Info-Atari16 Digest         Mon, 17 Jun 91       Volume 91 : Issue 337
 
Today's Topics:
                          8 bit 5 1/4 drive
           Atari ST software (MIDI, games, etc.) for sale.
                            D&D Utilities?
                        Erie PA show cancelled
                        Hard-drive on a 520ST?
      help on upgrading Atari STFM to 2.5 Megs wanted (please!)
                  Language translation for Atari ST
                   Mega STe processor speed switch
      Mint ? (Eric Smith to replace Bob Dobbs in character set)
                          Music file formats
                       RE: DMJ_GIF 2.0 (2 msgs)
                     STE and a Commodore Monitor
                     ST FAST*News: 15-Jun-91 #001
                 ST software for sale (good prices!!)
                             TCB Tracker
             Unix Windows/Mono Monitor/Auto files/etc...
                   Vortex Hard Disk Drive question
 
Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest.  The configuration for the automatic
cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed
out.  Please send notifications about broken digests or bogus messages
to Info-Atari16-Request@NAUCSE.CSE.NAU.EDU.
 
Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to
Info-Atari16-Request, *NOT* Info-Atari16.  Requests that go to the list
instead of the moderators are likely to be lost or ignored.
 
If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly
from someplace (usually a BITNET host) that redistributes it, please
contact the redistributor, not us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 17:59:41 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!think.com!hsdndev!bu.edu!bucsf.bu.edu!seli
 ck@arizona.edu (Steven Selick)
Subject: 8 bit 5 1/4 drive
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I recently purchased an 800xl with a 5 1/4" floppy drive, and I wantev to know
 if this drive could be used to read IBM disks? Apple ][ disks? Atari 800xl
disks? Commodore 64 disks? I also have Spectre GCR if that will help the apple
][ disks.
later,
Steve
<selick@bucsf.bu.edu>
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 11:45:05 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!wuarchive!csus.edu!beach.csulb.edu!stevela@ari
 zona.edu (Steve La)
Subject: Atari ST software (MIDI, games, etc.) for sale.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I have the following items (Atari ST software) for sale:
 
* TigerCub...................................$ 45
* Roland MT-32 Editor/Librarian..............$ 30
* Dr T's MIDI Recording Studio...............$ 30
 
* Epstart (Epson driver for Mac/Spectre).....$ 35
* Switch/Back + hardware device..............$ 30
* SLICCTOP (desktop replacement).............$ 30
* ST Control.................................$ 25
* dBMAN (dBASE compatible database)..........$ 25
* GST Assembly...............................$ 25
* Backup! (HD backup)........................$ 15
* Timework SwiftCalc (spreadsheet)...........$ 20
* Tempus (super fast text editor)............$ 20
 
* Mean-18 (golf).............................$ 5
* Golden Path................................$ 5
* Sky Fox....................................$ 5
 
Price does not including shipping.  Everything are in excellent condition.  I
have the original box, disks, and manual for all programs above.  If you don't
like the asking price, make me an offer.
Thanks,
-Steve
     ____    _                         _
   //   // _//_                       //                 Steve La
  ((__     //   ___   _     ___      //      __       Network Manager
      ))  //   //__) //  / //__)    //     ____)     stevela@csulb.edu
//___//  //_/ //__   \\_/ //__     //___/ ((__/_      (213) 985-4750
______________________________________________________________________
Calstate Univ. Long Beach,  1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 03:34:14 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive
 !m.cs.uiuc.edu!vela!swood@arizona.edu ( EVENSONG)
Subject: D&D Utilities?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Any good D&D Utilities around anywhere for ST?  Just wondering  (ie player or
DM aides - dice rolling, attack tables, character records, etc.)
 
swood
--
 ---- Insert favorite .signature here ----      | swood@argo.acs.oakland.edu
                                                | swood@vela.acs.oakland.edu
Bitnet:         swood@Oakland                   | swood@unix.secs.oakland.edu
  UUCP:         ...!uunet!umich!{vela, argo, unix, nucleus}!swood
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 18:38:11 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-
 state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ysub!psuvm!sml108@arizona.edu (Scott the Great)
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) says:
>
>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.
>
>--
>Bruce Nelson                            | Phone: (716) 726-7890
>Rochester Distributed Computer Services | Internet: nelson@kodak.com
>Eastman Kodak Company                   |
>Rochester, NY 14653-5221                |
 
I was planning on attending, oh well.  I think it's time to throw in the
towel here.  It's been a fun but frustrating 10 years since I bought my 800,
and 5 since I bought my ST, but I give up on the TT.
 
Only God knows what I'll buy next though...
 
Scott Le Grand aka sml108@psuvm.psu.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 13:22:02 GMT
From: comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix!Roger.Sheppard@uunet.uu.net (Roger Sheppard)
Subject: Hard-drive on a 520ST?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In article <LA_CARLE.91Jun15170545@sol.brispoly.ac.uk>
 la_carle@sol.brispoly.ac.uk (Les Carleton) writes:
> In article <VJJe41w164w@admiral.UUCP> slammy@admiral.UUCP (Dave Litchman)
 writes:
>    You will have almost the same amount of free memory with a hard drive as
>    without. The driver only takes up a few bytes. If you could run Word
>    Perfect and Timeworks DTP before (which I suspect you could) you can
>    still run them with a hard drive, only MUCH, MUCH faster.
>
> Careful here ... the ICD boot system I have does take up a lot of
> memory if you se the disk seriously (extra 500-1000 folders). I have
                                             ~~~ ~~~~
Why not get TOS 1.4, then there would be no need for all these extra folders.
 
> up to now lost 
> with all caching off.
>
> ...Les...
> "6x uudecode at the same time"
> --
> +---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
> | Les Carleton              | la_carle@uk.ac.bristol-poly.gould2 (JANET) |
> | MCI#4 Bristol Polytechnic | "My Life - My Opinions - ALL MINE!!!"      |
> | Brissle, England          | "I love children ... but I couldn't eat a  |
> | "UNIX troubleshooter"     | whole one"                                 |
> |    Moving soon ... redirect to les@decuk.uvo.dec.com after July 1st    |
> +---------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
 
The ICD booter uses a lot more memory that most, and some this is not
needed from looking at the code,  German Text, and 'TT' support ?
Try the Supra Booter , this will give you far more memory.
--
***  Roger W. Sheppard        *    Roger.Sheppard@bbs.actrix.gen.nz  ***
***  85 Donovan Rd          *  *   At least I don't Flicker, not     ***
***  Kapiti New Zealand..    *     like a dying light globe. !       ***
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 13:14:40 GMT
From: SATURN.UKC.AC.UK!CHT510@ucbvax.berkeley.edu
Subject: help on upgrading Atari STFM to 2.5 Megs wanted (please!)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Hi,
   wondered if anyone who has upgraded an Atari STFM with DRAM's could help
me. I was planning on putting an extra couple of MEG in over the summer
and wondered if it was just as simple as soldering 16 * 1 MEG chips in.
I know that the STE is incapable of recognising 2.5 Megs of memory without
the aid of 'simmfix'. Is the STFM similarly affected when upgraded with
DRAM's ?
   One last thing. how fast does the access time of the DRAM's have to be.
Is 120 ns fast enough or does it need 100ns/80ns ?
 
I would be grateful for any help.
 
--
adam whitham,Eliot College,UKC,Canterbury,Kent,CT2 7NS.UK.
CHT510@saturn.ukc.uk.ac
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 19:20:43 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!apple!uokmax!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.
 oz.au!qut.edu.au!lunnon@arizona.edu
Subject: Language translation for Atari ST
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I am just completing the last steps to a beta test version of a program
to translate documents between languages. This arose because of the
now common rash of german language texts. The program at this stage
does only literal translations , acting as a mega search and replace
tool. At this time the features are:
 
Single word translation to multiple word output.
Limited Gem interface.
Extendable dictionary.
multiple target word support
simple dictionary format.
works with mint and overscan
 
 
Problems are:
 
Brain-dead dictionary handling.
Strips punctuation completely.
No pre-built dictionary (Though you can build it as you go)
Needs LOTS of MEMORY ( I think I will start writing for FSF after this :-)
 
 
I am just trying to sort out a problem with adding dictionary entries, the
program keeps an ordered dictionary but under some conditions new entries are
added in the wrong place, I suspect this is due to a signed-unsigned problem
in the searching routines.
 
I have translated some simple texts and to say that the process of literal
translation between German and English is inappropriate is an understatement
this program generates ALMOST unreadable english, but this is using a
dictionary created by a non german speaker.
 
 
CALL FOR DICTIONARY BUILDERS/BETA TESTERS:
 
I would like a number of Bi-Lingual volunteers to generate dictionaries
for me and to provide advice on additional features required to make this
useful. I have found that sitting with an english-german dictionary
generates ghastly output especially if you don't know german.
Translat will probably work best with multiple dictionaries tailored to the
type of texts. First type I would like to deal with is computer related
documentation ;-). In the process I expect we will get a couple of useful
documents translated
 
 
INITIAL POSTING
 
Upon completion I will also post the Beta Test version to atari.archive, this
will not contain a useful dictionary but you can build you own while you are
translating the documents. (But I still want some formal beta testers)
 
 
 
Reply to
 
        R.Lunnon@qut.edu.au
 
        R.Lunnon (Centre for Product and Process Development)
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 15 Jun 91 21:33:12 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!horga!agsc!veeble!fiction!danny@uunet.uu.net (Daniel Roedding)
Subject: Mega STe processor speed switch
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
meulenbr@cst.prl.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks) writes:
 
> I've been told that the Mega STe can switch the processor speed.
> Most likely this is controlled to write some magic value into some
> unknown register.
 
Speed and cache status are controlled by the lowest two bits of the
byte 0xffff8e21.
 
Daniel
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 03:00:54 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!news.arc.nasa.gov!uhccux!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.u
 q.oz.au!brolga!uqcspe!cs.uq.oz.au!warwick@arizona.edu (Warwick Allison)
Subject: Mint ? (Eric Smith to replace Bob Dobbs in character set)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
(Neil Forsyth) writes:
>(David M. Baggett) writes:
>(Dave Gymer) writes:
>]]Once you get [Mint] running, it _is_ great! (Perhaps someone would care to
>]]replace the piccy of Bob in the character set with one of Eric Smith?
 
>Well at least it could be said that Eric had contributed more to the Atari
>commmunity than Dobb's did. If Eric looks like an Acid House smiley then the
>characters would also have a general application.
 
>The problem would be if one process changed the characters to Eric but another
>wanted them as Bob. Can Mint cope with such a scenario? Would the character
>definitions be stored with the context of each process?
 
I think the best thing would be to have the Eric Smiley active by default
for programs running in the MiNT domain, while retaining the Standard, but
less socially acceptable Smoking Bob in the TOS domain.  Also, an additional
MiNT library call would be necessary, since some programs will need to run
in the MiNT domain AND use the Smoking Bob characters.
 
int Pbobacid(flag);
int flag;
 
If flag&1==0, set the current process's CHaractEr Extra Set Extentions (the well
documented "CHEESE" characters) to follow the Bob convention.  Otherwise, the
IBM-compatible Smiley convention will be used.  Returns the currently selected
state.
 
Warwick.
--
  _-_|\       warwick@cs.uq.oz.au
 /     *  <-- Computer Science Department,
 \_.-._/      University of Queensland,
      v       Brisbane, AUSTRALIA.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 11:10:57 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!icdoc!usenet@uunet.uu.net (Alan David Messer)
Subject: Music file formats
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Hello,
 
        Does anyone out there,have any information of any of the popular music
programs,file formats.Like for example the format of a Soundtracker module,
or of a Music Studio file,or some other format???
 
        Any help on any file format would be appreciated...
 
                Thanks in advance,
 
 
                        Alan.
--
+----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| Alan Messer.               | Janet:    adm2@doc.ic.ac.uk                    |
| Dept. of Computing,        | Internet: adm2%doc.ic.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk |
| Imperial College,          | BITNET:   adm2%doc.ic.ac.uk@ukacrl             |
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 02:57:27 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!apple!portal!cup.portal.com!Bryan_Jon
 es_Woodworth@arizona.edu
Subject: RE: DMJ_GIF 2.0
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
DMJ gif 2.0 is slow.   Why would anyone want it?
 
 
 
Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 14:04:54 GMT
From:
 math.fu-berlin.de!fauern!forwiss.uni-passau.de!eva.fmi.uni-passau.de!iws9060@uu
 net.uu.net (Thorsten Guenther)
Subject: RE: DMJ_GIF 2.0
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
In article <43363@cup.portal.com> Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com writes:
>DMJ gif 2.0 is slow.   Why would anyone want it?
>
>
>
>Bryan_Jones_Woodworth@cup.portal.com
 
OK, DMJ_GIF IS slow, but it produces very high quality (so does v.1.0).
But v.1.0 has lots of bugs and I am missing some options in it. That means,
v.1.0 is unable to handle interlaced gifs, it does not have a default
proportional convert mode and it won't run in 50Hz mode correctly. I'm sure
that at least one or two of these are changed in v.2.0. So, if you have it,
please upload it to atari.archive.
 
                                         Thorsten Guenther
                                         aka Weregoose
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- No promise is honest in a world of change -- Warlock: I rule the ruins      -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1991 12:29:00 -0400
From: CSULLOGG@CRL.AECL.CA
Subject: STE and a Commodore Monitor
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I realize that this question has been asked a number of times before, BUT,
likwe I so often do, I have lost the answer. What is involved in hooking
a 1040STE to a Commodore monitor. Practical Solutions sells an RGB cable
for the ST, is this all that is needed?
 
I need an answer a.s.a.p. to help out a friend. Thanks, Greg
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 10:14:13 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!ukma!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!gvlf3.gv
 l.unisys.com!tredysvr!cellar!darling@arizona.edu (Darling)
Subject: ST FAST*News: 15-Jun-91 #001
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG) writes:
 
>      There are a few things that you should remember.  The reason for
> the assigning of jobs, etc. is so that we can have a real great information
> source covering every area.
 
And with such real great editing, how can it miss?
 
~
darling@cellar.UUCP \\\ Thomas Darling * record production * dance re-mixing
uunet!cellar!darling \\\ Fact HQ Studio * The Cellar BBS:215/336-9503 * FACT
v
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 19:04:16 GMT
From:
 noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-
 state.edu!tgingric@arizona.edu (Tyler S Gingrich)
Subject: ST software for sale (good prices!!)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
I have the following ST software for sale.
 
Turbo ST 2.??       $10.00
CodeHead Utils      $10.00
NeoDesk 3.0         $17.50
BattleHawks 1942    $ 7.50
StarFleet I         $ 7.50
Breach              $ 7.50
STOS (Game Creator) $12.50
Quartet (Music s/w) $17.50
Dungeon Master      $ 7.50
Arkanoid            $ 5.00
GhostBusters        $ 5.00
OutRun (NO DOCS)    $ 5.00
 
Wico Joystick       $10.00  (VERY NICE joystick with a comfortable molded grip)
Details: All software comes with original packaging & documentation (except
Outrun).
 
TERMS: First email message offering to purchase an item for listed amount
will have dibs on the item.  If you don't think these prices are fair, email
me a bid, best offer by 23 Jun 91 will be accepted.
 
When we agree on a price, mail me a check for the total amount + 2.50 for
shipping.  When I receive your check, I will mail the software.
 
 
Thanks
 
Tyler Gingrich
5441 Dexter Falls Road
Columbus, Ohio 43221
 
tsg+@osu.edu
(614)771-9187
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 91 16:46:46 WET DST
From: "Ian McCall (Scorpion)" <csd015@central1.lancaster.ac.uk>
Subject: TCB Tracker
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Yes, it's the full version of Tracker. Incidently, I've put the ASCII
manual on it into Signum 2 format, if anyone's interested. In fact, it's
printing out in my room right now, which is why I'm out typing this! You
see, I only have a nine pin, I'm using six passes of the print head for
each line, and it's forty pages long...
 
 
 
Cheers,
        Ian McCall (csd015@uk.ac.lancs.cent1)
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 16 Jun 91 22:58:04 GMT
From: noao!asuvax!ukma!xanth!xanth.cs.odu.edu!scott@arizona.edu (Scott D.
 Yelich)
Subject: Unix Windows/Mono Monitor/Auto files/etc...
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
Hmmmm... To follow up on my previous post:
1) ICD's copyfix program will cause "The_Accessory_ to crash my system
   when it is loaded via Chamelian.
2) ACCs seem to pick and choose where they want to look for their conf/inf/rsc
   files.  When loading "Cpanel++" -- if it can't find its .set file, it
   doesn't have the proper defaults.  Look at the mouse setting-- when you
   finally get to the mouse menu, none of the digits 0-4 is highlighted.
   The mouse still works, sure, press the button and wait for 15 seconds...
   so highlight 4 so the mouse would work again.  BTW, why would anyone NOT
   want setting number 4?  I believe it also asks you for the date as a default
   and also defaults to a 512 ramdisk drive d: and 50hz screen.  Those are all
   opposite (with exception to the 50hz) that I would think that they would
   be set as a default.
 
3) ACCs seem to want to spit forth text when they are loaded.  Sure, this may
   work when boot loading, but when chamelian is used, it hoses the gem screen.
 
4)  Well, it finally happened and like a fool I didn't save the files.
    My monochrome monitor has a nice thin, single line running down the
    center of the screen.  Since I believe that this has been hashed into
    the ground and appears to be an easy fix-- I would like to do the fixes
    myself.  However, even though it has been posted so many times, I never
    saved the docs.  COULD SOMEONE POST THIS YET AGAIN? Also, what about
    overscan?  I figure that since I am going to be in there, I might as well
    do everything I can.
 
5)  It appears that turbocts.prg will cause Publishing Partner to NOT load
    files.
 
6)  LLAMATRON is great, esp the samfox sample, I just wish it were longer
    and the game not so easy-- :-)  ps:  I played robotron.prg until it
    quit, both with one joystick and with two (it will quit every time when
    you get so far:  "What a crock!").
 
7)  Does anyone know of a version of UW that will work with a color monitor?
    and along with this, why "bigscreen" doesn't seem to allow you to increase
    the "x" axis more than 1 or two steps.  ie:  Whenever I try to use/simulate
    a 1024x800 screen, and I open up a gem desktop window with a dir, it loses
    many of the files.  I have not tried this in color with a 50hz screen,
    but I think the flicker would kill me anyway.
 
8)  Great, I purchased Blood Money and the demo was what made me buy the
    "Real Thing" but guess what, either everyone's disk drives around here
    are out of alignment or these disks have some sort of protection on them
    that is REALLY good-- I bought it and I still can't run it.
 
9)  Hello?   Does anyone use STOS? With TOS 1.4?  HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?
    There was a guy on here from canada who said he knew of the patch for
    tos 1.4 but that was last November/December and I didn't have tos 1.4
    then so I told him I wasn't interested.  I know he didn't make the patch,
    so there are at least 2 people in the world who at one time knew about
    how to make STOS work with tos 1.4.  I need to find them or anyone else
    who knows how to fix STOS.  Now, I am not talking about the STe fixes
    for tos 1.6-- I need the ST fixes for tos 1.4.  No, I haven't seen any
    files at atari.archive concerning this fix, the STOS files there are
    for the STe.
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Scott
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 17 Jun 91 09:52:36 GMT
From:
 noao!asuvax!ukma!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ira.u
 ka.de!fauern!faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de!csbrod@arizona.edu (Claus Brod)
Subject: Vortex Hard Disk Drive question
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
 
iws9060@eva.fmi.uni-passau.de (Thorsten Guenther) writes:
 
>I have some questions to all of you in Netland:
>How good is the Software that comes with Vortex' Datajet drives? It is
>specially written for them and I do not know if it is comparable to
>ICD Tools or SCSI Tools. In a German mag (PD Journal) I have read that
>using SCSI Tools on Vortex drives may cause loss of data. Is this true?
>If so, then why does this happen? Would you advise me to buy a new controller
>instead of going on with the one built in?
 
When I tested their software (in 1990), it was not completely AHDI3-compatible.
They should have fixed this now. Using SCSITool to partition Vortex HDplus
drives may cause total data loss, that's right. This is due to a
somewhat peculiar hostadapter design in the HDplus series. It is not
SCSITool's fault. Since you're concerning Datajets, this doesn't apply to
you. Datajets will run fine with the SCSITool software or any other driver,
including mine.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2,                  Things. Take. Time.
D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, Germany                 (Piet Hein)
csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de
Claus_Brod@wue.maus.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------
 
End of Info-Atari16 Digest
******************************
