=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri,  6 Apr 90       Volume 90 : Issue  419
 
Today's Topics:
                          Acc DTA Malloc AES
                           Amiga/Atari help
                               Atari TT
                      floppy disk-change (again)
                Let's hear more about Toronto, Please!
                 Misc: 1040STe , SIMM , AVAILABILITY
                      Upgrading Mega 2 to Mega 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Apr 90 12:48:24 GMT
From: uupsi!sunic!dkuug!imada!micro@nyu.edu  (Claus Pedersen)
Subject: Acc DTA Malloc AES
Message-ID: <732@imada.dk>
 
I hope that some of you could help me.
 
   I have 3 problems - no one really, and thats ACC's. No one can
ever have written an ACC without having these problems - and I just
don't want to reenvent the wheel...
 
   First two simple questions :
      1) Does 'fsel_input' use 'Fsfirst', 'Fsnext' ?
      2) Is there, way to find the size of a file - without
         using 'Fsfirst' ?
 
   If the answer is 'NO' to 1) or if 'fsel_input' has a private DTA,
and 'YES' to 2), then please tell me how find the size of a file,
without using low level comands (eg sector read).
 
   The reason is that I don't want my ACC break the current running
program by using or setting the DTA.
 
   If the ACC uses the 'default' DTA, it will write in some
'undefined' memory which might be used by the running program (or an
other ACC). In fact it will use the DTA from the current running
program (Defaults to the comandline!!, in a real program).
 
   It shuld be real easy to do, as the basepage contains an pointer
to the DTA (p_dta), which means that every process can have it's own
DTA. As 'Fsetdta' and 'Fgetdta' are relying on the '*SYSHDR->_run'
pointer, which points to the basepage of the active process, there
should be no problems, BUT '*SYSHDR->_run' never points to the
basepage of an ACC, not even when it is supposed to do it's
initiation!
 
   The second problem - 'Malloc' - yes I guess you know, GEMDOS
allocates memory to an ACC under the name (pointer to the basepage)
of the current running process, which means that the allocated memory
dies with the process. (If this is done to minimize fragmentation, I
say it is a bit drastic!).
   Again it appears that all the features are there. As things are
now, ACCs are merly fancy TSR program, and not real processes. If
there was a way of getting '*SYSHDR->_run' to be updated correctly,
it appears that the two problems would be fixed or ???
   Also problems with 'Pexec'ing programs from an ACC, could probaly
get fixed too (that is, if ACCs was real processes).
 
   As to Matthew Lodge's experiment with AC_CLOSE, it appears that
EVERY? AES call automatically makes a call to the process switcher.
Try to make an ACC which opens a window, and the AC_CLOSE looking
something like this :
 
      case AC_CLOSE:
         Cconws("acc closed");
         Cconin();
         form_alert(1,"[1][|Closed][OK]");
      break;
 
   Is there anybody who can help me getting the DTA and Malloc
working. I would also like to hear about alternative ways to follow.
 
I am not a developer, and have "The Hichhikers Guide ...", "The
GEMDOS Manual", "Pexec cookbook", "Atari ST Profibuch" and "TC v1.1"
but none of these fine documents could help me.
 
I am using a Mega2 with TOS1.4.
 
 
Thanks for the time
 
      Klaus Pedersen  (micro@imada.dk).
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Apr 90 19:14:51 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!peregrine!ccicpg!cci632!rit!ritcsh!ultb!dc
 r3567@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (D.C. Richardson)
Subject: Amiga/Atari help
Message-ID: <2633@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
 
>Greetings-
Hello.
>
[Stuff about getting rid of Mac and getting Amiga or ST deleted]
 
>1- Is there an Amiga system with a 68030 microprocessor, capable of running
>   a real implementation of UNIX?
Well, yes and no.
  There is a 25 MHz Amiga 2500/30 with 3 megs of ram (2
megs 32 bit, 1 meg Chip ram) and 68882. It has all the hooks to run Unix
but the software isn't out yet.  It *SHOULD* be released withing 30-60
days.
 
>3- Do either of these companies offer discounts to college students (even if
>   their campus micro-supplier doesn't carry these lines)?
 
C= offers hefty student/educator discounts (about 40-50%) A 2500/30 w/
40 hard drive (and 2 meg Ram sockets) 25 MHz, IBM At (8 MHz) bridgeboard
with 1.2 meg drive, monitor and 1 3.5" drive is $3,700.  For about $400
more you can emulate a Floppy based Mac+.
 
>   supermarket, but I haven't had any luck at Kroger ;)
   They're not at the local Wegman's yet either.. :)
>
>5- Any additional insight you could share would be greatly appreciated.
 
I forsee rain today, cloudy tomorrow with Tuesday having a high degree
of humidity.  Wednesday will be clear and sunny.  But then again, you're
not in Rochester.. :)
>
>I've used an Atari 1024 (? I think that's what it was) in the assembly
>language class here at IU, and was rather impressed with it's capabilities
>and especially its potential.  The only experience I've had with an Amiga
>is a friend with an Amiga 500 and a bunch of video games.
Play with both machines for a long time before you decide.  I don't know
much about the ST, so I want say anything about it.  From what I read
about the new machines, they sound nice (although I don't like the ST's.
Having 2 monitors bugs me).
 
  I have an Amiga 2000, and love it.  A few suggestions though:
If cost isn't much of a problem (as I suspect, if you want an '030
machine)
For No Mac Emulation:  Get the A2500/30 bundle.  It contains the Amiga
2500 with a 25 MHz 68030 & 68882 with 3 megs of ram:  1 Meg for
Video/Sound/General and 2 megs of REAL fast 32 bit ram.  It also has the
a2091 HD controller with 40 meg auto-booting hard drive. (and sockets
for 2 megs of RAM).  Also included is an IBM AT (Hardware) on a card
running at 8 MHz with a 1.2 Meg floppy (and can use the hard drive also)
and a decent monitor (1084.. ok, but I prefer a multisync.  Work out a
deal with your dealer, my suggestion).  This costs $3700 w/o Multisync.
See your dealer for details on the Discount program.
 
If you DO want Mac Emulation, get:
A2500/30 CPU
IVS TrumpCard HD controller & 40-80 Meg Hard drive
A-Max utilities (By IVS makers)
A-Max Package (ROMs, software, and floppy drive (if you want))
Multi-Sync Monitor (Nec 3D, Mit. Diamond Scan, and Princeton Ultra-Sync
   are all great)
    This set-up will allow you to use: Amiga w/ auto-booting hard drive,
    Mac Emulation with the hard drive (& optional Mac Floppy, if you
    need to transfer software, otherwise, it's not necessary), and have
    a VERY fast machine that will accept Unix when it comes out RSN.
This will cost a little more (get best prices.. shop around), but will
be an incredible system.`
 
As a side note, I hear there is an Atari ST/STE emulator in the works.
If true, you could get this machine and run:  Amiga, Unix, Macintosh,
IBM AT, and Atari ST software from 1 box.  All but the latter is already
out and runs nice.  (sorry, Unix, isn't out JUST yet, but has been
showcased running X-Windows)
>
>Thanks for the space -
No problem.
 
-Dan
--
Daniel C. Richardson
Rochester Institute Of Technology     /    Mechanical Engineering Dept.
"Immaturity Is The Essence Of Humanity.  Children Shall Be Our Saviors"
-Red's Dream
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Apr 90 16:35:00 GMT
From:
 pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!news
 -server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!masnet!canremote!calvin.bruner@tut.cis.
 ohio-state.edu  (CALVIN BRUNER)
Subject: Atari TT
Message-ID: <90040612224786@masnet.uucp>
 
According to Atari Canada at the Toronto Atari show, the TT is to be
made available to developers in June, and to the general public in the
fall of this year.  This is probably the most realistic time frame I
have heard, and as it came from the horses mouth, I tend to think that
it is a fairly accurate time frame.
---
 * Via ProDoor 3.1R
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Apr 90 21:50:54 GMT
From: maytag!water!ljdickey@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (L.J.Dickey)
Subject: floppy disk-change (again)
Message-ID: <3135@water.waterloo.edu>
 
In article <221@dms3b1.UUCP> dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) writes:
 %      ...     We have several Mega ST4's at work
 % with TOS1.4, and they definitely appear to have problems distinguishing
 % when a diskette has been changed.  If we change a diskette and
 % don't explicitly open a window with the A drive and then hit
 % 'ESC' to force it to re-read the disk, we get garbage on file transfers.
 % It acts like it's reading the first cluster correctly, then goes
 % off in the weeds, which is exactly what would be expected if the
 % FAT was wrong.
 
I think this can happen if you have two or more disks with the same
(internal) serial number. The Atari reads this internal serial
number, and can be fooled into thinking that the floppies are the
same.  You can create floppies with the same serial number in at
least two ways:
 
        (1)  At least one disk formatter I know of always puts
        the same serial number on all disks.
 
        (2) One of my buddies [uh.. make that acquaintances] has a
        disk copier that he thinks is just great.  It copies the
        whole disk, track by track.  His "nifty" copier just
        happens to also copy the serial number, too.  The
        result is two floppies with the same serial number.
 
Of course this might not be your problem, I don't know, but you
might check it out.   The lovely utility called VOL will
give you the serial number.  VOL was distributed to this news
group some time ago, and is available, I am sure, from some
of the file servers.
 
--
    Leroy J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
        ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
        ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca     ljdickey@water.bitnet
        ljdickey@water.UUCP             ..!uunet!watmath!ljdickey
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Apr 90 21:32:46 GMT
From: maytag!water!ljdickey@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (L.J.Dickey)
Subject: Let's hear more about Toronto, Please!
Message-ID: <3134@water.waterloo.edu>
 
>4.) How many vendors were there?  Who were they?
 
Sorry, no facts, no names; just impressions and anecdotes.
 
It is my impression that there were 20 or 30 booths.
 
Some ailes were so crowded that it was difficult to move around.
 
There were swift sales in cheap floppy disks and discounted software.
 
Now, for some anecdotes:
 
The first was a conversation I overheard, as I was paying for a
purchase.  A lady came to the sales booth and asked the price for a
certain product.  The price was 719, the dealer said.  She mentioned
that another dealer, from out of town, offered the same product for
699, and would this store match their price?  The dealer repeated that
his price was 719.  The lady turned and went away.  Then the dealer
said to his co-worker:  for 20 dollars, that lady just bought herself a
problem, because the first time she has trouble with her product, she
will find herself driving 60 miles to get to the other shop.
 
Some of the booths were software only, with sales direct from the
programmer.  At least one was software only, but with sales from big name
dealer.  Some booths had both hardware and software (like stores from
Toronto and the surrounding area).  A few were manufacturers or
wholesalers (such as Atari, one ram board manufacturer, and one
was a hard disk sellers).  I was interested in this strange category
of representatives who had something to show, but nothing to sell
(to the public).  They only show or demonstrate things and hope that
the customer will remember and buy from one of their dealers.  I remember
one in particular who had a couple of products on his table. He had no
name on his product, and no literature about it on the table.  I wondered
if he had ever taken a course in marketing.
 
I asked the man behind the table where they were located and did they
have a specification sheet or brochure about his product.
He said that they were not selling at that booth, and that we [the poor
slobs who had to attend the show] were lucky that they, [the wonderful
importer of the product] had come at all.  Specifically, he said, "We
dinn't have to come here, you know."  My mind immediately associated his
personality with one of his anatomical orifices.
 
There were a number of cars with Michigan, NewYork, Pennsylvania and
Ohio license plates in the parking lot.  I heard customers asking
dealers if this product or that had FCC approval.  [The answer was yes,
because there was some FCC number on the back.]  One amusing customer
asked a Canadian sales clerk what the US import duties would be for
this fine new monitor that he was just about to buy.  The clerk, of
course, did not know, but I suspect that in the end, the transaction
may have been deemed to have taken place some day in March, and not
April first, and that the sales slip may have reflected this.
 
One dealer who came to the show, but who did not have a booth, told me
in casual conversation that he expects, in the near future, to sell
only those models of Stacey that have two meg or more.  He said that
many of his customers had expressed interest in the Stacey, but were
disappointed when they saw only a 1 Meg Machine.  Apparently he has
tried to install memory expansion boards and found it difficult (or
impossible?) to fit in.  Also, customers wanted hard drives, said he.
He expects Stacey with more memory and hard drives to be available in
May.  We will wait and see.
 
--
    Leroy J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
        ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
        ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca     ljdickey@water.bitnet
        ljdickey@water.UUCP             ..!uunet!watmath!ljdickey
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 3 Apr 90 19:57:07 GMT
From:
 pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.
 gov!peregrine!ccicpg!cci632!rit!ritcsh!ultb!ajy2208@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
 (A.J. Yarusso)
Subject: Misc: 1040STe , SIMM , AVAILABILITY
Message-ID: <2657@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
 
In article <28501@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
>Gregory Lemperle-Kerr says..
>>I found a dealer in Canada that will ship an STe to the US.  His add
>>is in STart magazine.
>
>Have you actually been able to buy an STE from this dealer..?  Has he actuall
>been able to ship an STE across the border.?
>
>Can you tell us who this dealer is..?
>
>BobR
 
I was in Canada recently, and I talked to a dealer who said he's
already mailed several STE's to the US.  He didn't seem to think there
was anything wrong with doing this.
 
And on my trip to Toronto Sunday (to the 2nd Canadian Atari Fair) I
saw TONS of Atari equipment:  Stacy's (the boxes were labelled LST),
STEs, Monitors (both Monochrome and Colour), Megafile 30's and 44's,
CDARs (CD Rom player), Lynx's, and Portfolios.  Did I leave anything
out?  I've learned NEVER to go to another one of these shows without
first bringing several thousand dollars.  :-)
 
Prices were pretty high though for the hardware.  $1800 for a 1Meg
Floppy version of the Stacy.  $750 for the CDAR, $200 for a monochrome
monitor, $500+ for a Spectre GCR (!!!), and so on.  These are
Canadian dollars, but the exchange rate was only 12%, so you won't
save too much if you're from the US.
 
Another thing I noticed was that there were only a handful of
developers and a great number of dealers.  This is just the opposite
of a US Show, where there are tons of developers and not as many
vendors.
 
I did get to meet the fine folks at Gribnif, Double Click, Stratos
Software, Atari Canada, and others.  Bob Brodie was also present and
I spoke with him for a few minutes.
 
It was very very busy too.  Also, if you get a chance to go to Toronto,
stop by the CN Tower and take the 'Tour of the Universe'..  Neat!
 
  Enough rambling for now, I'm sure others will post their impressions
  of the show..
_____________________________________________________________________________
 Albert Yarusso, Rochester     ajy2208@ritvax.bitnet
 Institute of Tech. _________________________________________________________
 Computer Science  /___   /    ?rutgers, ames?!rochester!ultb!ajy2208
______________________/  /     ajy2208@ultb!isc!rit.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 6 Apr 90 18:48:16 GMT
From: sdcc6!sdcc13!pa1562@ucsd.edu  (C. SQuibby Breyman)
Subject: Upgrading Mega 2 to Mega 4
Message-ID: <9552@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
 
I tried bumping my 520stfm up to 1meg the same way. Solder wick
sockets and caps. I socketed and capped. Runs ok. Added DRAM, boots
gets verticle lines and bombs. Serious bombs. So badly that it
didn't even display them. Tried reboot. No luck. Added some resit
ors to the resitor slotss next to the ram. Comes up ok but only
recognizes the lower half of memory. I probably fried the chips, but
as I don't have a device to test them I am fairly S.O.L. The problem
with these upgrades is that there are too many places that might
need something new. There are at least three solder-bubble jumpers
on the motherboard. There is also room for a blitter. I am going to
see if I can diagnose my error, otherwise just go JRI. I figure I
can then use the SIMMs in a workstation when it comes time.
 
Sinc,\
c. "Squibby" Breyman
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #419
*****************************************
