=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri,  2 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  142
 
Today's Topics:
                        A couple of questions
           Atari's Quarterly Results ($5.4 Million Lost) :)
                           Ataris and Midi
           dates and time (Was: All BBS's speak English??)
                         Fancy Screen Savers
                           help, C division
                         Resettable RAM Disk
                    SF 354 ===> double sided drive
                          Shareware Policy.
                            Stacy's Power
             Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
                  Want pseudo-trap handler examples
                         Wordup 2.0 (2 msgs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 19:55:08 GMT
From:
 swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs.toronto.edu!omicron.cs.fs
 u.edu!fsucs.cs.fsu.edu!boyd@ucsd.edu  (Mickey Boyd)
Subject: A couple of questions
Message-ID: <9002011954.AA16642@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu>
 
In article <1981@mrsvr.UUCP>, news@mrsvr.UUCP (News Manager) writes:
>
>1) I recently found on a local BBS a program that supposedly formats Atari
>disks to 1 Meg (on a DS drive).  Since I personally have never succeeded in
>formatting past 810K I was wondering if this program could really work or if
>it could really screw up a disk.
>
This may be possible with some really packed disk formats, but the media
would be highly unreliable.  I have seen formatters go out to 83 tracks,
11 sectors reliable ON PARTICULAR DRIVES.  You just have to experiment
and see how much stuff you can cram on a disk reliably.  I have found
that 82 tracks, 10 sectors, twisted works fine for me and most of the
other drives I encounter, but I still run into one occasionally that will
not read a disk.  It seems to be the track number that gives drives
problems, anything above 80 is not guarenteed.  I use 80 tracks, 10 sectors
twisted for anything I would cry over if I lost, just to be safe.
 
 
--
 
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
         Mickey Boyd                 |    "Nobody can be exactly like me.
                                     |      Even I have trouble doing it."
             FSU Comp Sci            |              - Tallulah Bankhead
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 19:45:27 GMT
From: wuarchive!uwm.edu!carroll1!dnewton@decwrl.dec.com  (Dave Newton the Late)
Subject: Atari's Quarterly Results ($5.4 Million Lost) :)
Message-ID: <1153@carroll1.cc.edu>
 
In article <20396@watdragon.waterloo.edu> swklassen@tiger.waterloo.edu (Steven
 W. Klassen) writes:
:The PC clones never made it to the USA?  I'm almost certain that I've seen
:them in a store here in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
 
   That's not the USA.
 
--
David L. Newton                 |           uunet!marque!carroll1!dnewton
(414) 524-7343 (work)           |              dnewton@carroll1.cc.edu
(414) 524-6809 (home)           |           100 NE Ave, Waukesha WI 53186
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 30 Jan 90 21:01:32 GMT
From: att!drutx!druwa!dvac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Daniel Vachon)
Subject: Ataris and Midi
Message-ID: <4620@druwa.ATT.COM>
 
Our band is wanting to get into some Midi now that we have a Yamaha PTX8
Electronic Drumkit, Yamaha TX16W Sampler, and a Kawai keyboard, all Midi..
 
I priced the stuff I would have to get for my Apple II at about $225 to get
on board with it.  A friend of mine said he could get me a 1040ST with built
in 800K drive, 1 Meg RAM, and Monitor for about $500.
 
My question is directed to those Midi Mongers out there who play with midi
all the time.... Is the Atari the best computer for Midi for the price?!
Is the midi software good?!  We just want to use the Midi Computer as a
sequencer to throw some keys on top of some stuff that we want to do, but
are short an extra band member...  However, I would like to get something
that is flexible enough so that if we decide we want to sequence together
like 3 or key tracks and a couple tracks of sampled sounds, etc... if
we get the burning urge...
 
I would like to get open-minded comments...So please give good and bad points
about Midi on the Atari-ST.   Also, does most of the good Midid software work
on both the 1040 and the 520?!  If we can get by with spending even less for
the 520 and still get the use out of the sequencer that we want, that would be
great also...
 
Thanks in advance for any info!
 
Later - Dan Vachon -  !att!druwa!dvac
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 19:27:02 GMT
From: maytag!water!ljdickey@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (L.J.Dickey)
Subject: dates and time (Was: All BBS's speak English??)
Message-ID: <2950@water.waterloo.edu>
 
In article <10973@etana.tut.fi> av74381@korppi.tut.fi (Vesterinen Arto) writes:
 |  ...
 | I would like to make things little easier for my users and get a Finnish
 | speaking BBS software. There are also other confusing things than language,
 | for example dates should be of form dd-mm-yy, not mm-dd-yy.
 
I agree that mm-dd-yy is not good, but neither is dd-mm-yy has its problems,
too.  There is international agreement on this form yyyy-mm-dd and
that is why ISO has standardized it.  Everybody understands it the
first time;  for instance 1990-02-01 would not likely be mistaken to
mean Jan 2nd.  (It makes perfect sense if you consider the logical
continuation yyyy-mm-dd hh:ss.)  You should make your bulletin
board conform to the new standard so that young bbs users will
learn the "best" way.
 
 |  Time should be military time, not AM/PM form.
 
What makes the 24 hour clock "military" time.  There are lots of items
used by military personnel, but that does not make the item "military".
 
--
    L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
        ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca     ljdickey@water.BITNET
        ljdickey@water.UUCP             ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey
        ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 18:17:36 GMT
From: ncis.tis.llnl.gov!blackbird!udecc!udcps3!vanleeuw@lll-winken.llnl.gov
 (James Van Leeuwen)
Subject: Fancy Screen Savers
Message-ID: <1990Feb1.181736.26556@udcps3.cps.udayton.edu>
 
In article <8471@pogo.WV.TEK.COM> bluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM (Bob Luneski) writes:
>On the subject of fancy screen savers...
>
>There is a very nice one on Genie called STARSTRK.ARC (file #13445) that
>displays random starbust pattern. Stars are in color on a color monitor
>It's very nice on a mono monitor because you don't just get the black/white
>reversal but a real screen saver. The downsides: 1) it's a ACC rather than
>a autofolder item(i.e. it takes one of the six precious spots) 2) the idle
>timeout length is hardwired to 3 minutes. All in all it's the best(and
>certainly the most entertaining) screen saver around.
>
 
 >****************************************************************************
>*  Bob Luneski  :-?                              bluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM  *
>*                                                                          *
>*  The opinions expressed herein are my own and in no way reflect the      *
>*  opinions of Tektronix, Inc.                                             *
>****************************************************************************
 
My personal opinion about this screen saver are mixed.  I like the concept, but
it has this strange problem of messing up screen draws (even the GEM Desktop).
I have found another program, which instead of having starbursts, has the
Atari fuji symbol.  I'll post it to comp.binaries.atari.st and see what
everyone thinks...
 
Jim                                              vanleeuw@udcps3.cps.udayton.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 90 12:53:33 -0900
From: <FTJLH%ALASKA.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: help, C division
 
    how ever do I read something like a structure in and out of a file,
in C-on-a-VAX? I was trying to do a little database deal (I think), and
structures in a file seemed the only way to proceed. All suggestions
gratefully received. Thanks.
 
    j harris      fairbanks\alaska where the cars don't go thru the ice
until mid May!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 20:47:54 GMT
From: hp-sdd!hp-pcd!hplsla!andyc@hplabs.hp.com  (Andy Cassino)
Subject: Resettable RAM Disk
Message-ID: <5440102@hplsla.HP.COM>
 
|
|Coderam, included on the Codehead Utility disk, is the best ramdisk program
|I have used (of many).  It is reset-proof (really), and supports many different
|sized partitions (from a menu at bootup, will go to a user-default in about
|5 seconds).  This program, along with the others on the disk, are well worth
|the price.  These guys churn out some of the freshest and most useful code
|for the ST's.
|
|         Mickey Boyd
 
Another recommendation for CODERAM (and the Codehead Utilities). I just
upgraded to the latest version. It not only is resetproof, but it supports
drives A-Z, can overlay with an existing drive, can use the blitter to make it
even faster than a regular RAM disk, can be used as a boot disk... and some
other stuff I can't recall. I don't recall the size limit, but it is in
excess of 1.5 MB.
 
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the author,
            who has no pecuniary interest in the companies, products,
            or publications mentioned above.
 
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    % Andy Cassino                                                  %
    % uucp: hplabs!hplsla!andyc  domain: andyc%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com %
    % Hewlett-Packard              Lake Stevens Instrument Division %
    % 8600 Soper Hill Road                   Everett, WA 98205-1298 %
    % (206) 335-2211                                                %
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 20:27:38 GMT
From: psuvm!jtt106@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu
Subject: SF 354 ===> double sided drive
Message-ID: <90032.152738JTT106@PSUVM.BITNET>
 
   I have two SF 354 drives and would like to upgrade one of them to a
 
double sidded drive.  I tried to directely replace the drive mechanism with
 
a sony double sided mechanism.  This didn't work.  Does anyone out there
 
know how to upgrade one of these things, I know it can be done I have
 
seen direct replacements for sale in magazines.
 
 
 
 
                                                      John T.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 22:00:51 GMT
From: hp-sdd!hp-pcd!hplsla!andyc@hplabs.hp.com  (Andy Cassino)
Subject: Shareware Policy.
Message-ID: <5440103@hplsla.HP.COM>
 
As a shareware end-user, I'd like to throw in my two cent's worth.
 
My assumption with shareware is this: "what you see is what you get".
 
I'm under no legal obligation to register AND the developer is under no legal
obligation to fix bugs or enhance the product.
 
So, if I get a program that has too many bugs or otherwise is not fully
functional, it gets dragged to the trashcan. No exceptions.
 
The last shareware program I registered for was SUPRBOOT. It is fully
functional and I have not encountered any significant problems after several
months of use. If it was never updated again, I would be happy.
 
Now, you (the shareware author) may disagree with my approach to this
situation, but if you want my financial support, that's what it takes.
 
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the author,
            who has no pecuniary interest in the companies, products,
            or publications mentioned above.
 
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    % Andy Cassino                                                  %
    % uucp: hplabs!hplsla!andyc  domain: andyc%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com %
    % Hewlett-Packard              Lake Stevens Instrument Division %
    % 8600 Soper Hill Road                   Everett, WA 98205-1298 %
    % (206) 335-2211                                                %
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 01:04:53 GMT
From:
 zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!umbc3!umbc5.umbc
 .edu!chuck@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Stacy's Power
Message-ID: <2741@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>
 
I recently heard from my local dealer that the Stacy is going to run off of
ordinary C-cell batteries!  Also, the dealers should have them by March!
Wow, I guess Atari doesn't want to be stuck-up like the other laptop makers
and actually use rechargable battery packs!  Now when your computer runs out
of juice (about 15 seconds with a hard drive), you can run to your local
thrifty store and pick up eight more!  Gee, thanks !!!
 
Chuck Rickard
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 17:16:55 GMT
From: portal!atari!kbad@apple.com  (Ken Badertscher)
Subject: Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
Message-ID: <2015@atari.UUCP>
 
grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas) writes:
 
| GST say it's something inside TOS (or GEMDOS or whatever layer
| it might be), so I was rather hoping the problem might go away with TOS
| 1.4.
 
Now why doesn't that surprise me?  Not to bash GST, but I have found
that a lot of problems similar to this are a result of bad programming
practices.  Not intentional, but just because the developer wasn't
aware of some restriction or another.  It's all too easy to blame TOS.
 
I would like to know exactly how the GST products get their keyboard
input, in gory detail.  *IF* I knew that, then I might be able to
figure out what causes the problem.  I strongly suspect that the
problem is caused by  mixing input modes between AES/VDI/GEMDOS/BIOS.
That has been known to produce results like this.  If it is _not_ that,
then there is a good chance that it _is_ a bug in TOS, and I want to
fix it!!!
 
| People can go for months without it striking, and then have it
| happen twice in a day.  (Sunspots??? :-) )
 
Yep, sounds a lot like the ol' cosmic rays.  It is really unfortunate that
this particular bug is not easily reproducible.  Of course, if it were,
it would probably have been fixed long ago... :-/
 
| I'm waiting for the bug to strike while I'm running Wordplus from within
| NeoDesk, so I can try sending a few wind_update() calls.  Would this do
| any good?
 
While you're at it, don't forget to sprinkle the chicken's blood on the
keyboard and dance about, chanting at the monitor.
--
   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
  / | \  #include <disclaimer>
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 17:27:01 GMT
From: portal!atari!kbad@apple.com  (Ken Badertscher)
Subject: Want pseudo-trap handler examples
Message-ID: <2016@atari.UUCP>
 
saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) asks about critical error and
terminate handlers.
 
Intercepting the critical error handler is simply a matter of grabbing
logical vector 0x101 using Setexc(), and doing the appropriate thing
with the arguments sent to your error handler by the bios.  This is
documented in the GEMDOS manual in the "extended vectors" section.
 
Grabbing the terminate vector to "recover" from a ~C is not the way
to avoid having ~C terminate your application.  Use GEMDOS raw
i/o (Crawcin() and/or Crawio()) and roll your own string reading routine.
 
--
   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
  / | \  #include <disclaimer>
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 23:29:38 GMT
From: stephen@cs.ucla.edu  (Steve Whitney)
Subject: Wordup 2.0
Message-ID: <31453@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
 
In article <3809@hub.UUCP> eckmann@fig.UUCP (Steve Eckmann) writes:
>
>The combination of TurboJet, G+Plus, WordUp and Deskjet+ printer works
>very well for me. TurboJet, in particular, has never caused any problem.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Steve Eckmann | internet: eckmann@cs.ucsb.edu | phone: (805) 961-4394
 
It does seem to work correectctly with WordUp most of the time, and with other
programs, _most_ of the time, but there are definitely bugs.  For example,
I've been writing a GDOS program, and with Turbo Turbojet forgets which VDI
write mode it's in whenever there isn't enough free memory in the system.
This makes italic (skewed) text letter write over each other.  I don't think
that's how it's supposed to work even when the VDI _is_ in transparent mode.
When I use other drivers, the problem goes away.  Of course, your mileage
may vary.
 
                        --Steve
 
Steve Whitney   "It's never _really_ the last minute"       (())_-_(())
UCLA Comp. Sci. Grad. Student                                | (* *) |
Internet: stephen@cs.ucla.edu              UCLA Bruin-->    ?  \_@_/  ?
GEnie:    S.WHITNEY                                           `-----'
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 1 Feb 90 22:15:30 GMT
From: hub!fig!eckmann@ucsd.edu  (Steve Eckmann)
Subject: Wordup 2.0
Message-ID: <3809@hub.UUCP>
 
In article <4862c5ef.14a1f@force.UUCP> covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert)
 writes:
>Andrew, save yourself the $40 and do NOT buy the TurboJet GDOS printer
>driver from Neocept!! Buy the GDOS printer driver set from Migraph instead!!
>I know because I was foolish enough to buy the TurboJet drivers without asking
>first, and was it ever a mistake.
 
The combination of TurboJet, G+Plus, WordUp and Deskjet+ printer works
very well for me. TurboJet, in particular, has never caused any problem.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Steve Eckmann | internet: eckmann@cs.ucsb.edu | phone: (805) 961-4394
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #142
*****************************************
