ST Report: 08-Jun-90 #623

From: Len Stys (aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/16/90-02:08:34 PM Z


From: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
Subject: ST Report: 08-Jun-90  #623
Date: Sat Jun 16 14:08:34 1990


  
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  June 08, 1990                                                   No.6.23
  =======================================================================

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                               R.F. Mariano
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 > 06/08/90: STReport? #6.23  The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine! 
   ------------------------- 
     - The Editor's Podium    - CPU REPORT        - CPU STATUS REPORT
     - PCDII, A TRAGEDY       - TT030 Review      - ATARI APOCALYPSE
     - Stock Market Report    - AUA NEWBRIEFS     - CPU CONFIDENTIAL

               --==** DESK SET II REPLACED BY CALAMUS **==--
                --==** SUMMER CES EYEWITNESS REPORTS **==--
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 > The Editor's Podium?

     There a great many things coming to pass in the Atari world  that will
 give rise to new hope for the Atari computer in the USA.  There is news of
 a great new mind  coming from  France that  will find  the right  path for
 Atari to take.  Time will tell.
  
     Over the  past few  months there  has been many instances where things
 have occurred that warranted a letter writing campaign.  But  for the sake
 of the  recipient's sanity,  STReport would have asked for such actions to
 be taken.  Meanwhile, the time has come to ask  that you,  our readers and
 dedicated  Atarians  one  and  all  let  Atari  know  just  how  much  you
 appreciate the efforts Bob Brodie is taking in helping the  image of Atari
 stay alive  and well in the USA.  Send your letters and postcards to Atari
 Corp. C/O Sam Tramiel, 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale  California  94089.
 Or, if  you are  so inclined,  call Atari  at 1-408-745-2000.   Atari, and
 especially Sam Tramiel, who wants very much to hear from you.
  
     Well..... <sigh>...  The TT  has been  introduced again,  this time in
 Canada.   When are  they (the  braintrusts in Sunnyvale) going give the US
 market a fair shake?  If I heard that once this past  week, I  heard it at
 least  a   dozen  times   by  frustrated,  brokenhearted  loyal  US  Atari
 enthusiasts who have waited for what seems like FOREVER for Atari to begin
 its LONG  PROMISED US  push... The  USA   still sees  nothing but promises
 filled with hot air, no STE computers, no big push,  no ads  for COMPUTERS
 ETC....     But  Oh   well  hang   in  there  bunky,  1990  is  only  half
 over.....<sigh>

                                             Ralph......


 ps; Hey Sam, there is a difference between doing a job FOR us in  the USA 
     and doing a job ON us!  Enough is enough.....






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 > CPU REPORT?
   ==========


   Issue # 70
   ----------



 by Michael Arthur


 Remember When....

       In January  1948, William  Shockley and  other Bell Labs researchers
 filed for a  patent  on  the  first  transistor,  or  in  July  1959, when
 Fairchild  Semiconductor  filed  for  a  patent  for the planar process of
 manufacturing transistors,  which  made  commercial  transistor production
 (and later, integrated circuit production) possible?


 CPU INSIGHTS?
 ============ 

              Co-Inventor of Integrated Circuit Suddenly Dies
              -----------------------------------------------


       Robert  Noyce,  co-inventor  of  the semiconductor and co-founder of
 Intel Corp., died suddenly on Sunday of  a  heart  attack.    Many  in the
 computer industry  have expressed  great shock  at the  loss of Noyce, who
 helped pioneered several facets of the  computer industry.   After getting
 his  Ph.D  in  electronics  from  MIT,  he  first  worked for the Shockley
 Semiconductor Company in 1956 (after  a  short  term  as  a  researcher at
 Philco), but  soon left to create Fairchild Semiconductor.  Interestingly,
 Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby of TI soon became involved in a "race" for the
 first patent  on the integrated circuit.  While Kilby won this race by six
 months, Robert Noyce gained a total of 16  semiconductor-based patents for
 areas such as semiconductor production and integrated circuit designs.

       In 1968,  Robert Noyce left Fairchild to form Intel Corporation with
 Gordon Moore.  Intel soon became involved in the calculator chip industry,
 eventually  developing  the  first  microprocessor  from  research  into a
 calculator chip which would be easier to program.  In the past  few years,
 Robert  Noyce  helped  to  found  (and  later  serve as CEO/President for)
 Sematech,  a  government-supported  consortium  of  14  U.S. semiconductor
 companies which  is engaging  in efforts  to help maintain and improve the
 competitiveness of the American semiconductor  industry,  in  the  face of
 foreign competition.

       Under Noyce,  Sematech had  concentrated on research and development
 efforts on emerging technologies related to this field.   As  Sematech was
 also  one  of  the  first  consortiums  in  the  computer  industry  to be
 sanctioned  by  the  government,  Noyce's  efforts  indirectly  fueled the
 formation of  the several industry consortiums formed since then.  Some of
 these "alliances", such as the "Gang  of Nine"  (who created  the EISA Bus
 Architecture)  and  the  Open  Software  Foundation,  have  already  had a
 significant impact on the  microcomputer  industry.    However,  one could
 accurately  say  that  the  entire  microcomputer  industry  is one of the
 greatest legacies of Robert Noyce.




 CPU MacNews?
 =========== 

          New Apple Director Plans New Strategy for II Product Line
          --------------------------------------------------------

       Apple  has  recently  appointed  Ralph  Russo,   a  long-time  Apple
 employee, director  of the  Apple II  product line.   He  will be the main
 person responsible for  Apple  II  software  &  hardware  Development, and
 marketing efforts.   This  is significant in that for several years, Apple
 had segmented its Apple II management severely.   This meant  that one had
 to go  about seven  levels down  from John  Sculley in  the Apple chain of
 command to find a person in charge of one aspect of Apple  II Development.
 However, Mr.  Russo now  reports to  Don Casey, who is one of three people
 who report directly to John Sculley (President of Apple).

       Ralph Russo,  originally  hired  by  Steve  Jobs  for  the Macintosh
 Development project, has worked at Apple for over 7 years.  Saying that he
 "didn't take the job to sit around and do nothing", Russo will develop and
 implement a  new strategy  for the  Apple II  Line, including renewed IIgs
 Development, and vigorous advertising  efforts.    Russo  has acknowledged
 that "old-style  Apple evangelism" is also needed to encourage third-party
 Apple II software developers and dealers, and that an "Apple II sale isn't
 a lost  Macintosh sale".   The  latter refutes an attitude which a certain
 few at Apple have maintained for a while....

       Several Apple II  supporters  (including  the  Apple  II Developer's
 Association,  and  the  hundreds  of  Apple  II  users  who had written to
 Cupertino demanding more support)  had pointed  the lack  of priorities in
 Apple Corp.  concerning the  Apple II  line, and are generally credited as
 the main cause of the recent events concerning renewed Apple II support.



 But ponder, if you will, these questions:

 1)  Do the majority of Atari ST Users strive to only be informed of news
     pertaining to the Atari ST or Atari?

 2)  Ralph Russo also acknowledged  that  a  lack  of  consumer advertising
     leads to  a lack  of consumer  sales.   Given that  Atari made lots of
     money on the Portfolio and Lynx because of  good consumer advertising,
     how can  ST Developers  and Users  Organizations encourage Atari to do
     the same with the ST in the US?





 > CPU STATUS REPORT?
   ==================



 - New York, NY    UI PROGRAM HELPS SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS ENTER UNIX MARKET
   ------------

       Unix International, a group of numerous Unix vendors fostering the
 AT&T Unix Standard, has recently instigated a program to help software
 developers in entering the Unix marketplace.  UI plans to provide
 extensive assistance to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in both
 porting their applications to AT&T Unix System V 4.0, and in marketing the
 resulting products.  Several microprocessor makers, including Intel (with
 its 80x86 and 80860 chips), Sun (with the SPARC Architecture), and
 Motorola (with its 680x0 and 88000 chips) are assisting in Unix
 International's ISV program.

       This will help bring more ISVs into the quickly growing Unix market
 (currently estimated at around $15 billion), under the AT&T System V
 standard, which is used by 80 percent of the market.  Unix International
 estimates that by 1991, two-thirds of all major Unix vendors will be
 supporting AT&T Unix.




 - Austin, TX  ADOBE EXECS CHARGED WITH INSIDER TRADING AFTER STOCK FALLS
   ----------

       Adobe Systems stock recently fell $15 1/4 in one day (to $35 1/4 a
 share), after it announced that its 2nd Quarter revenue would be $33
 million, instead of the previously estimated $41 million.  Adobe said that
 this was caused by a series of factors, including a temporary decline in
 royalty revenue from IBM and NEC, who have recently announced new
 Postscript printers.

       Another factor was Apple.  It seems that Adobe had first expected
 to earn about $32 million, but then received reports from Apple that its
 Laserwriter royalties hadn't fallen as much as expected.  Because of this,
 Adobe then announced its revenue may be $41 million.  However, in April,
 Apple had changed its five-year-old method for figuring Laserwriter
 shipments.  Interestingly enough, it didn't tell Adobe this when it
 informed them of Laserwriter sales figures.  Resulting in that Adobe got
 "incorrect royalty figures" from Apple, and was startled when Apple's
 actual royalty payments came in.  Also, it seems that sales of Apple's
 Laserwriter printers are better than ever....

       A side effect of this event is that a class action suit was recently
 filed against seven top Adobe officers, including CEO John Warnock and
 President Charles Geschke, for alleged "violations of federal security
 laws", and specifically insider trading.  This is because in March and
 April, these execs sold over 389,153 shares of Adobe stock (for a total of
 $1.5 million).  While some officers sold 10 percent of their shares,
 others sold up to 84 percent of their Adobe stock during this time....

       Adobe feels that this is without merit, and CEO John Warnock has
 officially stated that NO top Adobe officer or executive knew of the
 brewing problem concerning Apple's royalty reports at the time that the
 stock sales were made.  Since all indications for Adobe stock were good at
 this time, Warnock feels that insider trading is not at fault.  Also, it
 seems that Warnock made his sales (110,000 shares, or 16 percent of his
 Adobe stock, for $350,000) in order to pay off a real estate loan....




 - Seattle, WA   MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER CREATES "SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION SET"
   -----------

       Asymetrix Corp. has introduced a Hypercard-like "software
 construction set" called ToolBook.  ToolBook uses a graphical "book and
 page" metaphor which emulates Hypercard's object-oriented "card and stack"
 programming system.  It uses objects (prefabricated code modules) that are
 represented as icons (Books), which people can use to assemble their own
 software programs.  Microsoft is bundling a run-time copy of Toolbook with
 every copy of Windows 3.0.  Cost: $395.00.

       ToolBook is designed to work with Microsoft Windows 3.0, and
 both supports Windows' DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange), for communicating with
 other Windows apps, and its DLE (Dynamic Link Exchange), allowing code
 written in other languages to be used in ToolBook programs.  It also has a
 built-in script language (Open Script), and a Macro Recorder which records
 user actions that are performed over objects, saving them as script files.

       Asymetrix Inc. was formed by Paul Allen, who formed Microsoft in
 1975 with William Gates.  Allen had resigned from Microsoft's Board of
 Directors in 1983 because of Hodgkin's disease.  When the disease went
 into remission, Allen founded Asymetrix using his own money.  Allen, who
 is Microsoft's second-largest shareholder (with 17.3 percent of Microsoft
 stock) has also rejoined Microsoft as a director.

       On a similar note, HyperRacks Inc. announced that it would license
 its OpenField technology (or the U.S. Patents on Zoomracks' "card and
 stack" metaphor) to ToolBook developers.  Apple Computer licensed this
 technology in Dec. 1989, for use by Hypercard developers and end users,
 following a patent infringement lawsuit filed by HyperRacks founder Paul
 Heckel.  As many long-time ST users know, Paul Heckel created Zoomracks
 (originally an ST Database program) in 1985, and obtained a general patent
 on the hypertext-like "card and stack" metaphor.  Heckel also announced
 that HyperRacks, a HyperCard add-on similar to Zoomracks for the ST, will
 be introduced for the Mac in the Summer....




 - Cambridge, MA        LOTUS, NOVELL BREAK OFF MERGER TALKS
   -------------

       Amid heavy industry speculation concerning the effect that the
 Lotus/Novell merger would have on the computer industry, Lotus Corp. and
 Novell Inc. recently announced that they were cancelling their upcoming
 merger, ending all negotiations.  It seems that in the last weeks before
 this announcement, Lotus had agreed to name the combined corporation,
 "Lotus/Novell", and to make Ray Noorda a chairman of the board for the
 company.  These two things weren't originally in the merger agreement
 made by Lotus and Novell, and were objected to by a certain few.  Another
 thing which was in the original merger agreement was that Lotus execs
 would have a 4-3 majority in Lotus/Novell's new Board of Directors.  After
 Novell asked for equal representation on the board of Lotus/Novell
 (something which Novell's stockholders had adamantly called for), Lotus
 protested, and the merger talks ground to a stop....






 Errata:  CPU Report Issue 68 stated that Atari did not build any direct
 =======  support for CPU Caching into the 68030 TT.  Atari representatives
          have recently indicated that the TT not only has support for
          CPU Caching, but may have a small (16-32K) CPU cache built in
          as well....






     _________________________________________________________________




 > CES'90 STR OnLine?       More than one opinion....
   =================


 This is the mid-week release pertaining  to the  Consumer Electronics Show
 and Atari's participation.

        """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 
            /////  //////   ///////            SUMMER
          //        //     //   ///              **
           ////    //     //////             C.E.S. SHOW
             //   //     //   //         
        /////    //     //     //           JUNE 03, 1990
        """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 
                            STR Publishing Inc.

                        STREPORT EYEWITNESS REPORT
                        ===========================


                           ATARI LYNX ECLIPSED!
                                    by
             NEW N.E.C. TURBO EXPRESS HANDHELD GAME MACHINE!!!


                ATARI SHOWING "LITTLE THAT'S REALLY NEW!!"
                ==========================================


 CHICAGO, IL.  <CES> 06-03-90  (c)1990 STReport: While Atari is busy trying
 to appear sharp and spiffy by  coming up  with witty  slogans like <"TOUCH
 the FUTURE">  and an  elaborate display of the LYNX and Portfolio, NEC has
 triumphantly introduced their latest offering in the 'super'  game machine
 arena.  For an upbeat "contemporary happening" Atari only has the LYNX and
 the Portfolio.  'Tis a shame both are  yesterday's news.   Its  no wonder,
 they chose  to NOT  show at Spring Comdex!  They had NOTHING new and earth
 shaking to show.
   
      NO MENTION MADE OF INTRODUCING "THE ATARI ADVANTAGE PACKAGE"!!!

 While the  USA's  userbase  anxiously  awaits  Atari's  fabled resurgence,
 there  was  no  reference  or  mention made concerning the introduction of
 "The Atari Advantage Package".  Which  was  highly  touted  in  the recent
 stock report  and at  the Las  Vegas Fall  Comdex show.   While there is a
 rather fancy sign proclaiming ; "The Atari Advantage - The Complete Family
 Workstation", there  has been NO INTRODUCTION.  Also in the Atari display,
 framed by the Advantage posters, were a few new 1040STe units.

 According to Atari reps at the show, there will be no introduction at this
 show because  of a last minute cancellation.  Seems a call from Japan (Sam
 is in Japan) put the kibosh on the whole thing  AGAIN for  more "changes".
 Should we have expected more?  By the time they get this promotional thing
 to market the 520stfm will be a collectible antique!

 The CES shows are well known as the  place where  one can  find the buyers
 from K-Mart  and most  other MAJOR Mass Merchandisers, it was at this show
 that  industry  observers  expected  the  fancy   intro  of;   "The  Atari
 Advantage"  to   be  released   but  no..    nothing  unusual  for  Atari,
 disappointment reigns supreme.   The  GAME  MACHINE  company  continues to
 "play games."   The  'joke of the show' (so far) was Atari's attempting to
 make something, once again, of the 2600 and 7800 game machines.  Yes, they
 were actually on display! Talk about antiques...

 Meanwhile the Portfolio, now embroiled in bitter controversy between Atari
 and DIP over unpaid royalties to DIP (the UK designer  and manufacturer of
 the  Portfolio),  is  rumored  to  be  marketed  in the USA shortly by DIP
 direct.  At that time, the Portfolio will boast a  new, highly compatible,
 operating  system  plus  a  number  of  attractive  add-ons  (i.e.; memory
 expansion card, etc..) designed and made  by DIP.   All  of which  will be
 available in the USA through DIP.  

 In reference  to the  absence of the memory expander... According to Atari
 rep D. Thomas, the memory expander was, in  Atari's opinion,  "not working
 properly" .   However,  from all  reports gathered from those who have the
 cards in use "they work just fine."   Atari had  the Finance  Card and the
 DOS Utilities Card there along with the File manager card that is normally
 bundled with the Portfolio.
  
 The NEC TURBO EXPRESS,  with 512  colors displayable,  (the Lynx  has 16),
 and over 50 Games available at this time, and at least 70 games by the end
 of the year, will  present strong  competition to  all currently available
 handhelds.   Additionally, the  NEC unit  boasts of  a nifty little device
 that plugs into it to become a full blown, handheld color TV! 
  
 The NEC Turbo Express unit is about the same size as the  gameboy however,
 slightly thicker.   Although  somewhat more  expensive than  the Lynx, the
 Turbo Express is expected to sell for approximately $200.00 - $249.00 with
 the TV  tuner module  at $90.00 - $100.00 extra.  The ultimate clincher is
 the reliability of the company, its  future, and  the prospect  of support
 and UPGRADES.....  Not to mention the abundance of games already available
 for this new upcoming handheld, Turbo Express from NEC.


                    "ALWAYS FIRST WITH THE REAL NEWS!"

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 STReport Newsline      "Your Independent News Source"        June 03, 1990
 Bulletin Service             copyright   1990                    No. 106
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------


 And now, a second opinion.....


 ctsy CompuServe....

 20857 S1/Forum Business
 04-Jun-90  01:16:33
 Sb: #20850-#off to ces
 Fm: Bob Retelle 71550,3312

 Well, actually... my feeling was that Atari made a rather  weak showing at
 this year's Summer CES...

 Even though the booth was marked "Atari Computer," it was heavily oriented
 to their game machine offerings...  even the STe had a hurriedly hacked up
 connector to an XE Game System light gun...

 There was  a row  of 2600  game machines, a row of 7800 game machines, and
 quiet a few stations with four Lynxes, only  a few  of them  being "Linked
 up" to  play multi-player.  Most of the ST computers were running games as
 well..

 Now, of course,  everyone  knows  that  this  is  the  show  for "Consumer
 Electronics" which  means GAMES... so in itself, the Atari booth featuring
 games wasn't all that bad...

 What WAS pretty pathetic was the showing Atari  made in  comparison to the
 rest of the industry.

 IF  they're  going  to  be  featuring  games  instead  of  computers, they
 certainly  weren't   prepared  for   the  marketing   expertise  of  their
 competitors.  The Nintendo booth was far and away the largest booth in the
 *entire* CES show.

 While sheer  size may  not make  a real  difference, the  amount of actual
 products available DOES...

 Atari listed a handful of games as "available" for the Lynx...  taken with
 a LARGE grain of salt (since  some  of  the  games  listed  as "available"
 haven't YET been seen by the general public), that still leaves Atari with
 a game machine with games you can count with less than the fingers of both
 hands.. after six months on the market...

 There were  so many new games for the Nintendo GameBoy handheld video game
 that I simply lost count... very  literally  lost  count..    there  was a
 billboard listing all the games now available for GameBoy, which must have
 had several hundred titles, I didn't bother to count..

 The difference is that the Nintendo  Gameboy has  the enthusiastic support
 of MANY  different third-party  developers, while  the Atari Lynx has none
 that I know of...

 Somehow,  Atari  has  been  unable  to  understand  that  simply producing
 superior hardware will NOT guarantee success for a system.

 The kind  of customers  that buy  games will  not be satisfied playing the
 same games over and over again.. they need a constant supply of  new games
 to keep their interest high.  Nintendo seems to understand this, and keeps
 their game system owners happy by releasing new titles regularly. 

 (Lest anyone think this is just a Gameboy vs. Lynx issue, there  were also
 VERY few new games for the Atari 2600 and 7800, while there were literally
 dozens of new games  for  the  Nintendo  Entertainment  System,  from MANY
 different software  companies.  Many of the better know computer games are
 being translated to Nintendo...  none for Atari...) 

 There was even a  rumor that  M.U.L.E. was  being converted  for Nintendo,
 though I wasn't able to confirm that.

 NONE of  the third-party companies I talked with had ANY new games for any
 of the Atari game systems...

 To add to Atari's problems, I saw the new handheld NEC "Turbo Graphics 16"
 game  machine...  the  demonstrator  was  telling the crowd that it has "5
 times the resolution of the Lynx,"  which was  very visually  true, when I
 got a chance to look at it myself.  Probably the biggest selling point for
 this handheld game is  that is  uses the  *SAME* game  cartridges that the
 regular NEC  game console  uses.. no  need to buy special versions of your
 favorite games...

 The NEC handheld even has a Television tuner available so  you can  use it
 as a  VERY nice  handheld portable color TV.. and the color was VERY nice,
 in both the TV mode, and the video games mode.

 The only advantage the Lynx had over the NEC handheld  was in  price.. the
 NEC is expected to sell for $200+

 I played  several of  the games  for the  NEC systems, and they were quite
 good.. and  there were  several times  as many  available for  the new NEC
 system as there are for the six months old Lynx...

 It used to be that "Atari" was synonymous with Video Games...  now they're
 not even a "second rate" player in the game...

 So... enough about Video Games... what about Atari Computers..?

 WEll..  the last time I went to CES, two years ago,  most of  the software
 companies  were  demonstrating  their  new  products  on an Amiga, an IBM,
 possibly a Commodore-64, and an Atari ST...

 This year there were no Atari STs at any of the third party booths... 

 Let me rephrase that... there were NO Atari STs at ANY of  the third party
 booths...

 Saturday  night  at  the  great  pizza  place  on Clark Street, I suddenly
 realized that I hadn't seen any STs in any of the booths we'd visited.. so
 I decided to make a point of watching for them on Sunday...  guess what..?
 There were NO Atari STs at ANY of the third party booths...

 Some of the companies do have  versions of  their programs  coming out for
 the Atari  ST, but  most of the companies I talked to were pretty definite
 that the Atari market was very low on  their list  of priorities..  and in
 any case,  NONE of  them were  demonstrating any  ST programs to potential
 commercial buyers.

 The only Atari computers I saw were in the Atari booth... 

 Quite a change, and a rather graphic statement of the  confidence of third
 party developers in Atari..

                                                            BobR




      ______________________________________________________________




 > PIC FORMATS STR InfoFile?     Revised PIC Formats chart
   ========================
  


 From : ED JUNE at Ground Control,Fido 1:133/403
 Subj : Picture formats from UseNet



    John Brochu, author of the famed "PicSwitch", sent me a letter
 and a disk containing modified picture format descriptions for NeoChrome, 
 DEGAS Elite Compressed, Spectrum 512 Compressed, GEM Bit Image, IFF, 
 and MacPaint formats.  John also sent a description of the PackBits
 compression method used in DEGAS Elite, IFF, and MacPaint formats.

    Here's the new version with his corrections.  Many thanks go to
 John for his contributions, and also to Gerfried Klein who sent
 the MacPaint description as described by by *pple, corp.

 Dave Baggett
 dmb@wam.umd.edu | dmb@TIS.COM

 PS> The "GEM Bit Image" description in previous versions describes an
     outdated version of this format which has been replaced by what
     is described below.  John believes that the old format was never
     actually implemented, so I took the description out.


                            ST Picture Formats
                            ------------------
                                Edited by:

                               David Baggett
                          5640 Vantage Point Road
                          Columbia, MD  21044 USA
                              (301)  596-4779    
                           (usenet: dmb@TIS.COM)

                    (Please report errors or additions)

            Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1990 by David M. Baggett


     Non-profit redistribution of this document is permitted, provided
     the document is not modified in any way.

     Reproduction of this document in whole or in part for  commercial
     purposes is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent
     of David M. Baggett.

     The  information  presented here is not guaranteed to be correct.
     The editor and contributors will in no event be liable for direct,
     indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the 
     use of the information in this document.

     This document is the product of many hours of volunteer work by a
     large number of people. Please respect this -- do not violate the
     distribution policy.


                               CONTRIBUTORS
   
             Phil Blanchfield  Jason Blochowiak John Brochu**
         David Brooks  Neil Forsyth  Stefan Hoehn  Gerfried Klein
           Ken MacLeod  Jim McCabe  Darek Mihocka  David Mumper
     George Seto Joe Smith  Greg Wageman  Roland Waldi* Gerry Wheeler


                                 Contents 
                                 --------

         NEOchrome                               *.NEO
         NEOchrome Animation                     *.ANI
         DEGAS                                   *.PI?   ? = 1, 2, 3
         DEGAS Elite                             *.PI?   ? = 1, 2, 3
         DEGAS Elite (Compressed)                *.PC?   ? = 1, 2, 3
         Tiny                                    *.TN?   ? = 1, 2, 3, Y
         Spectrum 512                            *.SPU
         Spectrum 512 (Compressed)               *.SPC
         Art Director                            *.ART
         C.O.L.R. Object Editor Mural            *.MUR
         Doodle                                  *.DOO
         Animatic Film                           *.FLM
         GEM Bit Image                           *.IMG
         STAD                                    *.PAC
         Imagic Film/Picture                     *.IC?   ? = 1, 2, 3
         IFF                                     *.IFF
         MacPaint                                *.MAC
         PackBits Compression Algorithm
  

                         Introductory Information
                         ------------------------
 word    = 2 bytes
 long    = 4 bytes
 palette = Hardware color palette, stored as 16 words.  First word is
           color register zero (background), last word is color register
           15.  Each word has the form:

           Bit:  (MSB) 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00(LSB)
                       -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
                        0  0  0  0  0 R2 R1 R0  0 G2 G1 G0  0 B2 B1 B0

           R2 = MSB of red intensity
           R0 = LSB of red intensity

           G2 = MSB of green intensity
           G0 = LSB of green intensity

           B2 = MSB of blue intensity
           B0 = LSB of blue intensity

           Intensity ranges from 0 (color not present) to 7 (highest
           intensity).

           Example: { red = 7, green = 3, blue = 5 } -> 0735 (hex)

           Caveat:  It is wise to mask off the upper four bits of each
                    palette entry, since a few programs store special
                    information there (most notably Art Studio).


                              The Formats
                              -----------

 <NEOchrome>     *.NEO
  
 1 word          flag byte [always 0]
 1 word          resolution [0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res]
 16 words        palette
 12 bytes        filename [usually "        .   "]
 1 word          color animation limits.  High bit (bit 15) set if color
                 animation data is valid.  Low byte contains color         
                 animation limits (4 most significant bits are left/lower  
                 limit, 4 least significant bits are right/upper limit).
 1 word          color animation speed and direction.  High bit (bit 15)   
                 set if animation is on.  Low order byte is # vblanks per  
                 step.  If negative, scroll is left (decreasing).  Number  
                 of vblanks between cycles is |x| - 1
 1 word          # of color steps (as defined in previous word) to display
                 picture before going to the next.  (For use in slide      
                 shows)
 1 word          image X offset [unused, always 0]
 1 word          image Y offset [unused, always 0]
 1 word          image width [unused, always 320]
 1 word          image height [unused, always 200]
 33 words        reserved for future expansion
 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
 -----------
 32128 bytes     total
  

 <NEOchrome Animation>        *.ANI

 NOTE:
     To get this feature on versions 0.9 and later select the         
     Grabber icon and click both mouse buttons in the eye of the second R
     in the word GRABBER.  Interestingly enough, some versions of NEO only
     require you to press the right button, not both.  Hmmm...

 1 long          magic number BABEEBEA (hex) (seems to be ignored)
 1 word          width of image in bytes (always divisible by 8)
 1 word          height of image in scan lines
 1 word          size of image in bytes + 10 (!)
 1 word          x coordinate of image (must be divisible by 16) - 1
 1 word          y coordinate of image - 1
 1 word          number of frames
 1 word          animation speed (# vblanks to delay between frames)
 1 long          reserved; should be zero
 --------
 22 bytes        total for header

 ? words         image data (words of screen memory) for each frame, in 
                 order


 <DEGAS>         *.PI1 (low resolution)
                 *.PI2 (medium resolution)
                 *.PI3 (high resolution)

 1 word          resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res)
                 Other bits may be used in the future; use a simple bit
                 test rather than checking for specific word values.
 16 words        palette
 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
 -----------
 32034 bytes     total


 <DEGAS Elite>   *.PI1 (low resolution)
                 *.PI2 (medium resolution)
                 *.PI3 (high resolution)

 1 word          resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res)
                 Other bits may be used in the future; use a simple bit
                 test rather than checking for specific word values.
 16 words        palette
 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
 4 words         left color animation limit table (starting color numbers)
 4 words         right color animation limit table (ending color numbers)
 4 words         animation channel direction flag (0=left, 1=off, 2=right)
 4 words         128-animation channel delay in 1/60's of a second. [0-128]
                 (I.e., subtract word from 128 to get 1/60th's of a sec.)
 -----------
 32066 bytes     total


 <DEGAS Elite (Compressed)>      *.PC1 (low resolution)
                                 *.PC2 (medium resolution)
                                 *.PC3 (high resolution)
  
 1 word          resolution (same as Degas, but high order bit is set;
                 i.e., hex 8000 = low res, hex 8001 = medium res,
                 hex 8002 = high res).  Other bits may be used in the
                 future; use a simple bit test rather than checking
                 for specific word values.
 16 words        palette
 < 32000 bytes   control/data bytes
 4 words         left color animation limit table (starting color numbers)
 4 words         right color animation limit table (ending color numbers)
 4 words         animation chan direction flag [0 = left, 1=off,2= right]
 4 words         128-animation chan delay in 1/60's of a second. [0-128]
                 (I.e., subtract word from 128 to get 1/60th's of a        
                 second.)
 -----------
 < 32066 bytes   total
  
 Compression Scheme:
  
    PackBits compression is used (see below).  Each scan line is compressed
 separately; i.e., all data for a given scan line appears before any data
 for the next scan line.  The scan lines are specified from top to bottom
 (i.e., 0 is first).  For each scan line, all the data for a given bit
 plane appears before any data for the next higher order bit plane.  Note
 this is identical to the IFF 'BODY' image data.

    To clarify:  The first data in the file will be the data for the lowest
 order bit plane of scan line zero, followed by the data for the next
 higher order bit plane of scan line zero, etc., until all bit planes have
 been specified for scan line zero.  The next data in the file will be the
 data for the lowest order bit plane of scan line one, followed by the data
 for the next higher order bit plane of scan line one, etc., until all bit
 planes have been specified for all scan lines.
  
 Caveats:
  
    DEGAS Elite's picture loading routine places some restrictions on
 compressed DEGAS files:
  
         o Elite uses a 40-byte buffer to store data being decompressed.
  
         o Whenever a control command is encountered, bytes are stuffed
         in this buffer.
  
         o The buffer is only emptied when there are EXACTLY 40
         characters in it.
  
 The important conclusion here is that
  
         No control command may cause the buffer to have more than 40
         bytes in it.  In other words, all control commands must end on
         or before the 40-byte boundary.
  
 Any picture violating the last condition will cause Elite to get a bus
 error when the picture is loaded.
  

 <Tiny>  *.TNY (any resolution)
         *.TN1 (low resolution)
         *.TN2 (medium resolution)
         *.TN3 (high resolution)

    Several people have reported sightings of mutated Tiny pictures that
 do not follow the standard format, so let's be careful out there.  What
 is described here is the format that David Mumper's original
 TNYSTUFF.PRG produces.

 1 byte          resolution (same as NEO, but +3 indicates rotation
                 information also follows)

 If resolution > 2 {
 1 byte          left and right color animation limits.  High 4 bits
                 hold left (start) limit; low 4 bits hold right (end)
                 limit
 1 byte          direction and speed of color animation (negative value
                 indicates left, positive indicates right, absolute value
                 is delay in 1/60's of a second.
 1 word          color rotation duration (number of iterations)
 }

 16 words        palette
 1 word          number of control bytes
 1 word          number of data words
 3-10667 bytes   control bytes
 1-16000 words   data words
 -------------
 42-32044 bytes  total

 Control byte meanings:

         For a given control byte, x:

         x < 0   Absolute value specifies the number of unique words to
                 take from the data section (from 1 to 127)
         x = 0   1 word is taken from the control section which specifies
                 the number of times to repeat the next data word (from
                 128 to 32767)
         x = 1   1 word is taken from the control section which specifies
                 the number of unique words to be taken from the data
                 section (from 128 - 32767)
         x > 1   Specifies the number of times to repeat the next word
                 taken from the data section (from 2 to 127)

 Format of expanded data:

    The expanded data is not simply screen memory bitmap data; instead, the
 data is divided into four sets of vertical columns.  (This results in
 better compression.)  A column consists of one specific word taken
 from each scan line, going from top to bottom.  For example, column 1 
 consists of word 1 on scanline 1 followed by word 1 on scanline 2, etc., 
 followed by word 1 on scanline 200.

    The columns appear in the following order:

    1st set contains columns 1, 5,  9, 13, ..., 69, 73, 77 in order
    2nd set contains columns 2, 6, 10, 14, ..., 70, 74, 78 in order
    3rd set contains columns 3, 7, 11, 15, ..., 71, 75, 79 in order
    4th set contains columns 4, 8, 12, 16, ..., 72, 76, 80 in order

 Note that Tiny partitions the screen this way regardless of resolution;
 i.e., these aren't bitplanes.  For example, medium resolution only has two
 bitplanes, but Tiny still divides medium resolution pictures into four
 parts.


 <Spectrum 512>  *.SPU

 80 words        first scan line of picture (unused) -- should be zeroes
 15920 words     picture data (screen memory) for scan lines 1 through 199
 9552 words      3 palettes for each scan line (the top scan line is
                 not included because Spectrum 512 can't display it)
 -----------
 51104 bytes     total


 <Spectrum 512 (Compressed)>        *.SPC
  
 1 word          flag word [$5350 or "SP"]
 1 word          reserved for future use [always 0]
 1 long          length of data bit map
 1 long          length of color bit map
 <= 32092 bytes  compressed data bit map
 <= 17910 bytes  compressed color bit map
 --------------
 <= 50014 bytes   total
  
 Data compression:
  
    Compression is via a modified run length encoding (RLE) scheme,
 similar to DEGAS compressed and Tiny.  The data map is stored as a
 sequence of records.  Each record consists of a header byte followed by
 one or more data bytes.  The meaning of the header byte is as follows:
  
         For a given header byte, x:
  
            0 <= x <= 127   Use the next x + 1 bytes literally (no         
                            repetition)
         -128 <= x <=  -1   Use the next byte -x + 2 times
  
 The data appears in the following order:
  
         1. Picture data, bit plane 0, scan lines 1 - 199
         2. Picture data, bit plane 1, scan lines 1 - 199
         3. Picture data, bit plane 2, scan lines 1 - 199
         4. Picture data, bit plane 3, scan lines 1 - 199
  
 Decompression of data ends when 31840 data bytes have been used.
  
 Color map compression:
  
    Each 16-word palette is compressed separately.  There are three
 palettes for each scan line (597 total).  The color map is stored as a
 sequence of records.  Each record starts with a 1-word bit vector which
 specifies which of the 16 palette entries are included in the data
 following the bit vector (1 = included, 0 = not included).  If a palette
 entry is not included, it is assumed to be zero (black).  The least
 significant bit of the bit vector refers to palette entry zero, while the
 most significant bit refers to palette entry 15.  Bit 15 must be zero,
 since Spectrum 512 does not use palette entry 15.  Bit 0 should also be
 zero, since Spectrum 512 always makes the background color black.
    The words specifying the values for the palette entries indicated in
 the bit vector follow the bit vector itself, in order (0 - 15).


 <Art Director>  *.ART (low resolution only)

 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
 16 words        palette
 15 * 16 words   15 more palettes for animation
 -------------
 32512 bytes     total


 <C.O.L.R. Object Editor Mural>        *.MUR (low resolution only)

 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
                 (palettes are stored in separate files)
 -----------
 32000 bytes     total


 <Doodle>        *.DOO (high resolution only)

 16000 words     picture data (screen memory)
 -----------
 32000 bytes     total


 <Animatic Film> *.FLM (low resolution only)

 1 word          number of frames
 16 words        palette
 1 word          speed (0 - 99; value is 99 - # vblanks to delay between
 frames)
 1 word          direction (0 = forwards, 1 = backwards)
 1 word          end action (what to do after the last frame)
                 0 = pause, then repeat from beginning
                 1 = immediately repeat from beginning
                 2 = reverse (change direction)
 1 word          width of film in pixels
 1 word          height of film in pixels
 1 word          Animatic version number (major)
 1 word          Animatic version number (minor)
 1 long          magic number 27182818 (hex)
 3 longs         reserved for expansion (should be all zeros)
 --------
 32 words        total for header

 ? words         image data (words of screen memory) for each frame, in    
                 order


 <GEM Bit Image> *.IMG
  
 1 word          version number of image file [1]
 1 word          length of header in words [usually 8]
 1 word          number of color planes [1 for monochrome]
 1 word          pattern length in bytes [1-8, usually 2 for screen images]
 1 word          pixel width in microns (1/1000 mm, 25400 microns per inch)
 1 word          pixel height in microns
 1 word          line width in pixels
 1 word          number of lines
 -------
 ? words         header length defined in 2nd word of header
  
 ? bytes         data
  
 NOTES:  If the image is a color image (planes > 1), the planes are stored
 separately starting with plane 0.  There is, however, no standard way of
 storing the color palette.  Some programs may save the palette in separate
 files, some may extend the header.  For this reason, you should never
 assume the header is 8 words long, always get the header length from the
 2nd word of the header.  Also, the line width in the 7th word is the
 number
 of pixels in a line.  Since the data is encoded in byte-wide packets, the
 actual unpacked line width is always a multiple of 8, and may be 1-7
 pixels
 longer than the length specified in the header.

 For each byte x in the data section,
  
         x = 0           Pattern/scanline run.
                         Read the next byte, n (unsigned).
  
                         If n > 0 then:
                                 Read a number of bytes equal to the       
                                 "pattern
                                 length" word in the header.  Repeat this
                                 pattern n times.
  
                         If n = 0 then:
                                 Scanline run.  Data for the next scanline
                                 is to be used multiple times.  Read the
                                 following record:
  
                                 1 byte          flag byte [$FF]
                                 1 byte          number of times to use
                                                 next scanline data
  
                                 The data for the next scanline follows,
                                 compressed normally.
  
         x = 80 (hex)    Uncompressed bit string.  The next byte
                         determines the number of bytes to use
                         literally.  The literal data bytes follow.
  
         otherwise       Solid run.  The value of x determines
                         what to draw.  The high bit specifies whether
                         the pixels are set or cleared.  A 1 indicates
                         a byte-run using $FF, a 0 indicates a byte-run
                         using $00.  The low 7 bits, taken as an unsigned
                         quantity, specify the length of the run in bytes.
  

 <STAD>          *.PAC (high resolution only)

 4 bytes         "pM86" (vertically packed) or "pM85" (horizontally packed)
 1 byte          id byte
 1 byte          pack byte (most frequently occurring byte in bitmap)
 1 byte          "special" byte
 -------
 7 bytes         total for header

 ? bytes         data

 The data is encoded as follows.  For each byte x in the data section:

         x = id byte             Read one more byte, n.  Use pack byte 
                                 n + 1 times.
         x = "special" byte      Read two more bytes, d, and n (in order).
                                 Use byte d n times.
         otherwise               Use byte x literally.


 <Imagic Film/Picture>           *.IC1 (low resolution)
                                 *.IC2 (medium resolution)
                                 *.IC3 (high resolution)

 4 bytes         "IMDC"
 1 word          resolution (0 = low res, 1 = medium res, 2 = high res)
 16 words        palette
 1 word          date (GEMDOS format)
 1 word          time (GEMDOS format)
 8 bytes         name of base picture file (for delta compression), or
 zeroes
 1 word          length of data (?)
 1 long          registration number
 8 bytes         reserved
 1 byte          compressed? (0 = no, 1 = yes)

 If compressed {
 1 byte          delta-compressed? (-1 = no, > -1 = yes)
 1 byte          ?
 1 byte          escape byte
 }
 -------
 65 bytes        total for header (68 bytes if compressed)

 ? bytes         data

    Compressed data may be either stand-alone or delta-compressed (relative
 to the base picture named in the header).  Delta compression involves
 storing only how the picture differs from the base picture (i.e., only
 portions of the screen that have changed are stored).  This is used to
 to encode animated sequences efficiently.

 Compressed data, stand-alone:

 For each byte x in the data section:

         x = escape byte         Read one more byte, n.  (n is unsigned).

                                 If n >= 2, use the next byte n times.
                                 If n = 1, keep reading bytes until a
                                 byte k not equal to 1 is encountered.
                                 Then read the next byte d.
                                 If the number of 1 bytes encountered is o,
                                 use d (256 * o + k) times.  I.e.,

                                 if (n == 1) {
                                         o = 0;
                                         while (n == 1) {
                                                 o++;
                                                 n = next byte;
                                         }

                                         k = n;
                                         d = next byte;

                                         Use d (256 * o + k) times.
                                 }
                                 else {
                                         d = next byte;
                                         Use d (n) times.
                                 }

         x != escape byte        Use x literally.

 Compressed data, delta compressed:

 For each byte x in the data section:

         x = escape byte         Read one more byte, n.  (n is unsigned).

                                 If n >= 3, use the next byte n times.
                                 If n = 1, do the same as for n = 1 in
                                 stand-alone compression (above).
                                 If n = 2, then set n = next byte.
                                         If n = 0, end of picture.
                                         If n >= 2, take n bytes from base
                                         picture.
                                         If n = 1, do the same as for n = 1
                                         in stand-alone compression
 (above),
                                         but take (256 * o + k) bytes from 
                                         base picture.

         x != escape byte        Use x literally.


 <IFF Format>    *.IFF
  
 4 bytes         "FORM" (FORM chunk ID)
 1 long          length of file that follows
 4 bytes         "ILBM" (InterLeaved BitMap file ID)

 4 bytes         "BMHD" (BitMap HeaDer chunk ID)
 1 long          length of chunk [20]
 20 bytes        1 word = image width in pixels
                 1 word = image height in lines
                 1 word = image x-offset [usually 0]
                 1 word = image y-offset [usually 0]
                 1 byte = # bitplanes
                 1 byte = mask (0=no, 1=impl., 2=transparent, 3=lasso)
                 1 byte = compressed [1] or uncompressed [0]
                 1 byte = unused [0]
                 1 word = transparent color (for mask=2)
                 1 byte = x-aspect [5=640x200, 10=320x200/640x400,         
                          20=320x400]
                 1 byte = y-aspect [11]
                 1 word = page width (usually the same as image width)
                 1 word = page height (usually the same as image height)

 4 bytes         "CMAP" (ColorMAP chunk ID)
 1 long          length of chunk [3*n where n is the # colors]
 3n bytes        3 bytes per RGB color.  Each color value is a byte
                 and the actual color value is left-justified in the
                 byte such that the most significant bit of the value
                 is the MSB of the byte.  (ie. a color value of 15 ($0F)
                 is stored as $F0)  The bytes are stored in R,G,B order.

 4 bytes         "CRNG" (Color RaNGe chunk ID)
 1 long          length of chunk [8]
 8 bytes         1 word = reserved [0]
                 1 word = animation speed (16384 = 60 steps per second)
                 1 word = active [1] or inactive [0]
                 1 byte = left/lower color animation limit
                 1 byte = right/upper color animation limit

 4 bytes         "CAMG" (Commodore AMiGa viewport mode chunk ID)
 1 long          length of chunk [4]
 1 long          viewport mode bits (bit 11 = HAM, bit 3 = interlaced)

 4 bytes         "BODY" (BODY chunk ID)
 1 long          length of chunk [# bytes of image data that follow]
 ? bytes         actual image data
  
 NOTES: Some of these chunks may not be present in every IFF file, and may
 not be in this order.  You should always look for the ID bytes to find a
 certain chunk.  All chunk IDs are followed by a long value that tells the
 size of the chunk.  This is the number of bytes that FOLLOW the 4 ID bytes
 and size longword.  The exception to this is the FORM chunk.  The size
 longword that follows the FORM ID is the size of the remainder of the
 file.

 The FORM chunk must always be the first chunk in an IFF file.

 The R,G,B ranges of AMIGA and ST are different (AMIGA 0...15, ST 0...7),
 as is the maximum number of bitplanes (AMIGA: 5, ST: 4).

 Format of body data
  
 An expanded picture is simply a bitmap.  The packing method is PackBits
 (see below), and is identical to MacPaint and DEGAS Elite compressed.
  
 The (decompressed) body data appears in the following order:
  
         line 1 plane 0 ... line 1 plane 1 ... ... line 1 plane m
         [line 1 mask (if appropriate)]
         line 2 plane 0 ... line 2 plane 1 ... ... line 2 plane m
         [line 2 mask (if appropriate)]
         ...
         line x plane 0 ... line x plane 1 ... ... line x plane m
         [line x mask (if appropriate)]
  
 The FORM chunk identifies the type of data:
  
         "ILBM" = interleaved bit map
         "8SVX" = 8-bit sample voice
         "SMUS" = simple music score
         "FTXT" = formatted text (Amiga)
  

 <MacPaint>      *.MAC
  
 1 long          version number [0=ignore header, 2=header valid]
 38 * 8 bytes    8x8 brush/fill patterns.  Each byte is a pattern row,
                 and the bytes map the pattern rows top to bottom.  The
                 patterns are stored in the order they appear at the bottom
                 of the MacPaint screen top to bottom, left to right.
 204 bytes       unused
 -------------
 512 bytes       total for header

 < 51200 bytes   compressed bitmap data
 -------------
 < 51712 bytes   total
  
 NOTE:  The version number is actually a flag to MacPaint to indicate if
 the brush/fill patterns are present in the file.  If the version is 0,
 the default patterns are used.  Therefore you can simply save a MacPaint
 file by writing a blank header (512 $00 bytes), followed by the packed
 image data.

 Bitmap compression:
  
    The bitmap data is for a 576 pixel by 720 pixel monochrome image.
 The packing method is PackBits (see below).  There are 72 bytes per
 scan line.  Each bit represents one pixel; 0 = white, 1 = black.
  

 <PackBits Compression Algorithm>

 The following packing algorithm originated on the Mac, was adopted by
 Electronic Arts/Commodore for use in the IFF standard, and then by Tom
 Hudson for use in DEGAS Elite.  The algorithm is currently used in
 MacPaint, IFF, and DEGAS Elite compressed file formats.  Each scan line
 is packed separately, and packing never extends beyond a scan line.

 For a given control byte 'n':
     0 <= n <= 127   : use the next n + 1 bytes literally (no repetition).
  -127 <= n <= -1    : use the next byte -n + 1 times.
          n = -128   : no operation, not used.

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

 * Roland Waldi contributed extensive information on the following formats:

         GEM, IMG, Doodle, STAD, Imagic Film/Picture, Art Director, IFF

 ** John Brochu, ST picture formats guru, provided sage advice and many
    corrections to the following formats:

         NeoChrome, DEGAS Elite Compressed, Spectrum 512 Compressed,
         GEM Bit Image, IFF, MacPaint

                  Version of Wed May 16 18:02:25 EDT 1990




       ____________________________________________________________
  




 > THE ATARI APOCALYPSE STR SPECIAL?        Why is Atari dying?
   ================================





 NOTICE:  This is the first in a series of eight (8) articles which are
          designed to stimulate thought and bring to the light of day, the
          underlying causes behind the very apparent decline of Atari
          Computers worldwide.  We will be taking a very thorough look at
          every aspect of Atari's management, procedures and policies that
          continually seem to send the same message to the users,
          developers, contractors, dealers, distributors and prospective
          users, "HOORAY FOR US AND THE HELL WITH YOU!"




                   DO THE TRAMIELS HAVE REAL DIRECTION?
                   ====================================




 by Ralph F. Mariano



 At the Top
 ----------
 Segment I


     As I sit down at the keyboard muttering to myself "well Ralph, the
 gloves are finally coming off!"  

     The folks at the top running Atari have seemingly treated the entire
 market, worldwide like a game, a God-awful game!  Only they had nothing
 much to loose or if they did, they certainly didn't act that way.  We know
 that the individuals under them have a great to loose as does every user
 throughout the world.  All have degrees of investment in both Atari and
 the future of Atari to loose.  Does the current management team at Atari
 show any inclination to care about this?  There are those at Atari who say
 " well, Atari showed a profit while others did not".  The point here is
 that if Atari had not been diversified, selling game machines (Lynx etc..)
 and the Portfolio, they may have sung a different song.  The real question
 here is simple when is Atari going to truly support the United States of
 America market with more than empty promises of advertising for the
 COMPUTERS and COMPUTER RELATED PRODUCTS?
  
     Sam Tramiel is, no doubt, the "man in charge".  Or is he?   Who is
 running the 'show in Sunnyvale', from the viewpoint of industry observers,
 "the actual guidance and control is highly erratic and unpredictable",
 Atari has no real direction other than the repetitive rhetoric seen from
 them annually for the last three years.  They are "reviewing" multi-
 million dollar ad campaigns.. Question:  When haven't they been reviewing
 and rejecting ad campaigns?
  
     Europe enjoyed the benefits of the bundled software and 520 package
 how long ago?  Along comes Sam wanting to do the same thing in the states,
 but because either he or those directly responsible to him can't seem to
 get their act together, the "Atari Advantage" as its slated to be called
 in the States, is yet to get off the ground!  Could it be that the changes
 in management need to start right at the very top?  There seems to be
 absolutely no follow-up to decisions made at the top levels.  It would
 appear that the attitude is; "ok, Its decided, therefore its done!"  Not
 bad.  However, to be able to call the shots and never look back is just
 fine when the people responsible for carrying out the 'decisions' are
 capable of completing the tasks properly and ON TIME.  

     The entire industry was, just a scant three years or so ago, left
 awestruck by the advent of Atari's design and production skills and the
 "wonderful 520ST."  Every publication that was related to or about
 computers had nothing but glowing praise to heap on Atari.  What do the
 Tramiels do?  Fire, retire or, otherwise convince the folks who MADE THE
 COMPANY A WINNER to take a hike!  Most certainly, at every instance, there
 were proper and courteous corporate lingoisms for every 'departure', but
 the bottom line was evident, the "Katzenjammer Kids" was very busy
 wrestling for absolute control of Atari and appeared to want nothing but
 'yes men' beneath them. (The Revolving Door)  

     The LATEST "why-whatfor" at Atari is in the office;  it seems that one
 of the fabled Katzenjammer kids must "signoff on everything, EVEN
 PAPERCLIPS!"  Folks, of course a paperclip is somewhat overly
 demonstrative, but the fact remains that if the employee who made this
 remark was so thoroughly turned off by the rather senseless actions of a
 top executive who insists on "having to have his hands in every picayune
 decision made",  we would never have heard any of these remarks.  Surely,
 his time could most certainly be put to much better use.
    
     Getting to the point of this article, we will now attempt to show you
 in this segment who is supposed to be in charge at Atari.  First, we have
 the three Tramiel sons, Sam, Leonard and Garry.  Whom we fondly refer to
 as the Katzenjammer Kids*.  Under them we have a number of rather expert
 corporate warriors whose sole mission at Atari appears to be survival at
 the expense of the new, younger and less experienced executives.  These
 corporate warriors have one big problem, they have forgotten what their
 real mission at Atari is, they are instead actively engaged in what they,
 in the last three years have learned to do best... impress the boss at
 being perhaps the most able of yes-men the industry has ever been witness
 to.  Its obvious folks, almost every user out there agrees that, in the
 last three years, Atari has fumbled and bungled continually!  The
 Katzenjammer Kids will take the blame but they had plenty of help from
 their pet 'brownies'.  Beneath the Tramiels exists an amazing "Dynasty
 Atari".  Where only a few of their recently appointed execs seem immune to
 its deadly dice rolls.  Antonio Salerno certainly appears to be among
 those capable of withstanding the internal squeeze plays rather well, in
 fact, he may very well emerge as "King of the Mountain".... time will
 tell, so far he is showing an expert ability to play the game well.
  
     Then we come across the little known fact that the present leadership
 Atari is apparently so out of touch with the pulse of the industry and
 reality itself because they may feel they "Already know it all".  From the
 inside track on Mr Kahane of the JDL, to the structures on the "Dark side
 of the Moon"!!  Their blatant elitist attitudes are now perhaps catching
 up with them and rather fast.  Throughout the years we continually hear
 the old expression; "all the book learning in the world ...but not a lick
 of common sense!"  Of course, this adage fits 'nobody at Atari.'


 NEXT WEEK; A look from the other side of the fence....

 STReport welcomes an opposing opinion from "the powers that be" at Atari
 if they so desire....



 Due to the sensitive nature of some of the material covered in this
 series, we must protect other folks lest they be subject to the
 irresponsible reactions so readily apparent by the present leadership at
 Atari.  Therefore, where quote marks appear, ["] that is an actual quote
 but the names will be omitted to protect the dedicated, loyal folks who
 still think there is a chance for Atari.

 * The Katzenjammer Kids were three cartoon characters in the NY Journal's
 Sunday funnies for years.  They actually were three spoiled brat kids of
 an older German Sea Captain.  The kids were continually doing the wrong
 things, in trouble with 'Mama' all the time.. etc...




        ___________________________________________________________





 > Stock Market ~ STR Stocks?       Watchin' the Sheckles Grow!
   =========================


                                                     THE TICKERTAPE
                                                     ==============

 by Michael Arthur

 Concept by Glenn Gorman


 No stock was traded on Monday, Memorial Day.  On Tuesday, the price of
 Atari stock shot up 3/8 of a point, and went down 1/8 of a point on
 Wednesday.  Atari Stock went down 1/8 of a point on Thursday, and went
 down another 1/8 of a point on Friday, finishing the halt of Tuesday's
 increase.  Finishing up the week at 5 5/8 points, the price of Atari Stock
 did not change since the last report.


         Apple Stock was up 3/4 points from Friday, May 25, 1990.
             Commodore Stock was up 1 3/4 points from 5/25/90.
                IBM Stock was up 3 1/8 points from 5/25/90.


                 Stock Report for Week of 5/28/90 to 6/01/90

 _________________________________________________________________________
 STock| Memorial  |   Tuesday   |  Wednesday  |  Thursday  |    Friday    |
 Reprt|   Day     |Last     Chg.|Last     Chg.|Last    Chg.|Last      Chg.|
 -----|-----------|-------------|-------------|------------|--------------|
 Atari|   -----   |  6     + 3/8|5 7/8   - 1/8|5 3/4  - 1/8|5 5/8    - 1/8|
      |           |             |             |            |  70,500 Sls  |
 -----|-----------+-------------+-------------+------------+--------------|
  CBM |   -----   |7 1/2   + 1/8|7 1/2   ---- |8 1/8  + 5/8|9 1/8     + 1 |
      |           |             |             |            | 730,700  Sls |
 -----|-----------+-------------+-------------+------------+--------------|
 Apple|   -----   |  41      + 1|41 3/8  + 3/8|41 1/4  -1/4|40 3/4   - 1/4|
      |           |             |             |            |1,403,900  Sls|
 -----|-----------+-------------+-------------+------------+--------------|
  IBM |   -----   |119 3/4      |120 7/8      | 120   - 7/8|119 1/2  - 1/2|
      |           |       +3 1/2|       +1 1/8|            |1,542,000  Sls|
 -----'-------------------------------------------------------------------'

        'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day.
        'CBM' refers to Commodore Corporation.
        '----'  means that the stock's price did not change for the day.





         _________________________________________________________






 > PCD II <--> STR Spotlight?                 Getting any better???
   =========================



 C.GEEROMS posts;
  
 In the meantime, while waiting for Avantgarde to respond to my request for
 refund because "the thing" won't fit in my mega with an internal hard
 drive...anyone wanna buy it?  new pals chips installed..nr installed or
 attempted "factory fresh"..$154 takes it.  Leave email.
  ------------


 BOOJIBOY posts;
  
 Hello everyone.  It has been a while since I have replied to this topic. I
 have been logging on very regularly though.  I must report a  problem with
 my PC  Ditto II.  Since yesterday, I have not been able to use it and have
 had serious problems using my "A" drive.   Basically, I  can boot  the DOS
 disk, but  once I  get to the A> prompt, the computer locks up.  Also my A
 drive has been refusing to boot even GEM  disks.   When I  remove the PCD2
 board, it  works fine.  Now this  is odd  since up until yesterday, it had
 been working flawlessly.  Is it possible that  because here,  in San Diego
 we have  had a  heat wave and with all of the air conditioners being used,
 my power supply is not providing enough "juice" for the computer with PCD2
 installed?   If so,  how do I go about increasing power?  I have a Mega 2,
 upgraded to 4 megs.  Any suggestions?


 D.RICHARD posts;
  
 I sent my Ditto II back to AG about 8 weeks ago. I was having problems and
 they were going to look at it and return it. It has not come back.  I have
 been unable to get through by phone (I work during most of their 'support'
 hours) and could use some help.  If anyone gets through to them, would you
 be kind enough to ask if my Ditto II (ser #10232) is on it's  way back? If
 I can't  get it  to work  on my machine I would like to sell it, but right
 now I have neither refund nor  Ditto II,  so I  am beginning  to wonder if
 I've been  ripped off.  AG has  been very  good in past about these things
 (prior to the Ditto II stuff) for me, but I am beginning  to wonder what's
 going on. Thanks.





               _____________________________________________






 > TT in CANADA STR NewsPlus?            CANADA GETS THE TT030 FIRST!!
   =========================




                              Media Release:

 Atari (Canada) Corp.
 90 Gough Rd, unit 1
 Markham ON
 L3R 5V5

 Markham, Ontario, June 4th, 1990 - With the powerful new TT, ATARI is set
 to challenge the high-end business productivity and workstation market.

 "ATARI puts technology first", says Geoffrey Earle, General Manager, ATARI
 (Canada) Corp. "We're leading edge innovators in everything we produce.
 ATARI offers high technology at affordable prices. Nowhere in the more
 evident than with the TT. It offers a whole new array of features and
 processing power, while remaining compatible with thousands of existing ST
 software titles."

 Based around the 68030 processor, the 32-bit TT comes standard with 2 Mb
 of RAM. It has the power for intensive applications, such as CAD and DTP,
 while offering the friendly graphic interface which has made the ATARI ST
 so popular.

 Unlike MS-DOS systems, which use an 8/16 bit operating system, the TT is a
 true 32-bit machine with a 32-bit operating system, allowing greater
 throughput. The video processor and the optional math coprocessor act as
 superchargers, pushing the 16 MHz clock speed to its maximum potential.
 This Machine is FAST.

 The TT accepts both industry standard displays or ATARI's own inexpensive
 models. Six graphic modes are available on the TT - 1280 x 960 mono, 640 x
 480 in 16 colours, 640 x 400 x 2, 640 x 200 x 4, 320 x 480 x 256, 320 x
 200 x 16. With a palette of 4096 colours, 8-bit stereo digital sound and
 the popular MIDI in/out ports the TT is a true multi-media machine.

 With industry standard ports (VME, SCSI, Appletalk, MIDI, parallel,
 serial, ASCI), the TT can use a wide array of peripherals such as
 scanners, plotters, laser printers, hard drives and CD-ROMs. With this
 versatility, the TT is a useful new member to almost any existing computer
 network.

 In the future, UNIX V will be available for the TT, creating a workstation
 environment comparable to that of a SUN workstation at a fraction of the
 price.

 The TT uses standard 1.44 Mb 3.5" disks, allowing easy exchange of WP, CAD
 and DTP files between the TT and MS-DOS machines. For design applications
 the combination of DynaCADD, Calamus DTP and the ATARI TT set a new
 benchmark in both price and performance.

 In a DTP benchmark test performed by Linotype, Calamus performed three
 times faster than any other package. Simply put, there is no comparison
 between cost, price and ease of use of Calamus on a TT and other systems.

 DynaCADD runs 2 to 10 times faster than a similarly equipped 386 running
 Autocad. Because DynaCADD used the industry standard DXF file format, the
 TT users has the power as well as the portability. DynaCADD's superior
 user-interface, allowable due to the intuitive nature of ATARI TOS,
 ensures that more time is spent being productive than learning how to use
 the software.


 The TT is now being shipped to developers and is scheduled for Canada-wide
 release in fall 1990 with a retail price of under $5000 (configurations
 and prices vary).




                   First Impressions of the TT in Canada
                   =====================================


 (or, how I Quick Indexed the TT to death in Canada)
 (or, I'm waiting for the Americans to start freaking out!)

 (C) 1990 by Darek Mihocka, June 4, 1990.

     Well, today  was the day Atari Canada made it's big debut of the TT at
 a downtown Toronto hotel. Free food too. You'll probably be  hearing a lot
 about  it  in  the  next  few  days  (the  TT,  not the food) and it'll be
 interesting to see  how  soon  the  promises  start  getting  broken.   As
 expected, the  machine is not available yet, and is supposed to ship later
 this year.

     As of today, TT's are available to developers  in Canada,  and dealers
 can  expect  a  few  for  demo  purposes  by  the end of August, with real
 shipments starting in fourth quarter. The press release  states "The Atari
 TT is  scheduled for  Canada-wide release in fall of 1990". The invitation
 talked about a "North American" debut, so I don't know what that means for
 the U.S. market. Probably 1993.

     The retail  price is  $3995.00 Canadian,  (that's about $3395.00 U.S).
 That includes 2Meg of RAM and a 40 meg hard drive. Add from $200  to $1000
 for a  monitor, depending  on which  one you get. The floppy disk drive is
 still IBM compatible, now supporting the 1.44M format.

     The machine supports 6  screen resolutions,  including the  original 3
 from the  ST, plus  a 1280x960 Moniterm mode, a 640x480 16 color VGA mode,
 and a 256 color 320x480 mode. The color monitor being used at the time, an
 Atari  TTC30  or  something  was  capable of supporting everything but the
 Moniterm mode. The desktop in VGA mode looked quite good,  comparable to a
 Mac II  desktop or  a Windows  desktop on  a VGA  monitor. The display was
 crisp and free of any interference. The TT has the  4096 color  palette of
 the STE,  as well as the 8-bit stereo sound, making it a machine ready for
 multimedia applications.

     The TOS running in this machine was still  TOS 3.0,  03/01/90 version.
 The real  TOS for  the TT is supposed to be 2.0, and it's supposed to be a
 lot faster than 3.0. I ran Quick Index on the TT just  to see  the kind of
 performance I'd  get. With the cache on, the CPU numbers are between about
 350% to 500%, and with the cache off, about 30% slower. What this means is
 that in  terms of  raw processing speed, the TT can run 68000 code about 3
 or 4 or 5 times faster than  an  8MHz  ST  or  STE.  I  tried  some sample
 software which I had earlier timed on my STE, and found the increase to be
 consistently about a factor of 3.

     All the Atari reps were emphasizing  the  speed.    Calamus  was being
 displayed,  and  the  TT  flyer  and  press release were both riddled with
 references to DynaCADD, and a 6 page DynaCADD  brochure was  included with
 the  press  release.    The  explanation  given  was  that  Atari wants to
 demonstrate that the machine is a full blown CAD workstation,  and can run
 existing  ST  CAD  packages.    Once software like Calamus and DynaCADD is
 recompiled for the 68030, it will run even faster.

     All of the documentation presented was  created with  Calamus, and the
 press release  mentions that  Calamus running on the TT prints three times
 faster than any other package.  It doesn't  mention which  other packages,
 but goes on to say that DynaCADD running on the TT is 2 to 10 times faster
 than Autocad running on a 386 based machine.

     Atari is also  working  with  an  unnamed  third  party  to  develop a
 software  PC  emulator  that  runs  at  the  speed of an AT.  And I'm sure
 another unnamed third party is busy on a Mac II emulator.

     The TT also comes with an  Appletalk interface  (gee, I  wonder why!),
 MIDI ports,  VME slot, 2 serial ports expandable to 4 (hey sysops, imagine
 the possibilities!), and SCSI and ACSI.  The  machine is  certainly set up
 to communicate  with the rest of the world.  UNIX, X Windows, and Ethernet
 support are listed in  the "Future  Support" category  of the  spec sheet.
 Hopefully  this  isn't  being  handled  by  the  same  department that was
 responsible for getting the STacy and STE to US markets last year.

     The thing that I  found quite  odd with  the TT  is that  with all the
 nifty hardware  built in,  this machine  does NOT have a blitter chip. The
 last thing I would have expected in a machine that's being presented  as a
 powerful graphics  workstation is  that all  graphics operations are being
 performed by software, and by TOS 3.0 of all things.  This TOS,  I'm told,
 is almost  identical to  the TOS 1.6 currently installed in STEs, which as
 we all know, is almost the same thing  as TOS  1.4, just  slightly faster.
 TOS 2.0 is supposed to change all that and really be fast, but I seriously
 doubt that they'll whip together something by August,  given that  TOS has
 already been worked on for 5 years.

     So, back to Quick Index I went and benchmarked the screen performance.
 Someone at the  presentation  had  mentioned  that  you  could  load  in a
 DynaCADD file with 10,000 objects and watch them redraw REALLY fast. Well,
 the numbers I got  from Quick  Index, for  example, in  medium resolution,
 gave the  TT a  GEM index  of 166%  relative to the STE. That's about 180%
 relative to a Mega  ST. So  in other  words, the  TT, running  TOS 1.4 (or
 close enough to it) on a 68030 was not even twice as fast as an 8MHz 68000
 with blitter support. Take away the blitter and you're slightly over 200%.
 However,  take  into  account  that  you  can  drop  in  Jim  Allen's T-16
 accelerator board into almost any ST, and for  $300   give yourself  a 50%
 speed boost.  That cuts  the lead  of the TT down to about 30% at best for
 screen redraws,  and about  200% for  general CPU  operations. Needless to
 say, I  wasn't kidding  last week  when I said that an ST running Quick ST
 blows away the TT in  screen  performance.  Text  operations  gave similar
 results, and  about the  only screen operation the TT was good at was VT52
 scrolling. That's due to the 32-bit data bus of the 68030 compared  to the
 68000's 16-bit bus.

     Don't  forget  also  that  there  will  be  the  usual incompatibility
 problems with older  ST software. You think TOS 1.4 compatibility was bad.
 Wait till they try running the stuff on a 68030!

     So, the  TT is  a nifty machine, and for only $4000 you can emulate an
 AT and run UNIX as well. I should say "you'll be able to...". I still have
 bad memories  of the  1450XLD and  260ST. You  all remember the 260ST? The
 original ST, until they  actually tried  to put  it together  and realized
 they couldn't make TOS run on 256K. Hopefully TOS 2.0 will run on 2 meg! 

     But in  all fairness,  since this  information was  presented by ATARI
 CANADA, in Canada, and  was not  just another  Sunnyvale stab  in the dark
 about what  they might  ship in  3 years,  I have  faith that Atari Canada
 will deliver as promised. They delivered on the STE and  STacy and CD-ROM,
 so all I can say is that I'm glad I'm not in the US.

     About 6 months ago, I was wetting my pants and then some over the STE.
 Not so for the TT, at least not yet. It's out of  the price  range of most
 casual  ST  users,  and  as  an  ST compatible machine, offers less than a
 doubling of power for more than  double the  price of,  say, a  Mega ST 2.
 Sure the  TT specific  software written  for the 68030 will be faster, but
 that will mean buying a whole new set of software.

     I think what will probably evolve will be some sort of a 68030 upgrade
 for existing  STs (c'mon  Dave!), similar to the kind of upgrades we saw a
 few years ago for converting 8088 machine to 80286 machines.  I've already
 got 3 STs and 2 monitors, I don't need more. I would much rather pay $1000
 or more to upgrade my 4 meg STE to a 4 meg STE/030 instead of shelling out
 another $4000 for something only slightly better.

     The  TT  will  still  hopefully  sell well in the business market. The
 hardware is certainly there and at the right price. Perhaps not as fast as
 we'd like to believe, but the same hype existed with the 386 chip. Perhaps
 the TT will follow the same path as 386 machines, and a  year or  two from
 now we'll  see a  more affordable  TT working its way into the home market
 replacing the then obsolete 68000 based STs.

                              Well, that's the way I see it anyway.

                                                  - Darek




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



 > AUA NEWSBRIEFS STR FOCUS?           ATARI USERS ASSOCIATION NEWSBRIEFS
   ========================



 by D. C. Signorini

      What happened to 1990?  We are now  half way  through the  year and I
 look back  at the  first 6  months and  think about how fast this year has
 progressed!  I can attribute this fast paced year only  to my  hectic work
 schedule and my rather vast social life (ahem...).

      I  guess  we  can  call  this  article  the  "Mid Year AUA Report" or
 something equally as descriptive.  As promised in  my last  article in STR
 (thanks Ralph  for going  back to the ST Report name, by the way), I bring
 you the latest stats for the AUA membership.  I  almost want  to save this
 information  for  the  AUA  NewsBriefs  Disk  Magazine,  but I think these
 statistics are important for both members  of the  AUA and  those ST users
 who are  hoping to join the AUA in the VERY near future.  So, I decided to
 go ahead and publish this information publicly for all to  share.   Let me
 begin by  saying that  the AUA  membership has more than doubled since the
 month of January.  At this pace, we project that  total membership  in the
 AUA  will  cross  the  2000  plateau  by  year end, a number that does not
 include user groups and developers.  I believe that it  is safe  to assume
 that at  that time,  the AUA will be the largest Atari organization in the
 world as we know it!

      So what does all of this mean?  Well for one thing, with such a large
 membership, we  will have  greater resources  to tap for the disk magazine
 and the printed newsletter.  Secondly,  we will  have established  the one
 large voice  to Atari  that the  AUA had originally set out to accomplish.
 And thirdly, we will have the strong inter-user link established that will
 allow the AUA to communicate to its members, its members to communicate to
 the AUA, and usergroups to communicate to each  other.   If you  have been
 hesitant about joining the AUA until now, I would like to encourage you to
 do so.  Remember that the  AUA membership  is FREE!   You  need not  pay a
 single dime  to join!   All you have to do is help us out by renewing your
 membership once a year so that we can keep our data up to date.

       Before I get to the actual stats, I would like  to comment  on a few
 letters  that  I  received  concerning  the  status  of  the  AUA  and the
 Pittsburgh controversy.  One  of  our  members,  whose  name  I  will hold
 anonymous, wrote  to me expressing his concern about the AUA and its views
 of software piracy.  He stated that he could not  continue to  promote the
 AUA  to  his  user  group  until  the  AUA  establishes its stance against
 software piracy.  It occurred to me that in all of my articles and message
 posts, I  never actually  made it  clear that  the AUA  will fight to curb
 software piracy.  How will we do this you ask?  Well, our first philosophy
 is  to  educate  the  community  by  showing them the reasons why software
 piracy hurts the ST.  Secondly,  we are  currently perusing  membership in
 the  Software  Publishers  Association  (SPA),  a  world wide organization
 established to fight software piracy.  By doing  joining the  SPA, the AUA
 will hopefully  set an  example for our members and the ST community.  The
 AUA alone can not stop software  piracy on  the ST.   It  takes a combined
 effort by  everyone of  us to  help bring  this plague to an end.  The AUA
 will not in any way, shape,  or  form  support  any  practice  of software
 piracy  nor  will  it  condone  actions that may indicate software piracy!
 Period.  I hope that this statement will satisfy our  member who  wrote to
 us this past month.

      Next,  I  would  like  to  thank  all  those  who have dropped a line
 expressing their enthusiasm for the AUA.   These  types of  letters always
 help us  to see clear on the AUA goals and to get the AUA to move a little
 faster.  Keep the letters rolling as well as the applications!
  
      Finally, I would like to stress  to  our  foreign  friends  that when
 sending membership  dues to us from abroad, to please send the check in US
 funds!  We can not afford to convert the checks to US  dollars here!   So,
 please, send us your membership dues in US dollars!

                                        That is it for this week.  



 Following are some membership stats that you will find encouraging:

 *** AUA MEMBERSHIP BROKEN DOWN BY COUNTRY as of May 31, 1990
 ======================================================================    
 United States  91.0%          New Zealand  4.9%           Canada  2.9%  
 Finland        0.27%          Australia    0.9%                           
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total Countries represented:  5                            TOTAL: 100%
 ====================================================================== 

 *** AUA MEMBERSHIP BROKEN DOWN BY STATES as of May 31, 1990
 ======================================================================    
 AL 0.49%  AZ 9.49%  CA 4.87%  CO 0.49%  CT 2.68%  DC 0.24%
 DE 0.49%  FL 1.70%  GA 1.46%  HI 0.97%  IA 0.49%  IL 2.19%
 IN 0.73%  KS 0.49%  KY 0.49%  LA 1.22%  MA 0.97%  MD 1.70%
 ME 0.24%  MI 0.49%  MN 0.24%  MO 0.73%  NC 0.24%  NE 1.70%
 NJ 18.25% NV 0.24%  NY 3.65%  OH 3.65%  OK 0.49%  OR 0.24%
 PA 29.93% RI 0.49%  SC 0.49%  TN 0.73%  TX 2.68%  UT 0.24%
 VA 1.95%  WA 1.46%  WI 0.73%
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Total States represented:  39                               TOTAL: 100%
 =======================================================================


                    Derek C. Signorini, AUA Coordinator
                                  The AUA
                               P.O. Box 123
                        Canonsburg, PA  15317  USA





       _____________________________________________________________




 > STReport CONFIDENTIAL?          Sayin' it like it is.....
   =====================




 - New York City, NY                HEAD OF ATARI FRANCE TO "SAVE" ATARI US
   -----------------

      Atari is  planning to  transfer the  President Director General, Elie
 Kenan of its French subsidiary to the US and give him the title of GENERAL
 MANAGER NORTH  AMERICA.  There is talk that he will be separate from Atari
 Corp in Sunnyvale.   Elie Kenan  is a  long time  personal friend  of Jack
 Tramiel's.   Seems Jack  has finally  stepped in and taken some corrective
 measures.  Atari will begin its new approaches  and be  under his guidance
 as of  the 15th  of July.   Now,  if he  can keep the Katzenjammer 'out to
 lunch long enough...'


 - Sunnyvale, CA.                                    DESKSET II EUTHANIZED!
   -------------

     DeskSet II, much heralded  at one  time as  the creme  de la  creme of
 Typesetting solutions,  has been  quietly put  sleep.   This program, with
 tens of  thousands  of  development  dollars  under  its  belt,  never was
 accepted by  the userbase  as a solution for much of anything.  The reason
 stated; "there was so much better to be had in Calamus and  Pagestream and
 they didn't  cost as  much."  Calamus is slated to be bundled with Atari's
 Laser Printers.


 - Orlando, FL.                           FAMED ORLANDO DEALER CLOSES DOORS
   -----------

     Ranked among  the better  dealers nationwide,  McDonald's Computers of
 Orlando Florida  has closed  his doors.   While  not completely out of the
 running, he will operate on a limited basis out of  his home  in a valiant
 attempt to  continue to  service the loyal Atari computer userbase in that
 area.  Nice  going  Atari...  where's  those  hundreds  of  dealers you're
 signing up???  Take better care of those you have!



        ___________________________________________________________





 > WHY???? STR OnLine?            OBSERVATIONS OF A CONCERNED USER....
   ==================


 ctsy GEnie

 Message 131       Sat Jun 02, 1990
 JACK.D                       at 22:56 EDT
  
     Say, has anyone at Atari ever given consideration to the fact that for
 the last 4+ years (the first  few months  were pretty  positive!), that we
 users  out  here  have  been  saying  the same things...that if Atari U.S.
 doesn't get off of its duff and start advertising, supporting,  etc., that
 they are  going to  fail...andja know what's been happening for the entire
 time? Yup...it's just a slow crawl to complete disappearance...

     I dunno 'bout you, but I should think that all of those users may just
 be right.   I  mean, if nothing else, _trying_ what they've begged for all
 of this time just MIGHT make a difference!

     Yeah, sure...I've seen the ads  for  the  Portfolio...and  that's real
 nice... but  WHERE does the potential customer GO?  There are virtually NO
 DEALERS left across the U.S.  Again, I dunno 'bout you, but if I  _do_ get
 the urge to go look at (and maybe buy) a new "toy ", I'll make a bit of an
 effort,  but if it means that I have to travel from  NYC to  L.A. in order
 to even _see/touch_ one, fergit it!  Beyond that, let's assume that I find
 and buy one...Now I need software for it,  yes? WHERE  do I  get _that_???
 There just  don't seem  to be  too many  choices for  programs, so when my
 business  associates ask, guess what  I'm  gonna  tell  them  about buying
 one???

     It would  certainly seem  to make  a LOT more sense (to we users, that
 is),  that  Atari  provide  the  support  for  the  EXISTING  hardware and
 software, advertise  it, etc.,  and I  think that the new customer will be
 far more inclined to  understand that  a new  product requires  time to be
 supported.  (In  the  interim, perhaps the no-longer-disgruntled 3rd-party
 developers will be a bit more happy to work WITH Atari at  developing some
 other  new  materials  for  the  Portfolio  and  Lynx.)  Ah well...just my
 semi-annual suggestion...that  used  to  be  daily,  'til  I  came  to the
 conclusions listed above...sigh.

                                                  Seeya!  [Jack]






      ______________________________________________________________




 > FAST FAX! STR InfoFile?        MichTron's NEW Fast FAX ....
   ======================


             
             
             
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  
 Fast FAX  

     For the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PC's and compatibles.
  
 There are  many things  to consider when purchasing a fax machine or a fax
 modem. You can purchase a fax machine for $600 that will take  one page of
 paper at  a time and send it to one location while you stand beside it and
 dial the phone.  
  
 You can purchase a more expensive  fax machine  for around  $1000 that can
 handle more  then one page and even send a fax after you have left for the
 day. (But it will probably take you about 10 minutes to program it to send
 that fax).  
  
 You can  buy a  really nice fax machine for $2000 that will send more then
 one fax. However these machines are even more  difficult to  program. Even
 worse, if  you get  an error  while sending  the first  fax in the series,
 that's all for the night.  
  
 Fast FAX is more efficient at  scheduling and transmitting  fax's then any
 self-contained  fax machine at any price!  
  
 The software is exceptional!  
  
 With just  a few  clicks of  the mouse you can send one fax to hundreds of
 people!  
  
 With another click  or two you can schedule transmissions  to occur around
 the  globe  during  non-peak  hours  and  enjoy  reduced  telephone rates.
 (Normally, you'll be able to save  about 50% on these calls.)  
  
 These features save you  time and  money. Fast  FAX will  actually pay for
 itself in only a few short months.  
  
 Quality is another prime consideration when purchasing a Fax machine.  
  
 The normal process for sending a fax is to prepare your document, print it
 out using your printer, then take it to a fax machine which scans the page
 and sends it. The receiving machine then prints it out.  
  
 However,  problems  arise  if    the  original  document was not perfectly
 straight when it was scanned.  
  
 The receiving machine is going to print it  out  just a  tiny bit crooked.
 This may  not seem important, but the page is scanned in a series of dots.
 These dots will not line up  in a  straight line  and this  will cause the
 letters printed by the receiving fax to be jagged and hard to read.  
        
 Fast FAX simultaneously converts  and transmits Graphics, Letterheads, and
 signatures along with text  directly from  your disk  using its  own 8 MHz
 68000   microprocessor and  32K of built in memory giving you  outstanding
 transmissions every time!  
  
 Advantages in receiving with Fast FAX.  
  
 When Fast FAX receives a fax it is  saved as a disk file. This file can be
 displayed and  read on  your screen,  or printed on most popular printers.
 You can also save the fax  in graphics  format and  load it  into the more
 popular graphics programs.  
  
 If  someone  faxes  you  a    graphic  you can save many steps and improve
 quality greatly. A normal graphic is scanned in, printed at  the receiving
 end, scanned into the computer and by then needs extensive touchup.  
  
 Fast FAX lets you load the original scanned image directly into a graphics
 program.   
  
 Fast FAX:  
  
       o  Saves your money by scheduling non-peak hour         
          transmissions.  
  
       o  Saves more money by using ordinary paper.  
  
       o  Saves your valuable time by sending multiple faxes to 
          multiple locations.   
    
       o  Has better quality than normal fax machines due to its 
          onboard 68000 processor and built-in RAM and ROM.   
  
       o  Has outstanding software making it easy to use.   
      
       o  Communicates with G3 fax devices at 9600 baud.   
      
       o  Provides document storage and forwarding capability.   
      
       o  Allows automatic scheduling of operations.   
      
       o  Automatically provides a transcript of each         
          operation.  
      
       o  Has User-definable fax headers.   
      
       o  Works with most widely used dot matrix and laser
          printers  
      
       o  Permits you to view fax documents on your computers    
          screen.  
      
       o  Saves Graphic images as .IMG files on the Atari and IBM
          PC.  
      
       o  Saves Amiga graphics as .IFF files.  
            
  
                  For more information and to place your order,  
                        call MichTron at (313) 377-8898. 



  **********************************************************************


                    :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
                     _________________________________

      To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.

               Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
                         Wait for the U#= prompt.

                 Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.

                       **** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****

           The system will now prompt you for your information.


  **********************************************************************






 > Hard Disks STR InfoFile?           Affordable Mass Storage....
   =======================




                        NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
                       ============================


                      ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
              P.O. Box 6672  Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
                                Est.  1985
                 _________________________________________

                   Voice: 904-783-3319  10 AM - 4 PM EDT
                     BBS: 904-786-4176   12-24-96 HST
                    FAX: 904-783-3319  12 PM - 6 AM EDT
                 _________________________________________
                                        
                   HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
                   _____________________________________
                                        
   All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
                 are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
                                        
             -ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-
                 (you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
                   (all cables and connectors installed)
                                        
    * ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
     * ICD ADVANTAGE+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
                  * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *

         51mb #SGN4951   519.95              65mb #SG60101   649.95
         80mb #SGN296    709.95             100mb #SG84011D  839.95
        120mb #SGN120FH  989.95             120mb #SG120DD  1128.95
        170mb #SGN2962  1369.95             260mb #SG60102  1849.95

          WE HAVE A COMPLETE LINE OF 3.5 LOW PROFILE HARD DRIVES
                                    for
           USE IN MEGA ST COMPUTERS AND RELATED CONFIGURATIONS.

         20mb #AI020SC   379.95              30mb #AIO3OSC   419.95
         50mb #AI050SC   449.95              65mb #AI065SC   499.95
                           85mb #AI085SC  $559.95

               >>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<<
                      (500 - 600k per sec @ 23 -33ms)

                      Ask about our "REBATE SPECIALS"
           CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS
                           FROM 30mb @ $419.00!

                                 --==*==--

                      SHIPPING AND INSURANCE INCLUDED

               ============================================

       * SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *

          - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE         - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A
          - ICD Utility Software        - 3' DMA Cable 
          - Fan & Clock                 - Multi-Unit Power Supply
                          (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.

                  COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
                    >> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$849.00__ <<

                      *** SPECIAL SYQUEST OFFER!! ***
    ORDER YOUR CUSTOM SYQUEST UNIT NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT!
                       ***** for $50.00 LESS! *****

      -> DO IT YOURSELF BARE SYQUEST UNITS $600.00ea  2 for $1100.00
                    Syquest Mechanism - 2 year warranty

   * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
                        SPECIALLY PRICED  $1539.00 

    * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
         - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
          50mb SQG51   $1179.00           30mb SQG38    $1099.00
          65mb SQG09   $1239.00           85mb SQG96    $1299.00
                       
                 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS

                      CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
           Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
      Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
    (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
                                     
            *** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms ***

  ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR
             LARGER units are available - (special order only)

                        NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED!

       - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
                   Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info
                      ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED

                       -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
                         (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)

                 QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
                 _________________________________________

                     DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
                         please, call for details

                 Personal and Company Checks are accepted.

                        ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!

           CALL: 1-800-562-4037   -=**=-    CALL: 1-904-783-3319
           Customer Orders ONLY               Customer Service
                                9am - 8pm EDT
                                Tues thru Sat




       ____________________________________________________________




 > A "Quotable Quote"?
   =================






    "ADVERTISING IS LIKE AN ADDICTION;  ONCE YOU START, YOU CAN'T STOP"

                                                     ....Sam Tramiel






 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 STReport?             "Your Independent News Source"         June 08, 1990
 16/32bit Magazine           copyright = 1990                    No.6.23
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
 the  editors,  staff,  STReport?  CPU/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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