INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Wed,  6 Dec 89       Volume 89 : Issue 759
 
Today's Topics:
                  Atari ST as video edit controller
                           Dear Rich Covert
                         Geez, gimme a break
                     INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 #746
                  Just Wondering   . . . . . . . . .
                           Mono Games??????
            Once again: Seagate ST296N and Interleave 1:1
             Prototyping board for the ST cartridge port
                             unsuscribing
                       VT100 emulator cartridge
                        Who owns the ROM code?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 89 20:08:00 PST
From: EESD11O%CALSTATE.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU  (Ed Krimen)
Subject: Atari ST as video edit controller
 
Mike Russell writes:
 
> Does anyone have info on a new software product for the Atari
> ST that turns it into an edit controller?  I'm sure I saw something
> posted recently on this.
 
Antic has something called Cyber VCR which is supposed to allow the ST
to control a Sony 8mm or Beta VCR.  You may be able to find it in their
Catalog in STart magazine (but someone said that they don't put it in
there anymore).  Or you can give them a call at 1-800-234-7001 or
415-957-0886.  Their address is 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA
94107.  I hope that's what you were looking for.
 
> Mike Russell ucbvax!pixar!mike
                      ~~~~~
You work at Pixar?  You guys do some REAL nice stuff!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1989 23:19 EST
From: Greg Csullog <01659%AECLCR.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Dear Rich Covert
 
I agree with the netter who wondered whether or not dear old Rich actually
understands Laser printing speed. Hey Rich, for your benefit I'll rephrase
an earlier posting.
 
1. I digitized a photo of my daughter with the Migraph Hand Scanner.
 
2. I printed the .IMG file from a Mega 2 to an SLM804 and it took less
   than 1.5 minutes.
 
3. I printed the same file from an AT at 10 MHz with an 80287 also at
   10 MHz (overall NORTON SI = 12.4). and the pic took just over 44 minutes
   printing from GEM Paint.   <<< Yeah, 44 MINUTES >>>
 
The difference is due to transmission speed.
 
Hey, if you really believe in this 11 ppm, 8 ppm, 6 ppm stuff, that lakefront
property in Canada's Arctic is still for sale and has your name written all
over it!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1989 23:29 EST
From: Greg Csullog <01659%AECLCR.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: Geez, gimme a break
 
Hey Marcelino, lighten up! If your version of VP Pro has Kermit server then
I'm glad to hear about it. However, skip the dragging down the competition
crap. I am allowed to make a mistake. Hell, Rich Covert is allowed to make
a dozen in each posting. Geez!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 89 18:05:38 EST
From: Marcelino Bernardo <MBERNAR%ERENJ.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 #746
 
Jan Ameij <AMEIJ%vax.oxford.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>  mentioned that
he had been having problems using Uniterm with VAX Kermit-32 when
transfering binary files.
 
The problem is on VAX Kermit-32.  If you select file type binary, it
insists of changing the binary file's record length.  As you have
discovered, the fix is to set file type to fixed in Kermit-32 and
set Uniterm's file type to binary.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 00:56:34 EST
From: Marcelino Bernardo <MBERNAR%ERENJ.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Just Wondering   . . . . . . . . .
 
I was thinking.  How can people who write pages and pages of messages
on their own OPINION on various matters manage to find time to do
other things: like work?  It takes me many precious seconds just to
skip over them is this slowwwww IBM VM/CMS mainframe.
 
A word of advice:  The more you talk, the less people listen.
 
Regards,
Marcelino Bernardo
mbernar@erenj.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 89 20:05:47 PST
From: EESD11O%CALSTATE.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU  (Ed Krimen)
Subject: Mono Games??????
 
Eric Hobbs writes:
 
> Hey Peoples,
>
>     Can anyone out there in net land give me a list of good PD games
> that can run in monochrome? Oh, BTW, tell me where I can get them.
 
Bolo is a great Breakout-type game.  It was written in Megamax C, I
believe.  I only have the single-sided disk version on my BBS
(916-894-1261), but there is a double-sided version that is supposed to
play great music while the game is loading.  The game also works in
medium resolution.
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 04:41+0100
From: Ritzert%DMZRZU71.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
Subject: Once again: Seagate ST296N and Interleave 1:1
Message-ID: <891206034145.728957@DMZRZU71-UNI-MAINZ--GERMANY>
 
Recently, I had the opportunity to attach a Seagate ST296N with ROM8 and
Firmware 12 to my Supra host adaptor instead of my own 296 with ROM 8
and Firmware 11. Here the results I obtained with ICD's ratehd and
quickdex 1.0. Driver software was Supra's version 3.30.
 
a) Interleave 1:1, 21.23 MB partition (d:), empty
          ratehd:   20 ms, 57 k/s
          quickdex: DMA:      509 %
                    Gemdos:   2486 %
 
b) Interleave 1:2, else same configuration as above
          ratehd:   28 ms, 407 k/s
          quickdex: DMA:      4290 %
                    Gemdos:   2463 %
 
c) Interleave 1:2, partition size 14.15 MB (d:), empty
          ratehd:   26 ms, 408 k/s
          quickdex: DMA:      4355 %
                    Gemdos:   2419 %
 
The system has TOS1.4 in ROM. With AHDI 3.01, the drive was slower, DMA
gave c3800 %, Gemdos c1600 %. My own 296 with Firmware 11 nearly
reproduces these numbers. On OS/9 with its 256 Byte sectors the drive
doesn't run correctly at interleave 1:1, too. This has been verified on
industry systems (Eltec, latest OS/9 version) and not on STs. During the
experiments with OS/9 it turned out that the drives were not true SCSI.
Completely new driving software had to be developed to make this special
HD work at all with the small sectors.
 
Conclusions:
 - Even the 8/12-versions of the st296n cannot be expected running at
   interleave 1:1.
 - In contrast to assumptions issued in earlier postings on this subject,
   the host adaptor does not affect the transfer rate of the drive. Why
   should it? Its only task is to convert the ASCI commands to their
   SCSI equivalents and to pass the data 8 bit parallel with handshaking
   both toward the HD controller and the computer. And all host adaptors
   for the ST can be used with much faster harddisks at their full
   speed. (I know that the SCSI protocol is more complicated than the
   ASCI protocol. But either it works or it doesn't. Nothing in between.)
 
So, if You are looking for a cheap and big harddisk and don't mind
running it at interleave 1:2, the 296 might be interesting. But the
st277n, 65 MB, is cheaper and faster (to my knowledge, the st296n is
the only Seagate SCSI drive which has problems at interleave 1:1).
So I really would recommend not to consider the st296n anymore unless
You get a VERY excellent price (You should figure out how much the size
advantage of the 296 over the 277 compensates for its speed disadvantage
in Your opinion.)
 
Quite recently, Fujitsu has released a series of very interesting SCSI
disks. They are nearly as fast as the Quantums and much cheaper. There
is a 180 MB version at about the price of the 80 MB Quantum, a c130 MB
thing, a drive with about 80 MB priced similar to the st296n, and a
small one of some 40 MB. (I am writing from Germany !!!). I don't have
the precise specs at hand so I cannot be more precise on that subject.
When I have sold my st296 I will probably have a very close look at it
in the future. Maybe I have the opportunity to check one of them (the
180 MB) in the next days. Any interest in a further benchmark?
 
Michael Ritzert
mjr@dmzru71.bitnet
 
P.S.: I remember a "test" including both the 180 MB Fujitsu drive and the
ST296N in one of the last issues of the German ST Magazin. It confirmed
the benchmarks above.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 00:14:48 EST
From: Marcelino Bernardo <MBERNAR%ERENJ.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Prototyping board for the ST cartridge port
 
Ignac A. Kolenko asks if there are prototyping boards available for the
ST's cartridge port.  In the June 1987 issue of Byte, there was an article
by Tim G. Hunkler on building an interface board for the cartridge port.
In it, he used a used a board from Douglas Electronics.
 
   Proto board Part number 33-DE40
 
   Douglas Electronics
   718 Marina Blvd.
   San Leandro, CA 94577
   (415)483-8770
 
Hopefully this place is still around.  Let me know how it works out.
 
Regards,
Marcelino Bernardo         mbernar@erenj.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 89 00:21:58 EST
From: Martin Lacasse Rm015 <isaac@physics.mcgill.ca>
Subject: unsuscribing
Message-ID: <8912060521.AA13207@frodo.physics.mcgill.ca>
 
unsuscribe
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 89 18:35:43 EST
From: Marcelino Bernardo <MBERNAR%ERENJ.BITNET@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: VT100 emulator cartridge
 
Andrew Semple wondered whether he should buy a VT100 emulator cartrige
that was collecting dusts in a dealer's shelf for $10.  Don't.  The dusts
alone should give a hint on how much demand there is for such a beast.
For free, you could get yourself a wonderful PD software, Uniterm 2.0e.
(Maybe $4 from PD disk archives).  This not only does VT100 but also
Tektronics 4010, VT220 and other terminals.
 
Regards,
Marcelino Bernardo
mbernar@erenj.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 89 12:11:27 GMT
From: Chris Ridd <RiddCJ%computer-science.birmingham.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Who owns the ROM code?
Message-ID: <8912061211.aa03001@benjamin.Cs.Bham.AC.UK>
 
A slightly off-beat question, but I've been wondering for a while.
 
Who owns the object and source codes to the parts of the Atari ROMs?  ie,
the BIOS, XBIOS, Line A, GEMDOS, VDI, AES?  My own thoughts are:
   BIOS  : Atari written
   XBIOS : Atari written and altered as time passed (blitter call)
   Line A: Atari written and altered to handle blitters
   GEMDOS: DRI written, but Atari altered in TOS 1.4
   VDI   : DRI written, has Atari ever altered it?
   AES   : DRI written, Atari HAS altered it with new calls (eg fsel_exinput)
 
What claims does Digital Research have on the VDI, AES and GEMDOS?  From the
Hitchhiker's Guide et al, I thought that DRI wrote GEMDOS, if so how can Atari
alter it?
 
For a fairly simple enhancement to GEM, how about allowing more windows, like
16, instead of the current meagre 8?  This would allow all the DAs a window,
and lots for the App (encouraging the use of modeless dialogues).  If I ever
designed something like the AES, I would have written #define NWINDOWS 8 or
some such-like, so would be able to change it later.
 
Shades of the MS Write discussion earlier this year!
 
/*
 * Snail mail address:
 * Chris Ridd,                   "Wave after wave, each mightier than the last
 * School of Computer Science,  'Til last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep
 * Birmingham University,         And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged
 * UK                              Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame"
 *
 */
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #759
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