Info-Atari16 Digest Wed, 5 Feb 92 Volume 92 : Issue 67 Today's Topics: .SPS picture viewer? A friend needs some help C, gem and sound questions Converting between Mac and .IMG etc GCR help Grand Prix type games How can I use MegaPaint files in GFA programs? HVDI? Info-Atari16 Digest V92 #65 Info on Spectre GCR New Supra Modem... (2 msgs) Postscript on Atari's in general Recommendations Slowing down my TT ... seriously TEX printer problems The Parallel Port: Speed? TOS 1.4 ROM problem Uniterm docs in PS Uniterm manual Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest. The configuration for the automatic cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed out. Please send notifications about broken digests or bogus messages to Info-Atari16-Request@NAUCSE.CSE.NAU.EDU. Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to Info-Atari16-Request, *NOT* Info-Atari16. Requests that go to the list instead of the moderators are likely to be lost or ignored. If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly from someplace (usually a BITNET host) that redistributes it, please contact the redistributor, not us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 4 Feb 92 12:08:04 GMT From: aurs01!whitcomb@mcnc.org (Jonathan Whitcomb) Subject: .SPS picture viewer? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I've come across some Spectrum files that use the extention *.SPS, and none of my picture viewers can handle them. I have no problem viewing *.SPC and *.SPU files, but not *.SPS. Does anyone know of a viewer that can display these? ********************************************************************** Jonathan Whitcomb UUCP: Alcatel Network Systems Delphi: JBWHIT Raleigh, NC GEnie: J.WHITCOMB3 ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 16:46:56 GMT From: amdcad!dvorak.amd.com!rene@sun.com (Louis R. Castro) Subject: A friend needs some help To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu The following is a letter a friend wrote to me about his computer. He seems to be having trouble with his disk drive controller chip or I guess he could have a bad trace, anyway see what you folks can come up with please. E-mail me and I will see that he gets your informantion. 1040STF The only thing I wanted to do was install "PC Speed", however... A little back ground on PC Speed: It is a board mounted (soldered) on top of the processor. The 1040 has at least three different internal designs. Because my 1040's processor is located below the internal drive, The Atari dealer in Spain suggested I remove the internal drive and extend the cables to place it outside. This was because of the heat generated by the drive. During the installation of the processor jacket (by an AF COM person) [Air Force Communications Tech], a diode or something was inadvertantly burnt out. I then took my computer to the certified Atari Servicing agent in Barcelon (ETEC or ELTEC or something like that). This is were I am at now. The last thing done was the "fix" by the agent in Barcelona. In the interum, I have bought an external floppy. I can not get it to work on my computer. I have tried it out on a friends 1040 and it does funtion properly. That is about all. I hope I have given you all the info you need. Thanks for anything you can do....... Mikey >From rene@mozart Thu Jan 16 09:41:42 1992 Well there you have it, like he said anything you can do will be appreciated. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- L. Rene' Castro voice:(512)-462-6241 Advanced Micro Devices fax:(512)-462-5156 5204 E. Ben White email:rene@dvorak.amd.com ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:59:06 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc. edu!zazen!doug.cae.wisc.edu!umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@arizona.edu (Steve Yelvington) Subject: C, gem and sound questions To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu [In article <1992Feb03.232511.15266@CS.ORST.EDU>, wilsont@prism.cs.orst.edu (Timothy E. Wilson) writes ... ] > I am just starting up with C programming on the ST. > I borrowed the book "Applications guide: programming in C, for the ST" by > compute! books. > I'm trying to use Sozobon 1.33i with it. I'm trying to get a gem library > up and going but no luck, nothing compiles. > all gemdefs.h and obdefs.h have been changed to gemfast.h . > > but the cc compiler gives me crap on most of the lines, even though they are > verbatim from the book. > > so basically, Does anyone have a C Gem library? does AA have one? If the compiler is complaining about most of the lines, then you do not have a library problem. You have a problem with your source code. A small typographical error near the top of the file can leave the compiler looking for something that's not there -- a parenthesis, bracket, quote -- as it scans the following lines. Sozobon 1.33i records its error messages in a .ERR file. When you encounter a problem like this, open the .ERR file in one window and the .C file in another window, and move to the first indicated error. Usually the real problem is one or two lines above the point at which the compiler first began to complain. --- Steve Yelvington Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org umn-cs!thelake!steve ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Feb 92 15:25:57 WET From: Ian C McCall Subject: Converting between Mac and .IMG etc To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I was originally just going to send this reply to Michael Adams, but I decided that really there's quite a few people, particularly people with a number of emulators such as myself, who might find this useful. To convert between .IMG and the Mac's PICT format, tye using ViewGif on the ST, or better something like Imagary or XlateGraf on the Mac. All three can handle these files, however I seem to recall ViewGif limiting the size of .IMG handled? I could be wrong, but I think it converts to MacPaint and not to PICT, so it won't handle everything. For Spectre/Mac users, probably a good package to get hold of would be GifConverter (at least 2.2.9, though there's an update to .10 kicking around somewhere), which handles PICT, EPSF, MacPaint, MacDraw, GIF, TIFF, Mac's StartUpScreen format, and I think a couple of others, though I'm not entirely sure. Imagery is not a nice program to use, but also handles Amiga IFF (Bit dodgily mind you, sometimes works sometimes doesn't). XLateGraf also handles IFF, but only PC style ILBM IFF. I believe Imagery also handles .PCX files, though I've never tried. They're all available via anon. ftp, from sumex-aim.stanford.edu Cheers, Ian ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 15:19:01 GMT From: sae!sae.com!malay@uunet.uu.net (Bob Malay) Subject: GCR help To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I stumbled across a mystery. Yesterday I booted up the STe from an ICD w/clock equipped SCSI drive. The date was 3 FEB 1992, the time 10:03PM. I launched the Spectre program, popped into MAC-mode and created a file - I viewed the folder by name and noticed the date-time stamp was 4 FEB 1992 10:05PM - why is the MAC clock ahead by a full 24 hours???? Is there something that needs to be done to "sync" the Atari and the MAC clocks?? Bob Malay ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 10:40:48 GMT From: mcsun!uknet!edcastle!spider!raft.spider.co.uk!peterw@uunet.uu.net (Peter Woodhouse) Subject: Grand Prix type games To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Does anyone have any views on the best F1 Grand Prix type racing game available for the ST? Please e-mail and I'll summarise any comments/opinions etc. Peter -- Name : Peter Woodhouse Spider Systems Limited E-mail: peterw@spider.co.uk Spider Park, Stanwell Street Phone : +44 31 554 9424 Edinburgh, Scotland ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:57:40 GMT From: mcsun!sun4nl!fwi.uva.nl!gene!schaper@uunet.uu.net (Lancelot Schaper) Subject: How can I use MegaPaint files in GFA programs? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I'd like to know how .IMG , .BLD , .DGA pictures are built. I want to use drawings in a GFA program, wich are made in MegaPaint. Is there somebody who knows this? Please Email me, because I can't read NewsNet every day... -- ***************************************************************************** Lancelot Schaper schaper@fwi.uva.nl Faculteit Wiskunde en Informatica 020 - 683.17.78 Universiteit van Amsterdam Nederland ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 14:56:33 GMT From: agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!cleveland.Freenet.Edu!an375@ames.arpa (Jason Baker) Subject: HVDI? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu What is HVDI? Is it just a screen accelarator like quick/turbo st? Why does it have its own font? And, most importantly, is it freeware? Any information, and I'll gladly bear your children. -- I liked high school. To this day, I can't fall asleep without someone droning in the background. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 4 Feb 92 11:57 CST From: Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity Subject: Info-Atari16 Digest V92 #65 To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Does anywone know where I can get the shareware game - "Jeopardy"? Thanks! Brook ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:21:49 GMT From: mcsun!uknet!glasgow!bru-cc!ee90grb@uunet.uu.net (Gareth R Blades) Subject: Info on Spectre GCR To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu koreth@panarthea.ebay.sun.com (koreth@panarthea.ebay.sun.com) writes: : In article <92034.111907RIFFEGL@PURCCVM.BITNET> RIFFEGL@PURCCVM.BITNET writes: : >Can anyone give me a rundown on the capabilities of the Spectre GCR? : >Does it emulate a color mac? : : Not YET... : : >What is the speed like? : : Well, on a 16Mhz machine its OK. I would never go back to 8Mhz. : MultiFinder performance is aided greatly with 16Mhz cpu ability... : : >can the atari drive read and write normal Mac disks? : : Yes that Atari drive can read and write Mac Disks... : (AMAZING isn't it?!) : : >does it use ST memory? if so how much is free for programs? : : ST Memory? :) Is there any other kind? Perhaps on a TT, maybe. : : But, it really depends on what system you want to use, and how you : install it...with System 6.0.7 I get about 3 Megs Free. : : It also depends on whether or not your under MultiFinder, FInder and various : inits cdevs you run... : : You USE to get enough memory for doing just about anything you need to do, : using the top of the line programs for the Mac... : : NOT ANY MORE. So if you are planning on getting a GCR, wait till the SST : board is avilable, OR buy a TT and a GCR... : : DON'T buy a ST, or even a memory upgrade on it. 4 Megs is really gonna : suck when we get System 7.0 running. : : > : >Any help would be appreciated. : > : >Thanx in advance. : : Well your very welcome... : : -Greg The ST does not have enough memory to run system 7 proporly but there is no need to run system 7. System 5 or 6 is good enough and although not as nice as system 7 to use it is not as memory hungry. Gareth Blades ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:44:24 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zazen!doug.cae. wisc.edu!umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@arizona.edu (Steve Yelvington) Subject: New Supra Modem... To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu [In article , colonius@dino.DinoCo.de (Stephan Muhs) writes ... ] > BTW: V.22bis (2400 bps) comprises the V.22 standard (1200 bps) and also > defines the fallback between both speeds (the only time that the CCITT has > bothered to define fall-back procedures at all). There is *no* way, to > prevent a V.22bis modem to fall back to 1200 bps, if the modem decides that > the remote modem is a plain V.22 unit. V.22 is not used as a fallback in North America. The older Bell 212 standard is employed; this may be a source of the original poster's problem. --- Steve Yelvington Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org umn-cs!thelake!steve ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 19:36:26 GMT From: noao!ncar!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!utgpu!watserv1!caddac1.waterloo.edu!jparker@ariz ona.edu (James Parker) Subject: New Supra Modem... To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) writes: >[In article , > colonius@dino.DinoCo.de (Stephan Muhs) writes ... ] > > > BTW: V.22bis (2400 bps) comprises the V.22 standard (1200 bps) and also > > defines the fallback between both speeds (the only time that the CCITT has > > bothered to define fall-back procedures at all). There is *no* way, to > > prevent a V.22bis modem to fall back to 1200 bps, if the modem decides that > > the remote modem is a plain V.22 unit. > >V.22 is not used as a fallback in North America. The older Bell 212 >standard is employed; this may be a source of the original poster's >problem. As the original poster, I think Steve is right here. My Supra modem says it uses Bell 212 at 1200baud, v.22 at 2400. By the way, I still haven't been able to get it to work correctly. I now think that the answering modem is a dedicated 2400 baud unit, since the 9600 lines are a different telephone number. james ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:49:32 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zazen!doug.cae. wisc.edu!umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@arizona.edu (Steve Yelvington) Subject: Postscript on Atari's in general To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu [In article <697134861.15151@minster.york.ac.uk>, mjl-b@minster.york.ac.uk writes ... ] > In article bart@dutncp8.tn.tudelft.nl (Bart Schipper) writes: >>I wonder why why why you need an interceptor to convert Calamus >>output for 300dpi laserprinters to a postscript file, since the creators >>of Calamus provide drivers for every printer you can think of. >>But yes, if you really want to go back to oldfashioned postscript, >>for Calamus SL, there is a module to convert a Calamus document to EPS. >>I suggest you ask DMC for it. >>Bart. > > It is this sort of arrogance that annoys me. > > People want to use Calamus in the real world. This means that we may want to > send our output to printers at work / school or use a typesetter at a > bureau. > > Calamus' page description language may be superior to PostScript, but > everyone else actually _uses_ PostScript. > > For this reason, we need proper PostScript on a disk. Telling us that > Calamus direct output is better is no good. If you needed a screwdriver, would you instead buy a socket wrench? If you needed a school bus, would you buy a dump truck? If you must carry PostScript files on a disk to a print shop, then you should buy a page layout program that writes PostScript. Calamus does not. PageStream does. Use the proper tool and perhaps you won't find yourself accusing others of arrogance. --- Steve Yelvington Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org umn-cs!thelake!steve ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 13:33:12 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!wupost!uwm.edu!src.honeywell.com!umn.ed u!lapis.labmed.umn.edu!davidli@arizona.edu Subject: Recommendations To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <9201312328.AA27047@vulcan.noarl.navy.mil>, fox@VULCAN.NOARL.NAVY.MIL (Dan Fox) writes: > I need some NetRecommendations for the latest/greatest/hottest games > for the ST. > ... > Any ideas? Try the 1 meg version of LLAMATRON. Then try REVENGE OF THE MUTANT CAMELS. Then send the shareware fee to the author. (Both should be available from the atari.archive.umich.edu FTP site as LLAMATRN.LZH and REVENGE.LZH) -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu "The most important fact about Spaceship Earth: An instruction book didn't come with it." -- R. Buckminster Fuller ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 12:45:10 GMT From: mcsun!uknet!sys-uea!sms@uunet.uu.net (S.M.Sowerby) Subject: Slowing down my TT ... seriously To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu This may seem a little silly but I want to make my TT run at ST speeds. Not all the time of course, only when running certain programs where the extra speed is a bit of a problem... for example a lot of programs respond a bit too quickly to mouse presses and it's very difficult to increment a value by clicking on an increase button as it goes up in steps of 3/4 unless you're very quick with the button. Mainly I would like the whole hardware to run slower... I thought of putting in some sort of trace routine purely as a deccelerator but I don't know what side-effects that might cause. For some things just a slowdown in the refresh rate when using the ST screen modes... for example my demo of Populous 2 runs fine on my TT but at 70 odd Hz ... makes it much harder to play. I was thus hoping to have a solution before the full game appears (anybody got any date - my local shop is always a bit useless on release dates) Any info on this subject would be appreciated... hopefully a software solution as I get shaky when using a soldering icon on expensive hardware :-) ... That's why I didn't post it to c.s.a.s.tech (spot the lame excuse!!!... OK, I was on auto-pilot when I started typing this message) Steve Sowerby, Postgraduate layabout, (sms@sys.uea.ac.uk) School of Information Systems, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. -- Too lazy to find a .sig quote ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 16:59:13 GMT From: mcsun!unido!olymp!sfb256!volker@uunet.uu.net ( Volker A. Brandt ) Subject: TEX printer problems To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <10457@ecs.soton.ac.uk> dah90@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Halls DA) writes: >In <1992Jan27.143514.28656@city.cs> dh108@cs.city.ac.uk (KEATES M G) writes: >>My problem lies in the 24-pin printer driver. I have a b/w Star LC24-200 [...] >I had a different problem 9 pages further on - the head would do the >second pass on the next line so the same line appeared twice, in light [...] >Does anyone associated with cs-tex know about this bug? I believe a >new version is in development? This is a problem in the Star firmware: Occasionally, the 1/360" transport does not work. This occurs only in 360 dpi mode, you can use the 180x360 and 180 dpi modes just fine. Get a firmware upgrade for your printer. Christoph wasn't able to find a workaround and so couldn't make the driver work. Supposedly, the bug is gone in the firmware of the newest Star models. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bitnet: UNM409@DBNRHRZ1 Volker A. Brandt UUCP: ...!unido!DBNRHRZ1.bitnet!unm409 Angewandte Mathematik Internet: volker@sfb256.iam.uni-bonn.de (Bonn, Germany) ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 17:30:55 GMT From: ludwig.sharebase.com!glenn@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Glenn Linderman) Subject: The Parallel Port: Speed? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu While BUSY and ACK may be connected to the interrupt controller, my disassembly of the code doesn't indicate that these signals are activated. Due to a bug in the Centronics handshaking (STROBE occasionally asserted too long) I disassembled the code and replaced it in my application. I found no reference to interrupts, nor does my replacement code use them. Basically, after asserting and removing the STROBE signal, the CPU busy loops waiting for the BUSY to be removed. In my implementation, I exit as soon as I remove STROBE, and do the busy loop on the call to print the next character (where it may get just a bit more parallelism). If you have information that the interrupt signals are actually used, I would be glad to hear about it, but cannot believe a bald statement without supporting evidence. GLenn ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 14:37:33 GMT From: mcsun!uknet!edcastle!hwcs!neil@uunet.uu.net (Neil Forsyth) Subject: TOS 1.4 ROM problem To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <807@mwuk.UUCP> tony@microware.co.uk (Tony Mountifield) writes: > >Help! > >I have just bought a set of six TOS 1.4 ROMs amd tried to install them >in my old 520STM (not STFM). They don't work :-( > >The ROMs were labelled H0 H1 H2 L0 L1 L2. The original ROMs were not. >Looking at my circuit, it appeared that they should go in the following >sockets: > > U2 = H0, U3 = H1, U4 = H2, U5 = L0, U6 = L1, U7 = L2 Wrong. This is the assignment plus the first four bytes from each ROM:- U2 = H2 42 60 00 30 U3 = H1 91 D4 FF 3C U4 = H0 60 01 00 00 U5 = L2 03 00 BA 07 U6 = L1 C5 6C D4 02 U7 = L0 2E 04 FC 30 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own ! ! ! ! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs ! ! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk ! ! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil ! ! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK "That was never 5 minutes!" ! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 14:19:45 GMT From: mcsun!uknet!edcastle!robin@uunet.uu.net (R C Smith) Subject: Uniterm docs in PS To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I have just created the PostScript file for the LaTeX document for Uniterm. I ZOOed them up %430K (zoo) %1.4M (ps), I've put them in atari.archive in the new directory where it is called ug.zoo . Will someone extract them to check that they are OK... Robin Smith robin@uk.ac.ed.castle P.S. The only checking that I did for them was to preview some pages with GhostScript... ------------------------------ Date: 4 Feb 92 17:33:12 GMT From: ncrcom!ncrlnk!ncrwat!pinot!herborth@uunet.uu.net (Chris Herborth) Subject: Uniterm manual To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1992Feb4.082114.14219@irisa.fr> decouty@claire.irisa.fr writes: }I have done it. Available on irisa.irisa.fr, cd Atari_st/uniterm, get manual.ps Great! Now all we need is for some lucky soul with ftp priveledges to put a copy on atari.archive... -- ----------======================= _ /\ ===========================---------- Chris Herborth \`o.0' herborth@pinot.Waterloo.NCR.COM Information Products Co-Op =(___)= NCR E&M Waterloo U Your cash: "Bob"'s favourite snack. ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ******************************