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| (((((((( | Z*Net International Atari Online Magazine | (( | ----------------------------------------- | (( | Decmeber 13, 1991 Issue #91-52 | (( | ----------------------------------------- | (((((((( | Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc. | | Post Office Box 59, Middlesex, NJ 08846 | (( | | (((((( | CONTENTS | (( | | | * Z*Net Newswire........................................ | ((( (( | * Perusing The Internet...................Bruce Hansford | (((( (( | * GCR Modifications....................George Richardson | (( (( (( | * Perusing GEnie...............................Ed Krimen | (( (((( | * Selecting A BBS...........................Ken Buchholz | (( ((( | * Year In Review:1991 CIS Utilities...........Ron Kovacs | | * Z*Net Software Shelf....................Ron Berinstein | ((((((( | | (( | | ((((( | | (( | | ((((((( | ~ Publisher/Editor............................Ron Kovacs | | ~ Editor.......................................John Nagy | (((((((( | ~ Z*Net Newswire Ltd..........................Jon Clarke | (( | ~ Contributing Editor.....................Bruce Hansford | (( | ~ PD Software Reviews.....................Ron Berinstein | (( | ~ Reporter....................................Mike Brown | (( | ~ Assistant News Editor.......................Mike Davis | | |----------| $ GEnie Address....................................Z-NET | ONLINE | $ CompuServe Address..........................75300,1642 | AREAS | $ Delphi Address....................................ZNET | | $ Internet Address.............75300,1642@compuserve.com | | $ America Online Address........................ZNET1991 |----------| | Z*NET | * Z*Net:USA New Jersey...(FNET 593).......(908) 968-8148 | SUPPORT | * Z*Net:Golden Gate......(FNET 706).......(510) 373-6792 | SYSTEMS | * Z*Net:South Pacific....(FNET 693).NZ....(644) 4762-852 | | * Z*Net:South Jersey.....(FNET 168).CCBBS.(609) 451-7475 | | * Z*Net:Illinois (Garage)(FNET 621).......(618) 344-8466 | | * Z*Net:Florida (Twilight Zone)(FNET 304).(407) 831-1613 ======================================================================= * Z*NET NEWSWIRE ======================================================================= CHICAGO SHOW NETS A PROFIT Atari Corp and L.C.A.C.E., the Chicago area group that co-sponsored the Chicago Computerfest by Atari, report that the event netted both parties a profit. This is the first time that a show such as this was a cooperative effort with Atari on the financial level. All previous shows were a straight donation position for Atari, who has provided equipment, transportation, personnel, advertising, and prizes for shows totalling near $100,000 in the most extreme cases. Even after the costs of two large truckloads of hardware plus the transportation, food, and lodging of 25 Atari personnel for Chicago, it now appears that the show was at least a break-even proposition for Atari Corp. The rush of sales of hardware at and after the show in the Chicago area that were spurred on by the show can't be measured in the show financial picture, but certainly add to the overall positive effects. This cooperative effort paves the way for more of the same for Atari, while the groups who sponsor the events have a better bargaining position by using Atari's backing and organizational support. If the profitability can be reasonably assured by the control Atari can exert on their co-op shows, the support of the developers and users who attend these shows now may be affordable. MORE PORTS FOR THE ST BOOK Atari Corp has shown two plug-in adapters for the upcoming ST BOOK notebook computer. A "book-bus" to standard ST Cartridge slot unit will attach, when necessary, between any cart for the older series of computer and the new tiny ST BOOK. A MIDI expander increases the MIDI capabilities of the BOOK by adding five standard MIDI jacks plus a SMPTE time code reference. The MIDI unit is planned for OEM production by Atari only, meaning that third party software and hardware marketers can buy them from Atari, custom made, to include with their own package. This may allow for the possibility of internalizing the "dongle" required for some high-line MIDI applications into the unit itself. Atari won't sell the expander direct to consumers, but the market plan for the cart adapter is not final. PORTFOLIO DISK LETTER Another Portfolio newsletter, but with a difference: "Open a window to productivity like you've never seen before with the only newsletter and diskette service dedicated solely to the Atari Portfolio" says David Stewart, editor of the "Re:Port Newsletter." Re:Port, published bi- monthly, will give you insights into how the Portfolio works and provides at least two programs on disk (3.5" or 5.25") per issue. Re:Port also offers discounts on Portfolio products. Newsletter/disk subscription, $50 for six issues. Re:Port Newsletter, 1618 South Beech Court, Broken Arrow, OK 74012. PORTFOLIO PROLIFERATES DAILY AT CIS Don Messerli, David E. Stewart, and B.J. Gleason have been hard at work writing programs for the APORTFOLIO/Compuserve Programming Marathon. During the months of November and December, the three programmers made sure that there was at least one new program a day available for downloading. Other members have been joining in to help them out, so there have been almost three new Portfolio files to download every day. By the end of the marathon, December 31, it is expected that there will be 600 files available in the Portfolio Forum on Compuserve. The PBASIC Editor, a program to allow users on a PC to write programs using B.J. Gleason's PBASIC for the Portfolio, has been upgraded to version 2.0. The major improvement is that the editor now provides emulation for those "Portfolio Only" features. You can now view PGC graphics, as well as Boxes, Sounds, and Menus on the PC. This should help speed up Portfolio software development. The PBASIC editor is available on Compuserve in the APORTFOLIO forum as PBE20.ZIP. CHANGES AT ATARIUSER The January issue of AtariUser Magazine is going to press today, and editor John Nagy says it is the best yet. Major changes in the layout reflect the move to more technical articles and longer features. While the January issue holds more actual text than any issue before it, some "regular" columns will be rotated in and out as space allows. Nagy stresses that 8-bit, Lynx, Portfolio, ST/TT, and MIDI coverage will continue as a permanent part of AtariUser. Dealers and subscribers should see the magazine by January 1. Quill Publishing Co., AtariUser's parent company, welcomes its two newest staff members, Matthew J. Sheldon and Brian Eliassian. Sheldon, moving from a San Francisco based marketing firm, will head Comp! magazine's (Quill's PC oriented publication) marketing department. Eliassian, traffic manager at the world-famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and long-time Atari maven, is taking over the Coordinating Editor position at AtariUser magazine. He'll be handling the day-to-day office responsibilities for AtariUser. Quill Publishing, 113 W. College St., Covina, CA 91723, (818) 332-0372. NATIONAL UNION BOYCOTT OF APPLE A national boycott of Apple Computer Inc. products is on, and John Barton, spokesman for the California union local that represents janitorial workers, says they're in it for the long haul. Apple uses about 100 non-union workers every night to clean their Santa Clara headquarters. The national union for janitorial workers doesn't like that. The dispute has been going on for over a year, and now the union has decided to play hard-ball by issuing the national boycott. NEW Z*NET BBS OPENS Another FoReM BBS system is now open for callers in California. Z*Net Golden Gate, (FNET Node 706) began operations this week and is available 24 hours a day at 510-373-6792, HST 14.4 US Robotics Modem. The SysOp is Bob Brodie, Atari's Director of Communications. Other Z*Net support systems are located in New Jersey, Florida, New Zealand, Canada and soon in Hawaii. ======================================================================= * PERUSING THE INTERNET (Atari ST) Compiled by Bruce Hansford ======================================================================= Date: 4 Dec 91 04:38:49 GMT >From: ...laidbak!tellab5!chinet!saj@cs.rochester.edu (Stephen Jacobs) Subject: ST book I played with the Book a bit in Chicago. I'll agree with everyone else that the display is remarkably good. People whio had used them for awhile seemed to be able to use the pointing device easily, but it sure felt strange to me. Pricing was publicly discussed, with something in the general ballpark of $2000 being representative (a 'Portfolio Book' was also talked about, but I only have that third-hand. About 50% more expensive. MS-DOS). There was definite talk about having the Book in retail channels by January, but since they clearly didn't have warehouses full of them NOW, I think an extra month would be a good guess. Steve saj@chinet.chi.il.us /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Date: 4 Dec 91 12:21:44 GMT >From: mcsun!uknet!mucs!p4.cs.man.ac.uk!milnern@uunet.uu.net Subject: Atari sales going up in UK Just thought I'd post this little of snippet of info I gleaned from one of the ST mags available in the UK. Since the incompatability problems of the new entry level Amiga have come to light, many stores are angry with Commodore and are quoted as saying that they cannot afford to stock it anymore. As a result of this ST sales are now topping Amiga sales for the first time since Adam etc.etc. NOTE: This is not a "my computer is better than yours" post. The only reason I even mention the 'A' word was to give the reason for the increased sales. The down side to all this though is that since Atari flogged its assembly plant, they are having a LOT of trouble meeting demand in time for Christmas. Can't they do anything right? /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Date: 5 Dec 91 05:21:44 GMT >From: ....ohio-state.edu!rpi!pinelr@arizona.edu (Robert Jeffrey Pinelli) Subject: HELP: Mouse is flaky. (Corey Liu) writes: >My original ST mouse (1988) is acting flaky. The pointer will only >move down when I direct it upwards or downward. Right/left motion is >fine. > >I've noticed a gradual decay of its behavior over the past week where >it would move the pointer only down sometimes, but now it seems stuck >in the downwards mode. > >Is anybody familiar with this problem? Is it just the untimely death >of my ST mouse? Is it a virus? >... I know of a FREE fix for it that's almost guaranteed to work. Try cleaning it. Pop off that little slide cover over the ball and take the ball out. Now scrape all that greyish back gunk of the x/y rollers and the pressure roller. It may take a sharp object since it tends to get really packed on. Since you didn't mention cleaning your mouse, I assume that it's been building up garbage in there since you've had the computer. I've had the problem before and a good cleaning will usually do the trick. If in the even this doesn't seem to do it, then my next guess would be that one of the wires in the mouse cord is severed, most likely in the joint where the cord meets the mouse. Try jiggling that junction while moving the mouse around and see if it sometimes works when you hold it in certain positions. I've had this problem too, and my cord needed to be replaced. I was lucky and knew someone who had a spare. However, spares should be inexpensive and if you are handy with some simple electronics, you should be able to fix it yourself (at the expense of shortening the cord a little.) /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Date: 5 Dec 91 22:10:03 GMT >From: mcsun!uknet!slxsys!ibmpcug!demon!news@uunet.uu.net (Iain Laskey) Subject: ST on stage You should go and see a Jean Michel Jarre concert. Wall to wall Mega ST's! The ST is the machine of choice amongst the music community with many appearing on stage. Tangerine Dream even mention Atari and some Atari people on their album sleeves. I know a great many people in bands and ALL use Atari's and either Notator or Cubase for sequencing. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Date: Sun, 08 Dec 91 10:38:25 SST >From: "S. Suthipuntha" <AKISUJAR%NUSVM.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Subject: SETTING SEEK SPEED FOR 1.44MB DRIVE Greeting from Singapore, I have installed a 1.44MB disk drive to my Mega 4 and have been asking for the program to set the drive seek speed or step rate to 6 that will work with TOS 1.4 but never receive any response. All along I have to boot the CLI program and type in the command line: STEP 6 to change step rate then exit CLI to GEM desktop. Now I have found more convenience way of working with 1.44MB drive as follows: 1. Obtain the FCOPYPRO(fessional) program (no it's not a PD) and config it to have drive A: as Destination drive and set step Rate for A: to 6 and leave the step rate for B: at 3 and save this Configuration. I have the 1.44MB drive inside the Mega 4 and have the 720KB external drive. I have to set A: as the destination drive to be able to format the diskette in A: as the FCOPY will sensibly refuse to format the source drive. 2. Putting FCOPYPRO.PRG in the hard disk and set its to Auto boot under 'Install Application' menu in TOS 1.4 or put it in AUTO folder for the older TOS. The FCOPYPRO will boot up as an opening screen every time the computer is turn on its menu looks quite attractive anyway. FCOPYPRO will automatically set disk drive step rate to the correct 6 and 3 and ready to format the new disk. It just a matter of clicking QUIT button to go to other programs if you don't want to format disk or copy files between 2 drives. I know that this is not a perfect solution but it is easier than to go to CLI and exit. I probably have to make do with COPYPRO until some kind soul would post the suitable SEEK6 program to the NET or the archive. Hope this would be useful to other netters who are facing the same problem like myself. Suthipuntha, School of Architecture, National University of Singapore AKISUJAR@NUSVM.BITNET /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Date: 8 Dec 91 15:06:54 GMT >From: ....linac!att!cbfsb!cbnewsb.cb.att.com!hojo@arizona.edu Subject: CDAR-504 and IBM/Mac CDs (Dani A. Roloson) writes: > Has anyone used a CDAR-504 to read IBM or Mac CD's? I am hoping that > I can just get a CD of IBM/Mac EPS clip-art, put it into the CDAR-504, > and import directly into PageStream 2.1. Is it that simple? I have a CDAR504. It will read the MS/DOS CD formats ok. You have to consider the following. 1. There is only 1 physical CD standard. In a sense you can read any CD BUT 2. There is a logical standard that ATARI 'screwed up'. A CD can contain many sections that may be music, data, and on big CD's, video. 3. The CDAR504 will only read the FIRST section. SO 4. you can PLAY (not READ) a music video. OR 5. read s single section data CD. of these there are several standards. Bottom line. 1. I can read the PC CD-ROMS. 2. I can read the hypertext introduction to a MAC CD-ROM, but not access the next section. 3. Also, there are two popular ways of doing PC CD-ROMS. a. First, the CD-ROM is all "data", and you get a floppy with the access program written in the native language that it is sold for. Of, course , this usually means MS/DOS on a PC. b. Second, the CD-ROM contains the access programs and the data. 4. This leaves the Atari out in the cold. 5. What I did was hack a CD-rom driver into PC-Ditto I, and run as a real (but slow) PC. Since PC_ditto-I has CGA only, this handles text based CD-roms quite well. Data bases like "Computer library" work well. Howard Johnson ATT BELL LABS /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ======================================================================= * GCR MODIFICATIONS FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE by George Richardson ======================================================================= Merlin Group, Inc. - Captured from CompuServe The Spectre GCR has a number of problems when used with an Atari TT. This is caused by the fact that the 68030 processor has begun to change the state of the address lines by the time the cartridge select line goes false, something that does not normally occur in the regular ST computers. These problems can include the following: The defective ROM message at boot time Difficulty formatting GCR (Mac) floppies Difficulty to write to GCR (Mac) floppies Difficulty reading GCR (Mac) floppies The floppy problems can be detected by using the GCR test program included with Spectre. These problems may, in some lesser degree, occur on machines with 68030, 68020 or 68000 accelerators. They might also occur on machines that have heavy loading on the address bus, like a Mega ST with blitter, Moniterm card and GCR, or a GCR and 6 Eprom TOS set. There are three separate fixes that can be done to the GCR. They should all be done to get best performance with the TT. I should note that these are only GCR hardware fixes; there are some problems with the TT and Spectre 3.0 that will be corrected by future Spectre releases. An example of this is the problems using floppy disks with the 68030 caches turned on. The current solution is to get one of the Mac desk accessories that allow you to turn off the caches so that you can use floppies when it's required. There are also some hardware problems with some TT's that are not caused by Spectre or the GCR. You should run the floppy drive test on the GCR tester to determine if your drive and system is up to snuff. If it doesn't pass, no amount of fixes to the GCR or Spectre software will help you. Also, there is a small fuse in the power supply line to the cartridge port on TT's. If this fuse is blown, the GCR cartridge will not function. Check with a voltmeter to be sure the GCR is getting power. Pins 7 and 14 of U4 are a good place to check with a voltmeter. Pin 7 is the negative side and pin 14 is the positive side. There should be about 5 volts DC between these pins. The Fixes: There are three parts required for the GCR fix; no sustitutes please! any substitution of parts can produce side effects like the complete inability to use the GCR. There are three parts required: (1) 74LS04 chip (*not* an S04, ALS04, HC04, AS04, or 7404) (1) 100pf capacitor (35 Volt, monolithic ceramic, one of the little blue or yellow blobs. *DO NOT* use a disk cap!) (1) 1K Ohm, 1/4 watt 5% tolerance resistor Ok, the first step is to trim all but pins 7 and 14 on the 74LS04 short. Note that I said *short*, not off. If you cut off all of the thin part of the lead so that none off it protrudes below the base of the chip itself, that will do fine. This is only so that none of the pins touch any of the pins on the chip we're going to solder it on to. Pins 7 and 14 are the power pins, and we'll use those both to get power from another chip, and to hold the 74LS04 onto the GCR. Now locate U4 on your GCR. If you hold the GCR so that the gold connector is facing you and the disk connectors are on your right, U4 is the third chip in from the left on the top edge of the GCR. We'll also use this orientation to locate the rest of the chips we'll be dealing with. Now position the 74LS04 on top of U4 so that their pins line up, 1 to 1, 2 to 2, etcetera. This means that the notch or mark on the ends of both chips must be facing the same way. Solder the 74LS04 chip's pins 7 and 14 to pins 7 and 14 of the U4 chip, so that the 74LS04 chip is riding piggyback on U4. Find U3, just to the left of U4. Cut the trace connected to pin 9 of U3. It's located on top of the board. Then connect a wire from pin 8 of the 74LS04 chip to pin 9 of U4. Find U2, just to the left of U3. Connect a wire from pin 9 of the 74LS04 to pin 9 of U2. Find U6, on the lower left side of the board. Cut the trace connected to pin 12 of U6. This is on the top side of the board. Then connect a wire from pin 10 of the 74LS04 to pin 12 of U6. Connect a wire from pin 11 of the 74LS04 to pin 11 of U2. Now the tough stuff. Solder the 100pf capcitor between pins 2 and 3 of the 74LS04. This can be done in such a way as to allow the capacitor to lie flat against the top of the chip. Then solder the 1K resistor between pins 3 and 7 of the 74LS04. Make sure that these parts don't touch any other pins on the chip. Connect a wire from pin 1 of the 74LS04 to pin 10 of U2. Then find U10, which is just to the left of U6. Cut the trace that connects to pin 10 of U10, leaving the trace between pins 9 and 10 intact. All of these traces are on the underside of the board. Then connect a wire from pin 4 of the 74LS04 to pin 10 of U10. Run the GCR test. Boot Mac mode. If you did everything correctly, you should now be running fine. On the off chance that you're not, but everything seems to be wired correctly, short out the leads of the capacitor and try it. If things work better, try substituting a 120pf or 150pf cap for the 100pf. ======================================================================= * PERUSING GENIE Compiled by Ed Krimen ======================================================================= Copyright (C)1991, Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XTX99436,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. 40-FOLDER ALLOCATION ==================== Atari-ST RoundTable Category 14, Topic 14 Message 212 Sun Dec 08, 1991 TOWNS [John@Atari] at 15:09 EST Well, I think the manual is worded fine. The problem is that the method used to access folders is different from older versions of TOS. Starting with TOS 1.04, Atari changed the way the folder allocation works. Prior to TOS 1.04, When you entered a folder, it would take up a slot in the folder count and never give it up. Even if you stopped looking in that folder. With TOS 1.04 and above, the scheme was changed. Now when you access a folder, it takes up a slot in the folder count and when you are done with it, it is freed and the slot is available again. Basically, this means that there is still a limit. But, in addition to the new method of folder allocation, we also raised the limit above 40. Basically, to run into the limit on a machine with TOS 1.04 and above, you would have to access ALOT of folders (imagine going eight folders deep on six or seven hard disk partitions at the _same_ time.. Most people will never do this. And even if you do, you run FOLDRXXX.PRG and add some folders) I personally think FOLDER set to 800 is pretty extreme. If you have TOS 1.04 and a hard disk, I would recommend a FOLDR050.PRG or maybe 100 (mine is set to 50) and you should be fine. BTW.. You will know on TOS 1.04 and above when you run into the limit. You will see a message telling you that you have run out of folders and to reboot with FOLDRXXX.PRG to allocate some additional ones. I hope this clears up some of the confusion. -- John Townsend, Atari Corp. ---------- dBMAN ===== Atari-ST RoundTable Category 6, Topic 16 Message 177 Tue Dec 10, 1991 B.REHBOCK [Bill@Atari] at 03:27 EST Yes, they have fixed most of those annoying bugs. I don't think that 5.3 for the ST is ready for shipping just yet, but they DEFINITELY are dedicated to an Atari version. I have been working with Charlie Seng and his main programmer for the ST and Amiga, Ben rather closely since I started at Atari just over a year ago. I'm trying to convince them to put in some very high neat-o factor things into the Atari release, so GET THOSE UPGRADE DOLLARS INTO THESE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! The upgrade for TOS is as follows... Your current dBMAN version: Development Sys. Runtime Sys. =========================== ================ ============ 5.2 $45.00 $40.00 5.1 $70.00 $60.00 4.0 $105.00 $90.00 3.0 or older $140.00 $120.00 The 5.3 TOS version will have support for netowrking that will work with and AtariNetworkingStandard Network. (Such as the A&D Universal Network). Please contact VersaSoft and get you upgrades. -Bill Rehbock, Director of Technical Services (and 3rd Party Developer Coordinator, Atari Corp.) ---------- LYNX SALES ========== Atari-ST RoundTable Category 14, Topic 3 Message 160 Thu Dec 05, 1991 TOWNS [John@Atari] at 01:12 EST According to the several Good Guys stores and Software Etc. stores I went into this week.. the Lynx is outselling the GameBoy overall. In two stores, I was told "Lynx is the hottest hand-held game system for us right now. We are selling tons of them!" -- John ---------- Atari-ST RoundTable Category 36, Topic 5 Message 337 Mon Dec 09, 1991 S.JOHNSON10 [Steve] at 00:33 EST According to the current issue of Z*Net (issue #9151), when arcade conversion games are being developed for the Lynx, they actually go out and get arcade versions of the games to continuously compare their Lynx versions to. Also, it mentions new game projects for the Lynx including Steel Talons, Shadow of the Beast, a combined Asteroids/Missile Command cartridge, as well as MANY others. Download file #21832 ZNET9151.ARC for all the poop! ---------- Atari-ST RoundTable Category 36, Topic 5 Message 338 Mon Dec 09, 1991 TOWNS [John@Atari] at 13:25 EST I am not sure how it is handled by Chicago.. but the way it has been done in the past (here in Sunnyvale) was that when a contract was reached for an Arcade conversion, part of the contract was that the original company provided an Arcade Unit for the period of development. In fact, those arcade units (most of the development is now handled by the Entertainment Div. in Chicago.. So we don't get to see the arcade units as much :-{ ) have provided endless hours of fun for those of us in Sunnyvale! ---------- MULTIDESK ========= Atari-ST RoundTable Category 32, Topic 5 Message 31 Mon Dec 09, 1991 J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 13:09 EST Ken, As we've mentioned before, when someone disables MDD and a problem goes away, the problem is almost certainly within an ACC loaded (or MDXed) into MultiDesk. We know of _no_ conflicts between MultiDesk itself and _any_ program. You can easily test this by emptying MultiDesk of its ACCs (by doing a "Clear All" and setting your MDX path to a directory with no ACCs). I'll be very surprised if anyone comes up with any conflict between an empty MultiDesk and any program. I also think your problem is probably something other than EdHak. I've used several different versions of EdHak in MultiDesk with no problem. It's really quite impossible for us to be responsible for the behavior of all of the ACCs users might load. It's as if we sell someone a van. If he loads it full of garbage and comes back to us complaining that it smells bad inside, there's not much we can tell him other than to empty it out. <grin> John P.S. Desk Manager works fine on an STe. But it will not handle your NEWDESK.INF file automatically (since it will write a DESKTOP.INF file instead). You'll have to use the custom files option to handle NEWDESK.INF files. ---------- STOS ==== Atari-ST RoundTable Category 3, Topic 9 Message 14 Fri Dec 06, 1991 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 01:12 EST John: Mouse problems are very indicative of how STOS refuses to work when it encounters a new TOS. STOS accesses a table which tells it vital locations which seem to change from TOS to TOS. Whenever a new TOS is released, Mandarin creates a new table which includes the new pointers and incorporates it into STOS so it will work with the new TOSs. As far as I know, the latest TOS STOS currently works with is TOS 1.62 (the version I am using now). There is a hefty upgrade to STOS coming down the pike soon (possibly before the end of the year) which adds about 100 new commands...whether it will also include the tables needed for the TT's is anyone's guess, but I think there's a pretty good chance. When I get my next newsletter from STOS Canada Club, I'll let you know. If you want info on the STOS Canada Club, let me know and I'll fill you in! Live And Direct, Rod Martin, Network 23 Software Written at 12:06 AM on 5/Dec/91. ---------- ATARI TT ======== Atari-ST RoundTable Category 14, Topic 7 Message 163 Fri Dec 06, 1991 M.HILL13 [Mike] at 23:22 EST So Bill Rhebok, What is the current time frame for Atari shipping Class B TT's to dealers? What are the major differences between the Class A and Class B besides the new tos and 1.4 drive? Specifically is the motherboard a major change? Any major hardware changes? Mike ---------- Atari-ST RoundTable Category 14, Topic 7 Message 164 Sat Dec 07, 1991 B.REHBOCK [Bill@Atari] at 04:18 EST TOS 3.06 and the 1.44 meg drives have absolutely nothing to do with FCC Class B machines. The Class A machines with 3.06 and 1.44 meg drives have been shipping since the Chicago show. Right now, the expected schedule for delivery of Class B machines is Mid December to early January. There is no functional difference between the Class A & Class B machines. By the way, I was just looking at my PLI (Peripheral Land Inc.) Atari/ Macintosh/Next 88 megabyte removeable Syquest drive, and guess what? It's FCC Class A ---------- ======================================================================= * 21 CONSIDERATIONS IN SELECTING A BBS by Ken Buchholz ======================================================================= The Washington Towne Crier BBS, 708-803-0428 BBSs are like mushrooms in spring - they seem to sprout up with every rain, and suddenly, without warning, disappear into thin air. There are thousands of BBSs to use, and since you can't spend every waking hour BBSing, you need to be selective in the system you choose to use. Here's some helpful hints to guide you in selecting the BBSs you utilize: 1. The SYSOP. You can tell a lot about the SYSOP without seeing the system in action. As you log on, what is the flavour of the SYSOP's comments and prompts for answers? If he/she nasty? Does he/she give you the feeling that they believe they are God? Does the SYSOP ask too personal questions, such as detailed information on where you work or live, your income or your sexual preferences? If so, don't bother completing the logon sequence - hang up and take your business elsewhere. 2. Does the system provide adequate telecommunications support, such as a high enough baud rate? Systems which don't provide at least 9600 baud today are probably going to be VERY slow in terms of user activity, and slow systems are dead systems. Is the system constantly busy? If a system is constantly busy, either the system has too many users, the system doesn't restrict session times, or the SYSOP is constantly taking his/her system down to play games, do their homework, etc. Regardless of reason, find another BBS to frequent. 3. Does the SYSOP force you to suffer through endless screens of totally useless information, such as last N number of callers, lists of those who haven't uploaded enough (in the SYSOP's own opinion), lists of useless trivia such as "On this date in history..." and the like? Are you forced to suffer through a seemingly endless list of "system messages" that date back more than a week or two? Do it take more than 15-20 seconds to log on? If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes", forget this system and hang-up immediately. 4. Do the logon screens/prompts change frequently? This can reek havoc on your attempts to fully automate your logon sequence via script files. And it illustrates just how much of a plaything the SYSOP considers his/ her system to be. Again, forget these systems and go elsewhere. 5. The name of the system: If the SYSOP picks some space-faced name (Galacticom Gladiators or Space Base North, for example) or overly- cutesy name (Gina's Boutique or Dick's Doghouse), it will attract users of a similar mindset. If this matches your mindset, continue to logon, otherwise hang up immediately. 6. Does the BBS' name change with the weather? This is indicative of a SYSOP who is about as stable as Jello. Get your desert elsewhere... 7. Does the system require users to maintain an upload/download ratio? If so, move on - there are too many systems around which don't have such restrictions to have to bother with those which do. Again, move on... quickly... 8. Does the SYSOP allow "war-boarding", profanity and other trash? "War-boards" = "Kiddy-boards". If you're a kiddy, great news! For the more mature user, dial another number and don't look back... 9. Is the system well-policed? For example, how old are the messages in the public forums? If they are more than a month or two old, you really must reconsider the wisdom of using the system. If they date back 4-6 months or more, boggie on... to another system. 10. Is the system well organized in a logical fashion? Are there different topical SIGs/forums/message bases, or is everything tossed into one big bucket? Same goes for the File Libraries - are they organized into logical areas, or will you be spending time weeding through files of no interest to you to find those which are? Again, there is no need to have to suffer through a mess when there are so many BBSs around which are well-organized and well-policed. Conversely, does the system have a SIG/forum/message base for absolutely everything under the sun? Are the SIGs/forums/message bases splintered too much? (Example: SIGs for DOS, Batch Files, Disk Utilities, Keyboard Utilities, Memory Management Utilities, etc., rather than a single DOS SIG/) 11. Are the files online available for downloading packed with PKZIP, ARC or some other packer, or are they available ONLY in an uncompressed state? Time IS money and uncompressed files take far longer to download. The only general exception to this rule are GIF graphics. If you can't get your downloads in packed format, look elsewhere. 12. Privacy of YOUR information: Does the system allow users to gain access to the personal and usually VERY private information about its users, or is this restricted - available ONLY if the users elect to make the information available? If you don't have complete control over your own personal information, hang up immediately. 13. What is the "theme" or purpose of the BBS? If the purpose of the system is "stamp collecting" and you have no interest in stamp collecting, don't waste your time and that of others in trying to change the theme of the system. Move on. In contrast, if you ARE interested in stamp collecting, use the system to the max - its definitely in YOUR interest to support the system. 14. What is the user activity in the public forums/message bases? If there is little activity and the BBS has been around for more than 2-3 months (i.e., the system is NOT just starting up and gaining recognition), move on. Again, a slow system is a dead system. 15. What is the age of the SYSOP? Many youngsters 9-15 go through the stage where they absolutely MUST be the SYSOP of their own system. Its genetic. A FEW of these systems are run by mature young men/women, but most are just passing fancies and thus the systems will be online for 3 months or less. Especially when Mom and Dad decide to punish Junior for getting that D in Math. If you use such systems, just don't be surprised one evening when you call and the Ma Bell Electronic Lady tells you "The number you have reached has been disconnected." 16. Does the system provide the transfer protocol(s) of choice for today? For example, currently ZMODEM is the protocol most popular, and for good reason. Does the system offer ZMODEM? 17. Network mail. So-called BBSs which offer network messages are not BBSs in the original sense. Network BBSs tend to be "just another node" and don't have the local intensity and don't foster the spirit of comraderia that truly local BBSs do. This is NOT to say that network systems are not worth using - quite the contrary. If you need to get electronic mail to someone in another state and are too cheap to subscribe to CIS, GEnie, America Online, etc., and you don't mind exchanging electronic mail at a snail's pace, they are just your cup of tea! But if you desire the spirit of a local system, network nodes are not going to satisfy you. Personally I prefer local BBSs and Reach Out America - time is more valuable than money to me, so I pay the few cents to get my mail to someone instantly rather than wait a week to get the mail there and get the reply back. Just personal preference... But, if the network BBS is charging you for each message sent out on the network, go elsewhere, period. 18. The spirit of the users. What makes a BBS is the quality of its users. If the users are mature, friendly, knowledgable and outgoing, the system will be hopping and you'll get the most from it. If, on the other hand, the system fosters users who only want to logon and take downloads, forget forging any friendships or getting much help, such as answers to your questions. 19. Hours of operation: Is the system available 24 hrs/day, 7 days/ week? If not, forget it; the SYSOP isn't committed to running a solid system if he/she doesn't spring for at least ONE dedicated line, and why should you have to rearrange your life around the system's availability? Such systems never last very long. Mushrooms in spring... 20. Is the system easy to use? In other words, are the commands logical and make sense? Or are they Unix-like, cryptic and Greek? If you need to download a manual to learn the system, forget it - go read a nice novel and get some enjoyment in life! If you are on the system for 3 min and still haven't mastered the commands, Alt-H and dial another system. 21. Is the system free? If not, be absolutely sure what you're going to be getting for your money BEFORE you ship the cabbage. There are thousands upon thousands of BBSs which are free, and if a BBS is going to charge you for your use of the system, make darn sure they are going to be providing you with something than you can't get for free further down the road. Also know that many of the BBSs which have attempted to go the subscription route have failed miserably and either folded altogether or have reverted back to being a free, public-access system. If the pay-for-use system you are considering goes back to being a free system, will you get your money back? If the system goes offline permanently, will you get your cabbage refunded? Chances are the answers to both questions are "No". Before you send in your money, the pay-for-use system should allow you some "free" connect time to investigate the system and the services it provides. Unless you get some free time to investigate the entire system, move on. This is by far NOT a comprehensive list of considerations to make in selecting which BBSs you utilize, but it should provide you with some elementary considerations as a start. The key to maximizing the benefits of using BBSs lies in being selective. BBSs should be places to go for learning, for getting public domain and shareware files, for exchanging thoughts, for getting news and for making friends who share some common interests (such as computers). But most of all, BBSs should be FUN. ======================================================================= YEAR IN REVIEW: 1991 COMPUSERVE TOP 50 UTILITY/APPLICATION DOWNLOADS Compiled by Ron Kovacs ======================================================================= CompuServe Atari Productivity Forum November 30, 1990 thru December 1, 1991 User ID Lib Filename Bytes Access Date =================================================================== [74415 1727] 2 QWKCIS.TOS 74649 272 28-Apr-91 [76703 4061] 6 WHATIS.ARC 19998 182 13-Oct-91 [73637 1120] 4 DIRDRV.ARC 72960 181 31-May-91 [76703 4061] 6 CAL.ARC 90240 137 12-Sep-91 [76702 1466] 4 VKILLR.LZH 63792 136 12-May-91 [76004 2232] 4 ARCS25.ARC 46815 134 22-Apr-91 [71570 3142] 2 QCISHE.ARC 3513 131 06-Dec-90 [74706 1743] 4 ARCSHL.ARC 47232 129 25-Jul-91 [70007 1072] 6 CPX.ARC 100096 124 20-Jun-91 [73657 1712] 4 MULT13.LZH 14592 112 12-Dec-90 [74415 1727] 2 XYZ201.ARC 52992 106 29-Jun-91 [73030 3562] 4 CALLTI.ARC 3712 92 08-Sep-91 [70007 4510] 4 STZIP9.LZH 55680 88 07-Jul-91 [71451 1764] 2 GEMXZY.LZH 22656 85 09-Jul-91 [70007 1072] 2 TOS14F.ARC 2432 84 29-Jun-91 [71450 1050] 2 ATABBS.TXT 5730 84 03-Oct-91 [76004 2232] 4 FUNKAL.ARC 3558 82 27-Apr-91 [71621 1712] 4 UZSHL.PRG 18774 82 23-Apr-91 [72637 745] 6 FPPRNT.LZH 2048 80 18-Jul-91 [75300 1721] 4 2COLUM.LZH 54016 76 19-Sep-91 [73047 600] 2 EDHAKD.LZH 37632 71 10-Oct-91 [76004 1764] 8 SIZZLR.ARC 10112 70 27-Jul-91 [76537 1342] 4 TURTLE.ARC 64881 69 03-Jan-91 [76702 1466] 6 TIMDRV.ARC 839 68 18-Jan-91 [74435 1015] 4 ACC13.ARC 1276 66 21-Apr-91 [73647 2735] 6 SPBT70.ARC 175793 64 03-Mar-91 [100010 2106] 4 DOCDIS.LZH 53376 62 17-Aug-91 [70007 4454] 4 XSHELL.LZH 228970 60 08-Jul-91 [74415 1727] 4 LHA130.ARC 61184 57 07-Jul-91 [76515 3561] 4 STUNAR.ARC 11687 56 08-Sep-91 [76703 254] 2 MODMEC.ARC 95202 55 17-Aug-91 [74370 22] 2 MODEMF.ARC 2048 55 20-Apr-91 [73310 761] 5 CALPRN.ARC 13568 55 08-Oct-91 [73637 317] 6 ELFBO2.ARC 71936 54 13-Jul-91 [70731 2322] 4 EDMSHL.LZH 33792 54 07-Aug-91 [76703 4061] 6 JAR.ARC 5928 54 18-Sep-91 [100014 621] 9 HPTOGD.ARC 21888 51 05-May-91 [72347 1623] 4 DCSQIF.LZH 17638 51 13-Sep-91 [72417 3026] 4 BICYCL.ARC 24576 49 31-May-91 [100016 1020] 2 RUFUS1.TOS 100480 49 17-Jan-91 [73670 2200] 2 YMG125.ARC 9926 49 31-Mar-91 [72347 1431] 4 FLMAT3.ARC 179200 48 25-Jun-91 [73647 2735] 6 SUPBTA.PRG 718 48 18-Sep-91 [100010 1100] 6 STREE4.ARC 51456 46 19-Jul-91 [72355 1637] 5 GRAPH.LZH 134144 46 14-Jun-91 [76703 4061] 6 BLINK.ARC 36334 45 09-Dec-90 [76702 1466] 2 TRBCTS.LZH 5198 45 12-Jan-91 [73030 3562] 10 ZEST.ARC 41216 45 06-Aug-91 [72307 1502] 6 AREACO.ARC 55542 43 12-Oct-91 TOP EDUCATION/LEARNING UPLOADS OF 1991 ON GENIE 17415 CIRCUS.ARC X D.A.BRUMLEVE 901127 126000 207 9 17641 KV_FONIC.LZH X K.KRESSIN 901218 52920 202 9 21092 GNOMPLOT.ARC X S.SCHAPER 910928 87296 158 9 18599 RESIST.ARC X E.TREMBLAY2 910311 15120 130 9 20419 MATHQUIZ.LZH X W.AUSTIN4 910805 27136 122 9 20816 BAC.LZH X D.PANKE 910907 16512 120 9 20591 CLASS_31.ARC X G.WREN 910822 94592 104 9 21368 JUPMOONS.LZH X S.SCHAPER 911026 18816 97 9 21192 URAMOONS.ARC X S.SCHAPER 911008 29056 90 9 20317 MSTRQUIZ.ARC X M.ALLEN16 910728 48512 76 9 20318 MSTRQUIZ.DOC X M.ALLEN16 910728 7936 70 9 18598 BATTERY.ARC X E.TREMBLAY2 910311 60480 66 9 21510 MRESISTOR.ARC X G.RENNIE 911109 19840 65 9 20592 CLASSDOC.ARC X G.WREN 910822 2304 54 9 20860 YBS_HAP.LZH X R.QUANCE 910909 85376 41 9 18337 COSMO.ARC X T.RECHAK1 910220 27720 24 9 ======================================================================= * Z*NET SOFTWARE SHELF by Ron Berinstein ======================================================================= We are usually some of the last folks to go out, fight the lines, find a parking spot, search thru the endless amount of stock, and get a Christmas tree. Not this year though, as if by magic, Margo returned home with one of the cutest, neatest, most perfect Christmas trees to ever be grown. Just in case you have someone in your home that is just as persistent, I thought you might like a preview of just what you can choose from when considering items for under the tree. COALSCAN.ARC & SCANCOL2.ARC are ARC files that contains demos (and text) for both Coalesce and ScanLite. Coalesce is termed the 'Fastest Scrolling, Fastest working' Image merger in the ST arena. Designed explicitly for merging two half-page scans into 1 full page. (Coalesce is included with "The Tray" (tm) from WizWorks! or separately. New features include "extended view" and "stretch". ScanLite is something you don't want to be without if you have a hand scanner for the ST/TT! GEN_DEMO.LZH has a demonstration version of CodeHead Software's new font editor for Calamus typefaces, GENUS. (The "Save Font" function is disabled.) A text file is included which contains all the info you need to take the demo for a test drive. Have a look; you'll quickly see why GENUS is the font editor of choice for the top Calamus type designers. Monochrome only. COMPO.TXT from Goldleaf Publishing, Inc. is their announcement of its distribution of COMPO Software products. Available now are "That's Write and Write ON," "the next generation in high end word processing." This text file describes them both, and more. If you use your ST for word processing, this might be worth investigating. WSC_DEMO.ARC is a fully function demo of the commercial prg. WORD SEARCH CREATOR available from Fair Dinkum Technologies. This DEMO is nearly identical to the full commercial version but you are limited to a maximum of 5 words. Create word search puzzles for educational use or just plain fun the fast and easy way with WORD SEARCH CREATOR. MPNTDEMO.ARC contains the free demo of CodeHead's amazing graphics tool, "MegaPaint Professional." The complete demo is divided between two archives. Contained here is the minimum configuration required to run the demo. At least one meg and mono req'd. Use ARC602. MPNTDEM2.ARC is the second part of the MegaPaint Professional demo. The complete demo is divided between two archives. This archive contains dozens of optional support files to help you get more out of the demo. They cannot be used without MPNTDEMO.ARC. Use ARC 6.02 to decompress the folders and files directly into your MEGPAINT folder. MSPYPRES.TXT is a press release announcing CodeHead's new MIDI Spy background recorder. It is an uncompressed text file that can be read on-line. Read all about it. MSPYDEMO.ARC This is a free demo version of CodeHead's MIDI Spy recorder. MIDI Spy is a unique MIDI sequencer that records and plays in the background. It will record at any time no matter what you are doing with your computer. Or you can have it play a list of pre-recorded MIDI files while you use your computer for other things. CAPTHOOK.ARC Captain Hook is a shareware program that allows you to "unhook" your resident programs to eliminate interference with the programs you run. It is especially useful for eliminating conflicts with MIDI programs, but will help with almost any kind of program conflict. Specially designed to work with CodeHead's MIDI Spy background recorder. EMBLEMS.LZH and also some subsequent files are collections of scanned woodcarvings from 19th century sources that go well on business cards or other material for professionals. These nine were rather small, so they were scanned at 400 dpi. So, now go light a fire in the fireplace, put on some nice music, sit back and enjoy these shareware listings for your Christmas season. For music you might start with.. DECKHALL.LZH Deck The Halls, a traditional Xmas song done on a Yamaha PSS-790 with a big band beat! Edit Track II format. Lharced with Quester lharc lh5 format. GRANDMA.LZH Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, a perennial Xmas favorite, with country rhythm added by Yamaha PSS-790. Midi type 1 file compressed in lh5 format. For Serious Software prepare to unwrap these files.. SUBCAL20.LZH is our annual update of Sub_Cal. Features include systems of differential equations (with or without plotting) and unit conversion. The "old" features are: expression evaluation, definite integrals, differentiation, equation solving in intervals, linear and nol-linear equation sysyems and linear algebra, function optimization (general), function plotting, and MORE! ARCSHL30.ARC Here's version 3.0 of Charles F. Johnson's popular ARC Shell, the program that adds an intuitive GEM point-and-click interface to ARC.TTP and LHARC.TTP. ARC Shell 3.0 now features a greatly improved interface for Thomas Quester's LHARC programs, a "Group Extract" function, and more! Copyright 1991 Charles F. Johnson & Little Green Footballs Software. 2COL103.LZH 2_COLUMNS will printout text files into 2 columns and save lots of paper. Easilty modified for any printer. Short and sweet! This is the most recent update. STWEL44.LZH ST WRITER Elite! This fixes bugs in transform color and corrects some typos in the HELP area. CODE OPTIMIZED FOR SPEED AND SIZE. It now searches 20% faster. WORKS ON ALL TOS'S, ST'S, TT'S, IN ALL RESOLUTIONS. For those who want to measure up this year.. METRIC.ARC MetriCon-- will let you toss out those pesky metric convertion charts! Use your ST/e/TT to convert between pounds/kilograms, inches/centimeters, and fahrenheit/Celcius. Accurate up to six decimal decimal places. NBMG.LZH This is beta v0.2 of NBMG, a proposed graphics benchmark addition to NBM itself. Rewritten in Pascal, to overcome 68030 incompatibilities. TT Compatible in ALL resolutions. EPD10.ARC The Extended Palette Driver 1.0 is a complete replacement for the driver that JRI shipped with their 4096 color card. The EPD was written at the request of Prism Paint owners so they could access the larger palette. Since The EPD patches all the necessary XBIOS and VDI calls to work with 4096 colors, other well written GEM applications should also benefit. Some Gifts for your computer screen! BEZTWIST.LZH This LZHed (-lh1-) file has a .TTP program that displays twisting and turning bezier curves on your screen. It includes source code. This would be a nice screen saver module. TT Compatible in ST Resolutions ONLY SILKFNT.LZH This program designed to be run fron the desktop will replace all the screen fonts in your computer system. The new font appears to be a little more designer oriented, and a bit lighter in weight. I feel it is worth looking at. ADDAMS_F.LZH The Addams Family is a lot of fun and so is this free Calamus font that mising a few parts here and there (he he he).... Download it have fun add letters add characters add cobwebs send me a copy... Created with GENUS! NEOWALL.LZH This program reads in nine NEOchrome picture files, organizes them into a three by three grid and allows the user to scroll both horizontally and vertically over the images. It demonstrates the fine scrolling capability of the STE. DARKSTAR.ARC Fractal generating screen-saver. Docs are in German, but it's easy to figure out. I believe it only works in high resolution. ALADV140.ARC will make your computer screen wiz to where you want it to wiz to! This is Aladdin Version 1.4.This new version has some internal bug fixes, and adds some new features. To mention a few of the new features, Zmodem Downloads for GEmail, New quote feature in the editor, and a new command line for getting new messages from GEnie. ALADOC14.ARC Version 1.4 ST Aladdin Documentation. (ASCII) This file is formatted to print. It is 83 pages in length, and you should just print it from the desktop. And for those of you looking for that unique little gift to give a software specialist.. UNIX2D.LZH UNIX2DOS converts UNIX text files to DOS/Atari ST format. Full ANSI C source code and AtariST executable included. MARROW.LZH MARROW is a unique program, it enables you to use your mouse from within non-Gem programs...Marrow allows you to switch your mouse into 'keyboard mode' so that it will emulate the cursor keys, and then back again at the touch of button.. A very small program that is a must for every ST owner. And now, Gifts for the Whole Family! ORIGAMI.TOS ORIGAMI: the art of paper folding. I don't know how they did it but this demo allows you to fold paper! The self extracting file contains the folders required to get things started. 21.ARC This is a blackjack game for one player against the dealer. The rules are RENO Casino style. Totally mouse driven. Written and compiled in GFA BASIC.TT Compatible ST Low Resolution ONLY (Color Monitor Required) GRAV_SCI.LZH Several gravity simulations and games. Some German, some English. Try Gravbahn with the .DAT files I included. Monochrome emulator included. Swing_by is more game-like. 2nd Star is really a binary eclipse light curve program, graphics. Gravbahn is quite sophisticated, you can have numbers of stars, planets, etc. Try to get double stars to orbit... AMMOTRAK.ARC This is a very good high speed graphic game where you drive a rocket sled type vehicle. Shoot at targets, then drive thru them to gain speed and fuel. Doesn't work with a TT. (Color) DUNGEONL.ARC This is a PD version of DungeonLord - a new D&D adventure for the ST! Great gameplay, digitized sounds, excellent 3-D graphics and 10 levels to conquer! This game requires a color monitor and a minimum of 1 meg of ram. Definitly worth downloading!! TT Compatible KATRIX.LZH ANOTHER GEnie LAMP FIND! A commercial quality game called KLATRIX! This shareware import combines Klax and Tetris. Klatrix takes STOS to it's best with excellent graphics and sound. This is a must download for all ST gamers. Color only. PUSH_BOX.LZH is a nicely done mono-only game from Germany. Overhead perspective on a maze where you must push boxes to designated areas without boxing yourself in. In English, no Deutsch required. Includes multiple play levels. ST/STE (and maybe more) compatible. Reccomendation: The LEVEL.LZH file within PushBox.LZH should be extracted into a folder named LEVEL. MAZE2.LZH Find your way out of a 3-D maze. Lots of options, built-in help, and more. Nicely done. This is from Germany, but is in English. Monochrome only. ST/STE (and maybe more) compatible. For those with Michtron BBS's.. NFL_YEST.ARC NFL Yesterday... Michtron BBS game for ver 3.0 MBBS. Play against humans or computer. For those considering other BBS's.. ST_KEEP3.LZH Req. 512K RAM, hd, modem. Up to 32000 users, 32000 rooms (SIGs), 32000 messages per room, 255 floors, 255 doors (on-line games, other BBS's), and 15 Groups. File transfers - Xmodem CRC, Xmodem 1K, Batch Ymodem, Batch Zmodem, download ratio. ANSI, VT-52, IG, ASCII graphics support. Runs locally on color or monochrome monitor. And More.. And for those who insist on talking computer talk all the time! SCDOC20.LZH is the archive of documentation files for Sozobon C release 2.0. This is the FIRST of THREE files. Release version 2.0 follows. SCSRC20.LZH is for folks that want to study the source code of a compiler... SCBIN20.LZH is version 2.0 of Sozobon C a reasonably complete, reliable implementation of K&R C with some ANSI extensions. It is 100% free (no shareware fee). This fixes various bugs in earlier versions and introduces a new, extended object module format that allows long external identifiers. MINT09B.ZOO is 9/91 version of MiNT, (Mint is Not Tos) the multi- tasking kernal for the ST. Gives much of the functionality of Unix (given the right shell) including the ability to run multiple tasks (inc. 1 GEM program). This version has a more powerful shell and should reduce the internal memory overhead & implements kernal-level support for symbolic links & Minix (tm). MNTLIB14.ZOO contains the C source code. MNTINC14.ZOO These .H files are necessary if you install the special MiNT c library with your GNU compiler, or if you intend to use the MiNT library source code with another compiler. CPXMDLS.LZH -FILEINFO.CPX pop-up menus handling corrected. Press and holding mouse button works now. Selection unpress mouse button. SYSTEM.CPX pop-up menus handling corrected. Extended discription and data type (BIT). NVDICONF.CPX Must be rename, because a offical version of NVDICONF with the same CPX-ID is registered. New name is CONFNVDI.CPX, CPX-ID: 'nVdi'. CLIPBRD.ARC This is the Atari Clipboard CPX, freeware from Software Development Systems. It gives users who want more flexibility when using applications that support the clipboard the abilty to define where you wish to place the files and allows you to clear them on boot-up. This is a pre-release version without file view. Requires XCONTROL.ACC. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To sign up for DELPHI service, call (with modem) (800) 695-4002. Upon connection, hit <return> once or twice. At Password: type ZNET and hit <return>. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To sign up for GEnie service call (with modem) (800) 638-8369. Upon connection type HHH and hit <return>. Wait for the U#= prompt and type XTX99436,GEnie and hit <return>. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To sign up for CompuServe service call (with phone) (800) 848-8199. Ask for operator #198. You will be promptly sent a $15.00 free membership kit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*Net International Atari Online Magazine is a weekly publication covering the Atari and related computer community. Material published in this edition may be reprinted under the following terms only. All articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each article reprinted. Reprint permission granted, unless otherwise noted, to registered Atari user groups and not for profit publications. Opinions present herein are those of the individual authors and does not necessarily reflect those of the staff. This publication is not affiliated with the Atari Corporation. Z*Net, Z*Net News Service, Z*Net International, Rovac, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net Publishing are copyright (c)1985-1991, Syndicate Publishing, Rovac Industries Incorporated, Post Office Box 59, Middlesex, New Jersey, 08846-0059, Voice: (908) 968-2024, BBS: (908) 968-8148, (510) 373-6792. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z*NET: Atari ST Online Magazine Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~