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*---== CPU NEWSWIRE ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
_____________________________________
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
January 05, 1990 Vol. IV ~ No.401
=======================================================================
CPU NewsWire Online Magazine¿
featuring
STReport ~ Online
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R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
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> Issue: #401 CPU Newswire¿ The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
------------------------
- The Editor's Podium - CPU REPORT
- FCC T/A Delays, REAL? - LYNX -> HOT!!
- TOS 1.6 & STE Overview - CIS & BIX DEAL
- Detroit's Atari Dealers - CHAOS STRIKES BACK II
- BATMAN THE MOVIE An Overview - CPU Confidential
---===*** SEARS FUMBLES LYNX TELE-CATALOG Nos. ***===---
---===** CES PRELIMINARY INFO **===---
---==* FCC CLEARS THE AIR! *==---
==========================================================================
CPU NEWSWIRE¿
"UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
-* FEATURING *-
Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
CPU/STR's support BBS, NODE # 350 invites systems using Forem ST BBS to
participate in Forem BBS's F-Net mail network. Or, Please call # 350
direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging ideas about
the Atari ST computers through an excellent International ST Mail Network.
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> The Editor's Podium¿
Next week, CES will be in full swing. You can expect pertinent
highlights from the Consumer Electronics Show to be featured in next
week's edition. For now, contained in this issue are a few major
developments and 'hope to' items which will be covered in depth next week.
In an on-going attempt to enhance and streamline our online editions,
we have made some modifications to our publication, we will be featuring
special departments which will focus on specific subjects. Also, STR will
showcase various usergroups and, at the same time, provide an opportunity
for the those usergroups to have articles written by their members
published for all the users to enjoy.
Henceforth; we will be known as:
CPU NewsWire Online Magazine
featuring
STReport ~ Online
As some of you may have noticed, we have already changed the headers
and area titles to reflect this change. You may ask why the name change?
Easy! We are engaged in staying contemporary with the recent positive
advancements made by Atari, with the new titles reflecting an edition
featuring much more than simply ST coverage, we have allowed ourselves the
opportunity to provide, in depth, coverage of the Portfolio, STE, Megas
and of course, the complete lineup of Atari computers.
OOPS! Almost forgot .....The Lynx!! Now this is a dynamite little
goodie that is simply entrancing and spectacular! According to the most
recent reports, the LYNX is now generally available in Maryland,
Virginia, Atlanta GA., Glendale CA. in Montgomery Ward, Toys R Us and K &
B Genius stores. Sears appears to be temporarily sold out.
Our volume numbers and issue numbers will reflect some changes too.
Its not complicated, they simply point to the year and issue number in one
number, therefore, they will change annually.
example: 401: [4] volume no. [01] issue number this volume.
STR Publishing promises to continue to provide late breaking news,
interesting articles, technical information and of course, our extensive
and exclusive reporting will bring you, the reader, the finest online
tabloid possible. Your suggestions and ideas are appreciated.
STR Publishing is proud to provide one of the best information sources
available online today.
Thanks for your continued strong support,
R.F. Mariano
STR Publishing Inc.
"THE NEW WAVE OF ATARI!"
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
======================
Please, be advised that beginning with the current issue, CPU NewsWire
will be available for Download regularly between 6 - 7pm friday evenings.
The reason for the recent fluctuations over the past few weeks are far too
numerous to mention here. The fluctuations are however, at an end. We
apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. Henceforth, you
may rely on our being on time, with the latest info and news Fridays
between 6-7pm.
With the advent of ARCSHELL 2.1 and ARC 6.02, with their ease of use,
increased speed, reliability and efficiency improvements, PLUS the
portability of the arc format to many other computers than just the ST has
given us good reason to no longer upload CPU/STR Newswire in dual formats
of ARC/LZH. Therefore, beginning this week, 01-05-90, we will upload to
the major services in the ARC format only. Please, do not misconstrue
this decision to stay with the latest arc format as a blanket denunciation
of all other file compression techniques as this is definitely not the
case.
Thanks for your support,
Ralph F. Mariano
STR Publications Inc.
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COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
CPU NEWSWIRE ONLINE MAGAZINE¿
featuring
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NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY!
Call any of the St Report Official BBS numbers
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> CPU REPORT¿
Issue #48
---------
by Michael Arthur
Remember When....
In the Autumn of 1985, Steve Jobs sold 1,350,000 shares of his Apple
stock for $22 million after being pushed out of Apple Management, with
rumors circulating that he was going to start another venture in the
computer industry, and how Steve Jobs (at that particular time) still was
Apple's largest stockholder, with over 9 percent of the company's shares?
CPU Systems Roundup¿ XIX
========================
Graphics Processors, TIGA, and the TI 34020 Chip
------------------------------------------------
Graphics processing has come under a lot of attention recently in
the computer industry, as many graphics-intensive tasks, such as ray
tracing, realistic animations used in real-time simulations, and even work
in normal 3-D CAD programs, often take up a comparatively enormous amount
of CPU time. However, while advances have been made, most graphics chips,
such as the Amiga's Agnus and Denise chips, or the ST's Blitter chip, are
either custom-designed for a particular system, not powerful enough for
sophisticated tasks, or aren't versatile enough to handle many of the
operations involved in computer graphics by themselves. For example,
while the blitter chip can display a circle which is generated by the GEM
VDI very quickly, it cannot draw the circle itself. Texas Instruments has
developed their 340x0 line of graphics processors, which claim to provide
the speed and versatility needed for fast graphics operations on
workstation-class systems. Since Atari is readying to introduce its TT030
line of microcomputers, which will provide workstation-level capabilities,
it is necessary to examine the options and needs of workstation-level
computers. In order to understand what potential graphics processing may
have, let us examine this example....
The TI 34020 chip is a graphics processor. Unlike graphics
coprocessors, which only handle specific commands given to it, this type
of chip is a general-purpose microprocessor, which is geared towards
performing graphics operations. The TI 34020 can independently access to
the main CPU's DRAM and VRAM, has a local and host bus interface, and can
be fully programmed like a normal processor. It is the descendant of the
TI 34010, the first of TI's 340x0 line of graphics processors.
The TI 34020 is a 32-bit chip with a 512 byte instruction cache,
which is capable of performing 10 million instructions per second, or from
5-10 times faster than the TI 34010. Designed to perform graphics
operations, it supports most standard graphics and text operations, as
well as providing functions like area fills, Bit block moves (or BitBlit,
one of the functions of the Atari ST's Blitter chip does), calculations on
fields in memory, and built-in support for windowing. It supports data
transfer rates of up to 20 megabytes per second, and is also capable of
displaying fonts, by storing them as bit-mapped patterns. It has an array
of raster operations as well. It goes far beyond the concept of an
ordinary graphics coprocessor, providing many of the amenities needed in
graphics work.
TT Video Boards, Standardization, and the TIGA Specification
------------------------------------------------------------
Given its capabilities, several hardware companies began making
graphics cards which used the TI 34020 as a graphics chip. However, these
boards were very diverse in abilities, and were all incompatible, meaning
that video drivers had to be written for each of them, and that software
programs had no standard with which to truly utilize the 34020's more
sophisticated capabilities. In order to solve this dilemma, Texas
Instruments announced TIGA, a software interface for 34010-based video
displays which works independent of graphics resolution, the size of the
color palette, and the amount of displayable colors available on a board.
TIGA is actually a set of functions, or primitives, which act as a
programming "language" in much the same way that a program can use GEM's
VDI to display graphics. TIGA is made up of three elements:
- Applications Interface, which is the actual set of commands which
applications use for graphics operations. This basically provides the
same function as GEM's VDI.
- Communications Driver. This is a TSR program which sends commands
given by the AI to the 340x0-based video circuitry, and passes the results
back to the computer.
- Graphics Manager. This program communicates with the CD, and acts
as the board's driver software. It accepts commands given to it by the
CD, processes them with the video circuitry's hardware, and outputs them
back to the CD.
While the Graphics Manager makes a 34010 board TIGA-compatible, the
Applications Interface is the foundation of the TIGA Standard. It
consists of over 150 functions and primitives, which come in three types:
1) Core Primitives: These instructions, which are standard with TIGA,
perform basic graphics functions, such as screen clears, cursor shape and
displaying, and background/foreground colors.
2) Extended Primitives: These instructions (which are used only if an
application needs them) provide more sophisticated commands, such as
performing drawing operations. This set supports most of the 34020's
capabilities, such as drawing lines or circles, array functions such as
BitBlit (which is performed by the ST's Blitter Chip), displaying fonts,
and CAD operations like panning and zooming into pictures.
3) User-extended (Custom) Primitives: Programmers can design their own
TIGA primitives, in order to make the 34020 perform operations which are
typical of the graphical user interface which is in use. Texas
Instruments itself wrote a TIGA Device Driver for Microsoft Windows by
designing Custom primitives, so all of Windows' screen operations could be
performed directly by the 34020 chip.
Since Extended and Custom Primitives are basically the same, a PC
Windows application would perform just as quickly with a TIGA Device
Driver for MS Windows as if it were specially designed to work with the
TIGA Extended Primitives. This has great portends for operating system
performance. Several months ago, Sam Tramiel announced (in an Online
Conference) that Atari was developing a high resolution VME Color board
for the 68030 TT. Given the 34010's capabilities, if Atari made this
board TIGA compatible, and had Custom Primitives written which would
completely match the commands in GEM's VDI, then such a Video board would
bring enormous capabilities to the 68030 TT, such as:
- Since the 68030 TT has 512K of ROM space (of which around 300K is
empty), Atari could release a new version of TOS (TOS 1.8?) for the 68030
TT which had this TIGA "Device Driver" built into it. It would not only
enable TT Users with an Atari video board to run ST GEM programs at a
greater resolution, but would provide tremendously increased speed for
graphics operations.
- ST Programs like DynaCADD and Drafix 1 could utilize the 34020's
special capabilities directly (using TIGA's standard set of Extended
Primitives) for tasks like redraws and zooming to/from images. On
sophisticated CAD images, these operations are usually CPU-intensive, and
take up a lot of time. Using the 34020 and TIGA, these operations could
be done VERY quickly, and wouldn't have to take up a fraction of the
processor time that it would ordinarily take. This would result in a LOT
faster system performance....
- If Atari wished to make a version of the TT which used the 68040
chip, and was geared towards the high-end of the workstation industry, it
could build a TI 34010 Graphics processor into the motherboard, and use
the same TIGA "Device Driver" to let it handle graphics operations. This
would mean that anyone who bought an Atari TT video board would not
suddenly have "obsolete equipment", because the graphics chips used would
be the same. This is what Atari has always strived for, but it seems that
this method would make this aspiration a lot easier for Atari....
- The TI 34020 chip is downward compatible with the 34010 chip,
meaning that if future versions of the 340x0 chip are developed, TIGA will
already take advantage of increased speed.
Many PC Companies are already exploring options similar to the
above. For example, one company wrote a TIGA device driver for AutoCAD
which allowed AutoCAD to use the 34010's capabilities. Not only did this
result in high-resolution graphics, but using the 34010 as a display list
processor made AutoCAD complete graphics displaying almost
instantaneously. However, there are several negative marks against this
idea, one of which is the price of such a Video Board. A 50 MHZ 34010
costs around $30 - $60, and the component cost for making a 34010 video
board is considerable. This would mean that if Atari developed a VME
Color Card for the TT, that it would cost at least $700 dollars. Even
though the person that is most likely to own a TT would want this type of
expandability, this is a serious business issue. Also, there is the cost
of writing a TIGA Device Driver for the TT, and whether it is feasible to
undertake many of the other costs which are part of designing any computer
hardware....
One of the favorite uses for computers are their graphics. With the
68030 TT both powerful and versatile enough to provide workstation-class
capabilities, all of the available options for utilizing that power must
be examined. This essay on TIGA and the TI 34010/34020 line of graphics
coprocessors is meant to be a "first step" in evaluating these options,
and exploring the possibilities which microcomputers make so eminently
tantalizing....
But ponder, if you will, these questions:
1) What are other applications which workstation-class microcomputers
make possible, and are they feasible at this time?
2) How does the design of a computer system's external appearance
determine its popularity in the computer industry, and can a computer
make it in the computer industry based on price/performance alone?
CPU STATUS REPORT¿
=================
Columbus, OH BYTE Magazine is reportedly negotiating to have their
------------ Online Service, BIX (or Byte Information eXchange),
merged into CompuServe. BIX would be accessed through
an online "gateway". While CIS also bought The Source,
another prominent Online Service, in 1989, it seems
that this decision may just be a way to make BIX more
accessible, since it currently has to use Telenet's
services to have a nationwide node network. However,
this rumor, if true, may indicate BIX's departure from
the Online Service industry....
Compuserve is also planning to launch the Compuserve
European Information Service, a network which would
make CIS's services available in Europe at the same
access rates that CIS's US Userbase pays, by the Summer
of 1990.
Ottawa, Canada A bill has recently been introduced into the Canadian
-------------- House of Commons which would give integrated circuits
the same rights to legal protection which is given to
other "intellectual property". Other industrialized
nations, such as Japan and America, already have laws
providing this support.
If passed, this will protect registered chip designs
for 10 years, and would allow companies to "reverse
engineering" clones of that chip. However, if a chip
design is sold to another company, then no one can
limit the use of that chip design....
White Plains, NY IBM has announced the PS/2 Model 70 486, a new version
---------------- of their PS/2 computer line which uses a 25 MHZ 80486
chip to perform twice as fast as a 33 MHZ 80386 PC. It
will come with 1 Meg of RAM, VGA Graphics, and a high
density floppy drive as standard. Cost: $12,400 with a
60 Meg Hard Drive, and $13,000.00 with a 120 Megabyte
Hard Drive....
The Intel 80486 chip uses built-in versions of the
80387 math coprocessor and the 80235 Cache Controller,
has an internal 8K instruction cache, and is completely
compatible with Intel's 80x86 microprocessor line. IBM
is also shipping the 486/25 Power Platform, an add-in
card which brings the 80486's speed to their 386-based
PS/2 Model 70s.
Los Altos, CA Paul Heckel has reached an out of court settlement with
------------- Apple about his lawsuit, which charged that Apple's
Hypercard violated patents pertaining to his Zoomracks
database program. In this settlement, Apple will
license part of Hypercard's file format to HyperRacks,
a company (owned by Paul Heckel) which is developing an
add-on to HyperCard which will provide it with
abilities found in Zoomracks. In exchange, Apple will
license Zoomracks' patents for a "substantial sum of
money."
The money that Paul Heckel gains from this lawsuit will
be used to help HyperRacks Inc. get its product to
market. However, QuickView Systems (who actually owns
the Zoomracks patents) will use the legal precedent
gained by Apple's settlement to pursue other companies
who have violated its patents. Paul Heckel intends to
use both the money gained by future lawsuits, and some
of the revenue which HyperRacks will bring, to both pay
off Quickview Systems' enormous outstanding debt, and
to develop GEM-based versions of Zoomracks for the IBM
and Atari ST, as well as a Mac Zoomracks....
London, UK The Software Toolworks, a US software house, has
agreed in principle to acquire Mindscape Incorporated
in the US, and Mindscape International, its European
subsidiary, based in the UK. Terms of the deal have not
been revealed. The merger has been unanimously
approved by the board of directors of both The Software
Toolworks and Mindscape, and is now subject to the
approval of the shareholders in Mindscape, which is
expected to be granted at a special shareholder's
meeting due to be held in March, 1990. According to
Les Crane, chairman and CEO of The Software Toolworks,
the Mindscape acquisition gives the company access to
Mindscape's established European and Pacific markets,
as well as Mindscape's licensing agreement with
Nintendo America. "We're also delighted that Roger
Buoy (Mindscape's chief executive officer) will serve
as president of our international entertainment
divisions, and as creative director of the combined
companies,". .
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Conference Info CPU/STR NewsWire Infofile¿
------------------------------------------
ONLINE CONFERENCE SCHEDULES
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
GEnie Atari ST Roundtable
-------------------------
January 10, 1990:
featuring; Bob Brodie, Atari's Manager of User Group Services
Bob will be the featured guest. Bob will be on hand to discuss
Atari user group plans and activities and answer the user group
and show related questions and any other questions he cares to
field. (That guy knows a great deal about many things!)
January 17, 1990:
featuring; "Is There Life Outside The Atari ST Roundtable?"
This conference features SysOps from some of the other GEnie
roundtables as our guests. Get a flavor of some of the other
services and entertainment that is at your beck and call on
GEnie. I'll post a guest list later. Should be fun!
January 24, 1990:
featuring; Faster than Light - Software Heaven
Our guests will be representatives from FTL Software, the makers
of the hit Atari ST games, DUNGEON MASTER and CHAOS STRIKES
BACK. Come and find out all about these smash hit games and the
masterminds behind them. Please join us for what is sure to be a
VERY popular conference.
All conferences begin promptly at 10:00pm EST.
Hopefully, By NEXT WEEK we will be able to provide a schedule of
online conferences for all the services thus allowing you to set your
dates and not miss any of the conferences.
Ralph...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> TOS 1.6 CPU/STR Review¿ Taking a closer look...
======================
First Impressions of the Atari STe and TOS 1.6
==============================================
by Darek Mihocka
Branch Always Software. (C) 1990
It's finally here. Atari kept its promise of shipping the STe before
the end of the year, although they didn't quite keep their original
promise of shipping in October. All other developers that I've contacted
are still waiting for Atari to ship them their machines, and I'm told the
STe has yet to make its appearance in the U.S. They are plentiful here in
Canada, having arrived a few days after Christmas.
According to Atari Canada, the list price of the STe is $1100
(Canadian) which is $900 and change in US dollars. You wouldn't know it
based on the prices that stores here in the Toronto area are selling them
for. Try $699 (Canadian), almost 40% off the list price, which is barely
higher than what a 520STFM costs, and less than what most stores sell the
1040ST for (although the prices are starting to come down fast). Although
I had sworn to never again buy another Atari computer, I'm not going to
pass up a bargain. With the money I can get for my old 1040ST, this
machine hardly cost me anything, and I don't even have to pay for the TOS
and blitter upgrade!
So, what's inside the cardboard box? If it wasn't for the very tiny
letter E on the label, you'd think you were opening up a 1040STFM box.
The computer itself looks identical to a 1040STFM, except for the extra
joystick ports on the left side of the keyboard and the two audio jacks on
the back. Yes, unfortunately, the mouse still plugs in underneath the
keyboard.
When the machine boots up, the desktop looks just as it always has.
Clicking on Desktop Info produces the same Rainbow TOS display as TOS 1.4,
except that the actual version of TOS in the STe is TOS 1.6, with a date
of July 29, 1989.
Already, I ran into a bug. It seems that in color, the machine always
boots in low resolution, regardless of whether you saved a desktop in low
rez or medium rez. This can be quite annoying. One way to get around
this I found is to autorun a medium rez program like Flash. I've already
been told that a patch program will be out from Atari in a matter of days
to fix this bug.
Another item found is, every once in a while, if I click on a .PRG
file, I get the Show Print Cancel box. If I click Cancel and click on the
file again, it usually loads fine, although earlier today, I had to click
on FLASH.PRG about 6 times before it finally loaded. I have had this
problem happen on earlier versions of TOS, but very rarely. On the STe it
happens quite often and is a bit bothersome. Let's hope a patch for this
comes out soon too.
Fortunately, I use monochrome most of the time, and the low rez bug
won't bother me too much. But before switching over to monochrome, I
tried the new Control Panel that the Atari STe addendum mentions. Tilt! I
lose! It seems Atari is shipping the old 512 color Control Panel with the
STe. I had to go in with a debugger and manually poke into the color
registers to try out the new colors. Yes, they do support 16 grey levels
of red, green, and blue for a total of 4096 possible colors. To achieve
the 4 bits of brightness per color, the unused bit in each nibble of each
color register hold the 4th bit. This new bit is the LSB, so it has a
minimal effect. Old ST software which uses only 8 brightness levels,
formerly 0 thru 7, will now actually be using levels 0,2,4,6,8,10,12, and
14. This seems to be fully compatible with all existing color software.
That raises another question. Will we see a Spectrum 4096 program
soon? I don't know what Trio Engineering has planned, but based on what I
know about the Spectrum file format, all of the display programs out there
will support 4096 colors as is. It is simply a matter of modifying the
Spectrum or Unispec programs, or any number of Amiga to Spectrum
conversion programs to generate 4096 color files.
I'm sure that video digitizer software will be upgraded to support the
16 grey levels. VIDI-ST currently tries to emulate 16 grey levels but it
still looks bad. Hmmm, I think just editing the color palette files on
the VIDI-ST disk should allow me to do that myself. Ok, never mind.
I tried out the RF modulator. One of the things that really bugs me
about my 1040ST is that it doesn't have an RF modulator or composite video
output, even though the original 1040ST manuals all said that they do!
Anyway, I plugged the RF output into the RF jack of a Sony KV-1331
television, and the display was quite good. Even in medium resolution, 80
columns was readable, although I wouldn't recommend it for long periods of
time. Low resolution was excellent and certainly if all you plan to do is
play video games, save yourself the $400 cost of a color monitor and just
use a color TV.
After I switched to monochrome, I started to test out various programs
for TOS 1.6 compatibility. I'm happy to say that Quick ST and all of the
Quick Utilities ran just fine. All other programs I tried also worked
fine, except for the ones mentioned a bit later.
Quick Index reported that TOS 1.6 was installed, and gave speed
indexes similar to that of TOS 1.4. GEM drawing speed was about 5% to 10%
faster, while BIOS was about 1% slower. So with the debugger again, I
took a look inside TOS 1.6.
(This part gets technical, so if you're not a programmer, skip it)
It seems that Atari may be planning a 68020 or 68030 upgrade for the
STe. The ROMs are coded to be compatible with any 680x0 chip. That is,
they support both the 6 byte exception stack frame of the 68000, and the 8
byte frame found in the 68010/20/30. Hooray! TOS 1.6 should run
unmodified on a 68030. I hope somebody at Atari has tested this.
The 1% slowdown in BIOS is probably a result of the extra lines of
code required to test a new OS variable _longframe at $59E, which
indicates whether a 6 or 8 byte frame is being used. A quick look at the
trap #1 handler gives a good idea of how to write CPU independent
interrupt handlers, which should also run on the TT.
Also changed are line F calls. There are none! This means that TOS
is slightly larger than before, but could also be faster. This could be
why GEM is so much faster. Even Quick ST speeds up by about 10%. But TOS
longer fits into 192K. The ROMs have been relocated from $FC0000 to
$E00000. The OS variable _sysbase at $4F2 points to the start of the
ROMs, and programs (such as UIS II or DC ShowIt) that assume that the ROMs
are always at $FC0000 will fail to run unless patched for the new
location. In fact, trying to access the old memory locations will
generate a bus error and crash the system. TOS now uses 256K, of which
only about 200K is actually code and the rest is empty.
Another problem with the removal of line F calls is that certain
programs that depended on hooking the line F vector will not run properly,
such as Hotwire. Although Hotwire still runs if double clicked from the
desktop, the Codeheads tell me that it will not be possible to install it
as an AUTO folder program or use the hotkey feature until they fix up
Hotwire for TOS 1.6. A patch program is required in any case, and I'm
told it may already be out by the time you read this article.
Other TOS version dependent programs may also fail under TOS 1.6, and
may required either patches or upgrades.
(If you're not a programmer, skip to here)
While on the subject of compatibility, my dealer tells me that
Populous doesn't run on the STe. Too bad, how sad. (I'm not a big fan of
video games as you can tell).
Otherwise, everything else I tried ran fine on the STe, if not faster.
The STe has a built in blitter chip, which is a big plus for all the
1040ST owners like myself who have been waiting for 4 years for Atari to
deliver the blitter upgrade they promised when the 1040ST was first
released. Software accelerators will still provide a bigger speed
increase than the blitter, but heck, if it's free, take it.
I took the patch cords from the back of my tape desk and plugged them
into the left and right audio jacks on the back of the STe. Sure enough,
the keyclicks as I'm typing this now are coming out both channels of my
stereo. Reminds me of the old Atari 800 days when I did the same.
So what about this new digital stereo sound? Well, since Atari has
not yet shipped any documentation for the new hardware, I took out the
debugger again and just scanned upper memory for new undocumented hardware
registers. I found the blitter chip at $FF8A00, and sandwiched in between
the sound chip and blitter chip, at $FF8900, was the new digital sound
chip.
All I had to go on was a recent magazine article which said what the
new hardware is supposed to do. So, knowing what to look for and after
several hours of poking around, I finally got it to play digitized sound
files (such as the SATAN.SND (the Church Lady) file downloaded from
GEnie). Here's the scoop on the hardware...
(getting technical again)
$FF8901 - this is the location that starts a sound.
bit 0 = store a 1 to start playing, 0 to stop
bit 1 = a 1 in this bit will keep playing the sound over and over again
while a 0 only plays it once
bits 2 and 3 - they do something, but I don't know what!
bits 4 thru 7 - seem to be unused
$FF8903, $FF8905, $FF8907 - similar to the video chip, this is a 24 bit
starting address of the sound sample. High, medium, and low bytes.
$FF8909, $FF890B, $FF890D - again, as with the video chip, this location
gives you the current byte that the chip is processing. This is a read
only location.
$FF890F, $FF8911, $FF8913 - this is the 24 bit ending address of the
sample. Note that both the starting and ending address must be even, and
be in the range $000000 to $3FFFFE. If you store larger numbers, the upper
bits are just ignored.
$FF8920 or $FF8921 - this controls the speed of the sampling, as well as
the mode (stereo or mono). According to the article, you are limited to
only 4 speeds - 50 kHz, 25kHz, 12.5 kHz, and 6.25 kHz, and sure enough,
that's what I got.
bits 1 and 0 - this selects the playback speed of the sound samples.
0 is slowest, 3 is fastest.
bit 8 = store a 1 to play mono and 0 to play stereo.
$8924 or $8925 - these two locations just seem to act as RAM. Can't figure
them out.
(end technical stuff)
So how does one use the chip? First, you load a sound sample into
memory. It can either be a standard .SND file, which simply contains a
stream of 8-bit sound samples, or a stereo file (which I guess don't exist
yet except for the ones I've created) which contains a stream of
alternating left and right channel samples. Then you store the starting
and ending location of this sound sample into the above hardware
registers, select a playback speed and mode, and poke $FF into $FF8901 to
have it play over and over again.
Some sound files may have to be slightly modified, depending on
whether the sound samples are signed or unsigned 8-bit numbers.
The sound is played using DMA, so it takes absolutely no time away
from the 68000 and allows other programs to play in the background. I
modified the SATAN.SND file so that it is in stereo, with the right
channel being several seconds behind the left channel. Then I stuff that
into the AUTO folder with a small TSR to load the sound sample and start
playing it, and off it goes, saying; "Could it be.. Satan?" over and over
again.
Yes, it gets boring after a while, but it does show quite a potential
for new multimedia software products. The sound quality is much better
than that of the currently available sound players which try to play .SND
files through the monitor speaker. 8-bit sound is roughly the same
quality as AM radio, except the frequency response can be much higher if
you sample faster.
I took our home-built 12-bit audio sampler and was able to play back
files easily. The only drawback of using a 12-bit or 16-bit sampler is
that the raw sound file will contain 16 bit samples, so when played back
in stereo mode, the left channel will play back the sound, and the right
channel will have garbage. But it is easy enough to convert from one
format to the other.
On to video! The new video hardware contains two new registers which
reminds me a lot of the Atari 800 video hardware.
The screen memory position is now a full 24-bit address. Video memory
can be relocated anywhere within the 16 megabyte address space of the
STe, and even wraps around at $FFFFFF. The locations $FF8201, $FF8203,
and $FF820D make up the 24 bits. The starting location can be any even
address, which allows for "fine scrolling" of 16 pixels at a time.
The other new register is $FF820F, which tells it how many words to
skip at the end of a scan line. Normally set to $00, you can store any
value up to $FF into this register, and create a virtual screen that much
bigger. For example, storing a value of $28 in monochrome will shrink the
screen down to half its height.
What purpose does this register have? Well, in the good old Atari 800
days, techniques such as this were available with display lists, and it
allowed for smooth screen scrolling in all directions, without having to
actually move any memory. This allowed for some very smooth and fast
video games (Eastern Front is a good example).
One non-video game application that I see is a large screen emulator.
Currently there is a p/d program available called BIGSCREEN, which allows
a 640x400 monitor to emulate, for example, a 1280x960 Moniterm monitor.
The drawback of this software so far has been that the window
scrolling had to be done totally in software by copying large amounts of
screen memory every second. When running BIGSCREEN all programs run about
30 percent slower and not as smoothly. On the STe, this can all be done
in hardware with no speed loss. Look for this feature in the next release
of Quick ST.
A few more comments about the machine in general. The power supply
seems to get a lot hotter than on the ST. Although both my ST and STe are
both rated at .8A, the ST has never heated up as much. I realize that the
STe probably draws more power due to the extra hardware, but I have always
been in the habit of leaving commonly used floppies right on top of the
computer. I will probably stop doing this because of the excessive heat
coming out of the left side of the machine. My 1040ST has lasted for
almost 4 years without a hitch, so I hope the STe won't fry too soon.
Another thing I noticed is that Flash now toggles screens EVERY time I
click on the right mouse button, which of course is how it's supposed to
work. On earlier versions of TOS, I sometimes have to click the right
mouse button several times for it toggle.
Menu bars still have the problem of appearing to lock up if the mouse
if moved out of the menu too quickly.
The keyboard is a bit flaky as before. It feels a little bit stiffer
than the one on my 1040ST, but it still has the same problems with
pressing too many keys at once. Unlike a PC keyboard, the ST cannot detect
when more than 2 or 3 keys have been pressed, and when you do press a few
together, it generates the wrong keystroke.
Then there are the new joystick ports. They are two 15-pin
connectors, like the ones used in VGA cards. According to the STe
addendum, each port has enough pins to support two joysticks and a paddle,
giving a total of 6 joysticks and 2 paddles for the whole machine, and as
the manual says, it can even support a light pen. Once again, memories of
the Atari 800 fill my eyes with tears <grin>. I don't know where one gets
the 15 pin to 9 pin conversion cables, or how to read these new joysticks
from software, but who cares. If you want a game machine, buy a Nintendo.
Well, that about wraps it up. The STe at the current prices is
definitely a great deal if you were planning to upgrade your existing ST.
I'd recommend to anyone who currently has a 520ST or 1040ST to dump your
old machines while you can still get any money for them, and buy an STe.
Not only can you very possibly make a PROFIT on the deal, but you also get
a blitter chip and TOS 1.6 to boot.
As for buying an STe if you don't already own an ST and haven't
invested a lot of money in a system, well, I wouldn't be too quick to
recommend it. Regardless of what ST owners may think of PCs and Macs,
there are good qualities in each. I prefer to use a PC for doing any sort
of word processing or spreadsheet work, just because the PC software is
still years ahead of ST software. And I've seen some amazing graphics and
digital sound hardware for the Mac II, but I can't afford it. The 68000
is still my favorite chip for programming, but most people aren't
programmers, and Atari's future isn't bright yet.
Probably 99% of the software that runs on TOS 1.4 will run on TOS 1.6,
and the possibility of a 68020 or 68030 upgrade for it sounds very
appealing. This may turn out to be a very low end TT, something that most
of us would be able to afford.
I like the new sound chip a lot. I like the new video hardware quite
a bit. The only question is, will future software be written specifically
for the STe, or for the ST (and thus be STe compatible) or are we going to
see separate versions for both? I can really only see this affecting
video games in the near future, but the ability to have high quality
digital sound will definitely open the door to a new type of software.
Already on the Mac II, CD-ROM players are being used for some multimedia
(the buzzword of the 90's) products.
If Atari ever decides to ship their silly CD-ROM player, it might even
be possible to take ordinary audio CDs, load sections into the STe's
memory, edit the sound samples, and play them out the audio jacks.
Certainly, all of the cheap 8-bit digitizers already out for the ST will
be able to play the sounds samples back at very high quality. It should
even be possible to wire up a resistor network to combine the left and
right channel outputs and create a CD quality analog output. Who knows,
maybe the chip already does that.
I also wonder how soon it will be before some of the hardware
accelerators and boards like PC-Ditto II will be available for the STe.
Although I haven't taken the machine apart, yet, I have heard that the
chips are all different shapes and this should make it really fun for the
board makers.
But I can't help wondering what Atari has planned, if anything (that
could be asking too much of them). Is this machine just an Atari 800
wanna be which will be nothing more than a very advanced game machine, or
is this machine only intended to take away some Amiga sales (I'm sure it
is), or does Atari really plan to exploit the new features?
Who will release the first 68030 board for it? Is it possible to
modify an existing ST to relocate the ROMs so that TOS 1.6 can be used on
any ST? Will Atari ever release docs on the STe or is it up to users to
figure it out for themselves? Most of Atari's documentation has been
pretty lousy so far. How soon before the 520ST and 1040ST are totally
phased out? Why does the STacey (which hasn't even shipped yet), still use
TOS 1.4? If Atari is planning to phase out the old STs, then the STacey
certainly isn't going to help. And if the STacey is being aimed at
musicians, then why didn't they include the new sound chip on it? Will the
new sound and video hardware be available as an upgrade to existing STs?
Since they never did come out with the blitter upgrade, I would guess not,
unless a third party does it.
Well, I'm sure these questions will all be answered soon enough
whenever the STe finally hits the U.S. market. I can finally stop
complaining and get to work on the STe Xformer <grin>.
_____________________________________________
> TYPE ACCEPTANCE CPU/STR FOCUS¿ Are the delays for real??
=============================
IS IT REALLY THE FCC'S FAULT?
============================
by Charles Medley
STatus Disk Magazine
Today, January 4th, 1990, I called the FCC and spoke to various
representatives of the FCC in doing research for article intended for
STatus Disk Magazine. We wanted to explore the phenomenon known as
"vaporware" and in particular, the delays caused by FCC testing. While we
understand that developing hardware while conforming to the FCC's
standards is a bit rough on certain manufacturers, we also wanted to
uncover some of the facts involved with getting a product tested and type
accepted.
For example, let's say you are making a portable computer. If it is
to be used as a stand-alone machine it must be certified as a Class B
computing device, not a Class A industrial device. A Class A computer
would be tolerable if its sole purpose was to drive other Class A
industrial machinery. This would severely limit the usefulness of a
portable, and you certainly couldn't use it on an airplane!
Also, the process of getting a product certified is really simple (in
theory). You usually design your product, get an independent testing
firm to put it through its paces, and then they submit an application,
along with the pertinent information to the FCC. At this point, the FCC
will take between 2-8 weeks (in the case of most computers) to reply.
The FCC also reserves the right to pick a product, usually at random,
and test it themselves. This can add "a few weeks" to the amount of time
it takes for the product to hit the shelves, but it certainly (and this
was stressed) should not drag on for 8-12 months....
I also wanted to check on some various products and what their FCC
approval dates were. However, I found out very quickly that companies,
such as IBM, often buy the work of smaller companies who have already
received FCC certification for their hardware, and then remarket them,
much the way Atari has done the DIP Portfolio. So, in some cases, you
have to be a pretty good detective in order to follow the threads of who
did what and had gotten whatever device approved for type acceptance by
the FCC.
The FCC welcomes calls from the media, as well as the public, about
their policies. The number to use for this process is (202) 632-7000.
This is the "information" line. If you know product I.D. numbers, you
can call (301) 725-1585 and as for "FCC Status" and get the current
information regarding your favorite products that are in the process of
getting approved by the FCC...
______________________________________________________
> BATMAN CPU/STR OnLine¿ Batman the Movie, an overview.....
=====================
Ctsy; GEnie Atari ST Roundtable
Category 9, Topic 36
Message 1 Mon Jan 01, 1990
JEFF.W [RTC Sysop] at 21:23 EST
Ocean Software has turned 1989's Batman movie into a computer action
game featuring Batman's crusade to stop the Joker from bringing Gotham
City to it's knees.
BATMAN is a much superior game to Ocean's previous BATMAN: THE CAPED
CRUSADER. At least, that is my opinion. I found THE CAPED CRUSADER to be
much to difficult and way too repetitive. On the other hand, the movie
BATMAN game features 5 different game sections, although the first and
final segment are similar.
In BATMAN, you start out at Axis Chemicals, using your Batarang (and
rope) to climb and swing from catwalk to catwalk and as a weapon to fight
Jack Napier's thugs and goons, who come at you from every direction. If
you make it through the chemical factory, you'll find Jack Napier and
knock him into a vat of chemicals. "Jack is dead. The Joker lives..."
Next, you are in control of the Batmobile. You drive the Batmobile at
breakneck speeds through the streets of Gotham City to outrace the Joker's
henchmen who are in fast pursuit. Avoid crashing into other cars and
running off the road. Use your grappling hook on lamp posts to make
hairpin turns around corners at 90mph!
If you make it through the streets of Gotham City, you find yourself
back at the Batcave where you must solve the Joker's Smilex products
mystery. You must find which three products together form the lethal
Smilex compound, killing its victims and leaving them with a ghastly
smile.
After that, you take out the Batwing to save the city from the Joker's
deadly Smilex-filled balloons. Use the Batwing to cut the ropes holding
the balloons in place they'll drift away where they can't harm anyone. Be
careful not to pop the balloons or fly the Batwing into the ground.
Finally, it's time for the final confrontation with the Joker. Enter
the cathedral and make your way to the top. Like the Axis Chemical plant,
you must cut a path through thugs and goons wielding guns and explosives.
Oh, and watch out for the rats too.
That's the synopsis of the game.
Here's my comments.
BATMAN comes on 2 disks, and my imported version includes a foldout
instruction sheet and a neat bat logo sticker. The disks are copy
protected.
The game graphics and animation are very nice. I am particularly
impressed with the Batmobile and Batwing sequences. The sense of speed
and the scrolling in these third person perspective sequences are good
enough to be a game all by themselves. My only criticism of these
sequences is that the Batmobile (and to a lesser extent, the Batwing) just
don't seem manueverable enough. The steering and braking aren't immediate
enough for my taste, but then maybe that would have made the sequences too
easy.
The Axis Chemical and Cathedral scenes are the challenging ones to
master in my book. Not only are there crooks to deal with in the chemical
plant, but you must avoid dripping toxic chemicals and pipes leaking
noxious gases. And, as I mentioned in the previous message, there are rats
that like to nibble on Bat-toes in the Cathedral, so try to avoid them. I
have not yet made it to the top of the cathedral myself, so I don't know
if there are yet more obstacles awaiting up in the belfry. These
sequences are of the platform nature, kind of like (oh gosh, I forgot the
name of that popular arcade conversion that has a little guy climbing up
platforms in trees with a grappling hook that shoots from his arm...argh!)
????? or kind of like Rick Dangerous...but much better.
The Batcave sequence is a ho-hummer. No action. Just 60 seconds to
figure out which 3 products (out of a possible 8 products) contain the
deadly Smilex components.
BATMAN features some very nice "easter eggs" along the way. As you go
into each sequence, you enjoy a very beautifully rendered image from the
movie. Going into Axis Chemicals, you see Nicholson (Jack Napier)
confronting Batman on the catwalk of the plant with the caption, "Nice
outfit". We also are graced with gorgeous pics of the Batmobile, the
Batwing, Joker hawking his Smilex products, and that scene where Batman is
gripping the Joker by the lapels in the belfry ("I made you. But you made
me first.").
The only aggravating feature of this game is that there is no
save-game feature. You must play it several times to learn each sequence.
As you progress through the game, you must replay all previous sequences
if you fail in a later sequence. But this isn't really all that bad,
because each sequence, except the Batcave, is fun to play. In fact, it's
best that you continue to improve your time in the previous games, because
the amount of time you have left over after Axis Chemicals (there's a
countdown timer that starts at 8 minutes, I believe) goes into the
Batmobile sequence. If you take a long time to get out of Axis, you won't
have enough time to race away from the Joker in your Batmobile.
Finally, there is an original score that plays throughout the game.
It is not based on Danny Elfman's score of the movie however. And,
fortunately, you can toggle the music off and on. When you turn it off,
you hear the various sound effects of the batarang, gunshots, explosions,
Batmobile engine, Batwing's flight, etc. Much more entertaining than the
music.
I'm not usually much of an arcade game player, but my interest in the
Batman character in general, and the Batman movie in particular compelled
me to buy this game when I saw it at the computer dealer's store. And I'm
very glad I did. It has provided many entertaining hours of enjoyment and
excitement.
Category 9, Topic 36
Message 3 Tue Jan 02, 1990
JEFF.W [RTC Sysop] at 11:01 EST
A correction to my previous message. There is a separate countdown timer
in each event, however the time is not influenced by the time left over in
the previous game sequence. I made this error because when you go into
the next sequence, the timer 'holds' the old time from the sequence for a
few moments before it resets itself with the new time.
When the timer finally reset itself, I was too busy with the game to
notice!
___________________________________________________________
> CHAOS STRIKES BACK II CPU/STR Review¿
====================================
CHAOS STRIKES BACK
==================
from FTL Games
by Paul D. Gittins
When I heard there would be a new Dungeon Master game I could hardly
wait. I enjoyed the original DM game more than any other computer game I
have ever played. I probably played the original DM through about 6
times. As you can see my anticipation was great. I even took a set of
characters and exercised them deliberately to increase their levels as
much as possible. (In the DM game you start with very low level
characters and the more time they spend using their skills the more they
develop.)
The target date for release of Chaos Strikes Back (CSB) was to be in
time for Christmas 1988. As that time came and went I constantly looked
for the release but it just was not to be. Now here it is, Dec. 1989 and
only two weeks before Christmas. As always the rumors are flying but
still I had seen nothing. This was to be a different day for me however.
I walked into the software store and there it was in all it's glory. It
didn't take long for me to make the purchase and head straight for my
trusty old ST.
I had heard that you got into trouble almost immediately when this
game started so I was ready. My special characters were strong, Master or
Expert in nearly all skills. I sat down to the computer and began the
process. First you are required to boot the Chaos Utility Disk and use
this to import you characters from you DM save game. Once this is done, a
new CSB save game disk is required for all your CSB saves. After all the
preparations are complete, you are ready for the Dungeon.
My palms were sweating and my throat was dry from the excitement. My
adrenaline levels were skyrocketing and little crinklings of nervous
tension were running up and down my spine. Into the ST went the CSB disk
and then in drive B goes the save game. The screen comes up with the
familiar FTL logo and then goes to a huge slab of stone with a map
roughly etched out on it. You may at this time either enter the prison
where several characters have been frozen and left for you to select or
you may resume your previous game. Since I had already made up my
character set I selected the resume option and after a long wait I was
greeted with the familiar "game loaded" screen.
As my audience watched from the rear I pressed the button and popped
into the game. Immediately I was confronted by 3 of the ugliest golden
brown worms I have ever seen. They are like the purple worms in DM with
the addition of armored plates over their heads and a little red flag on
the end of their tails. As any DM aficionado knows worms are poison and
attack with gusto. Unfortunately all my characters were naked as jay birds
and the only things they brought with them were their levels of skill and
of course my knowledge and experience. Naturally I figured the poor worms
didn't have a chance. Within 10 minutes I was rebooting the game because
I had gotten my but thoroughly kicked. All my people were dead and I was
hopelessly addicted.
I resumed my game from the beginning and with a little fore knowledge
was ready for those old worms. I made a mad dash for the sword on the
floor in the center of the room and while avoiding the worms prepared a
light spell and then a couple of poison cloud spells and some fireballs.
The room is square or nearly so and there is a chest in the center. There
are coin slots in the walls and small cubby holes which are opened when a
coin is inserted. There is one obvious exit which requires the killing of
a couple of worms to get to.
These FTL people are devious. To get to the exit you must pass
through a door and go down a corridor. Even highly skilled people don't
do too well fighting worms while naked so you have some poisoned wounds
and are hurting a bit while running towards the door. Wouldn't you know
there would be a hidden floor switch which immediately causes the
generation of a new pair of worms.
After about 11 minutes I was beginning my third game and was a little
wiser. This time I knew about the worm regeneration switch and avoided it
as much as possible. I got the sword and from the chest in the room I was
able to partially clothe my heroes. I ran down the corridor where there
was a pit trap on the floor. A worm was pursuing me, but there was also a
floor switch in front of me which momentarily closed the pit. If the
timin
g was just right I could run from the floor switch down the corridor
and across the closed pit. When I woke up and dusted myself off, my
heroes were hurt a bit but all were alive. They had to sleep a while to
regain strength and let the poison from the worms wear off but were
otherwise ok. As I looked around I saw there was a regeneration altar in
front of me and some writing on the wall to my right. Each time I turned
I saw the same thing again. The only difference was the item placed in
the regenerator.
This is known as the crossroads and is where the game truly begins.
From this point you can select one of the four directions and begin your
search in earnest. You may select from KU (fighter), ROS (ninja), DAIN
(Wizard), or NETA (Priest) pathways. The object (other than getting bashed
,burned, bonked, broasted and otherwise abused) is to complete each of the
four paths and along the way obtain a special element called Corbum which
must then be thrown into a special FUL YA (mondo fire) pit where it is
consumed.
Make no mistake about it, this game is tough! At the time of this
writing I have destroyed two of the Corbum elements and completed all four
of the pathways up to the Diabolical Demon Director level. There are
still a number of puzzles to solve and keys to find. Many of the monsters
regenerate, so there is always a new surprise waiting right around the
corner.
There are new monsters and old ones. I know I have killed at least
13 dragons and several of the stone golems. I have killed more of those
infernal poison worms than I can count and the place is littered with
rocks and boulders from the dead rock heap monsters. There are several
heaps of armor from all the Deth Knights I have taken out along the way as
well.
Do I like this game? You bet! Occasionally I get online in the ST
roundtable on GEnie to see what everyone else has to say and the new CSB
section is a virtual hotbed of activity. I'm certain there have been
over 300 messages uploaded in the past two weeks. You can be certain this
game is a solid hit. The people at FTL have done a bangup job and deserve
the heartiest congratulations. The game is very challenging and yet with
persistence and skill you can win. You must save your game often and you
cannot leave any stone unturned. If you are stumped you can save your
game at that location and after turning off your computer you can boot up
the utility disk. The utility disk that comes with CSB also contains a
hint oracle which will look at your save game and give you specific or
general hints about the particular puzzle you are looking at. This is a
great concept and I have used and enjoyed it regularly. You can also get
information about the various monsters so at least you know what that
thing was that just kicked your butt all over dungeonville.
Now that I know better, I will give a couple of hints about the first
room and leave you with a whetted appetite. Pick up the chest and all the
coins you can find. Kill the worms if you need to and take the worm
rounds for food. Once you encounter the dragons you won't need worm
rounds any more, but for now they are useful. Walk around the room and
bump into the wall every step of the way. There is an invisible room
containing a complete set of armor which you will need. Pick up the torch
and put it into the holder. This opens a corridor and exit from this
room. If you are hurt you can rest for a while in the room where the
armor is found but when you leave you will probably find a couple of worms
waiting. Once you have killed the first couple of worms you can search
the room at your leisure if you don't step on the hidden floor switch and
make more of the little devils. Finally, use your coins wisely, some
items can be used many times and others only once.
Now you are on your own. You probably want to know if you must own
the original DM game in order to play CSB. Actually, it is not a
necessity but without DM you will find the task before you more difficult.
It isn't only the original documentation, it's also the experience and the
chance to learn the various spells and build up your heroes to their
maximum potential. This game requires not only powerful heroes, but you
as the player must be experienced as well.
In summary, CSB is a great game and a fine sequel to Dungeon Master.
At $34.95 the value is excellent. I have put more hours into this game
series than I ever will with any of my other game software. It is fun,
exciting, challenging, and most important of all, it is winnable. I have
fully enjoyed many hours with this game and if it weren't for this review
I would be playing it right now. One final little hint before I get back
into the action. If you have access to GEnie, many people have uploaded
powerful character sets which you can download and use as your own if your
heroes are too wimpy for your tastes. See you in the dungeon.
Review by Paul D. Gittins
Portland Atari Club
__________________________________________________
> ATARI DEALERS CPU/STR Feature¿ A look at Detroit's Dealers
=============================
Atari Support in Motor City
===========================
An outsider's view
by Gregg Anderson
Hi folks, I just returned home from a little visit with the family in
Detroit Michigan and thought I'd pass on a few tid-bits of info. Contrary
to popular opinion Atari is NOT dead in the heartland of America. And
while not as robust as it once was, Atari dealer support there is also far
from terminal.
Much to the annoyance of my sister and brother-in-law, one of the
first things I did after landing at Detroit Metro was to grab six pounds
worth of yellow pages and list all the Atari dealers I could find. Would
you believe that there are seven Atari dealers still in business in
Detroit and its surrounding communities? I thought I'd died and gone to
Heaven. I live in South Dakota where the nearest Atari dealer is in
Denver, about 425 miles as the Jeep rolls.
Despite some of the nastiest Winter weather Detroit has seen in the
last twenty years (rain, snow, sleet, ice, power outages, and roads only
an ice skating polar bear could love), I pressed on and visited six of the
seven dealers. The seventh is primarily a mail order business and doesn't
have a real 'storefront'. What follows is a list of the Detroit area
dealers with a short description of their shop and what they offer. I'll
wrap everything up with a summary of how the surviving Atari dealers
responded when asked about Atari and its computers.
1) Basic Bits and Bytes
34815 Ford Road (Westland), 313-595-3171.
Basic B&B is a full service Atari dealer offering productivity and
entertainment software for the ST owner as well as software support for a
handful of 'other' systems. There was a large selection of European games
on display as well as the more familiar domestic titles. Basic B&B
handles the full Atari line along with a few PC clones. They're also an
Atari service center and offer a selection of domestic and imported Atari
magazines. There were two 1040ST systems available for demos in addition
to a PC clone or two. Estimated cost for a TOS 1.4 upgrade was $99 (6
chip) and for a 520ST 1 Meg upgrade the cost was $150. As a side note;
Basic B&B used to be a six store franchise. They are now down to a
single sales center of average size (though a busy one, the phone never
stopped ringing while I was there).
2) The Soft-House Computer Center
32647 Ford Road (Garden City), 313-422-6760.
Hardware-wise the Soft-House handles only the ST line, though they do
offer software for a few 'non Atari' systems. Unfortunately, they had to
drop their 8-Bit support some time ago. They're serious about selling the
ST though and were actively demoing a 1040 system to a new customer while
I was there. The Soft- House is an authorized Atari service center (with
full time technician) and offers a wide range of domestic and imported
Atari magazines. As with Basic B&B, the salesperson I spoke with was well
informed on Atari related matters and very positive on the system's
capabilities. They offer a wide selection of productivity and
entertainment software and have a surprisingly large assortment of
European titles not generally available here in the USA. Estimated cost
of a TOS 1.4 upgrade was $99 (6 chip) and for a 1Meg upgrade the cost
would be $200 (socketed).
3) Rite Way Computers
11557 12 Mile Road (Warren), 313-751-2454.
In both total size and overall selection Rite Way is the largest
computer dealer I visited. They offer full support for the Atari ST,
Atari 8-Bit, Laser Apple clone, and a number of PC Clones. As with the two
previous shops, Rite Way is an authorized Atari service center and has a
software selection that almost boggles the mind. There were literally rows
upon rows of titles from both the US and Europe (though I must admit there
were many multiple copies of the same package present). All in all it was
an impressive display of both hardware and software. While there I
watched a professional demonstration of the ST's MIDI capabilities being
given to a customer on a Mega4/SLM804/Megafile system. The individuals I
spoke with seemed well informed about their products and more than willing
to take the time to help a potential customer. Interestingly enough, the
only computer that seemed to attract interest while I was there was an
Atari ST system. Rite Way charges $104 for a TOS 1.4 upgrade and $175 for
a 1 Meg upgrade.
4) Command Computer Systems Inc.
28630 Ryan Road (Warren), 313-573-8130.
Though an active Atari dealer since 1981, Command Systems was the
smallest Atari dealer I visited. This by no means implies that they don't
support the Atari line, but it does say that they've been forced to expand
into other systems at the expense of their Atari availability. Command
Computers supports both the ST and the 8-Bit systems and actually sold
more 8-Bits over the Christmas holiday than they did STs. The best seller
for them this year was the 130XE. Command Computer is an Atari service
center and capable of handling repairs on any of Atari's systems.
5) Sector 1 Computers
At the corner of 16 Mile Road and Dequinder (Sterling Heights)
313-978-2208.
Sector 1 was a major surprise for me, a store totally dedicated to the
Atari 8-bit computer. Yes, they have an ST or two available, but 99% of
the store is devoted to the original Atari computer and to little else. I
saw software and hardware items there I hadn't seen in years, in fact I've
not seen this type of 8-bit support anywhere since early '83. The shop is
owned and operated by someone who's name should be familiar to any 8-bit
owner; Jim Steinbrecker (father of the original A-Modem terminal program).
Jim is probably the most knowledgeable man I've ever met on the 8-bit
Atari and is without doubt the most supportive of that system. As he
says, "it's possible to outgrow a specific computer, but no computer is
ever truly 'obsolete'. Least of all the Atari XE which is as capable a
system as any". What can I say, if you've a question or a problem with
any 8-bit Atari computer system or are looking for that 'specific program'
for your 8-bit than this is the shop to visit.
6) Team Computers
22205 Kelly (East Detroit), 313-445- 2983.
Team Computers was the hardest for me to find but only because I was
starting out from the far west corner of Detroit. Team handles the
complete line of Atari computers along with a line of Amstrad PC clones.
As with most of the other area dealers they are a full service dealer and
registered service center for all Atari systems. Team was also one of the
few shops I visited that had a complete Mega4/SLM804/ Megafile30 DTP
system up and running on display. In fact they had three ST systems and
an XE system set up for demos. Both individuals I spoke with seemed very
familiar with the Atari line and only too willing to extol it's strengths
and advantages over the competition. Team Computers even use their STs to
support an active DTP and graphics production center they operate from
their store. As with Basic B&B, Soft House, and Rite Way, they offer an
impressive display of domestic and imported software for the ST and a
surprisingly large selection of 8-bit software as well. Team charges
$99.95 for a TOS 1.4 upgrade and $175 for a 1Meg upgrade on a 520ST.
7) Innovative Concepts
31172 Shawn Drive (Warren), 313- 293-0730
Don't bother to try and visit Innovative Concepts, they don't have a
regular show room like the rest of the Detroit area Atari stores. That's
because they are first and foremost an mail-order shop for the Atari line.
They advertise in many of the more popular Atari related magazines (and
many of the larger newsletters). Currently they are enjoying great
success with their line of specialty cables for the Blitz back-up system
and the always popular XFormer ST to 1050 cable. For specific details on
what Innovative Concepts has to offer be sure to check out their latest
advertisement in your newsletter or favorite magazine.
There you have them, seven Atari dealers in the Detroit metropolitan
area. Since Detroit and its surrounding communities have over three
million inhabitants, that works out to almost 1/2 million people per Atari
dealer. Not so impressive when you consider how many MS-DOS, Apple, and
What-have-you dealers are available in the same area. Still, it's better
than it might have been and may even improve if Atari takes the right
steps over the next year. But before you think I'm being overly
optimistic let me point out that the present number of Atari dealers is
only a fraction of what it used to be. Three years ago Basic B&B was only
one of six stores with the same name, and others have 'bit the big one'.
Shops like Strom, United computer, Claus, and others have all either
dropped the Atari line or gone totally out of business.
But what did the remaining Atari dealers have to say about Atari and
its computers? Without exception ALL were supportive of Atari's hardware.
They like the ST and feel it offers an outstanding value in the
price/performance area. They like the ST's reliability, its power, and
even its software.
What they don't like is its lack of availability and some of the
policies of the Atari corporation itself. The number one dealer
complaint was Atari's total lack of national advertising. Most
dealers find it difficult to sell a product that no one (outside of
the 'inner circle' of Atari supporters) knows exists.
The second major problem was a serious lack of product availability.
1040 and Mega2 systems were in serious demand over the last few months
here as were monochrome monitors, yet these were virtually unavailable
to Detroit area dealers.
The third problem (but generally the most mentioned) was the poor
dealer support offered by Atari. Often dealers found themselves the
last to be notified of new products, left out of distribution chains,
and generally ignored except when it came to paying bills.
Fourth was the problem of promises made but not kept. Several dealers
complained about Atari's promise to not announce or discuss products
before shipping them, and then doing exactly that (IE: Portfolio,
STacy, TT, ect). This tends to cut badly into sales of current
hardware.
Coupled with that complaint was Atari's release of the Portfolio with
an 'Atari only' order phone number that totally cut out the local
dealers long before any of them could get their hands on a Portfolio.
The general difficulty in contacting and working with the local Atari
Representative was mentioned as a problem, along with a reduction in
available software support for the ST (mainly from US companies).
Finally the failure of 3rd party companies to repackage older programs
'on the cheap' and release them was mentioned, though this applies
mainly to older 8-bit software. Overall the feeling of the dealers
was that they couldn't survive as an Atari only dealer, that most had
to offer some clone support to stay in business.
So how was business? Two of the Detroit area dealers reported that
their Christmas season was good to very good, two reported no real change
and two reported a decline in sales. As for the overall year of 1989 the
report was less encouraging. Four reported that sales were stable but
generally below expectations. Two actually had a decrease in sales over
the previous year, though they chalked that up to a generally lackluster
retail market. This is not good news folks, when the best report I can
get is one of 'stable' overall sales. That means trouble even in a 'slow
year'. A lack of growth is the same thing as stagnation, and stagnation
is the first step in decay.
Not everything is negative though. Most dealers admitted that as
difficult as Atari is to work with, they're really no worse than Apple,
IBM, CBM or any of the others. In fact several dealers confessed that
Atari was generally more willing to listen to them than other computer
companies. One dealer explained that Atari's main problem was one of 'no
flash', that Atari just isn't as 'noticeable' as the competition.
So what's my over all feeling? First of all that there is a lot of
support for Atari in the Detroit area, if you're willing to drive a little
ways to reach it. Second is that almost all of the area dealers are VERY
positive on the ST system and are willing to go out of their way to
support it. Third is that Atari itself should try a little harder to help
and support its dealer force, and that the Detroit area dealers would be
only too willing to help them do that. Lastly is that driving in Detroit
is an experience in and of itself. It's not that the roads are in
terrible shape (though thanks to the cold, salt, and traffic most of them
are), or that they drive like it's the last lap at the Indy 500 (they do).
It's more a feeling of being trapped in a combat zone without warning.
All kidding aside. Despite the rough roads, high speeds, and ice covered
intersections (including the one that got my brother-in-law T-boned), the
drivers of Detroit showed themselves to be skilled and courteous, giving
this out-of-town visitor more than a few breaks.
Gregg Anderson
Just as an aside, there is a large and active User Group presence in the
Detroit area. User Groups such as MACE, GLASS, MAGIC, and (in Windsor
Ontario) WAUG offer support for area Atari owners. For information on
these groups see the Detroit area Atari dealers or AIM magazine.
____________________________________________________
> LYNX PREVAILS!! CPU/STR OnLine¿ Positive comments for ATARI'S LYNX.
==============================
EVERYBODY LOVES A WINNER!
========================
ctsy GEnie ST RT
Category 36, Topic 6
Message 1 Wed Jan 03, 1990
GCC.TECH at 18:17 EST
The Lynx is a machine with a lot of potential -- it could be
considered a tiny, very fast computer more than just a game machine. What
sorts of things are people interested in seeing?
One thing that would be possible is to have tons of baseball stats on
a card, so that you could look up player's histories when you are watching
the games.
You could also have multi-player wargames and combat games, allowing
people to fly planes against each other (like Air Warrior) or tanks, or
even direct entire armies.
Atari could develop a home/TV-based version of the Lynx so that you
could play the same games on a less expensive machine (by the cost of the
LCD display) on a TV set, and then play on the (portable) Lynx when you
are on the road. This would be a great competitive advantage against the
NEC and Game Boy, which are not comparable. Some way would have to be
arrived at to increase the resolution of the display, of course, since
160x102 is pretty low for a video game -- perhaps doubling the resolution
both ways and interpolating the colors would work well.
There is the possibility of further expansion through the COMLYNX
port. How about a numeric keypad and a sophisticated calculator card, or a
keyboard and cassette interface, driven by a BASIC (or Pascal, or Forth,
or LOGO or whatever) card? A modem that connects to the COMLYNX port
would be slick, allowing people to play each other long distance; assuming
that the fairly low baud rate of an inexpensive modem (2400 tops) would
allow the COMLYNX to function decently.
CTSY; CIS ATARI Arts....
Read action !
#: 17054 S2/Games
04-Jan-90 06:25:26
Sb: #16821-A Lynx for Christmas?
Fm: Sara Groves 76702,543
To: Gano Haine 73230,2562
Gano,
I think portability might be a factor in a more expensive system but
there are lots of people who think of portability in a system that goes
for $180 as a plus. Many families do a lot of traveling and it can go in
the back seat of the car, over to a friend's house, or (yay!) up to their
room. I don't think they ought to be taking them to school, although of
course they will, but it's less of a factor in the decision I suspect.
After all, your kids are, what, 3, 9, and adult? <grin>
Sara
Read action !
#: 17027 S8/Hot Topics
03-Jan-90 22:48:31
Sb: #LYNX
Fm: Randy Magruder 73007,1227
To: Harjinder Nagra 72727,1322
I'd like to interject with a comment regarding the situation with the
Lynx vs. the gameboy. Anyone who's seen a lynx has immediately trashed
the gameboy as a useless piece of junk. I'd like to say that I own a
gameboy. There's one thing I feel strongly about.
It's not a lynx, but neither is it junk. It's like saying a mac is a
piece of junk because it lacks color. It's true the lynx blows the game
boy away in capabilities, but then there's more to people buying products
than 'which is best'. The gameboy has something the lynx doesn't.
NINTENDO's name on the front, along with wide availability tremendous
marketing clout, and tons of developers releasing stuff for it. I don't
know if I could get a good arcade football game for the Lynx, but I know
the name of the developer releasing one for the game boy. I've already
got 5 games for the gameboy. I called Sears to order a Lynx, and no dice.
There aren't any to be had that way (at least at this moment). Aside from
this, the gameboy is smaller, has batteries that last me a month under
moderate usage, and fit more easily into a handbag than the lynx. So for
commuting on the train, its ideal!
I'm going to get a lynx when I can, and I know I won't regret it...I'm
looking forward to it! But if you want a wide availability of good games,
get both the gameboy and a lynx - they both have their strengths - at
least I won't have to mourn the fact that the lynx doesn't have the latest
game that the gameboy just came out with!
#: 17035 S8/Hot Topics
04-Jan-90 00:05:54
Sb: #17027-#LYNX
Fm: Terry May 75076,3576
To: Randy Magruder 73007,1227
Randy...
Agreed. I have a Game Boy, and it is far from a piece of junk. In fact,
if not for the advent of the Lynx, it would probably be given a heck of a
lot more credit than what it is currently getting. The graphics are
excellent, albeit in monochrome, game play is good, the controls are good,
and it is built _extremely_ sturdy and rock solid. I even like the nice
Walkman-type shape of it.
That said, the Lynx does blow it away, and I want one bad. But not
everyone is going to be willing and/or able to spend $150 or so on a
hand-held game machine. I am 'willing' to spend that much on one, but am
not 'able' to fit it into my budget at this time.
...Terry
** Editor Note;
How gratifying to see strong, positive comments for Atari and one of
its exciting new entrants in the USA marketplace. The LYNX, with its
COLOR display, super smooth scrolling graphics, and superb sound quality
is definitely on its way to becoming THE hand-held Game machine. Yes,
this editor owns a LYNX, and yes, I personally feel this IS a remarkable
machine deserving of our compliments and excitement. While I do not agree
with the labeling of the Gameboy as a piece of junk, I do humbly submit
that the Gameboy is so far out-classed by the LYNX that it, (Gameboy),
speaking performance wise only, cannot possibly be considered competition.
As far as who would be willing to spend $150.00 on a hand-held game
machine, the overall sales results will show us that answer. I do know
this though, every person I have shown my LYNX to has proclaimed it is
superior to what they had already seen and expressed a desire to own a
LYNX of their own. Additionally, the price is not out of line when one
considers the quality and performance of the LYNX. So far, the LYNX is
taking the USA by storm, people are going to outrageous extremes to
purchase the delightful and elusive little goodies. And, believe me, it
is worth the effort and the bux!! I highly recommend the LYNX for all,
young and old alike. Its performance is superb, the colors, animation
smoothness and sound deliver flawlessly beyond any expectations possible.
LYNX certainly has impressive statistics
----------------------------------------
o 16 MHz 65C02 (CMOS Version of 6502)
o 64K RAM
o ROM Cards can hold 2 Megabytes
o 16 Users supported through comlynx
o Comlynx could easily be used for other peripherals
o 4 channel sound (each with Digital to Analog converter
for perfect digitized sound effects)
o Resolution 160 x 102
o Hardware sprite scaling with unlimited sprites
o 16 Colors on screen from a palette of 4096
___________________________________________________________
> FCC CONTROVERSY CPU/STR Feature¿ Was it false? Or not?
===============================
JUMPING THE GUN!
===============
Another viewpoint
-----------------
John King writes:
RUMOR ON PROPOSED FCC RULE
A rumor is making the BBS rounds that the FCC is considering a proposed
rule to assess a surcharge on personal computer modem users accessing the
nation's telephone network.
** Editor Note:
For what its worth, we found this rather exuberant reply/rebuttal was
posted concerning a user attempting to alert the telecomputing community
to the possibility of a recently won decision being re-opened and
possibly being reversed. Folks, this is not rumor nor, is it actually
happening the way its related above. The course of events began in Texas,
where the phone company, Southwestern Bell, attempted to surcharge all
modem operators simply because they were using modems, this matter was
brought before various governing agencies including the FCC. Although the
matter has been favorably resolved, the older issues were brought into the
picture and therefore the cause for alarm.
It is comforting to know there are those people out there who are
willing to question the decisions of both the powerhouse telephone
companies and the governing/regulatory agencies of these companies.
THIS RUMOR IS FALSE!
A telephone call to Ms. Jerri Payton, Common Carrier Division, FCC,
Telephone:(202) 632-7553, on 29 Dec 89, to find out what the proposed rule
number was. Ms. Payton stated no such rule is under consideration. A
similar rule, which was turned down, was proposed over two years ago. No
similar rules are pending or planned.
Over 57 people wrote in to the FCC so far about this rumored rule.
The vast majority failed to provide their return address so the FCC can't
respond to them.
The FCC plans to issue a press release on either Friday, 12/29/89, or
Tuesday, 01/02/89, discounting the rumor. The press release will be
provided to both the national and local media.
Help put this rumor to rest. Please pass on this message to any other
BBS sysop who unsuspectingly posted this rule proposal on their BBS.
There's no sense getting the FCC upset at modem users by answering a bunch
of unneeded letters generated by a rumor when we may need the FCC's help
in the future on real regulatory issues.
** Editor Note:
Again, we see the blatant, hysterical accusation that the rumor was
false. It wasn't false nor was it actually occurring in the manner
represented by the original message strings appearing on the various
services. It would have been both wise and prudent to point out that the
item in circulation was flawed or did not contain complete information.
To simply say, the whole issue was false is a gross insult to all modem
users. Especially when this issue was resurrected by an serious occurance
in Texas where the Telephone Company, Southwestern Bell, attempted to use
the very same concepts presented in the proposal that was originally set
before the FCC two years ago. This time, though, they directed the rate
INCREASE at each and every modem connected to their lines!
Additionally, if the FCC was so EAGER to claim publicly that this
information was a rumor and was entirely untrue, then, where is the press
release?
The bottom line is; Never take a back seat or allow yourselves to be
intimidated by _any_ governing body whose major responsibility is to
serve and represent you. They (the FCC) are there to SERVE THE PUBLIC, if
and when the modem users need to provide input to the FCC, there are
rules and regulations in place to readily insure the input is properly and
fairly considered. Therefore, please don't think for a moment that the
FCC "holds grudges or will be angry with you"!!! We feel the advice to
squelch yourselves lest "you get the FCC upset" is pure poppycock! And we
add ..Supervisor of Enforcement, Mary Beth Hess, FCC, agrees with this
premise fully and emphasized that the FCC welcomes all input from
concerned individuals.
This message is an example of Politics at its very best!
Msg#:19888 *Bulletin Board*
12/31/89 14:39:35
From: JOSEPH ZUCKERMAN
To: JOHN KING
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 19868 (FCC WANTS YOUR MONEY)
I have been informed by a reliable source that the Senate committee
secured an iron-clad commitment from the new FCC chairman that the above
mentioned charge will not be implemented. The SEnate has legislation on
the back-burner to outlaw it. They didn't bother to bring the legislation
to the floor because they made the guarantee part of the confirmation
process. Those of you who have access to usenet may have seen the
discussion on this. My suggestion is that you ignore the message and
relax.
Joe
** Editor Summary
-----------------
According to our info at the time, provided by Jim Eason a California
radio announcer, the Commission was considering to 'review' the old
findings and then decide whether to continue. It would appear that if
they (the Commission) decide to 're-open' the matter it would be months
away from any active procedure. (Submittals & Requests for Opinions)
Perhaps the individual(s) who posted the information here and on the other
services were premature, or maybe, they did EXACTLY THE RIGHT THING to
cause squelching of the matter before it got on its feet. In any case,
being alert and eager to tell all of us their findings is, by no means,
reason to be faulted. My 'guesstimate' is that the FCC will, without
delay, drop the entire matter before it is ever under consideration.
It appears that the bottom line here is now very clear. It goes like
this, the phone company, Southwestern Bell, had attempted to surcharge
every modem user in the state of Texas thus creating a strongly contested
matter there. In the process, the FCC was superficially involved in the
hearings as certain portions of the old proposal were invoked by
Southwestern Bell as precedents. This is where the involvement of the FCC
comes in and in NO WAY HAS THE OLD PROPOSAL BEEN RESURRECTED AS PREVIOUSLY
THOUGHT.
In conclusion, STR called the FCC office of Regulation and Enforcement
and spoke to Mary Beth Hess spvsr., and Ms. Payton relative to this entire
matter and it was thoroughly discussed. In fact, we fax'ed a copy of this
article to her office for verification and correction if needed. We have
presented to you, the reader, the entire info line and all the facts
surrounding this matter. Again, there was no false rumor just a release
from genuinely concerned individual(s) that were not accurate or complete
in their information. Bland accusation of false and rather uninformed or
unreliable advice such as ("don't get the FCC upset") has no place in a
responsible information network. The FCC, Ms. Hess & Ms. Payton have
expressed full agreement with this article. And, at the same time, fully
resolved this matter and cleared up any loose ends there may have been.
As far as we are concerned this matter is closed.
_______________________________________________________
> Stock Market ~ CPU NewsWire¿
===========================
THE TICKERTAPE
==============
by M. Arthur
There was no trading on Christmas Day. Information on Atari Stock
was not found on Tuesday. Atari Stock went down 1/4 of a point on
Thursday. It was up 1/4 of a point on Friday. Finishing up the week at 8
5/8 points, Atari stock is down 1/4 of a point from the last report.
Apple Stock is down 1 1/4 points from Friday, Dec. 22, 1989.
Commodore Stock is up 5/8 of a point from 12/22/89.
IBM Stock is down 1 1/4 points from 12/22/89.
Stock Report for Week of 12/26/89 to 12/29/89
_________________________________________________________________________
STock| Christmas | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
Reprt| Day |Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg. |
-----|-----------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
Atari| ----- | ----- |8 5/8 |8 3/8 - 1/4|8 5/8 + 1/4|
| | | | | 79,100 Sls |
-----|-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
CBM | ----- | ----- |10 1/4 |10 1/4 ... |10 3/4 + 1/2|
| | | | | 145,100 Sls |
-----|-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
Apple| ----- |35 1/2 - 1 |35 1/8 - 3/8|34 5/8 - 3/4|35 1/4 + 5/8|
| | | | |1,360,800 Sls|
-----|-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
IBM | ----- |94 1/2 - 7/8|94 3/4 + 1/4|94 1/8 - 5/8|94 1/8 ... |
| | | | |1,636,500 Sls|
-----'-------------------------------------------------------------------'
'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day.
'CBM' refers to Commodore Business Machines Corp.
'-----' means that information on that stock's price was not found
on that day.
_________________________________________________________
> CPU NEWSWIRE CONFIDENTIAL¿ Sayin' it like it is...
=========================
- Lombard, IL. ***** CSS CLOSED DOWN BY LEVY INC. *****
------------
Tuesday all the employees at Computer Software Services in the
Lombard, IL, headquarters (main warehouse) were told to be on time for a
"very special meeting". At this meeting, they were told that CSS was
closing its doors and everyone would be out of work. CSS is a division of
Charles Levy Inc. Many employees will, however, be able to apply and
interview for positions within the Charles Levy organization's other
entities. At this time, a token management team is on duty at CSS tending
to the 'winding down' operations.
- Sunnyvale, CA. ****** ANOTHER FOOTSHOT IN THE OFFING? ******
--------------
While casually glancing through the message strings on GEnie, a major
international online telecommunications information service, we found the
following announcements or, if you will, comments passed online for all to
see.
--- In response to a question about bundling basic unix (pd) software
offerings with a monochrome mega system and marketing it toward the
scholastic community....
(A)...Atari would be interested in talking to any VAR that wanted to sell
such a system to college campuses. However, Atari does not have the
internal organization necessary to make such sales direct, nor does our
dealer network.
--- In response to the obvious when and where type question....
(A)...Atari will not be showing at CEPS or any Seybold show this year.
Elizabeth Shook
Atari Corporation
Quite clearly, this is no reflection on Ms. Shook. Obviously, Atari
is not trying to alienate special interest groups (DTP, etc.) and
especially the scholastic community. It would appear however, they are
completely out of tune with reality in these two areas. The Atari
Computer, simply put...BELONGS in the school system. What better way to
ensure the next generation's ability to recognize and readily accept the
Atari computer lines as a viable alternative.
The $60 - $70 thousand dollars it costs to participate in each of
these shows, (CEPS - SEYBOLD), is, without a doubt, the least expensive
route offering benefits that far out weigh the already low cost factor.
When considering the benefits derived.. ie; opportunity to display a
totally positive intent, special interest group support, market exposure
and above all else, STRONG GOODWILL..it becomes increasingly difficult to
believe Sam rejected these two shows. Let's hope this is not a relapse
of the "cheaps" creeping in from the bottom up. Certainly, shunning a few
shows because it may cost a few bucks is not Sam's Style. The bottom line
here is simple; ..Sam Tramiel is receiving BAD ADVICE from someone.
- Skokie, IL. ***** SEARS CLAIMS LYNX "NOT AVAILABLE"!! *****
----------
We were thoroughly and completely shocked after calling the SEARS
"800" number; 1-800-366-3000 attempting to order a LYNX Game Machine,
Stock # 49TD75425. After achieving negative results and subsequently
speaking to the supervisor of telephone catalog sales, Susan Dees, who
explained that there are no Lynx hand held game machines available
throughout the continental USA Sears network I found myself somewhat
upset. Her parting statement was quite clear and needed no further
explanation, she said; "they are no longer available".
In pursuing all the facts concerning this matter, we spoke to Dick
Niles, TeleCatalog Sales specialist, who stated that the terminology "no
longer available" usually means 'temporarily out of stock'. At this
point, the decision was made to take this matter directly to the SEARS
executive offices. After all, having the telemarketing people furnish
misleading information, because of whatever reason, is a disaster both for
Atari and Sears.
Please be advised, that although the SEARS telephone catalog sales
people had stated that their computers reflected the product being no
longer available, we have been assured by Dave Lowrey that the LYNX IS
available through SEARS, although temporarily back ordered, and will be
shipped by SEARS until, at least, August, 1990. Also, the new stock
number for the LYNX is 49GY75425. DO NOT USE THE OLDER NUMBER MENTIONED
ABOVE. In checking into this confusion, we found that SEARS ordered 2600
LYNX game machines and expects to receive a minimum of 1200 LYNX Game
Machines within a matter of days.
This information was confirmed through the offices of Dave Lowrey,
Buyer - Sears and Ron Stringari, Atari Corp. At this time, both of these
gentlemen are attending the CES show at Las Vegas and are unavailable for
comment.
SEARS TELECATALOG INFORMATION
-----------------------------
as of 01/05/90 (verified)
49 GY 75425 $159.00 Lynx
49 GY 75431 $ 34.50 Electro Cop
49 GY 75432 $ 34.50 Blue Lightning
49 GY 75432 $ 34.50 Gates Of Zendocon
49 GY 75433 $ 38.50 Gauntlet III (not available yet)
The toll free order line for the Sears catalog is:
1-800-366-3000.
- Las Vegas, NV ***** LYNX MAY SOON HAVE A "BIG BROTHER" *****
-------------
The 512k game machine is on the horizon... now, if the wizards are
slick and shrewd, they get the "jump" on the game machine industry in the
states by making sure they have an adapter that will allow the 512k
machine to run the cards for the LYNX and vis/versa thus perpetuating the
lineage in the game machine marketplace for Atari. Think for moment, the
way the customer's budget can best be served by making the games usable
on both the new console and the LYNX. It is reported, that at this time,
a number of game machine manufacturers are exploring this approach to the
market, hopefully, for the next Christmas season. At CES 1990, Industry
mavins predict that the quality of software available for the game machine
systems will positively decide the marketshare winners of the future.
___________________________________________________________________
> Hard Drive Info CPU/STR InfoFile¿ Affordable Mass Storage
================================
NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
============================
ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_____________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE
(you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
(all cables and connectors installed)
RUGGED SEAGATE HARD DISK MECHANISMS
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
32mb #SG32238 549.00 42mb #SG44710 619.00
51mb #SGN4951 629.00 65mb #SG60101 689.00
80mb #SGN296 729.00 100mb #SG84011D 949.00
130mb #SG1244D 1099.00 145mb #SG3A421 1110.00
170mb #SGT41776 1389.00 260mb #SG1244Q 2169.00
320mb #SGN7788Q 3295.00
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
***** POST HOLIDAY SPECIALS ARE IN EFFECT! *****
*** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms ***
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> MAGIC SAC - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR
LARGER units are available - (special order only)
* Removable Media Devices NOW Available (44mb) Syquest 555 *
* SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICES *
EXTRA CARTRIDGES: 97.95 (anytime)
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB removable media drive - ICD ST Host Adapter
- ICD Mass Storage Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
Completely Assembled and READY TO RUN!
ONLY $869.00
We would offer floppy drives.. but Computer Shopper has 'em at the right
price. And.. you can plug 'em right into our cabinets and power supplies.
Low-Boy OR Standard Case (designed with room for another 3.5 OR 5.25"
drive) They're made for user expansion! TRUE UPGRADE-ABILITY!
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED $1529.00
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $1299.00 30mb SQG38 $1219.00
65mb SQG09 $1339.00 85mb SQG96 $1399.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
Quantity & Usergroup Discounts Available!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOURS TODAY!
904-783-3319 9am - 8pm EDT
_______________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"¿
=================
"Genuine Competition engenders CREATIVITY and ORIGINALITY!!"
... A moment of truth
"THE NEW WAVE OF ATARI!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU/STR¿ "Your Independent News Source" January 05, 1990
16/32bit Magazine copyright ½ 1990 Vol. IV ~ No.401
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, CPU NEWSWIRE¿ CPU/STR¿ or CPU Report¿. Reprint
permission is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. All reprints must
include CPU NEWSWIRE, CPU/STR or CPU Report and the author's name. All
information presented herein is believed correct, the editors and staff
are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained herein.
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