=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Wed, 31 Jan 90       Volume 90 : Issue  133
 
Today's Topics:
                     $50,000 what a stupid idea!!
                Arcgsh - current state of development
                             FORMDIAL.PRG
               Help Needed with Atari H/W interfacing.
                           IBM format on ST
                       ST S/ware Rental Places
              ST stores in houses (was Monitor Burnout)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 17:42:50 GMT
From: dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!squibby@CS.BU.EDU  (Clark L. Breyman)
Subject: $50,000 what a stupid idea!!
Message-ID: <18978@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
 
In article <E715E3944F1F40079B@UBVMS.BITNET> V053QHYX@UBVMSC.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
 writes:
>I just heard about atari's new policy..you (the store) pays 50,000 and atari
>sends you whatever they want!!!???!!!Here in buffalo we went from 4 ST dealers
>about 2 months ago to 1 this month! <rest deleted>
>                  Jeremy Berger
 
Possibly. Maybe they are just trying to weed some of the marginal dealers out
and came up with a mediocre way of doing it. There has been net traffick on
atari dealers that should be avoided. But I agree Atari doesn't have the clout
for this.
A SUGGESTION: For those interested in commenting on what Atari's marketing
        policy and distribution policy should be, send them here and I will
        summarize.
 
        Sinc,
        Clark
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 16:37:18 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!laura!klute%heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de@uunet.uu.net
 (Rainer Klute)
Subject: Arcgsh - current state of development
Message-ID: <1946@laura.UUCP>
 
In article <1913@laura.UUCP> klute@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer
 Klute) writes:
>Whoever of you (registered or unregistered user) needs Arcgsh
>*desperatly* to work together with Arc 6.02 may get the current
>intermediate release, just drop me a note. Else wait for the
>official release in comp.binaries.atari.st.
 
Ok, I decided to release the intermediate version (Arcgsh
V2.1c) and just sent it off to Steven Grimm. It should really
soon now appear in comp.binaries.atari.st. Those of you who do
not receive that newsgroup will (hopefully) be able to get it
from the panarthea archive server.
 
  Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@heike.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
  Univ. Dortmund, IRB             klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
  Postfach 500500         |)|/    ...uunet!mcvax!unido!klute
D-4600 Dortmund 50        |\|\    Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 18:14:51 GMT
From:
 zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!w
 atserv1!watdragon!tiger!swklassen@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Steven W. Klassen)
Subject: FORMDIAL.PRG
Message-ID: <20359@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
 
In article <6157@eagle.wesleyan.edu> ncastellano@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes:
>What does the program FORMDIAL from the archives do?  The index says it speeds
>up dialog boxes, but I got it and unarchived it, and it contains no
>documentation, and doesn't seem to affect system performance, and doesn't
>display any messages or anything, just exits.  Programs like that make me
>nervous.
 
I found that FORMDIAL did indeed increase the speed that dialog boxes were
drawn at.  (A performance benchmark program told me this.)  I also
discovered that it affected the execution of some games (namely Empire)
hence I quit using it.  (The speedup wasn't too dramatic anyway - you
won't notice it unless you actually run a benchmark of some sort.)
 
Steven W. Klassen                       +-----------------------------+
Computer Science Major                  | Support the poor...buy fur! |
University of Waterloo                  +-----------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 17:52:05 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!hyc@tut.cis.
 ohio-state.edu  (Howard Chu)
Subject: Help Needed with Atari H/W interfacing.
Message-ID: <10730@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu>
 
In article <7322@b11.ingr.com> jmack@b11.ingr.com (Cery McCormick) writes:
>On the subject of cartridge port interfacing, I am currently working on
>something that someone else may wish to build.
>
>I have designed a method of putting 1Meg of DRAM on a small PC board that
>plugs into the cartridge port. This amounts to a very easy to 'plug-in'
>1MEG RAM-Disk.
>
>By using the large amount of available address bits as input, I am able
>to do two 'reads' to supply the 1MEG address.  The first read supplys
>the ROW address (10 bits), and the second read supplies the COLUMN
>address (10 bits).  These values are latched so that a PAL on the board
>may perform the actual read of memory, after which a third read can get
>the data.  If the operation is a write, data must be supplied before
>giving the ROW and COLUMN addresses.
>
>Let me know if anyone is intertested in schematics for this project.
>
>Cary McCormick
>P.O. Box 6333
>Huntsville, AL
>35824-0333
 
I've got an UltraDisk from Alpha Systems, which has 4 meg of memory installed.
When I phoned them Monday, tho, they said they were no longer making any of
their cartridge port RAM disks any more. Obviously it's a doable thing, mine
is really pretty slick. They said it was too hard to obtain certain special
parts their design required, which is why they stopped making them.
 
Anyway, I want to mention this just as a suggestion - if you come up with your
own device, it would be nice if it could accept up to 4 MB (or more, if you're
really memory hungry, like me.  ?-) and also have its own power supply (like
this UltraDisk has.) The UltraDisk can draw power from the ST thru the cartridge
port, but also has a jack for an AC adapter. It will retain it's memory even
if the ST is turned off. As long as the jack is plugged in, the memory stays
intact, even if unplugged from one ST (and, say, inserted into another, for a
quick "file transfer" of 4 Megabytes as fast as you can plug in a cartridge! ?-)
Your board should be just as capable.
 
Also, a suggestion which you're free to disregard. I haven't seen the technical
info on the UltraDisk, so I don't know how they do things, but this should be
possible. The primary use of this thing, as I see it, is as a RAM *disk*. Disks
are generally used as *block* devices.  Instead of requiring 3 reads per *byte*
of data written, how about this - all writes are always done in *blocks*. Say,
32 or 64K per block. When you want to read a particular block, you "write" its
block number to your input addresses, and the entire 64K gets bank-switched into
your cartridge port address space. When you want to write a block, you only
"write" one address. Then you write all the bytes in the block in a loop.
 
Maybe 64 or 32K is too large a unit for general use. After all, disk sectors
are only 512 bytes each. How about -
        first & second read specifies a 512 byte block #
        third specifies a count of blocks to write.
Since you're acting as a RAMdisk, you're guaranteed that you'll always be doing
I/O in chunks of at least 512 bytes. Using the count mechanism allows you to
perform the equivalent of track write operations, for example.
 
Maybe it's too much trouble, I don't know, I haven't tried to work out the
details myself. I know that my UltraDisk is slower for I/O than my Quantum hard
drive, though, and I think it's because of the contortions you have to go thru
to read and write byte by byte. If you could speed it up, it'd be awesome stuff.
--
  -- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 14:11
From: <BERLIN%DGACHEM5.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU> (H. Baiter)
Subject: IBM format on ST
 
Subject: Need IBM Format Program for my ST SF314
 
 
In article <1405@ariel.unm.edu>, seattle@hydra.unm.edu (David G. Adams) writes:
> Subject just about says it all.  I need to format some disks in IBM format,
> so they'll read on a friend's PC.  I know, the simple solution is to use
> his PC, but he lives 3 states over...  I know TOS 1.4 has this feature
> built in, but I don't have 1.4.  I have an '86 model 520ST.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Dave
>
>    /|\    |  seattle@hydra.unm.edu  <>  Dadams10@GEnie  <>  David G. Adams  \
>   < |/\   |    LotE    |  "Modern love is automatic"  - A Flock of Seagulls |
>    \|     |  Live it!  |  Don't bug the University 'bout nuthin' I've said. /
 
i format my disks with the normal FORMAT command of the ST (doesn't matter
which TOS version) or with the FORMAT of the PC. After I have done this, I
change the first three bytes 00-02 of the bootsector to <EB 34 90> and the
media byte at 21 to <F9> with a diskmonitor on the ST or on the PC. That's all
that I have to do.
 
I have got this idea from the german computer magazine "c't Zeitschrift fuer
Computertechniik" of June or July 1989. I work with this method for more than
six months and I never had any problems with my disks except booting them on
the ST, but this is not of interest cause I use these disks normally for file
transfer.
 
Using these disks I transferred all my programs form the panarthea server or
the PROG-A16 list from the PC at work to my ST at home and I never had any
trouble with the programs.
 
 
Subject: FIREWORK available on net ?
 
By the way, does someone have a compilede version of the program <FIREWORKS>
form the german ST COMPUTER magazine, October 1989. I typed this program into
my ST and used an old version of the Megamax C compiler, but I couldn't get it
to work. Can anyone send my a encoded version of the running program ?
 
Thanks
 
 
Hermann
 
Time of message sent: 29-JAN-1990 14:10:13  MEZ
 
Hermann Baiter
Institut fuer Physikalische Chemie der TU Muenchen, Garching, West-Germany
 
 
BITNET-address: BERLIN@DGACHEM5
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 19:20:11 GMT
From: silver!stowe@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (stowe)
Subject: ST S/ware Rental Places
Message-ID: <34467@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
 
In article <NVXS1~@rpi.edu> kudla@pawl.rpi.edu (Robert J. Kudla) writes:
 >In <26747@brunix.UUCP> rjd@cs.brown.edu (Rob Demillo) writes:
 >
 >> A software pirate can literally mass produce 100's of copies
 >> of software an hour.
 >
 
 >I can see perhaps even 50 copies in an hour, but "100's"? Baloney.
 
Times how many machines?
 
 
 
-=-=-                              -=-=-                                 -=-=-
stowe@silver.ucs.indiana.edu                    At night the Ice Weasels come.
-=-=-                              -=-=-                                 -=-=-
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 31 Jan 90 19:57:47 GMT
From: silver!stowe@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu  (stowe)
Subject: ST stores in houses (was Monitor Burnout)
Message-ID: <34472@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
 
In article <34386@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jeffrey
 C. Burka) writes:
 
>Bits 'n PCs of Indianapolis runs out of a house...sort of.  The store is
>in a house, but I'm not sure if anybody actually lives there.  I may
>be mis-remembering, but I seem to recall that they had trouble with
>Atari over becoming a 'business dealer' because they were in a house
>as opposed to a flashy storefront (don't quote me on that one (at least
>not by name!)).
 
The "sort of" is right.  The area is what was originally "Castleton"
and was absorbed by UniGov back about 20 years ago to become officially
Indianapolis (since we are within the county limits).  Most of Castleton
has been taken up by the mall (the largest in the state) and buhzillions
of little strip malls, however, the Bash Street area (north and south of
82nd Street) consists of old houses that are occupied by one or more
businesses now, mostly artsy-craftsy type businesses (antiques, crafts, etc.)
with a vet, a couple accountants, a glass store and a computer store (;-)
thrown in for good measure... but no, no one lives in the house... it
just feels like it most days.  ;-)  As for the business center, that
was true... Atari (well, one person at Atari, as we got it... one very
important person, unfortunately) felt that we needed a ComputerLand
image.  Fortunately, the local user groups, the other local dealer (honest!)
and numerous customers wrote lots of letters to lots of people at Atari
and explained that, at least in this part of the country, people want
a place where they can be comfortable asking questions, and ComputerLand
was not a place they would go... in addition, several of these customers
were already business customers and explained how we had really helped
them out.  One, unfortunately, had to write (and fairly angrily, may I
add) that because of Atari's closed-minded policies (I think those were
even his words), he was writing on one of the new departmental Macs rather
than on the Mega system that he had hoped to be able to get from us.  (That
was his second letter... his first, to only one person, had received no
response at all, which made him even less happy.)
 
On another point for good fortune, that particular letter to the Tramiels,
Sig Hartmann, Bill Crouch, Augie Liguori and a few others, prompted a phone
call to our customer from Bob Brodie... and eventually led to Bill Crouch's
decision to let us carry the business line of equipment.  (Even funnier is
that the majority of our business customers are running off STs, while the
majority of our home users are going with Megas *grin*...  Most of the home
users looking at 520s/1040s are parents...)
 
But no... the store isn't flashy.  We'd rather spend the money on keeping
nifty stuff in stock.
 
No one needs to quote you, Jeff...  (*grin*)  Just remember... I know
where to find you...
 
>A good store with good support, software- and hardware-wise.
 
Thanks for the compliment!
 
 
(Honest, folks!  I didn't bribe him!!  It was totally unsolicited!  I don't
even think he knew I was here!  Honest!  :-)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-=-=-                              -=-=-                                 -=-=-
stowe@silver.ucs.indiana.edu                    At night the Ice Weasels come.
-=-=-                              -=-=-                                 -=-=-
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #133
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