=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri, 16 Feb 90       Volume 90 : Issue  217
 
Today's Topics:
                         Compression Routines
                       Interrupt help, please.
            Re: Bob Brod(i)e comes to Arizona (Michigan)!!
                Screen Blanker in the style of 'Stars'
                              ST JOURNAL
                The ATARI ELITE ST ORG. of Pittsburgh.
                          The Phantom Typist
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 17:24:33 EST
From: Stephen Harold Goldstein <steveg@SAIC.COM>
Subject: Compression Routines
Message-ID: <9002162224.AA05336@SAIC.COM>
 
I'm also looking for source to compression routines C or Pascal is fine,
VAX assembler would be great.  Email replies to me as well.
 
---
Stephen Goldstein     steveg@saic.com
My first Atari system? A 24K Atari 800, Rev. A ROMS, C(not G)TIA graphics
Disclaimer:  That's not what I said.
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Feb 90 13:00:58 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!axion!masalla.fulcrum.bt.co.uk!chrisl@uunet.uu.net  (Chris
 Parkin Lilley [cs12])
Subject: Interrupt help, please.
Message-ID: <+!!#!%_@masalla.fulcrum.bt.co.uk>
 
        I'm trying to get interrupt-driven I/O working over the serial port
on my 1040 ST. I've installed the address of my interrupt service routine in
the appropriate vector (transmit buffer empty on the MFP -- it's 69, I think),
and then stuffed a character into the MFP data buffer. The service routine
gets called OK, but the program then hangs, killing the machine.
 
        Actually, I've tried several things. When I started, I just put the
address of a C routine in the vector, and it crashed with a bus error, I
think. I presumed this would be because the C function does an `rts', not an
`rte' at the end of the routine, so it was pulling the wrong stuff off the
stack. Then I wrote a little routine in assembler which calls my C routine
and then does an `rte'. This is the version which hangs the machine.
 
        I have put some flags in, and the C routine gets called OK, and
returns to the assembler routine OK, but then it all goes very quiet. Even
the keyclick goes away.
 
        Has anyone got experience of installing new interrupt service
routines on STs? Am I doing something really naive? Help!
 
        Advance thanks in desperation,
 
        - Chrisl.
 
--
                "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Parkin Lilley, CS1.2, BT Fulcrum, UK               chrisl@uk.co.bt.fulcrum
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Feb 90 17:45:36 GMT
From: hpl-opus!hpnmdla!hpsad!daveba@hplabs.hp.com  (David Ballo)
Subject: Re: Bob Brod(i)e comes to Arizona (Michigan)!!
Message-ID: <750049@hpsad.HP.COM>
 
Bob Brodie visited our user group, ST ACE  (ST Atari Computer Enthusiasts)
of Santa Rosa, California last night (Thursday, Feb. 15).  He is a down-to-
Earth sort of fellow, and didn't seem likely to let anything "slip out"
unintentially, even if "greased up" (sic).  He showed a STACY, an STe, and
a Lynx.
 
The STACY looks and feels very nice.  They have been having problems with
the vendor who supplies the internal hard disk drives, which is hampering
production.  (Note:  I work for a large electronics company and this sort
of thing happens all of the time.  Projects slip, manufacturing is held up
for all sorts of reasons.  This is not unique to Atari!).  Bob clearly
stated that initial advertising will be directed at the MIDI market (e.g.
musicians), so don't expect widespread, general advertising.  The music
people have responded very favorably to the product so far.  Eventually, Atari
hopes to capitalize on the Mac emulation market, with the help of the
very cabable Spectre GCR.  Initial production will be of the high-end
4 MByte RAM version, with internal 40 MByte hard-drive.  There will also
be a 2 MByte version of this beast as well.  Further along will be the
1 MByte version, with two floppy drives, aimed especially at the educational
market (Johnny's first computer for college, etc.)
 
The STe looked and behaved much like a standard ST.  Bob demo'd a game
that supposedly showed off the improved sounds and graphics, but as a
mono [ read serious! :-) ] user, the improvement may have been lost on me.
 
The Lynx (the handheld color game machine) also looked nice, and judging
by the reaction of the kids present at the meeting who played with it, it
should be a successful product assuming the little beggars can talk Mom or
Dad out of $159!  The Lynx is supposedly availabe through the Sears mail-order
network right now.  Bob also showed the commercial that ran in the New York
area during the last holiday season - it was a very well-done commercial
(This is the "bathroom" commercial, for those who might have heard of it).
 
Bob impressed me as an honest, caring individual who is doing the best he
can. Perhaps with his help, Atari's notoriously poor relationships with user
 groups, programmers, customers, dealers (have I left anyone out?) will improve.
 
Humbly submitted by:
 
Dave Ballo
HP - Signal Analysis Division
Rohnert Park, California
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90  22:40 GMT
From: Vision Newspapers <SOCS18%vaxb.york.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Screen Blanker in the style of 'Stars'
 
I wrote a screen blanker in the style of "Stars" for the Mac, as one of the
other columnists for ST World requested it. I've never seen "Stars", so I
had to guess at the SFX, but Steve Cassidy (who did the requesting) says he gets
giddy if he watches it for too long!
 
I only know of one incompatibilty (with the clock display of Tempus 2), and it
should work on the STE and TT (Quite a bit of work went into this, but I've
not had chance to test it yet).
 
It's an accessory written in assembler, but I could attempt to post a uuencoded
version of the ARChive, if anybody is interested. (I can't access the .binaries
group...)
 
Mat
***********************************************************************
* c/o Dept. Computer Science    * "Baldrick, fetch me a turkey _so    *
* University of York            * big_, you'd have thought its mother *
* Heslington                    * had been rodgered by an Omnibus"    *
* York                          *                                     *
* YO1 5DD                       * JANET : SOCS18@uk.ac.york.vaxa      *
***********************************************************************
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Feb 90 20:15:10 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!hrc!force!covertr@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Richard E.
 Covert)
Subject: ST JOURNAL
Message-ID: <48af092f.14a1f@force.UUCP>
 
OK folks here is the info on the new UST ST magazine
 
ST JOURNAL
 
It is a monthly magazine directoed towards application and utility
programs. The Premier issue willbe shipped to major booksellers by
the second week in March with a cover date of April 1990. ST JOURNAL
will sell for $3.95, but if you want to get the premier issue directly
from the publishers, you can mail a check for $5.00 to ST JOURNAL at the
address below. ST JOURNAL is actively searching for contributors, so if
you think that you have an expertise in the ST that others could use then
contact ST JOURNAL. ST JOURNAL is being published by QUILL PUBLISHING.
 
 
I have just spoken with Tim Lewis who is the Editorial Director of ST JOURNAL.
Tim has the philosophy that ST JOURNAL should be a magazine "by the people,
for the people" and wants it to be responsive to the reader's needs. Tim has
indicated that he will have a regular column spot lighting a different ST Club
each month. The first two columns will be devoted to an interview with Bob
Brodie, User Group Coordinator. Tim interviewed Bob Brodie at the Winter NAMM
show last year. Tim also wants submissions from ST Club with your club's banner
or logo. Sounds like an interesting idea.
 
One final plea, if you are an ST vendor, please consider advertising in
ST JOURNAL. This magazine, like most, wilve succeed or fail based upon
advertiser revenues. With the failure of ST APPLICATIONS, ANALOG, ST LOG,
and ST EXPRESS in recent months (years?) we need to support any new ST
magazine brave enough to start publishing.
 
ST JOURNAL
113 W. College St.
Covina, CA 91723
(818) 332-0372
 
P.S. I am in no way associated with ST JOURNAL. I hope that this does not
come across as a sales ad for ST JOURNAL, but I miss ST LOG, and I am hopeful
that ST JOURNAL will fill the void left by the demise of the many ST mags of
past years. This are just personal opinions. Take them for what they cost you.
 :-)
 
rec
 
--
 Richard E. Covert, Lead Engineer of Software Tools Group
 AG Communications Systems, Phoenix AZ   (602) - 581-4652
 TCP/IP: covertr@gtephx
 UUCP: ?ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!zardoz!hrc | att?!gtephx!covertr
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Feb 90 20:24:13 GMT
From: cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!hrc!force!covertr@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Richard E.
 Covert)
Subject: The ATARI ELITE ST ORG. of Pittsburgh.
Message-ID: <48af1132.14a1f@force.UUCP>
 
In article <2993@water.waterloo.edu>, ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey)
 writes:
>
> With some trepidation, i dare to rush in.  (Mr Karbowsky, flames to
 /dev/null.)
>
> More than one person has said to me that they thought this board
> (The ATARI ELITE ST ORG. of Pittsburgh) has pirated software.
 
You know with all of the harping about ST Pirate boards, I asked my Mac friends
at my apartment complex about mac pirate boards.. I noticed that large numbers
 of
them meet in the apt.
clubhouse and exchange software. They told me that many mac pirate boards have
over 1 GIGABYTE of pirated mac sw ONLINE. So, if you all think that Sters are
the worst pirates in the USA you should call some of those GIGABYTE Mac boards.
Geez, just the hard drives allow would cost about $5,000.
 
This is all second hand knowledge, and maybe these mac folks were just pulling
my legs (ouch ouch), but anything is possible. I do know that mac people swap
sw more than any others. I am glad that we have a nice quiet PD BBS for our
PHAST Club. it is nicer to be able to sleep at night w/o worrying about
pirated software!!
 
I do not agree with pirating. But all I use on my ST is MWC, and pageStream
these days anyway.
 
********************************************************************************
 *
 views are mine own and are not for sale (they can be leased though, send $5,000
to me and they are all yours :-) )
 
--
 Richard E. Covert, Lead Engineer of Software Tools Group
 AG Communications Systems, Phoenix AZ   (602) - 581-4652
 TCP/IP: covertr@gtephx
 UUCP: ?ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!zardoz!hrc | att?!gtephx!covertr
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90  22:14 GMT
From: Vision Newspapers <SOCS18%vaxb.york.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: The Phantom Typist
 
I don't think the phantom typist is not caused by the ST missing a 'key
released' signal. If you turn off all interrupts and then move the mouse, the
ST behaves as if it has received _lots_ of keypresses. It doesn't slow typing
down as reported.
 
I've never seen 'The Phantom Typist'. What has happened to me in First Word
Plus, using a disk based versiuon of TOS 1.4 (8/8/88 version), is that the
program simply locks up while I'm typing quickly. No chances to save, it's
gone.
 
This may be a problem with my old copy of TOS 1.4, but until I can buy some
ROMs from Atari UK....
 
Mat.
***********************************************************************
* c/o Dept. Computer Science    * "Baldrick, fetch me a turkey _so    *
* University of York            * big_, you'd have thought its mother *
* Heslington                    * had been rodgered by an omnibus"    *
* York                          *                                     *
* YO1 5DD                       * JANET : SOCS18@uk.ac.york.vaxa      *
***********************************************************************
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #217
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