=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Sun, 21 Jan 90       Volume 90 : Issue   76
 
Today's Topics:
                               atari tt
                             dissassembly
                             EAB (2 msgs)
                         METAFOUR hard drives
                                 test
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 21 Jan 90 03:58:07 GMT
From: rochester!rit!ultb!drp9500@rutgers.edu  (D.R. Paradis)
Subject: atari tt
Message-ID: <1975@ultb.isc.rit.edu>
 
  the following is from the january 15 1990 issue of macintosh news
 
 
             atari tt: threat to iicx?
 
  late this month, atari corp. will begin shipping its under-$2000,
16mhz, 68030-powered tt computer.  priced at about one-third of apple's
price for the iix and iicx, this second-generation atari machine could
be a threat to macintosh markets with the addition of the $300 gcr
macintosh rom adapter from gadgets by small.
 
  equipped witht he gcr cartridge and borrowed mac se roms, the tt will
be able to run the vast majority of macintosh software at a fraction of
apple's mac iix and iicx pricing.
 
  still, atari is not well know for successful u.s. distribution.
indeed, while the tt laboured through fcc testing in december, it was
shipping in volume in europe.  there, the machine is already a favorite
of german industry and could impact mac sales in a country that is
already below other european companies in per capita mac sales.
stateside, atari's lackluster distribution could make the tt little more
than a 68030 curiosity.  it's pricedat three to four times the average
atari 68000-based st system.  by selling the t, storefront resellers
will put pressure on their already limited resources.
 
---------------------------------------------------
 
looks like there is a *new* boss coming to town.......
 
 
      "power *without* the price!!!!!!!!!!"
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jan 90 09:37:00 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil@uunet.uu.net  (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: dissassembly
Message-ID: <4130@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
 
In article <1967@atari.UUCP> kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) writes:
>V067MAJP@UBVMSC.CC.BUFFALO.EDU (Arion) writes:
>| What I don't understand is why don't the excellent development team at Atari
>| just go ahead and make the changes and break all the programs that don't
>| follow the rules.
>
>Believe me, Arion, it's very very tempting at times.  Especially when
>you see some of the really silly things that some developers do to
>break the rules.  You want to punish them.  But in fact, the end users
>are punished worse if Atari breaks programs which break the rules.  All
>a user knows is that his favorite program doesn't work any more.  If
>the company that made it is no longer in business, that user is really
>up the creek.
 
I would like to see all the bugs fixed too. I admit though that it would be a
shame to lose the use of some programs because of it.
Why not have a bug-installer that puts back the necessary buggy behaviour
(stop laughing!) so that these programs can work.
eg. I ran an old game on an STE and it bombed out. So I dug about my disk box
and pulled out RAM loadable TOS 1.0. Hey presto the game now works.
 
I may be getting TOS 1.4 soon (though don't hold your breath folks:-).
TOS 1.4 has the I/O redirection handling bugs fixed so you can redirect the
output from any program. But developers have to use 'isatty' stuff so that
their programs work on 1.0 and 1.2 so there is not really a big win here for
them. Likewise with Malloc.
Because of the existance of bugs in the old ROMs most developers don't use
those system calls but cook up their own routines.
Sometime ago before TOS 1.4 was released Allan Pratt said that he had fixed
such and such bugs and that a patch might be about 30K. Why not release such
a patch that fixes all the bugs and make it available for dealer distribution.
Not enhancments like Move File and Rename Folder etc just the fixes.
That way developers can rely on TOS 1.4 and users without it can either get the
chips or the bug fix.
TOS 1.4 ROM sets being as widespread in the UK as they are tends to make me
like this idea a lot.
 
>Fortunately, we are not constrained to strict compatibility with the
>TTOS, so we may be able to fix some of the things we were previously
>unable to fix.
 
Great! Does that include the lost 2 clusters?
 
>   |||   Ken Badertscher  (ames!atari!kbad)
>   |||   Atari R&D System Software Engine
>  / | \  #include <disclaimer>
 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
!                                                                             !
! "I think all right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of    !
! being told that ordinary decent people are fed up in this country with      !
! being sick and tired. I'm certainly not and I'm sick and tired of being     !
! told that I am!" - Monty Python                                             !
!                                                                             !
! Neil Forsyth                       JANET:  neil@uk.ac.hw.cs                 !
! Dept. of Computer Science          ARPA:   neil@cs.hw.ac.uk                 !
! Heriot-Watt University             UUCP:   ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil          !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK                                                     !
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 20 Jan 90 14:13:51 GMT
From: ingr!b11!jmack@uunet.uu.net  (Cery McCormick)
Subject: EAB
Message-ID: <7226@b11.ingr.com>
 
Could someone please give me an address or phone number for the
E. Arthur Brown company?? Thanks in advance.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 21 Jan 90 02:41:13 GMT
From:
 usc!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs.toronto.edu!omicron.cs.fsu.ed
 u!fsucs.cs.fsu.edu!boyd@ucsd.edu  (Mickey Boyd)
Subject: EAB
Message-ID: <9001210242.AA12836@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu>
 
In article <7226@b11.ingr.com>, jmack@b11.ingr.com (Cery McCormick) writes:
>Could someone please give me an address or phone number for the
>E. Arthur Brown company?? Thanks in advance.
 
Order line:  1-800-322-4405, info line:  (612) 762-8847
 
 
--
 
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
         Mickey Boyd                 |    "Nobody can be exactly like me.
                                     |      Even I have trouble doing it."
             FSU Comp Sci            |              - Tallulah Bankhead
    ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jan 90 14:17:45 GMT
From: cs.dal.ca!aucs!870086t@uunet.uu.net  (Shannon Tremblay)
Subject: METAFOUR hard drives
Message-ID: <1990Jan19.141745.18123@aucs.uucp>
 
hi everyone
        Has anyone ever heard of or delt with METAFOUR MARKETING out of
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  They sell custom harddrives.  I just bought
a ST157N with a Supra interface, a 3.5" floppy and a 200w(a bit exsessive
I know, but that is standard in the setup) all in a case designed to fit
under the monitor.  It also has 4 outlets so you can plus the rest of your
equipment into the drive unit.
        Anyway I ordered the drive back in August by fax.  First they lost
the fax, so I had to order it by phone(since I no longer had access to a
fax machine).  When the first one arrived by courier it was totalled, they
must have run into it with a forklift or something.  A month or so later
I recieved a replacement, by Canada Post, it too was damaged (but only
cosmeticly.  So I contacted METAFOUR and they said they would send me a
replacement cover for the drive rather than risk further damage shipping
the entire drive!  Made sence at the time, however that was 2 months ago.
They tell me they have shipped 2 covers and cannot understand why I have
not received at least one of them.  A third is on its way, who knows where
it may end up.
        METAFOUR tells me they have a good track record shipping all over
the country, but what do you expect.
 
        My question is has any one ever had the problems I am having and
if so any suggestions as to what I can do to protect my investment.
 
                                       Thanks in Advance
 
                                        Shannon Tremblay
                                      Acadia University, N.S.
 
        --------------------------------------------
        |   internet address : 870086t@Acadia.CA   |
        --------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 20 Jan 90 23:57:23 GMT
From: sdcc10.UCSD.EDU!cs163wed@ucsd.edu  ( )
Subject: test
Message-ID: <1249@crash.cts.com>
 
test
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #76
****************************************
