=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Thu,  8 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  172
 
Today's Topics:
                         A better GIF viewer
                         Hard drive question
                     INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 #164
                         Notes for Europeans.
                           Phantom Typist.
          Problems with HP and other MS-DOS formatted disks.
                    Problem with asm in MEGAMAX-C
                              SUPERBASE
                         The 'PHANTOM TYPIST'
                       TOS io redirection bugs
                Wierd and Wacky Power Supply Problem.
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Date: Thu, 08 Feb 90 15:12:48 SET
From: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Subject: A better GIF viewer
 
Hello all,
 
   Mickey Boyd recently asked about a better GIF picture viewer for the ST.
Some people replied, suggesting various programs that include GIF viewing
options.
 
   There is a complete GIF viewing program to be found at Simtel20 (in MISC.GIF
or MSDOS.GIF or the like, can't remember).  It's for PCs and clones, but it
includes complete source in Turbo C.  I had thought of porting and enhancing
it, but couldn't, for lack of time.
 
   Maybe someone will do the job.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bitnet:  VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1 (will go away some day ...)  Volker A. Brandt
          UNM409@DBNRHRZ1 (alternative)                Angewandte Mathematik
UUCP:    ...!unido!DBNUAMA1.bitnet!vbrandt             (Bonn, West Germany)
ARPAnet: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 8 Feb 90 08:05:46 GMT
From: well!dsmall@apple.com  (David Small)
Subject: Hard drive question
Message-ID: <16036@well.sf.ca.us>
 
[The basenote asks if a new mechanism can be put into a Supradrive 20].
 
well, maybe. You'll have to open it up and look. It may be an integral
controller drive (unlikely); it may be a controller that won't talk to
other drives decently (possible); it may be some custom weird setup.
 
        Basically, you'll probably see:
 
        1) Cable to Atari DMA port
        2) ACSI to SCSI converter board of some time
        3) 50 pin SCSI cable
        4) Disk Controller
        5) 34 & 20 pin cables to drive
        6) drive
        --
        7) power supply
 
        inside the drive, hooked together in that order.
 
        *Generally*, if you know what you're doing, you can unhook the 34 and
20 pin cables & power, put another mech in, and it'll go. But there are all
sorts of gotchas here possible. If you have a particular drive in mind, I
might be able to tell you; I've been "got" a lot.
 
        Anyway, open it up and tell us what you have; it'll help determine
what you can do.
 
        I took my SH-204 and made it into a 80-odd meg system, and the base
of a 240 meg system (4 x 60). Those components can go a long way with a few
clamp-on 50 pin connectors and cable.
 
        -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets
 
 "I feel signature lines should never be added to a post."
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 90 10:48:15 EST
From: Matt Atkinson <XPBR@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 #164
 
The mouse that came with my 1040st isn't working at a 100% and would
like to get another one.  I wasn't really impressed with it too begin
with, so is there any other mouse that is compatable with an 1040st that
someone could recommend.
 
Thanks!
 
 
Matt Atkinson
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 8 Feb 90 16:01:36 GMT
From: stan!katmandu!stevem@boulder.colorado.edu  (Stephen Matson)
Subject: Notes for Europeans.
Message-ID: <1990Feb8.160136.12703@Solbourne.COM>
 
In article <9002080808.AA11968@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> AMEIJ@vax.oxford.ac.UK (Jan
 Ameij) writes:
>Hello.
>
>This is a quick note to those European subscribers who through their ignorance
>are clogging up this newletter.
>
>1) (Un)subscription. Do this through a listserver. The one I use is
>   listserv@finhutc. If in doubt send your request to your nearest one and it
>   will forward it. The message required is "(un)subscribe info-a16". Do not
>   send such messages to the list itself - it only gives us a good laugh at
>   your ignorance.
 
      I'm the one that got a good laugh at your semi-hostile tone.
>
>2) Submission. Send them to info-atari16@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil. It's up to
>   you to find out how to get things there. UK users send it through
>   uk.ac.nsfnet-relay. do not send things to Stanford, as they then get
>   broadcast in uncollated form. Again, we snigger at your ignorance.
>
>Got it? If not, a) ask someone who knows about these things and b) ask yourself
>if you are really suited to this form of communication. Perhaps it would be
>better to learn a little more first?
>
>
 
 a) Ask yourself if your really suited to communicating. or b) Perhaps
    it would be better to learn a little manners first.
 
  This group is one of the worst for intolerance. Lets not jump
  on someone for the slightest infraction. Give these people a
  break, Do YOU know everything about everything you do ? I thought
  not.
--
             E-mail == stevem@Solbourne.COM
  "FRODO LIVES"                                "COLORADO!!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                U.S. OUT OF NORTH AMERICA
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90  12:00 GMT
From: Jan Ameij <AMEIJ%vax.oxford.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Phantom Typist.
 
As requested:
 
a) What happened: Tempus II started delaying by tens of seconds between
keypress and effect. This was only in one file: another could be edited fine,
but on reloading the first the same happened. Hard reboot solved the problem.
 
b) Hardware: Mega 2, nothing else
 
c) Software: foldr200.prg, filefix.acc, S.I.Ramdisk @ 1Mb, Tempus II
 
End of Report.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 8 Feb 90 08:00:23 GMT
From: well!dsmall@apple.com  (David Small)
Subject: Problems with HP and other MS-DOS formatted disks.
Message-ID: <16035@well.sf.ca.us>
 
[The basenote discusses using ST disks in MSDOS machines, and the troubles
thereof].
 
        I've had trouble under TOS 1.4 with Toshiba disks as well -- double
sided, MS-DOS, DOS 3.3, off a Toshiba 1200HB. One time I read a file into
the ST, and got the 1st sector repeated for the length of the file. Many
times directory changes (cd) fail or act weirdly. I always have to ARC
(to get a quick & dirty CRC) to make sure the file transferred ... it's that
flaky.
 
        I've been told that Toshibas do something especially strange that
makes things worse, but do not recall the details.
 
        -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 8 Feb 90 14:51:16 GMT
From: per2!dag@speedy.wisc.edu  (Daniel A. Glasser)
Subject: Problem with asm in MEGAMAX-C
Message-ID: <895@per2.UUCP>
 
> In article <9001300801.AA16463@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> K298027@CZHRZU1A.BITNET
 (Michael Mueller) writes:
> >        move.l #init,A0         ; this is not accepted !!!!!
> >
> >Why is the second mnemonic not accepted ? Has anybody an idea how to use
> >labelled adresses ?
 
I don't have the MegaMax-C compiler, so I can't test this out, but the
68000 has two distinct sets of instructions for dealing with address and
data registers.  The move.l instruction is for data registers.  You might
want to try the movea.l instruction instead.  If neither of these work for
you in the MegaMax assembly escapes, try using lea init, a0 (load effective
address to A0) instead.  This has the same effect.
--
 _____________________________________________________________________________
    Daniel A. Glasser                 "Their brains were small and they died."
    uwvax.cs.wisc.edu!per2.uucp!dag
 ---Persoft, Inc.---------465 Science Drive-------Madison, WI 53711-----------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 8 Feb 90 14:37:00 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!nic.MR.
 NET!thor.acc.stolaf.edu!pritchaj@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (John Pritchard)
Subject: SUPERBASE
Message-ID: <11205@thor.acc.stolaf.edu>
 
I have been using Superbase Personal 2.0 for about a year.  While I have liked
it, I would like to get more control over entry forms and reports.  Looks
like Superbase Professional 3 is the way to go.  Does anyone know of an
upgrade policy?  Can I get credit for Personal?
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90 15:23:02 MEZ
From: ONM07%DMSWWU1A.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Julian Reschke)
Subject: The 'PHANTOM TYPIST'
Message-ID: <9002081423.AA09394@freya.dmswwu-ether>
 
In article <17814@laurel.athertn.Atherton.COM>
voder!pyramid!athertn!alex@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Alex Leavens) writes:
>
> The TSR Newbell.prg (which replaces the bell on the Atari with
> digitized sound playback) seems to make this bug happen fairly
> frequently;  all you need to do is pop up the 'About GEM' dialog
> box from the desktop, click on anywhere _but_ the OK button, and
> wait for the sound to stop playing.  About 1 in 4 times, you'll
> get multiple playbacks of the sound, followed by a whole series
> of keyclicks (the phantom typist!).  As soon as you press a key,
> the typing stops.
>
Some problems may arise with programs, that use Kbdvecs() to
install themselves and that forget to look at the newly-documented
status variable that tells wether the IKBD is busy sending a
'packet'. Changing the vector in the wrong moment would disturb
the BIOS definitively.
BTW: I had the 'phantom typist problem' when using older versions
(<3.14) of Wordplus.
 
___________________________ cut here _____________________________________
Julian F. Reschke, Hensenstr. 142, D-4400 Muenster, Phone: ++49 251 861241
eMail: ONM07@DMSWWU1A.BITNET, "Julian Reschke" @ MAUS MS  (++49 251 80386)
____________________ correct me if I'm wrong _____________________________
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90 15:36:46 MEZ
From: ONM07%DMSWWU1A.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Julian Reschke)
Subject: TOS io redirection bugs
Message-ID: <9002081436.AA09758@freya.dmswwu-ether>
 
In article <BAMMI.90Feb6182843@curie.ces.CWRU.Edu> Jwahar R. Bammi
writes:
> thats correct, but dales suggestion is still fine. its isatty() that
> needs to be fixed up, so that it does'nt think that PRN: isatty().
> (just out of curiosity, why would someone send stderr to PRN:? why not
> to a file, and then if its really needed, print the file (saves a few
> trees in the process)).
I think that this is a very natural thing to do with stderr. IF we try
to suggest a good method, it should be possible to do all things that
you do with sterr on other OS's. If Atari makes a workings suggestion,
it will be surely incorporated in Gemini 1.2.
 
___________________________ cut here _____________________________________
Julian F. Reschke, Hensenstr. 142, D-4400 Muenster, Phone: ++49 251 861241
eMail: ONM07@DMSWWU1A.BITNET, "Julian Reschke" @ MAUS MS  (++49 251 80386)
____________________ correct me if I'm wrong _____________________________
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 90  12:12 GMT
From: Jan Ameij <AMEIJ%vax.oxford.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Wierd and Wacky Power Supply Problem.
 
Question/poser for hardware hackers.
 
Our office Mega 4 has died. At switch on it flashes the keyboard light, and if
the volume is turned up throbs (bit softer than a click) loudly. Of course we
know the safety implicationsof fiddling with these things, so we immediately
opened it up and found the following...
 
The throbbing is synchonised to the PS fan wobbling to and fro. If we flick
start the fan the machine boots, but we get the "no keyboard" scream and no
response to keyboard or mouse. If we unplug the PSU from the motherboard it
starts fine (no need to flick the fan) and if we then plug it back into the
motherboard the system boots and all is hunky dory.
 
A bit of scope bashing reveals 'orrible spikes (about 25V worth) on the 12V
line which runs the fan when it is quivering, and nice smooth volts everywhere
else, anytime else.
 
Any ideas, guys? My guess is that that big electrolytic beside the PSU has
blown and is stuffing the 12V line, which in turn is stuffing the fan, but
replies from experienced bods are very welcome.
 
Jan Ameij
Oxford University Department of Applied Metaphysics,
ameij@uk.ac.oxford.vax
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Another message, primarily to Europeans...
 
Since, alas, it looks as if Info-Atari16 is Doomed, should we be thinking about
setting up a European Technical ST mailing list. It seems that most of the ST
interest and expertise is over here and it would be nice to go on sharing it.
Also, we might lose those whinging "Atari won't sell me a 100GFlop vector
processor for $200 - do you know how much IBM that would buy" etc comments that
waste all our time!
 
Long live the European Third World (insult copyright RC, 1990!)
 
Jan Ameij
 
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #172
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