INFO-ATARI16 Digest Mon, 13 Nov 89 Volume 89 : Issue 641 Today's Topics: (none) GDOS & Outline Fonts Clock chips for 1040? GEM OS/386 I/O Redirection Languages!!! NOTATOR Pascal Problems booting w/accessories... TOS 1.4 Incompatibility List Request TOS 1.4 vs. ARKANOID TT TT, TT030/2, STE What does the TT Buy me?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Nov 89 16:02:26 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!samsung!aplcen!jhunix!esp_05@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Stdnt 05) Subject: (none) GDOS & Outline Fonts Just some thoughts to add to the other thoughts about an outline GDOS: 1) Just now completing a course in computer graphics, I don't see how anyone could call outline fonts difficult to implement. Using scanline fill algorithms coupled with Bresenham's line and circle (ellipse) algorithms, not only would it be fairly easy to design a system that scales, but rotations would be just as easy. As for speed, well, couldn't be slower than the present incarnation of GDOS, no? 2) Regarding the point size inquire used by current GDOS programs, one could implement a program like Apples Font/DA Mover to load and unload fonts, AND specify what point sizes the GDOS inquire function should return. 3) Isn't there an info file about GDOS somewhere? I really know nothing about the present GDOS, except that Degas Elite seems to ahve a copy of it on the disk but also seems to run fine without it. I'd be interested in collaborating with someone interested in making an outline font system. I've been toying with the idea of re-creating MacDraw II for the Atari with a few enhancements, one of them being outline fonts. Of course, this semester I overloaded my class schedule and have only used my computer for word processing and CS assignments. Eric Ruck (Send mail to: RICK AT JHUVM) ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 17:06:12 GMT From: psuvm!bgb100@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Bruce Blanar) Subject: Clock chips for 1040? Hi there: I am looking for any info on clock/date chips and cartridges for my 1040. Christmas is coming up and I'd like to know where I can get one of this for a decent price. I've seen prices around $40-$50 for just the time/date setup. If you have one of these things, could you please tell me about your clock chip, how it's used, name of maker and approximate price. I'd just like to get a good one and not get stuck with a piece of junk. Please let me know what you think! Thanks!!!! Bruce Blanar ------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ __ Bruce Blanar |"Everybody need a mood lifter, |__) | _ |__) Penn State University | Everybody need reverse polarity." |__).|__|.|__). BGB100@PSUVM.BITNET | -Rush voice: (814)862-8036 | ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 16:42:16 GMT From: ogccse!blake!ramsiri@ucsd.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) Subject: GEM OS/386 In article <8911130802.AA09876@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes: >Apparently DRI is going to release a multitasking GEM for '386 machines. >Atari ported GEM for 8088s to the 68000, can it port GEM OS/386 to the >68030? I got the impression that Allen says it is very hard, perhaps TOO hard. Maybe its like "shooting AT the moon" I wonder how hard it was to get people walking up there 20 years ago? -kevin ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 14:24:42 GMT From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!piet@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Piet van Oostrum) Subject: I/O Redirection It seems that I am having some problems with I/O redirection. What I do to exec a child with e.g. the stdout to some file: temp1 = Fdup(1); /* save old stdout */ temp2 = open ("filename", O_WRONLY); /* Fopen or Fcreate */ if (temp2 < -3) ?printf ("error");? Fforce (1, temp2); /* set new stdout */ Fclose (temp2); /* no use for temp2 anymore */ Pexec (......); /* start child */ Fforce (1, temp1); /* reset stdout */ Fclose (temp1); /* no use for temp1 anymore */ Could it be that the close statements are giving problems?? It is not completely clear to me what is going wrong, but I have had strange malfunctions after execing a child like this. It could be that it has to do with using GULAM as a shell. I remember a question from Jahwar Bammi about this subject earlier this year, where a redirection gave also similar problems. I copy it to the end of this posting. Could someone from Atari speak about the above code. Is this the correct way to do things? From bammi's posting: i had tried to include a redirection for stderr to console, so that gcc applications would not need a wrapper shell to run in by doing a Fforce(2,(short)Fdup(1)) in crt0.s. This works fine, until you try to redirect stdout from a shell (like gulam) a.out > foo what happens is that stdout and stderr end up in foo (another exotic TOS bug -- is this fixed in tos 1.4??) Now if you try to run this program a second time: - i get error code -61 - eric smith reported that some files got trashed so depending on your setup, i suspect one of the two will happen. Please apply the patch enclosed below that backs out these changes, and recompile and install crt0.o in $GNULIB. Hopefully we will come up with a better scheme for stderr soon: -- *** crt0.s? Fri Mar 10 16:00:34 1989 --- crt0.s Fri Mar 10 16:01:00 1989 *************** *** 146,162 **** | movw d3, sp@- | push argc movel d3,sp@- | .. jrd - movw #1, sp@- | set up stderr ++jrb - movw #0x45,sp@- | Fforce(2,(int)Fdup(1)) - trap #1 - movw d0,sp@- - movw #2,sp@- - movw #0x46,sp@- | Fforce - trap #1 - lea sp@(10),sp | adjust stack - - subl a6, a6 | clear link reg - why I don't know - -- Piet* van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, University of Utrecht Padualaan 14, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands. Telephone: +31-30-531806 Uucp: uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!piet Telefax: +31-30-513791 Internet: piet@cs.ruu.nl (*`Pete') ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 16:09:32 GMT From: gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!jhunix!esp_05@tut.cis.ohi o-state.edu (Stdnt 05) Subject: Languages!!! Strikes me that older versions of GFA Basic are in the public domain. Although I don't know a whole lot about it because I don't use it, it strikes me that it has full GEM support, and that it's really easy to use. The one time I looked at it, I was also impressed by its editor. If I used BASIC I would probably be happy with it. (I must say, way back when I got my 520ST in what, '86 I guess, ST BASIC was a real disappointment.) Eric Ruck ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 19:01:07 GMT From: ogccse!blake!ramsiri@ucsd.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) Subject: NOTATOR From ogccse!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!attctc!jolnet!swan Mon Nov 13 09:00:28 PST 1989 Article 19605 of comp.sys.amiga: Path: blake!ogccse!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!attctc!jolnet! swan >From: swan@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (Joel Swan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Music notation software? Message-ID: <2095@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US> Date: 13 Nov 89 07:12:33 GMT References: <8910301728.AA27683@gilroy.pa.dec.com> <1766@thumper.bellcore.com> <4414@blake.acs.washington.edu> Reply-To: swan@jolnet.UUCP (Joel Swan) Organization: Media Specialties LTD Lines: 42 Posted: Sun Nov 12 23:12:33 1989 In article <4414@blake.acs.washington.edu> ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) writes: :In article <1766@thumper.bellcore.com> lamb@thumper.bellcore.com (John W. Lamb) writes: :> :>If you are willing to buy both DMCS and The Copyist, you can enter :>the score in DMCS, import it into The Copyist, tweak as needed and :> :>No matter how you do it, producing good looking sheet music is a :>lot of work. After using both programs separately and together :>many times, it still takes me 1 or 2 hours per page to get :>something I'm happy with. : :I have just begun reading the AMiga newsgroup. :I have an ATARI 1040ST .. am considering the Amiga 3000 or the Atari TTx : :Music: I use NOTATOR for the Atari. While The Copyist is also :available for the ATARI, i can't see spending 1-2 hours per page. :I did close to 300 pages one week for the Pacific Northwest ballet. :Notation and midi-event data are fully integrated. No file conversion :or program switching is necessary. : :I am reading this newsgroup to find out if anything like NOTATOR :even exists for the AMiga... as i am growing very interested in the :open architecture of the Amiga line and may in fact leave the ATARI world. Unfortunately there is nothing close to the power of Notator for the Amiga. It really is a pitty because the Amiga could probably blow the Atari version from the water. Still, no one has really maxed the Amiga out in terms of midi software or notation software. Notator is a remarkable feet of software engineering on an average to above average piece of hardware. I do wish the Amiga software developers would not rely so heavily on the Amiga's hardware magic and instead (in addition to) push their software creativity to the limits, as was done with Notator. I would give anything to see C-Lab do Notator on the Amiga. Sigh, What a dream. (To those Amiga users who have never seen Notator by C-LAB, I HIGHLY recommend you run down to the nearest Music dealer who knows the Atari and Notator and watch it run. You will be Amazed. I wish some Amiga music-software developers would look at it and get inspired!) :-kevin :ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu Joel Swan I offer this posting for those who are wondering which machine is better for music. Obviously the Atari wins in this category. The existence of NOTATOR is the primary reason I wait for the TT. If NOTATOR shows up on another box... hmm? -kevin ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 16:47:35 GMT From: davidli@UMN-CS.CS.UMN.EDU (Dave Meile) Subject: Pascal In article mg40+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Jeffrey Garland) writes: >There is a program on the terminator archive called PASCALII.ARC. My >question is, what compiler/linker does this shell belong to? I'd like a >pascal system and if this is a PD version, I'm very interested in it. >Does anyone know about this? The shell program is for Personal Pascal, previously marketed by OSS in the United States and now by another company whose initials my mind has blanked on... The compiler is not in the public domain, nor do I know of any version of Pascal which is PD. The actual cost for Personal Pascal (and most of the others avaialable for the Atari ST) was fairly reasonable when I purchased my copy. -- David Paschall-Zimbel ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 14:11:34 GMT From: eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!piet@bloom-beacon.mit.edu (Piet van Oostrum) Subject: Problems booting w/accessories... In article <1786@ruuinf.cs.ruu.nl>, verwer@ruuinf (Nico Verwer) writes: `In article <1669@fredonia.UUCP>, sale5312@fredonia.UUCP (Marty Saletta) writes: Sometimes `| when I boot up with such a floppy (I'd guess about 10% of the time) I `| get the computer loading a few of the accessories, but then doing a `| cold or warm boot in the middle. It's like someone hitting the reset `| switch during bootup before the GEM Desktop appears. ` `This sometimes happens to me, with about the same frequency. The boot `procedure seems to go all right, and then suddenly a reset occurs. `The machine boots again, and everything is fine. I also encounter this occasionally, and I get the impression that it happens when you move the mouse. I suspect that some mouse-interrupt vector is not properly set until GEM has been initialized. -- Piet* van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, University of Utrecht Padualaan 14, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands. Telephone: +31-30-531806 Uucp: uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!piet Telefax: +31-30-513791 Internet: piet@cs.ruu.nl (*`Pete') ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 18:31:55 GMT From: pasteur!euler.Berkeley.EDU!jmorton@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (John Morton) Subject: TOS 1.4 Incompatibility List Request In article <130@watserv1.waterloo.edu> bmaraldo@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Commander Brett Maraldo) writes: >Can somebody post or email me an updated TOS 1.4 incompatibility list? >I am considering purchasing TOS1.4 ROMs - is it worth it? > I have been trying to keep my list up to date, but I have found that most entries have been contested by subsequent postings. The following is where it stands now, with all entries removed which were cited as running flawlessly by someone. Chessmaster 2000 - bombs on save Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing PC Ditto v. 3.01 - (some disagreement on this, unresolved) compress.ttp - comp.binaries - (disagreement here also) VIP Professional, GEM version - pallette problems Timeworks DTP Mousetrap Omnires 3.01 Baal ST Wars Zoo Arkanoid "Down John Morton M.E. Machine Shop Down in the basement jmorton@euler.berkeley.edu Etcheverry Hall We hear the sound of machines..." Univ. of Calif. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 18:05:35 GMT From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird!news@lll-winken.llnl.gov (News System Account) Subject: TOS 1.4 vs. ARKANOID I have found the illegal accesses to the mouse buttons and position that ARKANIOD makes and have the (illegal) replacement accesses (now only works on 1.4). Details via email. Then there's the "invincible" modification ... Naaah, that'd spoil it. ;-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: 13 Nov 89 06:44:20 GMT From: portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle@uunet.uu.net Subject: TT Steve Whitney sez: >THANK YOU Atari. It appears to me that you've been listening to what people >want. What have been the main complaints against the ST hardware? > 1) Memory not expandable: Taken care of in TT Yes, thank you Atari.. .this only took since 1985 > 2) ACSI instead of SCSI: Taken care of, means cheaper disk drives Yes again thank you.. only 4 years to come up to industry standards. > 3) Only one serial port: Taken care of Again, thank you.. my 8-bit Atari has only had 4 serial ports since 1979 >Most of the rest of the complaints are software-oriented. Give Atari time. Yes.. let's give Atari time.. after all, it took them 4 years to upgrade the operating system in the ST, and they still can't seem to fix GDOS, so let's give them time. Maybe by the turn of the century they'll be able to come up to 1980's standards. >They have said unofficially, with no commitment to a target release date >that there will eventually be a multitasking TOS. Someday. Not tomorrow. >Unix should be available sooner. I've also heard that someday pigs would fly... maybe with Atari controlled computers..? Seems to me that I've heard about multitasking Operating System on other computers *now*... Not tomomorrow.. Now.. Maybe a better advertising slogan for Atari would be: "Someday, Over the Rainbow" BobR ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 09:59:34 GMT From: mcsun!inria!laas!news@uunet.uu.net (USENET News System) Subject: TT, TT030/2, STE In article <4062.255748c1@uwovax.uwo.ca> 4224_5132@uwovax.uwo.ca (Andrew Semple) writes: | | ---> The 1040 should be phased out during March/April 1990 and replaced | by the once called "ST Plus" or "Enhanced ST", now called 1040STE. The | STE will include 1MbRam, fast hardware scrolling, 4096 colour palette, | 8-bit stero PCM sound, TOS1.4 operating system, and four SIMM (single in | line memory module) for easy expansion to 4Mb." Just a slight correction. According to local full-color adds, by Atari-France, for the STE, it will come with 512k RAM. It's advertised as the 520 STE! Them's my two bits worth. :-) Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own. ralph@laas.laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance. ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!mcvax!laas!ralph If all else fails, try: SOBEK@FRMOP11.BITNET sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU =============================================================================== Upon the instruments of death the sunlight brightly gleams. -- King Crimson ------------------------------ Date: 13 Nov 89 07:34:14 GMT From: mcsun!unido!tub!tmpmbx!netmbx!hase@uunet.uu.net (Hartmut Semken) Subject: What does the TT Buy me?? In article <29034@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> stephen@oahu.UUCP (Steve Whitney) writes: >Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, VME is a multimaster bus >which means that you can plug another processor board in there and let >it control the system. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Atari chose to >use an expensive bus standard. True. Standard-VME is a multimaster BUS. Ataris "implementation" in the TT/Personal (the one to come real soon now) is not capable of multiple masters. as someone@atari said, the TT/x (the larger machine, prototypes yet to be seen) will have a 32-bit extended VME BUS capable of multiple bus masters. Very few VME cards are BUS masters. Most are slaves. So the TT/P's slot will do almost everything You want it to do. But why don't we all just shut up till the TT appears in the shops, till we get facts/real machines thar rattle when falling down? hase -- Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP Dennis had stepped up into the top seat whet its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila. (Douglas Adams; the long dark teatime...) ------------------------------ End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #641 ***************************************** =========================================================================