ST Report: 07-Jun-91 #723

From: Christopher A. Joseph (al463@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/13/91-09:52:10 PM Z


From: al463@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Christopher A. Joseph)
Subject: ST Report: 07-Jun-91 #723
Date: Thu Jun 13 21:52:10 1991

Also thanks to: Bruce D. Nelson.


           *---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
                  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                  "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
                                   from
                            STR Publishing Inc.
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 June 07, 1991                                                      No.7.23
 ==========================================================================

                  STReport International Online Magazine 
                          Post Office Box   6672
                          Jacksonville,  Florida
                               32205 ~ 6672
  
                               R.F. Mariano
                            Publisher - Editor
                 -----------------------------------------
                   Voice: 904-783-3319  10 AM - 4 PM EST
                 BBS:  904-786-4176  USR/HST DUAL STANDARD
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           ALL issues of STReport International Online Magazine
                         are available along with
         A worldwide list of private bbs systems carrying STReport
    __________________________________________________________________

 > 06/07/91: STReport  #7.23  The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
   -------------------------
     - The Editor's Desk      - CPU REPORT        - ATARI'S FUTURE
     - STALKER 3 NEWS!        - STENO RELEASED!   - ATARI # 1!! 
     - AlberTT Released!      - UNIX & TT030!     - 2MB FLOPPY
     - SPARCbook Overview     - FSM GDOS NEWS     - STR Confidential

                   -* PAGESTREAM 2 RELEASE IMMINENT! *-
                        -* ATARI SELLS FACTORY! *-
                         -* BIG SHAKEUP AFOOT! *-

 ==========================================================================
                  ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE?
                     The _Number One_ Online Magazine
                              -* FEATURING *-
                     "UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
       Current Events, Original Articles, Hot Tips, and Information
             Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
 ==========================================================================
 STReport's support BBS, NODE 350, invites systems using Forem ST and Turbo
 Board BBS to participate in the  Fido/F-Net Mail  Network.   Or, call Node
 350 direct  at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging infor-
 mation relative to the Atari ST computer arena through an excellent Inter-
 national ST Mail Network.  All registered F-NET - Crossnet SysOps are wel-
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 invited to actively participate.  Support Atari Computers;  Join Today!
 ==========================================================================
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 ==========================================================================

 > The Editor's Podium

     "To each his own!"  Isn't the right to choose wonderful?   "Variety is
 the spice  of life!"   How true.  If everything were similar, things would
 be sure be BORING.  Recently comments have been made concerning STReport's
 carrying information  pertaining to  the "other"  computer platforms.  The
 comments ranged from ..."make it smaller",  "...drop the  added coverage",
 "make it like..."
  
     STReport  has  been  presenting  IBM/MAC  coverage  in its issues well
 before it dawned upon anyone that it just might be interesting to  some of
 the readers.   Especially  those who  own and operate successful emulators
 like GCR and Supercharger.  All of our coverage is geared to  bring to the
 Atari user the BEST of information throughout the computing community that
 may have an effect on our future.  We may,  from time  to time,  "trim the
 fat" but  for sure...  we will continue to be "different" and provide full
 coverage in one publication.

     STReport made the decision to only support the  current Atari computer
 platform and  not move  directly into other systems.  We do however, carry
 a "digest" of the  happenings  in  the  other  marketplaces  in  a genuine
 effort to keep the ST user well informed.
    
     Its  great  to  see  a  "pioneer" such as Jay Craswell (moniterm card)
 developing and releasing a super video  card that  supports the MSTE/TT030
 VME bus.   Congratulations  Jay!   The VME  bus has  literally hundreds of
 cards already made and ready to  purchase and  use in  our machines.   For
 some time,  Atarians have clamored for a "standard expansion bus".  We now
 have it in the VME bus that's in the MEGA STE and the TT030.   STReport is
 fully behind those who support development using the VME bus.  Full infor-
 mation is elsewhere in this issue about Jay's new board.
     
     Also in this issue, STALKER 3 & STENO  information.   Gribnif Software
 also pioneers  in their  own right,  famous for  Neodesk, will market Eric
 Rosenquist's fine programming efforts.
  
     
                            Thank you for your strong support,
  
                                       Ralph.........





 For the record.....

     Recently, (AtariUser-6/91), therein appeared an item written by Nathan
 Potechin detailing  the beginnings  of the IAAD, unfortunately, there were
 some "minor" points of information missing.   STReport  called Gordon Mon-
 nier (a  founder and  original Board  member) to  ask a  few questions and
 verify the information on hand.  This basically covers the omissions.

     In the weeks prior to the WAACE show of Sept. 1989, STReport's Michael
 Arthur discussed  the formation  of a  developer representation group with
 Gordon Monnier of MichTron Software.  It was  subsequently agreed  that an
 organizational meeting would be held at WAACE for the purpose of getting a
 formal developer representation  group  off  the  ground.    That meeting,
 spoken of  by N.  Potechin in  his article, was held in my (Ralph Mariano)
 hotel room at WAACE/'89.  Believe me, the room was  packed.   Prior to the
 meeting, Michael  Arthur and  Gordon worked  together for about 6 weeks to
 get the meeting agreed upon, scheduled and attended.  For  approximately 8
 to 10  months thereafter,  Gordon and  Nathan worked together bringing the
 IAAD up to full speed.  While speaking to Gordon to verify the accuracy of
 our info  Gordon added  that, "in  all fairness,  the IAAD  was really the
 'brainchild' of STReport's Michael Arthur."





                           TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!


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

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


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

 Contributing Correspondents:
 ----------------------------
          Michael Lee         Richard Covert           Roger Stevens
          Brian Converse      Oliver Steinmeier        Ed Krimen
          Tim Holt            Andrew Learner           Norman Boucher
                              Ben Hamilton
           

                             IMPORTANT NOTICE
                             ================
      Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc...
                              via E-Mail to:

                 Compuserve.................... 70007,4454
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     COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME

                              to the Readers of;
  
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                  WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (June 7)

 FINDING FILES FAST!

 During June, explore the many programs and files available in CompuServe's
 Atari ST  Forums with  File Finder  -- now  reduced to $6 per hour for all
 baud rates, including 9600.  The  Atari  File  Finder  includes  all files
 within the  Atari Arts  Forum, Atari  Productivity Forum, and Atari Vendor
 Forum.  Type GO ATARIFF to access this service.

 ATARI OFFERS BOOTH SPACE FOR DEVELOPERS

 Atari is offering free booth space for developers wishing to display their
 products in  the upcoming Dusseldorf show.  Atari ST Registered developers
 should read  the file  MESSE.TXT now  available in  LIBRARY 7 ("Registered
 Developers") of  the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO), and Portfolio
 Developers should read file MESSE.TXT in LIBRARY 9 of the  Atari Portfolio
 Forum (GO APORTFOLIO).

 MANAGING FILES MADE EASY!

 Direct-Drive makes  managing the  files on your floppy and hard disks sim-
 ple, quick and painless.  With a mouse click you can get  a list  of every
 file on  a disk  that can be saved, searched, sorted and printed.  You can
 also print disk labels,  format disks  and much  more! If  you often waste
 time looking for files or thought you'd never get your disks organized, we
 think you'll find Direct-Drive indispensable!

 Download file DIRDRV.ARC from LIBRARY 1 ("New Uploads") of the Atari
 Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO) for your copy of Direct-Drive. 
 Available EXCLUSIVELY for download from the Atari Forums on CompuServe!

 NEW FROM DOUBLE CLICK SOFTWARE!

 DC Mouse Wrapper from Double Click Software will  'wrap' the  mouse cursor
 when you  hit the  edge of  the screen.   Go  up, and  hit the edge of the
 screen, and mouse goes to the bottom of the screen!  Download file DCMRAP-
 .ARC from LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN).

 Also download  file DCSHOW.NEW  from LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors Forum
 (GO ATARIVEN) for information on an easy offer to get DC SHOWER!

 ST WRITER ELITE 4.1!

 Version 4.1 of ST  WRITER  ELITE  is  now  available  in  LIBRARY  1 ("New
 Uploads") of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO).  This new version
 contains one bug fix and one  added  feature  over  version  4.0. Download
 file(s):

   STWEL4.ARC - ST Writer Elite 4.1 English Version.
   STWELG.ARC - ST Writer Elite 4.1 Word Processor German/Spanish.

 NEW IN ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM

 Custom  Base,  a  program  to  turn  your Portfolio into a data collection
 device, is now available  in LIBRARY  1 of  the Atari  Portfolio Forum (GO
 APORTFOLIO).

 A copy  of the  File Manager  program, distributed by Atari Corp. with all
 new Portfolios is now available in LIBRARY 1 of the  Atari Portfolio Forum
 (GO APORTFOLIO) for those who purchased their units before the FM card was
 included.  File provided courtesy of Atari Corp., all rights reserved.

 A new version of Don  Messerli's  PGSHOW  and  Judy  Hamner's  Forum Notes
 report are now available in LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO
 APORTFOLIO).


                  THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
                            HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
                OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION

            "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"


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




 > CPU STATUS REPORT                   LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS 
   =================
  
    Issue #24

    Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.



 - Sunnyvale, California           ATARI TO SELL TAIWAN FACILITY
   ---------------------
  
 According to Reuter's News Agency,  Atari Corporation said it agreed  to 
 sell its Taiwan facility for sixty million dollars.  The sale, to an un-
 disclosed buyer, is scheduled to close late this month and is contingent 
 upon certain closing conditions being met.
  
 Atari,  a  maker of personal computers and video  games,  said  assembly 
 operations have been relocated to increase efficiency and reduce costs.



 - Washington, D.C.                SOFTWARE BLAMED IN SAUDI SCUD ATTACK
   ----------------
  
 The U.S.  Army has disclosed that the Scud attack which killed a  number 
 of U.S.  military personnel in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf  War 
 succeeded  because  of faulty software.  Had  the  replacement  software 
 arrived  in time (it was reportedly delivered the next  day),  the  Scud 
 missile would,  in all probability,  not have made it through the other-
 wise near-perfect defenses presented by the Patriot missile system.
  

  
 - Tokyo, Japan                    3-D LCD DEVELOPED BY NTT
   ------------
  
 Incorporating a technology called a lenticular lens, NTT has developed a 
 unique color display for computers and TVs.  It is a liquid crystal dis-
 play  (LCD)  capable of showing an image  in  three  dimensions.   NTT's 
 three-dimensional display is designed to be used in computers,  TVs, and 
 TV phones.  With this color display technology, 3-D viewing does not re-
 quire the use of special 3-D glasses,  as has been traditional since the 
 50s.

 The lenticular lens, based on technology developed a year ago, is curved 
 on  both sides and has a LCD on the back.   It projects an  image  which 
 looks  three-dimensional from all viewing angles.   The display  is  15-
 inches large, which is quite sizable for an LCD.
   
  

 - Torrance, California            MITSUBISHI UNVEILS SUPER LIGHT
   --------------------                 3.5 INCH DRIVE
  
 Mitsubishi  Electronics  America has announced the availability  of  its 
 lightest 3.5-inch floppy drive, which has been designed for the portable 
 computer  market.   The  MF355E is a 2 megabyte unformatted  (1.44  for-
 matted),  floppy disk drive that is 15mm in height, and weighs less than 
 half  a  pound.   The drive features downward read/write  operation  and 
 power-saving  options when the drive is in standby mode.  The units  are 
 designed for use in laptop and notebook computers, where space and over-
 all weight are crucial factors, the company said.
  
 The company is also introducing the MF355S, a belt-driven 3.5-inch drive 
 that has the same performance features as the MF355E,  but is larger  at 
 17 millimeters high, and heavier at 0.53 pounds.
  

  
 - White Plains, New York   PRODIGY DROPS ITS ELECTRONIC GROCERY SHOPPING
   ----------------------
  
 The  home grocery shopping service,  once heavily touted as one of  Pro-
 digy's main advantages,  has been quietly dropped.  Only 15% of the over 
 one million Prodigy subscribers ( one - third of whom use the  system at 
 least once a day) were able to participate in the grocery shopping  net-
 work.
  
 Prodigy's news,  banking and brokerage services generate the most  traf-
 fic with half of their members having Easy-Sabre accounts.



 - Houston, Texas                 HAND-HELD COMPUTERS FOR FOOT SOLDIERS?
   --------------
  
 Texas Microsystems Inc.,  (TMI) has announced it has received a contract 
 from the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) to study 
 the  feasibility  of  pocket-sized  computers  for  foot  soldiers.  TMI 
 described the device as something that "could help revolutionize conven-
 tional ground warfare."

 The pocket-sized unit slated for possible deployment in 1995 would weigh 
 one  pound and include some of the advanced communications and  graphics 
 capabilities  found in fighter aircraft,  tanks and other  sophisticated 
 weapons  systems.  The unit would be about the size of a cigarette  pack 
 and would probably use Intel's 80386 microprocessor.

 Although details have not been finalized yet, one possible configuration 
 of the unit would include a battery powered processor;  a radio  capable 
 of transmitting both voice and data;  a 'heads-up' display,  which would 
 project an image on a helmet visor or glasses; a microphone; a hand-held 
 joystick-like device; and a global positioning system, which would allow 
 the user to pinpoint their exact position at any time.
  

  
 - New York, New York              LOTUS PROMISES FALL SHIPPING OF
   ------------------                        1-2-3 MAC

 Nearly 4 years after its initial announcement,  1-2-3 Mac will ship this 
 fall, according to an announcement by Lotus Development Corporation. The 
 Macintosh version of the popular DOS-based 1-2-3 spreadsheet,  which has 
 sold 14 million copies,  will be fully compatibility with version 7.0 of 
 the Macintosh operating system and will make use of Apple's Data  Access 
 Language  for  accessing  data stored  in  corporate  mainframes,  mini-
 computers,  and departmental servers.  Lotus had also added 3-D graphics 
 and new capabilities to the Macintosh version.  1-2-3 for Macintosh will 
 cost $495.
  
 Lotus  also  said that Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows will  be  available  this 
 summer.



 - Tokyo, Japan                    NINTENDO TIES UP WITH PHILIPS ON
   ------------                         SUPER-FAMICOM'S CD-ROM
  
 In a surprise move, Nintendo has signed with Philips to develop a CD-ROM 
 system for Nintendo's best-selling game machine, dubbed "Super-Famicom."  
 Philips will manufacture the CD-ROM drive unit, and Nintendo will market 
 the  product in Japan and the U.S.  next summer.   Industry experts  had 
 expecting Nintendo to sign with Sony since Sony developed the sound sys-
 tem for Super-Famicon.  With the new CD-ROM drive system, the quality of 
 game software for the Super-Famicom is expected to increase.



 - Tokyo, Japan                    OPTICAL LASER DISK BREAKTHROUGH:
   ------------                        USING "GREEN" LASER

 Hitachi has developed a device which emits a laser capable of  producing 
 an  optical disk with three times more memory storage than  conventional 
 optical disks.  It is called a green laser,  based on its color.  The 5-
 inch disk can hold whopping 1,500 megabytes of data.

 The wave length of Hitachi's latest green laser is half that of the cur-
 rent infrared semiconductor laser.  With this short wave,  more detailed 
 lines can be drawn on the disk.



 - Cupertino, California             NOT EVEN APPLE CAN WIN THEM ALL
   --------------------- 
  
 In  a suit filed against two former executives for allegedly  misleading 
 statements  they made about the company's ability to build its own  hard 
 drive for Apple's failed Lisa microcomputer in the early  '80s,  damages 
 were awarded that could total as much as $40 million.

 After Apple's Lisa computer was discontinued,  shares fell 70% in value, 
 and the company abandoned work on the drive before it reached market.

 As  a matter of interest,  the Lisa is still being sold by at least  one 
 company,  Sun Remarketing Inc., of Logan, Utah. The company now sells it 
 complete with Macintosh Plus emulation software,  1 megabyte of RAM, and 
 a hard drive. 






  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

                             IMPORTANT NOTICE!
                             =================

 As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to
 take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer.  For only $29.95 ($20
 off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip-
 tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over
 $14 worth of free time.  

  NOTE: Special offers can be found in your favorite Atari magazines:

              START             CURRENT NOTES         ST INFORMER
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                          SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
                          ======================
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                              JOIN -- DELPHI
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 DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.


                           SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
                           --------------------

 The 20/20 Advantage Plan IS FANTASTIC!   And  it features  20 hours online
 for just  $20 a month!  The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20
 hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines,
 or via  a special  Tymnet 20/20  Access code.  It also gets you additional
 hours at just $1.20 per hour.  And you get free access to several services
 on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks.

 Other telecom services may have additional charges.  Canadian Tymnet users
 have an additional telecom charge.  Office Time access (7 a.m. to  7 p.m.,
 weekdays) may  have an  additional charge.   And of course, other restric-
 tions may apply.  But this is still an amazing deal!

 For more information please contact:

           DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services.

                 DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!



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



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

 On CompuServe


 by Judith Hamner  72257,271


     Atari Support reports that they have a new  phone system.   Because of
 the change  there is a new phone number for Portfolio support.  Call (408)
 745-2004 during normal business hours Pacific Time.

     Jim Straus 70116,667 is continuing development  of his  outliner.  Jim
 is still asking for feedback and suggestions.  A demo version is available
 in Lib 1.  David Stewart  is also  continuing work  on his  60 column word
 processor.  David is moving to Oklahoma and intends to devote more time to
 Portfolio programming.

     External storage for the Portfolio is still a  hot topic.  See message
 12837 for  information on  the Flashdrive, a 20 meg battery operated port-
 able drive. Portfolio drivers for the Flashdrive are  in the  Library. Ira
 Adams reported  on his experiences with the Interloop interface for the HP
 floppy drive. A new upload this week, PDD2.ARC gives us another controller
 for the  Radio Shack   Portable Disk Drive 2. This new program is superior
 to previous offerings. Program and docs are available in PDD2.ARC.

 See message 12798 for John Feagans report on the summer CES in Chicago.

     Atari has granted permission to have the Portfolio  File Manager avai-
 lable in  the Library.  This software ships with all new units on the File
 Manager/Tutorial card. If you don't have it, be  sure to  check Lib  1 for
 FM.COM.

     Don Messerli  has upgraded  his PG  Show file viewer for PGC graphics.
 PGSH21.ZIP is the filename for version  2.1 which  is 20%  faster than the
 previous version.   Another new upload, CBASE.ARC, offers a way to use the
 Port for data collection.   Lists  of questions  for others  to answer are
 stored in .adr format.






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


                    :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.

               -> NOW!  GENIE STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <-

         GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
            Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission


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






 > The Flip Side STR Feature           "STalker 3.0 "..IT IS AWESOME"
   =========================



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


 by Michael Lee



 From RMORROW about the new version of STalker - from Delphi...
    I  received an updated beta version of STalker this evening and  I've 
    got some news for everyone - IT IS AWESOME.  Everything that was ever 
    talked about has been added:
  
      Support for ports (Normal Serial,  MIDI, Printer PLUS the TT/MSTe's 
      additional Serial Ports, MegaTalk (from Gadgets by Small), DC-Port, 
      & MT C Shell type),
  
      Automatically  sensed  Zmodem (EXTREMELY configurable  receive  and 
      send options including 16 or 32 bit)
  
      VERY POWERFULL Script Language Support (C-ish BackTALK compiler)
  
      ...and of course many features NOT found in any other terminal pro-
      gram -- Multiple STalker's for multiple online sessions, Background 
      transfer  (STalker is a Desk Accessory so GEM background  transfers 
      work  quite  well),  Unique communication with  STeno  text  editor 
      .ACC/.PRG for the ultimate capture/edit/type ahead  buffer,  Remote 
      BBS mode and many, many more.
  
    STalker  v3.0  isn't  release yet because STeno  is  currently  being 
    upgraded to go with it (the current version of STeno works fine)  and 
    Gribnif  is striving for the ULTIMATE when they release  THEIR  first 
    release.
  
    All  of  the above isn't to be taken as a press release  or  official 
    information but as my personal knowledge (now yours) and opinion.  If 
    you have seen STalker/STeno advertised and just wondered what kind of 
    terminal program it would be if you purchased it,  don't worry  about 
    it  ---> purchase it (especially if you have a hard drive)  and  soon 
    you will find a nice storage place for those OTHER terminal  programs 
    that other people consider to be the BEST (but aren't).
  
                             ----------------
  
 From Lee Seiler (Lexicor) on CIS...
    ...I  organized  Lexicor  and  have  spent  in  excess  of   $200,000 
    developing  a line of software...which I think you will see has  some 
    merit.   When I first started,  I felt that there were enough  people 
    using  Atari  [systems] so that if we produced something  useful  and 
    well designed, we would be able to make a reasonable profit.
  
    ...While I am not sure about how well we will do here in the  USA,  I 
    can tell you that we will do very well in Germany and most of Europe. 
    The reason is very close attention by the numbers of these people  to 
    protect their own best interest.
  
    ...taken  as  a  whole  The ATARI market is  really  quite  good  and 
    developers  who do approach the new machines understanding  what  the 
    ATARI market is should do just fine.
  
 From  Lee Seiler (Lexicor) about some of his new products - from the  ST 
 Roundtable on Genie...
    Rosetta 3D is just one of five main applications which make up a full 
    house graphics work station. Rosetta 3D is a program which translates 
    an  assortment of object and picture files in to formats that can  be 
    used on the ATARI. That is all it does.
  
    Our  other programs do other things such as create 3D animations  add 
    special effects,  and render in 24bit color out to NTSC devices  like 
    VCRs and genlocked ATARIs.
  
    ...we  are shipping product as fast as we can get it packaged and  we 
    will be unveiling our 24 bit color card for the ST very soon now.  It 
    uses  the Intel 34010 graphics chip.   It has its own screen RAM  and 
    outputs  a  super clean NTSC signal for direct connection to  VCR  or 
    Genlock.
  
                             ----------------
   
 Question about hard drive cables from Kenneth G. Goutal on CIS...
    I have a 1040ST with the Atari SH204 hard disk drive.  The cable that 
    came with it is about 1.5 feet long. This severely limits where I can 
    locate  the  disk drive relative to the system/keyboard  box.  Is  it 
    possible to get a longer cable?  Will a longer cable work?  (i.e.  is 
    the protocol length-sensitive?)...
  
 Answer from Greg Wageman on CIS...
    Because  Atari didn't provide for termination on the  DMA  port,  the 
    cable length is VERY CRITICAL to proper hard disk operation.
   
    If you lengthen it,  you will likely run into trouble with unreliable 
    disk  operation.  Longer  cable  lengths result  in  more  noise  and 
    ringing,  and  at  the speed of the DMA port,  this  becomes  a  real 
    problem.  Don't lengthen the cable. In fact, even daisy-chaining more 
    than two (three if you're lucky) DMA devices is a problem.
  
 Reply from Paul LeFevre (Antic) on CIS...
    I have to disagree - perhaps I've just been lucky, but I have a 3 1/2 
    foot  DMA cable running from my DMA port to the hard disk,  and  have 
    never had any problems with it.  It's a standard 19 pin D connector - 
    check out Radio Shack, and make your own cable!
  
 Reply from John Davis (Sysop) on CIS...
    Our local dealer...sells DMA cables that are 3 ft.  in length.  I got 
    one for one of my customers,  and he's been running on it for about 2 
    months (with a Megafile 30) with no problems.  It's fairly  expensive 
    (about 20 bucks),  but almost necessary if you want to use a Megafile 
    with a 520 or 1040.
  
                             ----------------
  
 Questions  about the SST and ISAC boards from Ed Stuckey - from  the  ST 
 Roundtable on Genie...
    Does the SST have an FPU and if so,  what size.  I use Dynacadd a lot 
    and could benefit from your product.
  
    Will  the SST board fit under the ISAC board?  If I use both the  SST 
    and ISAC boards,  will there be a strain on the power supply. (I have 
    the BEST power supply installed).
  
 Answers  from George Richardson (Merlin Group) - from the ST  Roundtable 
 on Genie...
    FPU doesn't come in sizes, the 68881 & 68882 are both 32 bit, but the 
    68882 has some enhanced abilities. We use the 68882, but the ordinary 
    version of Dynacadd doesn't recognize it.  You'd need the TT version, 
    unless they revise the ST version.
  
    The  ISAC  &  Moniterm  boards both fit & will  work  with  the  SST, 
    although  the  part  of the board to the front of the  Mega  must  be 
    lifted slightly (*very slightly*) to clear the DRAM SIMMs on the SST. 
    No real problem.
  
    Using the SST & the ISAC board is guaranteed to overload the  supply. 
    We'll have a supplementary supply that you can use for these  circum-
    stances.
  
                             ----------------
  
 Some clarification about ICD's Host Adaptors - From Cat.  4,  Topic  39, 
 Messages 46 & 49 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
 Question by J.ROY18...
    There  has  been a lot of talk on FIdo Net recently about  ICD  HA's. 
    Some  people  say  they are too slow to format  1:1  and  are  really 
    ragging  on them.  Others say it will format most drives to 1:1  fine 
    but some drives are too slow and need 2:1. What I gather is this:
      ICD HA   2:1 only
      ICD Advantage HA (AdSCSI?) 1:1 on drives that can handle it
      ICD Advantage Plus HA (AdSCSI+?) No mention from anyone...
  
    Can someone give me some correct information?  I'd like to know if  I 
    have to upgrade my ICD HA to a newer AdSCSI or something in order  to 
    take advantage of the speed of the LPS52S I hope to buy soon.
  
 Answer from Tom Harker (ICD)...
    The  discussion  is really a result of propaganda from BMS  on  their 
    BMS-200  host adapter.  They have put a few extra ICs on  their  host 
    adapter  to cut a few nanoseconds from SCSI  command  overhead.  This 
    allows  them  to  get 1:1 interleave with Seagate  ST-277N  and  296N 
    drives  which are slow on their command overhead.  ICD host  adapters 
    take a bit more time and cannot usually do 1:1 with these  particular 
    Seagate drives.  We have no problems doing 1:1 with nearly all  other 
    drives including other Seagate models.
  
    Our  software is also faster than any other so we more than  make  up 
    for that even at 2:1 with the ST - 277N drives.
  
                             ----------------
  
 Misc.  comments  from Jim Allen (FastTech) - from the ST  Roundtable  on 
 Genie...
    The  TURBO20  is  our  new  20Mhz  68000  accelerator,   the  fastest 
    accelerator currently available for your ST.
  
    The  JRI25 is John Russell Innovations' 25Mhz floating point  add  on 
    board for the ST,  the only FPU board available for the ST  nowadays, 
    and the fastest to boot.
  
    The COMBO is the combination of the two above mentioned products  and 
    forms  the  best solution to date for Dynacadd customers  that  don't 
    want to update to the Atari TT computer.  And the COMBO fits in  520s 
    and 1040s...at least most versions.
  
 A  user expressed some concern about the reliability of the 20mhz  68000 
 chips  since  they  were  being pushed  past  the  manufacturers  stated 
 ratings...
    How  I  test them [16mhz 68000] to know which is reliable  and  which 
    isn't reliable - is proprietary.  You will just have to trust  me.  I 
    wouldn't  go out and start selling them if I weren't quite  confident 
    in its reliability.
  
    If you need to understand it,  then read up on the performance limits 
    of  the chip.  Things like operating temp  range,  junction  temp-vs-
    operating  speed,  and  the affect on critical  timing  factors  with 
    increasing temperature.
  
    The  whole  matter  of  pushing  things  beyond  their  limit,   this 
    particular limit,  is just science,  not voodoo.   My distributor  is 
    aware of what I'm doing,  has consulted Motorola on it,  and  accepts 
    back the "under qualified" as returns. If this was destructive to the 
    chips,  they wouldn't do that. More over you'll find that some of the 
    testing that goes on at Motorola during testing pushes chips to their 
    limits, and beyond, in an effort to seek out weaknesses.
  
                             ----------------
  
 From Larry Rymal - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
    ...if you want a good education on monitors,  buy the June 1991 issue 
    of  Computer Shopper.  Although there is a lot of "VGA"  talk,  items 
    such as dot pitch,  contrast blooming, frequency requirements, shadow 
    masks are covered. This is an excellent issue.
  
                             ----------------
  
 From Randy Noak - Cat. 16, Topic 2, Message 134 - from the ST Roundtable 
 on Genie...
    May  I suggest that anyone that needs paper for DTP  call  1-800-272-
    7377,  and ask for PAPER DIRECT's catalog.  They have some very  neat 
    stuff in there.

    They   are  also  having  a  contest  in  conjunction  with   Desktop 
    Communications magazine.  Best stuff wins the big prize (a feature in 
    the  magazine)  but  every  entry gets a free one  year  sub  to  the 
    magazine! Wouldn't it be great if someone using an Atari with Calamus 
    or PageStream won?
  
                             ----------------
   
 About speeding up the loading of Pagestream - From George (JMGSOFT) Cat. 
 14, Message 52, Topic 32 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
    Note that when Pagestream starts, it goes and loads up all the import 
    and export modules in the PSOTHER folder.  Since each one of these is 
    loaded by a PEXEC, they are in effect little programs. What does this 
    mean, you ask?
  
    It  means  you must set the fast-load bit on EACH of  these  modules. 
    (Assuming  you're  using TOS 1.4 or greater w/o  pinhead).  Once  the 
    fastload  bit has been set on each and every module,  the  load  time 
    will be quick like you would expect.
  
                             ----------------
  
 From George Richardson (Merlin Group) on Genie...
    The SST will require page mode 1Mx8 or 1Mx9 simms.  Although you  can 
    configure the SST for various speed memory,  the best results are  to 
    be had with 80 nanosecond or faster DRAM. These are the type of SIMMs 
    that are the most common, and used in both Macs and PC clones.
  
                             ----------------
  
 Experiences  with getting a good multi-sync monitor - from  JAKOB  (John 
 B.) on the ST Roundtable on Genie...
    ...After reading all of the past messages and comments, I narrowed my 
    choices  down  to the NEC MultiSync 3D and the  Princeton  UltraSync. 
    Mainly because I was trying to save a little money,  I decided to  go 
    with the UltraSync.  I poured through the ads in Computer Shopper and 
    the  lowest  confirmed  price I came up with was  $519.   I  got  the 
    UltraSync  early last week,  proceeded to gut my Monitor  Master  and 
    rewired  it with a DB9 submini in place of one of the  Atari  monitor 
    jacks and then plugged everything together.
  
    To  put it simply,  the mono performance disappointed me.  The  color 
    modes  were  very  sharp and bright,  much  sharper  than  the  Atari 
    monitor. Looking at a 50% black on white dither pattern, the dots are 
    very distinct and easily discernable,  whereas on the SC1224 you  get 
    color artifacts.  However in monochrome, although all text (including 
    the small 6x6 icon text) is very readable,  it is not nearly as sharp 
    as the SM124,  which is surprising considering the bandwidth on  this 
    monitor is rated at 45Mhz and the dot pitch .28mm.
  
    I  tried everything I could to clear it up,  like wiring the  shields 
    differently  and changing the terminating resistors in my  switchbox, 
    but with no luck.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by using the SM124 for over 
    5  years but I found the UltraSync to be unacceptable for  monochrome 
    use.
  
    Another  thing that really bothered me about the new  Princeton,  the 
    power regulation was awful.  Just flipping between menus would  cause 
    the  display size to flutter.  Opening a window from a blank  desktop 
    would cause the display to grow very noticeably.  The aspect ratio in 
    the center was also noticeably different from on the edges,  although 
    this may have just been an internal adjustment.
  
    Friday night I went over to a local computer store and they were kind 
    enough  to  let  me rent a  Nec Multisync 3D,  with  the  rental  fee 
    deductible if I decide to purchase the monitor.  As I sit typing this 
    in monochrome,  I find the 3D to be superb in every  way!  Everything 
    about this monitor is top-notch,  including the styling.  Color modes 
    are at least as sharp and bright as the Princeton,  while  monochrome 
    FAR  surpasses it.  Although it still does not QUITE equal the  Atari 
    monochrome,  (after  all this IS a color monitor),  I'd say  it's  as 
    close as you can get with a color monitor.
  
    The  sizing and position controls are behind a drop-down door on  the 
    front  of  the monitor.  Since this  is  a  microprocessor-controlled 
    monitor,  instead of a knob, there is a pair of small pushbuttons for 
    each control (Vpos,  Vsize,  Hpos,  & Hsize),  with each very legibly 
    labelled  on  the inside of the door.  All settings  are  permanently 
    stored  in  the monitor's memory,  and there is  also  an  additional 
    memory  that  can be recalled with a slide switch right next  to  the 
    pushbuttons.  If you are using one of the pre-programmed video  modes 
    (ie.CGA,  EGA,  VGA,  Mac,  etc.) the monitor will automatically  use 
    those settings, otherwise it uses the user-programmed settings.
  
    Therefore,  you can just preset each of the two memories to color and 
    monochrome modes and when you switch resolution, just flip the memory 
    switch, and the monitor resets all the size and position controls for 
    you  for  a perfect display.  No fiddling with knobs every  time  you 
    change resolution!  It IS possible to set up the controls so that you 
    use the same settings for mono and color, but the image ends up a bit 
    off-center.
  
    To sum up,  I am VERY happy with the 3D,  and the Princeton is  going 
    back on Monday. Like I said, the Princeton IS very nice in color, and 
    is also very readable in mono, just not sharp enough for my tastes.
  
    PS.  The  Princeton I got was the Ultra 1400.  According to  the  FCC 
    certification  enclosed  with the monitor,  the  newer  Ultra  series 
    (1200,  1400,  &  1600) is made by a company called  Flextronics,  in 
    Singapore. Apparently, they are not up to the quality of the original 
    UltraSync.
  
                             ----------------
  
 Until next week.....




         _________________________________________________________








 > STR InfoFile                         BLACKJACK PLUS 3 BASIC
   ============




    >>>  PRESS RELEASE  from  MUSICODE SOFTWARE    JUNE, 1991  <<<   

    ***************************************************************  
    *                                                             *  
    *    NEW ----->  "BLACKJACK PLUS 3 BASIC"         <-- NEW     *  
    *                                                             *  
    *    UPDATE -->  "BLACKJACK PLUS 3"  Version 1.2  <-- UPDATE  *  
    *                                                             *  
    ***************************************************************  

    ===============================================================  
        NEW! ---->   "BLACKJACK PLUS 3 BASIC"   <---- NEW!          

        Atari ST (Color & Mono)          suggested retail:  $39.95   
        IBM PC & compatibles (EGA/VGA)       "       "       "       
    ================================================================ 

   HERE IT IS - THE PERFECT WAY TO LEARN THE BASIC GAME OF BLACKJACK!

     Practice alone, or play with your friends using joysticks,      
     mouse and/or keystrokes.  Just like being at the casino!        

      >>>                                                  <<<       
         >>>>                                          <<<<          
  NEW!       >>>>      BLACKJACK PLUS 3 BASIC      <<<<       NEW!   
         >>>>                                          <<<<          
      >>>                                                  <<<       
  
              The 'Basic' version includes:                          
                   A preset basic playing strategy                   
                   Programmable win/loss betting strategy            
                   Programmable insurance selection                  
                   All features of the advanced program              
                       except as noted below                         

              The 'Basic' version does not include:                  
                   Programmable playing strategies                   
                   Programmable counting systems                     
                   Play log and save setup features                  


                   OF COURSE, WHEN YOU'RE READY --                   
               YOU MAY UPGRADE TO "BLACKJACK PLUS 3"                 
                   & GET ALL THE ADVANCED FEATURES!                  

               Call or write for upgrade details.                    

           Ask your dealer to order for you, or contact:             

                          MUSICODE SOFTWARE                          
                         5575 Baltimore Drive                        
                            Suite 105-127                            
                         La Mesa, CA    91942                        
                            (619) 469-7194                           


    =================================================================
     UPDATE -->     "BLACKJACK PLUS 3"   Version 1.2     <-- UPDATE  

               Atari ST (Color & Mono)    suggested retail:  $89.95  
               IBM PC & compatibles (EGA/VGA)   "      "       "     
    =================================================================

    MUSICODE is determined to provide users with the ABSOLUTE BEST   
    casino blackjack program available anywhere! So, we have added   
    even more advanced features, expanding your ability to set up    
    virtually any playing, betting and counting strategy. Use those  
    from Canfield, Revere, Thorp, Uston or come up with your own!    

    VERSION 1.2 enhances the programmability of the card counting    
    strategies with the following changes:                           

         You can now set the value of each card for the running count
         Select from various methods to determine the true count     
           (As before, playing and betting decisions are             
            programmable based on the true count)                    
         Use an Ace side count adjustment for betting                
         Make insurance decisions based on the count                 

 No longer are you at the mercy of the casino, now you'll be ready!  

 More than just another game, BLACKJACK PLUS 3 can show you why you  
 have lost in the past and teach you how to WIN in the future!       
 This program provides realistic casino play, plus 3 additional      
 playing modes to quickly examine how different strategies perform.  
 Examine the play log and statistics to determine a winning style    
 of blackjack play.  Play alone or with friends, use mouse, keyboard 
 or joysticks!                                                       

    You may specify:                                                 
      One to seven active players (just like at the casino)          
      Each player's mode of play (see 'Play Modes' below)            
      Each player's play strategy (non-counting strategy)            
      Each player's betting strategy (win/loss strategy)             
      For the advanced player:  card-counting strategies (see NOTE below)
      How many decks to use (1-9) & dealing depth (when to shuffle)  
      Casino rules (not all casinos use the same ones)               
      Playing speed (your comfort level)                             
      Display card totals?                                              
      Display card counts? (Running count, true count, # of cards left, 
                            # of Aces, adjusted count)                  
      Keep a log?  (All play action is recorded)                     
      Extended statistics display?   (Information calculated for you)
      Print log and statistics for evaluation?                       
      Save all setups to disk?                                       

 NOTE:  A player's card counting strategy may use any counting system:
          Programmable running count                                  
          Selectible true/exact count adjustments                     
          Count adjusted playing and betting strategies               
          Ace side count adjustment for betting                       
         Insurance decision based on count                            

      ALL ASPECTS OF THE GAME OF BLACKJACK ARE SUPPORTED!             

      You always have the option to:                                  
                 SPLIT ANY PAIR                                       
                 DOUBLE DOWN (according to casino rules you set)      
                 DOUBLE after  SPLIT                                       
    
                 TAKE INSURANCE                                       
                 SURRENDER                                            

 You can lower or eliminate  the  casino's  odds  by  practicing  the game.
 Learn why you have lost, and how to win next time!                   


 PLAY MODES:  MANUAL     - you play the game, just like in the casino 
              AUTO       - play is automatic, by chosen strategy      
              FEEDBACK   - you are informed of mistakes in play       
              BACKGROUND - test strategies quickly (100 hands-8 seconds)


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

     BLACKJACK IS ALWAYS FUN TO PLAY, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WIN!          
      

                          MUSICODE SOFTWARE                             
                         5575 Baltimore Drive                           
                            Suite 105-127                               
                         La Mesa, CA    91942                           
                            (619) 469-7194

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





 > UNIX!! STR FOCUS                        What is UNIX and X Windows?
   ================



                TAKING A LOOK AT UNIX, ATARI & ALTERNATIVES
                ===========================================


 by Richard Covert


                SPARCbook 1 - An Alternative  To TT030 UNIX

     The  UNIX  workstation  is  a  rapidly growing market which Atari Corp
 hopes to tap.  This article is a pre-review of a new  notebook sized SPARC
 workstation  being  developed  by  Tadpole Technology of Austin Texas. The
 SPARCbook 1 is an example of a modern UNIX X Windows workstation using the
 Sun Microsystems's  SPARC RISC proceossor.  I will discuss where the TT030
 falls short of the state  of  the  art  with  respect  to  UNIX  X Windows
 workstations and hopefully will encourage Atari Corporation to improve the
 design of the next TT class computer.

     This review is based upon preliminary literature received from Tadpole
 Technology and  from several  telephone conversations with Ann Gearding of
 Tadpole Technology.   I  have receieved  NO official  announcements of the
 UNIX/X for  the TT,  so the information in this article has been collected
 from various on-line computer services, and magazines.  First I would like
 to explain  briefly what a UNIX X Windows workstation is and why it is im-
 portant.

                        What is UNIX and X Windows?

     UNIX is a multitasking operating system  originally developed  by AT&T
 Bell Labs  in the  late 1960s. Multitasking simply means that you can exe-
 cute many programs simultaneously. AT&T is currently shipping  UNIX System
 V (pronounced  FIVE) Release  4 (SVR4). Atari Corporation  calls their im-
 plementation of UNIX X Windows ATX. Base UNIX  uses a  command line inter-
 face  with  limited  graphics  (basically character graphics such as would
 display on an old IBM PC). Thus, base UNIX is NOT user friendly. But, base
 UNIX is  VERY portable,  and programs  adhering to  the AT&T Libraries are
 portable to many platforms.  X Windows  is an  addition to  UNIX (or other
 operating systems)  which is  being developed at the Massachussetts Insti-
 tute of Technology (M.I.T.). X Windows is currently at Release X11 Release
 4. X  Windows is a set of function calls which  allow consistent manipula-
 tion of graphic devices such as  graphics terminals,  mice, plotters, etc.
 Programs adhering  to the  current X11  documentation are  portable to any
 platform which has X11 implemented. Thus, low level X11 programs  would be
 IMMEDIATELY portable  to new  workstations such as the TT030/ATX. But, X11
 is a VERY low level interface, which does not   provide high  level funct-
 ions such  as a  window with  all attached  buttons. To provide high level
 functions you need to use either MOTIF or OPEN LOOK.

     MOTIF and OPEN LOOK provide high level functions to open fully sizable
 windows, create desktop environments and create consistent user interfaces
 to programs. Both MOTIF and OPEN LOOK have  style guidelines,  which desc-
 ribe a  strict look  for the user interface. Thus, programs have a consis-
 tent user interface, and are easy for a new user to learn. But, it  is im-
 portant to remember that MOTIF and OPEN LOOK both require X11 and are add-
 tional layers on top of X11. OPEN LOOK  is an  interface developed  by SUN
 MICROSYSTEMS for use on their line of X11 workstations. MOTIF is an inter-
 face developed by the Open Software  Foundation (OSF)  and is  used on the
 IBM RISC  System 6000  workstation (amongst others).  Thus, a X11 worksta-
 tion in the USA MUST offer X11 Release 4 as  well as  either OPEN  LOOK or
 MOTIF.
  
     One  major  hurdle  with  UNIX/X  Windows is that applications must be
 recompiled for the target machine. AT&T is attempting to setup an Applica-
 tion Binary Interface (ABI) standard for SVR4. The ABI would mean that any
 program compiled for SVR4 would run  on any  SVR4 platform  using the same
 CPU. For  example, if  WORD PERFECT  were compiled  for the HP 9000 UNIX/X
 Windows  workstation  running  the  68030  CPU  AND  SVR4,  then  the SAME
 executable would  run on say an Atari TT030 running SVR4. If this standard
 appears, then niche computers such as the TT030  would have  immediate ac-
 cess to  many hundreds  of high quality applications. But the ABI standard
 has been finalized yet, and so that is off into the future.

     Currently, the best that a TT030/ATX user could  hope for  is that the
 many public  domain 'C'  and 'C++' programs would compile correctly. There
 are many fine programs, such as replacement desktops,  small applications,
 and even  a fine  Chess game,  available for X Windows computers. Most are
 available for free download from INTERNET/USENET or from GEnie at  a cost.
 Thus, ATX  should be  mainly directed  at the  home hacker, or the serious
 developer. In fact, the official development  tools are  the Free Software
 Foundation's  implementation  of  the  ANSI  'C'  compiler,  and the 'C++'
 compiler. These are called GNU C and GNU C++. FSF is an organization heaed
 by Richard  Stallman which  believes in  free software, and all of the FSF
 software includes the complete source code.  Thus, TT030/ATX  MUST include
 the source  code to  GNU-C and  GNU-C++ as well as the executable code. By
 the Way, GNU stands for GNU's Not Unix,  which is  an inside  joke!! As of
 this time,  there are  NO commerical  development tools announced for ATX.
 In fact, the other commerically available development package  for the TOS
 OS on the TT030 is the Lattice C package from HiSoft in England.


                   The SPARCbook 1 By Tadpole Technology

 The  SPARCbook  1  is,  simply  put, a complete UNIX X Windows workstation
 implemented as a notebook sized computer. The SPARCbook  1 uses  the SPARC
 RISC cpu  developed by  Sun Microsystems for the SPARC workstations. Below
 are some of the preliminary specifications of the SPARCbook 1:

     PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS ARE LIABLE TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE
            UNTIL VERSION 1.0 OF THE SPECIFICATION IS RELEASED.

          o    SPARC 25 MHz RISC Processor core
          o    Ethernet, modem, and SendFax hardware are standard features
          o    Advanced Disc Peripherals
          o    High resolution VGA screen and support for external display
          o    UNIX SVR4 and MS-DOS emulation
          o    Conformant with emerging SPARC Compliance Definition 2.0

 Standard Hardware
  
 Processor     L64811 SPARC IU 25 MHz
               L64815 SPARC MCT 25 MHz

 Cache         64Kb direct mapped, Zero wait state
               Optional 25 MHz Floating Point Unit

 Memory        L64850 64 bit DRAM Controller
               8 Mbyte (4 Mbit technology)
               32 Mbyte option (16 Mbit technology, 120 Mbyte
               Disc Systems and above).

 Display  640 x 480 Backlit Paper White LCD 64 Gray Scales displayable

 Keyboard 82 key Notebook Style Keyboard with integrated Mouse-key

 Storage       720Kb/1.44 Mbyte 3.5" Floppy Disk
               62/120 Mbye formatted 2.5" 22mS Winchester Disc

 I/O           External Color Video Output
               RS232 Serial I/O Port (for printer/modem support)
               Parallel I/O Port (Centronics compatible)
               Ethernet Interface IEEE 802.3
               Modem Interface with SendFax capability
               External power supply (supplied)

 Battery       Internal removable NiCad   2.5 Hours operation (worst case)
               12V 2.8 AH                 3.5 to 4 hours operation
               2 Hour fast recharge from Power Supply

 Dimensions    11.8" x 8.5" x 1.9" Magnesium alloy case
 Weight        6.9 lbs including batteries and all peripherals

                       STANDARD INTEGRATED SOFTWARE

               AT&T UNIX SVR4 Operating System with X11 R4,
               runs X-based conformant SUN-OS 4.1 applications.

               80386 DOS Emulation - Insignia SOFT-PC with hardware
               VGA graphics

               Modem and Ethernet Communications support. MS-DOS 4.01
               included.



                 What The SPARCbook 1 Specification Means

 The specs mean basically that you are getting  a X11  workstation which is
 rated at  18 MIPS (about 4 to 10 times the speed/power of the TT030) which
 runs any SUN OS 2.0 Applications  as well  as MS  DOS applications  amd MS
 WINDOWS  3  applications.  And  you  are  getting  it  in a notebook sized
 format!!

         The SPARCbook 1 Advanced LCD Screen and External Display

 The SPARCbook 1 notebook includes a  high performance  paper white  640 by
 480 resolution CFL side-lit display. The display is a low power monochrome
 LCD display,  incorporating fast  reposnse crystal  technology to minimize
 screen  "drag  effects".  Up  to  64  gray  scales are simulated using the
 SPARCbook 1 graphics controller.

 Color output is available by using  an external  RGB VDU  (not provide) to
 display 640  by 480  VGA or 800 by 600 resolution (non-interlaced) with 16
 colors from a palette of  4096.  System  software  provides  modes  to run
 SUN-based software requiring an 1152 x 900 screen without modification.


              The SPARCbook 1 High Capacity Disc Peripherals

 A high  capacity notebook winchester disc drive is used in the SPARCbook 1
 design. The SPARCbook 1 uses low power 2.5"  industry standard  devices to
 initially provide 60 or 120 Mbyte (formatted) of disc storage.

 A conventional 3.5" floppy drive is provided as an alternative to Ethernet
 for system and applications software loading and backup. Standard DOS and
 UNIX Disc format up to 1.44 Mbyte are supported.


                    The SPARCbook 1 Networking Support

 The SPARCbook  1 has fitted as standard an Ethernet Interface (IEEE 802.3)
 15 way interface to an external transceiver. A software user  interface is
 included  to  allow  the  user  immediate  access to compatible networking
 services without an understanding of UNIX or the underlying technology.

                           The SPARCbook 1 Modem

 A high performance modem is included  as standard.   The  modem is  a full
 implementation supporting  2400 baud  data transfers compatible with CCITT
 V.29, V.22bis, V.22, BELL 212A, and 103 standards.   In  addtion the modem
 supports Sendfax capability at 9600 baud for Standard Group III FAX imple-
 mentations.  Full software support for the modem and Fax is available.

                     The SPARCbook 1 I/O Capabilities

     o Serial I/O Port (to 38.4K baud asynchronous) for external printer or
       modem support.
     o Parallel I/O Port (Centronics comptaible)
     o CRT interface (RGB analog color)
     o External Mouse input


               The SPARCbook 1 UNIX Software Implementation

 A full implementation of AT&T UNIX System V Release 4  (SVR4) is provided,
 configured on disc. This operating system provides full System V Release 4
 functionality including TCP/IP networking, NFS support, X Windows 11 Rele-
 ase 4 graphics support and OPEN LOOK. The SPARCbook 1 will be certified by
 SPARC International to the SPARC Compliance Definition 2.0 (SCD 2.).

 DOS Emulation (developed from Insignia Solutions Soft-PC 386) is provided,
 running as  a Task  under UNIX. This implementation takes advantage of the
 SPARCbook 1's hardware VGA to provide a high-performance emulation of DOS,
 allowing the  user to  run existing  PC applications including MS WINDOWS.
 The entire SPARCbook screen is dedicated to either  DOS or  UNIX output at
 any one  time, while  the UNIX  OS remains  active at all times. An MS-DOS
 4.01 license is provided.


                 How The SPARCbook 1 Compares to the TT030

 PRICES

 First, you might well think that  the we  are talking  about two different
 price ranges  here.  But the SPARCbook 1 configured with 8 megs of RAM and
 a 60 meg hard drive retails  for  under  $6,000.  Here  are  the tentative
 prices for the TT030 as previously announced by Atari USA:

          TT030 2/50     2399.95
          TT030 4/50     2799.95
          TT030 8/80     3799.95

 ATX      1600.00 rumored  to include  a 200 meg hard drive, but can not be
          confirmed as Atari USA has not  released any  official prices for
          ATX yet.

          PTC Color Monitor 549.95

 Thus, a  TT030 8/80  with ATX and 14" color monitor totals the same $6,000
 MSRP.  Now, you may argue that you won't pay  MSRP for  an Atari computer,
 but then  you might  not have  to pay the MSRP for the SPARCbook 1 either.
 So, actually, both the TT030 equipped with ATX and a color monitor retails
 for  the  SAME  PRICE  as  the  SPARCbook  1!  Furthermore, I am using the
 SPARCbook 1 as a typical example  of the  SPARC clone  workstation.  Other
 SPARC clones may be priced less then the TT030/ATX combination.

 FEATURES
 Since the  TT030 isn't  Class B  certified yet,  and since ATX hasn't been
 officially released (or even announced) the price and  features of  it are
 not known.   But, from rumors and from announcements from various shows it
 appears that ATX will have the followong features:

          o AT&T SVR4                   o X11 Release 4
          o MOTIF                       o GNU pd C,C++ compilers

 OPTIONS:
          o Ethernet VME card with software


 Editorial summary
 -----------------
     I have  owned and  thoroughly enjoyed  Atari computers  since my first
 800XL almost  ten years  ago.   I make  my living programming in C on UNIX
 workstations and thus awaited eagerly the TT030/ATX workstation.   But the
 recent, and consistent, decline of the Atari market has made me very leery
 of future Atari products.

     None the less, I still need to purchase  a UNIX  X Windows  machine in
 the next  6 months, and an Atari machine would allow me to use my existing
 software.  But,  I  simply  must  reconsider  based  upon  these following
 obervations and comparisons of the TT030/ATX vs. the SPARCbook 1.

 1)  TT030 does not support 1.44 Mbyte floppies. 

 2)  TT030 does not provide a MS DOS emulation as standard. Several MS DOS
     hardware based  emulators are  available but  wheither they would work
     under ATX is not known.

 3)  TT030 does not provide a data/fax modem as standard.

 4)  TT030 is not a notebook sized computer.

 5)  Slow 16 MHz buss, with 32 MHz CPU.

 6)  How does the split between ST RAM and TT RAM  affect the  operation of
     SVR4 UNIX? SVR4 UNIX is a virtual memory OS which means that processes
     may be swapped from RAM memory to hard disk transparently  as required
     by the  OS. My concern is that since 4 megabytes of the 8 megabytes of
     RAM in a TT030 8/80 machine  is slower ST  RAM, does  UNIX use  it, or
     the faster  TT RAM,  or both?  Using only  the ST RAM would slow UNIX,
     while using only the faster TT RAM would mean MANY MANY swaps to disk.
     Thus, since  not all 8 megabytes of RAM are the same the split between
     ST RAM and TT RAM would have big system impacts on SVR4  on the TT030.
     Resulting in a slower machine!!

 7)   Where are the ATX applications? Since they must be recompiled for the
     TT030/ATX machine, will companies like Word Perfect bother  to support
     the TT030/ATX  machine? If not, then where do you get ATX programs for
     the TT030?

 The SPARCbooks does offer many reasons to purchase it:

 1)  compatiable with SUN-OS 2.0 software allowing  the use  of hundreds of
     professional applications.

 2)  compatible with SUN-OS OPEN LOOK allowing the easy porting of hundreds
     of X Windows public domain programs and desktops

 3)  Builtin data/sendfax modem

 4)  Builtin 1.44 megabyte floppy

 5)  Builtin MS DOS emulation

 6)  Builting Ethernet interface allowing the SPARCbook1 to be linked to an
     Ethernet network immediately!!

 7)  Upto 32 megabytes of RAM. With a fast SPARC MMU!!

 8)   Very fast  25 MHz  RISC processor. Most probably 4 to 10 times faster
     then the TT030/ATX machine.


     For me, the most important requirement for my next machine  is that it
 run either  OPEN LOOK  or MOTIF  under UNIX.   Both  the TT030/ATX and the
 SPARCbook 1 meet this requirement.  But the TT030 fails to provide  a 1.44
 megabyte floppy, it lacks an Ethernet interface, has limited graphics, and
 doesn't offer UNIX yet.  Even when ATX does become available the cost of a
 UNIX based TT030 is so close to the SPARCbook 1 as to make it unattractive
 to me.   Additionally,  my  future  employment  will  most  likely involve
 programming on  Sun SPARC  workstations, so  the SPARCbook 1 would be more
 likely to help me remain employed then would an Atari TT030.   Also, since
 the SPARCbook  1 is  a notebook  sized workstation  I could use it both at
 home and at my  client's location.   This  too would  be a  big advantage.
 Also, since  Atari USA  has lost  any market  peneration with  the ST, and
 since the cost of the TT030  is as  high as  most 80386  based machines, I
 don't see  major UNIX  applications being ported to ATX on the TT030.  So,
 you won't see Word Perfect 5.1, or Interleaf,  or other  major UNIX/X Win-
 dows  based  applications  appearing  on  the TT030.  In fact, the TT030's
 future, with regards to new software, looks just as bleak as the ST's pas-
 t!!

     But, the  SPARCbook 1  has a builtin MS DOS emulator thus allowing the
 immediate use of many existing DOS programs.  Since the availablity of new
 ST/TT software is not certain, MS DOS emulation is a definite advantage.

     This article  is intended to give STReport's readers an idea of an al-
 ternative to the TT030 if you need UNIX and X  Windows.   While the speci-
 fications of  the SPARCbook  1 are still subject to change, they should be
 equivalent to those of other SPARC  workstations.   In fact,  a California
 company named RDI has announced a SPARC workstation which includes both MS
 DOS and MACINTOSH emulators.  So,  the UNIX  workstation market  is a very
 competive  market  in  which  I  don't  believe  the  TT030  will succeed.
 Especially without better features then found in the  TT030.   The lack of
 some binary  compatiblity  with other UNIX X window workations limits your
 choice of X Windows  applications.  The  small Atari  presence in  the USA
 almost guarantees few new ATX applications.



       _____________________________________________________________





 > ATARI IS #1! STR Feature    "..he got rid of his Mac for an Atari ST!"
   ========================





                      DOING WHAT THE OTHERS COULDN'T!
                      ===============================

 part II


 by Dana Jacobson

     Ever wonder  why comic  books, especially the early ones, are worth so
 much money?  It's because most of them  are no  longer available,  and the
 master copies of them were never kept so they cannot be reproduced as "2nd
 editions".  How then, you may  ask  yourself,  can  we  purchase hardcover
 editions  which  contain  these  original  comics, starting with the first
 copies?

      As you may have read in last week's  issue of  STR, Rick  Keene is an
 artist, and much of his work is done on the ST.  Among his talents is car-
 toon work, some of which he put into comic book  format.   He learned from
 various sources  that DC  Comics was  interested in  restoring their early
 works, specifically their Superman  comics.   Rick had  an idea  as to how
 these comics  could be restored to almost their original form.  After all,
 without the original artwork in some case, it was not to be  an easy task.
 To hear Rick talk about it, it seems easier than most would think.
   
      What Rick had read/heard from various comic book journals was that DC
 Comics was interested in restoring these old issues.  They didn't have the
 means to  do it  themselves; or  at the least, all they had were theories.
 One of the first ideas they had was  to "farm"  out the  work and  see the
 results.   What happened was people would buy up some old issues, cut them
 up (i.e. destroy them!),  and then  bleach out  the pages  to get  all the
 colors  and  "age-stains"  out,  resulting  in cleaning up the pages.  The
 resulting pieces would get recolored and pasted back together.  Very slop-
 py, to  say the least.  Also, what about those issue where an entire comic
 couldn't be obtained, or were incomplete due to pages missing, etc.?

      To Rick, it seemed that a lot of great and valuable comics were being
 destroyed with  the end  result being very poor quality reproduction.  The
 processes being used were barbaric.    He  decided  to  enlighten  DC with
 modern technology.   He  put together  a videotape of some of his graphics
 and animations along with a letter explaining what  he proposed,  and sent
 it off  to see  if they wanted to digitise their comics.  After all, think
 about it.  All of the original comics were worn with age, if not lost.  It
 was all  on paper.   With the computer, all of the artwork, pages could be
 stored on magnetic media for retrieval at any time - no loss of quality!

      Rick didn't get a reply, or his tape  back.   About six  months later
 Rick decided  to send  another batch of work.  This time, he sent out work
 done in black and white.  He discovered, quite by accident, that  he could
 reproduce the colored comic pages _without_ the color!  The process invol-
 ves scanning  with certain  settings and  other 'secrets'  that Rick won't
 divulge,  but  once  he  figured  out  what  he had done and perfected the
 process he figured DC might be more interested than earlier.   He  took an
 old Batman comic panel, "removed" the color, and sent it in.  He also 
 explained the  benefits of  using the  computer, especially playing up the
 storage angle and other benefits of computer technology.  This time he got
 the attention  of DC  Comics and his calls were returned.  Their only com-
 plaint was that the output of the laser printer was still rough; it wasn't
 good  enough  as  is.    So  Rick played around with the panels some more,
 smoothed out the work.  After some more samples were  submitted, the third
 one got  results.   They told  Rick that  they were  now useable, finally.
 They then told Rick that "we need 40 pages done - soon.   Can  you get the
 job done?"

      The end result can be seen in the "Superman Archives - Volume II".  I
 haven't seen Volume II yet, but I do have Volume  I.   Rick explained that
 there is  quite a  noticeable difference in quality between the two books.
 The first was done  with the  "washed-out" process  while Rick's  40 pages
 were done  with the  Atari ST.   I'm waiting to get my hands on the second
 volume!  Although the book's acknowledgements  state that  Rick's work was
 "recolorizing", Rick explained that there was a _lot_ more to it than just
 that.  Changes in editors led to some confusion as to what Rick's role 
 actually was.  In fact, a lot of  those pages  were not  only recolorized,
 but reconstructed  from partial pages, panels, dialog balloons, etc.  Some
 of the artwork had to be redrawn from  scratch or  reconstructed from bits
 and pieces remaining!

      Future work  with DC  Comics is  up in the air at the moment for many
 reasons.  First of all, even with all  of the  computer equipment  that DC
 has they cannot get the results that they want.  Another factor is that DC
 is currently reorganizing their personnel  and  priorities.    Contrary to
 what most  people think, comic books are not drawn at the company and then
 published.  The work is down outside by  contracted artists.   The company
 does all of the rest by putting it all together, publishing the books, and
 the marketing.  They don't have  time time  or manpower  to do  the things
 that they'd  like to  do, which  is to  come out with many more "archival"
 books of their past comics.   Seeing another  great opportunity,  Rick has
 continued to  keep in contact with DC with the hopes of being part of this
 bigger project.  What DC is hoping to do is mass-reproduce about  40 books
 all at  once, and  publish them all at the same time!  What this would in-
 volve would be contracting out many people to do the work, an  almost her-
 culean  task.    The  most  obvious problem with this mass reproduction is
 quality control.  Very few of these books are going to look  the same with
 regard to  quality.   It would seem more appropriate to do one or two at a
 time, by the same artist/company.  DC has, however, contacted Rick to come
 down  and  meet  with  the  folks  at  DC  again, and give a presentation.
 Details of this meeting are still up in the air  until DC  can finish with
 their  internal  reorganization  before  any  final decisions can be made.
 Still, Rick has a lot to be optimistic about; and he's anxiously awaiting 
 to sell his ideas once again.

      What amazed me, and probably DC comics as well, is  that most  of the
 work Rick  has done  for DC  was done  with an upgraded 520 ST and various
 other hardware, ST-related.  The point is that DC Comics  is aware  of the
 abilities of  the Atari  computer; they have seen the results and are very
 happy with them.  The company is very choosy when it comes to their books.
 According to a message Rick left me on one of the onlines, "DC's Marketing
 would like Atari  to  be  more  agressive  in  their  advertising  in DC's
 magazines.   The Lynx is already there but they would like Atari to adver-
 tise their computers also.  My point is that DC's Marketing is  more aware
 of the Atari media and they're reading more Atari-specific magazines.  For
 example, a xerox of the ST Informer interview with me and the  pictures of
 Robin [Batman  & Robin]  was left in DC's marketing office just last week.
 The head of marketing said that he saw that when he was in Chicago a month
 earlier.    When  asked  what  was  being done, his reply was: 'It's going
 through channels.'  I'm not sure what that means except that it could mean
 that  Atari  and  DC  are  working  out  some  kind  of  print advertising
 arrangement."

      So, it seems that Atari has managed to score the admiration of  a new
 market because  of the  strengths of  a machine  that most would claim had
 many limitations.  I asked Rick why the Atari and not something  like per-
 haps the  Macintosh for  this work.  After all, it would seem a place like
 DC Comics would expect it; and Rick is familiar with the Mac.  He  told me
 that the  ST was  his first choice.  It was easier and much more enjoyable
 to use.  He feels comfortable with an ATari than with the Mac.   Using the
 Mac seemed  to be  too "mechanical".  You could spend thousands of dollars
 on hardware and software,  and really  not be  sure that  the results were
 going to  be what  "someone" like DC would want.  It appears that DC wants
 more than just mechanical.  "Superman", or any of the  other characters in
 the DC  collections are almost like family.  They want that personal touch
 which Rick feels can be accomplished better with the Atari.   He  does the
 work while the machine is one of his tools.  With the Mac, for example, it
 would almost be the opposite.

      Until Rick learns what his future partnership with  the Superman (and
 Batman) archives  will be,  he continues  to run his company and taking on
 new projects.  Next time we'll take a look at another aspect of his work.



          ______________________________________________________





 > ASDE STR InfoFile                         GEOGRAPHY TUTOR V3.2
   =================




                    GEOGRAPHY TUTOR V3.2 PRESS RELEASE
                    ==================================



                                 ASDE Inc.
                             151 rue Jolicoeur
                               Hull, Quebec
                              CANADA J8Z 1C8
                  Phone:(819)770-7681   Fax:(819)777-6330
                  Compuserve: 72417,3026   Genie M.ROCHON


      GEOGRAPHY TUTOR is the only ELECTRONIC ATLAS available  for the ATARI
 ST/MEGA/TT line of computers. V3.2 is now shipping with completely updated
 maps and data bases for every country in the world.

      The software has been upgraded and now includes full zoom capacity on
 any area  of any  map as  well as  the ability to save maps to disk and to
 print any data by  country or  by category.   An  animated display  of the
 earth globe  can also  be superimposed  on any of the maps. Also added are
 full descriptions of any data element with source and definitions. 

      A map  and data  base of  the MIDDLE  EAST is  now part  of the basic
 program as well as the previously included:

           1) WORLD 
           2) AFRICA 
           3) EUROPE 
           4) NORTH AMERICA 
           5) CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
           6) THE STATES OF THE U.S.A.  

      Loading  and  saving  data  bases  has  been  speeded  up  and is now
 approximately 3 times faster than in pre V3.0 versions.

      All registered owners can upgrade their program at  the same  time as
 the data  bases and  maps for  a fee  of $10.00 which includes all mailing
 costs. Send your original disk together with a cheque or money order (U.S.
 funds) 

      New maps and data bases of AUSTRALASIA, THE CARIBBEAN, and SOUTH EAST
 ASIA can be purchased for a special one  time price  of $5.00  if they are
 ordered at the same time as the upgrade.
        
      The program  can be  ordered directly from ASDE Inc. at the above ad-
 dress for $39.95(u.s.) including all mailing costs.


 SOME NOTES ABOUT GEOGRAPHY TUTOR:

      The first version of this program was released  in 1988.   Since then
 it has undergone 3 major upgrades. Data bases and maps have been updated 4
 times to keep all information current.

      The program  is distributed  in France  (French Version)  by UBI SOFT
 which has  sold more than 1800 copies of the program in 18 months.  In the
 U.K. the  program  is  distributed  by  GRALIN  INTERNATIONAL.    A German
 language version of the program is also available.
  
      The program  has been reviewed extensively and always very positively
 in the ATARI Press and on line magazines.  It has been demonstrated at the
 two last  WAACE fest,  ATARI WORLD show in Los Angeles, BOSTON ATARI FEST,
 TORONTO ATARI FEST, LONDON (U.K.) 16  BIT  FAIR  and  other  ATARI special
 shows and demonstrations. 

 Writing in RESET (Vol 1 Issue #3  P14-15) 
 Bob Thompson gave a very good review and pointed out in particular 
 the "excellent user interface".

 The program  was very  thoroughly reviewed in the Jan/Feb 1990 issue (Vol.
 10 No. 1 p.54-56) of Current Notes.  Bill Moes  the author  of the review,
 concluded 
           "an extremely well designed program that offers help 
            to students from 5th grade through college.  It's 
            easily used and, with the supplemental disks available, 
            amazingly open-ended."

 Atari St  User in  the United  Kingdom, published  a short overview of the
 program in its September 1990 issue p.82  It concluded ..
                "Geography however is fun and educational".

 In the same issue, a list of the top 30 P.D. or DEMO ST software was
 published.  GEOGRAPHY was listed first in that section.


 The November 1990 issue of Start magazine, reviewed the program 
 fully and was very positive.  The review is subtitled:  
           "Travel The World Without Leaving Home"

 Some of the highlights of that review follow:
           "Geography Tutor is GEM based, so it is easy to use.  
            To make it even easier, there are always instructions 
            at the bottom of the screen that tell you what to do next.  
            The manual is well written and includes screens shots 
            to help you navigate through the programs various features." 

            "One of the more powerful features of Geography Tutor 
             is the ability to compare one country with another.  
             For instance, you can color all the countries on the 
             screen on the basis of doctors per capita.  Or look at 
             which countries have Islam as their major religion.  
             You can easily switch back and forth from this graphical 
             representation to a list of the counties ranked by 
             their value or alphabetically."

             "Geography Tutor lets create your own separate databases 
              or modify and update the ones that come with the program.  
              There is also room for up to four notes of your own 
              that can added to the database for each country or state.  
              These notes don't have to be text, they can also be DEGAS 
              compressed pictures -- a picture of that country's 
              flag, or a map of one of the cities for instance."
                                             
     The April issues of ST Format and ST User (U.K.)  both contained short
     positive reviews on the new versions of GEOGRAPHY TUTOR.


         ________________________________________________________





 > Serious Overviews STR Spotlight      "...What's Atari waiting for?"
   ===============================




                        ATARI - A STUDY IN ITSELF!
                        ==========================


 by Ed Krimen


     I've been  an Atari  ST user  for 3-1/2  years.   I started out with a
 1040ST, color monitor, and  9-pin printer.   I  bought it  for writing for
 school with  the intention  to do telecommunications and drawing later.  6
 months later, I bought a modem and it hasn't been the same  since.   I now
 have a 4meg STe, NEC Multisync 3D, Quantum 105meg hard drive with ICD host
 adaptor in an ICD case, and a Supra 2400 modem.  But, enough with the sap-
 py introduction....

     I'm really  not sure what's going on in the world of Atari.  I look to
 the on-line magazines, ST Informer, and now AtariUser for info, plus vari-
 ous networks.  The networks provide the user's point of view.  The magazi-
 nes are also effective information  because  they  try  to  explain what's
 going on behind the scenes.  I have the strange feeling that Atari is like
 a circus behind the scenes.  On the surface, it seems like  any other cor-
 poration: the  people who  answer phones at Customer and Technical Support
 are very friendly and responsive.  Yes, Atari has returned my calls.

     On the  other hand,  its actions  demonstrate the  amateurism that the
 magazines don't  necessarily express  explicitly.  Sure, we have MegaSTe's
 shipping.  TT's are Trickling in, Too.  STe's are in abundance.   Research
 and Development  is alive  and well;  we have  an ST Notebook in the wings
 with an ST Pad (STylus) close behind -- or so they say.  Software seems to
 be picking  up too,  especially with Goldleaf importing high-end applicat-
 ions from Europe, ISD and  SoftLogik  updating  their  fantastic programs.
 The situation seems to be pretty rosy....

     ...but it  isn't.  Why do I know the situation the way it is?  Because
 I try to keep up to date in the Atari world.  I make  an effort  to do so.
 The problem  is that  the non-Atari users don't and shouldn't have to make
 the effort to know what's going on.  Why should they know what's going on?
 Well,  I  would  think  that  Atari  wants to sell a lot of computers, and
 people aren't going to buy something they don't know exists.   Actually, I
 sometimes wonder if Atari's goal is to sell computers.  I've heard stories
 that their production plants only produce a small fraction of what they're
 capable of producing.

     So what's Atari waiting  for?   _Christmas_?   Perhaps.   But it's not
 Christmas of  this year, or next year, of the following year.  My guess is
 that its Christmas of 1995 or later, if ever.   As with  all corporations,
 Atari has their "plan."  They're going to wait and wait and wait until the
 time is right to push their computers.   The vast  majority of  people out
 there don't  know what  they'd use a computer for, so why try to sell them
 one now?  Computers  must get  smaller, cheaper,  and more  powerful.  The
 interface must be easier, without a bulky keyboard.  Speech recognition is
 a ways off, but apparently,  handwriting  recognition  is  closer  than we
 think, or  so they tell us.  These easy-to-use interfaces are necessary so
 that the masses will at least begin to feel comfortable with computers.

     This is where the  ST Pad  (or STylus)  comes in.   Its simple-to-use,
 pen-input interface  could be the answer that would get more people to buy
 computers.  There's still the problem  for what  they're going  to use it.
 Writing notes,  memos, forms  -- perhaps,  but not with a $2,000 computer.
 Eventually, though, the price will come  down, thanks  to Atari's low-cost
 production.

     However, when  you hear  about pen-based computers and interfaces, you
 hear about Go Corp. and sometimes Window's pen-interface.   But  you woul-
 dn't hear  about Atari  and its STylus, even though it was shown at CeBit,
 one of the largest computer fairs in the world, in Germany where Atari has
 a strong presence.  (Actually, I don't even think Atari should have showed
 it.  It's not ready to be shipped, so why show it?  We  don't want  to see
 something that we can't have for several months.)

     The same thing can be said for the Portfolio.  Recently, HP introduced
 a palmtop which included Lotus-123 built-in.  It looks very similar to the
 Portfolio, but  it got much more press than the Portfolio.  NBC even did a
 lengthy segment  of the  HP on  their Nightly  News, giving  HP credit for
 inventing the  palmtop.  Certainly Atari didn't invent the palmtop (DIP of
 the U.K. designed the  Portfolio and  Poquet has  their own  palmtop), but
 they  could  have  milked  a  little  more  of the credit for it.  This is
 Atari's responsibility and no one else's.   HP  was at  best third  with a
 palmtop on  the market,  with Atari and Poquet coming out with one at sim-
 ilar times.  If one was to get exposure for his product, he doesn't sit on
 his duff.  The press in general isn't like '60 Minutes' where they active-
 ly investigate the stories.   The  stories in  the ordinary  press must be
 given to  them, and then they may investigate to find more information, or
 just use what was given to them.

     This is the press release's function.  They should be packed with more
 information than the press can use.  And preferably without a lot of spel-
 ling errors like the glossy MegaSTe  and TT  brochures.   The beauty about
 press releases  is that  they're far  cheaper than commercials.  The press
 will distribute the information for you to the masses in the form of news.
 I'm sure  this is  what HP did when they released their palmtop; they sent
 information to NBC, which then featured it in a long  news story  on their
 Nightly News.

     I majored in telecommunications (video production), not public relati-
 ons, in school.  Atari doesn't need me telling them what to do (maybe they
 do).   I'd hope  they'd have  professionals who've  been working for a few
 years in the field  knowing  how  to  promote  the  computers  (maybe they
 don't).

     What Atari  needs is enthusiasm.  The company is hardly representative
 of its users.  Look what happens when you get a few enthusiastic, success-
 ful users in there: Bob Brodie, Bill Rehbock, and others who have actually
 known what an Atari computer is and can do before they worked for the com-
 pany.   Atari needs  employees who just don't work for them, but employees
 who know the value of and love Atari computers.   They need  employees who
 want to  see the  computer survive  and succeed.   Look at users on GEnie,
 Usenet, Fidonet,  Fnet and  Freenet.   Look at  Atari user  groups!  Atari
 would not  be here today if it wasn't for those users and user groups sup-
 porting the Atari computers.  

     I've used everything from MS-DOS to Windows to the Macintosh  IIfx and
 always prefer  using the  ST.  I often wonder why the ST doesn't have sup-
 port like the other computers do.   There  are a  variety of  reasons, and
 piracy isn't one of them.  I'm absolutely NOT condoning piracy, but there-
 's a lot more piracy in the MS-DOS and Mac market, and you don't  see them
 struggling.   The main issue is that there isn't enough of a user base for
 a Microsoft or other large company  to invest  in the  relatively small ST
 user base.   If  Atari users  want more third-party support, the user base
 must increase.

     The way to increase the user base is  simple from  the user viewpoint:
 (1) tell  a great  deal of people about the power and affordability of the
 ST computers and (2) get the  computers to  them.   Atari users  have been
 telling Atari  Corp. for  years that  the company must advertise.  This is
 not news, and Atari apparently doesn't listen; if   you  do listen, Atari,
 lets here from you.  In "Ogilvy On Advertising," a virtual bible on adver-
 tising, David Ogilvy of Ogilvy and Mather, one of the  leading advertising
 agencies in the world, says in chapter 16, "What should you do in times of
 recession, when you need every penny to sustain  your earnings?   Stop ad-
 vertising?"  "If you stop advertising a brand which is still in its intro-
 ductory phase, you will probably kill it -- forever.  Studies of  the last
 six  recessions  have  demonstrated  that  companies which do not cut back
 their advertising budgets achieve greater increases in profit  than compa-
 nies which  do cut  back."  Moreover, in chapter 9, he states, "You cannot
 rely on *short-term* advertising to turn the tide  of hostile  public opi-
 nion in your favor, to boost the price of your stock, or put a halo around
 your reputation."  "Most corporate campaigns are short-lived  because they
 don't start  with any clear objective, and because research is not used to
 track their progress."  Finally, he says, "Corporate advertising can impr-
 ove the  morale of  your employees;  who wants  to work for an outfit that
 nobody has ever heard of?  It can  also make  it easier  to recruit better
 people, at all levels."

     As I stated, the second part of the issue is getting computers to 
 the people  who want them, and if Atari does indeed advertise, then people
 WILL want them.  Mass market is the key here.  You must make  it very easy
 for the  common person to obtain an Atari computer.  Since there is a lack
 of dealers in the US from which to buy an Atari computer, mass merchandis-
 ers are  the answer.  Now, which computers should they stock?  I think the
 STe and MegaSTe should be stocked by the mass merchandisers.  Yes,  I know
 the dealers  don't like  to hear that, but with a lack of dealers, this is
 the only way to get a lot of computers to a lot of people.

     The STe and MegaSTe  are the  home and  business computers, respectiv-
 ely.   The MegaSTe  MUST get  out to  the public  in large numbers because
 it's such a powerful machine at a good price, whereas the STe  is the per-
 fect machine for the home.  I DO NOT think however that the dealers should
 be ignored.  How about giving the greater  discount to  dealers instead of
 the mass  merchandisers?  Therefore, the dealers could have the benefit of
 having the lower price and attracting more customers.  The TT MUST be sold
 to none  other than the authorized dealers because it requires dealer sup-
 port, which the STe and MegaSTe do not.  Moreover, the dealer network sho-
 uld be  developed to  include a  larger number of better-informed dealers.
 I am saddened to say that there are a lot of dealers  who don't  know what
 they're selling  and couldn't help a TT user in need.  If I'm going to buy
 something for $2,000 or more, I had better  get good  answers to  my ques-
 tions, and  I shouldn't  have to look any further than the person who sold
 it to me.  If the person can't  answer my  questions, then  they shouldn't
 be selling the product; it's that simple.

     In this age of inexpensive modems and computers, there's absolutely NO
 reason why Atari cannot better support its dealers either through a dealer
 specific BBS  or roundtable  on GEnie.   Furthermore, with the mass market
 shipments of computers, there should be included in the box a list of aut-
 horized Atari  dealers in  the US.  I don't mean a complete list of places
 that sell the Lynx and Portfolio, but a  list that  only has  dealers that
 carry STe/MegaSTe-related products.  If I buy an ST computer, I don't want
 to know where I can get a Lynx and Portfolio.  The list should be a master
 list of  all the  dealers in the US -- not a regional list, because we all
 know how things get messed up and before  you know  it, people  in Florida
 will get a list of dealers in California, and that's not the way it should
 be.  This list should  also  be  constantly  updated.    When  one  buys a
 computer, they shouldn't receive a list that's a year old; of course, rec-
 ently updated lists would be available  from Customer  Relations, and this
 fact must  be mentioned  on the  list.  Finally, I think that a free Atari
 magazine subscription would be quite beneficial and a necessity to the new
 user.

     Here's a relevant anecdote: I consulted a new ST user for the past few
 months.  He had just bought  a used  1040ST and  wanted some  help with it
 because he didn't know how to use it.  One of the first questions he asked
 me was if Atari was still in business.  Another  question he  asked was if
 Commodore and  Atari were  one company.  It certainly seems that way some-
 times, doesn't it?  Too bad Atari's stock isn't where Commodore's is.   He
 is an example of a person on the outside, just coming into the inside.  He
 was totally oblivious to the Atari world, knowing  nothing about  the com-
 pany or  the computer;  he only  bought the  computer because  it has MIDI
 ports and he was  going to  write his  own MIDI  software using  ST Basic.
 (AAK!!)  He didn't even know how to program, but was willing to learn.

     Take this  test: try to go a week without touching or using your Atari
 computer (or just imagine doing that).  Observe all the news Atari gets in
 the mass  media.   Go to your local bookstore.  Read the newspaper.  Watch
 TV.  Hear no Atari, see no Atari.  Pretty pitiful, isn't  it?   Well, this
 is what  the common  person gets exposed to.  They don't know about Atari,
 if it's dead or alive, if  it still  makes arcade  games <grin>,  or what.
 This is  completely Atari's  fault, despite the incredible, tremendous ef-
 fort of the users, user groups, and people like Donald Thomas who  want to
 spread the word.

     If  Atari  wants  to  become  a  big  player, and I don't see why they
 shouldn't want to play with the big boys, they're going to have  to sell a
 lot of  computers and  impress a  lot of people.  Their appearance at CEPS
 was very commendable and impressive, but a high-end  niche isn't  going to
 solve the  problem.   The high-end  market demands  a lot  of support, and
 Atari and its developers are in no position to provide  that kind  of sup-
 port yet.   To  impress and  to get into a situation that can provide sup-
 port the high-end market  needs, Atari  must sell  computers.   That's the
 bottom line.   To sell computers, people must know about them.   And right
 now, people don't know about Atari computers.   People can't  and will not
 buy what they don't know about.

     I don't  know what  difference my  prose will make, but I hope it does
 indeed make a difference.  What I've said has been said before  many times
 by many  people.   If you  would like to reach me, I just got a shiny, new
 GEnie account: E.KRIMEN.  I welcome all praises and flames. <grin>




 EDITOR NOTE:
 Ed sent in this essay in response to our request  for reader  opinions and
 views concerning the future of Atari and what may be done to help.

                 Hats off to Ed for a fine piece of work!

 Next  week,  we  will  present  a  host of reader mail sent to STReport in
 response to our call for reader input.


           ____________________________________________________





 > STALKER/STENO STR InfoFile                 GRIBNIF SOFTWARE RELEASES
   ==========================




 Gribnif Software Press Release                        June, 1991




                      GRIBNIF SOFTWARE WILL NOW CARRY
                STRATA SOFTWARE'S STENO(TM) AND STALKER(TM)
                       SOFTWARE FOR THE ATARI ST/TT



 HADLEY, MA

     Gribnif Software announces that effective immediately  they are taking
 over  all  marketing,  distribution,  support,  and  promotion  of  Strata
 Software's STeno(TM) and STalker(TM) software products for the Atari ST.

     Gribnif will release new  and  enhanced  versions  of  these programs,
 which when  combined with Gribnif's effective marketing and strong support
 will give  these  excellent  packages  the  market  recognition  that they
 deserve.

     First to  be released  will be a new version of the STeno text editor.
 This powerful GEM based text editor  makes any  text editing  job a breeze
 and includes  features normally  only found in more expensive word proces-
 sors.

     This will be followed by the release of a brand new and  powerful ver-
 sion of  the STalker  terminal program.   This  new version will combine a
 powerful script language, terminal emulations, new transfer protocols, and
 GDOS support, making it one of the most powerful terminal programs for the
 Atari ST/TT.

     STalker and STeno are  trademarks  of  Strata  Software.   Exclusively
 marketed and distributed by Gribnif Software.



                         GRIBNIF SOFTWARE RELEASES
                         NEW STENO(TM) TEXT EDITOR
                        PROGRAM FOR THE ATARI ST/TT


 HADLEY, MA

     Gribnif Software  is proud  to announce the immediate release of a new
 version of  the  STeno(TM)  text  editor  for  the  Atari  ST/TT, recently
 acquired from Strata Software.

     This amazing  GEM based  text editor  runs as both a desk accessory or
 stand alone program.  It is  fast, easy  to use,  and incredibly powerful.
 It  even  includes  features  normally  only  found in more expensive word
 processors.

     STeno also has the impressive ability to display  its entire  menu set
 inside its own window.  This allows complete access to its drop-down menus
 while running STeno as a  desk  accessory.    Other  features  include the
 ability to  interact with the popular STalker(TM) terminal program and the
 NeoDesk(R) 3 desktop replacement.

     The program is being  released  with  the  low  introductory  price of
 $29.95.   It is available directly from Gribnif Software or through normal
 Atari software dealers and distributors.

     STeno and  STeno  are  trademarks  of  Strata  Software.   Exclusively
 marketed and  distributed by  Gribnif Software.   NeoDesk  is a registered
 trademark of Gribnif Software.




 For more Info Contact:
                             Gribnif Software
                               P.O. Box 350,
                             Hadley, MA 01035
                            Tel: (413) 584-7887
                            Fax: (413) 584-2565



       ____________________________________________________________


  
  
 > STReport CONFIDENTIAL
       "BLOCKBUSTER ATARI NEWS - ALWAYS FIRST!" 
   ===================== 




 - Sunnyvale, CA                   ATARI SELLS OFFSHORE FACILITIES
   -------------

     The factory has been sold.  BUT...consider this,,, Atari sold the fac-
 tory and  that's good.  Here's why;  Atari no longer must face the cost of
 maintaining the buildings, salaries  etc..    They  have  only contractual
 agreements to  adhere to which means added profits.  Atari has made a fine
 business decision, they sold  the  facilities  and  now  contract  for the
 production of Atari products. 




 - London, UK               GST TO SUPPORT PUBLISHER ST & 1ST WORD PLUS
   ----------

     GST Holdings  has initiated a programmer's group to update and support
 First Word Plus (WordWriter) and Publisher ST (Timeworks DTP).  First Word
 Plus, a fine word processor that is closely related to WordWriter ST, will
 be supported with  updates  and  refinements.    Publisher  ST,  the close
 cousin to  Timeworks DTP, will also be fully supported and updated.  These
 two programs add to the variety  of affordable  application software being
 made continually available to Atari ST users.
  

  

 - St. Louis, MO                   PAGESTREAM 2.0 TO DEBUT AT VANCOUVER
   -------------

     PageSTream 2, the anxiously awaited update to the already powerful and
 very popular Desktop Publishing solution for  the Atari  ST computer plat-
 form, is  scheduled for  debut and release at the upcoming Vancouver Atari
 Computer Show.    This  very  powerful  release  version  will  include 10
 Compugraphic Fonts  plus 8 Soft-Logik fonts.  All fonts used by PageSTream
 2 are scalable to printer and screen.    Most  fonts  are  scalable  up to
 183,000 points  in .01  point increments.   Additionally, this new version
 will import most all word processor formats and graphics formats,  has its
 own spelling  and hyphenation  dictionaries, draws objects with box, line,
 elipse, arc, polygon, Bezier curve and freehand tools.  This solution pri-
 nts  to  dot  matrix,  ink  jet, laser and Postscript compatible printers.
 This folks, is an update that  makes a  very positive  statement about the
 future of  Atari.   The time frame for registered users to upgrade will be
 extended thus, affording  everyone  an  opportunity  to  upgrade.   And...
 please remember; its made in the USA!




 - Sunnyvale, CA                 FSM GDOS TARGET DATE -> AUG 1, 1991
   -------------

     Atari's FSM GDOS, the new, scalable GDOS that Atari has been feverish-
 ly developing for use with the new line  of computers  and TOS,  now has a
 tentative release  date of  August 1st.   Seems  a few more 'undocumented'
 features have appeared.  




 - Jordan, MN                  AlberTT -  VME Video Board Released!
   ----------

     A New VME product!  AlberTT VME based for the  MegaSTe &  TT. 1024x768
 (16 colors  out of  4096).  Optional 800x600 or 640x480.  Works with Lexi-
 cor software and made  by the  designer of  the Viking  Moniterm and Color
 ISAC, Jay  Craswell.  Pricing has not been set in stone yet.  Dover is now
 taking advance orders for the initial production run.  By the way, this is
 NON-Interlaced output.   Unlike  the VGA  cards for  the PC.  This is ROCK
 SOLID!  No flicker.  Rio Datel advertises they have a 1024x768 monitor for
 $500.00. Atarians now have a compatible and affordable monitor.  And.. the
 AlberTT production  units will  have a  flying Palette  widget that allows
 clever programs to display more than 16 colors at once (Ala Spectrum 512).
 For further Information Call or write:

                              Dover Research
                              321 West 4 St.
                            Jordan, Mn.  55352
                              (612) 492-3913

 P.S. Dover is still selling the ISAC for Megas.




 - Chicago, IL                       CES -> LYNX - PORTFOLIO - JAGUAR
   -----------


     The ELECTRONIC  VIDEO GAME  MARKET has  seen SOMEWHAT OF A SLOWDOWN IN
 GROWTH due  to the  mild recession  and by  so-called 'market saturation'.
 However,   Atari Corp. indicated its experience is "quite the opposite" to
 the current trend and is looking forward to continued growth  this year in
 sales of its highly popular, hand-held 16-bit Lynx system. 

     Last year  Atari sold  almost a  half million Lynx machines worldwide,
 and for 1991 they expect to do even better.  In fact,  Atari fully expects
 to sell everything they make."  Lawrence Siegel, president of Atari Enter-
 tainment Division, said Atari's Lynx was well positioned in the  market in
 "a carefully  chosen niche"  and supported by some 22 game titles, with 15
 more to be introduced during the trade show.

     "By year end, there will be 50 games out there for Lynx," Siegel said.
 Siegel mentioned  that he anticipates Nintendo's new Super NES system will
 sell more than a million units this year.  But, at the same time,  he also
 believes the  market share  it will claim will be mostly from Sega's Gene-
 sis. 

     Siegel said  Atari is  developing "a  new, powerful  family of console
 products.    Among  which  the  'Jaguar'  is  tentatively planned...  "but
 introduction of the new products won't  be until  1992 and  will depend on
 market  conditions."    The  executive  also  said  sales of the company's
 Portfolio palmtop computer continue to show increased strength. 



        __________________________________________________________




 > STR Crystal Ball                             BIG SHAKEUP IS AFOOT!   
   ----------------




                 RE-ALIGNMENT - LAYOFFS - BELT TIGHTENING
                               CONSOLIDATION

                      "THE IDES OF MARCH IN JUNE?!?"

     The CRYSTAL BALL is glowing WHITE HOT!  Could it be true?

         Is there going to be anywhere between a 30-50% layoffs? 

                        IS... "HE BACK IN CHARGE?"

       Is there really going to be a consolidation of subsidiaries? 

      Are there to be DEMOTIONS, TITLE CHANGES, MORE WORK-NO RAISES?

       Second Generation TT030 "The Real Thing" @ 01/01/92  >FALCON<

         No "TAMALES OR MAPLE LEAVES" just one big bag of tricks?

                    "DOWN UNDER" being throttled back?

                 What do you mean; YOU DON'T LIKE RIDDLES!

                    How about; "TV STARS FINISH LAST!"

        Yo Adrian!  We ain't talkin' about the Johnny Carson show!
                  For the whole story ..... stay tuned!!




           _____________________________________________________





 > Hard Disks STR InfoFile       ***** ABCO PRICE CHANGES! *****
   =======================




                       ** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **

                      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 ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
                  * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *

                   WE PAY SHIPPING!!!  >BLUE LABEL UPS!<

               Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS
            Model        Description      Autopark       Price
            ==================================================
            SGN4951      51Mb 28ms   3.5"    Y          479.00
            SGN1096      85Mb 24ms   5.25"   Y          549.00
            SGN2055     105mb 17ms   3.5"    Y QUANTUM  719.00
            SGN6277     120Mb 24ms   3.5"    Y          789.00
            SGN1296     168Mb 24ms   3.5"    Y         1019.00
            ==================================================
               ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250w PS
             PLEASE NOTE:  The above is partial listing only!

          CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED

        >> ABCO is now taking orders for 1040 & MEGA STe Computers! <<
                Call for VERY special Introductory prices!

           If you don't see what you want listed here, call us.
                Odds are we have it or, can get it for you!
                        AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE!

                "We service what we sell. (when necessary)"

                      ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******

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

          - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE         - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A
          - ICD Utility Software        - 3' DMA Cable 
          - Fan & Clock                 - Multi-Unit Power Supply
                          (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
                --->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<---

                   WE PAY SHIPPING!!!  >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
                  COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
                    Cart and Utility Software Included!

                        EXTRA CARTS:      $  74.50
                        DRIVE MECH ONLY:  $ 349.95

                      ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******

   * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
                       SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1019.00 **
                         Includes TWO cartridges!

    * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
         - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -

             50mb SQG51   $ 819.00     85mb SQG96    $ 1019.00
                       
                 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
                      CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE

                   WE PAY SHIPPING!!!  >BLUE LABEL UPS!<

           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 COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
           LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)

                      *>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*

       - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -

            * SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
                       * Toner Starter Kits $49.95 *
                       * Replacement Drums $183.95 *

               >> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
                      ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED

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

                   WE PAY SHIPPING!!!  >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
                 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

                ABCO is EXPANDING!!  CALL FOR INFORMATION!




       ____________________________________________________________




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




                "PERFUME AND POISON COME IN SMALL PACKAGES!"

                                          ....Napolean Blown-apart




 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
                  STReport International Online Magazine?
     Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 STReport?            "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE"           June 07, 1991
 16/32bit Magazine        copyright = 1987-91                    No.7.23
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
 the editors,  staff, STReport?  CPU/MAC/STR? or ST Report?.  Permission to
 reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted.   Each reprint
 must include  the name of the publication, date, issue #  and the author's
 name.  The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
 any way  without prior  written permission.   The  entire 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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