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INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Sun,  4 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  155
 
Today's Topics:
                     atari laser printer (2 msgs)
                  MWC resource.prg! Major bug found!
                            need META.SYS
                               NOTATOR
                             pc ditto II
                     Some Atari dealers in Canada
              Testing that programs conform to TOS rules
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Date: 4 Feb 90 23:36:03 GMT
From: isc-br!iscuve.isc-br.com!michaela@uunet.uu.net  (Michael Albo)
Subject: atari laser printer
Message-ID: <2734@isc-br.ISC-BR.COM>
 
I was wondering if anyone knew of an Epson Emulation for the Atari
laser printer yet? If so how might I obtain it? Thanks.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Feb 90 03:28:20 GMT
From:
 clyde.concordia.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs.toronto.edu!omicron.cs.fsu.e
 du!fsucs.cs.fsu.edu!boyd@uunet.uu.net  (Mickey Boyd)
Subject: atari laser printer
Message-ID: <9002050329.AA22294@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu>
 
In article <2734@isc-br.ISC-BR.COM>, michaela@iscuve.isc-br.com (Michael Albo)
 writes:
>
>I was wondering if anyone knew of an Epson Emulation for the Atari
>laser printer yet? If so how might I obtain it? Thanks.
 
I know of one called LaserBrain, a German program.  I believe some if not
all the versions are PD, but I could be wrong.  I have no idea how you could
go about getting it, but perhaps you could try some PD disk vendors.
 
--
 
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
         Mickey Boyd                 |    "Nobody can be exactly like me.
                                     |      Even I have trouble doing it."
             FSU Comp Sci            |              - Tallulah Bankhead
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 4 Feb 90 22:32:43 GMT
From: bucsb!harryk@CS.BU.EDU  (Harry Karayiannis)
Subject: MWC resource.prg! Major bug found!
Message-ID: <249@bucsb.UUCP>
 
   Hi world!
 
   I'd like to report a major bug I found in the MWC's 'resource.prg' (you know
it's the one that creates/modifies/edits resource files (.RSC)) I have the MWC
compiler for over 6 months now, and among other things I was happy I could use
a decent resource editor, like resource.prg. BUT, a month ago I purchased a 85
Mb seagate HD, along with the ICD faST HD kit, which I formatted to have 9 part
itions. I'm working on a GEM application and until that time I was doing every-
thing using disks and RAM-disk...naturally, I installed MWC in my new hard disk
and everything was fine, until I tried to edit the resource file of my program!
 
  Here it comes:
 
  The 9 partitions I use are from C to K. When ruuning the 'resource.prg', it
shows all the connected drives/partitions as icons on its OWN desktop.  Well,
icons A to H are ok, BUT the next icon, instead of having the letter I as its
identifier, it has AGAIN the letter A .... icons J,K apear to be OK again.
The trash-can icon is not OK at all..it is corrupted with just half of its
drawings appearing in its interior and the name of the icon is not shown at all
 
  If that was all, I wouldn't mind, but listen to this:
 
  I tried to open the window for the partition I (which appears on the desktop
as partition A) and i got an error alert saying something like: "you cannot
access this device, check the connections" or something similar. OK, suppose
I can live with it, and don't use partition I at all...but there is more.....
 
  The resource file of my program is located in e:\mwc\src  Lets try to load it
so I can make the changes i want. I open the window for partition E and i'm get
ting in the folder "mwc/src"...here is the file.. Now try to "Open" it.........
ooppppsss......what's that?..an error message: "I cannot find .RSD file"
what the %~%&$%*~*%%*% is it talking about? BOTH FILES ARE IN THERE(.RSC, .RSD)
(.RSD is the corresponding .DFN file for RCS.PRG, or .DEF file for RCP.PRG)
Let's ignore the error mesage, go on you stupid program.....whaaoo 3 bombs and
back to the ST's desktop. AND now i have to reset my system...Shit!!!!
 
JESUS CHRIST, I can't even open the file...so the 'resource.prg' is useless
 
  I tried to run it with no AUTO-programs and accessories present..same thing.
  I tried to load some other .RSC files (for my previous project)...nothing.
  I copied the program to drive A:, and ran it from there.....no luck.
 
  I disabled the hd and ran it from drive a:\. Yes, it worked fine...........
 
  Hmmm...maybe the ICD boot-utility is not compatible with the program. So, I
made drive A:\ to be the booting drive, with the hard disk enabled. I tried
again to run it from the hd..it didn't work, i tried from A:\..it didn't work.
 
  Perhaps I should ask my friend Alex, who has a 65Mb Supra Drive. Well, it
works fine with his system..but wait a sec....his hd has ONLY 6  partitions
installed.
 
  So I disabled partitions K,J,I and gave it another try!  I cannot believe it!
 
 
  IT WORKS FINE NOW....THE #@$%~&~%$#$ PROGRAM CANNOT WORK WITH MORE THAN SIX
  DEVICES INTALLED ON THE SYSTEM.
 
  It sucks....I want all of my partitions, that's why i installed them
 
  If anyone from Mark Williams read this article, I 'd like him to pass it
  to the guys who are reasponsible for this MAJOR BUG.
 
    Being one of your customers and a person  who uses his  ST  for programming
mostly,I demand to get a fixed version of the 'resource.prg' file with no extra
cost (or at least minimum-cost).  It's a shame,  such a good program  to suffer
from this kind of problems!
 
 
                                This article became too long. Sorry!
 
 
        HARRY KARAYIANNIS
        3rd year Computer Science
        Boston University
 
 
PS: Of cource I will write MWC personally, to inform them about this bug; but I
    thought it was good for you to know about it too!
 
 
 
---------------------------------------- SORRIE FOR ANIE MISPELSS--------------
                                         I am just another Greek!
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Feb 90 02:37:49 GMT
From: zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sunybcs!ubvms!v067majp@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Subject: need META.SYS
Message-ID: <627.25cca0ad@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu>
 
Does anyone know where I can get META.SYS?
 
                                                John
                                        v067majp@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Feb 90 00:14:54 GMT
From:
 zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!ogicse!
 blake!ramsiri@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Enartloc Nhoj)
Subject: NOTATOR
Message-ID: <5599@blake.acs.washington.edu>
 
How many people could find ANY written material
either in the prerelease notes or in the manual
that says the new SOFTLINK runs on TOS 1.2 or higher?
Neither Digidesign nor Mikhail, C-lab's rep, ever
once suggested that my $30 plus phone calls etc
would amount to zip for the update.
 
Running SOFTLINK on TOS 1.0 yields:
 
ABORT  TOS Unknown!  Must be older than 1.2!
 
etc
etc
etc
 
 
Maybe i will keep my ST in GCR mac mode 100% of the time
instead of 90% from now on.
 
 
-kevin
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 90 20:22:00 EST
From: "No one here gets out alive..."
 <BAKAY1B%UREGINAV.bitnet@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Subject: pc ditto II
Message-ID: <90Feb4.202805est.57477@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
 
I have been considering purchasing pc ditto II, but I need to know a few
things first.  What level of IBM graphics does it support (ie EGA, CGA, etc)?
Does it read atari joystick ports?  Is there going to be a PC Ditto III in
the near future?  How difficult is it to hook up?  Answers to any of these
questions would be greatly appreciated.
 
 
Brook M. Bakay
Bakay1b@ureginav.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Feb 90 00:42:36 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!ria!uwovax!35002_3025@tut.
 cis.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Some Atari dealers in Canada
Message-ID: <4894.25cc85ac@uwovax.uwo.ca>
 
In article <25CC88FC.14033@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>, johns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
 (Conan the Barbarian) writes:
>       Someone asked for a list of Atari dealers in Canada.  I've been to
>       Toronto shopping for ST supplies, but I hated the traffic, and besides
>       that, we have 2 great dealers right here in Hamilton:
 
Here in London, we alos have a great dealer
 
The Digital Centre
Anthony F. Crecca Prop.
920 Commissionaer's Rd E.
London, Ontario
681-2728
 
Kevin-john Conway
...a librarian from hell...
 
School of Library and Information Science
University of Western Ontario
London Canada
"...deviants from the norm..."
 
"My ideas may be silly, but I'm not.  I'm positively skewed!"
 
35002_3025@uwovax.uwo.ca
conway@uwovax.bitnet
kjc@uwovax.bitnet
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 4 Feb 90 20:56:38 GMT
From: mcsun!hp4nl!dutrun!duteca!knop@uunet.uu.net  (P. Knoppers)
Subject: Testing that programs conform to TOS rules
Message-ID: <721@duteca.UUCP>
 
I am getting bored of all those arguments against improving TOS,
because it involves changing non-documented features/bugs of TOS.
 
What we need is a means to test that an application does not use facts
about TOS that it should not rely on. With such a beast it is possible
that:
- programmers verify that they have programmed according to the rules.
- project managers verify that their programmers have programmed
  according to the rules.
- buyers/users/owners of programs verify that programs are likely to
  survive TOS upgrades.
- eventually, Atari creates a better TOS, because it is ensured that
  the majority of application programs for their computers will
  continue to work.
I believe that it is possible to create such a test suite.
 
What I am thinking of is a terminate-and-stay-resident program that
intercepts most (if not all) trap vectors. The test suite will make
sure that, in addition to really executing the requested trap:
- Successive mallocs NEVER return adjacent memory areas.
- The area just outside a malloc-ed area is not used by an application
  program. (This can be done by regularly checking that the contents of
  such memory areas have not been altered.)
- All registers that are not guaranteed to be preserved during a trap
  are scrambled before return from that trap.
- All undocumented information in low memory (which is private to TOS)
  is not there during normal program execution, but it is temporarily
  restored DURING an intercepted trap.
 
In some of these cases this TSR program will be able to detect a
misbehaving application program as soon as it misbehaves, in other
cases the application program probably crashes the system shortly after
misbehaving.
 
There are probably many other undocumented properties of TOS that
might not be present in some future version. In general, the test suite
should make sure that undocumented properties will not work. The list
is only a start, there must be many more things that Atari can break
BECAUSE they are not documented.
 
Of course, the test suite will slow down the operation of the computer
during testing, that is the price that must be paid during development
to ensure better portability across TOS versions.
 
I am hoping for a vivid discussion on this topic.
- Do you think such a test suite is feasable ?
- Would YOU like to write such a test suite ?
- Which undocumented features/bugs should be added to the list ?
--
  _____       __  __  __  __   ____   _____   _____   ______  _____    _____
 |  _  \     |  |/  ||  \|  | /    \ |  _  \ |  _  \ |   ___||  _  \  /  ___|
 |   __/ _   |     < |      ||  ||  ||   __/ |   __/ |   >__ |     <  \__  \
 |__|   |_|  |__|\__||__|\__| \____/ |__|    |__|    |______||__|\__||_____/
P. Knoppers, Delft Univ. of Technology, The Netherlands, knop@duteca.tudelft.nl
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #155
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