INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Mon,  6 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 609
 
Today's Topics:
                              Am I a DA?
                            archive sites
   DOES ATARI LASER PRINTER WORK ONLY WITH MORE THAN 1 MEG RAM STs:
                       Floppy media-change fix
                 GEMDOS Extended Argument Spec (LONG)
                           GEM help needed
                     laser printer vs. hard drive
                 Memory upgrade affects performance?
                        Smalltalk/v on Spectre
                          terminator archive
                          TOS, Zoo, or Zen?
                                  TT
                    TT vs 386 boxes and Apples...
                            unix on the TT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 06 Nov 89 10:06:17+0100
From: "Remo Hofer" <hofer@urz.unibas.ch>
Subject: Am I a DA?
 
Isn't it a good idea to look to the app_id? I think all ACC's will get a
app_id > 0 and all PRG's will get the app_id = 0. I used this for a little
ship accessory fo the harddisk using TDI Modula-2. The startupcode for
accessories does the right thing for a small utillity (ok it doesn't Mshrink,
but thats no problem for a program like this.) except terminating (but I can do
this using Pterm). I don't know anything about the startupcode except that I
have no chance getting the basepageadress. Any comments?
 
Remo Hofer <hofer@urz.unibas.ch>
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 17:18:08 GMT
From: mcgill-vision!quiche!depeche@BLOOM-BEACON.MIT.EDU  (Sam Alan EZUST)
Subject: archive sites
 
I am trying to get ahold of FATSPEED. On xanth.cs.odu.edu the atari
directory is empty.
on him1.cc.umich.edu I downloaded about four files and all of the
ones are .arc files which I can't extract due to bad headers.
 
does anyone know
1] why xanth's atari directory is empty?
2] why I can't de-arc anything from him1?
3] how I can get FATSPEED?
 
thanks in advance.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 13:19:39 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!tub!tubopal!alderaan@uunet.uu.net  (Thomas Cervera)
Subject: DOES ATARI LASER PRINTER WORK ONLY WITH MORE THAN 1 MEG RAM STs:
 
In article <8911032129.AA27713@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu>
 ia4@CUNIXD.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Imran Anwar) writes:
>
>       DOES ATARI LASER PRINTER NEED MORE THAN 1 MEG RAM ?
>       -       -       -       -       -       -       -
 
  Yep. The SLM804 does not have local memory. It allocates parts of the ST's
memory to store images. This takes about 1Meg, as I know.
  Where do you think are the bucks you save not buying a LaserJet ? :-)
 
--
Thomas Cervera         | UUCP:   alderaan@tubopal.UUCP
SysMan RKOpdp (RSTS/E) |         ...!unido!tub!opal!alderaan (Europe)
D-1000 Berlin 30       |         ...!pyramid!tub!opal!alderaan (World)
Motzstrasze 14         | BITNET: alderaan%tubopal@DB0TUI11.BITNET (saves $$$)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 13:35:53 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!tub!tubopal!alderaan@uunet.uu.net  (Thomas Cervera)
Subject: Floppy media-change fix
 
In article <123.255145A9@metnet.FIDONET.ORG>
 Mark.Johnson@p0.f30.n147.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Mark Johnson) writes:
>For the time being, any time you swap disk, be sure to either press the
>ESC key or click on the top shaded bar of the item selector before
>saving/reading to the new floppy. This forces a directory update of the
>newly-inserted disk and will be a nice work-around until you can get to
>a hardware solution.
 
  Er, as far as I know, this wouldn't help you so much because TOS doesn't
recognize the media change if you have the hardware problem. Because the disk
is only re-read only on media change, you'll get the data for updating the
windows from memory. => no effect.
  Workaround for pre-1.4 releases of TOS: toggle the write-protect status of
your disk and insert it again. TOS then recognizes a media change and the ESC
key will cause a re-read.
  TOS 1.4 forces a media change every time you press ESC; this is a real fix
to the problem.
 
--
Thomas Cervera         | UUCP:   alderaan@tubopal.UUCP
SysMan RKOpdp (RSTS/E) |         ...!unido!tub!opal!alderaan (Europe)
D-1000 Berlin 30       |         ...!pyramid!tub!opal!alderaan (World)
Motzstrasze 14         | BITNET: alderaan%tubopal@DB0TUI11.BITNET (saves $$$)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Nov 89 09:02:38 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!laura!klute%trillian@uunet.uu.net
Subject: GEMDOS Extended Argument Spec (LONG)
 
Path: trillian
!klute
 
 
Nice to get that document! I admit I have not read it yet, only
searched for the word "official" - and failed. Comments?
 
  Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@trillian.irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
  Univ. Dortmund, IRB             klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
  Postfach 500500         |)|/    ...uunet!mcvax!unido!klute
D-4600 Dortmund 50        |\|\    Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Nov 89 02:20:00 GMT
From: inmet!hedger@uunet.uu.net
Subject: GEM help needed
 
Okay.....I'm close to giving up (not really just terribly frustrated).
I've spent all day trying to get a full screen rectangle to appear on the
screen and wait for me to hit the return key before ending the GEM
program. I've been largely successful except that, try as I might, I
cannot get the screen 'fill' stuff to set to a particular color.
 
I do the following:
 
appl_init()
v_opnvwk()
vsf_perimeter()
vsf_style()
vsf_interior()
vsf_color()
v_bar()
 
The above stuff works and when the program is run I get a full screen
rectangle. I can adjust the parms in vsf_style and vsf_interior and
get the expected different patterns and cross hatching and stuff.
No matter what I do though, the vsf_color call doesn't seem to work.
I never get a rectangle with a colored fill, whether it's a solid pattern
or one of the special patterns.
All of the examples I can find in my Mark Williams C documentation or
the Balma/Fittler GEM book basically call vsf_color with the vdi handle
and the color. This is what I'm doing....no luck.
 
Obviously I haven't included all of the var declarations and the stuff
to wait for the return key to be hit....this stuff all works fine.
 
If anyone can shed any light on this problem, I would really appreciate
it a lot.
and ....
thanks again,
 
 
=====================================================================
|                                                                   |
| Keith Hedger :  ?...!?uunet!inmet!hedger   hedger@inmet.inmet.com |
|    'It is a sad, but beautiful world..........'                   |
=====================================================================
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 3 Nov 89 12:28:53 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!grahamt@uunet.uu.net  (Graham Thomas)
Subject: laser printer vs. hard drive
 
Thanks to Richard Covert, Ian Powell & co. for their tips on how to
maintain access to disk drives without having the SLM804 laser
printer switched fully on.
 
We have a slightly different problem concerning the printer and the
hard drive.  We have two 'desktop publishing' setups featuring Mega 4,
SH205 20mb Atari hard drive and laser printer.  One was bought in
Spring 88, the other the following Autumn.  The first is connected as
per the manual, i.e. the DMA connection runs CPU->Printer Controller->
Hard Disk.  I works OK, usually, and we have few problems with
autobooting using the Atari software supplied at the time
(SH204DVR.SYS is installed on drive C:).
 
The second configuration, however, does not work when connected this
way.  The hard disk is not recognised.  However, when we connect it
differently, i.e. CPU->Hard Disk->Printer Controller, it works.  At
least, it works some of the time, for we often have difficulty at
boot-up time, when the system decides it wants to boot up from the
floppy.
 
I suspect this is due to timing problems in the DMA channel, and would
like to be able to reconnect the system in the 'proper' way.  But how
can I get it to recognise the existence of the hard disk if I do?  I
now have a copy of HDX v3.01 (sent by a friend in America - I assume
there would be no problems using it on a UK setup), so does anyone
think that reformatting the hard disk with it would solve the problem?
 
When the SLM804 came out, the UK magazine ST World reviewed the same
desktop publishing setup that we have, and they too found that they
had to connect the peripherals in the same non-standard manner, so I'm
relatively confident that we didn't do anything drastically wrong (or
different from the first setup) when we installed the second
configuration.  Does anyone have information that could help, or at
least explain the puzzle?
 
Thanks,
 
Graham
--
Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK
 JANET: grahamt@uk.ac.sussex.syma  EARN/BITNET: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk
 ARPA:  grahamt%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
 UUCP:  grahamt@syma.uucp          Phone: +44 273 686758
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 22:57:14 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!gos.ukc.ac.uk!dac@uunet.uu.net  (David Clear)
Subject: Memory upgrade affects performance?
 
In article <1184@cbnewsi.ATT.COM> dmk@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (daniel.m.kuster..jr,ho,)
 writes:
>The thing I don't understand is that the computer takes at least
>4 times as long to boot (possibly longer).  Is TOS running some
>kind of memory test, or is it just zeroing out RAM?
 
When the ST boots it finds out the current memory configuration. It writes
bit patterns throughout the memory of the machine and reads them back until
it finds an error (ie end of memory). The larger your RAM, the longer this
process will take.
 
>once that system is up and running, it takes a lot longer for
>applications to load and run.
 
As I understand it, when an application is loaded, the memory above that
application is cleared (not just the BSS, *ALL* free memory below _memtop).
So once again, the more memory there is in the machine, the longer this will
take. I think there's a bit in the program header you can change to tell
GEMDOS to just clear the BSS and leave the rest of memory alone. I don't
know any more than that.
 
>The one thing that I noticed is that if I configure and install a
>large RAM disk (?1.5 Meg) the loading and running of applications
>goes much faster.
 
If you have a large ramdisk (or anything else that eats memory) then there
is less free memory to clear when a program loads and so the application
will start sooner.
 
It may be a good idea to try to follow up the magic bit to stop the memory
being cleared but otherwise I guess you'll have to live with it. It's a
small price to pay for such a gross amount of memory :-)
 
>dan
 
Dave.
 
 
--
% cc life.c                      | David Clear <dac@ukc.ac.uk>
% a.out                          | Computer Science, University of Kent,
Segmentation fault (core dumped) | Canterbury, England.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 16:44:09 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com!buggs@uunet.uu.net  (William Edward JuneJr)
Subject: Smalltalk/v on Spectre
 
>Is there anyone out there that has tried to run Smalltalk/V on
>the Spectre 128 or GCR Mac emulators.  If so what problems did you
>experience.
 
>Ian Powell
>ya16@uk.co.gec-mrc.a
 
Now that DOES sound interesting! How 'bout other language systems?
 
Ed June
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 4 Nov 89 04:06:54 GMT
From:
 mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!icdoc!tsun10.doc.ic.ac.uk!zmact59@uunet.uu
.net  (C A Newton)
Subject: terminator archive
 
Could anybody tell me if it is stil possible to access the
terminator archive via mail from the uk?
 
I have tried for a long time now but have received no replies.
thanx,
Paul
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 16:22:36 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com!buggs@uunet.uu.net  (William Edward JuneJr)
Subject: TOS, Zoo, or Zen?
 
>I am thinking about applying 'cause of some Forem Utilities that I
>want to market as ShareWare.
>
>
>Rich Covert
 
Such as? What node do you run?
 
Ed June
FNET node 386 *&* Fido node 1:133/403
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Nov 89 05:29:44 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!blake!ramsi
ri@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Enartloc Nhoj)
Subject: TT
 
I get the impression there are lots of disatisfied
"want to own a TT" netters out there. (no sh__!) Not simply because
we're going to have to wait for Comdex and then some, but
because the first issue TT will not really be the machine
of our dreams.  I know for myself, I am not about to throw
a couple (?) of thousand into a system to satisfy me in the
short term.
 
I need faith that the next system I buy will be open enough and
powerful enough that i can work with it for a few years without
despair.  If there are "lots and lots" of VME cards out there,
wouldn't it be nice to be able _IF YOU WANT TO_ to put lots and
lots of VME cards in your TT?  How hard is it going to be
to eventually upgrade the TT/P to an 040?  WOuld it be easier
to do so on a TT/x?  WHy/why not?
 
The TT/x sounds like a great machine.  How many netters are going
to bypass the TT/P and wait for the TT/x?  Basically, what I am
saying is, can we really get all that excited about the TT/P?
 
So it's going to cost more to get better graphics, better RAM,
more slots etc... but, I am not necessarily looking for a "deal".
Again, you _sometimes_ get what you pay for. At this point, I
am willing to PAY for it.
 
A Mac?  An IBM?   No way...
 
I  want a state of the art machine and still be
able to run my niffty ATARI software i have invested in over the
last several years.
 
The strange thing is that i have a hard time believing that i
am still considering buying an 030 that won't multitask all that
niffty GEM software i have on my drive.
 
 Oh no, not this again:  Multitasking GEM/TOS?
 
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 4 Nov 89 16:41:33 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!turing!q1cbw@uunet.uu.net  (D.C. Halliday)
Subject: TT vs 386 boxes and Apples...
 
There seems to be some confusion over the availability of the ATW. As far as I
know it is available here in the UK to the public at large if thay can afford
the price tag. This university has 2 and may be getting some more.
 
                  Dave Halliday.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Nov 89 16:15:13 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com!buggs@uunet.uu.net  (William Edward JuneJr)
Subject: unix on the TT
 
> - Rob DeMillo                  | UUCP:   ...ima!brunix!rjd
>
>In other words, there is a reason why the Atari ST is still around:
>europe.
 
 
MUST be nice!
 
Ed June
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #609
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