1037 lines
55 KiB
Plaintext
1037 lines
55 KiB
Plaintext
==(((((((((( == Z*MAG/A\ZINE ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE
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=========(( === October 4, 1991
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=======(( ===== Issue #198
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=====(( ======= ----------------------------------
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==(((((((((( == Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Ind Inc..
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Publisher/Editor : Ron Kovacs
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Assistant Editor : Stan Lowell
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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CompuServe: 75300,1642 GEnie: Z-NET
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Z*NET BBS: (908) 968-8148 BLANK PAGE BBS: (908) 805-3967
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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CONTENTS
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THE EDITORS DESK.........................Ron Kovacs
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Z*NET NEWSWIRE.....................................
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CPU ONLINE UPDATE.....................Press Release
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CAROLYN'S CORNER.....................Carolyn Hoglin
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Z*NET NEW ZEALAND........................Jon Clarke
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GLENDALE ATARIFEST REPORT.................John Nagy
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THE EDITORS DESK
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----------------
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by Ron Kovacs
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I have been reading some interesting messages since my statement in
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Z*Net Atari about the completion of Z*Magazine's run near the end of
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this year. Some of you of made suggestions and others simply complain.
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Well, please help me out here! What are we supposed to do to support
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this increasingly shrinking community! If you want Z*Magazine to
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continue, YOU have to keep it alive. This online magazine has been
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given new life on three different occasions, and has not seen a dramatic
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upswing in popularity or readership. The download numbers are VERY low,
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and I see no need to continue beating a dying almost dead horse!
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My personal goal is 200 issues. That in itself is an amazing
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accomplishment since we have been around since May 1986. Starting a
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seventh year seems almost nonsense to me, BUT the choice is going to be
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left up to YOU.
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If you want Z*Magazine to continue in some type of capacity, send your
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comments in NOW. Send in your articles, send in User Group reprints,
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prefer email text files not disks or newsletters, hints, user written
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columns, feedback and commentary.
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This online magazine has become a one man show. I no longer use an 8-
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bit Atari computer, but still own a few. I have asked many times over
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the years for an editor, for writers, for contributions... they never
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come although the promises and good luck messages continue.
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I will not preach to you anymore. I am leaving this online magazine in
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your hands. The last issue will be released sometime before the end of
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1991. Issue 200 is the expected last issue. I will retire Z*Magazine
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forever and perhaps update things with a full index of all the issues
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sometime during 1992.
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Stay tuned for more information on the fate of Z*Mag in Issue #199. As
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always, thanks for reading and your loyalty!
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Z*NET NEWSWIRE
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--------------
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GLENDALE SHOW HAS 3,500, NEW PRODUCTS PREMIER
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The Southern California Atari Computer Faire version 5.0 brought 3,297
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visitors through the front doors and more through the back to make it
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the biggest Atari event in America in the last several years. Over 50
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vendors and developers participated in one way or another, breaking all
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prior US records for variety and support. Lots of new products were
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premiered Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, and sales were
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-phenomenal-.
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GE SERVICE TO HANDLE EXPANDED ATARI WARRANTY WORLDWIDE
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Atari is engaged in negotiations to make General Electric Service
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Centers the worldwide walk-in and depot repair centers for Atari
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computers. Preparation included a redesign of the TT motherboard to
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meet GE's specs. The deal should become effective in January '92, and
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Atari's warranty period will be expanded from the current 90 days to 6
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months or a year. Details are still being finalized.
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TT030 PASSES FCC TYPE B IN TWO VERSIONS
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The Atari TT030 computer has at last passed the FCC certification
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process as a Type B consumer device, allowing unfettered sale and
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distribution to approved dealers. New FCC guru at Atari's Dallas
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research center is IBM and TI alumni Robert Joplin, who not only
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designed the new TT motherboard to pass the FCC, but then proceeded to
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alter the existing TT design to be able to pass as well.
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TT SHIPPING WITH 1.44 MEG FLOPPY NOW, MEGA NEXT
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The first boatload of new equipment from the plants in Taiwan is now in
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Sunnyvale, and the papers have arrived announcing another load coming.
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There should be ample stock for the upcoming months, and the new TT
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computers arriving now include a 1.44 Megabyte floppy disk rather than
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the 720K unit shipped to date. Upgrades will be available -soon- for
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existing TT and Mega STe owners at -under $100- according to Atari's
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Bill Rehbock.
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ANOTHER NEW TOS AIDS UPGRADES
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Atari has revised TOS again, this time to facilitate upgraded systems.
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The older versions do not check to see what kind of machine they are
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in, and so older (non--E-) computers have a hard time being adapted.
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The new code enables TOS upgrades for almost any Atari, although a new
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small circuit board is required to add the new 2.05 to older ST's. TOS
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2.05 and a similarly updated version for the TT (3.x) should become
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available as standard replacement parts within 90 days. No other
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operational difference is integrated in this TOS change, so there is no
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reason to upgrade a Mega STe or TT with the new TOS.
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ST BOOK NOW TYPE B, TO SEE IMMEDIATE PRODUCTION
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According to Bill Rehbock in his address to Glendale show visitors, the
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Atari ST BOOK and STylus Pad computers have been tested and already
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pass FCC Type B standards, and only the paperwork remains in the
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registration process. The ST Book will see production of about 1,000
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units a month until after Christmas, when the hard-to-get Epson-made
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LCD screens will go off of the rationing program. The 1-Meg, 40 Meg
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HD version will retail at about $1800, while the 4-Meg 80 MbHD
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will be about $500 more. Memory will not be upgradable.
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STYLUS TO GET JUMP ON PAD MARKET
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In final production tooling now, the $1200 Atari STylus (pad-like
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keyboardless computer) should be a leader at COMDEX in October due to
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the thousands of ST applications that are immediately compatible with
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it. The handwriting recognition system makes any normal ST program
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able to operate from the pen environment, while other brands of Pad
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computers are waiting for custom made applications before they will be
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useful.
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CDAR505 CD ROM ARRIVING
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-On the water- as you read this, the CDAR 505 CD ROM player from Atari
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will be available for sale by COMDEX in mid October. The first batch
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of production units were too late to be shown at Glendale last week,
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but will be in hand by the end of September. Atari's Softsource CD
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will be pressed in the next 45 days, and should retail at about $29. A
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number of other companies are ready to produce CD titles for the ST as
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soon as the players are available. Look for details of the Z*NET CD
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featuring hundreds of MEGS of files, coming soon.
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SOFT-LOGIK GIVING USER GROUPS PAGESTREAM
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Atari user groups can get two copies of the desktop publisher PageStream
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2.1, plus another demo copy for their library. The groups are urged to
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raffle one copy off, use the other for production of their newsletter,
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and offer the demo version for any member who wants to see more. A
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related program will offer discounts for user group members when they
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buy PageStream from dealers. The groups should send written requests to
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Soft-Logik, 11131 S. Towne Square, St. Louis, MO 63123. Please note
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that groups should include the following in the letter; A previous and
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current newsletter, add Soft-Logik to the groups mailing list, include
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complete address information, total group membership, president and
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editor names.
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ATARI QUITS WAREHOUSE, CLEANOUT AUCTION
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One of Atari's two Sunnyvale warehouses has been emptied and abandoned
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in a move that will save many thousands of dollars. On Friday morning,
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September 13, an auction was held at the old warehouse site to clean
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out the last of the various stock that Atari would not be retaining in
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storage. The variety was dazzling and in some cases, frightening to
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the buyers. Prototype 8-bit and ST hardware was in the batch, but much
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of it was withdrawn from sale. There were memory expansion modules for
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the 800's, something that looked like an ST disk drive but designed for
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cartridges of some kind, and more. Literally TONS of full pallets of
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8-bit and 2600 game carts were earmarked for removal or shipping to
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Mexico where the 8-bit is still sold in volume. Buyers were shocked to
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find pallets of TT parts including power supplies, cases, and
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unpopulated motherboards in the trash and for sale, giving rise to an
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instant rumor that the TT was being discontinued. A more likely reason
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was revealed at Glendale's show that weekend when Bill Rehbock
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explained that a completely new TT board layout is now in production.
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The old parts are apparently not usable in the new design.
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CPU ON-LINE PRESS RELEASE
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-------------------------
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Okay all you Lynx players - get ready!
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Computer Publications, Unltd., publishers of the ST Connection, are
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proud to bring you the hottest new publication for Lynx enthusiasts -
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GameMaster.
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GameMaster will soon be bringing you news and information on all of the
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newest games and hottest hits for the Atari Lynx. You will also find a
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minimum of two reviews per issue, a full page of tips and hints and a
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current listing of which game cards are now available or coming soon!
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Warbirds? APB? Blockout? Ninja Gaiden? Scrapyard Dog? We'll let you
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know about all the new games as they hit your local dealer's shelves and
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update you on everything in production as well!
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GameMaster, the Newsletter for Atari Lynx Players, will be published 10
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times per year, giving you more issues annually than any other Lynx
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publication. And for just $10, you can get every issue mailed directly
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to you - 1st class! And if you just want to check us out, send us your
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name and address to receive a FREE issue!
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The first issue of GameMaster will be available soon... DON'T MISS IT!!
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GAMEMASTER
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Computer Publications, Unltd.
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P.O. Box 2224
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Arvada, CO 80001-2224
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303/423-6805
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GEnie: STCONNECTION
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$10/10 Issues
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CAROLYN'S CORNER
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----------------
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by Carolyn Hoglin
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Orlando, Florida
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Have you ever typed a single-paged paper and then found that you still
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needed one or two lines more, but didn't want to start a second page?
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With AtariWriter Plus, here's a solution for this problem:
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Be sure you are in -INSERT MODE.- (Check the message at the bottom of
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the screen.) Then, at the end of each paragraph, place the cursor on
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the <RETURN> symbol and type [CTRL]-S 3 (with no spaces). Then delete
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the <RETURN> symbol between paragraphs (or the paragraph symbol, if you
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have used that instead), and with the cursor on the first character of
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the subsequent paragraph, type [CTRL]-S 2.
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What this will accomplish is to replace the usual blank line between
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paragraphs with a blank half-line. This still affords good legibility,
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but saves several lines over the length of the paper. This technique
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will work with any printer capable of spacing in half-lines.
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(AtariWriter Plus always uses half-lines for the -S- command. Double
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spacing, for instance, requires a setting of -4-.)
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This might be a good time to remind you that all of the commands from
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the Global Format Screen may be used as in-text commands. For instance,
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if the -L- and -R- margins are set at 10 and 70, and you want to indent
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temporarily to 15 and 65, you can use [CTRL]-L and [CTRL]-R to make the
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changes before and after the indented paragraph.
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It's okay to use changed margins within text that you plan to PRINT to
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disk, too. AtariWriter Plus will automatically delete the codes and
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just print extra spaces where necessary to accommodate the required
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margins.
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Incidentally, after submitting last month's column for printing, I
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prepared the documentation for the subject program by PRINTing the text
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to disk. Then because I wanted to make sure that no control codes had
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been inadvertently included, I re-LOADed the PRINTed text. Lo and
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behold, it seems that AtariWriter Plus issues the code for the selected
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font at the beginning of each page, and there it was! If the user were
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to copy these docs to his/her printer with the DOS -copy- command, and
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the printer was NOT Epson compatible (as is mine), these codes might
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give unexpected results. So what did I do? I deleted the unwanted
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codes and then -SAVEd ASCII- back to the disk. Now the file should
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produce, on any printer, documentation that is correctly formatted as to
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margins, paragraphs, and pages.
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Do you have a tip or two that readers of this column might find useful?
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Send them in to the editor of the MFACC newsletter, attention Carolyn.
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I'll be glad to share them with your fellow Atarians.
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See you next month.
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Z*NET NEW ZEALAND
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-----------------
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World Tour - Part 1
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by Jon Clarke
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Three weeks ago I was sitting in my office in Auckland contemplating
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popping onto the weekly GEnie RTC when in wandered my boss and said
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-what do you have planned for the next two weeks, Clarkie?- Checking
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the local diary (2 seconds later) I saw I had nothing on so I said -not
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much why?-
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What a silly question that turned out to be. -Well we want you in New
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York and when you have finished there we want you to pop into London,
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Germany and then head office in Hong Kong. -Getting my breath back I
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said -what, ok when?- To cut a long story short two weeks later and a
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few zillion phone calls, fax's, telexes, swift and email messages later
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I was on the plane jetting off towards Hawaii.
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I had by this time managed to contact a few friends and the Z*NET crew
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world wide to say I would be there in their towns and lets met each
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other for a social hour or two (or was that three or four). I had the
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pleasure or as I was later to discover the displeasure of flying on
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Continental Airlines. They are a little like their old adverts -We
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know the Pacific- -Yes sure, you have been in it enough- we always used
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to joke.
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For those of you (most of you) who have flown in an commercial airline
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you will have read the emergency information in the seat pocket in front
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of you (hmmm I am even sounding like a hostee) or seen the
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demonstrations where they show what to do if the emergency air supply
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drops down.
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Picture this if you will. A lovely winters Friday evening. We takeoff
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into the sunset out of Auckland on our first leg to Hawaii. I am
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sitting next to a MAC fanatic from a place called Christchurch. With
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all the formalities out of the way like why do you have a MAC and why do
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I use an IBM and a what, an Atari? We are half way down the runway
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heading for the big blue yonder. Now forced firmly back in my seat as
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the Boeing 747-400 tries to defy nature and become lighter than nature
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intended and become airbourne.
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When all of a sudden there is a row of oxygen masks in my face. Well I
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can not be called slow but I had the sucker on my face in a few seconds
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flat. Then I realised. Opps! We were the only ones with the Oxygen
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masks. Now either we were the only lucky ones or we had a fault with
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the aircraft and it spat them at us to make sure we stayed awake all the
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trip. I am lucky to say it was the later and after a quick whiff of
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recycled air (they did not work, YIKES) the hostess crawled up to us and
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said in a pleasant voice -Don't worry false alarm (in her best American
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accent)- We spent the rest of the haul talking about the new Macintosh
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packages and the new products they were about to release on the world
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markets and how great Spectre GCR is even if it is on an Atari.
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It was interesting to note the comments about the Atari from people I
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speak to and this conversation was no different. The chap next to me
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had seen, heard and used -A-MAX- for the (dare I say it) Amiga but was
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suprised to hear there was on for the Atari ST. I then informed him
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that Otago University, the largest MAC dealers in New Zealand and only a
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few hundred miles from his home used them. I guess this got his juices
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going as he was a principle of a high school in Christchurch. To hear
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the author of A-MAX was from Wellington my old stomping ground suprised
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him even more I think. (Wellington is NZ'z capital city)
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Well after another attack of the oxygen masks we landed at Hawaii. I
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guess half the population of Japan was on holiday (Vacation) this
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Saturday. There were 2000 of them along with our plane all trying to
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clear customs and immigration. I wonder who was looking after the
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country?
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Now as I said before we left home in winter . It was 10 degrees celsius
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at home and here we are in summer at 30 degree celsius (you work out the
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conversions to F.) so the old body suddenly rebelled and dropped 10lbs
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of water all over my face. We cleared customs and officially entered
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the USA. This all over we headed for the flights to Los Angles in
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another building via the local bus.
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Now a word of warning here for all confirmed smokers out there. This
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jolly flight from Hawaii to LAX takes five and a half hours and _NO_
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SMOKING_ . Ah heck my body can handle three to four hours but five
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hours! Hmm so I took the easy way out I went to sleep for four and a
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half hours of the flight.
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For those of you who love statistics here is a good one for you. I
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arrived in Los Angles one before I took off from New Zealand. I arrived
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at 6pm on Friday night and I flow out of New Zealand at 7pm on Friday
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night. I always say you chaps are behind the times.
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While I was on the plane I meet several couples from NZ doing the same
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sort of trip I was so we decided as we had a six hour stop over in LAX
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(Air Port speak for Los Angles) we would go to one of the lounges we
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belonged to. We to cut a long story short we ended up in the Air
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America Lounge. If it was not for this oasis in the wilderness so to
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speak I would have gone nutty waiting in the Continental lounge for six
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hours. Heck these guys even had New Zealand and Australian beers.
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Well after a few hours and a quick phone calls later (Help I could not
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fly the phones.. grrrr) it was -here's Johnny time-. I had arranged to
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meet John Nagy at the airport a few days earlier and low and behold here
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he was along with John King Tarpinian.
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John (which one there were three of us) Nagy mentioned Bob Brodie was
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going to try and get down to say hi. But I guess Bobs wife was
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swapping recipes with Nacy and Bob had to entertain Ronny, times are
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tough Bob. But thanks for the thought anyway.
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Now I guess it is an old American habit to take -care packages- for
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those from countries less fortunate than the USA. What John had with
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him was incredible. I must confess I had never seen such goodies, that
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most of you take for granted each and every day. John (yep the Nagy
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one) had a bag full of goodies, from the ATARIUSER magazine, to Licence
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Plate holder which say ATARI (these are now on my car John, thanks) to
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cups and hats with the Lynx logo's on them.
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We sat for a while over several beers talking about what was happening
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in the Atari world here in the USA and at home in New Zealand and the
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Pacific. My first shock was to find out the lack of retail outlets in
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the USA. When I explained to the John's that my countries population is
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3.3 million (1/8th of LA`s population) and we have a total of 32 dealers
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throught both the North and South Islands.
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You see over the years I have come to believe as others have, that as
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the USA is the home of Atari Inc. all things that are Atari were to be
|
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found in there. I guess you could say alot of us out there think of
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the USA as the -Land of Oz- (like Alice in Wonder Land) for Atari
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computers.
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Well if nothing else this confirmed what I had read on all the On-line
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systems I use in the USA. Alice packed her bags and went to Germany,
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but more on this next week.
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All of a sudden I realised it was nearly time to catch my connection to
|
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New York so I said my farewells and was about to give some duty free
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cigarettes to John and John when I realised they did not smoke. So I
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guess by now they will have had a headache from the Scotch Whiskey
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instead. I would like to take this opportunity to thank John Nagy and
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John King Tarpinian for popping over to see me it was great guys. Next
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time we do it in Auckland or at the -Green Onion- down the road from LAX
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(grin).
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For those of you who have not read ATARIUSER yet may I suggest that you
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get a copy and read it. I am sure you will be more than suprised at
|
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the quality as I was. I had several copies I dropped off all over the
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world in the next fourteen days and the comments were the same
|
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everywhere, -great stuff- , and the most common remark was -where do I
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get from ?-
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So it was onto another flight to New York this time. Another four hours
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and yet again no smoking. Guess what? I slept all the way again.
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On Saturday morning the 20JUL91 (or 20/07/91 as we write it) I arrived
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at Newick airport. I am sure Dan McNee knew that I was flying into here
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and did a rain dance from the comfort of his home in California as I
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arrived to 12 inches of rain.
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Next week New York -What a neat city- to Germany .
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GLENDALE SHOW REPORT
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--------------------
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by John Nagy
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[This has been the hardest show review I have ever had to write... at
|
|
least the hardest to get started. There's so much to report, and all
|
|
of it is good news. Where to start? I have to admit that a
|
|
significant amount of my time since the show has been consumed by...
|
|
er, RESEARCH, yeah, that's the ticket, research work on the new Lynx
|
|
machine that I got at the show. I find that the fastest way to make it
|
|
to 1:00 A.M. is to pick up the Lynx at 10:00 P.M.. Headphones cause a
|
|
distinct enhancement of the time dilation effect. Fortunately, I am
|
|
not a -game- person, so I'm able to preserve my objectivity and keep
|
|
the proper distance from the addictive nature of the Lynx. The proper
|
|
distance seems to be about 15 inches. I'll share more details with you
|
|
as my intensive research continues...]
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It was the best turnout to any user-group show in years. More than
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3,500 people came to the Glendale Civic Center Saturday and Sunday,
|
|
September 14 and 15, for the Southern California Atari Computer Faire,
|
|
Version 5.0. Official gate/ticket sales were 3,297, plus the usual
|
|
number of people involved in the booths, helpers, vendors, Atari
|
|
personnel, guests, and late walk-ins.
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As usual, the weather was perfect for Los Angeles - near 80 and hazy
|
|
(that's what we call it when the air is bad enough to be visible).
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Over 1,000 people were roaming the wide isles at Glendale within the
|
|
first hour of opening, and the line outside for tickets never
|
|
dissipated until early afternoon. At times it was more than a block
|
|
long! The most desirable complaint imaginable for show promoters was
|
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often heard on Saturday: -It's too crowded here.- Saturday totals were
|
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2,100. Sunday yielded another 1,200.
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|
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A total of 51 individual developers and dealers were represented, more
|
|
than any Atari show on record to date. Sales were almost frighteningly
|
|
good. Some developers were unprepared for the volume of sales and ran
|
|
out of products by mid-day Saturday. Fortunately, most of them were
|
|
able to generate or locate more stock. Others simply took orders to
|
|
ship later. A show promoter's second most desirable complaint: -Sales
|
|
are too good - we didn't bring enough product.-
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|
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Over the six year history of the Los Angeles area show, attendance has
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been: 1986 - 3,000; 1987 - 5,000; 1988 - 3,500; 1989 - canceled; 1990 -
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|
2,500; 1991 - 3,500. Increased attendance this year despite an
|
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indisputably shrinking userbase is attributed to organizer John King
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|
Tarpinian's success in effective publicity and advertising placement,
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|
plus a very open and flexible attitude. Everyone involved in the show
|
|
from H.A.C.K.S. and other participating clubs that provided the
|
|
volunteer work on up through the vendors, developers, and Atari itself
|
|
were cooperative and unselfish in their efforts to make this the best
|
|
show it could be. Virtually no rules, regulations, or up-charge items.
|
|
Profit was never a motive, and the volunteers didn't have their hands
|
|
out for goodies. User group tables were free. It worked just fine.
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|
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Bob Brodie, Atari's Communications and User Group man, was a key to the
|
|
success as well, although he was unable to participate in the show
|
|
itself. Bob personally arranged Atari's involvement, including the
|
|
equipment to be used by all of the vendors and developers, and the
|
|
Atari display itself. Not as much show stock is available as used to
|
|
be, and with the larger number of vendors at the Glendale show, hard
|
|
decisions had to be made as to where the equipment would do the most
|
|
good. The vendor floor was favored over the Atari area on the main
|
|
stage, resulting in a sparse display under the Atari banner.
|
|
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Sadly, more than one individual was heard to say, -Look how Atari is
|
|
supporting this show! It's disgraceful to see almost nothing on that
|
|
stage. And Bob Brodie didn't even bother to come!- I informed them
|
|
whenever possible that the many dozens of STe and TT machines littering
|
|
the main floor were ALSO from Atari and were placed where they were
|
|
really needed, and that Bob had come on Friday but had to leave
|
|
Saturday morning to attend to urgent family health matters. Profuse
|
|
apologies always followed from the complainers once they understood the
|
|
situation. It's a shame that some users have been conditioned by the
|
|
more reactionary media to assume the worst, then to treat their
|
|
assumptions as fact.
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SEMINARS
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Because of uncertainty of attendance, the seminar schedule was small by
|
|
comparison to last year's Glendale show, but more time was allotted to
|
|
each. Atari Corp had the first seminar on Saturday, with Bill Rehbock
|
|
(Atari's Technical Developer support man) and James Grunke (Atari's
|
|
Music division head) standing in for Bob Brodie. Mike Fulton, part of
|
|
Atari's Technical department, was in the audience of nearly 200 to lend
|
|
some additional information. Bill carried most of the talk and did
|
|
just fine. He gave a well received and remarkably technical and
|
|
detailed talk. Many in the audience were pleased to get a real nuts
|
|
and bolts view and discussion about the Atari hardware, both existing
|
|
and to come. In fact, Bill told far more than any of us thought we
|
|
would hear, revealing a reasoned and purposeful course of action ahead
|
|
for Atari. He also showed the exciting new ST BOOK notebook size
|
|
computer, which had the audience ooing and aahing. I joked with Bill
|
|
after the seminar that he had spilled enough inside secrets to get him
|
|
fired several times. Z*Net will carry a full story about the content
|
|
of Bill's talk next week, but highlights of it will pepper the Z*NET
|
|
NEWSWIRE this week and for several more to come.
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|
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Next up was the inimitable Dave Small, packing in a standing room only
|
|
crowd. They were treated to Dave's remarkable wit and philosophy as
|
|
well as details and history of his equally remarkable Macintosh
|
|
emulation systems and new SST 68030 upgrade board. Dave spoke to and
|
|
with the audience for over an hour and a half, concluding with his
|
|
classic -how I coded the Magic Sac Keyboard/mouse handler- story,
|
|
complete with extended vocal emulation of -pain made audible-, namely
|
|
Neil Young recordings. For those who have missed the pleasure of
|
|
hearing the story, Dave relates how he tackled the monumental and
|
|
frightening task of writing the code to make the Atari keyboard look
|
|
like Mac input. He was assisted (?!?) by the most miserable and
|
|
depressing sound he could find, Neil Young LIVE, played over and over
|
|
until the job was done.
|
|
|
|
Despite having a hard act to follow, Nathan Potechin finished the day
|
|
of seminars with a long and thorough look at CALAMUS SL, doing page
|
|
composition live on an overhead projector. Towards the end of the
|
|
presentation, the audience was smaller but very involved in discussing
|
|
the features, procedures, and power of Calamus. Nathan was pleased to
|
|
see the level of sophistication in the users, and discovered some new
|
|
things about Calamus SL himself through their questions and
|
|
suggestions. A full-color overhead screen unit was available, but it
|
|
would not operate with the TT on hand, so the new color capacities of
|
|
SL were not able to be demonstrated in the seminar. Instead, Nathan
|
|
used his MEGA ST with Jim Allen's 68030 upgrade board in it, making
|
|
Calamus SL run at speeds faster than a TT. Fortunately, Calamus SL was
|
|
shown in color on the main floor of the show, and it looked
|
|
particularly dazzling on the MATRIX COLOR VIDEO CARD equipped TT on the
|
|
Atari stage.
|
|
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|
THE SHOW FLOOR:
|
|
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ATARI
|
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|
|
Atari's display was small, as mentioned earlier. But it featured the
|
|
full line of ST and TT products, as well as a number of Portfolio
|
|
computers. The ST BOOK was periodically available for the general
|
|
public to admire and try for themselves. I found the unit to be
|
|
absolutely irresistible. The display is monochrome only, and has no
|
|
backlight. But the view is clear and clean in any light that's enough
|
|
to type by. The keyboard is a bit smaller than standard, but not
|
|
enough to let my fingers know it. The keys are sort of like very hard
|
|
rubber -- the no-slip effect makes typing very easy and errors less
|
|
frequent. The key motion is small but the feel is very satisfying. On
|
|
the other hand, the -vector mousepad- that most users rave about was
|
|
less than pleasing to me. Although it can certainly be gotten used to,
|
|
the motionless pad is disorienting. Press gently at any edge of the
|
|
mouse disk, and the pointer moves proportionally to your pressure and
|
|
position. I found that the fact that the mouse pointer disappears when
|
|
in motion (common on any LCD screen due to the pixel response time)
|
|
combined with no tactile feedback from physical motion at the mousepad
|
|
makes for very unpredictable pointer placement -- at least at first. I
|
|
seem to be in the minority in my dissatisfaction. But I am part of the
|
|
unanimous majority that wants one of these computers as soon as
|
|
possible. They will be coming into the USA at a trickle (a few hundred
|
|
a month of the 1,000 a month total production allotment) until the
|
|
screens become more available from the supplier in very early '92.
|
|
|
|
In front of the stage, the LYNX PLAYGROUND was usually fully utilized,
|
|
with 10 Lynx units (new and old models) running the latest releases for
|
|
the miniature color game system. [I, of course, was only doing
|
|
RESEARCH there...]
|
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|
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RETAILERS
|
|
|
|
Two Southern California retailers dominated the center isle with
|
|
massive displays of Atari merchandise of every description at
|
|
remarkable prices. Both are ATARI AEGIS approved dealers. Not a whole
|
|
lot of Atari brand hardware was available, however, due to consignment
|
|
arrangements that were not completed in time for the show. But the
|
|
Computer Network (of Glendale) and Mid Cities CompSoft (of Bellflower)
|
|
each brought what appeared to be their entire store with them to the
|
|
show. In fact, both stores had arranged with other stores (that were
|
|
unable to come to the show) to sell their stock on consignment as well,
|
|
making for a more varied offering of hardware and software, domestic
|
|
and imported. The Computer Network built custom walls and hung row
|
|
upon row of racked software in their huge walk-through sales floor. A
|
|
complete MIDI studio graced the end of Computer Network's area, as well
|
|
as two full DTP workstations. This would be the home base of Nathan
|
|
Potechin of ISD, showing the latest in Calamus and DynaCADD, as well as
|
|
a functioning FAST TECHNOLOGY TURBO 030 board running at 40 mHz in a
|
|
Mega ST. (More on that in a separate article!) Goldleaf
|
|
representatives rotated their showing of Wordflair II and the range of
|
|
3K products between the M stores that specialize in synthesizers and computers,
|
|
and his stores are in fact the USA's leading volume retail outlets of
|
|
Atari computers. He had a great special going on a Roland MIDI
|
|
controller (we call them keyboards) in a hardware bundle, and it sold
|
|
out on Saturday. Also in the Goodman's area were factory
|
|
representatives of ROLAND and HYBRID ARTS. Hybrid premiered -Digital
|
|
Master-, a mid-market entry in the growing direct-to-hard-disk
|
|
recording and sound manipulation market. Hybrid's ADAP series is the
|
|
high-end standard in hardware, used in major motion pictures and
|
|
television commercials for unparalleled sound re-recording and special
|
|
effects. -Born on the Forth of July-, -Honey I've Shrunk the Kids-,
|
|
and many more movies have been done on ADAP using Atari computers for
|
|
controllers. Now, Hybrid's Digital Master will make similar audio
|
|
power available to small studios, TV and radio production facilities,
|
|
and even to high-end home studios. And like ADAP, it uses the Atari
|
|
computer as its front end. At under $4,000, it's not a consumer
|
|
device, but it's priced right for low-end pro use.
|
|
|
|
Roland was showing a variety of their sound modules, including the CM-
|
|
32L in a bundle with TENTRAX. Together, they offer a new level of ease
|
|
of use and variety of sounds for begginer or advanced user. Tentrax
|
|
looks like a ten channel studio mix board on the screen, and operates
|
|
the same way, complete with VU meters on each channel. Roland's
|
|
representative Jan Paulshus was enthused by the turnout of MIDI
|
|
literate users, as well as by the substantial sales he made during the
|
|
Glendale event. He pledged Roland's and Steinberg's continued
|
|
development on the Atari platform, the computer he believes is the only
|
|
one that is serious about offering a wide and competent MIDI presence.
|
|
|
|
Recognized musicians and studio people were present all during the
|
|
show: members of Earth, Wind, and Fire; jazz musician and producer
|
|
Ronnie Foster; the keyboardist for Phil Collins and Genesis; studio and
|
|
session people from Bon Jovi, Scorpions, and others; producers of TV
|
|
shows, commercials, and movies; more. Keep in mind that this is
|
|
-Hollywood-, and Atari is what many of the people who shape the sounds
|
|
of our times are using. It's only natural that they would come out for
|
|
a major Atari show like Glendale. Formerly the audio technician for
|
|
the Beach Boys supergroup, Atari's James Grunke made them feel at ease
|
|
and in professional hands. Familiar faces from TV and movies were seen
|
|
all weekend, too.
|
|
|
|
James Grunke made it plain that Atari is remaining aggressively in the
|
|
MIDI field, and numbers of major players in the industry are convinced
|
|
that Atari is the best way to play. Many professionals who use Mac
|
|
MIDI hardware and software admit to having had it given to them, but
|
|
when they choose hardware and software for themselves, it's Atari,
|
|
thank you. James also pointed out that calling everything MIDI
|
|
software is really not right; it's MUSIC software. MIDI is just a
|
|
port. We don't call Calamus or Word Perfect -Parallel Port Software-,
|
|
after all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
DISTRIBUTORS
|
|
|
|
For the sake of organization, I'm grouping those who are primarily
|
|
wholesalers and distributors of products separately from distributors
|
|
who also generate significant original software (I'll call them
|
|
-developers-.) No qualitative inference is to be taken by my
|
|
classification! I just hope I don't miss any!
|
|
|
|
Best: Brad Koda had his usual array of incredible Atari collectibles,
|
|
parts, thingies, dowhatsis, and more parts. Need to repair an 810 disk
|
|
drive (remember them?)? See Brad. New parts for new computers too.
|
|
Cheap and amazing. Atari's module to expand a 600XL to 64K for $24.
|
|
Browsing the Best table is worthwhile even if only for the smiles that
|
|
the memories bring back. He had the 1200 baud SX212 modem for $25.
|
|
|
|
Michtron: A different Michtron with a different flavor. The irascible
|
|
Gordon Monnier is gone and Michtron is no longer in Michigan. New
|
|
owner James Dorsman offered great deals on Michtron titles old and new,
|
|
and the Stereo Replay was a hot item. Interesting and cheap was a 3-D
|
|
spreadsheet system. ProText, HiSoft Basic ($14.95!!), and other titles
|
|
were cheap enough to make you buy it without a second thought.
|
|
|
|
PDC: -Public Domain Corporation- offers commercial products like any
|
|
one else. Their main display was STEALTH, a full featured terminal
|
|
program by Hagop Yanoyan that grew from HagTerm. The also offer memory
|
|
upgrade kits, TCB Tracker sound digitizers, and more, but did not push
|
|
them by comparison to STealth.
|
|
|
|
Rimik: Richard Betson left Talon and started his own import and
|
|
development/distribution company. The main offering was MULTIGEM, and
|
|
the demos were intriguing. It takes a bit of getting used to seeing
|
|
real activity in several windows at once. Multitasking that really
|
|
works. Other Rimik products are DTPaint and Menu Plus.
|
|
|
|
Rio Computers: These folks had a crowd most of the time. Distributors
|
|
of the Lexicor graphics products, Rio had Lee Seiler at their booth
|
|
most of the time showing off his Lexicor creations done with Phase 4
|
|
products. Some of his art looks more like photographs than actual
|
|
photographs do. Other Rio interests included GENLOCK, the remarkable
|
|
$850 wringer-washer looking full page scanner, Superchargers and
|
|
expansion boxes for them, and a $499 super VGA card for use with the
|
|
Supercharger MS-DOS emulator.
|
|
|
|
Talon: Superchargers, PC Speed and AT Speed, and lots and lots and lots
|
|
of those colorful Beetle Mice. The Mice look like fingers with
|
|
Hollywood Secretary Nails on them to me... but for $29 each, they were
|
|
irresistible to many buyers. A display of a well known IBM race car
|
|
program running in emulation at full speed attracted a lot of
|
|
attention.
|
|
|
|
Zubair: Abu brought Z-Keys (PC keyboard adaptor), lots of easy memory
|
|
upgrades, ST/ime clocks (now for STe machines too) at show special
|
|
savings. He also advertised yet another new scanner, interface, and
|
|
powerful editing software. Unlike most other companies, Zubair will
|
|
sell the interface and software without a scanner, allowing you to use
|
|
any brand of your choice that uses the now standard mini-round plug.
|
|
|
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|
|
DEVELOPERS
|
|
|
|
ADG: Andrew Gordon is a musician who has brought his art together with
|
|
the computer to make a training and learning system. His book, disk,
|
|
and tape packs of -Outstanding Blues and Jazz Compositions- allow a
|
|
unique practice and appreciation experience.
|
|
|
|
AtariUser Magazine: Although they had no booth, AtariUser was
|
|
everywhere at Glendale. The October issue was rushed directly from the
|
|
printer to the hall on Saturday morning, and everyone was handed an
|
|
issue at the door with their ticket package. Attendees loved it,
|
|
although the floor was a bit unsafe while users walked and read at the
|
|
same time. The editors staff circulated all day on both days of the
|
|
show, and sales manager Kevin Horn offered his colorful AtariUser T-
|
|
shirts and polo shirts for sale. They looked even better in person
|
|
than in the magazine ads.
|
|
|
|
Branch Always Software: Darek Mihocka sold out of his QUICK ST 3
|
|
several times... He was able to make new product on site, but something
|
|
went wrong on the master disk for his upgrades for QST 2 on Saturday.
|
|
Most buyers of the upgrade will have to get another disk, as the one
|
|
that was duplicated shows a virus and irretrievable files. The -virus-
|
|
is not really a virus although it will register as one. It's just a
|
|
badly botched boot sector. Darek says he sold three or four times as
|
|
much product as he was prepared for. Another intriguing item at the
|
|
BRASOFT booth: Darek's 8-bit emulator made a comeback in a TT version,
|
|
running at full 8-bit speed in all graphics modes. Why? Why not? He
|
|
also has had a full-speed 8-bit emulator that runs on IBM computers for
|
|
over a year, but Atari won't let him release the Atari operating system
|
|
(required) for use on non-Atari computers.
|
|
|
|
D.A. Brumleve: Dorothy Brumleve brought her smiling face and cigarettes
|
|
to Glendale to show her unparalled line of programs for children. At
|
|
her low-key booth, Dot managed to sell a lot of product to parents who
|
|
realize the value of having computer-ready children. Her KIDPRGs
|
|
programs are usable by kids a young as 2 or 3 years old! Titles
|
|
included Telegram, Kidpublisher Professional, Super Kidgrid, and
|
|
Kidpainter.
|
|
|
|
Clear Thinking: Ed Hack is not the author... it's the product. Craig
|
|
Harvey of Michigan came to show and sell his Edhack text/program/sector
|
|
desk accessory editor, now in version 2.2. It will work on any size
|
|
file, even larger than RAM. A lot for $18.95.
|
|
|
|
CodeHead Software: John Eidsvoog and Charles F. Johnson had a busy
|
|
weekend, again doing the fastest demos known to man. They premiered
|
|
Multi Desk Deluxe and sold out in the first three hours. The new
|
|
version of the desk-accessory expander allows virtually an unlimited
|
|
list of available DA's, and doesn't take up RAM until you call the one
|
|
you want to use. Maxi File III also did a disappearing act at special
|
|
show prices. But the excitement at CodeHead was mostly over a pair of
|
|
new imported drawing products, Avant Vector and Repro Studio. These
|
|
titles sell for lots more overseas than the CodeHeads will charge here,
|
|
but they are still pricey by US standards. At $495 ($449 introductory
|
|
price), Avant Vector does automatic vector conversion of even the most
|
|
complex scanned (bit) images and even supports popular scanners. The
|
|
result is full scalable and manipulable vector graphics. The system
|
|
goes further to provide absolutely unmatched vector drawing tools. An
|
|
even more expensive version supports plotter and PostScript output.
|
|
Repro Studio is a matching bit-image application. CodeHead will ship
|
|
the product in the coming week or so.
|
|
|
|
Phil Comeau Software: From Ontario, Canada, Phil brought his GramSlam
|
|
grammar and style checker as well as a new product, Grammar Expert.
|
|
Expert offers online help for improving the use of written English.
|
|
|
|
Compo: All the way from Europe for the Glendale show, Neil O'Nions
|
|
patiently and quietly demonstrated what may be the most powerful word
|
|
processor yet. The $179 That's Write (and the $89 cut down version
|
|
called Write On) leads the market in Germany, and Compo is tackling the
|
|
UK, French, and US markets now. Almost like a DTP system, That's Write
|
|
has paragraph style tagging that changes all your preconceived notions
|
|
about page formatting. And more: it allows mixing of resident printer
|
|
fonts and GDOS bit fonts even in the same word! Although it doesn't
|
|
use GDOS itself, GDOS fonts can be loaded and unloaded on the fly.
|
|
Best of all, That's Write is a growing product, with significant
|
|
upgrades planned for the coming year. It's nice to see a major
|
|
application that will have continuing development. Compo is also
|
|
worldwide distributors of PC-Speed and AT-Speed IBM emulators.
|
|
|
|
Double Click: Mike Vederman drew a crowd with demos and pre-sales of DC
|
|
DATA DIET, a real-time and transparent system that can nearly double
|
|
the storage capacity of your hard drive without slowing things down
|
|
perceptibly. It boasts a 100K/sec throughput. Essentially, files are
|
|
compressed and expanded upon saving and retrieving, without user
|
|
intervention. It looks bulletproof and may sell -jillions- of copies.
|
|
Their other products, DC DESKTOP, DC Utilities, DC Shower, etc, all
|
|
were available at show prices. Mike also showed a product to be ready
|
|
later in the year, the Game Workbench. Similar in concept to STOS but
|
|
more involved, the Game Workbench will be both a tool to make high
|
|
quality games and a multi-media editor and presentation application.
|
|
And very easy to use. Cheap too, probably well under $100. With this,
|
|
anyone will be able to make animated interactive presentations or
|
|
custom games. I didn't see DC NoveTalk, their new Novell Network
|
|
software designed for use on ST's while in PC emulation mode.
|
|
|
|
Gadgets by Small: Who would have believed that the focus of attention
|
|
at Dave Small's would not be on a Mac emulator? The GCR's on display
|
|
were almost a paperweight by comparison to the interest in the SST
|
|
68030 speedup board for the ST computers. Yep, what you've heard is
|
|
true, the SST makes your ST FASTER than a TT. By quite a bit. You pay
|
|
for what you get, though-$800 up to near $1,500. But cheaper than a
|
|
TT, certainly. And the speed wars are on between the Gadgets gadget
|
|
and FAST's technology. More on this in a separate article. Short
|
|
version: Yikes! They are both mighty fast!
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Gribnif: The NeoDesk folks are now lots more. Rick Flashman and Trish
|
|
Metcalf have expanded the Gribnif umbrella over Strata Software's
|
|
STalker and STeno (both in new and more powerful versions) as well as
|
|
GTSoft's Cardfile (also upgraded in the process). Glendale was the
|
|
premier of the new STalker 3 terminal-in-a-desk-accessory. It's now
|
|
simply -awesome-. Can you believe it will do all its things in
|
|
background mode? Yup. Run scripts? Yup. Even emulate ALADDIN? Yup.
|
|
Run a mini BBS? Yup. Multiple simultaneous sessions online? Yup. A
|
|
special show price? Yup. A sellout? Yup. Also drawing attention was
|
|
Arabesque, an integrated vector and bitmap drawing and painting
|
|
application. Although not ready for sale (documentation still to go),
|
|
Arabesque will be under $200 by the end of November. A companion
|
|
program, Convector, will follow later, adding outline-tracing of bitmap
|
|
images or scans.
|
|
|
|
ICD: The Chicago based ICD was represented by Jeff Williams and Doug
|
|
Wheeler, and showed their line of hard drives, tape backups, and even
|
|
8-bit products. Their AdSpeed 16 mHz 68000 accelerator board was
|
|
there, plus something new: AdSpeed STe. About $50 more expensive than
|
|
the $299 AdSpeed, the STe unit is a no-solder jewel that also features
|
|
a math co-processor socket for DynaCADD and other software that can
|
|
benefit by it. They were taking 8-bit orders for products as well, and
|
|
will consider new production runs if demand is there. Negotiations
|
|
with other companies are engaged that may result in someone else taking
|
|
over the entire ICD 8-bit line.
|
|
|
|
JMG: The Hyperlink folks from Canada had ever-improving demonstrations
|
|
of their layered-look windowed interactive display/database/application
|
|
generator. As more users create their own applications, they have
|
|
shared them with JMG. So there's a growing library of uses and idea
|
|
starters. Regularly $149, it was $125 at the show.
|
|
|
|
McDonald and Associates: Rod McDonald puts out the widely read ST
|
|
INFORMER monthly. He also manages Application and Design Software,
|
|
makers of the Universal Item Selector (an absolute must-have utility).
|
|
UIS 3 his improved again, and Rod and company were doing upgrades at
|
|
the show. Of course, I forgot to bring my registered copy both days.
|
|
A&D also now has the Universal Network, a software network manager that
|
|
will interface any and all of the existing networking hardware. Rod
|
|
says he has sold his network to school systems and newspapers around
|
|
the world, with the largest setup connecting over 100 ST computers. He
|
|
also showed Tax Wizard and G-Print.
|
|
|
|
Micro Creations: The G.I.M.E. Terminal is more than just the
|
|
pictures-by-modem system we have seen at shows for over two years now.
|
|
It uses a full GEM iconed screen for full featured terminal functions,
|
|
and has a C-like script language that makes it programmable into a BBS
|
|
or whatever. It still sends nifty pictures. Micro Creations also
|
|
showed a video poker card game that looked well polished.
|
|
|
|
Musicode: Polished cards hit their peak at the Musicode exhibit, where
|
|
Blackjack Plus 3 drew the gambling crowd. Very, very complete and
|
|
realistic, BJP3 will let you program in your play strategy in order to
|
|
test it before you unleash yourself on Vegas. Their MIDI software
|
|
almost was an afterthought by comparison.
|
|
|
|
Omnimon Peripherals Inc. (OPI): We used to call Paul Wu's company
|
|
Wuztek, but they have grown. Their large booth featured the all-
|
|
knowing Norm Weinress, designer of OPI's DEKA keyboard interface for PC
|
|
keyboards, and Norm previewed his Omnichrome board. This one looks
|
|
like a hit: it is for regular ST computers, plugs in, and gives a 16
|
|
million color palette and 256 colors in 640 x 200 resolution on
|
|
existing ST monitors, and up to 800 x 600 resolution in 256 colors on
|
|
multisynch monitors! It will start at $399 and go up for more
|
|
features. OPI still offers the Rainbow series of ST-ready multisynch
|
|
monitors, and they were $100 off for the show.
|
|
|
|
Oregon Research Associates: Bob Luneski's Diamond Back II vesion 2.03
|
|
was another early sellout. The premier hard drive backup system, DBII
|
|
offered a new version starting at the Glendale show. Bob says he has
|
|
radically improved the -backup with compression- option, so much so
|
|
that it takes HALF the time a regular backup takes. He has formulated
|
|
a compression scheme that mashes files down to 50% of their original
|
|
size and does it faster than the ST can write to disk. The result is
|
|
backups in half the time on half the disks. Seeing as how DBII was the
|
|
fastest backup on the market already, that's really saying something.
|
|
|
|
Safari Fonts: Jay Pierstorff has made hundreds of fonts for PageStream
|
|
and now for Calamus. He was there from the San Francisco area with
|
|
about a zillion fonts from his own company as well as from Cherry Fonts
|
|
and others. A good selection of imported ST magazines was also a
|
|
welcome addition.
|
|
|
|
SDS: I'm old enough to remember the mildly subversive college group
|
|
-Students for a Democratic Society-. Wrong SDS. Software Development
|
|
Systems is a newcomer developer with a printer utility pack for HP
|
|
Deskjets, Laserjets, and the Atari lasers. It really does a lot, and
|
|
should be available October 15. Ready now is the Newdesk Icon Editor.
|
|
This one is a CPX module that enables you to create or modify the icons
|
|
on the TT and Mega/STe newdesk desktop. It's only $19.95.
|
|
|
|
Sliccware: Randy Foster continues to improve his multitasking
|
|
environment and desktop system, Slicctop. It is impressive to watch
|
|
him set a long series of file copy and move operations, and then shut
|
|
off the machine... turn it back on, and after the boot, it picks up
|
|
where it left off. Yikes. An impressive list of features and power
|
|
have failed as yet to cause other third party developers to write
|
|
custom Slicctop-enabled applications, but most existing software can
|
|
benefit from the environment.
|
|
|
|
SoftAware: Informer II has steadily grown more complete and
|
|
professional in features and presentation. The graphic-enabled
|
|
database was selling well.
|
|
|
|
Softlogik: Yep, Pagestream 2.1. A low key exhibit, but the power of
|
|
the improved Pagestream is well known and well received.
|
|
|
|
Sudden Inc.: Ditch everything you know about word processing and text
|
|
editors before you sit down with Sudden View. A desk accessory text
|
|
editor, it's, well, shocking. Think of it more like a paint program
|
|
that uses letters. Scrolling, cut and paste, formatting, all the
|
|
normal functions of an editor, but handled with the speed and abandon
|
|
of a graphics editor. Words fail to accurately describe it. Too many
|
|
people walked right by the unassuming booth and missed the experience.
|
|
I'd like to see Sudden View expand into a full fledged word processor
|
|
with spell checking, etc.
|
|
|
|
Wizworks: Dr. Bob couldn't make it this far from his East Coast home,
|
|
but representatives offered the Wizworks catalog of graphics tools and
|
|
fun. Multiviewergraphica, an image editor par excellence; Mug Shot!,
|
|
the face maker; Image Cat, to catalog your many image files, and more.
|
|
|
|
Z*Net: Yes, I was there too. It was great to meet old and new friends
|
|
and to get first hand feedback about our weekly news service. It was
|
|
fairly unanimous: keep up the news reporting and leave the bashing to
|
|
others. They appreciated a focus on things that can help them use
|
|
their machine rather than on the political hoopla and pressure games.
|
|
Those flaming editorials haven't done anything to change the company
|
|
anyway, but they have unduly discouraged users who were happy until
|
|
they were told that they were fools. Thanks for sharing that with me,
|
|
and you can expect more of what you have come to expect from us at
|
|
Z*Net: News, not Blues.
|
|
|
|
[Is that all? No. Other developers were scattered in and among the
|
|
retailers and distributors... there were just too many of them. That's
|
|
the show promoter's THIRD most favorite complaint.]
|
|
|
|
|
|
USER GROUPS
|
|
|
|
H.A.C.K.S. was the sponsoring group of the Glendale show, once again.
|
|
It stands for -Hooked on Atari Computer Keyboards Society-... what some
|
|
folks won't do to make an acronym work out! The show was masterminded
|
|
by John King Tarpinian as usual, and his casual and giving attitude was
|
|
reflected in every facet of the show. His own group declined to have a
|
|
table at the show so that the members could concentrate on giving the
|
|
vendors and hall personnel the support they needed. These folks
|
|
deserve an international round of applause for a job not just well
|
|
done, but for conduct beyond the call of duty.
|
|
|
|
Other clubs with tables and displays at the Glendale show:
|
|
|
|
San Diego ACE: A SoundTools demo of voice digitization plus lots of
|
|
hardware on display. They also offered their newsletter, the I/O
|
|
CONNECTOR.
|
|
|
|
NOCCC: North Orange County Computer Club offered used software and
|
|
magazines in a swap-meet fashion for their members.
|
|
|
|
ACES: From the San Gabriel Valley, selling blue Atari hats.
|
|
|
|
ACAOC: Atri Computer Association of Orange County sold PD disks
|
|
including MAC disks for GCR users. This group used to have presidents
|
|
named Bob Brodie and Mike Fulton. Hmmm.
|
|
|
|
South Bay Ace: Demos and disks for sale from the South Bay of Los
|
|
Angeles.
|
|
|
|
RAM: -Real Atari Maniacs- from Ventura County, California, offered
|
|
-free advice- and solicted memberships.
|
|
|
|
|
|
WRAP-UP: What does this all mean?
|
|
|
|
The aftermath of a show of this size is usually a slow period for
|
|
retailers, mostly getting returns for bad disks or software that didn't
|
|
pan out as the buyer hoped. This year, the Computer Network and other
|
|
stores in Los Angeles report the opposite. New users, new buyers are
|
|
coming into the stores and buying at a clip notably above that of the
|
|
normal season. People came to the show and were invigorated by the
|
|
crowd, by the new software, by the enthusiasm of the show. MIDI users
|
|
are finally exploring other uses of their -music computer-. Even the
|
|
developers are encouraged beyond anything imagined only a week earlier.
|
|
Crowds thronged around booths that might have been lonely. Sales,
|
|
sales, sales of software and hardware marked what might have been
|
|
another disappointment in a series, part of the winding-down of Atari.
|
|
Instead, the Glendale Show Success may be the first glimmer of a new
|
|
day for our favorite computer.
|
|
|
|
You may be saying, yeah yeah, right, John. Get some coffee and call me
|
|
back. OK, I will. Next week, I'll tell you the blow-by-blow inside
|
|
details of Bill Rehbock's spill-the-whole-story talk at Glendale. [I
|
|
have it all on videotape, he can't squirm out of any of it!] Taken
|
|
together with the show itself, it all might change your mind too.
|
|
|
|
- John Nagy, exclusive for Z*Net News Service, Copyright 1991 by Rovac
|
|
Industries.
|
|
|
|
=======================================================================
|
|
Z*MAGAZINE Atari 8-Bit Online Magazine is a bi-weekly magazine covering
|
|
the Atari and related computer community. Material contained in this
|
|
edition may be reprinted without permission, except where otherwise
|
|
noted, unedited, with the issue number, name and author included at
|
|
the top of each reprinted article. Commentary and opinions presented
|
|
are those of the individual author and does not necessarily reflect
|
|
the opinions of Z*MAGAZINE or the staff. Z*Magazine Atari 8-Bit Online
|
|
Magazine, Z*Net Atari Online Magazine, Z*Net are copyright (c)1991 by
|
|
Rovac Industries Inc, a registered corporation. Post Office Box 59,
|
|
Middlesex, New Jersey 08846. (908) 968-2024. Z*Net Online BBS 24
|
|
Hours, 1200/2400 Baud, (908) 968-8148.
|
|
=======================================================================
|
|
Z*Magazine Atari 8-Bit Online Magazine
|
|
Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc..
|
|
=======================================================================
|