Info-Atari16 Digest Wednesday, August 23, 1989 Volume 89 : Issue 411 This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield Today's Topics: Re: QUESTION ABOUT SEAGATE HARD DRIVE/SUBSTN Modula-2 (esp. TDI version) RE: user base RE: St and Multitasking Atari Archives Re: DOS 3 errata notes Re: Slots for the (Mega) ST Re: New Atari 68030 Machines Re: New Atari 68030 Machines Re: Atari loyalty....How long can it last... Any Make-Your-Own-Music program out there? HELP IDENTIFYING SEAGATE 296N WITH REV. 7 ROM Hard drive questions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Aug 89 01:47:25 GMT From: agate!helios.ee.lbl.gov!lbl-csam.arpa!antony@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Antony A. Courtney) Subject: Re: QUESTION ABOUT SEAGATE HARD DRIVE/SUBSTN To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu In article <2900@tahoe.unr.edu> mikew@wheeler.UUCP (Mike Whitbeck) writes: >hard drive. I recently ordered an Atari Megafile 30 from ST-Plus >(aka Zephyr Microsystems). After a month - still no drive >(it was shipped but must have been lost by UPS, we'll ship >another right away, oh well that one was the last and it was >sold over the counter - sorry when we restock we'll rush one to >you PRIORITY!, oh, er uh- we decided not to restock (meanwhile >my VISA bill comes with the charge on it!), we'll refund your >money less 20% (over $100!!), - you (the buyer) are responsible >if you don't get the drive you ordered, UPS MAY make YOU pay for >the lost drive....) * >the owner(?) talk me into a 138N in a ICD box and a ??(BMS?) >controller. WELL AM I GONNA REGTET THIS? I hope not, although I can't say things look promising... > New owners? Bad day for the boss? Karma? It > As for the trace, I have not yet received the shipper no. for > Zephyr/ST-Plus but a quick check under both names show no > shipments made. I'll let you good folk know how this melodrama > resolves itself. > > mikew@wheeler.UUCP | mikew@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu I am sorry to say I have had a similar bad experience with this company. I was working as a contract software developer for the owner of the store developing a desktop publishing package. Shortly after I began development however, Calamus was released and it became painfully apparent that there was no way I could get a product to market in time to compete with Calamus, as my development time was rather limited. Before entering into the deal, we made damned sure my contract was very very clear about what would happen if it became necessary for either party to reneage on the contract. He had lent me hardware worth about 2x as much as I had given him, and if we needed to break the contract, I would give him the hardware and anything I had developed, and he would give me back my money. Without going into detail, he took weeks to get me a check, and then the check bounced three times. It took a call to the fraud department in order to get him to pay up. And this is not the only time I have known him to do slimey business. He was audited by the IRS for tax evasion, and he had to pay taxes plus a sufficient fine. And there have been any number of other things he has done which I personally consider bad business. The tactic you describe sounds exactly like something he would pull. The store is called Micro-World. The mail order company is called ST-Plus. Zephyr is the name of a T-Shirt shop next door to it which he also owns. (And for those of you with a cynical eye about my having to bow out of the contract--I consider it to have been the only responsible thing to do. I could have easily beaten around the bush and developed a half-decent DTP package. But by the time it would have been released, it would not have been very market competetive. And for credibility I have worked for about half a year now doing graphics and network systems programming for the Advanced Development Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and haven't get along extremely well with my boss and co-workers) These are JUST MY OPINIONS and perceptions. I probably would not have posted this except that mikew appears to have had similar bad experience with them, and people should be forewarned. Let the buyer beware.... -Antony ******************************************************************************* Antony A. Courtney antony@lbl.go Advanced Development Group ucbvax!lbl-csam.arpa!antony Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory AACourtney@lbl.go ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 02:04:03 GMT From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird!news@lll-winken.llnl.gov (News System Account) Subject: Modula-2 (esp. TDI version) To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu I would ask any owners of the TDI Modula-2 package send a email reply to this message. (Hit 'r' now) Thanks. Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Hodges | Me? People who speak for the Air Force get bhodges@blackbird.afit.af.mil | paid a lot more than I do! I just work here. ------------------------------ Date: 18 AUG 89 03:08:00 CST From: Z4648252 To: Subject: RE: user base Stephen McKay Matson writes: > Does anyone have an idea how many ST's & MEGA's have been sold in N.A. > and Europe as well as Asia ect. September '89 issue of STart has an interview with Sam Tramiel in which he states: "We don't give country-by-country numbers. Obviously, we've been shipping more than the lion's share outside the United States, especially since late 1987 and 1988. Around the world now I'm guess that it's approaching %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% one-and-a-half-million machines." %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Larry Rymal in East Texas ------------------------------ Date: 18 AUG 89 03:08:03 CST From: Z4648252 To: Subject: RE: St and Multitasking Steven Usher writes: >I can see one or two major problems with TOS if you try to make >it multitask. The biggest problem is the file system. What >happens when two tasks want to access the same file at the same >time? What error message do you return? TOS cannot handle such >things and there are no error returns which mean "in use". Don't ever say NEVER or CANNOT. Just doesn't work when dealing with computers. Tim Purves' BBS versions 2.0 and up can and do work well when the same file is accessed by two tasks on an ST. While a user is logged onto the ST, accessing a file (downloading), another user, or even the SysOp can access or download the same file. No crashes, no bombers. It just works. Larry Rymal in East Texas ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Aug 89 02:14:31 -0900 To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Reply-To: From: "alas, Babylon" RE: Pagestream 1.5 vs 1.X Having been severely tempted to bash my hardware when version 1.5 bombed for the 3rd time in 5 minutes, I need to hear kinder,gentler things said about whatever the next higher, more bugs shot out, version is. Is there a 1.6, and does it fly without crashing? Thanks..drowning in PageStream...J Harris ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 89 10:39:45 GMT From: mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!gdr!ccsmh@uunet.uu.net (Mark Harding) Subject: Atari Archives To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu I'm interested in Atari Public Domain archives (who isn't!). I now know of Terminator - if anyboday has other addresses I would be grateful... Cheers, Mark H. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of these days, on the Dark Side if the Moon I'll see Emily Play and you'll Wish You Were Here. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 05:50:04 GMT From: blake!ndsuvax!ncperson@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brett G. Person) Subject: Re: DOS 3 errata notes To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu I think I have the notes. Cant remember what version of DOS they are for though. Could someone explain to me why Atari produced such useless documentation? I still remember the ERROR- lines in the BASIC listings in the DOS manual. Why didnt someone proff read the damned thing? Quality control must really be bad when an error message in the listing slips by! Oh well, enough complaining If I find the notes I'll post them -- Brett G. Person North Dakota State University uunet!ndsuvax!ncperson | ncperson@ndsuvax.bitnet | ncperson@plains.nodak.edu ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 89 20:35:16 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!hacgate!tcville!saxon!t erry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Robert Terry) Subject: Re: Slots for the (Mega) ST To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu This is my first post to any news-group here. :) I recently obtained a quite a few files from comp.binary.st (sp?) to run on my ST Mega machine. Undecoding the files was the easy part. I wasn't able to "extract" the sub-files from undecoded files. When it failed each time, it said that I need a newer version of "ARC.TTP". Could anyone out there please direct me to the ftp address and obtain the most recent arc.ttp program? Thank you very much! :) Please reply by email. As of now, I have 382 messages to catch up on this news-group!! :] My email: terry@tcville.hac.com P.S. I hope I didn't goof here! :) Robert Terry Hughes Aircraft Co. TDD: (213) 616-6846 Image and Signal Processing Lab email: terry@tcville.hac.com PO Box 902, E53/E250 ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 03:10:02 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!dsmythe@uunet.uu.net (dave l smythe) Subject: Re: New Atari 68030 Machines To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Does anyone know the form factor of the new '030 Atari's VME bus? Did they shoot themselves in the foot again by not using the full-size VME cards? Inquiring minds want to know... Dave Smythe dsmythe@cup.portal.com ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 00:11:47 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!Henry_Burdett_Messenger@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: New Atari 68030 Machines To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu > What I really wonder of course is if either of them will compete at all > with the Sun/HP/Dec 68020/68030 machines out there. Five companies each > claiming 30% of the market :-) > --Chuck McManis Umm, Digital doesn't make any 680x0 UN*X workstations. For the record, we make: The DECstation-3100, a MIPS RISC processor UN*X workstation, and the VAXstation-II,2000,3100, et al, VAX processor based UN*X or VMS based workstations. All of them come with DECwindows as the user interface... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Henry B. Messenger henry_burdett_messenger@cup.portal.com Digital Equipment Corporation isn't responsible for anything I say on USENET. ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 04:44:37 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle@uunet.uu.net Subject: Re: Atari loyalty....How long can it last... To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Chuck Rickard asks about Atari management.. >Now you wonder whe%rther this is_ Atari's ignorance or do they don't care! >Please reply. Tell me what you think. I won't get any responses from Atari >They don't care. Atari Corp. is run by a bunch of amateurs. My niece's Junior Achievement Company could run Atari far better than the current management does. When I think of Atari Corp., I get the mental image of an old Keystone Kops movie where everyone is chasing themselves back and forth across a long hallway, in and out of doorways.. no one knowing what's going on, or who's doing what. Unfortunately, as has been pointed out before, it's THEIR company.. they can run it any way they want to, as long as they own a majority of the stock. That includes lying to their customers and dealers, treating user groups badly, using threats to control dealers, and just generally mistreating anyone who gets in the way. Neil Harris (who?) once made a comment on CompuServe about Digital Research, saying in his most clever manner that there was an industry rumor that the reason DRI didn't do (whatever it was), was that their goal was to stay a "small company forever"... I thought it was truly ironic that a "mouthpiece" for Atari Corp. would "cast stones" that way... The way Atari Corp is managed, they must provide a tremendous source of amusement in the board rooms of real companies like Apple and IBM... if those companies even notice Atari... Yes, I love my ST... but I'm ashamed of its parentage.. BobR ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 07:19:37 GMT From: mcvax!sunic!dkuug!iesd!lbn@uunet.uu.net ( Lars Bo Nielsen ) Subject: Any Make-Your-Own-Music program out there? To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu I was wondering if there are any music programs for the ST. What I am looking for is a program where you can make your own music, and play it using the speaker in the monitor (i.e. NOT using the MIDI). I would prefer it to run on a monochrome monitor (thats the only one I got). I have seen a programs just like that for both The Amiga and the MacIntosh, so I was wondering if something exists for the ST. Thanks for any help Lars Bo Nielsen @ Aalborg University - Denmark lbn@iesd.auc.dk ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 89 13:42:45 GMT From: usc!orion.cf.uci.edu!jtang@bloom-beacon.mit.edu ( James ) Subject: HELP IDENTIFYING SEAGATE 296N WITH REV. 7 ROM To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Say if I go to a computer story and ask for Seagate 296N drive, how would I know/identify if it has the rev 7 ROM???? Please send me via mail or post. James Usenet: jtang@orion.cf.uci.edu Bitnet: JWTang@UCIVMSA.BITNET ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Aug 89 15:43:15 BST From: Mark Powell Subject: Hard drive questions To: Atari mailing list I'm new to the hard disk game. I should be getting my first ever, in about a week for my ST (primarily for Minix use.) It'll be a TCT 65Mb. However, I'd like a few questions about hard drives answered, if possible... 1. What controls the data transfer rate for a drive? I am led to believe that this is in the hands of the controller. After reading the documentation that comes along with the ICD utilities I was susrprised to learn about data transfer rates ranging from 300Ks to 1010Ks. What's the big difference with these controllers. Does the 1010Ks one cost the price of a small island in the Pacific? 2. I've heard that hard drives spin at about 3600 rpm. Therefore if your recommended interleave factor is one, will the controller read the track in a single revolution? If so doesn't that mean it is reading the track in 1/3600th of a second? (This can't be right!) I know the seek and latency times come into this, but if we just talk about the transfer rate i.e. the head sits over one track and just keeps continualy reading it, then why then can't it read the track 3600 times a second? I'm pretty sure this isn't what happens, but could someone explain why? 3. Also, when given a list of bad sectors, what does the controller do with it? Does store this info. somewhere on the disk so that in the future, it appears to all software that the disk has no bad sectors? Reference this to the Adaptec RLL controller if possible, as that's the one that comes in the TCT drives. I'd appreciate any info. on hard disks that anyone can supply. Thanks. Reply to the net as I think other people may find the info. of some use. (also a CC: by e-mail if possible as news quite likes to go down, here.) Mark Powell ARPAnet : sq79%liv.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa,cs.ucl.ac.uk USENET : ...!mcvax!ukc!liv.ac.uk!sq79 ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ************************** -------