Z*Magazine: 4-Jul-87 #60

From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/17/93-08:18:22 AM Z


From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Z*Magazine:  4-Jul-87 #60
Date: Sat Jul 17 08:18:22 1993


_____________________________________
ZMAGAZINE    JULY 4, 1987    ISSUE:60

Publisher and Editor: Ron Kovacs
Assistant Publishers: Ken Kirchner
                      Susan Perry
                      Rich Decowski
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG INDEX 60

/*/ Zmag Newswire..Atari Update
/*/ Newswire Cont..New product
/*/ ICD Tour.......A visit inside
/*/ CIS Watch......850 Interface Pins
/*/ Zmag Review....QUBIE Modem
/*/ Atari Answers..from CDAC Mag June
/*/ Zmag UGOM......Ol Hackers
/*/ Atari Rumors...
/*/ Antic Online...June Faire Report
/*/ Publishers Page
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG NEWSWIRE
      ......Atari News......
_____________________________________
The following text ctsy of Online
Today.

ATARI TO SELL COMPUTERS THROUGH MUSIC
STORES


Atari Corp. has announced it plans to
sell 520ST and 1040ST personal
computers through US music stores.

According to J.J. Brown, vice
president and general manager of
Atari's US operations, the company
will start signing up music dealers
this weekend at the International
Music and Sound Expo in Chicago. The
trade show is sponsored by the
National Association of Music
Merchants (NAMM).

"It's a natural fit for Atari," said
Brown. "Music stores already sell
music software, and the ST is rapidly
becoming the computer of choice for
musicians because of its low price
and high performance. Another reason
is that it is the only personal
computer with a built-in MIDI
(musical instrument digital
interface). Musicians can use an ST
immediately; there's no need to buy a
MIDI interface board."
  --John Edwards

ATARI MEGA ST RELEASE IS IMMINENT


An Atari executive has reacted to
rumors that Atari's Mega ST would not
be ready until September. Atari users
have been hearing rumors that the new
machine would be delayed until
September.  The reason usually
supplied was that the SLM804 laser
printer was having production
problems and Atari wouldn't release
the MEGA without the printer.

Neil Harris, Director of Marketing
Communications at Atari, says that
the release of the Mega ST is
"imminent." Although Harris didn't
comment on the laser printer's
supposed problems, he did say that
Atari saw "no reason to wait on the
laser printers to get the Megas out
the door."  He also said that the
SLM804 (laser printer) will be ready
well in advance of September.
  --James Moran
_____________________________________
Xx NEWSWIRE CONTINUED
_____________________________________
INTELLICREATIONS ANNOUNCES NEW
PRODUCTS AND FORMATS

Chatsworth, CA -- June 25, 1987.
IntelliCreations, Inc. today
announced the upcoming release of new
formats for a number of existing
products.

Following the June release of Video
Title Shop for the Commodore 64/128,
the Atari and Apple versions will be
on the market in July.  Video Title
Shop is a computer + VCR utility that
allows the user to create text and
graphics screens for use with
recordings of all kinds - family
occasions, holidays, school and
business.  The first supplemental
disk, Graphics Companion I,  will be
released simultaneously with each
system release of Video Title Shop.

Alternate Reality - The Dungeon for
the Commodore 64/128, which was
released in early June, will be
available for the Atari XL/XE and
Apple II systems in July.  The
Dungeon, a sequel to The City, can be
played with a character created in
The City, or with a new character
entering the mysterious world
populated by beings beyond
description.

Alternate Reality - The City, which
has been available for the Commodore
64/128, Atari, Atari ST and Apple
systems, will be released for the
Macintosh in June and the IBM PC in
August.  A Survival Handbook for
players of The City was shipped in
May and is available at a suggested
retail price of $9.95.

New product releases for the second
half of 1987 include:

Tomahawk, a helicopter simulation in
which the player gets to pilot the
Apache helicopter flown by the U.S.
Army -- a machine designed to fly at
speeds in excess of 200 mph, and
whose sole task is to seek out and
destroy anything that gets in its
way. The player can select combat or
training missions at four pilot-
rating levels in a 3-D real world
display.  Features include offensive
and defensive flight maneuvers;
ground attack and air-to-air
interception, day and night vision
systems, and instruments only flying.
Tomahawk will be released in August
for the Atari and Commodore computers
at a suggested retail price of
$34.95.

Force 7, an action/adventure game in
which the player is the commander of
a special forces unit sent to the
planet Karis to rescue the humans at
an Energy Fabrication plant which has
been overrun by aliens. One space
suit has survived the journey, so you
can only teleport one crew member at
a time to the planet's surface to
fight the invading aliens.  Force 7
will be available for the Commodore
in August, and the Atari and Apple
systems in September at a suggested
retail price of $19.95.

Additions to the war strategy game
series include Bismarck - The North
Sea Chase, a battleship simulation in
which the player can choose to
command the Royal Navy or the dreaded
German battleship that sunk H.M.S.
Hood in 1941.  This multi- level game
gives the player the opportunity to
use conventional battleship weapons
or take to the air in a Fairey
Swordfish torpedo plane via a cockpit
-perfect flight simulator. Bismarck
will be available for the Atari,
Commodore and Apple in September at a
suggested retail price of $34.95.

Tobruk - The Clash of Armour will be
released in October for the Atari,
Commodore and Apple at a suggested
retail price of $34.95. This tank
simulation, war strategy game puts
the player into the role of Rommel,
head of the German Afrika Korps, in
his attempt to defeat the British in
North Africa and move into Egypt,
thus destroying the Allies hold on
the southern Mediterranean.

Dark Lord is an introductory graphics
/text adventure in which the player
has inherited his grandfather's house
and all his possessions, including a
journal that reveals the unbelievable
discovery he claimed to have made.
Dark Lord takes you into the
Alterworld where you must destroy the
evil wizard who has risen from his
grave and enslaved the realm.  Eighty
screens of outstanding graphics,
animation, original music,  plus a
self-running demo and a random
relocation of objects option combine
to make Dark Lord an exciting game
that will be played over and over
again.

Dark Lord will be available in August
for the Apple and Commodore systems
and ill be priced at $19.95.
_____________________________________
Xx AN ICD VISIT
   ...Tom and Gerry Visit ICD...
_____________________________________
By Jerry Cross and Mike Lechkun

Oh well, Mike's lousy mouse joke at
least got us in the door and to the
receptionist.  We entered an old
textile factory on a bumpy road on
the south side of Rockford, Illinois.

The building's reduced demands
allowed it to house small, emerging
buisnesses. This is where ICD resides.

After the aforementioned bout with
the receptionist, we were greeted by
Marilyn, one of the executive
secretaries, and were shown the main
office.  This office house other
secretaries, accounting and art
departments, and programmers.

Sitting on a dresser in the middle of
the room was a 520ST, Courier 2400
modem, disk and hard drives--in
short, the ICD BBS.  That's where the
fun started!  We were introduced to
staff programmer Keith Ledbetter.
Keith, of Express! fame, showed us
his first products for his new
employer.  ICD Express! (we think
that was the title) is an ST BBS
program that will knock your socks
off and send them across the room!
It's really that good!  The program
is a mixture of features found on 850
BBS Express! and some of the major
on-line services.  Written in a
language composed by Keith (also to
be released as soon as it is
documented),  ICD Express is a
callers dream, yet not a Sysop's
nightmare.  In the download section,
a user can scan the list of available
files, or view each filename followed
by a brief description.  Arc'ed files
can be un-arc'ed on-line to view the
separate files contained in the
master file.  The sysop may set a
variety of flags restricting/allowing
different privledges to individual
users.  Standard X-modem, CRCX-modem,
and Y-modem are the protocols
supported.  "Kermit's batching allows
some users to type in "*.*" and
download everything, and I'm not too
keen on that," said Keith.  32
message bases can be created, with a
maximum of 250 messages each
containing 4000 bytes of information.
This will cost you over a meg of
memory, but that's the breaks--get a
Mega ST when they come out!  Thread
following, tagged messages, and a new
on-line text editor makes this
message area complete.  I thought the
suggested retail of $79.95 was
reasonable, Jerry thought it a bit
pricey.  For ICD's first foray into
the ST field, this seems an excellent
product in the tradition that ICD has
established.

After Mike got up off his knees in
worship to Mr. Ledbetter, the tour
moved on.  Up an escalator and
through a vacant machinery room we
went.  Marilyn left us in the capable
hands of Brad, head of shipping/
handling and production.  Stacks of
untested, incompleted  MIO devices
were about the room.  Each MIO is
tested from 9 to 24 hours for
reliability before packaging and
shipping.  This commitment to quality
along with ICD's excellent consumer
support has forced them to expand
three times within the warehouse.
Surely a fourth expansion is eminant.

When Jerry complained of a lack of
quality service on non-ICD equipment
in his area, Brad rather matter-of-
factly said "send it in to us - Tom
(Harker, ICD's President) will look
at it."  ICD routinely assists with
all installation of their products at
reasonable fees.  ICD installs
Rambo's (memory upgrades), and US
Doublers (1050 drive enhancements)
for $30 and $15...they'll look at
user's equipment as well when their
own product checks OK.  After being
frisked for any free sample MIO's
(just kidding), our tour had ended.

In spite of the grubby factory style
surroundings, ICD is a company
committed to dependability to all
Atari owners.  This is one book you
can't judge by the cover!  

Article ctsy of the CHAOS BBS
_____________________________________
Xx Zmag CompuServe Watch
  .....850 Interface Pinout.....
_____________________________________
190854 S13/Peripherals      28-Jun-87
Sb: 850 PINOUTS
Fm: Don Miaw 70707,1414
To: PAUL T. WILLIAMS 73157,244

Paul,  Take note:
 Serial Port R1:
    Pin 1 - Data Terminal Ready;
        2 - Carrier Detect;
        3 - Data Out;
        4 - Data In;
        5 - Signal Ground;
        6 - Data Set Ready;
        7 - Request to Send;
        8 - Clear to Send.

Serial Ports 2 & 3:
Pins 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 - same as R1;
Other pins - not assigned.

Serial Port 4:
Pins 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 - same as R1;
 9 - minus 8V;

Other pins unassigned.


NOTE: pins 1 and 7 of R4 are not 
      computer controlled and are
      always ON at +10V.

Parallel Port:
Pin 1 - Data Strobe;
2 - Data bit 0;
3 - Data bit 1;
4 - Data bit 2;
5 - Data bit 3;
6 - Data bit 4;
7 - Data bit 5;
8 - Data bit 6;
9 - Data pins pull-up at +5V;
11 - Signal ground;
12 - Fault;
13 - Busy;
15 - Data bit 7.
[Don]
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG HARDWARE REVIEW
    .....QUBIE'S MODEL MODEM.....
_____________________________________
By:Alan Roseman

QUBIE' SUPER MODEM 1200 EXTERNAL 
507 Calle San Pablo
Camarillo, Ca. 93010  800-821-4479
Delivered Price $99.00

The QUBIE' SUPER 1200E is a standard
size external modem (5"x9"), it's
outer case is made of steel in a
painted finish. It's face is a
contrasting dark brown.  The face of
the QUBIE' SUPER 1200E displays a
full array of informational LED's.
HS-high speed, AA-auto answer, CD-
carrier detected, OH-off hook, RD-
receive data, SD-send data, TR-
terminal ready, MR-modem ready.
Immediately left of the LED's is a
small slide open compartment which
houses the 8 DIP switches making for
easy access. 

The rear of the QUBIE' SUPER 1200E
offers you access to it's RS-232C
port, an on off switch, speaker
volume control, telephone and power
input.

As you can probably tell from the
description the QUBIE' SUPER 1200E is
a very well equiped package. It has
all the features we have come to
appreciate in a top quality modem.
Did I mention yet that it auto
switches from 1200 to 300 baud on
connect if necessary?  Well it does
that too.

The QUBIE' SUPER 1200E accepts all
standard HAYES commands, I have used
it on all local BBS's as well as the
major pay to connect information
services.  It has performed in an
error free fashion in every case.

The documentation is complete and
easy to understand even for the
novice.  The QUBIE' SUPER 1200E comes
as a bundled package with IBM
software "PC TALK" making it a real
bargain for big blue fans.

Delivery which is via UPS is free and
takes appx. six days.  For about six
dollars they will ship express which
cuts delivery to about three days.

You probably haven't heard of the
QUBIE' Co.  Well neither had I. I was
put on to them by a friend who told
me that QUBIE' doesn't advertise in
the ATARI mags.  They seem to stick
with the PC related publications.
That,  I'm afraid, is a loss for both
us and the QUBIE' Co.

When I ordered my modem I made a
point of telling the salesperson that
out in the world are may varied micro
users, they would only help their own
cause by addressing a wider selection
of us.

When you are writing a product review
and begin to sound like a shill for
the product in question it sends out
a clear message.  This is a product
which defies you to find fault.
Whether you look at the price $99.00,
or the product integrity.

I give QUBIE' SUPER 1200E my highest
recommendation.  This is an
opportunity for computer users to get
the best of both worlds. A great
product at a great price.
_____________________________________
Xx Excerpts from the June Newsletter
  .....C*D*A*C* ENTHUSIASTS.....
_____________________________________
P.O. BOX 2216 ALBANY, NY 12220
BBS (518) 237-1232

ANSWERS FROM ATARI

Here are some often asked questions,
and their answers about Atari
products courtesy of Neil Harris of
the Atari Corporation.. (6/10/87)

Q: When will the new products be
   shipping?

A: The XEP-80 and the SX212 (80-
   column for 8-bit and the new
   modem, respectively) will begin
   manufacturing any moment now for
   delivery around the end of June.
   The Mega ST 2 and Mega ST 4 are
   already on the way to Europe and
   are scheduled for North American
   delivery in early July. The Atari
   PC is also due in early July.

Q: What about the blitter chip
   upgrade?

A: It should be available for current
   ST owners around September. It
   will cost around $120. The final
   form of the upgrade is not yet set
   --it may involve a board swap
   rather than an add-on.

Q: What about PC emulators for the
   ST?

A: Both Atari's own software emulator
   and one called PC-Ditto should be
   released during the summer. A
   hardware emulator is still in the
   works for later on.

Q: When will new ROMs be available
   for the ST and what changes are
   included?

A: The ROMs are done and have gone
   into production. Availability as
   a separate item may take a while,
   though -- we need ROMs for the
   Mega ST. These ROMs support the
   hardware blitter (optional) and
   fix some TOS problems, like the
   infamous underline bug and the
   RS232 handshaking. Parts of the
   system have been sped up, like
   character output. A list of exact
   changes will be posted shortly.

Q: What's happening with the 8-bit
   emulator?

A: The author finally agreed to
   release the source code to the
   public domain, so Atari will
   allow him to distribute it along
   with our ROM code. Now we want to
   see you hackers out there work to
   speed it up -- at the moment it is
   only 1/4 the speed of an 8-bit.

Q: What else is new at Atari?

A: On the business side things are
   great. We just announced a 2-for-1
   stock split, effective next week.
   New TV commercials have been
   produced for the ST (yay!) and the
   video games. We are also working
   on campaigns to support MIDI music
   and desktop publishing.

The CDACE newsletter electronic text
edition is available locally on the
HIGH WAY BBS at 583-1943 and
nationally in the XE Roundtable on
GENIE in the Everything Else Library.
The Publishing partner version of the
newsletter is located on the ST
roundtable GENIE in the TOS library.

As some of the fonts used in the
newsletter are commercial products
you will need to purchase the
appropriate font disks or reformat
the text for public domain fonts.

Other club's are welcome to use
articles with credit given to the
club and author.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR
- Bill Silverman, 439-6465
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG USER GROUP OF JULY 1987
 ....Ol' Hackers Users Group....
_____________________________________
The following are features of the OL'
HACKERS BBS.

        The Ol' Hackers BBS
             Main Menu
___________________________________

[A] ATARI/ASCII     [O] CES Reports
[B] Browse D/L's    [Q] Quickscan  
[C] Hey Sysop       [R] Read E-Mail
[D] Download a File [S] Send E-Mail
[F] E-Mail To Sysop [T] Welcome Msg
[G] Goodbye(Log Off)[U] Upload Hmmm
[I] System Info.    [Y] Your Status
[L] Libraries       [/] Mini Menu  
[M] List Of Users   [?] This Menu  
[X] Windhover Proj. [N] System NEWS
[P] BBS's By States [Z] Maze Craze!
___________________________________
[*] List Msg. Bases [=] Msg. Base# 

         System Information
____________________________________

 Computer_______130XE W/64k Ram Disk

 Memory_________1 Meg ICD MIO 
                Board Ram Disk
 Monitor________Sakata SA-1000

 Drives_________10 Meg Hard Drive
                1 810 Disk Drive

 Printer________SG-10

 Modem__________Avatex 1200

Please Read!! NEW!!
     Todays Date: Mon  8-Jun-87
     ___________________________
     Hello:
     RON KOVACS
     Last Date On: 06/08/87
     ___________________________
     Last Update For SYSTEM
     NEWS was 05/17/87
     ___________________________
         WINDHOVER PROJECTS
_____________________________________

     [1] Thing to do with the PBI

     [2] Ram-Disk Mods for all ATARIs
_____________________________________
         PBI INTERFACE PROJECTS
_____________________________________

     [1] PBI ARTICLE

     [2] PBI CONNECTION 1

     [3] PBI CONNECTION 2
_____________________________________
  Base [1].....General I
  Base [2].....General II
  Base [3].....IBM or ST
  Base [4].....Special SIG Users
  Base [5].....Ol' Hackers ONLY
  Base [6].....What's NEW In Music
  Base [7].....NETWORK SYSOPs
  Base [8].....The SPORTS Line
  Base [9].....Tech or HELP! SIG

Next week we will include some text
from this group.  If have interest
for more info, Refer to this weeks
edition of Zmag's ST_Report.

We will print the article next week
in Zmag61.
_____________________________________
Xx ZMAG ATARI RUMORS
_____________________________________
DTACK GROUNDED INC. OFFERS FREE
FAST BASIC TO ALL USER GROUP MEMBERS

DTACK Grounded Inc., a New Mexican
based ST software firm, has announced
that it will offer its new DTACK
BASIC to over 400 Atari user groups
across the country.  Each group, upon
receipt of proper identification,
will receive free 63 DTACK BASIC disk
labels, one or two master disks
(depending on the size of the user
group), and ten DTACK BASIC manuals.
The catch?  There is none! This offer
is being made only to user groups,
who are expected to distribute DTACK
BASIC to its ST owners for a nominal
fee (the user groups will define a
price - no more than a normal user
group library disk).

DTACK BASIC is touted to be the
fastest ST BASIC available today. A
benchmark test between DTACK, GFA,
Fast, and the newest ST BASIC showed
DTACK BASIC to be the fastest by a
substantial margin.  The benchmark
used was in an advertisement that
appeared on page 45 of the May 1987
"ST Applications" magazine.

For further information, contact
your local Atari user group.

EPYX...ARE THEY LISTENING?

Rumors abound on reasons why Epyx
has practically refused to support
the 8-bit line of Ataris.  However,
the folks at Epyx seem to be waking
up to our cries.  Apparently, many
Atari users have mailed in letters
to Epyx requesting (or maybe even
demanding?) them to release several
of their most popular titles such as
"Destroyer", "Summer Games II",
"Winter Games", "World Games", and
"Championship Wrestling". Keep those
letters coming!!

Send all requests/demands to:

EPYX, INC.
600 GALVESTON DRIVE
REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063

BLACK PATCH GOES THE DEEP 6

It's official, and it has been
official for a few weeks now.  Black
Patch Systems, a mail-order Atari
hardware/software house has been
declaired bankrupt by its owners. The
Better Business Bureau claims to have
hadmany reports from angry computer
owners, many of them claiming to have
placed an order that was never filled
and no refund given. The BBB suggests
filing a complaint quickly, if you
have had similar problems with this
company.
NEW ATARI DISK DRIVE

Atari has announced at a recent CES
show the arrival of an upcoming Atari
5.25" disk drive (actually a
redesigned and enhanced 1050). The
new drive will be double sided,
double density, and will operate
about twice as fast as the soon-to-
be-discontinued Atari 1050.  The new
drive will be smaller than the 1050
(between the size of the 1050 and an
Indus GT) and will match the color
and styling of the Atari 130XE
computer.

The DOS for this drive will be
written by OSS, Inc., who have had a
long lasting relationship with Atari
disk drives and disk operating
systems.  The new DOS (named "A-DOS",
for - what else? - Atari DOS) was
originally designed to run with the
now defunct 3.5" Atari 8-bit drive.
The DOS is nearly complete, but the
rive will take a little more time
to finish.  An Atari contact says
the drive about 60% finished, and
after testing is complete Atari
should have the drive ready to ship
"around late Summer to late Fall".
_____________________________________
Xx ANTIC ONLINE REPORT June 1987
_____________________________________
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1987
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
WORLD OF ATARI FAIRE
SANTA CLARA SHOW DEBUTS -
"FINALIZED" ATARI LASER PRINTER -
NEAR-BETA WORD PERFECT...& MORE

BY NAT FRIEDLAND, ANTIC EDITOR
6/21/87

With all the other Atari Fairs that
took place during the past 12 months
and the huge Consumer Electronics
Show just three weeks ago, it was
surprising to find so much new to see
last weekend during the hastily-
organized World of Atari Faire at the
year-old Santa Clara Convention
Center

But several unfamiliar companies with
impressive ST software made their
Atari Fair debuts last weekend.  And
a near-production version of the
Atari SLM804 laser printer had its
first public showing.  This report
concentrates on products that have
not been reported on previously.

The Atari laser printer is smaller
and lighter than most current models,
but seems just about as fast and
sharp. It was operating in Diablo 630
emulation with a 4Mb Mega ST running
a pre-release version of the
Microsoft Write word processor with a
WYSIWYG display. The laser controller
board is in a modem-sized box cabled
between the ST's high-speed Direct
Memory Access (DMA) port and the
printer.  This controller box also
has a second DMA port for connecting
a hard disk.

This 300 dots-per-inch printer
supports Atari's GDOS (which
automatically uses the highest
resolution available to a printing
device).  We picked up a selection of
the sharp graphics and muli-font
printouts that the Atari SLM804 kept
churning out throughout the day. 
Late summer or September is the
current estimated market arrival for
the Atari Desktop Publishing System.

At a neighboring booth, Word Perfect
was showing a near-beta version of
the forthcoming ST edition of its
bestselling word processor. The GEM-
based software, due in September,
looked extremely fast and powerful.
It will list at $395 but is often
discounted by more than 50% in the
IBM version.  The WP rep said that
the company is working closely with
Publishing Partner's developers to
assure immediate desktop publishing
ompatibility for the word processor.

Programmers will love Omniware's new
Edit/Booster, an ST text editor that
also generates GEM code by mouse.
Select "Draw A Circle" from a drop-
down menu and the GEM code apppears
in your program.  The version
currently on sale just works with C,
but updates for GFA BASIC, Personal
Pascal and Modula-2 are promised
soon.  Omniware, based in Bellevue,
Washington also showed a desk
accessory controller for the widely
used Hewlett-Packard Laserjet printer
and an H-P terminal emulator.

Iliad Software of Orem, Utah, another
new entry, showed a powerful,
user-friendly CAD/drawing program,
Athena II, selling for $99.95. Athena
equires a 1Mb ST, but functions in
either color or monochrome.  Coming
soon is a circuit-testing simulation
program called Circuit Maker.  The
company was also showing a multiuser,
multitasking operating system, PDOS,
which is similar to the system used
on 68000-based VME workstations.

A wide-ranging product line of
specialized business applications for
the ST was shown by Hi-Tech Advisors
of Winter Haven, Florida.  Their $199
titles included Church Manager,
Service Station Manager, Video Store
Manager, Inventory Pro and Sales Pro
Plus.  Mail Pro handles custom
mailing lists and form letters for
just $69.  SBT of Sausalito,
California kicked off a line of dBASE
III business accounting modules based
on the ST's dBMAN clone.

Beckemeyer Development Tools of
Oakland, California showed their
latest addition, a touch-screen
restaurant menu system.  The
demonstration model for a Chinese
restaurant was almost frighteningly
complete and efficient.

Two image scanners were shown at the
fair.  Navarone, of Sonora,
California had a $1,239 ST system
including the Canon IX-12 scanner.
The simpler $99.95 IMG Scan from
Seymor-Radix of Irving, TX used a
small box that tapes to the print
head of any dot matrix printer that
supports graphics.

Old-timer Lou Schwing of Astra
Systems was gleefully demonstrating
the ruggedness of his HD+ unit which
combines an 20Mb hard disk and a
double-sided ST 3.5" disk.  The HD+
was notably cool and even kept
operating as he waved it in the air
and laid it on its side.  DeskCart, a
$99.95 cartridge from Quantum Micro
of Liverpool, New York is a real-time
clock/calendar with a full set of
Sidekick-type desk accessories
including a filer, calculator,
address book, notebook, macros,
RAMdisk driver and other utilities.
The cartridge format is claimed to
save memory and operate faster.

The World of Atari was busy and
profitable for most exhibitors
throughout its Friday-Saturday run.
The thriving Antic booth was showing
upcoming ST graphics software from
The Catalog -- Cyber Paint, a paint
program that creates images for
animation with Cybermate, and
Spectrum 512, a smooth-lined,
ultra-clear paint program that can
display all the ST's 512 colors
simultaneously.
_____________________________________
Xx Publishers Page
_____________________________________
We update you this week with news
about ST X-Press Magazine. This
monthly publication, targeted at the
ST population has decided to include
Zmag in their monthly magazine disk.
e will keep you informed.

The Hard Disk Users Group has
returned to phone lines. Not up more
than a day or so, hard disk problems
have suspended the re-opening. Zmag
and the HDUG will be supplying you
mor information on Hard Disks and
membership information in the weeks
ahead.

Due to minor confusion here and lack
of space, some of the articles that
have been promised for publication
this week, have been put on the
shelf.  When we have free space, I
will continue the column on 30
Secrets of the Old Atari.

Zmag's ST-Report has also changed
in mid-stream. Due to the massive
amount of ST material being received,
we have changed publication dates
from once a month, to twice a month.
July's first issue is being sent out
at the same time of this issue. The
next scheduled release of the ST-
Report, will be July 18th.

Starting with this issue, we return
to Friday evening publication. All
issues will be listed on Z.I.N after
9pm eastern time each Friday.

We wish everyone a Happy Holiday.
_____________________________________
Zmagazine July 4, 1987  Issue #60
Please contribute!
_____________________________________

(c)1987 Ron Kovacs


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