=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri,  2 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  145
 
Today's Topics:
          (repost) POOLFIX3.ARC - fix to TOS 1.4 and STe TOS
           Atari's Quarterly Results ($5.4 Million Lost) :)
                               barcodes
                      Byte by Byte / WordPerfect
                      Facts, not only talking a
                             gnucc on ST
             gnuemacs (posting to comp.binaries.atari.st)
                 How to get hold of GCC for ATARI ST
                      Memory Expansion (summary)
ST Format, TOS 1.4 moans directed at Atari UK (was: HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL!)
             Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
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Date: 2 Feb 90 08:59:38 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil@uunet.uu.net  (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: (repost) POOLFIX3.ARC - fix to TOS 1.4 and STe TOS
Message-ID: <4284@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
 
In article <BAMMI.90Jan30155547@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.Edu>
bammi@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.Edu (Jwahar R. Bammi) writes:
>apratt: how about sending out a binary diffs (a convenient way is to
>hexdump, and send out context diffs of the hexdumps) from the t1.4
>image, that fixes these problem, so that those of us with eproms can
>fix them.
 
I doubt if Atari are going to buy this idea, nice though it is. I would prefer
if they started shipping out complete fixed images to subsiduaries now. Just
like they did with TOS1.6 when they found some real showstopping bugs.
 
The bugs must be in fixed ROM version 1.5 at Atari so why not?
 
>(i really hate auto\patches).
 
Yup! Me too! But I would love an \auto path to make our 21 TOS1.0 ST lab
a bug free one.
 
The general concensus of opinion here is that TOS 1.6 would have been better
called TOS1.4E. Unless of course 1.4 is the end of the road for us old ST
owners and future revisions will only be for STE's.
 
>bang:   ?any internet host?!dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu!bammi jwahar r. bammi
>domain: bammi@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu
>GEnie: J.Bammi
 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
!                                                                             !
! Neil Forsyth                       JANET:  neil@uk.ac.hw.cs                 !
! Dept. of Computer Science          ARPA:   neil@cs.hw.ac.uk                 !
! Heriot-Watt University             UUCP:   ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil          !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK            "spam spaM spAM sPAM SPAM, lovely SPAM"  !
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 17:13:52 GMT
From:
 wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!tiger!
 swklassen@decwrl.dec.com  (Steven W. Klassen)
Subject: Atari's Quarterly Results ($5.4 Million Lost) :)
Message-ID: <20464@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
 
In article <1153@carroll1.cc.edu> dnewton@carroll1.cc.edu (Dave Newton the Late)
 writes:
>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.
>
 
True...however, it seems strange that they would be available here in
Canada but not just a few miles to the south (USA) - especially since
they should be the same machine (same power supply, same video, etc.).
 
 
 
 
Steven W. Klassen                       +-----------------------------+
Computer Science Major                  | Support the poor...buy fur! |
University of Waterloo                  +-----------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 90 17:47 N
From: <MFAGKCHR%HMARL5.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: barcodes
 
Does anyone know of a program to generate and print barcodes??
 
Please respond by mail, since I have no time to read this discussion.
 
                        Chris Evelo
                        MFAGKCHR@HMARL5 (BITNET/EARN)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 16:40:36 GMT
From: sdcc6!sdcc10!cs161fca@ucsd.edu  ( )
Subject: Byte by Byte / WordPerfect
Message-ID: <6918@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
 
In article <26524@cup.portal.com> FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois)
 writes:
>[my line eater is bigger than your dad]
>
>I called EA to find out about upgrades to DMCS and I was told that EA
>is not doing anymore Amiga titles except for a few games.  Don't know
>if this is true but it did come from a representative of EA on their
>customer support phone line.
>
>Take it with a pound of salt.
>
>Dana Bourgeois @ cup.portal.com
 
 
 
 
 
Boy, don't you know that Amiga also has a day like this!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 02:14:00 GMT
From:
 samsung!usc!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!attcan!darkover!nebulus
 !tmsoft!masnet!canremote!ron.sharp@think.com  (RON SHARP)
Subject: Facts, not only talking a
Message-ID: <90020121141238@masnet.uucp>
 
So.  If Atari has been improving its deal for developers, why haven't
they been telling anyone about it?  A little information in the Atari
Explorer would go a long way.  (Like, what are the options for becoming
a ST, STe, TT, or ATW developer?  Are they on display behind a "Beware
of the Leopard" sign?)
 
---
 ? QNet 2.03: The Crystal Palace * NorthAmeriNet * Toronto (416) 925-5742 *
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 09:34:30 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!philapd!wc37!wilko@uunet.uu.net  (W.C. Bulte)
Subject: gnucc on ST
Message-ID: <388@wc37.idca.tds.philips.nl>
 
Recently I received the GNU c compiler for the Atari ST. Unfortunately it
came without any (not even a readme) documentation. I have been experimenting
with running it from gulam, but sofar this hasn't been very succesful. My
guess is that I have to set up some environment variables, but I don't what
variables are needed.
 
Maybe somebody can help to obtain this info. A source for the documentation
of Atari GCC is also appreciated. (Cannot ftp unfortunately).
_     _____________________________________________________________________
 |   / o / /  _   Wilko Bulte   Uucp    : ..!hp4nl!philapd!wilko
 |/|/ / / /( (_)                Internet: wilko@idca.tds.philips.nl
* Philips Information Systems Nederland
* Hardware Development Department, Apeldoorn, bldg V1-B1, ph 055-432652
___________________________________________________________________________
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 12:34:21 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!warwick!maume@uunet.uu.net  (Mark Maplethorpe)
Subject: gnuemacs (posting to comp.binaries.atari.st)
Message-ID: <389@lily.warwick.ac.uk>
 
Concerning the recent posting of GNUEMACS to comp.binaries.atari.st
Please could someone email me parts 1 - 5 as out site didn't receive them.
 
Thanks in advance
 
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
                           | JANET   maume@uk.ac.warwick.cu
            MARK           | ARPA    maume@cu.warwick.ac.uk
         MAPLETHORPE       | BITNET  maume%uk.ac.warwick.cu@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
                           | UUCP    maume%uk.ac.warwick.cu@ukc.uucp
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 16:30:51 GMT
From: shlump.nac.dec.com!chefs!gossa@decwrl.dec.com  (Andrew Goss)
Subject: How to get hold of GCC for ATARI ST
Message-ID: <8050@shlump.nac.dec.com>
 
        Can anyone help me in getting hold of a copy of GCC for the ST.
 
I'm not able to get it by FTP so could someone post it to comp.sources.atari
or mail it to me.
 
        - Andrew -
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 03:34:21 GMT
From: ncrlnk!ncrwic!wsucsa!mwjester@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Memory Expansion (summary)
Message-ID: <12334@wsucsa.uucp>
 
A few weeks ago, I asked if there were any well-regarded memory expansion
boards for the 1040ST.  Responses were few but from all over (Europe, N.
America, Australia); here is basically what I found out:
 
   Frontier Software produces a 2.5M board called Xtra-Ram, available in
Australia ($A200).  My correspondent (Thanks, Rupert!) believes Frontier
is an English firm; if so, this might be available in UK/EEC/Canada.  The
product is evidently quite solid.
   Whoops!  Almost forgot - that's the unpopulated price.
 
   Datafree (Toronto) has a 2/4M board for the 1040, but it apparently was
designed for some particular version of the motherboard, and the docs do
not help if you have the wrong one.  No price given; you may want to verify
beforehand that it will work in your particular machine.
 
   ZRAM (LA) was under consideration by one correspondent: price is right
(US$119 unpopulated) and docs apparently good.
 
   Tech Specialties (sp?), Houston - some folks swear by them, others at.
My local dealer (no, not an oxymoron yet) has dealt with them over the past
year and installed their boards, and says he has had no complaints with the
product.  Their catalog does have lots of info.  If I go this route, I will
do it through my local guy, having heard some of the horror stories in this
newsgroup.
 
DISCLAIMER: I am affiliated with NONE OF THE ABOVE.  The sample was very
small, so the evidence is more anecdotal than statistically significant.
Your mileage may vary.
 
I had some email replies bounce, so I would like to thank all who replied.
 
   Max J.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 09:37:10 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!ingram!ntgk@uunet.uu.net  (Trevor Kirby)
Subject: ST Format, TOS 1.4 moans directed at Atari UK (was: HAPPY NEW YEAR,
 ALL!)
Message-ID: <1990Feb2.093710.1506@newcastle.ac.uk>
 
Perhaps all the STE slagging is because some of the rumours the mags put
out were so wild they believed it themselves. Then they were put out when
it didn't turn out to be a TT with a cray inside it.
 
 trev
ARPA :Trevor.Kirby@newcastle.ac.uk          JANET: Trevor.Kirby@uk.ac.newcastle
UUCP :...!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!Trevor.Kirby  PHONE: +44 91 222 7594
FAX  :+44 91 222 8232                       TELEX: uk+53654-UNINEW_G
SNAIL:Computing Laboratory, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 2 Feb 90 15:00:38 GMT
From: shlump.nac.dec.com!carafe!goldstein@decwrl.dec.com  (Fred R. Goldstein)
Subject: Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is not dead in TOS 1.4
Message-ID: <8040@shlump.nac.dec.com>
 
In article <2015@atari.UUCP>, kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) writes...
>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.
  ...
no fair, Ken, it's not GST's problem.
 
About a year ago I posted this same problem with Word Perfect Atari.
It too drops into "slow mode" now and then, when it eats up the keyboard
buffer about one key every few seconds, treats the screen as if the
mouse button were stuck down, and if you're lucky lets you (slowly!)
request a save before you have to reboot.
 
Word Perfect Corp. says it's a problem with TOS.  The net-consensus was
that it's a problem with TOS.  It occurs in numerous GEM programs, such
as Word Perfect and 1ST_WORD+.  It is VERY frustrating, and is one of
the main reasons I bought a PClone recently!  MS-DOSs eats it raw but
at least it gets debugged.
 
It takes maybe half an hour to an hour running Word Perfect to get the
bug, though I'm sure it would take a lot longer if somebody were trying
to debug it... Now would anyone from Atari like to try to FIX it?
 
>While you're at it, don't forget to sprinkle the chicken's blood on the
>keyboard and dance about, chanting at the monitor.
 
Funny, Ken, but that does seem to be about the right way to keep an
application running on the ST!
---
Fred R. Goldstein   goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com
                 or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com
                    voice:  +1 508 486 7388
(Opinions are the author's own.  Sharing requires permission.)
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #145
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