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Silicon Times Report Issue 0715
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
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"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
April 12, 1991 No.7.15
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R.F. Mariano
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> 04/12/91: STReport¿ #7.15 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - ATARI MATURES!
- NeXT - Overview - CDTV SHIPS! - GEIS & IBM Link
- CALAMUS SL - IMAGE SPEEDER - RETOUCHE
- Ultre*Setter - PORTFOLIO NEWS - SHERLOOK!
* CEPS 1991 EYEWITNESS REPORTS! *
* GFA IN THE USA! *
* PAGESTREAM 2 -> HOT! *
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ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE¿
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> The Editor's Podium
I am back, safely, from CEPS and would you believe I have caught a
good, old fashioned, Chicago head cold? Its a dilly. Oh well, the CEPS
show was "enlightening" to say the least.... The powerhouse programs that
were on display were fabulous. Of course, seeing Atari in such "good
company" was a neat and envigorating sight. But when you're standing
around listening to the comments that passed between the Apple and MS-Dos
folks it became increasingly more difficult with each minute passing by to
keep a straight face. One of the most common remarks heard was; "Gee I
thought Atari was outta business!" then .. in the very next breath you'd
hear; "This stuff is superb why is it being kept a secret?" I'd love a
nickel for everytime I heard either of the two remarks, my next Comdex
trip would be paid for.
Getting serious for a moment, Atari's display area was busy all the
time, since this was a specialty show aimed at Corporate America, (CEPS-
Corporate Electronic Printing Show), there were no crowds of curious users
just very serious folks trying to find the very best in Desktop Publishing
Solutions for their company or employers. The Matrix boards and TT030
were the "HIT" of the show, let me tell you this, there was a Mitsubishi
24" color monitor with a fantastic picture of gleaming motorcycles that
literally "blew your socks off!" Yes, that's right! And it was being
driven by a Matrixed TT030. It was very impressive. From the attitudes
and inquiries of the folks at that display, they too felt it was notewor-
thy as many made it their business to remain after the presentation to
obtain further info.
Elsewhere in this issue are excellent descriptions and accounts of the
show, but I had to put my 43 cents worth in. A final observation would be
to illustrate; "the Atari computer is growing up". The TT030 represented
itself very well. The software on display, coupled with the new and very
exciting third party hardware kept everyone's interest levels high.
It would be unfair to compare any of the software being displayed to what
we are now using, but believe me in the DTP arena, the existing software
in use for graphical, text and document manipulation is most certainly
surpassed by huge leaps and bounds. One item everyone will pay attention
to is the price tags of this new hardware and software, being truly sophi-
sticated it carries the expected pricey tags. But then, not fall into the
"you get what you pay for" trap, it must be understood the days of the
$49.95 program are as dead as the echo of 1985's applause for the original
520. These programs and hardware goodies were not and are not part of the
basic, entry level genre, they are strictly tomorrow's technology today.
In my humble opinion, the presentation put on by Atari at CEPS was far
better than any I have been witness to. Comdex included. This show
allowed Atari to "rub elbows with the big boys" and actually outshine them
in many areas. It felt great to walk around listening to the amazement,
"oohs and aahs" when the attendees saw the TT030 and these superb software
and hardware packages perform. This issue covers those fine third party
products and for the next few weeks each of the products will have more
coverage as we receive the additional materials requested about them. I
gotta say it again.... The Atari TT030 has indeed opened the new era of
Atari. Fellow Atarians, we "SHINED" at CEPS. <<<grin>>>
Still quite tired, but thankful to have seen CEPS with Atari there!
Ralph..........
TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
================
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
Staff Editors:
--------------
Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Walter Daniel
Oscar Steele Robert Allbritton John Szczepanik
Contributing Correspondants:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Ed Krimen
Andrew Learner
IMPORTANT NOTICE
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (April 12)
NEW UPLOADS POLICY CHANGE
Effective immediately, the sysops will adopt the following policy for new
uploads to the Atari ST and 8-Bit Forums:
All new uploads will be placed ONLY in the NEW UPLOADS LIBRARY for a
period of 2-3 weeks. After this time, they will be MOVED to the appropri-
ate long term library and deleted from LIB-1.
The old policy was to immediately place 2 copies of new files online. One
in the NEW UPLOADS LIB and another in the long-term lib, giving users the
option to download from either location. This old policy was wasteful of
storage and confusing to some members who downloaded both copies thinking
they were different versions.
We realize that this will require everyone to scan the NEW UPLOADS LIB in
addition to the other LIBs when searching for a specific type of file, but
this is a temporary problem that will be eliminated when future versions
of the CIS software will allow members to scan all files in all LIBS from
a single point (a feature that is on the "enhancement" list).
ARCSHELL 2.4
Charles F. Johnson and Little Green Footballs Software bring you ArcShell
2.4, the latest version of this fine program. This version provides a
link to MaxiFile by allowing you to call up MaxiFile from ArcShell's main
screen. See ARCS24.ARC in Library 1 of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO
ATARIPRO).
NEW FROM DOUBLECLICK SOFTWARE
DC Right DC is another PROGRAM OF THE WEEK by Double Click Software. With
DC Right DC installed, a QUICK right mouse button click will emulate a
LEFT double click. See DCRTDC.ARC in Library 13 of the Atari Vendors
Forum (GO ATARIVEN).
ATARI USERS GROUP LISTING
Modems are nice, but nothing beats getting together realtime with hometown
folks who share your interest! The 1991 list of Registered Atari User
Groups is now available in file USERGP.ARC, LIBRARY 1 of the Atari 8-Bit
Forum (GO ATARI8).
GOLDEN OLDIE FOR ATARI ST
DOTS AND DASHES - This classy connect-the-dots strategy game runs in both
color and monochrome. Match wits with the computer or up to three
humans. Play on one computer or compete by way of modem and a phone
hookup. Start with dots only or with some dashes in place. To introduce
an element of luck, make beginning dashes invisible. Fun for all ages and
IQs. Built-in, printable instructions. Available in LIBRARY 2 of the
Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) as DOTDAS.PRG.
ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM NEWS
Don't miss Walter Daniel's FORUM NOTES files (PORTFOLIO NEWS-STReport) in
LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO) for news on the
latest happenings and events in our online community.
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
***********************************************************************
> CPU REPORT
Issue #106
by Michael Arthur
CPU INSIGHTS
============
NEXT COMPUTERS, SPREADSHEETS, AND STEVE JOBS' NEXT ATTEMPT
----------------------------------------------------------
When Steve Jobs introduced the first NeXT Workstation in 1988, it
was praised as a revolutionary advance in desktop computing. Some of the
computer industry's new trends, from removable disk cartridges to
Unix-based Graphical User Interfaces, gained significant "media attention"
from it. However, acceptance of the NeXT was slowed by complaints about
its speed and lack of Third-Party support. This, along with Steve Jobs'
own "crusade" to sell the NeXT mainly to universities, kept the NeXT
Computer itself from becoming popular.
Recently, NeXT Inc. began shipping its NeXTStation line of computers
in an attempt to rectify its earlier mistakes. To gain industry support,
NeXT's new workstations are targeted at the business market. Addressing
complaints about its speed, the new NeXTs use a 25 MHZ 68040 chip (with a
built-in floating point math unit) that is 3-7 times faster than its old
68030 chip. To end the controversy surrounding its reliance on Optical
Cartridges, the NeXTstation Line uses an internal 2.88 Megabyte Floppy
Disk Drive and a built-in 105 Meg Hard Drive. Also, to shore up one of
the NeXT's greatest weaknesses, the NeXTstation line supports color
graphics. The result: NeXT Inc., which only sold 8000 of its old NeXT
Computer, has already gotten over 17,000 signed orders for its new
systems.
NeXT's new workstation line consists of NeXTstations, and NeXTCubes.
The NeXTstation has a slim "pizza-box" shape, meant for use as a desktop
PC, while the NeXTCube is a traditional "12-inch cube", being marketed as
a network server. Here is more information on NeXT's new systems:
1) NeXTstation Monochrome System: This has 8 Megs of RAM, and comes
with a 1120*832 monochrome resolution. Cost: $5000.00.
2) NeXTcube Monochrome System: Like the original NeXT Computer,
this computer has four NuBus Slots and 8 Megs of RAM. It also has a
monochrome 1120*832 resolution. Cost: $8000.00.
3) NeXTstation Color System: This version of the NeXTstation has 8
megs of RAM, and can display 4096 colors out of a 16-bit (or 65,536 color)
palette. It also has a 1120*832 resolution. Cost: $8000.00.
4) NeXTcube Color System: This version of the NeXTcube has 8 Megs
of RAM, can display 4096 colors out of a 16-bit color palette, and has a
1120*832 resolution. Cost: $10,000.00.
5) NeXTcube Plug-in Motherboard: Like the original NeXT Computer,
the NeXTcube's motherboard is actually a NuBus Expansion card. As such,
NeXT Inc. is selling the NeXTcube's motherboard to owners of the original
NeXT Computer, as an upgrade. Cost: $2000.00
Along with its new computers, NeXT Inc. has introduced Version 2.0
of its NeXTStep Operating system. Along with support for its systems' new
features, NeXTStep now comes with a version of Display Postscript that can
display color and monochrome graphics. Display Postscript is a device-
independent imaging model that displays documents and text in a WYSIWYG
fashion.
Many of the supporters of the old NeXT Computer wanted it to support
24-bit color. In response, NeXT Inc. is selling the NeXTdimension color
board for the new systems. The NeXTdimension board can display 16 million
colors simultaneously at a 1120*832 resolution, using Intel's 80860 RISC
chip as a graphics coprocessor, in order to provide a quick display. It
also has video-capture capabilities. Cost: $3000.00.
The NeXTdimension board also features real-time image compression,
using the CL550 chip, developed by C-Cube Microsystems. The CL550 chip
is the first VLSI chip implementation of the JPEG image compression
standard. Developed by the ISO and CCITT International standards
organizations, the JPEG standard allows graphics images to be compressed
up to 1/100th of their normal size. The CL550 can compress still color
images in real-time (at a rate of 30 frames per second), for "full-motion"
animations. "True-color" animations (or those using 24-bit color graphics
to display up to 16 million colors simultaneously) have previously been
very difficult for computers, since such files can easily take up over
several hundred megabytes (if not several gigabytes) of disk space. With
the NeXTdimension board, one would be able to store a realistic, "full-
motion" color animation that ordinarily took up 1 gigabyte of disk space
on a 20 Megabyte hard disk.
With the introduction of the NeXTstation systems, NeXT Inc. hoped to
eliminate the reasons that its original NeXT Computer had fared poorly in
the computer industry. While the NeXTstation addressed the flaws in the
NeXT Computer's hardware, it had to have much more support from Software
Developers than the old NeXT Computer. Now, several software companies
have introduced products for the NeXTstation line, including:
1) Ashton Tate, who has introduced a spreadsheet package called Power-
Step. Designed using NeXT's Interface Builder utility, Powerstep
features:
- A 16,384 X 16,384 cell matrix, for the largest of spreadsheet
needs. One can install financial, math, and string functions into
each cell. It also can read/write Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet files.
- Presentation Graphics features, allowing users to place charts,
text, and graphics on a page that has spreadsheet data. PowerSTep
also uses NeXTstep's support for "voice annotation", allowing
users to insert voice messages into a spreadsheet.
- PowerStep automatically updates all graphs and charts as
spreadsheet data changes. Also, several spreadsheets can easily
be merged (or consolidated) into one.
- Over 13 types of graphs and charts, including pie, bar, line,
scatter, and 3D-surface graphs. PowerSTep users can also adjust
the rotation, elevation, and perspective of 3D graphs as they are
found onscreen.
Ashton-Tate has also built a macro language, called WILMA, into
PowerStep. WILMA macros can be called from spreadsheet cells, and can be
used by software developers to develop modules for Powerstep. Currently,
Ashton-Tate is also reportedly porting dBASE IV to the NeXT Computer....
2) Lotus Inc., who is shipping yet another spreadsheet for the
NeXTstation, called Lotus Improv. The result of three years of research,
Lotus Improv can import/export spreadsheet files made with Lotus 1-2-3
Release 3.0. It has an online, context-sensitive Help System that is
arranged with a table of contents and an index, allowing users to look up
the program's features through a resizable window.
Like PowerStep, Lotus Improv allows users to create presentations
using spreadsheet data and text/graphics/sound elements, and has dynamic
"live links" between its 3D graphs and spreadsheet data. One can also
control the perspective and view of 3D bar/stack/area graphs, but Improv
also has built-in graphics utilities, allowing one to create pictures for
a presentation.
Improv also introduces a new concept called "Dynaview", which
incorporates many aspects of financial modeling into a spreadsheet
program. Spreadsheet cells and formulas can be expressed using plain
English phrases, instead of numbers and letters. For example, a formula
to calculate a company's Total Revenue could be expressed by typing,
"(Price * Quantity Sold)", instead of (A1 * B1). In this way, the
structure/logic of a spreadsheet can be understood much more easily.
Dynaview can compare relationships between two sets of information
without having to recalculate or re-enter any data, macros, or formulas.
In addition, Improv allows users to display different views of a spread-
sheet by manipulating icons. For example, one could first view company
advertising expenses by clicking on an icon, and quickly switch to viewing
the company's payroll via another icon. Improv formulas can also be
debugged more easily than with other spreadsheets, and can be made to
apply to all spreadsheet cells that need the formula. This allows Improv
spreadsheets to use far less formulas than regular spreadsheets, and for
those formulas to be reused more quickly.
Lotus says that DynaView could be useful in areas like market analy-
sis or sales forecasting, and claims that Improv is a revolution in sprea-
dsheet technology. Improv is now shipping, priced at $700.00.
WordPerfect Inc. has announced that Version 5.0 of WordPerfect will
be available for the NeXTstation during the first part of 1991. Using the
NextStep user interface, it (unlike WP 5.0 for DOS) will be able to dis-
play documents in a WYSIWYG fashion, and will allow picture images on a
document to be easily scaled, rotated, or moved.
_____________________________________________________________
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #16
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- New York, New York COMMODORE ANNOUNCES U.S. SHIPMENTS OF
------------------ CDTV
Commodore will begin shipping its home multimedia computer (CDTV) April
19th. The CDTV unit looks like an audio compact disk player and
connects to a television set and home audio system. However, it has the
processing power of an Amiga computer, and can be upgraded with a full
keyboard, mouse, trackball, and disk drives. Fifty CDTV software titles
will be available within a couple weeks of its introduction with close
to 100 due by late summer.
The first shipments will be to Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San
Francisco, and San Jose, with shipments to New York, Boston, Atlanta,
Minneapolis, Dallas, and Denver in May. Commodore expects the product to
be available across the country by September. The suggested retail
price will be $999 and will be available at Macy's in California and at
Soft-ware Etc., Walden Soft, Future Tronics and Montgomery Ward Electric
Avenue in Chicago.
- New York, New York "PHIBER OPTIK" PLEADS GUILTY
------------------
Mark Abene, 19, known in the hacker community as "Phiber Optik", has
plead guilty to the reduced charge of "unauthorized use of a computer"
and was sentenced to 35 hours of community services.
Abene, who had computer equipment and notes seized during the execution
of a search warrant on January 24th, 1990, was arrested on February
5th, 1991 and charged with felony counts of computer tampering and
computer trespass and a misdemeanor count of theft of services, plans to
donate time at a local hospital to fulfill the community service
requirement.
- White Plains, New York GEIS AND IBM LINK ELECTRONIC MAIL
----------------------
The IBM Information Network and GE Information Services (GEIS), two of
the largest commercial value-added data networks offering the ability to
send messages and data worldwide, have announced a linkup. This link,
will allow customers of both services to exchange electronic messages.
The link covers messages between the IBM Information Network's IBM Mail
Press Exchange as well as the GE's QUIK-COMM and GEnie systems
- Sydney, Austrailia COLOR "BIG BLUE" RED
------------------
In the most recent IBM quarterly review from Australia, the lead article
profiled Big Blue's cooperation with one of Australia's leading banks -
ANZ. The bank's chief, Brian Weeks, was interviewed, and talked of his
bank's very large dealings with IBM, including the ground-breaking
installation of the IBM 600J six-processor system. The article had a
nice color picture of Brian Weeks in his crisp, efficient office,
complete with oil painting on the wall and Apple Macintosh on the desk.
And if that weren't bad enough, the IBM buyer is posing with his
Macintosh mouse in hand.
- Tokyo, Japan COMPUTER VIRUS INVADES JAPAN LHARC
------------ FILES
The "winner-B" type PC virus has infected Japan's major personal
computer network NIFTY-Serve. The virus, which has been widely pub-
lished and who's source code is widely available, was hidden in a data
compression program called "LHarc" and was downloaded by 27 people
before it was removed. So far, no "casualties" have been reported.
- Redmond, Washington MICROSOFT JOINS AMERICA ONLINE
-------------------
Quantum's America Online electronic service has been joined by Microsoft
to offer the Microsoft Small Business Center. The new America Online
service offers software templates and consulting services.
"With the Microsoft Small Business Center, business professionals can
have immediate access to experts and other small business owners any
time they need it, day or night," said Steve Case, president of Quantum.
"And America Online's live electronic conferencing and electronic mail
functions allow small and home-based business owners to build a
networking community where information can be shared."
The information contained in the Microsoft Small Business Center is free
to subscribers of America Online, which charges $9.95 per month and
includes three hours of free time. Calls cost $10 per hour during the
day and $5 per hour at night.
- Cupertino, California APPLE REORGANIZES TO CAPTURE NEW
--------------------- MARKETS
In an attempt to capture new markets and speed up products for market,
Apple Computer has reorganized its company into several new divisions.
John Sculley, Apple's chief executive officer and chairman, will be
acting head of the new Consumer division, in which the Macintosh Classic
is assigned. Another new major division is the Enterprise division,
which will focus on developing hardware and software for customers
needing industry standards, larger networks, and multivendor connec-
tivity, the company says.
- Dallas, Texas TI TO TRY FOR CHEAP SOLAR ENERGY
-------------
In an attempt to develop a much needed low-cost, environmentally clean
energy alternative, Texas Instruments (TI) and Southern California
Edison (SCE) have announced a joint solar energy development project
which will concentrate on the new "Solar Sphere" technology. If suc-
cessful, this would make solar electricity as cheap as conventional
utility company electricity.
The "Solar Sphere" technology is a new approach to converting sunlight
into electricity involves less expensive, low-purity silicon and low-
cost manufacturing equipment. Instead of using fragile and brittle
conventional photo-voltaic cells, the new Solar Sphere technology uses
cells with 17,000 tiny solar spheres on aluminum foil. Because each
sphere is an independent, working cell, the impact of individual cell
failure, compared to today's 100 square-centimeter single- and poly-
crystalline cells, is negligible.
- Washington, D.C. TOP GAMES FOR FEBRUARY
----------------
Sierra On-Line's "King's Quest V" is still #1 on the MS-DOS games list
with Maxis' "SimEarth" in second and "Red Baron", also from Sierra On-
Line, slipping to third. These figures are based on sales figures
supplied by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) for Februrary.
In the video game category, first was Konami's "Teenage-Turtle", second
was Acclaim's "The Simpsons" and "Super Mario Land" in third.
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
**** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****
The system will now prompt you for your information.
-> NOW! GENIE STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <-
***********************************************************************
> The Flip Side STR Feature "...a different viewpoint"
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
The re-printing of posts problem on Genie seems to have been resolved.
According to the new rules, unless I get prior permission from the
person who left the post and also notify the sysops, I cannot publish
any edited posts from the ST Roundtable on Genie. However, I can re-
print entire posts without getting written permission (except in certain
cases). While these rules seem generally fair, they will limit the
number of Genie ST Roundtable posts that I can print.
In general, there are three main reasons why I would edit a post:
1) To make it more readable and clearer. Many of the posts are dif-
ficult to read because of spelling, writing and grammatical errors. I
attempt to clear up the most obvious errors in an effort to make the
posts easier to read.
2) To keep the non-pertinent information to a minimum (called "signal-
to-noise" in the BBS world). Sometimes there might be 10 lines of
"Hello, how are you" type of comments before they ever get to the "meat"
of the message. In my attempt to keep this column in the 10-13k range
and to give you as much new information each week as possible, I edit
out most of the extraneous stuff.
3) When several posts give much of the same information. I'll edit out
the duplicate information and leave the non-duplicate stuff.
So, the only posts that I will be able to use from the ST Roundtable on
Genie will be ones that are fairly clear, concise and don't need
editing. But don't despair, that just means that I'll have more room
for the posts from Delphi and CIS.
----------------
A nice hint for all users from MAURICEM on Delphi...
...In my many years of beta-testing I've come to the conclusion NOT
to blame a piece of software until you run it on a totally CLEAN
system. It's when you start putting memory-resident [NOTE: auto
programs and accessories] stuff in that things start to fall apart.
----------------
More from Joshua Mendolusky about the Reflex Graphic Card on CIS...
After calling Titan Designs Ltd. in England, they told me that
currently it can be used in any Mega system without modification.
When I called about two weeks ago, they said that 520/1040 compati-
bility was about 6 weeks away. I am supposed to be getting dealer
information shortly, and when I do I will be calling them again to
find out the status of the upgrade.
In reference to Multi-sync monitors, If you are using one in place of
both your b/w and color monitors, I believe it will only work in the
high resolution mode. It will also work with an 800 by 1280 page
screen monitor, because the board has two ports of its own for use
with that and a 21 inch CAD monitor (Hence the need for some form of
upgrade on the 520s and 1040s, there's just no room in the back for
the ports.)
JCQM (JOACQUIM Software and Peripherals)
(wa-KEEM)
----------------
Some questions about the Dream Park 1.44 meg floppy drives from Willie
Pelzer on CIS...
....will it boot a 720k disk? What about 1.44? How do you format the
floppies? If you format from the desktop, will it format 720k okay?
Answer from a Dream Park 1.44 meg owner, David Leon on CIS...
...the 1.44 will boot a 720k or a 1.44 disk just fine. It will also
format a 720k disk just fine from the desktop. If you want to format
a 1.44 disk or higher...you'll have to use the bundled software for-
matter (it's GEM operated and easy)...it works beautifully with all
IBM software (I used it for Windows) and it works really nicely for
regular old ST stuff (I've got PageStream with 30 fonts on one 1.77
disk!)
About the only complaint I've got is that it botches up GCR
read/write under Spectre - the Spectre format is OK but GCR disks
can't mount...the drive does require minor installation (addition of
a HD port and replace of the disk drive controller chip) cost me
about $30 to install.
---------------
From JB. Davis, (DreamPark), Category 4, Topic 53, Message 66 on the ST
Roundtable on Genie...
***Blowout of IB Drive cases!!!***
We are blowing out all of our IB drive cases! We have a grundle of IB
single height 5.25" cases complete with power supply. We are blowing
these out for $29.95!!!! These make great cases for 5.25" 360 or 1.2
meg drives, as well as 3.5" 720 or 1.44 meg drives with the use of an
adapter. First come first serve!!!
If you want a drive installed, we will sell you a 5.25" 360K unit
complete for $119.95, or a 720k 3.5" unit for $129.95.
Call us at:
DreamPark Development 1390 South 1100 East Suite 104 SLC, UT 84105
(801)484-9809 voice (801)466-2541 fax
----------------
From Ralph Mariano (ST Report) on Delphi...
I been using this Princeton Ultra-Sync for three years now with a
modified monitor master and will plainly say that all three modes are
as good as if not better than those of the SC1224 /SM124. Quality
multirez monitors are not new but just being discovered. Anybody...
Interested in multi-sync/multirez monitors, owes it to themselves to
make it their business to try a Princeton Ultrasync.
----------------
From the Gadgets RT on Genie...
Question by John Townsend (Atari)...
Anyone know where I can get an Epson driver for use with Spectre? I
am trying to use a Panasonic dot matrix printer....
Answer from Jeff.G....
...have you tried the PrintLink collection from GDT Softworks?
Answer from Diane Foley....
...you might try MacWarehouse at 800-255-6227
Answer from Rob Woodbridge....
...My favorite is Mac Connection, 800-800-2222. It's currently going
for $59. $3 gets you overnight shipping, too!
----------------
There have been some reported problems with Spectre 3.0 and ICD's
AdSpeed. The following are two (compiled) messages from STACE (Gadgets
sysop) on what the problem exactly is, who's at fault and what to do
about it. From the Gadgets RT on Genie...
...AdSpeed works fine with Spectre. However, due to the way SPECTRE
checks for the amount of available memory, a problem pops up on STs
with less than 4 megs...This is a problem with SPECTRE, not with
AdSpeed...AdSpeed, Spectre 3.0 and 2 meg ST get along JUST FINE if
you boot Spectre with the AdSpeed cache turned OFF (8mhz mode). Then,
after you enter Mac mode you can turn AdSpeed back to 16mhz and all
is well. Of course, this makes a hardware switch very desirable.
-----------------
How one ST user uses his system. From Ron Webber on Delphi...
...I use the PC at work and also use the ST at work to do editing of
BASIC programs that will eventually end up on the PC. I use Easy-Draw
to do illustrations for the manuals that go with the PC programs when
we sell them (the manuals themselves are printed using Word Perfect
on the PC), and I do the ad layouts for advertising the machines that
use the software using PageStream and UltraScript. I have yet to see
a DTP program that is as good as PageStream for Ad layouts, but then
I have been using PageStream since it was Publishing Partner and am
probably biased. I also use Microsoft C on the PC and much prefer
Laser C on my ST, and also use Microsoft QuickBasic and sort of
prefer GFA Basic on my ST...
----------------
From JB. Davis (Dream Park), Category 4, Topic 55, Message 160 on the ST
Roundtable on Genie...
I have been contacted by my supplier concerning the Syquest 88, but
the news for ST owners is *NOT* good...
According to my supplier, a limited number of OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacturers) will be recruited to sell the 88 under strict
controls. They will be able to sell these units *ONLY* for IBMs. OEMs
will be required to sign a statement attesting to this fact and
Syquest has reportedly recruited a 'Cartridge Police' group to insure
that this is enforced. As a result, we will not have access to the 88
in the near future. I am assuming that this means Syquest has reached
some type of agreement with an Apple OEM for sole sourcing 88s for
the Mac.
I teel ya, I don't know what the world is coming to...
Brad@DreamPark
----------------
Comments about defragmenting your hard drive from Wayne Dunham on
Delphi...
...there is no reason to backup and restore your hard drive just
because it has become fragmented. You can defrag the drive with a
couple different programs I've used and still use.
I highly recommend HD Sentry from Beckemeyer. I've never had any
problem with it messing up a drive. I've also used Tune-up! from
Michtron. I never upgraded to the version that came in the Michtron
Toolkit, but that old version could munge a partition if there was
less than 30% of the partition free and the drive is very fragmented.
I don't know if the newer version exhibits the same problem or not. I
did have problems with it several times messing up my partitions.
I found the optimization routines in Tune-Up more flexible. In Tune-
up you can optimize a partition for mostly read, or mostly write and
it works quite well. HD Sentry doesn't offer that flexibility but
still does an excellent job of de-fragging the drive.
If you don't want to purchase a defragging program then all you have
to do is back up the partitions, then zero the partitions with your
HD utilities and then restore the drive. The drive is now all
defragmented. (of course that's assuming you use a file backup and
not an image backup program)
No matter which way you go you should ALWAYS backup the partitions
BEFORE you defrag just in case something does go wrong and you do
have to reformat, or zero a partition.
----------------
From Julius (ISD), Category 16, Topic 3, Message 68 on the ST Roundtable
on Genie...
Here are the results of some rough benchmarking that I did today.
Basically, the land survey drawing (available in the libraries) was
loaded into DynaCADD on the respective platform and the time to
repaint the whole thing was measured. Error is +/- .5 seconds. The
results are interesting...
80386 20 Mhz no FPU - 16 bit VGA 16 colors - 19s
80286 12 Mhz w/FPU - 8 bit VGA 16 colors - 13s
A2500 14 Mhz 68020/68881 - 672x448 - 4 colors - 6s
8 colors - 6s
16 colors - 10s
640x400 - 4 colors - 5s
8 colors - 6s
16 colors - 8s
TT/030 32 Mhz 68030/68882 - 1280x960 - monochrome - 3s
640x480 - 16 colors - 3s
640x400 - monochrome - 3s
MegaST T16 & 68881 - 1280x960 - monochrome - 8s
640x400 - monochrome - 7s
A3000 25 Mhz 68030/68882 - 688x440 - 4 colors - 3s
8 colors - 3s
16 colors - 5s
----------------
Question about hard drive problems from Philip W. Payzant on CIS...
My Atari Mega 30 hard drive was giving me intermittent errors, so I
backed up, reformatted and partitioned it into three 10 Mb logical
drives. The Markbad program that runs as part of the format program
reported 28 bad sectors. Out of curiosity, I ran Markbad again.
Drives D and E were clean, but C apparently had 8 bad sectors. I ran
it twice more, and got 1 and 41 bad sectors respectively. Additional
runs produced more bad sectors, but never zero...My question is: are
these bad sectors new ones found since the last Markbad run, or is it
the total of all bad sectors on the drive? If the former, shouldn't
it eventually report zero bad sectors? If the latter, why do the
numbers vary so wildly?
Answer from Jeff (InterSect Software) on CIS...
...the markbad program will only find NEW errors. If you are finding
new bad sectors within a few minutes of each test I would suspect a
flakey drive or a problem with your ST's DMA port...If the problem
shows up on C: and not D: or E: I think I would suspect the DMA port.
The C: drive has a faster transfer rate than the D: or E: drive.
RLL drives compress data on the individual tracks 1.5 times that of a
MFM drive. This means that the data transfer rate of the RLL drive is
1.5 times that of the MFM drive, if there are any problems with the
DMA port, it will show up on faster drives-partitions...Best way to
check this is to try the Megafile 30 on a friends computer reformat
and markbad.
----------------
Until next week.....
_____________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
================================
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
=========================
On CompuServe
by Walter Daniel 75066,164
BJ Gleason is working on a calculator program for the Portfolio. If
you would like to offer suggestions to him, reply to message #10988.
Another Portfolio-versus-Wizard debate raged through the forum this
week. There were two major points made in the thread: capability and
price. The Wizard is a dedicated organizer and its software and hardware
have been optimized for that purpose. While the Portfolio organizing
software isn't as slick as that of the Wizard, the Portfolio can run many
other programs such as text processors, BASIC interpreters, and so on.
The high-end Wizards cost as much as $370 or so; the street price of
Portfolios is as low as $225.
Read message 10967 for an announcement of a change in the policy for
the libraries. New files should be uploaded to Library 1 (New Uploads).
Files will remain in Library 1 for 2-3 weeks, then be moved to the ap-
propriate library for permanent storage.
Dave Stewart uploaded a program (see TEAM.ZIP) that displays the names
of the Portfolio design team that are stored in ROM locations $F000:4FB2
through $F000:5141. Bruce Coleman of Atari then pointed out that you can
access these names using a hidden feature. In one of the built-in ap-
plications except Setup or Menu, press F1 (or the Atari key) to call the
main menu, then press "H" to select help. Depending upon the application,
you may need to press another key to select which help screen to display.
With some help text on the screen, type ALT-left bracket to get the "Help
on: Design Team" text. You can then use the down-cursor key to read all
the names.
Chris Burns uploaded several programs that allow a Portfolio to con-
trol a Tandy PDD2 portable disk drive. The files have to be compiled with
PowerBASIC, so most people cannot use them until the product hits the
stores. Several of the files are small utilities that accomplish single
functions such as renaming a file, copying from the PDD2, copying to the
PDD2, deleting a file, reading the disk directory, or formatting a disk.
Read PDD2.DOC for documentation of these utilities. Chris also prepared a
PDD2 file manager (TM.BAS) that is documented by TM.DOC.
A Portfolio user of a photographic bent uploaded two files of interest to
camera users. PHOTO.BAS is a PBASIC program that performs some exposure
calculations such as f-stop given other information. FILMS.ADR is an
Address Book file that documents exposure, filter, and reciprocity data
for 20 different films.
LOANS.BAS is a PBASIC 4.1 program that will calculate monthly payment and
total interest for both mortgages and simple loans. The mortgage cal-
culator includes estimates for taxes and insurance so that the payment
includes principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI in real estate
parlance).
__________________________________________________________
> CEPS-1991 STR Spotlight "...A new era of prosperity for ATARI"
=======================
CEPS April 8-April 11, 1991
===========================
THE MIDWEST FORUM FOR DESKTOP, MULTIMEDIA & VISUAL COMMUNICATION
by Andrew Learner
An interesting metamorphosis occurred this past weekend. I saw an
aging, "game machine" company rejuvenated, with exciting new products,
both hardware software, and "PEOPLE".
I met Greg Pratt - President of ATARI US, Mel Stevens - Show Coor-
dinator, Diana Goralczk - Customer Relations, Adam Rabbino - Sales and
Marketing and the brains behind the new TT030 development group, Bill
Rehbock.
Bob Brodie rounded out the group, as always helpful, "Enthusiast"
coordinator, organizing local folk from: LCACE - Mike Brown, Steve Kostel-
nik and J.J. Johnson, CRAG - Randy Noak, RACC - Andy Learner to help set
up and run local errands.
Through some interesting and innovative engineering,and a great deal
of painstaking organization, the Professional Products Group from ATARI,
was unveiled at the CEPS (Corporate Electronic Publishing Show) at McCor-
mick Place in Chicago. This is a show where all the major players in the
Desk Top Publishing world come out to show their hardware platforms,
software, printers, even paper stock for laser printers. A new era of
prosperity for ATARI, seems to be on the near horizon.
With paternal like patience, ATARI guru, Bill Rehbock, has assembled a
team of developers who quietly worked on new exciting software for the
TT030 computer platform. We have all heard about the TT for some time
now. But I think after showing it's Mega system over 3 years ago at this
same show, ATARI people realized that the competition was well slightly
ahead of them in machine speed, and software development.
We have seen the maturing of such powerful DESK TOP PUBLISHING prog-
rams as WORDFLAIR, CALAMUS, and PAGESTREAM on the old ST platform, with
outstanding DTP results. But this new platform is a powerhouse of a
computer. It rivals the top of the line machines of all other personal
computer companies, in performance, speed and as we have grown to expect
from ATARI.
Of course many you will cringe at the $3000+ price tag of the TT030-
-8/80meg machine. But, that is inexpensive compared to the $10,000+ cost
of the MAC IIFx or the NEXT workstation. You will also be surprised at
the price tags of the new Calamus SL Color Pro, Pagestream 2.0, and the
new Goldleaf Photo retouching program Retouche Professional CD ($1995.95).
But these are all new products, with powerful never before seen features,
on any platform.
Quoting one of the CALAMUS programmers from Germany, who was at the
show, when asked what he thought of the TT030, Klaus Garms said,
"This is an exciting powerful, machine. It's approach is unique, and
in many ways, superior to it's closest competitors, the MS-DOS based
486, and the MAC IIFx. It has a few problems, which I am sure ATARI
will iron out, before the machine goes into full distribution."
ATARI had the booth directly next to the LINOTYPE-HELL (commercial
high end printing printers, capable of up to 2450 DPI), and Xerox. Xerox
has a time tested program called Ventura Publisher, which runs on PC's.
They also had a booth that stretched the entire width of the show.
I was privy to the debut of this exciting new product line, by a means
many of you luckier loyal ATARIANS have experienced, that is the set-up of
an ATARI booth for some type of a show. It was an eye opening experience,
to say the least. Those of you familiar with desk top publishing, and
ATARI products will know the names I will refer to in this article. But
believe me, you would barely recognize the changes in their products.
The most aggressive developer and entrepreneur of the ATARI group, has
to be Lauren Flanegan-Sellers, President of Goldleaf Publishing, Lakespur,
California. She has assembled an international team of some of the most
brilliant programmers and technicians I have met, and came up with one of
the most outstanding publishing solutions, I have seen on any platform.
GOLDLEAF is marketing what they call a "speeder box", which "talks" to
LINOTRONIC printers (typesetters) in their "native" language. This in-
novation, reduces the through put time from the print command, to a com-
pleted printed piece of film. If you are familiar with POSTSCRIPT, you
know that is the most universal printer language in the DTP market.
However, typesetters such as Agfa Compugraphics, or LINOTYPE-HELL, have to
interpret Postscript. This slows down the printing process.
They also have RETOUCHE - a PRO version of a photo- scanning, and
retouching program - DIDOT a professional line art creation program -
Sherlook - a series of optical character recognition programs, and to
assemble all of these elements into documents, WORDFLAIR II (a remarkable
bargain at $149.95)!
I think many people came by just to take a peek at ATARI and while
there I watched many a raised eyebrow of the seasoned MAC and MS-DOS
professional publishers, as they poured over the offerings in the ATARI
booth.
You must understand one thing about this computer market, if you are
unfamiliar with DTP. Printing and publishing in general, is a multi-bil-
lion dollar a year business, which is worldwide. Desk Top Publishers are
seriously cutting into what has traditionally been a very tough place to
carve a niche. Printing companies (dare I say) loathe the DTP'er, because
he is taking away a lot of their business.
DTP people can now produce what large printing companies used to spend
billions of dollars to purchase from a printer. One of the last vestiges
of American ingenuity, and dominance of a marketplace, is the computer
industry. Desk Top Publishing is one of the major areas we are also still
dominant.
From transistor radios to luxury automobiles, stereo, VCR, and most
assuredly, the photographic market the Japanese and Germans have taken a
lions share of worldwide industrial production, copied and vastly improved
every type of technology we have ever developed. I'm sure tecno-program-
mers in both countries, are working feverishly, to try and close the gap,
but it seems that most of the high level computer developments still come
from the good ole USA.
Industrially and commercially Macintosh has pioneered the way for the
computer industry into the extremely competitive world of printing and
publishing. The printing industry, is evolving rapidly, with the intr-
oduction of personal computers and the workstation environment taking over
jobs that traditionally have been done manually, such as photo retouching,
typesetting, and basic layout not to mention drawing and design. Enough
history already, on to the meat and potatoes.
I have heard a few loyal ATARI users express serious doubts as to the
future of this company. Frankly I think with few changes/improvements,
ATARI has a winning product on it's hands. The booth had the familiar
display exhibits, used at other Atari shows with ten stations. Some
computers were shown "operating" high end (2450 Dots per inch film recor-
ders) typesetters. Although I never saw the finished output. I know it
can be done, because I do it with a 1040ST, through a service bureau.
One problem I noticed immediately, was an overall haze, to all the
video reproduction on ATARI B&W and new color TT monitors. Outstanding
color and B&W graphic representation showed up on NEC multisync monitors,
which were running from the new VME port.
I don't know what caused the flatness or lack of screen brilliance (it
wasn't exactly lack of sharpness), but other platforms using the Supermac,
or other brands of large screen monitors, did not seem to have this probl-
em. After all, they were all there to compare each other to. I hope this
is corrected quickly, because I overheard more than one person notice it.
The other is the lack of a high density drive. All the competition has it
in their machines. TT030 should have it also.
One obvious absence, is the often mentioned but rarely seen, ATARI
CD-ROM drive. Again all the competition showed 600meg CD-ROM Drives, and
Magneto-Optical drives. I hope the TT, will be able to use these types of
drives. After being in the DTP and graphics world, an 80Meg drive looks
fairly puny next to a CD- ROM.
Maybe with ATARI's cooperation and this new grouping of developers, we
will see a whole group of these programs come out on a single CD-ROM disk.
Come on ATARI, let's do it. The users are rooting for you to succeed.
Let us see abandoned machines with the users heading for other platforms
happen no more! And continue on with a new slogan;
"ATARI - Professional Power - The Economical Alternative!"
Editor Note:
Andy Learner is the President of Rockford Atari Computer Club. He has
been an avid ATARI user since 1983. His twenty five years as a
Professional Photographer, Exhibit Display Producer, and Publisher,
make him uniquely qualified to bring us this fine report.
____________________________________________________________
> CEPS 1991 STR Spotlight ATARI'S BOLD NEW APPROACH
=======================
PROFESSIONAL SYSTEMS GROUP
LAUNCHES
DIRECT TO PRESS PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS
"Direct to Press", a complete and comprehensive array of pre-press
publishing solutions was introduced at the Corporate Electronic Publishing
Systems (CEPS) trade show in Chicago, Illinois. Direct to press includes
full-featured, high quality and high performance tools for every phase of
pre-press work from document processing and design to photo retouching and
imagesetter film output. Tools offered as part of these publishing solu-
tions produce film that is ready to go directly to press, including photo-
graphic images with up to 256 levels of greyscale.
Direct To Press is a collection of hardware and software tools from a
select group of manufacturers assembled and led by the Professional
Systems Group, a division of Atari Computer. Design and imagesetting
workstations take advantage of the sophisticated graphics and pure proce-
ssing power of the Atari TT030, the company's high performance computing
platform.
Available as custom-configurable systems, Direct To Press is targeted
at pre-press and printing service bureaus and in-house design and produc-
tion departments, as well as freelance designers, artists and publishers.
Systems based on the Direct To Press platform and concept will be distrib-
uted through a network of value-added resellers and dealers.
PUBLISHING SYSTEM HARDWARE PLATFORM
-----------------------------------
The Atari TT030 provides an ideal computing platform for the Direct To
Press publishing tools. It features a 32mhz Motorola 68030 microprocessor
with on-chip cache and memory management as well as a 68882 math co-proce-
ssor, 8mb of RAM, an 80mb hard drive and a wide range of video and storage
expansion options. Output for proofing purposes is provided by the 300
dpi Atari SLM605 laser printer. The SLM605 features a small footprint,
high quality output and a fast 6 page per minute operation.
"We founded the Professional Systems Group to provide the computing
platforms that will support sophisticated application for demanding verti-
cal market segments," said Greg Pratt, President of Professional Systems
Group. "We're thrilled with the level of performance and output quality
embodied in the third party products that are part of our Direct To Press
for digital typography and image processing."
The Direct To Press solutions generally follow one of three complimen-
tary approaches:
SoftLogik's PostScript based PageStream 2 provides direct compati-
bility with that Industry Standard. The Calamus SL and tms Cranach Studio
family of high end publishing applications, including proprietary SoftRips
for specific models of typesetters and imagesetters deliver a wide range
of features and fast performance. And the Retouche/Didot family of digi-
tal lithography, line art and page layout tools uses proprietary software
technology to create raster images of pages within the host software,
eliminating the need for a RIP, and uses specialized hardware to greatly
enhance output speed and quality. Files can be easily exchanged among
tools, and with many other, industry standard, desktop publishing progr-
ams.
POSTSCRIPT COMPATIBILITY
-----------------------
Softlogik's PageStream 2 is a fast, powerful and easily accessible
general purpose page layout program that can import line art, scanned or
retouched images, or composed pages from other tools and offers full
PostScript compatibility.
CALAMUS SoftRIPs
----------------
Highly acclaimed Calamus SL from ISD Marketing uses a unique modular
approach to page layout feature integration. Modules for image managem-
ent, graphic design, text processing, illustration and autotracing can be
selectively loaded as needed to yield true WYSIWYG, fast printing speeds
and extensive color support. Calamus Outline Art is a complete vector
graphics editor for lines, Bezier curves, control paths and other vector
shapes. ISD Marketing tms Cranach Studio is an electronic image manipul-
ation program that uses professional level bit mapping for enhancing,
retouching, making color corrections and making composites on greyscale
and 24 bit color images.
ISD Marketing also offers the Calamus Imagesetter SoftRIPs software
interfaces enable the Atari TT030 to be directly connected (via the DMA
port) to high resolution imagesetters such as those from Hell systems, all
AGFA Compugraphic 9000 series and the Linotype L100, L300 and L500.
"We're very pleased to offer our sophisticated publishing tools as
part of the Direct to Press solution," said Nathan Potechin, president of
ISD Marketing.
IMAGE SPEEDER
-------------
The 3K Image Speeder, (available from Goldleaf Publishing) is an Atari
TT030 computer configured in a tower case to accommodate a larger power
supply and the additional add-on cards and disk storage peripherals re-
quired. It includes a dedicated graphics display board with hardware
based pan and zoom, a high speed scanner interface and a direct link to
the Hell imagesetter through the VMEbus. The 3K Image Speeder currently
supports ReTouche Professional, Didot Line Art, and Didot Professional;
support for the Calamus and Cranach family of publishing tools is under
development.
Retouche Professional is a modular system of professional digital
lithography tools for creating, retouching and reproducing halftone pic-
tures. Retouche Professional's most distinguishing features are the
quality and speed of its output that results from a library of hand-tuned
screens that are optimized for a variety of film output devices and prin-
ters.
Retouch CD adds the dimension of color to Retouch Professional's
digital halftone image processing capabilities, including color parameters
and facilities for selecting, correcting and separating colors.
Didot Line Art is a full featured line art creation and manipulation
program that benefits from the
same rasterizing output technology as
Retouche Professional. Didot Professional is a full featured, object
oriented page layout program with full color screen representation and
color separation support. It is a superset of Ditdot Line Art and can
manipulate block text halftone and color picture of any size, as well as
bit images and vector graphics.
Sherlook Professional is a high speed, highly accurate program for
optical character recognition that can process up to 12,000 characters per
minute.
To create short, presentation quality, compound documents - Wordflair
II is a single program that combines word processing, calculations, graph-
ics, page layout, and a simple database on a screen representation of a
printed page. Wordflair II's integration enables the user to easily
manipulate text, data and graphics without cutting and pasting from separ-
ate applications.
For high quality presentation graphics, SCIGRAPH is a high perform-
ance full-featured vector drawing program that can display and manipulate
up to 256 onscreen colors or greyscale levels and create a wide variety of
chart and graph types that can easily be imported into desktop publishing
documents.
"The Direct To Press solutions provide the best output quality at the
best value," said Lauren Flanegan-Sellers, president of Goldleaf Publish-
ing. "The nice thing about the Direct To Press solutions is that although
some parts are new to the US Market, publishing systems based on the same
elements have been very well accepted in Germany, widely known as one of
the most demanding printing markets in the world.
The Hell Systems Ultre*Setter UX-70 flatbed imagesetter generates
press ready output on infrared sensitive RC paper or film. Utilizing a
laser diode, pentaprism imaging system, the Ultre*Setter produces output
resolutions ranging from 300-3000 dpi.
Professional Systems Group is a new division of Atari Computer whose
mission is to provide superior computing solutions for vertical market
segments where output quality and execution speed are of the highest
concerns. Professional Systems Group combines its computing platforms
with high performance software and peripherals to meet and exceed the
needs of these demanding audiences.
______________________________________________________________
> THE RIGHT WAY! STR FOCUS
========================
HOW TO ATTEND A PROFESSIONAL COMPUTER TRADE SHOW
- or -
How not to 'Tick Off' the ATARI you love!
by: Andy Learner - President RACC
I went to help, but I got in the way, and was politely asked to step
aside. How could they do this to me? I have bought every computer they
have made since the beginning, with the 8-BIT 400. I have an extremely
loyal, albeit somewhat jaded attitude toward ATARI the company, but an
undying fondness for the machine itself.
I know that seems awkward, but the machine is not subject to personal-
ity clashes. An though often misused, and abused, never (unless you ask it
to) will talk back or reject you as some people can and inevitably do. I'm
not saying that I felt terrific about the following I am about to relate.
I do see it as amusing, after getting over the hurt.
The Thursday before the CEPS show, I get a call from my good pal, and
Michael "Ellis" Brown. Did I want to go help set-up the ATARI booth at
McCormick place in Chicago? "Why, absolutely!" I replied, as I had been
pursuing Bob Brodie for some time, to do just that. A call to ATARI show
coordinator Mel Stevens, then a return call from him reassured me that
they wanted me to help.
We met Mel on Saturday, and dove right in, helping setup all the shiny
new TT030-8 computers, SLM605 Laser Printers, TTC1245 Color Multisync
Monitors, and TTM195 19" B&W monitors. The purpose of this article is
two-fold,
(1) to show where an over zealous hobbyist, can really hurt the cause,
rather than help it.
(2) Apologize to any one I may have offended by offering over enthusiasm,
as an explanation, not an excuse.
We were all very excited (JJ Johnson, Mike Brown, and myself) to
finally get to see the real TT030. Even more ecstatic to get to actually
handle one. As these were truly fresh new machines there was no software
on them, to "try" out. I figured there would be something, but the soft-
ware people were to arrive the next day. I thought I should have brought
something to "boot up" and check out the new "toy".
It took a phone call from my friend Bob Brodie on Monday afternoon, to
clue me into the fact that this new machine in fact was no toy, and any
attempt to make that association, would be poorly received by it's develo-
pers and programmers. Also that there would be plenty of time to check out
the new machine at the LCACE meeting, this coming Saturday.
I have been in the Exhibit and Display business for over 10 years. And
I know the rules, when it comes to McCormick Place. You may not even plug
a standard electrical plug into the main line, without the attendance of
the electrician. This seems like a silly thing, until you realize the
delicate balance of power required to power up all the lighting, and
computers at an event like this. Everyone takes everything very seriously.
I should have known, just by the fact that ATARI was right next to the
largest booth of the show (XEROX - Ventura Publisher), that they were
there, to do some serious business. But I didn't. After all the setup
was completed, there wasn't much for me to do on the second day. I bro-
ught along a few of my favorite programs, including CALAMUS, PAGESTREAM,
and SPECTRE GCR as well as a few (ahem!!)games.
I thought as I didn't have all too much to do, I would put TT through
its paces. "Let's just see what this puppy could do!" To shorten a long
painful story, this turned out to be truly inappropriate behavior, at a
show of this magnitude. After all, this was TT030's debut to the rest of
the Corporate Publishing World. As ATARIANS, we have known about this
terrific machine for some time now. But, very few people outside the
ATARI world, did up until then. Thanks to this show many do now.
It just wouldn't do to have HACMAN running on the TT, and fortunately
(in a way) it didn't. I couldn't even get most of what I brought along to
copy correctly to the hard drive. I should have known right then and
there, something was wrong with the machine, and stop, but I kept trying
to make something, anything run. Not that the machine couldn't run the
programs, there was just something wrong with that particular machine.
Then I tried the GCR on it. The screen went purple and white, and
quit. "Uh-oh, now I've done it!" I killed a TT right out of the box.
Bill Rehbock assured me GCR would work, but inside I screamed at myself,
"please don't try anything else like that." I was really embarrassed,
even a little indignant, at the thought that something I did, goofed up
such a fine machine. I told him so after he told me that he didn't need
my help for the rest of the show.
I make this open apology directly to you Bill. "You were under a
great deal of pressure to make this show a success. I think you made it
happen. I am sorry if I caused you even one moments grief, and wish I
could take it back."
Before the story of ATARI at CEPS unfolded before my eyes, the
"Professional Products Group" as I now know it, was kept under a tight
veil of secrecy. One of the reasons, was to solidify all the relation-
ships, formed in this unique arrangement between ATARI and developers.
Some suggestions to user group people who may be fortunate enough to
be "invited" to participate in an ATARI event:
(1) Don't just participate solely with the idea that there will be some-
thing in it for you.
(2) Don't put "official" people on the spot with unreal or awkward demands
for ATARI user group support. There is a time and place, and direct
method for doing that. A trade show is NOT one of them. These people
are here to make a living, not support our hobby.
(3) Unless specifically asked to do so, do not tamper with computer equi-
pment, especially new stuff you are unfamiliar with. What will work
beautifully on one machine, may be the death of another.
Some suggestions for ATARI Corporation, on the use of user group people as
"volunteers" to work a trade show.
(1) Have in mind that if you bring in uniformed, enthusiastic people, they
need to know a little of what to expect. Without some specific
guidance they will inevitably do just what you don't want them to do.
(2) Develope some sort of organization for the volunteers to follow, with
a little more specific guidelines.
(3) It will certainly help to reward those who "volunteer" to "work". If
your intention would be to reward them, make it clear what that might
be. The professional workers who set up trade show (and are paid real
money) find it unusual and awkward to work alongside "volunteers"
working for "free".
(4) Most of the "professional" riggers at a Trade show, are carpenters, or
ironworkers, who don't know an RS232 plug from a banana plug. Intel-
ligent "volunteer" riggers will be your best bet to "hire", if you
don't keep them in the dark.
(5) Make sure your everyone (including your CEO) knows just what everyone
is supposed to do. I bet none of you really like awkward surprises
either.
____________________________________________________
> PAGESTREAM 2 STR Spotlight "Perfect Solution for Pro and Hobbyist"
==========================
PAGESTREAM 2 -> HOT!
====================
by Ralph F. Mariano
The Atari STe/TT computers are poised to revolutionize the computer
industry and in particular, the Graphics/DTP arena. Blockbuster, innovat-
ive products like Pagestream 2 are indeed making the entire computing
community stand up and take notice. They are being shown what many of the
current Atari owners have known for a long, long time ie; "Atari is a very
serious contender in the DTP area and in fact in most cases far superior
to its closest competition." Pagestream is an excellent companion to the
Atari DTP solution as it perfectly compliments the power, versatilty and
value the Atari computers represent.
PageStream 2 has full color support, built-in spell checker/diction-
ary, hyphenation dictionary and an extremely large family of fonts are
available, including Adobe type 1, afga Compugraphic Intellifont and
PageStream format fonts. Pagestream 2 displays font outlines on your
screen for a WYSIWYG look and then prints that outline at the maximum of
any printer. This includes printing Adobe Type ! PostScript fonts to dot
matrix printers (ie, Adobe Type Manager,ATM). PageStream 2 ships with
(18) outline fonts ten (10) of which are Compugraphic hinted outlines.
The fonts included are CS Times, Times Bold, Italic, Bold Italic - Gara-
mond Antigua, Halbfett, Kursiv, Halbfett Kursiv - CS Triumvirate, Trium-
virate Bold - Columbia - University Roman - Letter Gothic - Saturn - Tom
Hudson - Creative - Oriental - Artistic.
Pagestream is a real leader in graphics importing, text importing and
in providing a super selection of printers supported. Soft-Logik supports
almost all graphics formats, text formats and printing devices for use
with Pagestream. Pagestream allows the importation of these graphics
formats:
Degas Neochrome Tiny GEM Metafile
IMG IFF ILBM TIFF
GIF Pro-Draw EPS EPSF
Aegis DR2D MacPaint IBM
Of course, there are more this is jsut to give you an idea of the
versatilty. Importing a wide variety of graphics allows the user, Profes-
sional or Hobbyist, flexibility and power in total graphical selection and
implementation. After all, isn't powerful graphical control the driving
force behind computer DeskTop Publishing?
Pagestream allows the creation of documents of any page size up to
1200 feet by 1200 feet, the transferance of objects off the page into a
user definable workspace, use font point sizes from .01 to 183,000 with
variable horizontal and verticle point size. The user may also draw and
edit Bezier curves, import all graphics, have well over 1000 pages per
document, page number automatically, use unlimited number of columns per
page with text routing between columns in any order, import and color
separate 24 bit pictures, use Pantone colors, edit Professional Draw
clips, rotate - slant - twist any text, texty column or graphic. This
list goes on and on...
The intuitive interface of Pagestream allows anyone (even neophytes)
to create and produce outstanding documents. Pagestream 2 is a program
that's loaded with features. The extremely friendly user interface makes
it powerful.
PAGESTREAM 2
For a brochure and more info check with your local dealer
OR.........
Contact:
Soft-Logik Corp.
P.O. Box 290070
St. Louis, MO. 63129
1-314-894-8608
____________________________________________________________
> GFA in the USA! STR InfoFile GFA OPENS USA SUBSIDIARY
============================
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASES
DRAMATIC RECEPTION OF COMPANY'S ANNOUNCEMENTS AT CeBIT '91
Hannover, Germany. GFA Systemtechnik GmbH, headquartered in Dussel-
dorf had very positive responses to its key announcements at CeBIT'91 this
past week.
First, the company announced the availability of GFA-BASIC for IBM
compatible PC's. For the first time, programmers will be able to use the
language's simple constructs to create applications that use Menu Bars,
Windows, Alert Boxes, and Pop-up Menus under both the MSDOS and WINDOWS
3.0 operating systems from Microsoft. All GFA-BASIC programs written for
Atari ST and Amiga are compatible to these new versions.
The company also demonstrated for the first time the Atari TT version
of GFA-Basic. This new version brings to the TT compatibility with all
software that has been written for the ST. GFA-BASIC is now compatible
to all Atari, amiga as well as IBM compatible programs.
And finally, the company announced the establishment of its U.S.
subsidiary, GFA Software Technologies Inc. to support and market its
products in North America. demonstration versions of these products are
available for evaluation.
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEW RELEASE
GFA OPENS US SUBSIDIARY TO SUPPORT AND SELL GFA-BASIC!
Salem, Ma. GFA Systemtechnik of Dusseldorf, Germany, publishers of
GFA-BASIC for the ATARI ST and commodore Amiga announces the formation of
GFA Software Technologies, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary, to support and
market GFA-BASIC in North America.
Maurice Giguere, the President of this new subsidiary, announced
that his goals were to "expand the use of this powerful language by
providing call-in as well as bulletin board access to GFA technical
personnel to assist programmers in their development efforts."
The company currently publishes GFA-BASIC version 3.5 for the Atari
ST and Amiga Computers. The current list price of the Interpreter and
Compiler are $94.95 and $54.95 respectively.
Also, GFA has recently released GFA-BASIC for MSDOS and Windows 3.0
which will allow ST and Amiga programs written in GFA-BASIC to run also on
these platforms. The list Prices start at $249 for the MSDOS 286 version
and range to $495 for the 386 Windows 3.0 version.
GFA is committed to helping its customers gain efficiencies and
extend the value of their investment in ATARI ST and AMIGA programs that
are written in GFA-BASIC.
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
GFA-BASIC now available for the Atari TT!
Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc. today announced the avail-
ability of GFA-BASIC on the Atari TT. The typical Atari user was very
happy to see the number one BASIC for the Atari on this new generation of
Atari computers. Frank Ostrowski, chief technologist for GFA said "this
implementation will exhibit all the speed and functionality we have ap-
preciated on the other Atari platforms."
The product is shipping with both an Interpreter and Compiler. The
List Prices of each are $94.95 and $54.95 respectively.
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASE
New GFA-BASIC gives MSDOS programmers a powerful tool to develop
GUI applications
Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc. has announced the avail-
ability of GFA-BASIC for MSDOS. In addition to about 500 independent
commands, the language has over 70 commands and functions for specific
graphic and operating system operations which are SAA compatible. The
graphic commands in particular make it possible to write MSDOS programs
with a "Graphic User Interface" which include Menu Bars, Windows, Alert
Boxes, and Pop-up Menus. These Simple commands replace pages of complex
coding that would normally be required in any other programming language.
The resulting MSDOS applications are then portable to Windows 3.0, OS/2,
and UNIX when operated with the corresponding GFA-BASIC for these plat-
forms.
GFA-BASIC supports all graphic modes--MDA, HGC, CGA, EGA, and VGA.
It also permits the use of EMS which allows the programs to have access
to memory beyond 640 KB. In addition, GFA-BASIC makes use of the
8087/287/387 math co-processors if available.
The List Price for the 8086/88/286 version is $249. The 386 version
retails for $295. The GFA-BASIC Interpreter, Editor, and protected-mode
Runner are being shipped immediately; the compiler will be shipped to all
registered users when completed in the fall.
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASE
New GFA-BASIC for WINDOWS 3.0
Develop GUI applications without the SDK!
Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc. has announced the avail-
ability of GFA-BASIC for Windows 3.0. In addition to about 500 indepen-
dent commands, this version has over 400 other commands and functions
specifically for Windows operations. These simple commands let the progr-
ammer use the Multiple Document Interface, load Bit-Map files, utilize
the Clipboard, DDE, as well as run Dynamic Link Libraries. These commands
dramatically reduce the coding that would be required in "C" and totally
eliminate the need for the SDK.
GFA-BASIC permits the use of EMS which allows the programs to have
access to memory beyond 640 KB. GFA-BASIC will run in Real or Protected
Mode depending on the installation of Windows 3.0.
GFA-BASIC combines the intuitive syntax of BASIC with the structured
programming of Pascal an C while possessing a speed of execution similar
to an Assembler or compiled C programs. Routines written in C or Assem-
bler can be bound into GFA-BASIC programs as well.
The List Price for the 286 version is $449. The 386 version is $495.
The GFA-BASIC Interpreter, Editor, and protected-mode Runner is being
shipped immediately; the compiler will be shipped to all registered users
when completed in the fall.
GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
GFA Software Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of GFA
systemtechnik of Dusseldorf, Germany. GFA Systemtechnik has been
supplying high technology tools and solutions to companies like Mercedes
Benz and BMW through its affiliates around the world. Based on his ex-
perience with computer language editors and compilers, Frank Ostrowski,
the chief technologist for GFA saw an opportunity to develop a powerful
higher level language that would provide portability across the most
popular PC platforms.
One year ago Mr. Ostrowski began development of this product which
would provide the basis for allowing programmers to easily create applica-
tions which not only could run an many computers, but also would conform
to the "Graphic User Interface" which most users would be demanding on
PC's as they had on the Atari line of computers.
The corporate goal was then apparent: give a simple, well-known lan-
guage powerful commands to accomplish this task and bring to the PC the
user friendliness of the applications that were possible on Atari. Mr.
Ostrowski as the original developer of GFA-BASIC for the Atari had now
created a tool which not only provides the power programmers need for this
task, but also the variety of platforms needed whereby these applications
can run effectively.
GFA Systemtechnik in Germany has an attractive and aggressive group
of bright young developers dedicated to bringing to the applications
programmer tools which he can use to maximize the market size for the
systems he develops. GFA Software Technologies, Inc. is the U.S.
subsidiary responsible for supporting these products.
For more information contact:
GFA Software Technologies, Inc.
27 Congress St., Salem, Ma 01970.
Tel: 508-744-0201
Fax: 508-744-8041
VISA/MasterCard accepted
________________________________________________________________
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile TAX TIME SPECIAL OFFERINGS!....
=======================
NEW LOW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
===============================
>> INCOME TAX REFUND SPECIALS <<
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
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)
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Conventional Shoe Box
ADD 35.00 for 4 BAY TURBO Cabinet w/250w PS
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN3038 31Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 419.00
SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 479.00
SGN6277 62Mb 24ms 5.25" Y 519.00
SGN6177 62Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 549.00
SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 649.00
SGN1098 100mb 25ms 3.5" Y 719.00
SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 889.00
SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1069.00
SGN4077 230Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1669.00
==================================================
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
---- FOR USE IN MEGA, MEGA STe & TT030 SYSTEMS ----
>>>> 100mb SCSI HARD DRIVE Mech 25-28ms 3.5" ...ONLY $349.00!! <<<<
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
>>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<<
(500 - 600k per sec @ 16 - 33ms)
CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS
FROM 30mb 28MS @ $419.00!
--==*==--
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
--->> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$ 665.00__ <<---
EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.95
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1329.00 **
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $ 939.00 30mb SQG38 $ 819.00
65mb SQG09 $ 969.00 85mb SQG96 $1059.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
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)
*** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms ***
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (special order only)
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
* SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
Replacement Drums; CALL
Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service
9am - 8pm EDT
Tues thru Sat
ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION!
____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quotable"
====================
"THOSE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES....
ALWAYS WEAR CLOTHES!"
...Marvin Trottenberry
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine¿
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport¿ "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" April 12, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright ½ 1987-91 No.7.15
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, STReport¿ CPU/MAC/STR¿ or ST Report¿. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint
must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's
name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
any way without prior written permission. The contents, at the time of
publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors,
contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse
of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
