INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Mon,  6 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 611
 
Today's Topics:
                         Hard Drive Problems
                       New Mega STs and TOS 1.4
                   Spectre and other Mac emulators
                  SPECTRE OWNERS: need SOUNDMASTER !
                            Vapourware!!!
                    WordPerfect ST vs. version 5.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 4 Nov 89 21:23:51 GMT
From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird!falcon.afit.af.mil!@lll-winken.llnl.gov  (Gene
 Place)
Subject: Hard Drive Problems
 
I was in the process of moving files around and moved some .ACC files onto
the root drive of my hard disk.  I reset my system to check how much memory
those .ACCs had been taking up, but now every time my disk tries to
boot, it causes a system reset.  I'm working on a 1040ST with a Haba 10
hard disk.  Any ideas on how to get my drive to talk to me again?
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Gene Place
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89 11:23 EST
From: Eric S. Crawley <ESC@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>
Subject: New Mega STs and TOS 1.4
 
    Date: 6 Nov 89 10:16:59 GMT
    From: mcsun!unido!gmdzi!focke@uunet.uu.net  (Stefan Focke)
 
    I have heard, that in Germany also in future new Mega STs will be delivered
    with the old Blitter TOS, not with TOS 1.4.
 
    Is this the same in the rest of the world?
 
    Does anyone know a good reason, why Atari sells new hardware with a faulty
    TOS if they have a better one.
 
I just bought a new Mega 2 and it did not come with TOS 1.4.  According to
more than one of the dealers I talked to, Atari is not sending out any new
Mega STs with TOS 1.4.  TOS 1.4 was only to be available as a dealer upgrade.
One of them mumbled something about a large stockpile of old ROMs but was
unable to confirm it.
 
Now, I'm trying to find a dealer who has TOS 1.4 upgrades!  The upgrades seem
to be very slow in making it to the New England area.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 89  14:55 GMT
From: Russ Evans <E_GS18%vaxa.nerc-murchison.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Spectre and other Mac emulators
 
Hi!  Especially to the Mac emulation experts - may I pick your brains?
 
** Background
I am working in collaboration with University colleagues in California,
who are totally Mac oriented.  I need to exchange documents and data with
them in Mac formats.  My first inclination was to get a Mac emulator for my
Atari, but, as I will describe below, my attempts have not worked out, and my
employers are now the proud owners of a shiny new SE 2/20 which sits on my lab
bench, alongside my ST.  I continue to be interested in buying a Mac emulator
to use with my home Atari, but I have many questions, most of them rather
basic.  Although I have been reading the lists for some months, these issues
have not come up directly, so maybe the answers will be of interest to a wider
group.
 
** A mini-review of the Aladin emulator
I describe my experiences with this product, in part because it may be of
general interest, and in part to place my questions about the Spectre in
context.  My first step in the quest for an emulator was to approach my
friendly local Atari dealer.  He was not too clued up on Mac emulators, but let
me have an Aladin emulator and its associated disk translator for a couple of
weeks on a 'sale or return' basis.  The basic Aladin emulator consists of the
usual cartridge, which comes with a set of 48k (?) ROMs, and a set of disks -
Atari, Mac and Aladin formats - with the software which rearranges the ST to
make it look like a Mac, some software for copying Mac disks to Aladin format
via the serial ports, and a hard disk installation utility.  Note that there
is no Mac system software.  The (floppy) disk translator consists of another
cartridge and a program for the ST which runs under TOS.  To copy disks, it is
necessary to switch off the ST, replace the Aladin cartridge with the exchanger
cartridge, remove any external floppy and connect the output of the translator
cartridge to the external floppy port, and reboot TOS.  The file copy program
takes five minutes or so to copy an 800k disk, and requires a bit of disk
juggling even on a 1Mb machine.  The makers of Aladin say that it may not be
able to read Mac disks on all STs.  For my application, where I anticipate doing
a fair bit of work with Apple format disks, all this is a major drawback.  In
principal, I could perhaps buy a second 1Mb Atari and keep it on standby, but
the cost doesn't make sense.  The Aladin/translator combo costs about US$600
in the UK; a second Atari would cost about the same, and they total to more
than the cost of a Mac Plus!  (All 'education' prices, by the way).  Which
brings me to the second drawback of the Aladin - because it has the very old
ROMs, it won't run current Mac software, such as Hypercard and Excel 2.2 :-(.
I had a very hard time finding a friendly Apple dealer who would let me have
a copy of an out-of-date Mac system, and I never did get the Aladin to read
HFS format Mac disks, even though the documentation said it was possible.  It
seems that a special disk driver is required; I was unable to trace a copy.
So I returned the Aladin to my friendly local dealer with thanks but no sale!
 
** Spectre in the UK
I also tried to find out about Spectre, having seen the good notices on this
list.  The UK distributors are HiSoft, originators of the excellent DevPac ST
and other products.  They appear rather uninterested in marketing the Spectre,
however.  My friendly local dealer wasn't able to get any useful information
from them and when I called them myself, I found only an answering machine.
I left a polite message explaining my application and requesting information,
but to date have received no response.  I also tried to email Dave Small at
the uucp address he gave here, but I gave up after about half a dozen attempts
to stuff the message down a DECnet/JANET/BITNET/uucp chain, which taught me
some more about mailers, but not much about Spectre!  The only info I have
managed to get on Spectre is the prices of UKL289 [US$470] for Spectre 128,
plus about UKL90 [US$140] for startup kit and printer drivers, and UKL379
[US$600] for the Spectre GCR.  Questions below!
 
Last weekend, I called at another local Atari dealer.  He had an interesting
demo disk, apparently from a German company who expect to market it in a few
months' time, which turned his Mega into a Mac.  Please note: no cartridge in
sight.  I wonder about this.  I guess the disk contains a copy of the firmware
from the Mac ROMs.  The Atari was running Version 6, so it must be a copy of
the 128k or 256k(?) ROMs.  Given Apple's litigious inclinations, I would be
surprised if they could get away with such a thing.  Can any of you shed any
light on this product?
 
Dealer 2 also said that he was planning to import some Spectre 128s direct from
the US and would undercut HiSoft to sell at about UKL200 [US$320].  He said
also that he would be marketing a cartridge which would allow any normal ST
external drive to read Mac disks.  This was not connected with Spectre GCR,
which he said was not available yet in the US (so I informed him of what I had
read here!).  Again, any information?  I gained the impression the Mac disk
reader had a European origin.  The description did not match the Aladin
translator.
 
** At last!  The questions!
1. I understand that Spectre 128 uses 128k Mac ROMs, and runs Version 6
software.  I have also been told that current Macs are running 256k ROMs and
that Version 7 will support virtual memory (though I presume only on the '030
models).  How will this affect Spectre users?
 
2. What facilities for disk access does Spectre GCR support?  Can I read files
directly from a Mac disk into my application?  Most importantly, is the GCR
an add-on extra to the Spectre 128, or is it complete in itself?
(Comment: at UK prices of UKL760 [US$1200] for 128+GCR+support kit, it would
make a real Mac look quite cheap!)
 
3. Are there any differences between the US and UK versions?
 
4. Should I consider buying one when I am in California next month?  How much
should I expect to pay?
 
5. Can anyone comment on the reliability of Spectre 128 or GCR?
(Comment: I bought a BMS hard disk kit a couple of years back, and experienced
a chip failure within a couple of days of starting up.  No flames on BMS; chips
do fail sometimes and they exchanged the card for a new one without question on
my next visit.  Nice guys to do business with.  But I'm a long way away if I am
looking for support!)
 
6. Is there a good Atari shack in the Santa Barbara area?  Given that it's the
kind of area where anything less than a Mac IIci is considered demode (please
reinstate accents!), I would be surprised to find one.  Alternatively, I will
also be visiting the west Bay area, specifically Menlo Park, although I expect
to be very busy at that time.  Can anyone recommend a good place?  Directions
from, say, downtown Palo Alto at El Camino Real would be particularly helpful.
Perhaps there's a good store in Sunnyvale :~)
 
I hope you guys don't find the length of this msg an abuse of bandwidth.
As usual, I'll happily summarize comments received by mail.
 
Russ Evans
c/o British Geological Survey, Edinburgh, UK
 
Signature ?  You mean, sign my name ?  Sorry, I only ever learned to type ....
 
Please reply to any of the following accounts, preferably the first :
    1.  e_gs18@va.nmh.ac.uk        (BITNET->JANET - used daily)
         ~ Note - underscore
    2.  j.r.evans@edinburgh.ac.uk  (BITNET->JANET - used often)
    3.  revans@nsfnet-relay        (Internet in UK - used occasionally)
    4.  evans@sbgel.ucsb.edu       (Internet in US - rarely used)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Nov 89 13:15:04 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!tnoibbc!remco@uunet.uu.net  (Remco Bruyne)
Subject: SPECTRE OWNERS: need SOUNDMASTER !
 
Hello,
 
I just received SPECTRE GCR ('the one that reads MAC floppies') and
I would like to try soundmaster. I have version 1.0 but I have no sound
files. Can anyone mail me some (binhex-ed) files ? I would also be glad
if you could send me a newer version of soundmaster (if it exists).
 
BTW: SPECTRE GCR works like a charm. I do much of my work on it and it
     (almost) never crashes. Mac floppies are read flawless(ly?).
 
Thanks in advance, Remco
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1989 09:28 EST
From: Greg Csullog <01659%AECLCR.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Vapourware!!!
 
How many netters have actually used a NeXT computer or even seen one. Just
because YOU have not seen one does not mean it does not exist or it is
vapourware. The same goes for the TT, the ATW, the STACY, the LYNX.
 
Why do some many netters bash Atari in the Atari forum? If you hate Atari
so much, get on the Mac or PC forum circuit and stop suffering. Let us
Atari users have fun without having to listen to your bitching.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 06 NOV 89 09:04:33 CST
From: Z4648252 <Z4648252%SFAUSTIN.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: WordPerfect ST vs. version 5.0
 
    A question was asked regarding how the ST version of WordPerfect compared
to version 5.0 for other systems:  IBM and Amiga.
    The current WordPerfect ST has always approached version 5.0 in features
and is more flexible than version 4.1 for the IBM.
    What we don't get is a true WYSIWYG environment and the ability to mix
graphics.  We also don't have the ability to SORT.
    We have the ability to use our accessories which is a feature not
existing for the IBM version 5.xxx or the Amiga 5.xxx.  These two versions
have to use libraries supplied by WordPerfect to give an accessory type
world.  Both the Mac versions (version 1.xxx) and ST versions allow real
pull down menus or key commands.  Currently, the IBM and Amiga versions
don't allow this without optional third party add-ons.
    In my biased opinion, WordPerfect ST is a superior product if one
does not need a graphics/text document, that is, mixing pictures, etc.,
with text.  It is fast and is phenomenally flexible.
    In my other biased opinion, if one needs to have such a constant
graphics/text environment in a fast word processing mode, as opposed to a
DTPing mode, I'd recommend buying Spectre GCR, connect it to at least a
two-megged ST, and then buy FullWrite Professional from Ashton Tate.  I
use both products several hours a day on my ST and honestly wonder how I
was able to write without them.
    WordPerfect is soliciting ideas from users.  The best idea is to
"join the revolution" and *BUY* their product if one doesn't need the
graphics/text environment.  It is only if WordPerfect's bookkeeper can
post a profit for the ST version when we will see further enhancement.
    We will get a FullWrite type environment if WordPerfect is truly
supported by STers.  Incidentally, the current version is incredibly
rock solid...
 
DISCLAIMER:  I don't work for WordPerfect, Gadgets by Small, or
   Ashton Tate, but sure wish I had the brains to do so....
 
 
Larry Rymal:  |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #611
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