INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Thu,  7 Dec 89       Volume 89 : Issue 767
 
Today's Topics:
                      Amiga Software by Atari!!!
                             Apple roms.
                      Atracting new Club members
                      Form Doc's ASCII NOW HERE!
                           FORM docs again
                      GNU C Floating Point Math
                              info index
                      KERMIT with Uniterm v2.0?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 89 09:31:12 GMT
From: R.D.Chafer%sysc.salford.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK
Subject: Amiga Software by Atari!!!
Message-ID: < 7 Dec 89 09:31:12 A10419@UK.AC.SALF.C>
 
Dear Netters
 
I have just read in ST Format (a UK ST magazine, not bad either) that Atari
are creating a new software (games) label called ARC. Now the thing is
Atari claim they are going to market software for the ST, PC and AMIGA.
ST and even PC I can perhaps understand, but AMIGA. I have heard this piece
of news rumoured before but now it seems to be fact. Can either Ken or
Allan shed any light on this strange happening. ST Format suggested it was
designed to get Commodore owners used to buying Atari, seems like a vague
and dodgy idea to me.
 
Robert
 
=========================================================================
From:  Robert Chafer
 
    Computing Centre             Telephone: +44 61 736 5843 x 672 or x7328,
    University of Salford,
    Salford M5 4WT
    UK
 
E-mail:
    JANET:   chafer @ uk.ac.salford.sysc
    ARPANET: chafer%uk.ac.salford.sysc @ nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk
    BITNET:  chafer%uk.ac.salford.sysc @ uk.ac
        or   chafer%uk.ac.salford.sysc%ukacrl.bitnet @ cunyvm.cuny.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Dec 89 23:57:08 GMT
From: pyramid!cbmvax!daveh@decwrl.dec.com  (Dave Haynie)
Subject: Apple roms.
Message-ID: <8862@cbmvax.UUCP>
 
in article <8912020815.AB27991@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, AMEIJ@vax.oxford.ac.UK (Jan
 Ameij) says:
 
> Anyone notice the collossal damage done to IBM by the availability of MS-DOS?
 
It really works both ways.  That MS-DOS was available to anyone, and IBM PCs
 were
real easy to clone, the IBM PC underwent a magic transformation that changed
"proprietary" to "industry standard".  So, at least for awhile, IBM could pawn
off any pile of dross as the latest technology, and get away with it.  Then
they started to lose market share to the cloners, and had to start getting real.
This started happening shortly after they introduced the PC-AT.  And it's
still going on.  Sure, IBM managed to assure that the PC would be necessary and
not obselete for some time to come, despite how bad it was all done.  However,
they also managed to lose control.  IBM is no longer necessary for the success
of the PC, they continue to lose market share, and they're having to sell you
something that goes faster for less money than they were.  That's good for the
consumer, as is most competition, but it's not so great for IBM.  It's hard to
say what would have happened if IBM were as closed as Apple (software wise of
course -- the Mac is even easier to clone in hardware than the PC, as
witnessed by things like Spectre or AMAX).  Certainly there never would have
been a Compaq, Tandy might have continued souping up TRaSh-80s, and there
might have been even more proprietary systems.  Or maybe all the "other guys"
would have settled on something superior to MS-DOS long ago.  In any case,
the effect on IBM isn't as clear cut as it might seem.
 
> Love, Jan
--
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   ?uunet|pyramid|rutgers?!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
                    Too much of everything is just enough
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 7 Dec 89 03:34:35 GMT
From: cadre.dsl.pitt.edu!pitt!cuphub!kar7481@pt.cs.cmu.edu  (Dan
 Karbowsky;AtariEliteOfPghPa bbs412-384-5609)
Subject: Atracting new Club members
Message-ID: <2242@cuphub.cup.edu>
 
In article <473f18ee.14a1f@force.UUCP>, covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert)
 writes:
 
  [a few paragraphs deleted]
 
>
> Our local ST sdealer doesn't have the room for us to hold our meetings in his
> store. So, we still need to find a better place to meet. The local community
> college wants $500 a day for a room, with a $500,000 insurance policy. So,
> we can't meet there. My company has a great auditorium, but we can't let
> unescorted people into the building (don't want to let out our secrets :-)).
> We want to meet on Saturday mornings as that is the most conveneint time for
> our members.
>
> I personally think that the we need a better, bigger, meeting place before we
> will attract new members. It is a Chicken and the Egg thing. We can't seat
 many
> more members in our current location, but without more members we can't afford
> a bigger meeting place.
>
> --
>  Richard E. Covert (covertr@gtephx)
>   (602) - 581-4652
> |  AG Communications Systems, Phoenix AZ   |
>  UUCP: ?ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!zardoz!hrc | att?!gtephx!covertr
 
Rich,
 
        Our Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based group is able to rent a room
at a Marriot Hotel near Pittsburgh (8 minutes) for only $75.00 for 4 hours!!!
 
Why not check into renting a conference room at a Holiday-Inn or other reputable
hotel?????  I'm sure the cost wouldn't be that bad....
 
Our group--The Atari Elite ST Organization--has filed for and is classified
and registered in the state of Pennsylvania as a NON-PROFIT-ORGANIZATION.
 
Membership dues are $25.00/year and include a bi-monthly "newsdisk"(810k)
 
A $2.00 "donation" is made at the door by each member at each meeting (monthly)
to help defray the cost of the room...with 60-70 people, it's quite easy!!!!
 
I think the KEY TO AVOIDING HIGH RATES is to file for Non-Prof-Org. status
 
To my knowledge--many hotels have special rates for NPO's and if you can work
a contract (annual), you SHOULD be able to get a HEALTHY discount!!!
 
Lemme know after you do some checking!
 
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | Dan Karbowsky      kar7481@pitt!cuphub /   S U P P O R T  T H E  S T ! ! !  |
 | 102 Lee Drive      ___________________/Call the ATARI ELITE of PITTSBURGH'S |
 | Belle Vernon, PA  / BBS (Forem-ST,fnet node 19)  at (412) 384-5609 at 300   |
 | 15012   U.S.A.   / thru 19.2k baud 24 hrs./day 7-days/week   Mention this   |
 |                 / message at logon.                                         |
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
               JOIN THE REVOLUTION IN 1990!!!!!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 7 Dec 89 05:26:58 GMT
From: haven!uvaarpa!hudson!bessel.acc.Virginia.EDU!gl8f@purdue.edu  (Greg
 Lindahl)
Subject: Form Doc's ASCII NOW HERE!
Message-ID: <2415@hudson.acc.virginia.edu>
 
In article <3322@tahoe.unr.edu> mikew@wheeler.UUCP (Mike Whitbeck) writes:
 
>(well sort of done -- the dvitty driver crashed while doing the
>index - jeez how many contributors give ya such a nice manual
>with an index even! The last I can remember was UNITERM)
 
Yes, when the Uniterm docs were released as a .dvi file, there were
many screams and yells. I offered to print up and sell copies at cost,
but nobody took me up on it. I must say that the Uniterm manual did
look quite nice.
 
Fortunately, now anyone with a SLM804 can print the .dvi files easily,
and anyone with a monochrome screen can preview them.
 
------
Greg Lindahl
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 7 Dec 89 07:54:33 GMT
From: psuvm!jjl101@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu  (J.J. Lehett)
Subject: FORM docs again
Message-ID: <89341.025433JJL101@PSUVM.BITNET>
 
     Yes, in reference to all the stuff behind the Form docs, I initially
wrote a request to see if the ASCII docs files were available.....
     I am more than happy with what I know of the program, and am grateful
to Jos...
     Currently, a lot of us USA'ers without hard drives have DVI displayers,
but I at least do not have all the fonts, and could not possibly have them
all available on floppy, however, I am still interested in the program (yes,
I know a hard drive is 'needed' for Form, but only when memory constraints
warrant it.)  Perhaps someone out there could post just exactly what fonts,
and the sizes of such are needed to view the DVI file.
 
     Thanks to all involved here!
-------
********************************************************************
*       J.J.        *             JJL101@psuvm.bitnet              *
*                   *    Penn State Center for Academic Computing  *
*    John Lehett    *          Computational Mathematics           *
********************************************************************
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 7 Dec 89 04:32:28 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!ria!uwovax!7103_26
 22@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Eric Smith)
Subject: GNU C Floating Point Math
Message-ID: <4470.257da18c@uwovax.uwo.ca>
 
In article <3526@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU>, esp_05@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Stdnt 05)
 writes:
> I just downloaded the copy of GNU C from terminator, oh, two weeks
> ago, the same time I downloaded the pml package.  Maybe I should try
> drgsun.
>
Yes, dsrgsun has slightly more up to date versions.
 
> At any rate Megamax C blew GNU C away in speed and executable size
> (GNU C took twice as long, and the executables were around twice as
> large).  The only problem with it is that it doesn't have stdlib
> functions, although without those I can still improvise.
GNU C executables are twice as large only for small files (the library is
more complicated, and not as well organized, so it has higher overhead).
For larger files I would expect the GCC to produce smaller code. And yes,
GNU takes longer to compile; Laser is *really* fast. On the other hand,
programs compiled with GNU execute faster, and the GNU optimizer is a *lot*
smarter than Megamax's (GNU knows not only when to put things in registers,
but also how to change multiplications into additions inside of loops,
so that "for (i = 0; i < end; i++) a[i]=foo(i);" produces the same code
as "for (p = a; p < a[end]; ++p) *p++ = foo(p-a);".
 
One other note: the library as distributed has a serious bug in the compare
routine for floats. That should be fixed soon; a temporary workaround is
to use doubles instead of floats. This may have been causing your problems.
--
Eric R. Smith                     email:
Dept. of Mathematics            ERSMITH@uwovax.uwo.ca
University of Western Ontario   ERSMITH@uwovax.bitnet
London, Ont. Canada N6A 5B7
ph: (519) 661-3638
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 07 Dec 89 10:39:48+0100
From: Andreas Magun <magun@sun.iap.unibe.ch>
Subject: info index
Message-ID: <21*magun@sun.iap.unibe.ch>
 
info
index
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 7 Dec 89 02:52:05 GMT
From: cadre.dsl.pitt.edu!pitt!cuphub!kar7481@pt.cs.cmu.edu  (Dan
 Karbowsky;AtariEliteOfPghPa bbs412-384-5609)
Subject: KERMIT with Uniterm v2.0?
Message-ID: <2240@cuphub.cup.edu>
 
In article <8912050802.AA12678@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, AMEIJ@vax.oxford.ac.UK (Jan
 Ameij) writes:
> I have had lotsa problems transferring binary files with Uniterm kermit, from
> a VAXCluster. The solution seems to be...SET FILE TYPE FIXED on the VAX
> (Kermit-32>) and BINARY on the ST. Both binary -> dozens of errors...
>
> I don't know why it works, but it does.
>
>
> Jan
 
I am on a VAX-8350 and use kermit-32> also...
 
I have found that 99.9% of all KERMIT up/downloads will work using UNITERM 2.0d
if you issue a "SET DELAY n" command: whereas; n = number of seconds you think
you'll need to select the SEND/RECV file and go into send/recv mode...
 
Hope this helps SOMEONE out there....
 
--
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | Dan Karbowsky      kar7481@pitt!cuphub /   S U P P O R T  T H E  S T ! ! !  |
 | 102 Lee Drive      ___________________/Call the ATARI ELITE of PITTSBURGH'S |
 | Belle Vernon, PA  / BBS (Forem-ST,fnet node 19)  at (412) 384-5609 at 300   |
 | 15012   U.S.A.   / thru 19.2k baud 24 hrs./day 7-days/week   Mention this   |
 |                 / message at logon.                                         |
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
                  JOIN THE REVOLUTION ! ! !
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 89 02:11:57 -0900
From: <FTJLH%ALASKA.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
 
RE:  Z-RAM mem expando
   Anyone have any experience with the Z-RAM memory expansion, or Z-RAM INC
in general? They claim to supply a "30 page manual" w/ this product...
sounds good so far. Any customers satisfied or otherwise out there?
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #767
*****************************************
