Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/magazine/znet/znet9215/znet9215.asc

Text File | 1992-04-10 | 105KB | 2,108 lines

 | (((((((( |         Z*Net International Atari Online Magazine
 |      ((  |         -----------------------------------------
 |    ((    |         April 10, 1992               Issue #92-15
 |  ((      |         -----------------------------------------
 | (((((((( |         Copyright (c)1992, Rovac Industries, Inc.
 |          |         Post Office Box 59,  Middlesex,  NJ 08846
 |    ((    |
 |  ((((((  |                        CONTENTS
 |    ((    |
 |          |  * The Editors Desk............................Ron Kovacs
 | (((   (( |  * ACE '92 Exclusive Eyewitness Report......David Pischke
 | ((((  (( |  * ACE '92 Report.............................Jerry Cross
 | (( (( (( |  * MultiTos Preview.........................David Pischke
 | ((  (((( |  * Calamus SL - A First Look....................John Nagy
 | ((   ((( |  * Perusing CompuServe......................Mike Mortilla
 |          |  * Basic AT Commands - Part 2............................
 | (((((((  |  * Lynx Reviews........................AtariUser Magazine
 | ((       |  * Z*Net Software Shelf....................Ron Berinstein
 | (((((    |
 | ((       |
 | (((((((  |  ~ Publisher/Editor............................Ron Kovacs
 |          |  ~ Contributing Editor..........................John Nagy
 | (((((((( |  ~ Z*Net Newswire Ltd..........................Jon Clarke
 |    ((    |  ~ Contributing Editor.....................Bruce Hansford
 |    ((    |  ~ PD Software Reviews.....................Ron Berinstein
 |    ((    |  ~ Reporter....................................Mike Brown
 |    ((    |  ~ Assistant News Editor.......................Mike Davis
 |          |  ~ Z*Net Canadian Correspondent...........Terry Schreiber
 |          |  ~ Columnist....................................Ed Krimen
 |          |  ~ Columnist................................Mike Mortilla
 |          |  ~ UK Columnist...............................Mick Jarvis
 |          |  ~ Features Editor.........................Dr. Paul Keith
 |          |
 |----------|  $ GEnie Address....................................Z-NET
 |  ONLINE  |  $ CompuServe Address..........................75300,1642
 |  AREAS   |  $ Delphi Address....................................ZNET
 |          |  $ Internet/Usenet Address..................status.gen.nz
 |----------|  $ America Online Address........................ZNET1991
 |          |
 |  Z*NET   |  * Z*Net:USA New Jersey...(FNET 593).......[phone]
 |  SUPPORT |  * Z*Net:Golden Gate......(FNET 706).......[phone]
 |  SYSTEMS |  * Z*Net:South Pacific....(FNET 693).NZ....(644) 4762-852
 |          |  * Z*Net:Pacific .(INTERNET/@status.gen.nz)(649) 3585-543
 |          |  * Z*Net:South Jersey.....(FNET 168).CCBBS.[phone]
 |          |  * Z*Net:Illinois (Garage)(FNET 621).......[phone]
 |          |  * Z*Net:Colorado (Mile High)(FNET 5)......[phone]
 |          |  * Z*Net:Wyoming (Stormbringer)(FNET 635)..[phone]
 |          |  * Z*Net:Texas (Hacker's Haven)(FNET 705)..[phone]
 |          |  * Z*Net:Florida (Twilight Zone)(FNET 304).[phone]
 |          |                     Fido Address 1:363/112
 =======================================================================
 * THE EDITORS DESK                                        by Ron Kovacs
 =======================================================================


 A few birthday announcements... Belated birthday wishes to John Nagy
 who recently celebrated his hmmmmmm, 30 something birthday and Bob
 Brodie who also celebrated a 30 something birthday also.



 ======================================================================
 * ACE '92 EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS REPORT                 by David Pischke
 ======================================================================


 1992 will be remembered for several things: as the year of the
 controversial 1992 US Presidential elections, as the first anniversary
 of the Persian Gulf War, and as the year Johnny Carson retired.

 But Atarians will remember 1992 for something far more important:
 Atarians will remember 1992 as the year TAF hosted a dynamite
 convention, the biggest Atari event in North America in 1992.  The 1992
 Atari Canadian Exposition, or ACE '92, was a success by all means.  The
 convention floor was well-travelled, the talent show was a success, and
 the seminars were well-attended and well-presented.  Sales appeared to
 be brisk, and around 2500-3500 people attended the convention.  If
 there were any doubts that Atari is on an upswing, ACE '92 put them to
 rest -- the atmosphere was definitely positive.  Even June Rowlands,
 Toronto's politically incorrect mayor, wished showgoers well in a
 letter in the program.

 There was a talent show, dealer and developer meetings, a gala banquet
 and many seminars, but the "meat" of the show was the exhibitors; many
 dealers and developers were there.  Free copies of Atari Explorer, The
 Computer Paper and Atari Advantage were being given out.  There were
 many deals to be had, and many new products were being demonstrated for
 the first time.  Unfortunately, Atari's new 68030 machines were
 demonstrated only to developers, not to the general public, but
 MultiTOS was being demonstrated.

 EXHIBITORS

 ABC Solutions
 ABC Solutions of Mississauga, Ont., a newcomer to the Atari market, was
 demonstrating the latest version of First Word Plus, the popular word
 processing program.  The latest version is fully TT-compatible and has
 several enhancements.   Timeworks Desktop Publisher 2 was also there;
 Version 2 of Timeworks DTP is much more advanced than version 1, and
 includes full WYSIWYG, paragraph tagging, manual control of kerning, a
 wide range of text and graphics imports, and a variety of typefaces.
 Updates were available for users of the older versions.

 A new program, TBX CAD, by a local developer was also there, and First
 Graph, a program devoted to graphing, was there.  First Graph outputs
 using GDOS and FSM/GDOS; can import ASCII and DIF files; can create
 many different types of graphs, including pie, line, bar, column, area,
 3-D and scatter graphs; interpolation, curve-fitting, and full control
 of text and graphic placement are all allowed.  All this without a
 spreadsheet.

 Atari
 The Atari booth was always full.  Bill Rehbock demonstrated MultiTOS,
 and Bob Brodie spent much of his time there demonstrating products and
 answering questions.  There was a setup of Lynxes, and there were
 1040STes, Mega STes, TTs and STBooks on display.  There was also an
 "Atari museum", featuring old Atari hardware from the 2600 to the 800
 to the XE Game System.

 Atari Explorer
 John Jainschigg, Editor and Publisher and Editor of Atari Explorer was
 in the Atari Explorer booth along with Peter Donoso, the managing
 editor, and free copies of the February and March/April issues of Atari
 Explorer were being given out.  In addition, there were special
 convention subscription rates.

 Atari Interface
 Bill and Patty Rayl were in the Atari Interface booth, selling copies
 of the excellent Atari Interface Magazine and selling their PD disks
 for Spectre/Mac, 8-bit and ST.  A Lode Runner-type game, Gold Seeker,
 was on display for everyone to play and was available on the ST April
 1992 Disk of the Month.  Also being shown was Silhouette, Maxwell CPU's
 object-oriented drawing and autotracing program which can convert from
 bitmapped images of many formats into vector images.

 Branch Always Software
 Darek Mihocka was in the Branch Always Booth, demonstrating his
 GEMulator, which allows Windows users to run ST software.  GEMulator,
 which runs as a combination of software and a card which holds TOS
 chips, is supposed to run at approximately half the speed of an 8MHz ST
 on a 80386 machine; Darek Mihocka says that he is working on getting
 the GEMulator to run at Mega STe speeds.  GEMulator allows two versions
 of TOS to be plugged in for compatibility, and will even allow two
 different ST programs to be run at the same time, each with its own TOS
 and monitor type.  Many popular programs are compatible with GEMulator,
 including PageStream, Calamus, GFA Basic, First Word Plus, Prism Paint,
 Wordflair and Degas Elite.

 Codehead Technologies
 Codehead software was giving updates to Warp 9 for users of Quick STe.
 For $25 Canadian ($20 US) plus the original Quick ST disk, one receives
 the new Warp 9 accelerator.  Extremely fast, it accelerates a greater
 number of functions faster, has a better interface, more features and
 fewer bugs than Quick ST.  Warp 9 comes with a customiser program that
 allows the system fills and the system font to be edited.  Warp 9 can
 load a picture as the desktop background, act as a mouse accelerator,
 and provide keyboard shortcuts for alert boxes.

 Codehead also was demonstrating their other popular products.
 MegaPaint, an impressive bitmap and vector-drawing program, was shown
 running on a 19-inch monitor.  The TOS Extension Card was on sale and
 TOS 2.06 was being displayed.  MaxiFile was being demonstrated and
 updates were being given out for the many other Codehead products.
 Repro Sutdio and Avant Vector, Codehead's graphics packages were also
 there, as were all the Cherry Fonts and the Genus font editor.

 Clear Thinking Software
 Clear Thinking Software was demonstrating EdHak, version 2.3.  EdHak is
 a ACC/PRG editor which edits not only text files, but disk sectors and
 memory.  EdHak offers margins, tabbing, word wrap, cut and paste, and
 search and replace.  The Atari Clipboard is supported, and EdHak even
 can be used as a capture buffer for STalker.  A stripped-down version
 is included that occupies only half the memory.

 Cybercube Research Limited
 Cybercube of Thornhill, Ont. was there with the CyReL Sunrise M16-1280
 graphics card.  The CyReL Sunrise is a VMEbus card that gives not only
 stunning graphics, but 20Mbit/s networking as well.  The CyReL Sunrise
 can display 32-bit graphics in resolutions up to 2048x1024 -- non-
 interlaced.  Resolutions are totally programmable from 256x200 to 2048x
 1024 and Refresh rates range from 50Hz to 220Hz.

 The CyReL Sunrise was shown running on a TT; the graphics were
 impressive, to say the least.

 D.A. Brumleve/Fair Dinkum
 Dorothy Brumleve (pronounced "Brumlevy", and not "Brumleev") was busily
 demonstrating her Kidprgs behind a background of Duplo blocks.
 Kidpublisher Professional version 6.4 was being upgraded, and people
 who bought 6.1 at the last TAF convention got upgraded free.  Super
 Kidgrid, Kidpaint, and Telegram were there, and the new Multiplay, a
 program of "math exploration, discovery and practice" for children aged
 5-11, made its debut.  Multiplay adapts to the child's abilities and
 features games, drills and puzzles.

 In the same booth were Crossword Creator and Word search creator.  The
 two programs take the tedium out of crossword and word search creation
 by automatically creating and printing crosswords and word searches
 using point-and-click as well as keyboard commands.

 Double Click Software
 Mike Vederman and Paul Lee were in the Double Click booth, extoling the
 virtues of Double Click's Data Diet automatic file compression
 compression program.  Data Diet can increase drive free space by
 compressing files on the hard drive; the compression is good and is
 extremely fast.  Also on display was a game created with Double Click's
 Game Workbench, a system which allows creation of arcade-quality video
 games.  Unfortunately, Game Workbench may take a few more months
 getting to the public.

 Double Click was selling copies of all their products.  DC Shower, a
 file viewer which replaces the Desktop's built-in routines; DC Desktop,
 a replacement Desktop, and DC Utilities were all for sale.

 DragonWare Software
 DragonWare Software was actively demonstrating G_Man, its ASSIGN.SYS
 file manager.  G_Man asks a series of questions, then automatically
 builds a flawless ASSIGN.SYS file.  In addition, G_Man is also totally
 FSM/GDOS compatible, and as such, will create the FSM/GDOS EXTEND.SYS
 file.  G_Man also checks the integrity of the font files, can group
 disable up to 200 fonts at one time, can create screen font-only
 ASSIGN.SYS files, and includes tutorial and help menus.  DragonWare
 also was demonstrating The Satellite Locator ST, a program which
 locates geosynchronous satellites anywhere on the globe and displays
 their path; and The Box, an 16 output MIDI Thru Adaptor.  The Stacy
 battery pack, which allows Stacy users more time on the road.

 FAST Technologies
 Jim Allen of FAST Technologies was showing this 68030 accelerators.
 The TinyTurbo 030 was for sale, and it was being demonstrated running
 running DynaCADD.  The Tiny Turbo 030 uses a 40MHz 68030 and keeps an
 8MHz 68000 on board for compatibility.  A cache is included to speed up
 operations, and Virtual Memory up to 128 megs and 60MHz 68882 math co-
 processor running at 60MHz are optional.  There was a special discount
 running through to April 30 that brought TinyTurbo's price down by
 almost half.

 For those with less money, there were the Turbo20 and Turbo25, 20 and
 25MHz accelerators which use the regular 68000.  The Turbo25 increases
 most processor operations by a factor of 300% over a standard 8MHz ST.

 Gadgets by Small, Inc.
 Dave Small hosted a seminar and tried to convince the audience that
 they could program.  Dave Small claims to get his inspiration from Neil
 Diamond:  he listens to Neil Diamond records while he tries to program,
 until the sheer agony causes his brain to come up with an idea.  He
 also related the joy he experienced when he got his first program to
 work.  He dropped hints about a possible colour Mac emulator.

 Goldleaf Publishing, Inc.
 Goldleaf had its entire line of DTP "solutions" at the Show.  On
 display That's Write and Write On, two word processors which allow
 advanced features such as paragraph tagging, mixing of printer and
 That's Write fonts in one document, and password protection for
 documents.  Wordflair II, the document processor was being shown, and
 Goldleaf's impressive Retouche was shown editing a picture of a bowl of
 fruit on a large-screen colour monitor; Didot Professional was there
 too.  There was also MacRead, a Macintosh to ST file transfer program.
 It reads HFS disks, automatically strips the Mac Resource header, and
 stores the files on ST disks.

 Goldleaf has acquired a new partner, Compo, and a new product,
 CompScript, which replaces the now-unsupported UltraScript ST.
 CompoScript is a PostScript interpreter.  It comes with 30 Adobe Type 1
 fonts, supports Bitstream fonts, has print preview and even uses a math
 coprocessor if it is installed.

 Goldleaf was taking photographs and scanning them for people.  Goldleaf
 was taking advance orders on its products, and the clipboard with names
 and addresses was full.

 Gribnif Software
 Gribnif was demonstrating the Crazy Dots Card, which can do 256 colors
 from 16.7 million in resolutions from 320x200 to 1280x800.  Also
 available were many of Gribnif's application and utility programs.
 XBoot, an impressive boot manager which uses GEM from inside the AUTO
 folder was on sale.  So were old favorites such as NeoDesk 3 and the
 NeoDesk CLI, STalker 3.0, STeno 2.0, and Gribnif's graphics products,
 Arabesque Professional and Convector Professional.

 Apparently Gribnif has obtained the North American distribution rights
 to Pure C, formerly Borland's Turbo C.  A totally English package may
 be in the works.

 ICD, Inc.
 ICD and ICD's Canadian Distributor, Computer Software & Services were
 at the show, and there were some deals.  ICD's AdSpeed, AdSCSI and
 Advantage Plus were for sale, as were pre-packaged hard drives ranging
 in sizes from 52Mb to over 120Mb.

 ISD Marketing
 ISD was selling Calamus and all its accessories and companion books.
 Calamus SL was on display, and ISD hosted a seminar in which the new
 features of Calamus SL were not only demonstrated, but taught.  Calamus
 SL includes colour separation, 24-bit colour, auto-tracing, accuracy to
 within 1/100,000th on an inch and magnification to 99999%.

 Another unconfirmed story at the convention was that ISD is no longer
 handling DynaCADD, and a new distributor will be found.

 JMG Software International
 JMG Software of Hamilton, Ont. had their impressive Hyperlink program
 on hand.  Hyperlink extends the database concept by allowing not only
 text and numeric fields, but icons, graphics, buttons, and boxes.
 Hyperlink is similar to the Macintosh's HyperCard, and allows users to
 create their own applications with animation, graphics, sound, speech
 and hypertext.  Hypertext allows text to be linked; by double-clicking
 on a topic in a table of contents, one can be brought directly to that
 topic.  JMG Software has released developer information which will
 allow third parties to create their own extensions to Hyperlink.

 Joppa Software Development
 Straight Fax, a fax program, was at the Joppa booth.  Straight Fax is
 GEM works with fax modems and supports GDOS and FSM/GDOS to allow
 sending and recieving of faxes.  Joppa is considering releasing a
 version that would work in the background.

 Micro Creations
 Micro Creations was showing off its GIME Term and GIME BBS at the show
 and was gave a free copy of the GIME BBS to each club at the show.
 GIME Term can transfer large picture files in seconds using a special
 protocol, and allows user-friendly interaction with BBSes.

 Missionware Software
 Making its debut at the Missionware booth was Flash II, the long-
 awaited successor to the original Flash terminal program.  Flash II was
 demonstrated to an eager crowd.  Flash II is compatible with DO files
 from the original Flash, supports TTY, Vidtex, VT-52, -100, -101, -102,
 -200, -300, ANSI and Prestel.  It uses a GEM text editor and includes
 the "Silent Line" program to allow background file transfers.  File
 transfers include X-, Y-, and Z-Modem, CIS B, and Kermit.  Also being
 shown was LottODDS, a lottery number program that maintains a
 historical database and can tell you which numbers have a higher
 statistical chance of appearing.  Printer Initializer, a printer driver
 accessory which allows you to create and modify text drivers was there.

 Phil Comeau Software
 Phil Comeau Software had GramSlam and The Grammar Expert on hand.  The
 Grammar Expert is a grammar reference program, and it is very thorough;
 it covers almost all topics of Grammar in the english language and
 should answer almost any grammar-troubled person's problems.  The
 latest version of GramSlam, much improved over previous versions, was
 being shown.  GramSlam checks documents for common grammatical errors,
 can distinguish American and British spellings, and gives a report on
 the readability of the document.

 SoftLogik
 SoftLogik had their PageStream 2.1 DTP software in their booth, and
 they were busy demonstrating it to passers-by.  SoftLogik also had
 seminars on PagStream 2.1 each day.

 Step Ahead Software
 Nevin Shalit was selling Tracker/ST version 3.0.  Tracker ST is an
 extremely complete mailing list program that handles labelling, mail
 merge and an unlimited number of names.  Version 3.0 includes phone
 dialing, duplicate name warnings, and unlimited filtering.  Tracker/ST
 was also in the Atari both, shown running under MultiTOS.  Upgrades
 were available and there was a special show discount.

 Sudden Incorporated
 Sudden Incorporated was demonstrating the revolutionary new Sudden View
 text editor.  Sudden View treats text the wait paint programs treat
 pixels.  You can drag text, and as you drag, the document is
 dynamically reformatted.  The Search function searches at a rate of
 over 100,000 characters per second.  There are no insert or replace
 modes -- if the cursor is over a space to the left of text, it inserts;
 otherwise, it replaces.

 Sudden Incorporated was selling a cut-down Student version as well as a
 Master version.  People with the Student version can upgrade to the
 Master version at any time.

 Toad Computers
 Toad Computers was there, and they were selling their hard drives as
 well as the Beetle Mouse and lots of software at bargain prices.  A
 computer was set up, and users were invited to type in their name and
 address to be put into the Toad mailing list.

 WizWorks
 WizWorks had Mugshot and Image Cat as well as clip-art disks.  Image
 Cat prints out a catalogue clip art files so that you never have to
 load hundreds of clip art files to find the one you need.  Image CAT
 handles ICE, NIC, GEM, IMG, Degas PC? and PI?, TNY, NEO, IFF, PCX and
 Printmaster SHP files.  Mugshot allows you to create faces and
 caricatures by combining and editing facial features.  Mugshot data
 disks were for sale.

 -- User Groups
 There were several user groups at the show, and all of them were busy.
 ASTMUM, Atari ST/Mega Users of Montreal; SAGE, ST Atari Group of Erie;
 HBO, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville; MTST, Metro Toronto ST Group; and
 WAUG, Windsor Atari Users' Group, were all at the show in addition to
 TAF.  Shawn Smith was at the MTST Booth demonstrating the all-new GEM
 version of his MaxiMiser offline reader to interested parties. HBO,
 WAUG, SAGE and ASTMUM were all busy selling library disks.

 -- Online Services
 GEnie was trying to recruit new members, and was displaying its Aladdin
 front-end software.  Also present was Canada Remote Systems, a large
 pay BBS covering Southern Ontario and now Detroit.

 -- Music Exhibitors
 Korg, the manufacturer of keyboards and music peripherals; Steinberg-
 Jones, Steve's Music, Saved by Technology, Musicware and PI Precision
 Imports were all there busily demonstrating their software and
 hardware.  Musicware was demonstrating C-Lab, Notator, Alpha MIDI, and
 a range of librarians and editors.  PI Precision Imports was
 demonstrating its line of furniture which allows you to fit all your
 MIDI equipment in one room.  Ray Williams of Steinberg-Jones was there
 showing off CuBase.  There was a room set up specially for MIDI
 seminars, and one vendor was trying to get rid of keyboards and was
 giving good deals.

 TALENT SHOW

 There were not very many entries in the talent show, but all the
 entries were of very high quality.  One entry in the graphics and
 animation competition was a slide show of beautiful Degas pictures;
 another was an animation created with a ray tracer.  One of the musical
 entries was an impressive rendition of "Great Balls of Fire", done with
 MIDI of course.

 LYNX GAMING AREA

 The Lynx Gaming Area was full all the time.  For $1.00, people were
 allowed to a timed game playing session. The high score for each
 session was registered, and a prize of a Lynx, an AC adaptor and games
 was awarded at the end of the day for the high score of the day.  Users
 could also sample game cartridges for $1.00.  All proceeds from the
 Lynx area went to the hospital for sick children.




 ======================================================================
 * ACE '92 Atari CANADIAN EXPOSITION                     by Jerry Cross
 ======================================================================


 The Toronto Atari Federation held it's 3rd Atarifest April 4-5.  I have
 attended a lot of shows around the country in the past few years, and I
 must say that I was extremely impressed with ACE.  It was plainly
 obvious that a lot of work went into this show.  I could only attend
 one day (Saturday), but I had a fantastic time!  I hope that anyone
 planning to put on their own show in the future takes the time to study
 this one.

 ACE introduced two great new ideas for future shows.  A MIDI & Graphics
 stage was constructed just off the main showroom.  During the day
 attendees were entertained by a number of musicals, with graphic demos
 being projected on a large screen in the background.  Scheduled at noon
 was the Talent show, where participants got to perform or demonstrate
 their entries.  The timing was great since it was lunchtime, and the
 caterers were right next to the stage area.  Eating that monster hotdog
 and catching the talent show was great!

 A Lynx Gaming area was offered too.  For a $1 donation (given to
 charity) you got to check out some of the Lynx games.  That area was
 pretty busy the whole time I was there, and was very popular.

 One surprise to me was the lack of interest in the seminars.  I
 attended several on Saturday and there were only a few in each.  One of
 the most popular seminars at past shows was the Atari Corporation
 conference, with a chance to meet Bob Brodie.  However, only a dozen
 attended while I was there.  I think ACE may have slipped a little by
 not handing out a seminar schedule with the programs.  I had to search
 around to locate one myself.

 The actual list of seminars was very impressive.  At any given time
 there were at least two seminars going on.  There was even some hands
 on training sessions for Calamus and Pagestream (similar to those held
 in Chicago).  Trying to catch all of these seminars and trying to check
 out the new products in the main hall really kept me running.

 I won't give a booth by booth replay of the show.  I'm sure that will
 be covered by some of the other reporters at the show.  But here are
 some of the more interesting things I saw.

 ACE had one of the best MIDI display areas I have ever seen at an
 Atarifest.  Now, I'm not a MIDI person, so most of what they were
 showing was simply over my head.  But the one product that was
 constantly talked about was Cubase.  This program has just been
 upgraded to version 3.0.  According to some of the dealers, it's a
 realtime sequencer program that can do just about anything you want.
 The flyer says that it can be anything from a linear MIDI recorder to
 one of the most advanced compositional tools on the market.  Cubase
 works in realtime, and you can do anything with the sequencer running.
 The program was constantly being demonstrated at one of the booths.
 I think the serious MIDI users will want to check into this program.

 There were a lot of dealers at the show.  I didn't see a whole lot of
 computers being sold, but software was a hot item.  Programs such as
 Sudden View were hot items.  Codehead seems to have a constant crowd
 near their booth too.

 I checked with the TAF folks to see what the attendance was near the
 end of the day and it was around 900.  This seemed a little low but it
 was still an impressive number.  It sure seemed like a lot more people
 were at the show.  The only reason for this would be that more people
 were spending more time at the show, which I thought was great!

 Branch Always Software was at the show demonstrating their new product,
 the Gemulator.  A lot has already been written about this product.
 Gemulator will let you run Atari ST programs on an IBM computer.  Yes,
 it does work!  No, it's not perfect yet.  There are still several
 things that need to be worked on and optimized.  The mouse movement on
 the screen was a little jerky, and there was some slight problem with
 disk reading.  While I was there, several programs were demonstrated.
 All of Codeheads products worked just fine.  We ran Pagestream and it
 booted up fine, but because we did not have any font or import modules
 we couldn't actually do any layout work.  One of the real nice features
 is the ability to have true multitasking.  While Pagestream was being
 loaded we set up a solitaire card game to play.  I think that once all
 of the work is finished, this will have as much impact on Atari as the
 Mac emulators have.  One drawback was the lack of games to try out at
 the show.  It's not known how well Gemulator can read protected disks,
 and some of the British imports may create some problems.  More will be
 known as future beta tests are done.   Call Branch Always Software for
 more information.

 Canada Remote Systems was on hand to talk about their bbs service.
 Billed as North America's finest BBS system, this service offers
 400,000 programs and files and 3,500 conferences through a system of
 nodes around Canada and the US.  The cost is $129 a year.  While it
 does support Atari computers, it also supports IBM, MAC, and all the
 rest.  My experiences on similar systems left me a bit disappointed,
 since most of the material and support was IBM related.  I will have to
 try these folks out and see what's available for Atari users.  To join
 up call CRS at 800-465-7562.

 Micro Creations introduced their new bbs program called GIME BBS.
 Being a bbs junkie and long time sysop, I naturally had an interest in
 this product.  It's main "gimic" is that it supports GIME graphics.
 You can create very impressive screens that can be sent over the modem
 in seconds, and the program can support mouse input.  A very creative
 sysop can make a system that could work entirely through mouse
 commands.  The software also supports the usual assortment of download
 protocols and message base commands, and comes with it's own script
 language so you can customize it to your own liking.  The cost is a
 reasonable $49.95.  Their companion terminal program supports graphics
 and many other features.  Contact Micro Creations at 800-833-3963 for
 more information.

 The Atari booth was quite large, and very professional looking.  Most
 of the Atari products were on display, including the ST-Book.  This was
 my first hands-on experience with the ST-Book, and I was very
 impressed.  The usual comments about it was the mouse pad.  It's tricky
 to use, but I guess we can get use to it.  And the ST-Book is THIN!
 It's only 1.4" thick.  I saw pictures of the computer before but didn't
 realize just how thin it was.  I hope I can scrape up some money to get
 one.

 Are you interested in getting some British Atari magazines like ST
 User, ST Action, ST Format, or any of a dozen others?  Sure you are.
 But the stores in your area don't have them and it's very expensive
 (around $95) to get them mailed to you.  I ran into a company called
 BMD, which is a world magazine distributor.  For only $104 Canadian
 (around $89 US), you can get any of a wide selection of magazines.  For
 the Atari they carry ST Action, ST Review, ST Format, ST User, and ST
 Applications, plus an assortment of Amiga and IBM magazines (32 in
 all!).  If you order several subscriptions you can get a further
 discount.  It would be a great advantage for user groups to arrange for
 a group discount, and possibly save as much as 30% off these prices.
 For more information contact BMD at 800-668-4528.

 It has already been reported that several new products would be
 introduced at the show.  Among these are Fast Technology's Tiny
 Turbo030, which seemed to be getting a lot of attention.  Codehead
 displayed their new Warp 9 Software.  Joppa software was showing
 STraight FAX, a much improved upgrade to their fax send/receive
 program.

 Flash II was shown for the first time, and the program was demonstrated
 during a seminar.  The features that have kept Flash a long time
 favorite are still there, and a number of improvements were made.
 Including Ansi support, better buffer editing and z-modem transfers.

 Other regulars at Atari shows were also showing their products,
 including Gadgets by Small, D.A. Brumleve (sorry I couldn't get a
 chance to chat with them), Atari Interface Magazine, and a host of
 others.  Brad from Best Electronics managed to get his hard to find
 parts into Canada, and the usual crowd was always in front of his
 table.

 ACE set up a "User Group Alley" for the groups wanting to sell their
 p/d disks and sign up new members.  Most were from the Canadian area.

 That's about it.  I know I skipped a lot of vendors, but this show was
 simply too big to cover all in one short article.  I really regret not
 spending two days at the show since I'm sure I missed a lot of things.
 I ended up going home tired, happy, and very broke.

 I didn't hear too many horror stories about getting across the border,
 but I ended up my trip with the usual confrontations with the border
 trolls.  Seems that none of the customs agents on duty knew if computer
 software was duty free or not (hard to believe, right?).  I actually
 had to explain to this guy what computer software was and I had to
 actually open the package and show him the disk!  I figure this guy was
 either a complete idiot or a jealous IBM user just giving me a bad
 time.  I hope the rest of you got back ok.



 ======================================================================
 * MULTITOS PREVIEW                                    by David Pischke
 ======================================================================


 MultiTOS demonstrated

 Toronto, Ont. -- Atari demonstrated MultiTOS, the multitasking version
 of the TOS Operating System, at the Atari Canadian Exposition on
 Saturday, April 4.  MultiTOS, which allows users to run several
 programs simultaneously, was demonstrated at the Atari booth by Bill
 Rehbock.  MultiTOS is slated for release in the fall and will be
 released "for the lowest price as possible", he said.

 When asked whether or not the new MultiTOS will be compatible with non-
 68030 machines, Bill Rehbock replied that it will, but there will not
 be the safeguard of hardware memory protection.  Hardware memory
 protection prevents programs that are running from writing in other
 programs' memory space.  To increase compatibility with programs such
 as STalker and STeno, which pass large chunks of information between
 each other, PRGFLAGS has been modified to include a new flag which
 indicates to MultiTOS whether that program's memory will be totally
 private or whether it can be accessed by other resident applications.

 The names of resident programs are listed under the desk accessories.
 The Desktop is always present and is listed as a fuji symbol followed
 by "Desktop".  Applications can be brought into the foreground by
 either clicking on their menu entry or by activating their windows;
 MultiTOS was demonstrated running several applications concurrently
 with no apparent slowdown; switching between applications is also
 extremely fast.  According to Bill Rehbock, MultiTOS, as well as
 finally breaking the six-accessory limit, will multitask as many
 programs as will fit in system memory.

 As in Gribnif Software's NeoDesk, background windows can now be moved,
 resized, scrolled and closed without being topped. In addition, the
 windows of programs running in the background are updated.  MultiTOS
 has been reported to be running with 90 (ninety) windows on the screen
 at once.  As well, with the new MultiTOS, TOS and TTP programs are run
 in a window; when these programs are run, three new menu headings,
 Operations, Window, and Font appear in the menu bar.

 According to Bill Rehbock, compatibility with earlier releases of TOS
 is extremely high.  MultiTOS ran STalker, STeno, PageStream, and
 Tracker/ST successfully.  Bill Rehbock warned, however, about
 "dialogueware", or programs which run in one dialogue box; they will
 not necessarily fail on the new MultiTOS, but may cause problems,
 because they tend to assume that they are the only application present,
 causing problems with redraws of windows.  In addition, dialogue boxes
 lock out users from accessing other programs.


 MultiTOS may or may not be released completely in ROM.  The version
 demonstrated at the Atari Canadian Exposition was a beta version in
 program form, and because the multitasking kernel is large, Atari is
 considering releasing MultiTOS to the public as an extension to TOS on
 disk.  According to Bill Rehbock, Atari wants a machine that will
 always come up with at least a single-tasking usable OS, even if both
 the floppy and hard drives cannot be accessed.

 MultiTOS is based on Eric R. Smith's MiNT multitasking Kernal, but has
 been modified by Atari to allow multitasking of GEM programs.  The
 Desktop Info dialogue now states "MiNT Multitasking Kernal licensed
 from Eric R. Smith", and MiNT now stands for "MiNT Is Now Tos".  "I
 like what they've done," Eric Smith said.  When asked about the
 licensing agreement and how profitable it was, Smith chuckled.  "Atari
 got a very good deal."

 ST-Sutra: Integrated software for the ST

 Toronto, Ont. -- In addition to MultiTOS in the Atari booth of the
 Atari Canadian Exhibition but not being demonstrated actively by Atari
 was a beta version of a program called ST-Sutra.  Programmed by an
 author in India, ST-Sutra is a Microsoft Works clone, an integrated
 software package with Database, Spreadsheet, Word Processor and
 Communications functions.  ST-Sutra is fully FSM/GDOS-compatible and
 data is interchangeable between the tools.  When asked about a possible
 release, Bob Brodie replied, "It's just something we're fooling around
 with".




 ======================================================================
 * CALAMUS SL - A FIRST LOOK                               by John Nagy
 ======================================================================


 Two months ago, AtariUser compared Calamus 1.09N and PageStream 2, and
 made some predictions about Calamus SL.  Several of those predictions
 were wrong.

 Calamus S: According to Nathan Potechin of ISD, there WILL be a Calamus
 S, someday, that will replace Calamus 1.09N.  But apparently not soon.
 The modular format of SL without the color capabilities (with resulting
 speed increases) and a lower price were to be the reasons for S, but
 development has focused on SL to date.

 Upgrades for existing Calamus owners: Until May 1, 1992, owners of
 Calamus 1.09N can upgrade to SL for $200.  Retail for SL is $795, and
 the upgrade path will not include some modules that are standard in the
 retail version, but these can be purchased for about $100 more.

 Speed: We indicated that SL would be slow, perhaps VERY slow on normal
 ST computers, and that an accelerator or a TT would probably be almost
 required.  Wrong.  SL turns out to be nearly as fast in screen redraw
 and printing as the speedy 1.09N.  Complex pages using color separation
 and advanced features naturally take longer.

 PostScript Output: SL will have a Dataformer output module "real soon"
 to provide a PostScript conversion of output pages.  But not yet.  And
 at extra cost when it comes.

 Irregular text flow-around graphics: SL does not actually flow text
 around irregular graphics, but text flow is now controllable via
 definable "flow paths" and by positioning invisible raster or line
 frames to restrict the text flow on command.  Thus, diagonal or even
 circular text borders can be achieved.


 CALAMUS SL REVIEW


 It's been only a couple weeks since ISD Marketing sent AtariUser
 CALAMUS SL.  In that time, I've barely scratched the surface of the
 potential of this newest entry in the prestigious field of Atari desk
 top publishing.  I can say one thing with complete certainty and
 conviction: WOW!

 COMPLEXITY

 My first clue to the depth and breadth of the new Calamus SL was the
 manual.  Over 600 pages and being added to daily (more on that in a
 moment), the manual is nothing short of outstanding in length and
 detail.  And readability.  A product of ISD itself, the SL manual was
 done largely by Lou Rocha, who had but a 28 page command summary to
 begin with--in German.  I hope that if the Starship Enterprise ever
 needs a manual for warp engine maintenance, Lou will still be around to
 do it.  He takes the incomprehensibly complex and makes it merely
 obtuse.  It works... with effort.

 But can a beginner expect to go from zero to publishing using the
 manual and Calamus SL?  Maybe, given enough years.  Calamus SL is not
 for the faint hearted.  It isn't even for the experienced user.  SL is
 for professional users.

 POWER

 Over 1,000 commands.  That's without reaching into the myriad of add on
 modules that enable Calamus SL to do just about anything.  I have a
 wall chart of the main menus and icons of SL.  It boggles the mind.
 Things that were one button in Calamus 1.09N are now a multi-step
 process.  That's because your options have opened by an order of
 magnitude.

 You used to set a text style to "outline" with a single click.  Now,
 you first decide if the text will be opaque, inverse, transparent, and
 of what color or fill pattern.  Next, select the outline functions and
 determine the same things about it, plus the thickness.  You have to
 specify a different color or fill or the outline merges with the text.
 Want a shadow?  Start over with the same options there, too.  You see,
 color alone adds a whole new world to control.  If you were cowed by
 the icon forest of Calamus before, run, don't walk, from SL.  But if
 you want to have unmatched control of everything, SL simply sparkles.

 Text control is now dramatic.  Skew (like italicizing), compression or
 expansion vertically, and mirroring are now available for any font.
 And once you make a change in a font for any area, you have the option
 of defining and saving it as a text style for later use, even in
 another session or document.  Tag any text with that style, and a
 change to the style changes all the text.  And the new editor, PKS
 Write, allows editing of text styles and text rulers right along with
 the text, making pre- or re-formatting text fast.  And on-screen in-
 frame changes are faster now too, due to smart re-write routines that
 only clear and write areas of the screen that have changed.

 The clipboard is now a major asset, allowing interactive transfer of
 elements from up to seven active documents at once.  Rotations of EVERY
 kind of frame is offered.  Virtual memory (caching to hard drive)
 allows document sizes up to one hundred thousand pages!  Adjustments
 are available in 1/1,000 point increments.  A macro record functions
 makes repetitive functions execute themselves with a single keypress of
 your choice.  Yikes.

 COLOR

 Moving to color from monochrome is a system shock.  Speed becomes
 critical as four "plates" are being generated at once.  Memory becomes
 critical for the same reason.  A letter size photo in full 24 bit color
 at 300 DPI will take 22 megabytes by itself!  Imagine that at 1,270
 DPI.  Yet, SL manages to move that data without major effort.  It will
 support most any color adaptor card or monitor that offers at least 640
 X 350 resolution (therefore, not the ST's SC1224).  But a color monitor
 is not required for doing color--you just won't see real color during
 layout.  That'll complicate matters, but industry standard color
 matching systems such as PANTONE (available on most PC and MAC high end
 software) are being developed for SL.  A PANTONE module will be
 available someday, but a user (Dave Simmer) has independently generated
 Pantone simulations that should serve most users well in the meantime.

 More color discussion will have to wait for a later article.

 BUGS?

 Even though it has been over a year since first promised, Calamus SL is
 still very much a work-in-progress.  Bugs and crashes are plentiful,
 although mercifully, most result in a dialog that allows you to save
 your work as you go unwillingly back to the desktop.  Others bring up
 dialogs in German, prompting users to postulate what might be trying to
 be said.  My favorite: "Geladine standardeinstellung", which Todd
 Johnson of Cherry Fonts guessed meant "Clutch the Chickens in the usual
 manner."

 A number of features simply don't work at all.  Some are grayed out,
 others await a fix that is promised in the next upgrade of the
 software.  The first of those upgrades is due in mere weeks, so these
 should strike little fear in user's hearts.  So I won't spend much time
 telling you about them--they may be gone before you read this.  Suffice
 it to say that almost everything works, and still, there are more
 things broken than most software has things in total.  ISD will be busy
 for some time.

 As part of the process of making SL perfect, an unprecedented program
 is being offered by ISD where users can gain discounts on future
 purchases by assisting the userbase in work-arounds and innovative
 techniques.  It's called USER-TO-USER, and details are available from
 ISD, and contributions have already added many pages to the manual for
 everything from finding workable raster densities to page numbering
 schemes.  More data and fixes arrive daily on GEnie telecommunication
 service in the ST Roundtable.  At this time, GEnie is almost a required
 accessory in order to use Calamus SL.  I have the equivalent of 500
 pages of messages and documentation for SL gathered through GEnie--and
 I don't have it all yet.

 MODULES

 Since SL loads external modules for most functions, the future is open-
 ended for Calamus.  No import or export possibility is ruled out, and
 the more varied of them include video input frame capture and
 PostScript output.  The DATAFORMER module will handle PostScript at
 about a $100 cost.  SPEEDLINE is an image tracing module available now
 for under $50 that converts bit images to traced outlines in vector
 format.  Type Art will replace the font editors for Calamus and will do
 some of what Outline Art does now.  Crescendo will convert polyphonic
 MIDI files to notated text-sheet music!  A multimedia module will even
 take digitized sound and video for animated and interactive
 presentations.  Nathan estimates that over 100 modules are now in
 development by DMC and third party programmers.

 SUMMING UP

 There's more to Calamus SL than can be told in 600 pages.  Too much, in
 fact, for anyone to take in completely.  Even the crew at ISD find new
 things daily.  The future looks incredible.

 But should you buy it?  The $795 price tag will let anyone know that
 they are in for a professional level program, with professional level
 learning curves, for professional level output.  It is simply NOT for
 casual users.  If you are reasonably proficient at using Calamus 1.09N
 and have discovered that you MUST have more power, you will find it
 here at a reasonable upgrade price of $200.  If you find 1.09N to be
 more complex or to offer more power than you typically use or
 understand, don't bother with SL.

 I'll bet that 80% of the SL buyers will never use the power they will
 have.  But that's the nature of home computing, isn't it?  If you DO
 upgrade to SL, keep 1.09N on your system too.  You'll find it to be a
 joy to return to when you need simple layouts and want them fast.  When
 you want the ultimate... SL will be there, waiting.




 ======================================================================
 * PERUSING COMPUSERVE                           by Michael D. Mortilla
 ======================================================================


  Tortoise: Today's exchange may have served a little to right your
            course. Good day, Achilles.

  Achilles: Good day, Mr. T.

                 from Godel, Escher, Bach - by Douglas R. Hofstadter


 Nary a week goes by on CompuServe that we don't see a message or two on
 that dreaded ogre, the hard drive crash, and this week was no
 exception.  A lot can be learned from reading the messages in these
 areas.  In fact, you might even get some information or tips that could
 help *you* survive a drive crash!  Which, oddly enough, brings us to
 the Telecommunications section of the Ataripro forum.

 Actually, this is a continuation of last weeks saga, where a member
 lost everything on his hard drive *and* his back up!  It was no
 surprise that this thread got quite a bit of attention from members.
 Some of the points we felt were worth mentioning were the following:

 Fm: Peter J. Joseph

 "No truer words were ever spoken, except maybe:

 BACKUP!  BACKUP!  BACKUP!

 In my opinion, one of floppy disks greatest _virtues_ is the fact that
 they can't hold much data, making it virtually impossible to lose
 everything at once without a fire or act of God or something.  I don't
 care how removable a Syquest is, if everything you have is backed up on
 one cartridge, it's as risky as a hard drive.  I'll keep my floppies
 for backups thank you.  I'll shut my mouth now.  Sorry about your
 disaster..."

 And from the "victim" we hear:

 Fr: John Damiano[Transierra] 74575,60 (X)

 "Another thing...I would recommend that people not store really
 important things on the C partition. That seems to be what gets
 trashed.  I wonder if I had just re-partitioned C if I might not have
 been able to save the next 5 partitions. Hummmmmmm."

 And in response:

 Fm: Dana P. Jacobson

 "That's a good suggestion, John.  But, what people have to remember in
 order to do that is to make sure that when they format their hard
 drive(s) that they only make it large enough to hold their "system"
 files (AUTO folder, ACC's, etc.) and leave a little extra room for
 expansion.  Most people create partitions of equal size, or large
 partitions as possible. If they create a large C partition _and_ follow
 your advice, they've wasted a lot of unused space on that drive.

 As John Barnes mentioned in his CN article recently, frequent back-ups
 help minimize these problems.  It is a wise idea to help yourself and
 help the developers who provide these programs!

 Dana

 and an additional reply with "words of wisdom" and *experience*:

 Fm: MYLES COHEN

 "Hey, Now that you have all that room in your new hard drive...it might
 be a good idea to back up your Root partition onto another partition
 (as well as on floppies)...

 That way you have quick access if your root partition is trashed...You
 can use this as your every day backup and your floppies as your once a
 week...or whatever... backup.

 Any way that is what I do and it has saved my butt so many times that I
 recommend it highly...

 BTW when you reconstruct the root directory after it has been zapped...
 be sure to reorder the AUTO folder or you'll not get the same results
 you used to get before the accident...

 Oh yes, you're right...you could have saved what was on the other
 partitions by only working on the guilty one...You can think of each
 partition as a separate individual hard disk drive."

 And just when you thought "Aha! That's it!" Somebody jumps in...

 Fm: john barnes

 "Restoring simply the C partition while leaving the others alone is not
 a trivial matter.  ICD's Cleanup software does provide a mechanism for
 restoring the partition information without reformatting the drive, but
 the steps to do this must be taken prior to the crash.  When building
 a new set of hard drive partitions it is a good idea to save the
 partition information to a floppy disc file so that it can be restored
 later.

 I agree that the C partition seems to be the most failure-prone, which
 is one reason that I try to avoid storing documents there.
 Applications I can always rebuild from the distribution media."

 And finally, when asked "wasn't everything on floppies?" we'll give the
 last word to our "victim":

 Fm: John Damiano[Transierra]

 "Hohoho..that's a good one.  Why would I need floppies with my fabulous
 Syzest removable media 44 Meg drive mechanism ready to go.  What could
 possibly go wrong go wrong go wrong."

 Moving to the Hardware specific section, there is some interest among
 the members in the new SM147 monitor from Atari, and it would appear
 that the old SM124 can be traded in! But could there be another
 solution?  Let's see what George Richardson has to say:

 "I wired up a standard SAMTRON flat screen mon VGA monitor to work with
 the ST.  It required that I readjust the size of the display, but only
 cost about $120-$130 mail order.  Since the new Atari monitor doesn't
 have a speaker anyway, this could save quite a bit of cash.

        George Richardson
        Merlin Group, Inc."

 Well, who would let *that* message just sit and age? John Damiano (he
 was our hard drive crash victim above!) seized the thread:

 "What needs adjustment.  Was it too small?  Was it a comparable
 procedure to enlarging the SM 124?  That's a great price.  Do they
 automatically scan 70 hz or do you have to configure them to that
 freq?"

 The next day, George replied:

 "They automatically scan 70hz. The size was small, and the proportions
 were off, probably because the 70hz VGA mode is 640 x480 rather than
 640 x400. The procedure was pretty simple actually.  The only problem
 I have with it is that I never adjusted the neck magnets to correct the
 linearity for the new size, so there's some distortion near the edge."

 $130 by mail? That's less than it cost to fix an SM124 recently!  This
 is definitely 'gonna get filed away for future reference!

 In the Programming area, Myles Cohen asks about a subject we mentioned
 in this column a few weeks ago:

 "Can anyone download from the ATARI archives at the umich?  Do you have
 to pay into a service?  What's the phone number? Protocol?  Any
 information you can give will be much appreciated?"

 And, as usual, the answer came back! This time from John Barnes:

 "Miles, atari.archive.umich.edu is available to people who can access
 the Internet, which is a worldwide communications network running on
 dedicated lines.  In order to access it you need a valid account on a
 machine that is connected to the network.  A number of Atarians on CIS
 do have such access."

 And finally, we leave your pallets salivating with a message from that
 bastion of programming, Charles F. Johnson.  In the Atarivend forum, he
 proudly posts the preliminary benchmarks for Codehead's Warp 9 program.

 Fm: Charles F. Johnson
 To: All

 "Here are some benchmarks I did with Quick Index yesterday afternoon,
 on my Mega ST4 with TOS 2.06 (thanks to the TEC) and a T16 accelerator.

 These benchmarks give an impression of the differences you can expect
 to see with Warp 9 installed.  The system used for testing had a fair
 amount of TSRs (AUTO programs) and desk accessories installed, such as
 HotWire, MaxiFile, and MultiDesk Deluxe.

 There are four columns of numbers, representing the Quick Index
 results:

 1.  With Warp 9 as the last program running in the AUTO folder, but
     without the Warp 9 Control Panel accessory.  (Which uses an extra
     18K.)

 2.  With Warp 9 running early in the AUTO folder (right after
     PINHEAD.PRG), and the Warp 9 Control Panel installed in MultiDesk
     Deluxe.  (This configuration outperforms all others.)

 3.  With Turbo ST 1.84 installed in MultiDesk Deluxe.  (NOTE: Turbo ST
     is not compatible with TOS 2.06, and will be deinstalled after
     running any program; so these results were taken immediately after
     loading Turbo ST in MultiDesk.)

 4.  With Quick STE 3.04 as the last program running in the AUTO folder.

 Note that Quick Index does not directly support TOS 2.06 (yet?), so
 these numbers are obtained with the "TOS 1.4" button highlighted.

 These numbers are not intended to be taken as gospel.  Your mileage may
 vary.

 WARP 9 QUICK INDEX BENCHMARKS
 Monday, March 30, 1992

           .Warp 9 Last    .   Warp 9
           .in AUTO Folder .Early in AUTO .Turbo ST 1.84 . Quick STE
           .Without Warp 9 .Folder, with  .Loaded into   . v3.04 Last
 Test      .Control Panel  .Control Panel .MultiDesk     . in AUTO
 ----------.-------------- .------------- .--------------. ---------
 TOS Text  .      351%     .      456%    .      468%    .     332%
 TOS String.     1907%     .     2001%    .     1854%    .    1889%
 TOS Scroll.      133%     .      137%    .      134%    .     131%
 GEM Dialog.      394%     .      417%    .      404%    .     397%
           .               .              .              .

 - Charles"


     OOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo! Next week!



 ======================================================================
 * BASIC AT COMMANDS -=- Part 2 of 3
 ======================================================================


 This article discusses configuration registers and result codes and
 contains a comprehensive list of basic AT commands, as well as the
 extended AT command lists for those modems equipped with MNP5 and V.42/
 42bis.  In addition, for your convenience, modem default lists have
 been included.


 *   (&F)  Fetch Hayes Factory Default Configuration:

 The &F command configures the modem with Hayes factory default
 settings, including:

 AT Commands: B1; E1; L2; M1; Q0; V1; X4; Y0; &C0; &D0; &G0; &J0, &L0;
 &P0; &Q0; &R0; &S0; &X0; and  &Y0.

 S Registers: S00,000; S01,000; S02,043; S03,013; S04,010; S05,008; S06,
 002; S07,030; S08,002; S09,006; S10,014; S12,050; S14,AAH; S16,80H;
 S18,000; S21,00H; S22,76H; S23,17H; S25,005; S26,001; and S27,40H.

 *   (&F1)  Recall Microcom Factory Default Configuration:

 The &F1 command configures the modem with Microcom factory default
 settings, including:

 AT Commands: B1; E1; L2; M1; Q0; V1; X4; Y0; &C1; &D0; &G0; &J0; &L0;
 &P0; &Q0; &R0; &S0; &X0; and &Y0.

 S Registers: S00,001; S01,000; S02,043; S03,013; S04,010; S05,008; S06,
 002; S07,030; S08,002; S09,006; S10,014; S12,050; S14,AAH; S16,00H;
 S18,000; S21;20H; S22,76H; S23,17H; S25,005; S26,001; and S27,40H.

 *   (&F2)  Use Sierra Defaults, MNP Mode:

 The &F2 command configures the modem with MNP mode Sierra default
 settings, including:

 AT Commands: B1; E1; L2; M1; Q0; V1; X4; Y0; &C0; &D0; &G0; &J0; &L0;
 &P0; &Q5; &R0; &S0; &X0; and &Y0.

 S Registers: S00,000; S01,000; S02,043; S03,013; S04,010; S05,008; S06,
 002; S07,030; S08,002; S09,006; S10,014; S12,050; S14,AAH; S16,80H;
 S18,000; S21,00H; S23,17H; S25,005; S26,001; and S27,49H.

 *   (&F3)  Use Sierra Defaults, V.42bis Mode:

 The &F3 command configures the modem with V.42bis mode Sierra default
 settings, including:

 AT Commands: B1; E1; L2; M1; Q0; V1; X4; Y0; &C0; &D0; &G0; &J0; &L0;
 &P0; &Q5; &R0; &S0; &X0; AND &Y0.

 S Registers: S00,000; S01,000; S02,043; S03,013; S04,010; S05,008; S06,
 002; S07,030; S08,002; S09,006; S10,014; S12,050; S14,AAH; S16,80H;
 S18,000; S21,00H; S22,76H; S23,17H; S25,005; S26,001; and S27,49H.

 *   (&G)  Guard Tone:

 &G0 (or &G)    No Guard Tone (default)
 &G1            550 Hz Guard Tone
 &G2            1800 Hz Guard Tone

 *   (&L)  Leased/Dialup Line Selection:

 The &L0 or &L (default) command selects dialup operation (asynchronous
 or synchronous and full or half duplex).  The &L1 command selects
 leased-line operation (asynchronous or synchronous).

 *   (&P)  Make/Break Pulse Dial Ratio:

 The make/break ratio for &P0 (or &P) is 39% make and 61% break, which
 is the standard for the United States.  The &P1 command sets the make/
 break ratio at 33%/67%, which is compatible with the United Kingdom/
 Hong Kong standards.

 Example:  AT &P1 <CR>    Sets Make/Break ratio to be compatible with
 United Kingdom/Hong Kong.

 *   (&S)  DATA SET READY (DSR):

 The &S and &S0 commands causes DSR to remain ON at all times while the
 modem is turned on (default).

 The &S1 command causes the DSR to operate in accordance with CCITT
 V.22bis/V.22 recommendation.

 *   (&T)  Test Commands:

 The command &T0 or &T will terminate any test currently in progress.
 The T command should be the last command in the command line.

 The command &T1 will initiate a Local Analog Loopback.  This command is
 used to verify the path which includes the local modem, and the local
 data terminal equipment.  S Register 18 (test timer) or &T0 can be used
 to end a test.

 Test &T1 Example:

 ATS18=0&T1     (S18 is the test duration timer.)

 Test timer equal to zero will allow the test to run without stopping,
 &T1 starts the test.

 One small step for man...          User message
 +++                                Escape sequence
 OK                                 Modem acknowledges +++
 AT&T0                              Ends test
 OK                                 Test complete

 The command &T3 will initiate a Local Digital Loopback.  This test
 allows data being sent from the remote modem to be looped back, in the
 digital section of the modem, and sent back to the remote modem.  This
 local mode allows the remote modem to run a remote digital loopback
 test.  Both modems must be connected before this test can start.

 &T3 Test Example:

 +++                                Escape
 OK                                 Acknowledgement
 ATS18=0&T3                         Test started
 OK                                 Loopback mode

 The operator completes any tests at this point.

 AT&T0                              Ends test
 OK                                 Test ended

 The command &T4 allows the modem to grant a request from the remote
 modem for a Remote Digital Loopback (default).

 The command &T5 prohibits the local modem from granting a request from
 a remote modem for Remote Digital Loopback.

 The command &T6 is used to test the local data terminal equipment, the
 remote and local modems, and the telephone circuit.  The local terminal
 sends a test message to the remote modem.  If conditioned, the remote
 modem will loop its receive stream back to the local data terminal.
 The local terminal will compare the receive stream with its transmitted
 stream to verify the connection.  The complete connection and modems
 are tested in this modem (the remote terminal is not tested).  The &T6
 command does not work at 300 or 600 bps.

 &T6 Test Example:

 The user must place both modems on line.

 +++                                Escape
 OK                                 Command mode
 ATS18=0&T6                         Test started
 One small step for man...          Test message
 +++                                Escape
 OK                                 Acknowledge escape
 AT&T0                              Test ended
 OK                                 Test complete

 The command &T7 initiates a Remote Digital Loopback with Self-Test in
 accordance with CCITT Recommendation V.54.  During the test phase, an
 internally generated data pattern of alternate binary ones and zeros at
 the selected bit rate is applied to the scrambler.  An error detector
 capable of identifying errors is connected to the output of the
 descrambler.  At the end of the test, a three-digit error count from
 000 to 255 is displayed.  If 000 is displayed, the modems and telephone
 circuit passed the test.

 &T7 Test Example:

 The user must place both modems on line.

 +++                                Escape
 OK                                 Acknowledged
 ATS18=0&T7                         Starts test
 AT&T0                              Ends test
 000                                Test found no errors
 OK                                 Test acknowledge

 The command &T8 initiates a Local Analog Loopback with Self-Test in
 accordance with CCITT Recommendation V.54.  During the test, an
 internally generated data pattern of alternate binary ones and zeros at
 the selected bit rate is applied to the scrambler.  An error detector
 capable of identifying errors is connected to the output of the
 descrambler.  If the modem is on-line when this test starts, the
 carrier will be lost.  This test is useful in checking the local
 modem's transmit and receive circuits.

 &T8 Test Example:

 ATS18=0&T8                         Starts test
 AT&T0                              Ends test
 000                                No errors
 OK                                 Acknowledgement

 *   (&V)  View Profiles and Stored Numbers:

 The &V commands allows you to view AT command and S Register settings,
 as well as stored phone numbers.

 *   (&Wn)  Write Configuration To Non-Volatile Memory location n:

 The &Wn (n=0,1) command writes a command profile (the currently active
 profile) in one of two nonvolatile RAM memory locations (1 or 0).  The
 0 profile is restored automatically whenever the modem is turned on, or
 upon issuing the Z0 command.  S Registers saved in the nonvolatile RAM
 are S0, S14, S18, S21, S22, S23, S25, S26 and S27.  Both regular and
 MNP commands are saved.

 A subset of the Register configuration is saved in NVRAM by the &Wn
 command.  If &Wn is issued while in the Escape State, the "Error"
 message will be returned, and the current configuration will not be
 saved.  The &W command must be issued last.

 Example:  AT S0=1 &W1 <CR>     Writes auto answer to NVRAM location 1.

 *   (&Yn)  Choose Configuration Profile:

 You set this command according to which configuration profile you want
 to make the active profile when the modem is turned on or reset.  &Y0
 will make configuration profile 0 active; &Y1 will make configuration
 profile 1 active.

 *   (&Z)  Store Telephone Number:

 The &Zn=x (n=0..3) command is used to store up to four telephone
 numbers for dialing at a later time using the DS dial-stored-number
 command (asynchronous) or under control of DTR (synchronous mode 2).
 The x represents an ASCII string composed of dial digits and modifiers.
 The dial digits include 0 through 9 for pulse or touch tone dial, and
 A, B, C, D, pound and * for tone dial.  The dial modifiers include T P
 R W !, at sign and :.

 Example:

 Terminal:           AT &Z2= T 1 [phone]
 Modem:              OK
 Result:             Modem stores T16029612997 in its nonvolatile
                     memory at location 2.

 The number can be dialed from asynchronous mode by issuing the
 following command:

 Terminal:           AT DS=2 Modem:  T16029612154

 Up to 30 symbols (dial digits and modifiers) may be stored.
 Unrecognized characters, such as spaces and dashes, are ignored and do
 not need to be included in the count.  If more than 30 symbols are
 supplied, the dial string will be truncated to 30.  If &Z is issued
 when NVRAM is not present, or if the modem is in the Escape State, the
 "Error" message will be returned, and no dial string will be stored.

 2) MNP Commands

 Megahertz MNP modems provide three basic modes of operation.

 *Direct
 *Normal
 *Reliable

 A Direct connection is equivalent to any standard 2400 bps modem
 connection.  In a Direct connection, the maximum through-put is equal
 to the connection rate, and the terminal (or Data Terminal Equipment,
 DTE) rate must always match the connection rate.  For instance, if the
 DTE is set to 2400 bps and the modem connects at 2400 bps (CONNECT
 2400), the through-put will not exceed 2400 bits per second.  On the
 other hand, if the DTE is set to 2400 bps and the modem falls back to a
 1200 bps connection (CONNECT 1200), the terminal must be adjusted to
 operate at 1200 bps, and the through-put will not exceed 1200 bits per
 second.

 In a Normal connection, the modem provides data buffers.  This allows
 the terminal rate to be different from the connection rate.  However,
 the maximum modem-to-modem through-put continues to be equal to the
 connection rate.  For instance, if the DTE is set to 9600 bps and the
 modem connects at 2400 bps (CONNECT 2400), then as long as the DTE does
 not overflow the transmit buffer, data will pass intact, and the
 terminal is permitted to remain set at 9600 bps.  Through-put will not
 exceed 2400 bits per second.

 In a Reliable connection, the modem provides data buffers so that the
 terminal rate can be different from the connection rate.  In addition,
 it provides the MNP protocol, which provides error detection and
 correction.  The protocol utilized is MNP (Microcom Network Protocol),
 developed by Microcom, Inc. Maximum modem-to-modem through-put is
 determined by the Class of Reliable connection negotiated, but will
 never exceed the slowest terminals rate.  Flow control is provided in
 the same fashion as for Normal connections.

 AT COMMANDS FOR MNP

 *   (\A)  Maximum MNP Block Size:

 This command controls the maximum block size transmitted.
   \A0  Maximum block size transmitted = 64
   \A1  Maximum block size transmitted = 128
   \A2  Maximum block size transmitted = 192
   \A3  Maximum block size transmitted = 256 (default)

 *   (\B)  Transmit Break:

     \Bn  n = 1 to 9, 300mS break always transmitted.

 *   (\C)  Set Auto-Reliable Buffer:

   \C0  Auto-Reliable Fallback character and buffer disabled. (default)
   \C1  Buffers 200 character. If the buffer fills before a Reliable
        link has been negotiated, the modem will make a Normal
        connection.
   \C2  If the ASCII code set by the %A command is received before a
        Reliable link is negotiated, the modem will make a Normal
        connection.

 *   (D/n)  Dial Stored Telephone Numbers:

 The D/n command will dial the number that is stored in &Zn.  For
 example, to dial the number stored in &Z3, specify D/3.

 *   (DL)  Dial Last Dialed Telephone Number:

 The DL command will dial the last ATD number issued.

 *   (En)  Standard Link Data Mode and Echo Data:

   \E0  Do not echo data during standard link Data Mode
   \E1  Echo data during a standard link Data Mode

 *   (\G)  Set Modem-to-Modem Flow Control:

   \G0  Disables Modem-to-Modem flow control (default).
   \G1  Enables Modem-to-Modem XON/XOFF flow control.

 Determines flow control method during a Normal connection.

 *   (\J)  BPS Rate Adjust:

   \J0  Disables Bps Rate Adjust.
   \J1  Enables Bps Rate Adjust (default).

 *   (\K)  Set Break Control:

   \Kn  n = 0 to 5, indicating method of Break processing (default = 5).

 Break processing is determined by this command and the condition of the
 modem-to-modem connection, as shown by the following table.

     Break           Break           Break           \Bn command
     received from   received from   received from   received from
     DTE while in    DTE while in    remote modem    DTE while in
     CONNECT state   CONNECT state   while in        COMMAND state
     during          during Direct   CONNECT state   during a
     Reliable or     connection.     during Normal   Reliable or
     Normal                          connection.     Normal
     connection.                                     connection.

 \K0   Enter COMMAND   Immediately     Purge buffers,  Purge buffers,
       state, do not   send break,     immediately     immediately
       send break to   then enter      send break to   send break to
       remote modem    COMMAND state.  DTE.            remote modem.

 \K1    Purge buffers,  Immediately     Same as \K0     Same as \K0
        immediately     send break to
        send break to   remote modem.
        remote modem.

 \K2    Same as \K0     Same as \K0     Immediately     Immediately
                                        send break to   send break to
                                        DTE             remote modem.

 \K3    Immediately     Same as \K1     Same as \K2     Same as \K2
        send break to
        remote modem.

 \K4    Same as \K0     Same as \K0     Send break to   Send break to
                                        DTE in          remote modem
                                        sequence with   in sequence
                                        data.           with data

 \K5    Send break to   Same as \K1     Same as \K4     Same as \K4
        remote modem
        in sequence
        with data.

 *   (\L)  Block MNP Link:

   \L0  Selects Stream Link (default)
   \L1  Selects Block Link

 Stream link is the Normal mode of MNP operation.

 Note that this product does not attempt to emulate Microcom Block link
 operation.  When block link is selected, operation is identical to
 stream mode operation, with the exception that the maximum block size
 is 260.

 *   (\N)  Set Operating Mode:

   \N0  Selects Normal mode operation
   \N1  Selects Direct mode operation (default)
   \N2  Selects Reliable mode operation
   \N3  Selects Auto-Reliable mode operation

 *   (\O)  Originate Reliable Link:

 This command directs the modem to initiate a Reliable link regardless
 of whether or not the modem originates or answers the call.  This
 command is only valid in the "escape" state.  If a Reliable link is
 already in progess, the modem simply returns online.

 *   (\Q)  Set Serial Port Flow Control:

   \Q0  Disables flow control (default)
   \Q1  Enables XON/XOFF flow control
   \Q2  Enables uni-directional hardware flow control
   \Q3  Enables bi-directional hardware flow control

 Determine flow control method used to control DTE-to-modem data flow.

 *   (\S)  View Active Configuration:

 This command displays the state of the most important modem
 configuration parameters 8 lines at a time.  When "ENTER" is pressed,
 the next group of parameters are displayed.  There are two groups of 8
 lines and a third with 6.

 *   (\T)  Set Inactivitey Timer:

   \Tn  n = 0 to 90 minutes (default = 0)

 Determines how long the modem will stay connected with no data
 communications activity.  When set to 0, the inactivity timer is
 disabled.  The timer is ignored when in the Direct mode.

 *   (\U)  Accept Reliable Link:

 This command directs the modem to accept a Reliable link request
 regardless of whether or not the modem originates or answers the call.
 This command is only effective in the "escape" state.  If a Reliable
 link is already in progress, the modem simply returns online.

 *   (\V)  Modify Result Code Form:

   \V0  Selects standard 89024 result codes (default)
   \V1  Selects result codes modified for MNP operation

    Standard result code                Modified result code

 Long form          Short form        Long form          Short form

 CONNECT                1          CONNECT 0300/REL          20
                                   CONNECT 0600/REL          21
 CONNECT 1200           5          CONNECT 1200/REL          22
 CONNECT 2400          10          CONNECT 2400/REL          23

 *   (\X)   Set XON/XOFF Pass-Through:

   \X0  Recognize XON/XOFF characters but do not pass them through the
        modem.  (default)
   \X1  Recognize XON/XOFF characters and pass them through the modem.

 When \X0 is in effect, XON/XOFF characters sent from the DTE to the
 local modem are not transmitted to the remote modem.  Likewise, XON/
 XOFF characters received from the remote modem control modem-to-modem
 data flow, but are not passed on to the local DTE.

 When X1 is in effect, XON/XOFF characters sent from the DTE to the
 local modem are transmitted to the remote modem, and XON/XOFF
 characters received from the remote modem control modem-to-modem data
 flow and are passed on to the local DTE.



 ======================================================================
 * LYNX REVIEWS
 ======================================================================


 The following article is reprinted in Z*Net by permission of AtariUser
 magazine and Quill Publishing.  It MAY NOT be further reprinted without
 specific permission of Quill.  AtariUser is a monthly Atari magazine,
 available by subscription for $18 a year.  For more information on
 AtariUser, call 800-333-3567.


 Awesome Golf (Lynx)

 Forget those 5:00 AM tee-offs.  With AWESOME GOLF, you can now play the
 links on the Lynx.  This is a full featured golf game, allowing you to
 play on one of three courses.  Each hole features an overhead map where
 you survey the course and aim your shot.  You pick your club from a bag
 of 14, then take your best stroke, done with a power bar using three
 button presses: one to start the swing, a second to set the strength,
 and a third to determine hooks, slices, and fades.  To round things
 out, hints are available to beginners, and a driving range reports
 useful statistics.

 AWESOME GOLF plays golf with detailed realism.  Each club's range,
 usage, and effect on the ball are accurately duplicated, and the
 texture and properties of the terrain and green are crucial factors.
 Games can be for either 9 or 18 holes, feature three levels of wind,
 and handicapping of individual players.  You can even select the
 clothing, race and sex of your player, and women golfers are allowed to
 tee off closer to the hole.  The only flaw is the multiplayer option
 (up to four); the ComLynx option is almost pointless, as it would have
 been easier to allow multiple golfers to play on one Lynx.

 Graphics on AWESOME GOLF are highly detailed and smoothly animated.
 Swings are seen from behind your player, while the ball's flight is
 viewed from overhead.  Still images highlight events such as bogeys,
 penalties, and birdies.  The voice of your caddie is occasionally
 heard, making remarks, congratulating strokes, and laughing at
 blunders.

 This is a very good golf game, capturing the details of the sport with
 enough features to enhance its appeal.  AWESOME GOLF should not be
 missed.  Atari Corp., $29.95.  - Robert Jung


 Tournament Cyberball (Lynx)

 Welcome to the 21st century, where robots play in sports too deadly for
 humans.  This is TOURNAMENT CYBERBALL, the futuristic game based on
 American football--to a point.  The ball heats up during play, so the
 offense must carry the ball far enough to cool it down, else face an
 explosion.  Smart coaches save game funds to replace the basic robot
 players with enhanced models at any time during play.

 Up to four can play TOURNAMENT CYBERBALL, against each other or one of
 four computer coaches.  On field, each player controls a robot, making
 the passes and blitzes needed to win.  But once play begins, weaknesses
 appear in this arcade conversion.  There is no difference in ability or
 in plays among the six available teams.  Handoffs are unpredictable,
 reducing the value of running plays, and opposing passes are difficult
 to intercept.  Robots never suffer any damage, and the "turbo defense"
 option has been removed.  The game pace is too fast in some spots and
 very sluggish in others.

 Additional flaws are largely shortcomings of the Lynx conversion, a
 loss only by comparison to the arcade version.  While a player
 unfamiliar with the original may be interested, the legion of arcade
 TOURNAMENT CYBERBALL fans should avoid this title.  Atari Corp.,
 $39.95.  - Robert Jung


 XYBOTS (Lynx)

 The robots are at it again.  EarthBase 26-B has been overrun by alien
 Xybots, and now you must infiltrate the station, battle the enemy, and
 stop the takeover.  XYBOTS is an adaptation of the Atari Games arcade
 title, where one or two players explore a space station from a first-
 person perspective.

 This is a respectable conversion that retains all the features of the
 original.  You wander through each level's maze, grabbing coins and
 keys, while fighting Xybots with unlimited shots or an energy-draining
 zap.  Reach the exit, and you can buy more equipment before going to
 deeper levels with more surprises and dangers.

 The game is easier than the coin-op--the robots aren't too bright and
 you start off well-armed.  Experienced players can use Warp Exits to
 travel to higher stages quicker.  About every tenth level is a fight
 with a Master Xybot, but the main game is maze-running and robot-
 blasting.

 The Lynx graphics are almost identical to the arcade.  The stations are
 sparse, but your fighter, Xybots, and other items are animated and
 detailed.  A minor gripe is that rotating the view is done in harsh 90-
 degree increments, which can be disorienting.  Sounds effects are
 copied closely, and although the mechanical voices have been removed,
 in their place are several techno-rock background tunes.

 While the difficulty has been scaled back from the arcade version,
 XYBOTS on the Lynx offers enough of a challenge to keep the typical
 player back for more.  Atari Corp., $39.95.  - Robert Jung



 ======================================================================
 * Z*NET SOFTWARE SHELF                               by Ron Berinstein
 ======================================================================


 So I was driving down the street yesterday when I observed one of the
 promotions on a PC store window.  The sign boasted the low price of
 $79.50 for virus protection software.  Hmm.. George Woodside's is
 shareware.  Then I thought of the other high prices that I would be
 sure to find inside.  Well, being that April Fool's day has past I
 probably can't get away with awarding all Z*Net readers $500.00 gift
 certificates for software, but, I can try and do the next best thing.
 Contained herein is a wonderful collection of value oriented programs.
 So.. it's up to you.  Go out and buy the virus scanner for $79.50 and
 give it to a friend who has a PC, or, put your MasterCard away, pour
 yourself a cool spring time drink, turn on some music, and relax while
 reading over all the choices you have to make.

 And, while on the subject of choices, are you like me and have trouble
 deciding on names?  Well, rather than calling your cat Squirt, why not
 look into ALPHA.LZH?  Alpha (The Name Generator), may just be the right
 thing for you if you still haven't chosen a name for the new baby, or
 if you are trying to decide on the perfect name for the family iguana!
 So, no longer do you have to use wimpy names at your next D&D game
 either!  This utility creates lists of names, thousands of them, and
 you can use your own custom parameters.  It is Monochrome freeware.

 And if you really are like me, you can't make sense out of half of what
 you read.  Let alone that which is already scrambled on purpose!  So,
 select JMBL.TOS, a program that unscrambles 5 or 6 letter words for
 jumble puzzles.  It will check all the 5 letter combinations in about
 15 seconds and all of the 6 letter combinations in about 1 minute.
 This file is a self-extracting archive.  Double click on the file and
 it will automatically extract the files from the archive.  It is TT
 Compatible.

 And for those who just don't want to read anything, cause they feel a
 picture is worth....

 MONOGIF.LZH    MONOCHROME GIF VIEWER  is a Monochrome GIF viewer.  It
 is fairly quick and has a few dither options.  Works on 1/2 MEG
 machines.  It works as TTP program. TT Compatible in ST High
 Resolution.

 QGIF.LZH   FAST GIF VIEWER W/SOURCE  is a quick GIF viewer (.TTP), that
 works on 1/2 meg machines.  Two versions.. GIFcolor shows GIF's in
 Color, and GIFscale shows GIF's in shades of gray.  Two nice, fast
 programs.  See QG.LZH for assembly source codes. USE UNLZH172.PRG to
 extract! (Quester LZH won't work).  TT Compatible in all res., but
 extended color capability is not available.

 MOVEPICS.LZH   Moving Pictures is in celebration of the official
 release of Warp 9, the awesome new screen accellerator (and lots more!)
 from CodeHead Technologies!  Moving Pictures allows you to have Warp 9
 random background pictures for all three ST resolutions and all three
 TT resolutions!  Gives Desk Manager users a random startup picture for
 both color and monochrome systems!

 RSHADE30.LZH   RAYSHADE 3.0  is RayShade 3.0, an internet distributed
 ray-tracer, similar to QRT.  Outputs 24bit files to MTV or RLE formats.
 Includes a ST 22 grey scale viewer.  Seems to be more powerful than
 QRT. Can also produce stereo pictures.  TESTED->TOS 1.4 COLOR 2 MEG.
 Docs talk about a 2 meg minimum.

 But to put things back into the proper conTEXT...  <smile>

 1STVIEW.LZH  is a German desk accessory allows you to view ASCII, First
 Word, .IMG, and even .RSC files w/in any GEM program.  Supports
 different types of displays, and takes up about 50K of RAM.  This is
 from Germany, but not difficult to figure out how to operate.  But, ALL
 DOCS are in GERMAN.

 DISPLAY.LZH  Latest and greatest version of the Revenge Document
 Displayer.  It's much faster, and has some nice features too.  Search
 for any string, print out portions of text, auto-depack documents, and
 more.  Includes current version of Ice-packer and depacking source code
 too.  Custom versions are available.

 This Special Software Shelf Section (Say that ten times fast) has
 organizational programs... Mailing lists to hard disks!

 JCLABEL1.LZH   JC LABEL   JC Label, a mailing label manager/printer
 from the UK will organize your names for you.  Search, create, edit,
 and print mailing labels.  Nicely done "AutoZest" interface, works in
 both ST High and ST Medium resolutions.

 PGSHEL10.ARC  Page-Shell v 1.0 ~ This program is for users of Hi-Softs'
 PAGE.TTP.  It offers an easy to use graphic interface (ZeST), can save
 configurations and can move/delete files + create folders.  If you own
 PAGE.TTP and have a MONO monitor this is for you...

 DATAKEN.ARC   DATAKEN 1.2  contains Dataken v1.2 The Binary File
 Processor.  Edit, analyze, and manipulate any kind of file.  Display
 and edit any portion of file in it's natural format.  Comparison mode
 for file analysis, database and C struct modes.  This version is now a
 fully functional shareware offering.  Written by Tyson Gill, GT
 Software.

 ALIBI17.LZH  is a small utility from Germany which creates "alias"
 files, which are small executable files that serve to run another
 program.  Okay, so they're not like "alias" on the Macintosh, but it
 may be of use in some situations.  Freeware   Documentation in .DVI
 (Tex) format enclosed, but it's in German. Prg. is in Eng.  TT
 Compatible and remember there are GERMAN DOCS.

 FKILL.LZH   File Killer Version 1.20  The File Killer is a very small
 AUTO folder utility that allows you to delete your precious files so
 that others can't read them.  This program couldn't be easier to use,
 just place it in your AUTO folder and boot your ST.  Now whenever you
 delete a file while holding down the 'Alternate' key it will be
 completely erased beyond recovery by even the best un-delete utilities.

 WORM.LZH   ST-WORM (Write Once Read Many) provides you with a 'delete
 protection' utility.  This stops you from accidentally erasing your
 precious files from disks.  ST-WORM is fully configurable and has been
 thoroughly tested.  Full documentation included.  Don't miss this
 essential utility.

 VIDEOTECH  VideoTech, a public domain video tape organization program
 from Germany.  Written by TigerSoft.  Please note that this program,
 and all documentation, is in German.

 RE_BOT.LZH  Re - boot From Mark Matts - Allows you to switch on both
 your hard drive and ST together - the ST then waits for a user defined
 period and then reboots , when the HD has got up to speed - very useful
 and time saving.

 GMAP_2.ARC  Generates a graphical map of the data on your disks.  This
 new verion is smaller and fixes a bug in the previous version with some
 HD configurations.

 WHATIS.ARC is now up to 5.9. It identifies over 125 file types - ARCs,
 LHarcs, PRGs, pics, ACCs, animations, etc... no more "what kind of file
 is this?" problems!  Runs as a PRG or ACC or a TTP-like program on any
 ST/TT in any rez.  Short docs included in the ARC.  All the features of
 previous versions, plus adds over a dozen new file types.

 CAL 6.2A  Cal v6.2a of the calendar accessory available for Atari
 Computers.  This version has more displays of alarm times, more scan
 options, more date calculations, the ability to move dialog on screen,
 and more!  Also included is new version of CalShow v6.2a., which shows
 and sorts alarm events, has new week and today buttons, and return to
 menu instead of exit.

 ZAP62B.ARC  This ARC contains a Superzap file that will update Cal 6.2a
 to version 6.2b.

 And for folks that would rather listen to their text and not see it!

 MORSE.LZH  is a Morse Code trainer.  Configurable in terms of speed,
 tone, and practice contents.  Will translate any file into Morse code!
 I wounder if I could use it for a radio operator's license test?  Nah..
 But, it is Freeware.  TT Compatible using 24BIT.PRG ONLY!  ST Medium
 and High Resolutions.

 And for those who wish to see their text in different original styles.
 * These files were contributed by Alan Font.  :)

 FELTMARK.LZH  FELT MARKER CALAMUS FONT   This Type 1 font is so superb,
 & professional, that Nevin wrote that he had to convert it for Calamus
 users.  Originally a Type 1 PostScript font, it was converted to a CFN
 with Didot Prof.  This is an informal, "Felt Marker" typeface.  Both
 upper and lower case, punctuation, and smart quotes.  It does not
 contain forein characters.  And.. it gives an incorrect serial # in
 Calamus SL.

 AARCOVER FONT  Post Script type 1 font - AARCOVER

 CALAMUS ST SCREEN FONT    DEJA_VU.LZH   This free font is complete (not
 a demo.)  It's a Calamus font format representation of the ST high
 resolution screen font.  It's drawn to precisely emulate the screen
 font's proportions and spacing.  Great for published program listings
 or software manual illustrating etc.  Requires Calamus.

 By the way  OBURST_2.ARC (also  OUTBURST 2.0)  is the new Demo of
 OutBurST! v.2.0 now compatible with ST, STE and TT's.  This prg. can
 reduce the time it takes Pagestream to output to fast HP LaserJet and
 Deskjet compatible printers.  PRINTING PAGE time for a full page with
 an HPIIIP and ADSPEED is about 19 seconds compared to 300 seconds with
 TOS1.4.  Also speeds up GDOS & all std. prin'r output even for non-HP
 compatibles.  HPLJHC.LZH was just posted as well.. HP Laserjet GDOS
 drivers for 150 and 300 dpi.

 And talking about Demos... several were posted this past week.

 FEDEMO.LZH    FRONTE.LZH   FRONT END Demo ver. of Front End(tm), a GUI
 that can be incorporated into programs written in GFA Basic.  Front End
 is like "Autizest" but with more features, it is a collection of
 routines and procedures that allow the programmer to build an
 attractive user interface with a minimum of fuss.  This program
 demonstrates some of the effects that can be achieved, and the code
 needed to do so.  UK Shareware

 EZTXT1.LZH Demonstration version of Easy Text 1.4.  Everything works
 except print is setup to only print 1/4 page (unlike v. 1.2 which does
 not represent the commercial version accurately but does print out
 fine).  Easy Text Plus is a Desktop Publisher at a low price.

 SPRO_610.ARC  Fully functioning limited entry copy of the popular
 Sales-Pro from Hi-Tech Advisers.  This VERSION 6.10 contains MANY NEW
 FEATURES!  Read the file 'SALEDEMO.DOC' for installation info and the
 file 'UPDATE.DOC'for a list of what's been added since V6.  Both
 included.  Add the files from the seperate ARC 'SPADD610.ARC' to make
 this SUPER SALES-PRO.

 SPADD610.ARC  These are the Add-On Modules and Accessories for the
 Sales-Pro demo system.  Add these files to the main Sales-Pro point-of-
 sale and inventory control and accounting system to add customer file
 support, receivables, mail merge, payables, general ledger, kits, etc.

 FZT_D212.LZH    FREEZE DRIED TERMINAL V2.12  Demo of version 2.12 of
 FreeZe Dried Terminal! Fixes some minor bugs from version 2.11.  Too
 many features to list.  A great terminal program, well worth the
 download, and it is apparent that Arron is doing his best to support
 this program.

 And two quick term program sidenotes, RUFTRN.LZH will translate RUFUS
 version 1.06 to English.  Included are ZAP files to do the translation
 of the program and resource files and complete documentation in
 English.  Plus.. VANTERM 4.0 COMMUNICATION TERMIN  (Vanterm 4.0) the
 popular communications terminal's latest revision has been posted.

 XFONTKIT.TOS   Demo of Font Kit, a very full featured font editor.
 Comes with a font uncompressing program and quite a few fonts.  The
 file is a self-extracting LZH... Copy it to an empty floppy and run it.

 GRAMMAR EXPERT DEMO  Limited but working demonstration of Grammar
 Expert, from Phil Comeau Software.  Grammar Expert is an online
 reference for the rules of English grammar, punctuation, and effective
 writing.  It runs as a desk accessory, so you can use it from your
 favorite word processor.  If you aren't sure of the correct way to
 punctuate a sentence, how to make verbs agree with subjects, or are
 looking for advice on how to make your writing more effective, just tap
 in to Grammar Expert.

 PROTEXT DEMO  This is the demo version of ProText, a full featured word
 processor, being imported by Michtron!  There is a good review of this
 program in the latest issue of Atari Advantage.  Now you can take a
 'test drive' and see how you like it.  This demo will only edit a 2K
 file, but it is otherwise full featured.

 PICCOLO PAINT PROGRAM  Demonstration version of Piccolo, a drawing
 program from Germany.  It is said to be impressive stuff, and it
 supports many picture formats, lots of options, neat interface with
 "live scrolling", and much more. However, THIS PROGRAM IS IN GERMAN.
 Even if you don't speak the language, there is enough here to interest
 most ST users.  Archive includes PRG and ACC versions, and many .IMG
 pictures to enjoy.  Monochrome only.  Tested on TOS 2.05

 DOSOUND  This is a Demo version of two powerful sound chip development
 programs.  DoSound is a complete song editor desinged to create
 interrupt driven music through the Atari's sound chip.  Full MIDI
 support is inculded.  DoEffect is a sound effects processor utility
 program that provides complete access to the entire range of sound chip
 functions on one screen.  Both programs feature an elegant GEM
 interface and save their files in XBIOS(32) interrupt format.  The
 output files can be merged into your own programs to add music and
 sound effects.  Many sample songs are included as well as
 documentation.  If you're interested in music, sound or MIDI, this
 package is for you!  Not TT compatible.

 And so you still haven't found anything that SOUNDS GOOD?  (hint)

 QUARTET PLAYER 3  might be right for you.  Quartet Player 3: Now plays
 Quartet songs with ease.  New player displays a nice drum set while
 giving song information.  Works on any ST or STe in any resolution.
 Contains 2 song files and voice sets.  The file's description says it
 has far superior sound to any other player such as TCB Tracker or
 Noisetracker, etc.

 PLAY20.ZOO   This utility will play 8-bit sound samples.  To call it
 from a command shell (e.g. GULAM), type:  play <pathname> <Hz> where
 <pathname> is the name of the sample file, and <Hz> is the playback
 frequency in Hertz. V. 2.0 includes support for STe's enhanced sound
 capabilities.  Looping and signed magnitude sample support as well.

 COSH24.LZH   Accompanist v2.4 by Henry Cosh. 16 track sequencer.  It
 now supports Standard Midi Files.

 MMM201.LZH    MIDI MUSIC MAKER 2.01  is the update to Midi Music Maker.
 It will now play Cakewalk 2 as well as Cakewalk 3 as in version 2.0.
 There are 14 different basic types of music files from 7 different
 types of computers that the program will handle.  The program gives you
 control over volume, channels, presets, tempo, and you can create SMF
 files in format 0 or format 1.

 And while on the subject of Midi, RSXXMDXX.ARC can be used to install
 an expanded RS232 and/or MIDI buffer from 1k to 31k in size.  Useful
 for high-speed modem's and programs that use the MIDI port.  It is TT
 Compatible.  HSP232.LZH  is a desk accessory that allows you to set
 your RS232 baud rate to 38,400, 76,800 or even 153,600 baud!  Docs are
 in German, but the DA is simple... just 3 radio buttons.  FREEWARE.
 And, X_INCONT.TOS  is In-Control, a program used for manipulating MIDI
 sysex data from your ST.  The thing that makes it interesting is that
 you may configure it's 20 sliders however you like!  There's a few
 templates included.  It can be a program or accessory.  It is a Self-
 Extracting LZH - file, so copy to a floppy and run...  MUSICAL NOTATION
 SYMBOLS IN IMG contains a 300dpi .IMG file of music notation symbols,
 which can be used to add musical notation to all of your DTP documents.
 This archive is FREEWARE from Custom Compositions.

 For those who want even more Bang for their Buck!

 X_BANG.TOS   BANG   Bang! is a game that runs on a color or mono
 monitor.  It's ported from the PC and is strategy oriented...  It is
 from the cover disk of Atari ST User April 1992: Bang! is a a variation
 of Clayton Walnum's Demolition Man, so we know which came first!
 Exploding mines are hidden on a grid and its up to you to figure out
 where they are.

 OTRPLACE.LZH    OTHER PLACE  "Other Place" is a basic, one person semi-
 astroids like game with emphasis on shoot & dodge.  Fun.  It runs in
 all ST screen resolutions.  It has several levels of difficulty and
 overall game speed to help accommodate different skill levels and
 computer speeds.  Instructions included.  Freeware.

 ROULET17.LZH    ROULETTE   RULET17.LZH  This is the game of Roulette.
 Learn how to win big bucks and how to place your bets.  Good Graphics.
 COLOR MONITOR REQUIRED  TT Compatible in ST Low Resolution.

 MUTCATER.ARC   MUTANT CATERPILLARS   From the April 1992 Atari ST User
 cover disk:  Geez, as if Jeff Minter's mutant camels weren't enough,
 here come their cousins, the mutant caterpillars!  This game
 demonstrates the new STOS 3D programming language.  It also comes with
 a STOS demo.  LOW RES ONLY.

 NUKE101D.LZH   STARNUKERS 1.01D  StarNukers version 1.01D.  This is an
 updated version to 1.00.  Fixes several bugs.  Two player space war
 game played on two ST's via modem or null-modem link.  Also includes a
 one player practice mode.  Color monitor required.  TT Compatible in ST
 Medium Resolution.

 PENGUIN  Penguin! They're small, look like they're wearing tuxes and
 they need to get through this maze.  So it's up to you, pardner, to
 round up these suckers.  Remember, it's all in the mouse action!  LOW
 REZ ONLY.

 Programmers can play with these!

 MENUMK21.LZH   MENU MAKER 2.1  Menu Maker v2.1 by M.J. Matts  This
 utility allows GFA BASIC programmers to easily create drop-down menus.
 You can create, edit, save, load, and test menus from within this
 program.  A handy utility if you don't want to bother with a RSC file
 for your program.  Freeware from the United Kingdom.  ST High/Medium
 resolutions tested, might support more.

 Z80 CROSS ASSEMBLER  Z80 Cross Assembler: D&S Software of the UK have
 released the ST Asembler as Shareware.  Z80 has the look and feel of
 DevPac in their opinion, but at a much lower shareware price.

 MINT UTILITIES FOR .93  Here's the latest version of the MiNT utilites
 for version 0.93, with source code included.

 EDHOOK.ARC  EDHOOKS2.ARC   EdHak Hooks...  How to let users use
 EDHAK.ACC as an editor for your application.  This explains the GEM
 message pipe calls you need to use to see if EdHak is present, send
 stuff to it, and receive from it -- all without any disk access.
 Various options are covered.  The transfers are virtually instant.
 This is how QuickCIS interfaces with EdHak.  It also allows a method
 that uses a disk file if you need that.  (for EdHak v 2.3)

 GIF C SOURCE CODE  This is MGIF, the PD monochrome GIF displayer
 (source code only).  This version includes a "flicker" display which
 simulates 16 gray-scales for better simulation of color display.

 STOS BLITTER EXTENSIONS   These extensions allow STOS to access the
 Blitter chip (if you have one...) for lightning fast memory-to-memory
 copying, among other neat effects.  The speed increase is stunning!
 Works with STEs and Mega STs.  Includes both language and compiler
 files.  Shareware from England.

 And last but not least, another blitter file, an update, some packing
 info., and your FIX for the week!

 TOS 2.05 MONO FIX   This is a fix for the TOS 2.05 MONO shift bug.  It
 goes in the AUTO folder.  It also includes a program which can show off
 the bug.

 BLITSIM  This program simulates a blitter on a regular ST without one
 or a TT.  Resolution independant, and should work on an SST (not
 tested).

 UIS PATCH 3.0 -> 3.32  Patch your Universal Item Selector from 3.0 to
 3.32.

 AFXTIP.TXT  This text file is readable online.  It explains (a little)
 what AFX and PFX are all about.  (NOT THAT you all need to have this
 explained agined! <smile>).  Since the GERMAN Docs are not easily
 deciphered without some reading up, this may help some of you put these
 excellent prgs to good use!

 AFXTIP.ARC is a file comparison prg. demonstrating the use of the
 AFX.PRG found in the LZH201j pkg.


 The above files were compiled by Ron Berinstein co-sysop CodeHead
 Quarters BBS [phone] from files that were either directly
 uploaded to CodeHead Quarters BBS, or downloaded from GEnie,
 Compuserve, and Delphi online services.


 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 To sign up for DELPHI service, call (with modem)  [phone].  Upon
 connection,  hit  <return> once or twice.  At Password:  type ZNET  and
 hit <return>.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 To  sign up for GEnie service call (with modem)  [phone].   Upon
 connection type HHH and hit <return>.   Wait for the U#= prompt and type
 XTX99436,GEnie and hit <return>.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 To sign up for CompuServe service call (with phone) [phone].  Ask
 for operator #198.   You will be promptly sent a $15.00 free  membership
 kit.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Z*Net  International  Atari  Online Magazine  is  a  weekly  publication
 covering the Atari and related computer community.   Material  published
 in  this edition may be reprinted under the following terms  only.   All
 articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at
 the top of each article reprinted.   Reprint permission granted,  unless
 otherwise  noted,  to  registered Atari user groups and not  for  profit
 publications.   Opinions  present  herein are those  of  the  individual
 authors  and  does not necessarily reflect those  of  the  staff.   This
 publication is not affiliated with the Atari Corporation.   Z*Net, Z*Net
 News Service,  Z*Net International,  Rovac, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net
 Publishing  are  copyright  (c)1985-1992,  Syndicate  Publishing,  Rovac
 Industries  Incorporated,  Post Office Box 59,  Middlesex,  New  Jersey,
 08846-0059, Voice: [phone],  BBS: [phone], [phone].
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     Z*NET: Atari ST Online Magazine
                Copyright (c)1992, Rovac Industries, Inc...
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~