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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE - AUGUST 17, 1990 - ISSUE #533 Your Weekly Atari News Source ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Published by Rovac Editor: Ron Kovacs Asst Editor: John Nagy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Staff Columnists: Jon Clarke, Terry Schreiber, Dr. Paul Keith Advertising: John King Tarpinian Z*Net UK: Paul Glover Z*Net Germany: Michael Shutz Distribution: Bruce Hansford Contributors: David Plotkin, Ron Grant, Mike Brown ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTENTS EDITORS DESK.................................................Ron Kovacs Z*NET UK NEWSWIRE...........................................Paul Glover Z*NET NEWSWIRE......................................................... GENCON - FIRST REPORT....................................Dr. Paul Keith GENCON - SECOND REPORT.......................................Mike Brown GLENDALE ATARIFEST........................................Press Release MIST ATARI SWAPFEST.......................................Press Release A PERSONS PERCEPTION OF SOMETHING.........................David Plotkin Z*NET DOWN-UNDER.............................................Jon Clarke Z*NET ECHOS.............................................Terry Schreiber PD/SHAREWARE UPDATE...........................................Ron Grant |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| EDITORS DESK |*| |*| by Ron Kovacs |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| A new column debuts this week from Paul Glover of the ST CLUB NEWSLETTER in the UK. Look for monthly UK Newswire reports from England. The Z*Net BBS is under re-construction has you read this. This weekend we hope to have our new FoReM set-up going. All users will probably have to re-log on since entering over 200 passwords would be a rather large task to complete. We hope to crossnet and get involved within the F-NET areas in the near future. ZMAGAZINE has returned!! September will bring Issue #184 and the return of a weekly (we hope) 8-Bit Online magazine. Stay tuned for details... Enjoy this weeks issue! |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| Z*NET UK NEWSWIRE |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| From the ST CLUB NEWSLETTER, ISSUE #29 Edited by Paul Glover (Editor Note: PLEASE NOTE THAT NEWS CONTAINED IN THIS COLUMN IS DIRECT FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM AND PRESENTS THE OPINIONS OF THE EDITOR AND NEWS FROM ATARI UK.) STE HARD DISK PROBLEMS --- Exclusive --- Atari has finally made an official public statement that there is a fault in the DMA interface in the STE that may result in hard disk data becoming corrupted. Current Atari Megafile hard disks are reportedly not affected, but Atari SH204/205 disks and some third party drives will suffer from data corruption after the ST has been switched on for three to four hours. All affected machines will be modified by Atari at no cost. Users should contact their dealer for details of the return procedure. We ran into the problem with a 1040STE connected to an Atari SH205 hard disk; after four hours use, files on partitions that had been written to became corrupted. A standard Atari DMA cable was used along with Atari driver software and with no un-tested software installed. On contacting our supplier, a major dealer in Atari hardware, we were told that up to 30% of some batches of STEs were similarly affected. The STE DMA problem is not recent; back in May Andy Quayle of the GFA User Group found that his 520STE corrupted data on a Supra FD10 drive. Although Atari had informed dealers that there was a problem with the STE, in a confidential report (ST/HW/00070) dated 15th June, the Atari Press Office found it difficult to understand our suggestion that STE owners should have been informed of the problem at the same time! They are now considering putting a warning in the manual advising hard disk users who will not be using an Atari Megafile drive to have their STE modified. Atari has issued no details of which third party hard drives the STE is incompatible with and could not confirm whether future shipments of STEs will be similarly affected. Amazingly, STEs will not be modified before they are sold; only when returned by a customer. ------------------------------------- POST-PRESS UPDATE: The Atari STE DMA fix does not - reportedly - work on most revisions of the STE board. And to make things yet more frustrating: The STE boards do not have revision numbers, just a legend reading "STE Rev---". The only way to see if the fix will work is to try it and see. In the UK things are yet more complicated; the new Non Disclosure Agreement for developers prevents anyone from releasing the technical details of the STE fix..... Atari has really blown it this time. We have confirmed reports of the STE being incompatible with hard disks from Supra and Third Coast (using ICD boards). Any additional information on this fiasco will be welcome! ATARI NEWS UPDATE Before disaster struck with our 1040STE we were planning a nice little lead on the nice collection of software that Atari are bundling with the 1040STE Extra Pack. Serious software bundled with the pack comprises: ST-Word, ST-Base, ST-Calc, ST-Graph, early versions of Kuma products; Hyperpaint, STAC the adventure game programming language, 1st Basic, a cut down version of HiSoft Basic; plus Prince, a game written to take advantage of the enhanced sound and graphics of the STE. The 1040STE Extra pack retails at £499. It seems that the 16MHz TT displayed at the Atari 90's show wasn't the final version; plans are now in hand to launch the machine with a 32MHz processor. A rather fortunate move for Atari, as Pro-VME in Germany have developed a 25MHz 68030 accelerator board for Mega STs that would have out-run (uder-cut and out-sold?) a 16MHz TT. The price of the TT, which remains unchanged at £2,270, will buy a TT with a 32MHz 68030, 2Mb of RAM, a 48MB hard disk and a multi-synch colour VGA monitor. Atari is planning to have the machines available in September of this year. Atari has decided to stop shipping machines with TOS versions below 1.4; all 520STFM machines will be fitted with TOS 1.4. FSP3 FOR SALE Mirrorsoft is negotiating to sell the rights to Fleet Street Publisher 3. At least a couple of companies have expressed a strong interest and an official announcement is expected soon. In the meantime, Mirrorsoft has finalized the software for FSP3, the disks are now being duplicated, and the final product should be available in the very near future. FONT DESIGNER PCG has launched a sophisticated font designer for PostScript and UltraScript fonts. Support for PageStream and Calamus font formats is planned for future versions. Font Designer will retail at £50 and is available from PCG on 0229-836-957. EXTRA-RAM PRICE CUTS Effective 1st August 1990, Frontier's new prices on their RAM upgrades will reflect the recent falls in the cost of DRAM memory chips and savings made by Frontier through larger volume purchases of components. The new prices, which include VAT, are: Unpopulated board: £65 (was £69), 0.5Mbyte populated board: £79 (was £99), and 2Mbyte populated board: £189 (was £299). STE upgrade prices have also dropped to £69 for 0.5Mbyte and £169 for 2MByte. Martin Walsh, Marketing Manager for Frontier, commented "The Xtra-RAM ST is into its fifth thousand now and with this new pricing structure we expect to easily hit the 10,000 mark by the end of the year. We can claim a minor victory for UK exports since we have sold over one thousand Xtra-RAMs to our distributors in the United States, Australia, and various European countries including Holland and Belgium." In order to concentrate on the development of their own UK-designed products, Frontier are planning to hand over the distribution of Supra hard disks to a new distributor. The split with Supra is an amicable one and Frontier will continue to honour all warranty obligations on hardware sold by them. PROTEXT 5 Arnor has announced that a major upgrade to their heavyweight word processing package will be available in August. The nicest development must be that all Protext options will now be available from GEM menus as well as the powerful - but obscure to many - command line interface. Other enhancements to Protext 5 include support for multiple proportional fonts, up to 36 files open at once, automatic generation of Index and Contents information and a 116,000 word Collins dictionary with phonetic lookup. The new enhancements are reflected in the new price of £125; which will increase to £149 from October 1990. Contact Arnor on 0733-68909 for further details and upgrade prices. QUICK ST II Following the success of the Shareware version of Quick ST, the Canadian publishers Branch Always Software have launched Quick ST II as a £19.95 commercial product. Quick ST II speeds up GEM drawing operations in the same way as Turbo ST does, and its effects are particularly noticeable on pre-blitter STs. Bundled with Quick ST II are: Art ST - a drawing package, Quick View - a fast desktop text file viewer, Quick Index - a benchmarking program, and a utility to load pictures in as an alternative desktop background. UK distribution is being handled by Advantage: 0242 - 224340. UK MIDI ASSOCIATION Midi users now have their own official organisation, UK Midi Association (UKMA). UKMA offers members a monthly newsletter, free membership of the Music Network bulletin board, discounts on books, access to the complete MIDI and MIDIfile specifications, plus access to UKMAs problem and solution database. UKMA will liaise on behalf of UK Midi users with both the International Midi Association in the US and the Midi Manufacturers' Association. Membership is £34.50 per year; for more details contact: 081-368-3667. ATONCE PC EMULATOR Silica Systems have been appointed the UK distributor of ATonce, the AT emulator from German ST peripheral manufacturer Vortex. ATonce fits inside any ST and runs an 8MHz 80286 giving a Norton Factor of 6.5. ATonce will retail at £199 and further details are available from Silica on 081-309-1111. SPECTRE UPDATE Following our news item last issue, HiSoft have asked us to point out that they will continue to supply Spectre 128 and offer full backup and upgrades to users who purchased Spectre from them. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| Z*NET NEWSWIRE |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| NEC INTRODUCES NOTEBOOK COMPUTER NEC introduced the UltraLite 286V laptop, a 6.5 pound 12 mhz battery- powered notebook computer, providing the connectivity, expandibility and functionality of a desktop computer. The UltraLite 286V laptop will begin shipping in September and will be available through NEC's authorized dealer network. The suggested retail price is $3,999. Standard configuration includes laptop, 2 battery packs, 20 MB hard drive, AC adapter, external floppy disk drive and 1 MB of RAM. MOTOROLA INTRODUCES TWO ADDITIONS Motorola announced this week, two additions to the popular 8-bit 68HC11 microcontroller. The 68HC11K4 and 68HC711K4 double the bus speed of the original 68HC11 and feature a variety of memory configurations. The 68HC711K4, primarily used for emulation, will be available September 1990 in sample quantities for $250 in 84 pin PLCC. The ROM-based 68HC11K4 will be sampling in early 1991 and will be priced at $25 in 84 pin PLCC. PORTFOLIO AND MAC Computer Friends Inc, at MacWorld Expo/Boston, announced the availability of a configuration which links Portfolio to a Macintosh. The package includes the Message Mover software which runs on both the hand-held unit and the Macintosh and provides intelligent file transfer between the two systems. The Ultimate Portable package contains the Atari Portfolio, Power Supply, the Atari Serial Interface, Message Mover Software for the Portfolio, Message Mover Software for the Mac and a cable to connect the Macintosh and the Portfolio. The suggested retail price for this configuration is $599. MEDIAGENIC LOSES $608,000 Mediagenic announced this week that net revenues of $14 million for the first quarter of its 1991 fiscal year, ended June 30, and a net loss for the quarter of $608,000 or 14 cents per share. The company also announced that it had reached an agreement with its bank to extend its line of credit through Dec. 31, 1990. MICROSOFT SHIPS SQL SERVER Microsoft announced the shipment of Microsoft SQL Server, the intelligent high-performance database management system for PC networks, coupled with a range of support and promotional programs to accelerate the development of new client-server applications. Enhancements made to version 1.1 include: New DB-Library interface, Protocol-independent architecture, Network operating system independent, More flexible configuration, Easier administration, New BASIC Language Support, Support for Microsoft Windows Environment Version 3.0., Improved support for the SQL Server Database Gateway to DB2, and 30 days of free support. COMMODORE OFFERS FREE MONITOR Commodore has launched a limited-time offer to provide purchasers of a new Commodore Amiga 2000HD or Amiga 2500/30 with a free 1084S color monitor. The special offer applies only to purchases made at participating dealers between Aug. 1 and Sept. 29. This offer is not available in conjunction with any other Commodore promotion. TEENAGE HACKERS A 14-year-old hacker suspected of penetrating a Pentagon computer has been arrested with 12 others on charges of breaking into a computer at a university in Washington state. The boy was alleged to have broken into the computer at the City University of Bellevue in Washington in May, using a toll-free telephone number used by students and faculty, according of Senior Investigator Donald Delaney of the New York State Police. The boy, who signed into the computer as "Zod," allegedly set up a program that gave other illegitimate users access to the university computer. More than 40 hackers from across the country were believed to have penetrated the computer using the system, which required hackers to answer 11 questions to gain entry. "Zod" also was suspected of breaking into an Air Force computer in the Pentagon last November. MICHIGAN BELL "SMART" CALLING SERVICES Michigan Bell customers in many Detroit exchanges soon can have the first of a new generation of "smart" calling services, allowing them to receive only the calls they want, return missed calls easily -- even redial busy numbers while they're away from the phone. New services include: Call Screening, Distinctive Ringing, Automatic Callback, and Repeat Dialing. Call Screening is priced at $4.50 a month, the others at $4 a month. During a 30-day introductory period, Michigan Bell will waive a one-time setup charge of $7.50 for existing customers. LOGITECH INTRODUCES SCANNER Logitech announced an addition to its ScanMan line of hand-held scanners, ScanMan Model 256, scheduled to ship in October at a suggested retail price of $499 for the PC version and $599 for the Micro Channel version. The gray-scale scanner includes Logitech designed Ansel Image Editing Software, a high-performance scanning and editing software application featuring 256 gray-level image manipulation and designed specifically to run under Microsoft Windows 3.0. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| GENCON |*| |*|MILWAUKEE GAMING EXPERIENCE |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| by Dr. Paul Keith Z*Net Correspondent I have never been much for the D&D Adventures. At the risk of offending some, I have always thought that D & D was just a little bit too close to the edge for my likings. So, when I first heard of GENCON, I was less than anxious to get involved. But when Z*Net asked me to pop up and see what **Atari** was doing at the show, how could I resist? After all, Atari isn't exactly a big name with the D & D crowd either! Just what are *they* doing there? My first surprise came with the size of the show. GENCON bills itself as the largest gaming show in the world. I BELIEVE IT! I was surprised to find that most of the local hotels were full, making the search for a room something of a quest in itself. After I found a room, it was off to GENCON. The Mecca is Milwaukee's entertainment and convention showplace. In recent years, it was home to the Milwaukee Bucks, the pro basketball team. Linking across hotels and different buildings by an overhead walkway, the Mecca provides excellent facilities for this huge show. Entering GENCON, I found that there are a number of different ways to go: I could just see the show (via a spectators pass, easily the cheapest way to go) or I could PARTICIPATE in the show, via a games pass. Being a little new to all this, I decided to go with a single day participant pass, and just be a spectator for the rest of the show. The players pass allows me to purchase additional tickets to play in some of the activities that GENCON offers. In the GREAT HALL of the Mecca there were over 150 exhibitors occupying some 80,000 square feet of space. I found some great buys on some Star Trek T-shirts that I couldn't resist, and there were plenty of other fascinating items, like books, original art prints, computer software, handmade figures, costumes, jewelry, music, out of print collectibles, magazines, dice, and much much more. Over 500 role playing tournaments were available to GENCON game fair participants. Events included fantasy, espionage, science fiction, horror, military, historical, humorous, and super hero game events. The Role Playing Game Association sponsored more than 30 tournaments. Over 1000 players competed in teams against one another. As if to make me feel more at home, amidst all the fantasy was Atari's booth. Atari was represented by a dealer from St. Charles, Illinois, Computer Cellar, and personnel out of the Chicago area Lynx development office. The gang from Chicago were showing off some of the Lynx titles set to be released "real-soon-now (TM)" including Slime World, Road Blaster, and Klax. Lynx gamers have plenty to look forward to with these games, as the Road Blaster game is a VERY faithful rendition of the arcade classic. And although I am not familiar with the arcade version of Klax, I found the sound quality of Klax to be VERY impressive. Atari's Steve Ryno told me that Klax took up 2 Megs on the Lynx ram card! Yikes! Slime World is an original game for the Lynx that is developed by Atari's Chicago game pros, and looks to be tons of fun. In this game, you assume the identity of Todd, while he explores the underground caverns of slime. Another game that seemed to catch the eye of the D&D crowd was Gauntlet, the Third Encounter. Sales for the Lynx were disappointing though, as many people found that only have six titles for a close to $200 machine a little disturbing. Knowledgeable sources indicate that Atari has over 20 additional titles readied for the holiday season. If Atari got those out earlier that would help placate any further fears about software availability. Atari wasn't alone on the main floor of GEN CON, though. A familiar face was busy showing the Sega Genesis to show goers, none other than Cindy Claveran, the former User Group/Developer coordinator for Atari Corp. Cindy was doing a little test marketing for Sega at GEN CON, in a booth that featured six large TV screens showing some of the more popular titles for GENESIS. Not be overlooked was GEnie, stumping for the TSR Roundtable in the Great Hall. Sysops from the TSR RTC were on hand to show the many gamers all the advantages of being on-line (for less!). Interest seemed to be good, and the gaming crowd could sign up on-line at the show on the Mac II in the GEnie booth. Expert guidance from the TSR Sysops was helpful in getting the new users comfortable negotiating around GEnie. The second floor of the Mecca was transformed into a huge playing field for any of the gamesters in attendance. Open areas were set aside for many impromptu games of Risk, The Hunt for Red October, and Starfleet. Conference rooms were set aside for the attendees to enjoy some time with favorite game designers, and over ONE HUNDRED conferences were scheduled throughout the show. Also interesting to observe was a formation of gaming clubs, perhaps better recognized in the Atari Community as User Groups. And speaking of user groups, I caught up with Bob Brodie from Atari long enough to chat with him for a few minutes concerning the role that Atari was taking at GENCON. It turns out that Atari has been supporting GENCON for about three years now, albeit in a quiet fashion. The bulk of Atari's display upstairs was in the form of a huge gaming area, staffed by members of the MilAtari Ltd. User Group. Atari supplied over 55 color ST systems for this effort, as well as a stand alone Lynx tower with four Lynx (Lynxs? Lynxes? Lynxi?). Thirty two of the STs were used in two MIDI-Maze rings at the show. The balance of the STs were set up on tables adjacent to the MIDI-Maze rings for open gaming. The Lynx display was set up next to MilAtari's booth area. The whole floor had a feel of an Atari area, as when one entered the area the six large Atari banners caught your eye immediately. MilAtari members had donated some of their software for use, and MilAtari president Michelle Gross had convinced software developers like Accolade to provide copies of their software to offer a true "State of the System" showing of Atari game offerings. Among other popular offerings were ReadySoft's "Dragon's Lair" and "Space Ace". All in all, there were plenty of titles available for use on the ST. The quality of the Atari's graphics were not lost on the gaming crowd. And neither was the fun of MIDI-Maze! GENCON printed in their program that MIDI-Maze had been 1989's most popular computer game, and 1990 proved to be no exception. MilAtari members signed up people to play MIDI-Maze at set times throughout the show, and it never looked like there was an opening going to waste. [After the show, Bob Brodie confirmed for Z*Net that MilAtari had filled all but 15 slots for the MIDI-Maze schedule out of over 1500 slots for use. With the addition of the open gaming that was being enjoyed by the showgoers, we figure that Atari strutted it's stuff to over 2000 likely NON Atari users! That's over 20% of show attendance had a hands on experience with the ST! - ED.] But so many of us feel like were fighting the "game image" that Atari has, why should they appear at this type of show? Brodie replied that the people that think of Atari as a game machine are usually referring to the company's 2600/7800 line of dedicated video games, NOT to the ST. "While it is certainly true that the ST is among the most effective computers on the market for almost any task, it still can play some really great games," he noted. "What we are really looking for is opportunities to present Atari computers to the unconverted, rather than just always preaching to the choir." Brodie went on to remind us of Atari's recent involvement with a series of national DTP shows, with yet another one coming up this week in San Francisco (National Quick Print Show at Moscone Center). "We need to expose our products to non-Atari avenues" he said. "Sure, the exposure at Atarifest is terrific! They are almost always a fun time, and a great selling opportunity for our dealers and developers. But we also need to expand our presence in other markets. If all we did is go to Atarifests we would reach very few people that don't already own Atari products. GENCON is great opportunity to impress a specific group of potential buyers how good our products are." The Milwaukee Area Commodore Enthusiasts were also at the show, with 15 Amiga's courtesy of Commodore. Members also brought in their personal machines, giving the Commodore group a full display of C-64s, C-128s and various models of the Amiga. Surprisingly, none of the machines were seen sporting stereo speakers, or any of the "hot" games like Dragon's Lair. Instead, the Commodore crowd seemed content to play lots of Populous and Falcon. When I first caught up with Bob Brodie, he was busy showing a Stacy to one of the Commodore user group officers. "Gee, it sure is nice to see a 68000 based laptop that costs less than a car..." the Amigan remarked. When Brodie was asked by one visitor for the phone number for Atari's VP of sales, he produced a Portfolio to look it up, the Commodore group leaders said "What is it with you Atari guys! Your computers just get smaller and smaller!!" While the Commodore crowd was clearly wishful for a portable of their own, it turned out that they were even more envious about getting a manufacturers representative to the show. Despite persistent requests, none of Commodore's THREE user group coordinators could manage to spend any time at GENCON. ("Nothin' but a bunch of technocrats..." sniffed the user group officers) The other big name in the game area was NEC, with a twelve station set up showing off the NEC Turbo Grafix. The games were all shown on 20" TV sets with some flyers thrown around for good measure. I couldn't find anyone from NEC to chat with, but it hardly mattered. The display bespoke quality, and the games were quite busy, with a crowd of onlookers waiting for a turn. Many of the games shown rivaled the graphics on the ST, although they appeared to be just one after another repackaged shoot-'em up. All in all, I found GENCON to be a 180 degree change for Atari. I never would have imagined Atari participating in this type of venue. But after seeing the huge crowd at GENCON, I have to agree that it was a good move. This year attendance at GENCON was a whopping 11,800 people over the course of the four days. That tops any Atarifest by a wide margin. Coupled with the fact that these were NOT Atari fanatics, like those who populate the typical Atarifest, one can easily see that this type of exposure can only help our favorite computer company. Kudos to MilAtari Ltd.! Under the leadership of their president, Michelle Gross, hey gave Atari one of the best opportunities of the year to show off! May there be many more!! |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| GENCON 1990 |*| |*| AN OUTSIDER'S PRESPECTIVE |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| by Mike Brown (LCACE) This past week, TSR, inc. sponsored the GenCon '90, annual gaming fair/ convention held in Milwaukee's spacious MECCA convention center. I was invited to work and attend GenCon through the courtesy of Milwaukee's Atari user group, MilAtari. First, let me give you a little flavor for the size and scope of GenCon; During the course of the show, there are at least a thousand seminars; these include gaming sessions, game auctions, art shows, writers seminars, the costume contest, training (from specific game playing tips to "Game Master's Workshops"), movies (an average of 4 a day) and other game and fantasy related events held on site. Two of these events were heavily supported by Atari; the "Open Computer Gaming" and "MIDIMaze" sessions. To support these events, Atari supplied MilAtari with over 50 complete ST and Mega systems, a LYNX show display that enabled attendees to sample the various LYNX titles available, as well as Bob Brodie and several members of the Atari Lombard (Chicago) staff (who never stopped "working the crowd" long enough for me to get a word with!) to assist in any way needed. My first day at the show, I helped with MIDIMaze contest sign-up, which sometimes seemed like feeding time at the zoo. It was incredible the number of people that were interested in playing MIDImaze. MilAtari had two full 16-player rings set up with 1 hour games starting every 30 minutes from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM most of all four days of the show. Waiting lists to get into a MIDIMaze game if a "reserved" player did not show were staggering. I remember one waiting list for an already "full" evening game opening was around 20 names long! In spite of the mayhem, the MilAtari staff kept order and did a very professional job of running the tournament. Individual game winners were awarded "MIDI Master" buttons made right on the show floor using Casico Music's Calamus DTP demo system, as well as show-provided gift certificates and valuable prizes donated by Atari Corp. The other big attraction in the Computer Concourse was the "Open Gaming" area. For a paltry $2 an hour, a gamer could rent an Atari ST and choose from a vast collection of game and strategy titles to play. Many, many people were exposed for the first time to the ST's wonderful graphics, sound and user-friendly features. One player that I remember said (with some self-righteousness in his voice) that he was a "...Mac user, but these 'taris were not *too* different (from the Mac)..." (Apple had no involvement in GenCon, the only other companies in the computer concourse were NEC, SEGA Commodore, and Bally/Midway). Atari's area was by far and away the largest in terms of square footage, number of machines, and participant interest. Atari also supported an Atari dealer (Computer Cellar in St. Charles, IL) exhibiting at GenCon with great deals on the LYNX. I entered my name into their demo Portfolio, hoping to win it in their show drawing. That was the closest I was able to get to their booth, as it was VERY busy most of the time. I wonder how many LYNX systems went out of the door during the 4-day show? The saddest thing was that there was nary a demo ST unit set up on the VAST vendor floor. It would have been nice to see "Lord British" playing ULTIMA on an ST in the Origin booth, Advanced D&D on an ST in the SSI booth or at least support from FTL for the ST version of Chaos Strikes Back. As mostly a non-gamer, I found GenCon to be a very eye-opening experience, and education. If you are at all into any form of gaming or science fiction/fantasy, I'd advise you to contact the GenCon organizers at P.O. Box 756, Lake Geneva, WI 53147, for information on next year's show. If you can't wait, maybe you can make European GenCon (Nov. 30th to Dec. 2nd, 1990) to be held in the U.K.! Thanks again to Atari Corp. for their support, Bob Brodie for his guiding hand, and Michelle Gross' (MilAtari) show staff for their energy and highly professional management of the Atari-related events. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| GLENDALE ATARIFEST |*| |*| Press Release |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATARI COMPUTER FAIRE version 4.0b * * ...also known as "THE GLENDALE SHOW" * * * * September 15 and 16, 1990, at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, * * 1401 Verdugo Road, Glendale, California. Hours are 10 AM - * * 6 PM Saturday, and 10 AM - 5 PM Sunday. Admission is $5.00, * * or only $3.00 with any Atari User Group membership I.D. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Glendale Atari Faire is a User Group sponsored tradition in Southern California, the West Coast's Premier Atari event since 1986. This will be the fourth show in five years at the same large auditorium in Glendale, California, just a few minutes from Burbank Airport and convenient to all of the metropolitan Los Angeles area. An attendance of over 4,000 is realistically anticipated, considering previous year's performances. Last year's Glendale show was cancelled due to conflicting dates with another show, which was then itself cancelled. With one month left before the show, organizer John King Tarpinian says that he is nearly sold out of the original floor space planned for use in the Glendale Civic Auditorium. He adds that if demand keeps up, convenient, quality additional space can be arranged. John says that the developers that appeared at the recent San Jose World of Atari show are booked for Glendale, plus lots more. Publicity for the Glendale show, including the vendor list, has been low key until now to avoid drawing attention away from that San Jose show. Here is the Glendale Show List of vendors, both of confirmed and unconfirmed "but likely" to attend. There are 45 of them so far, plus at least five user groups, making Glendale perhaps the biggest US Atari show of all time! ATARI Corporation American Music Best Electronics Bill Skurski Enterprises Branch Always Software BRE Beckmeyer Carter Graphics CodeHead SoftWare Computer Network C.O.P. D.A. Brumleve Datel Double Click FAST Technology Gadgets by Small Gold Leaf Gribnif Groves School of Music ICD ISD King's Domain Lexicor MegaMax Michtron MicroCreations Mid-Cities Migraph Neocept Practical Solutions Safari Fonts S.D.S. Sierra Seymour-Radix SliccWare STart ST Informer ST Journal Sprokits Supra Corp. Talon WuzTek XETOERIX Zubair Interfaces Z*Net News Service ... and more to come! Atari Corporation has promised major support including a very large display of the entire Atari Computer line of products. You can expect to see LOTS of the ST, STE, MEGA, STACY, PORTFOLIO, LYNX, and even the TT030 computers. Many of Atari's employees will be on hand to show and discuss the machines. Advertising and promotion of this user-group show is being provided through the generousity of Atari. User Groups will include HACKS, ACES, ACAOC, NOCCC, SBACE, BACE, and more. Volunteers from the groups will be providing the support for the entire show, including setup, loading and unloading, security, and staffing. They will also be available for short periods to assist vendors in their booths. All volunteers will be given a custom Canvas Tote Bag and Sun Visor (this is California!) with the Atari emblem on each. These are limited production and will be for volunteers only, NOT for sale! There will also be three $100 drawings, one each day of the effort, for volunteers only. Many seminars are already booked, including several with ATARI's BOB BRODIE, other officials, and technical support people. Other seminars that are planned at this time: * Desktop Publishing with CALAMUS - Nathan Potechin of ISD * Software Speeding up the ST/TT - Darek Mihocka of BRA-SOFT * Int. Assoc. of Atari Developers - Nathan Potechin, Chairperson * INTRODUCING NEODESK 3 - Rick Flashman of Gribnif * DAVE SMALL TALKS/MAC EMULATION - Dave Small of Gadgets by Small * NEW FROM CODEHEAD - Charles F. Johnson of CodeHead Software * Kids and Atari Computers - * PC Emulation - * ST Magazines and Online Newsletters - ...with more to be added and announced at the show. Door prizes, including a wide variety of software, accessories, and computer paraphanalia, will be awarded every hour, with some extra special drawings as well. Lodging information: The Burbank Hilton weekend rate is $59 per day. This hotel is adjacent to the Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena Airport, and will be where the Atari Corporation employees will be staying. Contact the Burbank Hilton at 818-843-6000. The Glendale Holiday Inn is the closest hotel to the show itself, and the weekend rate is $89 per day. Contact the Holiday Inn at 818-965-0202. These rates and hotels are neither endorsed or guaranteed by the organizers. Neither hotel is within walking distance to the Auditorium. This is Los Angeles, folks.. expect to use CARS. Don't worry about traffic jams in this area, however. Directions to the show (once you have found Glendale, which is a Northern central suburb of Los Angeles): Take the Mountain exit of the "2" freeway and go West (down the hill) one block. Or, from the "134" freeway, take the Glendale Avenue exit, and go North one mile (Glendale Ave will become Verdugo Road). The Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 Verdugo Road, is on the NORTH side of Verdugo. Large parking lots are on the WEST side of the building, with metered parking for TEN CENTS AN HOUR. The final booth sales, seminar schedule, and advertising space in the program are being arranged now. More information is available from the show organizer, John King Tarpinian, 818-246-7286, or by mail at 246 North Brand #321, Glendale, California, 91203. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| ATARI SWAPFEST II |*| |*| Press Release |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| MIST Plans Atari SwapFest II Nashville, IN August 25,1990 For a second year, an Atari SwapFest is planned at Nashville Indiana on Saturday, August 25, sponsored jointly by the user groups at Indianapolis and Bloomington known as MIST (Mid-Indiana ST). The SwapFest will be a meeting of minds and computers, in the beautiful Indiana countryside. Nashville is only minutes from many lovely gift shops, two state forests, and the Hoosier National forest. MIST Atari SwapFest II will open at noon August 25 at the Brown County Inn motel in Nashville at the corner of Ind. 135 and 46. Nashville is about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, and 15 miles east of Bloomington. Admission will be free. For swap, for sale or just for display... whether it's 8-bit or ST... even game machines... all are invited to bring software, hardware, gadgets, accessories, books, magazines, etc. Commercial sales and displays also are invited. There will be door prizes from local vendors, and Atari Corp. Raffle tickets will cost $2.00. There will also be a mini Midi-Maze tournament. Tables will be available for set-up at 11 a.m. with commercial vendors given first choice at that time. Closing time is 4 p.m. Table space will be free to non-commercial attendees, on a first come, first serve basis. Registration for vendors will be a whopping $10.00. Tables are standard motel dining room type (capable of seating three on each side), and covers will be provided by the motel. Our rental arrangement with the motel, however, is a low-budget deal and you should supply your own sign-holders and other fixtures. The motel will supply electrical power, but it is from a limited number of wall outlets so exhibitors will need to take along their own extension cords and plug strips. For more information, leave mail on GEnie to WLORING1, or: Call the BL.A.ST BBS at 812-332-0573 2400bps, 24 hours. Write us at BL.A.ST, PO Box 1111, Bloomington, IN. 47401. Call me by voice at 812-336-8103. Brought to you by MIST (Mid-Indiana ST), the merging of the ASCII (Atari St Computers In Indianapolis) and BL.A.ST (BLoomington Atari ST) user groups. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| A PERSON'S PERCEPTION |*| |*| OF SOMETHING |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| by David Plotkin (Reprint by permission from ST-JOURNAL MAGAZINE. Copyright 1990, All Rights Reserved. Do NOT reprint this article without the written permission of STJ Editor) Like most of you, I'm an avid user of the Atari ST, as I was of the 8-bit line preceding it. Although I've written programs in most of the languages available for the machine, I'm not really a programmer. (Even though my friend, David Small charitably refers to me as such.) Neither am I a hardware guru; I like software, and enjoy experimenting with new and exciting applications. And, while I review games, I don't play them much. I prefer to write, draw, construct 3-D models and build database applications. The ST, by far my favorite, gets more use than any other appliance in the house. As for personal statistics, I'm 36 years old, happily married to an attorney, and have a parrot which is sitting on my shoulder right now, whistling and saying, "hi there," in her most suggestive voice. I have an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and work, as a data analyst in Human Resources, for Chevron Corporation. A person's perception of something is often more important than the facts concerning that which is perceived. Tom Peters, author of "In Search of Excellence," is fond of saying that "perception is everything." It isn't (as Peters is quick to admit), but it's close. Perceptions color everything we do, the products we buy, the decisions we make in life. As such, I recently had occasion to reflect on the general public's perceptions of Atari. What started this was a phone call from my brother-in-law, a salesman at a first class stereo chain, which has an excellent selection of equipment, knowledgeable salespeople, and irreproachable customer service. He had called me to state, "We're now carrying the Atari Portfolio and the Lynx, though, heaven knows why." Apparently, he felt that these Atari items didn't really fit in with the other high quality high performance equipment that these stores sell. I found his comment interesting, and began to think about how the Atari name is perceived in the "real" world - at least, in the US. It isn't a pretty picture. Before I launch into my commentary, I feel it's only fair to point out the facts about Atari, as I perceive them: They're a tightly run company with limited capacity for production and they've had to make choices about what to do with that production - i.e., send most of it to Europe. With limited engineering talent, they've also had to make some hard choices as to what to do with that resource. They're aggressive cost- cutters, sometimes to the detriment of people who depend upon a stable computer. The result of all this has been a public perception that Atari is a game machine company, that their computers are too hard to find, not worth the effort, lacking in support, etc. This image, even with the products that Atari has brought or will be bringing to market, will be hard to fight. The ST is an excellent computer. Maybe not state-of-the art any more, it's still a good value and easy to learn and use. The problem is that not many people know that. We're the Rodney Dangerfields of the computer world - we can't get no respect. I don't see that changing, because Atari won't spend the money to advertise and there just aren't enough of us evangelists to spread the word ourselves. Also, they won't increase the production necessary to provide a large supply of computers in the U.S. Despite the excellence of the machines, Atari's computers have always been pariahs in this country. A reputation as a game-machine company isn't necessarily bad. Atari's, since they have been overshadowed by Nintendo, Sega, and NEC, is more- or-less second rate. So the question remains: Will people buy an unknown product, such as the Portfolio, from the company? Maybe - if it's good and is presented correctly. In fact, it could even help enhance Atari's reputation. Even though the screen is small, the keyboard impossible to type on, and the machine costly (especially if accessories are added) the Portfolio is still a pretty nifty little computer; the built-in applications are nice, it's portable, and easy to learn and use. The problem, as I see it, is that the sales personnel who sell the Portfolio must understand it. Their demonstrations must sufficiently wow the customers so that they are willing to overlook the stigma attached to the name of Atari. As an example, when the company began selling their 8-bit line through mass merchandisers like Toys 'R Us, the people selling the machines knew nothing about them. As a result, buying decisions were colored by the reputation of the company, commercials, and by many things other than the quality of the machines. Atari's other great hope is the Lynx. It's small, with a high resolution color screen, and some really challenging games. Nothing else in its size range even comes close at the present time. So what's the problem? At $180, it's expensive. Even the Sega Genesis, a pretty impressive machine with more colors, sound, and a tremendous variety of game cartridges, costs less. There's also the matter of cartridges for the Lynx. Any avid gamer knows that the lifeblood of a game machine is a steady supply of Carts. But will anyone be developing these for the Lynx? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, Nintendo's sad little monochrome Game Boy continues to do well, because people trust Nintendo. They know there will be additional cartridges for the game. I think that the future hope for rescuing Atari's reputation lies neither with the Portfolio, a quality machine but one with a limited audience, nor with the Lynx, an impressive but expensive game machine. The answer lies with the ST and its successor, the TT. Market enough of these, make the public aware of their excellence and support developers of innovative software, and things will change. Until Atari gets back to these basics, everything else is just patch on a reputation needing more extensive repair. - DP |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| Z*NET DOWN-UNDER |*| |*| by Jon Clarke |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| The changing face of the global networks ---------------------------------------- ::The Humble BBS bites back::Part 3:: ::Usenet:: :::::::::: Where do you find 'Usenet'. =========================== 'Usenet' is a mail system that can be found at work, school, university or on a local BBS. Unlike the other mail systems 'Usenet' is normally associated with 'Unix/Zenix/Vax (and many other)' sites. All we have to do to find our local public 'Usenet' node is to logon to our local BBS and have a look at the BBS list that it carries. In here we will see a note saying that "XYZ BBS" carries 'Usenet'. Or if we have access to a network at school/work/Uni check out the mail section you may see reference to Usenet. The next step is to get validated on that system, and we are into the world of 'Usenet'. What is 'Usenet' ================ 'Usenet' is a mail store and forward system. I enter a message into one of the many message/news_groups, it is sent to the Host site where it is sent to the Gateway (look in last weeks article for glossary). From here it is forwarded to your system or a system close to you, where it is then forwarded to your system. As I said last week "It is a little like the game of 'Pass it on', we all played". One thing to remember "Usenet' is truly _world_wide_. Of the mail I received this morning only one message was from New Zealand , the majority of them were from Europe and the United States. Who runs 'Usenet' ================= 'Usenet' used to be associated with education facilities, and a few large companies. However these days we see more and more public_access systems caring the 'Usenet_news_groups/mail'. Usenet is run on a 'Vote' or on majority consensus. If you wish to start a new message group or a new node, those on the net locally have to vote on it. What are some of the topic's / News Groups in 'Usenet' ====================================================== For Atari users there are Three main news_groups for our hobby. They are..... comp.sys.atari.st ::Atari ST news/messages:: comp.sys.atari.8bit ::Atari 8 bit news/messages:: comp.tech.atari.st ::Atari ST Tech news/messages:: Along with the messages we also have the send and receive files these are avalible in the following groups.... comp.binary.atari :: Atari files :: comp.source.atari :: Atari source code :: Please note the files are transmitted in special format and you will need a file called "uudecode" to turn them into a state that your ST or 8 bit will understand. Below is a sample of some of the news groups avalible on 'Usenet'. Bare in mind our local Gateway carries over a 1000 news groups so this represents a small sample only. aus.wanted bionet.molbio.evolution comp.binaries.amiga comp.binaries.atari <- Atari files area comp.compilers comp.edu comp.lang.c comp.mail.uucp comp.robotics comp.society.futures comp.soft-sys.andrew comp.sources.amiga comp.sources.atari <- Atari source code comp.sys.amiga comp.sys.apollo comp.sys.apple2 comp.sys.atari.st <- Atari ST new/mail comp.sys.atari.8bit <- Atari 8 bit news/mail. A sample usenet message :::: Path: aaron!comp.vuw.ac.nz!am.dsir.govt.nz!dsiramd!marcamd!mercury!kcbbs From: STT@kcbbs.gen.nz (Jon Clarke) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: NZ_local echos' ?? Message-ID: STaTus_Mailer_552 Date: 01 August 90 13:58:01 GMT Organization: STaTus BBS, The Atari sySTem in Auckland, New Zealand. Lines: 16 I was reading the comp.sys.atari.st and I thought I knew that name, from the southeren regions of the country. Well we have _usenet_ implemented on MichTron BBS version 3, after all the ho-har . STu has done it again! Unlike FoReM_ST we can not run uucp or uuslave.ttp on the front end so we have to do THE call and uload and dload the news. What are you using for uudecode.ttp Aaron? I dloaded one from GEnie in the weekend "uucode.arc" which has uudecode. ttp and uuencode.ttp in it. I love the 'uudecode.ttp', it sure deals with the binaries in a _very_quick_rate_. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | o( ) Z*Net | ( )o STaTus BBS, the Atari BBS in Auckland,NZ | | / /\ Down-Under | /\ \ :: Join the Atari Users Association :: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Some sample sites on Usenet =========================== Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept. Organization: Koala Project, Bull Research France Organization: University of Dortmund, Germany Organization: USENET Public Access, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Organization: Beckemeyer Development Tools, Oakland, CA Organization: Michigan State University Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA Organization: Otter Lake Leisure Society Organization: Orbital Mind Control Lasers, Inc. Organization: The University of Dayton Computer Science Department, Dayton,Ohio Organization: Stuttgart Net Systems, FRG Organization: Philips Information Systems, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE17RU Organization: Edinburgh University Computing Service Organization: STaTus BBS, The Atari sySTem in Auckland, New Zealand. The Bottom line. ================ If you have the oppitunity to get into the 'Usenet' network, go for it. |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| Z*NET ECHOS |*| |*| by Terry Schreiber |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| On the Positive The Canada and United States are definitely two different marketplaces. Atari is still going strong and has a following in Canada. Canada sports more than double the dealer network with more coming online while the U.S. dealers are deteriorating rapidly. Dealers in Canada again came out strong for the back-to-school specials. Although dealers and Atari have had their grumblings in the past the dealers are again strongly behind the product. In a discussion with Rob McGowan (Product Support Manager, Atari Canada) I let my grumblings be known about the U.S. Atari market. What possible things could Atari do to turn this all around? He didn't have an answer. I suggested that the main reason for the failures in the U.S. was the snatch and grab attitude that Atari has shown - "Here is your computer, thank you for your money - good-bye" sort of like buying a hamburger at a drive thru. If you are going to do business this way then please let the public know. On the other hand you are telling dealers to sell the computers on the idea of support and service against the mass merchandisers. A combination of a first class restaurant with a drive thru service window. Please take a path, set your goals and stick to it! Is it no wonder the userbase is upset and doesn't know where it stands. Advertising has been sadly lacking in the North American market. Atari needs dealers, dealers need customers, customers must be educated in the positive points, the features, the benefits, and the rewards of owning an Atari product. A basic course in marketing - Atari looks at the consumer market and spots an opening for a computer product. They produce the product and try sell it to dealers who will in turn sell it to the consumer. The dealer will not buy the product if there is not a demand for the product. The consumer must be educated and advised that the product exists to create a demand at the retail level - this is usually accomplished by advertising. In advertising to sell a product you must be able to identify with the product. Advertisers use a lot of words and visual effects to get this point across to the consumers sometimes calling on the basics of sales. Why do people buy? - to reward themselves - to identify with a group or lifestyle - to appease a want or a need - speculation - impulse Atari must come full circle and come back to basics. They must create a want or need for their products in the U.S. to continue. Advertising again will play a key role in Atari's comeback - to point out again the features and benefits of the Atari product line. There is not a valid reason why this computer is not selling in the U.S. other than poor marketing on behalf of Atari itself. As for changing the userbase attitudes in the U.S., I haven't a quick answer. This is something that came to be over many years and perhaps it will take that long to change again - then perhaps it won't. During the last few issues you may have noticed that I have had a tendency to give Atari the benefit of the doubt and taken a positive attitude to the changes taking place. Atari has done very well in support and service in Canada and I feel that this will eventually work it's way in to the U.S. The end user attitude casts a giant shadow on Atari and until Atari comes full circle and gets back to basics, the userbase is generally un-approachable at this time. A quick and easy answer on this dilemma avoids me as over the years there has been more than one issue that Atari and the users have come to grips with. There is one place where they can start and that is the area of advertising. As with most end users I feel that if we had a larger userbase that some of the other problems would fall into line. On a personal note I do miss those reviews done by Alice and Mark so for next week I do plan on adding two reviews to this column. Look-it and Pop-it and Harlekin are at first glance excellent values - I will let you know more next week. As well a review on a new MIDI network that allows several keyboards to play together over the modem - In real time no less... Murray Brown, former Atari dealer turned Atari representitive is in my personal books as this month's "Atari's Man on the Go"! In the last year Murray has brought on-board not less than five new Atari dealers in British Columbia, instituted sales training programs, Desktop Publishing and Desktop Music seminars, and strenghthened the Atari userbase. Murray also convinced Atari into using a westcoast warehouse for the smaller dealers who could not afford to stock large amounts. Well at least Canada doesn't have any revolving doors! ISD Marketing and Atari have something big planned for the Desktop Publishing market. Details at this time were very sketchy but remember the "Pepsi Challenge". |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| |*| PD/SHAREWARE UPDATE |*| |*||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||*| by Ron Grant VAULT201.LZH by: Robert Fischer **FREEWARE** ======================================================================= THE VAULT is a complete TOS compatible backup system, including a separate (included) RESTORE utility, called THE KEY. For those with new hard disks, there are two types of backups; image and file backups. Image backups, while fast and complete, create floppy disks that MUST be restored using the original program, while file backup programs create floppies that can be read from the desktop. THE VAULT is of the latter variety. However, due to a disk caching scheme, THE VAULT is fast. It is also entirely GEM-based and has a comprehensive help system. Some initial tests with THE VAULT lead me to believe that I'll be using it more and more often. It's easy, powerful, and has a very nice front- end. I can personally testify to it's error-checking! <grin>. It has a unique feature which allows you to backup subdirectories without backing up the main directory. This can be useful for those who don't particularly feel like backing up their programs every time, but need to back up the data folders within the master folder. The only nit I might have to pick is the LaTEX-formatted manual, which few people will be able to print. Fortunately, it's possible to read between the LaTEX codes in order to find out how to run the program, and the HELP system is good enough to get you started with the program right away. VALGUS20.ARC by: James R. Glenn **PUBLIC DOMAIN** ======================================================================== If you're using your ST for business or other professional applications which require you to have a monochrome only system, and have noticed a dearth of monochrome games (either commercial or non) to help you relieve your stress, then VALGUS is worth a look. It also runs on color systems, and is admittedly better in color, but monochrome users have learned not to be too fussy about games. VALGUS is a Tetris clone, written in HiSoft Basic and DevPac assembler (source code is available from the author for a small disk fee). Don't look for the spectacular (and mostly cosmetic) graphics of the various commercial releases of Tetris. The graphics are adequate to let you find out why Tetris is considered such an addictive game, though! When I first booted VALGUS I expected to fool with it a bit, and then put it aside, but a few hours later I was still playing. Though not a Tetris aficionado, I feel that this 'clone' is a good game. U P G R A D E S ! ! --------------------- RAMPL122.LZH by: John Harris **SHAREWARE** ======================================================================= Version 1.22 is a bugfix of the previous recent upload of v1.2. Those of you with SHADOW and more than 1MB of memory can now utilize this program. Also, some display problems are fixed, and the ERASE DISK function now finds the RAMdisk properly. RAMPLUS is a fast and memory-efficient RAMdisk with a built-in print spooler which does not require a separate buffer. It works by using the available disk space in the RAMdisk, so if your RAMdisk is empty, your printer buffer grows without losing more memory. RAMPLUS also includes a mouse doubler and screen saver, and an optional GEMDOS fix that allows an extra 2K to be stored on every disk. Included in RAMPLUS.LZH is DESKFMT.ACC, an advanced yet easy to use disk formatter/copier/verifier that also installs a unique CALLFSEL accessory that makes intelligent guesses about what path you probably want displayed. This is handy for users of either UIS II/III or C.F.Johnson's Little Green File Selector. The DESKFMT.ACC will install two accessories, the formatter and the FSEL caller. I have found that when loaded into Multidesk, it does not install the CALLFSEL accessory, but otherwise works fine. It will communicate with RAMPLUS' print spooler, allowing you to abort any print job you may have going. D T P W A T C H ! ! ------------------------- Here are some fonts and clip-art that I've noticed uploaded in the past short while. None of these are reviewed at this time, but simply listed as available. I make no comment as to their quality or suitability to a particular purpose. Occasionally, some Public Domain or Shareware Desktop Publishing utility, font or graphic will make news, but for the most part these are just good, useful (and sometimes not so useful) additions to the DTPer's library. Calamus Fonts ------------- OLYMPIA.ARC Sandy Cerovich UNVRSITY.ARC R.Kalford LET_GTHC.ARC R.Kalford Pagestream Fonts ---------------- ('FONTVERTED' from PD Calamus fonts, and uploaded by R.Walshe. Text files in archives contain the text file by the original Calamus artist) CHANCER2.ARC CALIGRA2.ARC FLASH2.ARC WESTERN_.ARC DINGBAT2.ARC CELTIC3.ARC BURLOBLI.ARC OLYMPIC.ARC SOUVMEDI.ARC SOUVMED2.ARC Clip Art -------- MARTART3.LZH, MARTART4.LZH from M. Spiller. Line art. Don't know what happened to 1 & 2; we presume they're around somewhere. BEARS_1.LZH, BEARS_2.LZH,.....BEARS_8.LZH from R.J.Brackett, these rather large (average 125K per LZH file) .IMG Clipart pics are of Teddy Bears. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly magazine covering the Atari and related computer community. Material contained in this edition may be reprinted without permission, except where otherwise noted, unedited, with the issue number, name and author included at the top of each reprinted article. Commentary and opinions presented are those of the individual author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Z*Net or the staff. Z*Net Atari Online Magazine and Z*Net are copyright (c)1990 by Rovac Industries Inc, a registered corporation. Post Office Box 59, Middlesex, New Jersey 08846. (908) 968-2024. Z*Net Online BBS 24 Hours, 1200/2400 Baud, (908) 968-8148. We can be reached on CompuServe at 71777,2140 and on GEnie at Z-NET. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET Atari Online Magazine Copyright (c)1990, Rovac Industries, Inc.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~