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GEnieLamp Atari ST Vol. 4 Issue 75
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~ WELCOME TO GEnieLamp ST! ~
""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Happy Holidays from the DEALER'S VIEWPOINT ~
~ COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE Explains Modems ~
~ Data Compression Shootout in MEL's MANOR ~
~ The Dow and Atari News in COMPUTERS AND INVESTING ~
~ Al Fasoldt Barks Commands at his Modem in CONNECTIONS ~
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GEnieLamp Atari ST ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Vol.4, Issue 75
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Editor.................................................John Gniewkowski
Publisher.................................................John Peters
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~ GEnieLamp ST ~ GEnieLamp [PR] ~ GEnieLamp Windows ~ GEnieLamp IBM ~
~ GEnieLamp A2Pro ~ GEnieLamp Macintosh ~ GEnieLamp TX2 ~
~ GEnieLamp A2 ~ LiveWire (ASCII) ~ GEnieLamp MacPRO ~
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GE Mail: GENIELAMP.ST Internet: genielamp.st@genie.geis.com
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>>> WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE ATARI ST ROUNDTABLE? <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ December 1994 ~
FROM MY DESKTOP ......... [FRM] HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY]
Notes From The Editor. Is That A Letter For Me?
DEALER VIEWPOINT ........ [DLR] REFLECTIONS ............. [REF]
Happy Holidays. Online Mentoring.
THE ONLINE LIBRARY ...... [LIB] COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE ..[HDC]
[*] Files, Files, Files! Intro to Modems.
NEWSBYTES ............... [NEW] MEL'S MANOR ............. [MEL]
Computing in the News. Data Compression Shootout.
HARDCOPY ................ [HRD] SEARCH_ME ............... [FUN]
Internet Book Review. Online Puzzle Fun!
COMPUTERS AND INVESTING . [CAI] CONNECTIONS ............. [CON]
[*]The Dow and Atari News. Modemania.
LOG OFF ................. [LOG]
GEnieLamp Information.
[IDX]"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
READING GEnieLamp GEnieLamp has incorporated a unique indexing
""""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine easier.
To utilize this system, load GEnieLamp into any ASCII word processor
or text editor. In the index you will find the following example:
HUMOR ONLINE ............ [HUM]
[*]GEnie Fun & Games.
To read this article, set your find or search command to [HUM]. If
you want to scan all of the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take
you to the last page, whereas [IDX] will bring you back to the index.
MESSAGE INFO To make it easy for you to respond to messages re-printed
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need immediately following the message. For example:
(SMITH, CAT6, TOP1, MSG:58/M475)
_____________| _____|__ _|___ |____ |_____________
|Name of sender Category TOPic Msg.# Page number|
In this example, to respond to Smith's message, log on to page
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A message number that is enclosed by brackets indicates that this
message is a "target" message and is referring to a "chain" of two
or more messages that are following the same topic. Example: Msg:{123}
TX2 FORMAT What are you missing when reading the ASCII version of
"""""""""" GEnie Lamp? EXCITEMENT! Whenever you see a [*] in the
index or in the article header, that indicates that the article contains
TX2 graphics and/or pictures. To see the graphics, you will need the
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LMP_nnn.LZH GEnie Lamp in TX2 format.
MINI_TX2.LZH Mini-version of TX2 Viewer (File #20441).
ABOUT GEnie GEnie's monthly fee is $8.95 for which gives you up to four
""""""""""" hours of non-prime time access to most GEnie services, such
as software downloads, bulletin boards, GE Mail, an Internet gateway,
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"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
[EOA]
[FRM]//////////////////////////////
FROM MY DESKTOP /
/////////////////////////////////
Notes From My Desktop
"""""""""""""""""""""
By the mere fact you are reading these words means you have some
telecommunications savvy. Since we do share an interest in computers and
communications I'm sure you'll enjoy this issue of GEnieLamp ST. In the
next couple of screens you'll read two excellent articles on
communications -- one from our resident writer Al Fasoldt, and the other
from a good friend of mine, and Windows Staff Writer, John "Buzzy"
Osarczuk. Enough information in these two pieces to keep one scratching
their heads well into the new year!
And speaking of new, I'd like to introduce two new staff members to
GEnieLamp -- Peter Killian (P.KILLIAN) and Bruce Smith (B.SMITH123). If
you have been reading the TX2 edition for the past two months, you've
already seen some of Bruce's fine work -- but that was only an
introduction! AS I've mentioned, I'm pretty TX2 dumb, I like to read them
but putting them together is for more of an expert than I. That's why I
was surprised when Bruce came to me and mentioned the ability for
_inline_ pictures and graphical banners! Wow! I promise we'll keep it
under control and not make the files _too_ big (sheesh, you should see
some of the so-called Multi-media' on-line magazines. Talk about HUGE!)
Peter Killian will be taking over the reins from a long standing writer
whom I said goodbye to last issue, Fred Koch. Starting next month you'll
have the pleasure of reading his thoughts on selected programs in the ST
RT library. If you have any suggestions for him I encourage you to write
him in e-mail and let him know.
Take a few moments and read Sheldon Winick's DEALER VIEWPOINT column. If
you haven't seen some of the going on in the Jaguar topics it is hard to
imagine it as ridiculous as Sheldon describes -- but it's true! When he
says "fanatical" he means it!
As the year draws to a close I always look forward to a few things, one
of them being the TOAD Fest that is a mere 45 minutes from my front door.
As it happens, the end of 1994 is an absolute bear for me -- our first
child is due January 2nd, we're house hunting and hoping to close on a
new house on January 23rd, and we're moving and I'm starting my new job
on January 30th! Egads! As my wife likes to remind me, "Do you think we
could have planned more to cram into one month?" No, honey, I don't think
I could...
As it turns out I missed the Fest this year. I know, unexcusable! I hope
they had as good a turn out as they did last year!
As many of the writers in this issue have taken the time to wish you
"Happy Holidays" I'm taking the editor's privilege of having his say up
front to wish you it first -- Happy Holidays! This has to be the best
time of year for me and for my family (aside from the small scheduling
items I mentioned above), the time between Halloween and New Year's Day
is very special for us -- I'm not sure if it is the decorations, making
candy, taking to the field with a family we are close to and cutting down
that "special" tree, the shopping and music or perhaps a combination of
them all. I hope everyone is experiencing the peace and joy of the season
in their own way.
[EOA]
[HEY]//////////////////////////////
HEY MISTER POSTMAN /
/////////////////////////////////
Is That Letter For Me?
""""""""""""""""""""""
By John E. Gniewkowski
[GENIELAMP.ST]
o ATARI ODDS & ENDS
o HOT TOPICS
o WHAT'S NEW
o THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
o JAGUAR TALK
>>> ATARI POT-POURRI <<<
""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ This And That, ATARI! ~
WinterTree Software Phil Comeau has been selling his Spelling Sentry
""""""""""""""""""" EN7 6 NEW GIENGINE to PC Developers. Said he is
doing quite well. He said the PC PD market is bigger than the ST
Commercial market ever was. Seems to be happy with our licensing
arrangement for the ST, so we should see these products still offered for
quite awhile and an upgrade cycle done on an every other year basis at
least. Lots of Luck to Phil in his endeavors, sorry I can't answer your
Thesaurus question, as I am not privy to the sources he used in putting
the program together.
(ST-INFORMER, CAT13, TOP17, MSG:61/M475)
SpeedoGDOS Slow-up? I've installed 5.0c and found that it slows the GEM
""""""""""""""""""" system down substantially as compared to previous
versions (5.0b included). Could you explain this? The difference is not
preception as I've done some benching marking with QuickST as well as
GEMBench. The results from both are that GEM (not TOS) is slower.
(J.KRZYSZTOW, CAT14, TOP35, MSG:128/M475)
Religious About Computers For those of you who've been told you are
""""""""""""""""""""""""" RELIGIOUS about computers. I got the
following in email and thought I'd share it with you all. Absolutely NO
disrespect to any religion is intended.
Is God DOS?
TimeMachine (its name is its shortcut) is our favorite grazing area for
provocative quotes. Its Quote of the Day for last Monday was drawn from
from an English translation of Italian novelist Umberto Eco's back-page
column "La bustina di Minerva" in the Italian news weekly "Espresso,"
Sept. 30, 1994:
The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh
computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the
opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant.
Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the
'ratio studiorum' of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory,
it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach -- if
not the Kingdom of Heaven -- the moment in which their document is
printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via
simple formulae and sumptuous icons.
Everyone has a right to salvation.
DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of
scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle
hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all
can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the
program yourself: a long way from the baroque community of revellers, the
user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.
You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has
come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the
Macintosh. It's true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big
ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a
return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions...
(POTECHIN, CAT18, TOP22, MSG:126/M475)
New Programming Library I've run into the annoying problem of uploading
""""""""""""""""""""""" programs to the STRT Library, only to find that
the second downloader has found a "bug", or an "undocumented feature" in
my program.
What to do? I don't want the Atari community to have to download
something of mine that is buggy, and then be my beta-tester...not a fair
thing to ask.
So, beginner programmers unite! Upload your programs in Library 19, and
let us know in this Topic. We can download each other's programs and
source code snippets and hopefully gain some more-useful and more
polished programs/utilities for our platform in the process. A semi-
workshop as it were. Certainly a way to keep track of such goings-on,
and provide feedback on fixes and bugs.
Program upload announcements _and_ discussions of the programs themselves
can be accomplished in this Topic. Then, after our programs are suitably
polished and _ready_, we can see if the Librarians can move the newest
versions to their proper places in the Library.
For our purposes, we won't limit it to any one language, since often
something written in C will help someone in GFA, or vice-versa.
Please do feel free to help me out in defining any other "missions" this
new Topic may be able to perform.
Remember, Library 19 (the Programming RTC exchange). If _need_ or _want_
warrants it, I'll petition Darlah and Larry for our own library.
(ST.WALLY, CAT3, TOP15, MSG:1/M475)
Cache Size Tips The tradeoff in cache size vs benefit is probably one
""""""""""""""" that starts at 128K and slopes slowly up. Even a 32K
cache helps a lot. The GEMDOS and FAT buffers speed up folder and file
access a lot. They can be 16 or so each if you are stingy on RAM, but 24
to 32 is a good value. Mine are higher, but I have a lot of disk space to
deal with. (A.FASOLDT, CAT2, TOP31, MSG:56/M475)
The PI Calculator LIVES! (For those of you who follow PI calculation
"""""""""""""""""""""""" and are just as crazy as I am on the subject -
"Yes, Virginia, I'm *still* at it!"......)
Gio Ciampa of Birmingham, England, is on the verge of releasing
GIO_PI8S.TOS which has an upper limit of 53 billion digits of PI. All
earlier versions of GIO_PIxx.xxx (as well as all other author's programs)
had various limits of perhaps 59,000 or 200,000 (depending on the
version) because of the way division routines are handled.
On a stock Falcon030/16MHz, it takes about 20 minutes to calculate 20,000
digits, and the time to calculate further x times digits is x^2 minutes.
(All times are 4.5 times slower on an 8 MHz ST.) Thus, on a stock
Falcon, this 68000 compiled program would take 247 years to calculate 53
billion digits (although on a 4 meg machine, you're limited to about 3
million digits. Rats, eh?). Gio is still trying to perfect fast
multiplication routines.
Gio is trying to get ahold of a 68030 programming book to perhaps do a
Falcon specific version, which also may make use of the DSP chip.
If nothing else, Gio is learning a hell of a lot about programming. Me, I
am trying to find a place to store all those digits!
(S.LYSTER, CAT3, TOP10, MSG:58/M475)
GUI History According to Danel Allen, one of the programmers at Apple
""""""""""" (or used to be; I get this from his book _On Macintosh
Programming: Advanced Techniques_) the mouse was developed at the
Stanford Research Institute.
It's amazing that Xerox just gave Jobs and Wozniak the fruits of their
labor, but that's probably best for us; I imagine Atari would have had a
hard time protecting its claim to the Desktop metaphore if it had been
protected by Xerox from the start.
A little history:
Several people from PARC (Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where they
designed the first workstations to incorporate bit-mapped graphics,
windows, icons, and the mouse) went to work for Apple, developing the
Lisa, which debuted in 1983. The Lisa, named for a girl in Steve Jobs
life, ran on the Motorola 68000 running at 5MHz, with 16Kb of ROM, 1MB of
RAM, two 5.25-inch 860 Kb disk drives, a 5 Mb hard drive, a built-in 12-
inch display with 720x364 oval pixels, and a multitasking OS concealed by
a desktop which employed folders, icons, and pull-down menus which were
manipulated via a mouse. With software, it listed for $9,995.
Of course, most of the features of the Lisa had been developed elsewhere,
notably at Xerox PARC.
The original Macintosh was devoloped by Jef Raskin as a home appliance
based on the Motorola 6809 and had a 5.25-inch drive. It didn't make its
debute until 1984, when it had a Motorola 68000 running at 7.83 MHz, SSDD
3.5-inch drive, 64Kb ROM, 128Kb RAM, 9-inch screen, and a single-tasking
OS with basically the same desktop metaphore as the Lisa.
(T.HOPPER, CAT5, TOP6, MSG:7/M475)
Atari FTP Sites Recently uploaded and awaiting release in our library:
""""""""""""""" To be 34476 FTP_SITE.LZH 4K:
Hallvard Tangeres (U Oslo, Norway) provides the most recent (941120)
listing of Atari FTP sites internationally. This listing contains 40
sites; 6 in US and Canada; 23 in Germany; 3 in UK; 9 in all other. Using
this information in conjunction with the information contained in file
#16570 in the Internet library (1405;3), ACCMAIL2.ZIP, can enable one to
access Atari files from all over the world. From csas.
(M.EASTER, CAT8, TOP15, MSG:111/M475)
Al, Pass The Matches! WD-40 migrates, so there is no way to use it
""""""""""""""""""""" without messing up the internals of a printer.
You could (if you dare) take the printer outdoors and clean all the parts
you can reach with gasoline.
[Editor's Note: The Fire Marshall from the TV program "In Living Color"
passed through my mind when I read this -- "Fire Marshall Fasoldt!"]
(A.FASOLDT, CAT14, TOP11, MSG:93/M475)
>>> HOT TOPICS <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ Too Hot To Handle, Almost ~
PageStream and Atari >Perhaps you can post Deron's opening comments
"""""""""""""""""""" here as you did elsewhere as they speak for
themselves.
Sure....
"Thank you for coming to tonight's conference. I'm glad to have this
opportunity to speak with you in person. Tonight is my chance to share
with you our plans. I know you all have a lot of questions, and I'll
answer them all in a minute. First I would like to outline our directions
for the future."
"Our main priority at this time is PageStream3 for the Amiga. We are
committed to finishing the unimplemented features, and fixing any
problems in the program. We want to make it the best desktop publisher
possible. I don't have anything new to announce for the Amiga at this
time, and I think most of our customers would be happiest if we'd
concentrate on finishing version 3."
"The answer to whether or not there will be a PageStream 3.0 for the
Atari is no. I know that there are many people out there who love
PageStream and who would love to upgrade to 3.0; however, we have come to
the conclusion that it would not be profitable to do a new version."
"We don't think we could sell enough copies of a new Atari version to
justify the development expense. We have analyzed it every possible way--
-not writing an Atari specific manual, contracting the programming to
somebody else, etc--- and it just doesn't make sense. If it was at all
financially possible, we would do it. We had hoped that Atari's success
with the Jaguar would lead to revitalized sales of their computers, but
that has not happened unfortunately."
"I hope that the Atari and Amiga users here who are thinking about
changing computers will continue to use PageStream into the future. If
you've been wanting to buy a Macintosh or Windows computer but shudder at
the thought of leaving PageStream, I have good news for you. There will
be PageStream for Macintosh and PageStream for Windows."
"I can't tell you when they will be available, but we have already begun
work on them. The first version for each platform will be very similar to
the finished version of PageStream3 for the Amiga with just a few
features specific to each platform. We will have a very affordable
upgrade path from the Amiga and Atari versions. Subsequent versions will
add support for other machine specific features. There will also be a
Windows version of TypeSmith,
our font editor."
(SL-DEV, CAT5, TOP6, MSG:81/M475)
>>>>> I think some of you might have read a little more into S-Ls
""""" decision and maybe not enough into the reasoning.
One point that a lot of folks seem to miss is that porting PS v3 to the
Atari is not just a simple addition of a GEM front end. A full port of
v3, as I read it, would require more capabilities than the average Atari
PS user has at the moment. The way I understand it, it would require a
Falcon030 or a TT with lots of ram (more than 4 meg) to do properly.
So we come back to economics. Are there enough large ram F030s and TTs
out there to make it worth S-Ls while? S-L says not. I've got to
believe that they have thought long and hard before they made their
decision.
Let's face it, there are a lot more 68030 based Amigas out there than
there are Ataris even with Commodore gone.
Maybe if something amazing happened, like a massive resurgance of TT and
F030 sales, S-L would reconsider. I wouldn't hold my breath.
As it is, S-L has given us a fine product and good support over the
years. They are still answering questions and giving help to Atari users
both here an in their RT.
I. like most Atari users, am sorry to see them leave our platform. I can
only thank them for the past and wish them good luck in the future.
(MIKE-ALLEN, CAT5, TOP6, MSG:104/M475)
>>>>> Commodore went bankrupt months ago. Amiga computers are not being
""""" produced at this time.
REM: why are we continuing development for a machine that is out of
production but discontinuing development for a machine that is still in
production? Because the Amiga software market is many times larger than
the Atari software market at this time, and we believe it will remain so
for at least the next couple of years. If the Amiga software market
shrunk to the size of the Atari market, then we'd have to discontinue
development for it too someday. In any case, Amiga computers are still in
stock in Europe (although they're out of stock here) and are still being
sold in much greater numbers than Atari computers have been sold for the
last few years.
Damon: you don't understand software development. Although PageStream
itself is platform independent, you can't open a dialog box and put a
popup menu gadget in it without a lot of code. The platform dependent
part of our system is called app.library. The source code for it is many
megs. That code must be ported and that porting costs money. PageStream
itself is about as platform independent as a program can be. The machine
specific stuff still has to be written, but it can be isolated into
something like app.library like we have done. In fact, we have two
applications that run on App.library at this time, PageStream and BME (a
basic image processor with autotracer). In theory (theory<>reality :),
after porting app.library to a platform, BME and PageStream can just be
recompiled and run without changes.
Roger: thanks for your kind comments. I'll pass them on to others here.
I think some people here are losing sight of the issues. We are in
business to make money. We decided we could not afford to port
PageStream3 to the Atari and make money. If we had decided we'd rather
not port it to the Atari because we could make more money porting it to
Windows, then I could see how you'd be upset, although there's no reason
why we couldn't do that if we wanted to because development funds are
tight and as a business we should try to make as much money as we can.
But that's not the reason we're not porting to the Atari. We're not
porting it because we don't think we could make any money doing so. If we
can't at least break even, we can't do it. We're a business and have
employees to pay.
You may not agree with us. You may think the Atari software market is
healthy enough to justify the decision. You may think we're fools if we
can't make money in the current Atari software market with PageStream3.
But you're not us, and you don't have to pay the programmers to write the
program and the manual writer. We are the ones that have to risk our
development funds, and if we end up losing money, it's not like we're
Novell or Microsoft and can just write it off and do something else. We
can only work on one or two projects at a time. If we blow it, we could
go out of business.
We have given a lot to the Atari platform. We have released several free
updates over the years, and provided great online support here on GEnie.
We released 2.2 for the Atari even though we knew it wasn't financially
advisable at the time. (We did it hoping the market would recover and the
gamble would pay off.) Well, the gamble didn't pay off and we didn't make
money off 2.2. Granted 2.2 was a free upgrade, but it updated the product
and we hoped new copy sale profits would cover the development expense.
That didn't happen. In hindsight, 2.1 should have been the last version
for the Atari, but hindsight is always 20/20.
I subscribe to the school of thought that when somebody leaves, you wish
them well in the future wherever they go. I don't attack them for leaving
and abandoning me.
So say you regret that we won't be around any longer. Say you wish we
would have ported 3.0. But don't attack us for ending development for the
Atari.
In other news, Mark Wetzel is leaving Soft-Logik. (His account name is
SL-TECH.) Wish him well in the future (please don't attack him for
abandoning Soft-Logik :) over in our roundtable.
Tommy: hmm, a bake sale, maybe we should try that. Our PageStream3 t-
shirts have sold so well that we have wondered if we should switch to the
clothing business, but we hadn't considered baked goods. :) :)
(SL-DEV, CAT5, TOP6, MSG:106/M475)
Atari Out of the PC Business?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>> Oh so we now have confirmation that Atari is "out of the PC
>> business" so I guess we can forget about spare parts, new
>> machines or any other hoped for last minute reprieves ....
No need to panic, folks. Atari still has plenty of stock of computers,
and parts are still readily available. Atari is still filling dealer
orders for 1040STe's, Falcons, TT030s and monitors (SM147, SC1224,
SC1435 and TTM195) and new merchandise continues to arrive at Atari's
Sunnyvale headquarters. They just recently got restocked with 4mb
Falcons in the past week or so, which had been out of stock for several
weeks (only the 1mb systems were available for a while).
In fact, we have a new computer shipment incoming from Atari this week.
I can't speak for other dealers, but we are still selling a lot more
Atari computers than we are Jaguars! Atari's Falcon and TT030 systems
are still very viable products in today's marketplace, and with the
third party support they're getting from developers, especially in the
areas of CD-ROM, MIDI and graphics is excellent.
Atari is also continuing to provide warranty service directly to both
end users and dealers at their Sunnyvale headquarters.
There is still nothing yet available in the IBM/Clone world that is
anywhere near as easy to set up and use as Atari's Falcon and TT030
systems, or simply as much fun to use without the need to submit
yourself to needless aggrevation, innane operating systems and absurd
memory handling limitations.
Atari's industry-leading designs have always given them a several year
lead on the competition, which still leaves us some cushion before
Atari's current line of computer equipment truly becomes obsolete. IBM
and Apple recently announced that their joint venture development
agreement for future Power PC based systems is still 2 years away from
actually having those systems ready to be marketed.
In the meantime, DOS and Windoze will continue to rule the roost.
Having been an authorized Atari dealer for over 6 years now, I can
definitely say that the one thing you can count on from Atari is the
Tramiel's tendency to change directions and programs at a moments notice.
Regardless of whatever they may publicly announce, they will follow
whatever directions and programs that fits their current whim or fancy.
Today, the Jaguar is holding their total committment. Tomorrow, who
knows. The only thing that is a given, is their incredible ability to
continue to produce excellent products that remain on the cutting edge of
marketable technology. As long as they continue to do that, I will
continue to remain an Atari dealer, and continue to use Atari equipment
exclusively myself for both personal an professional uses in my
architectural practice.
I will continue to use my TT030 systems for all my business and
professional uses as long as they continue to remain the best solution
for my needs. The primary upgrades my systems, and many of my customers'
systems as well, seem to get every year is more RAM and larger hard
drives.
And... whenever that urge may arise, I can always get my fill of
aggrevation by helping a non-Atari customer set up a new system.
Arghhhhhhh!!!! ;-)
(S.WINICK, CAT14, TOP44, MSG:129/M475)
DATALite Problems I should have been more specific. I used the settings
""""""""""""""""" recommended in the manual. DATAlite's fatal flaw is
that it will eventually allow a file- manipulation program to fry the
drive, no matter that the settings are. (Well, to be clear, there are
some combinations of settings in DL that won't let this happen -- and
won't let any app write to the disk, either, since the app will see the
disk as full when it is not.)
If you have a spare drive (not a spare partition) and want to see what I
mean, just keep adding to it with STZIP or LHarc and it will eventually
have ruined FATs. I say not a spare partition because what has happened
here (TWICE) is that DL allows the app to cross partition boundaries.
This is unforgivable behavior.
(A.FASOLDT, CAT4, TOP42, MSG:/M475)
Speedo 5 Problems I guess I can clear my ICD hard drive software of
""""""""""""""""" conflicting with Speedo 5. I created a floppy with
just Speedo 5 in the AUTO folder, one font, LJ4_300.SYS, META.SYS and
MEMORY.SYS in the GEMSYS folder, OUTLINE and DRIVER as ACC's. Copied
MyDraw and my two test .GEM vector drawing onto the floppy then shut
everything down and disconnected the hard drive. Rebooted off the floppy
configured the ASSIGN.SYS with DRIVER.ACC and the EXTEND.SYS with
OUTLINE.ACC. Shut down again, made a clean cold boot, started MyDraw,
loaded the first test .GEM and ... 3 bombs part way into drawing the
image on screen! Shut down again for another clean cold boot and tried
the other .GEM with the same 3 bombs!
Thought I might have a munged META.SYS or MEMORY.SYS driver so I
replaced the ones on the floppy with fresh copies from my original Speedo
4.1 distribution disks (the ones that come with AtariWorks). Same results
- 3 bombs.
Replaced Speedo 5 with Speedo 4 and ... no problem with either picture.
All the above on my TOS 2.06 1040STe.
Repeated the same procedure on my TOS 1.62 engine with the same results.
I am curious to find out if anyone else is having problems with .GEM
vector graphics and Speedo 5.0. One of the test pictures I use is
COLUMBIA.GEM that has been included as a demo pic in the various versions
of Kandinsky that are in the library.
(M.HEBERT1, CAT14, TOP35, MSG:182/M475)
>>>>> More "Mysteries of Speedo". I booted with Speedo 5.0c and created
""""" a simple rectangular object with solid line border in MyDraw. I
saved it without fill, the 9 solid fills and one "brick" fill.
I imported these into AtariWorks without problems and printed them,
again without problems.
Next I imported the same set of rectangles into Papyrus Gold. They all
came in with a _dotted_ line border. When I tried to print them I got the
error message "VDI call 21 in MEMORY.SYS".
I then rebooted (cold - power down) with Speedo 4.1 and repeated the
process. Both AtariWorks and Papyrus worked the same as with Speedo 5.0c.
While Speedo 4.1 was still active I created a simple bezier object in
Mydraw, saved it without fill and also with the first 5 solid fills. I
imported the bezier objects into AW, printed them without problems and
saved the .STW.
Next I tried to import the beziers into Papyrus but it would only accept
the first one and would not allow me to relocate it on the page.
Rebooting (cold again) I started AW and loaded the .STW containing the
beziers. To my surprise they were now _polygon_ objects! They did,
however, print without problems - as polygons.
I tried loading the beziers into Papyrus where they also came in as
polygons. This time I was able to load each one and relocate it as
desired. Upon trying to print I got the old familiar error message.
So what I am to conclude from this?
Apparently there is a bug in Speedo 5.0c's handling of bezier objects.
Whether it is specifically in SpeedoGDOS.PRG or in it's interrelationship
with META.SYS and/or MEMORY.SYS I can't say.
Apparently there is also a bug in _either_ Papyrus Gold or in MEMORY.SYS
or possibly both that causes .GEM graphics to be unusable in Papyrus with
either Speedo 4.1 or 5.0c.
Now if I only I could get my twitchin' little paws on NVDI 3!
(M.HEBERT1, CAT14, TOP35, MSG:195/M475)
>>> WHAT'S NEW <<<
""""""""""""""""""
~ New and Improved ~
A New Day Well, after a rather long period of adding new features,
""""""""" testing, fixing, adding in _more_ new features, and more
testing, it is my pleasure to announce the release of version 2.01 of
TODAYS.
TODAYS has been uploaded to the library as file number 34350, with
the name "TODAY201.ZIP". When the SysOps here get around to releasing
it, feel free to Download it and have fun!
TODAYS, for those of you who don't know, is a *FreeWare* program that
can be run by any Atari ST or TT user to display events and occurances on
any date in history. TODAYS can even alert you to upcomming events, or
let you know the number of days, weeks, months, or years since any date
in history.
I think I can be safe in saying that TODAYS is the most flexible and
advanced program of this type operating on _any_ computer. TODAYS version
2.01 is totally user configurable! You get what _you_ want!
TODAYS data files, the files that contain the history events, are
completely editable by any word processor or text editor that can work in
ASCII, and are _downward_ compatable with data files from other programs
using the TODAY file format. (There are _hundreds_ of these programs for
the IBM/Compatable, Amiga, Macintosh, and even many Main Frame
computers.)
In GEnie's Atari ST RoundTable, there is a file is called
"TODAYDAT.LZH" (file # 26468) (Or at least it _was_ when I uploaded it!)
that has a large number of data lines all set and ready to do. If you're
just setting up TODAYS for the first time, this is a good set of data to
begin with.
The version 2.01 release of TODAYS adds a number of new features and
useful functions among which are:
* Each individual output line can be formated to the way the
_user_ wants the display to appear, not the programmer's! Each
line can be made different then every other line, or you can
make them all the same if you wish. You get what _you_ like!
* Calculated events can be placed in any catagory the user wishes.
* Individual "catagories" of event types can be sorted or not at
the user's own choice.
* Header Lines can now be justified; left, right, or centered at
the user's request.
* There are now over 140 pre-programed functions to create the
report _you_ want, PLUS math functions _inside_ the function
codes to allow you to create new functions, any of which can be
used to read an external file if you so wish so that users can
have TODAYS display information in whatever way you may wish,
whenever you may wish!
* Range Dating, which allows a single line to cover many days,
useful for those holidays and events that move around from year
to year such as Father's Day, Mother's Day, and the like.
* A new mode, called "Quick Mode" speeds up the reading of
individual data files, by having TODAYS automatically stop
reading the file when the date on the line is greater then the
date being run for.
* TODAYS can be run as a PRG, TOS, APP, TTP, or GTP program.
As a TTP or GTP program, TODAYS will also accept parameters
passed to it from a command line to alter the user's default
configuration.
* TODAYS can be configured to run once, and only once a day.
* TODAYS' error report can be re-directed to any file. Nice for
when BBS System Operators (SysOps) use TODAYS, as errors can be
reported to the BBS system log.
* An all new "BinkkleyTerm-like" configuration file allows for
over 30 user settings. This new configuration file doesn't care
about order, and is self-documented so that users can change
their settings without having to hunt around for a manual when
ever they want to change anything.
Well, that's just a few of the new abilitys in the new TODAYS
program. For more, download the program, read the documentation, and play
around!
Please note: TODAYS is _very_ flexable, however it's not all _that_
difficult to set up as many current users will testify to. Due to the
extreme flexability of the program however, it will _not_ run "straight
out of the box". Some set up is required! To help you set up TODAYS, a
program called T_SETUP.PRG is provided.
T_SETUP.PRG does not setup _all_ the features found in TODAYS, just
most of them. Once you've run T_SETUP, TODAYS can be run, or you can use
an editor that does ASCII saves to edit the file further.
(C.GRIMSBY, CAT1, TOP16, MSG:171/M475)
Towers II Delay I have been stuck to the computer, programming. I have
""""""""""""""" not had the time to log on to GEnie in a week.
Towers II is going to be a little late. :( But it has been improved over
and over. Our artist as a rush job to do at his 'Job' so we were
delayed. While I was waiting, I have trying to improve everything.
I personally don't know if I can convert Towers II to the ST. We have
squeezed almost everything out of the 030 16mhz that I know how. Using
the Intruction Catch, and highly optimized code to limit the bus access
to RAM, and improve the speed. We are not abandoning the ST. We just
ppurchased Falcons for ourselves, and did not see any games for it. We
thought it would be a good idea to write one.
Yes we plan to write for the Jaguar. Currently, we plan to port Towers
II to the PC after we finish the Atari version, Verbatim. However on
the PC, becuase we are using 50khz MODs (via DSP), you will need a fast
one to keep up with the Falcon.
About a Jag version of Towers, it all depends how we get the kit. If
Atari or some other company wants us to write something else first, we
will do it. :) But I would like to convert it over to the Jag as well.
Whatever the outcome, we are a two man show, with two part-time
helpers.:) We are only capable of doing one thing at a time, so far. :)
We still plan to support the ST with software, but we have to wait until
we finish our projects. If someone whats to program Towers II for the ST
now or soon, leave me some Email and we will talk.
Thanks for your interest in our products. :)
(V.VALENTI, CAT9, TOP24, MSG:20/M475)
OMEn Release 3.00 OMEN Release 3.00 has been placed in the ST (demo)
""""""""""""""""" library for downloading. Release 3 contains many
improvements over previous versions, with refinements to the text format
(which was previously not clearly defined), and will probably be the
working version for some time.
The licenced version now contains most of the promised ability to save
settings, preferences, and configurations. It is astonishing to see the
system flip into a selected display mode, with a background picture,
Laserjet printer manager and system sounds installed, and oft-used
software open, all popping onto the screen at once as OMEn boots.
Development effort will now be focussed on: A) releasing the software
development kit (by the end of November at the latest, "come hell or high
water"), B) improving the Macintosh porting to releasable status, C)
improving the Gemulator version to releasable status with full access of
actual DOS hard drives, regardless of size. D) getting the Amiga version
running and releaseable. E) improving the software development tools:
adding a scripting language, and Forth, which is running but isn't in a
releasable condition. If nobody has done an OMEn "C" language by this
time,header-interface files will be written so GEM/TOS based C compilers
can create OMEn software.
I had plans for bringing out all kinds of simple ( though, some not so
trivial) software:
* additional picture conversions * audio file conversion utility * print-
to-fax printer protocol * better dot-matrix font printing manager *
colour inkjet printer drivers * OMEN <--> RTF text conversions * ISO-9660
CD manager *support for add-on graphics cards * a program to run TTP
software from OMEn *a better Paint program * an object-oriented-graphics
page layout application.* communications software: VT52 with capture, X-
modem & Y-modem.
However, with limited programming/time resources, these items must be
considered secondary to the main objectives outlined above, and in any
event, can be written just as easily by other programmers once the
development tools are available.
Networking software to link all OMEn systems together regardless of
computer type falls in between "prime" and "secondary" and will be worked
on whenever feasible. Some of the low-level drivers for MIDI/RS-232
networking connections have already been written.
(CCARMICHAEL, CAT3, TOP7, MSG:36/M475)
ImageCopy 3 From TOAD I have some good news. It looks like Toad
""""""""""""""""""""" Computers will be importing ImageCopy 3. Now at
least there's somewhere to get it here in the US.
As for upgrades from Imagecopy 2, I'm afraid I don't have any good news.
FaST Club told us they'd give a 4-pound (about $6.40) credit for each
front cover from an Imagecopy 2 manual we sent them. Perhaps a similar
arrangement can be made through Toad.
(J.EIDSVOOG1, CAT32, TOP36, MSG:163/M475)
>>> THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
~ Rumors, Maybes and Mayhem ~
TOS 5.0 Rumors Regarding TOS 5, here's what I've read on the 'net,
"""""""""""""" regarding TOS 4.92 beta:
>From: THIETAVUO@FINABO.ABO.FI (Tommi Hietavuo TKKK)
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
>Subject: Re: TOS 5 - A quick users eye view.
>Date: 25 Oct 1994 22:59:22 GMT
>Organization: ABO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY, FINLAND
>Lines: 52
>Distribution: world
>Message-ID: <38k2ka$e5o@josie.abo.fi>
>
>In <38g2ld$4j7@whitbeck.ncl.ac.uk> Craig writes:
>
>> Using a MiNT 1.11h2-beta kernal, the speed improvement over
>> multiTOS is unbelievable. It actually feels as fast - if not faster,
>> than using straight TOS4.02.
>
>Even with MiNT 1.08 it feels quite usable what comes to speed...
>
>> The extra features (iconify, speedofonts in dialogs, etc) are good.
>
>I quite agree =-) !
>
>> TOS4.92 seems to be more compatible with older software than
>> TOS4.02 is (I tried Lattice C 5.52, which has problems with it's
>> hierachical menus under TOS4.02, and it works a treat under
>> TOS4.92).
>
>You're right; it is more compatible than even GENEVA 1.02, and works
>very well with all sorts of programs that caused trouble under "old"
>MultiTOS.
>
>> It seems criminal to me that this never got released - it could have
>> saved multiTOS/MiNT from the scrap heap if this OS version had made
>> it into people systems, 'coz unlike multiTOS (crap beyond belief),
>> this seems to actually be a fast & usable system. It definitely shows
>> what can be done with riding a multiTasking AES on top of a decent
>> MiNT kernal (ok - hands up those who've gone to the trouble of
>> applying all the patches to build MiNTv1.11h2-beta (took me
>> ages......)). Now - what we really want is for Atari to release TOS
>> 4.92 along with the next PD MiNT binary release (I believe this is
>> due RSN).
>
>Absolutely true, if anything ! If Atari doesn't want to continue
>developing AES, it really should give AES 4.1 beta to Public Domain.
>This beta version is so damn good that it really _is_ a crime to keep
>it unreleased !!
>
>> Craig.
>
>Tommi
(T.HOPPER, CAT14, TOP34, MSG:115/M475)
Mosaic Browser Two guys on the Internet are considering writing Mosaic
"""""""""""""" as a commercial product (I don't remember the exact
price, maybe $60+). They've been sounding people on the 'net to see if it
would sell and what features people would like to see. Next time I get a
chance to log on 'net I'll try to get their email addresses so you can
write for info.
(T.HOPPER, CAT1, TOP22, MSG:86/M475)
TT Unix Out There? >> The TT Unix was called off long ago. I don't
"""""""""""""""""" >> know how far along it got in development either.
From what I was given to understand by contacts at Atari, TT Unix was
100% complete and ready for actual marketing when the Tramiels chose to
dispand the development group and drop the project. They apparantly got
interested in something new and chose to devote all their energies
elsewhere.
(S.WINICK, CAT14, TOP5, MSG:21/M475)
Legal Action Against Dorfman? I heard rumor that a large group of ATC
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Shareholders on some Internet group
was planning some sort of legal action against Dank Dorkman and Martin's
@$$...
I can't judge the veracity of this rumor, but it comes from reliable
sources.
I cannot see how this is ANY different than insider trading, and these
guys should put put in prison for a while. These two jerks are playing
GOD with other's people's companies, carreers, and lives, all for their
own personal gain.
Give them THE CHAIR!
(D.ENGEL, CAT14, TOP44, MSG:144/M475)
>>> JAGUAR TALK <<<
"""""""""""""""""""
~ Atari Video Game News ~
What's Taking Them? I think that the most important thing that must be
""""""""""""""""""" realized is that we're looking at a transition here
from a 16-bit to a 32/64 bit market. I read an item in Businessweek where
a Toys R Us exec said that 16-bit hardware and software sales are flat.
He also says that people are waiting for the prices to come down on next
generation systems and for those systems to get a larger base of
software.
It's a good idea to look back at the transition from 8 to 16-bit to get
a handle on what's happening. When the Genesis came on the market in
1989, the 8-bit NES was firmly entrenched with millions of systems and
tons of games coming out every month. I still remember the letters from
people asking why it was so easy for so many 8-bit games to come out
every month but the 16-bit software was so slow to reach the
shelves(sound familiar). The Genesis didn't magically appear in every
major store chain, it took time(especially since Sega's last hardware,
the Master System, hadn't been a raging success despite critical
acclaim). The software situation wasn't much better. Sega had a hard time
getting some of their long awaited titles out on time and they had a
small number of 3rd party developers(compared to Nintendo). Most of their
3rd party companies weren't big names and their intial releases weren't
the most original things ever seen(I remember that at least 5 companies
had a side-scrolling shooting game as their debut title).
The system's price tag of $180 was also considered to be high when
compared to the NES which was about $90 to $100. So how did we get from
there to here?
After the system had been out for over a year, they had a mail in
rebate of $30. They got a good response so they lowered the price of the
system down to $150 in the summer of 91(the price drop was also probably
due to Nintendo's upcoming entry into the 16-bit market). It was also
about this time that their first buzz title(Sonic) hit the market and
they packed it in with the system. That's when I bought mine. Even then
though, there were only about 40 titles available and the system had been
out for close to 2 years. The Genesis software library got larger and
more good titles started to come out.
We've grown somewhat used to the big developers supporting the SNES and
Genesis. Many of the so-called BIG Nintendo developers(Konami, Capcom,
Interplay, etc...) didn't start supporting the Genesis til 93(4 years
after it's release).
Personally, I don't feel that Mr. Dorfman and others in his field know
squat about the game market and their opinions are useless. Bringing out
a video game system is not a 100 meter dash, it's more like a 30 mile
marathon. It takes a lot more than the 1st year to determine wether a
system will succeed or not.
(C.SMITH89, CAT14, TOP44, MSG:137/M475)
From the DJNR Businesswire Time Warner Cable's Full service Network
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" (tm) to add Jaguar 64-bit games
MAITLAND, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NOV. 14, 1994--Time Warner's Full
Service Nework (FSN) President Tom Feige and Atari Corp.'s CEO Sam
Tramiel announced Monday an agreement to offer Atari's Jaguar 64-bit
interactive videogames on demand to FSN customers.
Jaguar, the world's first and only 64-bit interactive game system
features high-speed animation, textured three-dimensional color images
and graphics, and CD-quality sound.
Consumers will access the Atari games on the Full Service Network using
the 64-bit Jaguar game system device, which processes more than 100 times
as much data at one time than 16-bit games, and twice as much as 32-bit
game systems. This significantly increases speed and lets game players
experience superior graphics performance and animation action. Through
the Full Service Network the Jaguar games are digitally compressed and
stored on magnetic hard drives and downloaded to the game device at the
consumer's request.
In addition, using a Hewlett Packard DeskJet 550C printer, consumers will
be able to print out game instructions with full-color graphics.\
Approximately 30 Atari Jaguar game titles will be available on the Full
Service Network next year.
"We're proud to offer consumers games on demand from Atari Jaguar because
it's the most advanced and powerful game system available today," said
Full Service Network President Tom Feige. "When we compared the graphics
and capabilities of the game systems on the market, Atari Jaguar was the
clear choice for us."
etc., etc.
Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Dorfman!
(M.LIPSON, CAT14, TOP44, MSG:151/M475)
[*][*][*]
While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files?
If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin
Board area. The messages listed above only scratch the surface of
what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area.
If you are serious about your Atari, the GEnieLamp staff strongly
urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally
thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the
world.
[EOA]
[DLR]//////////////////////////////
DEALER VIEWPOINT /
/////////////////////////////////
Happy Holidays
""""""""""""""
By Sheldon Winick
[S.WINICK]
The 1994 holiday season has arrived, bringing with it the annual frenzy
of holiday shoppers, all looking for just the perfect presents for
everyone on their gift list. Working on the other side of the counter
can be very interesting during this time of year, as we dealers are
expected to always have everything our customers want in stock whenever
they decide its time to make their purchases, no matter how close to
Christmas it gets. It definitely makes for an interesting time of year.
Of course, its easy to figure out that shoppers will want the new things,
especially the new games coming out for the Jaguar. Those will all be
hot sellers for the next several weeks. If all the projected December
Jaguar releases actually materialize, there should be plenty of selection
and excitement for Jaguar owners.
Atari computer users also have an excellent selection of hardware and
software items from which to choose their gifts. A plentiful supply of
Atari computers are still available through Atari dealerships, most at
their lowest prices ever, making upgrading to a new system very enticing.
For new computer users, those older Atari systems can make an extremely
affordable alternative to purchasing a new system.
Of course, the hottest new Atari product this year is the Jaguar multi-
media entertainment system. The Jaguar category here in the GEnie Atari
Roundtable (Category 26) remains very active, especially the topics
relating to comparisons between the Jaguar system and the other game
systems on the market. Some of those discussions have become so heated
and personal that the SysOps have had to move them over to the open
debating Category 18, where the free-for-all continues.
The near fanaticism evident in some of those heated discussions reminds
me of the early days of personal computers, when there was almost a
fanaticism involved in system loyalty. That, of course, goes back into
the early and mid 80's when the personal computer industry was still
young and there were still several completely different platforms from
which to choose. Back then, there were no "industry standards" and most
computer users were more interested in the technology itself than in
merely using the computer as a workplace tool.
That platform loyalty spawned dedicated user groups which flourished
throughout the decade of the 80's. Most user group members were
interested in virtually anything and everything that could be done with
the personal computer. The industry was still young and there was a
novelty and excitement involved with everything related to the personal
computer system. The new power of the personal computer offered
incredible potential for personal enjoyment as well as improved business
performance as a workplace tool. As the personal computer industry
matured, the novelty wore off and a new generation of computer users
evolved, many of whom grew up with computers. Most of us now take the
personal computer for granted as an expected workplace tool and home
appliance.
Dedicated entertainment systems, of course, predated the personal
computer. The late 70's and early 80's were the era when the game system
reigned supreme. Atari ruled the roost, so to speak, back in those times
with their 2600, 7800 and 5200 home entertainment systems, as well as
their commercial game machines. The Atari name at that time had grown
into one of the most recognizable company logos in the world.
As the personal computer continued to gain more power, those early game
systems faded into the background, as they were no match for the game
play potential of the personal computer. The personal computer
marketplace continued its shakeout during the late 80's and into the
early 90's as the industry leaned more and more towards an "industry
standard" architecture.
Game play continues to remain a major factor for personal computer users.
Dedicated entertainment systems also continue to remain popular,
primarily marketed towards the younger generation, using inexpensive, and
old, technology.
The new generation of dedicated game systems, currently led by Atari's
technology leader, the 64-bit Jaguar, offer the most power ever available
for home entertainment. Currently, Atari's primary alternative is the
3DO. The concept behind the 3DO was that it would be an industry
standard which would be licensed to the various manufacturers in game
marketplace. This would enable the game designers to create universal
software which would be cross platform compatible, and enable the
consumer to have a much larger selection of state-of-the art software to
choose from. The concept was valid, but 3DO hadn't counted on the fact
that their 32-bit system architecture would be leapfrogged by Atari's 64-
bit technology before it even had a chance to gain a foothold in the
industry.
In the meantime, industry leaders Sega and Nintendo are playing catch up,
technology-wise, while at the same time recording record sales of their
established home game systems. They are continuing to sell huge
quantities of their technologically arthritic game systems through
extremely effective marketing campaigns. Their systems are readily
avilable everywhere, there is an enormous selection of available
software, and their advertising budgets are huge. That's the same
marketing prowess that made Microsoft king of the personal computer
industry.
This new resurgence of interest in personal entertainment systems makes
for interesting times for industry watchers. It will be interesting to
see if the marketplace will demand an "industry standard" architecture
here, as it did with the personal computer marketplace. Will one system
become king? The 3DO tried, but even at this early stage, it already
appears that it has no hope of achieving that goal since the industry
leaders, and chief competitors, are not climbing on the bandwagon. So
far, none of the primary competitors seem interested in licensing the 3DO
technology and providing an 'open architecture' approach that could
create an industry standard.
It would be nice, of course, to see this new technology, especially
Atari's 64-bit system, evolve into more than merely a game system that so
closely resembles the game systems of the past, but with a lots more
horsepower. The potential for truly integrated multi-media entertainment
is there. Atari has recently announced an agreement with a third party
to develop a virtual reality headset for the Jaguar, with a target date
of Christmas 1995 for completion. The Jaguar CD, which is scheduled to
be released shortly, will give the Jaguar access to huge libraries of
graphics and sound which can be incorporated into entertainment packages.
The potential for tying the Jaguar system into conventional telephone
lines for realtime head to head competition with opponents anywhere in
the world is also an exciting possibility. That phone connection could
also enable the Jaguar to tie into databases anywhere for transfer of
information of any type.
The potential is definitely there for the Jaguar to become a true multi-
media entertainment system. In the meantime, of course, it continues to
be the industry's technology leader, much as the original Atari ST was to
the personal computer industry back in 1985. New games continue to roll
out for the Jaguar and Atari's advertising campaigns are in place for the
holiday shopping season. Atari has once again built a better mouse trap,
so to speak, which is something they have always been very good at. The
bottom line to success, however, is how well that mousetrap is
merchandised and marketed. The high technology computer industry, and
dedicated game marketplace as well, has long been dominated by very
inferior mousetrap makers with exceptional marketing prowess.
As yet another year draws to a close, I'd like to wish everyone best
wishes for the holiday season as well as a healthy and happy new year.
Remember that there is more to life than your personal computer or
entertainment system. Spend some quality time with your friends and
family, get out and enjoy the marvels nature has to offer in each of her
glorious seasons (except for you South Florida folks who only know summer
;-), and live life to the fullest.
Its winter here in the mountains. So far its been relatively mild, but we
did get to hit the ski slopes during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Conditions were glorious and we're looking forward to more of the same
for the next several months. In between skiing trips, we'll of course be
selling lots of Atari
computers and Jaguar entertainment systems.
If your winter travels bring you to the Western North Carolina mountains,
be sure to stop by and say hello. If you bring your skiis, it probably
wouldn't be very hard to even convince me to join you for a few runs down
the mountain <grin>.
Happy (Atari) Computing.
Sheldon Winick (GEnie Address: S.WINICK)
Computer STudio (Asheville, NC)
[*][*][*]
Sheldon owns and operates Computer STudio, a full-service Atari
dealership in Asheville, North Carolina. Sheldon is also a
registered architect, and has operated his own architectural
office since 1971 (he is currently licensed in Florida, Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Colorado, as well as holding a National
NCARB certificate). His architectural practice has been using
Atari computers exclusively since 1988, when his last Xerox
computer system was retired. His current architectural drawings
are, of course, prepared on his Atari TT030-based CADD systems,
using DynaCADD software.
[EOA]
[REF]//////////////////////////////
REFLECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Thinking About Online Communications
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
~ Some Thoughts About Online Mentoring ~
Last month a high school student casually asked me a question dealing
with genetics. I'm no genetics expert, but I can pass myself off well to
someone who is just beginning to learn genetics. (If you mumble things
about DNA, RNA, and recessive genes you can pretty much answer any
introductory question in genetics.)
Having answered this person's question, I mentally patted myself on the
back. As I was leaving the room I yelled back to the student, "If you
have any other genetics questions, send them on to me via e-mail. If I
can't answer them myself, I'll forward them to my colleague Watson."
While this last remark was made flippantly, on the spur of the moment,
later I came to reflect upon what I said. It is indeed possible to send
e-mail to James Watson, one of the co-discoverers of DNA. Watson is the
current director of the Human Genome Project, working at the National
Institutes of Heath. (You can probably reach him at: jwatson@nih.gov,
or somesuch, if your kid needs a little help before his next biology
quiz.)
Imagine if Watson, in a moment of gleeful exuberance, decided to invite
high school students with interesting genetics questions to send him e-
mail.
Watson, himself, wouldn't have to answer all the questions. He'd get some
first year lab assistant to churn out pleasant sounding answers to the
majority of incoming questions. But that same lab assistant could flag
down the most interesting sounding questions, which could then be
forwarded directly to Watson's mailbox.
The result? A humble high school biology student could have the
possibility of having his or her genetics question answered by the co-
discoverer of DNA.
Here's another scenario. How about if there were some junior high school
student who had a passionate interest in astrophysics. In this day of
electronic communication the possibility remains open that a junior high
school student could test his or her ideas against the best of them. If
his or her question were indeed probing, an e-mail response might arrive
from Stephen Hawking.
Just as exhilarating as it is for youngsters to be able to easily ask
questions of professionals in a particular field, so to is the
satisfaction that results when professionals are able to provide answers
to young inquiring minds. The e-mail dialogue doesn't have to occur with
a famous scientist for the exchange to be meaningful.
Truth is, many professionals would welcome the opportunity to converse
online with youngsters interested in their field. If you're an adult
working long hours at your desk, it can be a welcome relief to spend a
minute or two answering the question posed by an 8th grader in
Woodbridge, Virginia - - - or the query from a high school student in
Parker, Colorado.
Every working adult in this country has the newfound capability of being
an online mentor. As a volunteer activity, the mentor can devote as much
or as little time as he or she pleases. Given the emotional rewards of
being able to interact with a growing mind, chances are that mentors
would allocate just a bit more time than they really should to online
mentoring activities.
The above examples all cited mentoring possibilities in the sciences, but
the possibilities for online mentoring in the arts are equally
tantalizing. Imagine the thrill of an aspiring violist in receiving e-
mail from one of the world's virtuoso violin players. Or an aspiring
fine artist receiving feedback on his or her art from someone known
internationally for their creative work. Or an aspiring writer receiving
writing pointers from someone who spent a few months on the New York
Times bestseller's list.
When two minds communicate, the result can be magic. After all, the most
fertile field for any mind to grow in is a field of other minds.
Phil Shapiro
[*][*][*]
The author takes a keen interest in the social and psychological
dimensions of online communications. He can be reached on GEnie
at: p.shapiro1; on the Internet at: pshapiro@aol.com
[EOA]
[LIB]//////////////////////////////
ONLINE LIBRARY /
/////////////////////////////////
[*]Files, Files & More Files!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mel Motogawa
[M.MOTOGAWA]
November seemed to be utility-and-application month with many programs
being uploaded that care for specialized tasks. You'll find a nifty
envelope printer, a viewer for Speedo fonts, a powerful image
processor, a demo of the latest Edit Plus, a powerful boot manager, a
phone/address book, a backup utility and much more. Be sure to list
the file library regularly for a complete summary of what's new. (This
month's listing is formatted like last month's in that the newest files
are at the end.)
Any comments of my own are shown within double asterisks "**...**"
after the file description, in the ASCII GEnie Lamp version, and also
in italics in the TX2 version. (If you haven't experienced reading the
Lamp in TX2 format, why not download the TX2 file viewer (file #20441)
by David Holmes? You may be surprised at the versatility and power of
this program, above and beyond viewing TX2 Lamp issues.)
#34243 JETLPE21.ZIP 40576 This is version 2.1 of Jet-Lope. This
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" version is specially prepared for the
DeskJet 510 and 520 printers. The program allows you to print addresses
on #10 commercial and European DL sized envelopes using all the internal
landscape fonts provided in the printers. Recipient addresses may be
loaded from a database or the Atari Clipboard. Freeware. Works on all
ST, STe, Falcon, and TT computers.
#34258 PHOTOLAB.ZIP 552192 Excellent image processor from Germany.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Includes readme docs, online help, sample
pictures - all in German. Pull out your German dictionary, boot up the
G2E translator and have fun. If someone translates the .rsc file it will
be the best PD photo processor out there! ** A screenshot appears in the
mono TX2 version of the GEnielamp. I used the translated RSC from file
#34288 which helps a lot if you don't speak German. **
#34265 OBSESSED.LZH 267520 Remember Starball? This is a pinball
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" game developed by Unique Developments
Sweden and is called Obsession. It is a VERY nice looking game which
pushes the STe very hard to give you: Bliiter usage, five channel 25Khz
sound, hardware scrolling, and 336x265 rez with 32plus colors onscreen.
It will only run on STe and up computers(MSTe,TT,Falcon). Please use the
latest version of Quester's LZH to extract.
#34271 PENPAL12.LZH 41728 Pen Pal is an easy to use text editor for
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" all ST/TT/Falcon computers. Pen Pal
automatically reformats text as you type and includes most standard
editor features, including cutting/pasting via the clipboard. In
addition, Pen Pal can automatically center text on a line, or strip
carriage returns from a document. Pen Pal multitasks with Geneva or
MultiTOS. SHAREWARE from Mountain Software. -- Extract with Questor's
LHARC201 ** A screenshot appears in the color/mono TX2 versions of the
GEnielamp. **
#34276 MOST_68K.ZIP 28416 The archive MOST2.ZIP contains the 68030
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" version of Brian Grier's M.O.S.T. driver,
this archive contains the 68000 version. What is M.O.S.T. ? It is a CD-
ROM standard by Compton's New Media that provides electronic books and
reference works that are usable across the DOS, Windows, MacIntosh and
Sony Multimedia players. Now, thanks to Brian Grier, it's also under
development for the Atari ST and Falcon. Available CD-ROMs include "The
Doctor's Book of Home Remedies", "Washington At It's Best", and "Movies
on TV and Videocassette". Use STZIP26.ZIP File#32853 for latest
extractor.
#34280 RSVE_E1.ZIP 27136 The best hardware mod for faster modem port
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" speeds: 38400, 57600, and 115200 (the faster
speeds are NOT recommended on an 8MHz ATARI). File comes with full doc's
for PCB layout and FAL (Gate Array Logic) programming. This German
design is fully automatic - it replaces the low RS-232 port speeds and
comes with translated docs. This is the best there is... English docs
follow German instructions in each file. Use latest version of ST ZIP
program to extract
#34281 HSMODA4E.ZIP 84096 The best patches for modem problems, used
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" by most German software, these can be
taylored to fit your needs, These TSR's are for all Atari machines,
Flacons etc.. English traslation... So get rid of those other RS232 Port
fix utils and use the best that their is...!! English translation follow
German docs in each file. Use latest version of ST ZIP program to extract
#34288 PHO_RSC.LZH 12416 This file is a partial translation of the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PhotoLab Resource File. Menu options and
dialogs have been translated to English. Alerts are still in German as
are resources embedded in the program itself. Included is a retraction of
part of my earlier review - Fast Fourier Transform Edit _does_ work. More
to follow as time and other projects permit. Use latest version of LZH
2.0x program to extract
#34290 JOY_GDOS.ZIP 30720 Lots of good GDOS information from Europe.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Who made what drivers, known bugs in the
various drivers and GDOS versions, incompatabilities, available fonts,
etc. These folks don't seem to know much about G+Plus or Warp9, howver.
Use latest version of ST ZIP program to extract
#34292 FILMTERM.ZIP 8960 Simple utility to extract information from
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" a Kodak Photo CD file. Find out who made the
Kodak Photo CD scan, what scanner and software version they used, and
what film was used to create the original image. Use latest version of ST
ZIP program to extract SysOp Note: Unable to verify operation of this
file
#34303 M_READ24.LZH 94720 Mountain Reader II is the finest offline
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" message reader for the Atari ST/TT/Falcon.
MR2 supports QWK and Bluewave message formats, supports 65536 areas
w/65536 messages per area, Online Hypertext Help system, Message Area
Preselection, Message Header Prescanning, Bookmarks, Email address book,
full featured internal message editor, tagline editor with "stealing",
offline conference configuration, user lockouts, a user definable search
system, and much more. Version 2.4 adds re-editing of .REP packets, and
several enhancements to the search feature. Extract with latest version
of LHARC ** A screenshot appears in the color/mono TX2 versions of the
GEnielamp. **
#34304 HPLJ4L.LZH 294656 Here is program to change the internal
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" settings and DL fonts to the HP LaserJet 4L
printer. English and German versions, and soft fonts included. Program
is similar to the PC version of the HP Explorer software included with
the printer. Extract with latest version of LHARC Program is in English,
documentation in German
#34313 BBSUTILS.LZH 4096 These are listed as BBS utilities and will
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" work in ANY Atari BBS software, but also
function perfectly in a typical telecommunications application to control
the modem -- forcing it to let go of the line, forcing it to go off-hook,
and so on. Extract with latest version of LHARC Most of these seem to act
as a toggle, rather then forcing an exact
#34314 INSJAR.LZH 3328 This utility maintains the Atari Cookie Jar,
"""""""""""""""""""""""" where information about the computer's hardware
and software is kept for applications to inspect and use. In German, but
reasonably easy to figure out. Extract with latest version of LHARC
#34315 MESSMAUS.LZH 2688 Click the right and left mouse buttons at
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" the same time and MessMouse will show you the
pointer's coordinates. Great for STacy users. In German, but simple to
use. Please use the latest version of Questor LZH to extract this file.
TESTED->TOS 1.04/MONO. Does not work inside MultiDesk.
#34316 MIDI_PRT.LZH 63616 You don't need to be a MIDI fan or even
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" have any MIDI equipment to use this amazing
utility, which shows the power and flexibility of modern GEM programming
at its best. If Microsoft Windows programs worked this nicely, we'd be
more inclined to use PCs. You can print MIDI files or view them in GEM
windows, and you can look into the configuration of any MIDI file. Uses
3D buttons and gadgets for those who have Geneva or MultiTOS (or the
Falcon AES). This is a knockout. Extract with latest version of LHARC
#34317 SHOWTIME.LZH 39552 Fans of the Bermuda /\ Clock know how nice
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" it is to have a clock that displays in the
upper right corner of the screen and shows the amount of memory available
at the same time. Here is a German clock that does that and more. A
configuration program (all in German, but not hard to understand) lets
you set up ShowTime for any Atari, and you can assign any hotkey (via a
cute keyboard diagram) to turn the entire display on and off as well as
controlling separate functions. Runs in monochrome on the Crazy Dots II
in all resolutions; runs on all standard resolutions (color and b/w)
otherwise. ** A screenshot appears in the color/mono TX2 versions of the
GEnielamp. **
#34318 NBCBS.LZH 5760 Simple and effective HD cache that improves
""""""""""""""""""""""" upon Atari's CACHENNN for HDX users. Note: This
is actually not a cache as such but a buffer utility, although most users
think of it as a cache. (CACHENNN is also not actually a cache, either.)
Easy to set up. German, but easy to figure out. Extract with latest
version of LHARC Note: Atari's CACHENNN is also included in this archive
#34320 CHKBKMNG.ZIP 14592 This is a check book manager program I
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" wrote and compiled using GFc and runs great
on my 1040ST on either the HD or Floppys. SysOp note: Will not work on a
Falcon or a TT Please use the latest version of ST Zip to extract.
#34322 EDPLSDEM.LZH 45824 This demo version of Edit Plus 3.12 is
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" fully functional other than not being able
to save files or configurations. Thus, it may still be useful for
viewing files, disk sectors, and RAM (and probably some other things that
I didn't think to disable). Edit Plus is the successor to EdHak. It is
basically a very handy ACC/PRG text editor that also edits binary files
(even larger than RAM), disk sectors, and RAM. Ask the folks in CAT 2,
TOPic 40 if you need any recommendations from other users. Craig @Clear
Thinking Please use the latest version of Quester's LZH to extract. **
The Swiss army knife of ST file/disk/ram editors. **
#34331 DESKCLOC.ZIP 8192 This clock will display the time in the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" menu bar, either as an ACC, or as a PRG in
multitasking environments. It will update the time in a tear-off menu in
Geneva. Freeware. Pure C sources included.
#34336 SSAM108.ZIP 71424 Sound sampling and conversion program for
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" the Falcon 030. Supports di C C C C to disk
recording in various formats. Also allows for editing and saving parts
of a sound file. Please use the latest version of ST Zip to extract.
#34339 A_M_A.DOC 2176 Here is information on how to order the Atari
""""""""""""""""""""""" Mega Archives CD-ROM from Systems For Tomorrow!
This file can be (L)isted online or (D)ownloaded for reading offline.
#34350 TODAY201.ZIP 134656 A program designed to tell what happened
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" today in history. Will also inform you
about upcomming events. Designed for BBSs, but will also work for
Individuals (I know, because I use it!) This is the new version, 2.01.
Upgrade and set up programs are included. New users will also want to
download TODAYDAT.LZH for the data files, or make up your own! Data
files are ASCII! Use latest version of ST ZIP program to extract
#34352 MULTIMED.LZH 8832 Press release covering 16 multimedia
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" capable products from Cybercube. Extensive
text file highlights special features, pricing and current promotions.
This ASCII text file also appears in our CyReL Electro Ad #12 (check out
file CEA12150.LZH). Use latest version of LZH 2.0x program to extract
#34357 MORE_CFN.ZIP 141312 Very nice PD fonts for Calamus, converted
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" from PS Type-1. Collegiate: Double outline
font, like on letterman's jackets. Eras Contour: Also double outline, of
a bold Eras font. Flyer Black Condensed: Good basic sanserif, heavy
condensed font. Memphis Display: Wild. Made up of disparate elements.
No two alike. Linotext: A decent Old English clone. Numbers didn't
convert though. Monotype Engravers: Nice all-cap, large serifs. Extract
with latest version of STZip
#34363 8ATARICD.TXT 2560 News on the availability of 8 Atari
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" specific CD's and even more cross platform
CD's now available to the Atari community.
#34367 HOW2GUCK.ZIP 5120 John Hechtman, translating Guck docs into
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" English, gives us a preliminary set of
instructions for installing and using Guck, the file viewer for ascii,
1st Word, binary, and graphics: PIx PCx IMG CRG PAC DOO NEO. English v.
is GUCK18_E.ZIP here, #34283.
#34369 START305.LZH 91008 This is version 3.05 of STart-It, a Boot
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Manager program. This program lets you use
windows, dropdown menus, buttons and the file selector to manage your
booting up process. Has a memo screen that will be displayed upon boot-
up plus many other features. Allows 200 Auto Programs and Desk
Accessories. Displays a picture upon boot-up (PI1, PI2, PI3, PC1, PC2,
PC3, NEO and SPU). Also play a AVR sound sample linked to the picture.
You can setup 49 different presets, also can have up to 4 presets bank
for a total of 196 presets available. Might not work on a TT. Will not
work with a big screen monitor. ** A powerful bootup manager with a
pretty interface. **
#34370 ATZENTA2.LZH 103296 ATZENTA V2.00 is a complete Phone/Address
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Catalogue Program, which is designed to
provide ease of use and maximum functionality to both the beginner and
the experienced user. Its main task is to create, manipulate, and store
one or more lists of names, addresses and telephone numbers. Includes a
decent Calendar program with all the associated funtions that you would
expect. Lots of features in this Shareware program.
#34379 FFB.LZH 43008 Simple but flexible backup program, with German
"""""""""""""""""""""" menus and dialogs, but easy to understand and
use. Use latest version of LZH 2.0x program to extract
#34380 HPEXPLOD.LZH 101504 Programs that provide a means of
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" controlling printers don't come much better
than this German import, HP Explode. (No, your printer won't
disintegrate.) A hypertext help system rivaling any in the Mac and
Windows world is included. German menus and dialogs, but most users
should not have trouble understanding the basics. Use latest version of
LZH 2.0x program to extract
#34381 STKONF31.LZH 14592 Multitasking German system-info app
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" (nothing to tax an English-speaking user)
displays tos version, total and free memory and other information in a
GEM window that can be open while other apps are running under Geneva, or
in a DA's GEM window under normal TOS. Typically German: clean
programming, ideal GEM behavior. Use latest version of LZH 2.0x program
to extract
#34383 SYSIN210.ZIP 59776 This is version 2.10 of SYSINFO, our
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" system/modem tester! This version fixes a
few bugs and adds the ability to parse your STFAX.INF file, telling you
(and us) everything you need to know about your STraight FAX!
installation! But this is not just for folks with STraight FAX! It also
works with or without a modem and can tell you a great deal about your
computer's setup -- disk drives, auto folders, TOS version, cookies, etc.
A favorite download on the Internet and here on GEnie. Works on all ST's
and has a cool GEM interface -- even digital sound effects. If you
haven't seen this 'til now, you should get it! TOAD COMPUTERS HOLIDAY
FESTIVAL '94 -- DEC 3 & 4 1994! CALL (410) 544-6943!
#34393 OMEN300D.LZH 368000 Demo of release 3.00 of the Open
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Multitasking Environment, OMEn, the multi-
platform componentware operating system. This demo runs all OMEn
software. Includes Micro-word word processor, utility software, user
manuals, Sounds & sounSound player, Graphics & Paint, Fonts & Font demo.
Release 3.00 contains many important improvements in file management,
graphics management, text format standards, and for licenced users,
saving of settings, prefs, print manager selection, wallpaper, sys.
sounds & "auto" start-up programs. PROGRAMMERS: Order Free software
development kit now, or sign up as an official OMEn software developer --
OMEn is far easier to work with than DOS, Mac, or Windows and will soon
run on Atari, Amiga, Mac, PC & Power PC!
#34396 ARJ_992A.LZH 183680 ARJ/UNARJ for the Atari ST line of
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" machines. Unarj is in English and German,
And has Jr. versions. Use latest version of LZH 2.0x program to extract
** The first time I've seen a version of ARJ for the ST that supported
compression too. TTP's, though, so be ready to roll up the sleeves. **
#34407 GASDEMO.ARC 84480 GAS IS A MIXING AUTOMATION PROGRAM FOR THE
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" ATARI ST THAT WILL WORK WITH ANY FADER TO
MIDI CONVERTER, AND ANY MIDI TO GAIN CONVERTER SUCH AS THE NICHE ACM.
THIS DEMO IS FULLY FUNCTIONAL EXCEPT FOR FILE SAVE FUNCTIONS*S Extract
with ARC602 or similar
#34418 METRICS.LZH 12672 Little utility to view any of the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" characters in the Speedo font set. See the
infamous "Yukky Face" at index 563! Extract with latest version of LHARC
#34419 CLAV2R1.ZIP 356736 This is a really 1st class digitial design
""""""""""""""""""""""""""" and emulation package. Too many features to
detail here. Takes full advantage of AES 4.0 (Geneva, MTOS or Falcon).
Needs at least 640x400 and almost 2 megs of free ram to run. Uses GDOS,
best with SpeedoGDOS. Draw a schematic, define the input signals and view
the results on the logic analyzer. Shareware from England. (Lovely on a
high rez color board with Geneva!) Please use the latest version of ST
Zip to extract.
#34420 TOUCH.ZIP 81280 Just in time for those Christmas mailouts.
"""""""""""""""""""""""" The "In-Touch" shareware will organize your
personal and business contacts like never before. A forty-five name per
page "Index View" makes selecting and working with your database records
a breeze. Other features include 24 custom categories, text and date
searching. Each record contains three "Date" fields linked to two name
fields with a reminder feature, so you'll never miss a Birthday or
Anniversary again. If you have Speedo GDOS you can print out envelopes or
any size, label sheets, and multiple address and date books including
most day runners. Please use the latest version of ST Zip to extract.
#34421 SAT407.LZH 117504 This version is a bugfix version of 4.06.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" There were a couple of small problems in the
math routines that resulted in bad Right Ascension/Declination (RA/DEC)
values, sunrise, sunset, and a couple of other periodically bad values.
# Satellite Prediction Program is a program for predicting the position
of a satellite based upon Two-Line or M50 data available from many
sources (including the Space RT here on GEnie). Please use the latest
version of Quester's LZH to extract.
#34424 FALCONF.ZIP 8960 This CPX sets various options for the
""""""""""""""""""""""""" Falcon, including setting the blitter on as
soon as the Xcontrol.acc is loaded. Please use the latest version of ST
Zip to extract. SysOp note: German docs
#34425 G_SHELL.ZIP 8832 G_SHELL - The ULTIMATE GFA BASIC
""""""""""""""""""""""""" programmer's shell is now shipping! Read about
all of the new features. Includes a DEGAS ELITE (.PC2) screen shot. A NEW
commercial release from MunSoft. Please use the latest version of ST Zip
to extract.
#34429 MWSALE94.ZIP 4224 Missionware Software presents its annual
"""""""""""""""""""""""""" "Autumn Classic" sale. Check this document
out for some excellent bargains!
#34436 OMEN_DEV.LZH 330752 This is it! The "preliminary" (meaning
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" not yet perfected) assembly language
software development kit for the OMEN (Open Multitasking ENvironment)
componentware multi-platform operating system for Atari, Amiga,
Mac/Power-PC and PC. This kit contains the complete OMEN programming
reference manual, Eazy-Asm Assembler Manual, Eazy-Asm Assembler,
Preliminary OMEN/68000 Disassembler, Utility Software, and a number of
example source code files. You will find OMEN is an easier system to
write for, but capable of all the functions users expect in a modern
operating system -- and more!
[*][*][*]
Sometimes files are removed from the library after we publish this
magazine. In many cases, the removed file has been replaced with an
updated version of that file. If you can't find one of the files listed
here, there is a way to check for a newer version. Do a keyword search
on the library using a word that describes the file you are looking for.
Chances are, you will find a newer version of that file, or another file
that meets your expectations.
[EOA]
[HDC]//////////////////////////////
COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE /
/////////////////////////////////
Introduction to Modems
""""""""""""""""""""""
By John Osarczuk
[J.OSARCZUK]
[Editors Note: This was originally ment to be run as a two part article,
but was released combined this month.]
A friend suggested I write this article on modem communications
and how it happens. I initially thought this was a great idea and
proceeded about my normal tasks of researching the topic. I knew I was
in trouble when none of my normal sources of information had anything
about modems in them. It was only after spending a long Saturday in the
library, pouring through erudite manuscripts on IEEE and CCITT standards,
that I realized that what I was after may not be something commonly asked
for. I just wanted to know how my modem worked... its not like I was
asking for trade secrets or anything!
Most recent books and articles assumed that I, as a PC modem user,
was not really interested and did not really care how it worked. A lot
of them told me how to install a modem and it's software, how to get the
software working, and then they send me modeming around. This is all
well and good and I'm usually quite happy with this approach. But when I
want to know a little more about this increasingly important piece of
equipment there isn't much to choose from.
The rationale behind understanding your modem is a very reasonable
one. If you're reading this article, you got it through your modem.
More and more, information is coming to you through it. You bought the
modem with your hard-earned money and, if you're like me, you're coming
to rely heavily on it. How much do you really know about it? Most
computer aficionados love to sit around and discuss the "specs" of their
computers but the only question you ever hear about modems is, "What
Baud-rate is yours?". Let's face it, it's no longer good enough for your
computer to sit on the desk and run fast...it's gotta get up and go
places! And it's the modem that allows you to do this. I think it pays
(both monetarily and intellectually) to know just a little more about
this important piece of equipment. Fortunately, I found a great book
called, "The Modem Reference", by Michael A. Banks to help me figure some
of this stuff out.
Well, let's get down to basics. Your modem has one primary job. It
translates computer talk into sound that can be sent over ordinary phone
lines and translates it back into computer talk when it hears something.
You might already know this. I did, but its about all I know. Lucky for
us, Mr. Banks has a much better explanation that we can draw from. The
computer talk that I mentioned is actually binary data. Its a series of
1s and 0s that represent a piece of information. The modem gets this
binary data from the computer and converts it into an analog signal. You
may have noticed this analog signal once or twice when you accidentally
picked up the phone while the computer was talking on it. Those shrieks
and squeals are computer talk. This conversion to an analog signal is
important because that is the way the ordinary phone lines are set up;
after all, they were designed to transmit your voice which is an analog
signal.
The modem places the analog signal on the telephone line carrier
wave using a process called modulation. The modem modifies the telephone
carrier wave (a sine wave) by varying either its amplitude, frequency or
its phase. I know this sounds complicated but let's keep it in
perspective. YOU modify the phone line carrier wave every time you talk
into the telephone! The modem is not doing anything you can't do (with
the exception of converting binary data to analog at the speed of light).
On the other end, a modem is "hearing" this modified carrier wave
and demodulates the signal to extract the information from it and convert
it back to binary format. Our modems go about all day modulating and
demodulating signals; in fact, that's how it came to be called modem.
Maybe you've wondered how "line noise" fits into this picture. Line
noise is random signals introduced into the phone lines through a whole
bunch places such as wet wiring, portable phones, baby monitors and
short-circuits all along the path from your modem to the other one. This
noise actually modulates the carrier wave too. Only, it does it randomly
and without having any information content. Basically, it messes up your
transmission signal and causes everything from garbage on the screen to
that familiar "Lost carrier" message you might have seen once or twice.
Modems have software and hardware features that can catch these problems
and weed out the trash.
When you hooked your modem to your computer, if you ever have, you
noticed that it attached to a serial port. This is because modems
transfer data serially; that it, one character at a time. Let's say we
wanted to send the letter A to another computer. It is usually
represented as 1000001 in binary format in your computer. The modem will
send each of these numbers one at a time. Seems like a lot of work just
to get the letter A sent, huh? Keep in mind we're essentially working at
the speed of light here so things kinda zip right a long. However, there
are a lot of little things that slow the flow down. If the modem
went right on sending 1s and 0s all the time there would be no way for
the receiving modem to know when one character started and another ended.
A lot of overhead gets added to control this flow of information. Most
modems are asynchronous. This means that the modem transmits extra bits
with every character that tell the other modem when a character starts
and when it stops.
I'd like to stop right here because there is too much information to
include in one article. Next month, we'll cover some of the latest modem
communication standards like CCITTV.32 and others that you see advertised
of the side of your modem box. We'll also cover some of those confusing
terms such as stop bits, parity and baud rates.
Again, I'd like to recommend Michael A. Banks' book, "The Modem
Reference, 2nd Edition", published by Brady Books, Inc. If you
know of any good sources of information on modems and
communications, I'd like to hear from you. Please drop me a
line on E-mail.
7-1-None... What Does it Mean? Last month's column discussed some of
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" the basic workings of modems and I
promised to continue that information this month. I'd like to get into a
little more practical knowlegde with a discussion of some topics that you
have probably seen a time or two. I know I've been confused in the past
with some of the control options presented to me when trying to set up a
communications session.
The things I promised to discuss include those mysterious little
parameters called Parity, Start and Stop bits, Duplex and Baud rate.
You've probably seen these options when you've gone into Terminal or some
other communications program. If you're like me, you followed the
directions and just wondered what they meant.
The gist of this information is that it tells your modem how to talk
to someone else's modem. It's like an agreement to use a common
language. Data bits are the first part of this language. They describe
the number of bits that are going to make up a certain character. 7 bit
communication is the most common means because the normal ASCII character
set can be represented by 7 bit binary numbers. The 8 bit data set is
used whenever the extended ASCII character set is needed. As I said, most
anytime you are dialing-in to another computer, try the 7 bit option
first unless they specify other wise.
Parity is the next option on the list. Parity is a means by which
the computer can check to see if it has received the right set of binary
data. Again, in most communications programs, you will have the choice
of Odd, Even, or None on the parity list. Parity works because
information is transmitted as a series of 0's and 1's. When Even parity
is selected,the computer counts the number of 1's and determines if there
is an even number of them. If not, then it assumes there has been an
error in transmission and requests that the sending computer resend the
information. In Odd parity, it checks for an odd number of 1's. Parity
checkig provides a very simple means for the computer to ensure that
there are no errors in the transmission of information. Mark and Space
are another simple means of doing this. Most communication software you
buy will have a more sophisticated error checking mode built into the
transmission protocol it uses. Parity checking is used with 7 bit Data
bit transmissions but not usually with 8 bit transmissions because of the
difficulty in creating odd and even parity with 8 bits (do the math, if
you like!).
Start and Stop bits are used in asynchronous transmissions (see last
month's column) because they have a variable amount of time between one
character transmission and the next. In other words, since the time is
variable, the computer doesn't have any way of knowing wqhen a new string
of 1's and 0's is coming to start a new character. Start bits are 0's
attached to the beginning of the string that tells the computer, "This is
a new character", and the stop bit is attached at the end and tells when
the end of the strig has arrived.
Duplex is not on the options list of most communication packages but
it is an important concept to understand. I came to understand it
through Michael Bank's book, "The Modem Reference". Those of you who
read last month's column had seen me praise this book for it's simplicity
and I continue to highly recommend it if you're interested in learning
more about your modem.
While you won't have the option to change duplex settings in your
communication package, you will see an option for local echo. These two
terms, duplex and echo, are interchangeable in this context. Full
duples, or remote echo, is the way most bulletin boards are set up. This
means that the remote computer will echo the characters you type back to
your screen. Half-duplex, or local echo, means that your computer will
echo what you type on the screen for you. If you've ever seen double
characters on your screen during a communications session, it was
probably because the duplex, or echo settings, between your computer and
the remote did not match. To avoid this problem, ensure both computers
are set for either full or half duplex.
Duplex also has another meaning. It refers to the way in which
computers transmit data. In full duplex mode, information is allowed to
travel back and forth between the two computers at the same time. Most
modems you and I have operate at half-duplex because the phone lines we
transmit over do not have the capability to allow simultaneous
transmissions.
Finally, let's look at another commonly confused set of terms. I
know it is commonly confused because, until I read Bank's description of
it, I thought they meant the same thing. I had always thought that Baud
rate and bits per second (bps) were the same thing. If a modem operated
at 2400 bps it was 2400 baud. This is not true. Bits per second refers
to the number of data bits that are transmitted per second (simple
enough). Baud rate, on the other hand, measures the number of times per
second that the communication signal changes state. Changing state is
the way in which information is encoded into the signal and usually
consists of variations in voltage or frequency.
Big deal, right? Well, it is when you consider that modems can
transfer either one, more than one or less than one, bit per baud. This
depends on the transmission method that is being used. Most 2400 bps
modems actually operate at a baud rate of 600 but are capable of
transmitting 4 bits per baud; bringing them up to 2400 bps. 9600 bps
modems operate at 2400 baud but also transmit 4 bits per baud (examples
taken from Michael banks).
Well, we've discussed some of the terms that you commonly see when
you try to set up a communications session. But we've still only
scratched the surface of the modem question. Next month, I will discuss
some of the common transfer protocols; such as x-modem. y-modem and
kermit. I hope this month's column has eliminated some of the mystery
surrounding those "7-1-none" numbers you see when trying to call up your
local BBS.
[EOA]
[NEW]//////////////////////////////
NEWSBYTES /
/////////////////////////////////
In The World of Computing
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
German Data Privacy Legislation 12/02/94 BONN, GERMANY, 1994 DEC 2 (NB)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" -- Despite the fact that Germany has,
arguably, the most powerful data privacy legislation in Europe, the
government has revealed it is worried about the pace at which computer
and communications technology are eroding personal privacy. At the same
time, the government says it wants to see specific provision for research
projects to continue unhindered, regardless of what further legislation
is passed.
According to Chancellor Helmut Kohl's office, the government has
commissioned a study into the investigation of the effect of technology
advances on personal privacy. The results of this study are being passed
along to the European Commission (EC), which is working on a draft
directive for the protection of personal data.
In a prepared statement, Bernd Neumann, the German government's research
and technology minister, said that the most members of the government are
worried about technology's effects on personal data. He added that the
German government also endorses Denmark's feelings on the matter.
The last few weeks have seen the Danish government express its concerns
to the EC over data protection in the late 1990s and beyond. The German
initiative, Newsbytes notes, goes several stages further and calls for
EC-wide legislation to back up single country laws on the subject.
The Danish government's comments to the EC were that certain types of
medical research would be difficult if a blanket set of data privacy
legislation were to be enacted. Instead, the Danish government -- and now
the Germans -- wants to see specific laws which, though laying down very
strict guidelines on data privacy, allow medical researchers sufficient
leeway to continue their research without being hindered.
Denmark and Germany's comments will be discussed at next Thursday's
meeting of the EC's Internal Market Council, Newsbytes notes. High up on
the agenda for the meeting is the draft directive, which critics argue
makes it possible for any person to obtain any computer-based data that
is held on them. Such a move, while a good idea, could cause problems for
medical researchers, the Danish argue, since it would add dramatically to
the cost of the research overall.
(Sylvia Dennis/19941202)
MCI And The Future Of The Internet 12/02/94 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 1994 DEC 2 (NB) -- By
Kennedy Maize. I have seen the future of the Internet and its name is
MCI. The Washington-based long-distance carrier recently gave reporters a
tour of its new Net offering, including the online shopping mall it plans
to begin rolling out in January. As one MCI executive told Newsbytes, "We
are going into cyberspace commercial real estate."
For most of its brief, 25-year history, the Internet has been a
government project. Access has been free, which is to say, subsidized by
the taxpayers through Defense Department and National Science Foundation
appropriations. Populated mostly by academics and students, the Net has
been a free-form, chaotic, sophomoric, but incredibly powerful new way of
communicating. But the future of the Internet is in commerce, which the
federal government recognized some time ago. And, based on what I saw in
MCI's plush conference room this week, MCI has a major head start in the
race to commercialize it.
"MCI is making the Internet as easy to use, as accessible and as critical
to businesses as today's global phone network," says Timothy Price,
recently elevated to executive vice president of MCI.
MCI brings some major assets to the table as it tries to turn the
Internet into a routine business tool and a new way of shopping for the
average consumer. As an aside, 80 percent of catalog shoppers are women,
which means MCI will have to make its Internet shopping attractive to
women.
The biggest head start MCI has on the new Internet is its existing
presence on the net. NSFnet is essentially MCI. MCI's high-speed, digital
data network currently handles 40 percent of all US domestic Internet
traffic.
With its long-distance capability available to virtually any American
with a phone, and its Internet backbone, MCI can easily offer access to
the net from dialup to ISDN to, eventually, ATM. More important, MCI
seems to have the human resources necessary to transform the Net into a
well-behaved service. It starts with Vint Cerf, rightly called "father of
the Internet." Cerf, at Stanford, and Robert Kahn at DOD, developed the
TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) that is at the
heart of the network of networks.
Cerf provides the "vision thing" for MCI's Internet ventures. Cerf has
also assembled an impressive team and forged important significant
alliances, especially with Netscape Communications, the new software firm
Jim Clark put together after leaving Silicon Graphics. Clark basically
hired the entire programming team that developed Mosaic, the World Wide
Web browser, and turned them loose on making it a commercial product. "I
was blown away by Mosaic," Clark told reporters, "by its potential to
enable commerce and enable anybody to be on the net."
Realizing that security was a key to commerce on the Net, Clark turned to
RSA to integrate its encryption technology into Netscape for MCI Internet
users. Shoppers at MCI's virtual shopping mall will be able to make
purchases with the knowledge that their credit card data is inviolable.
MCI also turned to FTP Software to provide the TCP/IP software that will
be the foundation for the Netscape application. That means users won't
have to fret over TCP/IP issues, but can simply surf the net painlessly.
(MCI's demonstration of its virtual mall included a stop at Vint's Surf
Shop, complete with a picture of the bearded Cerf on the beach in a
Hawaiian shirt, to pick up some boards and routers.)
The shopping mall is also a brilliant idea. MCI will essentially rent
cyber floor space to businesses that will offer goods and services
online. This allows a business to get on the Net and into a Web site
without the need to create a full-fledged WWW interface. MCI takes care
of that.
The evolution of the Internet has been fascinating, especially the
emergence of the WWW, invented at CERN, the European high energy physics
lab. In 1992, according to Cerf, Web traffic was in 127th place in terms
of traffic on the NSFnet backbone. By last year, he added, Web traffic
had risen to 11th place and today, Web traffic consumes 10 percent of the
capacity of the backbone. Mosaic's graphical interface is responsible for
that phenomenal growth.
Now, MCI and Netscape are taming the interface and the Internet. When
MCI's $49.95 package goes up for sale in January, I'll be one of the
first in line to buy it.
(Kennedy Maize/19941123)
[EOA]
[MEL]//////////////////////////////
MEL'S MANOR /
/////////////////////////////////
The Data Compression Shootout
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Mel Motogawa
[M.MOTOGAWA]
I recently installed the latest CD-ROM version of Stacker 4 Multimedia
Edition on my PC and while putting it through the paces I wondered how
data compression for the Atari ST's would (no pun intended) stack up
against this very popular PC compression program.
The Challengers With Stacker you compress the whole drive and now
""""""""""""""" everything saved there is compressed or decompressed
automatically. It's pretty much an all-or-nothing consideration,
although you can adjust the compression settings for maximum space or
speed. Data Diet 2 (from Trace Technologies) affords you much more
flexibility in that you can specify which non-executable files you want
compressed and by how much, without having to compress the whole drive.
Various extenders, files or folders can be excluded from compression if
you want, with both compressed and uncompressed files residing happily
together. Squish 2 (also from Trace Technologies) has a ton of options
for compressing executable files and it's decompression speed is lickety-
split, just like Data Diet's.
The Shootout Anyway, back to the compression tests. I went ahead and
"""""""""""" prepared a disk of various files- graphics, ASCII texts,
RSC's, a few executables and some word processing and database files. I
compressed the entire disk with Data Diet 2's type B compression and
Squish 2's compression factor 9 (for the executables) and recorded the
space savings. I then uncompressed the files, moved them over to the PC
and crunched the files with Stacker 4 set to maximum space.
And The Winner Is Stacker 4 says it can more than double your hard disk
""""""""""""""""" and when I installed it on my PC it declared that I
was now dealing with a hard drive of just over 1 gigabyte, up from 424
megabytes. I found that Stacker 4 lived up to its claims by declaring it
had compressed my test files to a 2.6:1 ratio. Stacker delivers all of
its compression statistics in this ratio format, with anything over 2:1
being better than disk doubling performance. Although Stacker can also
show you the ratio for each file, I wish it could show you before and
after sizes, rather than you having to do some math to figure this out,
but so it goes. Anyway, I found that Data Diet 2 wasn't far behind with
a 2.1:1 ratio for the same files. When I checked my hard disk tonight I
found that I was averaging a compression ratio of 1.8:1 for all of my
1,419 files compressed with Data Diet 2 and Squish 2.
The Little Program That Could I marveled that the Atari ST could be so
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" close to the best of the PC market when
it comes to data compression and I believe Data Diet 2 and Squish 2 don't
slow down your system as much as Stacker does when you're accessing your
files. These two amazing programs are a real tribute to the programming
skills of their author, Keith Gerdes, and make you feel good that the
lowly ST can run with the best of them. You can find out the latest
concerning Data Diet 2 and Squish 2 by checking Category 2, Topic 12 (a
press release for Squish 2 is file #29601 and a demo is file #29500). If
you want to breathe new life into that bulging hard disk, you owe it to
yourself to try out Data Diet 2 and Squish 2.
[EOA]
[HRD]//////////////////////////////
HARDCOPY /
/////////////////////////////////
Book Review
"""""""""""
By Phil Shapiro
[P.SHAPIRO1]
The Internet Business Guide: Riding the Information
Superhighway to Profit
by Rosalind Resnick and Dave Taylor
SAMS Publishing
201 W. 103rd. St.
Indianapolis, IN 46290
1-800-428-5331
418 pages, softcover
Price: $25
ISBN: 0-672-30530-5
This book is a winner. It sets out to accomplish ambitious goals and
hits its target in chapter after chapter.
Co-authored by two veteran technology reporters, The Internet Business
Guide reads like a Michelin travel guidebook. It takes you by the hand to
enchanted lands and shows you that the local customs are not that
bewildering after all.
Who are the authors of the book? Rosalind Resnick is a former Miami
Herald business reporter, who has written for The New York Times, Forbes,
Nation's Business, and Internet World. She currently writes a syndicated
newspaper column, CyberBiz, addressing the very subject of this book:
doing business in cyberspace.
Providing a counterpoint to Resnick's "business suit" point of view is
counter-culture journalist Dave Taylor, who enjoys cooking gourmet
vegetarian food and has a child named "Karma." Taylor himself is no
slouch when it comes to writing, having published 500 articles and two
other computer books in the past few years.
The Contents of the Book What does this book exactly cover? Here is a
"""""""""""""""""""""""" brief listing of the chapter titles:
1. Putting the Internet to Work for You
2. Getting Connected: Your Ticket to Ride
3. Risks and Realities
4. Doing Business on the Internet
5. Marketing Do's and Don'ts
6. The Electronic Schmooze
7. Dialing for Data
8. Connecting the World with Internet E-mail
9. Customer Support
10. The Virtual Corporation
11. Internet Cybermalls
12. The Commercial Online Services
13. The Future of Internet Business
Appendix A: Internet On-Ramps
Appendix B: How to Start Your Own Usenet Newsgroup
Appendix C: The World According to the Internet
Appendix D: Working with the World Wide Web: Tips and Tools
Appendix E: The Full Scoop on Gopher
Restrained Hype When covering a subject such as business possibilities
""""""""""""""" on the Internet, there is a temptation for books to
hype the possibilities of everything and anything. While you'll find
the occasional hyped comment in this book, for the most part the authors
exercise commendable restraint. (And Resnick and Taylor keep
exclamation marks to a merciful minimum. Perhaps they had advance notice
of the Congressional bill proposing to place heavy taxes on the use of
exclamation marks in books about the Internet.)
After all, people do not read a business guide to the Internet to help
them make up their minds about whether business possibilities exist on
the Internet. They read such books to unearth practical information
about how such business possibilities can be developed and implemented.
The Blessings of Electronic Mail You hear so much hype about the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" multimedia possibilities for the
Internet that you might well forget how gosh-darn useful regular old e-
mail can be. E-mail is sure to remain one of the most useful of all
business tools. The authors of this guidebook reiterate this point when
they say: "Much of the traffic on the Internet is electronic mail.
Indeed, it's been estimated that well over 4000 messages are sent each
second of the day on the Internet. Being able to send messages in seconds
to a user anywhere in the world is probably the single most important
reason so many companies find the Internet so appealing." p. xxv.
And bucking the trend to wax poetic about the capabilities of Mosaic,
Resnick and Taylor tell it like it is:
"Graphical browsers such as Mosaic can be difficult to
install, and as Rosalind knows from her experience in
accessing Mosaic through a 486 PC and a 14,400 bps modem,
the program can be as slow as molasses when retrieving large
amounts of graphics." p. 115.
Bravo. Score one for candor and honesty. Mosaic has great potential down
the line, to be sure. But 1994 will not be the year it becomes widely
used.
E-mail Technical Support Computer manufacturers and software publishers
"""""""""""""""""""""""" have frequently been the first businesses to
put the Internet to use. In the chapter titled "Customer Support," the
authors cite the example of Sun Microsystems' overwhelmingly
successful online support project: "In August, 1993, Sun Microsystems, a
Mountain View, California, workstation manufacturer, launched a program
called SunSolve to answer its customers' technical questions through
Internet e-mail... In the year since SunSolve was introduced, use of
the toll-free telephone support line has dropped by 90 percent, and the
company has cut support costs by $1,000,000 a year." p. 234.
Don't you love it? The Internet has helped Sun slice toll-free phone
costs by 90 percent. That's a sizable savings by any measure. And the
saved money can go directly into providing improved online technical
support (or to otherwise provide better value/dollar to customers).
There's a small company in Cupertino that would do well to take note of
such facts. Apple Computer apparently receives an average of 11,000 phone
toll-free phone calls per day to their: 1-800-SOS-APPLE phone line.
Apple refuses to disclose how many persons it employs to answer these
phone calls, but you can make an educated estimate that at least
100 persons are employed at Apple's Austin, Texas facility.
(Here are my rough calculations: 11,000 calls times 5 minutes per call is
55,000 minutes. 55,000 minutes is the same as 916 hours. Divide 916
hours by an 8 hour work day and you get 115 technical support workers.)
If Apple were to set up a free Internet e-mail tech support service, they
might be able to slice their toll-free bills in a major way as well.
Apple is hoping that their new online service, eWorld, will serve this
function. But with fewer than 30,000 subscribers, eWorld might be more
accurately described as eGhosttown (or eEerie).
Marketing Do's and Don'ts When you breach the rules of business
""""""""""""""""""""""""" etiquette in the real world, you risk
temporarily losing a few customers. On the other hand, when you breach
the rules of business etiquette on the Internet, you risk alienating 20
million persons. In the chapter titled, "Marketing Do's and Don'ts,"
Resnick and Taylor explain how to not put your foot in your mouth
at 14,400 bps: "On the Internet, the traditional rules of sales and
marketing are turned upside down. Not only does junk mail fall on deaf
ears on the global network, but it often drives away customers it was
meant to attract. Slick ad copy with little or no informational content
just doesn't fly..." Actually, in this day and age slick ad copy can
alienate in hardcopy form as well as in electronic form. The rules of
business etiquette are changing for the better - - - both online and
offline.
FAQ's: The Answers to Most of Your Questions The concept of the
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "frequently-asked-
question" had its birth in the technical fields of the computer world.
But the concept has grabbed hold in areas far astray from hardware
and software. The whole idea behind FAQ's is to anticipate commonly
asked questions so as to provide quick and useful responses. The nifty
thing about FAQ's is that they save work for everyone, allowing a
company's technical support staff to concentrate their time on answering
the most difficult, uncommon questions.
The authors of this book suggest that one of the best ways of making use
of FAQ's in a business setting is to set up a "mail reflector" that
automatically sends out your company's FAQ text file to anyone who
requestions it via e-mail. The person inquiring about your company's
products or services can obtain detailed information about your company's
products or services for the slight effort of sending an empty e-mail
message. (How much effort is required to send an empty Internet e-mail
message? About five seconds of your time. If you're a slower typist,
maybe ten.)
From the consumer's point of view, mail reflectors are like instant
karma.
The book then goes on to describe the benefits for companies specifically
in the computer hardware or software business to set up a company FTP
site. Doing so provides an easy way to distribute upgrades for
application and system software. Larger companies also benefit from the
USENET newsgroups that are set up for people to share ideas about the
company's products
Tread Softly and Carry a Fast Modem A recurring theme in this guidebook
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" is that businesses who seek to
create a presence on the Internet would be well-advised to tread softly:
"The Internet is no different from any other community, and those
companies that 'go native' by brushing up on the network's culture and
mores will gain a competitive advantage in the electronic
marketplace. Taking time to learn about the Internet now can pay big
dividends in the future. If the current growth rate is sustained, more
than 50,000,000 people will be accessible through the Internet by the
turn of the century."
It's refreshing to see this enlightened point of view expressed so well.
Sensible businesses on the Internet would do well to heed this advice.
Conclusion All in all, The Internet Business Guide delivers commendably
"""""""""" on its promise. Businesses interested in galloping onto the
Internet might do well to lay down their reins briefly to read this book.
A comprehensive guide of this sort ought to appeal to the general reading
population, as well.
[EOA]
[FUN]//////////////////////////////
SEARCH_ME /
/////////////////////////////////
Online Puzzle Fun
"""""""""""""""""
By Scott R. Garrigus
[S.GARRIGUS]
>>> SEARCH_ME! <<<
""""""""""""""""""
This month I have a few treats for you... a recipe, a poem, and of course
our usual puzzle. They all have to do with this month's holiday. So
enjoy and Merry Christmas!
PEANUT BUTTER SUGAR COOKIES
2 cups (12-ounce package) Reese's Peanut Butter Chips
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
In top of double boiler over simmering (not boiling) water, melt peanut
butter chips; stir until smooth. In
large mixer bowl, cream butter or
margarine and sugar until fluffy; add eggs and vanilla. Beat well; blend
in melted chips. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into creamed
mixture. Cover bowl tightly; chill about one hour or until dough is
stiff enough to handle. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-
inch thickness; cut into desired shapes with Christmas cookie cutters.
Bake at 375 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Decorate
with frosting, colored sugar, miniature gum-drops.
CHRISTMAS GREETING FROM A FAIRY TO A CHILD
Lady, dear, if Fairies may
For a moment lay aside
Cunning tricks and elfish play,
'Tis at happy Christmas-tide.
We have heard the children say --
Gentle children, whom we love --
Long ago on Christmas Day,
Came a message from above.
Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,
They remember it again --
Echo still the joyful sound,
"Peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Yet the hearts must childlike be
Where such heavenly guests abide;
Unto children, in their glee,
All the year is Christmas-tide!
Thus, forgetting tricks and play
For a moment, Lady dear,
We would wish you, if we may,
Merry Christmas, glad New Year!
>>> MERRY CHRISTMAS <<<
"""""""""""""""""""""""
S I P Z V P U U E T R E E C G R L O V Q G F
F W L C L K Z S Z N Y G W S Q W H E E A P R
V W L G M R U Z L E P T J Q E V Z D E O K C
U N P K B D E S R E Y A R P A H S A U Q S T
Q P Y U L E T I D E G S O Y I P S K W R T I
V S A J N I I Q N L D N S A M T S I R H C D
O S N U W B S E W D T D A H N U J B W I F C
P M O F W O D K T C E O C F O G T N I A Q S
X Y Q Y Z Y R O I C O E E A W L R L D B B G
T A F K L T E N Q Q F A R E R L I W F R P Q
R W U D K O H J R U M S I O X O W D N P S N
S A Z Y F Q P I Q C E P G M T Q L I A G C V
M A N G E R E A Q S H G D N N I Q I N Y Y S
I K V U F C H I A V E P N M I E B I N S J Y
Z Z L Z E T S N I K L V W S O K T S E G A I
P E A C E E T L Y E H N S F M E C A L Z N O
O J R S N A Y E B F T E V L E M S O Y L O M
S M N N S P T S I C E M G R Z O F C T Q E E
H G I E L S M B J J B A G M N F H N Q S L B
AMEN ANGELS BELLS
BETHLEHEM CAROLING CHRISTMAS
GREETINGS HOLIDAY MANGER
NOEL PEACE PRAYERS
REINDEER SANTA SEASON
SHEPHERDS SLEIGH STOCKINGS
TREE WISHES YULETIDE
[*][*][*]
GIVE UP? You will find the answers in the LOG OFF column at the end of
"""""""" the magazine.
This puzzle was created with a freeware program called
SEARCH-ME 2, an Atari ST program by David Becker.
[EOA]
[CAI]//////////////////////////////
COMPUTERS AND INVESTING /
/////////////////////////////////
[*]The Dow and Atari Shortsellers
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Sanford E. Wolf
[S.WOLF4]
~ Copyright (C) 1994 by Sanford E. Wolf ~
Prologue This month's column is, unfortunately, somewhat truncated
"""""""" because of time considerations. A return visit to the Dow
Jones Averages and a revised look at Atari are featured.
The usual look at IBM is omitted this month, but nothing unusual
has happened there beyond its decline from "overbought" status. It is
having difficulty breaking through the 2 year old gap in the vicinity
of 75 - 76, something we pointed out as a possibility as long as 6
months ago.
Digital Equipment, meanwhile, continued its rise out of the
textbook saucer bottom examined last month. I entered DEC in the
November "stock of the month" contest held in the Investors RT
(category 12). In a group of 24 entries, DEC ranks #1 at the
Thanksgiving weekend.
Dow Jones Averages - a Return Visit The October column examined and
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" compared the 3 Dow Jones Averages.
We saw how the Transports Average peaked along with the Industrial
Average in early February. Since then the Transports have moved
steadily lower, setting new annual lows, while the Industrial Average
continued to trade near its all time high. This divergence, in the
context of Dow Jones Theory, suggested that a market top was
approaching. Such a turn may have arrived during November, as the
Industrial Average declined nearly 9%, back to its lows of last June.
Whether or not this is the beginning of a major bear market decline,
usually 20% or more, is not yet certain, although all the signs are
present.
There are 2 factors which may delay a more serious decline. One
is the sudden move to a bearish stance by an increasing majority of
market advisers and money managers. It is a famous phenomenon that
the stock market usually moves contrary to majority opinion; however,
the majority is not yet at an extreme, so there is still time for the
market to decline further. The second factor is the approaching
December through January period when stock prices historically have
exhibited a propensity to rise. Another factor which may act to limit
a very serious decline is that a majority of stocks have already
experienced their own bear markets, declining 20% or more during the
past year. In a sense, the Dow Jones Industrial Average may be
playing a game of "catch up". Next month, I hope to be able to
demonstrate the latter phenomenon with some charts.
The 2 charts on the left show the divergence between the
Industrial and Transportation Averages described above, and the recent
sharp decline in the Industrials.
The 2 charts on the right demonstrate a very interesting
phenomenon concerning the Utility Average. In October, we discussed
the relevance of the Utility Average as a precusor of long term
interest rate trends, and demonstrated what looked like a triple
bottom and possible upturn which suggested that the interest rate
environment might become somewhat kinder some months into 1995.
Within the past few weeks, however, it looks as though the Utility
Average has broken down through its "bottom" at 175. This would
ordinarily represent a bad omen, pointing to even higher interest
rates down the line and a serious overall decline in the stock and
bond markets.
However, an examination of the individual stocks which combine to
form the Average, shows an internal divergence which may still
indicate lower interest rates ahead. It turns out that some of the
component utility companies are more "interest sensitive" than others.
Where electric utility companies are sensitive to long term interest
rate trends because of their constant need for long term borrowings to
finance their generating facilities, other components of the Average,
such as natural gas and water suppliers, are less sensitive. The
lower chart on the right is an example of how the electric utilities
actually bottomed out and began an uptrend over the past 5 months.
So, there is hope yet. If the electric utilities themselves are the
major leading indicator of long term interest rates, then lower rates
may not be far off.
Atari Last month, the ATC chart showed that prices were just coming to
""""" a convergence point of two trend lines. This was a particularly
sensitive time where one or the other trend line was likely to
predominate. I chose the uptrend line as the probable winner, but it
turned out differently. Helped by a timely intervention by our old
buddies, Dan Dorfman and Martin Sass (a known heavy shorter of ATC),
and their heavy handed bashing, ATC was knocked down from 6_3/4 to
4_3/4 in 3 days. This was a less damaging repeat of a similar
Dorfman/Sass job at the end of June.
When something dramatic like this happens, it is important to try
to place it within the context of a recognizable chart pattern. The
June episode was shown at the time to have bottomed just at the lower
channel line, preserving an established pattern, and the subsequent
rise took it well above its price prior to that bashing. My search
this time took me back to cycle analysis, which was the subject of 2
columns several months ago. Lo and behold! An eyeball count shows
that the recent drop falls right in line with a cycle model based on
10, 21, and 64 week time cycles. For this reason, it is much less
scary than it might have been.
The chart shows price action since April, 1993, when ATC bottomed
at $0.50. Indicated along the lower edge are the bottoms of the 10,
21, and 64 week cycles, with the marks for the most recent bottoms
showing some spread to account for the uncertainty which results from
averaging past manifestations. Only one manifestation of the 64 week
cycle can be seen in the time span covered -- it actually came in at
62_1/2 weeks -- but looking further back shows its earlier repetitions
which vary between about 60 and 67 weeks. The best way to determine
cycle placements is to look for price bottoms followed by suitably
lengthy upturns. It also helps to keep in mind that cycle durations
tend to be harmonically related, eg 2:1 and 3:1, and that amplitudes
tend to be larger for the longer duration cycles.
From the cycle model shown in the chart, one can see how last
June's massacre marked the simultaneous bottoming out of all 3
cycles. The more recent episode comes right where the 10 and 21 week
cycles were projected to bottom out together once again. That the
recent low point was considerably above the June low can be ascribed
to the 64 week cycle, which is now 21 weeks along in its rising phase.
Also, the bottoms of shorter term cycles get shifted slightly to the
left when the longer cycle is in its rising phase, which explains why
the 10 and 21 week cycles seem to have bottomed about a week earlier
than nominal. Ie, it all fits! Cycles shorter than 10 weeks are also
visible in the chart.
If the model presented here is valid, some interesting projections
are possible. The nominal peak of the 64 week cycle will be in late
February, and sometime about then one could look for a good place to
take a profit. Meanwhile all 3 will be rising together through
December, suggesting a nice rise in the coming month. I have already
entered ATC as my pick for the December "stock of the month". Too
nervy? Well, that helps make this stuff all the more interesting.
Also shown on the chart are the 2 trendlines which totally
encompass the price movement since April, 1993. To confirm the cycle
model, prices should break through the downtrending line of resistance
dating from last November's peak. A break down through the uptrending
line of support will be baaaad news.
One final word about the short situation. The monthly report for
November shows that the total short position in ATC declined about
600,000 shares from October, to its lowest level in a year -- although
still well above 3 million shares. This suggests that the Dorfman
episode was really just a scam designed by holders of heavy short
positions to generate sufficient selling to allow them to cover
without taking large losses. It also suggests these fellas may
actually see a positive trend beginning to develop for Atari, quite
contrary to the bankruptcy talk they fed to Dorfman who simply
transmitted it on their behalf. Time will tell. Meanwhile, the more
nervous stockholders have sold, and buying has again begun to show its
effect.
Epilogue Here is my opportunity to wish all a happy holiday season. By
"""""""" the time we meet again, Chanukah and Christmas will have
joined Thanksgiving as holidays to remember, and 1995 will be the date on
our checks. I hope you have found some entertainment, as well as some
possible enlightenment, in these columns. I enjoy doing them,
particularly as it helps my own thinking. Yet, I must repeat that I
am not a professional in these matters, and I intend no advice on
decisions you might make for your own investments. Once again, happy
holidays and best wishes for 1995.
[EOA]
[CON]//////////////////////////////
CONNECTIONS /
/////////////////////////////////
Modemania: Getting that Critter to Obey Commands
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
By Al Fasoldt
[A.FASOLDT]
~ Copyright (C) 1994 by Al Fasoldt. All rights reserved. ~
Attention!
Every time you use your modem, the software in your computer sends out
this message. If I write it this way -- "ATtention!" -- you may have
an easier time recognizing it. It's the Hayes command that has become the
standard way for software to begin sending instructions to a modem. It's
always shortened to plain old "AT."
The Hayes command set is named after the Hayes Microcomputer Products
company, which developed a series of short commands that tell a modem
what to do and how to do it. Hayes is the IBM of the modem world, setting
standards that others have gladly followed. Hayes commands are issued to
the modem either directly by the user or by software running on the
computer. To give a command directly, you generally have to run a
telecommunications program and put it into terminal mode. (Old pros and
young hackers know ways to send commands to modems without running
telecomm programs, but we'll leave those tricks for another time.)
Terminal mode is just what it sounds like -- a more-or-less blank screen
or window that gives the modem a way to show you what it is receiving. Of
course, terminals are give-and-take devices, so you also get a chance to
talk to the modem through the terminal screen. You do that by typing
commands on the keyboard.
Your software may not automatically go into terminal mode when you run
it. Fancy software sometimes hides its terminal mode in a sort of
Victorian attempt to protect your sensibilities -- I suppose the authors
of such programs are worried that you'll faint dead away at the sight of
a raw modem command -- so you may have to hunt among the menus for the
terminal screen if you don't see it right away.
Once you see the terminal screen or window, you're ready to try out a few
Hayes commands. Make sure the modem is turned on, if it's an external
model. (Internal modems are always on whenever the computer is running.)
Check to see if the telephone line is plugged in, too.
Wake up the modem with the "ATtention!" command. Just type "AT" and hit
the Return or Enter key.
You should see a response of some kind from your modem. (If you see no
response at all, and you know your modem is working, you may need to tell
the modem to be a little more sociable and echo its responses to the
screen. Do this by typing "AT" and then "E1" -- like this: "AT E1." Then
hit the Return or Enter key. The "E" stands for echo, and the "1" stands
for "on.")
(From here on, I won't tell you to hit Return or Enter to send the
command. Just remember that you have to do it.)
Once you see a response, check to see if it's in words or numbers. Modems
can talk in nerdy numbers or in plain old English. (And, yes, modems sold
in foreign countries speak English there, too. Sounds like techno-
cultural imperialism, but it's just a sign that the United States leads
other countries in telecommunications technology.) If you see "OK," your
modem is set up to give "Verbose" responses, but if you see "0" (a zero,
not an "Oh"), you're getting the number treatment. To switch from numeric
responses to words, type "AT V1." To switch to numbers, type "AT V0."
That was easy, right?
If you answered "Yes," you're either very bright or blissfully naive.
Wrestling with modems isn't ever easy for most of us. Just getting the
darn thing to talk back in English takes nerve. But by now we're at least
on a conversational footing with the modem, so let's try something more
complicated.
The first thing we need to deal with is the neat way that modems have of
ignoring spaces in commands. Take that "AT E1" command, for instance. You
could type it as "ATE1" or "AT E1"; it's all the same to the modem.
When you're new at this kind of thing, put spaces between all the
commands so they make sense. After all, "ATE1" looks like something the
swamp monster might say after a meal, whereas "AT E1" is clearly
something else. Later, when you get to the power-user stage, you can
leave the spaces out if you want.
The second thing you need to know is that modems only need to get a wake-
up jolt once. That "AT" command goes at the beginning of a whole set of
instructions, and doesn't need to be placed in front of each one. To make
this point clearer, for the rest of this article I'll try to stop listing
"AT" as part of the other commands. Just remember to put "AT" at the
beginning of any series of commands.
Luckily, when Dennis Hayes and his engineers came up with the original
command set, they made all of them memorizable by using the first letter
of the function they represented. (Commands added recently don't follow
that convention, unfortunately.) So "D" stands for "dial" and "T" stands
for "tone," to give two examples. "P" stands for "pulse," for those who
have the old-fashioned rotary-type phone lines.
Add the dial and tone commands together and you get "DT" -- which, if it
is followed by a valid telephone number, tells the modem to call that
number. The full command string would look like this: "AT DT 123-4567."
To tell the modem to answer the phone, use "A" ("A" for "answer," of
course). To get it to zero out all the temporary commands it has received
and use the permanent ones stored in its memory, use "Z."
Most of the AT commands are a little fancier than this. They let you or
your software add a number to the command letter. The choice is often "0"
(that's a zero) or "1." If the command is able to use a number and you
don't use one, the modem usually puts a "0" onto the command itself.
Take that "Z" command, for example, which is probably the best known of
all the Hayes set. Most modern modems provide "Z0" and "Z1,"
corresponding to memory setting "0" and memory setting "1." If you type
"AT Z," memory setting "0" is used. (Computers count by starting at "0,"
not at "1," and they use "0" as a sort of when-in-doubt, do-nothing
fallback strategy.)
In a more technical way, modems use the numbers that appear after Hayes
commands for other functions, too. A good example is the "L" command,
which controls the loudness of the modem's tiny, squeaky speaker. "L1" is
the quietest setting, "L2" is medium and "L3" is the loudest. (And "M0" -
- the volume mode command -- turns the sound off entirely. If you've
guessed that "M1" turns it on, you're doing well.)
The echo command, which we dealt with earlier, works this way, too. So
does the command that tells the modem whether it should work in a push-
pull method with the modem at the other end of the line, in so-called
"full-duplex" mode. ("Duplex" is the wrong term for this, but we'll get
into that the next time around.) "F0" stands for "full duplex off" and
"F1" for "full duplex on."
(By the way, now you know how to switch your modem to full or half duplex
if your software doesn't allow this.)
Then there's the hangup command. It's "H0" for an "off" connection (a
line that is hung up) and "H1" for an "on" connection (a line that is
live -- in other words, one that the modem has picked up the connection
on).
When the Hayes experts started developing additional commands, they
called them the "extended" command set. The one that you need to know
about is "X" (for "eXtended" -- and, no, you don't get points for
figuring that one out). The "X" command can get your modem working
properly even when you have that ever-popular #$%^& voice mail on your
line. (I'm not a fan of voice mail, in case you wondered.)
Normally, your command set should include "X4," which tells the modem to
send your software the proper responses when it dials out and tries to
connect with another system. But "X4" will not work when you use a modem
on any voice-mail system that makes short beeps when you pick up the
phone. (These beeps are supposed to remind you to listen to your voice
mail.)
Since nearly all modems arrive from the factory with "X4" as the standard
setup, and most telecomm software sends "X4" to the modem, too, trying to
call out through the voice-mail beeps is a hopeless endeavor. "X4" tells
the modem to listen for a steady dial tone, but all it hears are beeps or
pulses. So it just sits there and refuses to dial.
This can be very annoying, and no doubt there are hundreds of you who
have had to get a second phone line in your office because the expert on
your staff assured you that your modem will not work when you have voice
mail.
Wrong. All you need to do is change "X4" to "X3." The "X3" command tells
the modem to do a so-called blind dial -- in other words, to dial
without checking for a dial tone. "X3" was dreamed up before voice mail
was even a twinkle in a nefarious eye, but it turns out that "X3" is the
answer to voice-mail problems nonetheless.
Look at the so-called modem initialization string in your telecomm
software. (It's usually listed in one of the menus.) You'll almost surely
see "X4." Change it to "X3" if you have voice mail. (And don't pick on
that "expert" too much; modems are mysteries to them, too.)
When Hayes finally ran out of letters of the alphabet, it created
commands that start with odd characters. the "&" commands are some of the
most important in this group.
The most common might be "&W," which tells the modem to store all the
current commands in its temporary memory into a permanent storage area.
That can be very handy, especially if you find that the modem arrived
from the factory with the wrong settings for your situation. Just type in
all the settings you want, then use "&W" to store them.
Doing the "zero" reset command -- "AT Z" -- will bring back the
settings you stored. "Z1" brings back command stored with the "&W1"
command, and so on. Another handy ampersand command is "&V," which tells
the modem to display all its settings on your screen. You should be able
to turn on the software's capture mode and save the commands the modem
shows you on the screen. It's a great way of keeping a record of your
modem's configuration.
"&C" and "&D" are two important commands you must know about to get the
most out of your modem. "&C1" is the standard setting; it tells the modem
to keep track of the telephone line to detect a carrier signal from
another modem. "&D2" is the preferred setting for the other command. (It
handles another detection method, but we'll keep the techie stuff out of
this for now.)
"&F" can be helpful if you mess up your modem's configuration so badly
that it won't work any more. It calls up the settings made by the
factory. If those settings are what you want, issue the "&W" command to
store them in the other part of the modem's memory.
Finally, modems have a separate kind of command that most users don't
need to worry about. It's the S-Register command. This single command can
have 100 or more variations, all expressed by "S(number)=(number)." The
one you may already have heard of is the S0 variant, which tells the
modem to answer the phone after the number of rings given at the right
side of the command. In other words, "S0=1" means the modem should answer
after the first ring. "S0" means "no rings," but this doesn't mean the
modem answers the phone even before it rings; as we would expect from the
way computers treat zeroes, "S0" just tells the modem to ignore any rings
and not answer the phone.
If the phone line you're using is substandard and has a hard time
clearing a dial tone, use the S6 register to tell the modem to wait
longer than the standard two seconds for a dial tone. Use "S6=4" to have
it wait for four seconds, or "S6=10" for 10 seconds, and so on.
Your modem's user manual may have descriptions of all the commands the
modem can support. Some manuals, however, are little help. In my work as
a telecommunications programmer, I've seen dozens of modem manuals that
were worthless, and only a few that stood out. Manuals that come with
Supra modems are exceptionally informative, and manuals supplied with
Hayes modems are thorough (but usually cryptic). If you have a Hayes
modem, the Hayes company will send you a booklet on the Hayes commands.
Ordering information should be in the back of the manual.
[*] [*] [*]
Al Fasoldt is systems editor of the Syracuse Newspapers in
upstate New York, and is chief programmer of a text-based
telecommunications system, Syracuse OnLine.
[EOA]
[LOG]//////////////////////////////
LOG OFF /
/////////////////////////////////
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