🚀 go-pugleaf

***** The lines that ate Paris - film title *****

	I've just been shopping around for world ST prices, and these are the
results:
	In Australia, the standard B/W system that costs some $700 or so
here, costs A$2150 x .704 = US$1510. And the government only takes 20%.
Someone is making a big profit over there! But then I suppose some sort of
voltage conversion has to be made.
	In Germany, the cost is DM2898 x .444 = US$1285 for the 1 Meg system
with German keyboard and TOS on disk (still!), and the double sided disk
drive. That's the 520ST+ that has been mentioned here before.
	But in Germany now, it seems they have a 1040STS or something, with
a built-in double-sided floppy for DM3298 x .444 = US1465. And these two
are also just the B/W system. 
	The good news for anyone going to these exotic places is that
according to the Atari person who answered the phone in CA, the American
version will run on 50Hz with a transformer, but that the keyboard clock
will run at 5/6 speed!!! Doesn't this suggest that some crucial part of the
keyboard circuit can be replaced with a German part to make it run at the
speed?
	It's very clear to me now that the best policy is to buy here
and use a transformer overseas. 
	Can anyone say whether STs have got beyond the US, Canada, UK, Germany
Australia and Switzerland? The Bios listing suggests a French version, but
that could conceivably have gone only to Quebec. Perhaps the English
language component of TOS will be rejected by the Ministry of Culture.
And what is this new French computer language coming out soon? I've seen
a sample of French Basic. If anyone has a copy of French Basic for the ST
I would gladly know about it.
...................ak.