SPACE 1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ SPACE 1 / SPACE - Library 1 - Volume 1.iso / st_tex~1 / 275 / st_rep.028 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-03-27 | 58.9 KB | 1,256 lines

_______________________________________ |/////////////////////////////////////| |/////////////////////////////////////| |//ST-REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ISS. 28//| |//=================================//| |//PUBLISHER/EDITOR| March 28, 1988 //| |// Ron Kovacs | Issue #28 //| |/////////////////////////////////////| |/////////////////////////////////////| |_____________________________________| |SPC | |Post Office Box 74 | |Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074 | |_____________________________________| |BBS: Syndicate (201) 968-8148 | |_____________________________________| |Thoughts and commentary displayed in | |this magazine, are not necessarily | |those of ST-Report, Syndicate | |Publishing, Syndicate BBS, or any of | |it's staff. All writers are free to | |comment openly on a topic. Opposing | |points of view are welcome and | |encouraged. | |We reserve the right to reject any | |article submitted for publication. | |_____________________________________| |Contents | |_____________________________________| |*|ST Virus | |*|Antic Online | |*|SPC Newswire | |*|Word Perfect Software Review | |*|SPA Commentary - Rex Read | |*|Probing Your ST- Mr. Goodprobe | |*|Comments On Line Noise | |_|___________________________________| _______________________________________ ST VIRUS _______________________________________ Ctsy CompuServe Atari16 Forum #: 96363 S7/ST News/Reviews 27-Mar-88 08:15:14 Sb: #VIRII Fm: SYSOP*Dave Groves 76703,4223 To: All SCAn, REAd, COMpose, EDIt, ADDress or HELp! rea Date: 27-Mar-88 06:34 EST From: Gerd Sender [73637,2046] Subj: virus to: Dave Groves 76703,4223 Here is something about an ST virus. I don't know were to post it, so I send it to you. --Gerd ------------------------------john@minster.york.ac.uk Subject: The Atari ST 'virus' Date: 22 Mar 88 15:26:48 GMT Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England Lines: 94 I'm posting this for someone who does not have Usenet access. ------------------ THE ATARI ST VIRUS ================== This weekend I received a number of pd software disks from a computer store. I found that three of these contained the 'ST Virus' that has been mentioned on the net recently. I did not however discover this until it had trashed one disk and infected a very large number of disks. I have since disassembled the virus and worked out exactly what it does and I am posting a summary of what I found here. What The Virus Does =================== When the ST is reset or switched on, it reads some information from track 0 sector 0 of the disk in drive A. It is possible to set up that sector so that the ST will execute its contents. The virus program is written into this sector so that it is loaded whenever the ST is booted on the offending disk. Once loaded into memory the virus locates itself at the end of the system disk buffer (address contained at 0x4c2 I think) and attaches itself to the bios getbpb() function. Every time getbpb() is called, the virus is activated. It tests the disk to see if it contains the virus. If it doesn't then the virus is written out to the boot sector and a counter is initialised. If the disk does contain the virus then the counter is incremented. Once the counter reaches a certain value, random data is written across the root directory & fat tables for the disk thus making it unusable. The virus then removes itself from the boot sector of the damaged disk (destroys the evidence??). Once the virus is installed in the ST it will copy itself to EVERY non write protected disk that you use - EVEN IF YOU ONLY DO A DIRECTORY - or open a window to it from the desktop. The virus CANNOT copy itself to a write-protected disk. I *think* (but am not certain) that it survives a reset. The current virus does not affect hard disks (it uses the flopwr() call). However, if you are using an auto-boot hard disk such as Supra, and the disk in drive A contains the virus, THE FLOPPY BOOT SECTOR IS EXECUTED BEFORE THE HARD DISK BOOT SECTOR and consequently the virus will still be loaded and transferred to every floppy that you use. THE CURE ======== To test for the virus, look at sector 0 of a floppy with a disk editor. If the boot sector is executable then it will contain 60 hex as its first byte. Note that a number of games have executable boot sectors as part of their loading. However if this is the case then they should not load when infected by the virus. If people are worried about this & haven't been able to get the other killer (I have not seen it yet) then I will post the source/object for a simple virus detector/killer that I have written. OTHER VIRUSES ============= It would appear that this virus is not the end of the story. I have heard that there is a new virus around. This one is almost impossible to detect as for each disk inserted, it scans for any *.prg and appends itself to the text segment in some way. Thus it is very difficult to tell whether or not the virus is actually on a disk..... FINALLY ======= Use those write-protect tabs! Check all new disks! Hopefully we can get rid of this virus totally before it damages something important. Chris Allen. =================================================== If you want any information, etc etc mail me at: Janet: CJA1@uk.ac.york.vaxa uucp: ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!minster!CJA1@VAXA arpa: CJA1%vaxa.york.ac.uk@mss.cs.ucl.ac.uk =================================================== Thanks to Herr Sender for passing this information along to all of us, and here's hoping that we won't need it. Anyone who finds a virus should post the information to SYSOP*Dave Groves 76703,4223 so that we can take action to sterilize the source and warn the user community. Comments are welcomed! _______________________________________ ST VIRUS The Cure _______________________________________ Ctsy CompuServe Atari16 Forum (Peniciln.Man) Located in Data Library 3 is a file that will cure the above mentioned virus. I have extracted the MAN and DOC file here. It is called PENCLN. PENICILN ST Programmer's Manual PENICILN NAME PENICILN - Remove possible virus programs from floppy disks SYNOPSIS peniciln [-km] drive [...drive] DESCRIPTION peniciln wipes out all unnecessary data in the boot sector of a floppy disk. It insures that there no executable boot program on the disk, while preserving the serial number, disk configuration data, and all files. Normally, peniciln cleans only the drive named on the command line, then exits. -k when this option is specified, the program will loop, waiting for a keyboard command. Keys 'a' and 'b' will cause it to clean the disk in that drive, while any other key will cause the program to exit. -m this option causes the program to write an MS-DOS compatible boot sector, rather than zeroing out the data. BUGS peniciln is an absolute sterilization program. If the disk requires an executable boot, such as self-booting games or commercial software, it will be destroyed and the program will become useless. peniciln should not be run on a disk unless the disk is used for storage only. AUTHOR George R. Woodside Compuserve 76537,1342 5219 San Feliciano Dr. GEnie G.WOODSIDE Woodland Hills, Ca. 91364 USENET: ..!{trwrb|philabs|csun|psivax!ttidca!woodside (Virus.Doc) A virus type program has been detected on ST disks circulating in Europe. So far, I have heard no reports of one in the USA. However, I am certain it is merely a matter of time before it happens. The one reported is written into the boot sector of a disk, then hooks itself into the ST's operating system. Each time a new disk is inserted in the system, and the ST does a media change check, the virus checks the floppy to see if it contains the virus in the boot sector. If not, it writes the virus on the floppy. If it does, it leaves the floppy alone. After some number of media change calls, the virus trashes the directory and FATs of the disks in the system, wiping out anything on the disks. I haven't heard about it hitting any hard disks yet. The boot sector of an ST disk contains disk configuration information (sides on disk, tracks, sectors per track, FAT size, etc.) which can, and frequently does, vary from disk to disk. It also contains a serial number which must vary from disk to disk, or you get deep trouble when changing disks (GEMDOS won't know the disk changed). But, that all fits in a small portion of the boot sector, within the first 30 bytes. Many format program leave all sorts of junk in the buffer they use to write the boot sector (including the desktop). While this will also vary, it is not harmful. When should a disk contain an executable boot? Only if 1) It is designed to be a self booting disk (some games, commercial software, alternate operating systems, etc.) 2) You have specifically placed a self-boot program on the disk (such as a clock setter, RAMdisk loader, etc.) Note that hard disk autoboot programs vary from supplier to supplier, but generally do not expect any kind of boot code on a floppy. If your hard disk boot does not care what disk is in the floppy drive, then it doesn't need an executable boot on the floppy. No other disk should contain self-booting code unless you are still running with TOS in RAM (Is anyone really still doing this?). The only other way I can think of a virus getting into an ST is in an /AUTO folder program. If you have something in your /AUTO folder which is spreading a virus, you are out of luck. If a disk is MS-DOS compatible, it must contain certain MS-DOS data to be useable, and the statements above do not apply. With that in mind, I whipped up this disk sterilizer, which I named (with tounge only slightly in cheek) PENICILN (Yes, I know that's not spelled correctly, but you only get eight bytes :^> ). It will kill any kind of virus I can imagine, and anything else in the boot sector. It reads the boot sector, saves the disk serial number and configuration information, wipes the rest of the boot sector clean, replaces the saved data, forces a non-executable checksum, and re-writes the boot sector. *** WARNING *** This program is the equivalent of blind, deaf, and dumb flame thrower approach to virus killing. It WILL kill anything in a boot sector. If you use it on a disk which must contain a boot (games, etc. mentioned above) you will destroy the disk. I therefore disclaim any responsibility for the results of the use of this program. The program is specified as a .TTP, so you can run it from a shell or the desktop. It expects the input on the command line. It accepts an option of "-m" to write an MS-DOS boot sector, or an option of "-k" to become keyboard driven. Otherwise, it expects either "a" or "b" to name which floppy to use. If you enter the drive name only (a or b), it will clean the boot sector on the named drive and exit. If you specify -m, it writes an MS-DOS boot sector on the named drive. If you enter -k, it enters a loop. Each time you press "a" or "b", it will clean the disk in that drive. Any other keypress will exit. Note that this program will not alter anything other than the boot sector, so any files or programs on the disk are safe and unaltered, regardless of how the disk is formatted. This program is designed specifically to thwart a virus. It forces a read of the disk prior to clearing the boot sector, so if the virus has infected your system, it will write itself to the floppy first. Then, this program promptly wipes out the virus by clearing the boot sector. If you have any reason to suspect that your system has the virus, take the following steps: 1) Insert a blank (but formatted) disk into drive A. 2) Run this program. 3) Immediately power off your system before doing anything else. 4) Wait 15 seconds, then power on you system, with the same disk still in drive A. 5) Run this program on every disk you own which does not have to be self booting. This sequence of steps first gets you a certain virus free disk to boot from. Then, by powering off your system, you insure that the virus is not present in your system's memory. Then, running the virus killer will eliminate any copies of the virus on the rest of your disks. Since I take this virus situation seriously, I am including the source for the program so anyone can see exactly what it does before running it. I also encourage everyone to distribute the program, with this accompanying explanation, as widely and as quickly as possible. Nothing like a shot of "peniciln" to keep a virus from spreading :^) If anyone locates a virus disk, please send me a copy. I will disect the virus, document what it does, and provide any necessary tools to kill it. George R. Woodside Compuserve 76537,1342 5219 San Feliciano Dr. GEnie G.WOODSIDE Woodland Hills, Ca. 91364 USENET: ..!{trwrb|philabs|csun|psivax!ttidca!woodside _______________________________________ Antic Online ...I/O Ticket From Poland To USA... _______________________________________ by Tadeusz Menert ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1988 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. I don't know how many ANTIC readers will remember my letter published in the April, 1986 I/O Board under the title "Poland Teacher." It was a request for readers to send any Atari-related materials for use with my students at the University of Krakow. I explained that few Poles had Atari computers and that software was even scarcer than the small quantities of basic food products reaching this distant and quite different country -- where money cannot be exchanged for any Western currency. Within weeks after publishing my message, I was almost drowning in the wave of letters, magazines and disks. Dozens of people who never met me were suddenly offering to pay the subscription fees to various computer magazines so that I could receive them directly in Poland. It is said that extensive users of impersonalized computers are deprived of warm feelings. On the contrary, these supposedly heartless computer monsters actually appeared to be much more friendly and understanding than others who never touch a computer keyboard. It seems that the popularity of personal computers creates a network of friendly users willing to share their concepts and knowledge no matter where they live or what they do. In June 1986, two months after my letter appeared in ANTIC, I was forced to leave Poland due to various political reasons. I had to leave behind my Atari, along with almost all my belongings. With my wife and our four-year-old son, Mike, I landed in West Germany. It seemed quite natural to try to get to an English-speaking country. I was, after all, an English teacher. The United States was our choice. However, according to current immigration laws, being a political refugee isn't enough for admittance to the USA. Sponsors are needed who will help a refugee settle down succesfully. With no relatives in America and only a few pen-pal Atarians, it seemed almost impossible for us. Besides, deprived of my 800XL and disk drive I could no longer count on writing interesting letters, full of computer news and gossip, to the States. Although I never openly asked any of my friends for help in getting across the Atlantic, they offered such help on their own! By September 1986, we already had our sponsor, Marlin. But there were still long months of waiting while our paperwork was processed by the American immigration authorities. Having quite a lot of time at my disposal, I looked around to see how well the Atari was doing in West Germany, but it was hard to find a single active users group. It was somewhat sad to see that other computers had so many active users groups holding regular meetings, advertising in local papers, organizing computer shows. And I found only one or two Atari-specific magazines -- they were exclusively for the ST. In August 1987 we finally received the long-awaited letter saying that we would be allowed to come and live in the United States of America. Less than a month later, we landed happily in Colorado, heartily welcomed by people we had never seen before in our lives. I am often asked how it happened that we ended our long journey in Colorado. I always reply "Thanks to Atari!" and I watch the confused looks. When you are starting life over again from the very beginning, there are many important things to take care of. But although it will definitely be some time before we can afford to buy a computer, I know what make I will choose when the time comes. I owe you too much, Atari, to trade you for something else! Tadeusz Menert 4040 S. Garfield Avenue Loveland, CO 80537 _______________________________________ SPC Newswire _______________________________________ Compiled and written by Ron Kovacs Online Today on CompuServe reported that on March 26, 1988 at BBS, (bulletin board system) user filed a $112,000 law suit against a local system. The suit filed against the BBS and the SysOp (system operator) could turn out to be a landmark decision and the first one handed down under the FECPA. The FECPA (Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986), mandates privacy protection of electronic communications including mail found on commercial services and bulletin board systems. The suit claims the SysOp did not properly safeguard private electronic mail. According to the information from Online Today, during December 1987 the BBS sysop allowed others to access and view the contents of all Email messages in a private portion of the subscription BBS. Previous deleted messages were also restored for others to read. It is alleged that some of the user complaining's mail was among those read. Other actions included the user being denied access after having paid a year's fee for access. Online Today's report stated that the last two counts of the complaint could be the most damaging and state that the sysop "intentionally, maliciously or with reckless disregard for the truth, made statements which on their face are damaging to the professional and personal reputation of the Petitioner to humiliation, personal anguish and ridicule." The named BBS sysop did not respond to calls from Online Today to the lawsuit. Callers to the BBS in Indiana are greeted with an apology to the user. More on this story as it develops. We have removed the names purposly. _______________________________________ Software Review _______________________________________ Word Perfect The following was originally published in "The Oracle", which is the monthly newsletter of the South Jersey ST users group (SJST). Exclusive Copyright (1988) is retained by the author. Permission to reprint this in other user group newsletters is hereby granted by the author, provided that the article is published in full with no changes or omissions, that the newsletter is distributed free of charge to all readers, and that this header is retained with the article. If any commercial magazine should wish to publish any part of this article, I am available on GEnie as W.T.COLBURN for a discussion of the terms of payment. WordPerfect WordPerfect Corporation, 288 West Center Street, Orem, Utah 84057, (801) 225-5000 List price: $395.00 Reviewed by William T. Colburn of SJST The following outline is a preliminary analysis of WordPerfect based on my first ten days of use of this product. This product is so complex and complete that it is impossible to do a thorough review unless one has used the product for several weeks. I. Why buy WordPerfect? 1. My decision to buy this product came about as a result of time I spent on GEnie reading the comments of users of various word processors. There were many users of Word Writer ST from Timeworks, but they complained of many missing functions and a lack of support from Timeworks. Users of the new MicroSoft Write package from Atari Corp. were less than impressed with the quality of the GDOS printout offered by this word processor and by the fact that it is two versions behind MS Write on the Macintosh. In addition, it did not include a built in spell checker. Word Up from Neotron (now Neocept) sounded very interesting, but the product was held up by one delay after another. I began to wonder whether Word Up would wind up like Paperclip Elite ST, which Batteries Included promised repeatedly but never produced. 2. WordPerfect for the Atari ST started out last October with more bugs than any word processor to ever hit the market, but over the past few months the corporation has gone all out in a major effort to regain their credibility. WordPerfect Corporation also admits that the earlier versions of this product should never have been released. As a result, the messages on GEnie from users and beta testers indicated that the product has stabilized and improved. 3. WordPerfect Corporation is the first major developer of software for microcomputers to produce anything for the Atari ST line. WordPerfect on the ST gives the Atari ST a much higher level of legitimacy in the world of PC users. I often hear, "Sure it's got a megabyte of memory, uses the Motorola 68000 chip, and is cheaper than the Macintosh, but how about some serious software for it?" When WordPerfect took the plunge into the ST market, I felt almost an obligation to buy it just to show the company that they made the right decision. II. Things I like about WordPerfect. 1. This is assuredly the most complete word processor on the market today for the Atari ST. 2. The toll free support hotline is famed for the courtesy and knowledge of the people who answer the calls. 3. The documentation for WordPerfect is comprehensive and easy to read. The "Learn" section of the manual with its twenty nine lessons will make you a WordPerfect wizard if you take the time to study them. 4. It is actually possible to get normal use out of this product with a minimal scanning of the manual. 5. The spell checker and thesaurus form a satisfying combination, and the speller knows over 115,000 words with an abundance of room for new ones in the supplemental dictionary. 6. The user interface in general is very good, with each command available from both the mouse and the keyboard. 7. The technical staff responsible for WordPerfect on the Atari ST are very responsive to the needs of their user population, and are very good about releasing updates and bug corrections. New versions of the software are often shipped to users and dealers via Federal Express. 8. There are several very active topics on GEnie on the Atari ST Roundtable BBS in the Word Processing category. The Atari ST staff of WordPerfect Corporation check in there regularly to see what the users are asking for and what bugs have been reported recently. 9. The installation process is clearly documented, and it is quite simple to install WordPerfect on a hard drive system. (Do not attempt to use WordPerfect on a single sided single drive floppy system. It will work on a system with one double sided floppy drive or two single sided floppy drives, although I do not recommend it. In addition, standard 520 ST computers with TOS in ROM will have just enough room to run WordPerfect if they install NO desk accessories.) III. Things I dislike about WordPerfect. 1. Even with the current 1/29/88 version of WordPerfect there are bugs in the system. Most of the bugs are not critical, but some will crash your system, requiring a reboot. These "crash and burn" bugs are in the spell checker program, but are hard for WordPerfect Corp. to find and correct because they cannot be duplicated dependably. Save your document before you attempt to spell check it! 2. The spell checker should be faster than it is. I have been able to obtain a marked speed increase by moving the dictionary into a ramdisk, but would like still more speed. 3. The spell checker knows non-words like "u" and "tel" as in "Can u tel me what is wrong with this line?" These words are not detected as misspellings. I looked in my American Heritage Dictionary of the American Language, and those two entries are for abbreviations, not words. 4. When selecting a load, save, or print of a file, WordPerfect does not use an item selector, but requires that you type in the name of a file or path. There is a replacement function called, "List Files", which mitigates the paucity of item selectors, but they are still sorely needed. The technical staff at WordPerfect has promised to remedy this situation in their next release, however. 5. The printer driver supplied for my Panasonic KX-P1091 printer was incomplete, and supported neither elite nor compressed pitches, although the printer is designed to handle both of them. In addition, all printout was produced in double strike mode, which slows the printer, wears out the ribbon, and frustrates the operator. I had to spend several hours rebuilding a proper driver for my Panasonic using WordPerfect's print driver construction program. IV. Tolerable but inconvenient facets of WordPerfect. 1. The backspace key is slow. There are many other ways to move around the document, however, and there are functions for deleting a whole word, deleting to the end of a line, and deleting to the end of a page. 2. Scrolling of the document should be faster than it is. Fortunately, there are other ways to move around, such as page-up and page-down. V. Conclusions. WordPerfect though definitely not perfect is a very complete word processing package, and I find it to be extremely useful. This product is not for everybody, however, because it is so complex. A person who is simply going to type an occasional letter would be happier with a simpler word processor such as First Word or ST Writer. The medium level user will probably find a good level of satisfaction with Word Writer, First Word Plus, or Regent Word. The professional writer, with more demanding requirements, will want to consider WordPerfect as a good solution to his word processing needs. Additionally, the college or high school student who through a special WordPerfect Corp. promotion can obtain this product for $99.00 may want to consider this package in order to meet his needs when writing papers or theses. Update on WordPerfect By William T. Colburn of SJST After the debacle at the last SJST meeting concerning the errant spell checker for WordPerfect, I immediately called WordPerfect Corporation, asking for further ideas and assistance in using their spell checker. The staff on the telephone informed me that they had run into some problems with the spell checker when it was used in conjunction with the DeskCart from QMI. The problems seemed to be specifically with the code for the ram disk. I substituted a ram disk created via the Rambuffer from Microtyme, and most of the spell checker problems vanished! There are still a couple of minor problems with in this configuration, but the stability of the spell checker is much improved. I want to thank those at the meeting who suggested that WordPerfect and the DeskCart and may not be "getting along". I have placed messages on GEnie for both QMI and WordPerfect, asking them to work together to solve this problem, because I do not intend to give up either of these fine products. Tom Mailloux, a fellow SJST member, was kind enough to loan me his original disk and manual for Thunder! so that I could attempt to use this spell checker with WordPerfect. Thunder! works just fine with WordPerfect as an accessory and as an independent program. It handles files saved from WordPerfect with no trouble, ignoring all the WordPerfect formatting codes. Thunder! does not know enough words for my taste, but if you have the patience to add all your words to it, the Thunder! accessory is a nice adjunct to the integrated spell checker because it picks up your errors immediately. The only problem with Thunder! as an accessory is the slow back space key from which WordPerfect suffers. The back space delay must be set at about sixty in order to get a successful correction of words via Thunder!, and this slows it down considerably. The independent Thunder! program seems to be faster than the integrated WordPerfect spell checker, so you may want to use it instead. I prefer the integrated spell checker, however, because it can pick up double word errors such as "the the red hen". Thunder! does not notice this sort of error at all. _______________________________________ Thoughts on Piracy _______________________________________ by Rex Read This column contains commentary of the author. ST-Report does not necessarily agree or disagree with this information provided here. Oposing points of view are welcome and encouraged. SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS RENEW BOUNTY OFFER FOR INFO ABOUT PIRATE BBSES Pirates, beware! The Software Publishers Association is renewing its offer of a $50 bounty to sleuths who report pirate bulletin board systems that illegally distribute commercial software. The reward will be paid to the first person who provides the SPA with the following information in writing: -:- Name, address and telephone numbers (voice and BBS) of the illegal bulletin board system operator. -:- A printout showing what commercial software is available. -:- Log-on information to permit SPA investigators to double check information. -:- The date the information was obtained. Details should be sent to the SPA at 1101 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 901, Washington, DC 20036. The informer's identity will be held in confidence. The SPA conducted a similar crackdown in the fall of 1986, when they closed 30 pirate BBSes. A NEW IDEA??? ============= I couldn't resist commenting on the above article.....seems to me that alot of people died in the 1930s and 1940s for being victimized by the "Buy a SNITCH" program in Europe....I think it was called the Final Solution. How utterly revolting it is to see the same practice being instituted by a group of "Americans" in the Nation's Capital.. It would seem to me that this practice of "Buy a SNITCH" is pure garbage! How sad to see this be the only way to "stop pirates"...or is it? First a note or two about the pirates.....Through careful research I find the majority are underage and therefore still living at home. Most have a small BBS 30mb or less and dont usually last more than 6 months. The majority of pirates attrite as they leave high school and are bound for either college or the work force.... I have honestly found only 17 pirate BBS that are devoted entirely to Atari the majority of additional BBS supported four to six different computers. Of those I have been on, the userbase is usually around 50-75 callers. It seems the IBM, Amiga and Apple (MacIntosh) files outnumbered the Atari files 6 to 1! When will we see a REAL study made of the effect of piracy on software sales..?...ON ALL AREAS NOT JUST ATARI! A general opinion is the message bases have much more impact than any xfered program does..when you see a program panned in a message base believe me you will think twice before you buy it. Looking at the whole picture, I would say the popularity or glamour of piracy is on the downslide...no where near the way it was in the ole 8bit days. Second, It would appear that the software companies have become comfy with the "We won't do it until you get rid of your pirates" routine as it is a catch-all for all their problems....truth is, QUALITY begets respect and sales. I thought originally SPA was going to coordinate industry standards but I guess I was wrong..or, perhaps they are ignoring a "standard" for high quality and correct business procedures by the software companies because they are subsidized by the dues these companies pay. Back to the subject of CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS ...hmmm impressive name for a paid snitch ain't it? IN ANY COURT OF LAW, A MOTION OF DISCOVERY WILL REVEAL THE NAME OF THE INFORMANT. There is no way around this except the Federal Witness Protection Program and it's there because they must reveal the name(s) and produce the informants for deposition and trial of the accused. Of course, the way it is described above, they want to use YOUR NAME to log-on and capture the lists etc....hmmm retransmiting information obtained under false pretenses and through the use of a telephone. It has been established that BBS Operators are covered under the same copyright laws that a publisher is....therefore anyone retransmitting or copying that material without the operator's permission is in violation of the law! This could go on and on, the facts are that the pirates are on the decline and so are the shabby software companies. The GOOD ones, those whose releases reflect quality and innovative programming will surely prevail. The primary objective is to curtail the punishment of fine software companies that are doing a REAL service to the Atari userbase. We can all help there by encouraging folks to buy the good stuff and also let them know which to avoid.....like WORD-UP what joke there! There really is no positive result to be had by the use of intimidation and threats that are clearly in question themselves. I was always told, "Two Wrongs dont make a Right." Basically, each and everyone of us can help by plunking down the dollars for the high quality software and avoiding the junk like its a disease. Then we will hear the trashy software outfits start to blame pirates or who knows what else for their poor sales. Finally, I say ....get off Atari's Back and start to show us accurate comprehensive reports that reflect piracy percentages industry wide. One fact remains, even Word Perfect will admit that their market studies were incorrect...and I am sure the demographics on all the Atari userbase is still reflecting 8bit era facts....it shows in the calibre of the majority of entertainment software out there....and the scaled down versions of application and utility software that's been ported across. (it's cheaper to port it than to write it)...The software companies that realize Atari is now a mature userbase with a keen eye for quality will make a GOOD living. _______________________________________ Probing Your ST _______________________________________ by Mr. Goodprobe Reprinted from Tech-Tidbits, with the permission of Apple Computer Inc, East Coast Technical Support Enjoying your ST-acintosh? Here's some handy hints... I trust you all have been enjoying this relatively mild winter that the majority of the U.S. has been enjoying...except Denver, Colorado. I imagine alot of work has been done on Magic Sac enhancements as most everything has been repeatedly snowed under out there! The next few weeks I would like to present some articles that touch on a related topic. Here are some handy hints that will make using your Magic Sac much easier. I recently finally got MacWrite and MacPaint, went through the lengthy process of transferring them from Mac format to Magic Sac format via the Translator, and have begun using them. Little did I realize what a NEW world lay before me! Speaking of the Translator, it would be hard to come up with enough material to do a decent review on this baby! And that is meant to be a compliment, not a complaint. There was a small problem when the unit was recieved, but a trip back to the lab, the installation of a cap, and I could format a Mac disk where I couldn't before. It only works when it senses there is a Mac disk in the drive, and remains off at all other times. Not too exciting eh? The cable from your computer, whether 1040 or 520, goes the the Translator, and a cable goes from it to your external drives. The midi ports are also hooked to the Translator, and this is how it communicates with the ST. When something work as nice as this does, hard to say much, except THANKS DAVE! Oh yes, I understand it does have problems reading some protection schemes for the Mac, but since I use Mac PD basically, that will not be a problem for me. It is definately a must- have if you own a Magic Sac. If you would like to purchase Mac PD disks, contact me at Midtown, preferably by letter (I do have to work a bit!), with a dollar for postage, and will shoot my list out to you. These tips, and those to follow the next few weeks, will help your usage of Mac software be easier, and a lot more fruitful! MacPaint Hints & Tips ========================================================================= * Hold down the OPTION key to: draw lines with selected pattern, duplicate objects (select object with the Selection Rectangle or Lasso tools and drag while holding down the Option key), turn the pencil tool into a "grabber." * To erase large areas, select the full page view and move the area to be erased off the page (a rectangular area can be chopped very rapidly by repeating this procedure at two opposite corners of the page). * You can erase smaller areas by selecting with either the Selection Rectangle or Lasso tools and then pressing the Backspace key. * Using the Shift key with the pencil tool while in FatBits allows you to draw straight lines, both vertically and horizontally. * When you have the pencil tool selected, you can get into FatBits quickly by pressing the Command key and clicking in the spot where you want FatBits to display. * You can use "transparent" paint with MacPaint. Hold down the Command key while using the Paint Brush, Spray Can, or Paint Bucket tools. * Holding down the Command and Option keys while dragging an object creates some interesting results. * Double-Clicking on the Hand Icon will display the full page. * Double-Clicking on the Selection Rectangle tool will select the entire drawing window. * Double-Clicking on the Erasure tool will erase the drawing window. * You can reduce or enlarge and object by copying it to the clipboard and then pasting it back into an appropriately sized area indicated with the Selection Rectangle Tool. * Use the ~ key in the upper left hand corner of the keyboard as an "Un-do" key. It works the same as the Menu Item. Mac Write Hints ========================================================================= * Delete text quickly by holding down the OPTION key while selecting it. * MacPaint pictures that have been imported into MacWrite print better if TALL ADJUSTED is selected from the PAGE SETUP menu. * The font style of the page number, date, and or time in the header is that of the first character of the header (even if a blank space); same for the footer. * OPTION-SPACE produces an invisible "bond" between words that prevent their being separated at page breaks. * To return to the cursor after scrolling, press the Enter Key, Caution: if text is selected this will erase it. * To avoid repetitive typing of a word or phrase, substitute a series of letters that are easy to type but that do not normally occur such as XZX, ASD, QWE, or QAZ then use SEARCH and CHANGE to substitute the correct word or phrase. * To use special characters such as "á",(Ctrl-V), use the Key Caps Desk Accessory to determine the Option-Key sequence for the character that you want, press that sequence and then type the letter that you want under the accent. For example, for the tilde over the n, press Option-n (nothing shows on the screen) and then press the n. You should now have "á". This works in almost all applications, even AppleLink. * To select large areas of a document, click at the beginning point, use the scroll box to find the end of the selection, hold down the Shift key and click again. This will select the whole area. MacintoshSE and Parameter RAM ============================= Q: How do I reset Parameter RAM in a Macintosh SE? A: To zero Parameter RAM in the Macintosh SE, hold down the Shift, Option, and Control keys while selecting the Control Panel. A dialog box will be displayed asking if you want to zero Parameter RAM. Indicate Yes, and Restart the SE. Parameter RAM will be zero-ed. It is necessary to Restart the SE using known good System Software after this procedure. Mac System Version Identification ================================= Q: Is there a way to positively identify Macintosh System Versions? A: One SURE way to ID a System Version is to use ResEdit: 1. Start ResEdit. 2. Open the System file. 3. Open the item STRs from System. 4. Open STR ID=0. STR ID=0 will contain the System Version number. Using the Creation Date from the "Get Info" Dialog Box, is not a reliable way to identify the System Version. Since the Creation Date is not changed when updated with an Installer program, you cannot be sure that the System has not been updated. Macintosh Print Drivers ======================= Q: Where can I find printer drivers for third-party printers? A: There are several sources for third-party printer solutions for the Macintosh. You will find two sources listed below. Be sure to check the current issue of the Macintosh Buyer's Guide for additional information. GDT Softworks, Inc. SoftStyle, Inc. 2800 Douglas Road 7192 Kalanianaole Highway Suite D Suite. 205 Burnaby, B.C. Canada Y5C 5BY Honolulu, Hawaii 96825 (800) 663-MACC (800) 367-5600 * * * PRINTERS * * * LaserWriter Abroad ================== Q: I understand that the LaserWriter is not a frequency independent device. However, there is a need for a power supply for the LaserWriter that will allow it to be operated at both 220V/50Hz and 110V/60 Hz. Can you recommend a solution? A: Because several components (fan, main drive motor, power supply, etc.) need to be changed to allow conversion from 50 Hz to 60 Hz operation, this cannot be done with a single product. There is no way to have a universal LaserWriter at the present time. LaserWriter Page Counter Setting ================================ A brand new, "out of the box" LaserWriter can have readings ranging from 28 pages up to as high as 200 pages, depending on the number of hours of testing time and the number of pages per hour during testing. Toner Shelf Life ================ Q: Is there a maximum shelf life for the toner cartridges for the LaserWriter? Our customer would like to have an extra on hand, but may not use it for 6 months to a year. A: The shelf life of the toner cartridge is 2.5 years from production date. The production date is stamped on the toner cartridge in the form of 3 or 4 letters and numbers. To decode the production date, please refer to the file on AppleLink "LaserWriter: Shelf Life of Toner Cartridge" under the Technical Info Icon using the search words "Toner and Shelf Life." LaserWriter & Color =================== We have received several requests for LaserWriter Cartridges in alternate colors. Listed below are several vendors who advertise various solutions. Michlin Computer Consultants (313) 663-9800 Laser Express(tm) Inc. (800) 553-8111 Toner Technologies (801) 544-3090 ImageWriter I DIP Swtich Settings ================================= Q: I have a customer who has an ImageWriter I. At one time she set the DIP switches to print in condensed mode. Recently she changed the switches to print in PICA mode and does not remember how to change back to condensed. Using software, the printer will print in condensed mode. Please advise. A: Below are the possible character pitches available through DIP Switch settings on the ImageWriter I, as found on Page 41 of the Owner's guide. Switch 1-6 Switch 1-7 Character Pitch ---------- ---------- --------------- Open Open Pica (10 characters per inch) CLOSED OPEN Elite (12 characters per inch) Open Closed UltraCondensed (17 characters per inch) Closed Closed Elite Proportional If after setting the DIP switches properly, you still cannot print in condensed mode, you may have a defective DIP switch and should take your printer in for repair. Microsoft Word ============== Q: Using Microsoft Word 3.0 (System 4.1, Finder 5.5) text appears fine on the screen, but when printed to an ImageWriter complete lines of text are lost. Any suggestions? A: According to Microsoft, this is a known problem in version 3.0. They suggest that you hold down the SHIFT key while selecting REPAGINATE from the DOCUMENT menu. This is supposed to do a more thorough job of repaginating. This should be corrected in the next revision of Word. Macintosh II Trivia =================== The Macintosh II with its 68020 microprocessor and 32-bit data bus can open and close applications and files, access data, execute graphics and calculations up to four times faster than the Macintosh Plus. The 68881 floating-point co-processor works with the 68020 to perform operations such as multiplication, division, sine and cosine calculations. When used, the 68881 enables the Macintosh II to perform these operations 40 to 200 times faster than the 68020 alone. PARM Keys Revisited =================== To zero Parameter RAM in the Macintosh SE, hold down the Shift, Option, and COMMAND keys while selecting the Control Panel. We had previously indicated in the May 8th Technical Tidbits that you should use the Control key. Thanks to everyone who pointed out our error. Multiple Macintosh Systems ========================== Q: With previous versions of the system software, you could keep different system files in folders with separate applications. Running a particular application would launch its own system. This doesn't seem to be the case with 4.1/5.5. Is there some trick we can use to allow automatic system switching? A: You should avoid, at all costs, the temptation to have more than one System and Finder on the same disk! A large percentage of Technical Support Links and phone calls deals with very unusual and serious compatability problems that result from having multiple System and Finders on a hard drive. MiniFinder ========== Q: Is there any way to put files from different folders into the same MiniFinder? If so, how? A: No, you can only use files from one folder with MiniFinder. There are several "ShareWare" applications that can span folders. "WayFinder" and "Oasis" have this capability and can be found on commercial networks such as CompuServe and GEnie. Glue ---- Q: Is there any utility that will let me look at a file created by a word processor that I don't have? A: Yes. Glue is a product which permits a user to save a printed file to disk. A second Glue user can then print the saved file without accessing the application used to create the original file. Glue is also useful for Spreadsheets and DeskTop Publication applications. Custom Mac and Third-Party Printer Drivers ========================================== DataPak has a program available "Interface For the Macintosh" for developing custom interfaces between the Macintosh and many different third-party printers. DataPak * 14011 Ventura Blvd * Suite 401 * Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 ImageWriter II - Printing in Hex ================================ Q: Recently, I have been seeing strange problems with ImageWriter II's. I have had several complaints that occasionally the output of the printer is a hexadecimal code dump. This problem seems to happen with several different types of software and has happened not only on the Macintosh family but the II family as well. A: Actually, this is a "feature" of the ImageWriter II printer and is very helpful for programmers. Hex printing occurs when the ImageWriter II is turned on while the select button is accidentally depressed. This can accidentally happen due to the proximity of the select button to the power switch. If this occurs, power down, then turn the printer back on, making sure that only the power switch is depressed. * Unable to create a new document? MacWrite 4.5 needs at least 11K available on the application disk to create a new document. * Text and graphics can't be placed side by side in MacWrite. You can paste graphics into the Header and then place the header variables, page number, time and date, on top of the graphics. * MacWrite & LaserPrinting: When using full justification, if the last character on a line is cut off, make sure that you have the respective Font installed as a screen font. You can quickly tell the difference from the Font Menu. If the Font size is displayed as "hollow" it has been installed as a screen font. If it's solid black, it has not. Use the Font/DA Mover version 3.2 or higher to install the font into your System file. * You can quickly adjust Tab stops without having to wait after each addition or deletion by inserting a Ruler just above the current Ruler. Make the necessary MacintoshSE and Parameter RAM Q: How do I reset Parameter RAM in a Macintosh SE? A: To zero Parameter RAM in the Macintosh SE, hold down the Shift, Option, and Control keys while selecting the Control Panel. A dialog box will be displayed asking if you want to zero Parameter RAM. Indicate Yes, and Restart the SE. Parameter RAM will be zero-ed. It is necessary to Restart the SE using known good System Software after this procedure. Mac System Version Identification ================================= Q: Is there a way to positively identify Macintosh System Versions? A: One SURE way to ID a System Version is to use ResEdit: 1. Start ResEdit. 2. Open the System file. 3. Open the item STRs from System. 4. Open STR ID=0. STR ID=0 will contain the System Version number. Using the Creation Date from the "Get Info" Dialog Box, is not a reliable way to identify the System Version. Since the Creation Date is not changed when updated with an Installer program, you cannot be sure that the System has not been updated. Ok, that ought to be enough for now! Enjoy, and keep those ST's hummin! Mr. Goodprobe (on lend from Midtown TV) Atari 8/16& Amiga Sales&Repair 27 Midway Plaza Tallmadge, Ohio 44278 (216)633-0997 Stairway To Heaven BBS -> ST-Report Midwest Headquarters 216-784-0574 300/1200 24hrs. DL's for Atari 8/16 & Amiga _______________________________________ Comments on Line Noise _______________________________________ FROM MS-DOS BBS TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Line Noise and the Problems it Can Cause with File Transfers Many people have left messages on my bulletin board asking me why there are so many 'garbage' characters on their screens and why file transfers are riddled with errors. These garbage characters are really line noise and can be introduced in many different places. Pure noise is a decimal 255 (FF inhex), but most line noise is not 'pure'. It usually comes in as something less than 255, like maybe a 251 (a character that looks like this '{'). Ever see that one before? Yup, so have I! One of the more common and familiar introduction points of line noise is in the telephone company's system and even here there are several ways noise is introduced. A signal is routed through multiple stations before it eventually makes it to the other end and some of these stations aren't exactly new. Older areas may have older, less sophisticated equipment that is more apt to be affected by ambient noise. This is one reason some people continue to have noise problems even after hanging up and calling back multiple times. Also, a given physical connection at one of these junctions may not be up to snuff. If your particular bout of line noise is solved by hanging up and calling back, then it's probable that you were previously connected through an intermittent or 'dirty' connection. Some of these trunk lines (large, multi-area that has alot of ambient RFI (RadioFrequency Interference) present although this is not usually the case. It is possible that the problem is being caused at this end, but not if the problem goes away when you call back and the line is clean -or- if you are one of a very few users experiencing noise problems. You may say that you are not having problems with other boards.....in which case the problem is more than likely the route that your call takes to get here. You may be going over micro-wave or through buried cable which for some reason are sub-standard. No matter how many times you call, you will probably be routed over the same path. Micro-wave problems are sometimes the hardest to track down because they can cause intermittent problems. Some interference only occurs during certain times of the day or week. Another common noise introduction point is in your home. Most residential homes have televisions, radios, microwave ovens, VCR's, and if you are reading this, a micro-computer. All these devices radiate radio waves that can (and often do) get into the phone lines and cause noise. Electric motors and mechanical dimmer controls can introduce noise into the electrical wiring in your house and cause problems. If your line noise problem does not go away after repeated hanging up and calling back, then you may be suffering from one of these household problems. If you are suffering from this problem, you can take steps to eliminate it. First of all, turn off EVERTHING except the fridge (If it IS the fridge, then you're SOL. Can't live life with your ice box unplugged) and see if the noise persists. If it goes away, then start turning things back on, checking the computer each time until you see the noise start up again. It may be that a single device is not bugging you but several devices plotting together to annoy you. This elimination tournament may take awhile. Another area to check is your wiring at the computer. Use noise supressors on your power connections to both the PC and the modem (if external). Use a shielded RS-232 cable to connect your modem to the PC. Ribbon cables (especailly long runs of it) are great antennas and will cause problems. Re-route the RS-232 cable so it does not run next to the PC power supply or any other transformer. And now a little discussion about the modem itself. First of all, I'd like to clerify a commonly misused term - BAUD. The term "Baud" is actually a man's name - J.M.E. Baudot (Pronounced: Baw-doe) a French Telegraphy expert. 1,200 and 2,400 Baud is NOT the same as 1,200 and 2,400 BPS (Bits Per Second). The usage of "Baud" to describe line speed in terms of data through-put is incorrect. 1,200 and 2,400 BPS modems both operate at 600 Baud. Basically, without getting to technical, a Baud is a "blip" of information. 1,200 BPS modems use four states per blip (or Baud) and 2,400 BPS modems use sixteen states per blip. If you want more information on what Baud and BPS mean and a full explanation of how data is actually represented and transferred by the modem, please refer to PC Magazine Volume 6, Number 9 (May 12, 1987). Modems operating at 2,400 BPS are much more intolerant of line noise than are modems operating at 1,200 BPS. Conversely, modems capable of 2,400BPS operate better at 1,200 BPS than do 1,200 BPS only modems. If you are being hopelessly attacked by noise at 2,400 BPS, trying calling back at 1,200 BPS. It's very possible that the noise will be greatly reduced or disappear altogether. I know, you didn't buy a 2,400 BPS modem just to retard it to 1,200 BPS. The brand of the modem plays a part in the immunity to line noise. Some modems can digest more noise (lower signal- to-noise radio) than others. PC Magazine (same issue mentioned above) ran a test on 87 different modems. You might check the results to see how your modem ranks. Most 2,400 BPS modems operating at 1,200 BPS have approximately -8 to -10 db error threshold while the same modem has about -16 to -20 db threshold operating at 2,400 BPS. For this reason, line quality is much more critical at 2,400 BPS operation. Additionally, a friend of mine who runs a bulletin board from their office has been plagued with line noise problems at 2,400 BPS but very little noise at 1,200 BPS. The culprit is the office's centralized telephone system. Many office buildings have a given number of trunks that actually enter the building while there may be many, many more extension within the building. These types of telephone systems have their own controllers and line assignment devices and are frequently not as high in quality as a hard-wired MaBell (or GTE) line. The acceptable signal-to-noise ratio in some of these inter-office phone controllers are lower than necessary for reliable 2,400 BPS operation but not too low for 1,200 BPS. If you get transmission errors while downloading or uploading a file, don't fret it. The Xmodem (or whatever protocol) incorporates an error checking/correction mechanism that automatically detects and corrects any errors that may occur during transmission. The very fact that Xmodem reported the error in the first place means that he caught it and corrected it. The only errors you have to worry about are the ones that Xmodem does NOT report. Any reported error has already be corrected. Xmodem, especially the CRC flavored one, is a very reliable file transfer protocol. Even if you got 100 errors during transmission, chances are still pretty slim that the file got corrupted. Occasionally, a file will be corrupted after transfer, but many times this may be due to a bad ARCing of the file or perhaps a disk error that may have occured sometime during the files' past. I hope this text helped explain some facts about modems, line noise, and file transfers. If you have other, more specific questions, concerning modems or communications in general, leave a C)omment to the SYSOP. I'll try to answer them. _______________________________________ ST-REPORT #28 March 28, 1988 (c)1988 SPC/Ron Kovacs _______________________________________ ⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧⑧