partition will also appear on your desktop. The operating system, TOS, allows you to drag the icons around and place them wherever you want, copy a full disk to an empty one (or partially full one) by dragging one drive icon onto another, delete things by dragging folders and files onto the trashcan, copy individual files by dragging them from one open drive window to another (or from an open drive window to a drive icon, etc. GEM allows you to see everything that is going on....graphically. As of TOS 2.05/6 GEM also allows you to drag applications and programs onto the desktop, save their positions by clicking on Save Desktop, and then use the icons to simply double-click on, to launch the program. This is a real timesaver and general all around good thing. See also Boot Disk, Desktop Information File, ROM, TOS, Window. GHOST - A ghost is the outline of an icon, file, folder or window that appears as you drag it to a new location. See also Diskcopy, Dragging. GB - This is an acronym for Gigabyte. A gigabyte is one billion bytes.....or if you prefer, one thousand megabytes......or if you prefer, one million kilobytes. It is sometimes abbreviated as 'G'. GIGABYTE - See above. GIF - This is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format. This is one of the many, many different formats in which pictures and images and drawings can be stored as files on your Atari computer. The GIF format is usually used for photographic scanned images. There are many different programs that will allow you to view GIF's. Real good GIF's can take quite a few minutes before they appear on your screen. Even the very best viewers can take a long time to process the data that forms the image. GUI - This is an acronym for Graphical User Interface. PC type computers have coined this phrase or 'word' to describe replacement desktops that look like fancy versions of GEM. GUI is pronounced 'gooey'. Apple computers had the very first popular GUI. Then Unix. Then Atari. Then Microsoft. Atari's GEM, is still the most intuitive and friendly...especially the latest versions. See also Boot Disk, Desktop Information File, GEM, ROM, TOS. HARD DISK - Hard disk drives or hard drives can store and read and write information many times faster than floppy drives. Hard drives also store far more data. Buy one today. They have become very reasonably priced, and they will speed up your computing. Many of the newest applications for the higher end Atari's like the Mega and the TT and the Falcon are too large to fit on a single floppy disk. Some of the applications even come to you on three or four or even more disks. Swapping floppies to run the program becomes a nightmare in that situation. Hard drives are best. You install or copy the program's disks into a new folder on your hard drive and forget about ever switching floppies again. This is a good thing. See also Boot Disk, Disk, RAM. HIGH RES or HIGH RESOLUTION - This is one of three display modes that can be used with the Atari ST computer. High Res allows the computer display to be 640 dots of information horizontally by 400 dots of information vertically. You need an Atari monochrome monitor or equivalent. The Atari TT and Falcon computers will display an even higher resolution in full, glorious colour. There are a couple of hardware manufacturers that make replacement video cards as well. These replacement cards allow even higher res colour displays on other Atari Megas, TT's, and Falcons. The Atari TT computer medium and high resolutions, display a higher number of dots than the ST model right out of the box, both vertically and horizontally. See also Low Res, Med Res, Pixel, RGB. HOME ROW - In typing parlance, the home row is the middle row of letters on the keyboard. For the left hand, ASDF and the right hand, JKL; . Your thumbs are never used to strike any key except the space bar and the zero on the numeric keypad. See also Qwerty, Touch Typing. IBM - This is the acronym for International Business Machines. IBM never made the best computers. They did however, manage to hire the best salesmen. The IBM PC, is the model and style upon which virtually all modern desktop computers are based. Many people say that IBM stole the idea from Apple. Who knows. Who cares. The Atari ST computers departed from the standard IBM look. This was a good thing. ICON - An icon is a little picture or symbol on your desktop or in a window. An icon can represent a disk, a file, a folder or a procedure. The newer Atari Desktops and replacement Desktops often come with Icon Editors. Icon Editors allow you to create your own special Icons. They are neat and I like them. See also Boot Disk, Desktop Information File, GEM, Newdesk, ROM, TOS. INFORMATION LINE - This is the line at the top of an active window that tells you how many bytes have been used and in how many files. See also GEM, Window. INPUT/OUTPUT or I/O - This is the communication process that goes on between the Atari computer and all of its peripheral devices such as disk drives, printers and modems. Input is data that is sent into the computer. Output is data that the computer sends to the peripheral. See also Interface, Peripheral. INTERFACE - This is an electronic connection that allows input and output (I/O), between a computer and its peripherals. Taking this a step further, the keyboard is an interface between you and the computer. K or KILOBYTE - 1,024 bytes.....even though kilo means one thousand. KILOHERTZ or kHz - A hertz is a cycle per second. A cycle refers to how fast something operates. It is named after a German physicist called Heinrich Hertz. A kilohertz is one thousand hertz or cycles. Up until the late seventies, electrical speeds were in fact expressed as 'cycles per second' or 'CPS'. It's nice that the scientific community chose to honour one of its own by renaming something after him. Isn't it? KEYBOARD - This is the thing you type on when you're using a computer. A modern computer keyboard has the full complement of typewriter keys, plus the function keys, arrow or cursor keys, a numeric keypad and up to six special computer keys. See also Qwerty, Touch Typing. LAPTOP - A laptop is a special compact type of computer. It generally runs off of batteries. The newest laptops are easily as powerful as some of the latest desktops, although desktop computers still have the edge in raw computing power. Laptops like the Atari Stacy and ST Book, are expensive compared to the desktop models. The laptops are however, extremely portable..... which of course, is the point. LASER PRINTER - This is a special type of printer that uses a laser beam to create your words or images on paper. Most laser printers work like a copying machine, but for the fact they use a laser beam to help form the image. Laser printers are fast and quiet and produce excellent graphics. Most of the appropriate software for the Atari that requires the use of a printer, can now incorporate different drivers for laser printers. See also Dot Matrix, Parallel Port, Printer Drivers. LETTER QUALITY or LQ - In printer parlance, any font that is not the hideous draft or superdraft. It also refers to a slower printing speed that allows the largest number of pins (on a dot matrix printer), to imprint each individual character. See also C.P.S., Dot Matrix Printer, Font, Laser Printer, Printer Driver. LF - This is an acronym for Line Feed. In printer parlance, it is a control code that the computer sends to your printer, telling it to advance the paper one line. See also FF. LOAD - When you move information form a disk of any kind into a computers memory or RAM, you have loaded the information. The more RAM, the more you can load. Only after you have loaded something, like a data file in your wordprocessor, can you actually begin to work with it. When you save something, the data is loaded back into its storage area, on a hard or floppy disk. See also Delete, RAM, RamDisk, Save. LOGO - This is a powerful graphics programming language available for the Atari computer. At least according to Atari. In fact, LOGO hasn't been available for ages. See also BASIC. LOW RESOLUTION - This is one of the three display modes available with the Atari ST, STe, Mega, etc. In low res, the computers display consists of 320 dots of information horizontally by 200 dots of information vertically. In this mode the computer can display 16 colours at once, and select those colours from a palette of 512 colours. See also High Res, Med Res, Pixel, RGB. MACRO - This is a program within a program. A macro usually performs some function that would normally require you to type and point and click and hit certain keys to accomplish some function. The macro does all that repetitive stuff for you. Many wordprocessors, communications programs and graphics and art programs, allow you to create your own macros, in order to automate repetitive tasks within the main program. Sometimes, one or more of the function (F) keys can be assigned to a macro. See also Modem. MEDIUM RESOLUTION - This is one of three video display modes available with the Atari ST, STe, Mega, etc. In med res, the computers display consists of 640 dots of information horizontally by 200 hundred dots of information vertically. In this mode the computer can display up to four colours at once, from a palette of 512 colours. See also High Res, Low Res, Pixel, RGB. MEGABYTE or MB - A megabyte is one million bytes, or if you prefer 1,024 kilobytes. A megabyte is a large amount of storage space. A data file from your wordprocessor that contained all of 'War and Peace', would be slightly less than one megabyte. A typical Atari user, might have a hard drive capable of storing 60 MB of data. The typical PC user might have a hard drive capable of storing 120 MB of data. See also Bit, Byte, Gigabyte, Kilobyte. MEGAHERTZ or MHz - One MHz is one million hertz. The Atari ST/STe line of computers process information using a clock speed of eight or sixteen MHz. Other Atari computers use clock speeds of up to 33 MHz. These speeds tell you how fast information can be processed by your computer. The higher the number, the better. See also Kilohertz. MEMORY - The electronic circuits that the computer uses to store data and programs while you are actually using the data and programs. There are two kinds: RAM - Random Access Memory and ROM - Read Only Memory. The Atari desktop, GEM, and the Atari operating system, TOS, are permanently stored in a ROM chip in your computer. You cannot screw up a ROM chip, unless you douse it with water while it is running or smack it with a hammer. The nice thing about the Atari computer is that its operating system is in ROM. Even the most hamfisted new computer user can not ruin it. Ram on the other hand, is the kind of memory that a user can affect - read AND write. When you are using a program, you are working in RAM. A COPY of the program stored on the disk is fed into RAM, so that you can manipulate the data. If you don't have quite enough RAM to accomodate large programs, the computer has to keep going back to the storage disk to get the data that wouldn't fit into the RAM. The more RAM you have, the better. Remember one thing though, RAM is not permanent. Anything that is left in RAM...anything that you do not save or backup in other words, will be lost forever when you turn off your computer. See also RAM, Ramdisk, ROM. MENU BAR - This is the bar or line at the top of the GEM desktop and the open windows of most programs. When you first boot your computer the Menu Bar will have the following headings: Desk, File, View and Options. Other programs usually have additional and sometimes different headings. Moving the mouse pointer over the headings in the menu bar, makes them drop down and present their selections. See also Desktop, GEM, GUI, Window. MICROPROCESSOR - The principle component inside your Atari is a small electronic chip called a Microprocessor. It is about the size of a large postage stamp and about as thick as a quarter. It contains hundreds of thousands of transistors. This, at any rate is what the scientists tell me. Personally, if I can't even have a hope of seeing something, I have a hard time believing it. These chips may just be part of a nefarious global plot. I think that Aliens really run our computers! The very latest micro- processor designs incorporate literally millions of transistors inside of chips that are not much bigger than the Motorola 68000 series chip on which the Atari computer is based. See also MIPS, 68000, MultiTos, Processor, ROM, TOS. MIDI PORTS - Midi is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The ports built in to the left side of the Atari ST/STe, etc., allow you to connect directly to a midi keyboard or other midi device. Midi software allows you to record, compose, sample, sequence and even print out your musical creations. Composing on your computer is easy with the right software. GOOD composing is not! Atari computers have been used for years by many musicians, both amateur and professional, at home and in the studio. The computers have been used to compose and in some cases most recently to record, well known popular bands and soloists. One of the things that makes Atari computers stand out from other platforms has always been its capabilities in the field of music. For the uninitiated, there are several Shareware Midi programs out there that will both surprise and delight you. Try them. See also Interface, Peripheral, Ports, Shareware, Software. MIPS - This is an acronym for Millions of Instructions Per Second. The Motorola 68000 series of microprocessors used in Atari ST computers operate at a rate of 0.8 MIPS, at an average clock speed of 8 MHz. See also Microprocessors, MultiTOS, 68000. MODEM - This is an acronym for MOdulator/DEModulator. It is a piece of hardware that allows you to connect your computer directly to a phone line. The Atari computers can use virtually any modem. Hayes compatible modems are the most widely used type. The Hayes compatible modems that adhere to the V.32 bis standard are rapidly becoming the most useful. 9600 Baud (BPS) is also becoming the slowest speed you'll want to purchase. There are literally dozens of excellent communications programs for the Atari. The software helps you interface with whatever online service or BBS you want to deal with. The software can record and store your most frequently called numbers, record macros to both dial and log on to those BBS's, etc. The software can also facilitate the downloading and uploading of messages and files and other information. Modems are RS232 or serial devices/peripherals. See also Etiquette, Macro, Protocols, RS232, RTS/CTS, Serial Port, X-MODEM. MOUSE - This is the device that controls the movement of the pointer on your screen. The left button is used to do almost everything. The right button is nearly useless. Some graphics and midi packages and games make occassional use of the right button. Every mouse has a little rolling ball that you should clean and de-lint every couple of months or so. Some Mice (mouses?) are better (more equal?) than others. The Atari ST/STe line of computers has the most awkwardly placed Mouse Port. It is in front of the computer underneath the right end of the keyboard. Many mouse problems have been traced to loose connections on the circuit board inside the computer, where the mouse port is mounted. The problems arise form the force that is sometimes necessary to shove the mouse connector into place. See also Interface, Peripheral, Port. MOVE BAR - This is the long bar at the top of a window. Move the pointer onto the move bar, push and hold the left mouse button and you can drag the window to a new location on the desktop. See also Close Box, Full Box, Scroll Bar, Size Box, Window. MTBF - This is a popular computer hardware manufacturers acronym that stands for Mean Time Before Failure. It is a deceiving sales tool. Some makers will brag that their piece of hardware has a twenty thousand hour MTBF. This sounds absolutely terrific. It's not really. At least they don't use the word average instead of mean. 'Mean', in any calculation, is the midpoint in a column of numbers. If a maker tests ten hard drives and eight of them fail after eleven thousand hours and two of them last twenty nine thousand hours, the MTBF would be 14,500 hours. Unfortunately, eight out of ten didn't last that long. The average however, would be 14,600 - less accurate still. It is useful to note that in competitive figure skating, diving, etc., the highest and lowest scores for any particular performance are always thrown out. The scores left over are then averaged to determine what can only be the most accurate placement. It is also useful to note that modern electronic testing can be extremely harsh and destructive in nature. That has resulted, by and large in very reliable electronic devices. My old SF 354 Atari external floppy drive ran for - as near as I can estimate - over sixteen thousand hours before it failed, although it was rated for ten thousand hours. This was a case where the Mean justified the End. Ha, ha, ha, I crack myself up. MULTITOS - As of this writing, this is the latest version of TOS. It is numbered TOS 4.04 and is refered to as Falcon TOS It is unusual in that it allows you to run several different programs at the same time, each in its own window, while sacrificing only a small amount of speed. The MultiTOS software does not actually run several programs simultaneously - although it certainly appears that way. What it does is simply switch very, very, rapidly between programs each and every second, running each one in sequence a little at a time. The more advanced microprocessors - 68030 and 68040 - naturally run this system much faster than the 68000, because of their greater number of MIPS, higher clock speed and wider data bus. MultiTOS is most effective when used with 68030 Motorola microprocessors and higher. MultiTOS is also most effective when used with a large amount of RAM. It is also available as a stand alone piece of software. See also GEM, Microprocessor, MIPS, RAM, 68000, TOS, Window. NEWDESK - Beginning with TOS 2.05/6, the GEM desktop became known as Newdesk. Newdesk is great because you can drag programs onto the desktop and leave them there. Newdesk has many other features that make it fast and versatile to use: things like being able to choose 'Select All' from the File menu list when moving, copying or deleting a bunch of files. It beats the heck out of drawing those Ghost Boxes. See also Icon, TOS. PARALLEL PORT or PRINTER PORT - This 'plug' or 'port' is clearly labeled on the back of your Atari. You connect your printer directly to it. You can use almost any printer with your Atari computer, as long as you have a compatible driver for that printer. You will find industry standard parallel ports on virtually every computer made today. See also Dot Matrix, Laser Printer, Port, Printer, Printer Driver, Serial port. PATH - The path or pathname is the exact location of a program or data file. For instance, a file named Goose.PRG located on a disk in your B drive, inside a folder called Dufus, would have the pathname of: B:\Dufus\Goose.PRG See also Syntax. PERIPHERAL - Any kind of external device, like a modem, printer, disk drive, monitor, midi keyboard, etc., that you connect to your computer. A cup of coffee sitting on your hard drive is NOT a peripheral. See also Input/Output, Hardware, Interface. PIXEL - Most computer displays are made up of tiny dots called pixels. This is an acronym for PICture ELement. I know, I know, it should really be Picel. But that sounds too much like pickle. So somebody added an 'x' to it. The Atari monitor allows you to see these pixels in much the same way as other monitors. The number of pixels displayed can be either 320x200, 640x200 or 640x400. The first number is the horizontal measurement while the second number is the vertical measurement. Some of the newer Atari computers, like the Falcon, can display even more dots at one time on the screen, as can the Atari TT030 - 640x480. This makes for very accurate depictions of pictures and graphics. The more dots on screen at one time, the more sharply focused and detailed the image will be. See also Display, High Res, Low Res, Med Res, RGB. POINTER - This is also called the mouse pointer. It is the arrow on your screen that is controlled by the movements of your mouse. See also Alternate Key, Arrow keys, Cursor. PORT - A Port is anyplace where you can plug in a peripheral device of some sort. Modems, printers, mouses (mice?), external floppy drives, joysticks, cartridges, hard drives, monitors, Midi Keyboards and devices, etc., all plug into specific ports on the back, sides and front of your Atari computer. See also Parallel Port, Peripheral, Serial Port. PRINTER - This is a machine that sits on a table or desk and makes noise, while it spits out the printed results of all your hard work. Ink-Jet and Laser printers are nicer because they are quieter and faster than noisy old Dot Matrix printers. Dot Matrix printers are cheaper however, and for most people....fast enough. All Lasers and most Ink-Jets do colour printing noticeably better than Dot Matrix printers. Dot Matrix printers use good old-fashioned inked ribbons that you have to replace every few hundred pages. The ribbons are contained in pop out cartridges, so the job is rarely messy. The other printers use something called toner which is more expensive than ribbons but which produces images that are much nicer to look at. As with most things, the key to success is not always the quality of the tools at hand, but how well the worker uses them. A poorly laid out document with inappropriate fonts and goofy graphics, can look just as terrible on a Laser printer as it can on a Dot Matrix printer. See also Dot Matrix, Hardware, Parallel Port, Peripheral, Printer Driver. PRINTER DRIVER - This is not a chauffeur of some sort. It is merely a small data file that sits in amongst your wordprocessor files or graphics and DTP files. It sends the correct signals to your printer, allowing it to properly print your document or creation. Many printer drivers are interchangeable. Fooling around will rarely hurt anything. There are three standard code sets. They are the Epson, Hewlett Packard and IBM standards. The manual provided with your printer will tell you which standard your printer emulates. That makes it easier to find the Printer Driver that most correctly matches your Printer. See also Emulate, Parallel Port, Printer. PROCESSOR - Any electronic device that allows you to manipulate data, using some sort of interface. See also Digital Signal Processor, Interface, Microprocessor, 68000. PROTOCOLS - This refers to the different methods of transferring data between two computers linked via a modem. There are nearly two dozen different protocols. The differences between them are mainly the varying sizes of data packets and methods used to check for errors in the data that is being uploaded or downloaded. The different combinations of these two factors result in some protocols being faster than others at transferring data. See also Modem, RTS/CTS, Serial Port, VT52, X-MODEM. PPM - This is printer parlance for Pages Per Minute. It is an acronym usually used to express the printing speed of Laser Printers. See also CPS, Printers. PROGRAM FILE - This is a file that contains a program that you can run and make some use of. Program file icons are usually shaded at the top and rectangular in shape. They can have the three letter extensions of .APP, .GTP, .PRG, .TTP, , .TOS, and a couple of others that are too rare to mention. .PRG is the most common program file extension you'll find on Atari software. If you double click on any file with the .PRG extension for instance the program will launch. Alternatively you can click once on such a file and then launch it by selecting OPEN from the File Menu. See also File, Icon, Ramdisk, Read Me, Shareware, Software. QWERTY - This is pronounced Kwerty. It is probably the type of keyboard you have on your computer. The quasi-acronym represents the first six letters above your left home row on the keyboard. See also Touch Typing. RAM - What you see on your screen is in RAM. The information stored in RAM is lost each time you turn off your computer. RAM comes on little black chips about the size of a finger nail. RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory. The RAM is where you actually manipulate data. Disks are where you store data. The general rule in all computing is: The more RAM the better. See also Accessory, Disks, Memory. RAMDISK - This is a popular thing among Atari users. It is not really a physical disk of any kind. A RAMDISK is actually a program which is used to isolate part of your RAM, making it act just like another disk drive, complete with a letter all its own. It allows you to place all of the pertinent files of a particular program in RAM and work with them at the highest system speed, avoiding the need for the system to access a floppy disk for program information. Some Ramdisk programs can survive a warmboot. See also Boot, Application, Data Files, Program, Software. READ.ME - This is an ASCII file that is included on virtually every piece of software you will ever come across. Always read the READ.ME file or files, first.......Always! They often contain information about the program you are getting ready to use, that is not included in the manual. This is primarily because READ.ME files can be updated with a little typing as opposed to manuals, which require expensive complete reprinting or inserts. Many, many times this information can be absolutely crucial. On the Atari computer, READ.ME files can be opened simply by double clicking on them. The file viewer built into GEM and TOS will allow you to read the files. Clicking the left mouse button or hitting the return key, will usually advance the file, line by line, page by page after it's opened. See also Accessory, Shareware, Software. RGB - This is an acronym for Red, Green, Blue. These are the three colours that the computer produces to create its colour display. Each triangular pattern of Red, Green and Blue form one Pixel. In the Atari ST, eight different intensities each of red, green and blue enable you to create 512 different colours. The newest operating systems and video cards allow far more than this. The Atari MEGA and TT are both capable of providing a palette of thousands of colours right out of the box. Add on video cards in some cases allow you to select from over 16 million colours. See also Display, High Res, Low Res, Med Res, Pixel. ROM - This is an acronym for Read Only Memory. The Atari computer uses ROM chips to permanently store all the information for the desktop and operating system. Special machines are used to burn the information into and onto these chips. You cannot change the information in them. When you upgrade your Atari operating system, it is these ROM chips which are replaced. See also GEM, Memory, RAM, TOS, 68000. ROOT DIRECTORY - This is the main listing of files on your boot disk or boot drive or any other disk of information. For a file to be in the root directory, it must be in plain view as soon as you open up a disk by clicking on it. A file in the root directory cannot be inside a folder of any kind, obviously. Desk accessories must be in the root directory of a boot disk or boot drive, in order for them to load when you boot the computer. See also Accessory, Boot Disk, RAM. RS232 - This is the serial port on the back of your computer. It is labeled 'Modem'. This is an industry standard port or plug which allows you to connect virtually any modem to your Atari computer. You can also connect a serial printer to this port. Don't do it. A serial printer, if you can find one, is a collosal pain in the butt. For you trivia freaks, RS232 is the 'C' revision of the 232nd recommended standard dreamed up by the Electronics Industries Association (EIA). Technically, that makes its official name the RS232C. On top of that, the EIA renamed the RS232C, the EIA-232D Interface, in honour of the ports 25th anniversary. Thank god nobody listened to any of this nonsense. It's still referred to as the RS232 port or Serial Port. See also Modem, Serial Port. RPM - This is an acronym that stands for Revolutions Per Minute. Your average, good quality floppy drive rotates at a minimum of 300 RPM. RTS/CTS - This is an acronym for Ready To Send/Clear To Send. It is a way for two computers and their corresponding modems to 'shake hands' so that each of them knows when to transmit or receive data. It is a form of handshaking best used with modems using speeds of 9600 Baud or higher. The other method of handshaking is called XON/XOFF. It is best used at lower speeds. There was an RTS/CTS bug in Atari computers for many years. There are several small programs freely available that fix this bug, if you have it. Log on to your local Atari BBS files area and download the program. See also Baud, Modem, Protocol, Serial Port, XMODEM. SAVE - This is the process of transferring information from RAM to a file on disk, for more permanent storage. If you want it, Save it. If you don't want it, Delete it. See also Backup, Delete, Load. SCREEN DUMP - See Dump. SCROLL - Clicking on the direction arrows on the upper and lower right corners and the bottom left corner of a text window, allows you to move the information through the window. That lets more information come up or down or sideways into the window. SCROLL BAR - See Scroll. These are the bars along the right side and along the bottom of text windows that contain the scrolling arrows. See also GEM. SCSI - this is an acronym for Small Computer Systems Interface. It is pronounced 'Scuzzy'....Honest. It is a very fast and versatile kind of Serial port. Many peripherals such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives are now being designed to take advantage of SCSI standards. See also Disk, Modem, Serial Port. SECTOR - This is a section of circular track on a floppy or hard disk. Sectors are usually 128, 256, 512, 1,024 or 2,048 bytes long. Double density floppy drives will format their floppies with sectors that are 512 bytes long. Higher density floppy drives can format high density disks with sectors that are twice as long. Of course the magnetic coatings on the higher density disks require a read/write head that can produce enough voltage to move the coatings effectively. This is the main reason that a regular floppy drive will not work with a high density disk placed in it. As well, the physical width of the individual tracks is smaller. That means that a more finely tuned controller mechanism is required to properly read and write to the floppy. See also Disk, Disk Drive, Format. SERIAL PORT - On the Atari copmuter, the Serial Port is labeled Modem. It is a special type of port into which a variety of interesting devices can be plugged. A Modem is the device most often plugged in there. Certain hard drives are also plugged in there, some scanners and some printers. Never ever use a serial printer if it can possibly be avoided. They can be aggravating. See also Modem, Port, Printer, RS-232. SHAREWARE - Shareware describes a category of software, most often programmed or written by private individuals, freely distributed in stores and on BBS's. You may use the software for awhile, to see if you like it. If you continue to use it, say after a couple of weeks, you are expected to forward a specific sum of money to the author of the Shareware. It is usually not very much. Never abuse Shareware. If you use it, pay for it. If you don't use it, pass it on to someone else or delete it. A tremendous amount of hard work by many small programmers, goes into the production of Shareware. If you use their stuff, give them their due. If you don't, you're nothing more than a thief. There is an enormous amount of excellent Shareware out there. The full version of this Glossary is a five dollar piece of Shareware! See the first page and/or the ORDER.DOC file. Some, although certainly not all, of the best software for the Atari computer has been written and released as Shareware. See also Accessory, Software. SIZE BOX - Every GEM window has a size box. It is located in the lower right corner and it looks like a small rectangle with a slash through it. Move the mouse pointer onto it, push and hold the left mouse button and then reduce or enlarge the size of the window. See also, Close Box, Full Box, Move Bar, Window. SIZING - This is the process of changing the size or shape of a window. It is almost invariably done with the mouse. See also Close Box, Full Box, Move Box, Size Box, Desktop, GEM. SOFTWARE - This is what makes your computer worth having. The vast collection of programs that control your hardware and let you get your work done are referred to as Software. Software is used to control hardware. One of the first pieces of software every new user should purchase, is a good commercial or shareware back-up program. All new software you obtain, should be backed up before you do anything else. Never, ever use originals. See also Accessory, Backup, Desk Accessory, Program, Shareware. SOURCE - The original from which a copy is made. When you copy a file or duplicate a disk, the original is called the source. The source drive is the drive from which you are copying. Never, ever use a Source disk or otherwise original disk to run a program. Always use a copy or backup. See also Backup, Destination, Diskcopy. ST LANGUAGE DISK - This is the disk that came with your computer. It contains ST BASIC, a sample program and the two desk accessory files CONTROL.ACC and EMULATOR.ACC. CONTROL.ACC is the Atari control panel. EMULATOR.ACC is a very basic communications program to be used with a modem. See also Backup, Basic, Desk Accessory, Modem, Serial Port, Root Directory. STRING - In computer jargon, this term applies to any single or group of characters. A string of text is a single character or line of characters - they can be words - or a command you type, or any other alphanumeric information. Alphanumeric means 'one word'. For example, this is a String: 'Abcdefg' This is not: 'Abc Defg' See also Alternate, Syntax. SYNTAX - This refers to the format of a command line. Because Atari operating systems are not primitive, they do not require command lines to make them work. However, command lines do pop up from time to time, as in the form of path names. For instance: B:\Dufus\GOOSE.PRG is a proper path name. The syntax is correct because the Drive letter is listed first, followed by a full colon, a backslash, the name of a folder, and in this example the name of a file contained in that folder. Dufus\B:\GOOSE.PRG is not a proper path name because the syntax is incorrect. Some software for the Atari requires limited use of very basic command lines. It is rare though. See also Alternate, GEM, String. TEXT EDITOR - This is a special, simple type of Wordprocessor. It is used to create or edit text files only - ASCII files in other words. A text editor lacks most of the fancy formatting feature of a full blown wordprocessor. A text editor also can not be used to import pictures or other graphics. See also ASCII. THREAD - This word is used to refer to any ongoing topic of conversation and messages on a BBS. See also B.B.S., Modem. TOS - This is an acronym for The Operating System. TOS is also the acronym for Tramiel Operating System. I'm not sure which is correct. I don't really care. If Jack and Sam Tramiel (who purchased control of Atari in the early eighties) want an operating system named after them - that's just peachy with me. TOS controls how the computer operates the GEM desktop, the mouse, and any peripherals connected to the computer. TOS is good. DOS is bad. The first TOS was version 1.0, and was supplied on a floppy disk. Thereafter TOS was supplied and installed on ROM chips. Successive versions have been called: 1.02 (referred to as 1.2) 1.04 (referred to as 1.4) 1.6 1.62 (found in the STe versions of Atari computers) 2.05 (Newdesk) 2.06 3.10 3.06 4.0 (MultiTos) 4.04 (Falcon Tos) Most STe computers can be upgraded all the way to TOS 2.06. It is worthy to note that upgrading your operating system is usually the least expensive way to make a large improvement in your system. It is worthy to note here that Atari has an unusual operating system. Virtually all other computer platforms use a software based operating system: the operating system comes to you on floppy disks and you install it on your hard drive. See also ROM, Software. TOUCH TYPING - This is a universal system of typing that uses primarily the four fingers of each hand. The thumbs are used for the space bar and the zero on the numeric keypad. The Touch Typing system was developed after the invention of the QWERTY keyboard. A quick course in touch typing at your local community college will enable you to speed up your work on the computer tremendously. The qwerty keyboard was developed in answer to the a mechanical limitations of early typewriters. The fact was, at the time of the earliest typewriters, that many typists found they could type at a rate far higher than the key linkages could handle. The qwerty keyboard was designed to slow things down! There is another system around called the DVORAK (Duh-Vor-Shak) system, that uses a more logical keyboard layout with sensible vowel groupings, etc. The keyboards are extremely hard to find and are mainly used by specialty typists who type up very large documents. Some large publishing houses and research facilities make use of these things. There is also software available that enables your Atari computer to emulate a Dvorak keyboard. See also Home Row, Qwerty. TRACK - Any one of the circular paths on a disk. Tracks contain the data that is written to the disk. Each track is made up of smaller sections called Sectors. See also Disk, Sector, Format. TRASH - This is the GEM Desktop icon used to delete folders or files from the desktop. In Newdesk and the newest replacement desktops, you can also use the trash to delete some desktop icons. Once a thing is deleted using the trash icon, it's gone forever. There are some newer desk accessories and utilities that allow you to recover deleted files. They are very good programs to have around, particularly as accessories when you accidentaly delete the wrong file.....it will happen, trust me. See also Accessory, Delete, GEM. USER - You! UTILITY - A Utility or Utility program is an awful lot like an Accessory. Many Utilities do exactly the same thing as accessories. Utilities however, are also programs that don't have to be loaded from the root directory of a boot disk or boot drive. Some people feel that utilities are more useful than accessories because of that. Others disagree. In any event, a well rounded collection of software contains many utilities and accessories. They are both used to remedy or moderate deficiencies in hardware and software. See also Accessory, Bug, Desk Accessory, Shareware, Software. VT-52 (TERMINAL) EMULATOR - This is a communications program, albeit a simple one, that you will find on your ST Language disk in the form of EMULATOR.ACC. You can use it to turn your Atari into a terminal linked to another computer or BBS. You need a modem. Many BBS's like Compuserve and GEnie have their own communications software programs specifically for the Atari. They are free and are well worth downloading and using. There are also a hundred different commercial and shareware communications programs. See also Accessory, Modem, Protocols, RS232, Serial Port. WINDOW - This is the work area the Atari computer uses to display files and folders or to run programs. The Atari ST/STe computers allow you to open up to four windows at one time. Other Atari computers with more advanced operating sytems allow you to open even more windows. WINDOW BAR - See Move Bar. WRITE PROTECT - This is a method of protecting information on a floppy disk from accidentally being altered or deleted or erased or written over. On 3.5 inch floppies there is a little tile that you can slide up and down. It is located in the upper right corner of the disk. Slide it up so that you can see through the hole and your disk is write-protected. Slide the little tile back down over the hole and you can now write to the disk again. Always write protect original disks. It works the same way as the little break-off tab on an audio cassette. If the tab or in the case of a floppy disk, the little tile, is in place - the hard plastic forces a tiny push button inside your drive onto its contact. That contact completes a circuit that allows you to record signals. See also Backups, Disk. WYSIWYG - This is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. It refers to a program's ability to display information on screen in exactly the same way it will be printed. There are always some differences however. When you use a WYSIWYG program on a regular basis, you get to know those differences and learn to compensate for them. WYSIWYG is extremely important in DTP and Computer Aided Design, Drawing and Wordprocessing. The best software companies actually brag about how 'WYSIWYG', their products are. X-MODEM - XMODEM was the name of an old computer communications program that used modems to send files. Today, X-Modem refers to a way to send files between two computers without any errors creeping into the data being transmitted. The X-Modem sending method is also the way to send programs and other binary files that have been compressed. X-Modem transfer is also called error-free and binary file transfer. There are quite a few flavours of X-Modem: Y-Modem, Y-Modem G, Z-Modem and truly strange protocols like Kermit, which was named after the famous frog. See also Protocols. XON/XOFF - See RTS/CTS. ***************************************************************** THE END *****************************************************************