Floppyshop 2/Floppyshop - 2.zip/Floppyshop - 2.iso/diskmags/4671-5.790/dmg-4674/news.txt/monitor.asc

Text File | 1993-08-24 | 15KB | 254 lines

                   ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°
                   ∙                                  ∙
                   ∙  THE QUEST FOR THE MONO MONITOR  ∙
                   ∙                                  ∙
                   ∙       by Stephen Ticehurst       ∙
                   ∙                                  ∙
                   ∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°



When  I  first bought my Atari,  I asked the price of a  monitor  and  the
Dixons  saleswoman quoted me £200.  "A pity," I thought because a  monitor
would  make  the whole setup look a lot more business-like.  If  only  the
saleswoman  had quoted the price of the Atari mono monitor (£150  approx),
I  would have bought it,  and there would have been no problems.  But  she
didn't, and so I was stuck with a ten year old TV.

In  October  of last year I got fed up with the flickery old  TV  set  and
decided to find a shop that sold monitors.   There was nothing to be found
in  King's Lynn,  so I had a look through a load of advertisements  I  had
got hold of when I bought the ST. I found a catalogue from Silica shop and
on the front was a picture of a nice looking SM146 with a price of £99.

"What a bargain!" I thought.  And, to make it even better, Silica Shop had
a  cash on delivery scheme which saved me having to collect it, or bite my
fingernails as I posted off a cheque for £99.   So  I phoned their shop up
and asked about the monitor and the price of £99.  "Sorry, I'm afraid that
offer  finished  some time ago," said the voice on the other  end  of  the
phone.  "So  how much are they now?" I asked,  expecting for an answer  of
about  £150.  The salesman left the phone for a couple of minutes to  find
out...  "They're out of stock but we'll be receiving new stock in a couple
of weeks."  "No problem," I thought and asked for a catalogue to see  what
else they had to offer.

It was about this time that a new computer shop opened up in King's  Lynn.
Unlike  the  other  computer shop,  the salesmen had more  than  the  word
"Nintendo" in their vocabulary,  and unlike Dixons they didn't spend  ages
trying  to sell you insurance that you didn't want or need.  So I went  in
and asked the person behind the desk about monitors, and after he'd moaned
about  how small the Atari mono monitor was (isn't a standard  VGA  screen
also  14 inches?) he said that he would get one as soon  as  possible.  It
wasn't until the next day,  when I put a deposit down, that he checked and
found out that the suppliers were also out of stock!

After a short break I phoned Silica Shop up and they said that they  would
have  new  stock  soon.   I reminded them about  the  catalogue  they  had
promised me, which had yet to arrive.

By  January I had phoned a number of companies asking about the  monitors,
and most of them said that they would be in stock by the end of the month.
The bloke from Cambridge Business Software told me  the whole story of how
Atari had promised new monitors by the end of the month, but, "don't  hold
your breath.  It's down to Atari.  I'd love to be able to help you,  but I
can't".  This was the only time that I spoke to an honest human being,  so
well done CBS!  I had also  phoned Silica Shop up a number of times asking
about the catalogue that they'd promised, "first thing tomorrow."

I  was  busy during February and so let's resume the  story  in  March.  I
first tried the new computer shop in King's Lynn.  This time they gave  me
a phone number and told me to order it myself,  they didn't want  anything
to do with this sort of thing as it costs them too much in VAT.  I  phoned
the  number and found out it was Silica Shop who said they did  have  some
monitors,  but they were part of an ST music pack which couldn't be  split
up.  I reminded them about that catalogue.

The situation was hopeless; the  Atari retailers were being held to ransom
by  Atari themseves.  I'd had enough of all this by now and decided to  do
the next best thing,  apart from phoning Atari at their  headquarters.   I
rang the customer support number at Atari UK. Like all help lines, I never
got  through;  has  anyone  ever  got through to a  help  line  and  heard
anything useful?  Anyway, at this stage it looked as if I was beaten.

The  day  started  off as any normal Thursday where I have  a  quick  look
through  the glossy mags on the selves at WHSmith.  There was a time  when
these  magazines  would have been on sale on the second Thursday  of  each
month,  but  I wasn't surprised when only Atari ST User was on the  shelf.
As I was looking through it I saw a massive advert for a mono monitor with
the surrounding pages reviewing other monitors.  It was such a  shock that
I actually bought a copy (amazing I know!) to have a better look.

What a clever idea.   A number of companies had got fed up with the public
wanting monitors and them having to send them away,  all because of Atari.
They  had  got hold of mono VGA monitors from the PC world  and  converted
them  to run on the ST.   Some used adapters,  while others  modified  the
workings  inside the monitor - one had even put a speaker on  the  adapter
instead of fitting one inside!

So  I phoned Analogic computers about their Amitar monitor and they  still
had  some in stock.  Two weeks had to pass before I got paid,  but then  I
phoned  Analogic  and said I'd be coming down on the  following  Saturday.
"Could you put my name on a monitor?"  They said they would do this.

As my motto is "never trust anyone" (I've been let down too many times  in
the past) the only option was to do a 300 mile round trip to Kingston  and
pick up the monitor.   This had the advantage that I could see it and make
sure  it worked,  and I could also have a look at TOS 2.06 which I had  an
interest  in,  plus a PC emulator board which would also  be  handy.   The
only  disadvantage  this  scheme had was that I only had  the  address  of
Analogic (and the cost of petrol).

So on Saturday we left,  accompanied by my sister,  for  Kingston,  making
sure  that we didn't leave the M25 at junction 13.   I wasn't  taking  any
chances,  I'd  waited too long!   Along the M25 (between junction  14  and
16?) we were delayed for about an hour due to widening of the motorway.

We  arrived  at Kingston before we realised it,  and I just  followed  the
one-way  system,  totally lost.   Once on the other side of the system  we
found  ourselves  going back out of the town and so stopped  at  a  petrol
station to ask for directions.  The bloke in the petrol station gave us  a
map to have a look at.  We found the road we wanted, and we even found out
that we were on the correct road that led to the one we wanted.

We  spent the next hour driving along residential back roads  looking  for
Analogic.   Just to annoy you,  these roads have "traffic calming" and  so
every  100 yards we were faced with a narrowed road and a speed  hump  (or
mountain  in  this  case)  and there was always  a  cyclist  near  by!  We
eventually found the road we wanted;  it was one-way and we were the wrong
side.  Driving around for a bit more we found another road that we needed,
also  a one-way street,  and once again we were going the  wrong  way.  We
eventually worked it out,  and after a drive round the main one-way system
we stumbled on a small business park hidden next to Kingston University  -
we had found Analogic.

I  went  into  reception,  I said "My name's Ticehurst,  I  phoned  up  on
Monday,  I  believe you have a monitor put by for me".  The  Saturday  boy
(you  know  the  one,  he's probably related to the Saturday  boy  in  the
King's  Lynn computer shop who told me I could upgrade my memory  to  1meg
via the cartridge port) said he would have a look.  How did I know that he
would come back telling me that there wasn't a monitor for me?

Well  I wasn't having any of this.  I'd just driven all the way  from  the
deepest and darkest depths of the Fenland marshes (even Star Trek  doesn't
boldly  go  that  far),  I'd spent an hour on the  M25,  another  hour  in
the  Kingston one-way system,  only to be told that there was no  monitor.
I'd  like  to apologise to the Saturday boy at Analogic.   It's  not  very
often  that  I lose my temper in public (you can lose  your  temper  when
you're  at  home and nobody can see or hear you,  my Atari  can  tell  you
about  that)  but losing your temper in public doesn't look  good  and  it
doesn't look clever.

I  told Analogic what I thought and gave them my response when  they  told
me  that the only person who could adapt the VGA to run on the  Atari  was
off  "sick",  and  I even called the Saturday boy a "silly  sod",  all  of
which  I thought was justified since I had been promised that there  would
be  a monitor for me on Saturday.  Analogic countered  by phoning  up  the
person  who  could  adapt  the monitor.   The bloke  spoke  in  a  foreign
language which roughly translated to "there's this kid kicking up a  stink
down here, come on down and sort it out", or so I thought.

I  was  told to come back in an hour,  so the two of us had a  look  round
Kingston  shopping centre.  They had one of those indoor shopping  centres
that  was  identical to all indoor shopping centres,  but  only  contained
expensive furniture and clothes shops.  An hour passed and we made our way
back to Analogic.

The  reception  area was full.   One bloke had bought a  monitor  and  was
asking  if it would work on a Falcon when he came to  buy   one.  Analogic
said  they didn't know,  because they didn't have any in  stock.   Another
kid  was  having his Atari upgraded to two meg and telling  another  bloke
why he didn't want any other computer (good for him!).  After waiting  ten
minutes the bloke who was "sick" came out with my monitor.  I paid for  it
and  even  bought a Squik mouse to replace my old Atari  one.   I  decided
against  TOS  2.06  and  a PC emulator  to  save  myself  extra  problems,
Analogic  wished  me luck with my new monitor (nice of them seeing  I  had
called them "silly sods" an hour earlier),  I said thank you and that  was
that.

After  a  three  hour drive back home I unpacked  the  monitor  and  found
there was no plug.  It wasn't a problem,  because I don't use the standard
three pin plugs anyway.  I have one of those multi-plug things that  means
I only use one power socket instead of a couple of hundred.

So  am  I pleased with the result?  I'd been looking for  a  mono  monitor
since October and it's now May.  The display isn't as good as the official
Atari monitor,  but I didn't expect it to be.   The screen is  paper-white
instead  of  slightly blue which the Atari one seems to  be.  The  biggest
pain  is  the  border,  it's like using a Mac,  does anyone  know  of  any
overscan  hardware/software that will work on the STe?  All  in  all,  I'm
just glad to be able to use high res.   The monitor is actually an  Amitar
14 inch Super VGA Mono monitor,  nothing to be sneezed at,  so one day  it
will be converted back into a PC monitor and used on the PC which I'll  no
doubt buy in the distant future.

Just  as  an  footnote - I still haven't  received  anything  from  Silica
Shop.... they later said that they ran out of catalogues back in November!

Progress  Report  -  It's now August,  and am I still  happy?  Yes  I  am,
although  I'm  not  pleased  about  being unable  to  load  up  Falcon  or
Populous!  The  monitor  already looks a bit knocked about.  A  number  of
times I have loaded the car with keyboard,  amp, computer and monitor, all
the  tools of today's musician,  and a number of times I have driven  down
the  lanes  of marshland Norfolk which are in a worse state than  the  M11
(hard to believe,  but true).   You're driving down one of these lanes, as
slowly  as  possible,  when a car comes around the corner at one hell  of  a
speed  and  you slam your foot on the brakes.  The other car  comes  to  a
halt,  but the monitor doesn't and skids from one end of a Vauxall  Estate
car to the other,  with only the back of the passenger seat to stop it....
To my surprise, the monitor still works!



∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°∙°




Thanks  for  the  account,  Stephen,  but I can't let you  get  away  with
running down my old stamping ground!   There's a lot more to Kingston than
"expensive clothes and furniture shops".   It's also got shoe shops,  more
shoe shops and,  if you look carefully into its' nooks and  crannies,  yet
more shoe shops!  Kingston is the shoe fetishists' capital of Europe.

It used to be a nice town once,  before the local council decided to  keep
up  with  the  Joneses  and  Malled  everything  in  sight.    There  were
specialist  shops  with  little alleyways winding past  them  (useful  for
dodging the police on a Friday night);  second-hand record shops; good/bad
pubs  and  dives;  a Jazz club in a slowly  sinking  Thames  barge;  three
(count 'em - three!) second-hand bookshops;  Frank and Manny's kosher cafe
(useful for reassembling your head on a Saturday morning);  an art college
with the laziest students in London;   and the Thames.   A bottle of wine,
a book, and the Thames...  oh happy days.

The one-way system had been at the planning stage for a good twenty  years
before  they got around to building it.   Plans existed,  models had  been
made,  but whole streets had lain empty for decades,  waiting for the  day
of  its coming...  And then,  just when we'd had grown used to  corrugated
windows  and   rotting  rubbish,  they built  it.   Our  civic  pride  was
restored;  not only were we the shoe capital of Europe,  but we now had  a
one-way  system  that would stand proud among the Spaghetti  Junctions  of
the  World.

The  great  day came.   Every street in the town centre  was  closed  from
midnight  on Saturday to the early hours of Monday.   All the  signs  were
changed  around,  the last links were put into place,  and then the  final
stroke  of genius....   they changed the direction of the  traffic.   Come
the  rush  hour  on  Monday morning and Kingston ground  to  a  halt  amid
crumpled bonnets and staring drivers.

Kingston's  other claims to fame are that it has "the largest bookshop  in
London" (with no books worth reading),  the most shoe shops per acre (with
the same range and prices),  the most boring students I've never talked to
(Businessss  Studiesss...),  and more cars per pavement than  Japan.   And
you wonder why I moved to Bournemouth?

                                                                  JFW



                              ~~~~~eof~~~~~