=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Thu,  5 Apr 90       Volume 90 : Issue  411
 
Today's Topics:
                        10 ugly bombs (again)
                           Amiga/Atari help
                 BELLTEST - NewBell SND Tester, Spee
                           Digitized Sounds
                      floppy disk-change (again)
                     monochrome bending & shaking
                  PostScript printing from Timeworks
                    problems with opus 2.2 (again)
                               TT rumor
                      Upgrading Mega 2 to Mega 4
                  Yet another screen saver question
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 07:45:28 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil@uunet.uu.net  (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: 10 ugly bombs (again)
Message-ID: <4784@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>
 
In article <10877@cbnewsm.ATT.COM> rachna@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (anil.pal,hl,)
writes:
>I have a 1986 or thereabouts vintage 1040 st with tos1.0 (i think)
>in rom, and an atari sh204 20 mb hard drive.  recently i have
>started getting this strange problem every time i try and run
>flight simulator 2, where the machine dies with 10 bombs on the
>screen.  This happens wether i try and run it from my hard drive or
>from a floppy.
>However, when i boot the machine with the origonal disk
>as the boot floppy, every thing runs fine.
>
>I am having this problem only with this one program, everything else
>runs fine.
 
I have seen two versions of FS2. The original version was copy protected but
the next version was not. Both versions were loaded at absolute locations
in memory. What this means, is that if the absolute location happens to be
in use by accessories or GEM itself when the program is loaded then anything
(in this case 10 bombs) can happen. Contact SubLogic and see if they have
stopped this dumb practice of absolute location and have a relocatable version
available.
 
>anil pal
>anil\@whtool.att.com
 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
!                                                                            !
! 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           "I cut down trees, I eat my lunch, ..."  !
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 17:14:55 GMT
From: umich!vela!dlcogswe@CS.YALE.EDU  (Dan Cogswell)
Subject: Amiga/Atari help
Message-ID: <598@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
 
In article <1990Apr4.235543.24355@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> cs325ec@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
 (Gregory Lemperle-Kerr) writes:
>
>       Just wondering why all these lame Amiga users are posting and not
>       many Atari users...
 
        Did you ever think most ST users gave up decieving themselves with
        these arguments that the ST is superior to the Amiga??
 
>
>       The Amax from what I have heard (that is the Amiga's mac emulator)
>       is like a tadpole in the pond of mac emulators whereas Spectre on
>       the Atari approaches the bullfrog.
 
        This is a nice qualitative statement.  I'd be proud had I made it!
 
>       Atari has the added bonus that many of its users are hacks (like
>       me) who know much about computers in general.
 
        'Scuse me, but how is this a bonus for Atari??  It's apparent
        from this statment that one does not need intelligence to be
        a "hack."
 
>
>       Dave Small apparently has a 68030 card working for an ST that he
>       will market...?
 
        Big deal.  The Amiga has no less than 4 68030 boards (from CBM,
        GVP, CSA and Ronin).  The GVP boad runs at 40 MHz.  These are
        available now and have been for a while.
 
>       The Amiga is also in another price range.  (higher)
 
        Amiga 500: about $550.  How much lower are the ST's?
>
>       4096 colours are real pretty, if that's what makes your motor run.
 
        What if that doesn't make your motor run??  Are they still pretty?
>
>       512 are good enough for me.
 
        You are easy to please.
>
>       There is another hardware mod from Germany for the atari that allows
>       the monochrome monitor to work in the colour resolutions using
>       grey scales.
 
        Wow!  Buy an Amiga and get full color at 704x480 resolution.
>
>       Insight:  You had a Mac...  you'll probably get an Amiga except...
>               You ditched a Mac... you should get an Atari ST.
 
        Well, Greg, I had an ST and was smart to enough to see that it
        was far inferior to even the cheapest Amiga.  You'd do well
        to see the same.
>
>       -- Greg
 
        Only civilized replies will be answered.  Go flame somebody else.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 16:40:00 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!cs325ec@
 tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Subject: BELLTEST - NewBell SND Tester, Spee
Message-ID: <16000038@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
 
        And yet another late night production by the Kerr man...
 
        See belltest.lzh at terminator for a utility that will set the
        speeds for your digitized sounds for use with newbell and let
        you test them before use.  GEM and all! Wowee.
 
        -- Greg
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 14:04:23 GMT
From: eagle!ncastellano@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Digitized Sounds
Message-ID: <15758@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
 
In article <6523@blake.acs.washington.edu>, ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
 (Enartloc Nhoj) writes:
> I only had ONE sound in the dat file at the time....
>
> Thanks for the hint...  but this doesn't seem to explain
> my problem....
>
>
> anybody?
>
> -kevin
> ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
 
Do you have any blank lines in the file?  If so, delete them.  Even the last
line.  I had this problem when I first started using Newbell, and it was caused
by a blank line at the end.  Authors of program like this really should check
for obvious things like blank lines, it's not all that difficult.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 13:24:34 GMT
From: uvm-gen!pegram@uunet.uu.net  (pegram r)
Subject: floppy disk-change (again)
Message-ID: <1467@uvm-gen.UUCP>
 
From article <1990Mar24.192858.1655@ns.network.com>, by logajan@ns.network.com
 (John Logajan):
% From time to time I've seen mention of replacement floppy drives not
 indicating
% disk change status.  Since I've had a replacement drive for longer than my
% human memory works, I don't recall if the original could really detect disk
% change status either.
%
% Looking at the pinouts and schematics for a 520 ST reveals that there is
% no dedicated "disk change" signal.  So if the original Atari floppy drives
% could inform of disk change condition, that information would HAVE to be
% indicated in some way over the only lines available to do so, namely:
% read-data, track-0, write-protect, and index.   Furthermore, these signals
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Write protect is the beasty you want, all you _usually_ have to do is
tie your drive's media change line to the write protect line directly
(a Wire OR).  Think about it, on the simplist of 3.5" drives the
write protect is inhibited when something blocks the light from getting
to the sensor, removing your disk allows the write protect line to
toggle.  Unfortunately, many drives outsmarted Atari and inhibit the
signal when no disk is in place.
 
My thanks also to the fellow who pointed out the motor running
condition is due to an upsidedown connector, this is true on late
model STs.  You must know which way to plug the drive cable in, it
*will* go in upside down!
 
% go directly and only to the floppy controller chip, so that if there is
% any disk-change detection going on, it has to be occuring there.
%
% I will pursue this by looking into the specs of the floppy controller,
% but if anyone has any clues or knows the answer to this, let me know.
% Thanks.
%
% --
% - John Logajan @ Network Systems; 7600 Boone Ave; Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
% - logajan@ns.network.com, john@logajan.mn.org, 612-424-4888, Fax 424-2853
 
Bob Pegram Internet: pegram@griffin.uvm.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 16:59:19 GMT
From: usc!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!larry!gaudi!billm@ucsd.edu  (Bill
 Mills)
Subject: monochrome bending & shaking
Message-ID: <1990Apr5.165919.18417@gaudi.CSUFresno.EDU>
 
I don't recall who it was that posted about it, but someone was having
problems with slight distortion in the upper left corner, and occasional
vibrating of the image on a monochrome monitor.
Most likely this is due to a (relatively)
strong magnetic field near the monitor.  I have experienced the same
thing myself, when I set a Casio keyboard with built in speakers on top
of both of my monitors.  (my dorm room is small, and it was the closest
place to put it, my MIDI cables are short)  When I powered up my system,
the color monitor was wild, in fun purples and blues, the mono monitor
was badly streched.  Needless to say, it didn't take but a moment to
realize what it was.  Even a stereo speaker hung 2.5 feet above the
monitor caused problems (this took longer to realize, but when I swung
the speaker, the screen did the hula)  As for the screen vibrating, I've
found that a color monitor or tv within 5-6 feet of the Atari mono
monitor causes a slight, but nonetheless anoying vibration of the screen
image.   hope this helps.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Disclaimer: These comments are my own, and I doubt that anyone else
would want to claim them anyhow.   Bill Mills
**"When you learn the truth, you'll PAY to find out what you think"**
                                        -J.R."BOB" Dobbs
    bill@csufres.csufresno.edu       billm@gaudi.csufresno.edu
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 07:20:50 GMT
From: snorkelwacker!ira.uka.de!fauern!fauern!dkhusema@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
 (Dirk Husemann)
Subject: PostScript printing from Timeworks
Message-ID: <2633@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 
swklassen@tiger.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) writes:
 
 
>I tried to install Timeworks for PostScript but end up with a
>missing driver.  It seems Timeworks wants to load the driver from
>the (non-existing) printer.  If I tell FontWidth that I have the
 ...
 
>Can I get it to print PostScript to disk, even though I don't have
>the printer?  Will it work if I can get someone to send me the
 
I'm using the Timeworks Desktop Publisher for creating docs at home (where I
don't have a postscript printer nor UltraScript (yet)), print them to disk, and
print them at university on the LWII.
 
As I don't know what kind of set up you have, I'll tell you mine:
        Mega ST 4
        Megafile 60 - a hard disk seems to be essential for being able to
                print to disk, I had no luck installing TW DTP w/o a hard
                disk for using postscript *and* printing to disk! The manual
                doesn't mention this fact - I had to learn it the hard way!
 
Hope that'll help you!
 
>Steven W. Klassen                       +-----------------------------+
>Computer Science Major                  | Support the poor...buy fur! |
>University of Waterloo                  +-----------------------------+
 
        Dirk Husemann
---------------------- Smile, tomorrow will be worse! ------------------
X.400:  <S=dkhusema;OU=informatik;P=uni-erlangen;A=dbp;C=de>
RFC822: dkhusema@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de
RFC822: dkhusema@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.dbp.de   [BETTER!FASTER!]
UUCP:   ?pyramid,unido?!fauern!immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de!dkhusema
-- Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here! --
------------------- My opinions are mine, mine, mine -------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 90 10:03:52 PDT
From: Peter_Lawrence_Jackson@mtsg.ubc.ca
Subject: problems with opus 2.2 (again)
Message-ID: <2167540@mtsg.ubc.ca>
 
 I am having two problems with the opus spreadsheet 2.2:
  1. When I enter a numeric value into a cell, the number is displayed
     in the cell imediately to the right of the cell in which it is
     entered. The number is not in that cell (ie it cannot be deleted or
     overwritten from that cell), but just appears there.
 
 2.  I am still having problems printing out charts, I think this is a
     problem with my assign.sys -- I vaguely remember someone mentioning
     opus quirkiness here. Could someone email me a copy of an assign.sys
     that works with opus?
 
 This is my second posting, and I really would appreciate it if someone
 who has figured out how to use/install the program could reply. If there
 is interest, I can summarize and post the solution to the net.
 Thanks, Peter.  (usermeso@mtsg.ubc.ca | usermeso@ubcmtsg.bitnet)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 14:57:29 GMT
From: cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cunixa.cc.columbia.edu!cmm1@rutgers.edu
 (Christopher M Mauritz)
Subject: TT rumor
Message-ID: <1990Apr5.145729.22839@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
 
In article <2812@sactoh0.UUCP> mfolivo@sactoh0.UUCP (Mark F. Newton) writes:
>
>(Sounds like someone is more than a bit gullible to pass on
>everything that they heard)
>
Well, gee whiz, Mark.  I'm glad you're not one of those gullible rumour
spreaders.  Nope, not you...
 
<flame off>
>
>--
>                             Mark Newton-John
>   (ames att sun)!pacbell! \      Sakura-mendo, CA
>           ucdavis!csusac! - sactoh0!mfolivo
>              uunet!mmsac! /      the good guys!
 
 
------------------------------+---------------------------
Chris Mauritz                 |Where there's a BEER,
cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu   |there's a plan.
(c)All rights reserved.       |
Send flames to /dev/null      |Air Warrior is king!
------------------------------+---------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 16:47:01 GMT
From:
 mailrus!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!daisy!javoskamp@t
 ut.cis.ohio-state.edu  (Jeff Voskamp)
Subject: Upgrading Mega 2 to Mega 4
Message-ID: <22922@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
 
In article <22913@watdragon.waterloo.edu> achowe@tiger.waterloo.edu (anthony
 howe) writes:
...
>
>I heard something to the effect that this could not be done because
>the speed of the Mega 2 chips are slower than that of a Mega 4 and
>so the entire 4M would have to be the same speed or better (which I
>do not know) in order to keep up with memory refresh.
>
>Did I hear wrong or could I have updated long ago to 4M?
 
Well, I upgraded my Mega2 to 4 megabytes last fall.  All you need is
16 1Mbit DRAMs (same speed as those on the board), 16 decoupling capacitors
(same as on the other banks) and 3 resistors (can't remember what value -
look for ones "obviously missing" on the board below and to the left of the
DRAMs).  The big pain is getting the solder out of the holes in order to
install everything.
 
As far as I could tell, all banks are refreshed simultaneously.  In any case
I haven't had any problems with going to 4 meg.
 
Jeff Voskamp
--
Some people march to a different drummer -- and some people polka.
bang path: ...?!uunet,...?!watmath!daisy!javoskamp
domain   : javoskamp@daisy.uwaterloo.ca or javoskamp@daisy.waterloo.cdn
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 5 Apr 90 08:37:19 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!eric@uunet.uu.net  (E S Fraga)
Subject: Yet another screen saver question
Message-ID: <3165@castle.ed.ac.uk>
 
In article <825@nikhefh.nikhef.nl> t19@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Geert J v Oldenborgh)
 writes:
>> (about whether it is wise to leave your monitor on)
>I know three people who left their monitor (Atari SM124) turned on all the
>time.  All three monitors blew after 2-3 years.  Most others, including older
>ones, have not blown.  Draw your own conclusions.
 
I left my monitor on all the time (I have a vintage 1985 520ST
with SM124 monitor) and never had any problems til last summer
when a lightning storm caused a power surge or something and my
monitor blew its fuse.
 
I used a screen blanker (can't remember which one and my ST is
across the pond from me).
 
Your mileage may vary...
 
eric
 
 
--
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
  |Eric S Fraga, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Edinburgh |
  |phone: +44 31 667 1081 x2955,  e.s.fraga@uk.ac.ed  or  e.s.fraga@ed.ac.uk |
  +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
------------------------------
 
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #411
*****************************************
