=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Sat, 13 Jan 90       Volume 90 : Issue   40
 
Today's Topics:
                            Aegis Animator
              CO-Processors---(Atari!) ARE NICE PEOPLE!
                                Elite!
                              EMULATORS
                        GDOS font file formats
                        lharc/arc/zoo/compress
                              Re: Ani-ST
                         Software from START
                     The 520ST problem is solved.
                              TOS 1.6...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 12 Jan 90 02:15:46 GMT
From: van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a1318@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Kent Cavaghan)
Subject: Aegis Animator
Message-ID: <924@mindlink.UUCP>
 
> mjv writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <24938@brunix.UUCP>
> Posted: 10 Jan 90 15:01:56 GMT
>
> Org.  : IRIS
> Person: Marshall Vale
>
> In article <1513@castle.ed.ac.uk> aimd@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Davidson) writes:
> > The public
> > domain version is called Ani-ST. It'd be a nice thing to have, it
>  Sorry, but it is not PD but was released on a STart disk which is not
> PD (but has this myth about being so).
>
> -- mjv@iris.brown.edu
 
 
 
     From STart ,Volume 4,Number 4,page 67 (Reprinted without permission):
              Ani ST is shareware and can be freely distributed -- the author
(Jim Kent) asks for nothing more than a smile.
          As of yet,I have not quite figured out how to reach the binaries
(soon      I hope :?) ) so if you wish SEND me E-mail and I will parcel it to
you
                 Kent_Cavaghan@mindlink.UUCP
            Beautiful British Columbia
            Canada
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 11:25:01 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!tadhg!chris@uunet.uu.net  (Chris Forker - Nav
 Arch-)
Subject: CO-Processors---(Atari!) ARE NICE PEOPLE!
Message-ID: <1990Jan13.112501.26095@newcastle.ac.uk>
 
In article <1946@atari.UUCP> apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) writes:
>kar7481@cuphub.cup.edu (Dan Karbowsky;AtariEliteOfPghPa bbs412-384-5609)
 writes:
>>I was VERY INTERESTED in attempting to tack a mc68881 co-processor onto
>>my 1040.....I talked to ATARI-US and ATARI-UK: They couldn't tell me
>>ANYTHING and ATARI-US denied the '881s existance.
>
>I can't imagine why they did that.
>
>Atari has a product, the SFP004, which is a 68881 peripheral for a Mega.
>It only works with Megas, not 1040s, which may have been the source
>of the confusion.  It comes with a library (and source!) for linking
>Alcyon C programs which use floating point so they use the 68881
>if it's there, and use the old software routines if it's not.
>
>============================================
>Opinions expressed above do not necessarily    -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
>reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.     ...ames!atari!apratt
 
Allan, When I got the 68881 board for my Mega, I did not get a library
or source code. However, as I use Prospero's software I bought their
drivers.
 
You mention that the Alcyon C compiler uses the 68881 if it is there,
otherwise the software emulation. How does it manage this. With
Prospero's compilers, ( I use Fortran & Pascal ), the result will be a
bus error on machines with no 68881. Does TOS1.4 have some trap that I
can call from Fortan or Pascal which will indicate the presence of a
68881 ??
 
Thanks in advance
 
Chris....
 
 
+-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--+--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-+
|   mail: Chris.Forker@newcastle.ac.uk   |   Dept. Marine Technology        |
|  voice: +44 91 2226000 X 6750          |   Newcastle University           |
|    fax: +44 91 2611182                 |   Newcastle upon Tyne            |
|                                        |   NE1 7RU  ENGLAND               |
+-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--+--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-+
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 12 Jan 90 17:47:15 GMT
From: attcan!lsuc!maccs!johns@uunet.uu.net  (Conan the Barbarian)
Subject: Elite!
Message-ID: <25AE1823.8928@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
 
>> If your status is not clean you occasionally get cops chasing you.  You can't
>> outrun them (unless you hyperspace out) but if you kill one you become a
>> fugitive and then they chase you around forever.  Wouldn't be so bad if
>> they didn't try to kill you; you are forced to kill them.
>> Am I missing something?
 
        I avoid this by getting a docking computer.  It docks so fast that
        the cops don't get a chance at me.  And this is the part I like best:
        (Taken straight out of the manual) "It comes with MemnSomn pilot
        interaction to induce hi-cram sleep during the manoevre."
 
>If somehow you lose your clean status, you can escape from your ship if
>you have purchased a life pod.  The status stays with your ship, and you
>end up docked with a ship furnished exactly the same as the one you
>ditched (thanks to the "insurance policy" provided by the life pod
>purchase), minus the life pod.
 
        This hasn't worked for me.  Am I doing something wrong?  I make sure
        I don't carry any cargo, get into a fight, and then eject.
        I get my ship back just as before, but my status is still bad.
        What's going on?
 
>At various points in the game, after several hours of play, you'll be
>offered the opportunity to go on missions.  The extra passenger room
>comes into play on one of these.
 
        I thought I'd played a while, but I haven't seen this yet.  Better
        get cracking.
 
 
>                               *** Daryl ***
 
 
--
"After all is said and done,                       John Schmitt
 a lot more is said than done."                    johns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
Don't blame anybody for what I say.                SCHMITTJ@SCIvax.mcmaster.ca
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 11 Jan 90 22:11:39 GMT
From: van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a254@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Malcolm McDougall)
Subject: EMULATORS
Message-ID: <923@mindlink.UUCP>
 
> FRAJKOR writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <900109.20085072.014763@CU.CP6>
> Posted: 10 Jan 90 01:06:18 GMT
>
> Org.  : The Internet
>
>
>   I am puzzled by those who suggest that there is no point to buying
> Mac / PC/ etc emulators because you can buy Messy-Dos machines sio
> cheaply today.
>
>    Personally, I would rather have a wife who is (a) sexy (b) intelligent
> and (c) a hard worker than three who are one of each.  Even if you can
> get the other two cheaply.
>     Personal taste, of course.
 
 
Why not have ne of each? Then you could have one clean your house, talk to
another, while the third was doing other things to you.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 16:00:12 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!warwick!maume@uunet.uu.net  (Mark Maplethorpe)
Subject: GDOS font file formats
Message-ID: <367@lily.warwick.ac.uk>
 
In article <750042@hpsad.HP.COM> randyh@hpsad.HP.COM (Randy Hosler) writes:
>There is a file called gdos.arc.  It can be ftp'd from:
>
>   [35.1.33.8]              terminator.cc.umich.edu
>
>When you get in;  cd ?atari/unindexed.
 
As I can't get access to ftp could someone please send me a copy.
 
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: 13 Jan 90 15:18:46 GMT
From: mcsun!sunic!draken!perand@uunet.uu.net  (Per Andersson)
Subject: lharc/arc/zoo/compress
Message-ID: <2721@draken.nada.kth.se>
 
In article <21723@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> rs0@beach.cis.ufl.edu () writes:
>In article <21701@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> cr1@beach.cis.ufl.edu
>I would _really love to see a super-smart program that can use any of
>these formats, and allow you to unarchive _anything_.  Then the choice
>of archive format would become less of a problem in the present and
>the future.
 
And of course it should work under Unix, BSD+SysV, Amiga, ST, PC and mac.
This is unfortunately an utopia. But things is getting better, Zoo works
on all these systems, arc does, and lharc at least works on BSD, ST and PC.
Then you can build e menysystem around them to get your program. If this
supersmart program had been done, there would be enough ccordination not
to have umpteen compression formats.
 
Just ramblin' on, Per
--
---
Per Andersson
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
perand@admin.kth.se, @nada.kth.se
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 15:44:28 GMT
From: hpl-opus!hpnmdla!hpsad!randyh@hplabs.hpl.hp.com  (Randy Hosler)
Subject: Re: Ani-ST
Message-ID: <750043@hpsad.HP.COM>
 
Yes!!!   Please post it!
 
 
 
   |\   | |     _ |                        Randy Hosler
   |/   |-| /\ <  | [] /\                  randyh@hpsadpk
   |\ . | | \/ _> | \_ |                   (707) 974-3677
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 03:44:02 GMT
From: attcan!lsuc!maccs!johns@uunet.uu.net  (Conan the Barbarian)
Subject: Software from START
Message-ID: <25AEA403.23275@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
 
In article <18126@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU> davidli@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu (David
 Paschall-Zimbel) writes:
>[...]
>Public domain programs have appeared in STart before, and are generally
>marked as such.  Programs such as ST Writer may be freely copied, since
>STart magazine _cannot_ hold a copyright on the material.  This does not mean
>that all programs on STart are PD, most of the are not.  But in the case of
>Ani-ST and ST Writer, the programs are freely distributable ...
>
>-- David Paschall-Zimbel
 
        What about programs like GFA BASIC, and some of the other GFA
        stuff that was released on START issues?  Is that PD, or do I have
        to buy a START disk?
--
"After all is said and done,                       John Schmitt
 a lot more is said than done."                    johns@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
Don't blame anybody for what I say.                SCHMITTJ@SCIvax.mcmaster.ca
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 03:27:41 GMT
From: psuvm!mxb126@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu  (Michael S Barthelemy)
Subject: The 520ST problem is solved.
Message-ID: <90012.222741MXB126@PSUVM.BITNET>
 
Thanx for any and all responses.
 
                                Mike Barthelemy
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 13 Jan 90 16:00:32 GMT
From: matthews@umd5.umd.edu  (Mike Matthews)
Subject: TOS 1.6...
Message-ID: <5939@umd5.umd.edu>
 
In article <1956@atari.UUCP> apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) writes:
>The fallacy here is that you think we want you to know EXACTLY what TOS
>would do.  Publishing the source would make it impossible to change it,
>because people would start relying on accidental side-effects of
>operations.  When that happens, we can't change the code without
>breaking those programs or maintaining those previously-accidental side
>effects.  This is a maintenance nightmare.
>
[various examples deleted]
>
>============================================
>Opinions expressed above do not necessarily    -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
>reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else.     ...ames!atari!apratt
 
Yes, but it would seem that if there was a bug in the OS, the program would
crash anyway (or at least misbehave) if the code was written correctly, so it
would work with future versions of TOS.
 
There already IS a "maintenance nightmare" out there.  Programs crash on new
releases of the ROM because the programmers decided to ignore some rules.  Or
perhaps workaround some old bugs.  That's gonna happen no matter what.
 
(correct me if I'm wrong; I'm guessing at this mostly)
 
Mike
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #40
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