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==(((((((((( == Z*NET INTERNATIONAL ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE =========(( === ----------------------------------------- =======(( ===== March 9, 1991 Issue #91-09 =====(( ======= ----------------------------------------- ==(((((((((( == Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc. EDITORIAL STAFF Ron Kovacs...........................Publisher/Editor John Nagy...............................Senior Editor Terry Schreiber......................Assistant Editor Jon Clarke........................Contributing Editor Ron Berinstein....................Contributing Editor Mike Schuetz......................Contributing Editor Dr. Paul Keith..............Special Assignment Editor Keith Macnutt...............................Columnist Mike Mezaros......................Contributing Editor CONTENTS EDITORS DESK.............................Ron Kovacs and John Nagy Z*NET NEWSWIRE................................................... NEW FREE ATARI MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED...................Press Release THE GLENDALE ATARI SHOW.............................Press Release FAXNET.................................................Jon Clarke COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE.......................Scott Lapham CALAMUS TUTORIAL - PART IV..........................Geoff LaCasse THE SOFTWARE SHELF.................................Ron Berinstein MIST PLANS ATARIFEST................................Press Release LEXICOR UPDATE..........................................Z*NET BBS PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE................................Keith Macnutt EDITORS DESK ============ Special Commentary and Update Z*NET; WHERE ARE WE, WHERE ARE WE GOING? by Ron Kovacs and John Nagy Anniversaries... they make us think about the past and the Future. Ron Kovacs is about to begin his SEVENTH YEAR of weekly online publishing for Atari users. March marks the beginning of our third year of Z*NET MONTHLY, our hard-copy newsletter supplement that has served over 50 user groups world-wide. ROVAC INDUSTRIES, Inc. was legally incorporated in 1989 in the State of New Jersey by Ron Kovacs for the purpose of furthering what had, until then, been a solo, totally volunteer effort to bring Atari users the best information available. John Nagy became a regular contributor, editor of the monthly newsletter, and staff manager for the growing number of "Z*projects". The online magazine remains to this day to be 100% volunteer supported, non-commercial and non-profit. In 1990, "Z*NET International Atari Online Magazine" became the single name for what had been ZMAGAZINE and ST*ZMAGAZINE. Distribution of the weekly electronic magazine under Ron's editorship was on CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi, USENET, and over 600 registered carrying private bulletin board systems. Later in 1990, Z*NET entered the FNET system and has primary distribution to 50 FNET BBS systems... and ultimately to perhaps thousands more independent BBS systems around the world. Z*Net maintains staff writers in the USA, Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, and Japan, with correspondents in many other countries. On GEnie alone, JUST the 1990 Z*NET issues have been downloaded 30,000 times (thirty THOUSAND!), with another 8 THOUSAND downloads of related files, pictures, Z*BREAK news bulletins, etc. This made Z*NET the NUMBER ONE ONLINE MAGAZINE and the most prolific of ALL GEnie contributors in 1990! We are convinced that part of what makes us respected and popular is Z*NET's continued resolve not to preach, push, pirate, or pander. During 1990, Z*NET continued to evolve. First, the Z*NET NEWS SERVICE was featured as a regular contributor to the German magazine PD JOURNAL. Later, Z*NET NEWS SERVICE was recognized by several British Atari magazines, and was also quoted as an original source in reports appearing in non-computer-specific national news services. Reprints or quotes of Z*NET articles appear regularly in almost every user-group newsletter and have also appeared in many commercial publications including COMPUTER SHOPPER, ST INFORMER, ST WORLD, CURRENT NOTES, AIM, PSAN NEWS, and while in publication, ANALOG, ST-LOG, and ANTIC. In 1990, Z*NET became a continuing column in ST JOURNAL magazine, then moved to become the exclusive news agency for START, the largest US Atari magazine. Z*NET was first with major Atari stories. The 32mHz TT, Elie Kenan resigning, layoffs, the MEGA STE introduction, and more stories were broken by Z*NET special reports. Even though many of those stories were denied vigorously by Atari officials and decried by other publications, each of them came to be shown as true, accurate, fair, and FIRST. By Z*NET's writers doing on-site reporting at major Atari events, including live mini-conferences and pictures of the shows, often while they were still in progress, Z*NET's credibility had crystallized; it had become widely accepted that, if it was reported by Z*NET, you could depend on it. That's not to say that we were always right... occasionally we reported what was in fact true at the time of the report, only to have situations change. And of course, we occasionally really blow it, and make a plain error in interpretation or timing. We also have inadvertently angered the occasional developer, dealer, user group, or Atari official with our reporting of things that might not always put them in the best light. But we haven't been shy about owning up to errors in reporting as soon as they were detected, nor about offering reply space for any irritated reader. And yes, we've been threatened with lawsuits on several occasions. None, it turns out, have actually been filed, despite continued harassment. Also in 1990 and since, Ron Kovacs began several Atari and non-Atari projects under the Z*NET auspices: * Z*NET MECHANICS ONLINE NEWSLETTER was the first, offering the proven format of the online publication to automobile mechanics, both professional and amateur. Gatewat Associates, a development company formed by Bruce Kennedy, the original Z*Magazine editor and founder, has been the co-publisher/editor of the publication since the start. The MECHANICS ONLINE may be continuing or may change format and distribution in support of a commercial sales effort of completely databased auto service bulletins. * Z*NET MACINTOSH ONLINE MAGAZINE had a trial run and is being considered for continued status. * Z*NET PC ONLINE MAGAZINE has just been test released, and is enjoying remarkable startup success and favorable commentary, despite some very vociferous complaints from Atari users who believe that it shows Z*NET is abandoning Atari. * Z*NET ATARI CD-ROM DISK was planned and prepared, but is currently on hold due to the unavailability of Atari CD-ROM players. If that situation reverses, the Z*NET disk will offer a terrific collection of many hundred megs of Atari software, pictures, animations, sounds, and information. ... and there is more that we just aren't ready to discuss! Keep in mind that the ROVAC/Z*NET effort is entirely a "hobby" on many levels... each of us involved have a "real" full time job, and do Z*stuff on our own tabs on our own time. Only a few of our enterprises actually pay for themselves. Some regular readers seem to forget that and are less than charitable when Z*NET is not available for them quite "on time", or when the Z*NET BBS is down for a while due to waiting hardware repairs or PHONE BILLS to be paid! What will the future bring for Z*NET? No, we are NOT abandoning Atari despite new activity in other areas. Z*NET International Atari Online Magazine will continue to be published as long as there is Atari news that deserves impartial telling. It may be that the staff will change somewhat, but Ron Kovacs will remain the publisher and will retain final editorial supervision. Z*NET MONTHLY will continue under the editorship of John Nagy, supplementing user group newsletters until or unless it becomes unnecessary or impractical. And our other projects will continue to expand... to take up every spare minute of time available! But Z*NET Atari Online remains as our center, our touchstone and template for all our other projects. In some ways, the weekly magazine is the engine that keeps all of our other projects in motion. We WON'T be dropping it in the foreseeable future. We DO need to solicit for more input, more contributors, and even more "permanent" staff members. So, readers, consider yourselves solicited. You can reach us to volunteer your talents (and heck, we wouldn't turn down offers of hardware or cash, either!) via EMAIL, US mail, or phone. The relevant numbers are at the top and bottom of every issue of Z*NET. And Thanks for Reading! Your appreciation is our greatest reward. Now let's begin our seventh year together... Z*NET NEWSWIRE ============== NEW 1040STE PRICING AT NEW LOW Atari Canada annouced new retail pricing at $499.00 cdn. Murray Brown, West Coast Sales Manager for Atari stated that Atari is taking a get tough approach. With the new pricing in hand you can now purchase a 1040STE, colour monitor and 30 meg hard drive for the same price as a Mac Classic, which comes without a hard drive, midi ports, stereo sound, built in operating system ect... This will also make PC buyers sit up and take notice. Atari is alive and wants their fair share of the market. National advertising begins next week in an all out effort to make the public awareness and show that Atari doesn't take prisoners! Atari is once again "Power without the price." ATARI NEW ZEALAND Atari New Zealand have released a new newsletter aimed at all the education facilities in New Zealand offering special "education" pricing on most of its product range. MNP VRS PEP Like the old Beta verses VHS video wars of the 80's the MNP and PEP modem compression wars have come to an end with the MNP standard becoming the modem standard in New Zealand for BBS's. (sig: much to my horror I have a PEP) NEW CD_ROM Rumours abound about a new Atari compact disk player for the ST/STE/TT range of computers due for release in May or June of this year. It appears the old Chinnon engine is to be replaced with a more up-to-date version. CD_ROM DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES A US based company with ties in New Zealand and Malaysia continues to amaze the computing world with their innovations in the cd_rom world. Whitestar Mageware of Sante February NEW MEXICO have successfully completed their port from the Atari ST to the MAC and IBM platforms of the game " Golden Immortal". X32 FULLY IMPLEMENTED Telecom International and Networks have completed their upgrades of the X32 network in New Zealand and now offer full world wide X32 dial out. Users in New Zealand may access X32 on the following phone number 1750. DUALFMT.PRG TIME BOMB? Users of a public domain floppy disk formatter for the ST may be heading for data disaster, according to Steve Decker, who contacted Z*NET yesterday. Steve claims that DUALFORMAT, a program by Alan Lindsey that will format two disks in two drives at once, will cease to create unique serial numbered disks after a number of uses. This creates disks that your ST can't tell apart. Swap disks with the same serial number, and the computer will not know to start fresh, and will write parts of the old disk directory into the new one... trashing the file structure beyond repair. Symptoms of this problem have reportedly come to the attention of GRIBNIF SOFTWARE as well, when callers were worried that a bug in their NEODESK might be to blame. Those cases were reportedly also traced to DUALFORMAT users. Until/unless we find out more from the author (who does not list a telecom address), we can only recommend that all users and BBS SYSOPS remove DUALFMT.ARC from their file library for their own safety. FOUR MORE NEW ST GAMES FROM OCEAN/EA Late February press releases from Ocean Software through Electronic Arts Distribution announced four more new game releases for the Atari ST computers: * F-29 RETALIATOR (ST and AMIGA, Ocean Software, $49.95): A futuristic flight simulation with four battle scenarios and 100 missions to fly. Real-time cockpit, internal and external viewpoints and fast, detailed graphics. * NIGHTBREED (ST, PC, and AMIGA, $39.95): Based on the Clive Barker horror film, you are Aaron Boone, fighting both to save the race of the supernatural "Breed" from both the police and a villain called "The Mask". An interactive adventure. * THE UNTOUCHABLES (ST, AMIGA, and C64, $39.95): Another movie action/ adventure conversion. Control Eliot Ness's squad in "spectacular busts, raids, shoot-outs and duels" in Mafia-infested 1920's Chicago." * LOST PATROL (ST, AMIGA, PC, $49.95): It's 1966, and you and six other soldiers are crashed in central Vietnam. Will you survive the 57 mile trek through enemy forces with little food and less ammunition? This strategy adventure allows you to deploy your troops as you see fit... and one of your guys just might be a psycho! TI INTRODUCES MICROCHIPS Texas Instruments introduced a family of customizable microchips this week that enable electronics manufacturers to design smaller and more powerful high performance computer systems, central office telephone equipment, computer workstations and other advanced electronics equipment. The new TGB1000 family is the first customer-configurable solution available that offers up to 150,000 gates operating at speeds that can keep pace with today's most advanced electronic systems. HP 17 PPM LASERJET PRINTER Hewlett-Packard announced on March 4, 1991, its fastest, most advanced 300 dpi desktop printer, the HP LaserJet IIISi printer. The 17 pages- per-minute laser printer uses Resolution Enhancement technology and HP's PCL 5 printer language and has a U.S.list price of $5,495. The new printer is designed to produce up to 50,000 pages per month. SEAGATE EXPANDS Seagate announced March 5, 1991 new 3.5, 5.25 and 8-inch drives. The new line-up includes several products that set new standards for their form factors. The Elite 2 IPI and Elite 2 SCSI, respectively, provide the fastest data transfer rate and highest formatted storage capacity in the 5.25-inch market. The Sabre 6, meanwhile, offers the fastest data access time in an 8-inch drive. The new products will publicly debut at Hanover Messe CeBit '91 in Hanover, Germany, March 13-20. Demonstrations will take place during the show at booth number D24-E23, Hall 8, Nesssegelande Hanover. The newest product offerings include: ST3144 - This 3.5-inch disc drive, available with both AT and SCSI-2 interfaces, is geared towards the low-profile desktop, laptop and the emerging entry-level workstation markets. EPSON TO UNVEIL FULL NEW PRODUCT LINE Epson products will be shown in Booth 1240 at FOSE '91. Two new products are being featured, the Equity 386SX/20 PLUS desktop computer and the LQ-200 dot-matrix printer. Both of these products set new price /performance standards in their respective categories. Other products in the Epson line-up include the Equity 386SX PLUS and Equity 386/25 PLUS computers. Along with computers, Epson will demonstrate its new EPL series of laser printers. COURT FINDS IN APPLE'S FAVOR Apple announced this week that Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco has strengthened Apple's case by clearing the way for a trial in Apple's copyright infringement suit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. The judge denied motions from Microsoft and HP and upheld Apple's claim that the Macintosh computer audio-visual displays are original to Apple. The judge also held that the major portions of Macintosh audio-visual displays -- overlapping windows and icons -- are not licensed to Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. Apple filed suit against Microsoft and HP in March 1988, to protect its copyrighted Macintosh audio-visual displays against copyright infringement by two products: Microsoft's Windows 2.03 and Hewlett-Packard's New Wave. Apple's audio -visual displays make the Macintosh personal computer unique and distinctive, and in computer parlance, extremely "user friendly." FREE MONTHLY MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED =============================== Press Release For Immediate Release..... FREE MONTHLY ATARI MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED, AVAILABLE IN MAY COVINA, CA -- Quill Publishing, publishers of ST JOURNAL MAGAZINE, have replaced the Journal with ATARIUSER, the first and only FREE ATARI SPECIFIC MAGAZINE. ATARIUSER will be distributed free internationally through computer stores, Atari dealers, developers, distributors, and registered Atari user groups. Select book and retail stores and businesses will offer it for free or $1.00 per issue, at their option. Preferred delivery subscriptions to ATARIUSER are available, direct mailed for only $12 a year. All outstanding subscribers to ST Journal will be individually contacted regarding upgrading to extended ATARIUSER subscriptions. AtariUser will cover the ENTIRE Atari computer product lineup, including the TT, STe, ST, MEGA, MEGA/STe, Portfolio, Lynx, and even the out-of- production Atari 8-bit series of computers. It will also grow as the Atari product mix grows in the coming years. ATARIUSER's editor-in- chief is well-known industry journalist JOHN NAGY. Says Nagy, "We'll focus on the facts that will make it easier to be an ATARI USER. Every month we will try to cut to the meat of what is happening, what is available, what it can do for you, and how to get it. And we'll do it FAST, with less than two weeks between final edits and distribution. Our concept and goal is to be your standard monthly reference for all Atari interests... at a price Atari Users can truly say is POWER WITHOUT THE PRICE... FREE!" ATARIUSER will begin with the May 1991 issue, expected to be available starting April 15. Distribution will be at a minimum of 30,000 per month. P. Kevin Horn, Quill's Marketing Director, said "ATARIUSER is the most inexpensive Atari national publication to advertise in. We have broad distribution and the lowest cost per thousand. No one can beat us!" Dealers and user groups interested in providing ATARIUSER monthly, free, to their customers and users should contact Quill Publishing directly, and quickly, if they wish to receive sufficient quantities of the May '91 issue. Groups are also solicited to suggest and perhaps cooperate in placement of ATARIUSER distribution points in their areas as part of their own membership outreach. Simply call our offices and let us know how many issues your group can realistically place. Single sample issues will be available by mail after April 20 - send $1.00 to Quill Publishing. Potential advertisers should contact P. Kevin Horn. Aspiring writers should contact Editor John Nagy or Assistant Editor John King Tarpinian at the Quill offices below. ATARIUSER magazine from Quill Publishing Co. 113 W. College St. Covina, CA 91723 818-332-0372 - Editorial and business. 818-332-2869 - Fax. 818-332-5473 - Direct advertising line. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ATARI COMPUTER FAIRE - VERSION 5.0 ====================================================== Press Release The Southern California ATARI Computer Faire, Version 5.0, also known as THE GLENDALE SHOW has been confirmed for September 14 and 15, 1991. We are proud to announce that, as with all of our prior Faires, ATARI has offered both its attendance in force and its complete support. This is the Premiere West Coast Faire. The Glendale Show was the first joint ATARI-User Group sponsored show in the nation, and last September featured the largest array of Atari vendors ever formed at a domestic consumer show. You can expect this year's show to again be the largest exhibition of Developers, Dealers and Retailers under one roof. You'll be able to meet the people behind the software, talk to the Atari officials you normally just read about, and see and buy the widest variety of Atari goods ever assembled in the USA. We also will offer more of our popular seminars, which last year featured standing-room-only talks by Leonard Tramiel, Bob Brodie, Dave Small, and many other Atari personalities. Make your vacation and travel plans now to come to the Los Angeles area this September, and be here for the GLENDALE SHOW, September 14 and 15, 1991. Please address EXHIBITOR questions to: H.A.C.K.S. 249 N. Brand Bl. #321 Glendale, CA 91203 or call: John King Tarpinian Faire Chairperson 818-246-7286 FAXNET: THE END TO FAXCARDS AND HOME TO FIRST PUBLIC EDI SYSTEM =============================================================== by Jon Clarke How many times have you popped over to friends and thought, "Ahh if only I brought that disk with me" or "why did I not bring that disk on site with me?" Well help is here for all New Zealand users. A service called Paxus Faxnet allows you to do full file/email/document and fax exchange with only the aid of a modem. Several of the Atari BBS operators down here have been using Paxus to node their BBS's to all the major cities in the country and allow users to call world wide via the Public Data Network and connect as though they made a local call. This portion of the "Faxnet" service is the most popular with the private users here in New Zealand. It works like 'Internet' or the 'GEnie' and 'Compuserve' PAD services. Make a local call and you pop out on a BBS in a distant city all for a nominal fee. Now I have been a user of this service and it has reduced my toll bill by 90 odd percent. I am also lucky enough to have my BBS as a dial out option on here as well and enjoy callers from all over the country. It makes our BBS become a local BBS even though we are over 800 plus odd miles from some of the users. So using it as a private user I thought this was all that "Faxnet" had to offer bar a few services for IBM and as I use an Atari ST user at home I could not see any use for the service. Now how many times have you based your opions on a limited exposure to an item, service or what ever? Well I was totally WRONG! My old ST now has full fax facilities with out the need for expensive add on faxcards or faxmodems. That is right this old bucket of bolts (you have to see it to believe it) can now send and receive faxes as though it was a regular fax machine at a cheaper cost than a regular fax for that matter (40 NZ cents per fax). I can send documents I have prepared in Tempus (like this one) to "Faxnet" and they appear as a fax a few minutes later on some ones fax machine. For that matter I can send a file or what ever via their document/file exchange service. Imagine this, here I am 200 miles away from work or home and I forgot to take a disk or program with me. I call my office and ask them to pop it into my mailbox so I can get it (like you do on a BBS but with compression and document conversion). So they hop on to my PC at work or my ST at home and tell the Faxnet Smart Terminal(TM) to connect send file xyz.prg to me and it does the logon, upload and even confirms that it worked 100%. So I get my file and we all live happily ever after. For more details on Paxus Faxnet users world wide ZNet International readers can call this service via the Public Data Networks at this Network User Address +53019500001313. There is a Guest user i/d set up for use. You will see it on connection via the PDN node. Enter it in and follow your nose. THE COMPUSERVE INFORMATION SERVICE ================================== Z*Net Special Report by Scott Lapham If you are reading this, you probably have a computer. If you have a modem with your computer, you've probably heard of CompuServe Information Service (CIS). If you don't have a modem, or haven't heard of CIS, then read on. You may decide to get a modem just to be able to gain access to this wealth of information, services and products. And it's not expensive, either. Only $6.00 an hour connect charge for up to 300BPS, $12.50 an hour for 1200 or 2400BPS. 9600BPS service is being expanded this year. CIS certainly is a diversified service. The first menu you see when you log on gives you a good idea of what's available. It currently looks something like this: 1. Member Assistance (FREE) 2. Find a Topic (FREE) 3. Communications/Bulletin Boards 4. News/Weather/Sports 5. Travel 6. The Electronic MALL/Shopping 7. Money Matters/Markets 8. Entertainment/Games 9. Hobbies/Lifestyles/Education 10. Reference 11. Computers/Technology 12. Business/Other Interests Choosing any of the above categories brings you to sub-menus that break down the generic choices into specific choices. For instance, if you chose "1" (Member Assistance) from the main menu, you would be given the following choices in the sub-menu: 1. Tour/Find a Topic 2. Command Summary/How to Use 3. Ask Customer Service 4. Membership Changes 5. What's New 6. Practice Forum 7. Billing Information 8. Telephone Access Numbers 9. Order from CIS 10. Rules of Operation/Copyright 11. Membership Directory 12. Specials/Contests You then make a choice from the sub-menu and you either get the information you were looking for or another sub-menu to give you more choices. How could it be any easier? Not only is CIS a great place to get information, it's a great place to go shopping! The Electronic Mall on CIS lets you shop to your hearts content without ever leaving your home. And we're not talking about a few stores. There are almost 100 merchants that sell items in departments such as: apparel/accessories, arts/music/video, auto, books/ periodicals, business/finance, clubs/memberships, computing, gifts/ flowers/gourmet foods, health/beauty, hobbies/toys/pets, information/ services, merchandise/electronics, office supplies, sports/leisure and travel/vacations. And you'll find many very familiar stores like Sears and JCPenney. All it takes is a quick "GO SEARS" or "GO JCP" command at any prompt on CIS and you're off and shopping. Beginning this spring, the ELECTRONIC MALL will be free of connect charges. Hobbyists will find CIS very useful too. Some of the hobbies supported in the forums include aquaria/fish, astronomy, food/wine, ham radio, model aviation, photography, and science fiction, just to name a few. More on how forums work later. Need to fly somewhere? Log on to EAASY SABRE and make your own flight arrangements. Even write your own ticket and have it sent to your home! There is a small monthly charge to use this service, but if you fly often, it could be worth it. CIS doesn't forget about your children's education either. The Groliers Academic American Encyclopedia is available online to help with the toughest homework assignments. And it's updated far more often than a normal encyclopedia, too. Or if you need to send someone a quick letter, CIS' electronic mail service is also a snap to use. You can compose your letter online or compose it offline on your computer and upload it. And your recipient doesn't have to be a CIS subscriber. You can also exchange messages with any TELEX or TWX machine, or a subscriber of the MCI Mail electronic mail service. You may also send electronic messages to FAX machines. CIS and ATARI Now let's look at CIS from an ATARI point of view. And there is plenty to look at, too. Whether you have and 8-bit, ST, game machine or portable DOS machine, it's covered on CIS. All you have to do, once you're logged onto CIS, is type "GO ATARI". In a few seconds you're taken to ATARINET (Atari Users Network). Once there, it's just a matter of choosing the right forum. Your choices are: 1. What's New in the Atari Forums 2. Atari File Finder 3. Atari 8-Bit Forum 4. Atari ST Productivity Forum 5. Atari ST Arts Forum 6. Atari Vendors Forum 7. Atari Portfolio Forum Each of the Atari hardware and software forums can be reached without going to this menu if you want to save a little time. Type "GO ATARI8" (Atari 8-Bit Forum), "GO ATARIPRO" (Atari ST Productivity Forum), "GO ATARIARTS" (Atari ST Arts Forum), "GO ATARIVEN" (Atari Vendors Forum) or "GO APORTFOLIO" (Atari Portfolio Forum). The overall Forum Manager/SYSOP and contract holder for all Atari Forums on CIS is Ron Luks. He can be contacted via electronic mail (userid 76703,254) or on any of the forum message boards if you have any questions about ATARINET. All the forums have message boards. They are used to discuss any and all subjects pertaining to the particular forum. The boards can be very handy, whether you are an old pro or a new Atari user. You can post a question there you may have about your hardware or software and will most likely get an answer from someone in just a day or so. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people logging onto these boards that would love to help you out if they can. Or you can just read the messages there to keep abreast of what's going on in the Atari world. All of the forums have libraries. The libraries contain thousands of files that you can download; games, utilities, applications, demo's of commercial software or just informational text files. Or if you have a program or file you'd like to share with other Atari users, you can upload it to the library. Not a bad place to try to sell your old Atari 400 when you decide you want to upgrade to a TT! All of the files uploaded to the libraries are previewed by a SYSOP to make sure they work as described. With all those hundreds (or even thousands) of files contained in the Atari libraries, how could you possibly find a particular file you may want? No problem. The Atari File Finder to the rescue. The File Finder is an online comprehensive keyboard searchable database of file descriptions from Atari related Forums. It was designed to provide quick and easy reference to some of the best programs and files available in the Atari ST Productivity, Atari ST Arts and Atari Vendors forums. It provides you with seven common search criteria for quickly finding the location of a wanted file or files. You can search by topic, file submission date, forum name, file type, file extension, file name or submitter's user identification number. File description, forum and library location are displayed for the matched files giving instant information on where to find a most wanted file. You can access the File Finder by selecting option 2 on the main ATARINET menu or type "GO ATARIFF" at any CIS prompt. Once at the File Finder main menu, you get the choices: 1. About File Finder 2. Instructions For Searching 3. How To Locate Keywords 4. Access File Finder 5. Your Comments About File Finder Take your pick and off you go! It's very user-friendly. ATART8 (Atari 8-Bit Forum) The Atari 8-Bit Forum supports the Atari 8-bit line of personal computers and Atari video game machines, including the portable Lynx. They have a real-time conference every Sunday night at 9:00 PM EST in Conference Room 4. These conferences give you the opportunity to talk to and ask questions of a variety of people related to the Atari 8-Bit Forum. It could be anyone from an Atari Corporation executive to the author of your favorite piece of software. Try one some night. I think you'd enjoy it. The library in this forum includes files in the following categories (my comments, in brackets, do not appear on the actual menu): 1. New Uploads (all new uploads, regardless of category) 2. Telecommunications (helps get the most of online time) 3. System Utilities (various utilities) 4. Graphics/RLE/PIC's (mostly clip-art) 5. Productivity Software (be productive) 6. Sound & Music (pretty self explanatory) 7. News & Reviews (see above) 9. BBS Programs/Information (in case you run a Bulletin Board) 10. Games/Entertainment (self explanatory) 11. ZNET Online (Atari specific online magazine) 14. Programming Aids (in case you are a programmer) 15. Innovative Concepts (to support their software) 17. Misc./HELP (just as it says) ATARIARTS (Atari ST Arts Forum) The Atari ST Arts Forum supports various art forms for the Atari ST line of personal computers. They have a Community Gab Conference every Thursday at 10:00 PM EST. The exact conference room will be available when you log-on to join this conference. Again, you could get to chat with anyone related to Atari or Atari products in this conference. The library in this forum includes files in the following categories (my comments, in brackets, do not appear on the actual menu): 1. New Uploads (same as ATARI8) 2. Games (games) 3. Game Data Files (self explanatory) 4. GIF/RLE/FCP Pics (clip art in GIF, RLE and FCP format) 5. Music/MIDI (for music lovers/composers) 6. DEGAS/NEO/TINY Pics (more art, different formats) 7. SPECTRUM Pics (more art) 8. CAD3D/Animations (computer aided design stuff) 9. CYBER files A-M (software support) 10. CYBER files N-Z (more of above) 11. LEXICOR Software (supporting their software) 12. Demo programs (gives you chance to look before buying) 13. R-rated pics (mostly nude/semi-nude clip-art) 14. Viewers/Utilities (for viewing art in various formats) 15. News & Reviews (self explanatory) 17. Misc. Files (self explanatory) ATARIPRO (Atari ST Productivity Forum) The Atari ST Productivity Forum supports, naturally, productivity related subjects. They have a Programmers/Technical Conference every Friday night at 10:00 PM EST. You'll have to log on to find out which conference room they are in. And like the other forums, you could meet just about anyone. The library includes files in the following categories (my comments, in brackets, do not appear on the actual menu): 1. New Uploads (guess!) 2. Telecommunications (we've seen this one before) 3. Programming Tools (for all you programmers) 4. Utility Programs (we all need these useful little devils) 5. Applications (to be productive) 6. ACC's & Setups (accessory-type programs) 7. *ATARI Registered developers (Restricted) 8. News & Reviews (self explanatory) 9. Printer/Fonts/Icons (mostly self explanatory) 10. Program Demo's (look before you buy) 11. Tutorials (to help with those tough programs) 14. GNC Compiler Files (you'll know if you need these) 15. TeX/LaTeX (ditto on these) 16. Xformer II (run 8-bit stuff on the 16-bit machines) 17. Misc. Files (self explanatory) To gain access to the restricted developers section, drop a message to ATARI DEVELOPER SUPPORT 70007,1072 and they will request that the sysops activate your user ID for this section. ATARIVEN (Atari Vendors Forum) The Atari Vendors Forum supports numerous third-party vendors that offer Atari-related products. I don't have any information that suggests they have conferences here, but they do have a bulletin board and a library. The library includes files in the following categories (my comments, in brackets, do not appear on the actual menu): 1. Forum Business (self explanatory) 2. Intersect Software (supporting their software) 3. Michtron (product support) 4. Precision Software (supporting their software) 5. QMI (product support) 6. Maxwell CPU (product support) 7. ICD, Inc. (product support) 8. GRIBNIF Software 9. LEXICOR Software 11. PageStream/Publishing Partner (product support) 12. Practical Solutions (product support) 13. Double Click (supporting their software) 14. Gadgets by Small (product support) 15. Supra Corporation (product support) 16. CodeHead Software (supporting their software) 17. ISD Marketing (product support) APORTFOLIO (Atari Portfolio Forum) The Atari Portfolio Forum supports the Atari portable DOS computer. This forum has been named by ATARI as an OFFICIAL online area for Portfolio support. They have a conference every Thursday night at 9:00 PM EST. Log on to see in which conference room it is taking place. There is also a private message section and library for registered Atari Portfolio developers. To apply for access, send CIS Mail to "Atari Developer Support", userid 70007,1072. The library includes files in the following categories (my comments, in brackets, do not appear on the actual menu): 1. New Uploads (guess again) 2. Communications (kinda like telecommunications) 3. Utilities (of the DOS variety) 4. Entertainment (have fun) 5. Editors/Word Processors (self explanatory) 6. Database Functions (to keep track of things) 7. Applications (get productive again) 8. Programming (for programmers (really?)) 9. *Registered Developers (must be registered to enter) 11. GRAPHICS (art) 14. *HyperList Testing (must be registered to enter) 15. *PowerBASIC Testing (must be registered to enter) 16. New Products (self explanatory) 17. Misc. Files (self explanatory) That's about it. I could go on for pages on how I specifically use CIS, but Ron Luks told me to keep it short (how am I doin', Ron?). There are even programs that will help you navigate around CIS faster and easier but I'll save that for another time. The bottom line is that CIS has a lot to offer an Atari computer user. And since you are probably an Atari user yourself, why not give it a try. CALAMUS TUTORIAL - PART IV ========================== Working With Multi-Column Documents Copyright by Geoff LaCasse GXR Systems, Vancouver, B.C. A number of individuals have expressed concern that this tutorial could be perverted by those with pirated copies of Calamus. That was never the intent. Piracy is hateful because it devalues the developer's and retailer's efforts, and ultimately the general user base suffers. For those with illegal copies, if these sessions convince you Calamus is worth having, buy a copy, its not expensive. In the interim, use the demo program ISD has put up on the BBSs. But don't pirate software. In our last session, we looked at a number of ways to modify the form and style of the text. Calamus's philosophy is simple. All aspects of design and creation lies in the hands of the user. Any new point sizes, justification, tabs, style, etc. (among others) become default values until changed or the computer is turned off. A troublesome concept for beginners (or those from other dtp platforms), the end result is complete control over the medium you are working in. This session, we begin a new document with a more practical application. Create a NEW DOCUMENT. Make sure its PAGE LAYOUT (see previous sessions) is Letter, Portrait. Click on HELP LINES. Click RULER ON, SNAP TO HORIZONTAL/VERTICAL LINES, HELP LINES VISIBLE, and finally, AUXILIARY LINES FOR COLUMNS. Enter 1 rows, 3 columns in the dialogue box, 2.00 (inches) for top margins, 1.25 for bottom, 0.25 between columns, and 1.00 for left/right. Select TEXT, and TEXT RULER. Check that the latter's icon pad defaults are Left Justification, Line Spacing 2.0 (points), and Paragraph Spacing 6.0 (points). Select FONT MENU, and click on Swiss 50 (if it isn't already highlighted), then FONT SIZE and 12 (point), Normal (style). New text frames will use these values until we repeat the selection process. Select FRAMES, then FRAME GENERAL FUNCTIONS. Move the cursor onto the document and click the right mouse button to change the hand cursor to pointer. Create your 3 frames. Click the right mouse button to re- select the hand shape, then select the left frame. Select FRAME SPECIAL FUNCTIONS from the second icon pad (second from left). Ignore the 3 icons at the top. The 12 icons below control text flow (called Piping in Calamus) from frame to frame and text flow around other frames. Highlight DISPLAY PIPING CHAINS (right side, second from bottom). With your left frame still selected, click on PIPING FROM FRAME TO FRAME. Move the cursor to your first frame (notice special piping cursor shape), and click left mouse button. Repeat for the next (centre) frame, and again on your third. Save the result. Piping controls the flow of text when typing in or importing a text file. Frame selection order determines frame text fill order; frame selection need not be consecutive. Flow between frames is shown by the Piping Chains (see DISPLAY above). Frames which are part of the Piping chain have an arrow at the top left and bottom right ( --> ), except that the first and last in the chain show an arrow in the bottom right and top left, respectively. The next step is to import a text file (4-6K). Select the left frame. If you try to select the frame without de-highlighting PIPING FROM FRAME TO FRAME, a dialogue box with the message 'You cannot pipe text in a circle' will appear. Click the right mouse button or PIPING FROM FRAME TO FRAME icon, then the frame. Select IMPORT from FILE menu. Because we are importing to a text frame, Calamus will bring up a list of text file filters. Each filter translates the word processor's styles (centre, tabs, bold, etc.) into something Calamus will recognize. Experiment with your word processor for best results. Word Perfect, for example, works well with Calamus. Click on your word processor filter to bring up Calamus's file selector at the drive and folder as set out in Calamus.set (see session 1). If necessary, reset the path for the documents folder in the Calamus.set to correspond to your document folder in your favourite word processor (default is Calamus's Text folder). This will simplify Import. Floppy drive users should copy files to their Calamus TEXT folder before beginning the session. (If you haven't, save the document, exit Calamus, copy the file, and re-load the program and document.) Select the file to import. When importing a word processor (not ASCII) file, Calamus will bring up a second dialogue box asking if you wish to replace specific text styles (bold, italic, underline, etc.) with a different font. Click on a style at top left, then select font from the table below. If you have no changes, or no additional fonts, select OK. The imported file will flow from the first (selected) frame to the second and third. If there is more text than the frames can hold, a + sign will be visible at the bottom of the third frame. Notice that the first frame remains selected, text is Left Justified, 12 point (check with Text Editor), Swiss 50. Text can also be hyphenated as it is imported, if your system has more than 1 megabyte of memory. Hyphenation is useful for narrow columns because it tightens up letter and word spacing (discussed in a later session). Select TEXT, then DICTIONARY (second icon pad, third from left). Click on LOAD DICTIONARY (1040s will not have the memory), highlight HYPHENATION AFTER IMPORT ON/OFF, then import the file. A dialogue box will inform you 'hyphenating file' as Import begins. Each word will have hyphenation points (shown as -) which can be seen in the Text Editor. Frames can be deleted and added to a Piping chain. Deleting empties a frame and moves text to next frame in the Piping chain. For example, select the middle frame, click on FRAME, and FRAME SPECIAL FUNCTIONS. Click on DELETE FRAME OUT OF PIPING CHAIN (bottom row, middle icon). Text flow, as seen by the piping chains and flow arrows, will route from first frame to third, although the middle frame will still exist. To re-insert the frame into the chain, select empty frame, click on INSERT FRAME INTO PIPING CHAIN, and click on the frame which will follow in the piping chain. Text will reappear in the middle frame, restored text flow confirmed by the Piping chains. You can also cut a piping chain. This is useful when breaking a long text file into chapters or sections which need not be directly linked. Select the middle frame. From within FRAME SPECIAL FUNCTIONS, select CUT PIPING CHAIN (bottom, right). Text in the first two frames is now separate from that in the third. A selected frame ends a chain, except when last in the chain to start with. Selecting the last frame begins a new chain. In our 3 column example, the middle or right frames have the same effect. To rejoin involves a little more work. Select TEXT, TEXT CLIPBOARD (far right of second icon pad), and highlight one of empty boxes (any of five). Place text cursor anywhere in third frame, go to EXTRAS menu, and click SELECT ALL. Text will highlight. Select CUT (scissors shape) from icon pad, and text (to end of file) will be moved from the frame into the Clipboard. The first few characters will be visible. Place text cursor at end of text in the middle frame, and select COPY TEXT TO FRAME. A (+) sign will appear at the bottom of this frame. Select FRAMES, FRAME SPECIAL FUNCTIONS, then PIPING FROM FRAME TO FRAME, and click on the now empty third frame. Text will reflow into it. Click off PIPING FROM FRAME TO FRAME. Save the file. Next session we will look at Printing our document, and some of the options. The session after, we will work with graphics. THE SOFTWARE SHELF ================== by Ron Berinstein CodeHead Quarters BBS 1610 Vine Street Hollywood, CA 90028 Wow, it seemed like we would not only need a crane, but also a carpenter so that the second story floor would be reinforced before we finally got the heavy box of disks up the stairs, and, into the computer room. Even the tape holding the box together was a sight! Luckily I have some real sharp knives in the restaurant kitchen below. Herb Chong was the man responsible. Rather than upload them, he sent about 10 megs of really interesting source files, most ported from the PC & Unix world to us at CodeHead Quarters BBS. Over a hundred files! A programmer's delight. A to Z. They start with ATC.LZH Air Traffic Controller from 4.3 BSD Unix games library, APML.LZH Arbitrary Precision Math Library, ASSEM.LZH Generic assembler, AVL.LZH An AVL-tree function library, amongst other 'A's! One that Herb uses often: CTAGS.LZH. Same builds a cross reference file of C, Fortran, Pascal, and Lisp program functions and type definitions from multiple files. Meant to be used with the vi text editor: vi -t func will edit the file containing the function named 'func' and place you at the head of the function. Ok, for the rest of the story you'll just have to look at the other ninety plus files yourself! <big smile> By the way, most will need some work, with few exceptions only C source and documentation is provided. Most were ported using Mark Williams C 3.0.6 and Herb suggests that they should be compiled into TOS or TTP files in all but a few cases. * ALERT: It happened again.. another disk with data trashed! The user reported using Cheetah v.3. Some of the filenames did have a "_" in them, which seems to have been a problem before. A strict word of caution is thus repeated. When flying you either get speed, or, you get comfort, usually not both. When copying disks, either you get speed without a lot of safety checks, or, you get a dependable copy with safety checks, usually not both speed and safety. Cheetah IS very fast, but, it is without allot of safety checks. A Suggestion: FCOPY35 from Germany is real reliable. It also has virus checking and a fast format feature. For people who own ICD Tape Backup units, you can copy data REAL FAST with it's software. MAXIFILE too, will provide good fast file copying. Under the heading: "Sure, We'll Give You the Boot!" ICD released it's new complete (351K) Host Adaptor Disk that contains v.5 booter for TT compatibility and some new utilities. STHOST_E.ARC is available on GEnie, NOT on local boards. SPBT70.ARC (shareware $15) Superboot v.7 is out! It now includes Digitalized Sounds, and, STARTGEM can now be changed.. Plus, bugs fixed include one that allows the program to properly recognize certain folder extensions, and Degas Compressed now works too. For convenience STARTGEM (PD) is also included in the file. Also available, SBSOUNDS.ARC a file that has digitalized sounds and welcome screens drawn in.TNY format for Superboot, and SB_OTHER.ARC, a file containing ACC.PRG (lets one load an accessory from the root directory), DIGIEDIT.PRG (Digitalized sound file player/editor), and PICSW7.PRG (a picture viewer/format converter). WARNING: ACC.PRG may well still have a problem.. it replaces the trap 1 vector and can unhook other resident programs. Under the heading: "Are You Really Game For This?" MORIADIS.ARC was uploaded this week containing UMORIA 5.2.2 - a single player dungeon simulation text game that unlike some other text games displays a picturesque map of events. This is a game for someone who is nothing less than a game expert! The text file describing the game's rules, 100K! And you have to read another file for installation instructions! This is a game player's game. Color/Mono STTETRIS.LZH (copyright 1989) made an appearance this week. Based on Sun Tetris by Rick Iwamoto. So, what game did every kid who came over for the party here a little while ago want to play? You guessed it! Color/Low Res. CRISSLE.LZH is an arcade type game with several levels. One important feature is that it also contains a screen editor with password protection. Color/Low Res. RATEHD.ARC version 2.0 has been released. This Hard drive performance test is designed to test fairly the speed of different drives. It does not address the handler's speed so that as close as possible each drive can be compared on an equal basis. RSC2CODE.ARC (shareware $5) will read RSC and convert it into GFA 3.xx source code. Under the heading: "My Mother-in-Law Will Do the Same Thing!" TYPTUTOR.ARC will tell you word for word about your errors! It will measure your typing speed, and allow you to make your own tests as well. A quick and easy, to the point, type of program. (puns not intended!) <sure> Under the heading: "Talk About Quick and Easy" PET_GIRL.ARC gets this month's "Exploitation Award." The beautiful miniature .NEO nude is pictured in the palm of a man's hand. (Right, a real likely story, huh?) SOUNDTKR.LZH a player program requiring an STE, or TT, makes great use of the digital sound chip. Files are reported to sound, "Grrrreeeaaatttt!" SHREDRPL.LZH (Shareware $5) v.2.1 of the file deletion utility that really makes sure what you had on your drive isn't there anymore. This new version now accepts a command line from Hotwire or other shell, and conforms to an even stricter security policy. STEXT13.LZH v.1.3 of the text file reader. Doesn't appear to refresh your original screen colors. This is always a real problem for me. Also, doesn't appear to have a way to accommodate half height fonts. And talking about fonts... CALAMUS wins this week with the most uploaded ones for you to choose from. MEDICI.ARC, ZALESCAP.ARC, and LEECAPS, and the nice Art Nouveau font HORSTCAP.ARC are up and available for downloading. Unlike the others though, HORSTCAP.ARC only features the letters, no numbers, commas, etc. For those that spend allot of time online refer to the following three files: SBUFFERS.LZH will increase your computer's serial port buffers to 4K! What does that mean? Well that means that you might not loose the text that otherwise might overflow into your term program's screen, because while the incoming text was arriving you were possibly in the capture buffer of your program. However, doesn't really work with FLASH though, as Flash automatically sets 2K buffers. It will help with STALKER/STENO which currently only has a program to increase the serial buffers to 1K. MCGBROWS.LZH A must for several GEnie ALADDIN fans, this file will convert Aladdin's .DAT files to ASCII format.. It is possible though that your screen will not refresh it's colors. :( And Now, for My Favorite of the Week, the one MUST HAVE download! *Drum Roll Please* BUSYBUD.ARC Same will allow you to be online, go to the bathroom, have a personal family conference, get another drink from the bar or, whatever, and, never, ever, be "timed out!" It is a little .ACC that can be turned on and off easily and will always keep you online. Particularly helpful for those who spend allot of time in their text editor/capture buffer as well.. (or, their bathroom!) EDITORS NOTE: PUBLIC DOMAIN ALERT A Z*Net reader notified us this week about a program called DUALFRMT.ARC which is available on some local BBS's and the pay services. What this utility is designed to do is format two disks (A) (B), at the same time. The problem which happened this week was disasterous for Steve Decker and something others may have expirenced also. While formatting the two disks, the serial numbers the formatter places on this disk are duplicate and concurrent on the 70 plus disks formatted causing problems since the GEM window was not updated in memory. I might have a detail or two misplaced, but the point here is to notify everyone of the potential problems that could happen to you. Steve was very annoyed at his losing valuable data and back-ups, and found later that the large amount of disk formatting turned out to be a great waste of time, and concern. We will keep you updated on further developments. Software Shelf is compiled by Ron Berinstein co-sysop CodeHead Quarters BBS, (213) 461-2095, from files submitted to CodeHead Quarters BBS, and those downloaded from GEnie and Delphi online services. CompuServe coverage begins shortly. MIST PLANS ATARIFEST III ======================== Press Release Indianapolis, IN July 27,1991 For a third year, an AtariFest is planned at Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, July 27th, sponsored jointly by the user groups at Indianapolis and Bloomington known as MIST (Mid-Indiana ST). The show was formerly titled the MIST SwapFest, and took place in Nashville, Indiana. While Nashville is a lovely and scenic place, we thought if our show was to live up to it's true potential, we would have to relocate to Indianapolis, where we could find a larger venue. 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. Past shows have seen folks like D.A. Brumleve, SKWare One, AIM, MS Designs, Computer Works, Cal Com, One Stop, T&H, and others. Last year's show was quite successful, and this year looks like it'll be even better! We have tentatively lined up ISD, who will be demoing DynaCadd and Calamus. There are others in the works, so stay tuned! MIST AtariFest III will be held at CADRE, Inc. on the north side of Indianapolis. The address is: 6385 Castleplace Drive, Indianapolis, In. 46250-1902. There will be specific directions in a later posting. Admission to the 'Fest will be $3.00, and will include a raffle ticket. We will be raffling hardware from Atari Corp, and software from attending vendors and developers. Additional raffle tickets will be available for purchase. Anyone interested in attending or reserving vendor/developer tables should contact me by one of the below methods: For more information, leave mail on GEnie to W.LORING1, 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. 47402. Call me by voice at 812-336-8103. Vendor packets are in the works, and should be ready to send shortly. More details will be available at that time. 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. Thanks for your interest, and we'll see you at the 'Fest!! Sincerely, William Loring, President of BL.A.ST LEXICOR UPDATE ============== Reprinted from the Z*Net Online BBS Conf : Z*Net Online Conference Msg# : 2140 Lines: Extended Read: 10 Sent : Mar 6, 1991 at 7:11 PM To : ALL From : SHERVIN SHAHREBANI at LEFTOVER HIPPIES 1:250:744 Subj : Lexicor Corp. and TT Replies: 2141 2160 2163 Date: 01 Mar 91 16:15:00 From: Enartloc Nhoj of 1:250/98 To: All Subj: LEXICOR 24-bit color package (info) From: ramsiri@blake.u.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) Date: 23 Feb 91 23:53:02 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Message-ID: <17043@milton.u.washington.edu> Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.graphics.visualization * More info on LEXICOR 24-bit color graphics package * (STart did an article on this.. though I haven't seen it.. so there is likely to be a lot more info in the mag.) Talked with Lee Seiler at LEXICOR (415) 453-0271. He said I could repeat anything from our conversation this morning. While I admit to not having a complete understanding of everything he said, I will give you the best of my memory of the conversation. Hopefully, others will call him and correct any mistakes I may make here on. LEXICOR is offering a photorealistic 24-bit color package that will run on anything from the 520ST to the soon to be seen TT... device and resolution independent. The package is a combination of software, which can be purchased and run on an ST as is, and the hardware color processor, which will come in various configurations: a cartridge for the 520ST..and perhaps an internal board for the 1040's.. a card for the Mega's and TT's. The initial software release will be two of four modules: PRISM PAINT- a drawing program; and CHRONOS- an animation program. Prices he quoted me were something like $60-80 for PRISM and $199.00 for CHRONOS. The remaining two pieces of software to complete the package include a Renderer and ROSETTA- a file translator which allows you to IMPORT/EXPORT AutoCAD DXF and DXB; CAD-3D; SCULPT 3-D for MAC and AMIGA; SWIVEL 3-D for MAC ; and output for PIXAR's RENDERMAN RIB files (a la LUCAS FILM). The total software package RIO will be selling for around $370.00. The 24-bit color processor will list for around $600 or so... and is "..very fast.. and designed for animation with NTCS out. Fastest thing you have ever seen! " due in June or July. LEXICOR will be supporting two other graphics boards out of Germany: MATRIX board (don't know if this is the name?) .. for Mega and TT.. which supports resolutions of 2024 x 1240? down to 640 x 480. There was also mention of some SUPER HIGH res monitor which this board will drive with 4090x4000 pixels. He mentinoed "RETOUCH" .. a german DTP that compares with CALAMUS ..to be sold by RIO.. I think he said this package would allow for 4 color separation for "magazine" quality photorealism DTP...etc. Then there was a third board mentioned for the Megas.. 1224x768 palette of 4096 with 16 on the screen. He said, however, that with the first board mentioned above and the software, we could get 24 bit photorealism on our standard ATARI RGB's.. I honestly don't know how all this works.. would be nice if someone could explain this... The ** TT ** vs Amiga 3000 : Lee has an A3000 sitting there on his desk next to a TT. I was asking him about the differences in performance. Basically he said, and I don't want to start wars: "The amiga has a rotten operating system and a bad image - interlace flicker- which you don't get on the ATARI at high res's." Performance: To explain why he says the TT blows the A3000 away in terms of speed, he described to me a test he ran. Took the same SCULPT 3-D image in full color with I don't recall how many faces or vertices.. and rotated the images starting at the same time on each machine side by side. ATARI TT: 1 hour and 20 minutes AMIGA 3000: all night and till 11:30 am the next day. Again.. this is not meant to start wars.. merely so show that the TT and LEXICOR should be one hell of a bargain. LEXICOR is also providing a PRISM drawing TABLET 1200 dpi that RIO says they will sell for about $229.00. I just received video tapes of DIGITAL ARTS and AUTODESK 3-D animation packages. Digital Arts complete package SANS hardware is $10,000. Autodesk's 3-D sans hardware is $3,500. LEXICOR will run files from both of these products. Seems like a deal to good to be true... but it's for real! Hopefully someone will read this article and call Lee.. ask him questions and PLEASE correct me on anything i have misrepresented. ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu --- D'Bridge 1.30/001331 * Origin: EGSGATE Fidonet<->Usenet Gateway (1:250/98) PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE ==================== by Keith MacNutt SuperBoot V7.0 Gordon W. Moore 2300 Beech St. Ashland, KY 41102 USA At last the long awaited update to Superboot has arrived and can be found on most of the major BBS'S. Suberboot V7.0 has all the features found on V6.0 and added some new ones that most will find useful and some that will add spice to using your computer. To give you an Idea of what Superboot can do, here is a list of some of the things the a user will find: Choose accessories at boot time Choose AUTO programs Choose DESKTOP.INF files from a list of different configurations. Choose assign.sys files for GDOS Choose data files for up to 8 different programs Display a degas,neo or tny picture at bootup Play digitized sounds Set the time and date if you choose Choose if Superboot will run by a hot key on a warm or cold boot. Use a password to protect your system Set the seek rate of your floppy drives Set write verify on or off Select your most used file configurations by a simple key press Customize Superboot by using the construction set program Auto boot any gem program Set a default configuration if Superboot is bypassed The documentation states that Superboot works on all models of the ST, on any boot drive and on both color and mono monitors. Up to 151 files can be controlled in any combination by using any one of the 30 function keys (the usual 10 and by using the alternate and control in conjunction with the Fkeys). With the Construction SET included with the program, you have complete control on how Superboot will act on your system, from configuring each of the 30 function keys with your favourite groups of programs to auto booting a gem file at boot time. I think one of the best new features added to this version of Superboot is the ability to load degas, neo and tiny pictures along with a sound file at boot time. You can have these chosen at random or pick one from a group just by re-configuring the program to load your choice. One of the problems facing anyone trying to do even a short review on a program like this is the volume of information you find in the accompanying document. Superboot comes with almost 30 pages filled with all you need to know about the program and is written in a style that most people will find easy to follow. For the new user Superboot can be setup in a simple configuration and as the user becomes more familiar with his or her system, Superboot will allow them to re-configure the boot process to be as simple or complex as they like. Power users will also find features that make life easier, and push the limits of just what they can do on their system. I'm sorry that the description of this program is not longer, but to do justice to the program, this review would be almost as long as the documentation itself. Anyone, and I mean Anyone that has a hard drive or even two floppy drives with at least 1 Meg of memory should be using this program. This program is shareware and means that if you use it please send in your donation to the author. The asking price is only $15 and is well worth the cost. If you have GENIE access there are two other associated files, one containing sounds and pictures and the other utilities to convert pictures and sound files for use with Superboot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET International 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, Z*Net Newswire, 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 International Atari Online Magazine Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~