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*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" from STR Publishing """""""""""""" September 11, 1992 No.8.37 ========================================================================== STReport International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor ----------------------------------------- Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST Support BBS Network System * THE BOUNTY BBS * * TURBO BOARD BBS SYSTEM * FNET 350 ~ Fido 112:35 ~ TNET 100:2/0 904-786-4176 USR/HST 24hrs - 7 days 1200 - 19.2bps V.32 - 42 bis 16.8 Dual Standard FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST ----------------------------------------- FNET.. 18 ~ TNET 100:3/0: ///Turbo Board BBS Support...1-416-274-1225 FNET.. 75 ~ TNET 100:28/0 Bloom County BBS.............1-415-965-9347 FNET. 350 ~ TNET 100:2/0 The Bounty *<Home of STR>*...1-904-786-4176 FNET. 489 ~ TNET 100:22/0 Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981 FNET 1031 ~ TNET 100:1/0 <<< INTERNET - UK>>>.... 011-44-296-395-935 _____________________________________________________________________ > 09/11/92 STR 837 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!" """""""""""""""" - The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - PORTFOLIO NEWS - CIS FALCON CONF. - Hyperlink News - GEnie FALCON CONF. - FLASHDRIVE OFFER - FALCON DEV KIT - STORM _BIG_ NEWS - FALCON FCC OK - SPELLING SENTRY - STR Confidential -* ITS GLENDALE TIME! *- -* REHBOCK IMAGE ENHANCED *- -* FCC ASKS FOR TELCOM RATE HIKE INPUT! *- ========================================================================== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE The Original * Independent * Online Magazine -* FEATURING WEEKLY *- "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== STReport's BBS, The Bounty, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the Fido/TurboNet/Atari F-Net Mail Network. You may also call our BBS direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information relative to the Atari and other computers worldwide through the use of excellent International Messaging Networks. SysOps, worldwide, are quite welcome to join the STReport International Conferences. The Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All BBS systems are welcome and invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today! ========================================================================== CIS ~ GENIE ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ FNET ~ TNET EURONET ~ CIX ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ========================================================================== COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198 You will receive your complimentary time and be online in no time at all! WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (September 11) BILL REHBOCK CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT Many thanks to everyone who attended the Bill Rehbock conference! The transcript has been posted as file FALCO.TXT in LIBRARY 15 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) Check out files MESSEA.LZH and MESSEB.LZH in LIBRARY 4 of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for 256 color .GIFs from the 1992 Atari Messe in Duesseldorf. MESSE1.GIF & MESSE2.GIF are shots overlooking the main hall at the show after closing. MESSE3.GIF is one of the developer stands inside the main Atari area at the show. MESSE4.GIF of the .LZH is the Volcano/Pyramid that was part of the multimedia demonstration (the lighting, motors, music, etc. was all Atari Computer controlled). MESSE5.GIF is the Atari Store, featuring Atari Sportswear, handbags, etc. MESSE6.GIF is a shot of the Falcon stand during set-up. ADD PASSWORD PROTECTION TO YOUR FILES... Download CYPHER.LZH from LIBRARY 4 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for Cypher V3.01 By Patrick Mallows - a utility to Encrypt / Decrypt any file or program. Prevents snooping of files unless password is entered. Written in GFA with a "Frontend (tm)" interface. A Utility not to be missed. ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM ATARI Please see message # 33937 in the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for an announcement from Bill Rehbock concerning a FALCON030 offer and Fall Comdex registration information. FALCON030 VIDEO MODE DESCRIPTIONS John Townsend of Atari Corp. has put together a file that describes in detail the various video modes available on the FALCON030 computer. Be sure to download VIDMOD.TXT from LIBRARY 8 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) to read this comprehensive explanation. ATARI 8-BIT FORUM UPDATE CURRENT NOTES is looking for 8-bit articles. Now's your chance! See message #20444 in the Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8) for details. STReport is now available in ARC format, for those who've wanted to read it, but are unable to access LZH files. BRO STR*.ARC in LIBRARY 7 of the Atari 8-Bit Forum (GO ATARI8). THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM" """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" Surprisingly, the enthusiasm created by the announcement of the new Falcon by Atari hasn't approached anywhere near the levels of confidence, credibility and assurance developed by the two recent online conferences hosted by Bill Rehbock held on both Compuserve and Genie. Rehbock's ability to answer user's questions has indeed given the userbase, worldwide, a glimpse of a young professional quite capable of communicating with everyone and making sure they understood completely what he was saying. You'll notice when you read the conferences contained in this issue, that Rehbock is not the typical, ambiguous Atari online type giving answers in abstraction or no direct answer to a question at all. But instead he seems to go out of his way to _answer_ a user's question in minutia. Like most of us, you'll come away from reading the conference transcripts knowing a great deal more about the Falcon and _glad_ you read the material. Bill Rehbock has indeed, through his presence in the online conferences, given every indication that Atari may well have turned the corner and adopted a new attitude toward all its customers and supporters. In any case, Rehbock has proven, beyond a doubt, he is the very capable professional Atari should be proud to have on board. This weekend is the Glendale Show in California, if you have even the slightest inclination to attend... By all means, do so. It'll be a memorable Atari experience. STReport wishes all the success to the Glendale organizers and participants. Ralph @ STReport International Online Magazine THE STORM IS BREWING! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""" Publisher - Editor """""""""""""""""" Ralph F. Mariano PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Roger D. Stevens Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON STReport Staff Editors: """"""""""""""""""""""" Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson Michael Arthur Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando Steve Spivey Doyle C. Helms Contributing Correspondents: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Michael Lee Richard Covert John Deegan Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Harry Steele Ben Hamilton Neil Bradley Eric Jerue Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing James Nolan Vernon W. Smith Bruno Puglia Clemens Chin IMPORTANT NOTICE """""""""""""""" Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve.................... 70007,4454 Delphi........................ RMARIANO BIX........................... RMARIANO FIDONET....................... 112/35 FNET.......................... NODE 350 NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0 GEnie......................... ST-REPORT """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "There is no comparison! The Atari Falcon is far superior to the PC platform." Sam Tramiel, 08/92 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CIS Falcon Conference STR FOCUS! Atari's Bill Rehbock in Conference """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Welcome the CIS Electronic Convention Center... The Atari FALCON030 Online Conference is now beginning... Your moderator is Sysop, Ron Luks (Sysop Ron Luks) Welcome to tonight's online COnference... With special guest, Bill Rehbock, director of software development and head of FALCON development. Tonight's CO will be in a moderated format to get "in line " to ask a question just type /QUE. Now, without any further ado here's tonight's guest, Bill Rehbock. Okay, Bill, get on the hotseat. ga (Bill Rehbock) Thank you Ron. I am happy to be here on Compuserve tonight. Things have settled down since the Duesseldorf Atari Messe. The Atari Falcon030 has been well-received by the European press and production Developer pre-production machines have been replaced with production machines and application development is speeding up. I also have good news regarding Atari Falcon030 FCC testing. The Falcon has passed FCC Class B specifications and we are waiting only for paperwork certification. Richard Miller, our VP of R&D is here too and he and I will be happy to answer questions regarding the Atari Falcon030, MultiTOS, and FSMGDOS tonight. Fire away! :-) (Sysop Ron Luks) Folks-- lets try to restrict questions to FALCON, MultiTOS and FSMGDOS for the first hour. The CO will last approx. 90 minutes and in case you didn't see the announcement CIS is giving all Atari-users a 50% discount off normal rates for this CO. Now, first up... Moderator recognizes Pattie @ AIM (Pattie @ AIM) Bill, how is the schedule for Falcon's release going? Originally, there was word that fairly large numbers would be available in the fall. Is that still true or is the rumor that we will see only limited quantities till the new year true? ga (Bill Rehbock) Pattie, we are still on schedule and believe that the quantities will ramp up as the end of the year draws near. The initial quantities will continue to go to Europe until we have the FCC Certificate in our hands which should still be at the end of Oct.. I am still very optimistic about the production schedule. ga (Sysop Ron Luks) Bill-- give us an approx number. After you get FCC papers in hand. How many Falcons will ship to the USA? (this year) ga (Bill Rehbock) Ron, we are discussing quantities right now with the U.S. sales department. From the looks of it, I (in software development) am confident we will be able to satisfy the initial needs between October and Christmas. Moderator recognizes Alan Page (Alan Page) I have been using MultiTOS (as part of the beta test) for several months now on a MegaSTE. I find it very usable on that machine. I was quite disappointed to read conference transcripts stating that MultiTOS was not going to be available I have been using MultiTOS on a MEgaSTe for a while. It is quite good, so I was disappointed to hear that it would not be available for the 68000 machines. It would greatly enhance the market for MultiTOS-friendly software. WHat is the reason for this decision and is it cast in concrete? ga (Bill Rehbock) It is _definitely_ NOT cast in concrete. Many of the developers have found MultiTOS surprisingly useful even on 8MHz Stacys. The reasoning due to the large benefit of memory protection. (Alan Page) I urge you to consider making it generally available. (Bill Rehbock) I understand. Thanks ga Moderator recognizes Chris Dammers (Chris Dammers) Okay, will MultiTOS be compatible with all existing software, to your knowledge? And will there be any major advertising in Europe? ga (Bill Rehbock) Chris, MultiTOS is extremely compatible with existing GEM Applications. It is even friendly with TOS and TTP apps by opening TTY windows for them to run in automatically. The I do expect the European Business Units to promote the Falcon heavily, both through PR and marketing. ga Moderator recognizes Beth Jane Freeman (Beth Jane Freeman) Can you use peripherals from the ST, like the monitor, external ICD HD & floppy with the falcon 030? I like the idea of the 1.44 drive for drive A. It's much better than a minimum 360k or even a 720k. Good idea!! Sorry, I uploaded my question from the capture buffer, so it would be neatly typed. ga (Bill Rehbock) The Atari Falcon030 will accept any of the following monitors: SM124 (or equivalent), SC1224/1435 (or equivalent), or any VGA monitor. You can also connect TV. Hard drives are a little trickier. We removed the ACSI DMA connector in favor of SCSI II, which is much more reliable and the up-to-date standard. You can connect most old hard drives by bypassing the host. There are several 3rd party developer working on SCSI II to ACSI adapters to allow direct connection of SLM Laser Printers and unmodified HDs. We removed the ACSI DMA connector in favor of SCSI II, which is much more reliable and the up-to-date standard. You can connect most old hard drives by bypassing the host. I keep getting told by CIS that I am speaking too quickly :-) You can connect most old hard drives by bypassing the host adapter, which any dealer should easily be able to do for you. ga :-) Moderator recognizes Sam Rapp (Sam Rapp) Will it take a can opener to get in the Falcon (metal shields, Tabs, lots of screws) Or is it easy access? How'd you guys get it through, no.. Let me restate that. Is the Falcon030 easy access, or do you have to take out 800 screws and bend 400 tabs and light a few sticks of dynamite to get to the processor slot, memory stuff, and Hard drive? Also, how'd you get through FCC so quick? Thanks. GA (Bill Rehbock) As a past dealer/VAR, I can empathize with the can opener thing. The shielding has been completely redesigned so that all that is needed is a #1 & #2 Phillips screwdriver. The shielding is easily removed to allow addition of larger HDs, memory boards, or expansion boards. The first pre-production machines went through FCC testing as a "dry run" to find exactly where the quirks would be. The production rev motherboards were engineered and sent to FCC as the first units came off the line. You can tell that we've become very intense on the FCC thing. ga Moderator recognizes Pattie @ AIM (Pattie @ AIM) I understand that you might not be able to tell us every detail, but what are Atari's plans to market the Falcon, especially those plans geared to bringing in New Users? ga (Bill Rehbock) Step 1... Take good care of existing users. Step 2... Promote the product through PR and specific market area advertising in conjunction with dealers to make it easy for existing users to evangelize Falcon030 to their friends. We need to get the word out so that people have heard about the machine _before_ going into an Atari dealer or seeing one at a friend's house. ga Moderator recognizes Chris Dammers @ STF (Chris Dammers @ STF) Seeing as the specs of the Falcon seem Formidable. Have you any plans to do more arcade conversions as well as Steel Talons? If so, could you give us their details, as well as Steel Talons'? ga (Bill Rehbock) We are working with many of the entertainment houses, the bulk of which do their 68000 (Atari, Mac, and Amiga) development in Europe. I believe that we will see many strong titles being developed quickly. (Produced both by Atari and 3rd parties.) ga Moderator recognizes mERCURY mAX (mERCURY mAX) Are a/d and d/a converters;if so what are I read that the Falcon has 8 track hard disk recording. ga (Bill Rehbock) The Falcon030 has built-in 16-bit ADC's and DAC's that will allow sampling at rates up to 50KHz. We plan to have a very simple-to-use Stereo direct-to-disk recording and edit system shipping with the machines. To do full 8 track (4 Stereo) recording and editing, you do have to add and external box (several are in the works by 3rd parties) with the additional DACs/ADCs in it. This box would also have the crystal necessary to do sampling at 44.1 and 48 KHz sampling rates. ga Moderator recognizes Bill Aycock (Bill Aycock) Will Falcon TOS and/or MultiTOS allow a NEWDESK.INF file to be larger than 8192 bytes? I could only customize my STe halfway because I exceeded the size limit! Also, will the Falcon have a fan built-in? :-) ga (Bill Rehbock) Yes, with the Hard Drive, DSP, and RAM, a small internal fan was necessary. The Limit on NEWDESK.INF has been lifted as of MultiTOS. ga (#8,Bill Aycock) (Good news on the fan, long as it's quiet! hehe) (Sysop Ron Luks) Bill--before we go on to the next question. Could you please describe the difference between Falcon TOS, MultiTOS and tell us what will ship with the first batch of Falcons? ga (difference between Falcon TOS and TOS 2.06 I mean) (Bill Rehbock) "Falcon TOS" has already shipped with the fist batch of Falcons. It has support for all of the DSP, Sound DMA, and other new Falcon hardware, as well as O/S support for hierarchal (sp?) menus, pop-up menus, 3D Window and Dialog objects, and full-color animated icons. MultiTOS adds all of the pre-emptive multitasking features on top of that, as well as extended interprocess communication and loadable file systems. The VDI in "Falcon TOS" has the necessary support for the new video modes, including overlay. ga Moderator recognizes Alan Page (Alan Page) If I have a video camera, what sort of hardware do I need to do video overlay (with genlock) on the Falcon. e.g. video titling. Is it plug and play right out of the box, or do I have to wait for the usual 3rd party developers? Seems you are relying an awful lot on 3rd party and external hardware. Also, can it overlay both RGB and composite video? (#25,Bill Rehbock) I would say that we are trying to leave the market open for 3rd party development. The box for doing overlay and genlock is relatively simple. It needs to extract the external sync from your external video source, inject it into the external sync input on the 19-pin video connector, and output either Falcon video or external video, depending on the state of the overlay pin on the connector. It can overlay RGB or composite. ga Moderator recognizes Sam Rapp (Sam Rapp) Ok, a few more questions; 1: Can video modes be switched without rebooting? (can I have a 'base' boot resolution and let the software pick it's own modes?) 2: Can you elaborate on Animated' Icons? 3: What other software will ship with Falcon (basic)? 4: How can I get system docs on the Falcon without spending major bucks to register as a developer? Thanks! GA (Bill Rehbock) Software can make a new set resolution call that will put the machine in the requested video mode. The AES will be unavailable in this mode, but the application will have full VDI support. This is primarily for games and paint and animation packages that will want to run their interface in the current user-chosen res, but be able to render or output in say, 384x480 overscanned truecolor with overlay. The preview could be displayed in a 16-color desktop window, but the application would do a wind_update and go to the desired mode for final output. It would return to the user's mode afterward and release wind_update. This works with MultiTOS very well. Color Icons allow multiple color resolution icons to be carried in a resource file in both non-selected and selected states. When you select an icon, it will flip to the other image, giving an animated effect. Calappt, a Personal Information Manager that has the ability to import and export delimited file formats as well as Portfolio databases will ship with F030. Procalc, which many of you may be familiar with, as well as a True-Color Breakout with digitized sound and a game called Landmines. The real neat stuff is the System Audio Manager, which allows you to record your own sounds to replace any or all keyclicks, or accompany the various AES events, such as window openings & closings, the file selector, etc.. There is also the Direct-to-disk recorder that I previously mentioned. We are also shipping a Talking Clock with the machine. BTW, the external hardware issues have been dictated primarily by the potential quality required by a set of users. (95% of users are not going to need 8 DACs/ADCs) and the quality requirements for the Video will vary greatly between consumers and professionals. ga Moderator recognizes Bill Aycock (Bill Aycock) Sorry, I changed numbers and didn't have a question in mind. But, will the Atari HD utilities ship with Falcons that don't include a hard disk? ga (Bill Rehbock) Bill, I think they'll be included in the box (I am not sure) but they have always been posted online and available to dealers. Because of the external SCSI situation, we will make sure that the utilities are readily available. thanks! ga Moderator recognizes George C. (#5,George C.) Just a quickie: Will MultiTos ship with the first batch of Falcons to the US? (#25,Bill Rehbock) Yes, it should. ...with the exception of developer units which will ship between now and October. MultiTOS will be softloaded for them. (Sysop Ron Luks) Okay. Thanks to Bill Rehbock and everyone who showed up to this CO. I apologize for the sluggish system response. However, if we can twist Bill's arm to return again later this fall, I promise a faster system. Thanks all. The CO is officially ended. The conference has ended .....Thank you for attending _________________________________________________________________ > STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date... """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM """"""""""""""""""""""""" On CompuServe! by Judith Hamner 72257,271 In response to a "wish list" item, BJ Gleason has created a little program to remove the spaces from the end of a file. Ending a file with spaces can cause the Port to lock up under certain circumstances. SPFX.COM will remove the danger. There were some interesting announcements made in the forum this week. Mark Reeves announced a new product, Flash Ram Cards for the Port. See FLSHPR.PRC for information and special introductory prices on 1, 2, and 4 meg cards. FLRMCD.TXT contains the text of the press release on this exciting development. Flash cards can be read and written to by the Port or the PC Card drive. They do not require batteries and can be erased in blocks with special software which is included. Dan Shearer of BSE announces a special price offer for FlashDrives. The FlashDrive is a portable, external hard drive that works through the parallel port. See FLASH.TXT for details. The Flashdrive should not be confused with flash memory cards. BJ Gleason has created a handy alphabetical list of all files in the Portfolio Forum. The list is available in plain text or zipped format. See FILES.TXT and FILES.ZIP. Now that there are over 800 files in the forum an alphabetical list will be very useful. L.H. Mann has uploaded SHDAY.ZIP. This is a little program to show the day of the week for any date in history. The julian date is also displayed. _________________________________________________________________ > WAACE'92 STR SHOW NEWS The PREMIER East Coast Show! """""""""""""""""""""" WAACE'92 - THE PREMIER EAST COAST SHOW ====================================== The following is a list of vendors who have confirmed their being in attendance at the Fall 1992 Edition of the WAACE AtariFest. If you are a vendor and do not see your organization's name here, please contact the WAACE Vendor Coordinator, Ken Fassler or Betty at (301) 229-1886 and find out why!!! __________________________________________________________________ L I S T of A T A R I F E S T '92 V E N D O R S (as of 09/01) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Joppa Computer Products eSTeem Rising Star Computers Gribnif Missionware Software MegaType Unicorn Pub.(A.I.M.) Codehead Mars Merchandising SKWare One Taylor Ridge Books Compuserve D M C Publishing Maxwell CPU Barefoot Software ST Informer Debonair Software Accusoft ST A B C Solutions Fair Dinkum Compucellar West Baggettaware Gadgets by Small D.A.Brumleve Oregon Research Current Notes Dragon Software Clear Thinking Computer Studio Toad Computers FAST Technology J M G Software STep Ahead Software The final planning surge by the WAACE board is in full gear. The board will be meeting weekly to address remaining issues and put the final polish on the Fest. Banquet: -------- Banquet is in final planning stages. The Banquet Coordinator is working to finalize the menu and price. WAACE is still looking for a Banquet speaker, if you are interested then contact Russ Brown at GEnie R.Brown127 or call (703) 803-6126. Additional Banquet details will be announced soon... Seminars: --------- The Seminar schedule is presented below. If you want to do a seminar and haven't told us yet then do so now!! Program: -------- Please provide all input to the program as soon as possible. We will need to go to the printers soon. Hotel: ------ Hotel rooms are going fast. We now have 175 of the 400 room nights sold. Remember, the AtariFest block of rooms are only on hold until 25 September, after that the unused rooms will be released to the general public. Don't wait, if you think you might want a room then reserve it now!!! Call the hotel at 1-800-392-7666. Volunteers: ----------- A limited number of volunteer positions are available. If you or your group would like to volunteer to work at the Fest, then let Russ Brown know (703-803-6126) or R.Brown127 on GEnie. If WAACE has a position for you then you will get a free admission ticket. Remember, you must be on the OFFICIAL WAACE Fest workers list to get a free ticket!! See you all at the Fest!!! AtariFest 92' MIDIfest News Release ----------------------------------- One of the most anticipated events at the fest will be the MIDI room, where many in depth demonstrations of the latest and most advanced software and hardware applications available for any computer platform will be on display. There will be live performances by several well known MIDI artists including: Jeff Naideau (Keyboardist of Quiet Riot and Wang Chung), Rupert Chappelle (techno-synth legend), and Philip Chika (noted filmscore composer) to name but a few. This will be an excellent opportunity to see an in-depth demonstration of the long awaited debut of Cubase 3.0, as well as all the latest from Hybrid Arts(Gen Edit, Simpte track Gold) and many others. This event should not be missed by anyone who considers themselves a serious MIDI musician or anyone considering taking the MIDI plunge. WAACE Seminar Schedule - Ver 1.0 8 September 1992 This schedule is SUBJECT TO CHANGE Saturday 11 October 1992 ------------------------ 1100 - Open 1200 - Joppa Software Dev - Tele-Media on the Atari Platform 1300 - Computer STudio - DynaCADD 1400 - Wizztronics - Compatibility Plus 2 and Cartridge port extender 1500 - DMC Software - Mario Georgiou on Calamus SL 1600 - The Online Experience - Sysops from the major services 1700 - STReport International Online Magazine - Today's Userbase Sunday 12 October 1992 ----------------------- 1100 - Computer STudio - MIDI with Cubase 1200 - Open 1300 - Getting the Most from Your Modem - Telecomm Software Overview Panel 1400 - Open 1500 - Meet the Atari Press Developers and other interested parties who want to participate in the panel discussions or offer a seminar of their own are hereby asked to contact the WAACE Seminar Coordinator: GEMail J.D.BARNES CIS John Barnes 7303,2307 Delphi JDBARNES Internet johnbarnes@enh.nist.gov _________________________________________________________________ > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando From The Atari Productivity Forum ================================= One of the hot topics on CompuServe this week is PowerDos, the hot new program from Dragonware that is supposed to speed up many functions. As with any new "replacement" software, there are questions about what will run as it did before and what won't. Sysop Keith Joins posts: "I had a problem trying to use PowerDOS with CodeHead's ram disk. I just got my update of the Utilities disk a short time ago and haven't installed the latest version of CODE_RAM. Maybe that will work OK. The version I am using causes a cold boot if it is installed." Jim Ness, who installed PowerDos on his system before most of us had ever heard of it, asks Keith: "Did you try changing the order of loading CODERAM and PowerDOS? One of PowerDOS' configuration variables changes the location of the end of memory, to prevent applications from stealing all ram. Their network needs some upper end space itself. Since CODERAM loads into the top of ram, it may have to load before PowerDOS. If CODERAM steals the GEMDOS vector, and uses the XBRA method of handing the vector back, it would mean that CODERAM would continue to use the TOS GEMDOS routines, while other drives would use the PowerDOS routines. That would be kind of weird. Or, maybe to use CODERAM you have to disable the variable in PowerDOS that sets some upper ram aside." Keith replies and adds an interesting bit of info: "I tried loading CODE_RAM first and it seems to work Ok that way. When PowerDOS loads it gives me a message about another program having run first and to change my AUTO folder, but it loads OK. I verified this by trying out the Pmonitor ACC. It worked but once running it, I couldn't get out of it. The mouse would move OK but a click wasn't recognized nor was a CR." Boris Molodyi joins in and asks: "Did you try to click and hold mouse button over EXIT button? PMonitor's response time seems to be quite slow." Keith answers Boris: "Yes, I did. I also tried a RETURN a number of times and that didn't work either." Boris tells Keith: "Hmm, strange. Return does not work, but keeping button pressed over EXIT always works for me..." Boris tells Jim Ness: "Yes, PowerDOS looks interesting, but... any ideas _what_ (except MEM_SNAP.TTP) does it multitask. I tried it with ConNect, which is said to be MiNT and MultiTOS compatible, and all I could do was crash the system :-)" Jim Ness responds: "I would guess that you have to multitask only .TOS and .TTP programs, nothing that has GEM features. You have to list these in the configure file, to be loaded when PowerDOS loads. Dragonware has mentioned that you can run the MiNT/MultiTOS package as one of these tasks, which will then give you the advantages of both items." Jim Ness posts: "I just ran an entire group of NBM tests against PowerDOS. NBM does not test any BIOS character I/O. But, in math, memory, floppy drive and graphics, PowerDOS imposes less than a 1% burden on the machine. In hard disk tests, PowerDOS provides a 261% (!) improvement on TOS 1.0 and 1.2 machines, and a 179% improvement on TOS 1.4 and above. Maybe I'll run Quick Index, for some BIOS timings..." Now I don't know about anybody else, but a 79 percent increase in hard drive performance is something I want to check out. Elsewhere in the forum, the new terminal program, STORM, is causing just as much interest as PowerDos. Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Magazine asks Ron Luks: "Does it have the look of FLASH? Can you change fonts? (I guess using Warp 9 that should already be possible). Can it display GIF pictures 87 and 89? Can it display anything other pic types (ie degas, neo, etc)? Does it have a special way to handle archives (LZH, ARC, ZIP, etc) from within the program? Can all the protocols be used in background transfers? Does it have a speed rating when downloading or uploading a file? Does it have on-line help?" Ron replies: "It has different fonts, but I don't know what is hard coded into the program yet, and what is variable. The program is not yet finished, so I cant answer most of your questions yet. Sorry, (really)" Albert Dayes says: "I remember reading in the press release that it is not due till after December 7, 1992." Alan Page, the author of STORM, tells us: "Storm is completely different from Flash. It's also completely redesigned. As much as possible I made it modular and internally multitasking. The terminal emulations and file transfers are loadable modules. Right now I have CompuServe Vidtex (which is a whole lot like VT52) and TTY. Current file transfer modules are X/Ymodem and CIS BPlus with resumable downloads. The editor is in a resizable movable window with FULL word wrap. e.g. delete and backspace will activate wordwrap. No more hitting the F10 key to reformat. You can have as many editing windows as GEM will let you (with MultiTOS, the number of windows seems to be limited only by memory). The capture buffer is an editor window, but with the special property that text gets added to the end of it from the serial port. You can create a new capture buffer and turn the old one into a regular edit window. You can edit a file at the same time text is being captured. File transfers run in the background. Not full background/reset-proof like Shadow, but better than STalker which stops when you enter the menu bar. Command language is a full Basic interpreter. It also multitasks with the rest of the program. So you can run Basic, edit files, do file transfers, all at the same time. Basic has re-entrant execution. So if you define a function key to execute a Basic command, it stops the current Basic program, creates a new Basic interpreter (less than 1K overhead), runs the function key macro, then the current Basic program restarts. Same thing for the dial directory autologon. Basic (and the rest of the program) allocate memory sparingly and release memory back to the system. The program is completely MultiTOS compatible and in fact run 90% of the time in MultiTOS. Storm also supports the Atari clipboard for cut and paste. I use a custom font and driver for extra speed. However, it doesn't cheat with GEM and works on TT and should work on other programs. It's 12 pixels high with monochrome so you get 24 lines in a window with room for a typeahead." Albert Dayes asks some good questions: "Within the Window does STORM give you 80 columns? In some other windowing software one gets less than 80 columns due to the scroll bars etc? Also is there a 132 column mode? Since everything is loadable one should be able to create almost any type of emulation. Will there be a special developer kit for this or will it be included in the program?" Alan Page answers: "You get 80 columns in the terminal window. There is not as yet 132 columns. I will probably have 132 columns, but you would have to scroll unless you have a machine with higher resolution graphics. I will release source code for the loadable emulations at some point. I will probably not have documented it enough to release it at the time we ship Storm because getting the program out is the #1 priority." Hal Dougherty asks Alan Page: "Didn't you write the original Flash?" Alan answers: "Yes I wrote the original Flash. However, Antic Publishing owned the trademark. Apparently, before they went bust they sold the trademark (even though they owed me $$). Storm is a completely new program. Not a line of code from the original Flash is in it." From The Atari Arts Forum ========================= The recent conference "starring" Atari's own Bill Rehbock, generated a lot of message traffic. Albert Dayes, that busy guy from Atari Explorer Magazine says: "It was a very good conference. I'm glad CIS conference was last since we already had the answers to many general questions and now can get the specifics on how it all works." Sysop Ron Luks tells us: "I'm glad to hear people liked the COnference last night, and I thought Bill Rehbock's answers were just great. He's really my all time favorite CO guest. His answers are always informative (and he types real fast. [grin]) I will tell you that I was not too thrilled with the system response from CompuServe's end. It turns out that the Convention Center software was sharing an already overloaded host system, so the response time was clearly sub-par. Bill has already agreed to come back later this fall (probably late October) and I've promised him that we will do better on our end." Albert tells Ron: "I guess it was nicer in that it just wasn't specs being thrown out but it was more concrete solutions to problems. I know that many questions about the FALCON that are being asked in the Atari forums were answered. The video and genlock questions in particular ... who would believe that I can have a simple direct to disk digital recording system at better than professional quality for $800, plus run all my ST software with VGA graphics, animated icons and it multi-tasks. It has also been a while since I have seen all of the Atari employees so excited about an Atari computer. After this conference it is easy to understand why!! To get an IBM PC up to the MPC (multi-media standard) is well over $800 for a good sound board. And for the same price I can have a complete multi-media workstation that does it all." Ron Luks replies to Albert: "While I agree with you about the wonderful capabilities of the new machine, I don't think you should talk in terms of $800. Remember-- thats for the base machine, no HD, and with only 1 Mb of RAM. I just don't see that as a practical configuration for anyone. I would think that 4MB of Ram is the minimum and that most people will try to opt for the max of 14Mb. Similarly, just how effective will direct-to-disk recording be if the user has no HD or a small 60Mb HD? The Falcon sounds great to me too, but I don't think we are helping the cause by talking about $800 units. This configuration sounds to me like the proposed 260ST (256k ST). It just wont fly." James D. Port posts: "Good points on the $800 issue. It should be noted that at 44.1K sampling rate, stereo direct-to-disk recording burns up disk space at a rate of 11Mbytes a minute." Ron Luks tells us: "I've invited Bill Rehbock and Sam Tramiel to come online in CO again at the end of October/beginning of November just before COMDEX. I *will* insist CIS set us up for better performance next time." From The Atari Vendors Forum ============================ Matt Koundakjian asks: "Is it possible to have as a "program of the week" kind of thing, a AUTO folder utility that loads a new system font, such as a 2050 byte .FNT file (Degas font, I think)?" Mike from Double Click Software tells Matt: "Good idea Matt, but you're almost a year late on the program of the week. :-) Still, the idea may be used be some other ambitious programmer out there. Thanks for the idea, tho, you never know!" While he's on the subject, Matt tells Mike: "I really didn't ever understand the whole idea of program of the week, but I sure did appreciate the programs that were written! I have a few in my auto folder, I think." On the subject of postscript printing with Spectre GCR, the Mac emulator from Gadgets by Small, Mitch Wagner tells Mark at Gadgets by Small: "Here's a report on my further attempts to print to my NEC postscript printer from my TT/Spectre GCR. I replaced my serial cable with a null modem cable and the printer now responds to a print command. The LCD gives me a series of "Processing" and "Waiting" messages just like it should, but no paper ever comes out. I used a system 6 laserwriter driver modified with the installer script you uploaded. If I print to a postscript file using the system 7 laserwriter driver and transvert the file to the Atari side, I can usually print it, no problem. Of course, in that method I can't use any downloadable fonts. Is there anyway you could upload the installer script for modifying a Laserwriter 7.0 driver? Didn't you say the whole file was ~900 K? I would take the time (and expense) of downloading the whole thing, but I think all I need is the script." George Richardson of Merlin Group asks Mitch: "Are you downloading the Apple Postscript dictionary to your printer before you try printing? My understanding is that you must use a terminal program to do this before you can print." Mark at Gadgets by Small posts: "George is correct. The file that does this is called TTPRINT and is included in the DMMHLP file I will be uploading. BTW, the DMMHLP file is a Compactor file (ie, DMMHLP.CPT) and needs to be downloaded in MAC mode. Also, don't worry...the TTPRINT program runs on regular STs as well." After trying out the new file, Mitch posts: "!!!EUREKA!!! [fireworks going off in the background] It works! I thank you and my printer thanks you. I'm a happy boy." Well folks, I've gone _WAY_ over the space I'm allowed, but I thought all of these big happenings warranted it. Tune in again next week to hear what they are saying when... People Are Talking *********************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= STReport International Online Magazine is available every week in the ST Advantage on DELPHI. STReport readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of Atari enthusiasts there. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN -- DELPHI -------------- Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002 then... When connected, press RETURN once or twice and... At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's Basic Plan offers access for only $6.00 per hour, for any baud rate. The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online. If you spend more than 200 minutes online a month, you'll save money by enrolling in DELPHI's optional 20/20 Advantage Plan. You'll enjoy up to 20 hours online each month for the ridiculously low price of just $20.00! And if you go over that 20 hours, the rate goes up to only $1.20, still 1/5th the price of other services. There is no signup fee for joining the Basic Plan. There is a fee of $39 when you join the 20/20 Advantage Plan, a one-time $19 signup fee and your first month's $20 fee. These connect rates apply for access via Tymnet or SprintNet (within the continental United States) during home time (7 p.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays and all day weekends) or via direct dial around the clock. Telecom surcharges apply for daytime or international access via Tymnet or SprintNet. See Using DELPHI online for detailed information on telecom surcharges. For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005 DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. :IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: DELPHI INTRODUCES THE 10/4 PLAN. Effective July 1, 1992, all Basic Plan members will be upgraded to the 10/4 Plan and receive 4 hours of usage each month for only $10! For full details, type GO USING RATES. SprintNet home time to begin at 6:00 p.m.! Effective July 1, 1992, you may access DELPHI via SprintNet beginning at 6:00 p.m. local time without incurring a telecom surcharge. To find the SprintNet node nearest you, type GO USING ACCESS. Try DELPHI for $1 an hour! For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only $5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan, where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum $10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry, this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET> again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll officially be a member of DELPHI! DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! *********************************************************************** > SPELLING SENTRY STR InfoFile "... a desk accessory.." """""""""""""""""""""""""""" SPELLING SENTRY =============== Wintertree Software Inc. Is proud to announce the release of a new product for Atari ST/TT computers: Spelling Sentry -- a desk accessory that adds a spell-checking capability to virtually any other GEM program. Spelling Sentry can check spelling in various ways, as described in the following paragraphs. It can also expand abbreviations. Since Spelling Sentry is a desk accessory, it's instantly accessible from your favorite word processor, text editor, communications program, or DTP application. A key feature of Spelling Sentry is its ability to detect spelling errors in real time while you type using other programs, such as word processors. If you type a word containing a spelling error, Spelling Sentry sounds a tone and flashes the screen. Then, with a single mouse-click, you can select the correct spelling from one of the alternatives which Spelling Sentry suggests. Spelling Sentry will automatically replace the misspelled word with the correct one. Spelling Sentry can also check ASCII files and word-processor documents. Since Spelling Sentry runs as a desk accessory, you can save a file from a text editor or word processor, then invoke Spelling Sentry's check-file feature to look for spelling errors. Spelling Sentry can correct misspelled words in the file interactively. When it finds a misspelled word, Spelling Sentry presents a set of alternative spellings. You can select the correct spelling using the keyboard or mouse, and Spelling Sentry will correct the word in the file. Spelling Sentry can even correct subsequent occurrences of the misspelled word. A feature of interest to many Atari users is Spelling Sentry's ability to check the contents of the clipboard. The clipboard is a mechanism used to pass information between GEM programs and desk accessories. To use Spelling Sentry's check-clipboard feature, you copy a block of text into the clipboard from your word processor or text editor. Next, click on Spelling Sentry's "Check Clipboard" button. Again, Spelling Sentry presents a dialog showing alternative spellings when it detects a misspelled word. Select the correct spelling from the list of alternatives shown in the dialog. Spelling Sentry corrects the word in the clipboard -- and optionally further occurrences of the error -- automatically. You can then paste the corrected text in the clipboard back into your word processor or text editor. Many people can correctly spell most of the words they use, but still get stuck on the occasional word. With Spelling Sentry's check-word feature, you can check the spelling of a single word. Spelling Sentry will let you know if the word is spelled correctly. If not, it shows you a list of alternative spellings, from which you can pick the correct one. Besides being a spelling checker, Spelling Sentry can also expand abbreviations while you type. For example, when you type your initials, Spelling Sentry can replace them with your full name. You can teach Spelling Sentry abbreviations for words and phrases you use frequently, such as your return address, telephone number, "boilerplate" text in business correspondence, and BBS aliases and commands. Programmers can define abbreviations for language constructs and function calls. Spelling Sentry's abbreviation feature also works when you check disk files and the clipboard. Spelling Sentry can include parts of the date and time when it expands an abbreviation. The parts include: * The year, with or without the century * The month number (01 to 12) and name (January to December) * The day of the month (01 to 31) and of the week (Sunday to Saturday) * The hour in 12-hour (00 to 12) or 24-hour (00 to 23) form * The minute and second * "a.m." or "p.m." Using this feature, you can easily create abbreviations which include the current date and time in any format you prefer: Monday, May 11, 1992 05/11/92 10 o'clock p.m. 10:32 p.m. Creation date: 11-May-92 22:32:15 92/05/11 (Monday) Adding or changing abbreviations is easy with Spelling Sentry's GEM interface. Spelling Sentry uses a window-in-a-dialog approach, showing nine abbreviations at a time. You can scroll the window contents using a standard scroll bar. New abbreviations can be added by clicking on an "Add" button, and existing ones can be removed or changed by selecting them with the mouse. You can even open different abbreviation files, so you can have several sets of abbreviations for different purposes. For a spelling checker to be useful, it must have a large dictionary so it doesn't mistakenly report unknown words as misspelled. Spelling Sentry uses two dictionaries. The main dictionary contains over 100,000 words, including contractions, many proper names, and words spelled according to both American and British rules. The main dictionary is organized in segments that can be loaded from disk to memory as needed. This makes Spelling Sentry adaptable to the capabilities of your system. If your computer has a modest memory capacity, Spelling Sentry will keep most of its main dictionary on disk, loading segments as it needs them. If you have 380K of spare memory, Spelling Sentry will load the entire main dictionary into memory, either all at once or segment-by-segment, for maximum speed. The user dictionary holds words you use that aren't in the main dictionary. Such words may include your last name, street names, city name, business's name, and so on. The user dictionary is accessed very quickly, and never needs indexing or reformatting. Words in the user dictionary can be edited using the same window-in-a-dialog approach used for updating abbreviations. An important feature of any spelling checker is its ability to "guess" the correct spelling from a misspelled word. Spelling Sentry is outstanding in this area, matching the misspelled word against words in the dictionary using several sophisticated lexical rules. Spelling Sentry even orders its suggestions so the first word appearing in the list of suggestions is the one most likely to be the correct replacement. Spelling Sentry was designed to work on the entire line of Atari ST-compatible computers, from the 520ST with 512K of memory to the TT030 with 4Mb+. The only special requirement for Spelling Sentry is a double-sided disk drive. Spelling Sentry runs in a GEM window, so you can park it on the screen where it's out of the way yet still accessible. Spelling Sentry remembers its window position, so you don't have to position it manually each time you reboot. The 40-page illustrated user's guide that comes with Spelling Sentry was written with the user in mind. It contains patient, step-by-step instructions for installing, configuring, and using Spelling Sentry. In a departure from most user's manuals, which are organized by program functions such as menu entries or dialog boxes, the Spelling Sentry user's guide is organized by procedure. If you want to know how to add a new abbreviation, just read the instructions in the section called "How to add your own abbreviations." If you want to know how to check the contents of the GEM clipboard, see the "How to check the clipboard" section. Each section heading is listed in the table of contents for fast access. The Spelling Sentry package also includes an anagram solver and a word-guessing game based on "Hangman." The anagram solver determines which words can be derived from different arrangements of a string of letters, and is useful for solving jumble puzzles or anagrams. The anagram solver can also be used to create new anagrams. The hangman game sharpens your vocabulary as you try to guess the letters forming a word chosen at random from one of the 100,000 words in Spelling Sentry's dictionary. Spelling Sentry is developed and published by Wintertree Software Inc. Wintertree Software was incorporated in January 1992. Prior to then, it was Phil Comeau Software. Wintertree Software also publishes GramSlam, a grammar checker, and Grammar Expert, a grammar reference. Both GramSlam and Grammar Expert are software products for Atari ST computers. The addition of Spelling Sentry to its product line makes Wintertree Software Inc. the leading publisher of tools for writers in the Atari computer marketplace. Wintertree Software also publishes WStyle, a grammar checker for MS-DOS. Spelling Sentry's list price is $59.95 US. Spelling Sentry is available wherever Atari computer products are sold. It is also available directly from Wintertree Software Inc., at the address listed above. Contact: Wintertree Software Inc. 43 Rueter St. Nepean, Ontario Canada K2J 3Z9 Phone: (613) 825-6271 _____________________________________________________________ > TELCOM RATE HIKE? STR FOCUS! FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON ACCESS FEES! """""""""""""""""""""""""""" FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON ACCESS FEES =================================== Partly in response to several thousand letters recently sent to the Utor fast access. The Spelling Sentry package also includes an anagram solver and a word-guessing game based on "Hangman." The anagram solver determines which words can be derived from different arrangements of a string of letters, and is useful for solving jumble puzzles or anagrams. The anagram solver can also be used to create new anagrams. The hangman game sharpens your vocabulary as you try to guess the letters forming a word chosen at random from one of the 100,000 words in Spelling Sentry's dictionary. Spelling Sentry is developed and published by Wintertree Software Inc. Wintertree Software was incorporated in January 1992. Prior to then, it was Phil Comeau Software. Wintertree Software also publishes GramSlam, a grammar checker, and Grammar Expert, a grammar reference. Both GramSlam and Grammar Expert are software products for Atari ST computers. The addition of Spelling Sentry to its product line makes Wintertree Software Inc. the leading publisher of tools for writers in the Atari computer marketplace. Wintertree Software also publishes WStyle, a grammar checker for MS-DOS. Spelling Sentry's list price is $59.95 US. Spelling Sentry is available wherever Atari computer products are sold. It is also available directly from Wintertree Software Inc., at the address listed above.