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####################################################################### ####################################################################### ##########(((((((((( ##########((( ##(( ##((((((( ##(((((((( ########## #################(( ####(( ####(((( #(( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##############(( #####(((((( ##(( (( (( ##((((( #######(( ############# ###########(( ##########(( ####(( #(((( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##########(((((((((( ##########(( ##((( ##((((((( #####(( ############# ####################################################################### ####################################################################### Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE  Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing Volume 8, Number 5 Issue #489 January 30, 1993 File:93-05 -----------------------------------------------------------------------  Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs  Writer............................................Michael R. Burkley  Contributing Editor........................................Ed Krimen  AtariNet Coordinator\Telecommunications...................Bill Scull  Contributing Editor...................................Dr. Paul Keith  Z*Net News International Gateway - New Zealand............Jon Clarke  Z*Net News Service\AtariUser Magazine-Publisher\Editor.....John Nagy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GEnie..............Z-NET CompuServe....75300,1642 Delphi.........ZNET Internet...status.gen.nz America Online..ZNET1991 AtariNet..51:1/13.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS |#| The Editors Desk............................Ron Kovacs |#| Z*Net Newswire........................................ |#| NAMM and Atari, 1993.........................John Nagy |#| MIDI Users Column.......................Steve McDonald |#| CompuServe Atari Forums.....................Ron Kovacs |#| Perusing GEnie..............................Ron Kovacs |#| Z*Net Computer Calender.....................Ron Kovacs |#| Falcon Compatibility Results......Cottonwood Computers |#| Connect Contents..........................Announcement |#| The Unabashed Atariophile...........Micahel R. Burkley ###### THE EDITORS DESK ###### By Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- I want to thank everyone who has responded to the request we made a couple of weeks ago for assistance. I am currently working on all the responses and will be calling all of you this week. I appreciate your patience. Ed Krimen, (The Perusing GEnie Column Guy), now works with Atari Explorer Online Magazine and will participating in Z*Net on a bi-weekly basis. I will attempt standing in for him during his off weeks. In the Perusing column that I put together, I found a shock reading that ST Report Online Magazine was banned from the GEnie ST RT. Those messages have been included. Now a short editorial.... For many years ST Report has been embroiled in a number of controversies. When I originally started the publication, I had never thought it would have turned into the "National Enquirer" of the Atari community. I resigned from the staff and gave the publication to Ralph Mariano in 1987, not thinking it would have lasted this long. It has, and that alone is an accomplishment. However, the style and coverage is not something I am personally pleased about, but that is the choice of it's editor/publisher. Now GEnie's ST RT has taken a position regarding ST Report. It has banned all future issues from it's libraries and will close the ST Report bulletin board catagory on Monday. Some will say that this is the reward to ST Report for it's continuing assault on Atari and Atari's employees. Other will say that it violates free speech, while others will say it was a personal problem. No matter how you label it, the final word on this stands with GEnie. GEnie is a newstand. Simply put, the online magazines are offered for download by all of the online services. Each service can support or deny space for downloading for whatever reason they choose. It appears in this matter that the GEnie ST RT management feel that ST Report's benefits are out weighted by the problems that it and it's publisher bring to it's userbase. However, knowing the situation behind the scenes, especially in past dealings with the editor of ST Report, the matter exploded and the results are apparent. The attitude of Mariano, (see the response he posted), attempts to paint a different picture, one along the lines that the GEnie RT is the cause of the problem, and not on behalf of ST Report. His claims state that GEnie or more specifically, Darlah, want to control the substance of ST Report. Z*Net has been publishing long enough in the community to know that editing attempts by outsiders has never been successful. There have been problems in the past in regards to content, but they have always been cleared up. In the case of ST Report, especially when there has been a problem with content, retractions and corrections never seem to appear in any ST Report publication. They do appear from time to time in messages on GEnie, but not in the medium in which it was released. Although I am not pleased by the actions of the GEnie ST RT in banning ST Report, I understand it and know that it was a difficult matter to decide. I am surprised that it took so long to happen. That alone shows the patience that has endured over the years. Which brings us back to what GEnie decides. It is the GEnie management that controls the content of what appears on their service. They can also pull the plug on Z*Net if they so decide. That is their choice. The Z*Net relationship over the years has been satisfactory with GEnie. As suggested in email just received from a reader, we will not boycott GEnie in support of ST Report. The management of ST Report should seek to resolve this and the rest of the controversies that surround it. I am sure the regular readers of ST Report will continue to be updated on this, however, please keep an open mind. Thanks for reading!!! ###### Z*NET NEWSWIRE ###### Atari and Industry Update ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- ATARIUSER MAGAZINE TO SKIP ISSUES Shortly before reaching its second anniversary of uninterrupted monthly publishing, John Nagy's AtariUser Magazine will be skipping two issues. Nagy has told Z*Net that the January and February 1993 issues will be rolled into the March issue in an effort to get back on a reasonable production schedule. Subscribers will not lose out, as renewal dates will be back up appropriately. AtariUser has a new staff, and is rebuilding its databases after taking over the magazine from Quill Publishing in late 1992. The December 1992 edition was not available until late in December, and it became clear that AtariUser would have to produce three issues in only 45 days in order to get back on schedule. This would be impossible under good circumstances, but Nagy reports that too many advertisers are running late in payments and are generally low on funds for more ads. When an accident while moving his residence broke Nagy's foot, flattening him for most of January without access to his (packed) computers, any hope of catching up via any means other than combined issues vanished. "I really tried to avoid this, as 'combined issues' and schedule problems have plagued Atari magazines for years. It never happened to us before," said AtariUser Publisher and Los Angeles Attorney John Nagy. The "March" AtariUser is expected to be released in early February, putting less than 60 days between it and the last release. APPLE TO UNVEIL NEW COMPUTERS Apple is expected to introduce five new personal computers next month. Apple is expected to break with its usual practice of pricing its computers at a premium to comparable IBM-compatible models. The new machines are expected to be offered at lower prices than the competition. The Macintosh Color Classic is expected to cost between $1,300 and $1,400, while the PowerBook 165c notebook computer is expected to cost about $4,200. The Centris machines are expected to use Motorola Corp.'s 68040 microprocessor, with the two models costing $2,000 and $3,000. The new Quadra 800 is expected to be used for networking and graphics and carry a price tag of $3,600. JOHN AKERS RESIGNS IBM cut its quarterly dividend by more than half this week and Chairman John F. Akers surprised directors by recommending they begin looking for someone to replace him. Akers announced that directors had accepted his recommendation to begin the process of selecting a new chief executive officer. Akers will remain as chairman and CEO during the selection process, which IBM expects to take approximately 90 days. Akers, who reaches retirement age next year, has come under fire for allegedly being too slow to sense and react to the changing market. Critics also said he lacked the resolve to undertake the kind of massive streamlining necessary to avert the company's massive losses. NEW YORK TIMES FAX SERVICE The New York Times announced a new service last week that offers, via fax delivery, articles that previously appeared in The Times about computers, desktop publishing and related subjects. The service is being offered to consumers through advertisements in the paper. The Times's article service enables customers to order copies of stories from past issues by telephone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The articles, selected from the Personal Computers and Peripherals columns that appear on Tuesdays in the ScienceTimes section of The Times, and from The Executive Computer column in Sunday's Business Day section, are available by fax or mail for $3.95 per article. Announcements in those sections will list articles that can be ordered. Customers have the options to 1) receive articles by first-class mail, and 2) charge the service to their telephone bill or Visa/MasterCard accounts. Callers may dial 1-800-551-0159 if they wish to pay by credit card, or would like articles by mail; or 1-900-737-4446 if they wish immediate delivery by fax, with charges appearing on their telephone bills. The Times plans to offer an expanded selection of articles and topics by fax or mail later in 1993. ###### NAMM AND ATARI, 1993 ###### Eyewitness Story by John Nagy for Z*Net News ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- NAMM. It's the COMDEX of Music. Spreading out through hall after hall of the Anaheim, California, convention center, the National Association of Music Merchants held its 23rd annual International Music Market, "Celebrating the Global Marketplace" January 15-18, 1993. Among football fields full of everything from guitar picks to recording studios, only ONE computer company attended. Yes, Atari. Atari is clearly no orphan in this marketplace. Musicians know and use Atari. In the substantial music software area of the NAMM show, Atari equipment was seen in demonstrations roughly as often as IBM or MAC's, with as many as thirty Atari computers in use OUTSIDE Atari's own booth. Atari's name and logo were seen in many booths as the vendors boasted of their supported platforms. Amiga's name was also seen, but I didn't notice even one in use. This year, Atari opted for a suite bordering the hall that featured electronic instruments and computer software. The 40' by 80' room was draped in black and a miniature performance stage graced the far end, complete with lighting overheads, a full mix board, several Atari computers, and a simply huge (over 39") VGA monitor. Ringing the room were 15 workstations, manned by third-party developers, Atari personnel, and volunteers organized through the L.A. user group "HACKS", coordinated by John King Tarpinian and managed by Tara Jacobs. Represented were: D2D Systems, showing their direct-to-disk professional audio recording systems on the new Falcon. ChroMagic, a music education software manufacturer. CodeHead Software, showing MIDI and productivity software. Barefoot Software, formerly Hybrid Arts, with the Edittrack and SMPTEtrack series of products. Goldleaf, with more graphics and publishing applications. COMPO had their line of new MIDI and writing software. Thinkware, offering a variety of music software including Take Note 2.0, a music-reading training system. Dr. T's Software with a wide lineup of pro MIDI solutions. MGI, a newcomer, with MIDI file players and a device that allows use of the computer on stage without a monitor. LEDs display status of various events. Digital FX, the hardware branch of what was Hybrid Arts, showed the latest in the developing line of digital direct to disk recording systems. OKTAL, a MIDI software house, showed the remarkably complete and complex MULTITUDE series. Steinberg-Jones was represented by Chester Thompson (drummer for GENESIS), showing sequencers and advanced MIDI software. HOTZ Technology had Jimmy Hotz selling his versatile synth controller software. Five stage presentations were held, and features SRO performances from Jon Anderson (vocalist for the YES supergroup) as well as Chester Thompson. But there were far more "names" in the Atari booth as spectators. The first to arrive was pop-electronic musician Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me with Science"), who entered before opening because he had heard some much about the FALCON and wanted to see it first. Others came in all weekend, and included Ronnie Foster, Teddy Riley, band members from Bon Jovi, Pointer Sisters, Jacksons, Natalie Cole, MAZE, Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, D'Cuccoo, Arsenio Hall Show band, and lots more. Outside of the Atari area and in the main flow of foot traffic, Motorola had a booth that was promoting the use of their DSP systems in new music devices. On their front table was a single computer. An Atari Falcon030. No MAC. No PC. But according to the woman running the Motorola booth, the Falcon was a BIG HIT, with most musicians knowing about it and wanting one ASAP. Other fallout of the NAMM show: Atari's Director of their Music Division, James Grunke, was selected to be one of the five directors for the MMA, the Midi Manufacturers Association. This professional organization is a powerful standard-setting group, and the word after the announcement of Grunke was that IBM Corp was quite surprized and perturbed to have been passed over. Other Atari staff on hand included Gary Tramiel, who was in charge of taking orders for equipment from the dealers in attendance. He was so busy that he was doing team presentations to as many as three dealers at once. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of dollars were committed during the show, mostly for Falcon computers. Bill Rehbock attended for the first days, and Mel Stevens managed the operation. Mike Fulton took pictures for Atari Explorer magazine. Overall, the NAMM show was a hit for Atari. It was a marked contrast to COMDEX in that here, nearly everyone knew and respected Atari as an important part of their market. As always, the single spectre of "production" was all that hung as a cloud over the otherwise powerful and triumphant showing of the Falcon. Nary a word of when a "tower" or other shape two-piece Falcon might be released, but Gary said "We've always said that other configurations would come to production as the product line matures, we just aren't saying when." This crowd was happy with the Falcon as it is--assuming they can get one, and SOON. ###### MIDI USERS COLUMN ###### Reprint from AtariUser Magazine, November 1992 ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Making MIDI More Smart MIDI I suspect that if you're like most people I know, an honest appraisal of your bank account will reveal that trickle-down economics has trickled all your money down to some place other than your savings. This isn't a comfortable notion for most of us who chose to pursue the world of MIDI rather than a more sensible instrument such as the Euphonium. Hence, Smart MIDI Smart MIDI is a simple concept, and it stems from the painful understanding that it's easy to blow a lot of money in the MIDI field-- often for no really justifiable or sensible reason. While some stores will let the customer pilot the sale, you'll find other music store salesmen hitting hard, fast and often, trying to extract as much from you as possible. Smart MIDI is simple to implement, though it does require (like most simple concepts) a certain amount of work on your part. The work involved is hidden in the requirement that you ask three basic questions, and give them all your attention, being honest all the way. The first of those questions can save you a bundle of money. The second and third, unfortunately, can actually cause you to invest more initially. But the idea is that the initial investment will reap later rewards. It's like playing the stock market--the risks are calculated, not random. They're the chances you take when getting into MIDI. The first question to ask yourself--and it requires brutal honesty, which is where the work issue comes into it--is What do you Need Right Now? Many people wind up with $1500 software packages because of unbridled enthusiasm, brute force salesmanship, and seductive ads. Sure, you might be able to play back Pictures At An Exhibition while flashing the Brill Building lights in the morse code for James Joyce's Ulysses. But if you're looking to have a good time playing downloaded MIDI files and jamming with a canned jazz trio on the standards from the Cocktail Lounge From Hell, then you're $1300 and tax too high on the meter. Be honest with yourself. If you really only want to fool around with a limited set-up, don't rush out to buy all the Steinberg-Jones goodies on the shelf. They're wonderful products, but you could probably get by with Band-In-A-Box for the Cocktail Lounge From Hell stuff (or perhaps Steinberg-Jones' Tango) while Barefoot Software's Edittrack Gold (or the upcoming Platinum) will take care of the MIDI files. And, yes, there's a possibility that you'll discover the opposite to be true, as well, which is where the second question comes up for examination--What do you need right now for your professional goals? While experience indicates that most people spend too much, many people try to get by with too little. If you're involved in MIDI for professional reasons, you have to avoid being cheap if at all possible. Even though amazing results can be had with a minimal investment, MIDI shortfall will more than likely bite you at the worst time. Maximum memory and as much hard drive capacity as you can afford should be primary considerations, as well as the best software for the job. The major considerations involve the type of software you need for your work; do you need to have notation handy? Many people don't need that aspect, making Cubeat a better choice than Cubase. Do you need sample editing? What about access to full-tilt SMPTE synchronization for video and film work? MIDI Machine Control? The best way to start is to sit down and make a checklist and then prune mercilessly, but carefully, doing a lot of active research all the way. Read the literature, obtain the demos (a modem comes in handy for this, as most of the major packages have demos or slideshows on bulletin boards and information services.) Ask a lot of questions. 10 PM on a Sunday night in a hot session is no time to find you really should have bought that Universal Editor/Librarian or that you should have spent another $100 for something that generate a printed part to make the trumpet player's life easier. The third question is still a matter of work, but it may be a little easier--What is the potential for growth in your career and your operations? This isn't a way to obtain the freedom to be excessive in your spending, but once you've pruned down to what you really need now, consider what you might need in a year or two. You may not need synchronization right now, but you might add a sync box in twelve months, or see a need six months away for SMPTE, making SMPTEtrack a better choice than Edittrack. Think about your goals before you make any final decisions. The requirements for being the best jingle writer in town are vastly different from those for a sound effects genius, and you have to think in terms of where you're going. This may seem a bit confusing on the surface, but it's innately practical. Once again, buy the wrong tools for the job and you shoot yourself in the wallet. You'll hurt yourself financially, because you'll still have to buy the right tools. You may hurt your career, losing gigs or projects. You'll certainly do yourself some damage in terms of self respect--feeling like an idiot is no great pleasure. Don't get hung up on the Fellow Artist Syndrome. One twinge of sympathy for the salesman and you're finished, stuck with a terrifyingly huge purchase while he's made a great commission on your error of judgment. Don't blame him--he's just supplying you with what you "really want." In the GEnie MIDI RoundTable, this effect is called "the MIDI sinkhole." If you've planned for growth, it's easier to bear the inevitable costs of expansion when the time comes. Spend the money for a bigger hard drive now, instead of swapping that packed 50Mb drive for a 220Mb drive in a year. Go for the maximum memory when you buy the computer, not six months down the line when you have to take the machine in for the upgrade, wasting time and effort. If it's likely that you'll need it, buy a universal editor/librarian instead of a couple of cheaper dedicated editor/librarians. Always plan with an eye to the future. The universe isn't static, neither are you. Smart MIDI. It's not just a good idea--it ought to be the law. -- Steve McDonald BIO: Steve McDonald has been occasionally known to implement "Dumb MIDI" and doesn't recommend it. He lives, writes, and records in his Burbank, California home with too many computers and not enough cats. Reach him, if you dare, by FAX at (818) 563-1615, or address SM on GEnie. ###### COMPUSERVE ATARI FORUMS ###### Compiled by Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Every year we try to take a tour of the Atari related pay services. This week we start with CompuServe. The CompuServe Atari Forums are the oldest of the many available. All of the areas are managed by Ron Luks, who recently celebrated 10 years on CompuServe. What I have done is capture the areas and condensed them. To focus on each individual area now would be a task too large for this edition, however, we will expand on them in future columns. ATARI USERS NETWORK 1 What's New in the Atari Forums + 2 Atari File Finder + 3 Atari 8-Bit Forum + 4 Atari ST Productivity Forum + 5 Atari ST Arts Forum + 6 Atari Vendors Forum + 7 Atari Portfolio Forum + ATARI USERS NETWORK 1 NEW in Atari Forums (01/15/93) 2 About the Atari Forums 3 Weekly Conference Schedule 4 SYSOP Names and User ID Numbers 5 Atari Forum Help & Information WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (January 15) MONOCHROME .GIF VIEWER Download file MGIF40.LZH from LIBRARY 14 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for version 4.0 of the MONOCHROME viewer for GIF files. Includes several general improvements and faster display. SORRY! ON YOUR ATARI ST... Download file SORRY3.LZH from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for the computer version of the board game Sorry! NEW VERSION OF B/STAT! Download file BSTAT4.LZH from LIBRARY 5 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for version 2.44 of B/STAT. B/STAT is a shareware statistical analysis and business graphics program. It requires a minimum of 1 meg of memory and a double sided drive. B/STAT can use GDOS if installed but does not require it. EMPLOYEE SCHEDULING PROGRAM Atari Explorer Magazine has uploaded file ON_SCH.ARC to LIBRARY 5 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO). This program is a monochrome employee scheduling program. NEW IN ATARI VENDORS FORUM (GO ATARIVEN)! ICD has just made available their latest Host Adapter software. Look for the file NEWHST.LZH in Library 7, ICD, Inc. This file inlcudes ICDBOOT 6.0.7, ICDFMT 6.06, HDUTIL 5.03 and other utilities. NEW IN ATARI 8-BIT FORUM (GO ATARI8) Now available! A demo of the eagerly awaited MAZE OF AGDAGON, the first multiplayer, multi computer, 3-D maze game for the 8-bit. From the creative minds of Chuck Steinman and Jeff Potter, you won't want to miss this one! File AGDEMO.ARC in LIB 10 [Games] Lynxsters unite! Message section 16 and LIB 16 (both named LYNX) are what you're looking for. Issue #2 of The Atari Gaming Gazette is now available for download! Pick up the latest Lynx news, views, and hot tips from the ultimate Lynx source. Available in both ARC and LZH format: AGG_02.ARC & AGG_02.LZH in LIB 16. Is Crime taking a Bite out of YOU, in the form of a certain Count?? If so, check out Tom McComb's hints for DRACULA THE UNDEAD. File DRACUL.TXT in LIB 16. Don't forget your notebook... NEW FILES IN PORTFOLIO FORUM (GO APORTFOLIO) SYSOP*BJ Gleason has merged a wealth of new files to our forum libraries. Read the message base for descriptions or use the command BRO LIB:ALL to see these latest offerings. Some are priceless!!!! THE PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE (GO APORTFOLIO) IS DESIGNATED AS AN OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION. OVERVIEW OF ATARINET SERVICES ON COMPUSERVE All Atari Forums contain the following features: * INSTRUCTIONS * MESSAGES * LIBRARIES (Files) * CONFERENCING * ANNOUNCEMENTS from sysop * MEMBER directory * OPTIONS for this forum ATARI ST ARTS FORUM An international Forum specializing in graphics/entertainment-related software and information relating to the Atari 16-Bit (ST) series of computers. Includes games, game data files, GIF/RLE/FCP picture files, Music/MIDI, Degas/Spectrum/Cyber graphics, CAD/animations, and related viewers and utilities. Type GO ATARIARTS at access this area. ATARI ST PRODUCTIVITY FORUM An international Forum specializing in productivity-related software and information relating to the Atari 16-Bit (ST) series of computers. Includes telecommunications, programming, utilities, applications, desktop accessories, printers/font support, etc. Type GO ATARIPRO to access this area. The Atari Productivity Forum has a private area for communication among registered Atari Developers who are approved by Atari Corp. for access. To gain access to this section, send a CompuServe Mail (GO MAIL) message to Atari Corporation at User ID number 70007,1072. ATARI ST VENDORS FORUM An international Forum specializing in the support of commercial hardware and software by participating vendors. By using the multiple Message Sections, Conferencing Rooms, and Libraries offered in the Forum environment, many of the top Atari software and hardware developers have set-up individual online "hot lines" to provide their customers with the best possible support. Type GO ATARIVEN to access this area. ATARI 8-BIT FORUM An international Forum specializing in the Atari 8-Bit line of personal computers. Includes telecommunications, utilities, sound and graphics, productivity software, computer games, and programming. Atari Video Game systems, including the portable Lynx unit, are also supported in this Forum. Type GO ATARI8 to access this area. ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM An international Forum specializing in providing information and technical support for the Atari Portfolio palmtop computer system. You will find information in this forum for interfacing your Portfolio efficiently to your desktop systems as well as help in using your Portfolio for 'on the road' applications and productivity. Type GO APORTFOLIO to access this area. The CompuServe Portfolio Forum has a private area for communication among registered Atari Portfolio Developers who are approved by Atari Corp. for access. To gain access to this section, send a CompuServe Mail (GO MAIL) message to Atari Corporation at User ID number 70007,1072. ATARI ST FILE FINDER File Finder is an online comprehensive keyword searchable database of file descriptions from the Atari ST related forums. It was designed to provide quick and easy reference to some of the best programs and files available from the Atari Productivity Forum, Atari ST Arts Forum, and Atari Vendors Forum. You can search by topic, file submission date, forum name, file type, file extension, file name or submittor's userid. File descriptions, forum and library location are displayed for the matched files. Type GO ATARIFF to access this area. WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS An area containing help an information relating to the Atari support services on the CompuServe Information System. Type GO ATA-1 to access this area. Weekly Conference Schedule: Community Gab Conference Find out what's new in the Atari world and talk with other Forum members. Thursdays at 10:00 PM Eastern time in the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS). This conference is hosted by Forum members Bill and Pattie Rayl. Portfolio Conference Share tips on using the Portfolio and get your questions answered. Thursdays at 9:00 PM Eastern time in the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO). This conference is hosted by SYSOP*John Knight. Programmers/Technical Conference Fridays at 10:00 PM Eastern time in the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO). This conference is hosted by SYSOP*David Ramsden. Atari 8-Bit Conference Sundays at 9:00 PM Eastern time in the Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8). This conference is hosted by the 8-bit sysops. SYSOP Names and User ID Numbers The overall Forum Manager/SYSOP and contract holder for all of the Atari Forums on CompuServe is: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254 Assisting Ron in the maintenance of the Atari Forums are: SYSOP*Mike Schoenbach 76703,4363 SYSOP*Dan Rhea 76703,4364 SYSOP*Bill Aycock 76703,4061 SYSOP*Keith Joins 76702,375 SYSOP*Bob Retelle 76702,1466 SYSOP*David Ramsden 76703,4224 SYSOP*John Davis 76711,127 SYSOP*Don LeBow 76704,41 SYSOP*Bob Puff 76702,1076 ATARI FILE FINDER 1 About File Finder 2 Instructions For Searching 3 How to Locate Keywords 4 Access File Finder 5 Your Comments About File Finder Atari File Finder File Finder is an online comprehensive keyword searchable database of file descriptions from Atari related forums. It was designed to provide quick and easy reference to some of the best programs and files available in the following forums: Atari Productivity Forum Atari ST Arts Forum Atari Vendors Forum Browsing through files has never been easier or more time efficient. File Finder provides you with seven common search criteria for quickly finding the location of a wanted file or files. You can search by topic, file submission date, forum name, file type, file extension, file name or submittor's userid. File descriptions, forum and library location are displayed for the matched files giving instant information on where to find a most wanted file. Instructions For Searching The File Finder database consists of files from various CompuServe Forum Libraries. This database allows you to search for files under the various criteria, which are listed below. The area also gives you the date the file was uploaded, the Forum where you can download the file, the library where the file resides, and a description of the file. You can locate your file of interest by using the search procedure that is available from the menu and based on one or more of the following categories. KEYWORDS: You are prompted for the keywords you would like the software to search by. This would be useful when you would like to find a file relating to a certain topic, but you are unsure of the filename. If you would like help in locating keywords, choose choice 3 from the preceding menu. SUBMISSION DATE: This search criteria selection will allow you to search the database for files submitted during a specific time period. You will be prompted for the upper and lower limits of the range. If you know that a file was submitted to a forum during a certain period of time, you might use this method to locate the file. FORUM NAME: Searching by Forum Name will allow you to select the forum you want to search from. You will be given a menu of available Forums. If you know the forum where a file resides, you can search that particular forum under any of the other search criteria that are listed. FILE TYPE: You will be prompted for the type of file you would like to search by. Your choices are: ASCII Binary Image Mac Graph FILE EXTENSION: This option will allow you to search a file by its extension, such as ASC, TXT, ARC, DAT, or BIN. FILE NAME: If you know the exact filename, this option will allow you to search for the file by name. FILE SUBMITTER: This criteria will allow you to search for the files in the database that were uploaded by a particular User ID#. Should your search criteria come up with nothing, you will be prompted for your "Next Action", which could be: 1. Begin New Search 2. Restore Previous Selection Set After a search has been completed, if the number of files found is larger than 19, you will be prompted to take an additional action. Your options would be: 1. Display Selections 2. Narrow the Search 3. Begin a new search Option 1 will allow you to look at the files that have met the criteria that you specified in your search. When you choose to display the selections, you will be presented with a menu. Once you select a file from the menu, you will see the forum name, the library number of the file and the filename. By selecting option 2, you will be able to continue to do a search using the selection set that was created by your initial search. Option 3, will allow you to start all over and begin a new search through the database. If your search criteria comes up with less than 19 files, the filenames will be displayed to you and you can select the file that you would like to review. How to Locate Keywords Since the keyword list for the entire database is rather extensive, you may search for particular keywords by entering the entire word, the first few letters of a word, or if you wish, typing one letter will retrieve all the keywords beginning with that letter. The number following each keyword denotes the number of files that can be found by searching on that word. Enter Beginning Letters of Keyword: ZN ZNET (57) Access File Finder ***************************************** Files are current as of: 18-Jan-93 ***************************************** SEARCH BY: 1 Keyword 2 Submission Date 3 Forum Name 4 File Type 5 File Extension 6 File Name 7 File Submitter (By User ID) Enter choice !1 Enter Search Term: ZNET Search results: 57 file(s) found 1 Display Menu of Files 2 Narrow the Selection 3 Begin a New Search Last page, enter choice !1 1 Great Skull Animation by the CyberPunk! 2 Atari girls captured by ZNET ONLINE 3 Pictures from Cebit from Z*NET 4 Atari CD-Player captured by Z*NET ONLINE 5 Atari TT pictures from ZNET ONLINE 6 Non-Playable demo of F16 Pursuit 7 SKATE Tribe game 8 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #14 9 Atari Explorer Online -- Issue #1 10 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #4 11 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #5 12 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #7 13 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #8 14 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #9 15 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #10 16 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #11 17 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #12 18 Atari Explorer Online Magazine - Issue #15 19 Atari Explorer On-Line #16 & #17. 20 Atari Explorer Online Magazine Announced! | | 49 Z*Net Atari Online Magazine - Issue #93-02 50 Z*NET PC ONLINE MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS - #22 51 Z*Net PC Online Magazine Index to Issue #33 52 Z*NET PC ONLINE MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS - #21 53 Z-NET PC #24 TABLE OF CONTENTS 54 Z-NET PC #25 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2/9/92 55 AtariUser Magazine Cover Captured, Spectrum Pic 56 Press Release - Z*Net and Atari Explorer Online 57 Install a 32K buffer in Panasonic KXP1124 (Z*Net) In future columns we will look at other Atari Forums and other pay services.... ###### PERUSING GENIE ###### Compiled by Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- GENIE AND STR SPLIT ------------------- Category 24, Topic 7 Message 1 Fri Jan 29, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 16:58 EST After many attempts by all parties involved it has become clear that the relationship between STReport and the Atari RoundTables on GEnie will not improve enough to warrant our continued support. Therefore, effective immediately, we will no longer accept issues of STReport. Effective Monday, February 1, 1993, we will be closing Category 24. On behalf of the Atari Roundtables on GEnie I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this might cause our valued customers. Sincerely Darlah J. Potechin Atari Roundtables ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 65 Fri Jan 29, 1993 D.JACOBSON2 [Dana] at 22:31 EST I find the message in Topic 7 to be quite insulting. Not only is it insulting to the staff of STReport, but to the GEnie users who look for STReport on GEnie. I can surmise why this issue has come up due to the ABCO ad containing PC items (I never even noticed it until someone made a reference to it). I don't buy this reasoning whatsoever. If it were so, why have there been _numerous_ articles, reviews, downloads, and messages in the Atari RT pertaining to the GEMulator? Certainly, this piece of hardware and related articles, etc. are directly related to specific use for PC-based machines. In today's current computer market, many users use more than one platform. To have a small inclusion that ABCO also sells PC hardware is nothing new. I view this entire fiasco as another excuse to censor Ralph Mariano, STReport, and ABCO - nothing more. It's truly a sad state of affairs to see such actions being taken and explained away as an ST RT policy when it is clearly a personal problem. I wish that I could say that I am surprised, but I have been seeing this happen more often than not, and knew some trumped-up excuse would eventually be used. How many times has this happened in the past year or so? Unbelieveable, to say the least. I hope the folks in the ST RT are feeling proud of themselves. Sigh. Dana @ STReport International Online Magazine ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 66 Sat Jan 30, 1993 J.CLARKE6 [Jon Clarke] at 06:07 EST Dana It has been long stated that STReport and Abco are not related by STR so why do you not only use them in one sentence but also stand up for ABCO do you have a undeclared interest in ABCO as well? Enquiring minds ... etc Jon Clarke @ Home using his ST for once rather than a AS400 ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 67 Sat Jan 30, 1993 ST.REPORT [Ralph] at 08:14 EST Here we go again folks... STReport refuses to drop to its knees and allow Darlah and her minions to "edit" the contents of STReport, we refuse to not tell it like it is and what happens. "SHUT THEM DOWN!" Thats what happens. How very original. <smirk> We too, regret and apologize to see such behavior from the leadership of this RT but then.. it is not new. We have seen this sort of happenstance to one degree or another over the last five years. The permitted lynch mobs, the permitted baiting, the permitted badgering and the ultimate open censoring and ostracizing of all who would dare to criticize or simply publicly disagree with "Queen" Darlah and the members of her "court". This is a regrettable time ③in the era of Atari, the company is failing miserably, dealers and developers are dropping like flies and what do we see?? More belligerency than one can possibly imagine. The purpose is to shut STReport up. To put a stop to STReport's incisive reporting of the truthful happenings and the way they really are happening. Not the way the minions would have you believe. The recent FCC thing relative to the Falcon and the fact of the TT being class B but never produced in the class B configuration. To name a few recent truths that made them uneasy. We see this week's table of contents is deleted... well in this week's issue is the truth about what is _really_ happening in Europe.. I guess they don't want the truth in the "Darlah" ST RT any longer. Darlah; you've obviously made your decision to hack and slash away again... be advised that every message posted in STR's cat has and is captured. Even those you tried to slickly delete over the years. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you never intended to abide by your own words of last summer. It shall make for very interesting reading. And now, your actions speak much louder than any of STR's words. The die is cast. By the way, don't go telling t①he users this silliness about not co- operating. That's all smoke and mirrors! Tell them the real story. about our not allowing you to edit STReport in any manner. About the constant flow of squawking in email about one thing or another from week after week in a very obviously "constructed" scenario. The truth is I have the long distance phone bills to show where I've tried time and again to work things out. Its _you_ who's on a mission. Even in this latest effort you can't find the right way to tell GEnie's users and our readers the truth. It was you who refused to co-operate and who ignored our repeated attempts at attaining a meeting of the minds. This action is only in retaliation of our latest complaint to management about your "behind the scenes" shenanigans. Too bad... for now, it'll all see the light of day. Oh well, instead of trying to tighten up the loose ends Darlah seems to see her way clear to further frag the Atari userbase, thus creating more of the "us and them" situation. Pretty cool. So be it. STReport will be available to our readers wherever they are. This latest attempt at blatant censorship does nothing but strengthen our resolve to continue with greater vigor. Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine ------------ Category 24, Topic 5 Message 68 Sat Jan 30, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 08:47 EST Ralph: Your message simply proves the unfortunate reality of my message in Category 24, Topic 7, Message 1. Sincerely, >>Darlah J Potechin Atari Roundtables ------------ ###### THE 1993 Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR ###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences ###### ---------------------------------------------------------------- ### February 2-4, 1993 ComNet '93 in Washington, DC. ### February 6, 1993 The Great Connecticut Trading Fair, an Atari swap meet for Atari computer users and owners, premiers in Stamford this year. Sponsored by ACT Atari Group, an organization consisting of seven Atari user groups from Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, this one-day event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Benedict's Social Hall, Sound View Avenue, Stamford. Some commercial exhibitors have tentativ③ely signed up (Gribnif, Joppa, BaggettaWare, Derric Electronics and Danbury Electronic Music), but center stage is reserved for Northeastern Atari user groups and individual traders. Bargain hunters will find plenty of ST and 8-bit hardware, softw①are, peripherals and accessories, new and used. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children under 12. Traders can rent a table for as little as $10. Contact Brian Gockley, 18 Elmwood Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605 [Phone (203) 332-1721; E-Mail B.GOCKLEY (GEnie) or 75300,2514 (Compuserve)]; or Doug Finch, 46 Park Avenue, Old Greenwich, CT 06870 [Phone (203) 637-1034; E-Mail D.FINCH7 (GEnie) or 76337,1067 (Compuserve)]. ### February 18-19, 1993 IEEE Computer Faire at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Attendees include: WordPerfect, MicroSoft, IBM, HP, Silicon Graphics and many others. At the 1992 show, admission was free to the 20,000 that attended. ### March 1993 CeBIT, the world's largest computer show with 5,000 exhibitors in 20 halls, is held annually in Hannover, Germany. Atari traditionally struts its newest wares there, usually before it's seen in the USA or anywhere else. In '93, the Atari 040 machines should be premiering, and this is the likely venue. Third party developers also use this show to introduce new hardware and software, so expect a wave of news from CeBIT every year. Atari Corp and the IAAD coordinate cross-oceanic contacts to promote worldwide marketing of Atari products, and this show is an annual touchstone of that effort. Contact Bill Rehbock at Atari Corp for information at 408-745-2000. ### March 13-14, 1993 The Sacramento Atari Computer Exposition is to be sponsored by the Sacramento Atari ST Users Group (SST) at the Towe Ford Museum in Sacramento, California. This show replaces the earlier scheduled, then cancelled Northern California Atari Fest for the Bay Area, to have been held in December 1992. A major two day effort, the SAC show is being held in the special events area of the Towe Ford Museum, home of the worlds most complete antique Ford automobile collection. As an added bonus, admission to the museum is free when you attend the Expo. The museum is located at the intersection of Interstates 5 and 80, just 15 minutes from the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport. Contact Nick Langdon (Vendor Coordinator) C/O SST, P.O. Box 214892, Sacramento, CA 95821- 0892, phone 916-723-6425, GEnie: M.WARNER8, ST-Keep BBS (SST) 916-729- 2968. ### March 15-16, 1993 Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the New York Hilton Hotel in New York City. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing, software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to build or improve your world of mobile computing. ### March 16-19, 1993 Image World - Washington DC at the Sheraton Washington. ### March 20, 1993 Philadelphia, PA area group PACS is holding their 16th annual Computer Festival from 9 AM til 4 PM. It will be a multi-computer show with Atari showings by the PACS Atari SIG's, NEAT, CDACC, and JACS clubs. The Fest is to be at the Drexel University Main Building, 32nd and Chestnut Streets in Pennsylvania. Contact for Atari display: Alice P. Christie, 207 Pontiac Street, Lester, PA 19029, 215-521-2569, or 215- 951-1255 for general info. ### March 21-24, 1993 Interop Spring '93 in Washington DC. ### March 30 - April 1, 1993 Intermedia 93 at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose CA. ### May 3-5, 1993 Digital Video New York/MultiMedia Exposition at the New York Sheraton in New York City. ### May 4-5, 1993 The 3rd Annual Networks and Communications Show returns to the Hartford Civic Center. Companies such as Intel, Microsoft, DEC, DCA, IBM, and MICOM will be exhibiting. For more information, contact: Marc Sherer at Daniels Productions, 203-561-3250; fax: 203-561-2473. ### May 11-13, 1993 SunWorld '93 exposition and conference, held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. The second annual event is the largest trade show in North America dedicated to the Sun, SPARC and Solaris industry. SunWorld '93 will feature a full day of in-depth tutorials, which are being developed in association with Sun Educational Services, to be followed by three days of conference sessions and an exposition. The three-day exposition will feature more than 175 leading vendors in the industry including Adobe Systems, AT&T, Computer Associates, Hewlett- Packard, Informix Software, Insoft, SAS Institute, Solbourne, SPARC International, Sun Microsystems, SunPro, SunSoft and WordPerfect. For more information about attending SunWorld '93 call Lynn Fullerton at (800) 225-4698 or to receive information about exhibiting contact David Ferrante at (800) 545-EXPO. ### June 22-23, 1993 Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing, software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to build or improve your world of mobile computing. ### July 17-18, 1993 (NEW LISTING) The Kansas City AtariFest '93. The location for the show is Stadium Inn, 7901 E 40 Hwy. Ticket prices at the door will be 5.00 dollars each day. Advance tickets will be 4.00 dollars each, for advance tickets, please send 4.00 dollars per ticket to: Kansas City AtariFest, P.O. Box 1653, Lee Summit, MO 64063 or if you belong to a user group please mail a request for a user group information pack. To make room reservations please call 1-800-325-7901, we are also working with a local travel agent to get special airfares for the show. You may call 1-800-874-7691 to take advantage of the special fares. For more information please leave Email as follows; GEnie, B.welsch, J.krzysztow, for CompuServe, Leave for Jeff Krzysztow at 74027,707, or you can call (816)224-9021, or mail to the address listed above. ### August 3-6, 1993 MacWorld Expo at the Boston World Trade Center, Bayside Exposition Center and sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. This event is titled Boston '93. ### September 18-19, 1993 The Glendale Show returns with the Southern California Atari Computer Faire, V.7.0, in suburban Los Angeles, California. This has been the year's largest domestic Atari event, year after year. Contact John King Tarpinian at the user group HACKS at 818-246-7286 for information. ### September 20-22, 1993 The third MacWorld Expo, titled Canada '93 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. ### September 21-23, 1993 Unix Expo '93 in New York City, New York. ### October 7-8, 1993 Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Chicago Mart/Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing, software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to build or improve your world of mobile computing. ### October 27-29, 1993 CDROM Exposition at the World Trade Center, Boston MA. ### October 27-29, 1993 EDA&T Asia '93. The Electronic Design and Test Conference Exhibition at the Taipei International Convention Center in Taiwan. Exhibit space is still available. For more information contact: Betsy Donahue, Chicago, fax: 708-475-2794. ### November 7-10, 1993 GeoCon/93, an international conference and showcase for software products developed outside the U.S. at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, Mass. The conference program will include three days of workshops on topics of interest to overseas developers entering the U.S. market. Workshop presenters will discuss such issues as how to negotiate distribution and licensing contracts, setting up a business in the U.S., manufacturing and fulfillment, technical support, packaging, research sources, and how to market through direct, retail, and catalog channels. For additional information, contact Tom Stitt, associate publisher, Soft letter, 17 Main St., Watertown, Mass. 02272-9154; telephone 617-924-3944; fax 617-924-7288, or Colleen O'Shea, director, Soft letter Europe, 2 um Bierg, 7641 Chirstnach, Luxembourg, telephone 35.2.87119; fax 35.2.87048. ### November 15-19, 1993 COMDEX Fall '93. Las Vegas Nevada. If you have an event you would like to include on the Z*Net Calender, please send email via GEnie to Z-NET, CompuServe 75300,1642, or via FNET to node 593 or AtariNet node 51:1/13.0. Show listings are also published in AtariUser Magazine. ###### FALCON COMPATIBILITY RESULTS ###### Compiled by Cottonwood Computers ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS ** ** ** ** ** ** IADA Member/ATARI AEGIS Dealer ** ** ** ** ** ** P.O. Box 818 ** ** ** ** ** ** 3256 Main Street ** ** ** *** ** *** Cottonwood, Ca. 96022 *** ** *** ***** ** ***** (916) 347-0416 VOICE ***** ** ***** ****** ** ****** (916) 243-0297 BBS ****** ** ****** ****** ** ****** (916) 357-3803 FAX ****** ** ****** ****** ** ****** ****** ** ****** COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS would like to introduce themselves to you. We have been an fully authorized Atari computer business center for over 6 years now. We are a complete sales and service center for the entire Atari line of computers and game systems. We service all of Northern California, Southern Oregon and Western Nevada. Cottonwood Computers is an approved Aegis Dealer and a member of the IADA. Our numerous satisfied customers have encouraged us to let others know of our quality service and support for the Atari computer user. They feel that there are many Atari users across these United States that would appreciate the same dedicated and friendly support that they have recieved. We recognize that many of you may be lucky enough to have an excellent Atari dealer down the block from you, but we also know that probably the majority of you do not. We want to invite you to contact us by phone, modem, FAX or letter and let us know how we can service you. Whether it is for hardware, software, peripherals, books, foreign magazines, repair, replacement parts, modification of your hardware or trivia information on Atari computers, we want to serve you. We run a 24hr support BBS for our customers where you can leave messages and questions about products and service. There are also some downloads available as well as online games, editorials and a neverending story. We are planning to change our BBS soon to support online ordering from our store inventory. Feel free to give it a call at 916-243-5189. We realize the value of local user groups. If you are involved in one, have a club representative call us to see about how your club can obtain a special discount rate on purchases through our store. We hope you will contact us and allow us to put you on our mailing list so that you can benefit from the numerous discounts we often give our customers. We will anxiously await your contacting us. LONG LIVE ATARI! The following is a listing of programs tested by COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS on a FALCON 030. We were not able to run each program through all of its paces, but this list should prove to be a short reference guide as to the possible compatibilities of the Falcon computer which ATARI is soon to release here in the states. Attempts were made to test several resolutions and setups before we classified a program as non-compatible. We hope that software programmers will address any problems that we encountered and will inform us as to changes they make in software to insure compatibility. COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS hopes to continue testing software on FALCONs. We are also interested in hearing your questions about this great new product from ATARI. Be looking for our review of the FALCON 030 soon to be posted on GENIE. FALCON COMPATIBILITY LISTING Testing January 1993 Compiled by COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS PROGRAM RESPONSE CATEGORY ---------------------------- --------------------------- -------- BEST BUSINESS MANAGER RUNS ACCOUNTING HOME ACCOUNTS 2 WORK STATION WILL NOT OPEN ACCOUNTING PERSONAL MONEY MANAGER RUNS ACCOUNTING PHASAR 4.0 RUNS ACCOUNTING ST ACCOUNTS RUNS ACCOUNTING TAX ADVANTAGE RUNS ACCOUNTING BSTAT RUNS APPLICATION COMPUTE YOUR ROOTS RUNS APPLICATION COMPUTER ORDER PLUS LOADS, HAS VID DISPLAY PROB APPLICATION MASTER PLAN LOADS, NO MOUSE CURSOR APPLICATION MEGACHECK RUNS APPLICATION MICHAEL ASHMONT'S HOUSE COST RUNS APPLICATION MICRO KITCHEN COMPANION RUNS APPLICATION ANIMATE 4 RUNS ART CANVAS RUNS ART CYBERPAINT 2.0 BOMBS ART DEGAS ELITE RUNS ART FLAIRPAINT WON'T LOAD ART NEOCHROME 1.0 RUNS ART NEW TECHNOLOGY COLORING BOOK RUNS ART PAINTWORKS RUNS ART QUANTUM PAINT CRASHES ART SPECTRUM 512 ATTEMPTS TO LOAD, CRASHES ART TINYVIEW RUNS ART DRAFIX RUNS CAD GFA DRAFT RUNS CAD PC BOARD DESIGNER RUNS CAD BASE TWO RUNS DATABASE DATAMANAGER PROFESSIONAL RUNS DATABASE DATAMANAGER ST RUNS DATABASE GENERATION GAP WON'T LOAD DATABASE INFORMER II RUNS DATABASE TIMEWORKS DESKTOP PUBLISHER LOADS, THEN FREEZES DTP ABZOO LOADS, THEN CRASHES EDUCATIONAL ATARI ARAKIS BIOLOGY: DIGEST GOES BACK TO DESKTOP EDUCATIONAL ATARI ARAKIS GEOMETRY GOES BACK TO DESKTOP EDUCATIONAL BENTLEY BEAR SERIES RUNS EDUCATIONAL CARDIAC ARREST 2 BOMBS EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER GUIDE TO THE SOLAR RUNS EDUCATIONAL FIRST LETTERS AND WORDS CRASHES EDUCATIONAL GENESIS RUNS EDUCATIONAL GEOGRAPHY TUTOR RUNS EDUCATIONAL LINKWORD SPANISH RUNS EDUCATIONAL MAGICAL MATH CRASHES EDUCATIONAL MAPS & LEGENDS RUNS EDUCATIONAL MIXED UP MOTHER GOOSE RUNS EDUCATIONAL PLANETARIUM RUNS EDUCATIONAL TYPING TUTORS RUNS EDUCATIONAL WORDQUEST RUNS EDUCATIONAL RC AEROCHOPPER RUNS FLIGHT SIMUL ALL ABOARD RUNS GAME BATTLETECH NOT ABLE TO LOAD GAME CONQUEROR 2 BOMBS GAME CYBERDROME CRASHES GAME DUNGEON MASTER RUNS GAME MIDIMAZE II 2 BOMBS GAME SKATE TRIBE RUNS GAME THE BLACK CAULDRON RUNS GAME WINNIE THE POOH RUNS GAME CONNECTIONS RUNS, BUT BOMBS MULTIMEDIA ALFRED'S BASIC PIANO THEORY ATTEMPTS TO LOAD MUSIC CUBASE LITE LOADS, THEN BOMB ON MOUSE MUSIC DR. TIRICC LOADS, BUT BOMBS MUSIC MIDI PLAY LOADS AT FIRST, 2 BOMBS MUSIC MUSIC STUDIO 88 RUNS MUSIC CERTIFICATE MAKER RUNS PRINTING APL LABEL MASTER ELITE RUNS PRINTING APL PRINTMASTER RUNS PRINTING APL STICKER 3E RUNS PRINTING APL GFA BASIC 2.0 RUNS PROGRAMMING GFA BASIC RUNTIME PROGRAM RUNS PROGRAMMING HISOFT BASIC RUNS PROGRAMMING PERSON PASCAL RUNS PROGRAMMING STOS FREEZES UPON ATTEMP TO LOAD PROGRAMMING ANALYZE RUNS SPREADSHEET EZ CALC RUNS SPREADSHEET LDW POWER RUNS SPREADSHEET OPUS 2.31 RUNS SPREADSHEET SWIFTCALC RUNS SPREADSHEET VIP LOCKS UP AFTER LOADING SPREADSHEET VIP PROFESSIONAL GEM LOADS, BUT NO MOUSE CURSOR SPREADSHEET ALADDIN 1.5 RUNS TELECOM FLASH RUNS TELECOM FREEZE DRIED TERMINAL RUNS TELECOM INTERLINK RUNS TELECOM STALKER RUNS TELECOM VANTERM RUNS TELECOM ARCSHELL 3.1 RUNS UTILITY DIAMOND BACK RUNS UTILITY DIAMOND EDGE RUNS UTILITY GRAMSLAM GRAMMER CHECKER RUNS UTILITY KNIFE ST RUNS UTILITY MAXIFILE LOADS, BUT BOMBS APPEAR UTILITY MULTIDESK RUNS UTILITY PC DITTO III "NO A US ROM VERSION" UTILITY PROCOPY 1.7 RUNS UTILITY SPECTRE 128 CRASHES UTILITY ST VIRUS KILLER RUNS UTILITY TINYSTUFF RUNS UTILITY UIS III BOMBS UPON LOADING UTILITY ULTIMATE VIRUS KILLER RUNS UTILITY CALIGRAPHER RUNS WORD PROC FIRST WORD 1.03 RUNS WORD PROC FIRSTWORD PLUS RUNS WORD PROC MICROSOFT WRITE RUNS WORD PROC ST WRITER RUNS WORD PROC TEMPUS 2.0 RUNS WORD PROC WORD WRITER ST RUNS WORD PROC COTTONWOOD COMPUTERS Storefront Hours Tuesday - Friday 10pm - 6pm Saturdays 10pm - 5pm BBS Online 24hrs per day ###### CONNECT CONTENTS ###### Announcement ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT Table of Contents May/June '93 Issue CONNECT is a new bi-monthly magazine focusing on telecommunications from a user's perspective. Coverage includes the major commercial online services, Internet/Usenet and bulletin board systems. The first issue of CONNECT (May/June '93 cover date) will be available in mid-March. Here is a list of the feature articles and columns that appear in this premiere issue: FEATURES Telecomputing and the U.S. Constitution by Mark Leccese This article explores the current STEVE JACKSON GAMES v. THE UNITED STATES court case and its potential impact on BBS users and sysops across the country. History of FIDOnet by Kathleen Creighton An interview with Tom Jennings, creator of FIDOnet, who discusses how FIDOnet came into being, where it is now, and where it's going in the future. The Weather Underground by Ilana Stern How you can get current weather data and maps online, with a detailed look at the University of Michigan's Weather Underground. Intro to Packet Radio by Andy Funk This introduction to Packet Radio shows how you can get involved in one of the fastest growing hobbies in telecommunications...phone line and modem not necessary! Getting Online with a High Speed Modem by Dan Romanchik Some valuable tips for anyone moving up from 2400 bps or slower to a new high speed modem. Children and Telecommunications by Phil Shapiro Children can learn a lot and gain new friends online. This article gives tips on getting children involved in telecommunications. COLUMNS Connecting with CompuServe Columnist Jim Ness gives us the "Grand Tour" of CompuServe, touching on everything from 9600 baud access to recent changes in the message base software. Eye on America Online Columnist Julia Wilkinson gives an overview of America Online, one of the "newest" national online services with a slick graphical user interface. GEnie's Treasures Veteran GEnie "treasure hunter" Jim Mallory is your guide to the many hidden (and not-so-hidden) treasures waiting for you on GEnie. Telecomputing the Delphi Way Columnist Dick Evans shows us what Delphi has to offer, including the recently added Internet FTP and Telnet capabilities. The Internet Gateway What is the Internet and what does it have to offer? Columnist Miles Kehoe gives us an overview of Internet, along with a few e-mail tips. Clear To Send (CTS) A review of COMMO, the popular multi-tasking terminal package from shareware programmer Fred Drucker. Columnist Victor Volkman tells us why the software has created such a COMMOtion in the IBM telecom market. Dial M for Macintosh Ross Scott Rubin, CONNECT's Macintosh columnist, takes a look at MacIntercomm, the new multi-tasking terminal package from Mercury Systems. Staying Connected for about a Pound Palmtops can be an excellent way to stay connected when you're on the go. Columnist Marty Mankins shows you how to take advantage of this fast-growing market. For more information about CONNECT, please contact Pegasus Press at 3487 Braeburn Circle, Ann Arbor, MI 48108 or phone (313) 973-8825 voice. Or e-mail us at: CIS: 70007,4640 GEnie: UNICORNPUB Delphi: UNICORNPUB Internet: pegasus@grex.ann-arbor.mi.us ###### THE UNABASHED ATARIOPHILE ###### By Michael R. Burkley ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Have you ever been super rushed? Well that's what I am right this minute. Yesterday I was in the process of adding a new hard drive to my system (courtesy of the friendly help and advice of Carter Graphics, Flickertale Software, and Toad Computers). I found out that I didn't have all the parts I needed. Normally that wouldn't have been too bad, but I had already dismantled my first drive to change the termination resistors and SCSI ID number. "Well, no big problem," I thought. "I'll just put everything back together the way it was." Unfortunately, I didn't. The drive wouldn't work. Oh, it would spin and make it's usual noises, but it didn't DO anything, nothing! OH NO! After waiting all afternoon, evening, night, and morning, I was able to make some frantic calls to ICD (thanks Howard!) and found out that I had switched the drive ID number from 1 to 0 and that I had the software set to ignore drive 0! Simple fix (after the fact!). That set me a bit behind for this article. Having to go to the hospital to visit someone just admitted, and then finding out that I was scheduled to deliver a welcoming address to the annual Niagara Council of Churches gathering (why didn't they TELL me until 15 minutes before the meeting!) didn't help either. So, before I run even further behind here's some of the software I downloaded this week... DSP11 is DSP v. 1.1 by Keith Lord (dated Jan. 20, 1993). This is a ----- Digital Signal Processing program which allows you to create High pass, Low pass, Bandpass and Notch digital filters, and use them to process your favorite digitized sound samples. The author wrote the program to try to get rid of that annoying "warp drive rumble" that seems to be in the background of all Star Trek TNG audio samples. You can modify your sound samples any way you wish. Although DSP was written to process audio samples, it's really a general purpose digital filter program, so you can use it on any digital information. GEM based (and I like his moose mascot!). Now includes a built-in sample playback feature, a graphic filter display, and a beep to let you know when it's done. This program has been improved over the original version. Color or mono. Docs included. ST/STe/(and hopefully)TT compatible. GAMEOVER is a 12000 Hz sound sample from "Aliens." Play this and you'll -------- hear "Game over, man!" GAZZETE is the January issue of the South Bay Atari Computer Enthusiasts ------- newsletter in PageStream format. Some interesting articles and information about local dealers. One good thing is that you can read it even if you don't have PageStream (if you are willing to hunt through the file and deal with some strange formatting that PageStream uses to make its output so nice. GEMSND_1 is the complete transcript of the GEMSound topic from Nov. 2, -------- 1992 to January 22, 1993. Taken from the Atari RoundTables on GEnie. If you want to follow this discussion about this fantastic program that allows you to attach all all sorts of sounds to events on your STe or TT you can do so by tuning in to Category 2 Topic 16 on GEnie. This file will give you a good start. GRAV2 is GRAV 2, an Excellent game by Martin Brownlow (dated July 27, ----- 1992. Joystick or keyboard controlled. Grav is a 'rotate and thrust' game, similar in concept to Thrust and Oids. Choose between four different worlds to "save" with multiple levels within each world. Allocate your resources among various weapon systems. Color only. Excellent graphics and sound. Joystick and keyboard controlled. I really like this one. Docs (along with a "mission briefing" online). SHAREWARE. JEK_STLK is the Jekyll Shell for STalker, v.1.2 by Tim Seufert (dated -------- Dec.1992/Jan. 1993). Jekyll Shell for STalker is a BackTALK script program for STalker version 3.00 or above. It allows you to run Jekyll, the bidirectional file transfer protocol written by Vincent Partington (in other words Jekyll allows you to both upload and download at the same time, and this shell helps you to do it within STalker). Docs included. JETEMU is a program dated Jan. 24, 1993 that will let you view a DeskJet ------ printer file (created by a program capable of printing to disk with a DeskJet driver) and display the results on screen. Only graphic commands are displayed on screen. Mono only. Docs included. LBJRB175 is LABELJRB v. 1.75 (dated 1990). This program is perhaps the -------- only disk labeling program you will need. This is definately a must have. You can select which types of files will be printed, on which printer (which you can configure), which size labels, which disk drive, whether you will print on a page or a label...on and on. Created by the Pittsburgh Atari Computer Enthusiasts group. I have had version 1.0 of this program for years, and loved it. Now v.1.75 is even better. Mel Brook's Fans Unite! If you remember a few weeks ago someone --------------- uploaded a series of .SMP sound samples from GEM_SOUND that were taken from "Blazing Saddles." This past week he did it again. He has uploaded thirteen .SMP samples from the movie "Young Frankenstein." MiNT is Mint is Not TOS (or more likely now since MiNT is the precursor ---- to Atari's MultiTOS, Mint is NOW TOS). I've always been interested in MiNT with its ability to run two or more programs on your ST at any one time (only one as a GEM program though). I've never done anything about it though because of all the trouble setting up all the files. I just knew that if I tried anything I would really mess up my system (erase everything and all!). Well, people do use MiNT (and love it), and someone set up a MiNT compatible system and then remembered people like me. I spent lots of time this past week (7.5 Megs of downloading at 2400 baud!) to get the MiNT distribution Kit and updates that make MiNT installation simple and easy (or supposedly so--I don't know since I spent so much time downloading it I haven't had a chance to test it out!). This will work with a double-sided drive and 1 meg or RAM, though a hard drive and more RAM is certainly recommended! MOD files anyone? Originally for the Amiga, but now also on your ST(e) --------- .MOD files have excellent sound qualities. Many people who begin to listen to them always want a few more. Well, this week a number of .MOD files were uploaded. DIGITAL, BURRITOB, ELGPASA, and ICEBABY were a few of them (how do you describe a sound? Just download them and listen to them!). MORE v.1.4 by Moshe Braner (dated 1987!) is a simple to use .TTP utility ---------- that allows you to print a text file to the screen, printer, or into another file. It provides convenient screen-by-screen viewing (including review of text that has scrolled off screen), and various hardcopy printout options. More.ttp also attempts to show word- processing (e.g. 1st Word) files in a usable form. Docs included. STe compatible. PGEM_CAL is Calligrapher 3 document containing the whole of Tim Oren's -------- "Professional GEM" C Language tutorials as originally published by Antic. Designed for the Professional ST Developer, this series can be useful for anyone learning "C." If you don't have Calligrapher 3 (yet) you can view this using the Calligrapher 3 demo I described last week. This file is being destributed by permission from Antic. PIANODEM is the demo of Pianistics v.1.10 by chro_MAGIC Software -------- Innovations. Pianistics is a tool designed to help piano players learn chords and scales in all keys. Pianistics will also give insight into the concepts of scale improvisation and chord substitution. In addition, Pianistics has a practice feature designed to assist the player in developing technical mastery of scales, chords, and playing technique. Pianistics will help take the mystery out of improvisation. This demo version will run in color or mono. It is limited, but not in any way that will hinder you from finding out that this is one great piano learning tool. Ordering info included. ROLL_EM is Roll 'Em, an Extend-O-Save Module for Warp 9 by John ------- Eidsvoog. It works in all resolutions on all monitors. The original idea for Roll 'Em was to create a module which would do something interesting without requiring the reserving of extra memory for a screen buffer. It works by saving two scan lines of screen data and then copying each of the rest of the screen lines one line up or down to scroll the screen by one pixel. Docs included. SACKER40 by Joel Shafer is Shafer's Audio Compresson (S.A.C.) v.4.0 -------- (dated Jan 21, 1993). Audio samples don't lend themselves to traditional types of compression because the data does not exhitit much simularity. SAC provides you with a simple "lossy" compression method that saves you a lot of storage space for your sound files. Some sound resolution is lost in the compressed file though not to a significant amount (the amount depends on your choice). Using this program result in a file about 50% the size of the original (and then compress it with LZH for even more savings). An uncompression utility and docs are also included. If you find SACKER40 you will probably be able to find several sound files that have been compressed using it as well. STACYBLK is the Stacy Screen Blanker, an Extend-O-Save Module for Warp 9 -------- by John Eidvoog. When used on a Stacy, the module will simply turn off the screen display completely -- it's turned off by the hardware and will go dark. It will just stay off until it kicks back out. This will save your batteries if you're running from them. It will also help extend the life of your screen display. SUPERPCS is a series of three .PCS pictures that can be displayed by -------- PhotoChrome by Doug Little. They are one of an astronaut during a spacewalk with a MMU, another of a modernistic Chrome Faucet, and the last of a 3D PacMan. I really am amazed at PhotoChrome pictures! They are great on an STe and/or ST. VIEW132 by Conny Pettersson is a program for the ST/STe/TT that will ------- allow you to show pictures in various formats in all ST resolutions on a TT and Low on the ST/STe. It can also use the current VDI-resolution and might even work together with screen enhancements such as overscan or screen doublers. Mouse or keyboard controlled. The formats supported so far are: TGA Truevision Targa. 16, 24 and 32-bit true color pictures. RAW Output format from the QRT raytracer. 24-bit true color. IMG Output format from the Vivid raytracer on the PC, not to be confused with the GEM-Image-Format. 24-bit true color. IFF HAM IFF Hold And Modify from Commodore Amiga. Max 4096 colors. IFF ILBM IFF Interleaved bitmap. Max 256 colors. GIF87a Graphics Intechange Format by CompuServe. Max 256 colors. SPC, SPU Spectrum 512 pictures compressed and uncompressed. PI?, PC? Degas and Degas Elite pictures, compressed and uncompressed. NEO Neochrome low resolution. ART Art Director low resolution. DOO Doodle high resolution. IMG GEM-Image format, 1 bitplane. Wow! What a low of formats! Docs included. ZOOM and ZOOM2 are not the names of some Dr. Seuss characters, but two ---- files, one by Devin Balkcom and the other by Vince Valenti that provides you with some GFA code (.LST) that allows you to stretch a PUT segment. ZOOM is the original and ZOOM2 is the new and enhanced version. I have NO idea what this code does! That's it for now! I have to fire up the ol' modem and send this off before it's too late. # # # # # # **--DELPHI SIGN-UP--** **--GENIE SIGN-UP--** ============================|============================ To sign up for DELPHI call | To sign up for GENIE call (with modem) 800-695-4002. | (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection hit return | Upon connection type HHH once or twice. At Password: | and hit return. 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