:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Volume 3 - Issue 8 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 10 May 1994 :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: ATARI .............. News, reviews, & solutions ............ ATARI :: :: EXPLORER ............ for the online Atari .......... EXPLORER :: :: ONLINE ................. Community .............. ONLINE :: :: :: :: Published and Copyright (c) 1993-1994 by Subspace Publishers :: :: All Rights Reserved :: :: """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" :: :: Publisher ........................... Michael Lindsay EXPLORER :: :: Editor .................................. Travis Guy AEO.MAG :: :: Assistant Editor GEnie................ Ron Robinson EXPLORER.1 :: :: Assistant Editor CompuServe.......... Albert Dayes AEO.1 :: :: Assistant Editor Delphi......... Andreas Barbiero AEO.2 :: :: Assistant Editor Internet........ Timothy Wilson AEO.8 :: :: Atari Asylum ... [Closed] ...... Gregg Anderson AEO.7 :: :: Unabashed Atariophile ..... Michael R. Burkley AEO.4 :: :: Atari Artist ................... Peter Donoso EXPLORER.2 :: :: Jaguar Junkie ............... Tal Funke-Bilu EXPLORER.5 :: :: User Group Coordinator ........ Ron Whittam EXPLORER.4 :: :: :: :: Contributors: :: :: """"""""""""" :: :: Randy Hoekstra Boris Molodyi :: :: Thomas Schmidt David A. Wright :: :: :: :: :: :: Telecommunicated to you via: :: :: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" :: :: GEnie: AEO.MAG :: :: CompuServe: 70007,3615 :: :: Delphi: AEO_MAG :: :: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 319 :: :: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/10 :: :: :: :: Internet mailing address: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com :: :: FTP recent AEO issues from: rahul.net: pub/wilsont/AEO :: :: Search gopherspace under "aeo" for back issues :: :: :: :: Internet subscription service: stzmagazine-request@virginia.edu :: :: (Internet subscription requests ONLY!) :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Table of Contents * From the Editors .............................................. Time out. * Digital Briefs ..................................... Computer, and video game industry news. * Rare Gems ......................................... Quotes worth reading. * Jaguar Tackboard ............................... New developers & titles. * 64 Bits ........................... News from EET - Details of the Sigma Designs Card - Developer News. * "proTOS" Show Report ....................... Thomas Schmidt reports from the Ulm Atari faire. * That's Write 3 ................. Boris Molodyi gives us an in-depth look at Compo's powerful new word processor. * Andreas' Den ................... Andreas has a lot on his plate - EMail, emulators, co-processors, videogames. * ExtenDOS ........................... Running a CD-ROM from your Atari is child's play with this new software reviewed by Randy Hoekstra. * "From a Saved Backup" ....................... This time up, planning and running user group demos. * Legends of Valour .................. Andreas RPGs into yet another world. * Of Lasers and Men ....................... Tim Wilson says "wait" to this Falcon only Wolf 3D clone. * The Unabashed Atariophile ................. Michael Burkley lists new PD and Shareware files for _your_ Atari computer. * GEnie News ........................... New files & happenings on Atari's Official Online Resource. * Developing News ....................... Texas Atari Festival Connecticut Atarifest '94 News Atari's Summer Lynx Games Deal chro_MAGIC's MultiSync Gizmo Fractal Frenzy CD Towers 1.4 DMJ's View 2.5 Planned Additions * Shutdown ............................ Around the world and up your block. --==--==--==--==-- ||| From the Editors ....... Atari Explorer Online: The Next Generation ||| Travis Guy / | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- Time for another look at events in the World Atari! First up, there is no Bob Brodie Dateline: Atari RTC in this issue. Bob is midway through his first vacation in a few years. He should be back, well and rested, and raring to go next month! So what's new? Tal spent a few days tracking down a few Jaguar developers and quizzing them on their work. (Well, I helped too....) News-hungry Jaguar owners have a few bones to chew on - some details on the Sigma Designs Jaguar card; Atari's "adopting" Wavefront's Gameware graphics and animation software as "tools of choice"; hints of future Jaguars... As an aside, I've been asked to pass along the news that after having "lost" a few EMail orders for Tempest 2000 in already cluttered EMailboxes, Atari Customer Service has instituted two new EMail addresses for orders only. You can find them in the Lynx Summer Games Sale offer in this issue. (Do you like Lynx? If so, you've got to check it out - there's a tremendous sale going on!) Which reminds me, just before Bob left on vacation, he used his magical powers (Honest! He has them!) and created a group EMail address for the entire AEO staff on GEnie. Mail sent to AEO$ will be read by all of us. So if you've ever wanted to ask a question, offer a compliment or criticism, but didn't know to whom you should address, fire your EMail there. Atari computer users, you wanted more computer news in AEO, and for the second straight issue, we deliver! Boris Molodyi has turned in an in-depth review of That's Write 3, and an impressive package it is. Andreas and Tim have other things on their minds, and have reviews of Legends of Valour and Of Lasers and Men. Postponed from last issue is Randy Hoekstra's review of ExtenDOS - CD-ROM driver software that delivers Atari "plug-and-play" ease for a growing base of CD software. Of course we have the usual columns and features. It wouldn't -be- AEO without them, would it? At the moment, it looks as if I may have some personal matters interfering with the next issue of AEO. What? Something more important than devotion to Atari machines!? Well, there may be. If I have to postpone the next issue until the weekend of June 4th, I'll drop a note in all of my usual distribution areas, but don't worry, if any important news arises, there'll be AEO News! bulletins to keep you informed. In any event, rest up yourself and have a wonderful May! There's going to be Fuji Fireworks a'plenty at Summer CES in June! --==--==--==--==-- ||| Digital Briefs - Industry News ||| By: Albert Dayes / | \ CIS: 70007,3615 GEnie: AEO.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Atari News =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ATARI and SIGMA DESIGNS PARTNER to DELIVER JAGUAR for the PC SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 3, 1994 - Atari Corporation (AMEX: ATC) today announced that it has exclusively licensed Jaguar technology to Sigma Designs (NASDAQ:SIGM) to deliver PC cards incorporating the award-winning Jaguar 64-bit technology with Sigma's Reel-Magic(TM) full-motion video capabilities. This deal will expand Jaguar's market reach by allowing more than 10 million users to play Jaguar software titles on their IBM-compatible personal computers by year's end. "Atari will once again jump ahead of the market by bringing the world's most advanced game technology to a new group of consumers in record time," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. "Knowing there would be great demand for Jaguar on personal computers - we designed the system to talk easily to the leading computer architectures. This has allowed us to move quickly to partner with Sigma Designs to make this happen before Christmas." "We are pleased to join Atari in its mission to expand the industry standards for video game play," said Julien Nguyen, vice president of engineering and chief technical officer of Sigma Designs. "Jaguar's 64-bit technology will be extremely attractive to the MPC customer base of more than 10 million users. By combining Sigma's Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) technology with Atari's 3D animation, we look forward to bringing the hottest video game technology and software titles to the desktops of users worldwide." Sigma Designs, headquartered in Fremont, Calif., is a leading manufacturer of high-performance multimedia computer products and document imaging display solutions. With the the release of its ReelMagic MPEG controller in October 1993, Sigma Designs redefined affordable video playback for the PC. ReelMagic allows users to experience a new generation of realistic entertainment, education, training, and business presentation software titles with full-screen, full-motion video and CD-quality sound. All Sigma Designs products are sold worldwide through a network of dealers, distributors and system integrators. Atari Jaguar is the world's first 64-bit interactive multimedia home entertainment system and is the only video game system manufactured in the United States. Jaguar, the most powerful multimedia system available, was recently named the industry's "Best New Game System" (Video Games Magazine), "Best New Hardware System" (Game Informer) and "1993 Technical Achievement of the Year" (DieHard GameFan). Jaguar also recently was given the European Computer Trade Show Award for "Best Hardware of the Year." Atari Corporation, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., manufactures and markets 64-bit interactive multimedia entertainment systems, video games and personal computers for the home, office and educational marketplaces. ATARI SELECTS WAVEFRONT'S GAMEWARE AS WORLDWIDE GAME DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE FOR JAGUAR SYSTEMS SANTA BARBARA, Calif., - April 25, 1994 - Wavefront Technologies, Inc. and Atari Corporation have announced a worldwide agreement making Wavefront's GameWare the exclusive game graphics and animation development software for the Atari Jaguar system. The GameWare family is a comprehensive set of 2D and 3D tools that incorporate a wide range of capabilities specifically geared towards game authoring and development needs. Under the terms of the agreement, Atari will itself use GameWare for internal content creation and will advise third-party developers to use GameWare as the image and geometry authoring tool for the new 64-bit Jaguar game system. Wavefront in turn will provide special pricing to Atari Authorized Developers wishing to purchase GameWare licenses. "Jaguar's performance and the realism delivered by GameWare provide our developers with a significant advantage in maximizing the capabilities and potential of our 64-bit design," said Bill Rehbock, vice president of Software Business Development for Atari. "Visual realism is central to Jaguar's capabilities and it has the rendering speed and throughput to drive realistic character animation at a price point that is viable for the home market." "Based on our extensive evaluation, Wavefront's state-of-the art game authoring tools are the best software for our developers to really demonstrate the Jaguar's capabilities. Wavefront's easy-to-use 3D animation and modeling tools will help artists focus on creative, show-and-tell story elements instead of the mechanics needed to implement special effects." "The Atari Jaguar represents the first of the next generation game consoles that will revolutionize the industry with its real-time 3D graphics capabilities," said Bruce Sinclair, electronic games marketing manager for Wavefront. "Atari's selection of GameWare as its exclusive authoring tool will showcase our product with the industry's leading developers in creating some of the most visually stunning games to date." GameWare is Wavefront's graphics software package tailored to meet the specific needs of entertainment content developers. GameWare runs on Silicon Graphics workstations and provides the graphics tools needed to create games containing realistic 3D objects and terrain, 3D synthetic actors with realistic motion and stunning special effects. GameWare can generate images and geometry suitable for any game platform. An open architecture allows developers to integrate their existing software tools with GameWare. Hyper Plug-ins available from Wavefront allow enhanced functionality, including GameWare Composer for 2D special effects and color reduction, and GameWare Dynamation for creating special effects such as explosions, fire, smoke and collisions. Since its introduction at the Consumer Electronics Show in January '94, GameWare has quickly been recognized as the graphics tool of choice among leading-edge game developers. Atari joins the rapidly growing list of gaming companies using Wavefront software including: Acclaim, Accolade, Arc Development, Argonaut Software, CAPCOM, Core Design, Electronic Arts The Learning Company, Midway Manufacturing, NAMCO, Ocean Software, SEGA, SNK, Spectrum Holobyte, Taito, Tiertex, US Gold, and Williams Entertainment. Atari Jaguar is the world's first 64-bit interactive multimedia home entertainment system and is the only video game system manufactured in the United States. Jaguar was recently named the industry's industry's "Best New Game System" (VideoGames Magazine), "Best New Hardware System" (VideoGames Magazine), "Best New Hardware System" (Game Informer) and "1993 Technical Achievement of the Year" (DieHard GameFan). Wavefront Technologies, Inc., founded in 1984, develops, markets and supports a complete line of workstation-based three-dimensional and two-dimensional computer graphics imaging and animation software products for professional users in the entertainment and industrial markets. The Company's entertainment customers use the software to create images and special effects for movies, television programming, advertising and electronic games. The Company's industrial customers use the software to create images for enhancing and marketing products, visualization of design appearance and function, presentation of complex project concepts and illustration of engineering and scientific phenomena that would otherwise be difficult to understand. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Computer Business =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// CBM Closes its Doors - Commodore International Ltd., the computer """"""""""""""""""""""""" manufacturer that provided many with their first computers, is going out of business. The computing pioneer that sold many PET, Vic-20, C-64 and Amiga computers is finally closing its doors. Commodore said, "This is the initial phase of an orderly voluntary liquidation of both companies." The company reported a loss of $8.2 million for the previous quarter //// Multimedia Newscasts - Intel Corp. and Cable News Network """"""""""""""""""""""""" announced they have entered into an alliance to test live multimedia news services on business PCs. Beginning in May at a variety of test sites, business PCs on local area networks (LANs) will display the programming of CNN, the comprehensive breaking news, business and information network, and Headline News, with its concise, fast-paced, half-hour format. To date, video applications have been too bandwidth-intensive for deployment on LANs. Intel's multicast video technology allows a single stream of video packets to be received by multiple stations via existing network wiring, conserving LAN bandwidth. A channel of specially compressed Indeo video can be delivered using less than five percent of the bandwidth of today's LANs. //// Pure Water - A microscopic mineral speck suspended in water is a """"""""""""""" floating boulder to a submicron semiconductor chip. So chip manufacturers looking to stay competitive by decreasing product defects are taking a close look at their water. "To produce defect-free semiconductors, there is a growing need to maximize control over everything in the manufacturing process - including the ultra-high-purity water used for wafer rinsing and cleaning," said Michael Reardon, chief operating officer (COO) of United States Filter Corp. //// FRAM Memory - Hitachi and the US seminconductor company Ramtron """""""""""""""" International Corp. have established an agreement to jointly develop high-density "FRAM(R)" memory, a semiconductor product Hitachi says could be the "ultimate memory." The long-term agreement calls for the development, production and sale of high-density FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) products by Hitachi and Ramtron. The sale of these products could grow to more than $600 million per year by 1998. High-density FRAM products will be used to replace DRAM, SRAM and FLASH memories. FRAM memories combine the high-speed of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) with the non-volatility of (ROM) Read Only Memory - features that at present are not available in any single semiconductor memory device. The resulting products from the joint development will be used in many current applications as well as a range of new applications created by the rapid shift to down-sized, portable electronic devices such as multimedia systems, communication products and other rapidly growing portable-application areas. //// The Math Factor - In 1977, Scientific American magazine offered """""""""""""""""""" a $100 prize to anyone who could find the factors of a 129-digit number. The prize was recently awarded to students at MIT and Iowa State University and to an Oxford University professor/Bellcore scientist. The significance of the "crackers" project is to determine the safety of encrypted data using approximately 120 digit keys. RSA is one company that uses the same idea for its encryption technologies. Most of RSA's keys are close to 200 digits. Currently RSA technology is used by many different industries including telecommunications, defense and banking. Over 600 people got together via Internet to work on a solution to the 129 digit problem. The solution was one factor with 65 digits and the other with 64. With over 1500 computers working for a total of 8 months the problem was finally solved. All types of computers were used in the effort including PCs and supercomputers. "This is how a person would feel if they had 129 locks on the door that were only breakable if the world's great locksmiths had to work together for eight months," said James Bidzos, president of RSA Data Security. "You'd probably feel pretty good about that." //// Motorola's Celligrams? - Motorola's Cellular Infrastructure """"""""""""""""""""""""""" Group announced that it will develop an open network protocol that will allow more rapid introduction of new and enhanced messaging services for cellular phone users. Fax notification and custom text messages are among the new, industry-leading cellular services scheduled for availability in the third quarter of 1994. In the future, Centigram will also be providing E-mail notification, text-to-speech conversion and access to information services. //// Computer Science Takes NASA - Computer Sciences Corp. announced """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" it has been selected by NASA for a $1 billion-plus contract to provide computer services at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Computer Sciences beat out incumbent Boeing Co.'s computer services operation, and Harris Corp. for the 8 year deal and will take over the contract immediately. //// Kodak Focuses on Imaging - Eastman Kodak Company revealed a new """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" corporate strategy that will focus the company's resources and management attention exclusively on its imaging businesses, and wipe out its holdings in certain other areas. "Imaging offers Kodak tremendous opportunities for long-term success and growth. It is the business Kodak knows best, built on over a century of brand strength, marketing know-how, and technological leadership," said George M. C. Fisher, Kodak's Chairman, President, and CEO. "To achieve maximum success, we have concluded that we must commit our entire resource base to imaging opportunities and divest non-core businesses." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Video Games / MMedia =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Game Over - Electronic Arts and Broderbund Software called off """""""""""""" their proposed merger. The main reason was differences of opinion over the final price. In addition the stock values have dropped which greatly affected the all stock transaction. //// Nintendo Does DMA - Nintendo announced that the highly acclaimed """""""""""""""""""""" video game developer DMA Design Ltd. of Dundee, Scotland, is the latest company developing games for Nintendo's 64-bit Project Reality home video game system, now being developed for Nintendo by Silicon Graphics Inc. DMA, creator of the classic series of "LEMMINGS" video games, will dedicate its company's resources to support the launch and early development of Project Reality, what Nintendo claims to be the world's most advanced home video game system. It will debut in the fall of 1995 at a suggested retail price of less than $250. //// A True Pitfall - Activision has announced that it has hired """"""""""""""""""" Kroyer Films Inc. and Soundelux Media Labs to participate in the production of "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure," an all new interactive game based on the hit video game series of the 1980's, "Pitfall Harry." The game is being developed for the Sega Genesis and Super NES platforms and will eventually be introduced for various CD-ROM based platforms including Sony's new PSX multimedia system. //// Dial "0" for Startup - Telecommunications giant Bell Atlantic """"""""""""""""""""""""" and The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc., joined forces with InterActive Partners to fund and build start-up companies in the interactive television and multimedia arena. Interactive Partners is headed by Robert M. Fell, a well-known entertainment communications investor and entrepreneur, and David S. Morse, a technology leader who founded and developed the core technology for Amiga Computer as well as the technology for The 3DO Company's Interactive Multiplayer. Fell and Morse were both founding directors of Crystal Dynamics, a prominent game software company which serves as the prototype for future InterActive Partners companies. This powerful coalition provides strategic relationships and direct funding for the companies emerging in home shopping, electronic games, education, children's entertainment, gaming, location-based entertainment and other areas. Initial portfolio companies include VideoStream, The New Children's Studio and Silicon Gaming. //// Time Warner's Title Wave - Time Warner Interactive has set up a """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" multi-title deal with Tsunami Media to publish and distribute a number of its PC CD-ROM entertainment titles. The deal includes taking over distribution of six previously released titles and publishing Tsunami's latest science fiction adventure game, Return to Ringworld, which will be available this summer. "What makes Tsunami unusual," said Craig Moody, executive vice president, Time Warner Interactive, "is that their products combine intelligent user-sensitive simulations and leading-edge interactive video which puts a brand-new spin on the traditional exploration/adventure game genre." //// Sega Lion to Us? - Sega and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. agreed to a """"""""""""""""""""" precedent-setting deal to jointly create a line-up of interactive media titles, television programs and motion picture titles, as part of a multi-year, multi-title effort. The non-exclusive deal calls for MGM and Sega to invest an undisclosed sum in the effort. Beyond that investment, the deal calls for both parties to collaborate in the development, production and marketing of media products. Products resulting from the deal will bear both the MGM and Sega names. Although product to be developed will be new and original concepts, Sega and MGM also may choose to develop interactive games based on forthcoming 1995 and 1996 movie releases from both MGM Pictures and the United Artists Pictures units of MGM. //// A Princely Game - The singer Prince, who recently changed his """""""""""""""""""" name to a unique symbol not found in normal ASCII, has been involved in a new game bearing his name. Graphiz Zone the producer of the game for Sigma Design's Reelmagic board for the PC said the name of the game will be Prince Interactive. The game will have music written specifically for the CD-ROM in addition other songs and videos written in the past. The product should ship around Summer 1994. //// Catwoman Never? - Warner Bros. and Acclaim announced the two """""""""""""""""""" companies have entered into a pact whereby Batman Forever, the highly anticipated blockbuster Warner Bros. movie starring Michael Keaton, will lead Acclaim's recently announced 1995 entry into the coin-op arcade market. In addition, Batman Forever will headline several Acclaim interactive entertainment software titles for leading home video game cartridge and CD-ROM systems, including those produced by Sega and Nintendo. --==--==--==--==-- ||| Rare Gems ||| Compiled by: David A. Wright / | \ Internet:dave.wright@magic.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for April 17 to 23, 1994. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and David Alan Wright. Compilation copyright 1994 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly or monthly collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is retained. Multiple collections, such as CD-ROM, print, electronic, and other publications, may not be distributed without further authorization. This space intentionally left filled. --:Dave === The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt. --Thomas Merton The universe is made up of stories, not atoms. --Muriel Rukeyser People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy. --Bob Hope A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery It is remarkable how often our complaints reflect our own shortcomings. --Dick Overton To Gary Hill, who I promised to remember in my will, I want to say, "Hi, Gary." --Lewis Grizzard's will Well, Red Cloud, it just so happens I -did- ask the chief!... A bear claw necklace is a symbol of honor - a Grizzly Adams fingernail necklace is not! --Indian, "The Far Side" cartoon by Gary Larson The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for April 24 to 30, 1994. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and David Alan Wright. Compilation copyright 1994 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly or monthly collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is retained. Multiple collections, such as CD-ROM, print, electronic, and other publications, may not be distributed without further authorization. Smoke-free zone. Put it out, or it'll put you out. --:Dave === If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kickboxing. --Unknown "Instinct" is just a fancy word that means, "We don't know why the hell they do that." --Unknown No one can do me any good by loving me; I have more love than I need or could do any good with; but people do me good by making me love them - which isn't easy. --John Ruskin "Hee Hoo keeps his head while all about him are losing theirs..." "Is getting paid to operate the guillotine." --"B.C." strip by Johnny Hart Call me insane one more time, and I'll eat your other eye. --Unknown A key ring is a handy little gadget that allows you to lose all your keys at once. --Unknown I know that parenthood is an institution, but I'm not ready to be institutionalized. --Dixie Cousins, "Brisco County" show The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for May 1 to 7, 1994. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and David Alan Wright. (Internet: DAVE.WRIGHT@MAGIC.ORG) Compilation copyright 1994 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly or monthly collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is retained. Multiple collections, such as CD-ROM, print, electronic, and other publications, may not be distributed without further authorization. Not sanitized for your moral protection. --:Dave === You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife? --Benjamin Franklin It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has. --William Osler Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. --Ronald Reagan There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets? --Dick Cavett If thee marries for money, thee surely will earn it. --Ezra Bowen Grad school - It's not just a job, it's an indenture. --Unknown If life is like a highway, then the soul is just a car, and objects in the rear-view mirror may appear closer than they are. --Meatloaf --==--==--==--==-- ||| Jaguar Tackboard ||| Confirmed information about Atari's Jaguar / | \ Compiled from online and official sources ----------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Independent Association of Jaguar Developers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The IAJD (Independent Association of Jaguar Developers) is accepting members on GEnie. The IAJD is a private group where confidential discussions can be freely held. (Category 64 of the ST RoundTable is the IAJD meeting place.) Consequently, membership in the IAJD is limited to Jaguar developers who are registered with Atari Corp. To apply for membership, send EMail to ENTRY$ on GEnie (or if you're not on GEnie). Regular EMail correspondence with the IAJD should be sent to IAJD$ (again, or if you're not on GEnie). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Developer / Game List 1.10 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= //// Editor: The following developers, licensees and game titles have been confirmed to the best of AEO's ability as of May 9, 1994. Entries in the "S"tatus column reflects any "e"rrors, "u"pdates, "n"ew titles, or new "d"evelopers since the last AEO list. Titles in brackets (e.g. [Cybermorph]) have been completed and are available in the US. 1-10 Titles S Developer/Licensee Rating under development " """""""""""""""""" """""" """"""""""""""""" 21st Century Software - Pinball Fantasies 3D Games - Rainbow Warrior - MORE Accent Media Productions - Varuna's Forces CD-ROM Accolade - Al Michaels Announces Hardball - Brett Hull Hockey - Charles Barkley Basketball - Jack Nicholas Golf Activision - Return to Zork CD-ROM All Systems Go - Hosenose and Booger CD-ROM - Jukebox (cart multiplexer) e - B.I.O.S.fear CD-ROM American Laser Games - Mad Dog McCree Anco Software Ltd. - Kick Off 3 (for Imagineer) - World Cup Anthill Industries Argonaut Software - Creature Shock CD-ROM (For Virgin) Atari Corp. - Battlezone 2000 - Chaos Agenda CD-ROM - Club Drive 5 [Crescent Galaxy] - MPEG 1 and 2 carts - Star Raiders 2000 - Tiny Toons Adventures - VR Helmet MORE Atari Games Corp. - Arcade Games Using Jaguar Attention to Detail - Battlemorph: Cybermorph 2 CD-ROM - Blue Lightning CD-ROM 7 [Cybermorph] (For Atari) Audio-Visual Magic Bethesda Softworks Beyond Games Inc. - Battlewheels - Ultra Vortex Black Scorpion Software Bjorn Joos/Kris Van Lier Borta & Associates Brainstorm - [x86 Jaguar Development System] Bullfrog Productions Ltd. - Syndicate - Theme Park (For Ocean) Clearwater Software Computer Music Consulting Cybervision CyberWare Delta Music Systems Inc. Dimension Technologies Domark Group Ltd. - F1 Racer DTMC - Lester the Unlikely - Mountain Sports - (Miniature Golf) Eclipse - Iron Soldier Elite E-On Eurosoft EZ Score Software Inc. GameTek Inc. Genus Microprogramming Inc. Gremlin Graphics Ltd. - Zool 2 - UNKNOWN TITLE (racing) - MORE? H2O Design Corp. Hand Made Software - Kasumi Ninja (For Atari) u High Voltage Software - White Men Can't Jump (for Trimark) Hisoft ICD Inc. - Cat Box (AV & comm expansion box) id Software - Doom: Evil Unleashed - Wolfenstein 3D Imagineer Company Ltd. Imagitec Design Inc. 6 [Evolution Dino-Dudes] 6 [Raiden] - Freelancer 2120 CD-ROM - Busby in Clawed Encounters of the Furried Kind (For Accolade) n - Dino Dudes 2 Interplay - BattleChess CD-ROM - MORE? Jaleco - Cisco Heat - Bases Loaded - MORE CD-ROM Krisalis Software Ltd. - Soccer Kid Limelight Media Inc. LlamaSoft 10 [Tempest 2000] (For Atari) - MORE MINTER! Loricel S.A. Manley & Associates Inc. Maxis Software Microids - Evidence - Commando Microprose - Gunship 2000 - MORE SIMULATIONS Midnite Software Inc. - Car Wars - Dungeon Depths MORE Millenium Interactive Ltd. NMS Software Ltd. Ocean Software Ltd. - (Movie title "The Shadow") CD-ROM - Apes--- - (Comic title "LOBO") CD-ROM Phalanx - Phong 2000 Photosurrealism - Galactic Gladiators u Pixel Satori (was Duncan Brown) u PIXIS Interactive - Unnamed graphic adventure Rage Software UK ReadySoft Incorporated - Dragon's Lair CD-ROM - Dragon's Lair II CD-ROM - Space Ace CD-ROM Rebellion Software Ltd. - Alien vs. Predator - Checkered Flag II - Legions of the Undead (For Atari) n - Hammerhead Rest Energy Sculptured Software Inc. d Sigma Designs - "Jaguar on a PC" PC card Silmarils - Robinson's Requiem CD-ROM d Sinister Developments Software Creations Team Infinity Team 17 Software Ltd. Tecnation Digital World Techtonics Telegames - Brutal Sports Football - Casino Royale - European Soccer Challenge - Ultimate Brain Games - MORE? - Double Dragon 5 (For Tradewest) - Super Off-Road (For Tradewest) Teque London Ltd. Thrustmaster Tiertex Ltd. - Flashback (for U.S. Gold) Titus Tradewest - Troy Aikman Football n - The Shadow Falls Trimark Interactive - U.S. Gold Ltd. n UBI Soft International - RayMan u - MORE (American Football) V-Reel Productions - Arena Football - Horrorscope Virgin Interactive Entertainment Ltd. - Dragon - Demolition Man Virtual Xperience - Indiana Jags - Zozziorx - MORE? Visual Concepts Williams Brothers WMS Industries Zeppelin Games - Center Court Tennis Pts Stars AEO Ratings """ """"" """"""""""" 10 ***** GAMING NIRVANA!!! - You have left reality behind... for good. 9 ****+ Unbelieveable GAME!! - Your family notices you're often absent. 8 **** Fantastic Game!! - You can't get enough playtime in on this. 7 ***+ Great Game! - Something to show off to friends or 3DOers. 6 *** Good game - You find yourself playing this from time to time. 5 **+ Ho-hum - If there's nothing else to do, you play this. 4 ** Waste of time - Better to play this than play in traffic. 3 *+ Sucks - Playing in traffic sounds like more fun. 2 * Sucks Badly - You'd rather face an IRS audit than play this. 1 + Forget it - ... but you can't; it's so badly done, it haunts you. 0 - Burn it - Disallow programmer from ever writing games again. --==--==--==--==-- ||| 64-bits (Jaguar news) ||| By: Tal Funke-Bilu / | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.5 --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello Jaguar Fans! Well, it's been a busy two weeks for the Junkie, but I don't have as much information as I would have liked. It seems I've ended up with a little bit of news from a lot of developers, rather than a lot of news from a few developers. //// Future Jaguar Developments in EE Times Electronic Engineering Times did a front page story in their May 2nd issue on technical advances in the video game and computer game arenas. Basically, there are moves to merge the two! Leaving the big Atari/Sigma announcement until the next section, EE Times quotes Atari officials as saying that internal design of the second generation Jaguar (which could be software compatible!) will be complete this Fall. The new chip will contain the equivilant of 1.25 million transistors, compared to the 750,000 count in the current Jaguar chipset. A 10-fold increase in polygon performance is anticipated. Also spoken of was that Atari has joined other companies in designing a cable-TV set-top box - based on Jaguar technology. //// Sigma anounces JagPC - Jaguar on a PC card! The big news on the video game front is the announcement from Atari Corp. and Sigma Designs on the development on the rumored PC Jag card. Yep, it's true, Sigma Designs announced that they plan to have the card available to the public by the end of the year for "under $500." At the moment, details are a bit sketchy, and rumors are flying all over the Internet in every newsgroup from Atari to 3DO to Sega to Nintendo. Not only is Atari leading the pack with the most advanced video game system available, but now they are making it available to an installed user base of over 10,000,000 users. As for now, here are the facts as we know them: [] The JagPC will enable PC users with a MPC2 compatible machine (and the JagPC of course) to play JagCD games in a window on their PC. [] PC users will not need to buy a special Jaguar CD-ROM drive as the card will utilize the (double-speed) CD drive in the PC. [] The card will NOT play Jaguar cartridges. [] The JagPC will play the SAME Compact Discs that will play in Atari's upcoming Jaguar CD-ROM drive. (i.e. you will be able to pop a disc out of your Jaguar CD-ROM drive and run -the- -same- -physical- -disc- on the JagPC.) [] The JagPC will use an ISA bus slot. (There is currently no name for the product. We are calling it "JagPC" for lack of a better name!) As far as we can tell, there are no current plans by Atari Corp. to establish similar cards or devices for other computing platforms. The JagPC itself is not only a "Jag-on-a-card." In addition to allowing Jaguar CD compatibility, the card will also benefit the PC user by acting as a ReelMagic MPEG card in its spare time. That's right, it will be a ReelMagic/JagCard in one. Although it has not been confirmed, it is likely that the ReelMagic's MPEG abilities will utilized by the JagPC card, thus eliminating the need for a PC user to have some type of MPEG Cartridge needed by owners of a "regular" Jag+CD. With ReelMagic cards retailing for around $400, this is definately exciting news indeed! This also opens the door for PC software developers who previously might not have considered porting their software over to the Jaguar. The current ReelMagic card allows PC users to display MPEG compressed video on a PC with over 32,000 colors in a resolution up to 1024x768 with no slow down at 30fps. It also allows for the playback of Video CDs which are just starting to trickle into the market. Currently, some of the more noteable ReelMagic developers are: Activision, Sierra On-Line, ReadySoft, Aris Entertainment, Trilobyte, Interplay, Access Software Inc., Virgin Games, Compton's New Media, and Psychnosis. //// Developer News [] UBI Soft are not working on Jimmy Connor's Tennis, intstead they are focusing their efforts on a futuristic adventure game entitled RayMan. They are also trying to obtain licenses from either the NFL or the NFL Player's Assoiciation for an upcoming American Football title. Both are said to be "coming along quite nicely now" and they plan to display them at the SCES. [] Virgin's two main projects are a fighting game called Dragon, alongside with Demolition Man, based on the hit movie of the same name. [] Pixis International told AEO that they were going to stay away from "adult" titles with their first batch of Jag releases. They plan on releasing an unnamed graphic adventure game for the whole family by year's end or 1Qtr '95. [] Imagineer reported that KickOff 3 "development is taking place on schedule." EPROMs of this great soccer game have been reported in the Atari HQ, but the latest reports show a reworking of the code to correct a bug. Look for this one towards Fall. [] Tradewest has their arms full with a batch of great titles. Currently they are working on Double Dragon 5, The Shadow Falls (a tournament fighting game with approx. 12 levels), and Troy Aikman Football. All are progressing nicely and should be shown at the SCES. [] Amid rumors of CD-Dev kits and what not, ReadySoft has confirmed that they are well into development on Dragon's Lair CD for the Jag. They are very pleased with the Jag's hardware. [] Activision are looking at the Jaguar's sales performance to determine whether they will be bringing their new Pitfall to the Jag. A "far in the future" candidate for the Jag might be River Raid, but that would depend on whether Activision decides to revive it. (Personally, they told AEO that they feel the Jaguar would be a success, and that it would be a great platform to do a new River Raid on!) [] DTMC has also confirmed that a Christmas release is likely for Lester the Unlikely. [] Jeff Minter has told AEO that his VLM is coming along great. "It's got a bunch of just wicked effects!" He hopes to collaborate with Atari in an effort to finalize the coding and include it in the JagCD within the next month. Look for the "missing Minter files" to resurface when Jeff makes it over to the states. AEO might also be able to score on a RealTime Conference with Jeff on GEnie, but I'm not making any promises. [] Lots, lots, lots more developers are doing things with Jaguar that will make heads SPIN! Announcements, as they always say, are coming soon. //// Sum... Summ... Summertime! In a related note, AEO is currently pursuing efforts to obtain a badge to the SCES. In the event that we are able to attend, we will be putting together a comprehensive two hour VHS video of the entire 3 days. This will be a professional production that you wont want to miss. (It will be packed with the works. Screenshots, gameplay, interviews, what's up behind enemy lines (read 3DO), etc.) Also, look for the Junkie to supply you with a special "ALL JAGUAR" issue of the latest Atari (and related) news of the SCES within a week of its completion. Keep in mind that this will only be possible if we can gain access. AEO would like your feedback as to what you the reader would like covered in the video and special issue. Please send all questions, comments, etc. to Travis and to me . That looks like it will do for this issue. I was planning on including a bit more, but I just found out I have to take off to L.A. No Jag for 3 days... uh oh.... BTW: 3,150,000 still the score to beat on T2K. --==--==--==--==-- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- --==--==-- GEnie Sign-Up Information --==--==-- -- -- -- -- 1. Set your communications software for half duplex (local echo) -- -- at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud. -- -- -- -- 2. Dial toll free: 1-800-638-8369 (or in Canada, 1-800-387-8330). -- -- Upon connection, enter HHH. -- -- -- -- 3. At the U# prompt, enter XTX99436,GENIE then press . -- -- -- -- 4. Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S., you may also use -- -- your checking account number. -- -- -- -- For more information in the United States or Canada, call 1-800- -- -- 638-9636 or write: GEnie, c/o GE Information Services, P.O. Box -- -- 6403, Rockville, MD 20850-1785. -- -- -- -- --==--==-- Atari's Official Online Resource! --==--==-- -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --==--==--==--==-- ||| "proTOS" Report ||| By: Thomas Schmidt / | \ Internet: schmidts@minnie.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ulm, Germany, April 22th - 24th As it is known, the largest ATARI-Fair, the "ATARI Messe" in Dusseldorf, Germany, has ceased to exist. Instead, several German traders have organized three smaller fairs in all corners of the country. The first one was the "proTOS" fair, in Ulm in the south. The second one, "CSA Falcon Competence Party", will take place on April 29th and 30th in Gelsenkirchen in the west; the third, "FEZ-A-BIT", in Berlin on the 7th and 8th of May. (Yes, they will all have taken place by the time you read this, but not yet for me!) In Ulm, most of the exhibitors were traders and from the overall impression it seemed that their happy mood either derived from the sunshine outside or the good sales performance. Although there were many visitors on Sunday, it seemed that Saturday even saw a higher number. On the hardware side, only a few prototypes were shown. Overscan and Compo showed applications on two Medusa T40 68040 TOS-computers, but could only promise to show the Afterburner 040 for the Falcon at the "FEZ-A-BIT". The price was said to be around DM 1500 (about $900). The offered version of the Medusa T40 for DM 7999 (about $4700) included 8MB FastRAM, ET4000 graphics, and a 270 MB harddisk, all in a towercase. MW Elektronik showed the PAK68/3 accellerator board for ST and Mega ST, it was reported that the processor speed (a 68030) can be increased to over 50 MHz! They also had a prototype of a VGA-graphic card adapter for the PAK and promised to finish the work on the FastRAM option soon. Even if you want to dismiss your ATARI for a "compatible" computer, You need not neccessarily throw away all your TOS programs! VHF Computer GmbH showed its "Janus" ST-board for PCs. It has a 16 MHz 68000 and sits in an ISA-slot. There are two SIMM-slots on the board, so you can have up to 32 MB of RAM. Although the raw performance of the processor is not higher than you would expect, the graphic routines are processed by the host PC and therefore seem to exceed even TT030 values. The shown board ran my game "Slartris" without problems in a remarkable speed but apparently, there was a last minute bug in one of the driver routines which made the PC speaker go "beeeeep" forever everytime a text function was called.... As for the price and release date, the card without TOS and RAM goes for DM 898 (~$530) and is said will be delivered around the end of May. Heyer & Neumann GbR showed a prototype of their "Multiboard". This allows you to increase the on-board memory of a Mega-ST (ST solutions are under development) with an additional 8 MB RAM (SIMM modules). It includes a slot for an ET4000 PC graphic card (which needs "ET4000 NVDI" by Behne & Behne) and an IDE HD-interface, also TOS 2.06-slots. The additional RAM (the prototype ran in an Mega ST with 3 MB RAM) is installed at the same addresses FastRAM is, but without the increased speed. Therefore TOS 2.06 is needed to recognize this memory. The price was announced to be about DEM 300 ($180) for the board; delivery should start in June for the Mega ST version, the ST-version not before July. On the software-side, I like to mention two CD-ROMs with PD and ShareWare mainly of German origin. They were compiled by Bernd Lohrum (EMail: bernd_lohrum@clubbox.light.de) and offer many hundreds of megabytes of programs and data, both in packed (for BBSs) and unpacked versions, the newer one dated the 13th of April. About the author: I'm a 22-year German student of computer science at the University of Stuttgart. Now I'm in the fourth semester, that's just about six left to go!-) My first connection with computers was a VCS 2600 back in '82, and I stayed with ATARI all the following years. First with an 800XL, and since '87 I have an 260ST, now with 2.5 MB RAM and a PAK68/3 accellarator. I started with BASIC and assembler on the XL; BASIC, Assembler and C on the ST. I just had the "pleasure" to learn HP-9000-RISC-Assembler at the University. The only program I've "sold" so far (unintentionally that is) is "Slartris". It was published on a PD-disk for the German "ST Magazin", which ceased to exist shortly thereafter (No connection, afaIk). --==--==--==--==-- ||| That's Write 3.1g Review ||| By: Boris Molodyi / | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.6 CIS: 70322,624 ------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: by now, That's Write is up to version 3.1h that fixes a bug when in some circumstances, if "Dialogs in Windows" option was selected, the text cursor might become invisible. First of all, I want to say what That's Write 3 is and what it is not. That's Write 3 is an advanced word processor with many powerful features. However, it is not a heavily graphic-oriented program. If you are looking for a word processor that will let you create leaflets, flyers and generally do small-scale DTP, That's Write 3 is not the answer. However, for writing letters, creating invoices (self-calculating, if you want them to), academic theses; for writing The Great American Novel, or for general text manipulation, That's Write 3 is probably the most capable program available in the US Atari market. That's Write 3 allows you to manipulate fonts, page elements and even images easily, but it does not have the graphical power of a DTP program. COMPO says (rightly, in my opinion) that if you want a complex layout, you probably should invest in a full-blown DTP program. That's Write 3 does not display multiple columns on screen (even though it allows for them) and does not reformat paragraphs as you type. Instead, it waits for you to stop typing (or issue a direct command to reformat) before doing it. You can find it distracting in the beginning, but other powerful features of That's Write 3 redeem these shortcomings. //// Installation To begin with, the current version of That's Write 3 comes on 4 disks (more if you also get the MultiFont package that gives you all 35 standard PostScript fonts). It has an easy to use, completely GEM-based installation program. After being told where you want the program to be installed and what kind of printer(s) you have, it installs the program - together with appropriate font files (more on TW's font handling later) and printer drivers. You can also choose to install demo documents, accessory programs and TOS fixes. The installation programs also can make backup copies of master disks for you, and displays the READ.ME file when you load it. To work with That's Write 3 you need at least 1 Meg of RAM, and a hard drive is recommended. It is possible to work on a floppy-based system, but I would not recommend it, either. //// Interface The first thing that meets the eye when you run That's Write 3 (provided that you have installed the noSystem interface driver) is That's Write 3's interface. Having better graphics than ST High or Medium certainly helps. (The more colors and pixels you have, the better; That's Write 3 will work with Falcon or any graphic board that has working VDI drivers.) The interface is very well thought out, and features 3D-looking gadgets for windows and dialog boxes (which are moveable and may be placed inside windows). Radio buttons, check boxes, exit buttons, all have a distinctive 3D look and are color-coded for easy reference. (The default exit button is green, while the "Cancel" button is red, for example.) This user-adjustable interface, which is provided through the AUTO folder program, may be used in other programs. (Currently, the latest version of Musicom from COMPO uses it.) Almost every dialog box also has a "Help" button that brings up a short description of operations made in this dialog and describes various options offered. Apart from the fact that it is really very nice looking, TW's interface is very easy to use. Clicking on the right mouse button when inside the text window brings up a pop-up menu that lets you get help on the keyboard shortcuts, conduct various operations on the current text, go to a specific place in the text, or set a marker in the text. You may have two additional windows active: "Status" and "Macro". Status presents information about the current text, such as its saved status, current font, name of the author, author's remarks, current paragraph format and other things. Clicking on a field in this window brings up a dialog or selector allowing you to change this information. You can, of course, select what information is displayed and how it is formatted. The "Macro" window shows a list of all currently defined macros, their keyboard equivalents, and their names. Clicking on the macro name carries on operations defined in that macro, while right-clicking lets you edit parameters, such as the shortcut (useful for expanding short abbreviations into long sentences), description, etc. Display parameters of the "Macro" window also may be set to your liking. For those like to have a full range of keyboard shortcuts at their disposal, That's Write 3 offers two possibilities: you can use Atari standard keyboard equivalents (for the most part, the same as on Mac and Windows systems; Ctrl-X for cut, for example), or you can use the SysKey set of keyboard shortcuts that has a single key shortcuts for more frequently used operations, while less-frequently used operations use two key sequences. This approach allows for keyboard equivalents to be assigned to every single menu operation in That's Write 3. For example, quitting the program (something that you probably do only once during the working session) is defined as Ctrl-F,Q (Ctrl-F selects the "File" menu, while Q indicates the "Quit" menu entry). This system works similarly to that found on PCs. That's Write 3 allows you to control other aspects of the interface as well. Besides being able to chose whether you want your dialogs placed in windows and selecting the style of keyboard shortcuts you prefer, you also can select whether the text cursor blinks or not, whether the system file selector (or whichever alternative one you have installed) or TW's own selector is used. That's Write 3 supports up to 9 documents and open windows at once, even if you do not have MultiTOS, Geneva or Mag!X installed, and it has commands for arranging windows the way you want. TW also supports MultiTOS' drag-n-drop protocol. Dragging a text file onto one of TW's windows gives you the choice of either opening the new window for this file, or of appending the file with the current text. Dragging an IMG file to TW's window loads this image and displays it in the current text. Clicking on a window's "Closer" button presents a pop-up menu with choices of closing the window (without removing the text from memory), removing the text altogether, erasing everything in the window (if the text have not been saved, you will be asked if you want to save it), or quitting the program. As every other pop-up does, this one has single-key keyboard equivalents. Other interface extensions offered by That's Write 3 include improvements in window manipulation. You can scroll and move background windows, like in MultiTOS. In addition, That's Write 3 lets you size the window from any corner, and select whether the window should have horizontal or vertical scroll bars or none at all. When you are sizing the window, the mouse pointer changes its shape, pointing in the direction of the corner you're using to size the window. Any dialog or alert box, even if they aren't placed inside windows (which is useful if you are running a multitasking OS) may be dragged around, either in its solid form, or as a transparent outline. Almost all options and buttons in dialogs and alerts have keyboard equivalents which are underlined for easy reference. The "UNDO" key is always equivalent to pressing the "Cancel" button. Also, text editing in dialog boxes is greatly improved over the standard handling. You can use the mouse to place the cursor in any position of the edited text. You can also use shift key, together with arrow keys, to quickly move to the beginning or end of the text. //// Font support That's Write 3 is very strong in the area where most Atari word processors, until recently, were rather weak; support for multiple, scaleable fonts. That's Write 3 can use Speedo fonts, as well as bitmapped GEM fonts, and a printer's built-in fonts. Speedo support means that you have access to a large library of professional vector fonts. Speedo fonts are hinted and kerned, and screen and printed output is very good. Support for GEM bitmapped fonts means that all those GDOS fonts that you might have collected in the past are not obsolete. You can also use COMPO's C-Font utility to convert any Calamus font into a bitmapped font. Finally, support for fonts built-in into your printer means that even if you have a dot-matrix or ink-jet printer you still can print your documents fast and yet be able to use graphics and Speedo fonts. Since That's Write 3 does not use the SpeedoGDOS itself, but rather has its own Speedo font scaler built-in, you can enjoy TW's superior font handling. It also means that you can mix printer's fonts, bitmapped fonts, and Speedo fonts in the same document - even in the same word. As a result, you can have the body text in your document printed in your printer's resident font (or in a font you have downloaded to your printer), which is very fast, while chapter headings and alike are printed in a large, nice-looking Speedo font. That's Write 3's Font Parameters feature allows you to have real font families. It means that when you select Italic from the style menu, rather than getting a slanted version of the font you were working with (as would be the case in SpeedoGDOS-based program like Atari Works), you get the real Italic font. (The same goes for Bold, and Bold Italic typefaces of the family.) Another benefit of this system is that it allows for separate Bold or Bold Italic fonts to be defined even for bitmapped GEM fonts. While Bold bitmapped fonts aren't very popular, you are nevertheless able to define a font file that serves as a Bold (and a Bold Italic) face of the bitmapped family. If you are using C-Font or similar utility to convert vector fonts to bitmappaed format, TW allows you to use Bold and Bold Italic versions of the original font to create bitmapped fonts which will be used when you select the appropriate style. Also, That's Write 3 allows you to have many weights of the font in the same family. While such weights as "Light", "Ultrabold" or "Black Condensed" are not standard text styles and therefore can not be chosen from a style menu, they are available within the same family. Once you have selected the family (for example, Swiss), you can easily select the desired weight. That's Write 3 allows you to control the way Speedo fonts are cached, whether they should be kept resident in memory for multiple printouts, what encoding should be used with particular Speedo font (Speedo fonts allow for more than 256 characters in the font, and encoding tables let one choose which characters are used). For any type of font, That's Write 3 lets the user control what the font is called in the font selector, in what order styles of that font are displayed, and what keyboard table is associated with the font or the font family. With the help of keyboard tables you may assign any character to any key. It is very useful when working with symbol fonts or fonts with foreign characters. That's Write 3 can load fonts at any time, as well as replace and delete fonts. Also, with a click of one button, you can delete all fonts that are not used in the current document. //// Printer support That's Write 3 comes with drivers for over 60 different printers. (The STraight Fax package also has drivers for That's Write 3.) While printer drivers used in the current version of TW are not extremely intelligent and do not tell the program anything about the page sizes supported by the printer (thus, creating a paragraph that is wider than the printed page will result in the text on the right being simply cut off), they allow for use of printer's own fonts as well as for printing of graphics and Speedo and GEM fonts. Printing options of TW allow for printing any number of copies, either in sequential order or with every page being printed several times (since the page has to be generated only once, it greatly speeds up output to laser printers). Printout of only odd or even pages, and suppression of graphics printing, are also options. TW even offers a unique feature of printing pages from a user-selected list. (For example, you can print pages 1, 3-6, 25, and 16.) Of course, you are able to select the paper feeding method and port that your printer is connected to. If your printer is not among ones offered in the standard package, COMPO may create a driver for you. If you are more adventurous, COMPO has a package that lets you design your own printer drivers. If you require a PostScript output, COMPO has a completely PostScript capable version of the program. It costs $100 more (with $50 for the complete package of standard PostScript fonts and $50 for the program itself). If you do not have a PostScript printer but still want the PostScript compatibility, COMPO offers a deal on a package including CompoScript, their PostScript interpreter, that allows you to print documents without even having to quite That's Write 3. //// Styles That's Write 3 is a style-based word processor. That means that every paragraph in the text has a style tag associated with it, and changing the formatting of this paragraph changes formatting of _all_ paragraphs having the same style. Creating paragraph styles is very easy. You call up a paragraph style selector, enter an abbreviated name that isn't already present there, and you are taken to the Paragraph Layout dialog. There you can select ruler settings (margins, indents and tabs), the default font (if the font you want isn't already loaded into TW, you can load it from there), default text style (normal, bold, underlined, double underlined, strike through, italic, sub or superscript), justification, line and paragraph spacing, as well as some more obscure options. You can declare any paragraph as the default, and it will be automatically selected every time you hit "Return" (with one exception). You can make paragraphs always start on a new page, select a heading level of a paragraph (used in the outliner), and declare it as a remark paragraph (it will be displayed on screen, but not in the print preview, and it will not be printed). Since your document most probably will have several often used combinations of paragraph styles (for example, section name is usually followed by a chapter name, and it is followed by the body text), That's Write 3 allows you to chain paragraph styles. Of course, you can always override this paragraph sequencing manually. The "Paragraph Layout" dialog also lets you delete style tags you do not need anymore, and allows you to automatically delete all styles that are not used in the current document. Such aspects of paragraph layout as margins and tabs may also be directly edited from the ruler (if displayed). If you have the left margin and left indent of the paragraph in the same position, you pick which to click-and-drag with the mouse by using the left mouse button for one, and the right button for the other. When you drag either margin markers or tabs, That's Write displays a thin vertical line that lets you see exactly where you are, in relation to the text. The "Page Layout" dialog allows you to define size and margins of the paper you use, number of columns on page and distance between them, as well as widow and orphan protection (how many first or last lines of a paragraph may exist on the page by themselves). Also it allows the user to define footnote separation and whether the line (length and thickness, definable) should be printed before footnotes. You can give your page layouts meaningful names, as with paragraph layouts. From this dialog you also define headers and footers on the page. Any Page Layout (or all unused ones) may be deleted at any time That's Write 3 allows for as many page formats in a single document as you want, and it even allows different pages to be of different sizes and have different number of columns. All these setting may be saved on disks in layout files. One of them may be default and will be loaded automatically every time you load the program. //// The Works You may enter text as you would in any other in any other word processor. However, That's Write 3 offers many features that help you in editing your text. [] Blocks That's Write 3 has a full range of block tools. You can select blocks in a standard manner (windows will scroll when you drag the mouse to the window edge) - by double-clicking, you can select the word or the whole paragraph at once. You can also use commands to set the start and end of a block, which is faster if you want to select a large amount of text. After a block is selected, it behaves in a manner close to that of Calamus: unless you hide it, select a new font or style, or delete it, it will not change, no matter what you type. If you are used to Mac-like block handling, where once you have selected a block, typing a single letter will replace the block, TW's way of block handling may take some time getting used to. However, it may be easier to work with. Once the block is selected, you can go to its beginning or end, move it, delete it, copy or save it. You also can cut and paste blocks, as well as move them to Atari Clipboard. When you are cutting or pasting block, TW offers you a choice of 4 internal clipboards. This method, while requiring an extra action when selecting which clipboard to use, allows you to have up to 5 blocks pastable at once. [] Search and Replace That's Write 3 has a full range of search and replacement tools, including wildcards, searching either forward or backward, case matching or ignoring, searching for complete words only, and an ability to copy the currently selected block into "Search" or "Replace with" fields (an option sorely missing from many Atari word processors). When replacing, you have a usual choice of "Once", "Query" and "All". "Search Again" is also available. [] Outliner That's Write 3 has a full-featured outliner with depth of up to 9 levels. It is not as nicely looking as Calligrapher, and, frankly, I have never used it, but it seems to be as good as outliners I have seen in other programs. [] Spell checker That's Write 3 features a spell checker, licensed from Houghton- Mifflin Company. American and English dictionaries are supplied as standard, and dictionaries for many other languages are available from COMPO. The spell checker seems to be good enough, but (as any other spell checker I've ever seen) sometimes it can not find a right spelling for the simplest word. Still, it has many specific legal and medical terms, as well as many proper names. When you are spell-checking your document and TW finds an unknown word, it presents you with a dialog that gives you expected options of looking for alternative spellings, skipping the word, or quitting from the spell-check altogether. It also shows you the paragraph in which the word is, in the original font and style - not in the system font that other programs use. Thanks to that feature, you can easily see if you're using a foreign language, or a mathematical symbol font. Using the system font would not let you check for that. If you are sure that the word is spelled correctly, but That's Write 3 still complains about it, you can add it either to the main dictionary of the language, into the user dictionary (every document may have a different user dictionary associated with it), or into the text dictionary. Text dictionaries are saved with the document itself, and are useful for words that you are using in a specific document, but are not planning to use after you are done with it. You can have That's Write 3 check your spelling as you type, and when it detects a spelling error, it will ring a bell to alert you. If you want, you can also have TW automatically correct errors as you type. TW can automatically correct: capitalization errors (if you type "chicago" it will be automatically corrected to "Chicago"); mistyped characters ("offiver" will be corrected to "officer"); exchanged characters ("hte" will be corrected to "the"); and accented characters (for this you need to have a dictionary of a language that uses accented characters, as French and German do). After doing so, TW will sound a high-pitched beep. Of course, TW must be able to find a single correction. If a mistyped word may be corrected in several ways or has more than one error in it, TW will not be able to automatically correct it. At any time you may edit any of the active dictionaries: main, user, or text. You can add, edit, or delete words in them. Also, you can have TW generate a "Correction list" for you. It will contain all words marked as misspelled. You can manually go through this list and remove words that you know are correct. [] Hyphenation That's Write 3 may be told to automatically hyphenate text as you type. It may also be told to ask you every time it finds a word that might be hyphenated. You can select either using hyphenation rules or the dictionary. Using the dictionary is somewhat slower and takes more memory, but hyphenations are more accurate. You can select the amount of white space in the text or switch the hyphenation off. [] Footnotes, endnotes That's Write 3 offers an automatic generation of Table of Contents and Index. Just mark words or phrases you want to be present there, and tell the program to do so; it will take care of the rest. Unlike many other word processors, That's Write 3 can generate both footnotes and endnotes in the same document. There may be as many of both as you like. Footnotes are generated with a familiar superscript number, and you can select whether you want numbering to be continous or start from 1 on every page. Endnotes are generated with square brackets around them. If you discover, after painfully entering a thousand footnotes into your Nobel-prize paper (or dissertation), that endnotes are required instead of footnotes, you can easily convert between the two. //// Nice Touches That's Write 3 offers many nice touches that make text editing easier. Pressing Ctrl-Z at any point will exchange the last two characters. If you misplace characters often, this option will definitely speed up the recovery, especially if you do not want to use the automatic correction feature. Another nice feature is TW's ability to insert up to 10 bookmarks in the document. Unlike other programs, That's Write 3 saves these bookmarks with the document, so you can define up to 10 places that you want to always be able to go to. The dialog where you select a bookmark to jump to shows the text around the bookmark, so you can always see where you are going. In addition to the 10 bookmarks, the last position of the text cursor is also saved with the document, and when you load it at the later time, you are put exactly where you left. Equally nice is an ability to cancel any time-consuming operation (printing, spell checking, a long macro, search and replace in a long document etc.) by pressing both Shift keys. That's Write 3 has an option of going to a specified page, line, column, foot- or endnote. When moving to a line, page or foot/end- note, you can specify either absolute number (go to endnote 3) or a relative one (go 12 pages forward). Also, TW lets you go to the start of the next or previous page (useful for checking that page breaks are where they belong), the next or previous paragraph or the next picture. If you are working on several documents at once, you can move to a next or specific window with a single command. The current date (in long or short form, formatted according to the selected language) and time may be inserted into the document with a single command. That's Write 3 has many other nice touches as well, but describing them all would make this review even longer (and aren't you tired of me already?). //// Macros One of the most powerful features of That's Write 3 is its use of macros. That's Write 3 allows you to define macros of any length, containing any text, dialog box, or menu operations. Macros may be linked together and may even be recursive. Since a recursive macro may never stop, you have an option of interrupting a macro operation by pressing both Shift keys simultaneously. Macros are called by pressing the Esc key and then the key combo that you have assigned the macro to, or by pressing the Function key. This allows you to have very large number of macros active. Sets of macros may be saved, and any one of them may be made the default. When a macro file is loaded, you have a choice of overwriting macros already in memory, or appending new macros to them. If a macro in the default macro file is assigned to the Esc key, it will be executed automatically every time That's Write 3 is loaded. As soon as a macro is defined, its keyboard equivalent appears in the Macro window, if you have it active. After the macro is defined, you can assign it a meaningful name, a descriptive remark, and an additional shortcut. Shortcuts work well as abbreviation expanders. For example, when writing this review, I have "TW" defined as a shortcut for "That's Write 3". Every time when I type "TW", I can hit the UNDO key, which works as the abbreviation expander, and it will be expanded into "That's Write 3". Possible uses include assigning shortcuts to your name and address, and/or commands that you use often. Since TW does not perform this expansion automatically, you still can use the shortcut (which may be longer than two characters) for other purposes, as evidenced by the use of TW as a synonym for That's Write 3 in this review. Other uses of macros include one-key activators for various styles, block hiding, and operations for making a word UPPERCASE, lowercase, or Capitalized. You can use macros for more difficult tasks as well, since any sequence of operations that may be followed in That's Write 3 may be recorded in a macro. Macros may also include "beeps" and pauses that may alert you that the macro has finished its execution, or give you a chance to abort it before it does something you don't want. //// Instructions Instructions are another very powerful tool that That's Write 3 gives to you. Not many word processors, especially in TW's price range, offer such a flexible tool. That's Write 3's Instructions may be described as a programming language whose statements are linked to tab stops of a paragraph layout. Of course, this programming language isn't powerful enough to write a new word processor, but it gives you very powerful tools for the creation of self-modifying documents, self-calculating invoices, etc. That's Write 3 offers instructions that load the text (either as text or as a number) positioned at the current tab stop or the paragraph margin into a user-defined variables, manipulate this text, convert it (conversion of Arabic numerals into Roman, string manipulations, number operations and rounding, date and time conversions, etc.), and put it back into the document. There are also instructions for asking the user to provide some input and instructions for accessing document information, such as the number of pages in the document or the document filename, as well as conditional statements (if... then... else) with the standard logical operations (and, not, or) and comparisons thrown in. Some of more obvious uses for Instructions are the creation of mini-spreadsheets or invoices that calculate themselves. Such an invoice might ask you, when you load it, to provide the address of the person being billed, ask for a number of widgets shipped and the price per widget, and generate the total due line. More complex invoices may also ask about the payment terms and calculate the payment date based on the current date. Instructions may also be used for creating non-standard page numbering, for example, using Roman numerals or letters of the alphabet. Automatic chapter numbering system, with several levels (Chapter 1.2.8 or something like that) may be created, and other possible uses are limited only by your imagination. I have been told that COMPO runs all their invoicing with this system. As with any other aspect of That's Write 3, COMPO provides quite a few demo files with examples of using Instructions. //// Other Features There are other features in That's Write 3 that make it one of the most powerful word processors available for the Atari platform. [] Mail Merge One of them is a mail merge function. TW has a powerful mail merge engine that allows you to have the standard letter combined and printed with different information, taken from a data file. Fields of a data file record do not have to be accessed in sequential order. When the mail merge is performed, you may print all documents, based on all records of a data file, or only selected ones. One of the most obvious uses for the mail merge function is the printing of the same letter to several people (hence the name "mail merge"). That's Write 3 will load the data file, containing addresses and names of those people, insert them into the form letter, and print it out. Of course, you are not limited to address information, any data may be merged with the document. If you use Instructions and Macros in addition to the mail merge, it gives you very powerful data processing capabilities, allowing you to manipulate information from the data file, insert individual greetings and much more. For example, you can have mail merge function print out invoices (which, of course, may be self-calculating). If the payment date is past, and no payment was received, you can have That's Write 3 add a nasty remark to the letter. [] Graphics That's Write 3 allows the user to include graphics in their documents. At the moment, TW is limited to monochrome IMG files, but future version should support more formats, including vector graphics. Graphics may be either inserted on a separate line, or overlaid with text. While there are no functions for creating text runaround, you may manually position the text around the picture. That's Write 3 also has functions for moving graphics, scaling them for different resolutions, resizing and cropping them. Display and/or printout of any image may be suppressed for faster output. There are also limited facilities for editing of images. You may move parts of the image around and delete parts you do not need. [] In- and outdenting It is possible to create nicely indented paragraphs without changing the paragraph layout. While pressing the TAB key moves the text on the line to the next tab stop, the Insert key aligns the text on this and all following lines with the next tab stop. This way you can create paragraphs with hanging indents (outdents) using the same paragraph style you use for the rest of your text. At the same time, pressing Ctrl-TAB, will move the cursor to the next tab stop without inserting anything. [] System data The "That's Write..." entry from the "Desk" menu gives you not only information about That's Write 3, but also the number of pages, lines, words, characters, and pictures in the current document, as well as the amount of free memory. By the way, That's Write 3 is aware of two kinds of RAM (System and Fast RAM) that may be present in your machine, and uses both. [] Page Control To the left of the actual text, there is a narrow vertical bar where page breaks and paragraph starts are shown. By clicking in there, you may enter hard page breaks, or protect parts of text from a page break occurring within this part. //// Document Parameters The Text Information dialog presents you with the information about the filename and path of the current document, language and user dictionary associated with it, and allows you to set many options for the document. A document may be protected with a password. Of course, if you save a password-protected document and than forget the password, there is little chance that you will ever be able to see this document again.... Author's and editor's names and remarks may be entered in this dialog. It makes easier to keep track of multiple projects, especially if several people work on them. Names of previous and following chapter may be entered here. Breaking up a large document into smaller parts may allow users with little RAM work with very large documents. After chapters are linked, you may switch between them with a single command, and That's Write 3 will automatically keep track of saving changes and numbering pages and foot/end-notes. Document creation and last change dates and times are shown in this dialog. They may be changed there, but frankly, I don't see why one would want to change those. Page and footnote number offsets may be defined here, if you want to start page and footnote numbering from something other than 1. If a negative number is entered for the page number offset, pages that are assigned numbers less than 1 will not have their numbers printed. This is useful if you want to have cover page(s) without page numbers on them. There are other parameters that may be defined in the Text Information dialog. You may set the document to be single- or double paged, you may choose to flip margins on alternate pages, you may choose to have images cached on disk, and you may choose to number footnotes sequentially, or starting with 1 on every page. In addition to that, you may have the document automatically execute instructions when it is loaded (you are asked, however, if you want this execution every time you load the document; if you are still editing, you may not want to have instructions change it). Also, a document may be defined as a template. Templates, when loaded, "forget" their name, and thus you can have a predefined templates for fax cover sheets, letterheads and alike. When you save such a document, you are prompted for a new name, and the "Template" option is deselected, so you can not overwrite the original template. If you are still editing it, however, when loading you are given a choice not to use it as a template. In that case, the "Template" option is left selected, and instructions will not be executed, so you can finish creating your template. /// Configurations Many aspects of That's Write 3 operation may be configured and these configurations may be saved. You have choice of working in "Insert" or "Overwrite" modes, having images displayed or not, and having That's Write 3 reformat and paginate document while you look away. Also, you can configure That's Write 3 to automatically save configurations on exit, to ask confirmations for dangerous operations, to have the text cursor blinking or not, to use the internal or system file selector, to display all dialogs in windows, and to use (when running in monochrome) routines writing directly to screen, which gives faster display, but may be incompatible with some screen accelerators or graphic boards. You also can select to have documents automatically saved at preset intervals. Other configurable aspects include the decimal separator (comma, as in the US, or period, which is used in Europe). The selected character will be used by decimal tabs, and by instructions, when generating numbers. You may select whether you want Shift or Ctrl key for moving word by word, and you can set parameters for the Status and Macro windows. Also, you can define default paths for documents, That's Write 3's files, and the current user dictionary. In addition to defining and saving preferences, you can save configurations, which also include window positions, open file and cursor positions. If you work on a long document, you may want to save a default configuration that will load this document and put you exactly where you left it. //// Goodies That's Write 3 comes with quite a few additional programs and accessories to help you use it. That's Write 3 comes with 2 "fix" programs (LA.PRG and POOLFIX.PRG) that fix certain bugs in TOS 1.0 and TOS 1.04. Also present are several accessories (KeyShow, Macro Editor, That's Snap and TRech) and programs. (That's Font 2 and C-Font.) That's Write supports a special protocol, XACC, developed by COMPO for easy communication between the main program and accessories. XACC protocol allows for XACC accessories to be called from the keyboard, and data exchange between the program and accessories is possible. That's Write 3 uses the newer version of XACC protocol that works under MultiTOS and allows for several programs to be called from the keyboard or from the "Programs" option in the file menu. Accessories supplied with the current release of TW still use the older version of XACC, so they can not communicate with TW when running under MultiTOS, however. [] Accessories Accessories provided with That's Write 3 are designed to simplify the use of the program or to provide additional functionality. That's Snap is a general-purpose screen snapshot accessory which works not only with programs having a menu bar, but also can be called with a keyboard from programs that do not give you an access to the Desk menu, or to take a snapshot of a dialog. That's Snap is a pretty basic program, supporting only IMG format, but nevertheless, it lets you specify the part of the screen you want to capture, and seems to work fine with 3rd party graphic cards. KeyShow, as the name implies, shows you keys needed to produce various characters. You can use either the keyboard or the mouse to select a character. However, KeyShow has several shortcomings. It won't let you select more than one character at a time, very large font sizes may result in characters not fitting in their buttons, and (my biggest complaint) if a character is not specified in the keyboard table for that particular font, it will not be shown. That makes the accessory quite useless if the character you are looking for happens to be absent from the keyboard table. COMPO is incorporating KeyShow directly into the future versions of the program, however, and they promise to fix these shortcomings. Macro Editor allows for making changes in existing macros. While I find that if macro is sufficiently short it may be easier to simply record a new one over it, if the macro is long and complex enough, changing it in the editor may be easier. Macro Editor allows the user to change, insert and delete lines in the macro. Menu operations may also be entered or edited. TRech (which means, in half-German, half-English, "That's Calculator") is a "pocket" scientific calculator. It works in Decimal, Hexadecimal and Octal systems, and support functions you'd expect from a pocket calculator, but not much more. It does feature large buttons and a display, however, and can be easily manipulated both by the mouse and keyboard, unlike many other calculator accessories, which have buttons so small it is hard to see them. The main advantage of using TRech over other calculator accessories is that it supports a wide range of methods of importing calculation results into your text. TRech allows you to specify a short text that goes before and after the calculation result, the decimal character, and the rounding. Obviously, TRech works with XACC protocol, which is the best for use with That's Write 3. If you are running under MultiTOS (where TRech's version of XACC does not work) or want to import calculations in program other than TW, you can configure TRech to use either the Atari Clipboard, or the keyboard buffer. If you are calling TRech from inside That's Write 3, the selected block will be transferred into TRech automatically. Up to eight different export configurations may be defined at the same time and chosen with a sliding selector. These configurations may also be saved for future use. [] Programs Also included with That's Write are two programs. One of them is C-Font. C-Font, which runs either as a program or as an accessory, converts Calamus vector fonts (there are several supplied with the program) into bitmapped formats for use with TW, GDOS, or Timeworks Publisher and other programs that can use GDOS fonts, either compressed or uncompressed. The other program is That's Font 2. While COMPO themselves say that it is not the best bitmapped font editor available (they recommend Fontkit Plus), it is a powerful enough program. It works with several formats of fonts (including TEX fonts and downloadable printer fonts), has decent options for manipulating fonts (mirror, italics, shadow etc.), and allows the editing of keyboard tables, which is the main reason for its inclusion in the package. With That's Font you can easily create a keyboard table for access to particular characters in the font. Of course, you can use That's Font to edit fonts (especially those created with C-Font), or create new ones from scratch. Available separately from COMPO is a formula editor. From what I've heard, it is a powerful program with a graphic interface that lets you create complex mathematical formulae and place them in your documents. //// Support COMPO provides great support for their products. Of course, one must bear in mind that the Atari market in the USA is rather small, and COMPO is a small company. While there's not a toll-free 24 hour number to call, there is unlimited, free support. In my experience, calling COMPO, or sending them EMail always resulted in fast and good assistance. Future support (i.e. new versions) is well in hand. Compo tells me that work is continuing on That's Write 4. //// Verdict Well, I hope that I have described enough of That's Write 3's features for you. There are, of course, many more that I did not even touch, but I hope that ones I've mentioned will give you an overall feel for this powerful program. That's Write 3 is not entirely free of shortcomings. I wish that the printer support was somewhat more intelligent. "As-you-type" formatting and on-screen columns would be great, too, as would be a built-in table generator and support for more graphic formats (those are addressed by COMPO in future versions). While nothing is crash-proof, it is a very stable and compatible program with many powerful functions. It is also quite fast in its operation and supports enhancements in newer machines (FastRAM, Falcon resolutions) and in system software (support for MultiTOS' drag-and-drop etc.). That's Write 3 isn't a program geared for creating graphics-heavy documents, as are Calligrapher and Papyrus on Atari, and MS Word or Ami Pro on other platforms. However, as a writing tool, designed for creation and editing of text-based documents, it shines. If you have only a dot-matrix printer, and are looking for a word processing program, I would recommend That's Write 3 wholeheartedly. It will let you use your printer's built-in fonts for the body of your text, saving a great deal of time and ear damage, and it still lets you use graphics and Speedo vector fonts where you need them. If you need a program that lets you create leaflets, flyers, and otherwise generate documents with graphics, borders, boxes, etc., I'd suggest looking at Calamus or Pagestream. However, if you need a tool for creating, editing and printing text, such as books, invoices, novels, academic theses, or letters to your aunt, I think That's Write 3 is the best program available. That's Write 3 is distributed in the US by COMPO Software 104 Esplanade Avenue, Suite 121 Pacifica, CA 94044 Tel: 415-355-0862 Fax: 415-355-0869 GEnie: COMPO List price: $199.99US About the author: I was born in Moscow, Russia (what used to be the USSR). I had two Atari computers there (an 800XE, and later a 1040ST), and two cats. I worked with numerous other machines (most notably, MSX thingies by Yamaha, and Soviet-made PDP-11 and IBM/360 clones) while attending Moscow Oil and Gas Institute with a major in Applied Mathematics. Three years ago my family and I moved to the United States. Now we live in a Chicago suburb, with only one cat :-( and a couple of computers (including a TT030). Now I go to the Northern Illinois University, where I major in Computer Science. We run a small translation and publishing business, and I use my TT for DeskTop Publishing, mostly in Russian. I enjoy anime, obscure music (_really_ obscure: Henry Cow, Cassiber, Van der Graaf Generator and Art Bears are among more well known bands I like :-), and crashing computers. --==--==--==--==-- ||| Andreas' Den ||| By: Andreas Barbiero / | \ Delphi: ABARBIERO GEnie: AEO.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- //// Connections and corrections! I am going to warn you that this is going to be a long one, for I may be absent next month as the wonderful Navy is calling me away again for some inscrutable flight operations in California. I spend a great deal of time typing away in AtariWorks and on the online services. While my main area of responsibility is Delphi, I find myself spending more and more time in the Usenet areas and poking my nose deeper into the Internet itself. I have used Telnet and FTP commands to get my way so deep into other computers around the world that if it were not for the book, "The Internet for Dummies" I would never be able to extract myself! This book is in the same series as the "DOS for Dummies" and other "for Dummies" books. This one of course is for the Internet, and covers the items in detail without being obtuse or confusing. The tone of the book is slightly humorous and organizes things in a way that you painlessly learn the arcane processes that it takes to surf through cyberspace. I won't go into how cool the Internet is when you know what you are doing, (take my word for it, it IS cool!) but if you are intimidated by the information highway, then get this book and read it, you will want to try it out immediately. The Internet for Dummies John Levine and Carol Baroudi IDG Books San Mateo CA, 94402 19.95 USA 17.99 UKP 26.95 Canadian The Internet is also very important to an Atari user. Accessing Usenet and the FTP sites around the world is just like having an enormous user group that meets when you want it to, and has access to just about all the shareware in the world. In this spectrum of computing, where you are and what service you subscribe to has little meaning outside of the services that it can provide to you. GEnie is great as it gets all the really cool conferences (Heck, I even got a free copy of Scott Sanders "The Atari Compendium" out of a conference! Thanks!) and if you don't want to mess around the FTP sites, you get new uploads of GEnie fairly quickly. Delphi is a full node on the Internet as well as being reasonable gateway to the Internet. All this means is that if you have Internet access anywhere on the world, you can Telnet into Delphi and use its services, or if you can call Delphi directly you can access the Internet through Delphi. (I understand that Compuserve allows telnet access now, and may allow Internet access from Compuserve in the near future.) //// Not on MY turf... My wife, who helped start Atari United!, has been collecting information from Atari computer users for quite some time now, and has found that the Internet has given her access to Atari users all over the world. As a result, she has been able to contact users and groups in Mexico, Costa Rica, and all over Europe. Recently she telneted into the Cleveland Free-Net and held a conference at the request of the guys there. She reached people who have probably never seen GEnie, Delphi or CompuServe, and who were able to log onto a FREE service. //// Rocking around the block... A funny thing that my wife and I have both noticed about many users who communicate through the Internet to us was that many users don't quite understand what they are doing. So, here are a few tips to help everybody communicate around the world with ease! If you are a GEnie user, and want to let others know your internet address, it takes the following format: <[username]@genie.geis.com>. Many individuals have written to us and listed their address as simply @geis.com. That won't do it folks! Are you itching to get involved with sharing information, but aren't sure how to do it from GEnie? It is very easy - just send GEnie EMail, and when the software ask you "To:" enter the Internet EMail address to who you are sending to, and follow up the username with an "@INET#". You cannot send files through the Internet in the same way that you would if they were on the same system. GEnie has an excellent interface on page 200 for sending files to another user on GEnie, but you cannot use this to send mail to someone not on GEnie. There is a way to send everything from an article to a GIF file to a program anywhere. It is called UUEncode. There is a TOS program around called ESSCODE, that allows you to pick a file, convert it (to a UUE file) and send it like a normal text EMail message. Yep, the file is converted to a text file and then sent. (Editor: I use UUEncoding constantly to send AEO out to the Internet distribution points from GEnie and to receive files from virtually everywhere. It works, and isn't hard to do.) UUEncoding is not great for file compression, as the UUE files are larger than the original files, but it works! If you download a lot of UUE files, getting a modem with modem compression and error correction will help. This is where all those 'V.xx' and MNP numbers come into play. If all this UUE stuff seems confusing, it isn't, as even I have managed to figure out how to do this by myself, and if you need to send me a program from someplace other than GEnie or Delphi, just UUEncode it and send it out! I accept programs and articles from just about anyone, and just as soon as I can I will look at it and get back to you. After all critiquing someone else's hard work while I sip beer is what I do best. If you are on Delphi and want to communicate with _anyone_ on another service, all you have to do is go into MAIL and send them some! For instance, if you wanted to reach me on my GEnie account, all you would have to type at the "To:" prompt is: IN%"AEO.2@GENIE.GEIS.COM". The IN% indicates that you are sending mail to someone who has no account on Delphi and the "" mean that this is the address the person is on at the service indicated after the @ symbol. Simple. We are a world-wide community, and if you are on an online service, like GEnie or Delphi, you have the best of both worlds, local personal access and world-wide contact! //// From the Past... Way back when, I was invited to take a look at forthcoming Falcon030 games, I noticed a new controller plugged into the analog ports. Several years has past, and in the intervening time, the Falcon030 has shipped, and those games are now becoming available! Dino Dudes and Steel Talons are now available in Falcon030 only configurations, and Road Riot 4WD is soon to follow. These games seem to have been taken over by Atari UK (Atari Europe for all intents and purposes.) and are becoming available in the US. Remember those controllers? They are the Jaguar controllers! Yes, you CAN use the Jaguar controllers on the Falcon030. In fact I remember playing an early version of Raiden with one of these on a Falcon030. We can only hope that more Falcon030 specific software will be forthcoming from Atari sources to spur the marketplace, and other analog controller systems will come for the Falcon. There has been a great deal of talk on the Usenet as to whether or not Id Software's DOOM! could be converted to the Falcon, I for one think that a version is possible - not as powerful as the Jaguar version, but done well nonetheless. If Wolfenstein 3D can run on a '386DX-33 (I know, I have used it!) there should be no problem converting that to work on a Falcon030. Maybe with the relationship that Atari has with the Id boys, we can see it happen, though Id has recently said that there are NO plans to do DOOM on a Falcon. //// ...into the Future of Atari As you probably read in the last issue, Atari may not have the time or the money right now to support a new TOS computer, but into the gap leaps the third party! I won't rehash the last issue, but things ARE looking up. The CaTTamaran, Barracuda040, Janus, and other products are going to allow us to upgrade to proven technologies. As long as software applications like Calamus SL, STalker, Cubase, SpeedoGDOS, and AtariWorks can run on them, the installed professional software base will be preserved. The CaTTamaran's acceleration is software selectable, and the Wizztronics' 040 board does not replace the Falcon030's processor, so these items should maintain compatibility with any entertainment software that will run on them in their original configurations. As perusers of the Delphi Forum will know, I am pursuing information on a "do it yourself" PAK board from Germany. This is an '020/'030 board for the Mega and ST computers, which can run up to a 50MHz '030 with a 12MHz bus. I recently got a message about a chap who installed a 64MHz 030! This may not be as slick as the more professional boards, but at a cost of ~100DM (~$60 US) for the board alone, and the inexpensive cost of surplus '030 chips, a total '030 solution may be available for under $200!! I am expecting more information from Yat Siu of Lexicor, and I will be following up with a letter or two to the originators of the PAK in Germany. And for a thought, even less expensive are 68020 chips. Used in some Macs, and not exactly state of the art, they do offer a bit more power than the 68000 series is capable of. Wilko Bulte posted this for your information. Note: this a benchmark... this might or might not have any relevance to your actual application. Got this from a friend who tried it for me. Wilko GEMBENCH 3.30 (C) Ofir Gal Tests w/ and wo/ PAK3-020/16MHz Reference: ST 1040, no blitter. TOS version 1.04 2.06 2.06 2.06 MiNT no no no no Blitter disabled disabled disabled disabled Video Mode ST High ST High ST High ST High FPU no yes yes yes More? PAK disabled enabled enabled enabled Level 1 Cache n.a. enabled disabled enabled Level 2 Cache n.a. disabled enabled enabled GEM Dialog Box 286% 423% 411% 444% VDI Text 876% 1514% 1775% 1985% VDI Text Effects 743% 1280% 1424% 1766% VDI Small Text 572% 1145% 1277% 1413% VDI Graphics 362% 755% 869% 1046% GEM Window 251% 378% 393% 442% Integer Division 99% 576% 573% 581% Float Math 100% 132% 2832% 2905% RAM Access 99% 214% 393% 460% ROM Access 99% 399% 399% 460% Blitting 171% 411% 425% 536% VDI Scroll 449% 586% 711% 771% Justified Text 248% 455% 466% 545% VDI Enquire 189% 207% 249% 268% Average 324% 605% 871% 973% Graphics 414% 715% 800% 921% CPU 99% 330% 1049% 1101% Ok, I'm back. As you can see the numbers are there. The math co-processor does help out with the floating point operations, and the average is about 3X faster than a good old standby 8MHz ST. You will probably notice these results more if you are doing things like graphics processing than word processing. Notice that GEM operations are little more than 200% faster, and in order for the speedup to be noticeable, more than a 500% increase is needed. I don't usually like benchmarks, but when you spend money on speeding up your computer, you gotta see something in return I guess. If memory serves, I remember seeing 16MHz '020 chips going surplus for about $10 back in California. This is a real lowball way to get performance out of your computer. It seems the Medusa from Germany is closer to arriving. If control can be exercised to assure compatibility with standard TOS, then there will be no problems with these advances. Like what was said in last month's Atari Artist column, with a concerted effort, movement beyond GEM is possible, allowing TOS to move forward and on to even different CPU platforms. I don't see this as a death knell for the future of an Atari designed computer, but as a way to widen the base of machines that will be able to handle TOS. Will Atari come out with a new computer? Well if there are '040 powered Falcons and other people making totally new computers that will run TOS. the problem of inactive Atari computer development is mitigated. Then again, they DO have the Jaguar chipset, TOS 5 and MultiTOS, and if they wanted to, they could define the next level of computing without stealing anyone's thunder or being eclipsed by a competitor. In our case, the more people defining platforms that can run TOS the better! //// Two-Face Last issue in AEO, mention was made to the Janus card for the average PC compatable computer, and on the Internet, an Atari user from Germany, Christoph Oberle sent me some mail. From: IN%"oberle@informatik.uni-koblenz.de" Hi, here is the adress of two distributors of the "Janus - the ATARI in your PC": I) VHF-Computer GmbH (actual developers) Daimlerstr. 13 71101 Schoenaich Germany phone: (+49) 7031 75 01 90 II) edicta Loewenstr. 68 70597 Stuttgart Germany phone: (+49) 711 76 33 81 fax : (+49) 711 76 53 82 4 Janus is actually NOT an emulator but an expansion card which contains the main hardware of an ST (68000, 16 MHz and TOS 2.06, space for 2 SIMMs (8 or 9 chip). Here is an excerpt of the information in the magazine "ST-Computer", issue 4/94: "... Although there only is a 68000/16 on the board, Janus is fast, because the CPU delegates a big part of its tasks (e.g. graphics output and file operations) to the Intel processor. It only processes system specific calculations. In many applications, the Janus board is faster than a TT! Various resolutions are supported, depending on the abilities of the graphics card. In the compatibility mode with ST high resolution, almost all ATARI programs run without problems." Technical data: CPU: MC 68000 Speed: 16 MHz Memory: 2 SIMMs (70ns), choice between 256KB, 1MB, 4MB, 8MB or 16MB each Graphics card: Any standard VGA card OS: Place for 2 ROMs TOS 2.06 Bus: ISA Now, even at $300 would this card be a deal? If you are forced to use a PC at work, then this is the product for you. Having TT030-like access to programs like Calamus SL on a PC could be the salvation to someone stuck with Windows or unable to sneak their Atari in to work. It does have some benefits over the GEMulator in that it has actual hardware implementation of the 68000. This means that it should run faster on any PC, rather than fully relying on the Intel CPU to carry out instructions meant for a Motorola processor. The Janus does use the host computer's CPU to speed things up, but the actual speed of the application will rely on the 68000. More needs to be said about this machine as there are many questions that need to be answered. No matter how good the statistics may look, if it doesn't run what you need to, then it is useless. I have been in contact with Mr. Mihocka, and I am sure that no matter how attractive the Janus could be, he could make the GEMulator more attractive on a price point. As more information comes along I will be sure to pass the info on to you! //// Videogames without the VIDEO Meanwhile, around the country, the Jaguar is making headway. Tempest 2000 (yes I know it seems we have talked about this game since forever) is gaining kudos, and is far better than anything on the 3DO or the 16bit systems. There is no CD-ROM unit yet for the Jaguar, and that is giving Atari the edge. The edge here is in gameplay. Crash & Burn might have looked pretty in the display case with the 3DO, but it has little in the way of gameplay. CD-ROM's biggest claim to fame is being able to provide full motion video (FMV) you know, live actors and stuff like that. Having FMV in a game can be the worst thing that can happen to a game. Unlike computer generated data, FMV is linear. You watch it; it's always the same, and while it may be pretty, but we are here to play a game, not watch a movie. Digitized video clips may be fun to watch once or twice as intro or filler material, but after a while you want to turn it off. IT IS BORING. Computer generated material, like the images created for Alien Vs. Predator, can be fully manipulated. With digitized bitmaps mapped onto a 3D polygon, the computer can rotate it, twist it, blow it up, or do just about anything with it that the programmer needs to. Remember all those demos with wibbly-wobbly 3D images and shapes? They may have been pre-programmed, but they still could be manipulated more than a predefined animation. I like to compare these differences to a good flight simulator. With games like F-16 Falcon and Cybermorph, you could get OUTSIDE the plane, and rotate the world around yourself to your hearts' content. Try that with a MPEG or Quicktime video clip. Without a CD-ROM to distract software houses, they are going back to a nearly lost art form, game design. There are dozens of games on the PC which claim all sorts of fabulous video, but like CD-I, they end up being a pretty demo with small bits of interactivity thrown in. Now, what a CD-ROM can do for a game is allow it to be a huge storage area for music and game data. Tempest 2000 has 30 minutes of CD quality music, but on a CD-ROM with compression, that could be hours. When the Jaguars' CD-ROM appears (along with the Sigma Design's Jaguar-on-a-PC card), in addition to the potential of watching full length movies, there will already be a vanguard of video games that will fulfill a gamer's desire more than most current CD-ROM offerings. Imagine a BattleTech game, with dozens of realistic planets generated with weather, and all sorts of land and water conditions with every 'mech, vehicle, aerospace fighter, and dropship in the inventory realistically rendered. Huge digitized sound samples could be included and a fantastic musical score all on one disc! That is how a CD-ROM is effective, not as a mini-movie. Ideally a BattleTech game cart should be available first, with the programming hooks built in to allow a later CD-ROM to add on more Battlemechs and combat scenarios. Imagine waging an entire war, battle by battle! That won't be one game that you will finish quickly. (To any developers out there... this is just my dream, and it just might sell!) Well, in the meantime, I guess I will save my pennies for one of those Afterburner040 66MHz cards with the PCI card slot, or maybe I want a Barracuda board with the 80486.... I am in the process of reviewing Cannon Fodder for the ST, and it already looks good. Stay tuned. --==--==--==--==-- ||| ExtenDOS: CD-ROM Driver for your Atari ||| By: Randy Hoekstra / | \ GEnie: R.HOEKSTRA1 --------------------------------------------------------------- It's been a long time coming, but simple, affordable, and practical access to CD ROM has finally arrived for the ST/TT/Falcon line. I am refering to the ExtenDOS CD ROM driver by Roger Burrows of Anodyne Software. I first began my journey into the world of CD ROM when I saw an announcement for the Gemini CD ROM for the TOS series of Atari computers. It boasted of thousands of files specifically for the Atari ST, TT030 and Falcon030, plus text and graphics files related to the Lynx and Jaguar. With over 600 Megabytes of data it would be like having easy access to a huge library of public domain and shareware software. I decided I needed to get a CD ROM drive and get this disk. Well CD ROM drives can be expensive and I didn't have a lot of cash lying around. Fortunately, I had access to an AppleCD drive from work which was just gathering dust sitting on my desk. But would an CD-ROM drive made to work with one of those Mac type computers work with my lowly MegaST or Falcon? I decided I just had to find out. Being the cheapskate that I am, I first tried to make the CD-ROM work with the MetaDOS drivers that I found in a PD archive. I connected a male-to-male SCSI cable between my current hard drive and the AppleCD drive. I set the SCSI ID of the AppleCD to the next available ID and configured the MetaDOS control file accordingly. It seemed to load okay on boot up, but no matter how I tried to configure it, I was not able to access the CD ROM. I then obtained the .XFS driver that is designed to work with MiNT (Eric Smith's multi-tasking kernal), but quickly realized that I didn't have the right software setup on my MegaST and I didn't have the right cable to hook up the drive to my Falcon. I was beginning to lose hope. During my attempts to go the freeware route, I discovered a topic on GEnie for discussing CD ROM on Ataris, and I naturally started posting questions. It was there that I learned of a new CD-ROM driver called ExtenDOS. Given the trouble I had been through already, I was hesitant to spend the money to order ExtenDOS (yes I really am cheap), but after seening one good report after another about it on GEnie, I decided to give it a try. Not more than a week later, I was sitting in front of my MegaST installing ExtenDOS on my hard drive. It came with a simple and to the point 20 page user manual. It contained step by step instructions for configuring the driver for your system, with just enough technical detail to satisfy the curious. By setting the CD-ROM drive ID to the suggested default and installing the suggested drive icons, it was as simple as copying the EXTENDOS.PRG file to the AUTO folder, creating an EXTENDOS folder containing the CD.BOS and UNIDRIVE.DOS files, and copying the default EXTENDOS.CNF file to the root directory of the boot drive. With these files in place and the CD-ROM drive connected and powered up, I had only to reboot to install the driver and open a whole new world of CD-ROM access on my Atari ST. It worked without a hitch and the Gemini CD is truly amazing. It's hard to imagine having one drive icon accessing over 600 Megabytes of programs, picture files, text files, and other data without experiencing it for yourself, but let's just say it is enough to keep a person busy for weeks just exploring. Of course I couldn't settle with the default set up, so I had to refer to the details in the user manual on how to edit the EXTENDOS.CNF file for the SCSI ID and drive icon that I wanted. I made the modifications according to the documentation and after rebooting, I was right back in business with the configuration of my choice. It's hard to give a detailed review of something like a CD-ROM driver. If it's good, you simply install it and it works. ExtenDOS is good. The only problem I have found so far is a small incompatibility with Geneva, the multi-tasking environment from Gribnif. When ExtenDOS and Geneva are used together, the system path somehow gets stuck on the root drive and most programs when run from other drives will attempt to locate their supporting files (resource or data) on the root drive rather than on the drive where the program was run. Programs that do not open additional files work fine. This bug also prevents the Geneva file selector from seeing the files on the CD-ROM drive. Once Geneva is disabled, non-root drive programs work fine and CD-ROM access returns to normal. This has been reported to Roger Burrows and he has already indicated that a fix is in the works. That's another good thing about this software - it is supported very well by its author. On the plus side, ExtenDOS is compatible with the entire ST line right up through the TT and Falcon. It currently has limited MultiTOS support according to the latest advertisments, but I have not been able to test the extent of that support. Also unable to personally verify are the reports of other users who say that ExtenDOS offers faster access and transfer speeds than MetaDOS and the XFS driver (2 to 3 times faster!). The list of CD-ROM drives known to work with ExtenDOS include: Atari CDAR-504 Panasonic (Matsushita) CR-501 NEC 74/84, NEC 38, NEC 55, NEC 25, NEC 3Xp Apple PowerCD & CD 300 Sony CDU-541 & CDU-561 Chinon CDX-535 Toshiba 3401 & 4101B It is expected to work with any SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 compatible drive. Although there are only a couple of CD-ROMs made specifically for Atari, there are a great many for DOS machines which contain standard file formats usable by Ataris. There are many with text files in ASCII format that can be loaded into your text viewers or word processors, with images for use with desktop publishers, and plenty with various format picture files such as GIF, JPEG and TARGA that can be loaded into graphics programs for Ataris. With the right CD-ROM drive and one of the recent graphics software packages you can even view PhotoCD on your Atari. So even though you won't find many CDs with an Atari label on them, you will find many useful titles in just about any computer store that sells CD-ROM for that other platform. Me, I still have months worth of exploring to do just to check out all the software on this Gemini CD. Eventually I plan to get a cable and hook it up to the Falcon and be able to view some nice graphics from one of those picture library CDs. (Yes, the latest version of ExtenDOS is fully compatible with the Falcon). Who knows, if the right project comes along I may even pick up a disk full of image files to use with Calamus. In short, ExtenDOS is easy to use and configure, works well, and is supported by an author who is committed to maintaining it. ExtenDOS is a wise investment for any Atari computer. ExtenDOS v 1.1 $29.95 Anodyne Software 6 Cobbler Court Ottawa, Ontario K1V 0B8, Canada. GEnie: R.BURROWS1 About the author: I have been using Atari computers since my first Atari 400 in 1980 and currently have a MegaST 4 and Falcon which my lovely wife and 2 adorable daughters allow to occupy an extra bedroom known as "The Office". In The Office, I enjoy working on a few of my programming projects such as The Grocery Lister and PGP Shell, dabbling in a bit of desktop publishing with Calamus SL, and general messing about with whatever Atari software I can get my hands on. Unfortunately, I spend the majority of my time working for a large telecommunications company, Northern Telecom, managing a software test and verification support group. It's unfortunate only because it prevents me from spending more time working with my Ataris, but at least it pays the bills and allows me to continue feeding my Atari software and hardware habit. --==--==--==--==-- ||| "From a saved backup...." ||| By: Ron Whittam / | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.4 ----------------------------------------------------------------- //// It's show and tell time. In this column I hope to foster communication and support for 8-bit and ST computer owners... presenting a positive and directive approach. This will help to strengthen the users group base and encourage the executive element. Earlier in this column I mentioned what I believe to be the three necessary elements in a users group meeting. These three elements can be called the mapping session, the demo session, and the random access session. While the first and third provide needed communication between members of the users group, the second provides information. Doing a successful demo session is not as difficult as some think. Since most Atari users groups do not have the benefit of a local dealership, procuring dealer demos are not easily done. There are other means. Membership participation is a common theme in this column. And recruitment is not as hard as it seems. I found it difficult to nag people into doing demos, "Please do something..." until I found the key. Ask them to talk about something they enjoy. Be specific. Be sure they understand that you do not want a "speech." You want them to show the group something about the computer, something the other members might not know about. This approach tends to focus on the need instead of on the performance. A good approach is to make a list of topics that are of interest to the members of the group. Then ask the members to pick one that they can do. Write it down on the calendar. This will get the ball rolling. The demonstration does not need to be formal nor elaborate. In fact, simple and clear is much more beneficial. Leave the elaborate demos for trade shows. Each member has something to contribute. After one meeting, a few of us were hanging around chatting. One of the members made a comment that he didn't like the way the desktop made you bring a window to the forefront just to copy a file. Another member told him just to hold the right button down while selecting the file from a background window and drag it to the active window. He thought it was simple. It's even in the users manual. But none of us knew it. This made me realize that the reason people don't share what they know about the Atari is that they think "everybody knows that." Well, not everybody does. You can get great demos from members of your own users group. Find out what the members' favorite programs are. Then ask them to do a brief talk on it. If you have a club computer, encourage them to run the program on the computer after the brief talk. Find out what your members do for a living and see if that would provide a platform for a demo. One of our members is an electrician. He brought in a parts book and talked to us about hooking up the computer. He discussed power and electricity. (Something he obviously enjoyed talking about.) And he provided good information for purchasing a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). Another who programs on various platforms discussed the various operating systems. He also explained the difference between Intel-based chip design and Motorola design. Another member was an electrical technician. He gave a talk on opening up the Atari computer. He provided helpful hints for the ambitious. Once we had a MIDI demo with two keyboards and a full sound system. (He demonstrated Notator.) He got voice samples from members of the group, and then used the computer to alter the voice so it sounded higher or deeper. Very interesting. I think the most common excuse I hear is, "No one would be interested in what I do." Once I helped a member salvage bad files from a disk. While at his house he showed me his business. He wrote government required documents for truckers using his Atari 520ST with a single-sided floppy, no hard drive, and a 9-pin dot matrix printer. Not too impressive of a set up for most. However, the documents he produced were very impressive. (It impressed me.) But I would have never know this if I had not been in his house. He never thought anyone would be interested in what he did. To him it was just work. Another method of getting demos is to write software publishers and developers. Identify yourself as a users group officer and ask for a demo or two. I have received many disks this way. If you have access to the INTERNET, GEnie, or one of the other paid services you can contact most Atari developers via Electronic Mail (EMail). The ones I have contacted this way have readily sent me the information and diskettes I requested. Atari has a users group correspondent, Bob Brodie. I have written him many EMail messages and he has responded. I now have flyers and brochures to hand out at our meetings to encourage the membership to buy Falcon computers. You cna contact Bob at . Bob has also been a users group member for many years and has some helpful hints for users group officers. Drop him a note. And finally, the one source that gets a lot of attention: New computer purchases. When one of our members bought an Atari TT we asked him to bring it in. We announced the demo and we got a crowd of people. We did the same with other newly purchased products. One of our members put a GEMulator in a i486/DX and showed it off. We got it running PC-Ditto and emulated an IBM-XT on a 486! We have had a demo of each new Jaguar game (the latest, Tempest 2000) by our Jaguar owner. Encourage your member to "show off" what they have. A demo doesn't need to be an elaborate dramatic expression of artistry in motion to be enjoyable. Ask your demonstrators to just do a brief talk about what they have and then show it. Sort of like show and tell in grade school. It works, don't knock it. In the future we will cover Membership (methods of increasing it), Networking with other users groups, etc., and I will share from my own exploits as a users group president; the frustration and the elation. Stay tuned. ------------ Ron Whittam is a Customer Support Specialist for a small software firm in Boise, Idaho; and the President of the Atari Boise Users Group. He can be contacted on GEnie (EXPLORER.4), on the Internet at , or on ROVER BBS (208-362-2243). --==--==--==--==-- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- --==--==-- Delphi Sign-Up Information --==--==-- -- -- -- -- To enroll as a Delphi subscriber, modem call 1-800-365-4636. Press -- -- [Return] until you see "Password:", then type IP26 [Return] -- -- -- -- Answer all of the questions, and you'll be cleared for Delphi -- -- access in a few days. If you have questions about Delphi services, -- -- give a voice call to Delphi Member Services at 1-800-544-4005. -- -- -- -- --==--==-- Delphi Sign-Up Information --==--==-- -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --==--==--==--==-- ||| Legends of Valour - Review ||| By: Andreas Barbiero / | \ Delphi: ABARBIERO GEnie: AEO.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- US Gold/Synthetic Dimensions Programmed by: Kevin Bulmer Ian Downend //// Slowly but surely This review has been a long time coming. I have been meaning to get this one in for a review for a couple years now, and only recently has my list of "to do" games reached down to this one. I wish that I had pushed other projects aside for this particular review. Originally written back in 1992, Legends of Valour is the first 3D real-time smooth scrolling RPG (role playing game) for the Atari computer, and in presentation it is the most ambitious to date. The presentation is much like the style used in games like Wolfenstien 3D and Doom, popular on the PC and soon to be arriving on the Jaguar. In case you are unfamiliar with these programs, the presentation is first person, like in a flight simulator or as in Dungeon Master, but instead of moving around in regular "blocks", jumping from one equidistant point to another, you can look in any direction or scroll back and forth smoothly, much like in real life. //// Welcome to the Jungle, we've got fun and games As a new arrival to the city of Mitteldorf on the volcanic island called Wolfbrood, your immediate goals are: A) Stay alive B) Get rich C) Learn the skills needed for points A and B D) See A Obstensibly, you are here to find the whereabouts of your cousin Sven, but you know the real reason. Pig farming, it's not just a job, its an adventure! Well, almost. You jumped at the chance to come to the big cid viand leave the his k behind. 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