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####################################################################### ####################################################################### ##########(((((((((( ##########((( ##(( ##((((((( ##(((((((( ########## #################(( ####(( ####(((( #(( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##############(( #####(((((( ##(( (( (( ##((((( #######(( ############# ###########(( ##########(( ####(( #(((( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##########(((((((((( ##########(( ##((( ##((((((( #####(( ############# ####################################################################### ####################################################################### Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE  Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing Volume 8, Number 12 Issue #496 April 12, 1993 File:93-12 -----------------------------------------------------------------------  Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs  Writer............................................Michael R. Burkley  GEnie Online Editor........................................Ed Krimen  CompuServe Online Editor............................Michael Mortilla  Contributing Writer.........................................Len Stys  Contributing Writer........................................Bob Smith  AtariNet Coordinator\Telecommunications...................Bill Scull  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 |#| Dateline! Atari Conference April 12, 1993.....Ron Kovacs |#| GEnie ST RT News............................John Hartman |#| Bill Rehbock Conference (CeBit News).................... |#| Z*Net Calender................................Ron Kovacs |#| The Unabashed Atariophile................Michael Burkley |#| Guest Commentary........................Michael Mortilla |#| Z*Break #20...................................Ron Kovacs ###### THE EDITORS DESK ###### By Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- It is nice to be back. I have been on vacation for a few weeks relaxing and getting away from the day to day duties of putting together online magazines. While we were away, nothing much has changed other than some more changes in the "Right Sizing" at Atari Corporation. A new Vice President has been hired and later this week, AEO and Z*Net will have more details. Also, just last night, Bob Brodie announced that the Atari Falcon030 has made it to the United States, is sitting in Customs and will be going through Q/A (Quality Assurance) testing and shipped out the door to dealers. More on this in the GEnie conference transcript in this edition. Also while we were away, CeBit ended and Bill Rehbock held an online conference on GEnie with all the details, that event is also included in this edition. I want to send belated birthday wishes to Bob Brodie and John Nagy, although I remember announcing Mr. Nagy's birthday a few weeks ago. Z*Net Online returns to Friday evening release this week. So, we will be back in just four days with more Atari news and update you on the rumors that have been floating around for the last month or so. ###### DATELINE! ATARI CONFERENCE - APRIL 12, 1993 ###### With Bob Brodie and Pradip Fatehpuria ###### Copyright (c)1993, Atari Corporation and GEnie ST RT ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- This transcript edited by Ron Kovacs. <[Host] ST.LOU> Welcome to the first half of this week's Double Dateline! Real Time Conferences. Tonight we welcome back Bob Brodie with his special guest, Pradip Fatehpuria, the author/programmer of the spectacular integrated application - Atari Works. The combination of Atari Works and SpeedoGDOS looks like a surefire winner as soon as it's released. The new Atari Works topic in Category 14 is ample evidence of the interest among the existing userbase. I only wish this product had been available in 1987 when I bought my first ST! No more endless sessions editing my ASSIGN.SYS file to make a handful of PD fonts work! Enough rambling from me :-) It's time to meet our guests. Welcome back Bob and a BIG hello to Pradip from all the regulars here in the Atari ST RoundTable. You are both in talk-mode so either one may make opening commments. <BOB-BRODIE> Thank you Lou! What a great pleasure it is to be here on our official on-line service GEnie to share this time with you. We at Atari are grateful for the wonderful, on-going support that Darlah, Lou, Sandy, Mike, Fred, Brian, and all the rest of the ST RTC Sysops provide to our mutual customers here on our OFFICIAL Online Resource. Tonight, we're here to discuss the integrated word processor, spread sheet, database program, Atari Works. Pradip is the author of Atari Works, and is well equipped to answer all of your questions about this exciting new product. Since there has already been a Dateline: Atari! session where we discussed Atari Works, and there is a very active topic in the message bases about Atari Works, we're going to keep this short tonight and head directly into questions. As is always my practice, if you have ANY questions, I'm happy to answer them tonight. In deference to the attendance of Pradip who is here to answer Works questions, I would ask that you hold off on NON Works related questions until we have all of the questions about Atari Works out of the way. I will be back online on Wed evening for the Dateline:Atari! Session with James Grunke as well, so you get extra opportunities this week to question me! <grin> I know that you will make the most of that opportunity!!!! With that, let's take some questions, Lou! <[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Bob. Just a quick reminder to everyone that we will be giving away two subscriptions to Atari Explorer with a skill- testing question. <J.BRENNER1> Hi, I use an _Atari_ Portfolio to gather Data at work, I then transfer these into a WKS compatible ST spreadsheet. I gather I will not be able to do this if I use AtariWorks. Are you working on a file translating utility. If not, do you plan on working on such a utility and when would it be released? <PRADIP> Right now You can import Comma and Tab delimited text files or DBASEIII files only in either spreadsheet and database. We have a list of other file formats which we will be working on. I can not really promise a date on that. <J.BRENNER1> Without promising a date, will you be working on WKS? It seems importtant to me that Atari support the Portfolio. <BOB-BRODIE> John, we are already doing support for the Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel files...they are in "The Works" right now. Your idea about Portfolio files is an excellent one and we'll give it a lot of consideration. Most of the Portfolio users are interfacing with DOS machines, rather than with their STs...thanks for the pointer. <MIKE-ALLEN> Welcome Pradip = I wonder how complete is the RTF import/ export implementation in the Atari Works Word Processor? I have v1.0 of the MicroSloth specs and there sure is a lot in there. How much of it does AW handle? <PRADIP> Thanks Mike. AtariWorks imports only those RTF commands which AW supports. i.e. mostly Text formattings with header footers etc. <MIKE-ALLEN> How about margins, tabs and colums? <PRADIP> All Text formattings with tabs, margins atc are imported. AW 1.0 does not support columns, so only the text in the columns are imported as it is. <[Host] ST.LOU> Pradip, can you tell us what graphics formats are now implemented in Atari Works and which ones you would like to tackle in the future? <PRADIP> AW imports GEM BitImage files and Metafiles. At the same time you can draw ellipse, circle, rectangles and lines with the embedded draw commands. <[Host] ST.LOU> GEM Bitimage... as in IMG files? That has been added then? <PRADIP> Yes "IMG" files can be imported now. <T.MILLER23> Hi. I was just wondering if AW supports tables in a form similar to MS word. I'm sure more questions will come to mind later. <PRADIP> You can make tables in spreadsheet. Tables in spreadsheet in two ways - as metafiles and also as table of data. All the formattings in the spreadsheet are maintained when you paste the data in the wordprocessor. <T.MILLER23> How can you overlay those onto a text document? Wrap text around? Small pieces of worksheet? <PRADIP> The tabs are automatically placed with the new margins. The type of tabs depends upon the way data is aligned in the spreadsheet columns. The margins depend upon the width of the table you copy from the spreadsheet. I think that satisfy your question Tim? <W.PARKS3> Concerning the IMG file imprt ability of AW, is there any restriction on the IMG's format (bi-level). Some other early DTP and WP applications _did_ have trouble with super-compressed IMG files. <PRADIP> AW supports all IMG files that follow the standard BitImage file formats defined by Atari GEM-VDI manual. <LEXICOR2> Question, can we take data from the Database and place it into the spreed sheet and create graphs & charts and place it into the word processor? <PRADIP> Yes. And as I said a while before, all formattings are maintained when you copy spreadsheet or database data and paste it to the wordprocessor document. <[Host] ST.LOU> Let's pause for a second and give away a subscription. The first two people to correctly answer the skill-testing question after I let everyone talk will win! Here is the question: What was the original project name for Atari Works? 30 seconds.......... <[David] D.FREELAND> setra <K.CAVAGHAN2> Sutari <[Rick] R.TATEM1> sutra! <[Ron] Z-NET> Sutra <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> Atari Almost Works? <[Tim] T.OSBORNE> Sutra\ <[Fred] FB> sutra? <T.MCCOMB> Concierge <J.KOVACH> Concierge <T.MCCOMB> Sutra <J.KOVACH> Sutra <[Baaad Dot!] D.A.BRUMLEVE> Karma. <[Ringo] LEXICOR2> Can anyone spell it? <[Host] ST.LOU> Hehehe <[Glendale] JOHN.KING.T> Word UP <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> Atari RSN Works? <[Curmudgeon] MIKE-ALLEN> Rhino <[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> ST Works, but that's c <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> :) <K.CAVAGHAN2> concierge <[Fred] FB> Dot,Right country, wrong book! <[Host] ST.LOU> OK... we have two winners. R.TATEM and Ron at ZNET Please leave your addresses in email to BOB-BRODIE to get your subscriptions. <BOB-BRODIE> Congratulations, guys!! <PRADIP> Congratulations Guys!! <J.KOVACH> There are 2 features in the spreadsheet portion that I haven't seen mentioned, so I'm wondering if they exist, or if there are any plans to add them... 1) The ability to link spreadsheets that reference each other... 2) Spreadsheet macros, like Lotus and Quattro Pro on the PCs have. <PRADIP> These two features are not available in AW 1.0. These are good suggestion. We will put it in our list for future revs. <D.VICHA> With a review in the upcoming issue (ST-Informer) and interview with Pradip. I missed the opening remarks did you guys mention which BitStream fonts are included with the package? <BOB-BRODIE> You got me, we didn't include that in the opening remarks. :) The fonts that are inlcuded are BitStream Charter, Swiss and Dutch, and their related families, like Black (kinda a bold) and italics. <D.VICHA> Thanks. Is Atari planning on packaging BS fonts? They aren't real easy to find in stores. <BOB-BRODIE> Donovan, I really don't know the answer to that one. I'm not sure if we're going to do the packaging on the extra fonts or if BitStream is. Bill's not here right now (I just ran out and looked for him to double check) I can assure you that there are PLENTY of fonts, I have about 200 or so on my system. :) <D.VICHA> BitStream has a GEnie acct <plug>, so I'll check on how they're set up for ordering Speedos and report to a Topic here. Will there be a Genie AW topic. <BOB-BRODIE> Already is, Topic 20 Cat 14. <M.LIPSON> When will AW be available? <BOB-BRODIE> I would say realistically in about 90 days or less. The manual is going thru the final pass, and then we have to do the printing of it, etc. Purchasers of the Atari Falcon030 will have it sooner. <[MikeL] M.LIPSON> How much? <BOB-BRODIE> The suggested retail price will be about $120, and will include Speedo GDOS, and about 14 BitStream fonts for use with SpeedoGDOS. <AEO.2> Atari Works has been able to supplant every other word processor I own, even Calligrapher (sorry CodeHeads!) Pradip, could you enunciate further on the formatting capacity of the word processor, and the advanced cursor features in the spreadsheet (the ability to automatically have the cursor move down, left, right, or up by default) The option lists are amazing. <[Host] ST.LOU> Andreas... was there a question in there ? ;-) <AEO.2> Yeah, asking about the options you can select as your defaults for the wordprocessor, and select multiple formats on the fly. <PRADIP> AW does all operations you can expect with Control/Shift and ArrowKeys/Backspace/Delete keys. In spreadsheet the Return key automatically follows the last arrow key used to move the active cell. The list is so big that it is virtually impossibile to put them all here. <D.FREELAND> I am sure yoru already covered this but I got here late and was wondering what the current status on the F 030 was? <BOB-BRODIE> Hi David, actually we've just been taking questions on Atari Works so far, you're the first one to ask that! Congratualtions. The Atari Falcon030s arrived in the US today, and are going thru US Customs. We expect them in the warehouse here in Sunnyvale tomorrow. We'll be putting them thru Q/A, and then sending them out. <R.TATEM1> Does the WP include a spell-checker and/or thesaurus? and 2nd, how is performance on a 68000 based ST (non-falcon:) <PRADIP> AW Wordprocessor includes a 110,000 word Proximity Dictionary and about 50,000 word Thesaurus with definitions for each word. You can change the dictionaries for different languages on the fly. AW supports multiple user dictionaries with editable featues. AW is as fast as any wordprocessor I have seen on Atari Platform, even if you use it on a 68K machine. <LEXICOR2> Does AWs handle color documents and if so what color printers does it support. Next what B/W printer does is suppport. <PRADIP> AW support all printers which GDOS supports. In fact AW allows you to select a printer from a maximum of 10 you have installed on ID's 21 thru 30. <LEXICOR2> The fonts up to what point size. <PRADIP> Fonts upto 2 inches (144 points) are supported. I have a correction here about Dictionary and Thesaurus. The Thesaurus has 450,000 words with 1.4 million entry points (words that produce a word list when you look them up) and the dictionary has 135,000 words. <CAN-ASST> I have a question about the dictionary. Which one is included in Canadian Falcons, the one for the US or the British one? <BOB-BRODIE> I believe it will be the US one, but we'll need to double check to be certain. I'm sorry I can't be more precise on that right now. <CAN-ASST> I just wanted to know if I'd have to change all those words that we add extra letters to, like "colour" <g>. <BOB-BRODIE> We still basically speak the same language, eh! <AEO.2> Pradip could you talk more about the way Atari Works allows for saving screen, charts, and all into GEM files, and the ability to move graphics around in a document. Resizing and fitting them into the flow of text. Maybe you can describe it better than I! <PRADIP> I would like to add something more about canadian dictionaries. Canadian French Dictionary will be available seperately. About Pictures in Wordprocessor document - The pictures can be selected and edited on the fly in the word processor document. Just grab the handle and resize the pictures or reposition them wherever you want. A hide picture feature is available for metafiles. This is really useful when you have a big metafile loaded in the wordprocessor document, which may slow down the editing etc. <AEO.2> Saving a chart MADE with Atari Works, and then using it as a metafile within another file, in a wordprocessor is really cool. <[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Andreas. This ends the formal portion of our RTC tonight. Many thanks to Bob and his guest, Pradip Fatehpuria for joining the ink-stained wretches of the Monday Night DTP conference! We look forward to Atari Works and are greatly pleased with tonight's announcement about the arrival of the Falcons! Please join us on Wednesday night when Bob and James Grunke will complete this Dateline Doubleheader! Good night. Any comments Bob or Pradip? <PRADIP> Thanks a lot guys. I am sure you will be able to receive your own copy of AW very soon. It was a great fun to talk to you guys here. Thanks a lot once again. <BOB-BRODIE> I'm pleased to see so much interest in Atari Works! And I'm excited that Pradip was able to join us here tonight for the conference. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Pradip is online on GEnie checking the Atari Works topic DAILY, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please do stop by and let him know your thoughts. We're very anxious to make certain that you're happy with Atari Works. Thanks for coming tonight. I look forward to seeing you on Wed. night! ###### GENIE ST RT NEWS ###### By John Hartman ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- = ATARI INTERNET IN THE ATARI ROUNDTABLE = We thought that you may enjoy reading Atari news from the Internet on a regular basis. We will be posting the messages regularly and opening up a topic for messages you wish to have sent to the Internet. We will be mailing out messages posted at a minimum of every other day. If you do not wish to have your messages forwarded, please do NOT post in this Category. This is a service that we are trying out on a trial basis. We will decide if we will continue it after 90 days. Please let us know what you think. Internet messages are being posted in the new Category 24. These messages are quite lengthy and are being uploaded in quantity to the new topics in 24. If you are not interested in this Category, please cancel your participation in CAT 24 before you begin downloading messages. = RTC Transcripts = 28072 CYBER_CO.ARC X ST.LOU 930316 18048 54 13 28067 TWS_RTC.ARC X BRIAN.H 930315 11904 44 13 27953 BRODIE6.ARC X ST.LOU 930306 22016 603 13 27777 CODEHEAD.ARC X BRIAN.H 930218 16640 217 13 27614 BRODIE5.ARC X ST.LOU 930206 16896 539 13 = LIBRARY = Last Month's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities: 28021 PICSW101.LZH X JAKOB 930310 83072 679 28 27934 LHA201.LZH X R.BURROWS1 930304 57472 296 40 28083 GEMBENC2.ZIP X GRMEYER 930316 37632 235 2 28073 GEMVW220.ZIP X D.BOWMAN9 930316 290944 233 28 28015 MCGUN.LZH X TQUINN 930310 5120 208 21 28155 INVADERS.LZH X D.MUNSIE 930320 38912 206 8 28025 COCKTAIL.LZH X LOTSABYTES 930311 42880 206 21 28181 SPOFLT21.LZH X L.SMITH70 930321 33152 202 28 28019 PTPLAY12.ZIP X L.SMITH70 930310 15360 191 29 28084 GALAXIAN.LZH X GRMEYER 930316 159104 189 8 Last Month's New Demos: 28266 SMOUSE1D.LZH X CYBERCUBE 930330 84096 16 10 28253 PARAGON2.ARC X P.REEVES2 930329 119296 24 10 28222 TPDEMO.LZH X HISOFT 930325 99456 145 10 28189 CS__DEMO.LZH X S.WEBB7 930322 18048 26 10 28188 BITCAMRA.LZH X S.WEBB7 930322 84736 89 10 28068 HEIDDEMO.LZH X M.BURKLEY1 930316 62464 21 10 28054 ARTIS3.ASC X D.A.BRUMLEVE 930314 7296 48 10 28038 MSPYDEM2.LZH X J.EIDSVOOG1 930312 39168 80 10 27995 ARTIS3.LZH X D.A.BRUMLEVE 930308 277632 58 10 27948 PF_DEMO.LZH X D.GEPPERT 930305 105856 136 10 27935 MAILMNGR.LZH X J.FOUCH 930304 95488 63 10 27906 BBSXDEMO.LZH X C.SANCHEZ2 930301 242432 21 10 Last Month's Press Releases in the Library 28257 KCINFO1.ASC X B.WELSCH 930329 1792 16 14 28241 DEALER.TXT X P.CURRY3 930328 2304 86 14 28228 CIVILIZA.ASC X P.CURRY3 930326 6656 155 14 28227 BLU_RIDG.TXT X S.WINICK 930326 2944 49 14 28224 CNDEALER.ARC X JOE.WATERS 930325 2944 141 14 28220 WILGATLK.TXT X D.FINCH7 930325 1920 62 14 28207 PMC_REP.TXT X PMC.INC 930324 2560 135 14 28194 BERTHOLD.PR X POTECHIN 930322 2944 36 14 28108 SS120.TXT X P.COMEAU1 930319 3712 97 14 28061 MIST5.TXT X W.JONES43 930315 2688 69 14 28055 FLASH_21.TXT X J.TRAUTSCHOL 930314 5504 201 14 28051 1SHOW4.ASC X B.WELSCH 930313 1664 56 14 28007 PROCDIRE.DOC X S.DOUGHERTY1 930309 3712 212 14 28001 OL3_PRES.TXT X POTECHIN 930309 2176 139 14 27938 SST_NEWS.LZH X N.LANGDON4 930304 90752 60 14 27936 COMPUNWS.TXT X PMC.INC 930304 2560 59 14 27893 LOGICBLK.TXT X T.IHIRA 930228 3712 28 14 REAL TIME CONFERENCE SCHEDULE - All RTC's begin at 10:00 p.m. --------------------------------------------------------------- April 12 - Pradip Fatehpuria - author of Atari Works April 14 - Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie and James Grunke Win a free subscription to Atari Explorer. April 19 - Nathan Potechin - Outline Art 3.0 Win a FREE COPY of OL3 or equal value fonts! April 21 - Purple Mountain Computers (PMC) RTC- Oscar, Darek, Don April 28 - ABC Solution RTC May 5 - Missionware RTC with John R. Trautschold DOOR PRIZE FLASH II 2.1 --------------------------------------------------------------- Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie and special guest, James Grunke. Join us for a discussion of the music abilities of the Falcon and other late-breaking news from Atari Corp. Win a free subscription to Atari Explorer! Wednesday, April 14th @ 10:00 p.m. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Nathan Potechin of DMC Publishing visits the DTP Conference to discuss Outline Art 3.0 - the Color Vector Graphics program. Join us on Monday, April 19 @ 10:00 p.m. EST and you may WIN Outline Art 3.0 or the equivalent value in Calamus fonts. ------------------------------------------------------------------ = LIBRARY = Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities: 28247 MDISK694.LZH X M.BURKLEY1 930329 27648 132 2 28258 68017.LZH X L.SMITH70 930329 28032 123 2 28261 CEBIT_93.TXT X ATARI.BENLUX 930330 5376 112 15 28273 SPBT81.LZH X G.W.MOORE 930331 155648 91 2 28252 BORGANIZ.ZIP X E.BAIZ 930329 37760 81 6 28248 IMG2CIMG.LZH X S.WEBB7 930329 18944 63 28 28286 CONN_196.LZH X R.ANISKO 930402 381824 61 7 28274 TODAY20B.ZIP X C.GRIMSBY 930331 77824 55 7 28307 STKW0404.ZIP X J.SELLERS2 930405 218496 46 8 28270 RMRAM11H.ZIP X A.FASOLDT 930331 33152 46 2 Last Week's New Demos: 28268 F2_DEMO.LZH X J.TRAUTSCHOL 930330 99712 350 10 28266 SMOUSE1D.LZH X CYBERCUBE 930330 84096 35 10 28253 PARAGON2.ARC X P.REEVES2 930329 119296 34 10 ###### BILL REHBOCK CONFERENCE ON GENIE ###### Copyright (c)1993, Atari Corporation ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- (C) 1993 by 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 XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. Wednesday Night Real Time Conference April 7, 1993 Host - Brian H. Harvey Guest Speaker - Bill Rehbock <[Host] BRIAN.H> On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of you to this CeBiT Real Time Conference. Tonight I would like to welcome William E. Rehbock. Bill is Atari's Technical Director of Software Development. Who is Bill Rehbock? Bill bought his first ATARI computer at K-Mark, an 800XL, for $99.00. He started selling computers from his basement and finally joined ATARI in the summer of 1990 to replace Charles Cherry. At that time he was responsible for DTP market and was Director of Application Software. Bill went on to the supervising of the software development for the Falcon computers, and development of MultiTOS a With that out of the way, let us proceed. Welcome Bill, do you have a few words to begin this evening RTC? <B.REHBOCK> Good evening everyone. I will give you a quick overview of the goings-on at CeBIT, in case you didn't catch my posting in cat. 11. Here is a short overview of what I found to be the highlights of CeBIT. It is certainly not all-encompassing, but I think it does convey the level of excitement in Europe over the Falcon. I personally would like to thank all of the developers that pulled together and produced the fine Falcon software that was shown at the Atari stand. MultiTOS, SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works Normen Kowalweski from Atari Germany drew large crowds while demoing the latest software offerings from Atari. Many of the developers were displaying their software running with MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS. People were very excited to hear that the products have been released to the factory and that Falcons would be soon showing up with MultiTOS and Speedo pre-installed. Blackmail - Digital Optical Analog DOA is negotiating with several large European distributors (including Compo) for distribution in Europe. Their Falcon-based voice mail system is currently undergoing FCC Certification and is expected to be available publicly by the end of May. DA's Vektor - Digital Arts Digital Arts is the programming team that produced Retouche and Didot. DA's Vektor is a key-frame animation package that can perform 3D manipulation to 2D vector graphics, type, and bitmapped pictures. It's presentation graphic abilities exceed those of Macromind Director and Micrografix Designer. It retails for less than $200. Profiler - Application Systems Heidelberg Profiler is Application Systems Heidelberg's new programming tool for their Pure C and Pure Pascal environments. It is a quality application used for debugging and optimizing programs. TruePaint - HiSoft Falcon-optimized True Color Paint Package that retails for $60.00. It has a huge variety of import and export formats as well as simple animation capabilities. Diamond Back/Diamond Edge - Oregon Research Bob Luneski's sanity-saving hard disk utilities were shown with full Falcon SCSI and IDE support. Photo Studio - Eurosoft Photo Studio is a low-cost retouching package from France that is optimized for performing special effects and retouching on previously scanned or PhotoCD images. Compo announced that it would handle distribution of True Paint outside of France. Chagall - Trade It Chagall is a mid-level true-color painting package from Germany that has a very advanced feature set, including high-end filtering, masking, and tinting. They hope to have the details for North American distribution worked out quickly. Superbase4 - HiSoft/Oxxi Superbase4 should be ready for official alpha release within two or three weeks. The new version has full SpeedoGDOS support and support for imbedding a wide variety of graphic data formats into your database. It retains compatibility with Superbase Professional and allows importing forms from Superbase Amiga. The report generator is one of the finest I've seen on any platform and has the ability to add graphics to the output such as placing boxes around totals. Falcon/VME - Rhothron Rhothron showed a VME expansion connector that plugs into the processor direct slot. The cable to the VME connector comes out of the Falcon through the space at the cartridge port. They were showing it working with the TKR Crazy Dots 32-bit true color board. ColorDISC PCD - Color Concepts Color Concepts demonstrated all aspects of PhotoCD, including a PhotoCD module for Calamus SL. Phillips, Kodak, and Toshiba were all very impressed and surprised that we had such a full implementation of PhotoCD on the Falcon. No other platform has complete support for interactive/Portfolio PhotoCD yet. MPEG Decompression - Brainstorm Brainstorm demonstrated 12 frames per second on-the-fly MPEG video decompression using MPEG video clips from Star Wars, Michael Jackson videos, news clips, etc. This is the same company that wrote the JPEG routines for Atari. The JPEG routines (320x 200 decompression in less than one second) will be available to developers at the end of April. VROOM - Lhankor Lhankor showed an extremely fast Gran Prix racing game optimized for Falcon. The game was still running in 16-color mode with PSG sound, but they intend to release it in September with all new 256 and true color artwork and digital sound. Overscan Titler/Genlock - Overscan/Compo One of the main features of the huge video wall was the Overscan Video Titler. The titler makes full use of SpeedoGDOS and works with all ST's, but is optimized for the Falcon's overscan, overlay bit and color capabilities. The final product will be shipping at the end of April and there will be a NTSC/YC version as well as PAL/YC version. Papyrus - ROM Software Papyrus shipped the latest version of their high -performance word-processor that now includes advanced table creation and calculation abilities. Papyrus has full color support and is in the same league as Microsoft Word for Windows and WordPerfect for Windows or the Mac. They signed up a yet-to-be announced North American distributor while at the show. The product is scheduled to be available in North America in about 6 weeks. InShape - Alexander Thomsen With my urging, and the support from Normen, InShape has spent the last seven months rewriting their key-frame video rendering package. It can be used to create photo-realistic animations using CAD 3D objects and multiple light sources and cameras. It allows the user to be the movie director, adjusting the positioning of everything in the scene and directing the movement of objects. Xenomorph (Phoenix) - Lexicor Lexicor had their German distributor demonstrating Phoenix, Lexicor's scene rendering package. Phoenix is unique in the fact that it integrates with the original Cyber Control desk accessory that was written by Tom Hudson in 1987. Using Cyber Control and Phoenix, a user can write complex scripts to automate the movement of objects in between recording frames. This allows the user to easily create animations of things like roller coasters shot from the perspective of a rider in the first car. Cubase Audio - Steinberg Steinberg showed Cubase Audio, their Direct-to- Disk recording system that requires only a Falcon. Cubase Audio was the hit of the Frankfurt Music Messe, where Yamaha allegedly were extremely upset because Cubase Audio for Falcon would not require Yamaha's several thousand dollar CBX-D5 as it does on the Mac and PC. Cubase Audio allows the user to integrate CD-quality digital audio along with MIDI data in the familiar Cubase user interface. Musicom - Compo Another big hit at the Video Wall was Musicom, a consumer-oriented direct to disk recording system. Musicom has many fun- to-use features, including Karaoke. Armin Hirschteter, the author of Musicom (as well as singer and musician) demonstrated the Falcon and Musicom to crowds of well over 200 people at times, completely blocking all four aisles at the corner of our stand. Digitape - Trade It Digitape is another multi-track direct-to-disk recording system. It has a unique modular approach, much like putting stereo components together. Digitape allows the user to create multi- track master tapes that allow the user to record on to two tracks while playing back mixed-down previously recorded tracks similar to how one creates professional recordings with conventional tape equipment. Humans, Llamazap, Road Riot 4WD, Raiden, Space Junk - Atari Corp. All of the Atari project games were very well received by show attendees. During the Video Wall demonstrations, members of the audience were allowed to play Llamazap on the video wall using a Falcon Controller that was fitted with a 25 foot long cable. There were also nightly gaming "contests" on the video wall after the show. PAMS Net/F - PAM Software PAM Software is taking advantage of the improved parallel port and now supporting low-cost parallel port Ethernet adapters with their network. Bionet Falcon - Biodata Biodata showed their network running on the LocalTalk hardware built-in to Falcon. 32 MHz Accelerator w/ram expansion - GE Soft GE Soft showed a very impressive hardware accelerator that plugs into the processor direct slot on Falcon. It enables the Falcon to run at speeds comparable to a TT. The card can accept up to 128 megabytes of TT ram using commonly available SIMMs. When populated with expansion ram, you must use an external keyboard however, as there is not enough room inside the Falcon's case for everything. Falcon Speed - Compo Falcon Speed was displayed on the Atari stand as well as the Heim Verlag Software Distribution booth. The version they were showing operated many times faster than most PC's running windows, because of the fact that they take advantage of the Falcon's video architecture. During the course of the show, they announced that they got full color support running and would be shipping the color version within a few weeks. (The current version does run in Windows color modes, although it displays in dithered black and white, as on many PC laptops.) The Video Wall Events There were regular showings at the video wall, hosted by Armin Hirschteter(sp?), author of Compo's Musicom. The demonstrations were produced by Armin, Compo and Team Computer Video Productions of Germany. The show integrated the Falcon's Video Titling, as well as Digital recording and DSP abilities. Klaus Kramer from Team had a remote-controlled camera attached to the stand and was able to direct it at Armin or people in the crowd. Musicom was used to record Armin's guitar playing and then affect it using Flanging, delay and other effects. Next, This One's for You by Elton John was played back from the hard disk and the Karaoke effect was used to remove the vocal. Armin would then sing along with it instead and the audience loved it. Toward the last half of the fair, as everyone's confidence was built up, small alterations to the script were added. Klaus Kramer from Team had created an little animated character that would comment on Armin's singing during using the titling software from Overscan, which really drove home the Multimedia aspects of Falcon as Armin interacted with the little creature on the video wall. Theo Breurs from Compo also served as a shill in the audience, asking people whether or not they thought it was really Armin singing. When he found someone that said "no," that person was offered the chance to sing instead, with the lyrics being scrolled on the screen using Falcon. The script to the show was altered slightly after we saw Digital Equipment's Alpha PC demo two booths away, comparing the speed of the 150MHz Alpha against a Mac Quadra and a 66 MHz '486 PC. DEC established that a reliable benchmark of the overall performance of a computer was how fast it could calculate and display a 256 color Mandelbrot set. The Mandelbrot set is the most popular example of a class of mathematics called Fractals. When the data is plotted, beautiful pictures are generated on the computer's screen. DEC showed that the Quadra took 12 seconds to create the display, the '486 took 8 and the Alpha took only 5 seconds. On our video wall, 60 feet away from DEC's demonstration, we showed the same thing being done by a low cost home computer in 4 seconds - in 16-bit true color, to the irritation of Digital Equipment. We can now start the q&a... <[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Bill. I have the first question. Well, the question everyone wants to ask. How is the Falcon coming along? When will it be shipping? Are there any problems? <B.REHBOCK> I can't say I am surprised at that question, Brian. The fact of the matter is that there really are no current problems with Falcon production... <[Host] BRIAN.H> Any word on the release date? <B.REHBOCK> the first units are honestly (to the latest knowledge that I got from manufacturing literally minutes ago) are supposed to be on their way. We did make the mistake of jumping the gun on release dates in the time-honored tradition of the computer industry and are suffering because of it now. Right now, I can only hope that we'll see these units within the next week or so. The other problem that we have had (as far as motivation in justifying getting the burners _really, really_ cranked up has been that many (not all) of our dealers have been slow in turning in their new dealer agreements... Bob Brodie has been very frustrated as he's been calling dealers and they've been saying "You mean I really have to send that in?" <MIKE.SCHUETZ> Hi Bill, Gruesse aus Wiesbaden,Germany! I have two questions: 1. What are the dates for this years Atari Messe in Duesseldorf? (Word here in Germany is, that there WON'T be one, at least not hosted by Atari.) 2. Is it furthermore true that all European offices will be sized down to pure sales offices with minimum staff, and that there will only be ONE warehouse for all of Europe, in the Netherlands in the future, that will supply all offices? <B.REHBOCK> Mike, 1) What mag are you working for now? I missed you at CeBIT... <MIKE.SCHUETZ> <g> As you know, Atari Journal had to go out of business in January... so these questions come purely from a users stand point. I don't have any more money tied up in the Atari market other than the machines here on my desk. <B.REHBOCK> But ST Journal did get picked up and is on the stands again, no? Anyway... There _is_ a restructuring going on in Europe, definitely not the gloom & doom that you have outlined. <MIKE.SCHUETZ> St Journal? Never heard of that magazine in Germany before. Our mag, Atari Journal ceased to exist with the 01/93 issue. <B.REHBOCK> (I'm sorry, I meant ST Computer; that one did go and come back, right?) It will make operations more streamlined and is designed to increase developer and user support. As far as the Messe goes, Atari Germany is working on the details right now; I do hope that dates will be announced very soon. <M.HILL13> Bill, glad to have you here. When the Falcons do start arriving in the next few weeks (fingers crossed) can you give us an idea of what kind of quantity the USA will see? Im just wondering when the supply will be great enough for all of us who aren't on a waiting list. Secondly does the dealer agreement prevent mail order sales of Falcons? <B.REHBOCK> The dealer agreement most definitely prevents mail order of Falcons without prior authorization from Atari. Based on the numbers that have crossed my desk, the numbers do look pretty satisfying, but I still encourage you to go spend money at you dealer :-) (The numbers for North America _are_ serious quantities to make a real market here!) <[David] FAIRWEATHER> Aside from Cubase Audio do you know of any Sequencer software that will use the DSP to generate midi-driven sampled sounds? Cubase Audio is out of my price range. <B.REHBOCK> I think will be seeing several DSP synthesizers in the next few months. Many of these should integrate into low-cost sequencing packages. There are other MIDI/Digital audio solutions being worked on, but I don't believe that the developers have made announcements yet and I'd hate to pre-announce products for them. James Grunke and I are absolutely thrilled with the developer response on the music side of things. <[David] FAIRWEATHER> That's good news. Will the 1st shipment of Falcons come with Multitos installed? <B.REHBOCK> make it, make sure you send in you warranty cards. Yes, the first Falcons will have MultiTOS 1.01 and SpeedoGDOS installed. We are trying hard to have Atari Works inserted here. If it doesn't make it, make sure you send in your warranty cards. <[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> Atari's credibility seems to be at an all time low. I am surprised that you couldn't FEDEX a big box of Falcon's to a dealership just to rekindle hope. Also, with the limited number of dealerships, how do you expect to crack the market? There isn't a dealership within 100 miles of my current home (Newport, RI) or my old one (San Diego). How will you get these home machines into homes? <B.REHBOCK> I think that the only thing that will truly rekindle hope is Atari's long-term commitment to the dealer base and developer base. We have been getting a steady stream of new dealer requests and things do look very good. We are realists about the job that is ahead of us and realize that Fed Ex boxes aren't going to do the trick for the long haul. Our plans are a little more structured than that. <[Andrew] A.STUDER1> Why 16bit RAM? Compatibility? Cost? Is video slowed because of this? Are 16bit HiColor [:) animations feasible? Will Atari offer a Falcon upgrade policy? How about service, support, and marketing. If increased, sales could expand. <B.REHBOCK> 16-bit ram... Cost and time to market; system slowdown...our video is _really_ fast, the games and animation stuff we've been showing proves that (as well as FalconSpeed from Compo :-) The ram is really 32- bits to the video and memory controller, BTW. It has not been Atari's policy to offer an upgrade path. There really isn't room in the margin for it. I do see increased service, support, and marketing in the future. We do realize that those are critical elements. <[Andrew] A.STUDER1> Re CeBit, were Falcon sales active? Do you have numbers of Falcon's sold? The software/hardware lineup is promising. Video is FAST, thanks. <B.REHBOCK> 1) CeBIT is not a "sales" show for anyone. (I wouldn't give you sales figures if it were :-) It is primarily a showcase show. The magazine interview traffic was excellent, and the dealer inquires were more than we expected. <[John B.] J.BRENNER1> 1 I'd like to know if you saw any video packages that resemble Adobe's Premiere software or Newtek's toaster. 2, You mentioned 32 mhz accelerator with RAM upgrade for Falcon, we have heard memory expansion doesn't work on this card. 3 ... <.and do you type with one finger ? ;-0 DA's Vektor does a jillion things beyond the original specification, many of which are very Adobe "Premierish". There are several other video packages in the works, one or two that will cause NewTek a little bit of grief :-) Two fingers :-) <[Connor] CAN-ASST> Hi Bill. Has the Canadian pricing for the Falcon been set yet? And what about the Canadian dealer agreement? <B.REHBOCK> The on-the-fly MPEG decompression will definitely open the door to the desktop video arena. Connor, I've got to be honest with you... I have no idea. It should have happened during CeBIT, but I haven't had a chance to check since I got back. Bob or I can give you a jingle via e-mail in the next day or two... Whoops... I've just been told that Canadian dealer pricing _was_ definitely set. Check in the dealer category here on GEnie in the next few days. (You leave for 13 days... :-) <[John] JKUEHN> Bill, John Kuehn of Rockville Maryland here. My question regards using SCSI II CD-ROM drives on the ST. I realize that CD-ROMs were never officially released in the states. But, will it ever be possible to use them on the ST. That is, is ATARI still supporting the software development efforts required to provide a working version of Metados. I assume that a complete .XFS driver for MiNT/Multitos has been done, but, what about the TOS users? I have been working with two software developers on this since Nov 92. And the current status from both of them is Quote "Waiting on a resolution from ATARI". I mentioned this to Bob Brodie here on GeNIE last month and he replied that he would have to talk to you for the answer. So here I am at the proverbial Equine Oral Orifice. (Waiting for a FALCON.) <B.REHBOCK> John, the MiNT XFS drivers _do_ work very well with just MiNT. That is the most recommended way of doing it. <[John] JKUEHN> The .XFS driver that I have only supports Kodak CD_roms I need one that will read other High Sierra AND ISO 9660 CDs <B.REHBOCK> John, there is a newer version that we'll get posted in the next week or so. We'll be doing a 100% q/a inspection on the first few hundred F030's that come in and it will be keeping us busy :-) <B.WELSCH> Hi Bill, What are my chances of talking you into attending the Kansas City Show,June 26th and 27th? I realize you folks have to be busy out there, but as this is a first time show, and the falcon a new computer, they sort of go together. Just think you could ride down in the semi of falcons;-) <B.REHBOCK> Bruce, I'd personally love to come, but I can't commit right now. I'd be happy to discuss it off-line. <B.WELSCH> in e-mail or voice? if voice give me a number and time to call you please <B.REHBOCK> Voice... 408-745-2082 in the afternoon after 2:00 CA time. Bruce, by the way... Our factory rep base is being expanded rapidly and we can try to have a rep attend at the very least. <[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Sorry to ask this again but I think it is important. Is it true that the memory upgrade does _not_ work on the GE soft card <B.REHBOCK> John, I'm sorry that that slipped through. When I saw it, it was working great. There were working out some BLiTTER problems, but none insurmountable. Who started the rumor that it didn't work anyway? :-( I don't think GESoft would appreciate it. <[John B.] J.BRENNER1> I have read the memory board doesn't work, only the clock speed up <B.REHBOCK> The GESoft board is not just a clock speed-up, it has a 68030 on it. The CPU and Memory both work. Definitely. (There was another board that cranked the F030's CPU up to 32+ MHz.) A little on the scarcy and not Atari recommended side :-) <[Bill Jones] B.BILLJONES2> How important is New England to Atari? As far as I know, not a dealer to be found. There was a dealer here in Portland ME a few years back, so there are some Atari familiar folk here. How to tap that well? I guess I'll visit Canada! <B.REHBOCK> We have hired a very qualified rep firm in New England that is just getting up to speed. We expect to see action in the next few months. Ask your dealers to carry Atari and we'll make sure that the rep beats them up :-) PLEASE do send us dealer names! We'll forward them to the rep firms and get this boat moving!!! <[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> Will we see a real advertising push for Atari or will it be another small scale job? I ask because the Lynx, unquestionably the best handheld video game on the market, gets little name recognition = low sales (comparatively), even though it got great marks from consumer reports (zillions) and is ridiculously low priced. The other 2 competing units are everywhere with much name recognition, but the 2 Lynx's my kids have got get stares of 'what's that." Will Falcon be left to the same fate? Please be specific on plans. <B.REHBOCK> re: Lynx, there is a wide-scale promo that will be showing up in the next few weeks in all of the game mags. We do want to do the same or bigger with Falcon. The more dealer area we have in the wings, the larger the scale it will be. Sorry Steve, the dealers will get the details first. <[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> It seems like a vicious circle - require dealers for Atari to mount a large ad campaign, but there won't be dealers without a market. <B.REHBOCK> Ah, but you are wrong... we are signing up dealers right now. <[Jonesy] M.JONES52> Welcome, Bill, and thanks. I'm curious about the DEC/Alpha thing, more specifically, as to whether anyone from DEC strolled over to the Atari stand to talk. <B.REHBOCK> Ho, you bet they came over. The fractal thing is a loaded benchmark anyway you cut it. We just called their bluff. <[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> Last Friday, somebody mentioned Autodesk Animator in conjunction with the Falcon at CeBit. Are they signed? And are there any disgruntled NeXT devs in Germany looking to change gears for the Falcon? <B.REHBOCK> We have been signing up a good number of NeXT devs, but they are taking a while to get their feet wet. The NeXTstep (software-only) devs will be ok with the '486, but those that liked the hardware are taking a good look at Atari. AutoDesk U.S. is not officially doing anything active currently. There still is some CyberPaint Falcon activity (so I've been told.) <[John] JKUEHN> Bill, What is new on the Kodak Photo CD front? And who are the current players/developers doing PCD? <B.REHBOCK> PCD Developer material is ready to go. <[John] JKUEHN> The PCD Toolkit is done? <B.REHBOCK> The cost of the development kit is $700 (same as the Kodak kits) and we are taking orders as of today. The kit comes with Pure C, GCC, bindings and Lattice bindings are being reved and will be ready in about a week. <[John] JKUEHN> ST or Falcon or both? <B.REHBOCK> It will work for all TOS Systems. BTW, I do want to mention on the animation front that Meridian from Lexicor is looking really good and should give users a lot of flexibility (The Conference Host stated that Jim Ness posted the following in the Bulletin Board area of GEnie) Rumour is that Atari will not ship US Falcons unless more dealers are signed up! Any truth in this rumour?? <B.REHBOCK> Errrrng! Wrong, Jim Ness! Thank you for playing our game. :-) Is that clear enough? <[Host] BRIAN.H> For me it is. Thanks for clearing up the rumour. Thanks Jim for asking it. We're drawing to a close for the formal portion of the CeBit RTC. Before I put the room into Frenzy Mode, do you have any closing words, Bill? <B.REHBOCK> Once again, I do wish to especially thank the developers that have been working with us on Falcon030 software. There is a boat load of great stuff in the wings from _many_ U.S. developers that will knock everyone's sock off. Yamaha U.S. has been working with us closely on promoting the Falcon and CBX-D5 direct to disk recording system with pro-audio A/D's-D/A's, and I can hardly wait for some of the apps from our old stand-bys! Thanks again! <[Host] BRIAN.H> Great news Bill. I wish to thank you Bill for attending tonight RTC. I also wish to thank all the attendees for their questions and patience. In frenzy mode ...now! End of Formal RTC ***************** <[James] B.ABELL> James Grunke - Any news on Notator Audio for the Falcon? <JAMES-GRUNKE> Re: You'd have to ask them directly for an official announcement on Logic Audio. EMAGIC has a machine and they are pretty excited about the hardware. <G.ZEPKA1> Bill, what is the price for dev docs on falcon <B.REHBOCK> G.Z. please contact 408-745-2022 for dev kit details. We will run as lean and mean as we have to to make Falcon work world-wide! Jack and Sam really do believe in the product, but they do realize that the market is rough and that margins are really, really tough nowadays. That's going to mean even more belt tightening if necessary, but we _will_ be here. <[Rob] R.ANISKO> Atari has the "luxury" of some pretty loyal users which helps out in times like these... <B.REHBOCK> Jack made a strong commitment to me during CeBIT regarding Falcon Software development, and he definitely doesn't intend to roll over. CEBIT ATTACHMENT from the GEnie Atari-ST RoundTable on 930329 at 21:24 Category 11, Topic 15 Atari Booth at CEBIT'93 -------------------------------------------------------------------- | |53|55|57|59| /51/52/ | MEETING |------------ /--/--/ | |54|56|58|60| /49/50/ | ROOMS \ /--/--/ | DEALER \ /47/48/ \ KITCHEN | |33|35|37|39|41|43| /--/--/ \ CENTER | ------------------- /45/46/ ---------\ / |34|36|38|40|42|44| /--/--/ /--/--/ | 9|10| \ / /31/32/ ------- -------- /--/--/ | 7| 8| _______ /29/30/ ------- |13|14| /--/--/ ------- \--\--\ /27/28/ |11|12| \--\--\ \22\21\ /--/--/ ____ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ \16\15\ \--\--\ / \ \--\--\ \24\23\ | Lynx | ______ \18\17\ \--\--\ \ / /5 /6 / \--\--\ \26\25\ /¯¯¯¯/\ ¯¯¯¯ /--/--/ \20\19\ \--\--/ / \ /3 /4 / \--\--\ \ / /__ \ /--/--/ /\ \/ / | | /1 /2 / / \ / / | | ¯¯¯¯¯¯ / /\ \ \ / / / / / \ \ VIDEO \/ / / / / \ \ WALL __/ / INFO / / \ \ \ / DESK ¯¯ ¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ Portfolio Here is the list with developers, I'm not sure this is 100% accurate since they made some last minutes changes. 1 Infogrammes, Alone in the Dark 2 Praefcke, PCB-layout, GAL-editor, Chemical Structure/formule editor 3 Eurosoft, Photo Studio (Falcon030), Home Video kit 4 Victor GmbH, Integrated Software, Databases 5 Artiplus, TopCard's (business card printing) 6 Purix Software, Script 3 7 Digital Data Deicke, Falcon housing, external keyboard (199 DM) 8 DVPI GmbH, Music Software, Portfolio MIDI interface 9 Digital Data Deicke 10 GE-Soft, Falcon030 32-bit SIMM memory expansion with 33Mhz 68030 11 Richter, GFA Basic, OCR, Render/Animation software 12 Steinberg, Cubase Audio (MIDI and Harddisk Recording) 13 Richter, Lexicor render/animation software 14 Steinberg 15 Logitex, DATAlight data compression, 1ST Card database, 1ST Lock 16 Inshape, raytracing, animation, 3-D modelling 17 OverScan, Video titling, Genlocking 18 Compo, Falcon Speed emulator based on 80286 19 OverScan, Grafics, Video titling, animation, ScreenBlaster 20 Compo, Musicom harddisk recording (with digital interface) 21 Yeti (and Brainstorm), Yeti software, Falcon DSP JPEG, DSP MPEG 22 HiSoft TruePaint, Lattice C 23 Silmaris, Ishar Falcon030 game 24 Oregon Research, Diamond Edge harddisk optimiser on Falcon030 25 Team Computer, Video Production 26 Atari, Falcon030 with misc. applications 27 Jobis, Falcon Tower, office software 28 Jobis 29 PAM software, ethernet software, TCP/IP, NFS, Novell, FalconNet 30 Trade-It, Chacall image processing on Falcon030 31 HTA 32 Trade-It, DigiTape 8-channel harddisk recording on Falcon030 33 Biodata, Bionet network for Atari, PC, UNIX and Apple 34 Atari, Falcon030 software utilities 35 ICP Verlag, TOS Magazine, FastCopy Pro 36 Eickman Computing, Falcon030 Tower 37 VHF computer, Falcon030 with CAD software 38 Atari, Falcon030 39 VHF computer, converter for vector formats 40 H3 systems, Falcon030 with DA's Vector animation software 41 Atari, Calamus S on Falcon030 42 Color Concept, Kodak Photo CD software on Falcon030 and TT 43 DMC GmbH, Calamus SL 44 Color Concept 45 TKR, Crazy Dots graphics card, FAX software 46 TMS GmbH, Cranach 47 TKR 48 Atari, Falcon030 demo software 49 Rhothron, Falcon030 in 19" rack, process control/measurement 50 Application Systems Heidelberg, Signum!3, Papillon graphics softw. 51 Rhotron 52 App. Systems, Pure C, Pure Pascal, Phoenix database 53 Atari, Falcon030 54 Atari, Falcon030 55 SDS. Information Management 56 Digital Optical Analog, Blackmail Falcon030 Voice Mail system 57 Matrix, Falcon030 with MatDigiR video digitizer 58 R.O.M. Software, Papyrus word processor, DTP Module, Office Module 59 Matrix, TT/Mega STE (true color) video cards 60 STAGE Microsystems, office software I counted at least 38 Falcon030's on the booth. The presentation on the Video Wall was very good. A part of it was live, a part of it was a product video showing several good Falcon030 software titles. Steinberg used the wall also for presentation of Cubase Audio. Lot's of very good Falcon030 applications were on the booth but also new or updates software for existing ST's and TT's. I leave it to others to publish about the software they saw but I'm available for answering questions. Wilfred Kilwinger Support Manager Atari Benelux (The Netherlands) ###### THE 1993 Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR ###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences ###### ---------------------------------------------------------------- ### April 13, 1993 New Jersey OS/2 User Group Meeting. Starts at 7pm at IBM, 300 Executive Drive, West Orange, New Jersey. The building is located adjacent to Interstate 280 behind the Essex Green Shopping Center. ### April 14, 1993 GEnie Conference. Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie and special guest, James Grunke. Join them for a discussion of the music abilities of the Falcon and other late-breaking news from Atari Corp. Win a free subscription to Atari Explorer! Wednesday, April 14th @ 10:00 p.m. ### April 19, 1993 GEnie Conference. Nathan Potechin of DMC Publishing visits the DTP Conference to discuss Outline Art 3.0 - the Color Vector Graphics program. Join him on Monday, April 19 @ 10:00 p.m. EST and you may WIN Outline Art 3.0 or the equivalent value in Calamus fonts. ### April 21, 1993 GEnie Conference. Purple Mountain Computers (PMC) RTC- Oscar, Darek, Don. ### April 28, 1993 GEnie Conference. ABC Solution ### 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 5, 1993 GEnie Conference. Missionware RTC with John R. Trautschold. DOOR PRIZE FLASH II 2.1 ### May 7, 1993 Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie on GEnie. This online conference begins promptly at 10pm EST. ### 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. ### May 24-27, 1993 Spring Comex in Atlanta Georgia. ### June 3-6, 1993 Summer Comsumer Electronics Show, (CES), in Chicago, Illinois. ### June 12-13, 1993 CT Atarifest '93 at the Windsor Court Hotel in Windsor Connecticut. This year the Atarifest has relocated to a new hotel with excellent room rates ($35.00 per room), free and plentiful parking, easy access from Interstate 91, I-95, I-90, I-84, I-80, an in house Sports Bar, a bigger ballroom and is located just 1 mile from Bradley International Airport (free shuttle service for hotel guests). Tentative commitments from A&D Software, Gribnif Software, Barefoot Software, Toad Computers, Computer Studio, Baggetaware, Derric Electronics, E.Hartford Computer Repair, MegaType Software, Wizztronics and GFA Software Technology. For further information, call Brian Gockley at 203-332-1721 or Doug Finch at 203-637 -1034. E-mail can be directed to B.GOCKLEY or D.FINCH7 on GEnie or to 75300,2514 or 76337,1067 on CIS. ### 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. ### June 26-27, 1993 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. ### July 24-25, 1993 The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer STudio host the Fourth Annual Blue Ridge AtariFest in Asheville, North Carolina. Saturday show time is from 10am - 6pm and Sunday show times are from Noon to 5pm. Free booth space is available for Atari developers. This Atarifest will be taking over the Courtyard Shop (mall) area at the Westgate Shopping Center (location of Computer STudio), and also plan on using vacant store spaces for seminar sessions. Seminars will be 45 minutes in length, and developers are welcome to conduct a seminar on their product line or approved topic of their choice (seminars are limited, so first come, first served). For additional information, please contact: Sheldon Winick on GEnie - S.WINICK or at the Computer STudio at (704) 251-0201 or contact the show coordinator Cliff Allen on GEnie - C.ALLEN17 or call (704) 258-3758. ### 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. ### August 23-27, 1993 Interop '93 (#2) at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco, California. ### August 25-29, 1993 ONE BBSCON '93 at the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is a four day exposition presented by BoardWatch Magazine. There will be three days of educational services, a trade show exhibit area with over one-hundred vendors on hand. For further information on this event and for registration information contact: Peg Coniglio at ONE Inc., 4255 South Buckley Road, Suite 308, Aurora, Colorado 80013. Voice: (303) 693-5253; Fax: (303) 693-5518; BBS: (303) 693-5432. ### 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. ###### THE UNABASHED ATARIOPHILE ###### By Michael R. Burkley ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- This week I downloaded a program by Udo Backhaus entitled "Plantarium." It was so good that I thought I would share it and a number of other programs I've collected over the years that can help us to learn about our world, both the large and the small. Enjoy! PLANETAR is Planetarium v.7.02 by Udo Backhaus (dated Dec. 21, 1987). This is an "oldie but a goodie" program. This program has now been (mostly) translated into English from its original German, and is full of opportunities to explore the planets of our solar system and the bodies outside of it. You can access animations of the planets (apparent diameters, phases, views of Jupiter's moons orbiting, and much more). Click on a star, on a planet, nebula, galaxy or whatever, and you will get some sort of display about it (remember to hit the return key to exit the display). This is a very good program for you mono monitor users out there. Requires a mono monitor and at least one meg RAM. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least). ASTROCAL is Cadenza AstroCal, v.1.7 by Eric Bergman-Terrell of Cadenza Software, Ltd. This program generates (for any given year) a calendar containing the following information: 1. Times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset for each day 2. Times and dates of Moon phases 3. Times and dates of solar and lunar eclipses 4. Times and dates of solstices and equinoxes In addition to this calendar, the program can generate: 1. A report of all lunar or solar eclipses for a range of years 2. A report of planet viewing information for a specified year 3. A report of perihelions and aphelions of planets for a range of years 4. A report of perigees and apogees of the Moon for a specified year 5. A report of the dates of Easter for a range of years The calendar and reports are all customized for the user's location. All times and dates are in local time. The calendar and reports can be printed on a printer or listed on the computer screen. Color or mono. The included docs are very detailed, containing, directions, theory and a substancial bibliography. This is a truly amazing program! GALAXY by Brian Dunn simulates the motion of stars and planets under their mutual gravitational attraction. You may enter up to 20 different objects with differing positions, velocities, and masses. Watch how they interact under differing conditions. You can make some very interesting patterns before your simulation settles down into a regular orbit. Pan in and out at will. Leave trails, if you wish. Keyboard and mouse controlled. Color only. Docs within program. GEOGRAPH is a SHAREWARE version 2.0 of GEOGRAPHY TUTOR by A S D E Inc. With this program that will work with either a color or mono monitor you can learn about the world. You can learn about a country's Major religions and languages, the name of its capital, it population and growth rate, the life expectancy of both men and women with the Doctors per capita, literacy rates, land area, crops and more! There is also a learning mode that tests you on your knowledge. This program is limited in that only the data base for Africa is included. For only $15 you can get the whole world. JUPMOONS by A. Pikhard is is an excelent graphic display program for simulating the orbital motion of the Galelean moons of Jupiter. Also shown are the position angle and distance from the planet of each of the moons at the time displayed, as well as eclipses, transits, and even moon shadows! Mono only, but it will work with a mono emulator. The doc file says that it has included with it a mono emulator. I did not receive it that way. The program is in German, but is mouse controlled and easy to learn how to use. Brief English docs are included. LECTURES is a series of 19 lectures on astronomy and astrophysics (+ one basic program listing and a short text on calculating planetary temperatures) by Dirk Terrell. Lectures might sound boring to you, but these lectures aren't (at least to me)! Using interesting illustrations (written) and insightful commentary, he leads you through what science is and how it is applied today in the arena of astronomy and in your everyday decisions as well. Well written and well worth getting. MARSMOON is the Mars Moons Program by A. Pikhard. With this program you can get an excellent graphical display of the orbital motions of Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars. This program is mono only, but will work with a monochrome emulator. The program docs say that an emulator is included in the file, but in the file I received one was not. This program will not work on a TT. MARSTEMP is the Mars temperature program by A. Pikhard. With this program you can get details of the temperature of Mars' atmosphere for different atmospheric densities and for different seasons of the year. This program is mono only, but will work with a monochrome emulator. This program will not work on a TT. The program is in German, but mouse controlled and easily figured out. MOONCRAT is a GFA Basic program (.BAS with .LST file included) by Dr. Emil Jung that is for all of you space buffs out there. It draws a picture on the screen of the Moon with phase for any date, with over a hundred main craters and the Apollo, Surveyor, and Lunakhod landing sites. The program and docs are in German, but you can figure it out. I am not sure of STe compatibility. It will work in either color or mono, though mono is best. Requires GFABASRO.PRG to run. PLANETS by Sol Guber is a program that allows you to watch a graphical representation of the planets of our solar system revolve about our sun. You can jump to any date you wish, year by year or month by month, or by simply entering a date. Keyboard controlled. Docs included. SAT404 is a much improved version of the Satellite Prediction Program by Biller Penner (dated after Dec 22, 1991 [I downloaded this Jan 4, 1992]) This program has gone through several revisions, adding new features and fixing the (limited) bugs that invariably appear. Now the program is faster than before, checks for near misses between satellites, allows for satellites that have fast decaying orbits, and more. Of course it still provides position data on tons of satellites and allows you to display their motion across the world in real time. Runs as a .PRG or an .ACC. Color or mono. Works on the ST/Ste/TT. Docs included. An excellent program! SATURN is the Saturn Moons program by A. Pikhard. This is an excelent graphic display program for simulating the orbital motion of the moons of Saturn and the seasonal tilt of the planet's rings. Also shown are the position angle and distance from the planet of each of the moons at the time displayed during the simulation. Mono only (the program says that a mono emulator is included, but it wasn't in the archive I found. If you need one you can get it through our catalog. English docs are included (the program is in German, but the docs translate it). STAD, originally by Alan Paeth with the Atari port by Tony Andrews will display star and planet positions on your color monitor. Docs included. STAR2000 is STAR 2000 v.1.11, the 1991 update of the freeware subset of Star Base from Debonair Software by J. Andrzej Wrotniak. Star 2000 is a star database, browser and plotter, addressed to those with interest in astronomy. It contains data on 2000 brightest stars from the Yale Bright Stars Catalog and on 100 brightest deep sky objects from the RNGC, allows for accessing the database in various modes, and for plotting sky maps in various reference frames, projections and magnifications. Version 1.1 has been improved over previous version by adding mapping and browsing of Deep sky objects (mapping and browsing) have been added. The Solar System ephemeris routines have been completely rewritten (with uniform use of J2000 co-ordinates). Two new map projections have been included. Map range used instead of magnification. Changes in the user interface (including different menus) Star 2000 uses GEM, is easy to use and has and has on-line help. It will run on any ST/STe/TT, color or mono. STARGIDE is The Amateur Astonomer's Guide to the Night Sky, by M. Kudlowski. This is a very nice astronomy program that allows you to view the night sky from almost anywhere on earth and on any date. It features the following:- 1) 1160 stars down to magnitude 4.75, including variable stars whose maxima exceed magnitude 4.75, and double or multiple stars whose combined magnitude exceeds 4.75. 2) 370 selected stars which can be individually identified on the Constellation Chart option. All stars of magnitude 3.5 and brighter are included,together with all double and variable stars on the main file. 3) 267 deep-sky objects which can be optionally plotted on the Constellation Chart option. The limiting magnitude for these objects is about 9 for clusters and gaseous nebulae, 10 for external galaxies and 11 for planetary nebulae. Most of these objects can be seen through a moderate telescope of about 6 inches aperture, but the external galaxies and planetary nebulae are mostly faint and elusive, and the gaseous nebulae generally require a very transparent night for viewing. Color only. Docs included (The docs give a very interesting view of the history of astronomy, the constellations, and more). STATESGF by Richard Noe is a learning game that will help you to know the names of the 50 United States (and how to spell them as well!) Whether you get the name right or not, you are encouraged in this game. Color only. Needs GFABASRO.PRG to run. Well done. STERNBLD is version 2.0 of Sternbild, a German planetarium program that works with both color and mono monitors. View any of 88 different constellations from any viewpoint, over any length of time (stars move, too, just slowly) and distance. This program is very easy to use, and comes in both an English and a German version (just choose which you want as the program boots up. Both online and offline docs. I really like this program. Pick your constellation using the mouse, answer a few questions on how it is displayed, and then view it! Differing magnitude stars appear with different brightnesses. Click on a star and get its name and magnitude. Well done. Recommended. This is an early 1988 program, so I don't know how it will work with anything other than TOS 1.0 (I haven't checked for quite some time). SUN_MOON computes data for the sun and moon. It was made with the intent of printing monthly tables of sunrise and sunset or moon rise and moon set. The rise and set computations are valid for a flat horizon at sea level. Care has been made to insure accuracy at high latitudes (don't try the north pole). The program will perform calculations for both northern and southern hemispheres. By Dave Henry. Color or mono. TRAVEL_2 is Traveler by Ron Schaefer, MD and Edmund A. Cook. Written to plan trips, it has an extensive database for the U.S. that allows you to specify your origin and destination with stopovers in between. Given that information the program calculates the distance you will travel. The program can be extensively modified to meet your needs. You can display a map of the US and plot your travels on it. Color or mono. Docs included. WORLD is World, an excellent geography learning program by Bernd Werner of Germany. This program can help you learn the countries and their capitals (along with the names and capitals of the divisions within many of the countries). It contains maps of the whole world, region by region. It's easy to use, and fun. It encourages you to learn (which is always a good thing to do!). Mono only. All names have been translated into English. That's enough for exploring the Universe right now. We can have our heads among the stars and our feet firmly planted in the earth, and that's how it should be. But right now, lets get on to the rest of the downloading I did this week! ABIOSHEL is ABIOSHEL by Mark Slagell, the author of SilkMouse 3.1, a fantastic mouse accelerator and screen saver program. This program (dated March 8, 1993) is specifically for users of the SuperCharger PC/XT emulator. It prevents the SilkMouse 3.1 screen saver from engaging while ABIO.TOS is running. (Screen savers in general cause problems with the SuperCharger). Also if you use ICD hard disk driver software, it allows you to use the write-cache feature in ST mode without it causing any problems in PC mode. Furthermore, it causes ABIO.TOS to skip its usual "Insert MS-DOS boot disk" message and keypress prompt, at least for SuperCharger software version 1.5. This only works with the .TOS version of ABIO and not the .ACC. Docs included. AMOEBA is Amoeba Wars! by Larry Roux (dated 1990). Amoeba Wars! is based on the classic computer game of Life, only where in Life you try to create a self perpetuating "society", in Amoeba Wars you also have an opponent trying to wipe out your civilization....the survivor wins! The play field is a 17x27 array of hexagons. Three levels of play. You play against an oponent and the clock. I've briefly played this game, and I am going to play it again. It makes you think about the outcome of your moves. At the start you only need to worry about not crowding out your own pieces, but once the opposing teams meet in the center of the playing field a pitched battle breaks out! Saving and loading games is possible. Color only. Docs and C source code included. TOS 1.0-- 1.62 compatible (at least). CACHE276 is Master Cache V2.76 by Daniel Carl Gouthro (dated March 15, 1993). This is really just a minor bug fix from v.2.75 (minor in meaning small, but major in effect. If it "bugged" you it would trash your drive!). According to the author it is the most advanced disk caching system for hard disk owners (floppy too) and it is BEST disk cache system for the ATARI ST, Mega ST, STe, Mega STe and TT computers! It support any logical size up to 8192 bytes per sector, write delay caching, TOS buffers configuration for TOS V1.4 or higher, FAT/DIR priority option, many other features (now including "pre-caching" which speeds up AUTO folder program execution). A must for anyone own non- ICD HDs, but you can use it for ICD drives (and controllers) as well. This demo version is limited in several ways, but you can upgrade it to full-registered status with a password (obtained by registering, info included). This is the last SHAREWARE version (unless another bug fix comes along--he supports his programs). Version 3.0 will be commercially distributed (register while you can!). Docs included. CATSMEOW is a series of ten .IMG cartoons of cats: cats skateboarding, fishing, weight lifting, rowing, skiing, an other activities. Nicely done 300 dpi line art (from the Soccer Base BBS (518) 475-1446). CAT_PAGE by Scott Dowdle is a modified version of the CAT_FILE that came with the STalker master disk from Gribnif. It included the .BTS and .BTK files. The author says that this is nothing fancy, but that it makes reading text files in STalker's window a lot easier and is specially handy when using STeno. DARKPERL is Dark Pearl v.1.0 by Dave Munsie (dated Sept. 9, 1992--my 37th birthday!). Dark Pearl is an EXCELLENT game. I haven't gotten to far along in it yet (my son has gotten farther), but I know that I will keep coming back for this one. This game requires you to guide your bouncing ball (as seen from above) over a grid of squares and collect various objects and points along the way (there are 70 screens for you to cover in all!). Watch out if you miss that landing--it's a LONG way down! Joystick controlled. Color only. Requires at least one meg of RAM. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least). Docs included. This game was written in GFA Basic 3.5e with the GP_GRAPHICS ENGINE ) also by Dave Munsie. GAMEREVW is a compilation by Ken Baum of all the games that have been reviewed for the Atari ST/e by either ST Format or ST User since January 1992. Over 290 games and packages were released in that time period (that's more than I bought!). Very interesting reading. I recommend this if you are in the market for a recent game. GEMGS13 is gemGS v.1.3 (dated Nov. 27, 1992) by Tim Gallivan. GemGS is a GEM shell for Ghostscript v.2.52 on Atari ST/TT computers (source code included). GhostScript is a public domain PostScript interpreter for the ST/TT. Normally functioning as a command line based program, this utility allows you to use GhostScript with GEM (yaa!). GemGS 1.3 should be used with GS 2.52, while gemGS 1.2 is intended for GS 2.41. Once inside the gemGS shell, you can: 1) pick the input and output files from the File menu, 2) choose the device from the Device menu, 3) pick the resolution from the Resolution menu, 4) pick the page size from the PageSize menu, 5) pick any options from the options menu, 6) click Run under the File menu. Now that sounds A LOT simpler than GhostScript plain (I'm not a command line type of guy at all!). Color or mono. Docs included. HARVEY by Eric Jolley is a .SEQ animation entitled "One-Eyed Harvey: Portrait 1 of the Ship's Computer (With Flickering Diode)" It presents you with a circle divided into pie shaped sections that appear to be rotating before you. Color only. The author warn you not to view this animation if you experience Epileptic Seizures. Requires a .SEQ player (such as ANIMATE4.PRG) to view. HARVEY2 by Eric Jolley is a .SEQ animation (dated March 23, 1993) entitled "Harvey's Lifeclock Display: Portrait 2 of the Ship's Computer" Updated from Harvey, portrait one, this animation presents the same circle divided into pie shaped sections that appear to be rotating before you, but it adds a lightening and darkening of the screen matching the rotation of the circle. I like this better than the original Harvey (of course it's a PILE bigger). Color only. The author warns you not to view this animation if you experience Epileptic Seizures. Requires a .SEQ player (such as ANIMATE4.PRG) to view. INV_DEMO is the demo version of INVISION Elite v.1.13 from DMC Publishing (dated Aug 12, 1992). This is one outstanding image manipulation program for the monochrome user. Compatible with all TOS version this program will allow you to do just about anything with your bit-mapped images. I could go on and list a page of it's features, but it's not really necessary. It is simply an astounding program! Online help, keyboard and mouse controlled. If you do DTP work and ever wanted to "tweak" a picture file you were using to make it just what you wanted, then this program is for you. Of course, with power like this you can also do a lot more than just "tweaking!" Online docs. This program requires at least one meg of RAM (it also uncompresses to over 870K so you'll need a hard drive of uncompress it piecemeal. Keep the .IMG files on a separate disk.). INVADERS is Invaders by Dave Munsie. Do you remember Space Invaders? Shoot down that invading alien horde before it touches down and destroys all you hold near and dear!! Watch out! They've been learning as the years have gone by. Now they're tougher than ever, and out to get you! This game will run on any ST with a color monitor and a joystick. Hard drive installable (it even quits nicely!!). Written with GFA Basic 3.5e and the GP_Graphic Engine. MUSICO01 is Musico #1, "Music to soothe the savage eye," by Dan Panke. This series of five Quartet songs (Ashes to Ashes, Fantastic Voyage 1, Victim of Hell, Oh Yeah?, and Broken Wings by Mr. Mister) and player program are accompanied by some well done and appropriate Degas pictures. Color or mono. This file also contains a brief description of the ST PLUG software collection. ST Plug has a fine collection of Budgie UK and PD software. MUSICO02 is Musico #2 by DAN PANKE. This is a series of five well-done Degas images combined with some very nice Quartet songs. The music is "Tubular Bells," "Exile," "Afterglow," "Fantastic Voyage 2," and "Major Tom." Truly "Music to soothe the savage eye!" Color or mono. This file also contains a brief description of the ST PLUG software collection. ST Plug has a fine collection of Budgie UK and PD software. P13 is P - The Source Code Printer v. 1.3 by Andrew P. Studer of Pandamonium Software (dated March 15, 1993). P allows you to print textfiles in ASCII format to your printer, screen, or RS-232 device. You can specify printing with line numbers, page header, left margin, tab size, etc.. You can run P with or without a command line, or if you have NeoDesk or TOS 2.06 (or above) you can just drop your textfile into P's icon and print away. One nice feature of this for you programmers out there is that P sets up nicely under the TOOLS menu in the Lattice C environment (Lattice doesn't have a versatile printing utility like this). Docs included. ST--TT compatible. Color or mono. SHAREWARE. PC1QUENC is PC1QUENCE by Dave Munsie (released March, 1993). PC1QUENCE is a novice video titler and is aimed at the casual user who would like to perhaps generate a small video slide show (using Degas .PC1 pictures) or maybe even record these sequences to video tape for later viewing (if your ST has an RF modulator). Clever users will be able to generate video sequences similar to what you see on a typical TV commerical. Wipes, scrolls, fades, etc. Written using GFA Basic 3.5e and the GP_Graphics Engine (by Dave Munsie as well). Low rez color only. Docs included. ROBO_BOP is ROBO BOP v. 1.95 by Frank Vuotto of F10 SOFTWARE. This program allows you to create rhythm patterns by pasting notes into grids. A left click programs a grid and right clicking erases one. Any volume can be programmed into any grid. Clicking on a numbered square selects a pattern. Rhythms are played as MIDI notes so a MIDI drum machine or synth is required. LOTS of features here (like a page full!) Color or mono. Docs included. Limited feature SHAREWARE. SHUTLHLP is a text file that gives you some helpful advice on landing the Shuttle Space Flight Simulator from Virgin Games. SILKMSE3 is SilkMouse v.3.1 by Mark Slagell (dated March 16, 1993). It is another upgrade to a uniquely smooth, fast, well-behaved mouse accelerator that also incorporates a great two-stage screen saver. Run from the desktop or the AUTO folder, SilkMouse is the most usable, most highly configurable mouse accelerator available (and now that it no longer uses "interupts" it is even more compatible than before--not that I ever have had any problems with it). Have you ever found that when using a mouse accelerator that you can no longer use the Alt-arrow key combination to move your mouse pointer about? SilkMouse doesn't interfere with that at all. The two-stage screen saver is one that darkens the screen after a set period of time (fully configurable), but which allows whatever is on the screen to still remain visible (he has now updated this to allow the two stage saver with the mono screen as well). After a longer period of time the screen completely darkens. I like that feature. The accelerator may be configured through a CPX module or an .ACC (both supplied). One (of many) new feature is that you can make any program hold its final screen before exiting. This is very handy for those programs which flash a screenful of text before you in one-tenth of a second and expect you to read it! This program used to be Shareware (I registered, and don't regret it!), but Mark is now giving it away (I still recommend that you send him some money as an encouragement). Color or mono. ST--TT/MultiTOS compatible. I HIGHLY recommend this program. I think that if you try this for an hour you will never want to use any other mouse accelerator! SPOFLT21 is the Speed-of-Light, High speed GIF (87a) viewer v.2.1 by Stuart Denman (dated March 12, 1993). This is a fast (according to the author, the fastest) GIF viewer for the ST--Falcon, but it allows you to display 256 colors at once (even on an ST) and allows a color palette of tens of thousands on an STe/TT. This program provides excellent contrast in colors (much improved over v.2.0). It even allows you to convert your GIF's to Grayscale images for viewing. Lots of options to "fine tune" your pictures. This version incorporated several bug fixes over v.2.0, increased drawing speed, and other inhancements. Low Rez color on ST/STe, TT medium, and all Falcon resolutions, too. Docs included. SHAREWARE. STOSFIX by Rob Quezada is a patch program that will allow you to modify your STOS interpreter (any version) on any TOS version (downloaded March 20, 1993). It will prompt you to move your joystick about until it discovers the correct addresses for the TOS version you are using. It will then write those values to the locations used by TOS 1.0. This renders the program unusable on TOS 1.0, but if you don't have that, don't worry. Just list your game as "not compatible with TOS 1.0." Docs included. See STOS_TT for another STOS fix program. STOS_TT is a replacement STOS loader by Mike Horwell (dated Sept. 1992). This program supposedly will allow STOS to be run on any TOS version (including TT TOS). Instead of having the correct TOS tables included in this file, the program asks TOS for the correct values (which insures that it will work). A very short read_me file is included. If you use this how about letting me know how it works! See STOSFIX for another STOS fixer program. TM_SHEET is TIME SHEET v.1.9D by Frank Vuotto of F10 Software. TIME SHEET is designed to quickly handle the daily point of sale transactions for a recording studio or other business that charges an hourly rate, time for a technician and vends a limited amount of items. It calculates transactions, keeps track of balances, prints receipts and custom forms and does a variety of reports. TIME SHEET now contains a daily calendar and a full feature address book. SHAREWARE (limited to only five clients instead of the 150 in the registered version. Color or mono. Docs included. TRANSRSC is Transfer v.1.40, a .TTP program written in STOS by Peter Kienle (dated 1993). This program is used to convert regular .RSC-files into assembler source files. This can be used to integrate Resource Data directly into the program code, so that no .RSC-file has to be included with the program. The program will determine if to search for a DEF (MegaMax) or RSD (KUMA) header file by looking up the version number of the RSC file which is 0 in the MegaMax and 1 in the KUMA. It has also been tested with the Public Domain ORCS Resource Construction Set. Docs included. Not TT or Warp 9 compatible. WINDOW is Window Ball by Bob Tedesco. Run this program and you will be able to play breakout with lots of variations (which you choose) from a moveable window on the GEM desktop. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least). Color (I haven't checked it on mono, but it doesn't look at though that would be a problem.) This week I downloaded a whole slew of Falcon 030 related utilities. It's great to see them coming! Now all I need to do is to get a Falcon with which to use them! CS_DEMO is SCANDEMO, an image conversion program for the Falcon from SKWare One (the author of Seurat, the complete image creation and manipulation program). Dated March 1, 1993 this program is a Falcon030 TrueColor demo of COLORSCAN II. This program converts GEM monochrome IMG files created with any 32-greyscale scanner (like the MiGraph HandScanner) set on the "Photo" or halftone mode from their dithered dot-print form to color rasters. This demo performs the conversion to 32 greys in TrueColor mode. There are options to set the image contrast and to select a 320x200 or 640x400 TrueColor screen size for the conversion. Save is disabled. It will only run on a Falcon <sigh>. Info on the full program (with many more features) is included in the archive. A companion file, CSCANIMG is also available which contains a large scanned mono IMG file for conversion by SCANDEMO. Also included is information about Seurat v.2.8, the newest version (as of April 1, 1993) of this superb art program (It's a WOW program!). HAM8 is the IFF/HAM8 Loader by L. Squire (dated March 22, 1993). This program is built to use the 256 colour mode of the TT or Falcon. It should work in a limited fashion in the True Color mode of the Falcon, but only with H.A.M or H.A.M.8 file types.(4096 or 464,000). The author says this is a "not-finished" version. IFF2XIMG is a Falcon 030 utility (dated March 1, 1993) by SKWare One (the author of SUERAT-- now at version 2.8 and a wonderful program!). This utility will display only on Falcon030. It will function on ST/STe /MegaSTe/TT030, but without any display. It will allow you to convert Amiga 32-color (5-plane) IFF to 256-color XIMG. Brief docs included. RWL2XIMG is a Falcon 030 utility from SKWare One (dated March 1, 1993) that will convert your Seymor-Radix IMG_Scan raw data files to 256-color XIMG files. A sample file is included. You can get some output that looks better than the original! Docs included. This will only run on a Falcon. SCANIMG is a large scanned mono .IMG file designed for conversion by SCANDEMO, the program found in the CS_DEMO file. Of course, since it's just a plain .IMG file you can also view it with any .IMG viewer. It's an .IMG of a man wearing a Ram's horns and skin. SPEC2XGA is a Falcon 030 utility by SKWare One (dated March 1, 1993) that will allow you to convert your Spectrum (.SPU and .SPC) files to XGA TrueColor (this format is that of a TrueColor Screensave). An ST/TT version that converts the pictures is included, but you can only display these pictures on a Falcon. Docs included. SURATXGA is a Seurat TrueColor image in XGA format Seurat TrueColor image in XGA format (384x480). Easily converted by XGA2_TGA to a TGA for the Falcon Slideshow program (by Moving Pixels). Can be viewed with the BITCAMERA program described above, also with the VIEW_XGA program. I think it's of a Zebra, but I haven't checked it out. XGA__TGA is a series of Falcon 030 utilities by SKWare One (dated March 1, 1993). This program will convert your XGA pictures to TGA format and TGA to XGA and will allow you to view them on the Falcon (datatype 2 Targa16 files only). It will work on ST--TT's but you will not be able to view the pictures. XPORTIMG is XPORTIMG v.5.0, a a ST--Falcon 030 utility (dated March 21, 1993) by SKWare One. This utility program does not display pictures, but it converts them very well. It converts 4-plane (16-color) STTT GEM IMG format files (and XIMG, too!) to a variety of file types: Amiga 5- plane .IFF, TrueColor .XGA, Targa24 .TGA, XIMG .IMG, PrismPaint .PNT, and Aldus TIFF (Rev. 6.0 of 6/2/92) (import these into Calamus SL). Docs included. That's all (and an awful lot, too) for now, ###### GUEST COMMENTARY ###### By Michael Mortilla ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- "When widows exclaim loudly against second marriages, I would always lay a wager that the man, if not the wedding day, is absolutely fixed on." Henry Fielding (1707-1054) I guess I am in a somewhat enviable position. I have never been burned in any mail-order schemes. As an Atari user, this is doubly unusual. It's not that Atari dealers or mail order houses are innately corrupt, but the fact is that I have to go a good distance to actually be in an Atari dealers showroom, and have been more or less forced to go the mail-order route. With the sheer number of purchases made every year, I would have expected to have been swindled at least once. Also, as a musician living in a relatively small town, it is easier for me to purchase a good deal of my professional equipment through mail- order. This includes items from small tools (splicing blocks, audio tape) to larger items such as the latest (read- expensive) synthesizers, sound cards and, of course, peripheral items for my Atari computer (software, hardware, memory upgrades and similar STuff). Now, why am I so lucky as to never have been burnt? What is my secret to protecting myself against fraud? Do I wear a condom on my finger when signing my checks? Well, for one, I have learned that paying with a credit card is essential; preferably American Express. Why? Because if you pay with a credit card from a reputable bank (you *do* have a reputable bank, don't you?) and you have a problem with defective merchandise (no delivery, damaged goods) you can call the credit card company and they will assist you in either getting what you paid for *or* making sure you don't pay for it. They will usually also see to it that the vendor doesn't get another penny from any other of their customers in the future *unless* they make good on your claim. Ha! You say? Don't believe me? Let me give you a few true examples that happened to me: When in NYC on a business trip in 1988, I rented a truck for about $150 dollars. It was a bomb but it drove. When it was fully loaded, however, steering was *extremely* treacherous and the brakes, signals and lights were either inoperative or nearly so. I complained to the company the next day (after I had completed my chores and driven over the Queensboro/pot hole bridge) and there response was less than satisfactory. I paid the bill with American Express and left. That afternoon, I called American Express to complain. Charges were suspended pending investigation and were never rebilled to me. The trucking company in question has not been allowed American Express privileges to date! On another occasion, I complained to a restaurant in a very high class hotel that their mustard chicken gave my wife food poisoning and ruined our vacation. I was met with a blank stare and no attempt was made to make amens. Again I called Amex and again the charges were suspended. The next day I was offered a free dinner for two at anytime in the future (we were not dumb enough to accept). The value of the dinner for two was about $100 with wine & dessert. There are several other examples, but I think the point is clear. I did not allow myself to become a victim! As soon as it was clear that I had been taken, I acted. In several other instances I was damaged in other ways (copyright infringement, breach of warranty, bank fraud) and couldn't go to a credit card company for help. So I sued the bastards (acting as my own attorney) and won every case. Not only because I was right, but because I also documented *every* detail, kept every receipt and note, and when court time came, *I* was the one who came in with the Clorox 8 gallon box of evidence. In one instance, the defense attorney started to sweat *before* the judge entered the courtroom! No what does this have to do with our lowly Atari computers or CompuServe? In a recent guest editorial in this publication, it was "reported" that a certain party or parties had absconded with funds from innocent customers. Accusation were made, guilt was assumed, sentence was recommended and retribution demanded. No due process? No attempts at legal remedies? No suspension from the credit card companies? No attempt at a mail-fraud claim by the US Postal Service? None of these remedies were mentioned and, as far as I know, none were attempted. My view of this is not to defend the accused; that is as much their responsibility as it is your responsibility to protect yourself against such alleged fraud. But it would appear on the surface that something could have been done by the injured parties (and no doubt there *were* injured parties). In the real world, when a sheep dies at the hands of a wolf, there is only a penalty if the farmer happens to be at hand. But where is the farmer here? Why are all these victims still victims? Why has no one taken action? Has the accused cushioned themselves so completely as to be above the law? I thought that right only extended to ex-presidents and their administrations? Now as far as the journalistic aspect of all this goes, I will offer a single example. When the NY Times reports an incident where someone has been arrested in a case like the World Trade Center bombing, they don't run an editorial saying: Machned Kareem Jubool did this dastardly deed; he was found with a radio Shack alarm clock! His hands should but cut from his body; he should then be made to play the piano with his stumps until he can perform in Carnegie Hall and then the proceeds should go to the families of the dead; if he can't play with his hands, he will play with his feet, if he can't play with his feet, he will pay with his life! No folks, this is not how it goes in this country. The accused have the right to defend themselves and until the alleged victim(s) takes legal action, the dispute is just that. Not a crime, but a dispute. No trial and punishment, just issues and circumstances. If you are one of the injured in the case in question, then I urge you to take action before the statute of limitations is up in your state. If you paid with a credit card, you may *still* be able to get your money back!! But if you sit there and weep about your loss and take no action, you are like the widow mentioned at the top of this article. Life was hell, and it will be hell again, and it is up to *you* to do something. Due process? Do process! Editors Note: Z*Net has run controversial commentary in the past and received plenty of wounds for it, however, in the case of the Dr. Paul Keith material previously run in this publication, I will again repeat previous published comments on this concept. Z*Net has and will run Guest Editorial and Commentary from time to time as it sees fit to do so. Those comments are those of the writer and not the comments or necessarily the views of the STAFF. When we publish these ramblings, opposing points of view are expected and the same amount of space is permitted for rebuttle. After a rebuttle has been published (ie: opposing view), the matter is dropped. As far as I am concerned right now, the matter is dropped, however, there are a few people who are working on the material in the original editorial and those findings may be reprinted here. # # # ======================================================================= **--DELPHI SIGN-UP--** ---------------------- To sign up for Delphi call (with modem) 800-695-4002. Upon connection hit return once or twice. At Password: type ZNET and hit <Return>. ======================================================================= **--GENIE SIGN-UP--** --------------------- To sign up for GENIE call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH and hit return. Wait for the U#= prompt and type in the following: XTX99436, GEnie and hit return. ======================================================================= **--COMPUSERVE SIGN-UP--** ------------------ To sign up for CompuServe service call (with phone) 800-848-8199. Ask for operator #198. You will then be sent a $15.00 free membership kit. ======================================================================= **--ATARINET INFORMATION--** -------------------- If you'd like further information or would like to join AtariNet please contact one of the following via AtariNet or Fido: Bill Scull - Fido 1:363/112 AtariNet 51:1/0, Dean Lodzinski - Fido 1:107/633 or AtariNet 51:4/0, Terry May - Fido 1:209/745 or AtariNet 51:2/0, Tony Castorino Fido 1:102/1102 or AtariNet 51:3/0, Don Liscombe at AtariNet 51:5/0, Daron Brewood - Fido 2:255/402 or AtariNet 51:6/0. You can also call the Z*Net News Service at (908) 968-8148 for more info. ======================================================================= Reprints from the GEnie ST Roundtable are Copyright (c)1993, Atari Corporation and the GEnie ST RT. Reprints from CompuServe's AtariArts, AtariPro, AtariVen, or Aportfolio Forums are Copyright (c)1993, CIS. Reprints from Delphi are Copyright (c)1993, Delphi and the Delphi Atari Advantage SIG. ======================================================================= Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari Falcon030, TOS, MultiTOS, NewDesk and BLiTTER are trademarks of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned in this publication belong to their respective owners. ======================================================================= **--** Z*NET OFFICIAL INFORMATION **--** -------------------------- Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly online publication covering the Atari and related computer community. Material published in this issue may be reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each article reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and not for profit publications. Opinions present herein are those of the individual authors and do not 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)1993, Syndicate Publishing, PO Box 0059, Middlesex, NJ 08846-0059, Voice: (908) 968-2024, BBS: (908) 968-8148, (510) 373-6792. ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~== Z*Net Atari Online Magazine Copyright (C)1993, Syndicate Publishing - Ron Kovacs ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~== Z*BREAK #20 - Released April 13, 1993 ####################################################################### ####################################################################### ##########(((((((((( ##########((( ##(( ##((((((( ##(((((((( ########## #################(( ####(( ####(((( #(( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##############(( #####(((((( ##(( (( (( ##((((( #######(( ############# ###########(( ##########(( ####(( #(((( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##########(((((((((( ##########(( ##((( ##((((((( #####(( ############# ####################################################################### ####################################################################### Z*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAKZ*BREAK Z*BREAK #20  Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing - Z*Net News Service April 12, 1993  Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GEnie..............Z-NET CompuServe....75300,1642 Delphi.........ZNET Internet...status.gen.nz America Online..ZNET1991 AtariNet..51:1/13.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ATARI FALCON030 ARRIVES IN UNITED STATES In an exclusive online conference tonight on GEnie, Atari's Official On-line Resource, Director of Communications Bob Brodie announced that Atari Falcon030s have arrived in the US today. During the conference, Brodie responded to a questioner asking about the current shipping status of Atari Falcon030s by stating that "The Atari Falcon030 has arrived in the US today, and are going thru US Customs now. We expect to have them at our warehouse here in Sunnyvale tomorrow, where they will be put through a Q/A Process. Once the units have completed the Q/A Process, they will be immediately shipped out to our dealer base." With rumors running rampant about Atari's fortunes, it's indeed a good sign to finally learn that the Falcons have arrived in Sunnyvale! The delays are finally over, the Falcon030 has arrived!!!! Z*NET ATARI ONLINE RETURNS TO FRIDAY RELEASE Z*Net Atari Online Magazine will return to Friday night release with Issue #9313. The current issue #9312, is being uploaded for distribution on the online services and contains the full capture of the conference where the Falcon news originated. In the next edition of Z*Net, MORE Atari related news about the hiring of a new Vice-President and new employees. Expect more news on this and other stories in the next edition of Atari Explorer Online Magazine, due for release this weekend. ======================================================================= Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari Falcon030, TOS, MultiTOS, NewDesk and BLiTTER are trademarks of Atari Corporation. ======================================================================= Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly online publication covering the Atari and related computer community. Material published in this issue may be reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each article reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and not for profit publications. Opinions present herein are those of the individual authors and do not 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)1993, Syndicate Publishing, PO Box 0059, Middlesex, NJ 08846-0059, Voice: (908) 968-2024, BBS: (908) 968-8148, (510) 373-6792. ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~== Z*Net Atari Online Magazine Copyright (C)1993, Syndicate Publishing - Ron Kovacs ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==