=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Tue, 13 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  197
 
Today's Topics:
                      64 pin socket for PC Speed
                         Bookmark for the ST?
                OK, so they sell the STe in Europe...
                  PageStream 1.8 virus (not a rumor)
                        Read/Write to DMA port
                             Tape Backup
                         The 'PHANTOM TYPIST'
             Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
                         Wordperfect problems
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 90 16:10:00 EST
From: Greg Csullog <01659%AECLCR.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: 64 pin socket for PC Speed
Message-ID: <90Feb13.170233est.57483@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
 
As described earlier on the net, I installed PC Speed in my Mega. This
involved soldering the supplied 64 pin DIP socket on top of my 68000. I
want to be able to move PC Speed to another machine, which involves
soldering another 64 pin socket on that machine's 68000. Problem is, I
need another two 64 pin sockets (the second inserts in the soldered one to
raise the PC SPeed board a reasonable distance off the Mega's motherboard),
I called Active Electronics & they  want 5.11 each but a minimum order of
$25 is required. Does anyone know where I can buy two such sockets without
having to blow $25 just to fulfill a minimum order requirement.
 
Note: I am looking for suppliers in Ontario, Canada if at all possible. It
does  not matter whether the supplier is commercial or private - I just want
the sockets.
 
Thanks in advance!!!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 22:17:00 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!hyc@tut.cis.ohio
 -state.edu  (Howard Chu)
Subject: Bookmark for the ST?
Message-ID: <10917@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu>
 
In article <22492@mimsy.umd.edu> bane@mimsy.umd.edu (John R. Bane) writes:
>Does there exist, PD/shareware/commercial software for the ST that can do
>a RAM image dump at intervals to help you recover from crashes?  The
>phantom typist bit my wife again twice today; the first time she was
>able to mouse Save and reboot with no damage done -- the second time
>she lost an hour's work and her temper.
 
Switchback can sort of do what you want. You can use it to partition your
ST memory into chunks of 512K, 1meg, or 2meg (don't remember if there were
other supported sizes) and run different programs in each partition, or
take snapshots of the current partition and save them in other partitions.
Then you run their buffer utility to save a partition to disk.
 
The switchback software could probably be altered to not use partitions,
and just dump and restore all of memory as a single block, but it would need
about 4K for control info. (That's how much it eats out of each of the
partitions it sets up.)
 
(I just bought one of these a couple weeks ago; I like it a lot. Really
slick. Of course, I use it with a Mega-4, with more RAM in an UltraDisk,
so I can really put this thing thru its paces...) It's unfortunate that
Alpha Systems no longer makes their UltraDisks - 4meg of memory there is
quite the handy thing to have. I can run Minix in 4 meg and TOS in another
4 meg, and swap between the two at the touch of a button. Also, since the
UltraDisk is battery backed up, if your machine locks up, as long as you
had a copy of the current image stored there, you can just toggle the
power and swap it back in and keep right on running. This is one of the
most awesome hardware/software combos I've seen for the ST; I'm kind of
surprised more people aren't using it.
 
I don't have their number handy right now, but you should be able to look
'em up in most ST magazines. I ordered Switchback straight from them and
got it via UPS in 3 days. It works really well, I like it a lot...
 
(No affiliation, just a satisfied customer...)
--
  -- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 11:53:40 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!exspes@uunet.uu.net  (P E Smee)
Subject: OK, so they sell the STe in Europe...
Message-ID: <1990Feb13.115340.5645@bath.ac.uk>
 
In article <4876ef20.14a1f@force.UUCP> covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert)
 writes:
>
>Jan, the USA market is being relegated to Third World Status by the marketing
>of Atari Corp. There is no other explanation for Atari Corp selling new
 products
>in Europe first. As far as the USA market being so much smaller than the
 Europoen
>market, that is the fault of Atari Corp. If Atari Corp were to aggresively
 market
>the Atari ST/TT computers here in the USA, than the USA market would be bigger
>then the Europeon market.
 
There is ONE good reason for selling to Europe first.  In general, FCC type
approval is harder to get than the corresponding approvals in Europe.  So,
Atari can begin selling the machines over here before they have been
tightened down to FCC specs.  Or, in other words, it may be that Europe is
being used to 'bug-chase' the machines before they are released in the
States, rather than being favored.  Certainly, if problems DO occur with the
early versions of a machine, it is better to have them surface in the market
which is potentially smaller, rather than in the one which is potentially
large.
 
 
--
Paul Smee, Univ of Bristol Comp Centre, Bristol BS8 1TW, Tel +44 272 303132
 Smee@bristol.ac.uk  :-)  (..!uunet!ukc!gdr.bath.ac.uk!exspes if you MUST)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 13:06:32 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!usc!srhqla!quad1!ttidca!woodside@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
 (George Woodside)
Subject: PageStream 1.8 virus (not a rumor)
Message-ID: <9906@ttidca.TTI.COM>
 
In article <28923@brunix.UUCP> rjd@cs.brown.edu (Rob Demillo) writes:
...[edited]...
>This is directly from the horse's mouth, as it were...the statement
>was issued by SoftLogik, Inc. to the ST Report. It the statement it
>is refered to as the "key virus." (Anyone hear of this?) Any of the
>anti-virus programs should take care of it, but Soft Logik is,
>of course, exchanging disks if you are nervous.
 
The "KEY" virus is the most widespread virus in the USA. That is
because it displays no symptoms, it only spreads. It represents
two dangers:
1) It spreads to every disk that passes through the ST while the
virus is active, thus wiping out existing executable boot sectors
on disks which must have them. This can render a disk which must
be self-booting useless.
 
2) It is called the "KEY" virus because, once installed in a
system, it checks every passing disk for a "KEY" value in the
boot sector. If it locates one, it will cause the execution of
whatever code is on that disk, even if the machine is not being
powered up or reset at the time the "KEY" disk is located. There
have been no episodes of a "KEY" disk being located reported, to
date. That doesn't mean they don't exist. That only means that
I haven't heard of them, or the victim of whatever the "KEY" did
was not aware of the cause (which is quite likely, if such an event
has occurred).
 
Every virus killer I've seen (or written, of course) will eradicate
this virus.
 
--
* George R. Woodside - Citicorp/TTI - Santa Monica, CA *
* Path:       woodside@ttidca                          *
*   or:       ..!?philabs|csun|psivax?!ttidca!woodside *
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 90 23:38:50 GMT
From: ZUCCONI%FRMOP11.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Read/Write to DMA port
 
Date: 13 February 1990, 23:37:13 GMT
From: J.-M. Zucconi             (+33) 81666900       ZUCCONI  at FRMOP11
To:   info-atari16@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
Subject: read/write to the DMA port
 
 
        I try to use the DMA port to write and read data (not in DMA mode)
typically to send commands to an external controller. The problem I meet
is that I can't read safely from the DMA port. After several checkings
I have found that I always read the last byte written on the port. Further
investigations show that if I wait 'some' time before reading the port, the
value returns to zero. The following code shows that. It should be noted
that during execution, NOTHING is connected to the DMA port!
        I write the value 0xff to the port. If the parameter 'time' is set
to 0x1fff, I read 0xff. when time is set to 0x5fff, I read 0x0 (correctly?)
and if time is set to 0x3fff, I get 0xe0 !!!
 
Could someone tell me what is wrong in my code and how to write/read via the
DMA port?
 
        Thanks
                J.-M.
 
------------ CUT HERE -----------------------------------------------
flock   EQU     $43E
diskctl EQU     $FF8604
fifo    EQU     $FF8606
 
; ...initializations take place here
 
        BSR     super_on        ;go in supervisor mode
        ST      flock           ;turn off floppy
        MOVE    #$1C8,fifo      ;set DMA mode register to write data
 
        MOVE    #$FF,diskctl    ;write data on DMA port
 
        MOVE    #$C8,fifo       ;set DMA mode register to read data
        BSR     pause           ; pause
 
        MOVE    diskctl,D0      ;read data on DMA port
        BSR     affiche_status  ;and prints value
        SF      flock           ;turn on floppy
        BSR     super_off       ;return in user mode
 
; end of the program...
 
pause   MOVE.L  #time,D1 ;delay loop. time is set between $1FFF and $5FFF
loop    SUB.L   #1,D1
        BNE     loop
        RTS
 
------------ CUT HERE -----------------------------------------------
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Jean-Marc Zucconi
ZUCCONI@FRMOP11.BITNET
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 21:19:24 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!mintaka!ogicse!plains!blee@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (blee)
Subject: Tape Backup
Message-ID: <3411@plains.UUCP>
 
I just got off the phone with Vance Chin of Berkley Micro Systems.
Unfortunately I was not able to confirm the information
given by Alex Leavens.
  When I spoke to Vance (2:30 centeral, 2/13/90), he said that
the controler (BMS200) was $150 if I wanted a case with it; a shoe box
case (6x6x?12 (not the same as Alex's case)) with the bord was
$250.
  Then I asked about software:  He assumed I wanted it for a hard
drive, so he said that software for the tape backup would be extra
(I don't remeber if any price was given).
 
  The only thing he said that was positive (in my view) was that
the BMS200 is the only controler that can handle 1:1 interleave
on the larger drives.
 
  I hope this does not detract from Alex.  I thank him for his personal
reply to questions about his equipment.  There is a $100 discrepency
here and I would like to know where this is comming from.  Possibly
just a salesman who wanted to get some extra commission or Alex received
a break for repeat business.
 
  I don't work for anyone listed, I have no gripes with anyone,
I just hope I saved a phone call for someone...
 
Blaine Lee
blee @ plains.nodak.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 11:48:58 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!exspes@uunet.uu.net  (P E Smee)
Subject: The 'PHANTOM TYPIST'
Message-ID: <1990Feb13.114858.5081@bath.ac.uk>
 
In article <900204.10484196.021631@SFA.CP6> Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252)
 writes:
>
>    There has been an increasing amount of talk about the 'phantom
>typist' on the ST, in which the computer appears to slow down and
>whatever characters are stored in the keyboard buffer, appear, albeit
>slowly.  Some programs which have keyboard commands, such as WordPerfect
 
I heard rumours some time ago that this was a side-effect (maybe or maybe
not intentional) of an early PD program called UHRLI.ACC, which when
selected would put a small digital clock display inside a tiny window.
I certainly have not seen the problem since I bought a cheap digital
watch to hang beside the computer, and stopped using UHRLI.  May just
be coincidence, though.
 
 
 
--
Paul Smee, Univ of Bristol Comp Centre, Bristol BS8 1TW, Tel +44 272 303132
 Smee@bristol.ac.uk  :-)  (..!uunet!ukc!gdr.bath.ac.uk!exspes if you MUST)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 21:05:46 GMT
From: usenet.ins.cwru.edu!usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu!bammi@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
 (Jwahar R. Bammi)
Subject: Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
Message-ID: <BAMMI.90Feb13160032@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.Edu>
 
In article <2420@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) writes:
 
> Since we have recompiled GEMDOS and BIOS source code, but no AES and
> VDI source code, the only people to solve the problem are ATARI US.
>
        Who is "we". the reason i ask is that atariUS is refusing to
distribute source code for gemdos/bios here like they used to with the
developer kit. i am curious if atari germany if distributing it to
developers there.
--
--
bang:   ?any internet host?!dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu!bammi  jwahar r. bammi
domain: bammi@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu
GEnie:  J.Bammi
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Feb 90 17:49:53 GMT
From: van-bc!ubc-cs!alberta!ccu!bright@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Bob Bright)
Subject: Wordperfect problems
Message-ID: <1990Feb13.174953.23123@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
 
In article <1653@lakesys.lakesys.com> rich@lakesys.UUCP (Richard Dankert)
 writes:
>In article <2170@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca> depeche@calvin.cs.mcgill.ca (Sam Alan
 EZUST) writes:
>>
>>If I run it directly from floppy, it works fine, but if I boot from
>>hard disk and run it, the F5-List files  doesn't work very well. It
>>displays ONLY folders, but no files, so I can't see what is on my disk.
>
>       I have run into this problem, and found that WP is not the cause,
>but rather a program called DC SHOWIT, from Double Click software. Seems
>that the two interfear with each other.
 
     I also noticed this problem as soon as I installed DC SHOWIT.  I
sent a note to Double Click regarding the problem, and Mike Vederman
replied that he was aware of the problem, and had fixed it in a more
recent version of DC SHOWIT.  In the meantime I've been using the
original version without problems (except of course that the WP file
selector only list directories; I've been using the GEM file selector
option in WP).
     Mike, could you please post the fixed version?  I really like DC
SHOWIT (great piece of work!!), but I want my WP file selector back!
(While you're at it, maybe you could patch SHOWIT so that it properly
displays text files with newline separators, rather than just CR/LF
pairs?)  BBB
 
--
Bob Bright <bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Dept. of Philosophy
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Man  R3T 2N2  (204) 474-9680
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #197
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