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==(((((((((( == Z*NET INTERNATIONAL ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE =========(( === ----------------------------------------- =======(( ===== March 15, 1991 Issue #91-10 =====(( ======= ----------------------------------------- ==(((((((((( == 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 Todd Johnson................................Columnist Nor Scavok..................................Columnist Mike Mezaros......................Contributing Editor CONTENTS EDITORS DESK......................................Terry Schreiber Z*NET NEWSWIRE................................................... CEBIT '91 NEWS.........................................Tom Harker ATARIUSER MAGAZINE UPDATE...........................Press Release Z*NET NEW ZEALAND FEATURE..............................Jon Clarke Z*NET SOFTWARE SHELF...............................Ron Berinstein DIAMOND BACK II UPDATE..............................Press Release CHIC MOUSE ANNOUNCED................................Press Release FOREM BBS UPDATE......................................Steve Rider HOW TO PROTECT YOUR WATERBUFFALOS....................Todd Johnson PACIFIC NORTHWEST ATARIFEST.........................Press Release CALAMUS TUTORIAL - PART V...........................Geoff LaCasse PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE................................Keith Macnutt EDITORS DESK ============ by Terry Screiber As of late we have been running reviews and listings of new Public Domain and Shareware software available on GEnie. Many people have responded with their gratitude in keeping them advised of just what is available online. We try to keep most of this available for download on the Z-Net BBS and Atari West in Canada for all to share for a short time period as space permits. Please remember that Shareware is exactly that "Share Ware" you share in the development costs. Shareware authors are important to the Atari community and should not be treated as second class citizens because they do not have a commercial program on the market. You might find the next program they write might indeed be commercial and carry a high price in comparison with shareware pricing. Z-Net is supporting these authors with free advertising and reviews and we hope you - our loyal readers - will indeed support these developers in return. If a program is worth having it is worth paying for. GETTING SOME ZZZ'S You may notice that we have again switched back to a Friday night release. We polled the masses, pulled out the stops and grabbed the whips to get you Z-Net back to a Friday night release. Z-Net is also available hot off the keyboard through the Z-Net BBS (908) 968-8148 New Jersey or Atari West BBS (604) 274-7944 British Columbia for those of you who just can't wait. Also available are Z-Net PC and Z-Mag (the Atari 8 bit resource) online magazines. These are sent out regularly to Fnet members involved in the crossnet. Sysops wishing to participate should note the following: Base Lead Node Crossnet Code Z-Net (Atari ST) 593 20448 Z-Mag (Atari 8 bit) 593 10593 Z-Net PC (PC Users) 593 30593 Z*NET NEWSWIRE ============== Latest Atari and Industry News Update Compiled by the Z*Net Staff ST "GEMULATOR" IN PROGRESS FOR IBM Darek Mihocka of Branch Always Software (Quick ST) has confirmed rumors that he has a functional 68000 emulator working on an IBM platform. He calls it the GEMULATOR, and it requires a 386 or higher CPU. So far, GEMULATOR does not include emulation of the Atari ST hardware or video, so it is NOT yet an ST emulator. Darek says that further development of the Gemulator will wait for this summer after he completes and ships Quick ST version 3. Darek hints that the ST emulator, when completed, will be intended to run under 32-bit Windows (from MicroSoft, Darek's "real" employer), which is not yet even scheduled for release. Most Atarians recall when Darek created the "ST Transformer", an emulator of 8-bit Atari computers for use on the then-new ST line. Atari was not amused at Darek's intention to use the copyrighted Atari operating system, in file form, which was required for use with the ST Transformer. An agreement to allow Public Domain distribution was worked out in that case, based in part on the free distribution of the 8-bit OS that Atari itself had promoted via its own "Translator" disk for later modle 8-bit Ataris. Atari also permitted third party companies to create and sell derivative "translators", weakening their claim against use by Darek and his followers. However, this time around, Atari has been much more careful in limiting non-ROM use of the ST TOS operating system. Mihocka may be in for a legal battle of serious proportions if he expects to distribute an emulator that relies on what simply must be defined as a pirate file: TOS (1.0 or higher) on a disk. ATARIUSER MAGAZINE NEEDS A PORTFOLIO COLUMNIST! AtariUser, the new FREE MONTHLY all-Atari product magazine, needs a Portfolio expert and enthusiast to write and manage its continuing Portfolio column. See the AtariUser Magazine Update in this edition for contact information. APPLE STRIKES BACK AT SCHOOLS AND ATARI NEW ZEALAND Apples distributor in New Zealand CED, hit back this week at claims that they are over charging the education sector for their products. Responding to the criticism from Alex Davidson the Managing Director of Software Supplies (the New Zealand Atari distributor) Mr Crowe of CED said "At $NZ1895 the Macintosh Classic are as inexpensive as any machine on the market". IN SEARCH OF NEW MICROSOFT GM(CEO) FOR NEW ZEALAND An interesting item in this weeks computer pages reveals that Microsoft Australia has been in search of a General Manager for several months for their impending New Zealand operation due to open on the 1st of July 1991. PC DEALERS DROP AMSTRAD Readers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand will be familiar with the name Amstrad. This week saw Home and Business Computers and the Personal Computing store drop this well known brand name from their inventory quoting high prices, poor support, low profit margins. (SIC: sounds familiar) PC SOFTWARE SALES INCREASE The SPA, (Software Publishers Association), announced this week that North American software sales for fourth quarter 1990 increased to an estimated $1.3 billion, measured at retail. This is an increase of 22 percent over fourth quarter 1989. International sales of U.S. software firms grew 70 percent over the same period. The overall growth rate for both domestic and international sales was 36 percent. Among the findings submitted: - MS-DOS sales increased 18.1 percent - Macintosh sales were up 12.5 percent - Windows applications sales increased 198.0 percent - Desktop Publishing sales posted a 68.2 percent gain - Database sales increased 65.8 percent - MS-DOS Education software sales increased 33.3 percent - MS-DOS Entertainment increased 30 percent - Word Processors remain the largest ($248 million) software category - Microsoft Windows sales increased 198 percent in the fourth quarter, and 157 percent over the entire year. - Microsoft is the second largest computer format MOTOROLA INTRODUCES CACHE/MEMORY UNIT Motorola introduced a 64 Kbyte cache/memory management unit (CMMU), the 88204, a pin-compatible upgrade for the 88200 CMMU, to support its 88100 RISC microprocessor. Motorola is the only company to have implemented 64 Kbytes of high-speed cache memory and memory management capabilities on a single chip. For more related PC industry news, read Z*Net PC Online Magazine released every Saturday and available on the Z*Net PC Conference in FNET and on the Z*Net Online BBS. CEBIT '91 NEWSBREAK =================== Captured from GEnie ST RT Library Copyright (c)1991, Tom Harker of ICD, Inc. Permission for this release to be distributed or reprinted is granted but only in its entirety. March 13, 1991 Things are really heating up here today in Hannover, Germany at the 1991 version of CeBIT which is the largest computer show in the world. Atari surprised everyone with their announcement and demonstration of two exciting new 68000 based computers. The following was described to me by Atari engineers as the were demoing the equipment. I have written this because I felt it newsworthy and an important boost to the moral of Atari users everywhere. I make no guarantee for the accuracy of this information but I have tried to get as much detail as possible. The computer names used are only "internal" Atari names and may be changed before release of the products. ST Notebook This is said to be the smallest 68000 based computer in the world. Its size rivals any PC Notebook style computer that I have seen. It is about 1/2 the size of my laptop computer and maybe 3/4 of an inch thick. Features include: o A built in mouse device that consists of three buttons. The large center button is direction and possibly velocity sensitive to simulate mouse movement in direction and speed. o A laptop size keyboard, possibly a little smaller than standard. The tactile feel was good. o 512K ROM capability. It looked like TOS 2.05 was shown in the prototype. This prototype did have a very professional and finished look to it. o 1 megabyte or 4 megabyte RAM versions available. Uses pseudo-static RAM. o 2 1/2 inch form factor internal hard drive. 20 megabytes was installed. Presently up to 60 megabytes is possible. Probably an IDE (AT) interface. o External ports include midi in and out, 1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 combo either floppy drive OR ACSI, 2 RAM card slots (128K cards shown, said to support up to 4 megabytes), 128 pin computer direct port (all address, data lines, CPU control,etc.), modem connector (for optional internal voice/fax modem), keypad/mouse port. Of course to maintain the small size, nearly all connectors were shrunk and non-standard types. o An excellent gray-tone LCD display. It did not appear to be backlit which would make sense for the battery life. This was said to be greater than 10 hours before recharging. With less hard drive use, it would be longer. o The replaceable battery pack shown was very small and contained about eight AA alkaline batteries. If Ni- Cads were installed, the universal power supply would also recharge them when connected. When the battery pack goes down, the notebook is automatically put in a halted state that is maintained for weeks until recharged. Internal Ni-Cad batteries will maintain the halted state of the computer for about 5 hours if the battery pack is removed from the computer. o Atari has a few choices to transfer data to and from the computer. Connect an external floppy drive. Transfer over the serial ports with a modem or direct. Transfer over the parallel ports at around 20 Kbytes/sec. Connect an ACSI device such as a hard drive externally or possibly ACSI to ACSI communications. ST PAD This is similar to ST Notebook and shares most of the features but has a futuristic interface. A touch sensitive LCD display with a pointing device was shown for mouse type functions and handwriting recognition for input. Physically, ST Pad looked like the "Etch- a-Sketch" drawing toys that we grew up with minus the X/Y knobs. No keyboard was attached and there is not an internal hard drive. The OS software and large amount of scratchpad RAM were said to have Artificial Intelligence features to allow ST Pad to actually learn your handwriting style! (Good luck with mine.) ST Pad looked like it needed more time for completion but ST Notebook looked like something we may actually see sometime this summer or fall. With this exciting new innovative line of computers and Alwin Stumpf (from Atari GmbH) heading up a new world-wide marketing campaign, it appears that this time Atari really may be backing the promise with the product. MORE CEBIT RUMORS/ANNOUNCEMENTS/HOPES... Although Z*NET has not received final reports from several correspondents at the Hannover CEBIT computer show, early comments include more hints and announcements of new hardware from Atari. Spied or discussed were: CDAR-505, a new CD-ROM player to be released SOON; "ATARIFILE 200", a Megafile with 200 meg hard disk (the clumsy name will be changed, but the "Megafile" moniker will be abandoned soon as well); TT030 machines with 28 meg of RAM and 1.2 GIGABYTE hard drives, available this fall; UNIX for the TT030; IBM emulation for the TT; and more. Stay tuned... next week we should have a much more complete look at what might be the most encouraging show in Atari history. ATARIUSER MAGAZINE UPDATE ========================= Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - USER GROUPS TAKE NOTICE! 3/14/91 ATARIUSER MAGAZINE INTRODUCTORY CLASSIFIED AD RATE, FREE DISTRIBUTION AND USER GROUP OUTREACH AtariUser, a new FREE all-Atari support magazine to debut in April 1991, is offering an introductory CLASSIFIED AD special rate for the first issue, and FREE bundles of the magazine for user-group distribution. The standard classified ad rate is $25 for 25 words (about four lines), and $1 a word thereafter, but for all ads mailed by APRIL 1, 1991, ATARIUSER offers a special rate in the MAY issue of only $15 for 25 words (plus $1 a word thereafter) as space permits, first come, first served. This is an excellent opportunity for advertising hardware for sale, for small software developers, and for clubs or PD libraries. PLUS, all classified advertisers will receive the first issue of AtariUser magazine by mail. AtariUser is a 40 to 50 page monthly magazine to be distributed without charge in most Computer Stores and by Atari User Groups. Major Bookstores and Newsstands will sell AtariUser for $1.00. The minimum initial press run for the "MAY" issue, to begin distribution by April 20, is 30,000 copies. All Atari Computer Products will be supported in AtariUser, including the Atari ST, STe, Mega/STe, TT030, Portfolio, 8-bit 800/XL/XE, and LYNX/2600/7800 Game Systems. AtariUser will concentrate on useful and timely news and information, with heavy emphasis on identification of available hardware, software, and resources. While the distribution plan is already comprehensive, ATARI USER GROUPS are asked to help by IMMEDIATELY contacting Quill, the publisher of AtariUser. Registered user groups can get AtariUser in quantity, mailed FREE, directly to a club officer for free distribution to the membership and community. Clubs could, for example, insert a sheet in each AtariUser distributed from their local outlet to tell readers about their local club as a membership outreach. Think about arranging distribution at schools, libraries, etc. too! Clubs are also asked to identify dealers and bookstores in their areas that the clubs believe would distribute AtariUser Magazine. AtariUser will publish a national User Group register and a Bulletin Board System register in the coming months... be certain that your groups or BBS's are represented by contacting QUILL PUBLISHING and by registering your club with Atari Corporation. Classified advertising requests MUST BE POSTMARKED by April 1, 1991, to be eligible for the special rate in the May issue of AtariUser. Be CERTAIN to include your check, payable to "Quill Publishing", and include a return address. User groups must request distribution copies by mail or by phone not later than April 8th in order to receive quantities of this first issue of AtariUser Magazine. Indicate how many 50-copy bundles are desired. NOTE: We cannot ship to a Post Office Box! Introductory single sample copies of AtariUser monthly are available by mail for $1.00 each, and preferential home delivery by mail is available for $12 a year (12 issues). Contact: AtariUser Magazine/Quill Publishing 113 W. College St., Covina, CA 91723 818-332-0372 - Editorial and business. 818-332-2869 - Fax. 818-332-5473 - Direct advertising line. At Atari Corporation (for User Group Registration): Atari USA Bob Brodie, Manager of User Group Services 1196 Borregas Ave, P.O. Box 3427, Sunnyvale, CA 94088 408-745-2052 Z*NET NEW ZEALAND FEATURE ========================= by Jon Clarke, Contributing Editor LAPTOP PLUS AIR TRAVEL EQUALS BUY A FRIDGE OR GO GOAT FARMING IN INDIA "I brought a laptop to work on the move " the add read. So well why not I said. A few dollars later I had a Toshiba T1200 laptop and now there was no reason for me not to have my notes up to date or be online to the Bank from where ever I was in the country. I wanted a STacy but like all good things you have to wait for, they were not in the shops at the time. So armed with this little T1200 I was ready to take on the world. Well nearly UNTIL ........ I decided to venture to Australia with it. "Now what could be wrong with that?" you say. I asked the same question myself. Armed with my tickets and bags I ventured off to the airport at 6.30am still half asleep and a sore head from the night before. Now that last thing I needed was any hassles. I tend to get a little cranky when the unexpected hits me at this time of the morning. "Good Morning Sir" the ticket attendant said "do you have your passport and tickets?" "Yes" I replied "here they are." "Any more baggage Sir?" "No. I am taking this onboard" motioning at my laptop. "Thank you Sir, seat 3J, have a good trip", came the reply. Good I thought that is over now where is the cafe so I can have some breakfast. Half an hour later, the inner man satisfied I went in search of the Customs area so I can get a Customs Declaration on my laptop. (If you do not do this the tax hungry guys make you pay duty on it on your return to New Zealand) Having found that they were in the boarding area and I still had 30 minutes before boarding. I thought I had better get it done so I can get some duty free cigarettes for the next few days and then hop on the plane and sleep. This is what happened to me last time, with out a word of a lie. (CO = Customs Officer , JC = ME) JC: I would like a Customs Declaration for this please. CO: What is that Sir? JC: A Toshiba laptop, you know a "PAGE TEN" like in the TV adds. CO: I do not watch TV Sir. JC: It is a portable computer. CO: May I have your passport and boarding tickets please. JC: (for the 3rd time, I dig into my suit) Here you are. CO: Going on holiday Sir? JC: No, business. CO: Place it in here please Sir. (pointing to a XRAY MACHINE) JC: NO WAY. CO: Please do as you are asked SIR. JC: If I do that, the Xrays will wipe my hard disk and I will lose all my data. Sorry I will not do that. CO: Ah yes, I heard that. Can you please open the bag and run it for me. JC: No problem. (ahh the batteries were flat) Do you have a power point I can plug it into? CO: No we do not, hang on Sir. (He return a few minutes later) There is one in there (pointing to one of the holding rooms) JC: Thanks. (Well we plug it in and the fire it up). CO: It works. JC: (With a look of disbelief and a tone to match) Of course. CO: Thank you Sir here is your Declaration. JC: Thanks.. Now it's time to enter the final departure area. CO: What do you have there? JC: (OH NO, not again) A laptop computer. I have just got a declaration from that chap over there. CO: OK, may I see it Sir. JC: Here you are (and I feel like letting them EAT it). CO: That is fine please put your briefcase in there Sir. (Another Xray machine. Did I mention I a case full of floppy disks with the Banks Cash Management software on?) JC: (As I am about to answer the final boarding call is given) Sure! I need another trip to Australia next week! Well after a restless trip with no duty free cigarettes and wondering if the floppy disks were dead or not we arrived in Sydney. After leaving the plane and heading to the entry point marked "Flight crew and New Zealanders" I was quizzed again on the floppy disks. At this point I am considering raising goats in India rather than computing! Now with all this in mind, guess where I am going this weekend? You guessed it to Australia !! I must keep my cool I must keep my cool I must keep my cool Now say this 200 times when waking up on Sunday morning and I must remember to take some forms for a computer course to drop off to the dedicated Customs Officers. Z*NET SOFTWARE SHELF ==================== by Ron Berinstein CodeHead Quarters BBS 1610 Vine Street Hollywood, CA 90028 "XXXXXXX is Moving!" The post card read.. "Due to current economic conditions and the need to compete with large discount computer stores.." What it actually said was that one of the two stores in the company was "Moving" to the address of the other store. Then, there was this paragraph in a recently uploaded shareware file's "Read_Me" section, "Note: This may sound a bit desperate, but after 250+ downloads on GEnie alone, and only TWO registrations, I am at wits end. I am ready to hang it up and convert it to the IBM and MAC. (I am not kidding either!)" As I see it, as Atari users we have to take a stand. This column will do it's part in posting news and tips about current software releases, but, we as Atari supporters must due our part to help support the authors of the programs that we use. We must be the ones held responsible if folks decide to,"hang it up" because nobody will step forward with a $10.00 shareware fee. There still exists a good group of developers willing to create software for us, but, if the retail market will not support them, and the shareware market will not support them, why shouldn't they move on to a computer that they don't like as much, but, will help to put food on their tables? Take a moment now to review your auto folder, your root directory and your program files.. Take out your checkbook, and send in the shareware fees for the programs that you've been using. You'll sleep better, and so will those that receive the checks! Certainly a small price to pay, for the great rewards that our ours because of the work done by these developers. Under the heading: "What you see is what you get, or, is it?" GEMINI12.LZH (shareware DM50-) version 1.2 of GEMINI the popular German desktop replacement system was uploaded by the authors this week. The file (twice the size of the last version) provides VERY well documented directions in English. Small or large Icons can be yours at a click of a button, sorting, viewing, selecting, etc. can all be yours. This program is not a program launcher though, and the authors state that it is still in development. It is, however, in it's present state very complete, and well thought out. STTOOLS.ARC (Shareware $10) ST Tools v.1 is similar to PC Tools for MS- DOS machines. An analysis of the Fat tables and disk structure yields a window filled with a disk tree and another with the root directory contents. A hex dump, editing, sorting, and more are possible choices. DISKFIX2.LZH provides hope for those that encounter the old, "Data on the disk in Drive A: may be damaged" alert box, and for those that find garbage in their file selector. This program might well work for your floppies, and, although not fully tested yet on hard drives, might help those with problems. VIEW.LZH (shareware $5) VIEW picture viewer doesn't provide color cycling yet, nor will it work with monochrome monitor emulators, but, if you install it in your desktop.inf file with the install program provided it will allow you to view many ST picture formats including, Neo, Degas, Art Director, Spectrum, Tiny, and Doodle. Under the heading: "What's the Big Deal?" STEBIG.ARC is Working in Low Res. it will provide a virtual 1280x960x16 color STE driver. Uses the STE's hardware for fast scrolling. An auto folder program that must run after GDOS if GDOS is installed. Under the Heading: "Draw your own Conclusions." TT_M_PEN.ARC is the German TT Plot program called Magic Pen. Still being developed, but, it works in all ST/TT resolutions and in TT low you can use 256 colors. TTMP_IMG.LZH provides a sample that can be viewed on a TT. F16.ARC and ACURA_NX.ARC are both very well executed drawings using Outline Art. One of a F16 jet, the other of the new sports car. Both require Calamus. VEKTOR.PRG is a self extracting file that runs a very nice 3D graphics demo from Europe. Requires a 60hz to 50hz converter though so that your monitor screen doesn't continue to scroll. ANCOOL.ARC is a very well received 4096 color STE demo. Low Res. MICRON.LZH (shareware $15) provides four very complete fonts. The Micron font family provides a headline font similar to Eurostyle Extended or Microgamma. Converted using the Calamus Font Editor. Outline Art Compatible. Under the heading: "Mr. ST goes to Wall Street" BIGBUX13.ARC (shareware $1-20) will help you manage your money. Unlike any other ST program. Over twenty different areas are explored, and this version proves better than the past one by providing better mouse control, choosing to redraw the original screen colors, and it has an enhanced the Earned Interest Table. FCALC25.LZH contains the new version of FINCALC. It fixes lots of bugs in the prior version's print routines. This program is designed to calculate for you, monthly loan payments, and 2.5 gives one the added ability to determine what the figures will be if you make extra monthly payments. (Btw, for those who wish to make extra payments, you can come by my place! <smile>) UNLZH should be used to uncompress this file.. Under the Heading: "What the **** is this?" WHATIS.ARC File Identifier v.4.5 will inform you about the file types of those that have any of the 80 different file extensions covered. An easy to use ".ACC." (That means accessory.) <smile> RESIST.ARC is perfect for the home electronic hobbyist. It will ID the color codes on resistors. BATTERY.ARC provides an easy to use information program with several Degas diagrams that will tell you everything you might want to know, and more, about batteries. ARC_LIST.ARC (Shareware $5) will tell you exactly what is in an .ARC or .LZH file. The archive lister will handle Arc'd subdirectories, and, will list comments in .LZH files. Under the heading: "Well who could figure that?" APROCALC.ARC lets anyone figure anything that they want to figure! A full functioned desktop calculator that provides an online information screen, will let you calculate scientific and trigonometric functions, and also will allow you to use it as a full math calculator in binary, octal, decimal, or hex. Ten memories, 50-level parenthesis, 10 digit floating point display with two digit exponent, 16 digit decimal display. ACC or PRG. My only adverse comment: it sure is small, and it is a bit hard to read the display boxes and the information screens. READ_ICD.ARC was inadvertently left out of last week's ICD booter update file. It is now available. And, HDUTIL.ARC corrects some problems with v.4.01. This is version 4.02 and must be used with v.5.1.0 of the ICD boot software. >> Warning: FRMDIT11.ARC apparently will not work with MaxiFile, and, FEMFLEX.LZH promises to show three female body builders, but only one "developed" due to an apparently bad file. I personally am looking forward to perhaps seeing a corrected upload next week! And Now for My Favorite Program of the Week.. One filled with lots of Individual Personality.. * Drum Roll Please * ETASTRO.ARC will fill you in on every bit of your own character, or, that of anothers. That's right, input your Zodiac sign and read on! Your life story flashes before your eyes! At least it is interesting reading, but beware, there are some typographical errors. I assume the rest of the content of course to be 100% accurate though! <smile> The above was compiled by Ron Berinstein co-sysop CodeHead Quarters BBS (213) 461-2095 from files that were either directly submitted to CodeHead Quarters BBS, or obtained form the download libraries of GEnie, Compuserve, and Delphi online services. DIAMOND BACK II UPDATE ====================== Press Release Oregon Research Associates is pleased to announce that it will assume the distribution and support of Diamond Back II effective immediately. The change in distribution reflects our continuing commitment to the Atari ST and Diamond Back II owners. "By having direct control over the marketing, distribution, and support functions, I can personnally guarantee the continuation of the high level of product support that Diamond Back II owners deserve", says Bob Luneski the President of Oregon Research Associates and author of Diamond Back II. To celebrate this occasion, Oregon Research Associates will release a major new version of Diamond Back II. The new version includes significant speed optimizations, many new backup and restore options, and added support for backup/restore of Spectre 3.0 partitions. Oregon Research Associates also plans the release of a comprehensive disk optimization and repair program in Q2-Q3 1991. Current owners of Diamond Back I or Diamond Back II may obtain the upgrade to Diamond Back II V2.20 by sending your original disk and $7.50 to: Oregon Research Associates 16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy., Suite 162 Tigard, OR 97224 Phone: (503) 620-4919 FAX: (503) 639-6182 Additional Information: For undisclosed reasons, I have canceled Data Innovations license to distribute Diamond Back II. The effective date of cancellation is March 8, 1991. On this date, North American distribution and support of Diamond Back II will be made by my company, Oregon Research Associates, and overseas distribution will be made by SofTrek (distributors of TurboST). There will be no patch program available for this upgrade, you must send in your original disk to Oregon Research to receive the upgrade and obtain a Diamond Back II owners registration number. Upgrade orders will be shipped on March 16, 1991. What you get for your upgrade fee: 1) V2.20 of Diamond Back II including many new features and updates to the utility programs and the addition of several new utility programs. 2) A User Registration number 3) A completely new Oregon Research Diamond Back Manual (done the way I wanted it in the first place) and Oregon Research license agreement. 4) Product support from Oregon Research Associates. I have been advised to and am requiring that original disks be returned to obtain the upgrade for the following reasons: 1) From a legal standpoint, your current user license is from Data Innovations and is slightly different from the standard recommended user license. The only way for me to ensure that you have agreed to Oregon Research's license agreement (and therefore eligible for support) is to distribute upgrades complete with new manuals and disks enclosed in sealed envelopes with opening the envelope generating implied consent to the agreement. A lawyer made me do it. 2) Having a tightly controlled distribution of the first version of Diamond Back II distributed by my company (V2.20) is the only way for me to accurately develop a registered user data base. Data Innovations has refused to provide me with a registered user list and I therefore have NO idea who are legal owners of the program. 3) I am implementing a registered user/disk serialization program and will be implementing new program support proceedures. Your owner registration number will be required to obtain user support, no exceptions. I am very sorry that it has come to this and I know it doesn't relate to anyone participating in this forum, but I receive many more support requests than can be accounted for by program sales. If I am to continue to provide the level of program support that I pride myself on giving (and that you have come to expect), then I must restrict that support to those who deserve to receive it. A complete description of the new support proceedure will be included with the upgrade, however I will present a brief summary here. 1) Oregon Research Associates will only provide product support for Diamond Back II versions 2.20 and above and you must provide your user registration number to obtain said support. This implies that you must upgrade to V2.20 and receive a registration number to receive support. No exceptions. I am very sorry, but from a liability standpoint I must have legal proof that you have agreed to the Oregon Research license agreement. In addition, the situation created by an unknown user base leaves me no alternative other than this to develop a registered user base and to ensure the continuation of the high level of service you deserve. 2) The excellent product support that I have always given will be provided via phone, FAX, US Mail, or E-MAIL directly to me at B.LUNESKI1 on Genie or boblu@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM on Usenet and your name and user registration number will be required to receive said support. Diamond Back II product support will no longer be provided in an open forum. I will no longer answer specific usage questions or provide direct product support in the open forum (Cat 2 Topic 42). Instead, I would like this forum to become a place where users can discuss Diamond Back II and the different applications of the program and assist each other with minor issues. I will continue to closely monitor this forum and post comments when I feel clarification is required, or general capability information is requested. 3) All general product questions will be answered directly via one of the mechanisms in 2) However, if you have a more serious problem or believe that you have found a bug, there is a new troubleshooting procedure form that will walk you through a series of steps that will resolve 99% of the problems and provide the necessary diagnostic information for me to solve the rest. I continue my 100% commitment to providing the highest quality product and product support available. I hope that the last two years of support and product evolution (10 upgrades with all but the move from V1.04 to V2.00 free) demonstrate my commitment. These measures are required because I have no other choice. The combination of no verifiable list of legal owners and the necessity to protect against legal exposure make these policy decisions an absolute business neccesity. I am attempting to make the transition from Data Innovations to Oregon Research Associates as painless as possible and am very sorry for any temporary inconvienince that this may cause. On behalf of myself and Oregon Research Associates, I thank you for your patience and continued support, Bob Luneski THE CHIC ULTIMATE MOUSE ======================= Press Release The Atari mouse was good in it's day. But there comes a time when every Atari owner lusts for a sleeker, faster, more powerful rodent. How about one that tracks faster, rolls smoother, has more responsive buttons and costs less than most game software? Well, we found it, and you can order one for yourself too! But lets just go over a few more features: Resolution: 290 DPI (This means it moves the cursor farther across the screen with a smaller travel across the desk than the Atari mouse) Tracking Speed: 500mm/sec. Size: 108x60x30 mm (4-3/8 x 2-1/2 x 1-1/4") Cable: 3 feet Weight: 164g (5.7 oz.) Ball: Anti-Static Silicone Rubber Coated Life: 1,000,000 Cycles Encoding System: Opto-Mechanical Other: DB9 Female, 2 button (Atari ST) Guarantee: One year Sound good? We are positive that you'll be pleased with the Chic Ultimate Mouse and this unbeleivable price! Ready? Only $34.88! This mouse easily compares to others costing twice as much. We have limited quantities so don't wait, order today! Computer Safari 606 W. Cross St Woodland, CA 95696 (916) 666-1813 Tue - Sat 10 - 5 PST, CLosed Sun. Mon. Phone orders accepted Visa, Mastercard Shipping & Handling add $4. California Residents add 6% Tax EMAIL orders may be sent to J.PIERSTORFF, Be sure to include credit card number, expiration date and name and address. Limited quantities available, offer may be withdrawn at any time without further notice. FOREM BBS UPDATE ================ Provided by Steve Rider - Forem Support FoReM Update Form Use this form to get access to the latest versions of FoReM ST as compiled by Bill Turner at Billboard BBS FNET node 185 The charge is $40 for one year of access to updated versions of FoReM ST Real Name ________________________________ Handle ________________________________ Address ________________________________ City ________________________ State/Province ______ Country ________________________ BBS Name ________________________ BBS Phone # ______________________ FNET Node # ____________________ Voice Phone # ____________________ Do you have an account on Full Moon Y N Do you have an account on Billboard Y N If yes to either above, handle used _________________________________ You may download updates from special file areas on Full Moon or Billboard once your payment of $40 is received. You will be reminded when your one year of access to updates is about to expire. Full Moon: FoReM Support BBS (508) 752-1348 9600 HST Fnet node # 204 Billboard (203) 274-7803 V.32 (not HST) node # 185 Full Moon is operated by STeve Rider Billboard is operated by Bill Turner Current owners of FoReM, send completed form and $40 payment to: Bill Turner PO Box 32 Watertown CT 06795 FoReM is sold to new customers by STeve Rider at Full Moon BBS. New customers who buy FoReM from STeve Rider also receive one year of access to new versions of FoReM as if they had also paid the $40 update fee to Bill Turner. FoReM is sold for $79.95 including shipping anywhere. To purchase FoReM complete this form and mail it to: STeve Rider 20 Cargill Ave Worcester MA 01610 HOW TO PROTECT YOUR WATERBUFFALOS ================================= Copyright (c)1991 by Todd Johnson All Rights Reserved Permission granted to reprint this article in its entirety only. With the advent of new font conversion and manipulation utilities comes the need for an added awareness of how copyright laws apply to software and in particular, the very fonts that you convert. For example, MegaType's FontVerter program gives you the ability to convert Calamus format fonts to PageStream format and vice versa, and while this ability is a benefit to the desktop publisher it can certainly be a headache for font publishing companies. This isn't to say that font publishers disapprove of FontVerter. Not by a long shot! It effectly increases the market potential of their products. But the abuse and infringements of proprietary copyrights becomes more prominent and more often than not, these abuses have not been intentional. The abusers probably didn't realise they were doing anything wrong. This article explores the various situations and circumstances and explains the rights of all involved. It is not specifically aimed at owners of FontVerter, it applies to all font manipulation utilities including full scale font editors. The part of the copyright law that pertains most to converted fonts is called "the derivitive works clause". In layman terms it says that whoever owns the original font has the right to control the destiny of anything derived from it. A common myth is that the newly converted font is a new product created by the person who converted the old one. This just ain't so. If you've converted one of my Cherry Fonts for Calamus into a Pagestream font, I still own all rights to the new Pagestream version and it is subject to all the terms and conditions of my copyright and license agreement. The same applies to all other font publishers. Some font publishers amend the usual copyright with a license agreement that binds the purchaser to additional regulations. It's important to read these to make sure you are even permitted to convert the font. My license states that you have my blessing to convert the Cherry fonts that you've purchased to run on whatever platform you need but they are still Cherry Fonts and you may not sell or give away the new models. How does this apply to public domain (PD) fonts? The term "public domain" means that there is no pending copyright. We all own the software. The author's name may be stamped on the file but that author has reserved no rights whatsoever. We may do whatever we want to that font. And if you want to convert it and call it your own product, that's your problem. No harm has been done other than your own little white lie. Lying in this manner is not illegal, it just upsets those who deserve the proper authoring credit. I've seen this happen countless times to the dozen or so PD fonts that I released years ago for Publishing Partner. A closely related brother of PD is Freeware. The difference is that Freeware fonts have a valid copyright pending. Somewhere in that software is the legal phrase "Copyright 1990 by Joe Flintstone. All rights reserved." Yet this software is given away free of charge thanks to the unbelievable generosity of Joe Flintstone. Exactly the same conditions apply to his fonts as they do to commercial fonts. Shareware fonts are similar to Freeware fonts except that their license agreement states that you may (or must) freely distribute the fonts but you must buy them if you actually use them. Again these fonts must be treated with the same regard as commercial ones. There are other problems that have to do specifically with the nature of fonts. Copyright law (presently) doesn't protect the actual design of the font. We are all free to draw our own versions of Helvetica with complete disregard for paying its designer any royalties. The name HELVETICA though, is a "trademark" which belongs to the Linotype Corporation so if we want to offer our own version we had better name it something else or we will have to answer to Linotype's lawyers. If you want to call your font Helvetica, simply call Linotype and ask how much they charge to license the name. I recommend sitting down in a comfortable chair before placing the call. Here's another scenario. Say you bought "WaterBuffalo Bold" from Mr. Flintstone's font company and you didn't like the way the uppercase "W" looked like a set of horns, so you tweaked it up a little. As far as the law is concerned, that new less-horny version of WaterBuffalo Bold is still Mr. Flintstone's and you may not call it your own. What about if you tweak most, or even ALL of the font!? NOPE. Plain and simply, you've created a "derivitive work". My advice is to start your font editor with a clean slate and start drawing if you want to create a font you can call your very own. There you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know about the mating habits of Water Buffalos. I've probably forgotten about some important circumstances, and for that I can only apologise. If you need serious legal advice, talk to a lawyer (I recommend sitting down for that too), not me. THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ATARIFEST =============================== Press Release Vancouver, Canada is hosting the first ever Pacific Northwest Atari Festival over the weekend of June 15th. and 16th. 1991, to be held at the Steveston Senior Secondary School, in the beautiful suburb of Richmond, B.C. (where Vancouver International Airport is located.) The proximity of at least three other major cities within a comfortable driving distance ensures that a sizable collage of Atari enthusiasts will be in attendance. It will be a show you won't want to miss. This colossal event will sport dozens of notable Atari luminaries such as Bob Brodie from Atari USA, and the famous Atari Canada Booth. It will bring notable developers such as Nathan Potechin from ISD Marketing Darek Mihocka from Branch Always Software, and many many others. Guest lectures and seminars are being held on both days, and a handful of events, contests and draws are being offered. Atari Canada will be setting up a Lynx network to keep the kids among us entertained and they will also be offering mini-concerts spotlighting their Digital Music Consultant, Tim Brecht. The festival site will be the Steveston High School where the gymnasium and 3 additional large rooms, including two tiered-seating lecture theatres, will accommodate the show activities. Admission to the Fest is $5. (Canadian) per day and includes your entry for the many door prizes. Vendors interested in booth information are invited to contact Terry Schreiber by VOICE at (604)275-7944 or by FAX at (604)872-7061 or by GEnie e-mail: T.SCHREIBER1. Advertising space in the show program may be purchased by anyone. Press passes are being offered by pre-arrangement only. Information for Americans, about Canada Copyright (C)1991 Todd Johnson THE METRIC SYSTEM Yes, coming to Vancouver will force you to have to deal with the metric system. It's really not that big of a deal but there are some crucial items you should be aware of: The speed limits here are posted in kilometers per hour. Kilometers are 6/10 of a mile. Our highway limits are usually 90K or 100K. That translates to 55 MPH and 60MPH. In the city, our speed limits are generally 50K (30 MPH), The cops don't buy it when you plead ignorance. Our temperatures are measured in degrees Celsius. Zero is freezing, 100 is boiling, 20 is room temperature. You can expect the Vancouver climate in June to be approximately 15 to 25 degrees (60-75 degrees Fahrenheit.) You'll see other differences if you go to buy a few litres of gas or a 300 gram package of coffee, but we're sure you won't have any problems dealing with that. If you need additional information, please don't hesitate to call. DOLLARS VS. DOLLARS Since show goers will be approximately an even mixture of Americans and Canadians, you can expect to see both American and Canadian dollars being used at the festival. A word of warning; Canadian attendees won't be carrying American dollars, and American attendees may not be carrying Canadian dollars. We recommend that you be prepared to accept both Canadian funds as well as American funds for purchases of your products. Call us for current exchange rates, or any other information you feel you'll need to make this show your success. At publication time, the Canadian dollar is worth 86.7 US cents. GAS If you're driving into Canada, make sure you fill up with gas before you enter Canada. Our gas prices are much higher than you might expect. CIGARETTES If you smoke, make sure you bring enough of your own brand of cigarettes with you. Canadian cigarettes don't taste anything like American cigarettes and again, local prices are likely higher than you are used to. CALAMUS TUTORIAL PART V ======================= HLP file, Clipboards, and Printing Copyright(c)1991 by Geoff LaCasse GXR Systems, Vancouver, B.C. Last session I explained the rudiments of text Cut and Paste. This session, I would like to provide a more complete break-down of the available commands, where they can be used, and what are the possibilities. Although Calamus text should be written and proofed in your favourite word processor, occasionally, changes need to be made to a file after it has been imported. In its present form, however, Calamus's Text Editor offers few commands similar to those in Word Perfect, Word Plus, etc. The Text Editor was designed for quick data entry and simple text and text style replacement (the latter will be explored in a later session). The Text Editor does include the Cut and Paste function for more radical surgery on text. Load your file from last session. But instead of selecting LOAD DOCUMENT from the FILE menu, hold down the ALTERNATE (ALT) key and press l. Calamus's file selector will appear. Load your file from the last session. Calamus includes keyboard equivalents (shortcuts) for some of its icons and commands, indicated by a small button shaped icon on the top icon line to the right of the SIZE icons and below the number 1. If you move the cursor to FRAME, f2 will appear. Other shortcuts include f3 for TEXT, and ALT-e for OPEN TEXT EDITOR. f1-f10 represent the function keys along the top of the keyboard. F1-F10 are SHIFT plus the function keys. Alt-e opens the Text Editor even if you are in FRAMES mode. This saves editing time because you no longer have to move from FRAMES to TEXT to use the Text Editor. These keyboard shortcuts are embedded in the Calamus.hlp (help) file in the SYS folder. (The .HLP file also provides the useful icon descriptions in the upper right corner of the screen.) Print out Calamus.hlp from the desktop (when you have the chance). The file consists of numbered lines, each equivalent to one icon or command. On their far right are keyboard letters, which provide the keyboard shortcut when used in combination with ALT. Function keys are prefaced by f or F followed by a number from 1 to 10. Session 10 will discuss ways to customize the keyboard shortcuts. For the time being we will use the default settings which came with the program. With your document on screen, let's practice cutting and pasting text. Select TEXT, then TEXT CLIPBOARDS, click on the first (left) frame, and place the text cursor at some point in the text. Drag (hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse to the right and down) the cursor until you have highlighted several lines of text (you may want to do this in a closer view: use Size icons). Calamus has 5 Text Clipboards designed to capture text, and distinct from Frame Clipboards (which capture frames and their contents). Text clipboard size is limited only by system memory, although only the first few characters will be shown. The Cut and Paste commands are the 5 icons located below the Text clipboards. We used the top 2 icons--CUT TEXT FROM FRAME (scissors shape) and PASTE TEXT FROM CLIPBOARD (to its right) to cut highlighted text from and to a frame (review). The other icons are (right to left, bottom row): COPY TEXT TO FRAME, COPY TEXT TO CLIPBOARD, and DELETE TEXT IN CLIPBOARD OR FRAME. The 2 icons on the right on the bottom row work similarly to those immediately above but leave the original text untouched (whether in frame or clipboard) by making a copy. Highlight one of the clipboards (they do not have to be selected in any order), highlight text in one of the frames, and click on COPY TEXT TO CLIPBOARD. The original text will be left untouched and an exact copy will be placed in the clipboard. Place a new insertion point elsewhere in the text, and select COPY TEXT TO FRAME. Text will be copied into the frame, and the clipboard original left untouched. Place text in another clipboard and paste it back to the same position. To DELETE TEXT, highlight a clipboard containing text and select this icon. Alternately, highlight text in a frame, de- select any clipboards, and click on DELETE TEXT. Deleted text can't be recovered. Cut and Paste is a simple procedure but should be practised (differentiating between the copy and cut icons can be a problem initially). Save constantly when Cutting and Pasting. Calamus has been known to crash at this point (my Mega 4 STE does so repeatedly). Saving a document, however, does not save text in the clipboards (next version). Printing a Calamus file is a simple procedure. Press ALT-p or select PRINT from the FILE menu. PRINT brings up a dialogue box: Print Document/Printer Settings. Select your print options (or leave at the default settings) and print the document. Calamus .CDK files can only be printed from within Calamus. The dialogue box is divided into 2 halves. The top half will be blank if you haven't previously selected a default printer driver. Click on LOAD DRIVERS. If your Calamus.set file was correctly set up, a list of printer drivers will appear (if not, reinstall your Calamus.set file: see session 1). If your printer is not on the list, select the closest match. I used a HP LaserJet II driver until a DeskJet driver became available. If no close match exists, check your local bulletin boards or phone ISD. Your selection will become the default driver for this and future sessions (until changed). Once a driver has been selected, printer options will appear. These include Resolution, Page format, Paper feed (not available for some printers), and Output. Default values include the highest resolution of the printer (300 x 300 dots per inch in the DeskJet; 240 x 216 dpi in an Epson), Letter, and Parallel. The bottom half of the dialogue box includes information on pages to be printed (From/To: default is page currently on screen), # of Copies (1), Scaling (100%), and Orientation (Automatic). Ignore the others for this session. Don't change # of Copies, it doesn't work correctly. Click on PRINT at bottom-left of dialogue box. Print times will vary. My DeskJet prints a full page in approximately 5 minutes, the Atari SLM804 Laser in 10 seconds. Change Resolution to lower output (i.e. 150 x 150 for the DeskJet) by clicking on its right side button. Change Scaling to 50% by selecting and erasing the old, and typing in 50. If you press RETURN printing will begin (bypassing PRINT button). Printing should be much faster for dot matrix printers, in particular (although Atari laser users may not notice much difference). Document files are not printer specific, and printer drivers can be changed at will by clicking on LOAD DRIVERS. Once printing is finished click on OK in bottom right. This returns you to your on-screen document. Quit Calamus (use ALT-q). Save Document if you want to save what you have done, Abandon if not. Next session will be a question and answer period for those with problems arising from the first 5 sessions. Questions should cover material in the past 5 sessions. Questions can be sent to T.SCHREIBER1 or Z-NET on GEnie or to Sysop Node #505 on FNET. PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE ==================== by Keith MacNutt Rate Hard Drive ICD, INC 1220 Rock Street Rockford, IL 61101-1437 Ever wonder just how fast your hard drives are? You read the spec sheet when you bought your drive and it gave an expected rating expressed in ms( milli seconds - thousandths of a second). From that rating you either bragged to friends or stated with conviction, that as soon as you could afford a faster one, you would be up there with the big boys. With the release of hard drive rate program your dream drive may just be in your case at this very moment. Up until now, most people had no choice but to believe what the manufacture stated in their brochures and ads. Rate hard drive gives you, the ST user, the chance to test your hard drives and come up with a bench mark rating. This rating is not the be all, end all test that everyone should count on to state with conviction just who they think makes the fastest drives. HOW IT WORKS Rate hard drive when run, starts all scsi ID 0 logical unit and proceeds to check all the hard drives it can find connected on all the SCSI and lun connections except ID's 6 (reserved for real time clock) and 7 where it reads lun 0 only. As the program finds and tests the hard drives, it prints out the manufacturers identification under the device name and a rating in ms for the speed. THE TESTS The data rate test takes one megabyte of data, and in 100 sector continuous calculates the number of K/s that can be read in one second. The average access test tells the drive to read the innermost sector and then the outermost one. This is repeated 50 times, but each time the head is stepped out one from the centre and in one from the outside. This action cause the head to travel a shorter and shorter distance until it meets in the centre. From this data the program removes the time it needs to read the sectors and calculates the average time for head travel. CONCLUSIONS There are a few other test programs that will also do tests like RATEHD, but from reading the doc file that comes with this program, the people at ICD are sincerely trying to give the ST community a way to evaluate one hard drive against another. As I stated at the beginning of this review, this is only a general test and does not give 100% accurate ratings, but comes very close. If you haven't installed TOS 1.4 in your machine, it may not be the hard drive's fault for being slow, but instead your machine's Operating System. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~