INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Thu,  9 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 626
 
Today's Topics:
                         Hard Drive Problems
                               MODULA 2
                     SPOOLER source-code wanted!
                           ST parts source?
                      What does the TT Buy me??
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Date: 9 Nov 89 19:29:42 GMT
From: microsoft!w-darekm@uunet.uu.net  (Darek Mihocka)
Subject: Hard Drive Problems
 
In article <480034@hpdml93.HP.COM> rona@hpdml93.HP.COM (Ron Abramson) writes:
>
>Quite some time ago, Allan Pratt posted the following:
>
>Here's how to remove problem accessories and AUTO folder programs:
>
>Turn off your ST, plug your hard disk in, and turn the hard disk on.
>Put the disk called BOOT DISK in Drive A:.  Now turn on your ST, and
>when the Drive A: light comes on, press and hold the "Alternate" key.
...
 
An even easier method is to use a program like Desk Manager or Superboot
which allows you to select your desk accessories and AUTO programs. Just
make sure that Desk Manager is the very first file in the AUTO folder
and that way it will always load before the crashing TSR or accessory. Then
you just nuke it after the first time it bombs.
 
Another way to do it, if you're a masochist, is to stick a command line
interpreter in the AUTO folder so you can rename the files manually.
 
- Darek
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darek Mihocka                   ST Xformer II                  CIS: 73657,2714
Box 2624, Station B            Quick Utilities                   GEnie: DAREKM
Kitchener, Ontario          MegaBlit   SSG   SPX                DELPHI: DAREKM
N2H 6N2                   Shareware, not Vaporware                 BIX: darekm
Canada       Amiga 3000 has a 68030!              CheapNet: microsoft!w-darekm
(519)-747-0386     A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so JUST SAY NO TO TOS.
Opinions expressed are my own and not those of anyone not named Darek Mihocka.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
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Date: Thu, 09 Nov 89 19:54
From: "Thomas Koenig"
 <UI0T%DKAUNI2.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: MODULA 2
 
I know a pretty good Modula2 compiler in Germany. It is SPC-Modula
(current version V1.42). Included are a graphical shell, an editor,
several utilities (a filer, a printer, an online manual, a course in
Modula, ...), all of Wirth's standard modules, a post-mortem-
debugger, GEM libraries, a window system and a few things more.  The
produced code is not as fast as that of Turbo C, but fast
nonetheless.  The handbook and the online manual and language course
are in German, the (more important) module documentation in English.
As far as I know, the English documentation is being worked on. It is
a good product (I use it quite a lot).  Its main drawback is a
restriction of data type size to 32KBytes.  All in all, it is quite a
professional product. The price is about DM 400 (something like
US$ 220).  As far as I know, it is the official ATARI Modula in
Germany.
 
Selling this product is:
 
Advanced Applications Viczena GmbH
Sperlingsweg 19
D - 7500 Karlsruhe
F.R.G.
phone: +49 721 700912
fax  : +49 721 786572
 
I think they might be quite willing to sell their product to the
US or anywhere else.
 
Disclaimer : I don't work for them, I just happen to know the boss
personally.
 
Thomas  Koenig                   UI0T@DKAUNI2.BITNET
                                 UI0T%DKAUNI2.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
(soon: new address, old machine) UI0T@IBM3090.RZ.UNI-KARLSRUHE.DBP.DE
'Ich dachte nicht, ich untersuchte.'            Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
 
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Date: 9 Nov 89 20:26:08 GMT
From: bucsb!harryk@CS.BU.EDU  (Harry Karayiannis)
Subject: SPOOLER source-code wanted!
 
Hi neters!!!
 
   I really need to find any C-source code concerning a printer spooler!
   Any ideas of where to find one, or directly mailed one to me would be
   greately appreciated!
                               Thanks in advance!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 9 Nov 89 18:55:37 GMT
From: orion.oac.uci.edu!mnelson%vmsa.oac.uci.edu@ucsd.edu
Subject: ST parts source?
 
      does anybody know of a source for hard-to-find replacement parts
(electronic components, that is...) for Atari equipment (prefereably
in the L.A. or Orange Co. areas)?  specifically, a friend of mine needs,
and is having trouble finding, just one part:  a capacitor,  2.2uF,
50V non-polar,  radial leads,  over-sized (to dissipate heat better).
note that this is an odd one; most non-polars  are axial, and this is
physically like 4 times bigger than most caps of that value.  it was
found ozzing and bubbling in an Atari ST monochrome monitor, near the high
voltage coil.  it's obviously some sort of a high-frequency filtering cap
(for the flyback circuit?).
      (it was really something to behold... after tracking down 2 blown
voltage regulators, we noticed this capacitor which had blown up.  it
spewed it's plastic-like guts all over neighboring components, leaving
a curtain of goop draped between them all.  quite visually apealling,
actually.  and it smelled like roasting peanuts!)
      please e-mail responses, as i dont regularly read this group
(sorry, but i'm a die-hard Amigan :-)
 
      thanx in advance.   -matt
 
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Date: 9 Nov 89 18:11:40 GMT
From: asuvax!mcdphx!hrc!force!covertr@handies.ucar.edu  (Richard E. Covert)
Subject: What does the TT Buy me??
 
Ok, lets try changing the approach to the TT subject. I own
a complete Mega ST4 with TOS 1.4, Turbo16, the SLM804 laser
printer, and a dual Seagte 65 meg (total = 130 megs) hard drive
from ABCO Computers, both Atari monitors (color and monochrome).
I  have used STs since 1986. I state these facts to show that I
am NOT an Atari Basher, rather that I am disappointed with Atari
The Company.
 
Also, I own Calamus and PageStream and Mark Williams C and a host
of other EXCELLENT software for the ST.
 
My point all along has been :
 
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#     #  #    #   #   #         ##   ##  ###### #     # #     #
#     #  #    #    # #          # # # #  #            #       #
######   #    #     #           #  #  #  #####     ###     ###
#     #  #    #     #           #     #  #         #       #
#     #  #    #     #           #     #  #
######    ####      #           #     #  ######    #       #
 
And I mean the TT/Plastic as it is the most likely TT to make it
to the USA.
 
I get the following:
 
1) GDOS with ALL of its WARTS and faults
 
2) TOS 1.6, with only single tasking
 
3) An increase in speed
 
4) A higher rez color mode (640x480 in 16 colors)
 
Except for the higher color rez I don't see anything in the TT
that would make me want to dump my investment in my current ST
hardware.
 
What would make me buy an Atari computer:
 
1) A FAST CPU, at least a 25 Mhz 68030, with an option to go to
   33 Mhz or even 50 Mhz as Motorola releases the faster cpus.
 
2) ability to change to a 68040 CPU without buying a whole new
   computer. That is why I can Atari computers disposable. In order
   to upgrade to a different CPU you have to "dispose" of your older
   computer.
 
3) A true multi-tasking, multi-windowing OS. I mean, heck the Amiga
   has had multi-tasking since the first A1000 was released.
 
4) An open buss so that 3rd party vendors can develop boards for the TT.
 
5) Better Developer support from Atari, with real discounts given to
   Developers for Atari hardware.
 
6) Real color graphics ala the Macintosh. 640x480 in 16 colors is a joke,
   and Atari should be ashamed for introducing a new machine with such
   limited grpahics?? The TT will be the Atari machine for the early 1990s
   and should be better then that!!
 
7) A replacement for GDOS. Something that uses outline fonts. The Mac system
   beats GDOS all the way to the North Pole!! GDOS is such a memory hog that
   even 4 megs in my ST is limiting!!
 
Sure these items all add to the cost of a computer but they should at least
be options. That way a Power User should spend the extra bucks a Home User
wouldn't have to. By the time the 16 Mhz TT/Plastic makes it to the USA
Motorola will be selling 50 Mhz 68030 cpus.
 
All in all, everything about the TT says if it had been released in Jan 1989
instead of July 1990 it MIGHT have been an acceptable computer. But by the
Summer of 1990, when we can reasonable expect to see the TT on USA shelves,
it will already be outdated by the Amiga A3000, and the Mac IIcx, Mac IIci.
 
What has happened to Atari Corp?? why can't they design and produce a new
machine as nice as the ST was back in 1985?? The ST beat other computers
hands down in 1985. I wish the TT could do the same in 1990!!
 
Richard (Tired of Bashing the TT) Covert
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #626
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