Info-Atari16 Digest Thursday, September 14, 1989 Volume 89 : Issue 471 This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield Today's Topics: Novice after one year! Re: DeskJet refilling Re: Duesseldorf: personal impression of the TT(T) Graphics file formats on new machines Macintosh Stuffit .SIT files Re: COLOREMU.PRG... What is it? Re: QuickST/TurboST/Blitter Re: ROM disassembly for TOS 1.4 compatibles Re: Flash/Shadow and QuickST Re: ROM disassembly for TOS -- A suggestion. Re: Help with HD for ST Re: Mac Paint pictures ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Sep 1989 16:16 EDT From: Greg Csullog <01659%AECLCR.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU> Subject: Novice after one year! To: I work at a large government research centre that has quite a few Atari computers. Today, another employee asked me for help on using the Atari. The funny thing about the situation is that he has been using the ST as a Mac for about a year but he has never used it as an ST! The system was set up for him and it automatically boots to Mac mode using Magic Sac. I just thought netters might get a kick out of hearing about a case where someone has never used an ST as an ST and could be a novice to GEM after using his Atari computer for a year. ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 20:34:00 GMT From: agate!bionet!sdsu!ucselx!coffey@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (pat coffey) Subject: Re: DeskJet refilling To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <8909111559.AA03985@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> HOESEL@HGRRUG52.BITNET writes: > >WARNING: for those who did not notice it until now: NEVER close the cover >while the printer is working. The cover just touches the head and it will >cause damage to the head (stripes on paper). Propably someone at HP >forgot about the thickness of the plastic cover. The part that touches the >head is bent towards the head for pure cosmetic reasons!! > I'm not quite sure what you mean. Never print with the cover closed or never close the cover during a print operation? Also are the stripes white on black or black on white? I've noticed white stripes in my large fonts. I thought it was because I was a bad kid and refilled my cartridge. -- _ _ Ms. Pat Coffey |_) (_ San Diego State University | coffey@ucselx.sdsu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 20:07:57 GMT From: mcsun!unido!laura!atoenne@uunet.uu.net (Andreas Toenne) Subject: Re: Duesseldorf: personal impression of the TT(T) To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <3076@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk> neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: >In article <1585@laura.UUCP> atoenne@laura.UUCP (Andreas Toenne) writes: >>FlightSimulator does not run even on a ST with HyperCache. (16Mhz 68000) >If I remember correctly Sublogic wrote Flight Simulator to load at >an absolute address. That is why it breaks when you have any memory hungry >programs like caches already loaded. Slapped wrists to Sublogic. No way! FSII runs perfectly with installed ram-discs, accs or disc caches. They must have done some other magic to prevent any performance improvement :-) Andreas Toenne atoenne@unido.uucp ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 20:05:03 GMT From: microsoft!w-darekm@uunet.uu.net (Darek Mihocka) Subject: Graphics file formats on new machines To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu I've got a question about the new graphics modes, such as Hyperscreen, Moniterm, and the new graphics modes in the STE and TT. Is there a standard file format that will allow interchangability of graphics images from one machine to another. Up until now, .PI1, .PI2, .PI3 and .NEO seem to have been the standards because everybody had a 32000 byte screen. What will happen now that screens are larger than 320K? None of the above formats bother to include the screen resolution in their files. Does Getrez() on the STE and TT just return higher numbers, like 3, 4, 5, so you could theoretically update Degas to support .PI4, .PI5, etc, files. Or are we all going to start using TIFF or GIF or color Mac paint? Is TOS 1.4 smart enough to produce proper screen dumps on Hyperscreen and other resolutions, or is Alt-Help a thing of the past? Do the new graphics modes still work the same way (i.e. bit planes) or have they scrambled screen memory in new and wonderful ways? A simple modification to say, the Degas file format, might be to keep the first word which indicates the graphics mode (0, 1, 2, 3, etc, which would map on to an appropriate number of bit planes) followed by the color pallete and then the image. Now, if the screen is not the standard 32000 bytes, invert the high bit of the first word, and follow it immediately by two words indicating the screen resolution, then the pallete, then the image. i.e. a 1024x512 16 color image would have a header like this: word 0: $8000 ($8000 | $0000) word 1: $0400 word 2: $0200 words 3 thru 18: colors words 19 to end: graphics image That way normal Degas will puke if you try to load this new format, but not the other way around. Alternatively, you could go with a format that uses the normal Degas format and appends additional data to the end of the file. The image would then be stored in such a way that if you use Degas to load the image, it would think it's loading a 640x400 image and display the upper left 640x400 pixels of the much larger image. The reason I'd like to know is because I'm thinking of updating Megablit for the new graphics modes and up until now I never did figure out how to implement a feature to save the entire drawing area. (Megablit is a very cheap public domain larger-than- screen graphics editor which I wrote way before Touch Up came out, so don't believe those Touch Up ads ). Now that I've scared everybody away with the scary thought of a son of Megablit, can I get some input from whoever has bothered to read this far? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darek Mihocka ST Xformer 2.5 CIS: 73657,2714 Box 2624, Station B MegaBlit GEnie: DAREKM Kitchener, Ontario Quick Utilities DELPHI: DAREKM N2H 6N2 BIX: darekm Canada CheapNet: ...!uw-beaver!microsoft!w-darekm (519)-747-0386 A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so just say no to TOS. ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 22:41:48 GMT From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!leah!rpi!uruguay!brazil@ucsd.edu (Tim Onders) Subject: Macintosh Stuffit .SIT files To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Does anyone have an ST program that unpacks Stuffit .SIT files? If not, does anyone know where I can get the source code? Tim Onders brazil@uruguay.acm.rpi.edu brazil@pawl.rpi.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1989 1:16:26 MET DST From: LarsErikOsterud To: glk01126@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: COLOREMU.PRG... What is it? In-Reply-To: Your message of 11 Sep 89 23:45:46 GMT Sorry about the missing DOC... It's something i hacked together to run COLOR (low-res) programs on my monovhrome monitor. It's slow, and for some reason it won't work on all ST's (works great on my MEGA and 520 with TOS 1.4) Lars-Erik / ABK-BBS +47 2132659 / ____ ______ Osterud / larserio@ifi.uio.no / /___ / ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1989 1:20:44 MET DST From: LarsErikOsterud To: ajy2208%ritcv@cs.rit.edu (Albert Yarusso) Subject: Re: QuickST/TurboST/Blitter In-Reply-To: Your message of 11 Sep 89 16:22:30 GMT Yes, I know that Turbo-ST is faster, BUT does it support font-switching ? The old one did not. If the new one checks the line-a variables and don't kill the vt52 emulation I'll buy one at once. Just give me an adress !!! Lars-Erik / ABK-BBS +47 2132659 / ____ ______ Osterud / larserio@ifi.uio.no / /___ / ------------------------------ Date: 12 Sep 89 23:11:14 GMT From: hall!rosenkra@UMN-CS.CS.UMN.EDU (Bill Rosenkranz) Subject: Re: ROM disassembly for TOS 1.4 To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <3914@wpi.wpi.edu> jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu (John Dutka) writes: =In article <4630@hall.cray.com> rosenkra@hall.UUCP (Bill Rosenkranz) writes: =>do these include src code? i thought not. = = [he describes a few headers and a driver example] i mean the entire OS, not just a few header files. atari provides all the header files ON DISK that u need with the dev kit. i mean src to the BIOS of the computer... my admitedly quick glances at the ROM kernel and other amiga books looked pretty good, but it would be impossible to see how accurate the documentation is. =This particular book cost me only $34.95... if you get all 4 or 5 amiga books (readily available in many bookstores) you end up paying over $100 (not bad, actually) but you get no compiler. atari $300 is actually quite reasonable by comparison, especially since atari decoupled docs from compiler in the dev kit. (i have the original, so i don't know how things work now w.r.t. dev kit). =| John Dutka | "No matter how big a straw, you can't suck water up | =| jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu | more than 34 feet." | =| jdutka@wpi.bitnet | -A WPI PROFESSOR WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS | -bill rosenkra@hall.cray.com (BTW: does anyone know if MINIX-ST uses BIOS/XBIOS/GEMDOS? i suspect it uses BIOS/XBIOS and does its own GEMDOS. can u still get at line-A from minix? some day i'll get around to buying it...) ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 89 21:40:38 GMT From: att!occrsh!uokmax!metnet!Brian.Hilbern@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Brian Hilbern) Subject: compatibles To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu This is to the person thinking about buying a PC compatible. In a couple weeks PC Ditto II will be coming out. For $230 you can run IBM software on a 3.5" disk and if you buy a 5.25" drive you can run 5.25" IBM software. This would be a better than buying a new system because you will have the advantages of the ST and the advantages of the IBM. -- Brian Hilbern - via FidoNet node 1:147/10 UUCP: ...!att!occrsh!uokmax!metnet!Brian.Hilbern INTERNET: Brian.Hilbern@metnet.FIDONET.ORG ------------------------------ Date: 5 Sep 89 00:10:53 GMT From: usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!peregrine!ccicpg!cci632!rit!ritcv!ajy 2208@apple.com Subject: Re: Flash/Shadow and QuickST To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <1312@blackbird.afit.af.mil> jlong@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Jeffrey K. Long) writes: > >After I updated to Version 1.6 of Turbo-ST, I've NO compatibility problems >with any combination of software! I recommend v1.6 of Turbo-ST to all!! > Me too! I bought Turbo ST from a software store locally and when I booted it up on my 1040 I saw it was version 1.4. Knowing that version 1.6 had just come out, I called SofTrek and was surprised (and glad) to learn that they are offering a free upgrade policy to anyone who purchased Turbo ST between July 1 and October 1, 1989. The next day I sent out the disk and about a week later (!) I received an updated disk in the mail! Turbo ST 1.6 FLIES!!!! Version 1.4 was fast, but my eyes nearly popped out of my skull when I saw GEM windows pop up on the desktop at lightspeed!! __________________________________________________________________________ Albert Yarusso | ajy2208@ritvax.bitnet Rochester Institute of Tech. | rutgers, ames!rochester!ritcv!ajy2208 Computer Science | ajy2208@ritcv.cs.rit.edu ------------------------------ Date: 13 Sep 89 00:15:59 GMT From: haven!uvaarpa!hudson!astsun7.astro.Virginia.EDU!gl8f@purdue.edu (Greg Lindahl) Subject: Re: ROM disassembly for TOS -- A suggestion. To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <4669@hall.cray.com> rosenkra@hall.UUCP (Bill Rosenkranz) writes: > >though john's suggestion is (probably) legal (i think i've seen these sorts >of programs for the PC), the general idea is for atari to freely distribute >the code to either 1) developers for a small fee, 2) all for a small fee. >what is the big problem? everyone with an ST HAS the code on very accessible >ROMs. Atari distributes source for the BIOS and XBIOS in the dev kit docs. >From what they've said, they DON'T OWN the source to the VDI, AES, and GEMDOS. I have gathered this from comments made here and elsewhere. They have been fixing bugs by decompiling pieces of it. [If I'm wrong, someone please correct me...] So, that's the big problem. Perhaps. ------ Greg Lindahl gl8f@virginia.edu I'm not the NRA. ------------------------------ Date: 6 Sep 89 00:07:58 GMT From: brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!peregrine!ccicpg!c ci632!rit!ultb!clf3678@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (C.L. Freemesser) Subject: Re: Help with HD for ST To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <2444@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_bac@jhunix.UUCP (Ajay Choudhri) writes: >Hardrive. >Its sitting here in front of me, hoping it can be hooked up to my ST. >Well my questions are. >1) Does anybody know anything about Rodime 21meg HD model# RO204?? I have one running on my BBS. Great drive! >2) It has a card edge connector. One has 10 contacts, the other part has > 17 contacts, these two are separated by about a 1/2 inch. Is this > standar ST506?? or SCSI or ESDI. It is a standard ST506/412 drive, not a SCSI or ESDI drive. >3) If it is ST506, I am under the impression I can use Adaptecs 4070 or 4000a > controllers+host adaptor. can I do this for the others? Yep, I use an Adaptek 4000a with this drive. You can use practically any 506/412 drive on an Adaptek. > I mean if it is SCSI or ESDI, do I just need a Host Adaptor?? > or do I still need a controller. You need a controller. Like I said, it does not have an embedded controller. >4) I bought a case and power supply so thats no problem but does the adaptor >come with a DMA cable? The ICD Host Adapter I use comes with the DMA cable. However, you will have to get a 50 pin header-header cable, 32 pin card edge-header cable, and 20 pin card edge-header cable. The "10 and 17 pin card edge" you referred to are really 20 and 34. Look at BOTH sides of the card. Also pin 1 on each card connector is labeled. >5) Theres a wire trailing off this behemoth, is this a grounding wire?? I had no wire hanging off mine. Is it connected to the housing, or the circuit board? Also, the bank of four "pins" on the side of the drive are ID pins. However, pin 1 (if I remember) is on the right hand side. >thanks to everyone who can help me.. You're welcome. Chris Freemesser, Rochester Institute of Technology | What I like : BITNET: %clf3678@RITVAX GEnie: C.FREEMESSER | 1) My Atari ST USENET: Just reply and hope it gets through | 2) My '77 Mercury Call the ACORN BBS (716)436-3078, 300/1200 baud | 3) Coke Classic ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 89 19:17:00 GMT From: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!glk01126@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: Mac Paint pictures To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu PICSW7.prg (PD) at terminator 35.1.33.8 or e-mail me if your innaccessible to the archive or just lazy. I also wrote a Magic Sac/Aladin to ST file transfer program (TOS interface, just cats and you select a letter) which I have used to move mac pics to ST format to be loaded by PICSW7 and saved in any number of formats if you or anyone else is interested... -Spieu! Gregory Mathias Lemperle-Kerr ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ************************** -------