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*---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" _____________________________________ from STR Publishing Inc. """""""""""""""""" June 29, 1990 No.6.26 ======================================================================= STReport Online Magazine™ Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST/14.4 FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ ** F-NET NODE 350 ** 500mb Online ** STR'S owned & operated support BBS carries ALL issues of STReport Online Magazine and An International list of private BBS systems carrying STReport Online Magazine for their users enjoyment __________________________________________________________________ > 06/29/90: STReport™ #6.26 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine! ------------------------- - CPU REPORT - CPU STATUS REPORT - MIST SWAPFEST - NIGHTMARE II - WAACE Updates - ATARI APOCALYPSE - DTP Corner - QWIKDRAW TROJAN - STR CONFIDENTIAL * STe - 1990's BOOM OR BUST? * SPECIAL TURBO ST 1.82 UG OFFER! * * DEALERS MUST BUY STe BROCHURES? * STe RAMRODDED?? * * SEARS TO CARRY NEWEST IBM PC, PS/1 * ========================================================================== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE™ "Only UP-TO-DATE News and Information" -* FEATURING *- Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== STReport's support BBS, NODE # 350 invites systems using Forem ST BBS to participate in Forem BBS's F-Net mail network. Or, Please call # 350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging ideas about the Atari ST computers through an excellent International ST Mail Network. ========================================================================== AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ========================================================================== > The Editor's Podium™ Hey STReport! Why are you so negative? Is it a personal thing? If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. This is the rhetoric being posted by a small segment of folks in the Chicago area. Or so STR thought, as it turns out it is a _very small segment_ of folks who it seems, are all close friends of STR's distant competition. In fact, one of the critics is the founder of the original zmag. Have fun guys. STReport welcomes the honest to goodness input of the users and will respond to any comments that make good sense and show promise to help the overall picture in the US Atari userbase. For anyone to recommend that we talk only about the 'good things' from Atari or only the positive occurrences in the userbase, is ludicrous. Or, for STR to say nothing when a particular product or products is very vexatious and allow many of the lesser informed users to plunk down hard earned cash for a less than desirable product is a prime example of yellow journalism and certainly borders on insane irresponsibility. Not to mention that, in many cases, Atari could very well be unaware or 'mis-informed' about a particular situation. As an example, in a recent conversation with a good soul at Atari, she told us that most of the 'close to Sam' execs are intimidated and usually only willing to tell Sam and his brothers what they want to hear or less. In any case, STReport will not yield to the thoughtless and equally baseless screeching by the few who are caught up in the dead end throes of the Lemming Syndrome. Unlike other companies who live the roles they play, Atari and its sales and marketing group is like an unhappy marriage. "All show and no go." When it is convenient, sales and marketing at Atari is regarded as a viable entity. As soon as it appears that there may be 'costs' of either dollars or priorities dedicated to this group, Atari, develops a serious case of the dumbs or cheaps. While there is no simple solution, it certainly is apparent that the methods employed by Katzenjammer (Garry hates that moniker) have failed and failed miserably. Other members of the press are still playing the kissy, kissy game. Hopefully, they too, will soon realize that they will not have a market in which to play if the course of action being taken by Atari's present leadership is allowed to prevail. There is hope and good news right around the corner, the new regime has a great deal going for it .... Surely most folks realize things can't get much worse in the Atari arena. Therefore any improvement is going to be to the positive. STReport pledges to support the NEW regime at Atari North America in its endeavors to revive our favorite company's US computer market place. To that end, we wish all the luck and success possible to the new leaders. Ralph.......... ******************************************************************* > CPU REPORT™ ========== Issue # 73 ---------- by Michael Arthur Remember When.... In November 1971, Nolan Bushnell started Atari by shipping Pong, the first commercial video game, or in December 1978, when Atari introduced the Atari 400 and 800 computer systems? CPU INSIGHTS™ ============ LASER BREAKTHROUGHS, BLUE LIGHT, AND A NEW OPTICAL AGE ====================================================== Bellcore (a division of AT&T's Bell Laboratories) has demonstrated the first working prototype of a "quantum wire" laser. Sized at near-atomic dimensions, this technology involves directing electricity through a laser wire core measuring 30 atoms high by 300 atoms wide. This process then generates coherent (or single-wavelength) light, which is directed along the wire. This "quantum wire device" uses principles of quantum mechanics (a theory in physics which deals with phenomena at the atomic level) to generate coherent light (or laser light) with extremely low amounts of electricity. Bellcore's quantum wire device is 1/4 of a millimeter long, and a thousandth the thickness of a human hair (or 20 times smaller than a compact disk laser). Also, it is the most efficient laser technology currently developed, and could provide great benefits in the future. For example, today's compact disk lasers operate at 1/10 of an amp of current. Quantum wire lasers can operate at one millionth of an amp, meaning that they use up to 100,000 times less energy.... This potential also holds great promise for optical computing (or photonic) devices like the one shown by AT&T a few months back. In the future, computers may use this laser technology in data transfers and in performing calculations. The resulting microchips would be both extremely compact, and use much less electricity than present computers. This technology (if used in computers) may even eliminate the need to use gallium arsenide, or even "high-temperature" superconductors, in the future to make faster supercomputers.... Around the same time frame that Bellcore made its announcement, IBM scientists showed an inexpensive laser which can efficiently produce blue laser light. IBM's new laser diode is five times more efficient than other devices at converting electricity into blue laser light, which could be made commercially available within a few years. In IBM's device, a diode laser converts electricity into infrared laser light that is sent through a small (1/4 inch long) potassium niobate crystal. This crystal halves the laser light's wavelength (doubling its frequency), thereby producing blue laser light. This device is usable for a wide range of applications. One example is in CD-ROM or other optical disks, which store information as a series of embedded grooves created by a laser. While current infrared diode lasers create grooves which are around 0.8 microns in diameter, blue laser light can be focused on a much smaller area (about 0.4 microns), because it has a shorter wavelength. In the future, this could allow a CD-ROM to hold four times the data (or about 2.6 Gigabytes of storage space) than currently possible. Also, this technology could be quickly converted for use in color displays, optical computing (in the near future), or in the field of medicine.... CPU MacNews™ =========== "TROJAN HORSE" INIT APPEARS DISGUISED AS QUICKDRAW ACCELERATOR ============================================================= Recently, a person uploaded an INIT program called Steroid to several BBSes in California. Steroid was supposed to be a program similar to Turbo ST or Quick ST, being able to speed up QuickDraw routines on Macs with 9-inch screens. However, when the Sysop of the Mousehole BBS (in Sunnyvale, CA) gave this program to Apple Computer's Desktop Services group, they disassembled it and found that it was actually a Trojan Horse program. Once placed in the System Folder, Steroid was designed to check for any date greater than July 1, 1990. It would then erase/format all mounted hard drives having files with a date on or after July 1. While a warning alert has went out over AppleLink (Apple's online network for dealers and developers), many other BBSes may not know of the dangers of the Steroid INIT. APPLE, & "THE ART OF HUMAN/COMPUTER INTERFACE DESIGN" ==================================================== Addison-Wesley has recently announced the availability of "The Art of Human/Computer Interface Design", a book by Brenda Laurel which deals with current view points on how people and computers interact, and how to maximize that interaction in a range of applications. According to Addison-Wesley, this book was "conceived of and technically supported by" members of Apple's Human Interface Book, and features articles on several related fields (such as animation, multimedia, and speech recognition) by more than 50 experts on the field, including Ted Nelson, Alan Kay, Timothy Leary, and Nicholas Negroponte, head of MIT's Media Laboratory, which has been a major innovator in human/computer interfaces. Cost: $30.00.... > CPU STATUS REPORT™ ================= - Minneapolis, MA US, JAPAN REACH NEW SUPERCOMPUTER TRADE AGREEMENT --------------- The US and Japan have recently reached a new Supercomputer Procurement Agreement, which could help supercomputer makers (like IBM and Cray Research) better compete in the Japanese market. This agreement says that the Japanese public sector must base their supercomputer buys on value and performance under "real-workloads", not just on the lowest price, or artificial computer benchmarks. This is to ensure that supercomputer vendors can't make bids with supercomputers under development. This agreement is an effort to remove obstacles which have kept foreign supercomputer vendors from competing effectively for contracts with Japanese public universities and the government. However, a similar 1987 Agreement, which promised the same thing, had many loopholes which Japanese supercomputer companies have used, so it will be a long-term process. Cray Research has been very successful in the private sector, as 15 major Japanese corporations (and all of the major Japanese car makers) buying Cray supercomputers. Also, it seems that many Japanese universities also want Crays.... - Schaumberg, IL 68030 CONTROVERSY ENDS WITH OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT -------------- Motorola and Hitachi have announced that they have established a basic agreement, which will settle their patent infringement disputes out of court. Neither company disclosed the details of the agreement, but both will ask a federal judge to stay the court-ordered bans on US production and sales of Motorola's 68030 chip, pending the result of Motorola's Appeal of the 68030 lawsuit.... According to Motorola, this agreement will "serve as a framework for reaching an end to the two companies' intellectual property and technology disputes", which were the cause of the recent string of lawsuits between Motorola and Hitachi.... - Armonk, NY IBM RE-ENTERS PERSONAL COMPUTER MARKET ---------- IBM is making a new bid for the personal computer market with its introduction of the IBM PS/1 system. The PS/1 has a 10 MHZ 80286 chip, a 2400 baud modem, and a 1.44 Meg 3 1/2 inch disk drive as standard. The PS/1 also has RS-232 and disk drive ports, and can be expanded to 7 Megs of RAM. It doesn't come with expansion slots, but IBM is selling an expansion slot box for the PS/1. There will be four models of the PS/1: - IBM PS/1 with 512K of RAM, a keyboard, 2-button mouse, and a monochrome VGA display. Cost: $1000.00. - Above PS/1 configuration with a color VGA Monitor. Cost: $1450.00 - PS/1 with 1 Meg of RAM, a 30 Meg Hard Drive, and a monochrome VGA Monitor. Cost: $1700.00. Interestingly, this system is capable of comfortably running Microsoft Windows 3.0. - PS/1 with 1 Meg of RAM, 30 Meg Hard Drive, and a color VGA Monitor. Cost: $2000.00 IBM is bundling this system with built-in software (in ROM chips). When a person turns on the PS/1, a "four-quadrant" screen pops up with four selectable boxes: 1) Information (a help screen) 2) Microsoft Works 3) Your Software (for running DOS programs) 4) MS-DOS (file management) IBM is targeting the PS/1 as a home appliance, selling it through Sears' Brand Central Stores, Dillard's Department Stores, and Dayton's Department Stores. According to IBM, over 70 million US households don't own a personal computer. Meaning that IBM is aiming for a potentially large market, just as its mainframe and large business sales are beginning to slow. Also, Sears itself (which has 840 Brand Central Stores) plans to strongly support the PS/1.... Ironically, IBM's introduction comes at a time when consumers are starting to spend less on "big-ticket" items. Also, many financial analysts say that "home appliances" like the VCR and "camcorder" have become popular only AFTER their price came down to the $600 - $800 dollar price range. However, with little competition in the mass market arena (unless the Atari Advantage comes out soon), the PS/1 could be VERY successful.... - Rochester, NY KODAK SELLS VERBATIM INC. TO MITSUBISHI ------------- Eastman Kodak has recently announced that it has finalized the sale of Verbatim, its disk manufacturing subsidiary, to Mitsubishi. In the aftermath of this sale, Kodak has announced several indications that it plans to focus on other arenas in the computer industry, especially in what it calls "electronic color imaging". Kodak will be licensing Postscript Level 2 from Adobe. It is also developing related hardware technologies for use in both future printers and copiers. Kodak and IBM have also started an effort to develop an integrated computer publishing system which will handle all of a publisher's needs, from editing and "pre-press" operations to circulation and billing reports. IBM may be the eventual producer of this system, as Kodak only plans to provide its Atex desktop publishing system (along with related programming expertise), while IBM will be contributing marketing, financial, and development resources, as well as playing a management role. (Editor's Note: Since there is a market for such an integrated DTP system, and since Atari has targeted the STe and TT towards this market, why doesn't Atari introduce a similar integrated DTP system with the ST and powerful ST Business applications like Superbase Pro or Regent Base SQL?) ________________________________________________________________ > STe - DMA STR Spotlight™ 1.60 VS 1.62??? DMA PROBLEMS?? NO SOUND? ======================= THE STE.. RAMRODDED? =================== Below, we present a few of the typical messages we have noticed in the telecommunicating world concerning the STe. While STReport does have a US version of the machine on order, we find that the problems arising in the US marketplace pose some very interesting questions. Our competitors may say we are negative, we feel the truth shall always prevail. STReport may have to take some heat initially, but as usual the readers/users are finding we have been truthful with them and have not lead them down "Primrose Lane" with double talk and innuendo. The STe US release version is having a number of initial release problems that were not seen with the Canadian machines. (FCC TYPE ACCEPTANCE CHANGES?) o... TOS 1.60 not 1.62 as promised. o... DMA weak signal problems. o... Weak power supply output in 4mb units. o... Weak or no sound from older ST prgs To name just few of the more prominent undocumented features... The messages below reflect the level of frustration being experienced. Conf : ST Report Msg# : 8906 Lines: Extended Read: 1 Sent : Jun 24, 1990 at 11:57 AM To : DANNY RICKEY From : DAVID POON at Crash ST BBS node 448 Subj : Re: <8863> STE Memory If you want an STe, get it as long as you don't have the old hard drives like SH204, SH205, All OLD SUPRA DRIVES that require disconnection of the DMA cable, and the well famed ICD HOST Adaptors (don't know about Advantage series though) they will not work reliably on the STe. I for one have an STe and a current ICD driver, V4.8.1 (got it recently from ICD (they told me this driver will solve the problem) BUT IT DIDN'T SOLVE a thing. It still crashes and gives me write errors!!! ..and so forth. THIS ONLY Happens when you use the STe and reformat the HD. It won't happen when you already formatted the HD with an ST or Mega. But it will happen when you try to write and copy something from partition to partition. Anyone here got a clue? Is that new DMA chip the culprit? Category 14, Topic 40 Message 159 Thu Jun 28, 1990 C.EISENSCHMI [Ike @ T.S.I.] at 08:01 PDT Anyone have problems _after_ upgrading to 4 meg getting the HD to respond. The fine people at Computer Rock can't get their STe to recognize the DMA after their upgrade? Thanks for the info on Cyberpaint. Ike Editor Note: Technically speaking, my understanding of the problem indicates that perhaps, the fault lies with the "subtle internal changes" made to the STe. By enabling its passing the FCC requirements, it has perhaps, left the STe with a very weak signal (strength) at the DMA port. Canadian machines are not evidencing the DMA problem. Try shorter DMA cables, try determining what is actually the difference between the Canadian release STe and the FCC Type Accepted USA STe. You may very well find the culprit there. Or, as is happening in some cases, the power supply cannot handle the full 4mb version (US machines only) The sound problem is a problem in TOS 1.6 and has been there for a while, in fact, long enough to allow a sound patch to be written. (which bombs on an ST) and a nifty "promise" of a NEW control panel which will allow STE and TT users to set the master volume, balance, bass, and treble. Of course, the BIG QUESTIONS REMAIN: A WHY didn't Quality Control pick these problems up BEFORE the US Release? WHY WAS THE STE RAMRODDED THROUGH?? B Did Sam think the BUGGY TOS 1.6 and USA units would GO UNNOTICED? C Could this possibly be a subtle torpedo fired by the present leaders to "help" the new "North American" regime to succeed?? __________________________________________________________ > STE - 1990's BOOM or BUST STR Spotlight™ What's up Doc??? ======================================= THE STE, DOES IT WORK OR DOESN'T IT? =================================== by Robert A. Dolson To begin this little adventure, I took delivery on my brand spanking new STe last Thursday (06/21/90). I carefully unpacked it and hooked it up to my color monitor so that I could sample the new sound chip (pun unintended). I had already attached my Bose Video Roommates to the stereo outputs so when I ran the STESOUND program and loaded the Korg data file, I got quite a WALLOP of sound! Incredible! I thought to myself. Now to see if it would work with my (42 meg.) SH-204 hard drive. So I switched my ancient 1 mb 520 off and traded places for the STe. Immediately on the first boot, I let it go and didn't change any of the auto or acc. programs running. Things seemed to be fine. Pagestream worked, Tempus worked, Flash worked...... I then rebooted and changed some auto and acc programs using C.F.J.'s excellent DESK MANAGER program. I immediately started seeing <WRITE FAIL XXXX> on my screen! I might add that I am using the older 2.2 ICD handler (the latest one that works with non-ICD host adapters. I use that due to it's write verify function (which lets me know if something is going wrong with the hard drive). So, we switched off the STe and rechecked my DMA connections. Booted back up, changed a few more things, same result <write fails> all over the place! I guess the rumors I had been hearing concerning the STe not working properly with the SH series of Atari hard drives was true! I have been meaning to get an 'ICD host adapter' hard drive for a while now, so now might be the time?? I posted a few messages here and there in order to find out more about the STe and any possible problems. I also decided to try the STe out on a friend's hard drive with ICD host adapter, 49 meg. ST157N, and 44 meg. Syquest removable (since he had the fixed drive backed up on the removable, it would be pretty hard to do any irreversible damage to it!) So I carted the STe over to his house and we fired it up. I might add that by this time I had upgraded the RAM on the STe to 4 mb. We booted his hard drive and everything seemed to be fine. The first thing that we were curious about was if the Supercharger would work with the STe. So we booted that up from his hard drive (he has a small DOS partition on one of the removables so he can boot DOS from it). It seemed to run but locked up the mouse cursor in the DOS shell shortly upon entry. I also wanted to ascertain that the Migraph hand scanner would work with the STe. I had a few pictures to scan so what the heck. We scanned a few pics and saved the images to his hard drive. Then we decided to print one from Touchup itself. We noticed that the pic had some weird looking streaks in it so decided to load it back into Touchup. Sure enough, the same streaks were in the picture as loaded back into Touchup! We did a few more saves and got the same result everytime. We then rebooted (without switching off the STe completely). We changed to a different preset on Desk Manager and shortly were greeted by 4 bombs at one point during running the AUTO programs, etc. We rebooted again and didn't change anything but still got the bombs (in a couple of places this time). We then decided to put his ST back online. We got the same bombs from the auto programs as we had gotten with the STe. We also noticed that the directory structure was getting screwed up on C: partition. So we zeroed the partition and put it all back from the removable backup (a handy thing to have!). Later on that afternoon, we tried it all again both with 4 mb and only 1 mb and it seems that as long as we don't run the Supercharger first, everything is fair (we got an occasional write fail). I might add that I discovered that my friend had the write verify and status reporting turned off in the ICD handler prior to screwing up the C: partition the first time. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE THESE TWO ITEMS TURNED ON since it will help save you much grief!! We do get a write once in a while, but I suspect that the Supercharger might have something to do with that. We did try disconnecting the Supercharger, but only unhooked the DMA cable from it and left it plugged into the ICD host adapter. So, at this point, the results are still relatively inconclusive however, those who buy an STe would do well to proceed with caution until they are sure that things are working properly! Also, be sure to have write verify and status reporting turned on if you are using an ICD host adapter! I am hopeful that if the problem turns out to be real, and endemic to the STe, Atari will be able to do something about fixing it. _______________________________________________________________ > MIST SWAPFEST STR SHOW NEWS™ ATARI SWAPFEST 08/25/90 =========================== MIST Plans Atari SwapFest II Nashville, IN August 25,1990 For a second year, an Atari SwapFest is planned at Nashville Indiana on Saturday, August 25, sponsored jointly by the user groups at Indianapolis and Bloomington known as MIST (Mid-Indiana ST). The SwapFest will be a meeting of minds and computers, in the beautiful Indiana countryside. Only minutes from many lovely gift shops, two state forests, and the Hoosier National forest. MIST Atari SwapFest II will open at noon August 25 at the Brown County Inn motel in Nashville at the corner of Ind. 135 and 46. Nashville is about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, and 15 miles east of Bloomington. For swap, for sale or just for display... whether it's 8-bit or ST... even game machines... all are invited to bring software, hardware, gadgets, accessories, books, magazines, etc. Commercial sales and displays also are invited, see below for more info. There will be door prizes from local vendors, and Atari Corp. There may be a small fee for door prize tickets. There will also be a mini Midi-Maze tournament, with the possibility of prizes for the winners. Tables will be available for set-up at 11 a.m. with commercial vendors given first choice at that time. Closing time is 4 p.m. Table space will be free to non-commercial attendees, on a first come, first serve basis. Registration for vendors will be a whopping $10.00. Tables are standard motel dining room type (capable of seating three on each side), and covers will be provided by the motel. Our rental arrangement with the motel, however, is a low-budget deal and you should supply your own sign-holders and other fixtures. The motel will supply electrical power, but it is from a limited number of wall outlets so exhibitors will need to take along their own extension cords and plug strips. For more information, leave mail on GEnie to WLORING1, or: Call the BL.A.ST BBS at 812-332-0573 2400bps, 24 hours. Write us at BL.A.ST, PO Box 1111, Bloomington, IN. 47401 Call me by voice at 812-336-8103 after 6:00pm (cst) Brought to you by MIST (Mid-Indiana ST), the merging of the ASCII (Atari St Computers In Indianapolis) and BL.A.ST (BLoomington Atari ST) user groups. Thanks for your interest, and we'll see you at the 'Fest!! William Loring __________________________________________________________ > WAACE UPDATES STR SHOW NEWS™ The Hotel, Vendors and Banquet etc. =========================== Two additional vendors have signed on with the Fest since the last Update file was uploaded, Best Electronics and L & Y Computers. We now have a total of 16 Vendors and 26 of 60 booths sold. Banquet ticket orders are being taken. Call Johnna Ogden at 703-450-3992 or send check made out to WAACE to Johnna ogden, WAACE Banquet Coordinator, 213 North Lincoln Ave, Sterling Va 22170. Specify Chicken Europa or Si Sirloin Merlot. Cost is $23.50 per person. Banquet speaker will be from CodeHead software, probably Charles F. Johnson... Remember the discount period for booths ends soon. Get your requests to John Barnes (J.D.BARNES) quickly. New Seminars include: Jim Pierson-Perry Start music/MIDI, Lauren Flanegan-Sellars Gold Leaf WordFlair Darek Michocka Branch Always SW SW acceleration Ken Whitesell NovAtari Programming on the ST That is all of the latest breaking news for now....... See you at the Fest, Russ Brown WAACE Chairman ALL WAACE VENDORS, TAKE NOTE! Those of you who wish to take advantage of our generous early signup discount should remember that the deadline for these discounts is 1 July. As of that date all priorities for space assignment will be based on the date on which we receive your checks. HOTEL RESERVATIONS It is important that those of you who plan to attend the WAACE show make your hotel reservations before 5 August. Reservations made before this date will be credited to our room tally for purposes of determining how much we have to pay for the exhibit space. The differences are substantial. The more rooms reserved, the more we can do for vendors and attendees out of the funds that we take in. Please give us a hand in this important area if you can. Call the Sheraton Reston at 703-620-9000 and ask for the AtariFest '90 rate. See some of the earlier messages in this thread for more information. _____________________________________________________________ > ATARI APOCALYPSE STR PROBE™ THEY DID WHAT? ....TO WHOM?? ========================== NOTICE: This is the FOURTH in a series of eight (8) articles which are designed to stimulate thought and bring to the light of day, the underlying causes behind the very apparent decline of Atari Computers worldwide. We will be taking a very thorough look at every aspect of Atari's management, procedures and policies that continually seem to send the same message to the users, developers, contractors, dealers, distributors and prospective users, "HOORAY FOR US AND THE HELL WITH YOU!" THE CLOUDY OR "CRACKED" CRYSTAL BALL ==================================== by Ralph F. Mariano Amazingly, there are still those who feel that these articles are an indication of a personal 'thing' with Atari. How extravagantly preposterous. Personal has nothing whatsoever to do with the way Atari does business. The two simply do not mix. The entire undertaking in the 'Apocalypse' series is to point out the shortcomings at Atari and hope that the new "Atari French Connection" will surgically remove the problem causing elements within Atari. Dear hearts be advised, STReport's staff and contributors are indeed Atari DIEHARDS. If it were any other way, there would be "33mhz 386 w/SVGA and a Mighty MAC" computers instead of Megas and Sts in use. However, such is NOT the case, in fact, contrary to what certain pablum feeders would have you believe, we are all quite proud of the ST systems we have installed, from the Moniterms right on down to the simple setups in the shop. To get back on track here, 90% percent of our information comes directly from within the walls of Atari Corp. It has for the last two years. Plainly Put, it began approximately six months prior to Shiraz Shivji's mysterious departure. And now, we have had a rather large number of individuals at Atari who continually provide seriously accurate information. Why? You ask?? That's the reason for this article. This past week, while debating to go on with the 'Apocalypse' series or not, myself and a few colleagues were discussing the merits of this undertaking. Suddenly the lights went on for all of us. At almost the same time. These folks, a mix of high level execs and everyday workers all have one thing in common. They take pride in their work. The quality of their work is, by far, their measure of true satisfaction. They want to be proud of the products they produce and provide to us, the users. They are among the very best the industry has to offer and yet their single loudest complaint is that the Katzenjammer is forever pulling them up short. Folks, think about this for a second or two, it takes a great deal of dissatisfaction to bring a high level exec to the point of using a publication (any publication) as a vehicle to voice or expose serious problems within an organization. Now, consider this, these folks who provide this information are not receiving any enumeration at all for the information. Therefore, there must be a very strong motivation to do so. We submit that the reason is a concerted effort in trying to save Atari from itself. By itself we mean its present leadership, the Tramiel sons. Below, we present a number of rather pointed and hard hitting quotes found zipping through the entire Atari arena. Of course, as always no names or they will, most assuredly, loose their jobs. Or, be subject to the usual retaliatory activities STReport has become so very accustomed to. Better yet, check out the chronicles of the "Revolving Door, Atari's Hall of Fallen Champions". Without a doubt, the Atari userbase should be seeing a positive, radical departure from the way Atari has been doing business in the USA very soon now, and now, according to our information, without the adverse influence of the Katzenjammer. SIGNS OF THE TIMES!! """""""""""""""""""" "Look at it this way, when one begins looking into the Mac or PC worlds, its certainly convinces you about how unbelievably _lousy_ the support for the ST has been all along. Please, check out any technical bookstore, there's usually four or more bookshelves FULL of Macintosh and PC MS-DOS reference guides along with volumes of instructional manuals for hundreds of IBM programs, tutorials, development aids, etc., you name it." "The MS-DOS world is truly virgin territory when it comes to the hobbyist. All these years everything was written for the business attitude of; "we have no time to retrain people therefore keep the software as it was." Folks, this means that things like deskmanager and other great custom booters will be welcomed by many strong dollars in the IBM hobbyist arena. Also, the $1000.00 PC is right around the corner as is the low cost MAC. The Tramiels had better wake up and damn fast." "...84 dealers in the entire US. Only 20 % active! This is a shame!." "...It seems obvious, we've been had, and are now being cast aside." ED NOTE: Although the above may reflect a negative picture, one must remember that the folks who made these remarks really care enough to have something to say. Unlike others who feel more is accomplished by allowing the current state of affairs to progress unchecked. I, like all enthusiastic Atari owners/users want very to much to see this company revived and become successful in the USA. At the present rate of progress this is an unlikely occurance. There is even an instance of where an Atari rep is asking that developers hang-on because they have no idea what the other arenas are like. This fine fellow has yet to realize that hunger combined with the wolf banging on the door has a tendency to force developers to say; "the hell with struts I gotta eat! And pay my bills!" Considering the positive events of the last year and a half in the US market place ... er ..ah wait,.. excuse me, hmmm, what positive events? Kicking out developers, outrageous threats, ludicrous accusations and broken promises to mention only a few of the better decisions. All superb public relations and fine examples of the strong desire Katzenjammer has in wanting to succeed throughout the USA's marketplace. Yessir, the fine examples they have given us over the past few years have been outstanding. ....outstanding BLUNDERS! Now, with the "new beginnings" right around the corner, it is time that we, once again, should consider putting our shoulders to the yoke to help forge the successful future of both Atari and our own endeavors in the US Atari arena. Surely we will be more than ready, willing and able to pitch in and help Elie Kenan revive the US marketplace. ----====000====---- Due to the sensitive nature of some of the material covered in this series, we must protect other folks lest they be subject to the irresponsible reactions so readily apparent by the present leadership at Atari. Therefore, where quote marks appear, ["] that is an actual quote but the names will be omitted to protect the dedicated, loyal folks who still think there is a chance for Atari. Again, there are those who would like to know who or what the Katzenjammer are... Well they are fictitious cartoon characters from another time. They were the children of an old German sea captain and his wife. The children (2) were constantly in trouble, were forever doing the wrong things and despite elaborate punishment and corrective measures taken, they continued on their destructive course. STReport has affectionately dubbed the Tramiel sons (3) as the Katzenjammer. Sure, there were only 2 in the cartoon but then, (a writer's liberty) in this case, three will do ever so nicely.... ___________________________________________________________ > Stock Market ~ STR Market Report™ The Start of a Different Tune? ================================ THE TICKERTAPE ============== by Michael Arthur Concept by Glenn Gorman The price of Atari stock went down 1/8 of a point on Monday, and stayed the same on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it went up 1/2 of a point, and on Thursday and Friday, the price stayed the same. Finishing up the week at 5 1/2 points, the price of Atari Stock is up 3/8 of a point since the last report. Apple Stock was up 2 points from Friday, June 15, 1990. Commodore Stock was down 1/8 of a point from 6/15/90. IBM Stock was down 4 1/8 points from 6/15/90. Stock Report for Week of 6/18/90 to 6/22/90 _________________________________________________________________________ STock| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Reprt|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.| -----|------------|------------|-----------|--------------|--------------| Atari| 5 - 1/8| 5 ----|5 1/2 +1/2|5 1/2 ---- |5 1/2 ----| | | | | | 107,500 Sls | -----|------------+------------+-----------+--------------+--------------| CBM |7 7/8 - 1/8| 8 +1/8|7 3/4 -1/4|7 3/4 ---- |7 7/8 + 1/8| | | | | | 81,700 Sls | -----|------------+------------+-----------+--------------+--------------| Apple|39 1/4 -1/4|39 5/8 +3/8| 40 +3/8|41 7/8 +1 7/8|41 1/2 - 3/8| | | | | |2,535,500 Sls| -----|------------+------------+-----------+--------------+--------------| IBM |118 3/4 |118 3/4 ---|118 ----|119 1/2 +1 1/2|116 1/4 -3 1/4| | -1 1/2| | | |1,200,100 Sls| -----'-------------------------------------------------------------------' 'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day. 'CBM' refers to Commodore Corporation. '----' means that the stock's price did not change for the day. _______________________________________________________________ > DTP CORNER STR Feature™ Outline Contest, Postscript, SLM804 & Pagestream ====================== HOW SONATA(tm) MADE MY DTP PROJECTS SING ======================================== by Daniel Stidham As many of us are fascinated by the power of great DTP programs such as PageStream, there are those of us who are frustrated by the limitations on quality that a small home-based system affords. Many a DTP'er has gone the route of yours truly--started with a Star NX-10 9 pin printer, thought I had reached a good price/quality compromise with an Epson LQ-800(24 pinner), _knew_ I'd never need anything more than my Hewlett Packard Deskjet, and finally found in my SLM804 UltraScript laser printer, the holy grail for which I had so diligently and vigilantly sought for. The laser! How could I ever want or _need_ more? Why with it I had 300 dpi quality, PostScript compatibility and _speed_! Man did it ever fly! Printing out of PageStream took about 15-20% of the time that my HP Deskjet took. And if I needed more copies it would whip them out at 8 pages per minute since they were set on the drum already! Life on Toner Ave couldn't have been sweeter... ----------------------------------------------- And I was right. For nearly all of my projects I produced output that made heads turn. They were especially great looking after I had them offset at the printers. When I needed camera ready copy I always had the PageStream/UltraScript PostScript compatible solution to give me fonts with a professional consistency. It looked so clean. It looked so professional. I was more than satisfied...until....I got more and more experienced with graphic design. I started looking a little more closely at the broken lines and clumped curves produced at 300 dpi. As I started getting over the initial fascination of what I could produce off of the little desktop in my little family room, I started becoming choosier and more pragmatic in a search for excellence. My cute little hobby had evolved, through self-taught learning and much application, into a full-fledged professional endeavor. Suddenly I started noticing, as I held the copy two inches from my eyeballs, the little jaggies and lack of definition in some of the serifs. Some of the PostScript creations that I had made in TypeStyler, a Mac logo/art creation program, looked marvelous, but I knew could look much cleaner than 300 dpi allowed. And then, almost as if meant to be... ------------------------------------- Being a frequent caller to GEnie (General Electric News and Information Exchange) I knew of many fellow DTP'ers who were having marvelous results sending their PageStream PostScript files to service bureaus where high-quality, $40,000 postscript printers called Linotypes were charging $10 per page to output their creations at a magazine quality 1270-2400 dots per inch! But at the same time I was also picking up threads that related horror stories that no-one could seem to figure out. The whole process _seemed_ complicated and a bit cryptic. I decided to remain at the edge, toes dangling in the water. Since I didn't have a job that really _required_ "magazine" quality, I didn't feel the need to jump in yet. Still, I monitored all the linotype discussion bases as closely as I could, hoping to make sense of it all and , every now and then, even ventured a few questions(like, "Just how deep is it on the farthest end?"--hehe). Whenever I came across any article dealing with linotype experiences/procedures, I read it studiously. Shoot I even learned to pronounce the word linotype, line-oh-type, and not, lynn-oh-type. I mean to tell you I was ready--I had my swimshorts on and teeshirt off and I was standing at the edge ready to jump. It seemed no big deal at the time... ------------------------------------ One day while doing a new message scan in the SoftLogik RT bulletin board I came across a message from Geoff Clarksmith announcing a new service bureau, Sonata Typographers, that especially catered to PageStream users. Excitedly he announced that by a certain date they would have a toll-free number set up for users all over the nation to call and send their PgS docs for direct printing on a Birmy postscript-compatible printer at resolutions ranging from 1270 to 3000 dpi! Since they had an ST directly interfaced with the Birmy, there was no need to create a PS file first, in fact they encouraged doc files as they were much smaller to deal with. Another advantage for this is that if there is any problem with the doc, they could load the file and trouble-shoot. They also promised prices lower than most places already being used by the discriminating PageStream user. I thought, "Hmmmm...(isn't that how everyone kick starts their brain? With a good 'Hmmm...'?) if I am going to need dpi resolution of godzilla proportions, these will be my people--one, they use my machine _and_ software to drive their machine(therefore they will be able to provide better service)--two, they have an 800 service--three, they have very good prices--four, why should I support a Mac/IBM market service bureau when I have one of my own brothers in the business?" Later I read a text file Sonata had uploaded announcing their grand opening and a special they had going for the first 10 Amiga/ST customers. Well soon after this I did find a need for at least 1200 dpi quality. I was doing a four-page worksheet for a personnel business and I wanted it to be very readable and professional looking, especially with the TypeStyler logo I had created for them. I had this 4 pages and another doc file with a business card , letterhead and envelope design. I dug out the 800 number I downloaded and called the BBS. I wasn't totally finished with the docs but I wanted to get registered ahead of time. They requested rudimentary info such as name, address,etc., and also got my visa number for billing(they gave the option of billing for checking customers). The next day I got a call from Geoff in Fairfield, Connecticut(where the service is located) that I was cleared for uploading jobs. The next day I uploaded the five page PageStream doc file and had a pleasant surprise--I happened to be one of the first 10 ST customers and was entitled to receive 3000 dpi(their best) RC copies of my output at $5, $14 off their everyday price of $18.95. Sonata had a choice of delivery options and I chose next-day service as I was about a week behind on the project already. OK, so then what happened... ---------------------------- My 5 page job was not too complex. Besides several Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) images of the logo, I had used Tymes, Helvettica, and Zapf Dingbats in the document itself along with their italic and bold variations. Still I feared the worst. I remembered vividly the long drawn out message threads on GEnie of wretched fellows wrangling with reason and logic over why their files refused to behave and print like everyone else's files. I just knew that Sonata was going to call me the next day and exclaim in a harried tone of voice, "We've put your doc through 5 times and all we get is Courier typed pages and funny symbols where the pictures should be." But no such call came and 24 hours later I received an Express mail tube in the mail. I carefully opened it and found myself gawking at the clarity wrought by 3000 dpi perfection. It was especially evident in the logo--it looked oh-so-clean and detailed. The type was so...so...well, so 'magazine' looking. Clean. Even. Perfect. I was amazed--even more amazed than when I scanned my first picture with my Migraph Hand Scanner. I cocked my head in inspection and proudly thought to myself, " _I_ did this". All my friends ask me how I did it... ------------------------------------- I have purposely avoided getting into specifics about Sonata as I wanted to save this for a technical summation at the end of this article, of which we are drawing near. First let me say that the folks at Sonata are _very_ courteous and conscientious. They seemed to really care that they got my doc printed correctly, and even loaded it into PageStream to 'clean up' a few things they had noticed in a draft run(keep in mind that if you are dealing with other service bureaus, they _cannot_ perform some of the fix-ups that Sonata can as they don't use PageStream and therefore can't load your doc into it). Getting your first doc printed at Sonata is _very_ painless and simple. First you must call the 800 Sonata BBS and register your name and method of payment. After you are cleared as a customer, you can send files. Files do not have to be printed to disk as PostScript files if you have PageStream. Since Sonata owns an ST and PageStream it can print your PageStream doc files directly to the Birmy typesetter. Of course if you have PostScript files created in another program--ST,Amiga,IBM, or Mac--it can print these as well. If you do send PageStream doc files Sonata requests that you upload a readme file with your doc files, in an arc, that tells Sonata the names of fonts used in the file. THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Come on in! The water's great! I highly recommend Sonata as a source for your highest quality work. They'll take you by the hand and treat you with kids gloves. Some Sonata Specifics --------------------- Sonata uses an IBM clone 386 to run its BBS, and MacIntosh's, IBM's, and Atari ST's to upload directly to the BirmySetter 300. The maximum page size is 11 x 17, the maximum resolution is 3000 DPI and 175 LPI. They output to either film or RC paper. PRICE CHART 1200 dpi 2400 dpi 3000 dpi 8.5 by 11 RC Paper $7.95 $12.95 $18.95 8.5 by 11 Film $18.95 $25.95 $29.95 10 by 14 RC Paper $9.95 $13.95 $21.95 10 by 14 Film $22.95 $25.95 $32.95 11 by 17 RC Paper $12.95 $15.95 $24.95 11 by 17 Film $24.95 $34.95 $39.95 Sonata is still offering the 5 dollar ST/Amiga price offer for 3000 dpi. Also the prices reflected above are for quantities of 1-10. Higher volumes receive proportionate discounts. Laser printouts are 75 cents. Here is a great value: US MAIL SHIPPING IS FREE! This means that as long as you can wait from 1-4 days, your total cost is outlined in the chart. Because of this I really feel that there is no good reason to NOT deal with Sonata over a local service bureau unless you want to share an occasional job with them to cover yourself. For more information, contact Sonata at: 1(203)368-4559 * 1(203)366-8686 voice * 1(800)365-5745 job uploading Fairfield , CT Geoff Clarksmith of Sonata may also be reached in GEnie EMAIL at the address of G.CLARKSMITH. He also has topic #36 in the Softlogik RT. _____________________________________________________________________ > LASER'S EDGE STR InfoFile™ A FULL-SERVICE BUREAU ========================= LASER'S EDGE SERVICE BUREAU =========================== Information about Laser's Edge Service Bureau in Vancouver, B.C.; a full-service bureau offering the leading edge technology for Atari ST, IBM-PC, and Macintosh computers. Laser's Edge employs the Linotronic L200P and L500 printers, as well as a QMS Colorscript 100, and laser printers as well. PRICING All prices are in Canadian dollars; prices subject to change without notice. High Resolution Calamus or PostScript output ====================================================================== 1-4 5+ 10+ 25+ 50+ 100+ 200+ _______________________________________________ Linotronic Letter 9.00 8.37 8.10 7.65 6.30 5.25 5.00 printouts Legal 11.00 10.20 9.90 9.35 7.70 6.41 6.11 (1270 dpi) Tabloid 16.00 14.90 14.40 13.60 11.20 9.33 8.88 Linotronic Letter 13.50 12.60 12.20 11.50 9.45 7.87 7.49 film (neg. Legal 16.50 15.30 14.90 14.00 11.60 9.62 9.16 or pos.) Tabloid 24.00 22.30 21.60 20.40 16.80 14.00 13.30 -Output is done on a first-come first-serve basis or for rush output add 50%, this will reserve a specific time for your job. -Normal setting 1270 dpi; add 30% for 1693 dpi, subtract 20% for 635 dpi Call for pricing on 2540 dpi, up to 18 inches wide on the L500. -Custom contracts can be negotiated for larger or periodical runs. ====================================================================== LASER'S EDGE MODEM SERVICES Laser's Edge is now operating an electronic bulletin board service (BBS) for receiving your file via modem. You can send your files to us anytime, as the BBS is usually running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. PLEASE FOLLOW THIS PROCEDURE WHEN SENDING US YOUR FILES!! -Baud rates to 9600 -8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity. -Set file transfer protocol to MacBinary (first choice), or straight XMODEM if you are using a PC or ST -Your instructions for printing MUST be FAX'd to us (681-2300) with a proof copy, or phoned in. Do not leave messages or print instructions on the BBS. -If you are sending more than one file, or if your file is very large, you may wish to "archive" your file(s) in a compressed format to speed transmission time. Laser's Edge supports Stuffit (Macintosh), PKZIP (PC), or ARC 6.02 (ST). -If you have questions about modem transmission, call us on our voice line: 662-3774 Logging on: -Have your modem dial (604)681-3278 -After connecting, and the initial welcome message, you will be asked to answer a few questions by the BBS system. These MUST be completed. First Name: your first name Last Name: your last name Calling from: your City or Company Change Name/Disconnect Call/Register on System: (R)egister -At the Main Menu, type F to go to the Files Menu. -At the Files Menu, type U to Upload a file to us. -When PROMPTED, give a name to the file you will be sending us. Standard MS-DOS naming rules apply; maximum 8 characters in the name, no spaces or numbers, optional 3 character extension). -When PROMPTED, press X to select XMODEM file transfer protocol. -When you are finished type G for goodbye to log off the system. -Don't forget to fax or phone in your printing instructions! ====================================================================== CALAMUS FONTS Currently you may send a file that uses any of the standard Calamus 1.09 fonts, or the Calamus Fonteditor fonts (ISD Designer fonts); Laser's Edge also supports Cherry Fonts and Mirthful Fonts; however it is best to check on these before sending If you have any self-modified, original, or other fonts (including CG fonts) you must include them on your disk or in your .ARC file. If you feel that you will be using Laser's Edge services on a regular basis, you may ask that your fonts be kept on file. ====================================================================== Your Desktop Publishing Center Laser's Edge Suite 830 789 West Pender Street Vancouver, British Columbia CANADA V6C 1H2 Phone (604)662-3774 Fax (604)681-2300 Modem (604)681-3278 Contact: Andy Curtis (most 'Atari-fluent' representative) or: Martin Curtis or: Dan Beuadoin You may also ask questions via my GEnie mail address, R.GRANT11, but since I am not employed with Laser's Edge, merely associated with them, I do not download files for output. _____________________________________________________________ > ISD CONTEST! STR InfoFile™ Outline Art Creativity Contest ========================= >> ============================== << >> OUTLINE ART CREATIVITY CONTEST << >> ============================== << From July 1 to September 30, 1990, ISD Marketing, Inc will sponsor an Outline Art Creativity Contest with the winners receiving the prizes listed below. One winner will be selected along with three runner ups. Winners will be selected from the files either uploaded into our Email address on either Compuserve at 76004,2246 or GEnie at ISD or mailed directly to our offices at: ISD Marketing, Inc., 2651 John Street, Unit #3, Markham, Ontario, Canada, L3R 2W5. Mailed entries must be postmarked no later than September 30, 1990 and received by us in-house by October 15, 1990 to qualify for entry. This contest is open to all REGISTERED OWNERS of Outline Art only. (Note: If you have recently purchased Outline Art but have not yet had the opportunity to send in your registration card, then please accompany your entry with a properly filled in registration card.) You may enter as many times as you choose but any one individual may only win once. Although the author shall retain any copyrights to their entry, all winning files shall be considered 'publicly distributable files' and may be made available for downloading from both CompuServe and GEnie. As well, the winning entries will be published in START magazine with the appropriate Author quoted and the prize won indicated as well as ONLINE. The contest prizes are listed below. Prizes: The winners will receive the following prizes: 1st Prize: $1,500.00 worth of AGFA Compugraphic fonts for use in either Calamus or Outline Art. 1st Runner Up: An Atari Megafile 44 Hard Disk Drive. 2nd and 3rd Runner Up: $50 connect time credit from both CompuServe, to be applied to your CompuServe account and $50.00 connect time credit from GEnie. The Judges for this contest include: Geoffrey Earle, General Manager of Atari (Canada) Corp., Tom Byron (Editor) and Julianne Ososke (Director of Creative Services) START Magazine, and Nathan Potechin (President) and Mario Georgiou (Graphic Artist) of ISD Marketing, Inc.. RULES: 1. The ISD Marketing, Inc. Outline Art Contest is a skill-based contest for any member who is a properly registered Owner of Outline Art. Participation in this contest is open to residents of Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand, providing that their copy of Outline Art is the one published by Ditek International. Employees of Comp u Serve, GEnie, ISD Marketing Inc., Ditek International, DMC, Antic Publishing Inc., Atari Corp., including all Atari Subsidiaries, the SysOps, GameOps, their affiliates, subsidiaries, the advertising agencies, and their immediate families are ineligible to win prizes. This contest is subject to all local, state/provincial and federal regulations and is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the sole responsibility of the winners. 2. From July 1, 1990 at 12:01 AM EST until September 30, 1990, 11:59 EST those folks who meet the above eligibility requirements can enter the contest. The files should either be uploaded directly to the ISD Email accounts in either GEnie at ISD, CompuServe at 76004,2246 or submitted by mail directly to ISD at our mailing address indicated above. (Note: Entries will not be accepted by courier. Use regular mail only.) One winner and 3 runner ups will be named. 3. The decision of the judges is final and not reviewable by any other person, agency, or tribunal. Winners will be notified by CompuServe or GEnie EMail and/or regular mail on or about October 30, 1990, and their names will be published online in the Atari Forums on Compuserve the Atari RT on GEnie and in STart Magazine along with their winning submission. 4. This contest may be publicized outside those venues indicated above. No prize may be exchanged, substituted, modified, or redeemed for cash. Prizes are not transferable. Prizes won by entrants under the age of 18 will be awarded to the winner's parent or legal guardian. All prizes will be awarded and mailed to the winner's address contained in their Outline Art Registration form. By acceptance of their prizes, the winners consent to the publication of their names, likenesses, and or their User ID without any further compensation for advertising or promotional purposes. Prizes not claimed after 21 days of the day of notification, for any reason whatsoever, will be forfeited. Prize winners may be required to execute an affidavit of eligibility and publicity release within 21 days of notification. Non-compliance within this time period will result in disqualification and an alternate winner will be selected if possible. > NIGHTMARE ON LAWRENCE ST STR Feature™ THE JOYS OF A HARDISK CRASH ===================================== Part II 'INVASION OF THE MONSTER DRIVE' =============================== by Gregg Anderson In Part I of 'Nightmare on Lawrence St' I related the joys of having a hard disk crash and the importance of having a current hard disk backup (which, needless to say, I didn't have). I learned that lesson the hard way, but that wasn't the only lesson brought to my attention that day. I was also forced to admit that I needed a larger drive, that 40 meg just wasn't cutting it anymore. What, 40 meg not enough!?! If I'd heard myself saying that a year ago I'd have had myself committed! But it was true, with the DTP & Easy Draw work I do (not to mention the word processing) my data and graphics files were getting way out of hand. So what to do? What were my options? I could get one of Atari's new Megafile 60 drives but I wanted something larger than that this time, at least 80 meg. How about an ICD 'FAST' drive or a Supra? All outstanding units, but I was thinking of something else. Something to simplify doing backups as well as giving me more storage room. The problem was the backups. Currently there are only four ways of backing up an ST hard disk; with floppies, DVT's VCR backup system, ICD's streaming tape backup, or the new removable cartridge drives. Forget about floppy backups, nobody can afford the kind of time it takes to backup 80 meg of data to floppies. The VCR backup looked interesting, being affordable and far faster than the floppies. Sadly, this unit's received mixed reviews of late and restoring data from it is said to be somewhat slow. ICD's tape backup looked VERY good, being both fast and efficient. In fact it's probably the best overall backup system currently available for the ST. Only two things kept me from buying one; it's cost (over $700) and the fact that it's strictly a backup device. Strictly a backup device? Isn't that what I wanted? Yes, but there's something new out now, the removable cartridge drive. The SyQuest SQ 555 is a 44 megabyte RLL removable cartridge drive that works with any hard-disk compatible computer system. It's fast, reasonable quiet (its sound is unique), and just about foolproof. Best of all it can be used as a boot disk, data disk, or backup disk. In short, it can do anything a fixed hard disk can do AND handle high speed backups for long term data storage. Another advantage to the SyQuest is that you can have cartridges dedicated to Mac, IBM, or ST use. Plan on working with your Spectre GCR today? Just install your Spectre cartridge and don't worry about it. IBM? Plug in your MSDOS formatted cartridge and got to town. Each can offer 44 meg of emulation specific storage and eliminate the possibility of confusing your emulator partitions with your ST partitions (usually guaranteed to ruin them). So how is it as a backup device? How about a desktop 'drag' copy of 22 megabytes from Drive H (Seagate) to Drive D (SyQuest) in just under 9 minutes? With that type of speed who needs copy programs? Are there drawbacks to the SQ 555? Yes, for one thing the drive is far from inexpensive, averaging from $650 to $850. Another is that the current cartridges store only 44 megabytes each and cost anywhere from $95 (mail order) to $140 (retail). In contrast ICD's backup tapes are in the $35 range and store up to 155 megabytes. Worst of all is cartridge availability that varies according to the manufacture's whims, ranging from plentiful to scarcer than hen's teeth. Need I bother to say I picked a SyQuest? Anyway, with that out of the way I started looking for the rest of my dream drive. I've tended to be partial to Seagate drives in the past and saw no reason to change now. Since I was starting from scratch I picked an RLL drive (more storage & faster data transfers). I decided on an embedded SCSI drive to eliminate the need for a separate controller card and picked a Seagate ST296N mechanism with 84.9 megabytes of storage (grand total for both is just shy of 130 megabytes of storage). There are two basic designs of enclosures; the monitor design that sits under the monitor like Atari's Megafile or ICD's FAST or the shoebox, an IBM design that sits beside the computer like the older Supra or Astra designs. I'd started out wanting a 'monitor' but settled on a 'shoebox' design for its easier access (to the internal components) and it's its longer DMA cable. Besides, they were out of 'monitor' enclosures when I ordered <grin>. While my unit was ordered from ABCO Computers in Florida, similar units are readily available from Carter Graphics, Toad Computers, Tech Specialties, ICD, and a host of others. All offer similar performance so pick your supplier on the basis of price (anywhere from $1200 to $1400), quality, and support. I can't emphasize support enough, it easily can make the difference between success and complete disaster. Hardware-wise there are a few things you'll want to check before using this type of drive. Due to delayed shipments, my unit wasn't preset by Abco for 'out of the box' use (I knew about this in advance and ok'd it since I wanted to set them myself for this article). As a result my unit arrived with the drive jumpers still factory configured rather than 'ready to use'. In other words, everything was messed up. I opened the unit and went to work on the jumpers and connectors. The first things you need to check are the drive resistor packs (used to terminate the drive daisy chain). You'll need to remove the packs from all but the last drive in your daisy chain, leave the pack on the last drive though. For drive systems with multiple controller boards ignore everything I've said, you're on your own there. Now look for the SCSI ID jumpers on your drives. These are 16 small wires set into 2 rows of 8. You'll get a small booklet with your drives that explains where to install the provided jumpers to tell the computer the ID number of the drive in the daisy chain. The main thing is to be sure the jumpers are in EXACTLY the right positions, assigning that drive as #1, #2, (or whatever) in the daisy chain. Remember, for the ST we want 'No Parity' on the drives. Since most drives come from the factory with parity 'On' you'll want to remove the jumper from the parity wires if it's present. With all jumpers correctly set your formatting software should have no problem recognizing the installed drives, if it can't then you need to recheck the jumpers and resistor packs on the drives. Normally isn't a problem as most ST units are shipped pre-set for use. When in doubt read the booklet that comes with your drives. If that doesn't help then it's time to pick up the phone and take advantage of the dealer support I mentioned earlier. With any hard disk using an ICD Host Adapter and/or controller, the software of choice has to be ICD's own. ICD's format software is impressive, automatically sensing the specific hard drive installed and providing the optimum format for them. It easily recognized the two drives installed in my system and allowed me to format, optimize, and partition each one in turn (only 5 1/2 minutes for 44 meg). By the way, when selecting your disk partitions be sure to checkmark each partition. If you forget to do this the partition will be created but the ST won't recognize it. A word of warning here. ICD's default interleave 1:1. While the SyQuest thrived on 1:1 the Seagate was strangled. Instead of being blinding fast it barely qualified as a snail with a paltry 57 k/sec data transfer rate. Even worse, I learned that at this setting I was in danger of loosing data with every access. At Abco's suggestion I reformatted it with a 2:1 ratio and the data transfer went up to around 500 k/sec. Basically you need to ignore what you've heard about the ST handling 1:1 interleaves and try interleave settings until you find the ratio that provides YOU with the best performance. This is where ICD's excellent RATEHD program is invaluable. You'll have to select the drive you want to use as your boot drive. Select that drive as ID #0 and LUN (Logical Unit Number) #0 (ID/LUN 0,0). This is with an embedded SCSI drive or a system with a single controller board, units with secondary controller boards will require additional steps. I picked the SyQuest as ID/LUN 0,0. The Seagate was selected as ID/LUN 0,1 (IE: the second in the daisy chain). Needless to say how you configure your system is up to you. ICD's boot software is as impressive as their formatting package, offering a custom cache to speed disk reading and writing. It even provides the option of write-verifying all disk writes, something no other program offers. Best of all is that it was written with removable cartridges in mind, automatically sensing a cartridge swap and re-reading the directory of the installed cartridge. All in all I have to admit that the current ICD software package is possibly the best I've seen to date. A pity it only works with ICD hardware. And that's the story thus far. I had a lot of fun (and more than a little frustration) putting this monster together. But I have to report that it's performed flawlessly and made me wish I'd made the upgrade years ago. If you're serious about your ST and need expanded storage combined with simplified backups, give this combination the 'once over'. I think you'll come to the same conclusion I did; that the SyQuest SQ 555 and the standard hard drive of your choice make the perfect combination. SETTING THE SCSI ID AND OPTIONAL PARITY JUMPERS (EMBEDDED SCSI ONLY) jumper these two wires for drive #2 in the chain and so-on. /jumper the first two for drive #1 in the chain. // |oooooooo| (this is for an embedded scsi drive with the circuit board |oooooooo| facing up) \ parity bit jumper, leave empty DMA (IN) to computer \ DMA (OUT) to SLM804 ____________\__________________________/______ | \ / | | |--| [---\----------------------/--] | | | | [-[//////////]---[\\\\\\\\\\]-] | Note: this layout is | | | [-----------------------------] | for a unit with the | |--| ___ | ICD Advantage Plus | \ | / | | Host Adapter, other | \ | / | {====} | units may appear | power switch | u | {fuse} | different depending on | | n | {====} | the controller used. | [------------] | u | |--------| | | [ ] | s | | power | | | [ Fan ] | e | | plug | | | [ Exhaust ] | d | |--------| | | [ ] | / | | | [------------] |_/_| | |____________________________________________| Viewed from the rear of the unit. Be sure to watch for the final sequel of this exciting trilogy, 'The Beast Reborn', coming soon to a theatre near you.... Would you believe a newsletter????? How about scrawled on a local bathroom wall? Companies mentioned in the article: ABCO Computers: PO Box 6672, Jacksonville, FL 32236 (800)-562-4037 Carter Graphics: 3006 North Main St, Logan, Utah 84321, (801)-752-2500 ICD: 1220 Rock St, Rockford IL, 61101, (815)-968-2228 Tech Specialties: 909 Crosstimbers, Houston, TX 77022, (713)-691-4527 Toad Computers: 556 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd, Severna Park MD 21146 (601)-544-6943 Seagate: 920 Disk Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, (800)-468-3475 Supra: 1133 Commercial Way, Albany, OR 97321 (503)-967-9075 SyQuest: 47923 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539, (415)-490-7511 ___________________________________________________________ > STReport CONFIDENTIAL™ "BLOCKBUSTER ATARI NEWS FIRST!" ===================== - Winter Haven, FL UPGRADE TO TURBO ST VERSION 1.82 ---------------- . . . EVEN FROM QUICK ST! Softrek has announced Version 1.82 of Turbo ST, the "software blitter." Turbo ST is the only accelerator for ST's that speeds up graphics and also speeds up WordPerfect. Further enhancements to Version 1.82 include faster dotted-line zoom- box drawing, along with non-byte aligned text display on Moniterm and other monochrome monitors. About 20 additional changes were made to enhance reliability. The most dramatic improvement, however, is the acceleration of graphic displays. As usual, registered owners of earlier versions of Turbo ST can upgrade to this latest version by sending $5.00 with their original disk to Softrek, P.O. Box 5257, Winter Park FL 32793. Owners of Turbo ST Version 1.8 may update to V 1.82 free via E-mail on GEnie. (Send your Turbo ST disk's serial number to W.BUCKHOLDT.) Owners of Quick ST will not be left out in the cold. Until September 1, 1990, Softrek is offering Turbo ST at a $20 discount to folks who send in their original Quick ST disks with only $29.95 (as compared with the list price of Turbo ST: $49.95 plus $2.00 shipping). Cash, checks (U.S. funds only), VISA, and MasterCard are acceptable. When asked the reason for this aggressive marketing program, Softrek's Merchandising Manager, Dick Biow, replied; "We're proud of our product and we want to see every single ST user in the world taking advantage of it. There's no reason Atarians should have to pay for two programs just to use the unique features of Turbo ST." - MILPITAS, CA ATARI GAMES BUYS BACK STOCK from NAMCO AMERICA ------------ Atari Games Corp., one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of coin-operated video games, today announced the signing of an agreement to repurchase its stock presently held by Namco America Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Namco Ltd., Japan. Part of the agreement calls for Namco Ltd., one of Japan's largest manufacturers of video games and a major shareholder in Atari Games, to sell all of the shares it owns back to Atari Games, along with cash and other consideration. In turn, Namco will receive ownership in Atari Operations Inc. which operates approximately 40 video game arcades in the Western and Southeastern United States. Atari Games Corp. is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of coin-operated video games and is headquartered at 675 Sycamore Drive, Milpitas, Calif., 93505, 408-434-3700. Atari Games is a privately held company whose majority shareholder after the transaction will be Time-Warner Inc. Atari Games is not affiliated with Atari Corp. and should be referred to as Atari Games. - Pontiac, MI NEW VERSION OF PC SPEED DUE ------------- PC Speed II should be out in MID JULY. This is a TOTALLY new emulator (It will, however, remain small enough to fit inside your ST) that will have a 80286 microprocessor. It will run at 7.6 Mhz which is roughly twice as fast as the hardware emulators now on the market. The price has not been set yet, but it should be very close to the current price of PC Speed I. - New York City, NY PRECISION SOFTWARE LIMITS ST SUPPORT ----------------- Precision Software, makers of SuperBase Professional, have made it known that there "would be no update coming for the Atari Computer." They stated that "the market simply was not present and that the computer has seen its heyday". Also, they stated that "it would not be profitable enough to continue to update the software when there were "30,000,000" PC compats in the world". - Sunnyvale, CA DEALERS MUST BUY STE BROCHURES? ------------- It seems dealers are appalled by yet another marketing gaffe by Atari US. Distributors receiving requests for promotional material for the STe - i.e. some glossy brochures, or maybe a demo program or two. Went to Atari with the requests and were politely informed that "Atari is not a marketing company," and that these items were not available. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that there are some brochures available, but they are going to cost the dealer approx $30.00 per 100. That's .30 cents each! What happened to all that talk about improved dealer relations? About the "not a marketing company", Atari's sales and marketing folks didn't have to tell us that we already knew that basic fact! *********************************************************************** :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ 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: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. **** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED **** The system will now prompt you for your information. *********************************************************************** > Hard Disks STR InfoFile™ Affordable Mass Storage.... ======================= NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!! ============================ ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC. P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672 Est. 1985 _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET _____________________________________ All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s). -ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE- (you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!) (all cables and connectors installed) * ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS * * ICD ADVANTAGE+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED * * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS * 51mb #SGN4951 519.95 65mb #SG60101 649.95 80mb #SGN296 709.95 100mb #SG84011D 839.95 120mb #SGN120FH 989.95 120mb #SG120DD 1128.95 170mb #SGN2962 1369.95 260mb #SG60102 1849.95 WE HAVE A COMPLETE LINE OF 3.5 LOW PROFILE HARD DRIVES for USE IN MEGA ST COMPUTERS AND RELATED CONFIGURATIONS. 20mb #AI020SC 379.95 30mb #AIO3OSC 419.95 50mb #AI050SC 449.95 65mb #AI065SC 499.95 85mb #AI085SC $559.95 >>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<< (500 - 600k per sec @ 23 -33ms) CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS FROM 30mb @ $419.00! Ask about our "REBATE SPECIALS" --==*==-- SHIPPING AND INSURANCE INCLUDED ============================================ * SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE * - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A - ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable - Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart. COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN! >> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$849.00__ << *** SPECIAL SYQUEST OFFER!! *** ORDER YOUR CUSTOM SYQUEST UNIT NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT! ***** for $50.00 LESS! ***** -> DO IT YOURSELF BARE SYQUEST UNITS $600.00ea 2 for $1100.00 Syquest Mechanism - 2 year warranty * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT * SPECIALLY PRICED $1539.00 * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS * - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives - 50mb SQG51 $1179.00 30mb SQG38 $1099.00 65mb SQG09 $1239.00 85mb SQG96 $1299.00 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE Listed above are a sampling of the systems available. Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited) *** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms *** ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR LARGER units are available - (special order only) NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets - Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *- (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE) QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE! _________________________________________ DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED! please, call for details Personal and Company Checks are accepted. ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY! CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319 Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service 9am - 8pm EDT Tues thru Sat *********************************************************************** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; STREPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE """""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! Call any of the STReport Official BBS numbers (Listed Above) or Leave E-mail to STReport - R.Mariano Be sure to include your full mailing address so your Compuserve kit can be immediately mailed to you! NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE *********************************************************************** > A "Quotable Quote"™ ================= "Because our products are designed for use with the ST... ..we are outraged over the condition Atari in the U.S. has dropped to... (lack of dealers, advertising, support, etc.)." ...name withheld (Another DEPARTING Developer) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STReport™ "Your Independent News Source" June 29, 1990 16/32bit Magazine copyright © 1990 No.6.26 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors, staff, STReport™ CPU/STR™ or ST Report™. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. The contents, at the time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors, contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. --------------------------------------------------------------------------