ST Report: 12-Apr-91 #715

From: Bruce D. Nelson (aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 04/16/91-10:37:55 PM Z


From: aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 12-Apr-91 #715
Date: Tue Apr 16 22:37:55 1991

Also thanks to: Todd C. Miller


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   -------------------------
     - The Editor's Desk      - CPU REPORT        - ATARI MATURES!
     - NeXT - Overview        - CDTV SHIPS!       - GEIS & IBM Link
     - CALAMUS SL             - IMAGE SPEEDER     - RETOUCHE
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 > The Editor's Podium


     I am back, safely, from CEPS  and would  you believe  I have  caught a
 good, old  fashioned, Chicago  head cold?  Its a dilly.  Oh well, the CEPS
 show was "enlightening" to say the least....  The powerhouse programs that
 were on  display were  fabulous.   Of course,  seeing Atari  in such "good
 company" was a neat and envigorating  sight.    But  when  you're standing
 around listening  to the comments that passed between the Apple and MS-Dos
 folks it became increasingly more difficult with each minute passing by to
 keep a  straight face.   One  of the most common remarks heard was; "Gee I
 thought Atari was outta business!" then .. in  the very  next breath you'd
 hear; "This  stuff is  superb why  is it being kept a secret?"  I'd love a
 nickel for everytime I  heard either  of the  two remarks,  my next Comdex
 trip would be paid for.

     Getting serious  for a  moment, Atari's  display area was busy all the
 time, since this was a specialty show aimed  at Corporate  America, (CEPS-
 Corporate Electronic Printing Show), there were no crowds of curious users
 just very serious folks trying to find the very best in Desktop Publishing
 Solutions for  their company  or employers.   The  Matrix boards and TT030
 were the "HIT" of the show, let me tell you  this, there  was a Mitsubishi
 24" color  monitor with  a fantastic  picture of gleaming motorcycles that
 literally "blew your socks off!"   Yes, that's  right!   And it  was being
 driven by  a Matrixed  TT030.  It was very impressive.  From the attitudes
 and inquiries of the folks at that display, they too felt it  was notewor-
 thy as  many made  it their  business to  remain after the presentation to
 obtain further info.

     Elsewhere in this issue are excellent descriptions and accounts of the
 show, but I had to put my 43 cents worth in.  A final observation would be
 to illustrate; "the Atari computer is growing up".  The  TT030 represented
 itself very  well.  The software on display, coupled with the new and very
 exciting third party hardware kept everyone's interest levels high.
 It would be unfair to compare any of the software being displayed  to what
 we are  now using,  but believe me in the DTP arena, the existing software
 in use  for graphical,  text and  document manipulation  is most certainly
 surpassed by  huge leaps and bounds.  One item everyone will pay attention
 to is the price tags of this new hardware and software, being truly sophi-
 sticated it carries the expected pricey tags.  But then, not fall into the
 "you get what you pay for"  trap, it  must be  understood the  days of the
 $49.95 program are as dead as the echo of 1985's applause for the original
 520.  These programs and hardware goodies were not and are not part of the
 basic, entry level genre, they are strictly tomorrow's technology today.

     In my humble opinion, the presentation put on by Atari at CEPS was far
 better than any I have been witness  to.    Comdex  included.    This show
 allowed Atari to "rub elbows with the big boys" and actually outshine them
 in many areas.  It felt great to walk around  listening to  the amazement,
 "oohs and aahs" when the attendees saw the TT030 and these superb software
 and hardware packages perform.  This issue covers  those fine  third party
 products and  for the  next few  weeks each of the products will have more
 coverage as we receive the additional materials requested  about them.   I
 gotta say  it again....  The Atari  TT030 has indeed opened the new era of
 Atari.  Fellow Atarians, we "SHINED" at CEPS.  <<<grin>>>


   Still quite tired, but thankful to have seen CEPS with Atari there!


                                           Ralph..........




                           TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!

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 > STReport's Staff              The regulars and this week's contributors!
   ================

                            Publisher - Editor
                            ------------------
                             Ralph F. Mariano


 Staff Editors:
 --------------
          Michael Arthur      Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.     Dana P. Jacobson
          Lucien Oppler       Brad Martin              Walter Daniel
          Oscar Steele        Robert Allbritton        John Szczepanik

 Contributing Correspondants:
 ----------------------------
          Michael Lee         Richard Covert           Roger Stevens
          Brian Converse      Oliver Steinmeier        Ed Krimen
                              Andrew Learner


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                 WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (April 12)

 NEW UPLOADS POLICY CHANGE

 Effective immediately, the sysops will adopt the following  policy for new
 uploads to the Atari ST and 8-Bit Forums:

 All  new  uploads  will  be  placed  ONLY in the NEW UPLOADS LIBRARY for a
 period of 2-3 weeks.  After this time, they will be MOVED to the appropri-
 ate long term library and deleted from LIB-1.

 The old policy was to immediately place 2 copies of new files online.  One
 in the NEW UPLOADS LIB and another in the long-term lib, giving  users the
 option to  download from either location.  This old policy was wasteful of
 storage and confusing to some members who downloaded  both copies thinking
 they were different versions.

 We realize  that this will require everyone to scan the NEW UPLOADS LIB in
 addition to the other LIBs when searching for a specific type of file, but
 this is  a temporary  problem that will be eliminated when future versions
 of the CIS software will allow members to scan all files in  all LIBS from
 a single point (a feature that is on the "enhancement" list).

 ARCSHELL 2.4

 Charles F.  Johnson and Little Green Footballs Software bring you ArcShell
 2.4, the latest version  of this  fine program.   This  version provides a
 link to  MaxiFile by allowing you to call up MaxiFile from ArcShell's main
 screen.  See ARCS24.ARC in Library 1 of  the Atari  Productivity Forum (GO
 ATARIPRO).


 NEW FROM DOUBLECLICK SOFTWARE

 DC Right  DC is another PROGRAM OF THE WEEK by Double Click Software. With
 DC Right DC installed,  a QUICK  right mouse  button click  will emulate a
 LEFT double  click.   See DCRTDC.ARC  in Library  13 of  the Atari Vendors
 Forum (GO ATARIVEN).

 ATARI USERS GROUP LISTING

 Modems are nice, but nothing beats getting together realtime with hometown
 folks who  share your  interest!   The 1991  list of Registered Atari User
 Groups is now available in file USERGP.ARC, LIBRARY  1 of  the Atari 8-Bit
 Forum (GO ATARI8).

 GOLDEN OLDIE FOR ATARI ST

 DOTS AND  DASHES - This classy connect-the-dots strategy game runs in both
 color and monochrome.   Match  wits  with  the  computer  or  up  to three
 humans.   Play on  one computer  or compete  by way  of modem  and a phone
 hookup.  Start with dots only or with some dashes in place.   To introduce
 an element of luck, make beginning dashes invisible.  Fun for all ages and
 IQs.  Built-in, printable  instructions.   Available in  LIBRARY 2  of the
 Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) as DOTDAS.PRG.

 ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM NEWS

 Don't miss  Walter Daniel's FORUM NOTES files (PORTFOLIO NEWS-STReport) in
 LIBRARY 1 of the  Atari Portfolio  Forum (GO  APORTFOLIO) for  news on the
 latest happenings and events in our online community.


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 > CPU REPORT

   Issue #106



 by Michael Arthur



 CPU INSIGHTS
 ============


         NEXT COMPUTERS, SPREADSHEETS, AND STEVE JOBS' NEXT ATTEMPT
         ----------------------------------------------------------


       When Steve  Jobs introduced  the first  NeXT Workstation in 1988, it
 was praised as a revolutionary advance in desktop computing.   Some of the
 computer  industry's   new  trends,  from  removable  disk  cartridges  to
 Unix-based Graphical User Interfaces, gained significant "media attention"
 from it.   However,  acceptance of the NeXT was slowed by complaints about
 its speed and lack of Third-Party support.   This, along  with Steve Jobs'
 own  "crusade"  to  sell  the  NeXT  mainly to universities, kept the NeXT
 Computer itself from becoming popular.

       Recently, NeXT Inc. began shipping its NeXTStation line of computers
 in an  attempt to rectify its earlier mistakes.  To gain industry support,
 NeXT's new workstations are targeted at  the business  market.  Addressing
 complaints about  its speed, the new NeXTs use a 25 MHZ 68040 chip (with a
 built-in floating point math unit) that is 3-7  times faster  than its old
 68030 chip.   To  end the  controversy surrounding its reliance on Optical
 Cartridges, the NeXTstation Line uses  an  internal  2.88  Megabyte Floppy
 Disk Drive  and a  built-in 105  Meg Hard Drive.  Also, to shore up one of
 the  NeXT's  greatest  weaknesses,  the  NeXTstation  line  supports color
 graphics.   The result:   NeXT  Inc., which only sold 8000 of its old NeXT
 Computer, has  already  gotten  over  17,000  signed  orders  for  its new
 systems.

       NeXT's new workstation line consists of NeXTstations, and NeXTCubes.
 The NeXTstation has a slim "pizza-box" shape, meant  for use  as a desktop
 PC, while  the NeXTCube is a traditional "12-inch cube", being marketed as
 a network server.  Here is more information on NeXT's new systems:


       1) NeXTstation Monochrome System:  This has 8 Megs of RAM, and comes
 with a 1120*832 monochrome resolution.  Cost: $5000.00.

       2) NeXTcube Monochrome System:  Like the original NeXT Computer,
 this computer has four NuBus Slots and 8 Megs of RAM.  It also has a
 monochrome 1120*832 resolution.  Cost: $8000.00.

       3) NeXTstation Color System:  This version of the NeXTstation has 8
 megs of RAM, and can display 4096 colors out of a 16-bit (or 65,536 color)
 palette.  It also has a 1120*832 resolution.  Cost:  $8000.00.

       4) NeXTcube Color System:  This version of the NeXTcube has 8 Megs
 of RAM, can display 4096 colors out of a 16-bit color palette, and has a
 1120*832 resolution.  Cost:  $10,000.00.

       5) NeXTcube Plug-in Motherboard:  Like the original NeXT Computer,
 the NeXTcube's motherboard is actually a NuBus Expansion card.  As such,
 NeXT Inc. is selling the NeXTcube's motherboard to owners of the original
 NeXT Computer, as an upgrade.  Cost: $2000.00

        Along with its new computers, NeXT Inc. has  introduced Version 2.0
 of its NeXTStep Operating system.  Along with support for its systems' new
 features, NeXTStep now comes with a version of Display Postscript that can
 display color  and monochrome  graphics.   Display Postscript is a device-
 independent imaging model that  displays documents  and text  in a WYSIWYG
 fashion.

       Many of the supporters of the old NeXT Computer wanted it to support
 24-bit color.  In response, NeXT Inc. is selling the NeXTdimension color
 board for the new systems.  The NeXTdimension board can display 16 million
 colors simultaneously at a 1120*832 resolution, using Intel's 80860 RISC
 chip as a graphics coprocessor, in order to provide a quick display.  It
 also has video-capture capabilities.  Cost:  $3000.00.

       The NeXTdimension  board also  features real-time image compression,
 using the CL550 chip, developed by  C-Cube Microsystems.   The  CL550 chip
 is  the  first  VLSI  chip  implementation  of  the JPEG image compression
 standard.    Developed  by  the  ISO  and  CCITT  International  standards
 organizations, the  JPEG standard  allows graphics images to be compressed
 up to 1/100th of their normal size.   The CL550  can compress  still color
 images in real-time (at a rate of 30 frames per second), for "full-motion"
 animations.  "True-color" animations (or those using 24-bit color graphics
 to display  up to  16 million  colors simultaneously) have previously been
 very difficult for computers,  since such  files can  easily take  up over
 several hundred  megabytes (if not several gigabytes) of disk space.  With
 the NeXTdimension board, one would be  able to  store a  realistic, "full-
 motion" color  animation that  ordinarily took up 1 gigabyte of disk space
 on a 20 Megabyte hard disk.

      With the introduction of the NeXTstation systems, NeXT  Inc. hoped to
 eliminate the  reasons that its original NeXT Computer had fared poorly in
 the computer industry.  While the NeXTstation addressed  the flaws  in the
 NeXT Computer's  hardware, it  had to have much more support from Software
 Developers than the old  NeXT Computer.   Now, several  software companies
 have introduced products for the NeXTstation line, including:


    1) Ashton  Tate, who has introduced a spreadsheet package called Power-
 Step.  Designed using NeXT's Interface Builder utility, Powerstep
 features:

       - A 16,384 X 16,384 cell matrix, for the largest of spreadsheet
         needs.  One can install financial, math, and string functions into
         each cell.  It also can read/write Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet files.

       - Presentation Graphics features, allowing users to place charts,
         text, and graphics on a page that has spreadsheet data.  PowerSTep
         also uses NeXTstep's support for "voice annotation", allowing
         users to insert voice messages into a spreadsheet.

       - PowerStep automatically updates all graphs and charts as
         spreadsheet data changes.  Also, several spreadsheets can easily
         be merged (or consolidated) into one.

       - Over 13 types of graphs and charts, including pie, bar, line,
         scatter, and 3D-surface graphs.  PowerSTep users can also adjust
         the rotation, elevation, and perspective of 3D graphs as they are
         found onscreen.
      Ashton-Tate has also  built  a  macro  language,  called  WILMA, into
 PowerStep.   WILMA macros can be called from spreadsheet cells, and can be
 used by software developers to develop modules for  Powerstep.  Currently,
 Ashton-Tate is also reportedly porting dBASE IV to the NeXT Computer....


       2)  Lotus  Inc.,  who  is  shipping  yet another spreadsheet for the
 NeXTstation, called Lotus Improv.  The result of three years  of research,
 Lotus  Improv  can  import/export  spreadsheet files made with Lotus 1-2-3
 Release 3.0.  It has an  online,  context-sensitive  Help  System  that is
 arranged with  a table of contents and an index, allowing users to look up
 the program's features through a resizable window.

       Like PowerStep,  Lotus Improv  allows users  to create presentations
 using spreadsheet  data and  text/graphics/sound elements, and has dynamic
 "live links" between its  3D graphs  and spreadsheet  data.   One can also
 control the  perspective and  view of 3D bar/stack/area graphs, but Improv
 also has built-in graphics utilities, allowing one to  create pictures for
 a presentation.

       Improv  also  introduces  a  new  concept  called  "Dynaview", which
 incorporates  many  aspects  of  financial  modeling  into  a  spreadsheet
 program.    Spreadsheet  cells  and  formulas can be expressed using plain
 English phrases, instead of numbers and letters.   For example,  a formula
 to  calculate  a  company's  Total  Revenue  could be expressed by typing,
 "(Price * Quantity Sold)", instead  of  (A1  *  B1).    In  this  way, the
 structure/logic of a spreadsheet can be understood much more easily.

       Dynaview can  compare relationships  between two sets of information
 without having to recalculate or re-enter  any data,  macros, or formulas.
 In addition,  Improv allows  users to display different views of a spread-
 sheet by manipulating icons.  For  example, one  could first  view company
 advertising expenses by clicking on an icon, and quickly switch to viewing
 the company's payroll via another  icon.    Improv  formulas  can  also be
 debugged  more  easily  than  with  other spreadsheets, and can be made to
 apply to all spreadsheet cells that need the formula.   This allows Improv
 spreadsheets to  use far  less formulas than regular spreadsheets, and for
 those formulas to be reused more quickly.

       Lotus says that DynaView could be useful in areas like market analy-
 sis or sales forecasting, and claims that Improv is a revolution in sprea-
 dsheet technology.   Improv is now shipping, priced at $700.00.

       WordPerfect Inc. has announced that Version 5.0 of  WordPerfect will
 be available for the NeXTstation during the first part of 1991.  Using the
 NextStep user interface, it (unlike WP 5.0 for DOS) will  be able  to dis-
 play documents  in a  WYSIWYG fashion,  and will allow picture images on a
 document to be easily scaled, rotated, or moved.




       _____________________________________________________________




 > CPU STATUS REPORT               LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
   =================

    Issue #16

    Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.



 - New York, New York              COMMODORE ANNOUNCES U.S. SHIPMENTS OF
   ------------------              CDTV

 Commodore will begin shipping its home multimedia computer (CDTV)  April
 19th.   The  CDTV  unit  looks like an audio  compact  disk  player  and
 connects to a television set and home audio system.  However, it has the
 processing power of an Amiga computer,  and can be upgraded with a  full
 keyboard, mouse, trackball, and disk drives.  Fifty CDTV software titles
 will  be available within a couple weeks of its introduction with  close
 to 100 due by late summer.

 The first shipments will be to Chicago,  Los  Angeles,  Sacramento,  San
 Francisco,  and San Jose,  with shipments to New York,  Boston, Atlanta,
 Minneapolis, Dallas, and Denver in May. Commodore expects the product to
 be  available  across the country by September.   The  suggested  retail
 price will be $999 and will be available at Macy's in California and  at
 Soft-ware Etc., Walden Soft, Future Tronics and Montgomery Ward Electric
 Avenue in Chicago.



 - New York, New York                        "PHIBER OPTIK" PLEADS GUILTY
   ------------------

 Mark Abene,  19,  known in the hacker community as "Phiber  Optik",  has
 plead  guilty to the reduced charge of "unauthorized use of a  computer"
 and was sentenced to 35 hours of community services.

 Abene,  who had computer equipment and notes seized during the execution
 of  a  search warrant on January 24th, 1990,  was arrested  on  February
 5th, 1991  and  charged  with felony counts of  computer  tampering  and
 computer trespass and a misdemeanor count of theft of services, plans to
 donate  time  at  a  local hospital to  fulfill  the  community  service
 requirement.



 - White Plains, New York              GEIS AND IBM LINK ELECTRONIC MAIL
   ----------------------

 The IBM Information Network and GE Information Services (GEIS),  two  of
 the largest commercial value-added data networks offering the ability to
 send messages and data worldwide,  have announced a linkup.   This link,
 will  allow customers of both services to exchange electronic  messages.
 The link covers messages between the IBM Information Network's IBM  Mail
 Press Exchange as well as the GE's QUIK-COMM and GEnie systems



 - Sydney, Austrailia                            COLOR "BIG BLUE" RED
   ------------------

 In the most recent IBM quarterly review from Australia, the lead article
 profiled Big Blue's cooperation with one of Australia's leading banks  -
 ANZ.  The bank's chief,  Brian Weeks, was interviewed, and talked of his
 bank's  very  large dealings with  IBM,  including  the  ground-breaking
 installation  of the IBM 600J six-processor system.  The article  had  a
 nice  color  picture  of Brian Weeks in  his  crisp,  efficient  office,
 complete with oil painting on the wall and Apple Macintosh on the  desk.
 And  if  that  weren't bad enough,  the IBM buyer  is  posing  with  his
 Macintosh mouse in hand.



 - Tokyo, Japan                    COMPUTER VIRUS INVADES JAPAN LHARC
   ------------                    FILES

 The  "winner-B"  type  PC  virus has  infected  Japan's  major  personal
 computer  network NIFTY-Serve.   The virus,  which has been widely  pub-
 lished and who's source code is widely available,  was hidden in a  data
 compression  program  called  "LHarc" and was downloaded  by  27  people
 before it was removed.  So far, no "casualties" have been reported.



 - Redmond, Washington                   MICROSOFT JOINS AMERICA ONLINE
   -------------------

 Quantum's America Online electronic service has been joined by Microsoft
 to  offer the Microsoft Small Business Center.  The new  America  Online
 service offers software templates and consulting services.

 "With  the Microsoft Small Business Center,  business professionals  can
 have  immediate  access to experts and other small business  owners  any
 time they need it, day or night," said Steve Case, president of Quantum.
 "And  America Online's live electronic conferencing and electronic  mail
 functions  allow  small  and  home-based  business  owners  to  build  a
 networking community where information can be shared."

 The information contained in the Microsoft Small Business Center is free
 to  subscribers  of America Online,  which charges $9.95 per  month  and
 includes  three hours of free time.  Calls cost $10 per hour during  the
 day and $5 per hour at night.



 - Cupertino, California           APPLE REORGANIZES TO CAPTURE NEW
   ---------------------           MARKETS

 In  an attempt to capture new markets and speed up products for  market,
 Apple  Computer has reorganized its company into several new  divisions.
 John  Sculley,  Apple's chief executive officer and  chairman,  will  be
 acting head of the new Consumer division, in which the Macintosh Classic
 is  assigned.   Another new major division is the  Enterprise  division,
 which  will  focus  on developing hardware and  software  for  customers
 needing  industry standards,  larger networks,  and multivendor  connec-
 tivity, the company says.



 - Dallas, Texas                        TI TO TRY FOR CHEAP SOLAR ENERGY
   -------------

 In an attempt to develop a much needed low-cost,  environmentally  clean
 energy  alternative,  Texas  Instruments (TI)  and  Southern  California
 Edison  (SCE)  have announced a joint solar energy  development  project
 which  will concentrate on the new "Solar Sphere" technology.   If  suc-
 cessful,  this  would  make solar electricity as cheap  as  conventional
 utility company electricity.

 The  "Solar Sphere" technology is a new approach to converting  sunlight
 into  electricity involves less expensive,  low-purity silicon and  low-
 cost  manufacturing  equipment.  Instead of using  fragile  and  brittle
 conventional photo-voltaic cells,  the new Solar Sphere technology  uses
 cells  with 17,000 tiny solar spheres on aluminum  foil.   Because  each
 sphere is an independent,  working cell,  the impact of individual  cell
 failure,  compared  to today's 100 square-centimeter single-  and  poly-
 crystalline cells, is negligible.



 - Washington, D.C.                              TOP GAMES FOR FEBRUARY
   ----------------

 Sierra  On-Line's "King's Quest V" is still #1 on the MS-DOS games  list
 with Maxis' "SimEarth" in second and "Red Baron",  also from Sierra  On-
 Line,  slipping  to  third.   These figures are based on  sales  figures
 supplied by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) for Februrary.

 In the video game category,  first was Konami's "Teenage-Turtle", second
 was Acclaim's "The Simpsons" and "Super Mario Land" in third.






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 > The Flip Side STR Feature              "...a different viewpoint"
   =========================




                    A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
                    ==================================


 by Michael Lee


 The  re-printing of posts problem on Genie seems to have been  resolved.
 According  to  the new rules,  unless I get prior  permission  from  the
 person  who left the post and also notify the sysops,  I cannot  publish
 any edited posts from the ST Roundtable on Genie.   However,  I can  re-
 print entire posts without getting written permission (except in certain
 cases).   While  these rules seem generally fair,  they will  limit  the
 number of Genie ST Roundtable posts that I can print.

 In general, there are three main reasons why I would edit a post:

 1) To  make it more readable and clearer.   Many of the posts  are  dif-
 ficult to read because of spelling,  writing and grammatical  errors.  I
 attempt  to  clear up the most obvious errors in an effort to  make  the
 posts easier to read.

 2) To  keep the non-pertinent information to a minimum (called  "signal-
 to-noise"  in  the  BBS world).  Sometimes there might be  10  lines  of
 "Hello, how are you" type of comments before they ever get to the "meat"
 of the message.   In my attempt to keep this column in the 10-13k  range
 and  to give you as much new information each week as possible,  I  edit
 out most of the extraneous stuff.

 3) When several posts give much of the same information.   I'll edit out
 the duplicate information and leave the non-duplicate stuff.

 So,  the only posts that I will be able to use from the ST Roundtable on
 Genie  will  be  ones that are fairly  clear,  concise  and  don't  need
 editing.   But don't despair,  that just means that I'll have more  room
 for the posts from Delphi and CIS.

                             ----------------

 A nice hint for all users from MAURICEM on Delphi...
    ...In  my many years of beta-testing I've come to the conclusion  NOT
    to  blame  a piece of software until you run it on  a  totally  CLEAN
    system.  It's  when  you start putting  memory-resident  [NOTE:  auto
    programs and accessories] stuff in that things start to fall apart.

                              ----------------

 More from Joshua Mendolusky about the Reflex Graphic Card on CIS...
    After  calling  Titan Designs Ltd.  in England,  they  told  me  that
    currently  it  can be used in any Mega system  without  modification.
    When I called about two weeks ago,  they said that 520/1040  compati-
    bility  was about 6 weeks away.  I am supposed to be  getting  dealer
    information  shortly,  and when I do I will be calling them again  to
    find out the status of the upgrade.

    In reference to Multi-sync monitors, If you are using one in place of
    both your b/w and color monitors,  I believe it will only work in the
    high  resolution  mode.  It will also work with an 800 by  1280  page
    screen  monitor,  because the board has two ports of its own for  use
    with that and a 21 inch CAD monitor (Hence the need for some form  of
    upgrade on the 520s and 1040s,  there's just no room in the back  for
    the ports.)


    JCQM (JOACQUIM Software and Peripherals)
         (wa-KEEM)

                              ----------------

 Some  questions about the Dream Park 1.44 meg floppy drives from  Willie
 Pelzer on CIS...
    ....will it boot a 720k disk?  What about 1.44? How do you format the
    floppies? If you format from the desktop, will it format 720k okay?

 Answer from a Dream Park 1.44 meg owner, David Leon on CIS...
    ...the 1.44 will boot a 720k or a 1.44 disk just fine.  It will  also
    format a 720k disk just fine from the desktop.  If you want to format
    a 1.44 disk or higher...you'll have to use the bundled software  for-
    matter  (it's GEM operated and easy)...it works beautifully with  all
    IBM  software (I used it for Windows) and it works really nicely  for
    regular  old ST stuff (I've got PageStream with 30 fonts on one  1.77
    disk!)

    About  the  only  complaint  I've  got is  that  it  botches  up  GCR
    read/write  under  Spectre - the Spectre format is OK but  GCR  disks
    can't mount...the drive does require minor installation (addition  of
    a  HD  port and replace of the disk drive controller  chip)  cost  me
    about $30 to install.

 ---------------

 From JB.  Davis, (DreamPark), Category 4, Topic 53, Message 66 on the ST
 Roundtable on Genie...


                     ***Blowout of IB Drive cases!!!***

    We are blowing out all of our IB drive cases! We have a grundle of IB
    single height 5.25" cases complete with power supply.  We are blowing
    these out for $29.95!!!!  These make great cases for 5.25" 360 or 1.2
    meg drives, as well as 3.5" 720 or 1.44 meg drives with the use of an
    adapter. First come first serve!!!

    If  you want a drive installed,  we will sell you a 5.25"  360K  unit
    complete for $119.95, or a 720k 3.5" unit for $129.95.

    Call us at:

    DreamPark Development 1390 South 1100 East Suite 104 SLC, UT 84105

    (801)484-9809 voice (801)466-2541 fax

                              ----------------

 From Ralph Mariano (ST Report) on Delphi...
    I  been  using this Princeton Ultra-Sync for three years now  with  a
    modified monitor master and will plainly say that all three modes are
    as  good as if not better than those of the  SC1224  /SM124.  Quality
    multirez monitors are not new but just being  discovered.  Anybody...
    Interested in multi-sync/multirez monitors,  owes it to themselves to
    make it their business to try a Princeton Ultrasync.

                              ----------------

 From the Gadgets RT on Genie...
 Question by John Townsend (Atari)...
    Anyone know where I can get an Epson driver for use with  Spectre?  I
    am trying to use a Panasonic dot matrix printer....

 Answer from Jeff.G....
    ...have you tried the PrintLink collection from GDT Softworks?

 Answer from Diane Foley....
    ...you might try MacWarehouse at 800-255-6227

 Answer from Rob Woodbridge....
    ...My favorite is Mac Connection,  800-800-2222. It's currently going
    for $59. $3 gets you overnight shipping, too!

                              ----------------

 There  have  been  some reported problems with  Spectre  3.0  and  ICD's
 AdSpeed.  The following are two (compiled) messages from STACE  (Gadgets
 sysop)  on what the problem exactly is,  who's at fault and what  to  do
 about it.  From the Gadgets RT on Genie...

    ...AdSpeed works fine with Spectre.   However, due to the way SPECTRE
    checks for the amount of available memory,  a problem pops up on  STs
    with  less  than 4 megs...This is a problem with  SPECTRE,  not  with
    AdSpeed...AdSpeed,  Spectre  3.0 and 2 meg ST get along JUST FINE  if
    you boot Spectre with the AdSpeed cache turned OFF (8mhz mode). Then,
    after  you enter Mac mode you can turn AdSpeed back to 16mhz and  all
    is well. Of course, this makes a hardware switch very desirable.

                              -----------------

 How one ST user uses his system.  From Ron Webber on Delphi...
    ...I use the PC at work and also use the ST at work to do editing  of
    BASIC programs that will eventually end up on the PC. I use Easy-Draw
    to do illustrations for the manuals that go with the PC programs when
    we  sell them (the manuals themselves are printed using Word  Perfect
    on the PC), and I do the ad layouts for advertising the machines that
    use the software using PageStream and UltraScript.  I have yet to see
    a DTP program that is as good as PageStream for Ad layouts,  but then
    I  have been using PageStream since it was Publishing Partner and  am
    probably  biased.  I also use Microsoft C on the PC and  much  prefer
    Laser  C  on my ST,  and also use Microsoft QuickBasic  and  sort  of
    prefer GFA Basic on my ST...

                              ----------------

 From JB. Davis (Dream Park), Category 4, Topic 55, Message 160 on the ST
 Roundtable on Genie...
    I have been contacted by my supplier concerning the Syquest  88,  but
    the news for ST owners is *NOT* good...

    According to my supplier, a limited number of OEM (Original Equipment
    Manufacturers)  will  be  recruited  to  sell  the  88  under  strict
    controls. They will be able to sell these units *ONLY* for IBMs. OEMs
    will  be  required  to sign a statement attesting to  this  fact  and
    Syquest has reportedly recruited a 'Cartridge Police' group to insure
    that this is enforced. As a result, we will not have access to the 88
    in the near future. I am assuming that this means Syquest has reached
    some  type of agreement with an Apple OEM for sole sourcing  88s  for
    the Mac.

    I teel ya, I don't know what the world is coming to...

    Brad@DreamPark

                              ----------------

 Comments  about  defragmenting  your hard drive  from  Wayne  Dunham  on
 Delphi...
    ...there  is  no reason to backup and restore your  hard  drive  just
    because  it has become fragmented.  You can defrag the drive  with  a
    couple different programs I've used and still use.

    I  highly  recommend HD Sentry from Beckemeyer.  I've never  had  any
    problem  with it messing up a drive.  I've also  used  Tune-up!  from
    Michtron.  I never upgraded to the version that came in the  Michtron
    Toolkit,  but  that old version could munge a partition if there  was
    less than 30% of the partition free and the drive is very fragmented.
    I don't know if the newer version exhibits the same problem or not. I
    did have problems with it several times messing up my partitions.

    I found the optimization routines in Tune-Up more flexible.  In Tune-
    up you can optimize a partition for mostly read,  or mostly write and
    it  works quite well.  HD Sentry doesn't offer that  flexibility  but
    still does an excellent job of de-fragging the drive.

    If you don't want to purchase a defragging program then all you  have
    to do is back up the partitions,  then zero the partitions with  your
    HD  utilities  and  then restore the drive.  The  drive  is  now  all
    defragmented.   (of course that's assuming you use a file backup  and
    not an image backup program)

    No  matter which way you go you should ALWAYS backup  the  partitions
    BEFORE  you  defrag just in case something does go wrong and  you  do
    have to reformat, or zero a partition.

                              ----------------

 From Julius (ISD), Category 16, Topic 3, Message 68 on the ST Roundtable
 on Genie...

    Here  are  the results of some rough benchmarking that I  did  today.
    Basically,  the land survey drawing (available in the libraries)  was
    loaded  into  DynaCADD  on the respective platform and  the  time  to
    repaint the whole thing was measured.  Error is +/- .5  seconds.  The
    results are interesting...

    80386 20 Mhz no FPU        - 16 bit VGA 16 colors  - 19s

    80286 12 Mhz w/FPU         - 8 bit VGA 16 colors   - 13s

    A2500 14 Mhz 68020/68881   - 672x448 -  4 colors   - 6s
                                            8 colors   - 6s
                                           16 colors   - 10s
                                 640x400 -  4 colors   - 5s
                                            8 colors   - 6s
                                           16 colors   - 8s

    TT/030 32 Mhz 68030/68882  - 1280x960 - monochrome - 3s
                                  640x480 - 16 colors  - 3s
                                  640x400 - monochrome - 3s

    MegaST T16 & 68881         - 1280x960 - monochrome - 8s
                                  640x400 - monochrome - 7s

    A3000 25 Mhz 68030/68882   -  688x440 - 4 colors   - 3s
                                            8 colors   - 3s
                                           16 colors   - 5s


                              ----------------

 Question about hard drive problems from Philip W. Payzant on CIS...
    My Atari Mega 30 hard drive was giving me intermittent errors,  so  I
    backed  up,  reformatted and partitioned it into three 10 Mb  logical
    drives.  The Markbad program that runs as part of the format  program
    reported  28  bad sectors.  Out of curiosity,  I ran  Markbad  again.
    Drives D and E were clean,  but C apparently had 8 bad sectors. I ran
    it twice more,  and got 1 and 41 bad sectors respectively. Additional
    runs produced more bad sectors,  but never zero...My question is: are
    these bad sectors new ones found since the last Markbad run, or is it
    the total of all bad sectors on the drive?  If the former,  shouldn't
    it  eventually report zero bad sectors?  If the latter,  why  do  the
    numbers vary so wildly?

 Answer from Jeff (InterSect Software) on CIS...
    ...the markbad program will only find NEW errors.  If you are finding
    new  bad sectors within a few minutes of each test I would suspect  a
    flakey  drive or a problem with your ST's DMA port...If  the  problem
    shows up on C: and not D: or E: I think I would suspect the DMA port.
    The C: drive has a faster transfer rate than the D: or E: drive.

    RLL drives compress data on the individual tracks 1.5 times that of a
    MFM drive. This means that the data transfer rate of the RLL drive is
    1.5 times that of the MFM drive,  if there are any problems with  the
    DMA port,  it will show up on faster drives-partitions...Best way  to
    check  this is to try the Megafile 30 on a friends computer  reformat
    and markbad.


                             ----------------

 Until next week.....



       _____________________________________________________________





 > STR Portfolio News & Information              Keeping up to date...
   ================================



                         THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
                         =========================

 On CompuServe


 by Walter Daniel  75066,164


     BJ Gleason is working on a calculator program  for the  Portfolio.  If
 you would like to offer suggestions to him, reply to message #10988.

     Another  Portfolio-versus-Wizard  debate  raged through the forum this
 week.  There were two major  points made  in the  thread:   capability and
 price.   The Wizard is a dedicated organizer and its software and hardware
 have been optimized for that  purpose.    While  the  Portfolio organizing
 software isn't  as slick as that of the Wizard, the Portfolio can run many
 other programs  such as  text processors,  BASIC interpreters,  and so on.
 The  high-end  Wizards  cost  as  much  as $370 or so; the street price of
 Portfolios is as low as $225.

     Read message 10967 for an announcement of a  change in  the policy for
 the libraries.   New  files should be uploaded to Library 1 (New Uploads).
 Files will remain in Library 1  for 2-3  weeks, then  be moved  to the ap-
 propriate library for permanent storage.

     Dave Stewart uploaded a program (see TEAM.ZIP) that displays the names
 of the Portfolio design team that are stored  in ROM  locations $F000:4FB2
 through $F000:5141.   Bruce Coleman of Atari then pointed out that you can
 access these names using a hidden  feature.   In one  of the  built-in ap-
 plications except  Setup or  Menu, press F1 (or the Atari key) to call the
 main menu, then press "H" to select help.  Depending upon the application,
 you may  need to press another key to select which help screen to display.
 With some help text on the screen, type ALT-left bracket to get  the "Help
 on: Design  Team" text.   You can then use the down-cursor key to read all
 the names.

     Chris Burns uploaded several programs that  allow a  Portfolio to con-
 trol a Tandy PDD2 portable disk drive.  The files have to be compiled with
 PowerBASIC, so most people cannot use  them  until  the  product  hits the
 stores.   Several of  the files are small utilities that accomplish single
 functions such as renaming a file, copying from  the PDD2,  copying to the
 PDD2, deleting  a file,  reading the disk directory, or formatting a disk.
 Read PDD2.DOC for documentation of these utilities.  Chris also prepared a
 PDD2 file manager (TM.BAS) that is documented by TM.DOC.

 A Portfolio  user of a photographic bent uploaded two files of interest to
 camera users.  PHOTO.BAS is a PBASIC program  that performs  some exposure
 calculations  such  as  f-stop  given  other information.  FILMS.ADR is an
 Address Book file that  documents exposure,  filter, and  reciprocity data
 for 20 different films.

 LOANS.BAS is  a PBASIC 4.1 program that will calculate monthly payment and
 total interest for both  mortgages and  simple loans.   The  mortgage cal-
 culator includes  estimates for  taxes and  insurance so  that the payment
 includes principal, interest, taxes,  and insurance  (PITI in  real estate
 parlance).




        __________________________________________________________






 > CEPS-1991 STR Spotlight        "...A new era of prosperity for ATARI"
   =======================





                        CEPS April 8-April 11, 1991
                        ===========================

     THE MIDWEST FORUM FOR DESKTOP, MULTIMEDIA & VISUAL COMMUNICATION



 by Andrew Learner


     An interesting  metamorphosis occurred  this past  weekend.   I saw an
 aging, "game machine" company  rejuvenated,  with  exciting  new products,
 both hardware software, and "PEOPLE".

     I met  Greg Pratt  - President  of ATARI  US, Mel Stevens - Show Coor-
 dinator, Diana  Goralczk -  Customer Relations,  Adam Rabbino  - Sales and
 Marketing  and  the  brains  behind  the new TT030 development group, Bill
 Rehbock.

     Bob Brodie rounded out  the  group,  as  always  helpful, "Enthusiast"
 coordinator, organizing local folk from: LCACE - Mike Brown, Steve Kostel-
 nik and J.J. Johnson, CRAG - Randy Noak, RACC -  Andy Learner  to help set
 up and run local errands.

     Through some  interesting and  innovative engineering,and a great deal
 of painstaking organization, the  Professional Products  Group from ATARI,
 was unveiled  at the CEPS (Corporate Electronic Publishing Show) at McCor-
 mick Place in Chicago.  This is a show where all the major players  in the
 Desk  Top  Publishing  world  come  out  to show their hardware platforms,
 software, printers, even paper  stock for  laser printers.   A  new era of
 prosperity for ATARI, seems to be on the near horizon.

     With paternal like patience, ATARI guru, Bill Rehbock, has assembled a
 team of developers who  quietly worked  on new  exciting software  for the
 TT030 computer  platform.   We have  all heard  about the TT for some time
 now.  But I think after showing it's Mega system over 3 years ago  at this
 same show,  ATARI people  realized that  the competition was well slightly
 ahead of them in machine speed, and software development.

     We have seen the maturing of such powerful  DESK TOP  PUBLISHING prog-
 rams as  WORDFLAIR, CALAMUS,  and PAGESTREAM  on the old ST platform, with
 outstanding DTP results.  But this  new  platform  is  a  powerhouse  of a
 computer.   It rivals  the top  of the line machines of all other personal
 computer companies, in performance, speed and as we  have grown  to expect
 from ATARI.

     Of course  many you  will cringe at the $3000+ price tag of the TT030-
 -8/80meg machine.  But, that is inexpensive compared to the  $10,000+ cost
 of the  MAC IIFx  or the  NEXT workstation.  You will also be surprised at
 the price tags of the new Calamus SL  Color Pro,  Pagestream 2.0,  and the
 new Goldleaf Photo retouching program Retouche Professional CD ($1995.95).
 But these are all new products, with powerful never before  seen features,
 on any platform.

     Quoting one  of the  CALAMUS programmers  from Germany, who was at the
 show, when asked what he thought of the TT030, Klaus Garms said,

     "This is an exciting powerful, machine.  It's approach  is unique, and
     in many  ways, superior  to it's closest competitors, the MS-DOS based
     486, and the MAC IIFx. It has a  few problems,  which I  am sure ATARI
     will iron out, before the machine goes into full distribution."

     ATARI  had  the  booth  directly next to the LINOTYPE-HELL (commercial
 high end printing printers, capable of up to 2450 DPI), and Xerox.   Xerox
 has a  time tested  program called  Ventura Publisher, which runs on PC's.
 They also had a booth that stretched the entire width of the show.

     I was privy to the debut of this exciting new product line, by a means
 many of you luckier loyal ATARIANS have experienced, that is the set-up of
 an ATARI booth for some type of a show.  It was an eye opening experience,
 to say  the least.   Those  of you  familiar with desk top publishing, and
 ATARI products will know the names I will refer to  in this  article.  But
 believe me, you would barely recognize the changes in their products.

     The most aggressive developer and entrepreneur of the ATARI group, has
 to be Lauren Flanegan-Sellers, President of Goldleaf Publishing, Lakespur,
 California.   She has  assembled an international team of some of the most
 brilliant programmers and technicians I have met, and came up  with one of
 the most outstanding publishing solutions, I have seen on any platform.

     GOLDLEAF is marketing what they call a "speeder box", which "talks" to
 LINOTRONIC printers (typesetters) in  their "native"  language.   This in-
 novation, reduces  the through  put time from the print command, to a com-
 pleted printed piece of film.   If you  are familiar  with POSTSCRIPT, you
 know  that  is  the  most  universal  printer  language in the DTP market.
 However, typesetters such as Agfa Compugraphics, or LINOTYPE-HELL, have to
 interpret Postscript.  This slows down the printing process.

     They also  have RETOUCHE  - a  PRO version  of a  photo- scanning, and
 retouching program - DIDOT a  professional  line  art  creation  program -
 Sherlook  -  a  series  of  optical character recognition programs, and to
 assemble all of these elements into documents, WORDFLAIR  II (a remarkable
 bargain at $149.95)!

     I think  many people  came by  just to  take a peek at ATARI and while
 there I watched many a raised  eyebrow  of  the  seasoned  MAC  and MS-DOS
 professional publishers,  as they  poured over  the offerings in the ATARI
 booth.

     You must understand one thing about this computer  market, if  you are
 unfamiliar with  DTP. Printing  and publishing in general, is a multi-bil-
 lion dollar a year business, which is worldwide.  Desk  Top Publishers are
 seriously cutting  into what  has traditionally been a very tough place to
 carve a niche.  Printing companies (dare I say) loathe the DTP'er, because
 he is taking away a lot of their business.

     DTP people can now produce what large printing companies used to spend
 billions of dollars to purchase from a printer.  One of the  last vestiges
 of American  ingenuity, and  dominance of  a marketplace,  is the computer
 industry.  Desk Top Publishing is one of the major areas we are also still
 dominant.

     From transistor  radios to  luxury automobiles,  stereo, VCR, and most
 assuredly, the photographic market the Japanese  and Germans  have taken a
 lions share of worldwide industrial production, copied and vastly improved
 every type of technology we have ever developed.  I'm  sure tecno-program-
 mers in  both countries, are working feverishly, to try and close the gap,
 but it seems that most of the high level computer  developments still come
 from the good ole USA.

     Industrially and  commercially Macintosh has pioneered the way for the
 computer industry into the extremely  competitive  world  of  printing and
 publishing.   The printing  industry, is  evolving rapidly, with the intr-
 oduction of personal computers and the workstation environment taking over
 jobs that traditionally have been done manually, such as photo retouching,
 typesetting, and basic layout not to mention drawing  and design.   Enough
 history already, on to the meat and potatoes.

     I have  heard a few loyal ATARI users express serious doubts as to the
 future of this company.   Frankly  I think  with few changes/improvements,
 ATARI has  a winning  product on  it's hands.  The booth  had the familiar
 display exhibits, used at other  Atari  shows  with  ten  stations.   Some
 computers were  shown "operating" high end (2450 Dots per inch film recor-
 ders) typesetters.  Although I never saw the finished output.   I  know it
 can be done, because I do it with a 1040ST, through a service bureau.

     One problem  I noticed  immediately, was  an overall  haze, to all the
 video reproduction  on ATARI  B&W and  new color  TT monitors. Outstanding
 color and  B&W graphic representation showed up on NEC multisync monitors,
 which were running from the new VME port.

     I don't know what caused the flatness or lack of screen brilliance (it
 wasn't exactly lack of sharpness), but other platforms using the Supermac,
 or other brands of large screen monitors, did not seem to have this probl-
 em.  After all, they were all there to compare each other to.  I hope this
 is corrected quickly, because I overheard more than one person  notice it.
 The other  is the lack of a high density drive. All the competition has it
 in their machines. TT030 should have it also.

     One obvious  absence, is  the often  mentioned but  rarely seen, ATARI
 CD-ROM drive.   Again all the competition showed 600meg CD-ROM Drives, and
 Magneto-Optical drives.  I hope the TT, will be able to use these types of
 drives.   After being  in the DTP and graphics world, an 80Meg drive looks
 fairly puny next to a CD- ROM.

     Maybe with ATARI's cooperation and this new grouping of developers, we
 will see a whole group of these programs come out on a single CD-ROM disk.
 Come on ATARI, let's do it.   The  users are  rooting for  you to succeed.
 Let us  see abandoned  machines with the users heading for other platforms
 happen no more!  And continue on with a new slogan;

        "ATARI - Professional Power - The Economical Alternative!"



 Editor Note:
     Andy Learner is the President of Rockford Atari Computer Club.  He has
     been  an  avid  ATARI  user  since  1983.   His twenty five years as a
     Professional Photographer, Exhibit  Display  Producer,  and Publisher,
     make him uniquely qualified to bring us this fine report.




       ____________________________________________________________






 > CEPS 1991 STR Spotlight                  ATARI'S BOLD NEW APPROACH
   =======================



                        PROFESSIONAL SYSTEMS GROUP
                                 LAUNCHES
                   DIRECT TO PRESS PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS


     "Direct  to  Press",  a  complete and comprehensive array of pre-press
 publishing solutions was introduced at the Corporate Electronic Publishing
 Systems (CEPS)  trade show in Chicago, Illinois.  Direct to press includes
 full-featured, high quality and high performance tools for  every phase of
 pre-press work from document processing and design to photo retouching and
 imagesetter film output.  Tools offered as part of these  publishing solu-
 tions produce film that is ready to go directly to press, including photo-
 graphic images with up to 256 levels of greyscale.

     Direct To Press is a collection of hardware and software  tools from a
 select  group  of  manufacturers  assembled  and  led  by the Professional
 Systems Group, a division of  Atari  Computer.    Design  and imagesetting
 workstations take  advantage of the sophisticated graphics and pure proce-
 ssing power of the Atari TT030,  the company's  high performance computing
 platform.

     Available as  custom-configurable systems, Direct To Press is targeted
 at pre-press and printing service bureaus and in-house  design and produc-
 tion departments,  as well as freelance designers, artists and publishers.
 Systems based on the Direct To Press platform and concept will be distrib-
 uted through a network of value-added resellers and dealers.


     PUBLISHING SYSTEM HARDWARE PLATFORM
     -----------------------------------

     The Atari TT030 provides an ideal computing platform for the Direct To
 Press publishing tools.  It features a 32mhz Motorola 68030 microprocessor
 with on-chip cache and memory management as well as a 68882 math co-proce-
 ssor, 8mb of RAM, an 80mb hard drive and a wide range of video and storage
 expansion options.   Output  for proofing  purposes is provided by the 300
 dpi Atari SLM605 laser printer.   The SLM605  features a  small footprint,
 high quality output and a fast 6 page per minute operation.

     "We founded  the Professional  Systems Group  to provide the computing
 platforms that will support sophisticated application for demanding verti-
 cal market  segments," said  Greg Pratt, President of Professional Systems
 Group.  "We're thrilled with the level of  performance and  output quality
 embodied in  the third party products that are part of our Direct To Press
 for digital typography and image processing."

     The Direct To Press solutions generally follow one of three complimen-
 tary approaches:

     SoftLogik's  PostScript  based  PageStream  2 provides direct compati-
 bility with that Industry Standard.  The Calamus SL and tms Cranach Studio
 family of high end publishing applications, including proprietary SoftRips
 for specific models of typesetters and  imagesetters deliver  a wide range
 of features  and fast performance.  And the Retouche/Didot family of digi-
 tal lithography, line art and page layout tools  uses proprietary software
 technology  to  create  raster  images  of pages within the host software,
 eliminating the need for a RIP, and uses  specialized hardware  to greatly
 enhance output  speed and  quality.   Files can  be easily exchanged among
 tools, and with many other, industry  standard, desktop  publishing progr-
 ams.


     POSTSCRIPT COMPATIBILITY
     -----------------------

     Softlogik's  PageStream  2  is  a fast, powerful and easily accessible
 general purpose page layout program that can import  line art,  scanned or
 retouched  images,  or  composed  pages  from  other tools and offers full
 PostScript compatibility.


     CALAMUS SoftRIPs
     ----------------

     Highly acclaimed Calamus SL from ISD  Marketing uses  a unique modular
 approach to  page layout  feature integration.  Modules for image managem-
 ent, graphic design, text processing, illustration and autotracing  can be
 selectively loaded  as needed  to yield true WYSIWYG, fast printing speeds
 and extensive color support.   Calamus  Outline Art  is a  complete vector
 graphics editor  for lines,  Bezier curves, control paths and other vector
 shapes.  ISD Marketing tms Cranach Studio is an electronic  image manipul-
 ation  program  that  uses  professional  level bit mapping for enhancing,
 retouching, making  color corrections  and making  composites on greyscale
 and 24 bit color images.

     ISD Marketing  also offers  the Calamus  Imagesetter SoftRIPs software
 interfaces enable the Atari TT030 to  be directly  connected (via  the DMA
 port) to high resolution imagesetters such as those from Hell systems, all
 AGFA Compugraphic 9000 series and the Linotype L100, L300 and L500.

     "We're very pleased to offer  our  sophisticated  publishing  tools as
 part of  the Direct to Press solution," said Nathan Potechin, president of
 ISD Marketing.


     IMAGE SPEEDER
     -------------

     The 3K Image Speeder, (available from Goldleaf Publishing) is an Atari
 TT030 computer  configured in  a tower  case to accommodate a larger power
 supply and the additional  add-on cards  and disk  storage peripherals re-
 quired.    It  includes  a  dedicated graphics display board with hardware
 based pan and zoom, a high speed scanner  interface and  a direct  link to
 the Hell  imagesetter through  the VMEbus.  The 3K Image Speeder currently
 supports ReTouche  Professional, Didot  Line Art,  and Didot Professional;
 support for  the Calamus  and Cranach  family of publishing tools is under
 development.

     Retouche Professional is  a  modular  system  of  professional digital
 lithography tools  for creating,  retouching and reproducing halftone pic-
 tures.   Retouche  Professional's  most  distinguishing  features  are the
 quality and  speed of its output that results from a library of hand-tuned
 screens that are optimized for a variety of film output  devices and prin-
 ters.

     Retouch  CD  adds  the  dimension  of  color to Retouch Professional's
 digital halftone image processing capabilities, including color parameters
 and facilities for selecting, correcting and separating colors.

     Didot Line  Art is  a full featured line art creation and manipulation
 program that benefits  from  the  same  rasterizing  output  technology as
 Retouche  Professional.    Didot  Professional  is a full featured, object
 oriented page layout program with  full  color  screen  representation and
 color separation  support.   It is  a superset  of Ditdot Line Art and can
 manipulate block text halftone and color picture of  any size,  as well as
 bit images and vector graphics.

     Sherlook  Professional  is  a  high speed, highly accurate program for
 optical character recognition that can process up to 12,000 characters per
 minute.

     To create  short, presentation quality, compound documents - Wordflair
 II is a single program that combines word processing, calculations, graph-
 ics, page  layout, and  a simple  database on a screen representation of a
 printed page.  Wordflair  II's  integration  enables  the  user  to easily
 manipulate text, data and graphics without cutting and pasting from separ-
 ate applications.

     For high quality presentation  graphics, SCIGRAPH  is a  high perform-
 ance full-featured  vector drawing program that can display and manipulate
 up to 256 onscreen colors or greyscale levels and create a wide variety of
 chart and  graph types that can easily be imported into desktop publishing
 documents.

     "The Direct To Press solutions provide the best output quality  at the
 best value,"  said Lauren Flanegan-Sellers, president of Goldleaf Publish-
 ing.  "The nice thing about the Direct To Press solutions is that although
 some parts  are new to the US Market, publishing systems based on the same
 elements have been very well accepted in Germany,  widely known  as one of
 the most demanding printing markets in the world.

     The  Hell  Systems  Ultre*Setter  UX-70  flatbed imagesetter generates
 press ready output on infrared sensitive  RC paper  or film.   Utilizing a
 laser diode,  pentaprism imaging  system, the Ultre*Setter produces output
 resolutions ranging from 300-3000 dpi.

     Professional Systems Group is a new  division of  Atari Computer whose
 mission  is  to  provide  superior computing solutions for vertical market
 segments where output quality  and  execution  speed  are  of  the highest
 concerns.    Professional  Systems  Group combines its computing platforms
 with high performance software and  peripherals  to  meet  and  exceed the
 needs of these demanding audiences.



      ______________________________________________________________







 > THE RIGHT WAY! STR FOCUS
   ========================




             HOW TO ATTEND A PROFESSIONAL COMPUTER TRADE SHOW

                                  - or -

                 How not to 'Tick Off' the ATARI you love!


 by: Andy Learner - President RACC


     I went  to help,  but I got in the way, and was politely asked to step
 aside. How could they do this to me?   I  have bought  every computer they
 have made  since the  beginning, with  the 8-BIT  400. I have an extremely
 loyal, albeit  somewhat jaded  attitude toward  ATARI the  company, but an
 undying fondness for the machine itself.

     I know that seems awkward, but the machine is not subject to personal-
 ity clashes. An though often misused, and abused, never (unless you ask it
 to) will talk back or reject you as some people can and inevitably do. I'm
 not saying that I felt terrific about the following I am about  to relate.
 I do see it as amusing, after getting over the hurt.

     The Thursday  before the CEPS show, I get a call from my good pal, and
 Michael "Ellis" Brown.  Did I want to  go help  set-up the  ATARI booth at
 McCormick place  in Chicago?  "Why, absolutely!"  I replied, as I had been
 pursuing Bob Brodie for some time, to do just that.  A call to  ATARI show
 coordinator Mel  Stevens, then  a return  call from  him reassured me that
 they wanted me to help.

     We met Mel on Saturday, and dove right in, helping setup all the shiny
 new  TT030-8  computers,  SLM605  Laser  Printers, TTC1245 Color Multisync
 Monitors, and TTM195 19"  B&W monitors.   The  purpose of  this article is
 two-fold,

 (1) to  show where  an over  zealous hobbyist,  can really hurt the cause,
     rather than help it.

 (2) Apologize to any one I may have offended by  offering over enthusiasm,
     as an explanation, not an excuse.

     We  were  all  very  excited  (JJ  Johnson, Mike Brown, and myself) to
 finally get to see the real TT030.  Even more ecstatic to  get to actually
 handle one.   As these were truly fresh new machines there was no software
 on them, to "try" out.  I figured there would be something,  but the soft-
 ware people  were to arrive the next day.  I thought I should have brought
 something to "boot up" and check out the new "toy".

     It took a phone call from my friend Bob Brodie on Monday afternoon, to
 clue me  into the  fact that  this new machine in fact was no toy, and any
 attempt to make that association, would be poorly received by it's develo-
 pers and programmers. Also that there would be plenty of time to check out
 the new machine at the LCACE meeting, this coming Saturday.

     I have been in the Exhibit and Display business for over 10 years. And
 I know  the rules, when it comes to McCormick Place. You may not even plug
 a standard electrical plug into the main line,  without the  attendance of
 the electrician.   This  seems like  a silly  thing, until you realize the
 delicate balance of power required  to  power  up  all  the  lighting, and
 computers at an event like this. Everyone takes everything very seriously.

     I should have known, just by the fact that ATARI was right next to the
 largest booth of the show (XEROX  -  Ventura  Publisher),  that  they were
 there, to  do some  serious business.   But I didn't.  After all the setup
 was completed, there wasn't much for me to do on the second  day.   I bro-
 ught along  a few  of my favorite programs, including CALAMUS, PAGESTREAM,
 and SPECTRE GCR as well as a few (ahem!!)games.

     I thought as I didn't have all too much to do, I would put  TT through
 its paces.   "Let's just see what this puppy could do!"  To shorten a long
 painful story, this turned out to  be truly  inappropriate behavior,  at a
 show of  this magnitude.  After all, this was TT030's debut to the rest of
 the Corporate Publishing World.   As  ATARIANS, we  have known  about this
 terrific machine  for some  time now.   But,  very few  people outside the
 ATARI world, did up until then. Thanks to this show many do now.

     It just wouldn't do to have HACMAN running on the  TT, and fortunately
 (in a way) it didn't.  I couldn't even get most of what I brought along to
 copy correctly to the  hard drive.   I  should have  known right  then and
 there, something  was wrong  with the machine, and stop, but I kept trying
 to make something, anything run.   Not that  the machine  couldn't run the
 programs, there was just something wrong with that particular machine.

     Then I  tried the  GCR on  it.   The screen went purple and white, and
 quit.  "Uh-oh, now I've done it!"   I killed  a TT  right out  of the box.
 Bill Rehbock  assured me  GCR would work, but inside I screamed at myself,
 "please don't try anything  else like  that."   I was  really embarrassed,
 even a  little indignant,  at the  thought that something I did, goofed up
 such a fine machine.  I told him so after he told  me that  he didn't need
 my help for the rest of the show.

     I make  this open  apology directly  to you  Bill.   "You were under a
 great deal of pressure to make this show a success.  I  think you  made it
 happen.   I am  sorry if  I caused  you even one moments grief, and wish I
 could take it back."

     Before the story  of  ATARI  at  CEPS  unfolded  before  my  eyes, the
 "Professional Products  Group" as  I now  know it,  was kept under a tight
 veil of secrecy.  One of the reasons,  was to  solidify all  the relation-
 ships, formed in this unique arrangement between ATARI and developers.

     Some suggestions  to user  group people who may be fortunate enough to
 be "invited" to participate in an ATARI event:

 (1) Don't just participate solely with the idea  that there  will be some-
     thing in it for you.

 (2) Don't put "official" people on the spot with unreal or awkward demands
     for ATARI user group support.  There is a time  and place,  and direct
     method for doing that.  A trade show is NOT one of them.  These people
     are here to make a living, not support our hobby.

 (3) Unless specifically asked to do so, do not tamper  with computer equi-
     pment, especially  new stuff  you are  unfamiliar with. What will work
     beautifully on one machine, may be the death of another.

 Some suggestions for ATARI Corporation, on the use of user group people as
 "volunteers" to work a trade show.

 (1) Have in mind that if you bring in uniformed, enthusiastic people, they
     need to know  a  little  of  what  to  expect.  Without  some specific
     guidance they will inevitably do just what you don't want them to do.

 (2) Develope  some sort of organization for the volunteers to follow, with
     a little more specific guidelines.

 (3) It will certainly help to reward those who "volunteer" to "work".   If
     your intention  would be to reward them, make it clear what that might
     be. The professional workers  who set up trade show (and are paid real
     money)  find  it  unusual  and  awkward to work alongside "volunteers"
     working for "free".

 (4) Most of the "professional" riggers at a Trade show, are carpenters, or
     ironworkers, who  don't know  an RS232 plug from a banana plug. Intel-
     ligent "volunteer" riggers will  be your  best bet  to "hire",  if you
     don't keep them in the dark.

 (5) Make  sure your everyone (including your CEO) knows just what everyone
     is supposed to do.  I bet  none of  you really  like awkward surprises
     either.




           ____________________________________________________






 > PAGESTREAM 2 STR Spotlight       "Perfect Solution for Pro and Hobbyist"
   ==========================



                           PAGESTREAM 2 -> HOT!
                           ====================


 by Ralph F. Mariano


     The Atari  STe/TT computers  are poised  to revolutionize the computer
 industry and in particular, the Graphics/DTP arena.  Blockbuster, innovat-
 ive  products  like  Pagestream  2  are indeed making the entire computing
 community stand up and take notice.  They are being shown what many of the
 current Atari owners have known for a long, long time ie; "Atari is a very
 serious contender in the DTP area and in fact in  most cases  far superior
 to its  closest competition."  Pagestream is an excellent companion to the
 Atari DTP solution as it perfectly  compliments the  power, versatilty and
 value the Atari computers represent.

     PageStream 2  has full  color support, built-in spell checker/diction-
 ary, hyphenation  dictionary and  an extremely  large family  of fonts are
 available,  including  Adobe  type  1,  afga  Compugraphic Intellifont and
 PageStream format fonts.  Pagestream  2  displays  font  outlines  on your
 screen for  a WYSIWYG  look and then prints that outline at the maximum of
 any printer.  This includes printing Adobe Type ! PostScript  fonts to dot
 matrix printers  (ie, Adobe  Type Manager,ATM).   PageStream  2 ships with
 (18) outline  fonts ten  (10) of  which are  Compugraphic hinted outlines.
 The fonts  included are  CS Times, Times Bold, Italic, Bold Italic - Gara-
 mond Antigua, Halbfett, Kursiv, Halbfett Kursiv  - CS  Triumvirate, Trium-
 virate Bold  - Columbia  - University Roman - Letter Gothic - Saturn - Tom
 Hudson - Creative - Oriental - Artistic.

     Pagestream is a real leader in graphics importing,  text importing and
 in providing a super selection of printers supported.  Soft-Logik supports
 almost all  graphics formats,  text formats  and printing  devices for use
 with  Pagestream.    Pagestream  allows  the importation of these graphics
 formats:

               Degas     Neochrome      Tiny      GEM Metafile
               IMG       IFF            ILBM      TIFF
               GIF       Pro-Draw       EPS       EPSF
               Aegis     DR2D           MacPaint  IBM

     Of course, there are  more this  is jsut  to give  you an  idea of the
 versatilty.  Importing a wide variety of graphics allows the user, Profes-
 sional or Hobbyist, flexibility and power in total graphical selection and
 implementation.   After all,  isn't powerful graphical control the driving
 force behind computer DeskTop Publishing?

     Pagestream allows the creation  of documents  of any  page size  up to
 1200 feet  by 1200  feet, the  transferance of objects off the page into a
 user definable workspace, use font point  sizes from  .01 to  183,000 with
 variable horizontal  and verticle  point size.  The user may also draw and
 edit Bezier curves, import  all graphics,  have well  over 1000  pages per
 document, page  number automatically,  use unlimited number of columns per
 page with text routing between columns  in  any  order,  import  and color
 separate  24  bit  pictures,  use  Pantone  colors, edit Professional Draw
 clips, rotate - slant - twist  any text,  texty column  or graphic.   This
 list goes on and on...

     The intuitive  interface of  Pagestream allows anyone (even neophytes)
 to create and produce outstanding documents.   Pagestream  2 is  a program
 that's loaded  with features.  The extremely friendly user interface makes
 it powerful.

                               PAGESTREAM 2

         For a brochure and more info check with your local dealer
                                OR.........
                                 Contact:

                             Soft-Logik Corp.
                              P.O. Box 290070
                           St. Louis, MO. 63129

                              1-314-894-8608


       ____________________________________________________________




 > GFA in the USA! STR InfoFile                   GFA OPENS USA SUBSIDIARY
   ============================




              GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASES
        DRAMATIC RECEPTION OF COMPANY'S ANNOUNCEMENTS AT CeBIT '91

      Hannover, Germany.  GFA Systemtechnik GmbH,  headquartered in Dussel-
 dorf had very positive responses to its key announcements at CeBIT'91 this
 past week.

      First, the company announced  the availability  of GFA-BASIC  for IBM
 compatible PC's.   For the first time, programmers will be able to use the
 language's simple constructs to  create applications  that use  Menu Bars,
 Windows, Alert  Boxes, and  Pop-up Menus  under both the MSDOS and WINDOWS
 3.0 operating systems from Microsoft.  All GFA-BASIC  programs written for
 Atari ST and Amiga are compatible to these new versions.

      The company also demonstrated for the first time the Atari TT version
 of GFA-Basic.  This new version  brings to  the TT  compatibility with all
 software that  has been  written for  the ST.  GFA-BASIC is now compatible
 to all Atari, amiga as well as IBM compatible programs.

      And finally, the company  announced  the  establishment  of  its U.S.
 subsidiary,  GFA  Software  Technologies  Inc.   to support and market its
 products in North America.  demonstration  versions of  these products are
 available for evaluation.


               GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEW RELEASE
          GFA OPENS US SUBSIDIARY TO SUPPORT AND SELL GFA-BASIC!

      Salem, Ma.   GFA  Systemtechnik of Dusseldorf, Germany, publishers of
 GFA-BASIC for the ATARI ST and commodore Amiga announces the  formation of
 GFA Software Technologies, Inc.  a wholly owned subsidiary, to support and
 market GFA-BASIC in North America.

      Maurice Giguere, the  President  of  this  new  subsidiary, announced
 that  his  goals  were  to  "expand  the  use of this powerful language by
 providing call-in as  well  as  bulletin  board  access  to  GFA technical
 personnel to assist programmers in their development efforts."

      The company  currently publishes  GFA-BASIC version 3.5 for the Atari
 ST and Amiga Computers.   The  current list  price of  the Interpreter and
 Compiler are $94.95 and $54.95 respectively.

      Also, GFA  has recently  released GFA-BASIC for MSDOS and Windows 3.0
 which will allow ST and Amiga programs written in GFA-BASIC to run also on
 these platforms.   The list Prices start at $249 for the MSDOS 286 version
 and range to $495 for the 386 Windows 3.0 version.

      GFA is committed  to  helping  its  customers  gain  efficiencies and
 extend the  value of  their investment in ATARI ST and AMIGA programs that
 are written in GFA-BASIC.


                      GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
                 GFA-BASIC now available for the Atari TT!

      Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc. today announced the avail-
 ability of  GFA-BASIC on  the Atari  TT.   The typical Atari user was very
 happy to see the number one BASIC for the Atari on this  new generation of
 Atari computers.   Frank  Ostrowski, chief technologist for GFA said "this
 implementation will exhibit all  the speed  and functionality  we have ap-
 preciated on the other Atari platforms."

      The product  is shipping  with both an Interpreter and Compiler.  The
 List Prices of each are $94.95 and $54.95 respectively.


              GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASE
     New GFA-BASIC gives MSDOS programmers a powerful tool to develop
                             GUI applications

      Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc.  has announced  the avail-
 ability  of  GFA-BASIC  for  MSDOS.   In addition to about 500 independent
 commands, the  language has  over 70  commands and  functions for specific
 graphic and  operating system  operations which  are SAA  compatible.  The
 graphic commands in particular  make it  possible to  write MSDOS programs
 with a  "Graphic User  Interface" which  include Menu Bars, Windows, Alert
 Boxes, and Pop-up Menus.  These Simple commands  replace pages  of complex
 coding that  would normally be required in any other programming language.
 The resulting MSDOS applications are then  portable to  Windows 3.0, OS/2,
 and UNIX  when operated  with the  corresponding GFA-BASIC for these plat-
 forms.

       GFA-BASIC supports all graphic modes--MDA, HGC,  CGA, EGA,  and VGA.
 It also  permits the  use of  EMS which allows the programs to have access
 to memory beyond  640  KB.    In  addition,  GFA-BASIC  makes  use  of the
 8087/287/387 math co-processors if available.

      The List  Price for the 8086/88/286 version is $249.  The 386 version
 retails for $295.  The GFA-BASIC  Interpreter, Editor,  and protected-mode
 Runner are being shipped immediately;  the compiler will be shipped to all
 registered users when completed in the fall.



              GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - NEWS RELEASE
                       New GFA-BASIC for WINDOWS 3.0
                 Develop GUI applications without the SDK!

      Salem, Ma. GFA Software Technologies, Inc.  has announced  the avail-
 ability of  GFA-BASIC for  Windows 3.0.  In addition to about 500 indepen-
 dent commands, this version has  over  400  other  commands  and functions
 specifically for Windows operations.  These simple commands let the progr-
 ammer use the Multiple Document  Interface,  load  Bit-Map  files, utilize
 the Clipboard, DDE, as well as run Dynamic Link Libraries.  These commands
 dramatically reduce the coding that would be required  in "C"  and totally
 eliminate the need for the SDK.

      GFA-BASIC permits  the use  of EMS  which allows the programs to have
 access to memory beyond 640 KB.  GFA-BASIC will run  in Real  or Protected
 Mode depending on the installation of Windows 3.0.

      GFA-BASIC combines  the intuitive syntax of BASIC with the structured
 programming of Pascal an C while possessing a  speed of  execution similar
 to an  Assembler or  compiled C programs.  Routines written in C or Assem-
 bler can be bound into GFA-BASIC programs as well.

      The List Price for the 286 version is $449.  The 386 version is $495.
 The  GFA-BASIC  Interpreter,  Editor,  and  protected-mode Runner is being
 shipped immediately;  the compiler will be shipped to all registered users
 when completed in the fall.



                       GFA SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

       GFA Software  Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of GFA
 systemtechnik  of  Dusseldorf,  Germany.    GFA   Systemtechnik  has  been
 supplying high  technology tools  and solutions to companies like Mercedes
 Benz and BMW through its affiliates around the  world.   Based on  his ex-
 perience with  computer language  editors and  compilers, Frank Ostrowski,
 the chief technologist for GFA saw an opportunity  to   develop a powerful
 higher  level  language  that  would  provide  portability across the most
 popular PC platforms.

     One year  ago Mr.  Ostrowski began  development of  this product which
 would provide the basis for allowing programmers to easily create applica-
 tions which not only could run an many  computers, but  also would conform
 to the  "Graphic User  Interface" which  most users  would be demanding on
 PC's as they had on the Atari line of computers.

     The corporate goal was then apparent:  give a  simple, well-known lan-
 guage powerful  commands to  accomplish this  task and bring to the PC the
 user friendliness of the applications that  were possible  on Atari.   Mr.
 Ostrowski as  the original  developer of  GFA-BASIC for  the Atari had now
 created a tool which not only provides the power programmers need for this
 task, but  also the variety of platforms needed whereby these applications
 can run effectively.

      GFA Systemtechnik in Germany has an  attractive and  aggressive group
 of  bright  young  developers  dedicated  to  bringing to the applications
 programmer tools  which he  can use  to maximize  the market  size for the
 systems  he  develops.    GFA  Software  Technologies,  Inc.  is  the U.S.
 subsidiary responsible for supporting these products.



 For more information contact:

                      GFA Software Technologies, Inc.
                     27 Congress St., Salem, Ma 01970.
                            Tel:  508-744-0201
                            Fax:  508-744-8041
                         VISA/MasterCard accepted



     ________________________________________________________________





 > Hard Disks STR InfoFile            TAX TIME SPECIAL OFFERINGS!....
   =======================




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              P.O. Box 6672  Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
                                Est.  1985
                 _________________________________________

                   Voice: 904-783-3319  10 AM - 4 PM EDT
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                 _________________________________________

                     DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
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 > A "Quotable Quotable"
   ====================


                    "THOSE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES....

                           ALWAYS WEAR CLOTHES!"


                                             ...Marvin Trottenberry



 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                  STReport International Online Magazine?
     Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 STReport?           "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE"          April 12, 1991
 16/32bit Magazine        copyright = 1987-91                   No.7.15
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
 the editors,  staff, STReport? CPU/MAC/STR?  or ST Report?.  Permission to
 reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted.   Each reprint
 must include  the name of the publication, date, issue #  and the author's
 name.  The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
 any way  without prior  written permission.   The contents, at the time of
 publication, are   believed  to  be  reasonably  accurate.    The editors,
 contributors and/or  staff are  not responsible  for either the use/misuse
 of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""


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