Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/0022-3.564/dmg-0125/303.txt

Text File | 1997-04-16 | 27KB | 663 lines

=========================================================================

Info-Atari16 Digest         Thu, 30 May 91       Volume 91 : Issue 303

Today's Topics:
                            'only_ste.lzh'
              Assistance selecting a hard drive, please.
                        assorted TT questions
                       Best ST serious Magazine
                          Green Goblin Virus
                      Large files MS-DOS <-> ST
                Last Uniterm (Was Re: ST User Virus!)
                        Lost connection again?
                      monitor for sale or trade
                             My stupidity
                      Protect6 - New version !!
                   Questions on Desktop/Environment
                       Rainbow TOS Bombs again
                             Sleeping GEM
   ST code or C source for uncompressing .hqx & .sit files: Wanted!
                            ST User Virus!
                       The inexorable STacy???

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 14:46:02 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!cwi.nl!piring.cwi.nl![e-mail] (Jan van der Steen)
Subject: 'only_ste.lzh'
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Jim Omura) writes:

>     I don't know what's going on here.  After receiving the 26
>uuencoded parts I tested the 'only_ste.lzh' file with 'fstlzh20'
>and it passed.  So I unpacked the files and it turns out to be
>'msa.prg' and 'only_ste.msa'.  Ok.  So I ran the 'msa' program
>and in theory I unpacked the disk.  It turns out that on that
>"huge" disk there were only a few files, none of which was all
>that big.  Is this some kind of joke?  I think I could repackage
>all the relevant files in a single LZH file of about 40K.

Since it's a pity if anyone with an STe would miss this
beautiful demo I'll explain in some more detail how to unpack it:

        1. Transfer only_ste.lzh to your system
        2. Unpack the archive using lharc

This will give you two files:

        a. only_ste.msa
        b. msa.prg

There is no documentation included for the msa.prg.

Now execute msa.prg and press the disk-->file button. It will
change to file-->disk. Insert an empty floppy in your disk drive
and press the F:\FILENAME.MSA button to select the only_ste.msa
file which you have unpacked previously.

Finally press the DOIT button and the msa file will be unpacked
to a full floppy disk image.

As Jim Omura mentioned a listing of the files on A:\ will only show
an auto folder and three or four other files.

At this stage do a soft reset (!).

After the intro screen has been build up hit space and while
a message and credits story will flow over your screen you can
select one out of two modes using arrow up or down.

The top mode (sorry, I forgot the exact name) is the music demo.
The bottom mode is a music sample editor (called Esion).

If you select the editor you'll return to the desktop and you can
execute the program esion.prg on A:\.


        Jan van der Steen


PS. Amazing sounds and user interface. Beautiful!
--
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
     Jan van der Steen                 [e-mail]
     Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI)
     Kruislaan 413, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 14:05:11 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!gecrd
 vm1![e-mail]
Subject: Assistance selecting a hard drive, please.
To: [e-mail]

With the imminent demise of my external B drive (likes to misread directories,
and goes into a long pause at access time most of time, successful or not),
I'm going to finally break down and purchase a hard drive.  I recently
bought a 1040 STe, and am running Rainbow TOS (1.6?).

Can anyone post/mail considerations on the various options available to me?
I can live with 20 meg, though 30 or 40 would be more appealing.  Cost
is important, and I'm suprised at the expense of most of the drives the latest
STart listed.  My friend was able to purhase a 105M drive for his Mac for
little more than most 30M Atari drives are listed.  Is there any way I can
take advantage of SCSI technology?  Any recommendations on inexpensive
yet trustworthy dealers to buy this from?  What are the software requirements
for formatting a hard drive and backing up a hard drive?  I assume that any
drive I purchase will include that software, but is there a standard (pd?)
application that I should/want to have?

I apologize for my naive and encompassing questions, and truly appreciate any
assistance I might receive.  If anyone's noticed me in this category lately,
they'll know that I started by asking if I should buy a Mega or a 1040.  The
responses to those questions directed me to buy a new 1040 STe and upgrade
the memory to 4M myself, at ****CONSIDERABLE**** savings.  I hate to be an
information leach, but you Netters really know what you're doing, and I surely
don't.

Many thanks in advance,

Phil Z

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 07:19:09 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!phigate!prle!prles2!cstw163![e-mail] (Frans
 Meulenbroeks)
Subject: assorted TT questions
To: [e-mail]

Hi,

I'm in the process of convincing myself to buy a TT, and I'm stuck with
the following questions:

As I'm told the TT does not have a 68882 on board, but does have
a socket for such a beast. Right?
What speed must this beast have, or can is the speed selectable?
the 68881 and 68882 are supposed to be compatible. I owe a 68881.
Can I use that one instead (assuming it is the right speed).

I'm a little puzzled by a previous posting about how memory is
implemented. Are there two different daugtherboards??
If I buy a 2 MB system is it then just a case to add sims if I want to
upgrade to 4 MB? If not, I think I'll prefer to buy a 4 MB system.
Is such a 4 MB system easily upgradable (e.g. by adding (or maybe
replacing) simms). From a previous posting I concluded that there is
a different daugther board if you go to 8MB. Is the ram on the
second daughter board faster than on the first one??

What speed is the ram actually. Do I get wait states when accessing the
memory? In any of the above cases??

Then there is the monitor.  Is it possible to use an ST monitor if the
screen is in an ST resolution??
I think the price on a TT monitor is on the high side. However, I'm
told that this is just a regular VGA monitor. Can I go out and buy a VGA
monitor and use it?
I assume I need a monitor with 640x480 resolution and 60 or 70 hz
refresh rate, and a D connector plug (forgotten the number of pins).
Do I need a color monitor, or can I also use a monochrome monitor.
Using a monochrome monitor would cut the price with $ 200 or $ 250, and
I do not really need color.

If someone could answer these questions that would be very appreciated.

Thanks!
--
Frans Meulenbroeks        ([e-mail])
        Centre for Software Technology

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 11:21:13 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!gos.ukc.ac.uk![e-mail] (L.H.Fuller)
Subject: Best ST serious Magazine
To: [e-mail]

>From: [e-mail]
>
>Can I further the request, and ask what Atari magazine readers of the net
>find most useful?  If possible, could someone post/send addresses for
>those magazines?

        I recommend ST Applications. After the demise of ST World, it evolved
from a PD newsletter, into a magazine. Even though STW is coming back, STA
has the edge as the best serious ST publication for the ST. (IMHO)

        The address is,
                        ST Club,
                        49 Stoney Street,
                        Nottingham,
                        NG1 1LX
                        England.
                        Tel: [phone]

        And subsciption costs are,
                        UK              15 pounds
                        Europe          18 pounds (Air Mail)
                        Worldwide       28 pounds (Air Mail)


Lee.

--

  Lee H Fuller, Computer Science Dept, Kent University, Canterbury, England,
           Small blue-green planet, Unfashionable end of the Galaxy.

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 15:12:06 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!gecrd
 vm1![e-mail]
Subject: Green Goblin Virus
To: [e-mail]

I've seen quite a number of references to viruses, and to a program called
VKILLER.  Is this a public domain program?  I've been downloading quite
a bit of software recently, and it scares me to think that something
corrupting may have come along with one of the files.  It's doubly scary
to hear that a disk included with ST User may have included a virus.

Any suggestions of precautions/checks I should routinely be taking to
avoid problems?  I've been having trouble with intermitent corrupted
3 1/2" directories, and this has me worrying.

Gosh, just what I need: a new way to be paranoid.

Thanks,

Phil Z

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 May 91 14:20:21 BST
From: Simon Partridge <[e-mail]>
Subject: Large files MS-DOS <-> ST
To: [e-mail]

  I notice a few people have been having problems moving large (e.g. MSA)
files from PC's to their ST's at home. The problem being that the files are
generally larger than a standard MS-DOS 3.5" disk (720K). I also had this
problem for a while but thought that their must be a way to increase the size
of an MS-DOS disk. So, I looked around a few MS-DOS ftp sites and came across
a nifty little formatter called FDFORMAT. This program formats disks on your
PC to just about any spec. that you want, typically 800K and up. I must admit
to only using these disks to get the files home to my ST tho' (it's easier by
far than chopping files onto seperate disks). If anyone can think of a good
place to put this program on atari.archive (and the demand is high enough) I'll
upload it.

  Bye for now, Simon.  [simonp%uk.ac.pcl.sun@ukacrl]

------------------------------

Date: 29 May 91 19:47:49 GMT
From: garfield![e-mail] (Carlos Borges)
Subject: Last Uniterm (Was Re: ST User Virus!)
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Graham S Thomas) writes:
>It looks like ST User is innocent this time.  (Innocent of this, at
>least.  On the cover disk is what they call - several times - the 'very
>latest version of UniTerm'.  The version is in fact 2.0c.  The last
>version that Simon Poole released is, I believe, 2.0e011.  2.0c is quite
>usable; if they didn't shout so much about the program being "hot from
>the programmer's fingertips" - with a 1987 copyright date??? - I
>wouldn't mind.)

I'm using version 2.0e011, and it has a 1986 copyright date.  So maybe
2.0c _IS_ a newer version.
--
C. Miguel Borges                     "The philosophers have only interpretted
St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada      the world in various ways;  the point
[e-mail]             is to change it."
[e-mail]                         - Karl Marx

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 14:46:13 GMT
From: HUACHUCA-EMH2.ARMY.MIL![e-mail] (Mark Rhyner)
Subject: Lost connection again?
To: [e-mail]

Can anyone tell me if the digest is still in operation?

Our Internet host was updated with new software from Unisys and that usually
means stuff is screwed up for awhile. :-<

If this gets out could someone reply to me, please?

Thanks
##############################################################################
# Mark Rhyner                                 #                              #
# USAISEC                                     #  All comments are mine and   #
# ASQB-OSE-PA                                 #  mine alone.  They are       #
# DSN: 879-7440  COMM: [phone]         #  not attributable to any     #
# EMAIL: [e-mail]       #  Government organization.    #
# or     [e-mail]   #                              #
##############################################################################

------------------------------

Date: 29 May 91 03:50:02 GMT
From: bbn.com!ulowell!woods.ulowell.edu![e-mail]
Subject: monitor for sale or trade
To: [e-mail]

For sale or trade: SC1224 color monitor.
will sell for $210 or best or trade for 40 mb or greater hard drive.
reply by mail if interested.  Thank you.

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 11:07:30 GMT
From: waikato.ac.nz!comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix![e-mail] (Alex
 Valdez)
Subject: My stupidity
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mark Lehmann) writes:

> I have a problem though.  The sozobon files have directory names that
> I want to keep.  If I use the novice "zoo -extract" command, all of the
> files are retrieved without pathname.  I looked at the man pages and
> tried the followin command:
>
>     zoo {x}[//] d:\term\download\sozobon1.zoo
>
> But zoo doesn't understand and just give me the usage line.  Would someone
> tell me the proper zoo command and flags needed to retrieve zoo files with
> their original pathnames.
>
> Thanks

>
> Mark Lehmann
> tamuts.tamu.edu!n160ao

Were you trying to run zoo from the desktop and do you have TOS 1.0?
The TOS 1.0 desktop converts all TTP parameters to uppercase. So,
instead of zoo seeing a -x option, it sees -X which it doesn't
understand. Try using a CLI (one that doesn't convert parameters to
--
================================Alex Valdez=============================
"Alas sais na naman, oras ng pagdidili-dili...
 Isaisip ang mabuti, ang masama'y iwaksi..."

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 15:09:44 GMT
From: IFI.UIO.NO![e-mail] (LarsErikOsterud)
Subject: Protect6 - New version !!
To: [e-mail]

Protect6 - The resident bootsector/linkvirus detect/kill program
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well... Uhhh.... Hmmm...

OK, so the first version of Protect6 didn't stop all the link-
viruses :-(   Because of some strange features in the GEMDOS
it is possible to WRITE data to a file that i OPENed as READ ONLY.
This should give an error from GEMDOS, but it doesn't.  Some link-
viruses opens the program file from READ ONLY and then use WRITE.
(does Atari Corp have a comment on why this is possible !!!????)
As the first version of Protect6 checked for OPENing of a program
file for READ & WRITE or WRITE ONLY these viruses get passed it.

Well, this new version of Protect6 (check your date) uses a
completly different way of checking things.  I also removed
the XBRA stuff.  Why?  Well, any virus could use the XBRA stuff
to un-hook Protect6 from the OS-vectors and disable Protect6 !

<newest version posted to comp.binaries, if you can't wait
 or if you don't recieve comp.binaries send me a message>

 Lars-Erik  /  ABK-BBS [phone]  /   ____ ______ ________________________
  Osterud  /  [e-mail]  /   /___    /            The norwegian ST
__________/ ______________________/   ____/   /   Klubben,  user association

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 08:27:36 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs![e-mail] (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: Questions on Desktop/Environment
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Claus Brod) writes:
>[e-mail] (Thorsten Zoerner) writes:
>>Is there any way to reckognize from out of an Accessory if the
>>aktual process is the Desktop (when receiving an acc_open) ?
>
>No legal way, unfortunately. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

OK :-)
BTW: Atari UK say this is 'OK' to talk about.

When an accessory is starting up it should get the address of the OS header
at $4F2. This usually points to the start of the ROM, wherever it is, but
AHDI might change it. Either way what it points to is, or should be,
consistant.

At $28 offset from the start of the structure $4f2 points to is a pointer to
the process ID of the current process. This is actually its basepage.

For an accessory that is starting up this will be the PID of the GEM Desktop
since accessories are not processes in the true sense, ie. they belong to the
AES and Desktop.

The accessory can save this PID and compare it to the current value when
the accessory is activated from the menu. If it's the same then we are on the
desktop. If not then we are in a program. Actually this is quite handy for
adding modules to an existing program.

Caveat:
This PID pointer does not exist in TOS 1.0. For that ROM version its value
is 0x602C execpt for the Spanish ROM where it is at 0x873C.
The TOS version is found at offset $2 from the start of the OS header and
the country is encoded at offset $1C but the lowest bit is screen freq.

eg.

; long *get_pid()
; Return PID pointer for any ROM version.
; (Note: Call this in Super mode for access to _sysbase)

SPA:            EQU     4               ; Spain country code

_sysbase:       EQU     $4F2

_get_pid::      MOVE.L  _sysbase,A0     ; A0 -> OS header
                CMP.W   #$0100,2(A0)    ; Is this the old TOS?
                BEQ.S   .old

                MOVE.L  $28(A0),D0      ; D0 = PID address in modern ROMs
                BRA.S   .done

old:            MOVE.W  $1C(A0),D0      ; D0 = Country and screen freq.
                LSR.W   #1,D0           ; D0 = Country code
                CMP.W   #SPA,D0         ; Is it Spain?
                BNE.S   .other

                MOVE.L  #$873C,D0       ; D0 = Spanish PID
                BRA.S   .done

other:          MOVE.L  #$602C,D0       ; D0 = Rest of the world PID

done:           RTS                     ; return(D0);

                END

Note the complete lack of XBRA usage in the above example! :-)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
!                                                                            !
! "I think all right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of   !
! being told that ordinary decent people are fed up in this country with     !
! being sick and tired. I'm certainly not and I'm sick and tired of being    !
! told that I am!" - Monty Python                                            !
!                                                                            !
! Neil Forsyth                       JANET:  [e-mail]                !
! Dept. of Computer Science          ARPA:   [e-mail]                !
! Heriot-Watt University             UUCP:   ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil         !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK                                                    !
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 14:50:51 GMT
From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!rpi!crdgw1!gecrdvm1![e-mail]
Subject: Rainbow TOS Bombs again
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
says:
>
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Fred
>Saavedra) says:
>>
>>I have recently installed the new? rainbow TOS in my mega2.
>>
>>*flameon*
>>It seems to run less software than the old version, which
>>is depressing since the my older 1040 which I sold for the Mega
>>ran the largest set of software.
>>
>>Well is it my imagination???
>>
>>
>
>I just bought a 1040 STe and upgraded the memory to 4 meg.  I've noticed that
>a lot of pd software others have suggested as great programs do not run or
>bomb my system.  Examples so far are CAL 5.0, which will not run, and MELT,
>which melts the screen then bombs the system.  Some of the software that I
>wrote with Personal Pascal long ago (I gave up writing for the machine about
>3 years ago) has some odd reactions on the STe that my old 1040 did not.
>
>I'm also interested in what the architectural differences are between an ST
>and
>an STe.
>
>Phil Z
>
>

I should follow up, as this isn't quite correct.  Actually, the offending
software was the MACCEL mouse accelerator that Dr. T shipped as pd with
KCS Omega.  I'll miss the speed, but it was corrupting all sorts of
software.  I can't tell you if it would have on old TOS as I only started
using it when I got my 1040STe (my old 1040 ST wouldn't read it's internal
drive, so I had no ACC's or AUTO things loaded).

CAL50 seems to run alright, although with other windowing software it seems
to have problems keeping the mouse pointer visible on the screen.

It's really hard to figure out who or what's causing a problem in the moving
target public domain software world...

Phil Z

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 13:48:47 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.e
 du!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewse![e-mail]
 (james.r.hofmann)
Subject: Sleeping GEM
To: [e-mail]

I have written a GEM application that launches a long running
application, writting text output to one window and graphs to
other windows. This works fine, except that - after running awhile -
the computer halts. It stays halted until the mouse is moved.
The mouse pointer is converted to a bee while the application is
running and back to a pointer when it re-enters the event_multi loop.
When the program locks up, the mouse pointer is still a bee. I am
running this on a Mega ST2, TOS 1.4, Viking Moniterm monitor.
Is this a known problem? Are there workarounds?

Any insight into this problem would be appreciated!

Jim Hofmann
AT&T Bell Laboratories
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 11:19:03 GMT
From: otter.hpl.hp.com!hpltoad!ghiggins![e-mail] (Graham Higgins)
Subject: ST code or C source for uncompressing .hqx & .sit files: Wanted!
To: [e-mail]

++ Does anybody know of any way I can uncompress these files on either my
++ ST or a unix system (before down loading) ?

Try looking for unix utilities on apple or sumex-aim ftp-accessible archives.
'Mcvert' is a Eunuchs-hosted .hqx converter (to .sit) and 'Unsit' unarchives
sit files.

Graham
======

------------------------------------------------------------------
Graham Higgins                  |  [e-mail]
Hewlett-Packard Labs            |  [e-mail]
Filton Road, Stoke Gifford      |  [e-mail]
Bristol, U.K.                   |  ...!mcvax!ukc!hplb!gjh
Tel: [phone] x24014         Fax: [phone]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions.
------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: 30 May 91 07:49:35 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs![e-mail] (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: ST User Virus!
To: [e-mail]

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Graham S Thomas) writes:
>It looks like ST User is innocent this time.

Yes. Mine's clean too.

>  (Innocent of this, at
>least.  On the cover disk is what they call - several times - the 'very
>latest version of UniTerm'.  The version is in fact 2.0c. ...

You'll also find an illegal (very!) copy of NEOchrome on there too.
About now you'll all be saying "Why does this guy keep going on about
NEOchrome?". Well the answer is I would like it to be PD officially but Atari
seem disinterested.

>Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK
>Email: [e-mail]   Phone: [phone]   Fax: .. 685865


+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
!                                                                            !
! Neil Forsyth                      JANET:  [e-mail]                 !
! Dept. of Computer Science         ARPA:   [e-mail]                 !
! Heriot-Watt University            UUCP:   ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil          !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK           "That was never 5 viruses!"              !
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

------------------------------

Date: 29 May 91 02:30:47 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!sdd.hp.com!think.com!linus!philabs!crpmks!wiz
 kid!admiral![e-mail] (Dave Litchman)
Subject: The inexorable STacy???
To: [e-mail]

[e-mail] ( EVENSONG) writes:

> I never see STacy's for sale on the net.  Is it that they are not sold
> that much, or that people are so happy with them that they never want to
> get rid of them?

1) STacy's are not all that widespread. Last I heard, they still only had
their FCC Classification B rating. Meaning that they can only be sold for
professional purposes.

2) STacy's only come out in the last year or so. There's nothing to
replace them yet (for die-hard Atarians, anyway) so there's no reason to
sell one if you have one.

3) STacy's are excellent laptop computers. If I had one, I wouldn't sell
it either!


[e-mail] (Dave Litchman)
The Grid/Magpie and /Waffle BBS
(HST/V32) 203-661-1279 (PEP/V32) -2873 (V32) -0450 (V29/MNP6) -2967
Multiplayer Games, Multicolor Chat, Multibbses, Multifun!

------------------------------

End of Info-Atari16 Digest
******************************