No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs / nf_archive_12.iso / MAGS / TEXTMAGS / ZNET / ZNET9103.ZIP / ZNET9103.ASC < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1991-01-19 | 57.6 KB | 1,387 lines

==(((((((((( == Z*NET INTERNATIONAL ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE =========(( === ----------------------------------------- =======(( ===== January 19, 1991 Issue #91-03 =====(( ======= ----------------------------------------- ==(((((((((( == Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------- USA - NEW ZEALAND - CANADA - GERMANY - UK ----------------------------------------------------------- PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Ron Kovacs CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Jon Clarke, Terry Schrieber CONTENTS -------- PACIFIC RIM COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS SHOW........Terry Schreiber Z*NET NEWSWIRE..................................................... Z*NET NEW ZEALAND........................................Jon Clarke PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE..................................Keith Macnutt ST'S VERSUS OTHERS.....................................Carlis Darby ST QUESTIONS ANSWERED........................................Usenet WORLDWIDE PUBLIC DATA CARRIERS...........................Jon Clarke PACIFIC RIM COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS SHOW ============================================ Vancouver B.C. Canada by Terry Schreiber Day 1 With so much to report it's very hard to find a starting place but I think the reason most of you people read these reports is for the Atari information, since that is where I spent most of my day here's what's hot. New model Un-veiled Atari Canada today announced the new Mega 1 STE. "Yes, ok a cut down version of the big brother" some might say - read on. This model, although only one meg is fully upgradable to it's big brother. It also does not contain the fifty meg harddrive. Now the kicker - with all this removed you can expect the price to drop considerably but would you believe including monochrome monitor the suggested list is $1295.00 CDN? The Mega 4 STE is at a suggested list of $2495.00, when you subtract the cost of a monitor ($200.00) that is a $1400.00 saving. I am sure that somewhere around someone will find four megs of Simm chips and a fifty meg harddrive for a lot less. You better bet this unit has the Classic buyers reeling and quite a few of the Big Blue users gave it more than a second glance. One Man Band Tim Breck - The One Man Band demonstrated the Atari's MIDI capabilities on stage to the delight of show attendees. Tim plays a combination of guitar and keyboards with drums, bass and other effects being supplied by the Atari computer. The Booth The Atari booth is a story in it's self. Although not the biggest at the show I believe it is the highest and best designed for it's purpose. The Atari booth is a modular system that can be assembled in many configurations. Last year in Toronto it was in a 40X60 FT configuration at this show it is in a 40X50 FT. When fully used it can extend to a 40X80 and can actually be configured down to a single section of 4X10 counter. The system was designed by Canex and is an amazing piece of design of Plexiglass, plastics and aluminum. The Tower section sports a huge illuminated Atari sign, stage and counter with drawer space for storage of flyers, extra cables and parts. I hope to get this on video to convert and upload at a later time. The Equipment On display in the booth are two TT's one on color and one on monochrome. The main interest shown on these machines are Calamus (this is the area where Nathan spends most of his time) and Dynacadd. There are a total of six Portfolios on display. Four being demonstrated by themselves and two being used with PC's - one with the card reader and one with the parallel interface. I did happen to notice that this area was never lacking for attendance. Mega STE's are next on the agenda with two Mega 4 units and one of the new one megabyte systems. These units were continuously running demos being changed to what the customer was showing an interest in. Two Mega 4 computers were set in another area demonstrating the networking capabilities of the Atari. Stacy's were abundant eveywhere. I believe six in total were connected to MIDI equipment or a Spectre GCR and even running by it's self. One of the units contained PC-Speed, this also proved to be a big draw to DOS users. DOS users also checked out the Atari PC4's running Windows and DynaCadd PC. Some people I talked to were even surprised that Atari had anything DOS compatible. Last to mention are the 1040 STE's that were scattered through-out the booth running MIDI, Degas, LDW Power, virtually anything that was available to show. You may notice the absence of the Lynx and any game related software. This was a business show and a very impressive showing by Atari. On Sunday during setup before the carpeting had gone down I chanced to glance at the floor to see the chalked layout lines of the booth. Along the line was the word Atari followed by a drawing of Pac-Man. I hope this showing has changed this persons mind as well. Day 2 Interiew with Nathan Potechin of ISD ------------------------------------ TS> With so many developers leaving the Atari platform - Does ISD have any plans of going into other machines? NP> Yes, We currently have a DOS and Amiga version of Dynacadd available and we do plan on versions of our products for other platforms. This is not to say we will be forgetting the Atari - far from it. It is a great machine. I'll give you a for instance. I was demonstrating Calamus earlier to a person who was using Pagemaker on a DOS machine. He said he had five minutes to spare, twenty minutes later he walked away with brochures that he picked up and a retailers business card. That customers next machine will be an Atari. TS> How do you feel Atari is doing as a business machine? NP> Atari is trying very hard to get into the business market - just look at this booth. The costs for attending this type of show are mind-boggling. You have the cost of the booth, space rental, transportation, accommodation and lots of other expenses as well. I think Atari is doing extremely well here by the amount of people attending the booth. There are twelve people working in the booth and at times twenty-four wouldn't be enough to handle the crowd. Atari is doing a lot more in business sales than it did a year ago. It takes time to take a piece of the market that was primarily held by Mac and DOS but with products like Calamus, DynaCadd, Wordflair, Pagestream and the like, Atari is becoming recognized in the business field. TS> When will we see the new version of Calamus? NP> Soon, that is all I can say at this time. It is being put together by a group of programmers in different areas - each sends in his code and then it is added in. This takes time to check and compile and then re-edit. All I can say is that it is coming and to be patient. TS> Is ISD working on something new for the Atari at this time? NP> ISD is always kicking around ideas, we have made a commitment to the Atari market and its users. Our support, I have been told, is second to none in the Atari World. We will continue to support the Atari market and have no intentions of leaving it. Atari buyers are a different breed of computer user. I personally enjoy getting into a one on one discussion about our products or the machines. I have attended many trade shows, visited dealers and user groups and there is nothing like talking face to face with an end user or potential customer; particularly when they have the typical pre-conceived idea of the Atari platform. TS> One last question before we get back to the booth. Do you feel 1991 will be the year of the Atari? NP> That is somewhat of a loaded question. I feel every year is the year of Atari . Every year there is new product released - Every year there is more and more software available. I keep hearing about this "Year of Atari" the year of Atari is now. Atari is now. If everyone is sitting back and is waiting for something to happen perhaps they had better take a second look at what is already here. Atari has the TT products, Mega STE's, 1040 STE's, Stacy, Portfolio, DOS boxes, Harddrives, CD Rom, 44 Meg Syquest drives, and for gamers the Lynx. Software wise you have word-processors, spreadsheets, databases, accounting packages, point of sale packages, CAD software, games of all types and of course Calamus for desktop publishing. I think anyone who is sitting on the fence about buying a machine is missing the boat. The machines are now and the software is now. TS> Thank you for your time and points of view and we will look forward to talking to you about the new version of Calamus when it is released. Nathan Potechin is head of the IAAD (The Independent Association of Atari Developers) and dedicates a lot of his time to this organization. He is a dedicated Atari user himself and from a public relations point of view a great asset to the Atari community. -TS Marketing - An interview with Rob McGowan (Atari Canada) -------------------------------------------------------- TS> Well Rob, lets start out with the question that everyone wants an answer to, Where is Atari's advertising? RM> Atari has done numerous ads over the last year. We now have two advertising agencies in Canada one for English and one for French. We are currently attending this show and have attended at least three others in the past year. We ran Lynx television ads, full page ST newspaper ads, and lots of magazine ads. We ran a promo last year with Neilsen's candy bars giving away Lynx machines. We also have a dealer advertising co-op plan in place for dealers to run individual ads. I think we've done well in the advertising market. TS> I think most people are wondering why the TT and ST's are not shown on television. Perhaps you might care to comment. RM> Atari Canada is currently under-going some changes in marketing and perhaps in a short while this might change. We had a certain amount of money to spend on advertising last year and we placed it into print ads where we thought we could get the most for the dollar. Dealers are free to use their co-op dollars on any form of advertising so I really can't speak for them. TS> What sort of marketing changes can we look forward to this year? RM> There is some complete re-structuring going on in Marketing and sales right now. I really can say too much until next week. Geoff Earle has just returned from the CES show and a stop at Sunnyvale and we have been here, in Vancouver, this past week. I imagine a meeting will be set up for the beginning of next week. TS> Will the recent decision last week to let go all the Atari US Reps have any effect on Canada? RM> That, I don't know at this time. I imagine that issue will be discussed at the meeting as well. TS> Looks like next week would have been a better time to get in touch with you. Here's one I think you might be able to answer. How will the new Mega 1 STE be marketed? RM> I would like to say it doesn't have to be - it sells itself at the price but it will be marketed as what it is " A Classic Killer". The features and price by far out do the competition. TS> Thanks Rob for your time and we will talk again next week when hopefully some issues are a little clearer. RM> Just one more thing to let everyone know, the changes taking place are positive changes. We don't want any un-found rumours getting started. We are adopting a completely new structure right down to our dealer network. We have made some very positive changes in the past year such as our service area in which we spent more than one hundred thousand dollars updating and remodeling. We also instituted a BBS system for our dealers to keep them advised of pricing and service bulletins. This is just the beginning. Six months ago I stated in Z-Net that Atari had to come full circle in North America and get back to basics. In my eyes, Atari is doing just that. A positive move to go back to what has worked for them in the past. Good service, great support and a very good marketing plan not to mention that the machines are great as well. This time around it is not strictly 400/800 machines but a full line of computer and game products. It is not just the consumer they are focusing on but the business market as well. With such a great product line how can Atari possibly fail at claiming a large portion of the computer market. Only time will tell. Day 3 The last day was actually the best day. Attendance at the Atari Booth was excellent. Sales Reps were all but done in from the three day event and were glad but still somewhat sad that this was the last day. Atari had accomplished what they set out to do - awaken the business community to its products. The Portfolio section was about the busiest overall during the event with four machines on display stands followed closely by the Desktop Publishing and CAD on the TT machines. Murray Brown, Atari Canada's Western Sales Rep, was extemely pleased by the number of Dealer and VAR enquiries during the show. "Portfolio was the biggest hit with the resellers but the whole product line did extremely well" he said. It's now 6:00 p.m. and the show is closed. Dealers scramble to start packing down. Just a short note to thank those individuals and dealers that staffed the booth over the past three days. Thank you! One final note to Atari Canada to thank their staff, Murray Brown, Rob McGowan, Denise Carrol and Geoff Earle (General Manager) for the effort and expense that went into this show. We are looking forward to next year. Oh yes, did I fail to mention this? Commodore did not attend the show. Pac-Rim Computer & Communications Show -------------------------------------- In the Z*Break reports released, I concentrated mostly on the Atari. In this section I will endeavour to bring you the items I found most interesting from the rest of the exhibitors. Card Express ------------ Card Express is a vending machine that produces business cards. With touch screen technology you can chose your card size, typeface, and logo to create business cards, invitations, thank you's and notices in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Contact Interpro Lab Inc. Montreal for further info. 100" HDTV --------- Sharp Electronics was displaying their front or rear projection unit that will display a picture up to 100" in size. This unit is a must for the avid couch potato. Also from Sharp was the a liquid crystal display screen that is used with and overhead projector. The unit on display was monochrome only with a color unit planned for production later this year. This unit connects to a computer and is great for those computer tutorial sessions as well as training and sales seminars. Next is Now! ------------ Next Computers was demonstrating their jet black beauty with a lot of activity in and around the booth area. I actually didn't get close enough at the time for hands on but did notice they were about ten times busier than the Apple Display area. Reports from people who did have hands on experience state that if you are using an Atari now you will be greatly disapointed in the Next mouse control. Color Printing -------------- QMS was showing their color postscript laser printer while NorthWest Digital was demonstrating the HP Paintjet. Color was at the show and the Rep from Beamscope even dropped by with pricing for a new Star 24 pin color printer for around $400.00. Cellular Technology ------------------- How's about a Cellular phone that uses your existing lines in your home or office and uses toll lines out in the field? This would save many people a bundle in on air time. This unit was demonstrated at B.C. Cellular's Booth. The phone itself is remarkably small and light-weight in a fliptop configuration and will fit into a shirt pocket with ease. Z*NET NEWSWIRE ============== REGENT OUT OF BUSINESS In a letter received by the Puget Sound Atari News and reprinted in the December/January 1991 issue, Frank Cohen, President of Regent, stated that they are out of business and will hopefully return if and when things change in the Atari community. APPLE EARNS $150 MILLION Apple announced this week that net revenues rose 12 percent for its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 28, 1990 compared to the same quarter of a year ago. Earnings per share increased 33 percent. Net revenues for the quarter were $1.676 billion, compared to $1.493 billion in the year previous period. International revenues accounted for 45 percent of total revenues during the quarter, compared to 36 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 1990. Net income in the first quarter of fiscal 1990 included $33.7 million ($20.5 million after tax, $.16 per share) for expenses related to cost-reduction programs and damages resulting from the October 1989 earthquake in the Bay Area. IBM EARNS $2.5 BILLION IBM announced this week preliminary worldwide financial results for 1990. Worldwide revenue for the year ended Dec. 31, 1990, was $69.0 billion, up 10.1 percent from the prior year's $62.7 billion. Worldwide net earnings for the year were $6.0 billion compared with $3.8 billion in 1989. The after-tax margin was 8.7 percent in 1990 compared with 6.0 percent in 1989. Earnings per share were $10.51 in 1990 compared with $6.47 per share in 1989. Included in the 1989 results is a one-time charge taken in the fourth quarter against earnings for restructuring initiatives, investment revaluations and other actions. Average shares outstanding were 572.6 million in 1990 and 581.1 million in 1989. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1990, worldwide revenue was $23.1 billion, up 12.7 percent from the prior year's $20.5 billion. ASHTON-TATE TO APPEAL Ashton-Tate stated this this that it will immediately appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, to reverse an order by Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. regarding Ashton-Tate's copyright infringement lawsuit against Fox Software Inc. SPINNAKER PURCHASES PFS Software Publishing announced this week that Spinnaker Software has purchased its PFS: product line. The agreement transfers software code, technology, inventory, installed base and the PFS: name to Spinnaker Software. The products included are, PFS:First Publisher and PFS:First Publisher accessories, PFS:First Choice, PFS:Preface, and PFS:Easy Start. Spinnaker is also readying a line of Windows 3.0 applications that will be marketed under the PFS: brand which will be introduced shortly. TANDON BUYING CORVUS Tandon has acquired most of all of the assets of Corvus Systems which makes local area networking systems, PCs and related software and peripheral equipment. NINTENDO INCREASES PRODUCTION Nintendo announced early this week that it will increase monthly output of its Super Famicom video game computers to 500,000 units starting in April and to 800,000 units monthly beginning in August. The Super Famicon uses a one-megabit dynamic random access memory microchip and can handle more complex game software than Nintendo's Famicom. There are only nine different kinds of game software available for the new machine, but Nintendo says they will expand to about 30 to 40 types by the end of the summer. EPSON'S NEW LASER PRINTERS Epson announced two new laser printersthis week, the $1,399 EPL-7000 personal printer and the EPL-7500, a high-performance PostScript printer for $3,299. Z*NET NEW ZEALAND ================= by Jon Clarke, Contributing Editor +------+----------------+ |_\|/_ | | | /|\ | * | We are not alone +------+ * * | ---------------- | | | * | +-----------------------+ For months now we have been talking about the global village where it relates to Atari and other computers. Now here we are in a time of conflict over half a world away from those of you in the United States and a quarter of a world away from us down here in New Zealand. To those of you with friends or family in the middle east "Gods speed" Most people down this part of the world have been watching it like yourselves live on the satellite feeds to our local TV and full CNN feeds via "SKY TV" here in New Zealand. As your president Mr Bush made his announcement this week re the liberation of Kuwait, most of New Zealands citizens were watching this live. This for me brings home the how small our little planet is becoming. This also illustrates how small the world computer community has become. In the fido area we get mail from the middle east, via the Public Data Networks we can pop into these countries and "window shop" in their networks. Via the Usenet feeds we can email each other daily and see what is happening. Via the "Clary Network" we can get near live news feeds. For those of you with a "Reuters" terminal/PC link you can see live what is happening world-wide. More on all this in a later article. From Z*NET New Zealand "PEACE ON EARTH" Atari ST Public Domain software houses across the 'pond'. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This week letters P-Z If you are looking for some public domain software, below is a list of some companies you may like to contact and see what they have available. Name Address POST CODE Country PD Essentials 6 Westfield Way,Sanderstead,Surrey CR2 9ET ENGLAND PD Libary 68 Delancey Street, London NW1 7RY ENGLAND Pdom PD Atari 30a School Rd.,Tilehurst, Berks RG3 5AN ENGLAND PDQ Dept.6 Po Box 38, Eastleigh, Hants SO5 5HB ENGLAND PD Rebels 12 Cornfield Rd.,Jump Farm,Devizes ENGLAND Riverdene - 63 Wintringham Way, Purley - on - PDL Thames, Berks RG8 8BH ENGLAND Round Table PD 7 St Andrews Road , Warminster BA12 8EP ENGLAND Senlac 14 Oakies Close, Old Roar Road, - ST Leonards on Sea , East Sussex TN37 7HB ENGLAND Softville PD Unit 5,Strafield Park,Waterlooville PO7 7XN ENGLAND S.W Software Lib. Po Box 563, Wimbourne, Dorset BH21 2YD ENGLAND Sphinx Software Erw Fynydd, Carmel, Lianelli SA14 7SG WALES ST Club 9 Sutton Place, Nottingham NG1 1LX ENGLAND * The Other PDL 108 Kenmare Rd.,Wavertree,Liverpool L15 3HQ ENGLAND W.A.C.E PDL PO Box 2777, Wellington,New Zealand - - NZ * Wizard PD 178 Waverley Rd., Reading, Berks RG3 2PZ ENGLAND WooleySoft Humbleknowe Cottage, Ramoyle, Dunblane, Perthshire FK15 OBA SCOTLAND * = known to be suppliers international mail order PD. The turn around time via airmail is very quick, 10 days from NZ to UK to NZ. Please note : All these software houses will supply P.D software internationally. Remember to ask for a PD catalogue and prices. PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE ==================== by Keith MacNutt TAKE NOTE CALCULATOR V1.1 J.L. JACOBI TAKE NOTE SOFTWARE 285 DIVISADERO #3 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117 (415)431-9495 Logging on to any BBS or PAY service will convince most people that calculators are not one of the things the ST is short on. They come in every size and description, in both acc or prg and even a few in tos formats, printing or non printing, memory misers or hogs and some that are included as features in 8 in 1 style programs. Now since I love utilities, I've possibly tried half to three quarters of all the calculator programs out there, looking for one that I could say did everything I needed. For the moment my search has ended, and though bigger or better, smaller or faster ones may come along, I think this one fits the bill for what I think I'll need in the future. This calculator has some very nice features such as the ability to rename the extender to acc or prg, print after each entry or as a group of entries, and one that I really love is the ability to reposition the calculator window anywhere on the screen. Even though it takes up 100k, most people will find that this is not a real problem if they have the extender named as a program instead of an accessory. TAPE BOX On the right hand side of the calculator there is a small window which is the tape box. Inside that window you can see 18 of the last operations with a limit of 999 before the window starts to over write itself. Under the window you will also find buttons to: 1) tape off - turn tape box off 2) dec- decimal (base 10) 3) print- print entire tape 4) clear- clear the tape 5) space- insert blank line between operations NUMBER FORMATS Six possible formats can be displayed. 1) dec- decimal or base 10 2) $ - decimal with values in dollars and cents 3) hex -hexadecimal or base 16 4) oct -octal or base 8 5) bin -binary or base 2 6) rt -running total OPERATORS/FUNCTIONS Programmers will find these helpful AND- logical AND NOT- LOGICAL AND + NOT OR - LOGICAL OR XOR- LOGICAL XOR SHR- SHIFT RIGHT SHL- SHIFT LEFT ROR- ROLL BITS RIGHT ROL- ROLL BITS LEFT LONG- controls the numbers of bits used by the shift and roll functions. BSET- set a bit on BCLR- set a bit off SIN- sin of a number COS- cosine of a number TAN- tangent of a number ATAN- the arc tangent of a number ASIN- the arc sine of a number ACOS- the arc cosine of a number DEG- convert radians to degrees RAD- convert degrees to radians SQR- the square root of a number LOG- the logarithm of x base e EXP- the xth power to the base number TRUN- return only the whole portion of a number FRAC- return only the fraction of a number ROUN- round the number off MOD- returns only the remainder or modulus of an integer of division SEND On the left of the calculator is a button called send. If this is selected and you were to exit the program, the contents in the top display box would be sent to any program monitoring the keyborad (such as word processors). PRINTER Normally all printing is done on the right side of the printing page, but if you click on left justify you will now have all calculations at the left, which is nice if you are using narrow calculator paper that comes in rolls. KEYSTROKES All numeric and regular keys are the same as the on-screen equivalents with the exception of these: F1 -cycle through the main display box format numbers F2 -cycle though the translation display formats F3 -cycle through the tape box formats UNDO -CE clear entry CLR/HOME -CA clear all ) - on the numeric keypad is equivalent to "^" / - on the numeric keypad is divide (ascii 246) The latest version has also included the ability to save all operations in the calculator box to disk. If you save one or more files to disk it will first look for tape####.asc and if it finds say a file called tape1.asc your calculations are then saved as tape2.asc. So as you can see there are more than enough features to satisfy most peoples needs in a calculator. Z-Net wishes to take a minute to wish those taking part in Operation Desert Storm a speedy and safe journey home. ST'S VERSUS OTHERS ================== by Carlis Darby I have seen several articles in some of the online ST magazines regarding STs vs PCs, about Windows v3.0 vs. the ST's GEM interface etc. I must say that I am surprised at some of the statements. Before I get started, let me state that I am a Systems Engineer for a national chain of computer stores and use high end PC Compatibles on a daily basis. While I would not consider myself an expert in all operating systems, I am at least familiar with many different operating systems on the PC's. I have worked with DOS (and Windows 3.0), Xenix/ Unix, Novell's Netware, 3Com, Corvus and several others. Many of you know me as the Sysop of HyperSpace I BBS (Fnet Node #391) or as the person who took over the programming for Space Empire Elite (a not for the IBM program) Online InterBBS Strategy game. It has been exciting watching the computer industry evolve over the past years. So many changes happen so quickly that it becomes almost an impossible task to keep up with them. Seems that every week there has been a new breakthrough in one field or another. When I purchased my first ST back in February of '86 (520ST w/512k, single sided drive and monochrome monitor), I was in hog heaven. Having used an old Atari 400 for a while, then purchasing a Commodore 64, I was in the market for a new computer about the time the ST come out. I was seriously looking at a Commodore 128 when I started comparing "power and price". After seeing I could get an ST with monitor and drive for about the same price as a C-128 and disk drive, I knew I had found my next machine. In '86, the PC's were just coming around to a widespread standard and a typical system would have 256k or 384k of memory. Back then 640k was as much as you needed for just about anything. The 1040ST was a computer ahead of its time, coming standard with 1 meg of usable memory and a 720k 3.5" DS DD and running at 8mhz. The ST is a HOME computer and a lot of business machines were not even 8mhz at the time. You are probably wondering what the point of this "history lesson" is. My point is simply this. It has taken the PC industry about 4 years to get up to the standard that the ST is now. Only recently have PC's come out that are as powerful AS WELL as being as affordable to the average home user. I now see a lot of people "jumping ship" to the PC world in the fear that the ST is doomed. You here things about "no support from Atari", "Atari owes us" and "no software support". First of all, why are so many people surprised that Atari doesn't support the ST any better. Did they support the 8bit? What does Atari owe you? Did you get your 90 day warranty with your machine? If you did and your 90 days are up, then Atari owes you NOTHING. That's right, a big fat ZERO. I don't see anywhere in the documentation where it promises me anything. Sure, I would like to see Atari come out with national advertising, better customer support, and better dealer support. But get real, these are things that Atari has NEVER had so why get worked up about it? As far as software support is concerned, the amount of software that is available for the ST is minute compared to what is available in the PC world. But there are few pieces of end user software available for the PC that I cannot find for the ST that is comparable or actually superior. Again, let's keep in mind that the ST is a HOME computer and not a business machine so to compare business end software to what is available to the ST is not a true comparison. As for Window's 3.0. It looks nice, it comes with lots of really nice programs, it allows you to use over the 640k barrier, it allows you to have more than one application open at once. It does all those things, but as far as I am concerned, it is slow...that's right slow. I brought some of my ST friends to work one day to show it to them. They had heard me say how slow I thought it was, but had heard how great the PC world said it was, so they wanted to see it for theirselves. They played with it for a few minutes and turned to me wanting to know why I thought it was slow. They commented that it was about the same speed as GEM. With that I had to agree, however, I pointed out to them that they were using it on a 25mhz 80386 with a 40mb 19ms SCSI Hard Drive and 2 megs of RAM and it was "just as fast" as an 8mhz ST. And how many home users have a 25mhz 80386 sitting at their house? Yeah, Windows does a lot more but GEM still suits my needs as far as home usage is concerned. I do enjoy my job, but the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is come home to the same machines I work with day in and day out. Those to me are business machines, and I for one want to leave work at work. How much life is left in the ST? Who knows. The ST has already been around for over 5 years through which the PC's have gone through many changes. I think it has at several more good years left in it. I know that my ST does everything I want it to and then some. So to those of you who have PC's or are getting one, more power to you. Don't bother trying to "convert" this user who is still in love with his machine. I am sure that one of these days, I too will have to trade in my ST for something a bit more powerful. It could just as easily be another Atari product or maybe something else altogether. For now, I enjoy coming home to my ST. I have no intentions of "jumping ship" in the near future. I am still having too much FUN! Carlis Darby Sysop, HyperSpace I BBS Fnet Node 391 FidoNet 1:376/62 ST QUESTIONS ANSWERED ===================== Compiled from USENET ERR - What does TOS ERROR nn mean? What do the bombs on my screen mean? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The information below was written, in part, by Darryl May, and posted on GEnie in January (of ????) by John Townsend. The original also appeared in the June 1988 issue of _Current Notes_ (122 N. Johnson Rd., Sterling, VA 22170). It has since found its way to me, and is being posted to comp.sys.atari.st as a service to readers. Alan Pratt wrote to tell me that the basic information may be correct, but that it cannot be dubbed "official" unless it originates, on paper, from Atari. This makes sense, as electronic communications are easily modified, even accidentally. Roland Waldi provided information regarding the difference between TOS and GEM return codes which appears to be correct. The tables have been modified to reflect his information. The following is an unofficial list of the errors that can appear while you are operating your ST computer. Error description return code alert box # ====================================================== OK (no error)....................0 Fundamental error...............-1 Drive not ready.................-2 Unknown command.................-3 CRC error.......................-4 Bad request.....................-5 Seek error......................-6 Unknown media...................-7 Sector not found................-8 No paper........................-9 Write fault....................-10 Read fault.....................-11 General error..................-12 Write protect..................-13 Media change...................-14 Unknown device.................-15 Bad sectors on format..........-16 Insert other disk..............-17 Invalid function number........-32............1 File not found.................-33............2 Path not found.................-34............3 No handles left................-35............4 Access denied..................-36............5 Invalid handle.................-37............6 Insufficient memory............-39............8 Invalid memory block address...-40............9 Invalid drive specified........-46...........15 No more files..................-49...........18 Range error....................-64...........33 Internal error.................-65...........34 Invalid program load format....-66...........35 The last code is the infamous "TOS error 35"! Also, some unofficial information via Alan Pratt: Notably, you should add -48: ENSAME (not the same drive, occurs when you call Frename and the two names you give aren't on the same drive), and -67: EGSBF: you can't use Mshrink to GROW a block of memory. Those bombs that appear on your screen are error messages from the 68000 micro-processor. Number Description of bombs =========================================== Reset: Initial PC2...............1 Bus Error........................2 Address Error....................3 Illegal Instruction..............4 Zero Divide......................5 CHK Instruction..................6 TRAPV Instruction................7 Privilege Violation..............8 Trace............................9 Line 1010 Emulator..............10 Line 1111 Emulator..............11 [unassigned, reserved]..........12 [unassigned, reserved]..........13 Format Error....................14 Uninitialized Interrupt Vector..15 [unassigned, reserved].......16-23 Spurious Interrupt..............24 Level 1 Interrupt Autovector....25 Level 2 Interrupt Autovector....26 Level 3 Interrupt Autovector....27 Level 4 Interrupt Autovector....28 Level 5 Interrupt Autovector....29 Level 6 Interrupt Autovector....30 Level 7 Interrupt Autovector....31 Trap Instruction Vectors.....32-47 [unassigned, reserved].......48-63 User Interrupt Vectors......64-255 GDOS - What is GDOS, and where can I get it? -------------------------------------------- GDOS stands for Graphic Device Output System (at least that's what my copy of STart, volume 1 number 1 said...) You can get a copy of "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About GDOS (and more)" by Douglas N. Wheeler from the atari.archive server. The file is /atari/programming/gdos.arc. There is a German version of GDOS available from the atari.archive server. The file is /atari/utilities/amcgdos.arc. Currently, there are no truly public domain sources for the GDOS system files or font files (at least those supplied by Atari). You can get these files with many commercial programs, such as Degas Elite, WordUp!, etc. You might also want to check your local user group to see if they received a copy of the WordFlair demo program (also available on GEnie). The demo program appears to have the GDOS system and font files. DEV - How do I become a developer for the Atari ST? --------------------------------------------------- Contact Gail Johnson, Atari Rep Person, (408)745-2568 Gail can explain the program to you, and send an information packet if you so desire. Basically, for a $250 registration fee, you gain a 10 pound box filled with over 1500 pages of documentation, software -- including a compiler (Alcyon C) and a demonstration builder, a newsletter, and technical support. There is currently no differentiation between commercial and non-commercial developers, although it would appear that Atari is considering changing that some time in the future. [Note: there is an Independent Atari Developers Association, which -does- require you be a commercial developer to join, but it is -independent- of Atari...] BOOKS - What books are available for the Atari ST? -------------------------------------------------- ~> Compute! Publications,Inc. PO Box 5406,Greensboro NC, 27403 (919-275-9809) Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume One. VDI by Sheldon Leeman - ISBN 0-87455-093-9 Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume Two. AES by Sheldon Leeman - ISBN 0-87455-114-5 Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume Three. TOS by Sheldon Leeman - ISBN 0-87455-149-8 Learning C. Programming Graphics on the Amiga and Atari ST. Marc B. Sugiyama and Christopher D. Metcalf - ISBN 0-87455-064-5 Compute's ST Applications Guide. Programming in C Simon Feild, Kathleen Mandis and Dave Myers - ISBN 0-87455-078-5 ~> Scott,Foresman and Company. Professional Publishing Group 1900 East Lake Avenue Glenville, IL 600025 Learning C on the Atari ST Joseph Boyle Wikert - ISBN 0-673-18738-1 ~> Sybex Inc. 2344 Sixth St. Berkely, CA 94710 Programmers Guide To GEM Phillip Balma and William Fitler - ISBN 0-553-34397-1 ~> Taylor Ridge Books PO Box 48 Manchester, Connecticut (203)643-9673 C-manship Complete, $19.95 Calyton Walnum - No ISBN " a decent book on programming your st gem/aes/vdi plus other stuff that is based on the 31 articles that Clayton Walnum wrote for Analog. It was written on a mega 4 with Calamus." ~> Addison-Wesley Pub. 68000 Assembly Language Donal Kantz & James Stanley - ISBN 0-201-11659-6 "An interesting book on 68000 for the Atari (and amiga too, but both in the abstract)" THE FOLLOWING BOOKS ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT ~> Abacus Software,Inc. 5370 52nd Street,S.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49508 Atari ST Internals K Gerits,L. Englisch and R. Bruckmann - ISBN 0-916439-46-1 Atari ST GEM Programmers Reference Norbert Szczepanowski and Bernt Gunther - ISBN 0-916439-52-6 Atari ST 3d Graphics Programming Uwe Braun - ISBN 0-916439-69-0 Atari ST Disk Drives Inside and Out Uwe Brawn,Stephan Dittrich and Axel Schramm - ISBN 0-916439-84 Atari ST Machine Language B.Grohmann,P.eidler and H.Slibar - ISBN 0-916439-48-8 Atari ST Introduction to MIDI Programming Len Dorfman and Dennis Young - ISBN 0-916439-77-1 ~> Bantam Books,Inc. 666 5th Avenue New York, New York 10103 Atari ST Application Programming Lawrence J. Pollack and Eric J.T.Weber - ISBN 0-553-34397-1 TIPS - TIPS AND HINTS from other users -------------------------------------- Any 'multisync' monitor which handles 70 video fields a second can be used with the ST; the custom cable involves no tricks, or commercial ones are available. The original NEC multisync does NOT handle 70 fields a sec. More than 3 bombs often means more than 1 error, so interpretations are tricky. An ST-formatted disk which is not readable by a PC can be made readable by putting the 3 bytes EB 34 90 (those were 3 bytes of hex) at the beginning of the boot sector (sector 1 of track 0, I believe). This can be done with either an ST or PC absolute sector editor. Some (older) PC-3.5"-drives cannot deal with the short track-header produced by ST formatters. On those drives, ST-formatted disks are not readable, independent of their boot sector contents. The other way, however, does always work: format on the PC. When using disks formatted on a PC in an ST, make sure to insert and access a disk with a different serial number in between disk changes. For those with the 'inaccessible' mouse and joystick ports, a joystick extender cable will make life easier. The Y-cable joystick extenders make it extremely easy to keep mouse and joystick connected to port 0, and a joystick extender cable in port 1 makes for easy hookup after you've moved the machine. I would appreciate feedback, comments, suggestions for more TIPS AND HINTS, etc. E-mail can reach me at the following: davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu Internet davidli@simvax BITnet WORLDWIDE PUBLIC DATA CARRIERS ============================== by Jon Clarke, Z*Net Online Contributing Editor Last updated : 14/01/91 This list is complied from PDN carriers worldwide. 49 Countries listed ____________________________________________________________________ THIS FILE MAYBE FREELY COPIED PROVIDED CREDIT IS GIVEN TO THE AUTHOR -------------------------------------------------------------------- KEY: DNIC: is the country/carriers address. Please note most carriers will require a leading prefix on the DNIC of either a '0' or a '1', so the DNIC from Argentina might be 07220 or 17220. V.A.N: Value Added Network. PDN: Public Data Network, make a local call and connect to systems world wide. This list is of countries available in all countries who have PDN available for PUBLIC useage. List by country order --------------------- Host Name Carrier VAN/Gateway DNIC ______________________________________________________________ Argentina ENTEL Yes n/k 7220 Austria RADIO AUSTRIA Yes Yes 2322 DATEX-P Yes Yes 2329 Austraila (AUS) AUSTPAC Yes Yes 5052 TELETEX Yes n/k 5054 Bahrain IDAS-BAHNET Yes Yes 4243 Belgium DCS Yes Yes 2062/2063 Bermuda IDAS Yes Yes 3503 Brazil INTERDATA-RENPAC Yes Yes 7240/724 Canada DATAPAC Yes Yes 3020 INFOGRAM Yes Yes 3024 INFOSWITCH Yes Yes 3029 TELEGLOBE Yes Yes 3025 Chile ENTEL CHILE Yes Yes 7302 TRANSRADIO Yes Yes 7305 CHILEPAC Yes Yes 7303 Cuba * Incomming Service Only Denmark DATAPAK Yes Yes 2402 Finland DATAPAK Yes Yes 2442 DIGIPAK Yes Yes 2443 TELETEX Yes Yes 2445 France TRANSPAC / NTI Yes Yes 2080/2081 French Caribbean DOMPAC Yes Yes 3400 French Guyana DATASERVE Yes Yes 7420 French Polynesia TOMPAC Yes Yes 5470 Gabon GABONPAC Yes Yes 6282 Germany (F.R /West) DATEX-PG Yes Yes 2624 TELETEX Yes Yes 2627 Hong Kong INTELPAK Yes Yes 4542 IOAS Yes Yes 4544 DATAPAK Yes Yes 4545 Hungary NEDIX Yes Yes 2160/2161 Iceland ICEPAK Yes Yes 2740 Ile De La REUNION Yes Yes 6470 Indonesia SKOP Yes Yes 5101 Ireland EIRPAC Yes Yes 2724 Israel ISRANET Yes Yes 4251 Italy DARDO Yes Yes 2227 ITAPAC Yes Yes 2222 Japan DDX-P Yes Yes 4401 VENUS-P Yes Yes 4408 Korea DACOM-NET Yes Yes 4501 Luxemburg LUXPAK Yes Yes 2704/2709 Malaysia MAYPAC Yes Yes 5021 Netherlands DATANET Yes Yes 2041/2044/2049 New Caledonia TOMPAC Yes Yes 5460 New Zealand PACNET Yes Yes 5301 Norway DATAPAK Yes Yes 2421/2422 Phillipines GMCR Yes Yes 5154 EASTNET Yes Yes 5156 CAPWIRE Yes Yes 5151 PHILCOM-WORLDNET Yes Yes 5152 P.N.G PNGPAC Yes Yes N/K Portugal TELEPAC-P Yes Yes 2680 CYPRMNET Yes Yes 2682 Singapore TELEPAC Yes Yes 5252 South Africa SAPONET Yes Yes 6550 Spain IBERPAC Yes Yes 2145 Sweden DATAPAK Yes Yes 2402 Switzerland TELEPAC Yes Yes 2289 DATALINK Yes Yes 2284 Taiwan PACNET Yes Yes 4872 UOAS Yes Yes 4877 Thailand IDAR * Incomming Service only United Arab Emerants EMDAH Yes Yes 4243 United Kingdom HULL TEL. CO. Yes Yes 2345 TELETEX Yes Yes 2342 B.T Yes Yes 2352/2349 United States of America (USA) AT&T Yes Yes 3134 FTCC Yes Yes 3124 NETEXPRESS Yes Yes 3139 R.C.A Yes Yes 3113 SPRINTNET Yes Yes 3110/3127 TRT Yes Yes 3119 TYMNET Yes Yes 3106 WESTERN UNION INT. Yes Yes 3104 WORLDCOM /WU/ITT Yes Yes 3103/3107 Vanuatu VIAPAC Yes Yes 5410 Zimbabwe ZIMNET Yes Yes 6482 ----\OoO/---- SUB SYSTEMS OFF USA BASED CARRIERS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Host Carrier VAN Sub-Service DNIC _________________________________________________________________ [USA] AT&T YES ACCUNET 3134 FTCC YES SPRINTNET 3124 TYMNET COMPUSERVE AUTONET MARKNET ALASKACOM (NET) NETEXPRESS YES 3139 RCA YES ALASKANET 3119 AUTONET UNINET SPRINTNET COMPUSERVE MARKNET GLOBENET NYNEX SPRINTNET YES TYMNET 3110/3127 TRT YES SPRINTNET 3119 TYMNET MARKNET AUTONET GLOBENET WANGPAC TYMNET YES TYMNET 3106 WESTERN UNION INT. YES SPRINTNET 3104 TYMNET DATA TRANSPORT WORLDCOM WU/ITT YES AUTONET 3101/3127 MARKNET SPRINTNET TYMNET SNET ALASKANET AMERITECH BELL ALANTIC BELL SOUTH NYNEX PACIFIC BELL SOUTH WEST BELL U.S BELL ---\OoO/--- CONTACT NAMES AND ADDRESSES --------------------------- AustPac (AUSTRALIA) DNIC : 5052 NSW : Sales and Administration Commercial Department, 18th floor, Telecom House 233 Castlereagh Street, Sydney Phone (+622) 267-6767 VIC : Business Sales 10th Floor 35 Collins Street Melbourne, Phone (+623) 657-3400 QLD : Telegrahs and Data Branch 5th Floor Societe Generate House Cnr. Creek ans Elizabeth Streets Brisbane Phone (+627) 835-6400 SA : Telegraph and Data Branch 5th Floor BP House, 30 Flinders Street Adelaide Phone (+628) 225-7435 WA : Telegraph and Data Branch 4th Floor Telecome Centre, 80 Stirling Street Perth Phone (+629) 420-7200 ACT : Telegraph and Data Branch 2nd Floor MCL Building London Circuit Canberra City Phone (+6262) 45-5555 PacNet (New Zealand) DNIC: 5301 : Telecom International and Data Ltd. FAX : (+644) 496-6125 Phone: (+644) 738-444 SprintNet (USA) DNIC : 3110 / 3127 Address : Cindy Cook Interconnect Services Asia/Pacific FAX : (+1) 703-689-5788 TELEX: USA 7401802 WU (Western Union) Worldnet (USA) DNIC : 3103 / 3107 Address : Peter Calistri Western Union Corp. Marketing/International 1 Lake Street Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 PHONE: (+1) 201-818-5356 FAX : (+1) 201-818-6534 TELEX: USA 446194 NB: Would Carriers and Telecomunication companies please supply updates to this information and or any changes that may take place from time to time. Would users of services not mentioned please email/mail me with an update please. *** This file is for your information only. *** ================================================================= Every effort has been made to see this is correct. If it is not please email me on the following services and I will add/correct any of the entries. This file is (c)1991 Jon Clarke Auckland NZ. ================================================================= THE NETS : Jon_Clarke@kcbbs.gen.nz STT@kcbbs.gen.nz Compuserve : 72000,3555 or 72000.3555@compuserve.com.us GEnie : J.Clarke6 MAIL ADDRESS: Jon Clarke, RD#2 Drury, Auckland, New Zealand. ================================================================= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET Atari Online Magazine is a weekly publication covering the Atari and related computer community. Material contained in this edition may be reprinted without permission except where noted, unedited and containing the issue number, name and author included at the top of each article reprinted. Opinions presented are those of the individual author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff of Z*Net Online. This publication is not affiliated with Atari Corporation. Z*Net, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net News Service are copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries Incorporated, Post Office Box 59, Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0059. Voice (908) 968-2024, BBS (908) 968- 8148 at 1200/2400 Baud 24 hours a day. We can be reached on Compuserve at PPN 71777,2140 and on GEnie at address: Z-Net. FNET NODE 593 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET Atari Online Magazine Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~