🚀 go-pugleaf

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
550 ALEN@WISDOM.BITNET... User unknown

   ----- Unsent message follows -----
Received: from finhutc.bitnet by wisdom.bitnet; Sat, 28 Mar 87 05:47:45 -0200
Received: by FINHUTC (Mailer X1.23b) id 7180; Sat, 28 Mar 87 05:41:01 FIN
Date:         Thu 26 Mar 87 20:32:49 PST
Reply-To:     Info-Atari16@Score.Stanford.edu
Sender: "Atari ST users forum (INFO-ATARI16)" <INFO-A16@FINHUTC>
Comments:     To: "Distribution List: ;" <INFO-ATARI16>
From: Info-Atari16 Digest <INFO-ATARI16@SCORE.STANFORD.edu>
Subject:      Info-Atari16 Digest V87 #143
To: Alen Goldberg <ALEN@WISDOM.bitnet>

Info-Atari16 Digest   Thursday, March 26, 1987   Volume 87 : Issue 143

This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield

Today's Topics:

                            TeX and SIGNUM
                Re: 40 Folder Limit Question for Atari
                         PD yacc is NOT PD!!!
                    Re: reading from the midi port
                          Background picture
                        keyboard driver on ST
       Mail order company selling Pirated software in W Germany
                          Re: PD RSC editor?
                    Re: reading from the midi port
                       Looking for Simon Poole
                    Re: Crystal Castles for the ST
                       Re: mega-st info please
            Re: 68020 Box, laser printer, Eastern Pa. Expo

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

Date:     Fri, 20 Mar 87 00:17 AST
From:     <FXDDR%ALASKA.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>
Subject:  TeX and SIGNUM
To:       info-atari16@su-score.arpa
X-Original-To:  arpa%"info-atari16@su-score.arpa", FXDDR

From mcvax!unido!tub!csch@seismo.css.gov (Clemens)
>Both products (TEX & SIGNUM) are sold by GERMAN companies.
>If you`re interested, I`ll send the addresses ...

I would really like to see these products distributed in the US.  Calling
Europe from Alaska isn't much fun since they are almost 180 degrees out of
phase with us time-wise.  And from what I've seen international mail is
one of the few things that makes US Mail look good.
But be that as it may, I'd like to find out more about the products,
particularly SIGNUM.  Do they have English documentation?  Will they work
with US keyboards and ROMs?  Any reviews?  (I know the TeX packages have
turned up in TUGboat.)  Speaking of TUGboat, I called the US developer who
makes an Amiga TeX and who was said to be working on an ST version...he
said that his group had dropped the ST product because they felt the German
versions made it redundant...
Someone could earn my Undying Gratitude (for this month, anyway) by extracting
instructions from the producers on how to order the products from the US
(ie, price including postage in DM and preferred form of payment).
Maybe Atari could give them a call and offer assistance in US marketing?  They
need products like these to be serious contenders in the academic arena.

Don Rice
University of Alaska, Fairbanks   BITNET%"FXDDR@ALASKA"
CIS 72337,3417  //  KL7JIQ

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 01:38:21 GMT
From: imagen!atari!neil@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Neil Harris)
Subject: Re: 40 Folder Limit Question for Atari
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

In article <870318154931.0000040B.AMZP.MA@UMass>, Flash@UMASS.BITNET (Rick
 Flashman) writes:
> I have a rather interesting question about the 40 folder limit.

> 3) N. Harris admits publically that Atari has received a copy of
>    Supra's fix and is currently reviewing it, until then, it is
>    NOT sanctioned by Atari.
>    (This was either here or GENIE, I am not sure...)

Thats the story BACKWARD.  I understand that ATARI shipped a copy of a fix
to Supra for them to test.  Not the other way around.  I also hear that our
engineering folks were a bit surprised to see Supra release the fix already.


--
--->Neil Harris, Director of Marketing Communications, Atari Corporation
UUCP: ...{hoptoad, lll-lcc, pyramid, imagen, sun}!atari!neil
BIX: neilharris / CIS: 70007,1135 / Delphi: NEILHARRIS / GENIE: NHARRIS
WELL: neil / Atari Corp. BBS 408-745-5308 / Usually the OFFICIAL Atari opinion

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

Date: 19 Mar 87 18:28:47 GMT
From: trwrb!sansom@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Richard Sansom)
Subject: PD yacc is NOT PD!!!
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

Ouch!!!  John Gilmore has informed me that the so-called "PD yacc" which I
pulled off of the net a couple of months ago is in fact poorly-disguised
AT&T code!!!  So, for everyone out there who received copies from me (there
must be at least 5 or 6 or you out there), please, Please, PLEASE destroy
your copies as I have destroyed mine!!! <-- is that enough "!"s ?

John (gnu@hoptoad.UUCP) also was kind enough to point out that GNU has put
together a truly original yacc implementation called "bison" which may be
distributed freely (it is _not_ in the public domain).

Thanks, and sorry for the mess.

-Rich
--
  //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
 /// Richard E. Sansom                    TRW Electronics & Defense Sector \\\
 \\\ {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!trwrb!sansom   Redondo Beach, CA                ///

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 13:33:41 GMT
From: ihnp4!ihuxz!burris@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Burris)
Subject: Re: reading from the midi port
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

In article <14085@cca.CCA.COM>, m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) writes:
>
> I am trying to read data from the midi in port on the 520 ST  and
> am having a problem...
> ...when the
> array reaches a length of 78 it is displayed on the screen and a new
> string starts getting written...

You do not have enough real time to be doing printf's and/or other screen
output if the MIDI data is coming in at near the MIDI baud rate. The 520ST
does use a circular FIFO buffer algorithm and you MUST unload the data into
your private buffer fast enough to insure that there is no overflow. Disk
I/O is completely out of the question! MIDI data MUST be stored in memory
until completion then stored.

I have solved the real-time printing problem in the hopes of real-time
graphical note representation by driving a MIDI 1.0 protocol handler
via the MIDI port interrupt and using my own interrupt code instead of
ATARI's. This frees the processor to do other tasks between MIDI bytes
while insuring that notes don't get missed.

Dave Burris
ihnp4!ihuxz!burris

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 11:58:48 PST (Friday)
Subject: Background picture
From: BHolland.ElSegundo@Xerox.COM
To: Info-Atari16@Score.Stanford.EDU

I might be getting my systems confused but is there a utilitie for
replacing the gray desktop with a degas picture? if so where might it be
found ?

Bill

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

Date: 19 Mar 87 22:03:03 GMT
From: mcvax!ukc!warwick!donald@seismo.css.gov  (Tim Bissell)
Subject: keyboard driver on ST
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

If you hold down the shift key and type a couple of letters fast
e.g. L and P, sometimes you will get a phantom null (^@) keypress
between the letters.  Has anyone else encountered this?  The easiest
(and safest) way of doing this is to get into a command line interpreter
and try it; you should get a line like:

{d} LPLPLPLPL^@PLPLPL^@P

if you type fast enough.  (I tried it with Mark Williams shell)

I first met it while typing HLP in me3.7 using the shift key instead of
caps lock.  What happened was the help screen would get called up! I
suppose this was because the help function was bound to some function
key, and the phantom keypress had the upper 8 bits of the word set to some
garbage.  Actually sometimes the computer crashed, and I lost about
fifteen minutes typing the first time; most irritating.

I assume the driver software could not keep up with my typing and the
extra processing involved with the shift key press (see, even 68000s can't
keep up with my typing:- has anyone had this sort of problem on a Cray? 8^).
Any comments?  Atari?


--
/*
 * Tim Bissell ... the six million donald man ...
 *                        donald@uk.ac.warwick
 *            ...mcvax!ukc!warwick!donald

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 22:28:50 GMT
From: ptsfa!hoptoad!db@ames.arpa  (David Beckemeyer)
Subject: Mail order company selling Pirated software in W Germany
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

There is a mail-order company in W. Germany that is producing
illegal copies of the Beckemeyer Development Tools MT C-Shell.

They are re-printing the manuals and producing "fake" versions
of the software package, complete with fake serial numbers.

Unfornunately, they are also selling the product at more than
double it US retail price, over $250 US!   BDT cannot register
the pirated, illegal copies, so the poor purchaser of these
"imatation" Mt C-Shell's loses.

So beware of Mail order companies selling Mt C-Shell in W. Germany.
These are not the real thing!!

If you have a question or suspision about a particular mail-order
company, please contact me.

         - David Beckemeyer

Beckemeyer Development Tools
478 Santa Clara Ave
Oakland, CA 94610
(415) 452-1129
BBS: (415) 452-4792  (300-1200 baud, 24hrs.)
CIS: 74236,625

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 18:06:39 GMT
From: imagen!atari!leavens@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Alex Leavens)
Subject: Re: PD RSC editor?
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

in article <335@its63b.ed.ac.uk>, csan@its63b.ed.ac.uk (Andie) says:
>
> Does anyone know of a *cheap* (even better,PD) RSC editor that I can get my
> hands on ? I am getting pretty frustrated not being able to write friendly
> prg's without RSCs . I am also on the scrounge for any ACCSTART libraries
> that are going around (suitable for Lattice C,Mod2 and useable from my
> M68000 assembler)

  Well, I don't know of any public domain RCS's, but Kuma sells an RCS
independently of any compiler, etc., and it's fairly cheap.  (Its around
50 bucks, US, I don't know what it sells for in England.).

  I haven't played with it myself, so I can't vouch for it's completeness,
etc., but others who've used it say it's pretty good.

--
--alex @ Atari                  {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer
BIX: alexl.          GEnie:ALEXLEAVENS    AtariCorp:(408)-745-2006

"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers."

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

Date: 21 Mar 87 02:55:54 GMT
From: rgoodman@csvax.caltech.edu  (Ron Carl Goodman)
Subject: Re: reading from the midi port
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

In article <1932@ihuxz.ATT.COM> burris@ihuxz.ATT.COM (Burris) writes:
>In article <14085@cca.CCA.COM>, m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) writes:
>>
>> I am trying to read data from the midi in port on the 520 ST  and
>> am having a problem...
>
>You do not have enough real time to be doing printf's and/or other screen
>output if the MIDI data is coming in at near the MIDI baud rate.

I don't think you normally have to concern yourself with that since sequenced
MIDI data does not come in anywhere near the MIDI baud rate.  Each second,
MIDI theoretically can transmit almost 4K, but in reality, it transmits
less than a hundred bytes per second generally.  If you're having a problem
because your sequencer adds timing marks that increase the bytes/sec (still
nowhere near 4K/sec) then simply ignore those bytes.  I have displayed
MIDI data using C.  True, if you are displaying 100 numbers/sec you are
at about the limit, but that is not what caused Keith's original problem
of his program ending before the data was all sent.  That was caused by the
fact that his program thought he was out of data because he read it too fast.

Receiving MIDI data itself takes a small percentage of the processors time
unless you are transmitting special data (e.g. with a sampling synthesizer you
might transmit the waveform data).

Ron Goodman

--
rgoodman@cit-vax.caltech.edu    _______ _________ _________       |
rgoodman@cit-vax.bitnet        /           \#/       \#/          |   Pasadena
rgoodman@cit-vax.uucp         |alifornia    |nstitute |echnology  | California
                               \_______ ___/#\___ of  |           |   U. S. A.

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 22:19:29 GMT
From: imagen!atari!neil@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Neil Harris)
Subject: Looking for Simon Poole
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

Simon, I know you're out there.  Can you please mail me your (voice) phone
number?  We need to talk to you about something where we can use your help.
Thanks.

--
--->Neil Harris, Director of Marketing Communications, Atari Corporation
UUCP: ...{hoptoad, lll-lcc, pyramid, imagen, sun}!atari!neil
BIX: neilharris / CIS: 70007,1135 / Delphi: NEILHARRIS / GENIE: NHARRIS
WELL: neil / Atari Corp. BBS 408-745-5308 / Usually the OFFICIAL Atari opinion

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 18:50:10 GMT
From: imagen!atari!leavens@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Alex Leavens)
Subject: Re: Crystal Castles for the ST
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

in article <757@looking.UUCP>, david@looking.UUCP says:
>
> I just bought Crystal Castles for the ST, and wonder of wonders, it
> works in MONOCHROME TOO !!!  It looks pretty good in B&W, much better
> than I thought it would.
>
> It is VERY close the arcade game, and plays well with the mouse
> (you can also play with a joystick)

  Thanks for the kind words!  We're glad you like the game.  (By the way,
I simply _cannot_ play it with a mouse.  I die instantly.  I do much
better with a joystick...)

--
--alex @ Atari                  {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer
BIX: alexl.          GEnie:ALEXLEAVENS    AtariCorp:(408)-745-2006

"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers."

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 18:48:23 GMT
From: imagen!atari!leavens@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Alex Leavens)
Subject: Re: mega-st info please
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

in article <17916@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, john@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (John Coker)
 says:
>
> I've been hearing people refer to the ``new'' (future) version of the
> st as a ``mega-st''.  I'd like to know just how this machine is better
> than the current 1024 st, when it's going to come out and how much it's
> going to cost (if anyone knows).
>
>     -   more bits on the screen
    o Nope.  The Megas have the same graphics resolution as the ST's.

>     -   blitter (or more display chips?)
    o Yes.  The Megas will have the blitter.

>     -   faster and/or more memory standard
    o Yes.  The Megas will come in 1, 2, and 4 meg configurations.

>     -   680[12]0 upgrades
    o Interesting rumor, eh?

>     -   arithmetic coprocessor
    o Another interesting rumor, eh?


   Here's basic background information on Megas:

    --The CPU is a 'base unit', roughly 22 inches square.  It contains
a single built in floppy, and has a detached keyboard, a la an IBM PC.

     --The Megas have an internal battery backed up clock.

    --The Megas have the blitter chip and appropriate ROM software built
in.
    --The Megas are completely compatible, in every way, with the
current ST's.

--
--alex @ Atari                  {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer
BIX: alexl.          GEnie:ALEXLEAVENS    AtariCorp:(408)-745-2006

"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers."

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

Date: 20 Mar 87 18:12:08 GMT
From: imagen!atari!leavens@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Alex Leavens)
Subject: Re: 68020 Box, laser printer, Eastern Pa. Expo
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu

in article <110@osupyr.UUCP>, akw@osupyr.UUCP (FarOff MicroDesigns) says:
>
> In article <10162@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> appelbau@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Marc L.
 Appelbaum) writes:
>>[..]
>>print up to 300 X 300 DPI.  In order to layout a full page at 300 X
>>300, you'll need about 4 megs.

> This is (or I think is) *slightly* incorrect.  An Apple LaserWriter does not
> have 4Mb of RAM, nor does a stock Mac Plus.  The Mac (and hopefully the Atari
> laser printer) takes PostScript input, which is an object and line-oriented
> printer graphics language.  It doesn't require a complete bit-map of what-
> ever you want to print out.  This saves the hassle (and slow speed) of
> trying to bit-map an 8 1/2 x 11 page w/ 300x300 dpi in RAM instead of doing
> it by objects.

  Well, I don't know what the final decision is on how we are going to map
images--however, we are already supporting GDOS and GEM Metafiles, so that
programs like Easy Draw II work _beautifully_ on the laser printer (I know,
I'm using the one in the lab to do some stuff.  Gorgeous?  Makes you wanna
cry, it does.)

>>I saw a BLITTER in action!
>
> For goodness' sake HOW WAS IT?  And when can we see one in our local
> Atari dealership (OK Atari...enough Real Soon Now's and some concrete
> dates...like Summer '87, Autumn '87...but a _real_ date.)

  If I knew when, I'd tell you, honest.  And as soon as I _do_ know, I'll
pass along that information.

  As to how it looks....well, basically, it looks great!  That thing
_cooks_ along...

--
--alex @ Atari                  {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer
BIX: alexl.          GEnie:ALEXLEAVENS    AtariCorp:(408)-745-2006

"Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers."

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

End of Info-Atari16 Digest
**************************
-------