🚀 go-pugleaf

Subject: ST online color graphics NOW!

   Well ST lovers, your number 1 BBS imperialist, in yet
another attempt to bring the entire ST world under the
Club Network's roof (and thus make a crowded but very aimable
set of BBSes) brings you enligtening news. Not to be daunted
by PC's with ANSI, we have already explored the ST's
inherent VT52-extended (Our name- "ST52") escape sequences to
create pleasing, pretty, and otherwise fun color graphics
on the Club Network BBS's.
    However, I was suprised (and disappointed) to find that
a major title like ST-Talk does NOT support the ST52 with it's
"VT52" mode! Therefore these colors and windows and boxes
are lost - solution: heck with ST Talk, it doesn't redial
anyhow, so we flipped over to the free, standard VT52 terminal
program with the ST and -presto-, living color.
    We are now faced with a dilema though in that, I would
LOVE to be able to go into 16-color mode and have 16 colors
for the graphics, but of course lo-res mode for the ST means,
(god forbid) ** 40 colums! ** If we create a 16 color menu
system, people calling in in medium-res will get the colors
but the colors will "repeat" (only the lower 2 bits count in
medium res.)
    We therefore, on our PD terminal program, have considered
2 options. A.) Create an 80 column driver for the lo-res mode,
which we CAN do, perhaps even reasonably, or B.) hold off,
because we also had worked out a complete spec for remote GEM,
so that you could (in theory) log on to a complete, windowing
GEM environment. This, however, would be a complete terminal
program and while we're at it if we're going to do the whole
thing we might as well make it incredible.
   Either of these options will, of course, mean the user will
have to have "our" program in order to see graphics. However
my whole idea was to create a sharp looking color graphics
display using the ALREADY DEFINED ST52 codes.
   Inasmuch, terminal program authors, I beg of you - PLEASE
use the standard CONOUT features. At least in SOME mode! It's
color graphics just a simple call away, and with the success
we've had so far, I can tell you folks ST color graphics
WILL be the thing of the future, or we wouldn't have jumped
on it so fast. It, when well done, looks great.
    If you'd like to get in on this, we'll be playing with
generating color graphic "pictures" all week, and will be
developing more and more ST-specific online graphics that
you can access as easy as your VT52 accesory. Drop us
a note online the ATARI ST/TT base and we'll include some
of the early graphics in the messages so you can just
read through and see what happens.

     Graphics ho! Color ho!

     Terry Conklin, Club Network designer/coordinator @
     The Club   (517) 372-3131  all work being done here first
     The Club II (313) 334-8877 mostly ST downloads. 100's online