Info-Atari16 Digest         Wed, 19 Jun 91       Volume 91 : Issue 341
 
Today's Topics:
                           1040ST for $350?
                  1200 bd hayes compat. make offer!
                   24bit -> spectrum (my solution)
               Atari.archive gnustuff -- status update
                        Double click software
                        Erie PA show cancelled
                        GFA Assembler wanted.
                    handling serial io in turbo-c
                    How is Atari doing in Europe?
          How to install Multi-sync monitor onto Atari STe?
                         ICD Multi I/o (???)
                       In search of "MindLink"
          International Character sets (was Re: man w/ pipe)
           lharc woes (AGAIN, was Is musedt.lzh corrupted?)
                              Llamatron
                 Mac in Europe(was: How is Atari...)
                             midi sys-ex
                           RE: DMJ_GIF 2.0
                   Re: GNU Make troubles:  2 bombs!
    RTS/CTS (was Re: set-up for Practical Peripherals 9600 modem?)
                           Signum on the TT
                     What to do with antique STs?
 
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jun 91 07:03:24 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana
 .edu!milton!mrc@arizona.edu (Mark Crispin)
Subject: 1040ST for $350?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I have the opportunity to get a used Atari 1040ST for $350 -- monitor,
computer, mouse, single floppy drive.  I'm trying to decide if this is
a worthwhile purchase or not.  Part of the trouble is whether or not
it can be put to use as a useful computing engine or, if it is is just
a toy, is it at least viable as a toy.  [Note: I have a NeXT, so where
I draw the line between "toy" and "engine" may be different from you.]
 
Specific questions (reflecting several possible uses):
 
Is Atari still in business and making the 1040ST?
Is it a 68000 or does it have something better (e.g. 68020)?  Clock speed?
Is there an Ethernet interface (preferably thinwire) and TCP/IP software
 for it?
What software is bundled with it?
What software is generally available?
Is anyone doing software development for it any more?
Is the available software real, or is it a just glorified game machine
 the way the 8-bit Atari was?
What's the scoop on the Macintosh emulator, in particular how would a
 $450 1040ST plus the emulator compare to a Mac Classic for $800?
What sort of educational software for it exists to teach children
 programming, e.g. is there a reasonable Logo?  Has anyone had any
 experience using it as an educational tool for their children?
 
Finally:
Is $350 a reasonable price for a floppy-based 1040ST?
 
Email please to the above address, since I don't read this newsgroup.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 19:37:57 GMT
From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@uunet.uu.net
Subject: 1200 bd hayes compat. make offer!
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
BRANDNAME: Atari
MODEL    : SX212
SPECS    : 300/1200 baud, auto answer, hayes compat., speaker, etc. etc.!
CONDITION: LESS THAN ONE MONTH OLD
Y SELLING: GOT a 2400 baud w/mnp5, no longer need 1200 baud.
COMESWITH: Original packing materials (instruction manual, box, power supply
           ...)
PRICE    : Make me an offer!  I just want to get SOMETHING outta this.
MISC     : This is an external modem which will work with *any computer*
           which sports an RS-232 port.  Can also be hooked up to a serial
           port if you are into kinky connections. :)
CONTACT  : Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
Thanks,
Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 17:42:23 GMT
From: dkoski@arizona.edu (David A. Koski)
Subject: 24bit -> spectrum (my solution)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Thanks to everyone who replied to my query about converting to
spectrum format.  The route I ended up taking was converting my
24 bit image to an 8 bit gif file and then converting that using bgif.
 
The down side of this is the time required.  I am doing raytracing on
my Next and this usually takes 20 seconds to 2 minutes (for a 320x200
fractal landscape image).  I can convert the resulting 24 bit image to
gif in under a second, but it takes bgif quite a while (I didn't time
it, but I would guess 2 minutes or more) to convert to spectrum.  I
then use dslide to view the pictures.  I have gotten really excellent
looking results.  I can view the pictures on my Next, but only in shades
of gray, it is nice to see them in color too.
 
Oh yeah, the raytracer on the Next is Rayshade 4.0, and I use the
Utah Raster Tooolkit to do the image conversions for the ST.
 
David Koski
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 17:22:54 GMT
From: otter.hpl.hp.com!hpltoad!ghiggins!gjh@hplabs.hp.com (Graham Higgins)
Subject: Atari.archive gnustuff -- status update
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Thanks to loads of people chipping in with advice and email uploads ...
 
Currently available on A.A. in 
These are (as far as I know), the latest patchlevels.
 
gemlib/src/gemsrc17.zoo
gemlib/bin/gemolb17.zoo
 
include/includ68.zoo
 
lib/src/libsrc68.zoo
lib/bin/libolb68.zoo
 
pml/src/pmlsrc11.zoo
pml/bin/pmlolb11.zoo
 
util/src/utlsrc18.zoo
util/bin/utlbin18.zoo
 
gas/bin/gasbin00.zoo
gas/bin/gasbin01.zoo
gas/src/gassrc1.zoo (expect to see this as gas/src/gassrc01.zoo)
 
If all goes well, GCC 1.40 binaries will be available by this weekend.
 
Graham
======
 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Graham Higgins                  |  gjh%ghiggins@hpl.hp.co.uk
Hewlett-Packard Labs            |  gjh%ghiggins@hplb.hpl.hp.com
Filton Road, Stoke Gifford      |  gjh%hplb.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Bristol, U.K.                   |  ...!mcvax!ukc!hplb!gjh
Tel: +44 272 799910 x24014         Fax: +44 272 790554
------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions.
------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 18:18:33 GMT
From: tardis.cs.ed.ac.uk!dh@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
Subject: Double click software
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I've just heard about DC softwares commitment to produce one program per
week for this year to show their commitmet to the ST.
 
As a journalist abuot to write an article on DC, I'd like to hear from
someone at Double Click to tell me more about this. I reckon we must
be nearly halfway through the year now, so have 26 programs been released?
 
A list of the programs so far released would also bee useful.
 
Thanks in advance
 
Richard M Imlach
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 21:34:12 GMT
From: rlgvax!ccicpg!dorjam!paulm@mimsy.umd.edu (Owner and User)
Subject: Erie PA show cancelled
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In article <1991Jun15.163340.8733@kodak.kodak.com>, nelson@cygnus.Kodak.COM
 (Bruce D. Nelson) writes:
> The Spectrum Group of Erie just informed me that their Atari show
> scheduled for June 29-30 in Erie, PA has been cancelled due to lack
> of interest on the part of vendors, developers, and Atari.
 
   Yep, I can imagin.  I used to live in Erie PA.  :~)
 
   Now if was only cheaper to live in Orange County California......
 
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                \  Paul Moreau  Orange, California
 UUCP:  ..!ccicpg!dorjam!paulm   \
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 22:13:35 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!atha!aunro!ersys!ggranger@arizona.edu
 (Greg Granger)
Subject: GFA Assembler wanted.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
cfhat@ux1.cts.eiu.edu (Henry Taitt) writes:
 
> I am looking for GFA Assembler that was advertised about a year ago before
> michtron (I think) lost the GFA's contract.  Dose anyone know of a place
> I could order this from?
>
> Taitt
 
 
You might try GFA Software Technologies in Salem, MA.  Here is their
address and phone number (BTW, ask for Maurice Giguere):
 
     GFA Software Technologies Inc.
     27 Congress Street
     Salem, MA  01970
/
     Fax:    (508) 744-8041
 
Greg Granger
 
< Internet:  ggranger@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca             >  "Just say 'No'
< FoReMNet:  Greg Granger @ 532  or  Dark Knight @ 595 >   to drugs."
< Mail Adr:  5906-188 St.  Edmonton, AB Canada T6M-2A9 >
< Phone   :  +1 403 481-0803  or  +1 403 481-5110      >  - Wm. Sessions
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 22:37:00 GMT
From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!caen!news@arizona.edu (Mustafa
 Soysal)
Subject: handling serial io in turbo-c
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Hi, I have a problem accesing the serial port with the fgets and
fscanf functions.
 
If I use "aux:" for filename and "r+" option for permissions, I read
garbled characters into the buffer, and sometimes it sits there and
probably waits for input from serial port, while the data is pouring
in.
 
If I use the predefined stream stdaux, I get a bus error with one of
the tries to get something with fgets.
 
Has anyone done any work with the serial work using Turbo-C ?
 
Please help
 
Mustafa
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 08:13:52 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!mcshh!malihh!pfunk!blackbox@uunet.uu.net (Michael
 Kistenmacher)
Subject: How is Atari doing in Europe?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In <1991Jun14.010821.9903@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>, James D Yegerlehner writes:
>
>say how the new machines are being received there?  Is Atari
>maintaining the significant market share that it once had?
 
Hi,
 
 
here in germany ATARI has it's best place on earth, I think. The Mega STE
is going good, since the Mega isn't sold anymore. It's design has been
accepted by the customers and we now have quite a few megabytes of software,
supporting the new features of these machines. The TT, I think, is going
quite well too. If you have a homecomputer and want to upgrade, but you hate
IBM-clones and don't have as much money to buy a SUN, the TT is a good
alternative. Many students from our University's buy a TT.
 
Bye.....Michael
 
 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    listen to the coolest !         |  Michael Kistenmacher /  blackbox     |
|       Music from the Galaxy !      |  2000 Hamburg 61  / Schippelsweg 64   |
|            !!! P-Funk !!!          |  West Germany / ++ 49 40 552 37 66    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jun 91 01:12:01 GMT
From: noao!coyote!bbs@arizona.edu (allen yee)
Subject: How to install Multi-sync monitor onto Atari STe?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I want to know how to put an multi-sync monitor onto an Atari STe?
I need to know what the horizontal Hz and vertical Hz in color and
monochrome mode.  I need to know what is the best multi-sync available
for this type of job.
Thanks in advance.
A.Y.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 14:55:58 GMT
From:
 pa.dec.com!hollie.rdg.dec.com!ryn.mro4.dec.com!aidev.enet.dec.com!miskinis@decw
 rl.dec.com (John Miskinis)
Subject: ICD Multi I/o (???)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Hello,
 
        A friend of a friend has a ICD Multi I/O for sale.  It seems
        to take input from a 50 pin connector (output from a host
        adapter maybe?), and offers several I/O ports, including
        one labeled video!
 
        ANYWAY, he thinks it was used on a ST, but someone else that
        I described this to, says it's used with the 8 bit systems.
 
        He want to sell it, but I don't know if I can use it or
        not...
 
        Does anyone out there have any information on this beast?
 
        ANY/ALL help/info is mucho appreciado!
 
_John_
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 17:22:22 GMT
From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!wciu!abode!scale@arizona.edu (Luis Outumuro)
Subject: In search of "MindLink"
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
        Hi Sean,
                I have a friend in Seattle who has an Atari MindLink, it does
exist (although (to my knowledge) it never actually shipped).  Unfortunately he
has no intention of selling it (or his working 1450XLD!); besides..... I have
first dibs! =~) Ha!  Bye..................
 
                                        Luis
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jun 91 00:22:55 GMT
From:
 munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!brolga!uqcspe!cs.uq.oz.au!warwick@uunet.uu.net
 (Warwick Allison)
Subject: International Character sets (was Re: man w/ pipe)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
>| >Darnded right!  Atari really screwed up.  Why didn't they use the IBM
 character
>|
>|    The real question is why IBM doesn't have Bob in its character set.
 
>Well, actually why doesn't *everyone* use ISO-Latin-1 ?
 
I heard Atari was trying to capture the Arab market (so that's what all those
squiggles are!)
 
Warwick.
--
  _-_|\       warwick@cs.uq.oz.au
 /     *  <-- Computer Science Department,
 \_.-._/      University of Queensland,
      v       Brisbane, AUSTRALIA.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 19 Jun 91 01:26:53 GMT
From: convex!rosenkra@uunet.uu.net (William Rosencranz)
Subject: lharc woes (AGAIN, was Is musedt.lzh corrupted?)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
here he goes again...
 
as an (outspoken?) opponent of lharc (until it gets it sh*t together),
i read with interest a previous post about testing at least a dozen
(!!!!!!!) versions of lharc on a particularly nasty file. since at least
one of them (2, i think) worked, the file COULD be considered "good"
(not by ME or any other sane, rational user, however).
 
then i came across this gem:
 
In article <1991Jun18.151348.795@ccu.umanitoba.ca> bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob
 Bright) writes:
>(To all the progenitors of lharc and .lzh files: I hope you die a
>thousand miserable deaths, choking forever on the few megs of disk
>space you've managed to save the world at the expense of countless
>hours of frustration and wasted time and net bandwidth.)
 
i LOVE this guy. he hits the point home! "a pox on you [lharc-ers] and
all your ancesters" as ed norton would say :-).
 
and NO, as much as i would REALLY like to, i will NOT eat my words (yet :-)
 
so you STILL think i am nuts? (rhetorical: don't answer that... :-)
 
-bill
rosenkra@convex.com
 
(incidently, i will try to ftp mgif v3.5 to terminator tonite if i can.
it takes steve tons of time to post. i will post to c.{s,b}.a.st as well.)
--
Bill Rosenkranz            |UUCP: {uunet,texsun}!convex!c1yankee!rosenkra
Convex Computer Corp.      |ARPA: rosenkra%c1yankee@convex.com
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 19:53:12 GMT
From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Llamatron
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
>>6)  LLAMATRON is great, esp the samfox sample, I just wish it were
>>longer
>Out of curiousity, which is the samantha fox sample?  What does one
>have to shoot to invoke it?
 
Knowing how hot and horny Samfox is, I think it has to do with the
"I love you" digitized effect.  What you do is grab the heart; then the
sample is played and every camel/llama onscreen runs toward you!
 
Llamatron is a GREAT game.
 
 
Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 08:22:00 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!mcshh!malihh!pfunk!blackbox@uunet.uu.net (Michael
 Kistenmacher)
Subject: Mac in Europe(was: How is Atari...)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In <1544@grit.cs.utexas.edu>, Troy Carpenter writes:
 
>In short, Atari is doing very well in Europe, as far as I could tell.
>(The only Mac store I saw in my 3 week stay was in Copenhagen!)
 
That's no wonder. Apple Europe is a very strict company. You can only buy
a Mac at an Apple Center, which is a Company only selling Apple products,
having full support and offering courses for they're customers. In Hamburg
we have, I think, 4 Apple Center and they all are quite big, but are making
fat commercials. This is all done by Apple Europe.
 
Bye......Michael
 
 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    listen to the coolest !         |  Michael Kistenmacher /  blackbox     |
|       Music from the Galaxy !      |  2000 Hamburg 61  / Schippelsweg 64   |
|            !!! P-Funk !!!          |  West Germany / ++ 49 40 552 37 66    |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 23:25:24 GMT
From: bu.edu!bucsf.bu.edu!selick@uunet.uu.net (Steven Selick)
Subject: midi sys-ex
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I am looking for a simple pd midi sys-ex handling program. All it has to
do is send a sys-ex file to the synth, and store a synth's sys-ex file
to disk. Please refer me to an ftp site, or by all means, e-mail
directly to <selick@bucsf.bu.edu> a uuencoded, arc'ed (or lharc or zoo)
file.
later,
Steve
<selick@bucsf.bu.edu>
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 19:48:23 GMT
From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@uunet.uu.net
Subject: RE: DMJ_GIF 2.0
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I will post DMJ Gif 2.0 within the next week..  I just got my 2400 baud
mnp5 and want to test it, heh..
 
Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 15:48:37 GMT
From: otter.hpl.hp.com!hpltoad!ghiggins!gjh@hplabs.hp.com (Graham Higgins)
Subject: Re: GNU Make troubles:  2 bombs!
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I wouldn't bother to upload the uni-sb stuff to A.A. There has been some
divergence of philosophy between a.a. and uni-db.de (UNIXMODE mainly).  I had
most of this code (cat as well) and eventually deleted it in favour of
currently-supported GNU s/w.
 
The code at uni-sb.de is mostly binaries with very little sources, due the
porter's lack of immediate access to the uni-sb machine. This is one of the
reasons I wanted to put together a complete and up-to-date GNU suite on A.A.
 
Yes, uni-sb.de Make will probably want UNIXMODE setting. It is also possible
that you might have to remove the file extensions from your executables, Edgar
Roeder pursued bash for a while and it stems from this.
 
Why don't you try jrb's pdmake? One day real soon now I'll post the make 3.58
which I have been using without problems under Mint v7 (anyone else found Mint
v8 to be somewhat flaky?) to compile the GCC 1.40 libraries and utilities on
my 4080STFM.
 
Graham
======
 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Graham Higgins                  |  gjh%ghiggins@hpl.hp.co.uk
Hewlett-Packard Labs            |  gjh%ghiggins@hplb.hpl.hp.com
Filton Road, Stoke Gifford      |  gjh%hplb.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
Bristol, U.K.                   |  ...!mcvax!ukc!hplb!gjh
Tel: +44 272 799910 x24014         Fax: +44 272 790554
------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions.
------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 17:10:08 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com
 !snorkelwacker.mit.edu!mintaka!ogicse!ucsd!mvb.saic.com!steveg@arizona.edu
 (Stephen Harold Goldstein)
Subject: RTS/CTS (was Re: set-up for Practical Peripherals 9600 modem?)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
TOS14FIX.PRG fixes the RTS/CTS problem with TOS 1.4
I don't believe earlier versions of TOS had this problem.
Quote from TOS14FIX.PRG docs follows:
 
"1) A change was made to the BIOS call that sets the RS-232 port
configuration.  Specifically, it did not allow RTS/CTS flow control to
be enabled.  This is a problem for people with serial printers and high
speed modems, since those devices use RTS/CTS flow control to start and
stop data transmission so that the device can keep up with the
computer. If you have Rainbow TOS, and you use a high-speed serial
device which requires RTS/CTS flow control, you need this program in
your auto folder."
 
 
--
---
Stephen Goldstein     steveg@cseic.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: Wed, 19 Jun 91 08:39:19 MEZ
From: Michael Burschik <UPP201%DBNRHRZ1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject: Signum on the TT
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Help !!! How do I get Signum to run on the TT ???
Thanks for your generous help.
                               Cheers.
                                       Mike.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 18 Jun 91 15:53:48 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!gdt!exspes@uunet.uu.net (P E Smee)
Subject: What to do with antique STs?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Well, no one seems to have any hi-tech project ideas for my ancient
ST520, but I got a (hopeful) lateral-thinking piece of mail from
someone in Virginia, as follows:
 
> From: lch3e@edu.Virginia.acc.holmes (Lauren C. Howard)
>
>   Hi!  You can always donate the poor thing to our school!
> The Einstein School is a small private school where I teach
> computers to children with dyslexia and other learning problems.
>
>   We use lots of Atari's, tho we have only 1 ST to date (needless
> to say, it's the most popular machine!).  We can always use more!
> For our purposes, they work pretty well with a TV set.
 
As I told Lauren, I don't think my ST would meet their needs, not least
because it uses 50Hz 240v electricity, and outputs 25 frame/sec
625-line RGB, and contains neither modulator nor disk drive, but the
overall concept is sound.
 
If you've got an old ST (or other home computer) lying around, you
probably could find some such (semi-)charitable organization near you
who could make very good use of it.  Might be worth thinking about.
(If you're in the US, you should even be able to claim a tax deduction
for it.)
 
--
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!ukc!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132
 
------------------------------
 
End of Info-Atari16 Digest
******************************
