Z*Net: 13-Jul-90 #528

From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/28/90-12:40:56 PM Z


From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Z*Net: 13-Jul-90  #528
Date: Sat Jul 28 12:40:56 1990


 
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                       Z*Net Atari Online Magazine
 
               July 13, 1990   Volume 5  No. 28  Issue: 528

 =======================================================================
 (c=) 1990 by Rovac Industries,  PO Box 59,  Middlesex, New Jersey 08846
 =======================================================================
  BBS 201-968-8148 * CIS 71777,2140 * Cleveland Free-Net * GEnie Z-NET
 =======================================================================
 Staff: Ron Kovacs, John Nagy, Alice Amore, Jon Clarke, Bruce Hansford,
 Robert Ford, Mark Quinn, John King Tarpinian, Bruce Kennedy, Eric Gove,
 Terry Schreiber, and Lisa Kovacs.
 =======================================================================
 
                             C O N T E N T S

 - THIS WEEK..................................................Ron Kovacs
 - Z*NET NEWSWIRE.......................................................
 - BRANCH ALWAYS SOFTWARE UPDATE...........................Darek Mihocka
 - REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS PART 29..........................Donald Thomas
 - Z*NET DOWN-UNDER EXTRA..................................Press Release
 - FOREM BBS NEWS............................................Steve Rider
 - PD/SHAREWARE STOP..........................................Mark Quinn
 - TRACKER-ST UPDATE.......................................Press Release
 - Z*NET ECHOS...........................................Terry Schreiber
 
 
 
                     ===============================
                            T H I S   W E E K
                     ===============================
                              by RON KOVACS
 
 
 A new column appears this week from Terry Schreiber.  Terry is from
 Canada and will be a regular contributor reporting on Canadian events,
 Z*Net Echos F-Net, contributing to the Z*Net Newswire and various other
 topics.
 
 German PD programs are now available on the Z*Net BBS.  As soon as we
 sort out the rest of the disks recently donated by Michael Schutz of the
 Atari PD Journal of Germany, they will be available for downloading.

  

                     ===============================
                       Z * N E T   N E W S W I R E
                     ===============================
  
  
 -    ATARI    -   Atari in New Zealand has told their dealers that the
 -    TT030    -   Atari TT030 computer will be a 32Mhz rather than 16Mhz
 -     AT      -   as originally planned.  The entire press release and
 -    32MHZ?   -   specifications are elsewhere in this issue of Z*Net.
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-   A similar announcement was made by Atari in the
 Netherlands, but Atari USA and Corporate officially both say that their
 specification information is unchanged... at least at this writing.
 Said Bob Brodie in a response to direct questions about the machine, "I
 spoke to Sam Tramiel about this personally.  He has instructed me to
 state that the specifications for the TT remain unchanged.  It is still
 a 16 Mhz machine."  He added, "Clearly, this is just an out of control
 rumor."  However, some insiders say that change to the new CPU speed is
 real, and that it is being made in reaction to a realistic assessment of
 the competition in the growing (and speedy) micro workstation market.
 According to the several souces that admit to the new chip plans, the
 production schedule for the TT is promised to NOT be set back by the
 change.  This indicates to some that the underlying TT design and
 clocking will not be changed, and that the faster CPU is not likely to
 be supported by new, faster processors and busses downstream.  The
 result will indeed be faster computation, but a bottleneck in the
 support and memory handling that may prevent the realization of the full
 speed that is available from a completely 32MHZ design.
 
 
 -     STE     -   Atari Canada is aware of a problem with the STe and
 -     AND     -   hard drives and has issued return numbers to all it's
 - HARD DRIVES -   dealers to replace the defective stock immediately.
                   Although not all units are plagued with this problem,
                   if you have recently bought an STE, return it to the
                   store of purchase for checking.

  
 -    ATARI    -   Atari is agressively penetrating the educational
 -      IN     -   marketplace.  In Ontario Canada it was accepted by
 -  EDUCATION  -   the Ministry of Education and introduced in the
                   schools.  Using the 286 as file server it is networked
                   using Lantasic to other systems in the classroom.
 
 
 -   MICHTRON  -   We asked Gordon Monnier of Michtron this week about a
 -    UPDATE   -   story stating that Michtron was up for sale.  Although
                   Monnier would not make an official comment on the
                   matter, he did confirm by saying Michtron was up for
                   sale.
 
 
 -    ATARI    -   The difference between TOS16 and TOS162 is a change
 - ENGINEERING -   that the engineering department places on any type of
 -   AND TOS   -   update, be it major or minor.  They might increment
 -     1.62    -   the number a notch at a time.  The part number of the
                   chip is C301164-002A, the suffix indicates the actual
                   TOS version.  The date is noted as 12290.
 
 
 -    APPLE    -   Last week we told you that Apple was going to announce
 - INTRODUCES  -   the release of new laser printers.  On Monday the
 -  LOW-COST   -   announcement included a single user laser printer
 - LASERWRITER -   priced at $1.999 and a multiuser laser priced at
 -   PRINTERS  -   $3,299.  Both printers are for the MAC Systems.
 

 -    TEXAS    -   Texas Instruments filed suits this week against five
 - INSTRUMENTS -   semiconductor manufacturers who sell, import and
 -    FILES    -   package integrated circuits using TI patented process
 -    SUIT     -   without license.  The suit was filed against Analog
                   Devices, Cypress Semiconductor, Integrated Device,
                   LSI Logic and VLSI Technology.
 
 
 -   MOTOROLA  -   Motorola and IBM are working on an agreement to enable
 -     IBM     -   Motorola to produce computer memory chips.  IBM has
 - NEGOTIATING -   already licensed the high-tech memory-chip technology
                   to Micron Technology as part of its effort to improve
                   the competetive position of US chip producers.
 
 
 -     NEW     -   After Monday's announcement of new low-cost laser
 -    APPLE    -   printers, Apple announced on Wednesday the formation
 -   COMPANY   -   of a new company called General Magic, Inc..  The new
 -  ANNOUNCED  -   company will design and develop a new class of
                   "Personal Intelligent Communicator" products. 

 
 -     NEC     -   NEC and Turbo Zone announced the opening of Turbo Zone
 - WITH  TURBO -   which carries exclusively the TurboGrafx-16 products.
 - ZONE  OPENS -   The opening of this new store will take place this
 -    STORE    -   Saturday, July 14 at the Serramonte Shopping Center in
                   Daly City California.  Look for additional stores
                   scheduled to open in cities across the country. 




 
                     ===============================
                      BRANCH ALWAYS SOFTWARE UPDATE
                     ===============================

 Branch Always Software has moved!
 =================================
 Branch Always Software, makers of Quick ST II and Quick Tools, has moved
 its headquarters from Canada to the United States. This will allow us to
 offer faster, more reliable service to our main market, and offer
 additional services such as overnight delivery and 1-800 sevice.

 Operations will resume on Monday July 9, 1990.  The new mailing address
 for all correspondance is:

  Branch Always Software
  14150 N.E. 20th St. Suite 302
  Bellevue, WA  98007

 A 1-800 telephone number will hopefully be up within a few weeks to
 offer toll free phone support to U.S. and possibly Canadian customers.

 Branch Always Software will also be attending next month's World Of
 Atari show and the WAACE show in October.  All of our products,
 including Quick ST 2.1 and Quick Tools will be on sale, and Quick ST 3.0
 might be on display if a TT or 68030 accelerator show up in time.

 The new 32-page Quick Tools manuals have arrived and starting Monday
 will be mailed out free of charge to all registered Quick Tools users.

 Quick ST 2.1 reviews
 ====================
 Last month, two new Quick ST reviews were published. This is in addition
 to several reviews that appeared in April and May in PSAN, ST World, and
 the Phoenix newsletter.

 We invite all ST users to read the new reviews in ST Informer and
 Current Notes, but here are some small samples...

 "I think Turbo ST is over priced... If you do not have Turbo ST yet,
 then Quick ST seems to be a better choice... for all practical purposes
 both accelerators provide a very similar degree of improvement."
  - Current Notes, June 1990, review by J. Andrzej Wrotniak

 "..the speed improvement is very noticable - I don't use my ST without
 Quick ST installed... There is really no competition - for your money
 Quick ST is definately the way to go. I highly recommend this package.."
  - ST Informer, June 1990, review by Ron Schaefer

 Warning to all Quick ST II Customers!
 =====================================
 It has come to our attention that the makers of Turbo ST have recently
 announced a very bogus upgrade offer from Quick ST II to their product
 Turbo ST 1.82.  Apparently for only $29.95, plus shipping, plus the
 original Quick ST II disk, Softrek will send you a copy of Turbo ST
 1.82.  That's $20 off the list price of Turbo ST, just because they're
 a bunch of swell guys who don't want Quick ST II users to be "left out
 in the cold".

 Well, it isn't surprising that with reviews like the ones above, the
 Softrek people would try something sneaky like this.  However, this
 crosses the line of fair competition.  Softrek does not manufacture or
 sell Quick ST II.  They are not authorized to "update" our disks, and
 are (thanks to some fancy wording) encouraging the piracy of Quick ST
 II.  Their update offer does not mention that sending in your Quick ST
 II disk to Softrek is the same as selling it to them (which means that
 you must also delete all backups of Quick ST II, and are no longer
 eligable for updates). This may seem quite obvious, but we can guarantee
 that there will be people out there who will read their upgrade offer
 and send in the Quick ST II disk, and then continue to use Quick ST II
 or download updates.  This is piracy, however you disguise it.  They
 also fail to mention that Turbo ST can be purchased from some dealers
 for about $30 or $35.  This can turn out to be less expensive than
 spending $29.95 plus shipping plus postage plus losing your rights to
 use Quick ST II.  They also do not offer a money back guarantee for when
 the users discover that they would rather use Quick ST II.

 We have made a formal request of Softrek to return to us any Quick ST II
 disks, which they receive so that we can delete the affected users from
 our registered user list, and so that we have the piece of mind of
 knowing that Softrek isn't reselling the disks for additional profit.
 Affected users will then be sent letters to notify them of their new
 status.  We have also requested that Softrek withdraw it's ridiculous
 "update" offer.

 We have nothing against people buying Turbo ST.  However, they should do
 so when they feel they need it, not when some sweet sounding offer is
 made which can actually end up being more expensive than walking to your
 nearest dealer.  And what about people who do not currently own Quick ST
 II and have to pay the full $49.95 when ordering from Softrek?  Why are
 they being penalized and not offered Turbo ST for $29.95 too?  Turbo ST
 is an overpriced product for what it does, and if the Softrek people
 want to compete, they should perhaps consider being more competitive.

 Branch Always Software does not believe in offering bounties or trade-
 ins on other people's software.  We sell a product that can sell itself
 quite well, thank you, at $19.95 on its own merits.  We see no
 constructive reason for offering bounties, especially when some dealers'
 Quick ST II prices are as low as $14.  We do not need to trick the
 competition's users into purchasing our product.  We hope that the
 powers that be at Softrek will come to their senses and comply with our
 requests.


 
               ============================================
               R E V O L U T I O N A R Y    C O N C E P T S
               ============================================
                              P A R T   2 9
                        "T H E   S O L U T I O N"
                         by Donald A. Thomas, Jr.
                        (c)1990   ARTISAN SOFTWARE
 
 
 (This is PART 29 of a series of articles published and distributed by
 Artisan Software.  Please feel free to copy and distribute this article
 as you please provided you include all unediteD text.  Also feel free to
 upload to boards and communication services.  These articles are
 designed to entice you to take constructive action.  Write to involved
 parties and tell them how YOU feel about the subject.)
 
 The simple solution to Atari's position in the United States is
 exposure.  While understanding that fact, it is much harder to make that
 happen.  It takes much more than running a lot of ads.  It takes a
 commitment from everyone who has a stake in Atari products.  TRANSCOAST
 SYSTEMS, Inc. of San Francisco, California understands the need for
 exposure and the work required to see it through.  This past Tuesday
 through Sunday (July 3-8), as many of us were enjoying the holiday at
 home with our families, Mr. Don Kimble of Transcoast operated a booth at
 the "CONCLAVE '90 RENO".  This event attracted scores of PIP Printing
 shop owners from across the country.  There are over 3,200 PIP Printing
 franchise operations across America and this is their annual gathering
 to see and hear about the latest in technology for their industry.
 
 PIP Printers, for those who may not have heard of them, are a chain of
 print shops.  There are a handful of such franchise operations, but PIP
 is one of the most successful over the years.  They offer complete
 printing services to businesses in their area at competitive prices and
 many offer the pre-press services of layout, design and pasteup.
 
 Transcoast Systems, Inc. arranged a booth at this event to present the
 Atari Mega4, SLM804 and Calamus software as the complete desktop
 publishing solution.  For an approximate $6,000, Transcoast not only
 promises to have a system up and running most anywhere in the country,
 but the price includes training as well.  The complete system also
 includes a MEGAFILE 30, Outline Art software and Font Editor Software.
 There are 35 fonts that are packaged in the system.  For a nominal added
 charge, other features can be added such as the full page viewing
 capabilities of the Viking monitor.
 
 Impressed by the dedication and commitment of Transcoast Systems, Atari
 U.S. arranged to supply the hardware shown at the event.  In addition,
 Bob Brodie, Don Thomas and Atari's V.P. of Sales, Bill Crouch, arrived
 to help make certain not one inquiry went unanswered.  From ISD
 Marketing (distributors of Calamus), Nathan Potechin made himself and
 his best graphic artist available to also answer questions and help sell
 DTP solution packages.
 
 PIP owners were astounded.  Amazed not only by the versatile
 capabilities of the software, they were surprised to see the name of
 Atari (many thought the company had long gone) and the incredible low
 price.  Within a couple of days handfuls of business cards were
 collected from those PIP owners who wanted either a formal presentation
 or more information as toset-up time.  A son of one PIP franchise
 proprietor was quoted to say, "Atari sure has come a long way, haven't
 they?".  Another had just taken delivery on an IBM/Pagemaker combination
 and was heard to say she was going to see if she could sell it.
 
 Since this article is distributed in Atari forums, we already know the
 value of our Atari systems.  The success that Transcoast enjoyed is
 something all Atari dealers can enjoy.  Long term success will not come
 until we begin to work a little harder, a little longer and a little
 smarter.  If the business does not come in our front door, then we must
 go to the business.  The PIP show in Bally's Reno, forced PIP owners to
 see something they never knew, the power and capability of the Atari
 desktop publishing solution.
 
 Transcoast Systems, Inc. is located at 388 Market Street, Suite 400,
 San Francisco, California 94111.  They can be reached at (415) 296-2572.
 Don Kimble is the owner.  Ike Eisenschmidt is one of his trainers and
 an expert in Calamus on the Atari system.  If your school, church,
 hospital, club or group can use the technology of desktop publishing for
 newsletters, advertising, menus and other printable materials, offer
 them a copy of this article.  Tell them the REVOLUTIONARY new system in
 Desktop Publishing is Atari, Calamus and Transcoast Systems, Inc.
 
 For information on how you can "JOIN THE REVOLUTION" and actively
 support the exposure of Atari computers, send $6.00 to ARTISAN SOFTWARE,
 P.O. Box 849, Manteca, California 95336.  An ST/MEGA compatible disk-
 based HANDBOOK will be rushed to you by return mail.  The HANDBOOK is
 also available from ST INFORMER, CURRENT NOTES, MEGABYTE COMPUTERS
 (Hurst, Texas), COMPUTER STUDIO (Asheville, North Carolina) and as a
 download from COMPUSERVE, GENIE and DELPHI.
 

 
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         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   Z*Net Down-Under       by Jon Clarke
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                    ***** Z*NET DOWN-UNDER EXTRA *****

 
 This document is Press Information provided by SOFTWARE SUPPLIES, AKA
 ATARI NEW ZEALAND, on ATARI Logo paper.  Transcribed using optical
 character reader for precise conversion by Z*NET NEWS SERVICE, 7/9/90.
 Z*Net assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information
 itself.

 Press Release

                               ATARI TT030
              Compatible - Expandible - Flexible - Affordable

 
                             The Atari TT030

  -  Compatible with the Atari ST, 1000"s of software titles already
     available
  -  3 New Graphics modes:
     320 x 480 with 256 colours from a palette of 4096
     640 x 480 with 16 colours from a palette of 4096
     1280 x 960 high resolution monochrome
  -  Stereo 8-bit PCM sound
  -  68030 running at 32 Mhz
  -  68881 Floating Point co-processor
  -  2 Megabytes of RAM, expandable to 26 Mb
  -  SCSI and ASCI with DMA built in
  -  Internal Hard disk
  -  SCC LAN port with DMA
  -  Four serial ports
  -  Parallel port
  -  MIDI ports
  -  Detachable keyboard
  -  Internal A24/D16 VME card slot
  -  Real time clock with non-volatile RAM
  -  ROM cartridge slot
  -  External floppy connector

                     Comparison of standard features

                     Amiga 3000     Mac IIcx       Atari TT030

 CPU                 68030          68030          68030
 FPU                 Yes            Yes            Yes
 Clock speed         16 Mhz         -              32 Mhz
 RAM                 2 to 17        1 to 32        2 to 26
 Burst Mode          Yes            No             Yes
 ROM                 512K           256K           512K
 Graphics
 Max resolution     1280 x 480     Optional       1280 x 960
                    Interlaced                    Non-interlaced
  Max colours       32 Colours                    256 Colours
                    from 4096                     from 4096
  Max video RAM     1 Mb                          8 Mb
 Sound              Stereo         Stereo         Stereo
 Expansion          Proprietary    NuBus          VME
 Hard disk          DMA            Non-DMA        DMA
 Floppy disk        Proprietary    Proprietary    PC compatible
 Network            No             Yes            Yes, DMA
 Serial             1 x RS232      2 x RS232      4 x RS232
 Parallel           Yes            No             Yes
 MIDI               No             No             Yes
 ROM Cartridge      No             No             Yes

 
                         The Atari TT030 Hardware

 The TT030 (Thirty-two/Thirty-two bit) is the first member of a new
 series of Atari computers designed as enhanced versions of the existing
 ST and MEGA family.  The TT series maintains compatibility with the
 ST/MEGA architecture, but uses the Motorola 68030 microprocessor and
 provides enhanced graphics and sound.  The TT030 is also designed to run
 Unix (Unix is a trademark of AT&T).

 The TT030 is based on the high performance 32-bit Motorola MC68030
 processor running at a 32 Mhz clock frequency.  The 68030 includes on-
 chip data and instruction caches which can be filled from some regions
 of memory in bursts of double word fetches.
 
 The architecture also includes the industry standard VME bus to
 facilitate expansion.  The system supports the latest revision (C.1) of
 the VME bus specification.  The TT030 can accommodate one single-
 Eurocard (3U) A24/D 16 or A 16/D 16 slave-only VME board.
 
 The TT series is expected to function in an environment with other TTs
 and even machines from different manufacturers.  To facilitate
 connectivity, each system has an on-board port for a moderate speed LAN.
 If the LAN is not being used, the port can be programmed to be a
 standard RS232C port.  Through an optional VME bus-based or SCSI-based
 Ethernet controller, the TT also has the capability of connecting to
 heterogeneous Ethernet networks.  The TT030 has three additional
 standard RS-232C serial ports for connection to modems, display
 terminals, or digitizing tablets.  The hardware features of the TT030
 include:

  -  Motorola MC68030 at 32MHz
  -  Motorola MC68881 Floating Point Coprocessor (the coprocessor is
     socketed, so that it can be optionally upgraded to a MC68882)
  -  ST RAM: 2 Mbyte of ST-compatible dual-purpose (video/system) RAM,
     expandable by an add-on daughterboard containing a further 2 or 8
     Mbyte of dual-purpose memory.  This 64-bit wide memory appears 32
     bits wide to the processor and SCSI/SCC DMA engines TT video logic
     has access to this memory on a time critical basis.  The remaining
     system logic, including the processor, can access this memory in the
     alternate 250 nS TIME SLICES.
  -  TT BURST MODE RAM: provision for a daughter-board that will accept
     either 4 x 1 Mbyte or 4 x 4 Mbyte SIMMS, allowing another 4 Mb or 16
     Mb expansion.  This RAM can only be accessed by the processor, the
     SCSI DMA Engine, and the SCC Network DMA Engine.  The 68030 can take
     advantage of burst-mode for filling its internal cache from this
     RAM.
  -  4 socketed 1 Mbit ROMS, providing 512 Kbyte of ROM space.
  -  Internal video modes that are a superset of those in the Atari ST/
     STe series using an analog RGB (VGA-like) colour monitor:
 
          pixels    rows      colors    palette
          320       200       16        4096 (STe compatible)
          640       200       4         4096 (STe compatible)
          640       400       2         4096 (STe superset)
          320       480       256       4096
          640       480       16        4096
 
     using a high resolution ECL monochrome monitor
          1280      960       black on white
 
  -  parallel I/O port, generally used for Parallel printer output
  -  internal speaker, which can be disabled under software control
  -  2 low-speed asynchronous serial I/O ports (one from each of two
     68901 MFPS) at programmable baud rates up to 19.2 baud
  -  2 high-speed asynchronous/SDLC Serial I/O ports (from a Zilog 8530
     SCC).  One part can be programmed to be a Local Talk compatible LAN
     interface with a proprietary single channel DMA controller.  The
     other port is intended for use as an asynchronous AS-232 port with
     programmable split baud rates.
  -  battery backed-up real time clock (RTC) with 50 bytes of non-
     volatile RAM
  -  ST/MEGA compatible intelligent keyboard, with mouse and joystick
     ports including support for a 3 button mouse
  -  Atari ACSI DMA channel (for Atari Hard Disk, Laser Printer, CD-ROM,
     etc)
  -  Floppy disk controller and interface sharing the ACSI DMA channel
  -  Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) STe compatible DMA sound
     engine with programmable volume and tone control which can play back
     stereo 8-bit samples at rates up to 50 Khz
  -  Atari ST compatible cartridge port (128 Kbyte Storage)
  -  SCSI interface using 23-pin connector implemented with the NCR 5380
     SCSI controller chip and a proprietary DMA controller
  -  Industry standard VME bus for expansion
 
 When comparing the TT030 with the competition, four important features
 stand out:

  -  flicker-free, high resolution colour graphics built-in as standard
  -  high bus bandwidth, independent of video resolution
  -  excellent connectivity including four RS232 ports, MIDI, LAN, ASCI &
     SCSI.
  -  high speed burst-mode RAM, 32 Mhz CPU clock speed.



 
                     ===============================
                       F O R E M   B B S   N E W S
                     ===============================

 
 Effective immediately Full Moon BBS is now your source for the FoReM
 BBS program by Matthew R. Singer.  FoReM is not new, it has been in use
 all over the free world since 1985.  Available in single line versions
 for the Atari ST (one meg RAM recommended) and the IBM PC (512 K
 required).  FoReM may be purchased directly from Full Moon for $74.95
 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling.  All orders are shipped with a
 manual that includes detailed instructions on installing and configuring
 FoReM.
 
 When used in conjunction with the FNET mailer program by David Chiquelin
 (a shareware program supported at Atari-Oh! BBS 713-480-9310) either
 version of FoReM can be used to exchange messages with other BBS Systems
 worldwide.
 
 You can order FoReM ST or PC by sending a check for $79.95 ($74.95 for
 the program plus $5.00 S&H) made payable to:
 
                              Stephen Rider
                              20 Cargill Ave
                            Worcester MA 01610

 Orders are shipped UPS only, specify a street address as UPS cannot
 deliver to a Post Office box number.
 
 For ST orders specify single sided or double sided diskette.  PC owners
 please specify 360K or 1.2 meg 5.25" or 720K 3.5" disks.  Depending on
 the media you order we will also include some useful PD or shareware
 utility programs that are widely used by FoReM boards.

                                                  Steve Rider
                                                  Full Moon BBS
                                                  508-752-1348
 
 This offer is made in conjunction with Matthew R. Singer, creator and
 copyright holder of FoReM ST.  Offer not valid in Massachusetts.  (c)
 1985-1990 Matthew R. Singer
 

 

                     ===============================
                             PD/SHAREWARE STop
                     ===============================
                              by Mark Quinn
 
 
      Authors:  Matthew Carmody, Ben Cosh         *SHAREWARE*
    File name:  DEFSEL.ARC
    File type:  Utility
 Program name:  Definitive File Selector
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 DEFSEL (along with The Little Green Selector and UIS) is another
 alternative to the standard file selector.  Whether this one's right for
 you is a matter of personal preference, and deciding which features are
 important.

 Features:

  - 150-letter pathnames possible
  - Abort loading by holding both shift keys down
  - Nine different ways of sorting files
  - Delete mode
  - Ten 'extender buttons'
  - Diskinfo button
  - Create folders
  - Dynamic memory requirement feature
  - Mouse speed doubling feature
  - Security delete mode:  deleted files are overwritten with garbage
  - Save DEFSEL configurations
  - Deinstall feature
  - Almost every feature has ALT key equivalents

 DEFSEL should be run before any mouse accelerators.  This program is not
 as intuitive as some others I've seen.

 The programmers state that the program "shouldn't really conflict with
 anything".  If it does, let them know. (You may wait quite a while for
 the response, seeing that they are in England.)  We experienced some
 problems on a Mega 2 with TOS 1.2.  The programmers also state that
 version 3.00 (the above is version 2.01) is under development.

 
       Author:  Damien Jones
    File name:  PURGER.LZH
    File type:  Utility
 Program name:  Disk Purger
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A couple of weeks ago, I said to myself "There ought to be a no-nonsense
 program that wipes the directory and FAT tables of a formatted disk".
 
 Enter Purger, which fills the bill nicely, and also gives you the option
 of getting a directory of the soon-to-be purged disk.  Once the files
 are purged, they will still be shown by the directory option until a
 disk change occurs.

 If you have any reservations about the urge to purge, I wouldn't suggest
 using this utility.  Files are not recoverable once they are purged.

 
       Author:  S. K. Webb
    File name:  STREADER.LZH
    File type:  Utility
 Program name:  ST READER
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 It seems that every few weeks someone uploads another text reader.  This
 one is hefty, and thus has some nice features, including a second text
 window, reverse video, the ability to toggle text size (useful for
 children and those of us with low vision) and load alternate fonts, a
 search feature, switching to medium resolution when you're reading text
 files in low resolution, then switching back to low when you exit,
 converting 1st Word files to ASCII, saving converted files to disk,
 printing files, block save, block print, repeating the last screen
 command times, etc.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 "Quinn's Quickies"

 SIREN2.LZH
  Monochrome accessory.  Police car zooms across the bottom of your
  screen at chosen intervals.  With sound effects.

 101.ARC
  Playable game demo.  Drive drug runners out of town.  Futuristic
  setting.  Fast action.

 FRED.LZH
  Playable game demo.  Nice sound effects in this hack-'n'-slash epic.
  Pleasing graphics, too.

 CRICIT.ARC
  Demo. "Integrated cash register and inventory control program".  If you
  want to use an ST for the former in your business, take a gander at
  CRICIT.ARC  The program looks very extensive, though I didn't know what
  the hades I was doing.  Also check out CRICITAD.ARC for more of a
  description of what this program does.

 DANDARE.LZH
  Playable game demo.  In this one, you're in a space suit with a
  "plasma rifle".  It takes more than a few shots to kill the mutated
  green child.  Buy weapons, lives, etc.

 GGPDEMO.LZH
  Knowing absolutely nothing about genealogy programs, I couldn't give
  this one a decent review above.  But if you do, then check it out.  It
  seems easy to use.

 PAPACNT.ARC
  Update.  Newest (and last) version of The Paperless Accountant.  Now
  supports monochrome.

 MONOEMU.LZH
  Update.  A monochrome emulator for color monitors, now modified for use
  with TOS 1.4.

 ICBD.LZH
  Playable game demo called "It Can't Be Done".  Destroying the ship CAN
  be done.

 

                     ===============================
                     T R A C K E R  S T  U P D A T E
                     ===============================
                              PRESS RELEASE
 
 
 Version 2.03 of Tracker/ST is now available..!
 
 This free upgrade makes all of Tracker/ST's click-on buttons single
 click buttons, for greater ease of use.  Also, all the buttons are now
 FULLY FUNCTIONAL with TOS 1.4 and TOS 1.6.
 
 A few other minor changes have been made.  This update will be sent to
 all registered owners of Tracker/ST free of charge (you don't even have
 to send in your original disk).  If you have not registered please do so
 immediately.
 
 If you have a GEnie account and have not received the upgrade in e-mail,
 just let us know your GEnie address and we will forward the file to you.
 You MUST be a registered owner to receive this upgrade through e-mail.

 To those of you unfamiliar with our program, Tracker/ST is a mailing
 list/mail merge/person tracking application which features great ease of
 use (fully GEM), and tons of power.  For an informational brochure
 contact Step Ahead Software at 212-627-5830 or write us at 496-A Hudson 
 Street #F39, New York City, NY  10014
 
 Tracker/ST retails for $79.95, and is available direct or through your
 local dealer.  Tracker/ST is now available in Australia as well (so tell
 all your friends Down Under).
 
 Our users LOVE Tracker/ST:

 "This is a GREAT program and it has cut my mail list time by over half..
 Just wish I had this program a couple of years back."
                                                  --B.G., Texas

 "I am really impressed with the excellent service your company is
 offering."
                                                                                              --J.M., Texas
 "Great product..! The manual itself is a work of art..."
 

 
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                Z * N E T   E C H O S   By TERRY SCHREIBER
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        NODE 505   ATARI WEST BBS   VANCOUVER B.C.  (604) 272-5888
                                        

 ONLINE MAGAZINES AND COMMENT
 
 ST-Report announced last week that they have abandoned the Atari bashing
 series, although I am pleased to read the news, I hope it will be a new
 beginning for the magazine.  However, on the defense of Atari I offer
 the following:

  o 1040Ste (enhanced 1040 st upgradeable to 4 megs using Simm packs)
  o Stacy (in a variety of configurations)
  o Megafile 44 (44 meg removable Syquest drive)
  o CDAR 504 (CD rom player)
  o PC3 (640k 8088 MS-Dos compatable 2 floppy system, EGA,CGA and Herc)
  o ABC 286 (640k 30meg HD,3.5 floppy,VGA,MDA,CGA,EGA and Hercules)
  o PC4h (1 meg ram,3.5 floppy,63 meg HD,16 Mhz,VGA,MDA,CGA,EGA and Herc)
  o PC4r (as above but with 44 meg removable instead of 63 meg harddrive)
  o PC5-20H (2meg ram,3.5 flop, 63M HD,VGA,MDA,CGA,EGA and Herc, 20 Mhz)
  o Portfolio (handheld computer system)
  o Atari calculators and adding machines
  o Lynx game system
 
 Please let me know if the other guys have released that much hardware in
 the past two years.
 
 Atari is listening to it's user's. Salespeople stated that people wanted
 MS-Dos machines, Atari responded by releasing a variety of boxes with
 different configurations.  Branching into the calculator market was
 another extra for Atari, the portfolio was not long to come.  Complaints
 of the St's limited sound and color capabilities in comparison with the
 Amiga resulted in the STe being born.  Musicians and business people
 alike said "You have a great product here with the ST but you needed a
 portable" - thus Stacy.  With this much product and the TT just around
 the corner I feel that Atari is agressively attacking the business, home
 and entertainment marketplaces.  If they don't succeed with this much
 ammunition then you can bet that part of the blame will be the negative
 attitude of the users, bashing and bad press reports. 
 
 I don't however hold Atari blameless all of the problems.  Unfortunately
 we are all human and make mistakes.  You would probably forgive your
 local barber for a bad haircut so why not your computer manufacturer?
 
 It's time people to rally around the flagpole once more and give Atari
 the support and consideration it rightly should have.  The more
 computers sold, the bigger the userbase, the more software that becomes
 available and written for the ST.  We all benefit from this, there are
 no benefits from bashing.
 
 
 =======================================================================
 =======================================================================
 Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly  released  publication covering
 the Atari community. Opinions and commentary presented are those of the
 individual authors and do not reflect those of Rovac Industries.  Z*NET
 and Z*NET ATARI ONLINE are copyright 1990 by Rovac Industries.  Reprint
 permission is granted as long as  Z*NET ONLINE, Issue Number and author
 is included at the top of the article. Reprinted articles are not to be
 edited without permission.
 =======================================================================
 ==================================================^^^==================
 ZNET ONLINE                                       HOT Atari News FIRST!
                Copyright (c)1990 Rovac Industries, Inc..
 =======================================================================


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