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Info-Atari16 Digest Wed, 20 Mar 91 Volume 91 : Issue 155
Today's Topics:
40 folder problem
GCR problem
HELP!!! PLEASE!!!
Looking for good disk utilities
lynx
MiNT and GCC setup
mintbash
more on mtools
New standards for MiNT programs?
SM124 Monochrome monitor problem (an another one).
ST Books & Software for sale
The Jack Tramiel Memorial Library
The MicroSoft Mouse Rap
TT (vapor)
Wanted Atari 1040ST
Where is the rest of ana systems modula-2? (3 msgs)
WOW!!!!
Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest. The configuration for the automatic
cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed
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Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to
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If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly
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contact the redistributor, not us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 21:34:00 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!netcom!rcb@ar
izona.edu (Roy Bixler)
Subject: 40 folder problem
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <051358.839@timbuk.cray.com> fields@uktriton.cray.com (Mike Fields)
writes:
>I have a 4Meg STe with a 40M FA.ST Hard drive, with about 100 folders.
>Occasionally
>files get corrupted, different files get into the middle of files..It
>looks very much
>like the problems when, with my 1040, I encountered the 40 folder
>problem.
>
>I have tried with foldr150.prg but that didn't seem to change anything,
>but it could
>be because the problem has already happened and until I ZERO the
>partition it
>will continue regardless.
>
>Anybody any ideas ??
It could also be the 'flakey DMA' problem. I had this problem when I
got my original STe and solved it by trading it in for another one.
>
>Thanks
>Mike Fields
>fields@uk.cray.com
--
Roy Bixler
rcb@netcom.com -or- (UUCP) uunet!apple!netcom!rcb
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 18:37:34 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!apple!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!thunder.mcrcim.mcg
ill.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!IRO.UMontreal.CA!matrox!uvm-gen!kira!news@arizona.e
du (Robert B. Pegram)
Subject: GCR problem
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
From article <68295@brunix.UUCP>, by mjv@brownvm.brown.edu (Marshall Vale):
> In article <1991Mar8.193900.3518@uvm.edu> pegram@kira.UUCP (Robert B.
> Pegram) writes:
> [stuff about mouse and keyboard freezing]
> Before you go about replacing hardware, I'd recommend at least doing
> a virus check with the latest version of Disinfectant (2.4 if I'm not
> mistaken). Mouse freezes are the symptoms of some Mac viruses.
> It can't hurt!
> Marshall
Thanks, but that problem is unlikely, if possible 8-). In any case, the
mouse and keyboard problems have now appeared in regular ST mode. I
got a new Ikbd processor from Best Electronics, but that hasn't
helped. A reset *always* fixes things for a while, so I rather doubt
that the keyboard connection is intermittent, it's hard to check!
I am now gearing up to figure out which 6850 ACIA to remove and
replace (I *did* get one from Best 8-). If I foul things up, it's a
new STE for me 8-(). At least my trial run for desoldering, replacing
the connector in my mouse, went well. I recommend the Radio Schnook
desoldering iron 8-).
A couple of interesting things came from my talks to the Best
Electronics guy. One is that the Mega keyboard is almost a drop in
fit for the original (external PS and floppies) 520ST, (same large
connector) and is only a little more expensive to buy ($110 vs $90
8-). The other interesting thing is that there are two versions of
the keyboard processor. I have an '85 ST, but luckily it used the
later processor -002. If yours is a -001 version, you need a whole new
keyboard if it goes bad (I _hope_ that version was only on the
developer 520s, this is, after all, ancient history 8-).
By the way, sorry if I have seemed unresponsive, but we lost our news
feed here for most of last week 8-(.
ciao,
Bob Pegram
pegram@griffin.uvm.edu
or
!uvm-gen!pegram
------------------------------
Date: 18 Mar 91 01:23:00 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!kth.se!
sunic!mcsun!ukc!slxsys!ibmpcug!mantis!mwowm!mathew@arizona.edu (mathew)
Subject: HELP!!! PLEASE!!!
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In <95276@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, jeffery d thompson writes:
> When I play games on my ST I use my T.V. because of the much larger screen.
>Some of the games I bought are from england and they run at a different
>frequency, causing the screen to flip. The problem is that my T.V. doesn't
>have a manual vertical hold, and since the T.V. doesn't adjust enough by
>itself it will always flip. So my question is, is there a hardware hookup that
>will adjust the frequency or maybe a "good" virus that would disable the
>programs ability to change the frequency available.
That wouldn't help. It would probably break the program, especially if the
program in question was an arcade game.
> Also, an explanation of
>why the programs change the frequency in the first place would be appreciated.
European TVs work at 50 Hz. We make up for the fewer frames per second by
having more vertical resolution and properly-encoded colours. One of the
things which amazed me about US TV on visiting the US was that it really was
as bad as it looks over here. I had always assumed that it looked all
blurry and smeared because of some defect in the NTSC->PAL conversion.
It really spoilt "Cheers" when they went from film to grotty US video.
The only solution to your problem is to get a better TV, I'm afraid. My Sony
works at either 50 or 60 Hz. I gather that Atari monitors work at either
speed, as well... and of course, a multisync will handle it with no trouble.
mathew
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 02:36:14 GMT
From: uupsi!rodan.acs.syr.edu!ggreenbe@nyu.arpa (Gerald Greenberg)
Subject: Looking for good disk utilities
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I'm looking for a program (or a set of programs) that will do
things like, backup a hard disk, check for corrupted and
deleted files (and recover them), optimize a hard disk, move
files around on a hard disk, etc...something(s) along the
lines of Norton Utilities, SUM Utilities, PC/Mac Tools, etc
for other computers. The thing is: I'm running Spectre,
ATSpeed, and of course ST...so, I'd prefer if the backup could
backup all partitions. I also want to be able to move DOS
files around on my msdos partition, in the event something
gets screwed up there (which seems to have happened frequently
in the past, especially with disk caches for Windows 3).
Any comments (good or bad) about programs will be appreciated.
--Gerry
ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 00:41:26 GMT
From: noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!psurge@arizona.edu (Troy Carpenter)
Subject: lynx
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <91077.233406SML108@psuvm.psu.edu>, SML108@psuvm.psu.edu (Scott the
Great) writes:
>
> Atari Lynx $99/$149 Color, 1-8-??? players
~~~
I have been told that Toys-R-Us sells the original package that sold for $179
at the $99 price, but not here in Austin. Every Lynx I have looked at is still
priced $179, and I will not buy one at that price (even if it is a good deal
at that price anyway). Maybe I could work out some deal where someone can get
it at the $99 price and ship it to me and I'll pay him/her back?
Troy Carpenter
Department of Computer Sciences
THE University of Texas, Austin
psurge@cs.utexas.edu
"You're so open minded that your brain leaked out" - Steve Taylor
*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The best thing in life costs exactly that <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 17:11:54 GMT
From: uvaarpa!hub!bayers@mcnc.org (brian ayers)
Subject: MiNT and GCC setup
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
OK, I'm sure that this has been asked many times before, but with
all of the recent revisions to GCC (1.39) and MiNT (?) I'm not
quite sure what files I need to set up a MiNT/GCC workstation.
What I'm looking to be able to do is spend as little time as possible
on our minicomputer here at JMU to do programming for UNIX multitasking.
I've heard that the MiNT libraries are relatively consistent with the
libraries on a UNIX system.
So to summarize, what files should I pull from atari.archive in order
to set up a functional MiNT/GCC workstation? If I get emailed the
solution, I will post it for everyone else.
JT
Internet: bayers@hub.cs.jmu.edu
Bitnet: help_jt@jmuvax1
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 00:05:16 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.ed
u!quiche!depeche@arizona.edu (Acme Instant Dehydrated Boulder Kit)
Subject: mintbash
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I'm having trouble getting bash set up on my st using mint...
If you are using it, could you please send me your bash.rc and all
your other .rc files so I can look at them?
--
|S. Alan Ezust : McGill University School of Computer Science |
|depeche@cs.mcgill.ca : Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 02:39:04 GMT
From:
ubc-cs!alberta!mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA!Nicole_T._Jaegermann@beaver.cs.washington.ed
u (Nicole T. Jaegermann)
Subject: more on mtools
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
From my experience Mtools are not limited to Sun's only. With
small changes in configuration I brought up these programs on
DECstation as well - under Ultrix. I am convinced that this can
be done on other computers as well.
Michal Jaegermann
ntomczak@vm.ucs.ualberta.ca
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 16:07:18 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.m
ps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!utdoe!david@ariz
ona.edu (David Megginson)
Subject: New standards for MiNT programs?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In <1991Mar19.105139.28070@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>, Howard Chu writes:
> In article <1991Mar19.150319.25547@qut.edu.au> lunnon@qut.edu.au writes:
> >Huh, why not use dirent ??? This seems reasonably capable and is portable
> >to boot ???
>
> I'd agree, we should try to hide the Fsfirst/Fsnext layer completely and
> use the Unix *dir routines instead. (This seems reasonable, given MiNT's
> apparent intent to provide as much BSD functionality as possible...)
> --
Of course, the problem is that MiNT is still stuck with TOS, and TOS
does not support device drivers, so the drivers (for TOS and Minix)
are hard-coded into MiNT. I don't know a lot about the low-level mechanics
of Unix, but I think that directories are special files rather than
FAT entries, hence the different way of dealing with them (the library
emulates these directory files by caching return values from Fsfirst()/
Fsnext()). I'm sure that others here can add to this...
David
--
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ David Megginson david@doe.utoronto.ca /
/ Centre for Medieval Studies meggin@vm.epas.utoronto.ca /
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
------------------------------
Date: 18 Mar 91 22:41:59 GMT
From: hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!goo@hplabs.hp.com (Michael Goo)
Subject: SM124 Monochrome monitor problem (an another one).
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Just another data point. My new monochrome monitor does this too, though not
to that extreme. Weird. (Hope it doesn't get any worse :-( )
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 03:41:30 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!rpi!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!snito
r!nixtdc!jhm@arizona.edu (John H. McMullen)
Subject: ST Books & Software for sale
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Due to a severe storage space-and-money shortage, I would like to sell
the items listed below.
Each purchase has a $5 postage and handling charge added (unless you
live in Toronto), and lower prices for bundles of items can be arranged.
E-mail or leave a message on my home machine (416) 604-0310. (E-mail can
be flaky for UUCP sites.)
ST Books:
Learning C Programming Graphics on the Compute!
Amiga and Atari ST M. Sugiyama & C. Metcalf $15
Atari ST Machine Language Abacus
B. Grohman, P. Seidler, & H. Sliber $15
Atari ST Tips & Tricks Abacus
R. Bruckmann, L. Englisch, J. Walkowiak, & K. Gerits $10
Pascal Texts:
Pascal A Considerate Approach (2nd Ed.)
David Price $5
Oh! Pascal! (2nd Ed.)
D. Cooper & M. Clancy $15
Introduction to Pascal Sybex
R. Zaks $15
Despite the fact that OSS (now ICD) recommends Oh! Pascal!, I found
the Zaks text much more readable. (None even touches "Illustrating
Pascal", which I'm not selling.)
ST Programming Software:
Alice The Personal Pascal (a Pascal interpreter) $35
Personal Pascal (v2.02) $30
TackleBox ST (with first two updates) $35
(TackleBox requires $10 P&H; it's that big)
Tempus (1st edition) $10
Metacomco Make (also comes with an editor) (v2.16) $10
Alice is good; I taught myself Pascal with it (and the texts
above.) I'd recommend TackleBox to anyone; it's huge and it's
accurate. Even after switching to C, I find myself referring to GEM
functions in TackleBox.
Telecommunications:
Flash 1.52, patched up to 1.60 $10
Shadow 1.1 background transfer accessory for Flash $10
Kermit & Remote Accessory for Flash(does *not* work w/Shadow)$10
Michtron's Mi-Term (supports DFT, XMODEM & ASCII) $10
Word Processing & DTP:
Microsoft Word w/GDOS fonts $5
Publishing Partner (v1.01) with LaserWriter screen fonts $20
What can I say about Publishing Partner? Not as versatile as PageStream,
but more robust. It's done yeoman work for me (three commercial manuals).
Games:
Bards Tale I with Hint Book $15
Techmate Chess game $10
--
John McMullen
jhm@snitor.UUCP or Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems
jhmcmullen@watyew.waterloo.edu 2235 Sheppard Ave., Willowdale
(which forwards to jhm@snitor) Ontario M2J 5B5
--
John McMullen
jhm@snitor.UUCP or Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems
jhmcmullen@watyew.waterloo.edu 2235 Sheppard Ave., Willowdale
(which forwards to jhm@snitor) Ontario M2J 5B5
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 04:47:57 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
@arizona.edu (Sean Sterling Foiles)
Subject: The Jack Tramiel Memorial Library
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I am interested in purchacing a second Atari 1040ST. The system
must have the following:
* 1 meg of memory (or more)
* Color monitor
* DS Floppy drive
A printer is an added plus.
_________________________________________________________
sean@cc.happy.utexas.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 91 22:27:24 EST
From: Robert McCoy <RMCCOY%UTCVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: The MicroSoft Mouse Rap
To: info-atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
THE MICROSOFT MOUSE RAP
I use the Atari mouse but I think it stinks,
It's substandard construction is rinky-dink.
Most mice click, this one CLACKS.
When I push it fowards, it goes backs.
But it serves the purpose and I'm kind of cheap
Can't afford another, so this I'll keep.
That's what I thought till I happened across
That sleek white model from Microsoft.
Seems the cleaning lady cut the cable
With her carpet buffer and the mouse aint able
Neither is the 486 with XGA
My boss said Robert, go "throw this away".
Now as you know, it needs some modification
Cause my Atari aint no PC Workstation.
So where should I go to look for the docs?
In Info-A16 that's where all the techies talk.
So if you've got the upgrade in a file
Won't you send it to me, it'd make me smile.
I know I didn't tell you where to send it yet,
I'm RMCCOY at UTCVM on BITNET.
=====================================================
Please send any information you might have about converting a
Microsoft mouse for use with an Atari ST. Thanks in advance.
RMCCOY at UTCVM via BITNET (reply directly if possible)
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Mar 91 09:20:57 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!gatech!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!news.funet.fi!hydra!kreeta!luot
o@arizona.edu (Markku Luoto)
Subject: TT (vapor)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <10247@uwm.edu> jwalsh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (John Lawrence Walsh) writes:
>
> Does anyone know when the TT will be available in the US, and
> why the H*ll it is taking so long.
No I don't know, but I've got one...they came out in europe 1.9.90
I have heard that the Amiga
> 3000 is a *much* better, and faster system then the TT.
Well, if you HEARD so then how come you don't buy one at instant ?
I am
> beginning to get the feeling that Atari is verging on bankruptcy.
>
WOW, then my TT would be a real collectors item ?!?!? $$$$$
They have never offered support for any of their products, what
> makes people want to spend $3000 for a system like this?
>
That's true ! not even in finland.... but that's probably why
it seems that the most dedicated usergroups, with GNOLEGEABLE
users have formed around st/TT -here (ST-club with it's PD-
librarys, monthly diskmagazine, developers meetings etc...)
I think the st/TT being not the "safest" choice, it has dropped
out many teenager kids who mostly play games (and used to use c64
and use amiga now) and PC/MAC type of users.... ST/TT is more
distinctive type of thing... this flaming about amiga/st/TT being
better or not is like arquing between cars: wether SAABs(st/tt)
are better or worst than VOLVOs(amiga) but they both are better
than LADAs(russian car and (PC/at/386/486) and are in totally dif-
ferend price group than mercedes(mac) ???? I just happen to like
saabs... and there's a certain destinction between most saab drivers,
which aren't always that good. (here they say "SAABism is a desease!")
;-) but usually the ones who never drove one ;-) ;-)
> Also, what do people think of what Dave Small said about the TT?
> "you can't set the monitor on top of the CPU....etc."?
again... this takes a little brains and coordination, but with that
the monitor sits nicely on top of the central unit (why would you like
to open covers and sit it on top of the cpu... for keeping it warm ??)
-> I imagine that would be a little hard...but then..... ;-) ;-)
I have a feelin the person also wonders about the "pen holder" in front
of the machine... and what to do with it...?
From the
> Genie developers sig, it seems that the TT has the same chip
> seating problem as the ST (try dropping a $3000 machine).
What's that problem, while I'm not aware of...?
>
>
> Another unsatisfied customer
(not quite, you gotta buy something first ?)
(Potential customer, maybe ?)
have lafs & merry weather
Verbier got three days of snow !
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>> " I'm completely operational & all my cicuits are functioning <<<<<<
>>>>>> correctly...correc...corr...co...-! " : HAl9000 <<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 04:50:12 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
@arizona.edu (Sean Sterling Foiles)
Subject: Wanted Atari 1040ST
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I want to by a second Atari 1040ST. The system MUST have one
Meg of memory, and a Color Monitor. A printer, and TOS 1.2 or
higher is a plus.
Thanks,
sean@happy.cc.utexas.edu
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 01:47:59 GMT
From: noao!ncar!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!psurge@arizona.edu (Troy Carpenter)
Subject: Where is the rest of ana systems modula-2?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Mar11.002021.9440@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>, vsnyder@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
(Van Snyder) writes:
> Does anybody know where ana_m2_4.arc and ana_m2_5.arc can be found? They're
> not on terminator. (Is terminator the same as atari.archive?)
>
> --
> vsnyder@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov
> ames!elroy!jato!vsnyder
> vsnyder@jato.uucp
I have ftp'ed those two files to Terminator many times, but they just seem to
get lost into never-never land. I had to get them from some place in Europe,
but I will try to upload those files again.
Troy Carpenter
Department of Computer Sciences
THE University of Texas, Austin
psurge@cs.utexas.edu
"You're so open minded that your brain leaked out" - Steve Taylor
*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The best thing in life costs exactly that <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 01:58:39 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!psurge@arizona.edu
(Troy Carpenter)
Subject: Where is the rest of ana systems modula-2?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Ok, I just posted ana_m2_4.arc to atari.archive. I did not send Part 5, mostly
because I erased it, partly because it was the emacs editor (3.09 I think).
Hopefully this one will get there, all other attempts at posting this file have
failed, they just seemed to get lost (hmmm...).
Troy Carpenter
Department of Computer Sciences
THE University of Texas, Austin
psurge@cs.utexas.edu
"You're so open minded that your brain leaked out" - Steve Taylor
*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The best thing in life costs exactly that <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*
------------------------------
Date: 20 Mar 91 02:01:03 GMT
From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!mahendo!jato!vsnyder@arizona.edu (Van Snyder)
Subject: Where is the rest of ana systems modula-2?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1195@grit.cs.utexas.edu> psurge@cs.utexas.edu (Troy Carpenter)
writes:
>In article <1991Mar11.002021.9440@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>, vsnyder@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
(Van Snyder) writes:
>> Does anybody know where ana_m2_4.arc and ana_m2_5.arc can be found? They're
>> not on terminator. (Is terminator the same as atari.archive?)
>
>I have ftp'ed those two files to Terminator many times, but they just seem to
>get lost into never-never land. I had to get them from some place in Europe,
>but I will try to upload those files again.
>
Weiner told me that ana_m2_4.arc is really ANA_M2_4.ARC. He doesn't know where
ana_m2_5.arc is.
> Troy Carpenter
> Department of Computer Sciences
> THE University of Texas, Austin
> psurge@cs.utexas.edu
>
>"You're so open minded that your brain leaked out" - Steve Taylor
An apt description of the <network.thought.police>
>*>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The best thing in life costs exactly that <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<*
--
vsnyder@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov
ames!elroy!jato!vsnyder
vsnyder@jato.uucp
------------------------------
Date: 19 Mar 91 23:56:55 GMT
From: fs7.ece.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!mc4c+@sei.cmu.edu (Mark
Choi)
Subject: WOW!!!!
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
> Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.atari.st: 19-Mar-91 Re: WOW!!!! John
> Kawakami@bigbang.Be (965)
> The essence of a portable computer is portability. Adding features like
> color monitor support seems extraneous. After all, how likely is it that
> one would carry the computer to an unoccupied (or occupied) SC1224 or
> SM124?
> A floppy is a thorny question. It's probably necessary because of market
> demands, but I'm sure many would do without.
The reason fo rht e external montior port is that at the price premuium
on pays for a notebook, it may just become your only machine. In that
case, it would be a benefit to be able to (ab)use all the software that
was out there, including games and other colour only software. If it had
an RF composite out, that would be o.k. too, but the monitor out would
be better, so a multisync could be hooked up. Look at the PC notebook
market. Most of them have 1.44 meg drives, 20-40meg hard drives, a VGA
port, a huge software and installed user base, and an expansion slot.
The atari would seem to have: no floppy drive, a 20 meg drive, no
monitor port, a very small software base and an even smaller user base.
The 512k ROM space is promising though. So is the PDS.
> Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.atari.st: 19-Mar-91 Re: WOW!!!! John
> Kawakami@bigbang.Be (965)
> If Atari wants to succeed, they will have to
> tap both the current Atari market and the PC market.
This is the case, not only for notebooks, but for all their machines,
Lately, however, they only seem to be going after that small portion of
the smaller atari market that even cares about buying a new machine, so
there sales fall and fall. And the possibility of carrying the notebook
to a colour monitor is great if you assume that most ST owners would
sell their current set up to afford the new machine. I use my TV with my
Stacy all the time. (by the way, it was very agravating that the STacy
does not have the STe motherboard, or RF interface. This was just pure
stupidity. Especially in light of the fact that not only does in to have
a battery, but the circuit board responsible for power control was
scrapped as well. Lets hope they do it right this time.) I still want
one, though!
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End of Info-Atari16 Digest
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