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####################################################################### ####################################################################### ##########(((((((((( ##########((( ##(( ##((((((( ##(((((((( ########## #################(( ####(( ####(((( #(( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##############(( #####(((((( ##(( (( (( ##((((( #######(( ############# ###########(( ##########(( ####(( #(((( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##########(((((((((( ##########(( ##((( ##((((((( #####(( ############# ####################################################################### ####################################################################### Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE  Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing Volume 8, Number 14 Issue #498 April 23, 1993 File:93-14 -----------------------------------------------------------------------  Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs  Writer............................................Michael R. Burkley  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 |#| Z*Net Newswire........................................ |#| Marcel Word Processor....................Press Release |#| DMC Publishing In Conference.................Lou Rocha |#| Squish II Sneak Preview..................Press Release |#| Atari Backbone Echolist......................Terry May |#| 1993 Connecticut Atarifest...............Press Release |#| Z*Net Calender..............................Ron Kovacs |#| The Unabashed Atariophile..............Michael Burkley ###### THE EDITORS DESK ###### By Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Before we get into this week's edition, I would like to address four pieces of email I received regarding last week's issue. The email was varied but all directed there comments to my editorial of last week. Some of the comments ranged from "Psychedlic Love Fest", "Blowing Smoke Up Our ***", "I Must Be Out Of Your ******* Mind", and one of my favorites, "Z*Net's Nose Is So Far Up Atari's ***, I Am Surprised You Could Breath." Since I am NOT at all surprised by these comments as I know exactly who wrote each of the above, I am surprised at the level and waste of time these gentlemen took to post foolish points of view. I am sure there are a few others out there that felt the same about my comments, yet didn't have time to send me their thoughts too. I do NOT create the news in Z*Net, I publish it. My points of view are rarely included here. However, what was printed was my opinion based on what I expirenced the preceeding week. Foul language and nasty threats are not necessary nor appreciated. We all work hard to produce a free publication for Atari Users. Everyone has a right to respond to any comments posted in Z*Net, however, as a few of those people sending email, asked me not to publish their comments. Two of the letters received really expected me to reprint their email filled with the pointed language. Most of the comments were directed right at Bob Brodie and other Atari executives, which complained about the Falcon030. I would have considered it with the offending words removed, however, we are not into bashing anyone in Z*Net. Bashing in my view is directly attacking a specific user will malice and intent to embarrass. Those type of letters will NOT be reprinted here. However, as I have stated more than a few times already in past editions, equal time will be given to anyone with an opposing point of view, however, a reasonable and factual reponse is requested. If you are going to create more problems, then simply don't bother responding. This is all I have to say on this topic. As promised last week, I stated that I would address some of the many rumors floating around the community. What I did during the past week was capture messages asking direct questions or passing a rumor or two in the content. This first addressing of rumors was captured from the FNET and the responses are included here. Before we get into rumor control, I want to share a few Falcon citings over the last week. FALCON WATCH '93 The Atari Falcon030 has been shipping units to dealers for one week now and the Falcon Watch has begun. This week the following dealers were citied with Atari Falcon030's. Computer Network; Micro Computer Depot; Manny's Music; IB Computers; J&J Computers; Mid-Cities; Run-PC; Toad Computers; Computer Garden and Raliegh Computers just to name a few. If you personally see a Falcon, let us know and we will make a note of it here! Z*NET ATARI RUMOR CONTROL Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Shervin Shahrebani at Fnet Node 523 In message 593/49/3, Shervin Shahrebani writes: > Interestingly though, I heard that Atari (especially the Tramiels) was > under great influence from Warner, who owned a sizable share of the > company. Since Warner knew nothing about the computer industry, "they > drove the company into the ground". Now that they have gotten out, > let's hope good things happen. > > S.S. Time-Warner Inc, is NOT running Atari Corporation. In another response in this column, Warner was purchased by Time and became Time-Warner,Inc. At the present time they hold 25% of Atari Stock. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Laurence Mcdonald In message 593/49/5, Laurence Mcdonald writes: > Ok, I guess this is a bit premature seeing as Falcons are landing in small amounts, but what has Atari planned for the next few months/ years then a far as new releases go? There's been a lot of rumours about the 2-piece Falcon, the 040 version etc., etc., but what about other machines? How do they see 3DO's console/home entertainment system doing and will they be jumping onto the bandwagon (which would be a damn good move) and perhaps utilizing 3DO technology into a computer rather than just a 'player' like Panasonic etc., have planned? # Origin: MicroMola (London) (081-316 7402) (100:101/0) * Origin: Dateline: Atari ~ New York, USA || Atari Corporation stated a "No Comment" to the question above, however, Atari is working on other products. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Steve Johnson In message 593/49/6, Steve Johnson writes: > To be fair, Atari halted production on the TT so that they could > produce more Falcon030's (which they desperately NEED). Bob and/or > Bill said that they WOULD produce more TT's again if there is still > demand for them. > * Origin: Atlanta's OS/2 Users Group BBS 404-471-1549 (51:1/14) It is False that Atari halted TT production for the Falcon. IT is true however that demand for the TT dwindled after the introduction of the Falcon030. Atari is considering additional TT production at a later date. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Barry Summer In message 593/49/7, Barry Summer writes: > As I'm confused, and I'm sure others are also, about the dealership doctrines for selling Atari Falcons, how about setting up an 800 number for users to call to inquire about where to purchase a Falcon. > * Origin: Dateline: Atari ~ New York, USA (100:2/0) Atari has considered an 800 line. But at the present there is not enough business to persue it. There will be a customer support number listed in the Falcon manual for users looking for Falcon advice. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Chris at Fnet Node 652 In message 593/49/8, Chris writes: > Can you guys answer just ONE question about the Jaguar? What computer is used as the development platform? The Jaguar is used as the development platform. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Rich Tietjens In message 593/49/9, Rich Tietjens writes: > In a message of 16 Apr 93 18:01:42, Evan Langlois wrote: > > EL> I think that the IDE interface might be missing on the no hard > EL> drive falcons, just so that ATARI can make a profit off of those > EL> drives. > > Hey, Ron! Bob! Somebody, please squelch this rumour NOW! > > I don't think a Falcon can run without the IDE interface - it's partly > handled by several different chips, as usual on Atari systems. The > drive is unnecessary, true - but the interface probably can't be > removed. That is not true because the interface for the IDE boards is built into the mother board. Hard drives kits will be available at a later date. *********************************************************************** Conf : Z*Net/Atari Explorer To : Shervin Shahrebani at Fnet Node 523 In message 593/49/10, Shervin Shahrebani writes: > Does Warner still hold a stake in Atari (an is it true that they > pressured Atari into doing things or not doing things?)? Is there any > chance Atari will make SOME modifications to their agreements so that > more dealers will sign it? Warner Communications was purchased by Time and became Time-Warner, Inc and they own 25% of Atari Stock. Atari doesn't beleive that it is necessary to perform any modifications to the dealer agreement. The dealers have been signing the agreements all along, however, since Atari released the Falcon, and the fact that they have finally started shipping, dealers holding out are now signing up also. *********************************************************************** Z*Net will continue to persue answers to your questions, however, there are no plans to make this feature a weekly one at the present time. To stay up to date on Atari News continue to read Z*Net and Atari Explorer Online Magazine. ###### Z*NET NEWSWIRE ###### Latest News ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- ATARI POSTS LOSS OF $22 MILLION Atari has announced the results of operations for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 1992. Net sales for the fourth quarter of 1992 were $25.5 million as compared to $96.1 million for 1991. As part of the company's restructuring program, the company recorded $7.4 million in restructuring charges and $14.1 million in inventory write-downs. These charges were partially offset by a reversal of $9.0 million of previously estimated loss for discontinued operations. In addition, the company incurred a loss on exchange of $5.3 million as compared to a $4.1 million gain in 1991. Due to these factors, the company incurred a net loss in the fourth quarter in 1992 of $21.9 million as compared to a $4.4 million net loss in 1991. For the year 1992, net sales were $127.3 million as compared to $258.0 million in 1991. During 1992, the company incurred a net loss of $73.6 million as compared to net income of $25.6 million for 1991. In the year 1992, the company took inventory write- downs of $37.6 million, and as part of its restructuring program, made provisions totalling $17.1 million. IBM GERMANY LOSES $277 MILLION IBM Deutschland, the German subsidiary of IBM reported a loss 277 million dollars in 1992. IBM Germany also commented about the loss and stated that despite the downturn, IBM remained a sound company. More on this story in the Newswire. AT&T ANNOUNCES LOSS OF $5.64 BILLION AT&T reported a first-quarter loss of $5.64 billion due primarily to a charge for retiree health and other benefits. Sales during the first quarter rose to $15.7 billion from $15.3 billion in the year-ago period. The first quarter included a charge for the adoption of a new accounting standard on Jan. 1, that relates to retiree health benefits and also a one-time gain from an accounting change for income taxes. CONNER PERIPHERALS TO LAY OFF 1,200 WORKERS Disk-drive maker Conner Peripherals will cut 1,200 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force, in order to stay competitive. Conner disclosed the job cuts in its announcement of a first-quarter loss of $22.5 million, which included charges of $36.4 million for restructuring and cutting back operations and to accelerate the end of some older and less profitable product lines. In the year-ago quarter, Conner had earned $24.7 million. Sales in the 1993 quarter were $558.3 million, an increase of 27 percent from $441.1 million in the first quarter of 1992. Conner, which bought tape-drive specialist Archive last fall for $176 million, warned in February that initial costs of boosting production for new products may place additional pressures on margins in the near term. SEAGATE AND CORNING REACH AGREEMENT Seagate announced that they have reached a multi-million dollar agreement with Corning through which Corning will manufacture and supply new disc substrate products for Seagate's high-performance hard disc drives. The MemCor brand substrate developed in Corning laboratories is made from a new, proprietary glass-ceramic material which provides a leading-edge substrate solution enabling disc drives to be designed with significantly increased capacity as compared with other substrate alternatives. IBM REPORTS LOSS OF $285 MILLION IBM reported a first-quarter loss of $285 million compared to earnings of $2.54 billion in the year-ago quarter, which included a one-time benefit of $1.9 billion from a change in the standard of accounting for income taxes. Revenues were down 7 percent to $13.1 billion compared with $14.04 billion in the year-ago quarter. IBM, the world's largest computer company, had the worst year in its 79-year history in 1992, reporting a record $5.46 billion loss for the fourth quarter and $4.97 billion in red ink for the full year - despite the huge first-quater benefit for adoption of the new tax accounting standard. ###### MARCEL WORD PROCESSOR ###### Press Release ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Doug McCasland at 707 544 6882 (Santa Rosa, California) Marcel Software of California is pleased to announce the distribution of its Marcel Word Processor to the U.S. and Canada. Copies of Marcel can be expected on store shelves by the end of May. (In March, Marcel Software released Version 2.0 of its new word processor at the Sacramento Atari Expo. The Marcel booth was busy, and response to the product was enthusiastic, resulting in a number of purchases by showgoers. Shipment by mail order began a few days later and sales have been brisk ever since.) In April, Marcel released Version 2.1, which provides support for the Atari Laser Printer and adds several new features to the spell checker. (Version 2.1 is available as a free update to all 2.0 customers. To receive the upgrade, the 2.0 customer only needs to mail in the 2.0 diskette and the 2.1 update will be shipped back in exchange.) Marcel Word Processor is a GEM-based, user-friendly, budget-priced program especially suited for writers, authors, journalists, and students--and for anyone who likes to write. Marcel has loads of features, like programmable function keys, auto-reformatting, instant- access writer's note pad (saved with file, but not printed or exported), easy accented-letter entry, easy keyboard selection of clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, word erase, and hundreds of other features, many not found in other word processors. Marcel can export in the following formats: RTF, 1st-Word, and 7- and 8-bit ASCII. With RTF, files can be exchanged with numerous programs in the Macintosh and DOS worlds, and with such programs as Calligrapher and the new AtariWorks from Atari Corp. 1st-Word format may be used with programs like Pagestream. Marcel can read RTF, 1st-Word, WordWriter, ST-Writer, WordPerfect 4.1, and several other file formats. Printer support includes Epson and compatibles, Atari Laser, Citizen, HP DeskJet and LaserJet, and IBM. Users can create their own printer drivers by editing a simple file. Marcel runs on the full range of Atari 680x0 machines, from 520ST all the way up to the new Falcon. It is fully MultiTOS-compatible. Marcel Word Processor is available now through mail order at an introductory price of $39.95 (the list price will be $49.95 after May 31, 1993). Send check or money order to Marcel, 318 Mendocino Av. D51, Santa Rosa CA 95401. ###### DMC PUBLISHING IN CONFERENCE ###### Edited by Lou Rocha ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- (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. Monday Night DTP Real Time Conference April 19, 1993 Guests - Nathan Potechin and Mario Georgiou of DMC Publishing Host - Lou Rocha <[Host] ST.LOU> Welcome to the Monday Night DTP Real Time Conference. Our special guest is Nathan Potechin, President of DMC Publishing, distibutors of Calamus SL and a fine catalog of related products. Tonight we will hear about Outline Art 3.0 - newly upgraded from 1.0. Nathan will also be available to discuss other developments with Calamus SL. Nathan will also be joined by Mario Georgiou, resident graphic artist and Outline Art expert! :-) Welcome to you both. Nathan, would you like to make some opening comments? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> First of all, allow me to take this opportunity to thank Lou for allowing us the opportunity to discuss Outline Art 3.0 tonight, as well as perhaps throwing in a few words on some of the new products already available. We are proud to announce the release of Outline Art 3.0. In addition to all the features that made Outline Art a standard, 3.0 features more import/export options, colour tables (Calamus SL colour tables can also be used), keyboard equivalents are provided for most functions, a new set of calculator functions, online context sensitive help provides complete descriptions from inside the program, USER definable UNDO feature which allows you to preset the starting point, the ability to import and manipulate text files and even access the extended character set. Until May 30, 1993, the upgrade cost from Outline Art 1.0 to 3.0 is only US $49.95 or $59.95 CDN. June 1 the upgrade is US $69.95 or $89.95 CDN. The DEMO version is available in our library 30 now. As you can see, it has already been downloaded quite a few times. 27991 OL3_DEMO.LZH X POTECHIN 930308 167168 121 30 Desc: Outline Art 3.0 Demo Version I also uploaded a Press Release last month that also contains information that might be of interest to you. 28001 OL3_PRES.TXT X POTECHIN 930309 2176 141 14 Desc: Press Release for Outline Art 3.0 Mario and I would be pleased to answer any questions that you may have on Outline Art and, if you'd like, I am not adverse to discussing anything offered by DMC Publishing at this time. In case I forget later on in the conference, thank you for attending this evening. DMC Publishing continues to release excellent Atari-specific desktop publishing software for you! Thanks Lou, you're on. ;-) <[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Nathan. Before we begin taking questions, I want to remind evryone to hang around for the door prize. CLUE: Read the opening comments! <[Host] ST.LOU> What is the prize Nathan? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Mario <[Host] ST.LOU> :-) And second prize is two of him? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Nah, just kidding. I am pleased to give away Outline Art 3.0 to one participant this evening, or the equivalent value in some of our original typesetter fonts if they have already upgraded. <D.VICHA> OL3 seems to come in two versions, 2MB and 4MB. Why so big? and is there a difference? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Mario's typing a response. As a typist, he's a great artist ;-) <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> Hello Donovan, The big difference between the 2 and 4 Meg version is that the 4 meg version has interactive help. <D.VICHA> Is there a reason these prgs need so much RAM? Not complaining, just curious. <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> Yes, the handling of vector based graphics is fairly memory and processor intensive, especially Color graphics. <W.PARKS3> First, let me confess that I didn't read your press release (I'm sorry. I won't do it again:) Does OL3 work on all Atari platforms? ie ST/TT/Falcon? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Yes Dr. Bob. Outline Art 3.0 works on ALL Atari's. Whoa, except for the 8 bit. ;-) <M.SANTORA2> Sorry if this was covered in the opening remarks, I got here late tonight. Two Quick Questions: ONE - Can Outline Art 3.0 be used as a module for Calamus SL? TWO - With the Dataformer, can I output in color EPS through Outline Art 3.0? Thanks. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> 1. Outline Art 3.0 is a standalone program. There are a great many NON-Calamus people using Outline Art. With the addition of a built-in option to allow EPS export directly from OL3, this has even broadened the field further. There will be an upgrade to the Vector Graphic module currently available for Calamus SL that will incorporate many of the features currently available in Outline Art 3. but this module is not yet available. <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> Two, OL3 actually exports EPS in Illustrator 3.0 format directly. <M.SANTORA2> So, output through OL3 is in Illustrator format, does this mean that I can interchange with it directly? <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> No, You can import the files in Illustrator but not the other way, however you may export from Illustrator in another format such as GEM and then import the file into SL and dataform to a CVG file. <S.MILLER58> Is the undo programmable so you can undo lots of things in sequential order like in Freehand? <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> There is an UNDO and and REDO feature with a user linked status or revision control. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> It works like this: If automatic undo is activated, a click on the function Undo 'Time' will undo the last changes. To go back to a specific point of your work, the Undo Memory has to be set before any changes are made. Then a click on Undo 'Time' will get you back to that starting point. At the same time a new undo memory is set at end of the executed commands. To always get back to the beginning state, a new memory has always to be set at this point or the graphic be saved. <S.MILLER58> Since the program is so processor intensive... does it use the 68882 in my TT? cool!! about the undo that is. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Steve, I don't know the answer offhand. I don't think that it does as DMC has their own very intense math routines but it is possible in this case. I will ask and post in Cat 16. <C.CASSADAY> I just popped in, so I missed your intro; please excuse me if you have already covered this stuff. Friends of mine have used Outline Art and have expressed the notion that it was difficult to use. What is the user interface like? In brief, can you run down on some of the features. (or maybe I'll have to wait for the transcript...) <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> There is a Press Release available in the library for downloading which contains a list of all of the features I believe. I'd rather not repeat them here to avoid redundancy Chris. Do you mind? <J.BRENNER1> I also confess not having read the press release so these questions may be have been in there. Does OA3 support different Falcon modes (ie 32,000 or 256 ect.) and what file format can we save as. I don't DTP, but could use vector style graphics package to create logos to import into my Lexicor software. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Mario is typing furiously. <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> OL3 supports only resolutions above 640 by 350 including VGA, and Falcon 256 colour modes ... and even runs on graphics cards like the Crazy dots, Cybercube and Matrix <J.BRENNER1> You stated the upgrade price of OA3, what is the purchase price for first time users. (Canadian) :-) <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> The price for Outline Art 3,0 is US $149.95 or CDN $179.95 depending on the exchange rate at any given time. ;-) <S.HANNA3> Nathan, I'm taking you up on your offer, I would really like to know about the NEW products that are being released NOW. Thanks! <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Ok, I have a few new products Sylvia that I was going to announce in our mailout later this week but since you asked DMC's Calamus Service Bureau Now open for business, DMC proudly offers 1200 and 2400 dpi output, letter, legal or tabloid size, film or typesetters paper. In addition we offer scanning, file preparation, design work, illustration, media transfers, chromalin, color keys and file conversions. Our brand new service bureau brochure will be enclosed with the customer mailout. Files may be sent via modem to GEnie or direct to DMC upon request. New SL Module Toolkit/Clipboard Toolbox is a frame|handling utility that allows you to do a number of useful things with any frame type; quickly position frames and move them from master to layout pages, line up multiple frames or change their order fast, hide a frame, expand a selected frame to full view and more. This Calamus module is a natural layout utility that all Calamus users will appreciate, particularly with the clipboard extension that allows the saving and reloading of clipboard items. This new module is US $79.95 or $99.95 CDN. New SL Module Mask Mask is a powerful graphics tool that allows you to create advanced effects in your publishing work, allowing the process of cropping selected areas of a graphic to create a special MASK effect. Create and edit masked images quickly and effectively, without leaving your page layout program. The new Mask Module is US $149.95 or $179.95 CDN. MTSCAN for Microtek Scanners This program works specifically with the Microtek family of Color, Greyscale and Line Art scanners that come with a built-in SCSI port. Using this program, you can save files for use in your DTP and graphics applications in the following file formats: TIFF, ESM, IMG, TGA (Targa) and IFF. The program also allows you to adjust and define both contrast and intensity levels after preview or prior to the scanning of your art and photos. Your price is US $79.95 or $99.95 CDN. Kodak Photo CD Import Driver for Calamus SL The Photo CD process starts with your own camera. Bring any roll of 35mm film to an authorized photoprocessor and ask for a Photo CD disk. Virtually all the visual information in each original photograph is stored and compressed on CD. Each picture is stored in one file at 5 different resolutions (128x192, 256x384, 512x768, 1024x1536 and 2048x 3072) so you can choose the resolution that best fits your needs and import the image directly into your Calamus SL document. Your cost is US $20.00 or $24.95 CDN. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> This import driver is great. ;-) We've been playing with Kodak Photo CD's at the office and we love it! The Brush Module is a raster graphics editor that looks and works like any of the basic external modules. It has two command groups, the first allows you to select from a palette of 20 brush sizes and shapes, including one that is variable. The second command group accesses the same colour table that is available in the other modules. This means you can now colour your raster graphics! Your cost is only US $30.00 or CDN $35.00. The Brush module has been updated. If you already own it, please ask for your free update. (Note: There will be a small charge for shipping and handling.) A new feature has been added that allows you to sample a pixel and then paint using that color. INVISION Elite allows you to create sophisticated black and white and now COLOUR raster images. Stretch! Skew! Bend! Copy! Thin! Thicken! Rotate! Outline! Anything! If you can think of it, chances are, INVISION Elite does it. Using images that you create in the program, or ones from other sources, you can manipulate your graphics in a hands-on manner to achieve stunning visuals. For example, you could even load in an entire page from Calamus SL and bend it into the shape of an 'S'. INVISION Elite's simple, easy-to-use features give you a great many possibilities. INVISION Elite unleashes the power of your own creativity. If you own INVISION Elite, upgrade to the colour version for US $20.00 or $25.00 CDN. The new colour version is US $149.95 or $179.95 CDN. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> I have a few more files but this is getting ridiculous. ;-) There must be some questions you'd like to ask by now. I have files about more new products, like 350 brand new fonts from the famous Font Foundry etc... Aren't you glad you asked Sylvia? ED.NOTE: Nathan provided the Berthold info after the RTC... Berthold Fonts We are pleased to announce the availability of 341 Berthold fonts in Calamus CFN format. These original typefaces are packaged in 45 families. A sample sheet will be enclosed in the customer mailout, with examples and pricing information. CVG files are available in our library 30 on GEnie for your previewing pleasure. <S.HANNA3> Thanks, I'll look forward to the newsletter. <M.WEILERT2> I've used CorelDraw before, how would this upgraded version of OL compare say to the applying textures and layering of effects? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> A Mario question if I ever heard one. <[MARIO @ DMC] ISD> These programs are very different in nature, COREL is pretty much designed to be a stand-alone package whereas OL and OL3 are designed for use with Calamus and other pagecreation software but having said this I would still put OL up against Corel in both Speed and the Calculator functions. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Matt, I suspect a major disparity between the retail price of Outline art and that of Corel Draw by the way. Both products have strengths and weaknesses. I've seen some incredible work created using Outline Art. <M.WEILERT2> Will the Kodak photo CD data be importable into OL? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> No, Kodak Photo CD is a bitmap based graphics while Outline Art use object oriented graphics however, if you wish, you would be able to convert the bitmap to a vector graphic but I suspect this would be an abuse of the Kodak Photo CD concept. <M.SANTORA2> Well, I had one question, but you brought up another point that makes it two. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> I imagine an autotrace of the Photo CD image would be open to artistic interpretation. <M.SANTORA2> One, does OL3 use the peci format or decimal? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> It uses DECIMAL. <M.SANTORA2> Second, how would you compare OL3 to Invision Elite? Which is better? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> OL3 is a object oriented vector graphic program. The new INVISION Elite Color is a bitmap or raster graphic program. Both have their uses in different gendres. Together, we are starting to get the bases covered. <D.VICHA> With all the talk about Photo CD, fonts, and various SL modules, how soon till you make things available on CD, and maybe offer CD-ROm drives along with rest of hardware you market? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> That is more a question of market conditions Donavan. We started looking into a CD, particularly for the fonts, a year ago. We have the technology, what we don't have is the growing vibrant market that would warrant the investment at this time, for which I will NOT take the blame. ;-) I am aware of this avenue and will pursue it as soon as circumstances warrant. <[Host] ST.LOU> Thank you Donavan. Now we come to the part where someone wins a free copy of Outline Art 3.0 Who knows, tonight's winner may one day be a winner of another Outline Art Contest! OK, here is the question and you will have two minutes to find the answer in Nathan's opening comments. The first paying customer wins the free copy. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> I like that, "PAYING CUSTOMER" on GEnie he means. ;-) <[Host] ST.LOU> Name THREE enhancements in the NEW Outline Art 3.0. TWO minutes.... GO. Place answers in your type ahead buffer and watch for the TALK mode signal. Then hit RETURN FAST!!!!! ** <[Host] ST.LOU> Room is now in the talk mode. <J.ALLEN27> sssss <JOHN.KING.T> May 30, 1993 <W.PARKS3> The undo feature. <D.A.BRUMLEVE> New version number...Hmmmm...that's only one. <S.MILLER58> color/color eps/undo funstions <[Rob] R.QUANCE> EPS Output, Color, New UNdo <J.BRENNER1> keybord equivelents, More colours, more import/export <C.CASSADAY> color support, EPS export, and user defined undo <M.WEILERT2> color, removed segment limit, 100k, and export in multiple formats <D.VICHA> color, user definable undo, <M.SANTORA2> eps support, color dupport, falcon support <D.VICHA> and new price? <W.PARKS3> did anyone mention the chili? <M.WEILERT2> user-definable undo with time <D.VICHA> I've lost my third item... <M.WEILERT2> limit & memory limit <D.VICHA> pix 0f Yekltsin! <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Color is correct, EPS is correct, Color EPS is correct and UNDO is definitely correct so according to my capture buffer the winner is <S.MILLER58> color/color eps/undo functions <[Host] ST.LOU> And another prize to one of our regulars! STeve, do you own any other DMC products? <[sTTeve] S.MILLER58> Thanks DMC! Your company and your support is why I like Atari, yes I own OA 1.0 <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Thanks for the kinds words Steve, we try. Steve, since you already own 1.0, chose an AGFA font family as an added bonus. We deliver VALUE at DMC! <[Host] ST.LOU> Your lucky night STeve. STeve, you must have the font poster, so check it out or wait for the newsletter. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> That will give you time to think about it. <JOHN.KING.T> What kind of continued support can we expect from DMC on the ATARI Platform. YOU have done such fantastic support in years past. That is one of the reasons I support DMC. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> The small ASCII blocks I uploaded were a small sampling of the new modules and programs that are coming out from DMC. Regardless of the situation in Sunnyvale, we continue to support our registered user base to the best of our ability, throughout the world, in quite a few languages. Every few months through the balance of this year I will be sending out mailouts with new products for our customers. And, we are also planning on releasing a Windows NT version of Calamus SL laster this year and we will insure compatibility from your existing CDK's. There are a great many ramifications to that last comment, not the least of which was a comment made by someone responding to a rumour from someone else, wondering if we really knew what we were doing to release a Windows NT product as we'd then have to compete with the products known on Mac and DOS platforms. The answer is an unequivocal YES! Meanwhile, I use my Atari computer all day long and my clone when I have no choice! ;-) By the way, I use a Mega ST 4, with a 68030 running at 50 MHz from Jim Allen of course. ;-) And while I still use an Atari SLM605 when Mario isn't drawing for me, ;-), our HP IV is GREAT! <[Host] ST.LOU> Before I shut King off, I would like to ask him how are plans getting along for Glendale? <JOHN.KING.T> Plans are going along, as scheduled. We have some changes in store, for the better, I think. <[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks King. Can we assume you will receive support for this show? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> I don't care what you change, Darlah and I are attending! <JOHN.KING.T> Atari has already committed to support the show. The price to developers just went up. <D.VICHA> Glad to hear that you're working with NT, not just Windows. I use PCs all day, and can't wait to use my Atari TT. My question concerns something I read in Explorer a few months back in regard to SL being a shell from which multimedia-type applications can be run. Is this kind of speculation really in the works? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> We already had a working module that allowed you to directly record picture and sound, using a digitizer and standard video camera. However, this was in PAL. Again, market conditions precluded manufacturing a NTSC unit at this time. This module was within Calamus SL. It works great. As you can tell from some of my posts, there are more than a few things that are currently on hold awaiting the correct market conditions for economic reasons. Meanwhile, you should see Mario's workstation using the 17" MAG monitor and the Cybercube Cyrel Sunrise card. It's AWESOME! <D.VICHA> The Falcon is not being touted as a DTP must-have machine, but this puts SL on the Falcon's plate. It hasn't had a lot of appeal to DTP people I've talked to. And DTP people who may not feel they need SL, may find themselves wanting desktop video capabilities. And I have no further questions, Thanks for being here and being one of the finest supporters Atari has. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Calamus SL runs just fine on the Atari Falcon 030, up to 256 colors, by the way. <J.BRENNER1> How is distribution of the Cyrel card going. Have you tested it with other ST applications which could benefit from the added resolutions and colours? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Lou, unleash Ralf please. Ralf, answer the question please. ;-) <CYBERCUBE> Well, we have tested almost 50 applications by now all of them ran FINE! <J.BRENNER1> All possible avenues to create good product must be looked into :-) <CYBERCUBE> We are now looking very seriously at CAD and especially rendering. Produced some great results, some of which will be posted next month in a 'public exhibition' If anybody is interested, we could provide some descriptions along with them explaining how we arrived at the results. Today we worked with PHOENIX from LEXICOR and I can only say it is FAST! <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Ralf told me that he made some BEAUTIFUL renders with Phoenix earlier today, and it displayed fantastic on the card! Well done <CYBERCUBE> Looks stunning too. We've rendered a couple of flying logos to be used for video production. <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> Lexicor and Cybercube! Answer your question John? ;-) <[Host] ST.LOU> Well, I have a plea from Jim Allen for one last question. I really should know better..... GA Jim <grin> <J.ALLEN27> First, thanks very much for all your support of the Atari platform, and of our community. Second, any information on a possible Macintosh version of CalamusSL? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> First, you are most welcome. Second. Smack! I have no comment at this time. ;-) <[Host] ST.LOU> See? I told you I should have known better! OK Nathan thanks to you and Mario for a very informative and historical evening. That was quite an announcement you made about Calamus NT! Would you like like add any closing comments? <[Nathan @ DMC] POTECHIN> On behalf of Mario and myself, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to attend this evening. We always enjoy these little get togethers on GEnie! I remind you all that we support all of our products many times daily, in our own Category 16 in the Atari RT. Please drop in and ask us anything. We'd love to hear from you. ###### SQUISH II SNEAK PREVIEW ###### Press Release ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Trace Technologies Program by Keith Gerdes [] Windowed GUI + Dialog boxes presented in a windowed format. + Advanced user input Formdo with keyboard equivalents. See the Data Rescue demo for an example [] Compressed executables converted by Squish II + Squish 1.0/1.1/1.2/1.4 + Pack + PFX/LZS2PFX + Pack ICE + Fire-Pack + Pompey Packer + BAPack [] Compression Factor (CF) A value from 0 to 9 can be inputted. This adjustment varies the compression routine. Using a value of 0- fastest compression, least file reduction. NOTE: CF0 produces files smaller than Squish v1.4 with a ~3x faster compression routine. Using a value of 3- approximately equivalent to PFX size reduction, though Squish II is faster of course. Using a value of 9- slowest compression, best file reduction [] Turbo mode [] Revised uncompress loader + Smaller + Faster + Squished ACCessories are compliant with memory protection. NOTE: Most executable compressors, if they even support compressing ACCs that is, will fail in this regard. + No more message printout- ie 'Squish-FILENAME'. [] Batch mode Batch operations now work recursively. In addition to files in the current directory, files in sub-directories are searched for too, allowing you to compress the contents of an entire drive or folder. [] Include extenders + Extenders are filtered by 'include' logic. Default list- PR?, AC?, APP, TOS, TTP, GTP + Easy user entry and editing of 16 extenders total. Only files with an extender matching an 'included extender' can be squished. This feature helps to alleviate the accidental compression of your hard disk handler and any other "non-Squishable" executable file. [] Excluded filenames + Filenames can be specified as excluded from Squishing. + Easy user entry and editing of 48 filenames total. This list is comprised of files that should not be squished or files that you do not want squished. For example, self-configuring programs. [] Intellisearch [] Improved memory allocation [] Realtime readouts The percent remaining and percent squished readouts have been junked. Replacing them is a "realtime graph" of the Squish/unSquish operation in progress, which is graphic resolution independent. Now: No VBLANK routine required and no Line-A references remain. [] FAST bit During a Squish operation, you can choose: a) Set FAST bit b) Clear FAST bit c) Keep the FAST bit as-is [] Other filters during Squish + Skip Squish + Squish only + No Compression Factor Update [] Keep TIME/DATE Stamp option [] Commandline support ==== Upgrades from all previous versions of Squish v1 will be available. This covers versions included with DCUtilities, Data Diet v1 and Data Diet v2. If you are either [1] a DCU owner -OR- [2] a DDv1 owner that has not received a DDv2 flyer, then make sure you are on the mailing list for the Squish II upgrade notice. Further details will be made available with the Squish II DEMO release. ==== Contact methods: [] Mail Trace Technologies PO Box 711403 Houston, TX 77271-1403 [] Phone (713) 771-8332 [weekdays 1PM-5PM Central Time] [] Online GEnie: K.GERDES [CATegory 2 TOPic 12] ###### ATARINET BACKBONE ECHOLIST ###### Compiled by Terry May ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Effective April 19, 1993 A_SYSOP AtariNet SysOps Moderator: Bill Scull @ 51:1/0.0 Handles: No Discussion of all matters relating to AtariNet SysOps, that aren't already covered in another AtariNet echo. This echo is for official AtariNet business, and any other topics specific to AtariNet SysOps. ATARINET SYSOPS ONLY! (Required echo for all AtariNet SysOps.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_ECHO AtariNet Echo Discussion Moderator: Terry May @ 51:2/0.0 Handles: No Discussion of AtariNet echoes and echo policy. Includes discussion and voting of proposed new echoes, as well as removal of old echoes no longer being actively used. Also, AtariNet echo policy proposals and changes. Rules of a specific echo are NOT on topic. ATARINET SYSOPS ONLY! (Required echo for all AtariNet hosts/hubs.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_TEST AtariNet Test Echo Moderator: Bill Scull @ 51:1/0.0 Handles: No Test echo for AtariNet sysops. This echo should be used for AtariNet sysops testing their software and setup. Test messages should be avoided in all other AtariNet echoes. ATARINET SYSOPS ONLY! (Required echo for all AtariNet hosts/hubs.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_4SALE Personal Items For Sale Moderator: Erik Williams @ 51:102/0.0 Handles: No The AtariNet marketplace! If you have items of a personal nature (not necessarily computer or Atari-related items) that you wish to offer for sale, then this is the place for you! Commercial advertisements are off-topic in A_4SALE...there is another echo devoted to them! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_ATARI Atari General Discussion Moderator: Nick Hard @ 51:2/4.0 Handles: No Area may be used for General discussion of the Atari computer. You will be encouraged to find the appropriate subject in another area if it does exist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_BBS Atari BBS Programs & BBS Ads Moderator: Terry May @ 51:2/0.0 Handles: Yes Discussion and support of all Atari BBS programs not already convered in another specific AtariNet echo. Friendly discussion of the pros and cons of various BBS programs are also welcomed, as are BBS ads (limited to one per week per BBS). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_BBS_DOORS Atari BBS Doors (Externals) Moderator: David Blanchard @ 51:1/6.0 Handles: No Discussion of all BBS doors (external programs) not already covered in another specific AtariNet echo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_BINKLEY BinkleyTerm-ST Support Moderator: Joerg Spilker @ 51:601/102.0 Handles: No Support for the BinkleyTerm-ST front-end mailer and terminal program. Gated with BINKLEY.ST (FidoNet). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_COMMERCIAL_ADS Commercial Advertisements Moderator: Erik Williams @ 51:102/0.0 Handles: No The companion echo to A_4SALE, A_COMMERCIAL_ADS is limited to commercial advertisements only. From time to time, I'll be posting press releases available from GEnie or other sources that may be of interest to the readers of A_COMMERCIAL_ADS. Discussions of experiences with commercial vendors is also on-topic as far as I'm concerned. Please keep the personal advertisements to A_4SALE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_DTP Atari Desktop Publishing Moderator: Erik Williams @ 51:102/0.0 Handles: No Discussion and support of the field of desktop publishing. *FRIENDLY* discussions of *ANY* DTP platform and software as well as related topics of scanning, colour separations, design tips, and tips and tricks of using a desktop publisher are welcome in A_DTP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_EXPLORER Atari Explorer Magazine/Z*Net Atari Online Magazine Moderator: Ron Kovacs @ 51:1/13.0 Handles: No Discussion of articles from Atari Explorer and Atari Explorer Online magazines. Also, discussions about articles published in Z*Net Atari Online Magazine. Presently gated with FNET conference. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_FDS AtariNet FDS Announcements Moderator: Bill Jones @ 51:203/0.0 Handles: N/A Announcements of all files distributed through the AtariNet File Distribution System. This is a READ-ONLY echo -- no posting allowed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_FIDODOOR FIDOdoor Support Moderator: Bryan Hall @ 51:3/6.0 Handles: No Support for the FIDOdoor message reader/editor. Gated with FIDODOOR (FidoNet). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_FIDO_ST Atari Fido-Style Networking Moderator: Daron Brewood @ 51:500/0.0 Handles: Yes Discussion of all aspects of Fido-style networking, except those topics already covered by a more specific AtariNet echo. Gated with N_FIDO (NeST). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_FILEFIND AtariNet File-Finder Moderator: Brian Watters @ 51:3/3.0 Handles: No This echo is used for searching files using Mark Matts' File-Finder program. Any BBSes using File-Finder will show any matches to all requested filespecs. This is NOT an echo for chit-chat; it's ONLY for making requests to File-Finder. Only AtariNet SysOps may have WRITE access to this echo! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_GENERAL General Discussion Moderator: Nick Hard @ 51:2/4.0 Handles: Yes General Chit Chat area, not related to computers. Talk about whatever subject you wish here, but be NICE! This is the area where you may find the time to unwind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_GRAPHICS Atari Graphics Hardware/Software Moderator: Terry May @ 51:2/0.0 Handles: Yes Discussion of Atari graphics hardware and software, including, but not limited to, paint programs, graphics utilities, digitizers, expansion cards, pictures, graphics demos, etc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_JETMAIL JetMail Support Moderator: Daniel Roesen @ 51:601/111.0 Handles: No Support for the JetMail mail processor and maintenance system. Mainly to discuss desired features, at this time, as all help with JetMail is currently restricted to the FidoNet JETMAIL_BETA echo. Gated with N_JETMAIL (NeST). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_MAXI_SUPT MaxiMiser/MaxiDoor/PhidoQWK Support Moderator: Shawn Smith @ 51:5/4.0 Handles: No Support for the MaxiMiser, MaxiDoor and PhidoQWK .QWK utilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_PROGRAMMING Atari Programming Moderator: Don Liscombe @ 51:5/0.0 Handles: No Discussion of programming for Atari computers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_SOUND Atari Sound Hardware/Software Moderator: Terry May @ 51:2/0.0 Handles: Yes Discussion of Atari sound hardware and software, including, but not limited to, MIDI hardware and software, sound utilities, sound and music players, sound and music data files, digitizers, demos, etc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A_TECH Atari Technical Discussions Moderator: Wes Newell @ 51:202/0.0 Handles: No For the discussion of Hardware/Software of a technical nature. ###### 1993 CONNECTICUT ATARIFEST UPDATE ###### Press Release ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- HARTFORD, Conn. (April 12) -- More than 1,000 Atari computer enthusiasts are expected to converge here June 12 and 13 at Connecticut AtariFest '93, and will be greeted by over 50 vendors, business professional and media experts eager to share how cutting edge technology can make our lives more productive. One of the highlights of the show will be the Annual New England Lynx Tournament. Appealing to the gamester in the family, The tournament features non-stop competition and prize giveaways, with several extended tournaments. Last year's top winners took home the Deluxe Lynx Kit, consisting of a brand new Lynx, a power adapter and one of the latest games. This year, we expect to have an even greater participation, owing to the direct support of the Beyond Games company. The Official Lynx Game of CAF '93 is their upcoming release: BattleWheels. BattleWheels is an awesome six player game featuring customizable armored cars, which fight through a variety of terrains using a variety of weapons. Even if your car is destroyed, you can continue on foot. We'll have two six player link ups at all times, with prizes for individual tournaments, and for total points scored over the weekend. Lynx owners who bring their Lynx and a copy of Checkered Flag, Warbirds or any other ComLyxnable game will receive a reduced admission of $1.50 off per day! The two-day event will feature several of the top names in music software development and direct to disk recording, as well as developers of the latest productivity, graphics arts and entertainment software. Music exhibitors include Barefoot Software (formerly Hybrid Arts), Digital F/X, Steinberg/Jones, Pro Musica, Compo Software and more. In addition to several local computer dealers, organizers also expect A&D Software, ABC Solutions, Atari Computer Corp., Baggetaware, Best Electronics, Computers a la Carte, Computer Studio, Derric Electronics, E.Hartford Computer Repair, Gribnif Software, ICD Inc., MegaType Software, Oregon Research Associates, Soft-Logik Publishing, Straight Edge Software, Toad Computers, WinterTree and Wizztronics. Last year 14 user groups participated, and that number is expected to grow by June. This is also expected to be the debut of a new Multimedia PC from Atari: Falcon030. With built in MIDI ports, true color graphics, CD quality sound and the latest DSP chip from Motorola, Falcon030 may be the first computer to deliver real power without the price. A Home Business and Entertainment Expo that will focus on high-tech gadgetry designed for home use is also planned. Central activities will include a Portfolio corner for the on-the-go palmtop computer user, and other technology such as VCRs, lap/palmtops, voice messaging systems, satellite receivers, CD-ROM, fax-modems, large screen TV, printers, audio-video components, cellular phones, office supplies, video games or add-on units and accessories. One ticket is good for both shows! For further information, contact organizers Brian Gockley at (203) 332- 1721 or Doug Finch at 203-637-1034. Subscribers to GEnie and Compuserve on-line services can send E-mail to them, respectively, at B.GOCKLEY or D.FINCH7 on GEnie and 75300,2514 or 76337,1067 on CIS. ###### THE 1993 Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR ###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences ###### ---------------------------------------------------------------- ### 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 ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- You people are keeping me busy! This past week I downloaded over fifty files! Some of them have been around for awhile, but most of them are brand new. I enjoy looking through them all. In my experience the happiest and healthiest people are those who are well-rounded (not necessarily in the belly but in the mind!). We need to work, and we need to play. We need to love and be loved. Now my STe and modem (and writing this article) don't give me any love, but they do give me an opportunity to play. I have grand fun in calling around the country, "talking" to people, downloading files (and uploading some, too), and sharing my discoveries with you. It's my hope that we all will have and take the opportunity to both work and to play, to love and be loved. I think life's wonderful, and I hope you do as well. Remember, give me a call if you want to talk or to share a discovery with me! You have a lot of work and hopefully a lot of fun coming up in this file! BLAT is BLAT! by Chris Vance. BLAT! is based around the old three-in-a- row falling blocks idea ("Columns"), but with a few new ideas added. These include dynamite, lightning, acid bottles, smart bombs, indestructible blocks, randomizers, annihilators, etc, etc. There are some excellent sound samples included that make the game even more enjoyable (you can even add your own samples if you wish!). Joystick controlled. Very fast-paced and challenging. It's best with one meg of RAM or more, though it will work on a 520 STe (though some sound samples will be missing). STe ONLY. Color only. Docs included. BMP2 is the Background Music Utility by Richard Karsmakers. This is an .ACC that allows you to listen to 25 different pieces of music (not all at once!) while doing anything else in your computer. This .ACC only takes up a small bit of CPU time, and plays through your monitor's speaker. ST--TT compatible in ST resolutions. HANDY is another program by Richard Karsmakers. This .ACC will allow you to do three things: Access the file selector (handy when using one of the commercial or SHAREWARE alternatives), view your time and date, and freeze the system until a password is entered (directions on changing the password are included). The most useful part of this for me is the system password since I have a big clock right in my computer room (a Christmas present from my wife, Suzy), and I can call the item selector using either a single or double keypress (depending on whether I am using DC Desktop or NeoDesk), but that might differ for you. Compatible with all TOS's in any resolution. Docs included. SPDWRT2 is Speedwriter II by Richard Karsmakers (dated May 17, 1989). This program, which runs only in mono, will allow you to send pre-typed messages to someone else via a disk, but with a difference. What the other person sees is the message -just- as you typed it, with the hesitations, backspaces, insertion/deletion of lines and all cursor movements (this reminds me in a small way of Rod Coleman's "Sudden View"). You can also add lots of special effects! You can save and load your messages for use whenever you wish. I could imagine all sorts of use for this program. Very interesting. Docs and on-line help plus GFA Basic source code included (along with an introductory text file). Shareware. David Becker is one of my favorite programmers. This week he has released several new SHAREWARE programs (register and get SIX educational programs all at once--that's a honey of a deal!). Here are four of them! ABC is The Alphabet Monkey by David Becker. This is a fun monochrome learning game in which a monkey asks you to "press a key" (it's lips move as it speaks!). When you press a letter key the monkey speaks that letter, not using synthesized voice but actual sound samples so the quality is excellent. SHAREWARE. At least one meg of RAM required. SHASHA is "Mathematics with Shasha" by David Becker (Shasha is his Siberian Husky dog). This Monochrome learning game will help your kids practice multiplication (the docs say addition and subtraction too, but I haven't figured how this happens other than through the cats and levels--see below). Every time they answer correctly, an animated Sasha barks and gives them a "cat" (and a live one at that!). If they give the wrong answer, Sasha whines. Six cats equal one level and every five levels a new surprise animation and digitized song appear. There are five surprises and then the winner gets to see Sasha's puppy (a real puppy and a real scanned photo!) Sasha does not penalize your child for wrong answers. After three incorrect answers Sasha will let your child peek at the correct number. Parents can also configure numbers used in the times tables. SHAREWARE. At least one meg of RAM required. SRCHFIND is Search and Find by David Becker. This mono-only learning game is for the littlest Atari kids. Your computer mixes up 15 different pictures on the screen and then asks your child, in a real human voice, to find one of the pictures. If the child points to the correct picture, the human voice congratulates the child and then moves on to a different picture jumble. If the child chooses wrong, he/she is told in a soothing human voice, "No ... that's the apple [or whatever], find the strawberry" Animals, household items, boats, planes, ships, food, all sorts of pictures are available. Each time the program is run it's a different game. There are more than 40 assorted pictures! The child wins the game after choosing 14 different pictures correctly (there are no penalties for wrong answers). SHAREWARE. It's fun! At least one meg of RAM required. SUPER is the Super Jumble by David Becker. Super Jumble allows you to import any ordered set of items and mix them up and then excourage (someone else!) to resort them! It's an excellent learning tool. Alphabets, numbers, stories, clocks, foreign languages ... the sky's the limit! This program allows you to design your own jumbles within the program or by using your favorite paint program, or you can use the ones he has included. He's included the following jumbles: Upper Case Jumble; Lower Case Jumble; Number Jumble; Time with Clocks Jumble; Hebrew Jumble, and a Sign Language Jumble! SHAREWARE. At least one meg of RAM required. CERTIFS, FRAMES, and LETRHEDS is a series of Calamus .CDK templates by Jimmy Carter (not the ex-President!) for use with Calamus 1.09N (it should also work with Calamus S and SL). Each .CDK represents one of Paper Direct's pre-printed paper designs, "Certificates," "Frames," or "Letterheads." Just load these into Calamus, design your page using the template, and print out your material using the appropriate Paper Direct paper. Paper ordering information included. BS_300PD is the text adventure Operation Blue Sunrise v.3.00 (released Sept. 1992) by Colin Campbell (not the same guy as found in Heinlein's "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"--I think!). While I'm not in general a text adventure fan (and I haven't played this one to any extent), this seems pretty interesting and challenging (though gross in some things-- like starting by waking up with vomet in your hair and clothes after sleeping all night in your shower stall!). One thing that I like about it is that it contains a text file detailing just how to play a text adventure (some people don't know, after all). You can play a male or female, work through a variety of puzzles (both easy and difficult ones), and "win" the adventure in a variety of ways. One thing is that his docs have gotten ahead of his programming. He mentions some places where they refer to things that are still only wishes in his mind. At least he's planning ahead! Color, Double-sided drive or Hard drive required (hard drive requires booting from an absolutely "clean" system). BSTAT245 is B/STAT v.2.45. It is a statistical analysis and business graphics spreadsheet program. A powerful graphing program is also included. Data can be entered from its own spreadsheet or others. It will load DIF, ASCII, PRN, WKS (Lotus 123) and SYLK files. It requires a minimum of 1 Meg of RAM (more is better) and a double-sided drive or hard drive. B/STAT will use GDOS if available but it is not required. This program is complicated, but powerful. It fixes a few bugs in the previous version and adds some more features, too. Docs and online help included. Color or Mono. ST through TT compatible. 767K uncompressed. SHAREWARE. CENTAURI is Centaurian 1.net by Lee H Fuller and Kevin Wright (dated 1990/91). In this game you control a helicopter that can move both vertically and horizontally, and fire from the left to the right. You have to destroy the scores of airships, tanks, missles, etc. that come your way. Some of them are smart, too, and come after you! The game is written in STOS, and it says that it is STe compatible, but it doesn't work on my TOS 1.62 STe (perhaps it is compatible with TOS 1.60?). Anyway, I used STOSFIX2 by Rob Quezada to fix the program so it would work with my TOS 1.62 machine (STOSFIX 2 will fix it to work on any TOS) after I de-packed it with MDP_211 (Mega DePack v.2.11 by Mike Watson). It's a nice game, and I'm keeping it. If you have one of the newer TOS's you'll have to fix it the same as I did. Color only. Docs and STOS .BAS source included. COMBAT is Combat by Warwick Allison. This is a suped-up version of the old video game I remember playing long ago. Drive your tank (or fly your plane) around the playing field, trying to destroy your enemy (the only problem is that YOU are HIS enemy!). The control is by joystick and is very smooth ("64 direction, anti-aliased rotated sprites"). This is a well-done and fun two player game. Color only. STe compatible (at least). CPYINF_26 is COPY_INF v.2.60 by Jeffrey Wisniewski (dated April 1, 1993) This program is for all of you who use any of several boot-up type programs (like SuperBoot, X-Boot or Desk Manager, among others). After you change your desktop and save it you would normally have to move that DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.ING file to the appropriate directory and rename it appropriately. This program will do that for you automatically. TOS 1.0-TT compatible, color or mono. DC_SEA is the long-awaited SHAREWARE release of DC SEA v.2.1. DC SEA make "Self-Extracting Archives of your ARC, LZH, ZIP, and ZOO compressed files (and restore said files to their original archive). When you need to give a compressed file to a friend, just run it through this program and your friend won't need any compression utilities to uncompress it! All he or she will need to do is to double-click on the file (the program gives it an .APP extender, but you can rename it to TOS, TTP, or PRG with no ill effects), select the destination directory using the item selector, and click on OK. The file will be uncompressed just like that! The files also have a verbose listing option so you can see the file names within the archive without uncompressing it. I HIGHLY recommend this file! Now for the problems with it: The ARC routines work without flaw. The LZH routine works with no problems using the older -lh1 compression scheme, and with no problem when uncompressing a SINGLE -lh5 file. The problem is that when an -lh5 archive contains more than one file the program hangs up on the first file and doesn't continue past it (simply exit the program and run it again, bypass the first file already uncompressed by hitting "N" at the prompt, and the next file will be uncompressed. Continue with all the remaining files. But that's a BIG pain, and one I hope the author fixes!). Another problem is with very large LZH files. They return a "CRC Error" message when uncompressed. This also happens with very small files that are not compressed, just stored "as is." The large files are corrupted, but the smaller ones are not (they are just reported as being so). Finally, only older .ZIP and .ZOO file formats are supported. Nevertheless, I still highly recommend this SHAREWARE program. Docs included (but strangely no Shareware notice--it's just mentioned within the program that this is Shareware??). DC_XTRCT is the long-awaited SHAREWARE version of Double-Click Software's DC Xtract Plus v.2.1v by Paul W. Lee. This is an excellent program that combines ARC, LZH, ZOO, and ZIP utilities all in one easy to use program. Using GEM, this program allows you to compress, uncompress, test the integrity of your archives, view files within the archive, search for specific files within the archive, and more. There are lots of ways to configure this program. If you have the older commercial version of this program this version is even better! It now supports the uncompression (but not the compression) of -lh5 files (the newest LZH format). It still doesn't extract the newest versions of .ZOO and .ZIP files. I love the commercial version of this, and I hope to love this program as well, but unfortunately, not yet. It has some bugs that limit its usefulness for me. The LZH uncompression and TEST functions cause the program to bomb out on my STe mid-way through the process on SOME files (I think I have found a pattern in that it seems the program bombs only on -lh1 files of approximately 50K bytes or more, but I'm not sure yet). It crashes the whole system when I have loaded the program into MultiDesk and try an extract or test. That's no fun! I've set this aside until a later version. Color or mono. Docs included. EOSLIFE1 v.1.1 by Keith Lord is a Warp 9 Extend-O-Save screen saver module that runs Conway's Life simulation. Life was created by John Conway (that doesn't make him God, just a clever mathematician) back in the late 60's. Basically a pattern of "cells" is created on the screen and cells are born and die based on four rules (and you can read the docs to find out just what they are!). This makes for an interesting display (though remember--you're supposed to WORK, not look at a screen saver!). ST--TT compatible in ST resolutions. Docs included. FLASHER by Mike Hill is a program for all of you who are still using the original Flash! program (check out the Flash 2 demo!). Flash! doesn't use very interesting colors in its default more (like black and white only). This program will allow you to fix the default colors to whatever you wish. Simply run this program and it will call Flash! for you so you can modem to your heart's content. FZD_B39 is the FreeZe Dried Software transfer protocols v.0.39 by Sean Price and Aaron Hopkins. This Beta-Test version currently supports Xmodem CRC, Xmodem 1K, Ymodem Batch, Ymodem-G Batch, and Fmodem Batch. The commands are passed by way of a command line when executed by being typed at a .TTP dialog or passed by a shell. You can use this with any terminal program. Docs included. SHAREWARE. ISOLA is ISOLA v.2.5, an excellent strategy game by Thierry Grellier. You are presented with a grid on which you and your opponent (either the computer or another human). The goal of the game is to place blocks in your opponent's path so that he or she cannot move (to isolate them). Of course, they're doing the same thing to you! I found the computer quite smart in this game (with four levels of game play), giving me a "run for my money" (in other words I lost sometimes!). You can even save and load your games from disk (to replay them to find out how you could have done better). Mouse controlled. Brief English docs with more extensive French docs included. Online help (with suggested moves if you ask for them). LGSEL18D is the latest version of the Little Green Selector (v.1.8D), a complete and powerful replacement for the GEM item selector by Charles F. Johnson. This program performs! It features built-in links with CodeHead's Maxifile (a GREAT combo, and one I recommend, that allows you to copy, move, delete, and rename files and folders, format disks, create new folders, show or print files, and much more [in a window showing up to 80 files at once)...any time you use the file selector!]), 18 preset paths, 20 preset extensions, keyboard equivalents for all operations, a _fast_ file search function, file/folder info, and much more! Docs included. Color or mono. Docs included. SHAREWARE. This is an "oldie but a goodie" uploaded again by no other than CFJ himself. Recommended. MDP_211 is Mega Depack v.2.11 by Mike Watson (dated Feb. 23, 1993). This .PRG/.ACC (just rename it) will uncompress/unpack just about any packed with a zillion different packers (actually 52 packers supported with 87 different file formats, including DC Squish, Pack Ice, Pompey Packer, PFX and MANY more). Mouse or command line controlled. Batch processing available. This is a very "intelligent" and versatile program which I highly recommend. Color or mono. TOS 1.0--Falcon compatible. SHAREWARE. Docs included. MUSICO03 Is Musico #3 "Music to soothe the savage eye!" by Dan Panke, the founder of ST PLUG, the exclusive distributor of BUDGIE UK software in North America (catalog included). Musico is a series of six pictures (DEGAS) combined with Quartet sound files in a slide/soundshow format. A first is of a pink rose with the music "Every Breath You Take." The next is of a bowling ball crashing through all ten pins to make a strike accompanied by the music "Fantastic Voyage 3." The third is a picture of wandering planets with the background of a swirling galaxy. The music here is entitled "Toccata" (I don't remember the full name, but it is a very familiar piece). A very ugly goblin king and his court form the foreground for "Crazy Train." Finally, a lighthouse at night with a full moon and swirling seagulls complement "ROAM." MUSICO04 Is Musico #4 "Music to soothe the savage eye!" by Dan Panke, the founder of ST PLUG, the exclusive distributor of BUDGIE UK software in North America. Musico is a series of six pictures (DEGAS) combined with Quartet sound files in a slide/soundshow format. A first picture is of a Porsche with music "AirWolf 2." The second frame is of a dragon made out of rings(?) standing in front of a large sphere. The music there is "Awesome 4." The third set is a close-up of the face of a cougar with the music "Acidtrak." The fourth is a set of three dancers on an infinite plane with "Thorn Part II" as the accompaniment. SB_N03_M is a .SM2 DMA digitized sound of Leonard Nimoy saying, "Leonard, 'An Expression of Love,' Joy, Nimoy." I find it interesting in that he pronounces the "I" in his name with an "eh" sound and not an "e". This also comes with a mono Tiny picture of Nimoy in a suit jacket and tie. Suitable (pun intended) for use with Super Boot 8.x. (SB_N03_C is the same sound file with a color Tiny picture). SB_N2A_C is a .SM2 DMA digitized sound of Leonard Nimoy singing on his "Golden Throats" CD. In this cut he is moaning, "All Alone In A Crowd". This also comes with a color Tiny picture of Nimoy wearing an outfit similar to his UFP uniform (it almost looks like he has pointed ears as well!). Suitable for use with Super Boot 8.x. (SB_N2A_M is the same sound file with a mono Tiny picture). SB_N2B_C is a .SM2 DMA digitized sound of Leonard Nimoy singing on his "Golden Throats" CD. In this cut he is singing, "Because You're Mine, I'll Walk The Line." This also comes with a color Tiny picture of Nimoy wearing an outfit similar to his UFP uniform (it almost looks like he has pointed ears as well!). Suitable for use with Super Boot 8.x. (SB_N2B_M is the same sound file with a mono Tiny picture). SB_N2C_C is a .SM2 DMA digitized sound of Leonard Nimoy singing on his "Golden Throats" CD. In this cut he is crooning, "Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins!". This also comes with a color Tiny picture of Nimoy in wearing an outfit similar to his UFP uniform (it almost looks like he has pointed ears as well!). Suitable for use with Super Boot 8.x. (SB_N2C_M is the same sound file with a mono Tiny picture). OCTA_88 is the Octalyser STe PD-Preview v.0.8NC by Christian Dahl, Alan F. of REWARD (Davor Slutej), and Blade of New Core (Tord Jansson). This program looks to be just what the doctor ordered for all of you .MOD fans out there. Octalyser STE is a powerful music tool that uses PCM samples and the STEDMA PCM sound chip to generate, edit, save and load 4, 6 or 8 independent music channels with independantly adjustable sample volume for each channel. Octalyser uses a typical tracker-style editor and can handle modules in these formats: MOD-standard 15 instruments, 4 channels format; MOD-standard 31 instruments, 4 channels format; Octalyser STE 8 channels format Amiga Octalyser 8 channels format (not 2,4,or 6 channel) Amiga StarTrekker format (both 4 and 8 channels) Octalyser STE has a built-in replay routine that allows playback in the following modes: 4 channels, 6 channels and 8 channels; 12kHz, 15.5kHz, 18.9kHz, 25kHz; Anti-alias OFF, Anti-alias ON; UMP- modules are also supported, and a player program for these is included. Several .MOD files are included for you to play around with. Color only. I've not been able to get it to run on my STe when a hard drive is installed (though I hope I'm missing something or have some incompatiblity--I can't imagine them making it hard drive incompatible). Boot-up using a clean floppy. Docs included. SHAREWARE. STe--Mega STe compatible (not ST or TT). Color only. PIXFRMTS is a text file by David M. Baggett (and many others) that contains information on just about any Atari Picture format. If you ever wanted to know just how a picture format is set up, now you can know. This newest version includes information about GEM Metafiles. POVEXAM1 by S. Burton is a file (dated April 6, 1993) that contains two pictures entitled "Altar", one a low-rez Degas picture created with CAD 3D and the other a 24 bit color 320 x 200 Targa picture rendered by .POV raytrace on a 386sx-16 w/out a math co-processor (it took 11 hours to render it!). View it with PhotoChrome 3 to see how fantastic it looks. Now I just wish that the authors of POV would let the program be compiled and released for the ST (the C source code is available, but they don't want the program released until they "tweak" it a bit more, or so I've been told). ROCKBALL is Rocketball ST by Steve Camber (dated October, 31, 1991). It is a game where a two teams of five players each attempt to skate around a circular banked track, and throw a ball through the opposition's goal as many times as possible in ten minutes. For one or two players. Joystick controlled. I found this game rather hard to control. I'm not sure whether it was just that I wasn't used to it, or that's just how the game is. While the game is interesting in concept, I'm not wildly excited about it. Color only. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible. Docs included. STKW0404 is the game "Star Trek: The Klingon War" v.04.04.93 (i.e., April 4, 1993) by James S. Sellers. This is a detailed and entertaining Star Trek battle simulation. As Captain of the USS Enterprise your mission is to utilize all your starship and starbase assets to destroy a Klingon invasion fleet. You command a top rated crew that will carry out your orders in controlling weapons, shields, sensors, displays, warp and impulse drives, probes, and navigation. Unfortunately, the odds are against you (normally 3 to one) and so you have to be really sharp to survive, and to save the Federation. This keyboard controlled game for one player demands concentration and skill. You have to constantly keep the status of the whole ship before you, gathering data from the systems you visit, watching energy consumption, defending your starbase, and much more. I especially like the training mode! Very well done. It has very nice graphics and digitized sounds and voices. Requires at least one meg of RAM, a DS or hard drive, and a color monitor. STOSFIX2 by Robert Quezada is a simple program that will allow you to convert your STOS programs (ones using the STOS interpreter or a compiled version) so that they will run on your TOS version (he says, "virtually all TOS versions," but I'm not sure which ones it won't work on). I have used this on some programs that wouldn't work on my STe and now they work! They even remain compatible with TOS 1.0 (an earlier version of this program wrote the new data to the TOS 1.0 addresses and rendered the program incompatible with that TOS). Color or mono. The program must not be compressed for this to work (so get MGD_211 to uncompress any packed programs). Docs included. I would say that this is a "must have." STQWK111 is ST-QWK v.1.11 by David Blanchard and James Armstrong, III (dated March 31, 1993). This is an offline mail door for all of you SysOps who use Express, RatSoft, ST-Keep, Forem, or just about any BBS that passes command line parameters (and he has included a utility that will allow even those BBS's that DON'T pass command line parameters to work) and that use the FidoDoor program 3.0 and up by Bryan Hall. This program will allow people to compress and download packets of messages for reading off-line. Your users can then write their replies and upload them the same way. This can save a tremendous amount of time and money for your users and free up lots of BBS time for more callers to log on and write messages and use your BBS! Docs included. SHAREWARE. SYSINF83 is SysInfo v.8.34 by H.W.A.M. de Beer (dated Feb. 19, 1993). This is a program that will tell you EVERYTHING about your TOS 1.0-- Falcon machine (well, I guess it won't tell you what color your case is, but that's about it!). I can't begin to tell you all the system parameters this utility measures. Just think of anything you might ask a question about your system, and this can tell you. Color or mono. Online help available. Whew! That's ALOT! You have done your work and your fun! May you have even more combinations like that! All of these files can be found on one or more of the following on-line services: GEnie (M.BURKLEY1), Delphi (MRBURKLEY), The CodeHead BBS (213 -461-2095), Toad Hall (617-567-8642), and The Boston Computer Society's Atari BBS (617-396-4607) (Michael R. Burkley). Drop me a line! Michael lives in Niagara Falls, NY. He is a former Polyurethane Research Chemist and is presently the pastor of the Niagara Presbyterian Church. # # # ======================================================================= **--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. ======================================================================= Reprints from AtariUser Magazine are Copyright(c)1993, AtariUser. NO AU article MAY BE REPRINTED without the written permission of the publisher. You can subscribe and read ALL of the informative articles each and every month by contacting AU at (818) 246-6277. For $15.00 you will receive 12 issues. Send your payment to AtariUser Magazine, 249 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 332, Glendale, California, USA, 91203. Foreign delivery is $30.00 in US funds. ======================================================================= 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 ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==