INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Wed, 29 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 722
 
Today's Topics:
                  For Sale:520ST RGB & Software $475
                            Shareware Mac
                     SIMULA (Was: Re: C++ on ST?)
                          Still searching...
                            Vapourware!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 28 Nov 89 17:37:36 GMT
From: hpda!hpcuhb!hp-ses!hpdml93!rona@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Ron Abramson)
Subject: For Sale:520ST RGB & Software $475
Message-ID: <15480002@hpdml93.HP.COM>
 
    I've decided to sell my 2nd Atari system.  I already have a
    1040 system and bought this one for my wife.  Unfortunately,
    she hasn't shown a lot of interest.
 
 
    HARDWARE:
 
     Atari 520ST  1/2 Meg of memory
     Atari RGB Color monitor
     Atari Single Sided 3.5" floppy drive
For $50 more I'll add:
     Star Gemini 10X Printer (sorry, I can't include the
                              cable as I upgraded my printer
                              and never bought another)
 
    SOFTWARE:
 
     1st Word (Easy to use Word Processor)
     ST Basic
     VIP Professional (Lotus 1-2-3 Clone)
     DEGAS (Color Drawing Program)
     Top Gun (fly around, shoot 'em up game)
 
     2 disks of Ron's favorite PD software
       (or YOUR favorites if you know what
        you want, I probably have it!)
 
 
    $475 Takes all.  Add $50 if you want the printer.
    I will consider any reasonable offer.
 
 
                  email: rona@hpdml92.HP.COM
                  phone: 1-208-323-4293 (days)
                               377-9021 (nights)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 29 Nov 89 15:21:03 GMT
From: matthews@umd5.umd.edu  (Mike Matthews)
Subject: Shareware Mac
Message-ID: <5694@umd5.umd.edu>
 
In article <3870@netmbx.UUCP> hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) writes:
>>I kinda hope that this shareware Mac thing specifically checks for illegal
 ROMs.
>How?
>I suspect Pit to read in the ROMs from a standard ROM cartridge (this
>simple thing with 2 sockets and a 7400 that plugs to the cartridge port
>and offers 128 KBytes of ROM); it would be impossible to tell original
>chips from copies in EPROM.
>But it would leave responsibility to the user; the author of the
>software does not suggest the user to do anything illeagal...
>
>hase
>--
>Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP
 
'Impossible' is a word best left out of computer hacker's works.  Dave Small
checks for illegal ROMs/EPROMs in  his Spectre 128 and Spectre GCR cartridges.
ROMs and EPROMS aren't EXACTLY the same, in some manner.  Perhaps he tests the
speed of retrieval.  Perhaps he tests some sort of electrical property, such
as resistance or somesuch (I know nothing about this, but it's just an idea).
 
If the author of the software invites people to illegally copy ROMs or whatnot,
then 99 times out of 100, the user will copy the ROMs.  Especially if you HAVE
to.
 
Mike
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 29 Nov 89 10:55:56 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!laura!klute%trillian@uunet.uu.net
Subject: SIMULA (Was: Re: C++ on ST?)
Message-ID: <1771@laura.UUCP>
 
Path: trillian
!klute
 
In article <2455@stl.stc.co.uk> "David Price" <dhp@stl.stc.co.uk> writes:
>Alternatively, are there any C/C++ developers listening who are adventurous
>enough to release the *first* accessible Object-Oriented language for the ST?
>(NB Little Smalltalk is not suitable for large scale development and the
>Dortmund Smalltalk-80 is too expensive (about 600 sterling) and needs 4Mb)
 
If you want to do object oriented programming you definitly
should have a look at SIMULA. SIMULA is an object oriented
programming language available on a bunch of machines
*including* the Atari ST (see below). This is what you get:
 
- Object oriented programming. A typical SIMULA program
  consists of a set of interacting processes or *objects*.
  Objects are incarnations of some proto-object or *class*,
  generated (and later perhaps terminated) during the execution
  of the program.  In this manner a program written in SIMULA
  may map the problem solution conveniently and cleanly.
 
- Objects may act independently of each other in
  "quasi-parallel". This enables the class objects to act as
  coroutines, so that the action of one object may be
  temporarily suspended, later to be resumed at the exact point
  of suspension. This feature is not found in other high-level
  languages.
 
- List processing. The class "Simset" may be applied to add
  list processing capabilities to the language. The programmer
  will then have tools available for the manipulation of queues
  in an efficient manner (definition of queues, insertion and
  deletion operations etc.)
 
- Simulation. Application of the built-in class "Simulation"
  extends SIMULA to a powerful tool for discrete simulation.
 
- Modularisation. Separate compilation of classes and
  procedures is an integral part of the language. The language
  demands complete type compatibility between the definition
  and the usage of such separately compiled modules. Thus the
  construction of larger SIMULA systems may be divided into
  subtasks, each of which may be parcelled out to different
  work groups, without running the risk of corruption due to
  wrong assumptions about attribute types.
 
- SIMULA programs are highly portable between different
  computer systems (source code compatibility).
 
- Powerful text handling, dynamic arrays, flexible file
  handling, etc.
 
 
Some properties of the SIMULA system for the Atari ST:
 
- Full SIMULA language standard.
  (Well, this will be true from version 2.1 on. The real
  arithmetic in the current version 2.0 is not quite error
  free.)
 
- Compact implementation. The complete system fits on one
  double-side disk.
 
- Small. The compiler needs less than 1 MB even when compiling
  modules consisting of several thousands of source lines.
 
- Fast. Compiling of a source file with say 1000 lines of code
  needs only one minute. The speed of executable SIMULA
  programs is comparable with that of other high-level
  languages.
 
- Complete interfaces to TOS and GEM.
 
- Implementation of a symbolic debugger (source-code debugger)
  is under development.
 
 
Version 2.1 will be available in January 1990 probably. The
price is DM 198,- (ca. 110,- US$ / 71 Pound Sterling today).
Reduced price for students etc. is DM 148,-.
 
Whoever wants to start using SIMULA *now* can spend an extra DM
15,- and get version 2.0 immediately. Version 2.1 will be
delivered as soon as it is available.
 
Send your SIMULA request to simula@unido.uucp or
simula@unido.bitnet.
 
 
  Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@heike.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: 29 Nov 89 05:49:33 GMT
From: hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!ncrcce!rogers@hplabs.hp.com  (Bob Rogers)
Subject: Still searching...
Message-ID: <1762@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM>
 
In article <1830@atari.UUCP> kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) writes:
>Atari Corp. policy is that we offer developer support to registered
>developers, not to end users.  I know how you feel about the issue,
>and I'm sorry if you feel "left out."  It seems to me, though, that it
>just wouldn't be cost effective for us to offer the level of technical
>support we give to developers to end users.
 
What happened to Atari's plans to publish and sell professional quality
documentation?  Earlier this year the Atari spokesman on GEnie said that
it was nearly ready to go to the printers.
 
Why is Atari the only maker of mass-market computers that doesn't publish
technical info or at least work with publishers preparing such material?
--
----
Bob Rogers                    rogers@stpaul.ncr.com  or  rogers@pnet51.cts.com
NCR Comten, St. Paul, MN      GEnie: R.C.ROGERS
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 29 Nov 89 05:42:54 GMT
From: hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrlnk!ncrcce!rogers@hplabs.hp.com  (Bob Rogers)
Subject: Vapourware!!!
Message-ID: <1761@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM>
 
In article <24502@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
>Just to clear up what seems to be a general misunderstanding:
>
>David Paschall-Zimbel says:
>>Yes, I was around on GEnie back in the good old days of 1986.  No, I don't
>>remember reading anything which was labelled "OFFICAL PROMISE" from Neil
>>Harris.
>
>Neil Harris was the *OFFICIAL* representative of Atari Corp.  *ANYTHING*
>he said, unless specifically accompanied by a disclaimer to the contrary
>was  *OFFICIAL*  from Atari Corp.
 
In the October, 1986 issue of "COMPUTE!'s Atari ST" magazine Atari President
Sam Tramiel said (interview, "Sam Tramiel Speaks Out", p21):
 
"When the blit is ready, your 520 and your 1040 will be upgradable with the
blitter.  We're working that out.  There will be no problem for both STs to
take the blit."
 
What might explain this sort of behavior on Atari's part?  Perhaps the answer
is contained in an interview with Jack Tramiel that appeared in the Winter,
1986 issue of "STart".
 
The interviewer said: "The Wall Street Journal wrote, 'Commodore under Jack
Tramiel was notorious for announcing products that never made it to
retailers' shelves.'  That's a perception that must create difficulty in
dealing with retailers."
 
Jack replied: "The retailers, or anyone else I would have problems with - they
do not understand the market, and they must be selling other products than mine
so they like to say what I'm doing is wrong.  When you plan a product that
normally takes 12 months or longer better technology can be produced during
that time.  Then it's important to kill the product before it reaches the
market because it's very expensive to kill after it comes out.  I am not afraid
to announce my intentions, but I'm very careful before I put it on a dealer's
shelf.  Anyway, I'm not working for the Wall Street Journal.  What they say
really doesnn't interest me."
 
--
----
Bob Rogers                    rogers@stpaul.ncr.com  or  rogers@pnet51.cts.com
NCR Comten, St. Paul, MN      GEnie: R.C.ROGERS
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #722
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