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- ====================================================================
-
- (C) 1992 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari RoundTables. May be
- reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari RoundTables on GEnie
- are the *official* information services of the Atari Corporation.
-
-
- To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem in HALF DUPLEX)
- 800-638-8369. Upon connection, type HHH
- Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GENIE and hit
- RETURN. The system will now prompt you for your information.
-
- ====================================================================
-
-
- ************
- Topic 11 Mon Jun 19, 1989
- DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] (Forwarded)
- Sub: Ask the CodeHeads
-
- Got some ideas for a new product that we need?? Give the CodeHeads your ideas.
- 203 message(s) total.
- ************
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 1 Sat Mar 07, 1992
- J.LEMLEY [Jack] at 08:48 EST
-
- Hey guys,
-
- I posted the message last night about my floppies continuing to run after boot
- until one of them is accessed. What I didn't notice then is that even after I
- access a drive to stop it from spinning and it stops both access lights (I
- have two floppies ext is a new style SF314) continue to flicker faintly the
- whole time my system is on!
-
- I installed my TOS 2.06 yesterday after receiving it from you guys. I just
- plugged them into my 1040 STe w/4megs. Everything else works super!!!
-
- Thanks
- Jack
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 2 Sat Mar 07, 1992
- C.F.JOHNSON [CodeHead] at 13:41 EST
-
- The drive lights flicker because Atari rewrote the media change detection
- code to be much more reliable in TOS 2.06. I think yours is the first report
- we've heard of drives continuing to run after bootup, though...
-
- - Charles
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 3 Sat Mar 07, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 18:24 EST
-
- Yes, Jack, as Charles said, your floppies shouldn't continue to spin after
- bootup. You should test this with no resident programs installed. I suspect
- that something in your boot configuration is causing this. You may also find
- that you're still using a program or two that are not needed under the new
- TOS.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 4 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- STARFALL [Alan] at 05:35 EST
-
- As far as I know, the drive lights flicker under all TOS versions.
- I've got 1.[0]4 right now in my 1040STf, and I can see the drive light
- flashing. It did it with 1.0, too. It's caused by TOS checking the write-
- protect status of the drive, in an attempt to determine if you took the disk
- out or not.
-
- /
- / * / Alan
- * *
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 5 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- J.LEMLEY [Jack] at 11:01 EST
-
- Charles,
- I've done some more testing on the my floppie continuing to run after boot. I
- am using a blank disk in drive A with a NoRoach boot sector. If I put just a
- blank formatted disk in drive A at boot time the drive does NOT continue to
- run after boot! Go figure!
-
- Thanks
- Jack
-
- BTW glad to hear the drive light flicker is normal
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 6 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 14:53 EST
-
- Jack,
- It would seem the noroach is causing the problem. There is a program
- called driveoff.prg you should be able to get and put in the AUTO folder to
- solve this problem.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 7 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 16:15 EST
-
- NoRoach doesn't seem to work under TOS 2.06 anyway. Even with it installed in
- my bootup floppy the bootup will wait the full 90 seconds unless interrupted
- by a keypress. The only difference is that there is activity on the screen (a
- growing and then a shrinking black bar) to indicate that something is
- happening. Of course, there's no message stating "Waiting for hard drive spin-
- up. Hit any key to proceed...". That might be asking too much. <grin>
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 8 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- R.GOFF [BOB] at 18:31 EST
-
- Whether drive lights flicker in TOS 1.4 seems to vary between machines. Mine
- don't, not even in a very dark room.
-
- Bob
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 9 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 20:29 EST
-
- C.F.JOHNSON:
- I haven't heard from you on this...I guess I assumed John would relay the
- question to you. Is there a problem with Font Tricks for TOS fonts running on
- a TT with 3.06? My TOS fonts become half-height and unreadable. I love the
- program but I use TOS programs so much I can't do with the problem. Thanks for
- any help.
-
- -Scott @ SDS
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 10 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- N.WEINRESS [Norm] at 20:52 EST
-
- The floppy motor continuing to run (even without a diskette in the drive) has
- been a problem since TOS 1.4. John and Charles, Tony Lee at TCN says it
- occurs in all versions of TOS since 1.4, in fcat. I wrote a little program in
- GFA called STOPDRV that merely accesses drive A, and have included it in the
- AUTO folder. The only problem is it will hang things up if there is no
- diskette in Drive A.
-
- Norm
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 11 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- C.F.JOHNSON [CodeHead] at 21:18 EST
-
- Scott,
-
- Are you using Font Tricks 2, from the CodeHead Utilities disk? If you're
- using the much earlier version that was published in ST-Log more than 5 years
- ago, it's definitely not going to work right. But version 2 from the
- Utilities disk works fine; I just tested it on my TT.
-
- - Charles
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 12 Sun Mar 08, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 23:20 EST
-
- John,
- That's to make people read the DOCS. Grin.
- What they need to do is put in a subtle key combo that you can only find by
- reading ALL the manual.
- Sadistic, huh?
-
- Bob,
- I bet that if you put a scope on that LED you would find that it is being
- pulsed, but the individual LED might not be turned on by the low voltage, or
- short pulse, as LEDs vary as to their turn on point, just like people do.
- Grin.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 13 Mon Mar 09, 1992
- S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 02:05 EST
-
- Charles,
-
- I am using Font Tricks 2 from the Utilities Disk. All of my TOS fonts appear
- 8x8 though spacing is 8x16. I tried with all of the included test fonts to no
- avail. It seems to use every other scan line from the original 8x16 font as
- mentioned in the manual making the text small and unreadable. I was running
- Font Tricks from within Multidesk with TOS3.06
-
- -Scott @ SDS
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 14 Mon Mar 09, 1992
- J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 10:12 EST
-
- Norm, right! I remember now - it was YOU who wrote that nifty little STOPDRV
- program that I use in my auto folder -- and this is with my Mega 4 with TOS
- 1.2! It has always worked like a dream for me to get rid of that pesky drive A
- access sound.
-
- - Jason Saffer
- Hercules, California
- Sunday, March 8, 1992 10:30:50 pm
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 15 Mon Mar 09, 1992
- C.F.JOHNSON [CodeHead] at 11:55 EST
-
- Scott,
-
- All right - I did manage to duplicate your problem. It's caused by using a
- font in TT medium resolution that is intended for ST low or medium resolution.
- For now, I suggest you use one of the following fonts instead:
-
- CHICAGO2
- CALIGRPH
- TEMPUS
- THIN
-
- and you won't have a problem. Since these fonts are designed for an 8x16
- matrix, they'll also look better on screen. If you have the font editor
- included with the original DEGAS (not DEGAS Elite), you can fix it so your
- other fonts will work too, by loading them into the font editor, turning OFF
- their "half-height" flags, and resaving them.
-
- It's unlikely that there will be another version of Font Tricks, because our
- new version of Quick ST/TT will also load custom fonts (and it doesn't have
- this problem, of course!) -- in a special way that lets it display the fonts
- up to two times faster than if they were loaded with Font Tricks.
-
- - Charles
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 16 Mon Mar 09, 1992
- SFRT-ASST [Kene @ SFRT] at 14:04 EST
-
- DEGAS or FSMGDOS fonts?
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 17 Mon Mar 09, 1992
- J.NESS [Jim] at 22:26 EST
-
- Norm -
-
- Re: the drive that runs forever.
-
- Amend that to include TOS 1.2. Happens on every warmboot, but not on any
- coldboot.
-
- -JN
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 18 Tue Mar 10, 1992
- S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 01:14 EST
-
- Great Charles, I'll try those fonts and I am a registered owner of Quick TT 3
- and will upgrade so I can use it in conjunction with FSM. Maybe the next time
- I'm over there I could use your copy of Degas to flip my favorites. I only
- have Degas Elite. Thanks for the reply.
-
- -Scott @ SDS
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 24 Sun Mar 15, 1992
- GSCOTT-MOORE [Gerry] at 23:50 EST
-
- \\\---
-
- I was just using a new CH utility CopyPath or some such that steals my paths
- form LGF and sends them to MaxiFile or vice versa. In the help screen it
- mentions "MultiFile". What is that? How could a utility get by my prying
- eyes?
-
- \\\--- Gerry
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 26 Mon Mar 16, 1992
- C.F.JOHNSON [CodeHead] at 02:10 EST
-
- Gerry,
-
- MultiFile is a much earlier version of MaxiFile, which is included on the
- CodeHead Utilities disk. You haven't missed anything. :)
-
- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
- Randy,
-
- Take it easy. Don't do anything stupid. You don't want to spend the rest
- of your life paying for one dumb mistake, do you? It's just not worth it, I
- tell you! Now, come on ... give me that gun.
-
- - Charles
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 27 Mon Mar 16, 1992
- A.MASON4 [Anna] at 20:12 EST
-
- Alan,
-
- I currently have TOS 1.2 in my 1040STf and have never had the drive lights
- flicker all the time. The only time my drive lights come on is when they are
- accessed, reading/writing to a disk, or pressing ESC for a media change.
-
- Anna
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 30 Tue Mar 17, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 10:23 EST
-
- Anna,
-
- If you run your computer in a totally dark room, you may be surprised to see
- that your drive light does flicker constantly, albeit very dimly.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 31 Tue Mar 17, 1992
- WAYNED. [Wayne] at 19:03 EST
-
- I don't know if you recall, but a while back (a month or so ago) I said I
- was unable to get NeoDesk3 running with HotWire/MDD/HotSaver/Maxifile/PinHead,
- etc. Well I found the problem and I'm kicking myself for not checking that as
- one of the first things given troubles in the past.
-
- I just got around to the daunting task of disabling everything and putting
- it all back one by one (Auto's and Acc's/Mdx's) today. I was trying to figure
- it out more for a friend of mine who wants to buy MDD but insists on NeoDesk.
- Myself personally I rarely use Neodesk3, usually then only when I want to show
- off the 'pretty' desktop. For speed and ease of use I use HotWire religously.
-
- I found the problem was SHADOW.PRG in the Auto folder running before
- NEOLOAD.PRG. By moving it after NEOLOAD everything works fine now. I am
- running it in non-reset-proof mode because of problems with other programs
- when I try to run it in reset-proof mode.
- As I said I'm kicking myself for not checking this as one of my first things
- given the fact that it had caused problems with other programs in the past
- especially in relation to its order in the AUTO folder.
-
- Anyways, should I ever want to run NeoDesk I now can without having to give
- up all my CodeHead utils. Of course I also found out that a couple of my
- NeoDesk ACC's are out of date and don't work with the new NeoDesk3 and some of
- its files. :-) <shows you how long it's been since I used NeoDesk regularly>
-
- Wayne <Ok, HotSaver has to be before NeoLoad, and Shadow after it, but only
- when there's a full moon or a racoon knocking on your mailbox. Or was that
- when the sun is at high noon and Alan Ladd is standing in your driveway
- calling you out?>
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 32 Tue Mar 17, 1992
- STARFALL [Alan] at 20:08 EST
-
- It may be the some drive lights aren't bright enough to be visible
- when they flicker. The flickering of the red light on my 1040STf is barely
- visable if I shade it with my hand. The other colored LEDs that Atari used on
- later models of the ST aren't as bright, so they may not light enough to be
- seen.
- Try looking at it closely in a dark room.
-
- /
- / * / Alan
- * *
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 37 Wed Mar 18, 1992
- A.MASON4 [Anna] at 20:46 EST
-
- Wow! I tried your suggestion and was shocked to see it flickering! That's
- really weird.
-
- Anna ;-)
-
-
-
- STARFALL [Alan]
-
- The light on my 1040STf is orange(?) instead of red but, like you, by shading
- it with my hand I could see the flicker.
-
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 39 Fri Mar 20, 1992
- HUMPHRIES.JR [Roger] at 07:23 EST
-
- John,
-
- I've been reading the back messages and saw that in msg 7, March 8, you said
- that NoRoach doesn't seem to work under TOS 2.06. I have just recently
- installed my TEC boards (they are GREAT, thanks!) and am using NoRoach for
- boot-up with no problems. System is a Mega4 with MegaFile 60 hard drive.
- Works ok with very little delay time, in fact close to 0 (at 0 it usually is
- ok, occassionally I have to reboot.
-
- -- Roger
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 40 Sat Mar 21, 1992
- S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 00:42 EST
-
- HUMPHRIES.JR:
-
- I have NOROACH and TOS 3.06. Basically it works but the icon display is all
- fouled up. I assume that's because it boots in TT medium. I wouldn't assume
- the same problem would be associated with TOS 2.06 though. I _have_ booted
- with disks in my system with a newer version of NOROACH installed, I just
- don't know where to find it. I E-mailed Ken B., the author, an inquiry.
-
- -Scott @ SDS
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 41 Sat Mar 21, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 04:10 EST
-
- My experience with NoRoach and TOS 2.06 is this:
-
- On a cold boot (from power off) it is totally ineffective. The 90-second
- pause is interrupted only by a keypress.
-
- On a cold, powered boot, NoRoach will kick in after the memory test, but it
- will not interrupt the memory test no matter how short the timeout is
- configured.
-
- On a warm boot, NoRoach is not needed, just as on other TOSes. The icon
- flashes as expected in all cases.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 42 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- N.WEINRESS [Norm] at 01:16 EST
-
- John,
-
- My experience is that NoRoach won't interfere with the memory test from a cold
- (power off) boot, but I get immediately to the ICDBOOT after the memory test
- finishes (if I don't shortstop by hitting a key).
-
- Norm
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 43 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 04:29 EST
-
- Hmmm...I wonder what's different. Norm, are you using your hardware delay to
- turn on the computer after the hard drive spins up? I'm turning everything on
- from a single power strip. It always waits the entire time if I don't hit a
- key. Later, cold boots cause NoRoach to kick in after the memory test.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 44 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 11:30 EST
-
- I use the program SCSI Wait 2. It works great for letting me know exactly when
- the HD is ready to rock and roll. This may or may not fit your needs/desires.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 45 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 12:54 EST
-
- Wayne,
-
- Does SCSI Wait 2 install in a boot sector? If it's just an AUTO program, then
- there's no benefit to TOS 2.0> users. The AUTO programs will not be executed
- until the bootup pause has expired or a key is pressed.
-
- Those who have not used TOS 2.0 or greater can't really conceptualize just how
- silly this bootup pause really is. Yes, you may know that all you have to do
- is hit a key, but it's _always_ that step (on a cold boot) and no matter how
- sharp you are, there will be times when you're sitting there waiting for the
- computer to do something, even though you know it's just waiting for you to
- press a key.
-
- Then there are those who actually _do_ wait for the entire pause to expire,
- because they either don't know that they can continue (there's no message, but
- at least in x.06 there's a shrinking bar causing some movement on the screen)
- or they actually are afraid they'll mess something up or somehow make the
- system less stable by hitting a key.
-
- It's fascist, really...
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 46 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- M.HILL13 [Mike] at 14:07 EST
-
- John E.,
-
- BootTyme is up in the library, it installs itself in the boot sector of a
- floppy and waits for the hard drive to spin up before booting to the hard
- drive. It seems to work VERY well. Im using it on a Mega STE right now. Ive
- heard other good stories from people in our users group with a variety of hard
- drive setups (SCSI, MFM, ICD Host's, Supra Hosts, Berkley Hosts) and all
- report no problems.
-
- Try it!
-
- Mike
-
- P.S. Sending the $20 for Quick St (or The Wizzer, whatever the new name!) with
- my QST 3 monday morning. Looking forward to the update! Keep up the good
- work!
-
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 47 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 18:03 EST
-
- SCSI Wait 2 installs into the floppy disk boot sector and polls the SCSI
- devices until they are ready, then allows the boot up to proceed. I use it on
- my TOS 1.06 system. It's quite nice and it's in the Software Library here.
-
- I understand that some hard drives don't handle the SCSI polling well, so it
- may not work for everyone's setup.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 48 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- WALLY at 22:44 EST
-
- Howdy,
-
- John - SCSI Wait 2 installs on a floppy boot sector.
-
- Wally
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 49 Sun Mar 22, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 23:22 EST
-
- John,
- The TOS 2.06 should at least alert you to the wait by displaying the logo
- and memory test progress. Or are you like me, I take a short nap while
- booting.. Grin.
- You would understand if you saw my AUTO folder, and MDX folder, and had an
- OLD SLOW SH204...
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 50 Mon Mar 23, 1992
- F.GORON [Frank] at 01:26 EST
-
- + Just wonderin'# ...
-
- I know 0 you have an Ic program for your TEC 2.06 customers that will edit
- icons but is there any possibility you will make that program available for
- non-TEC customers? Fr'instance, anyone that owns a TT or MSTE is instantly a
- non-customer, but if you made this program available, some will take you up on
- it. Maybe you could present it as a stand-alone prg, or perhaps you could add
- it to the Codehead Utilities package. That prg alone could possibly justify
- an update to the Utilities package. I know that I'd consider it.
-
- At the moment I'm aware of one commercial program for Newdesk Icon editing and
- NO PD/shareware pr, and that program isn't even compatible with Neodesk's icon
- format (I believe your's is) and that's the format I'm most interested in.
-
- So whaddya say? Ya wanna make some non-customers into customers, & customers
- of other Codehead products even MORE hardcore Codehead addicts?
-
- Just wonderin'...
-
-
- Frank
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 51 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- N.WEINRESS [Norm] at 00:16 EST
-
- John,
-
- The hardware delay timer was dropped quite some time ago. Until I purchased
- TOS 2.06, I used a software delay program. But since, I'm using a diskette
- with Noroach. I can hit a key before the memory test has finished; or, as I
- did this evening, just let the memory test finish, and then it immediately
- shows the ICD bootup info.
-
- I set the Noroach for 15 seconds. The drives I'm using, two Quantums 105's do
- spin up in much less than 15 seconds.
-
- Obviously, my bad luck with hardware has jumped from my body to yours. You
- have my undying gratitude. <hee hee>
-
- Norm
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 52 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 01:17 EST
-
- Ron,
-
- Yes, TOS 2.06 displays the Atari logo immediately upon bootup. If it's a cold
- boot, it then proceeds by printing "Memory Test" and a black bar with a row of
- inverse hyphens appearing as the memory is tested. When the memory test is
- completed a second black bar (with no message) appears and gradually shrinks
- from right to left. When it's finished, the bootup proceeds. This entire
- procedure can be interrupted at any time by pressing any key.
-
- As I stated before, I know for a fact (from doing phone tech support) that
- many people do not realize that they can bypass this operation with no ill-
- effects (even some seemly very knowledgable people). I think it would have
- been very thoughtful if there were just a simple message displayed:
-
- Waiting for hard drive spin-up. Press any key to continue...
-
- Of course, my personal preference for the message would have been:
-
- Waiting a ridiculous amount of time for hard drive spin-up, just in
- case you've managed to find some hard drive somewhere that takes an
- incredible 90 seconds to come up to speed.
-
- <grin>
-
- Frank,
-
- The Icon Juggler included on the TEC Utilities disk does not edit icons. It
- merely loads them and allows you to cut, paste, and rearrange them and then
- save them as your DESKICON.RSC file. The Newdesk Icon CPX v2.11 from SDS is
- much more full-featured and will edit icons as well. The latest version also
- loads NEC files.
-
- I plan to release Icon Juggler as shareware eventually, but we've also talked
- about offering our TEC manual and Utilities disk as a separate package. We
- get a lot of calls from people who've bought TOS 2.06 from a dealer (the way
- it comes from Atari) and they have no idea how to install the chips (jumper
- settings, etc.) or the new features of the desktop.
-
- It's a bit frustrating for us to spend time helping people install their chips
- when Atari has supplied nothing whatsoever except two ROM chips in the
- package. Those who purchase the chips from us receive instructions for
- installation, the TEC manual, and the TEC Utilities disk. Maybe we should see
- if Atari would like to buy our documentation. <grin>
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 53 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 02:24 EST
-
- Hmmm...I'll have to change the timeout on my NoRoach. I set it to zero
- seconds because it works fine on my TT that way with ICD boot software.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 54 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- TOWNS [John@Atari] at 13:39 EST
-
- John.. the problem is that Atari has to deal with numerous types of hard
- drives and 90 seconds assured us of being able to take care of all of the
- drives out there. Also, if I remember right, the delay is documented in
- Atari's manuals (or should be).
-
- The problem with displaying a message is that we have 12-14 different language
- versions of TOS. Currently GEMDOS/BIOS doesn't have to be internationalized at
- all. We would like to keep it that way. I asked about putting strings in the
- AES that GEMDOS could get to. Well, that creates all kinds of other problems.
- The best solution for us was to put in the delay and document it.
-
- There are current discussions going on right now (and have been going on with
- this issue). One solution that has been suggested is that we allocate a DIP
- switch in future machines to tell TOS that "I have a high-quality SCSI drive
- and I _promise_ that it will respond to SCSI inquire commands without locking
- up. Don't you _dare_ delay my bootup process. Go! Go! Go!" <grin> So, if you
- have this switch set, your machine will never delay at all.
-
- And if you have a bad SCSI drive (like a SyQuest, which when you inquire as to
- whether or not it is ready, will LOCK UP!), you don't have the DIP switch set.
-
- -- John
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 55 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 18:29 EST
-
- John Townsend,
-
- Thank you very much for that response. Believe it or not, just knowing that
- someone has thought about this issue makes me feel better. If you take part
- in any future discussions about this, it might be nice to mention that it
- wouldn't be the end of the world if the very, very few people that have drives
- that take 90 seconds to spin up (I still find this hard to believe) would have
- to push the reset switch after their drive spins up.
-
- This would mean that you'd be catering to the majority instead of the
- minority. I've never seen a drive that takes more than 25 seconds. That would
- seem like a comfortable compromise for a bootup delay. The .1% who had a
- slower drive could just hit the reset switch when they're ready after their
- first power-on boot up.
-
- I _do_ like the switch idea. Another idea would be to make use of the non-
- volatile RAM on board. What is that being saved for? <grin>
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 56 Tue Mar 24, 1992
- R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 22:53 EST
-
- John, Is the delay hardware or in TOS?
-
- If it is hardware (I.E. a resistor), just put a little pot on the outside of
- the computer instead of the dip switch. This way, the user could adjust the
- delay to his/her HD. Pot as in potentiometer, not the illegal stuff. :-)
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 57 Wed Mar 25, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 04:29 EST
-
- Wayne,
-
- No, the delay is in software. That's why NoRoach is a solution.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 58 Wed Mar 25, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 04:31 EST
-
- John(s),
- While we are on the subject of TOS defaults and boot delays, etc. Can
- someone tell me why the ST comes up in LOW RES when a color monitor is
- attached? Doesn't it make more sense to come up in the highest resolution the
- monitor is capable of? How many users REALLY use the computer on a TV?
- Surely NOT a majority. Why cater to a SMALL minority?
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 59 Wed Mar 25, 1992
- STACE [Mark] at 13:00 EST
-
- John,
-
- Here is my experience with NoRoach and TOS 2.06 (on my SST)...
-
- (BTW, the version of NoRoach that I have only has delay times in 10 second
- increments...I don't know where Norm got one with a 15 second time delay).
-
- I have my delay set at 20 seconds (it takes my drive about 15 seconds to spin
- up). If I turn everything on (stone cold) from a power strip then I always
- get the full memory test and then an immediate boot to the HDX booter.
-
- I use a coldboot program in my AUTO folder so all resets for me are coldboots.
- If I do a reset then I, again, get the full memory test and then immediately
- to the HDX booter.
-
- If I set the NoRoach delay to MORE than 20 seconds then in either of the above
- cases I will get all of the memory test line and a portion (depending on the
- amount of additional time over 20 seconds) of the other black "countdown"
- line. IE, at 30 seconds I get the full memory test and about 10 seconds worth
- of wait on the other countdown line.
-
- If, however, I set the NoRoach delay to 0 or 10 seconds I never see the memory
- test. It always attempts to boot the drive immediately after the NoRoach icon
- flashs in the corner. If the HD has not spun up then I just get a floppy
- boot.
-
- So...with a setting of 20 seconds my NoRoach seems to always be happy.
-
- Mark
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 60 Wed Mar 25, 1992
- TOWNS [John@Atari] at 20:52 EST
-
- The delay is in TOS, in fact.. NOROACH modifies the delay to whatever you
- want. That is the current method to decrease the delay.
-
- -- John
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 61 Thu Mar 26, 1992
- R.NOAK at 00:04 EST
-
- Mark,
-
- 20 seconds works on my TT030 with TOS 3.06 as well. I just wish Atari would
- fix NOROACH so that I get the "no bug" icon back again. ;-)
-
- Randy @ Southlake, Inc.
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 62 Thu Mar 26, 1992
- N.WEINRESS [Norm] at 00:18 EST
-
- Mark, the version of NOROACH that I'm using came with TOS 2.06, supplied by
- the inestimible CodeHeads. The Install program lets you set the delay from 0
- to 90 seconds in one second intervals. You are probably using a Beta copy,
- obtained by nefareous methods!
-
- Norm
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 63 Thu Mar 26, 1992
- F.GORON [Frank] at 22:46 EST
-
- John,
-
- That's great news (at least to me!) that you're considering releasing the Icon
- Juggler in some form (shareware,separate pkg,etc.). I really don't need an
- icon editor, the one in Neodesk is more editor than I'll ever want. And since
- the Icon Juggler will read .NIC files, I'd be all set. Besides, I don't
- believe I know the work of the people who released the Newdesk Icon CPX, and I
- know your & Charles' work & would choose it in a sec.(a little buttering up
- never hurts<g>)
-
- Thanks
-
- Frank
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 64 Sun Mar 29, 1992
- R.DEAN3 [GUNNER] at 18:16 EST
-
- Norm;
- What is your jumper config on your Quantoms???
-
- John;
- The comment about selling your documentation to Atari is a great idea,
- you should look into it. I intend to buy the TinyTurbo which will come with
- TOS 2.06. I am also going to buy the TEC to upgrade the second ST in the
- house. If I was not buying a TEC, I would definitely be willing to buy a
- utility package if you marketed one. Big market out there full of non TEC
- customers.... Go for it!
-
- Towns;
- How about a pacth to allow the user to make an adjustment to the boot
- delay to fit their system???
-
- Gunner
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 65 Mon Mar 30, 1992
- TOWNS [John@Atari] at 01:01 EST
-
- There is one. It is called NOROACH.PRG.
-
- -- John
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 82 Mon Apr 13, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 15:44 EDT
-
- The veiled reference to a word processor refers to an existing product. It
- may very well already include all items on "wish lists" so I'd recommend
- containment until we announce it.
-
- (Thanks a lot, Charles <grin>...but Happy Birthday, anyway!)
-
- Steve,
-
- You should look into CodeKeys because it can provide endless powers to those
- who know how to pull its strings (and it's not for WIMPS!).
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 85 Mon Apr 13, 1992
- J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff] at 19:46 EDT
-
- Charles/John,
-
- Since you guys write such great little utilities - how about a program
- that does the following: It will keep a log of all file activity - when a
- file was last changed by any program, file deletions, etc. If a database file
- was copied to a temp. file, the old one was deleted and the temp. file renamed
- - this would show up in the log. Thanks.
-
-
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- ^^^^ Jeff ^^^^
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 87 Mon Apr 13, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 22:37 EDT
-
- Jeff Wisniewski,
-
- That would be an interesting utility (file activity log). We'll keep that in
- mind.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 93 Tue Apr 14, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 06:21 EDT
-
- Ah hah! Mike sounds like a likely victim, uhhh, I mean customer. Don't let
- him get away, get that credit card number before he gets away...
- Grin.
-
- --------- Hummm. I suggested a similar idea to the file activity log to a
- friend some time ago. In his attempts to do it, he wiped out his HD SEVERAL
- times. For some reason, he never got it done. It would also be the skeleton
- of a REAL diskette/HD directory utility. I am STILL looking for a good disk
- directory utility that will treat .LZH, ARC, ZOO, ZIP files as folders, and
- list the files in them.... Maybe a combination of the two ideas could work??
-
- ========= RE: Phone calls.
- PLEASE don't bother them with phone calls until they ship MY copy of Warp-
- 9, at least.... Grin.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 96 Tue Apr 14, 1992
- JLS [John STanley] at 23:30 EDT
-
- Ron... I know of two file activity tracker programs.
-
- One is SYS_MON. A -very-(!!) powerful and flexable program here in the ST
- file librarys. It can (selectively) monitor every function call in your
- entire system and print an activity log to a file, the printer, or to a
- "background screen" you can switch to via a hot-key. What's being tracked can
- be switched on-the-fly via various controls on the hidden screen.
-
- The other one is a small program I wrote several years ago that just prints
- a file activity log to the printer and can't be disabled except by rebooting,
- but it's at least 50 times smaller than SYS_MON.
-
- I'd recommend trying SYS_MON. It's more flexable an I wouldn't have to
- unearth my program and write docs to post it.. :^)
-
- Good luck,
- ... JLS
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 99 Wed Apr 15, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 06:22 EDT
-
- John Stanley,
- Hummm. I didn't know SYS_MON had that ability, but I kinda wanted one
- that would maintain something like the TMS (Tape Management Subsystem) that
- Computer Associates sells for Mainframes, but oriented to diskette files.
- That, and the system catalog feature of mainframes. Guess that is a bit much
- to expect, though.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 115 Tue Apr 21, 1992
- T.ZENTHOEFE1 [Tom Z.] at 20:40 EDT
-
- I know that there is a seperate topic for G+Plus but since currently I don't
- track that topic I thought this might be a better place for me to get my
- answer.
-
- Does G+Plus come with any printer drivers? If so, does this include a DeskJet
- 500 driver?
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 116 Wed Apr 22, 1992
- JLS [John STanley] at 01:36 EDT
-
- Ron,
- I'm not familiar with TMS. Could you explain a bit more about what it does
- that SYS_MON won't do?
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 117 Wed Apr 22, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 04:37 EDT
-
- G+Plus does not include drivers or fonts.
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 118 Wed Apr 22, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 07:06 EDT
-
- John,
- TMS (CA-1 Tape Management Subsystem) is for Mainframes. It keeps track of
- all files on tapes, and automatically updates this information any time a tape
- file is opened. It can tell you which tape a file is on, and other
- statistical information about the file, such as creation date, last use,
- creation program, last program used, and an expiration date. It will also
- prepare a list of expired tapes. It seems to me that something similar would
- be great for diskette files/diskettes. I would also like it to treat
- LZH/ZOO/ARC/ZIP files as subdirectories.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 120 Thu Apr 23, 1992
- S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 01:11 EDT
-
- The only place I know of to get a Deskjet driver is through Migraph.
-
- -Scott @ SDS
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 156 Mon Apr 27, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 19:06 EDT
-
- The number of products we have depends on how you count them. As a minumum,
- if you don't count HotWire Plus, count the Cherry Fonts as one, the Avant
- Vectors as one, the TECs as one, and don't count the alleged WP or MIDI Spy
- <grin>, we have 14. On the other end of the spectrum, if you count everything
- we've got 32 products!
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 170 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 05:14 EDT
-
- I'm surprised that the news has not yet reached GEnie after our Delphi
- conference last night (Tuesday). We did announce that we will be carrying
- Calligrapher. A more formal announcement will be issued this weekend.
-
- Since this product has been on the market in Europe for over a year now, we
- _don't_ need any beta-testers, but I thank everyone for all of the requests
- we've had already. I hope we get as many orders as we've had requests for
- free beta-testing. <grin>
-
- John
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 171 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 07:15 EDT
-
- John,
- Hummm. Isn't Calligrapher monochrome only???
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 172 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- M.MOTOGAWA [MEL] at 10:55 EDT
-
- Ron,
-
- No, Calligrapher runs in medium rez too.
-
- - Mel
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 173 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- SFRT-ASST [Kene @ SFRT] at 11:50 EDT
-
- Who cares about color? <hehehe>
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 174 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- G.T.GRAY [Gary Gray] at 19:03 EDT
-
- John,
-
- Calligrapher is the only wordprocessor I have ever seen on the Atari to have
- the potential to compete head on with the best on the Mac and the Intel boxes.
- The products lack of US representation was as frustrating as the potential was
- exciting.
-
- I have a store stock copy of Calligrapher purchased from Pacific about 6
- months ago. I never could sell the program as the copy protection was so
- severe it would only load once in several attempts. Demoing it was impossible.
- No one was interested in paying the going rate for the program without seeing
- it work. Unfortunately the program required that it be registered to get the
- unprotected version. That of course required mailing the registration card to
- the UK. Kind of an odd dilemma for the dealer don't you think? Anyway is there
- some fee I can pay to get this version updated to a demonstratable and
- sellable copy.
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 175 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- ST-REPORT [Lloyd Pulley] at 20:17 EDT
-
- SFRT-AST,
-
- >>Who cares about color? <hehehe>
-
- I know you were kidding, but the answer is probably over 50% of the ST
- owners. If a program doesn't run in ST medium res, it's useless to me.
- (Except for DTPing programs.)
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 176 Thu Apr 30, 1992
- NTACTONE [Ron Hunter] at 23:49 EDT
-
- Mel,
- Ok, thanks. I get used to seeing the European software running only in
- Monochrome. About 80% monochrome there, and if you have ever seen the PAL TV,
- you would understand why....
-
- Kene,
- Me, obviously...
-
- Lloyd,
- Some of us even do DTP on a color monitor. Yes, I know, it's painful, but
- I don't have room for both monitors, and if monochrome was ok with me, I would
- have bought a Mac.
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 179 Fri May 01, 1992
- ST-REPORT [Lloyd Pulley] at 11:17 EDT
-
- Ron,
-
- >>If monochrome was okay with me, I would have bought a Mac.
-
- Amen!! I do have both monitors but only use mono when forced to, i.e.
- DTPing. Other than that, I use color 95% of the time.
-
- Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 185 Sat May 02, 1992
- T.YURICK [T.YURICK] at 02:11 EDT
-
- John Eidsvoog...
-
- RE: Warp 9 manual cover
-
- Thanks, I was afraid of that :^( I can understand why you went with the best
- tool for the job though. Even with all(?) the DTP software for the ST, you
- can't do gradient fills or work in 24bit color onscreen, both of which I do on
- my PC. I still use my ST for whatever I can, mostly because it's faster (Warp
- 9 <G>) and more intuitive. Theres nothing wrong with using different platforms
- to get the job done. Especially when it provides end users with the high
- quality documentation you guys created for Warp 9. I often combine the power
- of Corel Draw or Micrografix Designer with PageStream, and none of my clients
- care. Certainly no one can accuse Codehead Technologies of not supporting the
- ST.
-
- Go ahead and boo me Ron :^)
-
- BTW, what font format does Calligrapher use? Is it proprietary?
-
- Regards, Tom
-
-
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 188 Sat May 02, 1992
- WAYNED. [Wayne] at 11:24 EDT
-
- > Amen!! I do have both monitors but only use mono when forced to, i.e.
- > DTPing. Other than that, I use color 95% of the time.
-
- Amazing how vocal most are about this subject. I too am a vocal one, and
- have an Omnimon Multisync. However I only use color when forced to. I just
- can't stand the horrid sacrifice in resolution us stock ST users must suffer
- just to get 4 colors instead of 2(black and white). I started with a color
- monitor for a couple years, and then bought a mono for the BBS I was running.
- After using the mono for a while on the BBS I started getting addicted to it
- and eventually got both on my own system. After the mono died, I sold the
- color monitor and got the Omnimon. There are very few programs that will run
- color or mono that I choose to run in color, and those are games which account
- for 99.9% of the use the color side of the Omnimon does get.
- Of course alot of it probably has to do with the fact my eyes aren't what
- they used to be so I need the extra clarity of the mono monitor. :-)
-
- Wayne
-
- ------------
- Category 32, Topic 11
- Message 199 Tue May 12, 1992
- J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff] at 06:24 EDT
-
- Hi, just a small suggestion. On your program updates/patches would it be
- possible to choose drive A/B instead of drive A only. The reason is I only
- have a SS internal drive (I have not got around to changing it over to DS
- yet). (Gribnif is another company that insists on drive A only and most of
- their stuff is DS - but that is in another category and topic).
-
- And yes I do use Re-Direct and Divert, but they do not always work.
- Thanks.
-
-
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- ^^^^ Jeff W. ^^^^
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-