INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri, 22 Dec 89       Volume 89 : Issue  848
 
Today's Topics:
                        Absoft Fortran Version
            Copyrights and Commercial Networks and Usenet
                       Improving this newsgroup
                   Merry Christmas, Planet Earth...
               Res Changing (really terminate handler)
                          Unexpandable megas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 89 09:16+0100
From: Ritzert%DMZRZU71.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
Subject: Absoft Fortran Version
Message-ID: <891222081630.079255@DMZRZU71-UNI-MAINZ--GERMANY>
 
> I hear there is revision 2.3 available ? Where did you get it ?
 
In Germany, You get it from Weide in Hilden. V.2.3 does not seem to
differ much from 2.2. In fact, it comes with the docs for 2.2. The
version is nearly 2 years old. I don't think it is worthwile to upgrade
from 2.2.
 
In February, the Absoft people wrote me they were working on an extended
version of the complier including NAMELIST. Has anyone heared if this
version has been released?
 
BTW: does anyone have informations on the state of Fortran 8x? Has it
been released finally or will be x.ge.10 ?
 
Michael
mjr@dmzrzu71.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 22 Dec 89 10:55:29 GMT
From: tramp!walkerb@boulder.colorado.edu  (Brian Walker)
Subject: Copyrights and Commercial Networks and Usenet
Message-ID: <15151@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
 
In article <957@crash.cts.com> canada@crash.cts.com (Diane Barlow Close) writes:
] In article <1989Dec21.041439.24056@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
 gl8f@bessel.acc.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes:
]
] >One thing I did ask Dave Small to clarify, though, was GEnie's
] >compilation copyright. Obviously they cannot claim a compilation
] >copyright on the compilation of comp.sys.atari.st articles, so they
] >will be unable to stop GEnie subscribers from downloading all the
] >c.s.a.st articles and putting them up on BBSes and whatnot.
]
] This is the part that concerns me the most.  According to an author who
] specializes in books on copyrights:
]
]      ``The matter of Dave violating or not violating the law is totally
]      up to USENET, not the attorney general.  You see, these laws are
]      not enforced unless someone cries "fowl".  I assume USENET does
]      not mind if their messages are reproduced and put on another
]      system.
]
]      If USENET doesn't mind, then there is no violation, because they
]      have essentially licensed the use of their messages for other
]      systems.  Technically, all BBS' messages are protected under law
]      from reproduction, IF the system states that access to the system
]      is conditional (ie: use of passwords).  Remember, an authored work
]      is protected under copyright.  Each message is the property of the
]      owner of the BBS.  It doesn't matter  if the BBS contains
]      programs, messages, or "books", they are protected under copyright
]      unless the author/owner claims they are public domain.
 
Who is the owner?  Consider this question.
 
]      Sure, it's wierd, but it's the LETTER of the law.  However, you
]      know as well as I do, it would be stupid to enforce for just
]      messages.
]
]      I'm not saying Dave is a crook.  I happen to like his products
]      and his magazine articles.  I'm just saying USENET could get him.
]      I'm saying this to perhaps inform him, not to threaten him.
 
Note:  USEnet would probably not do much besides complain.
 
]      -- Richard Kelsch
 
[Author's plug deleted]
 
] It certainly does seem unethical for a network such as GEnie to upload,
] basically, public domain messages and then place an anthology copyright
] on them.  In fact, maybe the restrictions will become even greater when
] one considers the overall effect of GEnie's legal system.  What about
] non-profit BBS's which have read-only nodes established with Usenet?
] They may become liable to *GEnie* who owns the copyright ...I am not
] saying that is the way it is, but that is the way it may become.
 
This, I believe, is where we diverge from the realm of philosophical
discussion and enter the far reaches of fantasy.  Whose fantasy?  GEnie's,
for one, if they ever tried to claim ownership of USEnet news articles.
Legally, there is no way GEnie could own the copyright to USEnet messages.
That would be like claiming a copyright on public domain software or claiming
a copyright on something that is already copyrigted.  GEnie can only claim a
compilation copyright, nothing more.  The publisher of an anthology gothic
horror stories cannot possibly claim ownership of the works of Edgar Allen
Poe.  If somebody else published the same stories, the publisher would be
powerless to stop them unless he owned the copyrights on stories by Edgar
Allen Poe.  Likewise, the publisher could not prevent another from publishing
a set of stories which have been placed in the public domain because the
public owns those stories and it would not be legal for the publisher to take
ownership from the public.  This would be theft.
 
Basically, what you propose is ridiculous.  And even if GEnie were foolish
enough to attempt such a thing, the USEnet community could simply pull the
plug.  You're grasping at straws here.
 
Brian Walker, University of Colorado at Boulder
walkerb@tramp.colorado.edu     ...!?ncar,nbires?!boulder!tramp!walkerb
A person who claims that absolute zero is impossible to obtain
has not taken a quiz in thermo yet.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 89 23:38 EST
From: JOHNBARNES@ENH.NIST.GOV
Subject: Improving this newsgroup
 
I accept Marcelino Bernardo's statement about the inadequacies of the
glossy ST press when it comes to real technical information.  My reference
to a library included things like the Abacus and Sybex books as well as
source codes to true public domain programs.
 
Many of the questions asked here, however, do not fall into the category
of technical information.  A number of them are from beginners who might
do well to read Ralph Turner's Help Key column in ST Informer or his
"Atari ST Book".
 
Those questions that are of technical nature, such as the one about
ringing the bell from GEM, oftewn receive rather terse answers that take a
lot of work to implement.  It would be nice to see these as more extended
articles and to have these archived somewhere.
 
The Atari community being what it is, we also see a number of cries for help
coming out of utter darkness.  The newsgroup serves a valuable function in
giving these people a community that they can belong to.
 
One difference between the 8-bit days and modern (ST) times seems to be that
programming has become more complicated and people are less willing to share
their knowledge openly.  Of course in those days we really didn't have
"developers" because Atari was just a game machine.  Nowadays we see oodles of
"public domain" software but very little source code.
 
Ken Badertscher sometimes seems to feel that the only programmers worth talking
to are the ones who are initiated into the Masonic Lodge by paying the fees and
learning the secret handshakes.
 
Atari needs every bit of help it can get.  Every program that actually gets
written and that does what it is supposed to do is one more reason to buy
Atari.   Information that will help accomplish this should be disseminated
as widely as possible.  This newsgroup is one way of doing that and it could
become a truly valuable resource if we could put some more punch into the
discourse.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 22 DEC 89 00:23:34 CST
From: Z4648252 <Z4648252%SFAUSTIN.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
Subject: Merry Christmas, Planet Earth...
Message-ID: <891222.00220189.036999@SFA.CP6>
 
    I am constantly amazed how these nets reach the entire planet, so,
with that in mind....to all STers inhabiting this planet of ours,
Merry Christmas and God bless everyone.  Our link will probably be
down until the 27th, so I want to take the opportunity now to extend
the greetings.
    This is my first year on BitNet and I appreciate all the friends
that I've met here, the information that constantly keeps arriving
regarding the latest news and rumors about the ST.  To me, living in
a very lonely ST world in my area, these facts are like perpetual
gifts.  Thanks again, holiday greetings to all.......
 
Larry Rymal:  |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 22 Dec 89 01:18:20 GMT
From: imagen!atari!apratt@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Allan Pratt)
Subject: Res Changing (really terminate handler)
Message-ID: <1912@atari.UUCP>
 
neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes:
> [Bulk of question deleted.]
>So we put in a terminate handler at vector 0x102 [...]
>Can we call the XBIOS safely from here?
 
Yes.  I wrote an off-the-cuff article "all about terminate handlers"
on GEnie, then asked John Townsend to post it here.  I don't know if he
has, but among other things, it says you can make BIOS and XBIOS calls
but not GEMDOS calls.
 
============================================
Opinions expressed above do not necessarily     -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.      ...ames!atari!apratt
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 22 Dec 89 03:32:00 GMT
From: acf5!mitsolid@nyu.edu  (Thanasis Mitsolides)
Subject: Unexpandable megas
Message-ID: <370009@acf5.NYU.EDU>
 
>/* acf5:comp.sys.atari.st / gl8f@bessel.acc.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) /  4:59
 pm  Dec 20, 1989 */
 
>You are obviously wrong on 2 counts:
 
Ts ts... Let us not get emotional, shall we?
 
>1) Then Atari would have not put SIMMs onto the STE
 
There is such a think like "trying another method when the first one fails"
 
>Leave your silly conspiracy theories at home.
 
I believe that ATARI is out there to make money.
That, I think, is called bussiness.
 
Do you call it a conspiracy?!
 
Thanasis
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #848
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