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- SILICON TIMES REPORT
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- "STReport; The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!"
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- September 29, 1995 No. 1139
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- 09/29/95 STR 1139 "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!"
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- - CPU INDUSTRY REPORT - Micrografx ABC 3D - QEMM & Win95
- - COREL 6.0 - HP buys Convex - China Slams Pirates
- - Sony PSX - Frankie's Corner - Intel Prgrmr Jailed
- - Mr.T's CATnips - FLIPOUT Review - Jaguar NewsBits
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- From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
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- One thing that makes the computing community so small even though
- there are people from all over the world involved is the quickness and
- ease of telecommunications. Modem usage has more than quadrupled in the
- last twenty four months. This is no easy feat. The "shake-out" in the
- modem market was barely felt because of the robust nature of the market
- itself. A good example is Hayes for even though the "good ship Hayes was
- upon the "Shoals of Chapter eleven", they are recovering from the danger.
- Some observers had stated Hayes will be stronger and wiser than they were
- before their misfortune.
-
- Meanwhile the ISDN "Rapture" sings a siren's song to many.. Industry
- observers have stated that "ISDN is clearly the wave of the future in
- reliable telecommunications. The only pitfall for ISDN and larger
- bandwith service is the wildly different range of costs from region to
- another in the USA. Another major pitfall is the fact that there is major
- shortage of telco personnel who have any real knowledge of ISDN, T1 and T3
- lines.
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- Additionally, the FCC and the DOJ have launched a formal
- investigations into alleged price fixing, the unusually high rates being
- charged in certain areas of the country for ISDN, T1 and T3 service and
- possible cooperative efforts between major providers to keep the pricing
- high. Prices for both for the lines themselves and access are being
- analyzed, meaning the phone companies and the providers offering access
- via such hookups. It is expected that as a result of the investigation
- the newest of Telcom Industries will be the first of the "new generation"
- of telco services to be "creatively" regulated. This reporter feels the
- prices are far too high and are artificially inflated to minimize the work
- load on telco services country wide.
-
- "What the telco and service providers do not seem to realize or,
- perhaps they simply don't care is the unfair competitive edge they are
- giving to foreign corporations who compete directly with US Corporations.
- The prices for similar services overseas are considerably lower and often
- government regulated." One industry observer noted. He further stated;
- "If something is not done soon the financial damage to many US business
- will no longer be considered recoverable."
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- Ralph...
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- Computer Products Update - CPU Report
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- Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
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- Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
-
-
- -/- CompUSA Plans New Stores -/-
-
-
- Superstore retailer CompUSA Inc. is planning to open 13 additional
- outlets between now and mid-1996.
- The new stores will be located in Burbank, California; Monrovia,
- California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Westminster, Colorado;
- Wilmington, Delaware; Altamonte Springs, Florida; Boise, Idaho; Nashua,
- New Hampshire; Nashville, Tennessee; El Paso, Texas; Houston; San
- Antonio; and Dale City, Virginia. CompUSA will also open new training
- centers in Schaumburg, Illinois, and New York.
- "We are extremely pleased to announce these new locations as part
- of our plans to open 15 to 20 new superstores during fiscal 1996," says
- James F. Halpin, CompUSA's president and CEO. "We are committed to
- growing our store base and remaining the nation's leading computer
- superstore retailer."
- CompUSA, based in Dallas, currently operates superstores in 41
- major metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. CompUSA's superstores
- average 26,000 square feet and include technical departments and
- classroom training facilities.
-
-
-
- -/- Brother Readies E-Book Technology -/-
-
-
- Brother International Corp. and Franklin Electronic Publishers
- Inc. have announced a strategic alliance that will place Franklin's
- electronic book technology inside Brother's portable electronic
- typewriters and personal word processors.
- The new Brother products, scheduled for release in 1996, will
- feature slots that allow users to plug in any of more than 30 Franklin
- Bookman cartridge-based dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference
- books. The data will be displayed in a full-sized format that's
- approximately 3.3 times larger than the image provided by the current
- handheld Bookman reader.
- "This joint venture is a win-win partnership," says Morton E.
- David, Franklin Electronic Publishers' chairman and CEO. Brother
- expands the functionality of its products, while Franklin expands
- Bookman technology beyond Franklin-branded products to gain additional
- outlets for Bookman cartridges."
- The deal's terms weren't disclosed.
-
-
-
- -/- Sun to Launch Internet Terminals -/-
-
-
- Sun Microsystems Inc. officials say their firm and others are
- trying to create machines that would sell for just a few hundred
- dollars and access the Internet and other networks, a move observers
- say may ultimately shake up PC design.
- "The computers would be little more than a microprocessor and a few
- other chips, keyboard, screen and a communications connection," says
- business writer Evan Ramstad of The Associated Press. "They would be
- able to access and manipulate sophisticated programs and data on other
- computers."
- Ramstad says a new Sun programming language called Java allows
- software creators to make products that can easily be sent across a
- network, whether a telephone line, cable system or wireless.
- "For instance," notes AP, "a person would not need a personal
- finance program in their home computer to interact with a bank. The
- portion of the program that the person needs would download upon
- request from the bank and vanish when the work is done. With less need
- for hard drives, floppy disks or CD-ROMs, a computer could be
- streamlined and produced for less money. That would be important for
- people unable to afford today's desktop PCs, which start around
- $1,000."
- Observers say it may take several years for such machines to reach
- stores, but Sun Chairman/CEO Scott McNealy said some firms have created
- prototypes and he expects Sun to be working with them.
- Also, he said, the ability to connect to networks and manipulate
- Java-based programs could be added to video game machines and other
- consumer electronics devices at little cost.
- While Sun reportedly is talking to several electronics makers
- about such integration, McNealy declined to comment specifically.
-
-
- -/- Adobe Illustrator Updated -/-
-
-
- Adobe Systems Inc. has released Adobe Illustrator 4.1 for Windows,
- an update of its illustration and design program. The Mountain View,
- California, software publisher has also cut the program's price from
- $695 to $495.
- The update adds compatibility for Windows 95, allowing users to
- run the 16-bit application under the new operating system. The
- software, which ships on floppy disks, also adds TrueType support and
- comes bundled with Adobe Type Manager 3.02, Adobe Separator, Adobe
- Streamline 3.0 for Windows and Adobe TypeAlign. Also provided is Adobe
- Type On Call, a CD-ROM featuring 200 free fonts and more than 2,000
- typefaces that can be purchased and unlocked.
- Registered users of any previous version of Adobe Illustrator for
- Windows may upgrade for $49. Users of Macromedia FreeHand for Windows
- and any version of CorelDraw can upgrade for $149.
-
-
-
- -/- Hewlett-Packard to Acquire Convex -/-
-
-
- For $150 million in stock, Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy
- struggling Convex Computer Corp. HP already had a 5 percent stake in
- the Richardson, Texas, firm.
- Writer William M. Bulkeley of The Wall Street Journal sees the HP
- move as "preserving a high-end technology partner and continuing the
- supercomputer industry shakeout."
- The Palo Alto, California, buyer says it will exchange HP common
- stock with a value of $4.83 for each of Convex's 26.7 million shares
- outstanding.
- "The agreement," says Bulkeley, "marks the end of the road for
- Convex, a venture-finance backed firm that was started 13 years ago to
- build the first mini-supercomputer. It later built full-fledged
- supercomputers used for weather forecasting, seismic modeling and
- industrial design."
- But, says the paper, "demand for supercomputers has shrunk with
- the end of the Cold War and the reduction of Defense Department
- spending on high-end computers," and Convex reported losses in most
- quarters for the past four years.
- Analyst John Logan of Boston's Aberdeen Group told the paper the
- acquisition gives HP a full line of scientific computers from
- workstations to supercomputers and will make the buyer a tougher
- competitor for IBM and Silicon Graphics Inc., two companies that also
- have their own compatible lines of high-performance workstations and
- massively parallel supercomputers.
-
-
-
- -/- Netscape Buys Collabra for $109M -/-
-
-
- Web browser publisher Netscape Communications Corp. is laying out
- nearly $109 million to buy Collabra Software Inc., a producer of a
- groupware program that competes with Lotus Notes.
- "The price is large," comments business writer Evan Ramstad of The
- Associated Press, "for a company that, like Netscape, has been around
- for just two years and is relatively unknown beyond Silicon Valley,
- where both are based."
- AP says Netscape will give 1.85 million shares to the owners of
- privately-held Collabra. Based on the company's closing share price of
- $58.75 Thursday, the transaction would be worth $108.7 million.
- Collabra publishes Collabra Share in the groupware category of
- software intended for networked computerists.
- Writes Ramstad, "Analysts say the big valuations reflect a belief
- that programs like Collabra Share and Lotus Notes will become more
- prominent in corporations, particularly as they are made to work with
- the Internet. The products could ultimately act as a transparent bridge
- between internal networks at companies and the Internet, a quasi-public
- data network."
- Officials with Netscape says the firm plans to weave Collabra
- Share with its Netscape Navigator program for browsing the World Wide
- Web portion of the Internet.
- Collabra Share, which provides a way for group conferences and
- other information sharing to occur on office computers, is said to be
- "generally simpler to use than Lotus Notes but lacks data replication
- and other features of Notes," Ramstad commented.
- Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale told the wire service, "Most of our
- revenue comes from customers who use our software to facilitate
- intra-company communications. This will allow people to use our
- software to do collaborative document sharing."
- He added it will take several months to integrate the Netscape and
- Collabra products, saying Netscape also will continue to develop and
- market Collabra as a stand-alone program.
- Ramstad said Lotus also is working on making Notes capable of
- browsing the Web.
-
-
-
- -/- Apple Sees End to Supply Problem -/-
-
-
- Apple Computer Inc. CEO Michael Spindler says that by next month
- his firm will have largely overcome the supply constraints that have
- cut into its sales and profits this year.
- "There has been a steep ramp of new technology" coming out of
- Apple in upgrades of 75 percent of its product line, Spindler told
- Barbara Grady of the Reuter News Service, adding that there had been
- "some supply hiccups."
- Speaking with reporters after a speech in San Francisco, Spindler
- defended his company's progress in bringing new products to market.
- Grady notes that during much of this year, Apple's sales potential
- was limited by shortages of supplies needed to produce enough PowerMac
- computers and other products to meet strong demand. Two weeks ago,
- Apple said those supply problems would curtail its sales and earnings
- in its fiscal fourth quarter ending Sept. 30.
- "People were lured into the belief that we made the product
- transition last year. We did that in 25 percent of the business, and
- that went smoothly," Spindler observed, referring to Apple's
- introduction of its PowerMac computers, based on the PowerPC chip
- developed by Apple, IBM and Motorola Inc.
- This year was more complex, he said, as the rest of Apple's
- product line was being upgraded to work with PowerPC chips. "When you
- introduce this many technologically complex transitions," said
- Spindler, "it's bound that things will happen. It isn't an easy
- subject. Saying they couldn't figure demand -- that's not it. In part
- it is a massive transformation of the entire product line this
- quarter."
- Now, though, he said, 90 percent of Apple's product line is
- powered by PowerPC microprocessors.
- When asked when the company may begin to see revenue gains from
- the new products, Spindler said he hoped to see some revenue payback in
- fiscal 1996.
- Apple's board is scheduled to meet next week, and Spindler said
- "we are going to tell them what we are going to do next year."
- Grady notes that speculation about Apple in recent days since it
- warned of a shortfall in fourth quarter results "has focused on whether
- its board might alter Spindler's role as CEO and whether Apple and IBM
- might finally decide to coordinate efforts around one computer
- platform, namely Apple's PowerMac and Macintosh operating system."
- Spindler declined comment about IBM or speculation of renewed talks
- between the companies.
-
-
-
- -/- MCI Launches High-Speed Network -/-
-
-
- MCI Communications Corp. says it has deployed the world's fastest
- telecommunications network.
- The company states that the network, which uses Northern Telecom's
- Transport Node OC-192 transmission system, can send information at
- speeds of 10 gigabits--10 billion bits of information--per second. It
- notes that the network is four times faster than its nearest
- competitors.
- The 10 gigabit traffic is being carried initially along a 125-mile
- stretch of MCI's network from Dallas to Longview, Texas. MCI notes that
- the service marks the first time that the OC-192 technology has been
- successfully deployed in a commercial telecommunications network.
- MCI says it eventually plans to use the high-speed, high- capacity
- technology throughout its network structure, giving customers swifter
- access to a wide range of services, including interactive multimedia,
- teleconferencing and medical imaging.
- MCI hopes to multiplex its network capacity to 40 gigabits in the
- next two to three years. The company notes that at 40 gigabits the
- entire U.S. Mail list of names and addresses could be transmitted from
- New York to Los Angeles in about four seconds, while a single optic
- fiber could carry over 500,000 simultaneous Internet conversations.
-
-
- -/- Apple Tries to Persuade IBM -/-
-
-
- Word is Apple Computer Inc. is trying to persuade IBM to abandon
- its own OS/2 operating system for the Macintosh and, instead, market
- Apple's system.
- Apple Chairman A.C. Makkula is quoted in The Wall Street Journal
- this morning as saying, "It would make a very, very powerful
- alternative if IBM chose the Mac operating system."
- Journal reporters Jim Carlton and Laurie Hays say Makkula
- confirmed his firm and IBM have held talks on the possible move,
- characterized by analysts as an effort by Apple to improve its
- competition with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems.
- Also, the Journal reports IBM made a bid for Apple in September
- 1994, offering $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the
- talks. The sources says IBM's $40 per share bid was not high enough.
- Apple sought $60 per share or more, they say.
-
-
-
- -/- PowerBook 5300 Shipments Resume -/-
-
-
- Apple Computer Inc. has resumed shipments of its PowerBook 5300
- notebook computer line and announced an immediate $100 price reduction
- on the systems.
- On Sept. 14, Apple reported a safety problem with the lithium-ion
- battery packs in two early-production PowerBook 5300 models. The
- Cupertino, California, computer maker immediately halted shipments, and
- says it has contacted virtually all of the fewer than 1,000 buyers.
- Apple has replaced all of the lithium-ion batteries with
- nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) power packs.
- "The PowerBook 5300 is the most powerful PowerBook Apple has
- produced yet, and we're back in full production, using NiMH batteries,"
- says David Nagel, Apple's vice president for worldwide research and
- development.
- With the price cut, the PowerPC 603e-based PowerBook 5300 line now
- starts at about $2,099 for a monochrome model featuring 8MB of RAM and
- a 500MB hard disk. The top-of-the-line system, featuring an
- active-matrix color display, 32MB of RAM and a 1.1GB hard disk, now
- sells for about $6,399.
-
-
-
- -/- Another Netscape Flaw Reported -/-
-
-
- Members of the Internet's "Cypherpunks" discussion group report
- uncovering a third security flaw in the popular web browser software
- from Netscape Communications Corp. The same flaw has been found in
- similar programs from other publishers.
- Unlike the prior glitches, however, the latest Netscape flaw
- doesn't lend itself to the theft of multiple credit-card numbers.
- "Instead," writes Jared Sandberg in this morning's Wall Street Journal,
- "it could allow a savvy hacker to damage an Internet user's computer,
- such as crashing the computer or deleting files."
- As reported previously, the Cypherpunk group, which includes
- mathematicians and hobbyists who discuss security methods of
- cryptography, last month broke by "brute force" Netscape's "key" that
- protects sensitive data. Last week, other members found a flaw that
- could let intruders essentially pick the lock in Netscape's software.
- The latest flaw actually goes beyond Netscape. "It first reared
- its head seven years ago when Cornell graduate student Robert Morris
- used it to create a 'worm' that crippled thousands of computers on the
- Internet," Sandberg writes. "Last February, the same kind of flaw was
- found in the popular Mosaic program created by the University of
- Illinois. But that strain of the flaw was more serious than its latest
- appearance because it affected the computers that store many users'
- credit-card numbers. Now experts are discovering that the flaw shows
- up in other so-called Web browsers such as Links and Arena."
- Of the programming quality of many browsers, security researcher
- William Cheswick of AT&T Corp.'s Bell Laboratories commented to the
- Journal, "We're so glad that the network dog dances, we don't realize
- that it's rabid."
- Meanwhile, Netscape Vice President Marc Andreessen told the paper
- his company will issue fixes for the recent glitches later this week,
- adding it is unclear whether anything other than temporarily crashing a
- user's computer could result from the recent flaw. However, he said,
- once users adopt the modified software, "this won't be around long
- enough to cause a problem."
- Still, notes Sandberg, others online worry that another variation
- of the flaw will prove more difficult to cope with in the coming
- months.
- President Bruce Fancher of Phantom Access Technologies Inc.,
- operator of the Mindvox Internet access service, said a variation of
- the security hole has been found in several UNIX software packages that
- run on thousands of Internet computers. It could cause far more damage
- than the Netscape flaw.
- "This is going to be a big problem," he warned, adding he has been
- told computer vandals already are devising software toolkits to exploit
- the hole. "This flaw is an easy mistake to make, but it's also easy to
- fix," he said.
- The Journal says the latest flaw came to light early Friday when a
- reader of the Cypherpunk mailing list discovered the glitch and posted
- a message to the Internet.
-
-
-
- -/- Cops Fear Net to Hide Drug Money -/-
-
-
- New rechargeable "smart" credit cards could allow drug barons and
- other criminals to launder profits via the Internet, international law
- enforcers say, calling for tighter checks on the technology.
- Reporting from Paris, the Reuter News Service observed, "The
- digital cash cards, which make it possible to order goods and services
- from home personal computers, could also allow money transactions and
- bypass the banking system. Payments made with the cards, which are
- marketed by the Mondex firm in Britain, are carried out through an
- electronic chip."
- Ronald Noble, a U.S. Treasury official leading the Financial
- Action Task Force, told the wire service, "The chip can contain
- millions of dollars. Unlike Visa cards, there is no registration of
- each operation. It's a way of moving vast sums of money with no record
- of the transaction. The makers are looking at ways of tying the cards
- up to Internet."
- Speaking after the agency's annual meeting in Paris, Noble said
- the group had met the makers of the card about what he called
- "cybercash" and that they were being very cooperative about money
- laundering concerns.
- He said, "The Colombian Cali cartel is believed to generate
- revenues of seven billion dollars a year -- that's the combined
- revenues of Toyota, Boeing and Pepsi."
-
-
-
- -/- China Punishes 12 Pirate Firms -/-
-
-
- Twelve compact disc factories have been penalized by the Chinese
- government in Beijing for copyright theft.
- United Press International quotes a report in the China Daily, an
- official state newspaper, as saying the State Copyright Administration
- has banned the 12 factories from reproducing works that included U.S.
- films and Hong Kong pop music until they receive proper authorization
- from the legal copyright owners.
- The paper says the factories - - located in Beijing, Shanghai,
- Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, some of the country's largest -- were
- found to have forged or made false claims about documents giving them
- rights to reproduce the works on compact and laser discs.
- A copyright administration spokesman said the government plans a
- campaign aimed at fighting piracy and copyright violations, adding,
- "Those who break the law to a serious extent will be caught and bound
- over to the courts."
- As noted earlier, China and the U.S. reached a landmark agreement
- in February to curb the abuse of intellectual property rights in China
- and provide greater market access for U.S. companies. Prior to the
- signing of the accord, Chinese authorities closed seven compact disc
- factories in southern China cited by Washington as the worst pirates of
- laser and compact discs. They also destroyed more than 2 million
- pirated compact discs and pieces of computer software.
- "Since then, however," says UPI, "enforcement has been sporadic
- and the government has refrained from factory closures and the seizure
- and destruction of pirated products."
-
-
-
- -/- Ex-Intel Programmer Jailed -/-
-
-
- Accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of Intel Corp.'s
- Pentium chip production secrets and giving them to a rival computer
- company, a software engineer has been jailed in Arizona.
- The FBI arrested 43-year-old William Gaede at his home in Mesa,
- Arizona, Saturday. The Associated Press reports Gaede, an Argentine
- national who worked for Intel in Chandler, Arizona, in 1993-94, was
- being held at the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix pending a hearing
- before a federal magistrate.
- Gaede was charged with mail fraud and interstate transportation of
- stolen property. AP says an FBI complaint alleged Gaede sent videotapes
- with instructions for making Intel's Pentium microprocessor to Advanced
- Micro Devices Inc., which, says the bureau, immediately returned the
- material to Intel.
- As reported earlier, Gaede, who also worked for AMD from 1983 to
- 1993, told The New York Times in May he stole secrets from both
- computer companies and gave the information to China, Iran and Cuba.
- The newspaper reported the information included designs and
- instructions on how to make the '386, '486 and Pentium chips that power
- most personal computers. Gaede said he was first motivated by a love of
- communism but later stole for personal gain.
- Says AP, "The information he passed to Cuba was given to the
- Soviet Union and East Germany in the last years of the Cold War, Gaede
- has said. His account of his involvement with foreign governments could
- not be confirmed."
- Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News reported yesterday Gaede fled
- for Argentina after a storage locker he rented was broken into and
- plans for Intel devices were discovered. The paper did not say who
- broke into the locker or when. Gaede had been living in Mesa since
- returning from Buenos Aires this summer.
-
-
-
- -/- High Court to Rule on Copyrights -/-
-
-
- The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide for the first time
- whether U.S. copyright laws protect computer software.
- The justices will review an appellate court ruling that sided with
- Borland International Inc. in its computer spreadsheet copyright fight
- with Lotus Development Corp.
- Lotus sued Borland in 1990 for imitating the menu structure of its
- 1-2-3 spreadsheet software. A federal trial judge in Boston ruled that
- Borland's Quattro program copied 1-2-3's system of menus and commands,
- but the decision was later overturned by the federal appeals court.
- Borland has since sold Quattro to Novell.
- In its Supreme Court appeal, Lotus stated that the appeals court
- decision "has the potential to undo a generation of copyright
- protection." It added that software developers "can no longer tell
- whether, or to what extent, their creative efforts will receive
- effective (copyright) protection."
- A ruling by the Supreme Court is expected sometime this winter.
-
-
-
- -/- Rolling Stones Come to CD-ROM -/-
-
-
- Following Bob Dylan and the Beatles, the Rolling Stones have
- finally found their way to CD- ROM, announcing a disc that will feature
- music from the double-platinum album "Voodoo Lounge."
- A statement from Virgin Records, which is marketing the product,
- says the Voodoo Lounge CD-ROM will offer "a multi-faceted interactive
- adventure presented in a totally immersive environment."
- Adds the statement, "Filled with dozens of themes -- ranging from
- the dark and mysterious to the risque and hilarious -- the disk's
- sophisticated architecture insures that no two user experiences will be
- the same," promising to reflect the band members' "personalities,
- aesthetic tastes, and humor."
- The disc, developed by Los Angeles-based Second Vision New Media
- and set for release this autumn, is set on "a sprawling plantation
- featuring numerous rooms, including secluded party areas, courtyards,
- bathrooms, the Voodoo Lounge bar, and VIP areas accessible only with a
- special laminate pass. ... While roaming the 3-D environment, the user
- is apt to bump into various shady denizens, Rolling Stones entourage
- stalwarts, glamorous scenesters, and the Rolling Stones band members,
- who talk and interact with visitors."
-
-
-
- -/- Online Payment Spec Released -/-
-
-
- Microsoft Corp. and Visa International have published a
- specification that aims to secure electronic payments over public and
- private networks, including the Internet's World Wide Web.
- The open specification, known as Secure Transaction Technology
- (STT), is designed to make shoppers and merchants more confident about
- the security of online credit card transactions. By providing a
- technology that's integrated with the current bank card system,
- Microsoft and Visa hope STT will serve as a reliable payment system for
- software providers to incorporate in their products.
- To encourage widespread adoption of STT, Microsoft and Visa are
- making the specification available at no charge to all card brands,
- financial institutions, software developers and the Internet community.
- "This specification will help enable the electronic commerce
- marketplace by calming some of the anxieties many consumers and
- businesses currently have about conducting transactions over electronic
- networks," says Richard Lonergan, executive vice president of Visa's
- point of transaction division. "Millions of cardholders and merchants
- expect security and protection whenever they use or accept a Visa
- card -- and we want to make sure that's the case whether they're using
- it at the point of sale or on the Internet."
- "Consumers, merchants and financial institutions will soon have a
- highly secure environment for conducting transactions in the 'anytime,
- anywhere' world of electronic commerce," says Craig Mundie, senior vice
- president of Microsoft's commercial systems division. "Because STT is
- designed to provide strong authentication and was developed with Visa,
- software developers can design and deploy solutions that will ensure
- the highest levels of security."
- The specification can be downloaded from either the Visa
- (http://www.visa.com) or Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com) Web
- sites.
-
-
-
-
- Corel News Updates STR InfoFile
-
-
-
- #6001---IPFs and the Layers Manager
-
-
- Selecting the Layers Manager in CorelDRAW6.0 may cause an Invalid Page
- Fault (IPF) under certain conditions. To avoid this IPF, all references
- to 16 bit device drivers must be removed from the following configuration
- files: AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI and the SYSTEM.INI.
-
- NOTE: The following files are essential to the operating system. If you
- are unsure as to how to edit the contents of these configuration files,
- please contact a Microsoft Representative for further assistance. Please
- backup all configuration files before making any changes by copying these
- files to a floppy diskette or to another directory.
-
- 1. In Microsoft Windows 95, select Start | Run and then type SYSEDIT at
- the prompt.
-
- 2. Edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT as follows (if applicable):
- Disable the following entries by placing the word REM followed by a blank
- space in front of command lines that load mice, or 16 bit interface
- drivers, ie:
- MSINPUT Software
- Kensington Pro Mouse, Tablets, etc.
- DOS command line entries..ie: REM c:\mouse\mouse.com
- If the above mentioned entries require a duplicate or tandem entry in the
- CONFIG.SYS, edit accordingly following the same steps as above.
- Close window and save changes if prompted.
-
- In the WIN.INI file, two lines must be disabled by placing a semi-colon (;
- [space] ) in front of the line: (if applicable) "load=..." becomes ";
- load=" and "run=..." becomes "; run="
- Note: Terminate Stay Resident programs (TSRs) will require system
- resources that may conflict with CorelDRAW 6 and the Layers Manager, ie:
- POINTER.EXE, MSBUTTONS and the WINCIM Spellchecker (16 bit Compuserve
- application). Therefore, in order for the Layers Manger to function
- properly, these TSRs must be disabled.
- Close window and save changes if prompted.
-
- In the SYSTEM.INI file, the following subsections containing mouse entries
- should read:
- [Boot]
- mouse.drv=mouse.drv
- [Boot Description]
- mouse.drv=Standard mouse
-
- [386 Enh]
- mouse=*vmouse, msmouse.vxd
- Close window and save changes if prompted.
-
- Close off System Editor and select Start | Shutdown | Restart Computer.
-
- All of these command line modifications will load native Microsoft Windows
- 95 mouse drivers for CorelDRAW 6.0. If different device drivers are
- selected for use with our software, it is recommended that 32 bit drivers
- be used. Updated drivers may be obtained from the Device Manufacturer.
-
- 3. To verify that the proper mouse driver is correctly installed, please
- do the following:
-
- Select Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Device Manager. Double
- click on the Mouse and then double click on a Mouse Driver. Select the
- Driver tab. If the following drivers are displayed then simply Cancel and
- Close the Control Panel. Otherwise proceed to Step #4:
-
- Drive letter\Windows directory\System\MSMOUSE.VXD
- Drive letter\Windows directory\System\MOUSE.DRV
-
- 4. Select the Change Driver option. Show all Devices and select
- "Standard mouse type" from left hand panel and from the right hand panel,
- select the appropriate Mouse interface type, ie. "Standard Bus Adapter
- Mouse", "Standard PS/2 Port Mouse" or "Standard Serial Mouse"(consult
- mouse documentation if unsure). Select OK and Close. Reboot the system
- if prompted.
-
-
-
- Diagnosing Invalid Page Faults (IPFs)
-
- USER ADVISORY
- This document is designed solely to assist the user in the detection and
- correction of memory conflicts, incorrect system configuration or device
- incompatibilties. The importance of adhering to recommended recovery
- precautions as listed cannot be overstated. The Corel Corporation assumes
- no expressed or implied liability for any system or software damages
- resulting from the use or misuse of this information.
-
- The operation of current computer systems depends upon the dynamic and
- interactive manipulation of data. Optimal performance of system hardware
- is essential for the correct operation of Corel software. Before
- attempting to diagnose and correct Invalid Page Fault (IPFs) errors within
- the Windows '95 environment, the following precautions are strongly
- recommended:
-
- Create a Startup Disk. This is invaluable for the recovery of basic
- computer function in the event of complete system failure. The Startup
- Disk may be created during the Windows '95 installation process or after
- installation is complete by selecting "Start | Settings | Control Panel |
- Add-Remove Programs | Startup Disk | Create" from within Windows '95.
-
- Copy the SYSTEM.DAT, USER.DAT, CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI and
- SYSTEM.INI files, plus any CD-ROM or other device drivers to a
- subdirectory on the STARTUP diskette, or to an additional diskette if
- there is not enough space on the Startup Disk. Disable the Windows
- Background, Screen Saver and any third-party applications to free up
- active memory space. Remove all applications from the Startup folder.
-
-
- 1.) If the system has failed from within an active application, an
- attempt should be made to save any files that are currently open. If the
- lockup occurred while working in CorelDRAW, check for .ABK or .BAK files
- on the system. These are CorelDRAW autobackup files that may be renamed
- to a .CDR extension to recover the open file. You must rename the file to
- a .CDR extension before exiting Windows '95.
-
-
- 2.) If the lockup occurs when typing text of any kind, re-install that
- particular font. Remove the font from the Control Panel | Fonts list, and
- re-install the font from the original source.
-
-
- 3.) Exit all applications. Select Shut Down... | Restart the computer.
- Try to duplicate the error which caused the original failure. The error
- condition may not re-appear if it was caused by a momentary memory
- conflict. If the error continues, proceed to step #4.
-
-
- 4.) Verify that the system conforms to Corel's minimum hardware/system
- requirements.
-
-
- 5.) All applications require an area of hard disk space to be set aside
- for the creation of temporary files used during the course of normal
- operations. At the DOS Command Prompt, enter the command SET to find the
- TEMP directory path(s). A TEMP directory path will be generated:
- .ie TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
-
- The TEMP directory must be located on a drive with ample space for
- expansion. Windows '95 supports TEMP files on compressed drives by
- default. Try relocating the TEMP directory to an uncompressed drive by
- modifying or constructing appropriate statements in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
-
- ie. SET TEMP=D:\TEMP SET TMP=D:\TEMP
-
-
- 6.) Run the Scandisk* utility "Start | Programs | Accessories | System
- Tools | ScanDisk". The "Automatically fix errors" box should be selected.
- This will repair lost clusters and corrupted sectors of the hard-disk.
-
-
- 7.) Using Microsoft Explorer or File Manager, locate the CORELAPP.INI
- file in the COREL60\CONFIG directory. Browse the file to find the [Temp
- Paths] section which contains the TEMP file directory locations, ie.
- 0=C:\TEMP. Additional lines may be added to this section to point to
- other drives or partitions on the system with available space. Insert
- additional TEMP file pointers underneath 0=C:\TEMP ie. 1=D:\TEMP,
- 2=E:\TEMP. Make appropriate changes, select File, then Save. Corel
- applications may be returned to default initialization values by re-naming
- the modified CORELAPP.INI file and re-launching any Corel application. A
- new CORELAPP.INI file will be generated.
-
-
- 8.) The drive partitions should be defragmented. Defragmentation
- consolidates the information stored on the hard drive so that it is more
- easily accessed, and prevents read/write errors when the hard drive is
- activated. Select "Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk
- Defragmenter*".
-
-
- 9.) Check system resources by invoking "Start | Programs | Accessories |
- System Tools | Resource Meter*". This will place the resource meter in
- the bottom right hand corner of the display. Double-clicking this icon
- will display system statistics. Low values for System Resources, User
- Resources, or GDI Resources indicate that system performance is deficient,
- and may be the cause of IPF errors.
-
-
- 10.) Re-boot the system. When the "Starting Windows '95" appears press
- F8. Choose Step-by-Step Confirmation. Select NO to avoid executing the
- AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Select YES when prompted for all other
- questions.
-
-
- 11.) Install the Standard VGA display driver. Select "Start | Settings |
- Control Panel | Display | Settings | Change Display Type... | Change
- Adapter Type | Show all devices | Standard display types | Standard
- Display Adapter (VGA)". If the video card installed on the system is not
- supported by Windows'95, have a backup copy of the driver on hand.
-
-
- 12.) Verify that all devices (CD-ROM, Display Adapters, Monitor, Mouse,
- Sound) are operating properly. Select "Start | Settings | Control Panel |
- System | Device Manager". By double clicking on a device and viewing the
- properties of that device the Device Status may be viewed. Any device
- with a memory conflict will display a yellow 'flag' with an exclamation
- point inside it.
-
-
- 13.) Select System Performance, Control Panel | System | Performance.
- Select the following settings:
-
- Graphics -> Turn OFF any video acceleration. This prevents possible
- memory conflicts.
-
- Virtual Memory -> Virtual Memory ( Swap File) is space reserved on
- the hard drive for RAM memory to store information it requires on an
- ongoing basis. You may specify your own settings to increase this space
- as follows: Select Let Me Specify My Own Virtual Memory Settings.
- Re-locate the virtual memory to a NON-COMPRESSED drive, and specify a
- Minimum of 10MB and a Maximum of 30MB (increase as necessary). Re-boot
- the computer when prompted. Windows will revert to managing the virtual
- memory by expanding or contracting it within the boundaries of your
- specified settings.
-
-
- 14.) Un-Install the application. Select Start | Settings | Control Panel
- | Add-Remove programs | Select the application to Un-Install. Re-boot the
- computer and re-install the application when finished.
-
-
- 15.) Safe Mode removes all specific system configuration settings, and
- loads generic Window '95 device drivers. It is a method of determining if
- system settings and device-specific drivers, etc, are interfering with the
- normal operation of hardware and software. To operate in Safe Mode,
- re-boot the computer. When the "Starting Windows '95" appears press F8.
- Select Safe Mode. This will bypass all startup routines including registry
- entries, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, and the [Boot] and [386Enh]
- sections of the SYSTEM.INI file. The standard VGA display driver will
- also be installed at this time. If the installed video card is not
- supported by Windows'95, be sure to have a backup copy of the driver on
- hand. Note: The user will notice reduced system speed and lower display
- resolution during this test. Safe Mode may also disable any CD-ROM
- devices. Re-booting the computer will return the system to the default
- configuration at any time.
-
-
- 16.) Re-boot the computer. When "Starting Windows '95" appears, press F8
- and select Command prompt only. Start Windows '95 by entering these
- commands on consecutive re-boots, or enter either of these commands if a
- specific condition is suspected:
-
- WIN /D:F -> This disables 32 bit disk access. Use this for disk access
- problems.
-
- WIN /D:X ->This disables the adapter area (from A000 to FFFF) which
- Windows '95 scans for unused space. This may resolve memory problems on
- systems using video accelerator cards.
-
-
- 17.) Empty the RECYCLE BIN (if activated) of unwanted files. Invoke
- Recycle Bin | Properties and select "Use one setting for all drives".
- Select 0%, then select "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin..." This
- procedure prevents Window '95 from filling the hard disk with copies of
- deleted files. Because the Recycle Bin utilizes hard disk space,
- disabling its functionality allows resource intensive software to access
- this space more efficiently.
- NOTE: All subsequently deleted files will be irretrievable.
- To free up additional disk space for TEMP files, check each drive in the
- Explorer for a Hidden directory called "Recycled" (View | Options | Show
- all files). Remove any unecessary files from these directories. Windows
- '95 will prevent the deletion of any files currently in use.
-
-
- 18.) For DRAW v5 and earlier releases only, Windows '95 can enhance the
- compatibility of 16 bit applications with its 32 bit environment. To
- troubleshoot 16 bit applications, enter "MKCOMPAT.EXE" at the Start | Run
- command line.
-
- Select "Lie about Window's version number" to allow the 16 bit application
- to operate under Windows 3.1 parameters.
-
- Select "Give application more stack space" to provide DOS file buffering.
-
-
-
- *Note: If these programs are not on the Desktop or Start Menu, they can
- be installed via "Control | Panel | Add/Remove Programs | Windows Setup |
- Accessories | Details..."
-
-
-
- Dungeon Master 2 STR FOCUS! Skulkeep!!
-
-
- THE LEGEND OF SKULKEEP!
-
-
- General Information
- -------------------
- Some of the objects that are listed on the maps in this book are
- randomly placed when the game starts and may not be found in the locations
- labeled. Also, with all the monsters running around with minds of their
- own, some will pick up objects and move them around as they see fit.
-
- In selecting other members of your party (you can add up to three
- more characters from a selection of seventeen.) you will find that not any
- one champion contains a large amount of experience in any of the four
- classes that they can excel at (if they even contain any experience at
- all!). It will be up to you to develop these skills early on and 'beef'
- them up in order to survive the horrors once the party gains access with
- Skullkeep.
-
- Though you may feel it wise to specialize each character in a
- different profession, remember that a character need not practice the ways
- of just one of the four classes. In fact, I highly recommend to try to
- advance each of the champions in at least two of the classes. This makes
- a more well-balanced party thtit is stronger both offensively and
- defensively. In a situation where one of the characters is wounded,
- weakened or has been slain, having another party member that can perform
- the skills of the downed character can make all the difference between
- surviving an encounter and having to restart from the last save point.
-
- Although a list of all the available spells is given here in this
- article, your characters can still learn to use a number of the available
- spells by examining the objects you find. You'll find that by holding an
- object, if the object is magickal, it will be described by the magickal
- components it is composed of Likewise, placing a magickal weapon in a
- character's hand and arming that weapon will also display the magickal
- symbols that are required to cast the weapon's spell counterpart.
-
- NOTE:
- Using up all the magickal properties an object contains without
- writing down the symbols that describe the magickal components, may lose
- you the opportunity to use that spell again. Some of the objects are very
- rare while others are simply one-of-a-kind artifacts. Using a potion has
- the same effect, as only an empty flask remains after the potion has been
- consumed.
-
- You can't expect a character with a neophyte class status in the ways
- of magick to be able to cast a roaring fireball on their first attempt.
- Use the time while locating the four clan keys to practice casting both
- priest and wizard spells and gain experience as well as proficiency. Each
- time a spell is successfully cast, the likelihood to cast the same spell
- again with successful results increases.
-
-
- The World of Zalk
- -----------------
- Many things have changed since the time of Theron and the first
- battles with Lord Chaos. This world is a world where both magick and
- technology coexist. The minions, technology formed servants, allow the
- party members to explore unknown areas, avoid others, =sport or retrieve
- objects or simply provide a 'diversion' while beating a hasty retreat.
- Use of the minions, while not imperative, can ease the party's progress
- through the game. There are puzzles in this game whose solution may not
- seem as apparent as in the original Dungeon Master. Remember that almost
- all of the puzzles may be solved using the characters themselves, but some
- require the use of the minions.
-
- Make use of the multiple save slots. Nothing is more annoying than
- plodding your way through an area for hours only to die by a foolish move
- and have to re-play the entire area over again. There is only one altar
- of VI that is located where you first begin the game, so the option of
- resurrecting your fallen comrades may not always be available.
-
- Shops and Shopkeepers
- ---------------------
- Unlike its predecessor, Skullkeep allows you to interact with some of
- the characters found in the game. The shopkeepers will not only sell you
- items that your party can use such as weapons and armor, but allow you to
- sell back to them items that you acquire during your joumey. Shops are
- also a great place to save the current game in progress.
-
- A final word of warning: Be careful when placing objects on the
- merchant table. If you release item when the object is in the top half of
- the view window, it will be thrown at the shopkeeper instead of placing it
- on the table. When this happens, the shop's guard will commence to earn
- his pay by 'remedying' the situation in 'an eye for an eye' fashion. If
- your party is quick enough, it's possible that some of its members may
- even make it to the shop's exit alive!
-
- Although each item has a price attached to it in the shop you can
- sometimes get a better deal by 'haggling' with the shopkeeper. Haggling
- is accomplished by offering an amount less than the posted amount. If
- 'you wait patiently, the shopkeeper may accept your offer. Be careful not
- to set anything on the merchant table after it has started to rotate. The
- shopkeeper is likely to take any money or possessions for their own
- without compensating the adventurer for it.
-
-
-
- Frankie's Corner STR Feature
-
-
- The Kids' Computing Corner
-
- THINKIN' THINGS COLLECTION 2
-
-
- Hybrid CD-ROM for Windows 3.1, Win95 and Macintosh
- for ages 6+
- from Edmark Corporation
- P.O. Box 97021
- Redmond, WA 98073-9721
- 206-556-8484
-
- Program Requirements
- --------------------
-
- IBM Compatibles Macintosh
- CPU: 486SX-33 CPU: Color Mac w/ 256 colors
- RAM: 8 megs RAM: 4 megs
- OS: Windows 3.1, Win95 supported OS: System 6.0.7
- HDISK: 2 megs HDISK: ?
- Video: SVGA, 640 by 480 w/256 colors Video: 256 colors
- CD-ROM: Doublespeed CD-ROM: Doublespeed
- Misc.: Mouse, sound card
- Optional: Microphone, Edmark TouchWindow
-
- Thinkin' Things Collection 2 is a fascinating and entertaining learning
- program which develops thinking skills. Rather than forcing children to
- memorize facts, children are encouraged to explore five activities which
- develop spatial awareness, visual memory, auditory discrimination, and
- musical and visual creativity.
-
- Thinkin' Things 2 was originally released last year in a version for MS-
- DOS and for the Macintosh. Improvements in the new version are improved
- graphics, smoother animation and better sound. The interface has been
- changed to use a task bar along the bottom of the screen rather than down
- the left side. Another addition to the new version is a set of videos
- from Donna Stanger, Edmark Vice President and award-winning software
- designer. In the videos she explains Edmark's mission and the learning
- opportunities contained within Thinkin' Things 2.
-
- The first of the five activities is Frippletration. This is a matching
- game for one or two players. Cards can be matched using visual or audio
- cues to develop visual and audio discrimination and memory. The activity
- gradually increases difficulty or it can be set using a slider. Not only
- does the number of cards increase in higher levels, but the differences
- between the cards become more difficult to discern as well.
-
- Toony's Tunes features an amusing musical loon. Children can create and
- record their own songs on his unique xylophone. By pressing a button,
- children can change the sounds of the xylophone from regular to tuba to a
- synthesizer to SHEEP. Toony has fifteen songs that he can play. A memory
- game is also available. Children choose a song and Toony will teach the
- notes to them by breaking the song down into measures and having the
- children repeat the notes. Toony will patiently correct their mistakes
- and repeat the lesson until the song is memorized.
-
- Snake BLOX is visually and creatively stimulating. Snakes are sets of
- connected polygons. Children create a path for the snake to travel across
- the screen. They can create their own background using the painting tools
- or choose one of many included. 3D effects can be made by using masking
- tools to create the visual image of the snake passing over and around
- objects on the screen. The snakes and backgrounds can be manipulated in
- many interesting ways. The program includes many ideas that can be used
- as templates or broken down to discover how it was built. Children can
- select background music for their masterpieces which can be saved for
- later viewing.
-
- 2-3D BLOX is another adventure into creativity and discovery. This
- activity allows children to map two-dimensional objects onto rotating
- three-dimensional objects moving over a background. This activity
- encourages visual creativity and to experiment with the many tools and
- images provided. A lathing tool permits children to shape the mappable
- objects. Painting tools allow for the creation of new backgrounds or
- customizing of those included. The program includes many background music
- scores that can be added. Finished works can be saved for future viewing.
- It is a fascinating opportunity to watch your child's imagination grow as
- he plays with 2-3D BLOX.
-
- The final activity in Thinkin' Things Collection 2 is Oranga Banga's Band.
- In creativity mode, children can create rhythms and music. Oranga and his
- two band mates can play a variety of instruments of the child's choosing.
- The created songs can be saved for future enjoyment and experimentation.
- In the learning mode, children are asked to determine which pattern is
- being played. In higher levels, children must decide which of the band
- members is playing the indicated rhythm. The difficulty will
- automatically increase or it can be adjusted with the slider bar.
-
- Thinkin' Things 2 features attractive graphics using eye-catching colors.
- Sounds are excellent. The digitized voices are well characterized and are
- easy to understand. Sound effects are very distinctive and entertaining.
- The music is varied and interesting.
-
- TT2 has a very simple and easy to operate click-and-point interface.
- Audible help is provided only in Loony's Tunes, Frippletration and Oranga
- Banga's Band. Children are encouraged to use experimentation in the BLOX
- sections by the lack of help available on the screen. Full explanations
- of the tools for those sections are provided in the manual. The manual
- contains necessary information about program functions and includes a
- troubleshooting guide and information to parents about the learning
- opportunities within TT2. The CD-ROM also extensive information available
- in text format plus the video clips from Donna Stanger. If more help is
- needed, free technical assistance is available by phone.
-
- Children will find the activities of TT2 to entertaining and fascinating.
- These are more like games than learning exercises. The creativity
- sections of the activities will expand and strengthen their thinking
- skills while they have fun creating songs and artwork. Play and
- educational values are very high for this product.
-
- TT2 can be purchased from many fine retailers and discounters. It can be
- found in many stores for about $35. This alone would make TT2 an
- excellent buy, but Edmark backs this product with a 30-Day satisfaction
- guarantee. If the purchaser is unhappy with the product, it can be
- returned for a cash refund or exchanged for another Edmark product of
- equal or lesser value. This award-winning program is great addition to
- any home education library.
-
- Ratings
-
- Graphics ................ 9.0
- Sounds .................. 9.5
- Interface ............... 9.5
- Play Value .............. 9.5
- Educational Value ....... 10.0
- Bang for the Buck ....... 9.5
- Average ................. 9.5
-
- ###
-
- How the Leopard Got His Spots
- Windows CD-ROM
- suggested retail $34.95
- for ages 6 to 10
- from Microsoft and Rabbit Ears Productions
-
- Program Requirements
- ---------------------
-
- CPU: 486SX-33
- OS: Win 3.1 or higher
- RAM: 4 megs
- HDISK: 6 megs free space
- Video: 640 by 480, 256 colors
- CD-ROM: Double-speed
- Misc.: Sound card, mouse
-
- Join P.J. the rabbit in this interactive storybook of the famous Rudyard
- Kipling fable. The program includes four games, fifteen play pages and a
- multimedia dictionary. Danny Glover performs an excellent narration and
- is supported musically by the a capella ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
- However, the program does run slowly on even fairly fast machines.
-
- P.J. is the host for the program. Clicking on him will enable audible
- help sequences. The interface is very simple. Mr. Glover reads part of
- the fable while it is animated on the screen. The child can then click on
- the play page for humorous hotspot animations or he can open the book to
- see illustrated pages for that passage. Each word when clicked on will be
- pronounced to help children learn spelling and enunciation. Highlighted
- words will be defined audibly and visually when clicked on twice to
- increase the child's vocabulary and his understanding of the fable.
-
- Some play pages have activities associated with them that can be accessed
- by clicking on P.J.'s bag. One activity is Mancala, the world's oldest
- board game, which originated in Africa. If a human opponent is
- unavailable, P.J. will serve as the computer opponent. He has three
- difficulty levels. The game is simple, but very tricky to master. It
- involves moving groups of beans or beads around a series of holes.
- Another activity is a jigsaw puzzle in which the child chooses a picture
- and the number of pieces for the puzzle. A musical matching game and a
- painting activity are also included.
-
- Another option is to click on the rabbit hole and visit P.J.'s warren.
- The four activities can be accessed by clicking on the icons on the
- library shelves. Various books are scattered about this very lived-in
- home. Clicking on these begin multimedia presentations. One is a short
- biography of author Rudyard Kipling. Another is a video clip of
- illustrator Lori Lohstoeter explaining how she designed the artwork for
- the program. Another book explains the many variations of Mancala played
- around the world. Clicking on other objects in the room will trigger more
- hotspot animations.
-
- "How the Leopard Got His Spots" has rather uneven graphics. The water
- color illustrations are a bit surreal. I personally did not like them but
- I believe most children would find them to be interesting and attractive
- due to their colorfulness. The animations are not state-of-the-art. P.J.
- is animated fairly well, but the hotspot animations in the play pages are
- very jerky and not realistic in motion. The movies were done well.
-
- The audio portion of the program is very good. Danny Glover does an
- excellent narration of the fable. The different speakers all talk very
- distinctly and are easy to understand. I found the music to be
- fascinating. It is unfortunate that more music wasn't included or that a
- few complete songs weren't made available for listening.
-
- The interface is very easy to use. P.J.'s audible instructions are simple
- and easy to follow. The program does not include much documentation on
- troubleshooting but is available through a several means including a toll-
- free automated answering system. "How the Leopard Got His Spots" is
- supposed to be compatible with both Windows 3.1 and Win95. My
- installation of "Leopard" was a bit of an adventure. The installation of
- the program somehow messed up my Windows 3.1 setup so that I could no
- longer get it to run. It would start to load and then crash back to DOS
- after the Windows logo was displayed. Since I had been putting off an
- upgrade to Win95, I decided to do the upgrade rather than struggle with
- troubleshooting the old Windows. "Leopard" does run fine in Win95 but it
- doesn't appear to support the autoplay feature of the new Windows.
-
- Play value is going to suffer due to the slowness of the program. Loading
- times were long for the animations and story pages. This was occurring on
- 486DX-80 and P5-60 machines. These aren't the fastest machines available,
- but they are well above the program requirements. If your child has
- patience, he will enjoy the fine narration, music and activities.
-
- The program has numerous educational opportunities. The book portion of
- the program provides a very good method of learning word spellings,
- pronunciations and definitions. The Mancala game gives children an
- opportunity to learn logic and strategy in a fun way. It just seems that
- the program needs a bit more depth to compete with the best products of
- this genre.
-
- "How the Leopard Got His Spots" has a reasonable price. Microsoft backs
- it with a 30-day moneyback guarantee. It is a fairly good value with
- little monetary risk.
-
- Ratings
-
- Graphics ........... 7.0
- Sound .............. 9.0
- Interface .......... 8.0
- Play Value ......... 7.0
- Educational Value .. 8.5
- Bang for the Buck .. 8.0
- Average ............ 7.91
-
- ###
-
- Edmark Announces...
-
- Edmark Corporation has announced the development of enhanced versions of
- two of its classic learning programs, "Millie's Math House" and "Bailey's
- Book House." Both programs will come on hybrid CD-ROMs with versions for
- Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Macintosh. An additional learning activity
- has been added to each product and many of the original activities have
- been expanded to provide greater educational content. Approximate retail
- of each of these products is $40.
-
- ###
-
- For immediate release:
-
- Edmark Announces Limited Edition Holiday Bundle:
- The Early Learning Trio
-
- Redmond, WA-- Edmark Corporation announces plans to release three of its
- award-winning Early Learning House series titles in a limited edition
- holiday bundle that will be available to the consumer from October 1
- through December 31, 1995. Edmark's Early Learning Trio will feature
- newly enhanced versions of the popular "Millie's Math House," "Bailey's
- Book House" and "Sammy's Science House." The Early Learning Trio will
- introduce children ages 2 to 6 to the fundamentals of math, science and
- reading. The new CD-ROM versions of "Millie's Math House," "Bailey's Book
- House" and "Sammy's Science House" will be designed to take full advantage
- of Windows 95, and be fully compatible with Windows 3.1 and Macintosh
- computers.
-
- "Millie's Math House" was designed by early childhood experts and gives
- young children the building blocks they need to develop a solid foundation
- in math. In seven fun-filled activities kids explore numbers, shapes,
- sizes, patterns, addition and subtraction as they build mouse houses,
- create wacky bugs, count animated critters, make jelly bean cookies and
- answer math challenges posed by Dorothy the duck. Ten additional numbers
- have been added to the Cookie Factory: kids can now decorate cookies with
- zero to twenty jelly beans. Twenty additional numbers have been added to
- the Number Machine, where little critters pop up and count off when kids
- select a number from zero to thirty. In a new activity, What's My Number,
- kids add, count and subtract in order to place the same number of objects
- on their stage as Dorothy the duck has on hers.
-
- In "Bailey's Book House," Bailey and his friends encourage young children
- to build important literacy skills while developing a love for reading.
- IN Bailey's house, seven interactive activities invite kids to explore the
- sounds and meanings of letters, words, sentences, rhymes and stories. In
- the NEW activities kids will sound out and read three-letter words at the
- Three-Letter Carnival and they'll learn common adjectives and build
- descriptive phrases with My Friend. In Bailey's house, no reading skills
- are required: every word on the screen is read aloud, and each word in a
- sentence is highlighted as it is read.
-
- "Sammy's Science House" builds important early science skills and
- encourages wonder and joy as children discover the world of science around
- them. Five engaging activities help children practice sorting,
- sequencing, observing, predicting and constructing. In the Sorting
- Station, kids learn simple scientific classification. In the Workshop,
- kids construct machines and toys they can print. They discover how plants
- and animals live at Acorn Pond - and can read and print a "Field Notebook"
- of interesting information about the pond's animals. Kids control the
- weather in the Weather Machine and learn to build logical sequences in
- Make-A-Movie.
-
- "It's tremendously rewarding to watch a child's face light up with joy
- when they play with Millie, Bailey and Sammy," said Sally Narodick, Edmark
- CEO. "This collection of highly acclaimed, award-winning programs is a
- valuable addition to every family's software library."
-
- Two Modes of Learning
-
- Some children learn better when they direct their own learning, others
- learn better with more prompting and direction. "Bailey's Book House,"
-
- "Millie's Math House" and "Sammy's Science House" make both types of
- experiences available to kids by offering both and Explore & Discover, and
- Question & Answer Mode for most activities. In the Explore Mode, kids
- direct their own learning - they decide what to explore - and build
- divergent thinking skills that promote creativity and inventiveness. In
- the Question & Answer Mode, kids are prompted and directed by animate
- characters to find answers. This mode of learning builds convergent
- thinking skills that promote logical reasoning.
-
- Helpful Information for Parents
-
- In the NEW CD-ROM versions of "Millie's Book House," "Bailey's Book House"
- and "Sammy's Science House" there is a special Dear Parents Video
- Presentation that helps parents understand more about their children's
- learning. In the presentations, Edmark Vice President Donna Stanger,
- award winning software designer and teacher, discusses early learning and
- offers parents information about how children learn inside each activity
- of these programs.
-
- In addition, the User's Guides include "Together Time" activities for
- parents and children to share away from the computer. The Guide offers
- suggestions for easy, at-home activities that help parents integrate
- reading and math learning into everyday life.
-
- Recognized by Experts
-
- "Millie's Math House," "Bailey's Book House" and "Sammy's Science House"
- have been honored with a combined total of thirty prestigious industry
- awards; some of the highlights include:
-
- ∙ Parents' Choice Award
- ∙ MacUser Editors' Choice Award for Best Children's Program
- ∙ Software Publishers Association Codie Award for Best Early Education
- Program
- ∙ FamilyPC Family Tested Recommended Award
- ∙ Parents' Choice Award for a "Classic Computer Program"
- ∙ All Star Software Award, "Children's Software Revue"
- ∙ "Technology & Learning", Software Award of Excellence
- ∙ Teachers' Choice Award
-
- Product Availability and Pricing
-
- The Limited Edition Learning Trio including Millie, Bailey and Sammy will
- be available as a special holiday bundle from October 1 through December
- 1, 1995 on CD-ROM for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems, at a
- price of approximately $80. For more information, customers may contact
- Edmark at 800-691-2985 or 206-556-8484.
-
- System Requirements
-
- Macintosh System Requires: Color Macintosh (256 colors required); 4 MB RAM
- (8 MB recommended); CD-ROM drive (double-speed recommended); System 7.0.1
- or higher; Mouse and 13" monitor or larger. Optional: Edmark TouchWindow
- and printer.
-
- Windows System Requires: Windows 3.1 (enhanced mode), Windows95 or later;
- 4 MB RAM (8 MB recommended); CD-ROM drive (double-speed recommended);
- SuperVGA (256 colors required); 386DX (486 recommended), 33Mhz; Hard disk
- with 2 MB free; Mouse; Windows-compatible sound-output device. Optional:
- Edmark TouchWindow and printer.
-
- ###
-
- Discovering Shakespeare
- hybrid format CD-ROM for Windows and Macintosh
- approximate retail $30
- ages 10+
- from IVI Publishing and Bride Media International
- 7500 Flying Cloud Drive
- Minneapolis, MN 55344-3739
-
- Program Requirements
- ----------------------
-
- IBM Macintosh
-
- CPU: 486SX-25 CPU: Color Mac, LCIII or higher
- RAM: 8 megs RAM: 8 megs
- OS: Windows 3.1 OS: System 7.1
- Video: SVGA, 640 by 480, 256 colors Video: 13" monitor, 256 colors
- HDISK: 2 megs for QuickTime player HDISK: n/a
- CD-ROM: Doublespeed CD-ROM: Doublespeed
- Misc.: Mouse, sound card Misc.: Mouse
-
- "Discovering Shakespeare" is a fascinating multimedia study of the life
- and works of one of histories greatest authors. This program combines
- still images, text and QuickTime movies to teach us of the genius of
- William Shakespeare.
-
- The program includes extensive information on the life of Shakespeare,
- including a section which debunks many myths of his life. Also, included
- are history lessons about Sixteenth Century life, theater and customs.
- "Discovering Shakespeare" is divided into five sections for his life, his
- times, the theater, his works and his world. There is connectivity
- between these sections and the user can jump from one to another as he
- wishes.
-
- The interface is point-and-click and is very user-friendly. It is
- explained very well in the help video. Any graphic with a border can be
- clicked on to see a movie related to that subject. Also linked to movies
- are text highlighted in red and map locations. These movies appear to
- have been culled from a television special about Shakespeare. Sixty
- minutes of video is contained in the program. It is very enjoyable just
- to click on different items and to wander about the program.
-
-
- Two shortcomings do exist in this product. First, only synopses of
- Shakespeare's plays are included rather than the actual texts. This could
- have been an outstanding product had it included those texts along with
- the synopses and perhaps translations of the idiomatic language of the
- plays. The second shortcoming is that the program does not allow the use
- of a printer. This is a reference work but it does not allow the user to
- cut and paste any of the information into a word processor. Perhaps this
- decision was made to prevent plagiarism but no explanation is given in the
- program's documentation.
-
- "Discovering Shakespeare" contains a great multitude of facts about
- Shakespeare's life and times. The narrators attempt to explain
- Shakespeare's gift and genius in context to his time and to ours. This
- study is fascinating to students of literature and Sixteenth Century
- history. Even with its shortcomings, it is an excellent product for those
- wishing to learn more about William Shakespeare.
-
- Ratings
-
- Graphics ............ 8.0
- Sound ............... 8.0
- Interface ........... 8.5
- Play Value .......... n/a
- Educational Value ... 9.0
- Bang for the Buck ... 8.5
- Average ............. 8.4
-
- ###
-
- And even more news from Edmark
-
- Edmark announces the shipment of two new educational products for
- children. Both are produced on hybrid format CD-ROMs which can be used on
- both Windows and Macintosh computers.
-
- "Trudy's Time & Place House" teaches fundamental concepts about time and
- geography to children ages three to six. Trudy, a charming alligator,
- coaches children through five activities. Several friends assist her in
- building children's time-telling skills, mapping and direction skills and
- to learn about geography while "traveling" the world. All directions are
- spoken to make the program user-friendly for pre-readers.
-
- "Trudy's Time & Place House" will retail for approximately $40 and will be
- available from most computer retailers and wholesalers, and directly from
- Edmark. A school version of "Trudy's" will be made available later which
- will feature a teacher's guide, lesson ideas and reproducible activity
- sheets.
-
- "Thinkin' Things Collection 3" is the latest in a series of programs which
- encourage creative and logical thought through fun activities and
- exploration. TT3 includes five mind-expanding activities. Three
- activities involve problem-solving. In Stocktopus, the children play a
- stock broker and must make trades with other brokers to make profit.
- Half-Time is an exercise in logic as children program the characters to
- perform an exciting football half-time show. Half-Time is also an
- exercise in creativity. In Fripple House, children play detective as they
- deduce the correct location for Fripples from written clues.
-
- Carving BLOX is an activity of creativity, imagination and
- experimentation. It is a world of rolling, colliding balls moving about a
- virtual metal that the child can shape or drill holes in. Children are
- encouraged to learn about physics as they watch the balls reactions to
- moving up inclines, fall through holes and bounce off other objects.
-
- The final activity is Photo Twister. Twenty-two tiny green aliens each
- have individual special effects tools. An image has been distorted by one
- or more of the aliens. By looking at the photo, the child must deduce
- which of the aliens was involved in changing it. He can then use the
- special effects tools to warp the picture and then save the image for
- later viewing.
-
- "Thinkin' Things 3" will also retail for approximately $40 and will be
- available from most computer retailers. For more information, Edmark can
- be contacted at 206-556-8484 or 800-691-2985.
-
- ###
-
- It's been a busy week. I hope that you enjoy the information and reviews
- that I provide. If you have any comments, please send me E-mail at
- fsereno@matrix.uti.com As always, I thank you for reading.
-
-
-
-
- MS Internet Explorer STR InfoFile
-
-
-
- MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER FOR WINDOWS 95
-
-
- The Microsoft Internet Explorer is the easiest browser to set up and use,
- delivering power and performance while innovating for the future. For more
- details, check out the Internet Explorer 2.0 Beta Reviewers Guide.
-
- *New Internet Explorer 2.0 features are indicated in bold italic.
-
- EASE OF USE
- -----------
- The Microsoft Internet Explorer makes browsing the Internet as easy as
- using Windows 95.
-
- òSetup: One-stop setup allows you to connect to the Internet easily and
- quickly. The set-up Wizard configures your computer to automatically
- connect to the service provider of your choice. If you do not currently
- have a service provider, the Microsoft Internet Explorer will connect you
- to the Internet via MSNÖ, The Microsoft Network.
-
- Integration with Windows 95: Developed specifically for use with the
- Windows 95 operating system, the Microsoft Internet Explorer is completely
- integrated with the new user interface and the underlying architecture. It
- takes full advantage of ease-of-use improvements in Windows 95 by
- supporting Shortcuts, the right mouse button, Favorites, Drag and Drop,
- OLE, and more.
-
- Favorites: Not only does the Microsoft Internet Explorer automatically
- keep track of the sites youÆve recently visited, it also allows you to
- create Favorites. Favorites provide a quick and easy way back to your
- favorite places on the Internet.
-
- Tutorial and Search Button: A complete online tutorial helps first-time
- users become comfortable browsing the Internet. A search button on the
- toolbar provides instant access to powerful search engines like Yahoo,
- Lycos, and Infoseek.
-
- POWER AND PERFORMANCE
- ---------------------
- The Microsoft Internet Explorer is a full 32-bit application building on
- the Windows 95 infrastructure to provide speed and functionality.
-
- 32-bit: The Microsoft Internet Explorer is a complete 32-bit application,
- building on Windows 95 services such as Telephony API, and on the native
- 32-bit TCP/IP stack. This means the Microsoft Internet Explorer is more
- robust than existing 16-bit browsers and will multitask smoothly with
- other 32-bit applications.
-
- New HTML Extensions (proposed): Marquees, inline AVIs, font
- specifications, and background sounds can all be used to make Web pages
- more interactive and interesting.
-
- News Reader: Support for standardized Internet newsgroup reading (NNTP).
-
- Security: Support for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and RSA encryption
- technology allows integration with secure sites. Also, support for
- Internet Shopping tokens (cookies) allows you to shop at your favorite
- Internet outlets. In addition, the Microsoft Internet Explorer is STT and
- PCT Ready, which means the Internet Explorer has the support hooks for the
- Microsoft/Visa Secure Transaction Technology and Private Communication
- Technology already coded in.
-
- E-mail: A full e-mail package allows you to send and receive mail over the
- Internet. E-mail support is integrated with the Exchange Inbox included in
- Windows 95, so all of your mail can be viewed from the same location, and
- you can maintain a single address book. The mail package also supports the
- Internet MIME standard for sending attached files in Internet mail
- messages.
-
- Performance: Multi-Threading and Progressive Rendering greatly increase
- the responsiveness of the user interface to even the most complex Web
- pages. This, coupled with a persistent page cache using standard HTTP
- Last-Modified-Since and Expires attributes, greatly improves browsing
- speed.
-
- HTML Standards: Support for all of the standard Internet HTML tags,
- including right align, centering, tables, client pull, etc. Also, the
- Internet Explorer provides access to FTP and gopher servers.
-
- INNOVATION
- ----------
- The Microsoft Internet Explorer was developed for flexibility in the
- ever-changing Internet world.
-
- VRML: The Microsoft Internet Explorer version 2.0 is VRML Ready. VRML
- technology in the Microsoft Internet Explorer will combine a 3-D viewer
- with the high-speed Reality Lab engine for fast viewing of 3-D objects
- over the Internet. Look for the VRML Browser add-on later this year.
-
- Fast Connect: HTTP-KeepAlive is a protocol enhancement that allows the
- Internet Explorer to open and download multiple items over the same HTTP
- connection instead of opening a new connection for each file. Since most
- Web pages are made up of several files, this can improve performance and
- reduce server loading when used in conjunction with a KeepAlive-enabled
- server.
-
-
- SPECIFICATIONS
- --------------
- System Requirements
-
- The Internet Explorer is designed to work with Windows 95. It requires a
- minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM, 1û3 megabytes* of hard disk space, and a
- modem. A 14.4 bps or faster modem is recommended for optimum performance.
-
- * This assumes an existing Internet provider. If no provider is in use, an
- additional 10û15 megabytes is required to install the MSN components.
-
- (C)1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This data sheet is for
- informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
- IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Company names and/or data used in screens are
- fictitious, unless otherwise noted. Microsoft, Windows and the Windows
- logo are registered trademarks and MSN is a trademark of Microsoft
- C o r poration. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA
- 98052-6399 USA
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N
-
- FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI
-
- For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent
- to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY
- 600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed
- Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to:
-
- STReport's Fargo Printout Offer
- P.O. Box 6672
- Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
-
- Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior
- to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as
- much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this
- sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please,
- allow at least a one week turn-around)
-
- A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N
-
-
- ___ ___ _____ _______
- /___| /___| /_____| /_______/
- /____|/____| /__/|__| /__/
- /_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
- /__/|____/|__|________|__/
- /__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____
- /__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/
- ________________________________________
- /_______________________________________/
-
-
- MAC/APPLE SECTION John Deegan, Editor (Temp)
-
-
-
- Micrografx News STR InfoFile
-
-
-
- MICROGRAFX ADDS 3D CAPABILITIES TO THE ABC GRAPHICS SUITE
-
-
- Tightly Integrated, Value-Packed Graphics Suite Available Immediately
-
- Richardson, Texas (September 25, 1995) - Micrografx(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:
- MGXI) today announced it has extended the graphics capabilities and value
- of the ABC Graphics Suite(TM) by including Visual Software's Instant
- 3D(TM) for Windows 95 (Instant 3D). The Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite is
- available immediately with the value-based pricing of $299.95 ESP
- (estimated street price) for the full version and $149.95 ESP for the
- upgrade/competitive upgrade.
-
- The ABC Graphics Suite is the first integrated offering of award-winning
- diagramming, flowcharting, clipart management, painting, image editing,
- and drawing tools, with an interface designed for Microsoft(R) Office for
- Windows(R) 95. In addition to using the Office interface, the ABC
- Graphics Suite supports the Office Binder, which lets users seamlessly
- combine data from a variety of applications.
-
- Like the ABC Graphics Suite, Instant 3D also carries the Microsoft Windows
- 95 and Microsoft Office 95 logos. It provides a quick way to add 3D text
- and graphics to any component of the ABC Graphics Suite such as Micrografx
- Designer or Picture Publisher, or to easily incorporate 3D in Word for
- Windows documents, PowerPoint presentations or any other Windows 95
- application.
-
- Instant 3D Extends the Graphics Capabilities and Value of ABC Graphics
- Suite "Both customer feedback and International Data Corp. research
- indicate that 3D is among the most requested features of the ideal
- graphics suite," said J. Paul Grayson, chairman and CEO of Micrografx.
- "With the addition of Instant 3D to the ABC Graphics Suite, Micrografx
- continues its strong tradition of driving our products to meet and exceed
- customer needs, while offering a compelling value at the same time."
-
- Using Instant 3D's Office-compliant interface, users can turn any text
- into a 3D object wrapped in textures such as wood or chrome, or choose
- from hundreds of 3D clipart objects such as planes, frames, balloons and
- 3D buttons for web home pages. Instant 3D also includes hundreds of
- textures such as stones, wood, skin and even red chili peppers. Unlike
- traditional 2D clipart, users can clip, spin and scale text and objects in
- a 3D window on the page.
-
- "The ABC Graphics Suite gives me all the award-winning Micrografx
- applications in a single, integrated package that's easy to learn and
- use," said Neal Katz, president, Katz Creative Services. "And adding 3D
- capabilities makes the ABC Graphics Suite an even stronger value. This
- has just become my favorite graphics application."
-
- ABC Graphics Suite Unlocks Creative Potential Using Native Win32
- Applications
-
- By giving every Windows 95 user instant access to the fullest range of
- graphics capabilities, Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite provides unlimited
- creative potential to PC users worldwide. The product employs a "use what
- you know"SM metaphor that helps Microsoft Office for Windows 95 users
- easily access Micrografx's powerful tools to create, enhance and place
- graphics in a familiar, productive setting.
-
- The Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite integrates native Windows 95-based
- versions of Micrografx's best-of-breed graphics applications including:
- Micrografx Designer(TM) 6.0; ABC FlowCharter(R) 6.0; Picture Publisher(R)
- 6.0; and ABC Media Manager(TM) 6.0. All components are written to the
- native Win32 API, and provide performance up to 2 - 3 times faster in
- operations such as file open, graphic importation/creation, and filter
- application.
-
- An additional benefit of the Win32 API is a dramatic improvement of
- operations including OLE functions such as Drag-and-Drop, In-Place Editing
- and full 32-bit OLE Automation.
-
- Similar to the ABC Graphics Suite, Instant 3D takes full advantage of
- Windows 95 and its enhanced OLE capabilities. Instant 3D works seamlessly
- inside a user's application by adding its own button bar and menu option,
- and uses standard Windows TrueType fonts that can be extruded, beveled,
- wrapped along a line and deformed using a wide selection of pre-defined
- shapes.
-
- New, Innovative Features Provide Instant Creativity
-
- In addition to specific enhancements related to Windows 95 and Office 95,
- the Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite provides extensive new features. Most
- importantly, the newly developed ABC Media Manager 6.0 provides an easy
- method of dragging and dropping clipart, photos and diagramming symbols
- into and out of Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite or any Windows 95
- application. The ABC Media Manager transparently manages more than 50
- file formats including TIFF, BMP, DXF and CorelDraw.
-
- In addition to award-winning graphics applications, Micrografx ABC
- Graphics Suite also includes:
-
- 20,000+ pieces of clipart
- 7,500+ photos
- 2,000+ diagramming symbols
- 250+ fonts
-
- Micrografx develops and markets graphics software to meet the creative
- needs of everyone who uses a personal computer. Founded in 1982,
- Micrografx has become a leading software publisher by responding quickly
- to customer and worldwide market needs. The company's U.S. operations are
- based in Richardson, Texas, with a development office in San Francisco.
- International subsidiaries include Canada, the United Kingdom, France,
- Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and Japan.
-
- Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
- Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
-
-
-
-
- QEMM NewsNotes STR InfoFile
-
-
-
-
- QEMM and Windows 95
-
-
-
- Quarterdeck Technical Note #305 Filename: W95-QEMM.TEC
-
- by Michael Bolton, Mike Bryant II, CompuServe: W95-QEMM.TEC
- and Rod Mathews Category: SW3
-
- Last revised: 09/07/95
-
- Subject: A discussion on running QEMM under Microsoft Windows 95.
-
-
-
- QEMM refers to the following versions of QEMM:
-
- QEMM 7.01 - 7.04
- QEMM 7.5 9/17/94, 10/12/95, 11/22/94, 5/12/95
- QEMM GameRunner Edition
-
-
-
- Overview
-
-
- Microsoft Windows 95 is fully compatible with QEMM386.SYS, the
- driver that supplies QEMM's memory management features,
- including QEMM's Stealth ROM technology. QEMM will continue to
- provide memory management services to Windows 95 and to the
- programs loaded before it.
-
- The Windows 95 installation process will automatically detect
- and disable QEMM's DOS-Up features. DOS 7, the version of DOS
- that lies beneath Windows 95, is incompatible with current
- versions of DOS-Up. The new version of DriveSpace that comes
- with Windows 95 is similarly incompatible with QEMM 7.5's Stealth
- D*Space and QEMM 7.0's Stealth DoubleSpace, and the Windows 95
- installation process will disable these drivers as well. Future
- versions of QEMM are expected to address these incompatibilities.
-
-
- Installing Windows 95 on a system with QEMM already running
-
- When you begin the Setup process, Windows 95 will display a
- message warning that QEMM will interfere with the hardware
- detection phase during Windows 95 setup. Although this message
- is generally incorrect, you may wish to ensure that the Windows
- 95 accurately detects all of your hardware devices by disabling
- QEMM temporarily during the Windows 95 installation process.
- This is most easily done by making the following changes to the
- system configuration:
-
- 1) Using any text editor, edit the CONFIG.SYS file.
-
- 2) Disable the QEMM device driver by placing the word REM at the
- beginning of the line containing the QEMM386.SYS driver. The
- line will look like this after all changes have been made:
-
- REM DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS (followed by any existing
- parameters)
-
- 3) Add the following line to the beginning of the config.sys file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
-
- 4) Save the file, exit the editor and reboot the system.
-
- NOTE: It is possible for Windows 95's Setup program to run out of
- conventional memory. Before you proceed, check to make sure that you
- have at least 417K of conventional memory by typing MFT<Enter> in the
- QEMM directory. If the listing for "Conventional Memory Available" is
- greater than 417K, proceed directly to step 5. If this value is less
- than 417K, remove the HIMEM.SYS line in Step 3 above, and remove the REM
- from the beginning of the QEMM386.SYS line. Also remove the ST:M or
-
- ST:F
-
- parameter (if one exists) from the QEMM386.SYS line; save the file,
- reboot the machine, and continue with step 5.
-
- 5) Install Windows 95.
-
- 6) After the installation is completed, restart your computer in MS-DOS
- mode by clicking Start, Shutdown, and "Restart your computer in
- MS-DOS mode".
-
- Edit the CONFIG.SYS file using any text editor. Remove the following
- line from the CONFIG.SYS file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
-
- After removing this line, remove the REM from the beginning of the
-
- QEMM386.SYS line. It should then look like this:
-
- DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS (followed by any existing parameters)
-
- 7) Save the file.
-
- 8) You are now ready to follow the optimize procedure.
-
-
- Running Optimize on a Windows 95 System
-
-
- At boot time, Windows 95 loads a number of device drivers that
- may not have been present in your DOS and Windows 3.1
- configuration. These drivers may load into regions of High RAM
- in such a way as to alter the region layouts calculated by
- Optimize. After you install Windows 95, to make sure that you
- are getting the maximum possible conventional memory, perform
- the following steps:
-
- 1) Restart your computer in MS-DOS mode by clicking Start,
- choose "Shutdown", and "Restart your computer in MS-DOS mode".
-
- 2) Using a text editor, edit CONFIG.SYS and add the following
- lines to the file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
- DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
- FILES=60
- LASTDRIVE=Z
- BUFFERS=30
- FCBS=4,0
- STACKS=9,256
- SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P
- DOS=HIGH,NOUMB
-
- If any of these lines already exist, it is not necessary to add them!
- Save the file after changes have been made.
-
- These are the default settings that are loaded from IO.SYS when your
- computer is booted. If you have any of these settings in your CONFIG.SYS,
- it is not necessary to add them again. You may also wish to reduce the
- amount of buffers allocated by changing to BUFFERS=15, reduce the amount
- of memory required by the drive table by changing the lastdrive statement
- to LASTDRIVE=E, and reduce the stacks to STACKS=0,0 . These suggestions
- will maximize the amount of conventional memory that QEMM makes available.
-
- 3) Check the \WINDOWS directory for the existance of DOSSTART.BAT, and
- if it is not there,skip to step 4. If DOSSTART.BAT exists, use a text
- editor to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and add the following line to the end of the
- file:
-
- CALL DOSSTART.BAT
-
- Save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
-
- 4) Change to the QEMM directory.
-
- 5) Run QSETUP.
-
- 6) Select Enable/Disable DOS-Up, and disable QEMM's DOS-Up
- features. If you are using DriveSpace, select Enable/Disable
- Stealth D*Space and disable this feature as well.
-
- 7) Select Save Configuration and exit, then run Optimize.
-
- 8) After the optimize process has completed, edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file
- and remove the CALL DOSSTART.BAT line (if you added it in step 3) from the
- end of the file. You need this line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT only when you
- run Optimize.
-
- Installing QEMM on a Windows 95 System
-
- QEMM will install on a Windows 95 System with a little modification.
- The following steps will ensure that you are obtaining the maximum amount
- of conventional memory:
-
-
- 1) Before installing QEMM, check the \WINDOWS directory for the
- existance of DOSSTART.BAT, and if it is not there, skip to step 2. If
- DOSSTART.BAT exists, use a text editor to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and add the
- following line to the end of the file:
-
- CALL DOSSTART.BAT
-
- Save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file after making the change.
-
- 2) Next, add the following lines to your CONFIG.SYS file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
- DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SETVER.EXE
- FILES=60
- LASTDRIVE=Z
- BUFFERS=30
- FCBS=4,0
- STACKS=9,256
- SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P
- DOS=HIGH,NOUMB
-
- If any of these lines already exist, it is not necessary to add them!
-
- Save the file after changes have been made.
-
- These are the default settings that are loaded from IO.SYS when your
- computer is booted. If you have any of these settings in your CONFIG.SYS,
- it is not necessary to add them again. You may also wish to reduce the
- amount of buffers allocated by changing to BUFFERS=15, reduce the amount
- of memory required by the drive table by changing the lastdrive statement
- to LASTDRIVE=E, and reduce the stacks to STACKS=0,0 . These suggestions
- will maximize the amount of conventional memory that QEMM makes available.
-
- 3) Install QEMM, and select Custom Installation.
-
- 4) At the end of the installation, you will be presented
- with the QEMM Setup screen. Select DOS-Up, and disable
- the DOS-Up features. If you are using DriveSpace,
- select Stealth D*Space and disable this feature as well.
-
- 5) Save the configuration and exit, then run OPTIMIZE.
-
- 6) After the optimize process has completed, edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file
- and remove the CALL DOSSTART.BAT line (if you added it in step 1) from the
- end of the file. You need this line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT only when you
- run Optimize.
-
- For further information about the Windows 95 setup and installation
- process, please refer to your Windows 95 documentation or to the Windows
- 95 Resource Kit (published by Microsoft Press).
-
-
- ******************************************************************
- * Trademarks are property of their respective owners. *
- * This and other technical notes may be available in updated *
- * forms through Quarterdeck's standard support channels. *
- * Copyright (C) 1995 Quarterdeck Corporation *
- ******************** E N D O F F I L E ***********************
-
-
- QUARTERDECK MOVES
-
- Yes, after 12 years in Santa Monica, California, we have finally outgrown
- our home. The tiny suite where we once packaged DESQ by hand is now the
- mailroom in one of half a dozen buildings we occupy. Although we have
- many memories here, it's time to move on.
-
- The new address for Quarterdeck Corporation, as of Saturday September 30:
-
- Quarterdeck Corporation
- 13160 Mindanao Way
- Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-9705
-
- This move puts us into a new telephone exchange; thus, our phone numbers
- are changing as well.
-
- Main Numbers for Business and Technical Support
- -----------------------------------------------
-
- The product information number, (310)392-9851, will become (310)309-3700.
- The tech support number, (310)392-9701, will become (310)309-4250.
-
- After September 29, anyone calling the old numbers will receive a message
- that "the number has changed; the new number is..." and then will be
- transferred to either our business or tech support line.
-
-
- Direct Dial Numbers
- -------------------
-
- Direct Dial numbers are any of our numbers that begin with 314-32xx or
- 314-42xx. The numbers assigned to the BBS, Qfax and fax machines will
- change so that the new prefix will be 309. The rest of the number will
- stay the same.
-
- The BBS number, (310)314-3227 will become (310)309-3227.
- The QFax number, (310)314-3214 will become (310)309-3214.
- The tech support fax, (310)314-3217 will become (310)309-3217.
-
-
-
-
-
- PORTABLE COMPUTERS & ENTERTAINMENT Marty Mankins, Editor
-
-
- Notes from the Editor
-
-
- Technically, this is our third segment of STReport s new Portable
- Computing/Entertainment Section. Logically, it is only the second. Let
- me explain. Last week, we ran 3 Jaguar game reviews in this section.
- There should have been nothing in this section last week as we are running
- it on a bi-weekly basis until the end of the year. Then in 1996, we start
- coverage every week. It s amazing to think of all that we have planned
- for this new section. But, the one thing that wasn t planned was posting
- the Jaguar reviews here. As I noted in STReport #1137, all of my Jaguar
- reviews will still be published in the Atari/Jaguar Section. So public
- apologies go out to Dana Jacobson for this mistake.
-
- Enough about that. On with the coverage. This week, we have Craig Harris
- as a contributor to this section with his PlayStation game review for
- Ridge Racer. We did have reviews planned for NBA Jam T.E. and Power
- Server 3D Tennis, but something happened - we ran out of time to provide
- the quality of game reviews we wanted to. So in two weeks, look for
- those. Speaking of PlayStation games, a new one appeared in stores this
- last week. PGA Tour 96 is the PlayStation s answer to popular golf games
- like Links for the PC and Microsoft Golf. I ve only had a glimpse of the
- screen shots and it fares well. We ll have to see how game play is when
- we review it later on.
-
- I ve been visiting some dealers here in the Salt Lake City area and the
- PlayStation is doing very well. Some places like Software Etc. inside my
- local Barnes & Noble store have reported slow sales, but Toys R Us,
- Babbage s and a local set of stores called The Game Peddler is reporting
- increased interest in PlayStation. 3DO sales have dropped and so have
- games and systems for Sega s Saturn. Why? Sony has used their marketing
- muscle to get people interested in PlayStation and they already show 11
- titles that are widely available. It was told that there were about 17
- titles that were supposed to be available on the September 9th US launch
- of the system and being able to find 11 of these is good. Developers are
- racing to create games at a break-neck speed. The list of games that are
- already coming out (thanks to Next Generation Magazine Issue #9) is well
- over 50 and that s by the end of 1st Qtr 96. We should see at least 30
- games by the end of the year. It s no wonder PlayStation is doing well.
- So keep watching and play hard!
-
- Turning our attention to the portable computing, I have a story to share.
- I was working with a client this last week in Las Vegas. He s been using
- a laptop for the last 8 months and has managed to put a lot of data onto
- it over the course of this time. Given that his laptop is a 486 with 8Mb
- of RAM and a 250 Mb hard drive, it s a nice machine. Well, there s really
- no easy way to back it up except by using the floppy drive. Sure, you
- could get an external tape drive hooked up to the parallel port or using a
- SCSI drive through the PC Card (formally known as PCMCIA) slot with the
- proper adapter. But, these items seemed like overkill for only one
- laptop. I had recommended a good backup program that would help restore
- the system in the event something happened. Well, things were going well
- and kept going well until I got a call this last week. It seems that some
- sort of error happened and a good 75% of this user s data was corrupted.
- Even Norton Utilities 8.0 couldn t save it. We tried and tried to get
- some files back. We got somewhat close and ended up writing off 50% of
- the 75% of damaged data.
-
- I consider myself spoiled because I get to backup my laptop to the
- network. I can spare a good 100 Mb of space for a backup and it seems
- that is not going to be enough in a week or two. That s ok. I can make
- room for more. But, in the case above, we didn t have that luxury. Not
- even a floppy backup was made. A big lesson was learned. Take time out
- to backup. No matter how little money or time you may have, find a way to
- backup. Borrow a friend s computer. Offer to buy them espressos for a
- week. Anything is cheaper than losing data.
-
- With that in mind, now that I can put this week s section to bed, it s
- time for me to backup my laptop. <smile> See you in two weeks with a ton
- of coverage.
-
-
- - Marty -
-
- E-Mail: 75300.1770@compuserve.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ENTERTAINMENT: PlayStation
-
- PlayStation Game Review: Ridge Racer
-
-
- Developer: Namco
- Publisher: Namco
- List Price: $59.95
- Ease of Play: Intermediate/Advanced
-
-
- by Craig Harris
-
-
- When someone says "Playstation," what's the first game that comes to mind?
-
- "Toh Shin Den!"
-
- Hmm...ok, the second game? Despite it's repetitive design, Ridge Racer
- will definitely go down as one of the two most talked-about Playstation
- games.
-
- If you own a Playstation, chances are you've played Ridge Racer. If you
- haven't played it, you've definitely seen it on the provided demo disc.
- It's as much fun to play as it is to watch...but with only one track, how
- long can the fun last?
-
-
- GAME PLAY
- The game starts off with a relatively high bang - while the disc's booting
- after a power-on, a version of Galaxian is provided to pass the time.
- There *is* a secret embedded within this nostalgic piece - it's up to you
- to figure out what it is.
-
- After the game loads, you are provided with a choice of circuit
- difficulty, automatic or manual transmission, and 4 different cars (or 10,
- if you discover the Galaxian trick), each with their own speed,
- acceleration, handling and traction attributes.
-
- After listening to the announcer egg you onto the starting position, hit
- the start button to begin the race. The X button is accelerate, the []
- button is brake, and the /\ button changes your view from inside the
- cockpit to above and behind your auto. If you've selected manual
- transmission, the shoulder L buttons downshift, and the R buttons upshift.
- Steering the car, naturally,
- comes from pushing left and right on the directional pad.
-
- In the first two circuits, the track will take you through two tunnels,
- around a mountain, and careen you around two hair-pin turns. In the later
- circuits, the same track will rout you on a one-lane road through a
- construction yard. A helicopter will be in constant view through-out the
- race, ducking behind buildings and swooping through turns.
-
- Early on, you'll notice the car tends to skid around corners. Power
- sliding is extremely important in becoming a Ridge Racer professional.
- Slowing down your car to take a heavy turn is a no-no in this
- game...power-sliding will allow you to slide through a turn with a minimal
- loss of speed. It's a difficult art to master, but it is certainly worth
- practicing if you want to
- succeed in this game.
-
- After placing first place on all 4 circuits, 4 more circuits will open up.
- In this round, you'll be racing on the same track, but traveling the other
- direction and with *much* smarter opponents. Purchasing a memory card for
- Ridge Racer is something to consider - you can save your circuit times and
- placements...you won't have to do it again to play the extra circuits.
-
- DETAILS
- The graphics are very slick - cars are plastered with logos, wall textures
- are extremely detailed, and the babe in the bikini at the beginning of
- each race...*ahem* - sorry.
-
- With all this detail in the game, the graphics still flow at a
- silky-smooth frame rate. On the occasion, there's blue-line breakup -
- blue-lines appear between road and wall textures, giving the impression
- that the wall textures are not seamless. And on the extreme occasion,
- you'll notice a severe drop in frame rate for no apparent reason.
-
- Sounds are equally impressive, if not totally repetitive after very few
- plays. The crystal-clear announcer repeats the same introduction every
- single race. His sound-bites are used over and over throughout the race.
- There's only 6 different in-game music selections (which can be changed by
- providing your own music CD - but you didn't hear that from me). The only
- sound that remains fresh time and time again is the helicopter buzzing
- overhead, swooping from right channel to left channel of the stereo
- system.
-
-
- OVERALL
- I have to admit it: I had to force myself to like this game. With only one
- track provided, there wasn't anything here to justify a "keeper" status.
- Once you attempt to master the art of power-sliding, however, this will be
- one game you'll be playing over and over again. Master the craft, impress
- your friends. 'Nuff said.
-
-
- Graphics: 9.0 - Apart from break-up and slowdown, this game looks slick.
-
- Sound: 9.0 - Repetitive voice samples, bizarre BGM...but of very high
- quality.
-
- Controls: 9.0 - Initially tough to get used to. Power-sliding's a dream
- when learned properly.
-
- Manual: 4.0 - Lousy. Full of inconsistancies. Doesn't teach power
- sliding well.
-
- Funfactor: 8.0 - Only one track...only one player against lots of
- computer opponents. But it *is* a blast to play.
-
- Overall: 8.5 - Great first generation title. Let's get more tracks in
- the sequel, eh guys?
-
-
-
-
-
- ATARI/JAG SECTION Dana Jacobson, Editor
-
-
- From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
-
-
- It appears that we're close to seeing the first issue of Current
- Notes, under the new management of Howard Carson and company. As
- you'll note below, ads are coming in and the magazine is taking
- subscriptions and renewals. I think it's time to see what my current
- subscription status is and drop them a line, as others are doing! We
- at STReport wish Howard and the rest of the staff at the new Current
- Notes the best of luck, and good fortune with the magazine. We're all
- anxiously awaiting to see the "first" issue.
-
- We're still looking for users of the current Web browser that are
- available to do some reviews or articles about these programs. We've
- also heard of a new Web browser, called "Stik". If you have some
- experience using any of these programs, please drop me a line if you're
- interested in doing an article about it - many Atari users are curious
- about this new capability that's been essentially limiting for the
- Atari platform.
-
- I've been checking out the "Project Gutenberg" CD lately and
- reading a number of interesting things that are included with it. Once
- I've done a little more exploring, I'll talk about it more in a future
- issue. Just imagine, some of your favorite literature available on
- CDROM. I never thought that I'd be reading Jules Verne via the
- computer rather than a hard cover book!
-
- Until next time...
-
-
- Current Notes STR InfoFile! - Current Notes Magazine Update!
-
- Hello All:
-
- Things are hopping up here. Ads are rolling in, Columns are rolling in.
- We're hearing from all kinds of interested people and even new
- subscriptions are coming in the door.
-
- For those who haven't yet subscribed or want to renew as soon as they
- can, here are the rates for the new _Current Notes_.
-
- 1 year 2 year
-
- U.S. Addresses: $25 $46 - U.S. funds
- Canadian Addresses: $35 $65 - Canadian funds
- Other countries: $48 $90 - U.S. funds
-
- Send subscriptions (new or renewal) to:
-
- Current Notes Subscriptions
- Robert Boardman
- 559 Birchmount Rd, Unit 2
- Scarborough ON Canada M1K 1P9
-
- Make cheques and money orders payable to _Current Notes_.
-
- Please be sure to include your full name and address printed legibly
- with your subscription. DO NOT assume you are in our database just
- because you are renewing.
-
- We prefer to communicate with you electronically. If you have an email
- address, please include it with your regular address (your user name on
- GEnie is fine, as long as you tell us you are on GEnie).
-
- Keep watching this spot for exciting new developments with _Current
- Notes_.
-
- Robert Boardman
- redfrog@io.org
-
-
-
- BlowUP! STR InfoFile - Falcon030 Extension Card Ready!
-
-
- Finally, BlowUP - The Falcon Company has finished it's ultimate
- extension-card for the ATARI Falcon030:
-
- FFFFF X X
- F X X
- FFF XX
- F X X
- F X X the Falcon Xtender
-
- And these are the Features:
- FastRAM-Expansion (max. 32MB)
- -----------------------------
- ** 4 SIMMxSlots onboard (fits into original case)
- ** 4 additional slots on optional daughter-card
- ** 1MB and 4MB SIMMs, two-by-two
- ** The original 4MB of the Falcon stay active.
- ** With only 2*4MB and 2*1MB inserted, your Falcon then has 14MB!
- ** Memory over 14MB is organized virtually.
- ** With speeder: data throughput up to 20MB/s (standard 8MB/s).
- ** No soldering for RAM-function needed!
- ** Expansion-port daisy-chained! Tested with NOVA & FalconSpeed!
-
- Hi-Speeder: CPU, DSP & System clock:
- -----------------------------------
- ** System clock 32, 36 or 40MHz
- ** CPU/FPU-Clock 16,18,20,32,36 or 40MHz
- ** DSP 50 instead of 32 MHz
- ** Switchable by software.
- ** Soldiering needed.
-
- Resolution-Expansion BlowUP Hard I
- ----------------------------------
- The original with the Video-Mode-Generator
- with improved bus timing higher resolutions/refresh rates in 256
- colors/TrueColor.
-
- Installation:
- -------------
- If only the RAM-option is to be used, no soldering is needed for
- installation. The card is simply plugged into the expansion-slot, which
- is daisy-chained, so that other expansions might be used in rebuilt
- (tower-)Falcons. Only a small piece of the shielding has to be removed
- in normal Falcons. For the speeder-option soldiering is needed as with
- other speeders available, so that rebuilding from those other Speeders
- is easy. Soldiering should only be made by routine people.
-
- Fast-RAM:
- ---------
- The Fast-RAM follows the Falcon RAM (4MB), the original 4MB-RAM-PCB in
- Falcon will still be used! There are 4 SIMM-sockets on the FX-card
- giving you two 16bit memory-banks. With an optional daughter-card two
- further Banks are available (fits only in rebuilt Falcon e.g. tower).
- The memory-banks may be filled with 1MB or 4MB SIMMs. This is an easy
- way to get 14MB with only 2 x 4MB and 2 x 1MB SIMMs. Our FastRAM can
- be used for all functions , including DMA-access, except video. As
- there are no video-accesses on the FX-RAM it is up to 50% faster in
- color modes. The FX-RAM normally has no problems with installed
- Speeders. If the Speeder on the FX-card is used, a special Page-mode
- will be used for RAM-access in the 32/36/40MHz-modes. This allows
- RAM-access with no wait states and increases the memory throughput from
- normally 8MB/s to max. 20MB/s. If you don't need the speeder FX is a
- simple "plug'n play" memory-card. If more than 10MB is inserted into
- FX the upper part is switched by the MMU an the FX-logic. The
- management of the extended memory is done fully invisible for all
- applications with the PMMU of the 68030 CPU. The speed-loss with this
- is minimal compared to virtual RAM on a hard disk. This optional
- configuration allows a maximum use of 32MB. So that 8MB are standard
- FastRAM (no video-access) and 24MB are EMS-RAM. For standard
- applications there is no difference.
-
- CPU-Speeder:
- ------------
- The Speeder included on the FX-card increases the system-clock from
- 32 MHz to 36 or 40MHz. The CPU then can run with 16MHz (normal), 18MHz,
- 20MHz, 32Mhz, 36MHz or 40MHz. With the special FX-logic now nearly all
- Falcon can use the 40MHz clock. The clock may be switched on booting or
- later with a CPX-module. We have also solved the problems some
- programs had with the DSP if the CPU ran at 40MHz and the DSP at 50MHz.
- Soldering is needed for installation.
-
- DSP-Speeder:
- ------------
- Increases the DSP speed from 32MHz to 50MHz! Superb for MPEG-Decoder.
- Solved problems with CPU at 40MHz. Soldiering is needed for
- installation.
-
- BlowUP Hard1:
- -------------
- The well known and time-tested resolution expansion also found a place
- on the FX-card. With the confortable Software and super resolutions
- (e.g. 800*608 at 84Hz ni, 1024*768 at 104Hz i). Soldering is needed for
- installation.
-
- Technical data:
- size ~160mm*65mm, simply plugged into the expansion-slot (put through)
- power taken from expansion-slot 4 SIMM-sockets onboard for
- 1M*9/1M*8/4M*9/4M*8 SIMMs (min 70ns), with changed FIRMWARE 16M*9 can
- also be used 4 additional SIMM sockets on daughter-board with 2*4MB and
- 2*1MB SIMMs power consumption of ~200mA. Controller chip re-programmable
- by software (Hardware-update by Software possible)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- And even better!! the price: 349,-DM
- Order information:
- FX is now available from all ATARI dealers, our distributors in the UK,
- France, Sweden and the U.S.A.
- If you have problems to get it, order directly from us:
-
- Either by normal mail - including a cheque
- or by normal mail or FAX - paid by CREDIT CARD (VISA or DINERS don't
- forget to include card-number and Exp. date) -
- Please state the way of delivery you prefer:
- UPS expedited or air-mail (with insurance - w/o insurance)
- e.g. U.S.A. 90DM 45DM 30DM
- e.g. London 40DM 30DM 20DM
-
- BlowUP - A.E.S.GbR
- Eslarner Str. 34
- 81549 Muenchen
- Germany
- Fax: 0841-86480
- e-mail: acher@informatik.tu-muenchen.de
- --
- Bye
- Georg Acher
- +--------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Georg Acher, acher@informatik.tu-muenchen.de |
- | "Oh no, not again !" The bowl of petunias |
- +--------------------------------------------------------------+
- - US Distribution done by Lexicor Software Corporation
- - Lexicor Software - (617) 437 0414 - email: service@lexicor.com
-
-
-
- -/- "Kevin and Kell": Cyberspace Comic Strip -/-
-
-
-
- Want a good laugh to start your day? After you check your e-mail
- and stock quotes, be sure to read Bill Holbrook's "Kevin & Kell," the
- first mainstream comic strip to be syndicated in cyberspace. You'll
- find it in dozens of CompuServe forums, including the Funnies Forum's
- Library 20, "Kevin and Kell."
-
- This is the first time a syndicate has distributed a professional
- comic strip through a computer network--and the network is part of the
- story! The wonderfully funny strip created by the award-winning
- Holbrook features Kevin, a middle-aged professional rabbit, who runs
- the Herbivore Forum on CompuServe. Kell, his wife, is a wolf; a
- professional predator for Herd Thinners, Inc. They met and fell in love
- on CompuServe; only in cyberspace could two individuals from such
- different backgrounds get together. Both their families think they're
- nuts, but the marriage works wonderfully! You'll also meet Kevin's
- daughter Lindesfarne, a 17-year old porcupine, and Kell's son Rudy,
- your basic 14-year old rock and roll wolf cub.
-
- Holbrook is also the creator of "On the Fastrack," which has
- appeared in hundreds of papers for over 12 years, and the writer and
- artist of "Safe Havens." While these two strips are both for King
- Features Syndicate, Holbrook created his own syndicate for
- "Kevin & Kell."
-
- The daily strip is available in the libraries of over 40 CompuServe
- forums. Check your favorite forum by searching its libraries for files
- with the names Kevin or Kell.
-
- To access the Funnies Forum, GO FUNFOR.
-
-
-
-
- JAGUAR SECTION
-
-
- JaguarCD Review! FlipOut Review!
- CatFights! CD Memory Cart Ships!
- Live 95 Report! CATnips!
- And much more...!
-
-
-
- From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
-
-
-
-
- We just received a developer Jaguar console (to go along with the
- developer JaguarCD). I'm still having some trouble getting it up and
- running but that should be resolved soon. Since we do have a review of
- the JaguarCD and the pack-in games in this issue, I'm not in a rush to
- get our second review out. However, we do have the current version of
- "Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods" sitting here so we want to get a
- look at this title and review it for you. We understand that this
- current version of the game is in the final test stage, so we hope to
- learn that it will be going into production shortly.
-
- There's a lot of online activity happening over the latest games
- to hit the streets. Rayman and Ultra Vortek are getting rave reviews.
- I've seen very few negative comments to-date. The JaguarCD pack-in
- games are getting pretty good marks also, except for Blue Lightning,
- which people seem to have expected better. Personally, I'm looking
- forward to seeing Blue Lightning in action; I hope that I won't be
- disappointed as it is one of my favorite games on the Lynx. Even
- VidGrid is getting better comments than anyone expected, so I'm
- actually looking forward to seeing this one in action also. I've never
- seen Myst, so that demo CD should be interesting also.
-
- The one thing that I am a little disappointed about is the fact
- that there are no other CD-based games available at the present time.
- We all heard that the JaguarCD was being held up because of software,
- over the past many months. Yet, there are still no titles available
- other than the pack-ins. Is the Virtual Light Machine good enough to
- hold people's attention long enough while we wait for some new CD
- games? I certainly hope so. Atari has managed to obtain some positive
- feedback with the JaguarCD available, the latest cart-based games, and
- the memory cart being recently released. However, they cannot afford
- to let this momentum falter - Atari and the public need a continuous
- stream of games coming over the next few months to take them into a
- successful holiday season.
-
- Along with the JaguarCD review this week, we have a review of
- FlipOut by Steve Watkins, who recently joined the STReport Jaguar
- staff. Rayman will be in the hands of reviewers in a matter of days,
- so expect a couple of reviews of it in a couple of weeks. Other
- reviews are also on the way; we're working busily to keep you apprised
- of our opinions of as many of the current titles as possible.
-
- The first of what we hope to be a long series of "CatFights", the
- online debates (which will be published) with members of the Atari
- Explorer Online staff is currently underway. Look for the transcript
- of that debate in our October 6th issue. The topic of the current
- debate is: "If you were Atari, which type of games would you be
- focusing your attention on at the present time?" This should be an
- interesting "discussion". Stay tuned!
-
- Well, we've got a lot of news and information for you this week
- even though this is our "off" week for Jaguar coverage. As Jaguar
- activity grows, there's not going to be any holding back of information
- just to hit our every other week primary coverage.
-
- Until next time...
-
-
-
- Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile - What's currently available, what's
- coming out.
-
- Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
-
- J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp.
- J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $29.99 Atari Corp.
- J9005 Raiden $29.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp.
- J9001 Trevor McFur/
- Crescent Galaxy $29.99 Atari Corp.
- J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp.
- J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp.
- JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames
- J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp.
- J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp.
- J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $39.99 Atari Corp.
- J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp.
- J9007 Checkered Flag $39.99 Atari Corp.
- J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp.
- J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp
- J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp
- J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp
- J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp.
- Cannon Fodder $49.99 Virgin/C-West
- Syndicate $69.99 Ocean
- Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams
- Theme Park $69.99 Ocean
- Sensible Soccer Telegames
- Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams
- J9009E Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Corp.
- J0144E Pinball Fantasies $59.99 C-West
- J9052E Super Burnout $59.99 Atari
- J9070 White Men Can't Jump $69.99 Atari
- Flashback $59.99 U.S. Gold
- VidGrid (CD) Atari Corp
- Blue Lightning (CD) $59.99 Atari Corp
- J9040 Flip-Out $49.99 Atari Corp
- J9082 Ultra Vortek $69.99 Atari Corp
- C3669T Rayman $69.99 Ubi Soft
-
-
- Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
-
- J9101 Pitfall $59.99 Atari
- Power Drive Rally TBD TWI
- Dragon's Lair TBD Readysoft
- Hover Strike CD $59.99 Atari
- Demolition Man $59.99 Atari
-
-
- Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER
-
- J8011 Jaguar (no cart) $149.99 Atari Corp.
- J8904 Composite Cable $19.95
- J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp.
- J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95
- CatBox $69.95 ICD
- J8800 Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari Corp.
- J8908 JagLink Interface 29.95 Atari Corp.
- J8910 Team Tap
- (4-Player Adapter) 29.95 Atari Corp.
- J8907 Jaguar ProController29.95 Atari Corp.
- J8911 Memory Track 29.95 Atari Corp.
- J8909 Tempest 2000:
- The Soundtrack 12.99 Atari Corp.
-
-
-
- Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
-
-
- -/- Game Counterfeited in Three Weeks -/-
-
-
- If the speed of the ripoff artists is any indication, the
- Albuquerque, New Mexico, American Laser Games must have a hit on its
- hands.
- The firm reports counterfeit copies of "Mazer," its new game for
- the 3DO system that shipped just three weeks ago, have been discovered
- on their way into the United States.
- ALG President Robert Grebe says other titles from his company have
- been illegally copied, but this is the quickest appearance of a
- counterfeit.
- "We knew 'Mazer' was a good game, and now we know other people
- recognize it too," he said. "Unfortunately, this form of imitation does
- more harm than good for our industry."
- The publisher says the pirated copies were intercepted earlier
- this week by U.S. customs in Anchorage, Alaska. The shipment from the
- Far East, identified as plastic for bank cards, contained 1,000 CD-ROMs
- that were unauthorized copies of four different 3DO game titles.
-
-
-
- JaguarCD STR Review
-
- -= Available Now =-
- Price: $149.99
-
- By Craig Harris
-
-
-
- August 24, 1995 will go down in video game history. It will be
- known as the day when thousands of Jaguar owners shouted in unison:
- "It's about time!!!" This was the day designated by Atari Head Ted Hoff
- as Jaguar CD's release date. After waiting a year and a half for the
- unit, it looked like it was finally fading into view.
-
- August 25, 1995 will go down in video game history as well. It
- will be known as the day when those same thousands of Jaguar owners
- shouted in unison: "Alright, where the *beep* is it???" This was the
- day that people discovered the Jaguar CD was nowhere to be found. These
- people wanted an explanation.
-
- After wading through two weeks' worth of angry Jaguar CD threads
- and Newsgroup messages, the unit finally hit the store shelves. Was it
- worth the wait?
-
- /// Jaguar CD - Built Ford Tough
-
- According to the packaging, the Jaguar CD player is a Philips-made
- double-spin drive (meaning the mechanism has the capability to spin
- discs at twice the rate of standard music CD players, allowing twice
- the data to be read in the same amount of time), and has the capability
- of reading standard music CD's, CD+G (a not-widely used standard of
- storing graphics on music CD's) and Jaguar CD software.
-
- Physically, the drive sports only one control: the OPEN DOOR
- button. This button unlatches the drive door and pops it up. Once it's
- unlatched, the user has to open the lid like a toilet seat to fit a
- disc in. And because the unit interfaces with the Jaguar's cartridge
- slot, it provides its own replacement. (They still didn't provide a
- dust-cover for the slot...ah well.)
-
- The drive also has a small plexi-glass window in the front. I've
- found that it serves two purposes: One, to show that a disc is in the
- drive. Two, to prove to skeptics that the drive is indeed a double-spin
- drive. You can see that Jaguar CD's spin twice as fast as music CD's.
-
- As stated on a vivid sticker slapped on the front of the system
- box, the Jaguar CD comes packaged with Blue Lightning, Vid Grid, the
- Tempest 2000 soundtrack on CD, and a short demo of Myst. You'll find
- each of these discs sandwiched in their own styrofoam cubby-hole within
- the system's packaging. It also comes packaged with a set of
- multi-lingual instructions, an AC adaptor (disappointingly, a fat
- "power-pack" style AC adaptor, not a standard two-prong plug that's
- becoming a video game standard - included in the 3DO, Saturn and
- Playstation's design), a registration card, and a small ad for the
- upcoming Memory Track back-up cartridge (used to save CD games in
- progress).
-
- /// Installation - a Two-Step program
-
- Now that everything's carefully taken out of the box, plug the
- Jaguar CD into the cartridge slot of the Jaguar - making sure the unit
- lines up with the U-shaped groove on the Jaguar (So *that's* what it's
- for - as if you didn't know already). When it snaps firmly into place,
- plug the fat part of the AC adaptor into the wall, and the thin part
- into the back of the Jaguar CD unit.
-
- That's it. No heat-sinks, no screws, no changing AUTOEXEC.BAT or
- CONFIG.SYS files. That sucker's installed.
-
- Powering on the system will give you a brand-new Jaguar
- intro-screen. The Jaguar logo appears with swirly colors - no more
- Jaguar cube and dinky "Have you played Atari today" tune. Though you'll
- miss the deep gurgle of the Jaguar growl, you'll notice a pretty decent
- replacement of that intro on one of the included discs.
-
- At this point, the system will check to see if a cartridge is
- plugged into the slot. If the cartridge in the slot is a stand-alone
- game, the Jaguar will boot it within about five seconds after the new
- Jaguar logo. If the system sees a Jaguar CD related cartridge (like the
- Memory Track) or no cartridge at all, it will then check the drive for
- a CD. If it recognizes the CD as a Jaguar CD, it will boot the program.
- If it sees a standard Music CD, the system will load the CD-player.
-
- If there is no power to the Jaguar CD when it checks the CD drive
- for a disc, a small graphic will appear under the logo: an arrow
- pointing to the back of the Jaguar CD, indicating that the AC adapter
- isn't plugged in correctly.
-
- If there is no disc in the drive and no cartridge in the slot, a
- different graphic will appear under the logo: a Compact Disc with a
- flashing question mark, a polite way of stating, "All right...where is
- it?"
-
- Ok...enough about the hardware. Let's see what this puppy can do.
-
- /// VLM - I can see the music!
-
- The Virtual Light Machine is a program that's built into the ROM
- of the Jaguar CD system. The swirly colors of the new Jaguar
- introduction screen is just a small sample of what it's capable of.
-
- Putting a standard music CD will key up a pretty standard (and
- plain-looking) on-screen CD controller. Play, Stop, Scan controls on
- the top; track numbers on the bottom. In the middle sits the session
- settings...Randomize, Repeat, Program, etc. There's also a button for
- VLM and CD+G.
-
- Play the CD by hitting the 'B' button. A melt-o-vision graphical
- light show will begin playing behind the control panel. Hit the A
- button once to remove everything but the track-selection, time, and
- VLM effect number; hit it twice to enjoy just the lightshow.
-
- Hitting "option" will temporarily display the VLM logo in the
- corner, VH-1 style. If the logo is rightside-up, the keypad functions
- as the effect selector, and the D-pad controls any user-defined effect.
- If the logo is upside-down, the keypad functions as the track selector,
- and the D-pad controls volume and scan functions.
-
- VLM has 9 banks, each assigned 9 effects. Do the math (tm), and
- you get 81 different effects utilizing a color palette of 65,000. Each
- effect ranges from subtle to surreal, but they all are affected by the
- intensity of the music being played. Some effects will look better with
- techno, some with classical, some with Floyd, etc. Hours will be lost
- flipping through CD after CD, discovering which effect works best with
- what disc.
-
- While it's a stretch stating that VLM is worth the price of the
- Jaguar CD alone, it's damn close. You'll be amazed how little you'll
- use your "regular" CD player after playing with VLM. A definite 10.
-
- /// Blue Lightning - Geez, Columbus was wrong...
-
- Yeah, we know you didn't buy a CD-ROM player to see a trippy light
- show - you want to play GAMES. Well, with this first (and free)
- offering, it's sure to leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
-
- Blue Lightning is loosely based on the Lynx game of the same name.
- The Lynx version was a fantastic air-combat arcade game that showed off
- the capabilities of the system. The Jaguar version is a pathetic rehash
- of the same game, minus the impressive use of the system's hardware.
- Though the developers tried *real* hard to utilize the CD, it all falls
- apart because the gameplay does not weave well with the CD-assisted
- features.
-
- First of all, the game world is FLAT. You fly your flat aircraft
- in a flat 3D perspective, cruising over flat enemy grounds, shooting
- flat missiles at flat targets, avoiding flat mountains and flat
- buildings...all while trying to avoid being a giant flat explosion.
-
- The game features some above-average rendered video sequences that
- show off the Jaguar CD's full-motion video capabilities, and has a
- decent Top-Gun-ish hard-rock soundtrack that show off the Jaguar CD's
- music capabilities. But these features do not mesh at all well with the
- poor attempt at an air-combat game.
-
- /// Vid Grid - Jump in when you feel the groove.
-
- Free disc number two is a niche product at best. Thank god it was
- free; otherwise it would be "Yet Another Atari Dust-Collector" sitting
- on retailer shelves. This way, it can be "Yet Another Atari
- Dust-Collector" sitting on *your* shelf.
-
- Vid Grid is a port of a PC game you can find in those discount
- 5-foot 10 packs. It's a bunch of music videos starring Peter Gabriel,
- Aerosmith, Soundgarden, Van Halen, and other modern rock stars, thrown
- together in a "slide-puzzle" style game.
-
- The idea is to piece each video in the proper order before it
- ends. While pieces are always the same size in a puzzle, the size of
- the pieces will shrink with a difficulty increase. Pieces can be
- mirrored, flipped upside-down, or both to make your going even tougher.
-
- The video quality is excellent, the viewing window being around
- 3/4 the size of the monitor. The music quality is also equally
- impressive, with the music being in true stereo.
-
- This is a definite "once around the block". Once you've seen all
- the videos, it's doubtful that you'll ever play this game again. And
- because of the music selection, I doubt I'll ever catch Grandma firing
- this disc up on her next visit.
-
- /// Myst - Sorry, I myst the point.
-
- Myst is a game I just can't figure out. No, not because of its
- difficult riddles and puzzles - but because of its resistance to remove
- itself from retailers' shelves and Top Ten lists. Why would something
- with so limited gameplay appeal to so many people for over 3 years?
-
- First, it appeared as a Mac title, filling the Apple niche for a
- few months. Soon, it was moved over to the Windows platform, where a
- much larger audience enjoyed the game (and all the Application Errors).
- Then, the geniuses over at Sunsoft decided that platform-gamers were
- missing out, so they ported it over to the Sega CD, 3DO and Saturn
- machines.
-
- Now Jaguar CD owners get a taste of things to come. Oh, heck, why
- not? Everyone's getting into the act, why should Atari be any
- different?
-
- This demo disc gives a sample of Myst's appeal by offering two
- options: Interactive, demonstrating the game's interface, video
- capabilities, and cryptic storyline; and Slideshow, showing the
- beautiful artwork that will be used in the full version.
-
- On Atari's side, the artwork ports extremely well from Myst's
- native 640x480 resolution to NTSC's more limiting standards. The colors
- are more detailed than the Windows version, too.
-
- Bringing Myst to the Jaguar seems like a small cry from Sunnyvale:
- "See? We can do it, too!" It's time to move on...Myst had a good life.
- Let's find a better, more appealing game to associate with the term
- "CD-ROM game."
-
- /// End of Track
-
- With the Jaguar CD sitting quietly on top, the system finally
- looks complete. The question, though, is how much will Atari use this
- accessory?
-
- The promise: 12 CD games by Christmas.
-
- The reality: Too early to tell.
-
- It's a gamble to purchase the CD unit without any retail software
- to back it up - you can only sneer at Blue Lightning and Vid Grid so
- many times. The promise from Atari is that 'A' quality CD titles are
- forth-coming, including Iron Soldier II, Primal Rage, Alien VS.
- Predator, Black ICE/ White Noise, Brett Hull Hockey, and Demolition
- Man.
-
- But for now, you have the VLM.
-
- ///// Reviewer's Ratings:
-
- Design: 8 - Looks like a toilet. No dust cover on the cartridge
- slot. Other than that, it makes the Jaguar
- look "finished". The unit will not budge after
- installing.
- Construction: 7 - The hub on the door rattles when
- open. The door only clicks shut when pressing on a
- specific spot.
-
- Pack-ins: 6 - Blue Lightning - ick. Vid Grid - Nice
- videos...next. Myst Demo - You again???
- VLM - "*****!" "A Ten!"
- "Must See Event of the Year!"
-
- Overall: 8 - Even with sub-standard packins, the system will
- give you hours of entertainment right out of the
- box.
-
-
- Jaguar Game Title STR Review - "FlipOut!"
-
-
- -= Available Now =-
-
-
- "FLIPOUT!"
-
- by Steve Watkins
-
-
- Developed by: Gorilla Systems
- Published by: Atari Corporation
- Price: $49.99
-
- Genre : Puzzle
- # of Players : 1
- Save Feature : Battery
-
-
-
- Welcome to the Great Tile Flipping Festival, hosted by the
- reigning World Champion, King Fluffy, and the people of the Planet
- Phromahj. As a new participant in this traditional contest, it's your
- goal to complete the various increasingly difficult levels of
- competition until you ultimately come face-to-face with King Fluffy in
- a battle to become the new Champion of the Great Tile Flipping
- Festival.
-
- GAME PLAY
-
- Each level begins with King Fluffy flipping all but one of the
- tiles, and an extra tile that has no home base position and is only
- there to make your task more difficult, into the air to mix and
- randomly land in a scrambled mess on the game board. As the mixed-up
- tiles settle back onto the game board, the tile that was not initially
- flipped pops into the air. It is at this point that you gain control
- of the flipper/cursor and begin play.
-
- Your goal is to flip the tiles, one by one, into the air and make
- them land in their correct "home color" positions on the game board.
- As you attempt to do this, you must keep the extra tile(s) from landing
- in an already occupied position. If a tile lands on top of another,
- you lose and must start that level over. The outer edges of some
- "home color" positions give away what lies underneath, but to
- completely view a concealed "home color" space, you must flip the tile
- covering it into the air.
-
- To complicate your task, other competitors (enemies), who are
- usually content to watch from the sidelines, will sometimes wander
- around the game board and cause havoc by doing nasty tricks with the
- tiles. Some will flip random tiles. Others will imitate tiles and
- take up empty spaces, forcing you to keep extra spaces open on the
- board to accommodate the real tiles. These competitors, which vary
- from world to world, range from harmless to quite annoying. The
- enemies give Flipout the majority of its charm.
-
- THE DIFFERENT WORLDS OF FLIPOUT!
-
- There are nine different Worlds to complete and each has a
- specific number of levels to complete before you're allowed to move to
- the next. Below is a brief description of each you will encounter, in
- order. The number of levels each world has is in parenthesis.
-
- Cheese Planet (11) - The Flipout training world. Even the extra tile
- is helpful early on. The board is a 3x3 tic-tac-toe-like square
- grid.
-
- Yellowstone National Park (5) - Instead of tiles and a square grid, you
- must place the six 'geyser rider' characters on the correct geysers,
- which are arranged in a triangular pattern.
-
- Mt. Rushmore (3) - The four former President's faces are cut into four
- slices each. Place the face pieces in the correct positions.
-
- Sphorkle Diner (5) - Flip plates of food to the correct tables. The
- tables, six in all, are arranged just like the Yellowstone geysers.
-
- Easter Island (4) - One of the best worlds. A 3x3 grid in which the
- top three squares are on the tongues of three Easter Island stone
- monuments. The tongues move in and out of the mouths, trapping your
- cursor when it's in a closed mouth.
-
- Hoopla World (10) - Back to the basic 3x3 square. Numerous enemies
- make their debut. This is where the game starts to get confusing.
- You will need to juggle several tiles at once, now and then, to stay
- alive.
-
- Planet Pigskin (10) - Same as Hoopla World, with a different
- background. It's also a bit more hectic. The toughest levels in
- the game. Not as tough as King Fluffy on the Psychotic setting.
-
- ZeroGravity Arena (5) - The basic 3x3 grid is joined by two other
- rectangular grids on top and to the left for a total of twenty-one
- squares. Moving the cursor from grid to grid is the biggest
- challenge this world has to offer. It's an interesting twist, but
- there's not much happening here.
-
- King Fluffy Encounter (1) - A 4x4 board with sixteen different tiles.
- Old Fluffy has a multiple tricks up his sleeves to keep you from
- claiming his tile flipping crown.
-
- FEATURES
-
- There are only a couple of options available in Flipout. These
- are Load Game (from one of _five_ available save slots) and Difficulty
- (choose Normal, Hard, Insane or Psychotic).
-
- Here's a quick description of each difficulty setting:
-
- Normal - All tiles (or objects, like the Geyser Riders, Food Plates,
- etc.) remain visible throughout the game. Tiles correctly placed
- in their "home color" spaces will continuously flash.
-
- Hard - Tiles (and objects) on the board are all one color (to confuse
- you), but a tile flipped into the air appears as its true color.
- Correctly placed tiles flash continuously, but are still only one
- (decoy) color.
-
- Insane - Tiles (and object) remain only one color throughout the game
- and you never see the true color. Correctly placed tiles still
- flash continuously.
-
- Psychotic - Same as Insane except the correctly placed tiles will
- only flash for a brief amount of time, after which you'll have to
- rely on your memory skills.
-
- One feature many people will find helpful, especially parents who
- have a tough time with video games, is the ability to start a game on
- any difficulty setting after loading a game. This means you can play
- to the end of the game on Normal, save your position, then use that
- save to skip to any world on Hard, Insane or Psychotic. Be careful to
- save _before_ entering the final level, because you can't go back
- after reaching it.
-
- GRAPHICS & CHARACTERS
-
- Gorilla systems has created solid, yet unspectacular graphics for
- Flipout. The backgrounds are usually shaded, but are otherwise
- simplistic and, well, boring. The characters are also simple, but
- nicely shaded and animated. They give Flipout all of its charm and
- make the game interesting. They are bright, animated and have
- wonderful, unique personalities. You will chuckle, or even guffaw, a
- few times when you hear and see a couple of them in action. Again, this
- is the best aspect of Flipout, so I won't spoil the fun by describing
- them in the review.
-
- The majority of the remaining graphics (tiles, objects in place of
- tiles, game boards) are simple, crisp and vibrantly colorful. One
- drawback is that certain tile colors are very difficult to distinguish
- from one another during the Zerogravity Arena level. None of the
- graphics will make you shout, "Wow!" In fact, some will remind you
- of 16-bit efforts. However, the important graphics, the characters and
- game pieces and boards, are well done.
-
- MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS
-
- Half of the music sounds wrong for this game and the other half is
- right on. It's all quickly repetitive, some to the point of annoyance.
- A few worlds, however, include music that is imaginative and fun. I
- wonder if perhaps two different people worked on the music or if there
- was some sort of development compromise made because of cart space
- problems or ship date urgency. The familiar music, classical, you have
- heard before if you've spent any time in an elevator or a dentist's
- chair.
-
- The sound effects save the day. They range from clever to
- sophomorically funny and all add something extra to the game. The
- score keeper has a gleeful cackle. The Rodeo Rider has a couple of
- wonderful sound effects associated with the mayhem he causes during
- play. And crisp (compared to most games) applause and sympathetic
- moans from the unseen audience add the 'nice touch' that gamers always
- appreciate. The only complaint I have is that some characters don't
- have sound effects.
-
- CONTROL
-
- The control was good, but not perfect. When play get harried,
- you need to hold down the fire button a split second longer than you
- usually would and sometimes you'll need to hit the fire button more
- than once or twice to register a flip. Younger children will find the
- controls easy to learn, but will most likely become frustrated during
- the Zerogravity Arena levels and the Insane and Psychotic worlds.
-
- BUGS!
-
- I don't know if the Atari testing department is overworked,
- ignored by programmers or marketing, or just not real sharp, because
- this game, like several other Jaguar titles, has some obvious bugs that
- can be quite annoying. They aren't serious, but they may well cause
- you to lose, forcing you to start a level over. Since the game uses
- unlimited continues and you never lose the game, these bugs aren't
- terrible. I encountered half a dozen in two days of solid test play,
- which equated to about sixteen hours of game play.
-
- OVERVIEW
-
- I really _wanted_ to love Flipout. I'm a Tetris and Klax addict
- and I was hoping that Flipout would be the next brilliant, addictive
- puzzle game to waste my brain cells on. This was not the case.
- Flipout is an easy game that becomes more a test of your patience and
- memory rather than a game of strategy, skill and reflex.
-
- In fact, I finished the game on the Insane setting _faster_ than I
- finished it on Hard. Granted, I had the control and "strategy" down
- much better after finishing Hard, but this points out that the
- difficulty settings didn't accomplish the goal of making the game more
- difficult. The main reason I finished faster on Insane was due to the
- randomness of the enemies "attacking" the board. They were much more
- active during the Hard game.
-
- Even though there's a nice mixture of enemies, they are all very
- easy to deal with (flip, flip, flip, flip, flip...), even when many are
- moving around on the board at one time. There are no new enemies in
- the higher difficulty settings and the same ones will be found in the
- same places throughout the game. It would have been cool to have a
- "free for all" world with all the enemies going at one time.
-
- Flipout, during the higher two difficulty settings, becomes
- trial & error and memory recall. It was like when you were a kid and
- you were playing concentration with a deck of cards on the floor of
- your room and your brother or sister messed with the cards while you
- played. The game, for me, needs more than disguised tiles to make it
- challenging.
-
- I expected the higher difficulty levels to add different enemies,
- different speeds, more tiles or a random placement of the "home color"
- positions, that was not the case.
-
- I think a big flaw, if that's the right word for it, is that you
- don't ever lose the game. There are no "lives" to lose. There's no
- time limit. There's no incentive to finish a level that gets your
- adrenaline pumping. You can "die" on any level hundreds of times and
- keep playing that level until you pass it. It would be nice to play
- more games that don't go by the old "3 lives" scheme, but this game
- shouldn't have been one of them. If anything, Gorilla should have added
- this option so younger children and adults could customize the game to
- their tastes.
-
- CONCLUSION
-
- Flipout has fun, unspectacular graphics, great sound effects and
- ease of play that will appeal to many gamers. Grizzled Tetris & Klax
- veterans will probably find this title easy and lacking the "one more
- game" addictive quality that great games have. I think this title is a
- real hit or miss proposition for Jaguar 64 owners and a gamble at $50+.
- Flipout is a definite Play Before You Pay title.
-
- SCORING:
-
- Graphics: 6.5 (_Wide_ variation)
- Music/Sound Effects: 5.5 / 8.5 (A single score isn't fair...)
- Control: 8.5
- Instructions: 8.0 (B&W pics for a game that depends
- heavily
- on color is not great)
-
- Reviewer's Overall: 7.5
-
-
- Reviewer Recommendation: If you enjoy puzzle games, Play before you
- Pay. If you can take or leave them, check
- out Rayman or Ultra Vortek. Or save for an
- upcoming release.
-
- Comments, questions to Steve Watkins c/o STReport. CompuServe users
- can reach me easily in the Video Games, Sega and Atari Gaming forums.
-
-
-
- Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
-
-
-
-
- CATnips... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas (95.09.25)
-
- We'll just have to call this the BIG NEWS issue!
-
-
- "Coming October 6, Plug in the JAGWIRE(tm) network."
-
-
- What does it mean? Here's the word...
-
- "On October 6, Atari Corporation, CompuServe Information Service, Atari
- Explorer Online Magazine and Silicon Times Report unveil a new
- comprehensive official network of support for Jaguar 64 gamers. Make
- your modem roar with new official support access on the Internet and
- the CompuServe Information Service."
-
- [Please note: the event above involves commercial
- participation between Atari Corporation and CompuServe
- online service. Please do not incorporate the above tag
- line on commercial services other than CompuServe such
- as Prodigy, Delphi, America On-Line or GEnie. Those are
- very reputable systems also and deserve your support
- while a guest on their service. This message is a
- courtesy with appreciation for your support of Jaguar
- 64. Please feel free to CLEANLY delete all "Plug in the
- JAGWIRE" text found in this CATnips prior to posting
- on alternate systems if you desire.]
-
- ~ "That's ZOOPer" ~
- Jeanne Winding, Atari Corporation
-
- (Hello, Jeanne, we want to know what's "ZOOPer"!)
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- CONTACT: Patricia Kerr or Jennifer Hansen
- Shandwick USA
- (310)479-4997 or (800)444-6663
-
- Rayman Saves the Day
- Ubi Soft launches new 'super hero' title for Jaguar 64
-
-
- SUNNYVALE, CA (September 19) -- Atari Corporation announced this
- morning the launch of Rayman for the Jaguar 64 entertainment system.
- Rayman is a challenging, unique game developed and published for Atari
- Corporation by Ubi Soft for the powerful Next Generation Jaguar 64.
-
- Rayman transports players to a mystical world with vibrant animation
- and an upbeat soundtrack as they help the affable adventure her defeat
- bizarre enemies, rescue his friends and restore peace and harmony to
- the world. Combining challenging game play, cartoon like animation and
- authentic sound effects, Rayman appeals to gamers of all ages and skill
- levels. Players explore multi-layered worlds with independently
- scrolling backdrops leading to clever enemies that learn each gamer's
- playing style and fight back with wicked skill.
-
- "Ubi Soft has developed an outstanding game for the Jaguar 64," said
- Ted Hoff, Atari's President of North American Operations. "The
- animation for Rayman consists of over 50 hand-drawn characters, 65,000
- colors and 60 frame per second movement all of which highlight the
- superiority of Jaguar's 64-bit technology."
-
- Gaming capabilities and sophisticated visual presentation have the
- industry buzzing about this new game for Jaguar 64. In the September
- issue, Electronic Gaming Monthly awards Rayman for Atari Corporation's
- Jaguar 64 the Editor's Gold Choice Award.
-
- Rayman is rated (KA) for kids through adults, is in stores now, and has
- a suggested retail price of $69.99.
-
- For over twenty years, Atari Corporation has provided consumers with
- high quality, value-priced entertainment. Atari Corporation markets
- Jaguar 64, the only American-made, advanced 64-bit system and is
- located in Sunnyvale, California.
-
- Headquartered just outside of Paris, France, Ubi Soft develops,
- publishes and distributes video games and computer entertainment
- software throughout the world, with offices in the USA, Germany, Japan,
- Spain, Italy and the
- UK.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- NEWS RELEASE
-
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
-
- CONTACT: JOHN MARCOTTE TEL: (916) 954-0468
-
-
- "THE JAGUAR'S EDGE" SIGNS MAJOR DISTRIBUTION DEAL
-
- SACRAMENTO, Calif., September 22, 1995 -- Just days after shipping its'
- inaugural issue, "The Jaguar's Edge" announced an extensive agreement
- with International Periodical Distributors (IPD), a leader in the world
- of magazine distribution.
-
- "Our agreement with IPD will allow us to reach thousands of potential
- readers," reported Publisher John Marcotte. "Their extensive
- distribution network will insure that every Jaguar enthusiast in the
- country will be able to go down to their local bookstore and get the
- very latest in Jaguar news and information." IPD supplies numerous
- bookstores and other retail outlets including Barnes & Noble, Inc.
- (B. Dalton Bookseller, Bookstop/Bookstar, Barnes & Noble Superstores,
- Doubleday, and Scribner's), Waldenbooks (Brentano's and
- Waldenbooks & More), Crown Books, Borders Book Shops, Hastings, Tower
- Books, Encore and Coles, Lichtman's and United Cigar Shops in Canada,
- and many other independent retailers throughout the United States and
- Canada.
-
- "The Jaguar's Edge" is the first magazine dedicated to the 64-bit Atari
- Jaguar interactive multimedia home entertainment system. The bimonthly
- publication is just $15 within the U.S. for one full year. Write:
- Jaguar's Edge, P.O. Box 660291, Sacramento, CA 95866-0291.
-
- Atari and Atari Jaguar are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari
- Corp.
-
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- For Immediate Release:
- September 22, 1995
-
- Contact: Eric Cohen @ Extreme 912-475-1937 (fax)
-
-
- "EXTREME" INKS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF JAGUAR
-
- (GA) - "Extreme" has announced that the publication will exclusively be
- covering the Atari Jaguar. In addition to television, motion pictures,
- music, and radio being covered, "Extreme" will now feature a section
- called "Extreme Interactive". "EI" as it will be known will cover
- topics including interactive cable, HDTV, and the Atari Jaguar.
- "Extreme" sees the Jaguar as the wave of the future and is ready to go
- hand in hand with the system through its voyage through the gaming
- world.
-
- "Extreme" is an entertainment publication that is available through
- mail order. "Extreme" is available at $2.50 per copy and $15 for six
- issues. "Extreme", 119 Saddle Run Court, Macon, GA 31210. For more
- details or to order, send information to the aforementioned address or
- fax us at 912/475-1937. Watch for Extreme2000 via FAX and INTERNET
- this October.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- The Jaguar Journal September 1995 is online. It is the one year
- anniversary issue and is dedicated to Josh Fritsch. It will feature
- reviews of VLM, Blue Lightning, Vid Grid, and more, along with lots of
- news and info, as always found in each and every Jaguar Journal. The
- file includes the transcript of the recent conference with Ubi Soft's
- Frank Slater.
-
- Look for Jaguar Journal on CompuServe or on CATscan [209/239-1552].
- SysOps should feel free to re-post this publication.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- FROM THE INTERNET...
-
- Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 22:49:01 -0400
- From: Neuralog <neuralog@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>
- To: Multiple recipients <jaguar@bucknell.edu>
- Subject: Super VLM *Without* CD!
- Comment: Discussion of the Atari Jaguar and
- video gaming industry
-
-
- Hi,
-
- My first post to this list, so hope you get it!
-
- You may know this already, but...
-
- I was fiddling with my JagCD to see if there was
- some secret way to get it "Roar", and I discovered that
- with NO Cd or cart in pressing "* + # + A" puts it in VLM
- mode.
-
- Not JUST VLM mode, but VLM mode with greater (more wildly
- colorful) effects! Try it and select effect 3-8 and
- select track 85 and enjoy.
-
- I'm posting this in hopes someone who doesn't already
- know will find it entertaining and also to see if anyone
- has found any other bits'o fun.
-
- Still Looking for the Roar,
-
- Ken Land
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- "Coming October 6, Plug in the JAGWIRE(tm) network."
-
- # # # E N D O F F I L E # # #
-
-
-
- Sb: #Live 95!
- Fm: Simon Grierson 100407,2075
- To: all
-
- Okay,
-
- I'm sending this into each section, so as to assure that you all get to
- see this nice little report on my escapades today :)
-
- Okay, Live 95 is the event of the year for the UK consumer electronics
- industry.
-
- It hosts most of the large, medium and small UK, american and oriental
- companies displaying their wares.
-
- This year hosted the biggest VIdeogames presence of all. They were all
- there. Sony, 3DO (via Goldstar, and Panasonic), Atari, Sega and
- Nintendo.
-
- Sega and Atari were present via a large games testing area, - the
- Ultimate Future Games show. Sony had machines in that section too, but
- more were available in their HUGE stand (better described as an
- 'Experience'). 3DO were absent from the game show, in fact, only a
- handful of machines were available to play on the manufacturers
- stands. Goldstar seemed more committed with their own upcoming games
- playing on TV screens.
-
- Nintendo were present via their tour bus, the Challenger -and various
- machines in the Ultimate games show.
-
- Anyway onto the games.
-
- Sony:
-
- By far, it was Sony who had the biggest presence, and most games at the
- show. They had rows of machines in the Ultimate Future Games show,
- mainly playing Rayman, but also some strange puzzle game :). Not only
- that, but they were in there with force in the HUGE Sony stand. Sony
- had a gigantic section of the exhibition hall taken up, with banners
- with their logo out, and a twisting walkway through which you walked,
- and experienced (hands on) all the Sony products. Lazer shows, big
- screen projection TVs, Playstation being yelled out at you at 10000
- decibels, and finally, at the end of it all, a sweaty-hot room full of
- Playstations! Unfortunately, they were all occupied :) You also
- walked through a TV tunnel with a Playstation video playing looping
- over and over.
-
- As a side note, Sony also had Destruction Derby and Wipeout demoing on
- the PC demonstrating their monitors. Basically, Wipeout stunk on the
- PC. Polygons tore (I.E. the joins between them split momentarily), the
- framerate was LOW, and the actual texturing and background graphics
- were of a significantly (and noticeably) poorer quality than that of
- the Playstations. 256 colour VGA just ain't the same. I believe it was
- also running on a Pentium system (since that's all they had available
- on the stand). Destruction Derby was running (as I said) and was
- showing the 'bowl' demo that is featured on the Playstation demoCD. It
- was a lot smoother than Wipeout, but the textures and general framerate
- was lower than the Playstations. The higher framerate could also be
- attributed by the fact that not as much was happening, and not as fast
- as the scene from wipeout. Again, running off a Pentium PC.
-
- Neither game was demoed for the Playstation at the show.
-
- The Playstation room had lots of US NTSC units playing the launch
- games. Starblade Alpha, - stunk. Tekken, Brilliant. Jumping Flash,
- nice looker! Ridge Racer.<drroool>. Ace Combat. <droool>. Toshinden.
- <Droool>
-
- Basically, it was all seen and done before.
-
- The Sony presence at the Ultimate Future Games show section, was a
- little better. Rayman was very impressive on the Playstation, but it
- wasn't the best version (I'll come onto that later!). Most machines
- had it running, but there was also that aforementioned puzzle game
- (also on Saturn). Rayman looks absolutely spiffing, and an arcade
- quality game (if there ever were one, that is :) ). Whoever doubts
- the Playstation's sprite handling abilities, should shut up, or have
- me come round and give them a good hiding :)
-
- That's it for the Sony stuff.
-
- Sega:
-
- The second best presence at the show. Sega had the most GAMES showing,
- with the odd new one too. As I said earlier, Rayman PSX was impressive,
- but its the Saturn that takes the crown for the best version. More
- parallax. But only in the foreground. That's about it really.
- Otherwise, it's nearly full-screen on a UK saturn too.
-
- Bug was there, but Sega insisted on using TINY screens instead of the
- huge 29" affairs Sony had all over the place. Even Atari had large
- screen TVs. This made the games look more washed out and less
- impressive. (the TVs they use suck too). Bug was great. I particularly
- like the scaling 3D effect. Parallax has a new meaning! (Me want,
- drool drool!).
-
- Clockwork Knight. Well, ya know! Daytona, VF, VF Remix, and all the
- other current Saturn games were there too.
-
- There were a few Megadrive/CD (genesis to you Yanks out there <G>)
- games, but nothing to get excited about :). Myst made an appearance on
- the Saturn and MegaCD (SegaCD).
-
- Nintendo:
-
- Quite simply, I wasn't impressed with their showing. Maybe it's me, I'm
- used to seeing lots of flash 3D graphics. But they had loads of SNES
- with Killer instinct, a few Super Gameboys with Donkey Kong Land, and
- a couple with some dragon eating game (?). Killer Instinct looks quite
- good (for 16-bit), but frankly, it wouldn't incite me to get a SNES.
- Killer Instinct never excited me in the arcade either. But for a SNES
- owner, it's certainly worth a purchase. It's as competent as any other
- beat-em-up.
-
- They had their challenger bus there too. Nothing to mention there
- either. It wasn't running when I went past. A few more stand-up SNES
- display units were there too. Overall, Nintendo had more UNITS on
- display, but less GAMES.
-
- 3DO:
-
- Ech. What are the 3DO Company Europe up to? Only 4 games to speak of,
- on display. Need for Speed, Fifa Soccer, Street fighter II, and one new
- one, Space Hulk. And as many display machines too. Panasonic had a
- paltry 2 units on display, while Goldstar had a games room (with a
- rather nice babe sitting in the doorway handing out a goodies bag!).
- Goldstar had their video running on ground-level screens (all 14") with
- a handful of upcoming games showing. BC racers looked shite to be
- frank, Primal Rage looks arcade perfect (better than the Pixel-land PC
- version, that's for sure). That was all I saw.
-
- One of the other confounding elements was that 3DO Company were not
- even present. Also, neither stand were close. The Team 3DO stand at
- E3 sounds as though it totally blew away their Live95 efforts.
-
- But Space Hulk was the 3DO showstopper for me. Unfortunately, the
- framerate was VERY low (IMHO). It was as low as AvsP. But technically,
- the graphics in general, blew away AvsP. More detailed, varied, and
- colorful textures - with more detailed, less blocky, and better
- animated enemies. Can't wait to get it
- :)
-
- Even Atari did better!
-
- Atari:
-
- More impressive showing than I thought they would have. Certainly
- better (in terms of variety of games) than Nintendo or 3DO. They were
- also present at the Ultimate Future Games show (in fact, thats ALL they
- had there. No stand).
-
- Rayman on the Jag had to be the Jag's best game at the show. I was
- frankly unimpressed with most other games there.. Like with all games,
- gameplay can't easily be assessed in a five minute blast, but graphics
- can. Nothing on the Jag impressed me more than Rayman. Not the best
- version (the controller sucks compared to Sega's nice rounded, and
- delightful affair), but certainly comparable to the Sony version.
-
- White Men Can't Jump. Err? I hope it plays well, because it certainly
- doesn't move or look good to me.
-
- AvsP. Similar situation. Low framerate, grainy bland textures, with
- blocky characters. I hope it plays well though (it seems to, I had a
- fun five minutes wandering around being shot at!).
-
- Tempest 20000. Impressive special FX, smooth, and quite good. Just not
- my cup of tea as a game though.
-
- Bubsy. Why bother? It just doesn't even do the Jaguar justice!
-
- Val'desair Ski-ing (SP?). Okay, this one stumped me. I was convinced
- Atari had invented a SNES emulator, if it weren't for the fact that I
- knew it was a Jag game. The graphics, while not bad, were not exactly
- the quality I'd expect a system costing just under 2/3s the price of a
- Snes. But still, it was quite fun to play. Smooth and fast too. But
- I'd only really see it as a sub-level in a winter-sports game pack. Why
- didn't they do that?
-
- Super Burnout. Okay. Lots of colour, very silky smooth, and fast. The
- control ain't bad either. And a 2 player mode. But the flickering
- headlamps in the night level, and the low-quality of the sprites
- (artwork wise), and the lack of variety in track detail put me off. I'm
- sure it's a blast to play long-term. But not my cup of tea. Not enough
- variety :-(
-
- I may have missed a game or two, - but overall, I'd say, well done to
- Atari for actually beating 3DO to something that they NEED. COVERAGE
- AND PRESENCE! But in terms of software quality, - it paled in
- comparison to what Sega had on display. Sony had a similarly impressive
- showing (to Saturn) in their own stand.
-
- Well done to Atari, but not-so well done for not having the JagCD
- there.
-
- and as a side note:
-
- Amiga:
-
- Guess what! The Amiga 1200 from "Amiga Technologies GmbH" was there
- too! Only a few AGA+ piccies were spooling, and a demo of a new
- pinball game (with the Amiga connected up to a pair of TV goggles
- (impressive too!).
-
- Anyway, to round off the show
-
- - CES blows it away in terms of New stuff, and E3, well, another
- galaxy?
-
- Unfortunately, no other event is held this year for gamers. Only the
- computer specific shows (Like the Apple Xpo, or Mac Shopper/Computer
- Shopper shows). So we can't see the cool stuff until it's televised or
- printed in magazines :-(
-
- Anyway, I hope my report was of value to you :)
-
- TTFN,
- Simon Grierson.
-
-
-
- ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
-
-
-
-
- PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
-
-
-
- On CompuServe
- -------------
- compiled by
- Joe Mirando
- 73637,2262
-
-
-
- Hey there friends and neighbors. Boy, I'm constantly amazed by PC users.
- By PC I mean DOS/WINDOWS of course. A guy I work with got himself a
- computer a while back. Every other day, on average, he will walk over to
- me rather sheepishly and ask a "newbie" question. Y'know, something that
- has a simple answer, but someone just starting out doesn't know about.
- This, in and of itself, isn't what I'm talking about. Heck, that's the
- way you learn things. What I'm talking about is the old "Keeping up
- with the Jones's" syndrome. First, he's _got_ to have a CDROM. Then,
- he's _got_ to get 16 meg of RAM. Then he stops and asks "What's out on
- CDROM, anyway?" Then, he asks "What will more RAM do for me?"
-
- It seems that he figures that these things will increase his
- understanding of what he's doing. Sorry folks, but that ain't the way
- it works. If you can't figure out how to associate a file in windows
- without a CDROM, you won't be able to to figure it out _with_ one. More
- computer memory won't fill _your_ memory. Make the most of what you've
- got! That's the ticket! If you _need_ more memory, by all means, go
- for it. But understand that it won't fix anything but a memory shortage.
-
- Well, let's get on with the reason for this column... all the news and
- stuff that's available every week on CompuServe.
-
-
- From the Atari Computing Forums
- ===============================
-
- Last week Terry Cano told us about his STE, which shows signs of
- scorching from quite a bit of heat. This week Simon Churchill tells
- Terry:
-
- "If there has been alot of heat then something is way out.
-
- Do you know if the computer works? Dont try turning it on for the
- sake of finding out if it is o.k. as the PSU may be playing silly
- buggers and zap your I.C's with a bit more than +5Volts.
-
- If your near the U.K. I'd say 'Have my old one'. I had to remove
- mine as it was under powered for the system. My tower has lost the
- TWO PSU's it had and I know have a 200Watt PC PSU and all is well
- sorted!
-
- (+4.5Volt's on the +5Volt rail!!, how the hell the computer worked I
- don't know)."
-
- Terry tells Simon:
-
- "Actually I still get this guy to work....how....by holding one hand
- over top the case, over PSU, until warm uped...then it works for about
- two hours. The real irrating thing is that I'm in Los Angeles CA there
- is and Atari place here, Alternative Computers and Music Box. Both
- basically ignore the request for info. to upgrade to a Falcon. They put
- you on hold, don't return faxes and phone messages... I'm about ready
- to go to the IBM, which what I'm typing on as we speak."
-
- Simon replies:
-
- "Have you tried look further afield if they have no interest? If you
- do go for a PC your might like to think about the GEMULATOR 4 which
- will still use any (most) of your ST software. A P75 or greater is
- recommended for Falcon type speed."
-
- On the subject of browsing the Internet, Andrew Wright of Atari World
- Magazine asks:
-
- "What about the new TCP/IP Internet/Web browser program suite that has
- just been released? Has anyone tried getting on to CIS with it?
-
- For the record it's a TCP/IP stack called Stik which works as a desk
- accessory, HTML Browser for reading web pages and a special overlay
- file. Reports say it worlks with demon (a UK provider) but is
- problematic with some others at present. I can upload it if necessary.
-
- I must say it sounds impressive - you could browse the WWW on a 520!"
-
- Denis Postle tells Andrew:
-
- "That sounds good. Let's have a look at it. Anything easier to set up
- than chimera will be good news."
-
- Chris Roth asks Andrew:
-
- "I'm looking forward to hear and see more about Stik. Will there be a
- feature in AW about that?"
-
- Michel Vanhamme jumps in and adds:
-
- "From what I understand, only SLIP is implemented at this time. I
- believe CIS requires a PPP connection, so my guess is that we will have
- to wait for PPP to be implemented in Stik, which the authors apparently
- intend to do...
-
- > I must say it sounds impressive - you could browse the WWW on a
- 520!
-
- It does sound impressive! However, though Stik can run on a 520, the
- Web browser does require 1MB ram I think. If you ask me, that's still a
- very impressive achievement when you look at the RAM needed by other
- machines to surf the Web..."
-
- Michael Zehrer asks:
-
- "But does anybody know, how to configure this for Compuserve?"
-
- Michel Vanhamme tells Michael:
-
- "As I've said, I don't think it is possible to use it with CompuServe
- yet. I think we will have to wait until PPP gets implemented in the
- program. Let's hope the authors are fast coders..."
-
- Curt Vendel tells us:
-
- "I was at the UNIX EXPO in New York City and I stopped by a booth that
- was selling the LINUX UNIX operating system, I nearly feel on my rear
- end when the guy started telling what systems it ran on and he said
- ATARI ST!!!! So where is it, where can I buy it, which systems does it
- run on, I have a MEGA STE with 4 megs and 120MB HD, I'd love to have
- UNIX on my Atari, can anyone help???"
-
- Patrick Wong tells Curt:
-
- "I think you can buy Linux for the ST from Toad Computers. I remember
- seeing something about a Linux CD version for the ST too."
-
- Curt tells Patrick:
-
- "Hey, I've been outta the ST scene for a while, I have freeze dried
- terminal, is there anything else out there that is better, for some
- reason, none of my transfer protocols work anymore, I reloaded, got
- serial fixes, etc... and nothing seems to help, so you got any good
- suggestions????
-
- Also, I know I can access the "NET" from CIS now, but is there a
- Mosiac type browser out there for ST's???? This is one of the reasons
- I'd love to run UNIX on my ST so I can use Netscape Navigator."
-
- Patrick replies:
-
- "Welcome back to the ST scene. I keep track of the STs even though I
- use mainly my IBM these days. The ST is a great computer!
-
- About your terminal problem, what kind of software are you using?
- Which STE do you have? Also which modem are you using? I use to have
- problems downloading stuff on ST but I'm sure it was more of a software
- problem than a hardware problem.
-
- You know, I read somewhere that someone or some company was suppose to
- be making or trying to make a browser for the STE but as of this
- moment, there are no Web Browsers for the STs. Hopefully someone will
- make one soon.
-
- I hope this helps."
-
-
- Well folks, I know that the column is short this week but,heck, you guys
- deserve a break <grin>. Be sure to tune in again next week, same time,
- same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when...
-
-
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