ST News



ATARI 90's SHOW
---------------
    68030 upgrade for the ST !!!
    Third Coast Technologies displayed the PRO VME 68030 upgrade board.
The board features a modified version of TOS 1.4 (required to make use
of the extra capabilities of the 68030). The 68030 runs at 25MHZ.
    Also included - 128 instruction and data cache
                  - socket for 68882 math co-processor
                  - plain vanilla 68000 to retain compatibility
 
      ------------------------------------------------------------

                 Z*NET NEWSWIRE / Z*NET ENGLAND NEWSWIRE
 
 ATARI SOFTWARE UPGRADES
 Hyperpaint has been revamped to make better use of the features of the 
 STE.  Notable improvements in Hyperpaint 2 include hardware scrolling of
 IMG screens if a blitter is fitted, access to the STE's 4096 color 
 palette, IMG screens may now be set to any size within RAM constraints,
 and many other features quickened.  It is also possible to run the new 
 version of Hyperpaint without GDOS installed.
 
 Atari has also relaunched their comms package FaSTcomm.  Nicely GEM'd, 
 FaSTcomm supports VT100/52 and Viewdata, bachground up/downloading, call
 log and built-in text and Viewdata editors.  Waiting in the wings is 
 "the official Atari hard disk back-up package..."  -  Archive.  
 Hyperpaint 2 costs UK$34.95 (UK$10 for the upgrade) and FaSTcomm now 
 retails at UK$49.95 (UK$15 for the upgrade).
 
 NEW PRODUCTS FROM KUMA
 Kuma has a couple of exciting looking products due for release soon.
 The first is Polyfiler, an innovative Hypertext style database that has 
 been in the making for sometime.  The second, Adimens, has been a very 
 popular database in Germany for a few years now.  Kuma will be plugging 
 a gap in the UK market when they launch an English version of Adimens in 
 late September, early October.
 
 DELUXE PAINT ST
 The ST version of what is generally regarded as the standard paint 
 package for the Amiga is now available from Electronic Arts.  Deluxe 
 Paint will read all popular ST picture file formats, plus Amiga IFF 
 files, and boasts 999 animation buffers each of which can hold up to 999 
 frames.  Proportional fonts, font editing, color mixing airbrushes, STE 
 extended palette support, and real-time magnification are amoung st wide 
 array of features available.  Deluxe Paint will cost UK$49.99 until the
 end of November when the price will rise by UK$10.00.
 
 CALAMUS PRICE CHANGES
 To make room for Calamus SL, the price of the current version will drop 
 to UK$265.00.  Calamus SL, which includes full color seperation 
 facilities will retail around UK$500.00.
 
 AT CONFUSION
 Gasteiner has announced that they are the sole UK distributors of AT 
 Speed at UK$239.99, and that Full Circle Technologies, who had announced
 they were supplying AT Speed at UK$269.00, are unable to supply the
 product.  AT Speed offers IBM ST emulation with CGA, Olivetti, Hercules 
 and Tandy 1000 display modes as well as full Atari mouse, RS232 and hard 
 disk support.  Atari SLM804 support will follow.

          ------------------------------------------------ 
DUSSELDORF REPORT - Jim Allen (STREPORT)

    The Atari booth was as big or bigger than their booth at Comdex.  There
 were dozens of DTP, CAD, scientific,  and business  solutions represented.
 The level  of high  quality workmanship  was very  evident.  They even had
 Unix on display running  X Windows.   TTs  were abundant...of  course. The
 speed of the TT made the software demonstrations that much slicker.

    Also in  the second  building was  ICD, they  were showing their latest
 host adapter, a "smart" unit that  has it's  own processor  and implements
 true  SCSI.    This  is  considered a professional device and should allow
 interfacing to a whole world of real SCSI add-ons.  They were also showing
 a neat,  totally rewritten  TOS.  One of ICD's programmers was responsible
 for it and he has done a SUPER FANTASTIC JOB!!!  Atari  should really hire
 this guy.  Chock full of neat new features, smaller than the original, and
 much faster (lots of  assembly),  it  is  something  Atari  should  take a
 loooong look  at.  I was impressed....can't you tell.  Also on display was
 ICD's  accelerator board.  The latest in a what is now  8 accelerators for
 the ST.  Where was everyone last year?

   I would  say the attendance was close to 55,000 people.  The problem was
 the weather...it was great!!  So the turn out wasn't  as high  as it could
 have been.   But  that is  still one  MAJOR crowd.   Considering many were
 dealers, the level of sales was quite high.   The  German Atari  market is
 quite healthy, wish we could even come close.

    In the  morning I went to the Brandenberg Gate.  It was being restored,
 and the area around it looked like a war had just happened.  The  WALL was
 gone, nothing  left but  dust.   I met a vendor...a new entrepreneur...and
 had the chance to help him at work.  We walked about a mile  from the gate
 to where  the wall  was still  standing, and  I help  him chip away pieces
 ..for SALE to the tourists!!!   What a  neat business,  selling free rocks
 for $10+  each.   They had  even been sold, by West Berliners, neat little
 plastic boxes labeled "Berlin Wall" for packaging.   Amazing. Of  course I
 have a couple pieces for myself. A little silicon glue, snap the cover on,
 and presto instant profit.
           ____________________________________________________

 "....I found out two things,  one is that the CDAR504 (Ed's Note: Atari's 
 CD Rom player) is really a CHINON DC431. I also found out that the SLM804 
 is really an Office Automations Systems Inc. printer - the Laserpro 5308. 
 So  if you need tech specs,  toner,  drums,  you now have an  alternative 
 source."

 "The SLM804 uses the TEC LB1301 write white engine, NOT  the Ricoh engine.

 You  can  interchange  the toner/drum with  the  Oaysis  LaserPro  series 
 without   problem and  usually at  noticeable savings  I might add."  Toad
 Computer
                           (From Genie)

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

 "There's a rumor of a new upgrade from ICD that makes their host  adaptor 
 compatible  with  both Talon's SuperCharger and fixes the STe  hard  disk 
 problem." - from Gregg Anderson

 "We  just added some capacitors to smooth out noise on the DMA  bus  that 
 was  a real problem on the STE.  That fixed 99% of our STE  problems  and 
 doesn't cause any problems on other computers (which is always a danger). 
 The  other 1% which is not fixed is the mysterious data shifting that  we 
 have  seen  only  once in our office.  I would guess that  is  caused  by 
 defective DMA chips and is not very common." - Tom at ICD

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

         Atari Germany, X/Windows for the ST, and TOS Multitasking
         ---------------------------------------------------------

     For several  years, Atari  ST Users  have dreamed  of an efficient and
 effective way to multitask ST applications. While Beckemeyer Development's
 MT C-Shell  and VSH  Manager provided an effective combination for running
 Desk Accessories and TOS programs concurrently, it could not multitask GEM
 applications.    As  such,  the  prospect  of a complete system that would
 multitask TOS and ST/GEM programs was still just a dream.

     When Atari announced MIDI-Tasking,  an operating  system hack designed
 to multitask GEM-compliant ST MIDI programs, ST Users believed their hopes
 realized.  However, Atari has said that while MIDI-Tasking can be used for
 multitasking other  types of  ST/GEM programs, that such use is not recom-
 mended.  And with some ST/GEM programs (such as Pagestream or ISD's Master
 Plan spreadsheet) can be run under MIDI-Tasking, many ST MIDI programs are
 incompatible with it.  This situation has left the spectre of ST multitas-
 king hanging just out of the reach of the ST Community.

     Recently, the first indications of yet another ST Multitasking package
 have appeared.  Atari Germany has apparently developed an X/Windows Server
 for  the  ST,  which  uses  a  "TOS Compatible" multitasking system called
 X/ST/Multi.  Below is a Usenet message that describes the X/Windows Produ-
 cts developed by Atari Germany, and some information on X/ST/Multi:

 In article <roarment.650147785@faui09>,roarment@faui09.informatik.
 uni-erlangen.de (Roberto Armenti) writes:
 > I once heard about such a thing named X/ST/Window or something
 > like this, but I never could get some info on that.

 Some months ago I asked Atari Germany about X/ST/Window. They sent me a
 high-glossing paper with some info.  In short:

 - X/ST/Window is an X-Windows server for the Atari ST, TT and ATW.

 - The whole X Windows System runs on an Atari TT under ATX (Atari Unix)
   and on the ATW (Atari Transputer Workstation) under Helios.

 - X/ST/window is based on X/ST/multi, "a multitasking operating system
   which is totally compatible with the TOS of the Atari ST" (literal
   translation from German). It allows discoupling of the time critical
   protocol processes from the graphical software.

 - The ST monitor acts as a window and shows only a part of a virtual
   screen. The dimensions of this virtual screen is limited by memory only.

 - Network access is done via TCP/IP

  (Note: TCP/IP is a LAN networking protocol standard created by the US
         Government, commonly used in Local Area Networks).

 Ah yes, and then they said it would be available at special computer
 stores by end of June 1990. Hmm, actually they said "90", not "1990". They
 don't mean 2090, do they? :-)

 --
   Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@unido.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
   Univ. Dortmund, IRB             klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
   Postfach 500500         |)|/    Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
 D-4600 Dortmund 50        |\|\    Fax : +49 231 755-2386

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

 I  was  contacted  today  by  the  GFA  gebruikersgroep  (GFAgg)  of  the 
 Netherlands.  What  a fantastic setup they have!  They publish a  _thick_ 
 bimonthly  newsletter (60 pages!) filled with programming tips  and  code 
 samples.  They  have their own pd and low-cost commercial  library  which 
 generates funds for the group. They supply educational software developed 
 by  members to some 600 schools.   They have between 600 and  700  active 
 members.

 Write (English works for me) to:
    Lou Meijers
    GFA-gg
    Frankrijklaan 14
    2034 BA Haarlem
    THE NETHERLANDS

 For the really adventurous, the telephone number is 011 31 23 336 946.  I 
 haven't tried that, so I don't know if Lou answers it.  Lou and two other 
 group members have called me and they've all had excellent English skills 
 so we have not needed to stumble around in Dutch or German.  Their  news-
 letter is in Dutch though.  Their software is largely in Dutch,  but  not 
 exclusively so.  (From Dorthy Brumleve - Genie)

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

 Path: bdt!unisoft!mtxinu!ucbvax!agate!apple!portal!atari!mui
 From: mui@atari.UUCP (Derek Mui)
 Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
 Subject: Re: TT desktop & prices
 Message-ID: <2300@atari.UUCP-
 Date: 14 Sep 90 19:50:39 GMT
 References: <1914@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca-
 Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA
 Lines: 36

 in article <1914@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca-, jhenders@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (John 
 Henders) says:

 Summary:TT window limit?

     Thanks for the extra info,Derek. One other question. Has the limit on 
     the number of open windows been raised at all in the TT?
                              John Henders(ubc-cs!van-bc!jhenders)
                                        Vancouver,BC

         No, the maximum number of window is still eight. We can change the
 AES to handle X number of window easily. But if we change  it to  handle X
 number of  window, then  people will ask for X+1 number of window. It will
 go on forever!

         Since the AES is  a  single-task  environment,  eight  windows are
 generally quite  enough for  most of  the applications. Moreover, changing
 the AES to have unlimited ( dynamic ) number of window is not an  easy job
 :-(

         However, if  the AES  is changed  to handle multi-tasking, then we
 should definitely have the dynamic window feature. Agree?

         Once again, things may change. I am not the boss.

                              =====+++======

 in  article  <2685@cernvax.UUCP-,  dougie@cernvax.UUCP  (douglas mclaggan)
 says:
  
     What about the STE, Derek?  There was no mention of that.  I was just
     wondering if you'll be trying to put the new desktop in there?
     It's got a 256K ROM with about 30K spare, as far as I know.
     That sounds about enough space, doesn't it!!!
  
 I suppose that with this new policy of Atari's, if you're busy coding up
 the new  STE desktop,  you won't  be able  to let us know 'til it's finish
 and shipping. Right?  :-)

         
         Thank you for all the people who suggested different ideas  of how
 to squeeze  the new  desktop into the ST ROM. Someone suggested to use the
 cartridge port and most of the  others suggested  to put  it on  the disk.
 Technically, they  are all  O.K, and  I will  reflect all  the opinions to
 management people.   

         As of today, I believe the STE will have the new desktop. 
         ^^^^^^^^^^^

 From article <2287@atari.UUCP-, by mui@atari.UUCP (Derek Mui):
 in article <2286@atari.UUCP-, mui@atari.UUCP (Derek Mui) says:
  
       As of today, I believe the STE will have the new desktop. 
       ^^^^^^^^^^^
       Oops! the MEGA STE will have the new desktop, not just any
       STE. Sorry.
  




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