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RAM UPGRADES DEMO by Lee Stanford
10:30 PH) had on Interesting comment in it r s Random Access
section at the end* Seems IBM is having e goodly number
or problems with the hardware of it's new computers* They
are also ere having trouble running MS DOS 3*3 [not 100%
sure of that number as I am not into MS DOS). They have
asked Microsoft to look into the problem. So you see,
Atari's past problems with the 5Ts an XEs is no different
then what any company has with new equipment t and you can
expect some problems with the Megas and clones when they
first come out. However, 1*11 bet Atari has less per unit
trouble then IBM is having now and had with that load of
bad hard disks a year or so ago.
[The following is the meat From an article reprinted
in the June STATUS Newsletter* It is from the NORWICH
USERS GROUP, NOR W I CH , E NG L A ND , )
At the July meeting pf the Huntsville Atari Users
Group, we will be presenting a demo on the different
memory expansion kits that are available for the B-bit
Atari computers* Among the different kits discussed and
displayed will be the *RAMBD* upgrade, the * NEWELL
INDUSTRIES 25GK* upgrade and the *AXLDN 25GK* upgrade.
Other upgrades will also be discussed* Plan to attend as
this demo could put new life into that faithful 8-bit
you've had so long.
From Your Editor
Atari stock closed 4 June at $32 3/8* At that
point, profit taking started* I guess making almost as
much in the 1st qtr of 87 as SCI [a Fortune 500 company]
reported making In all of 85 would tend to help stock
prices* SCI had an income of $4,000,000 in the Jan/Mar
87 period. Atari had an income of $15,256,000 in this
same period, which Is 5.5 times more then the same period
last year. Sales were up 45% over last year, same
period. Now if only they would lower their profit margin
a bit and start providing first class service support
nation wide, Atari sales and income should do even
better* At this rate JT could reach his goal of making
Atari a billion dollar company within five years of his
purchase* On 22 June 1987, Atari trade a two for one
stock split* The stock closed for $15 1/S, which is
equal to $30 1/4 at the old rate. To break the old
record it will have to go to $16 1/4.
I now have a full meg of RAM In my ST and a set of
the new blitter ROMs, no blitter. They are nice. The
slide bars and arrows now can scrool, which is very nice.
They clear RAM faster when rebooting and seem a bit more
positive and predictable in operation. They are NOT 100%
compatible with the old ROMs. STARTGEM and STRTGEM2,
which autorun an ST GEM program will not work. I can't
create a RAM disk using 5DLDR PACK and Compute i r s reset
proof ram disk is no longer reset proof. There may be
others that use non-standard calls that will not work.
Publishing Partner and Major Motion work fine. Booting
from a hard disk is MUCH faster, I have noted some
increase in floppy read speed, but also noted a 23%
slowdown when saving this newsletter STWHITER file to a
new rom formatted disk. 1 have only had them for a
couple of days and used them only on a few small Files,
so it is to early to pass judgement.
[From ST World) Atari recently completed a
successful European bond issue of $75 million at 5 1/4%.
It will be used to expand business capital expenditures
or acquisitions in the computer business and related
areas * N5l , a chip and- board maker headquartered In
Marlborough, Mass* announced that Atari has purchased a
equity position in the company. N5I will be supplying
Atari with chips for the Atari PC's. NSI has also
licensed to LSI Logic, Milpitas, DA* , a Application
Specific Integrated Chip [ASlD's] which were developed by
NSI* NSI also manufactures five add-on boards and
produces two EGA chips. NSI's goals are to provide IBM
compatible makers upgrades to compete with the new IBM
Personal System/2 line. No one will say what Atari's
plans are.
The June 20 TV issue of Computer Cronicals (PBS -
TURBO-SASIC THE FIRST REPORT
By Ken Ward
.... In fact, its speed seems to be the main problem
you'll have running ATARI BASIC programs in TURBO BASIC'
In some programs you will have to add delay loops to slow
it down!
Problems With Bad Programming
I have come across one program that was a bit of
trouble, but that was due to poor profaning (which was
surprising, because it was an Analog pro^aml ] *
In the initializing section of the program there was
the usual modifying of the display list by using:
DLIST=PEEK [ 560 ] +256*PEEK ( 561 ]
and then at the end of the init he had added another mod.
By PQKEing directly into where the display list would have
been in ATARI SASIC instead of using the DLI5T pointer!
The other problem was more intriguing* It centered
around a loop like this..*
10 POKE 764, 255: POKE 53273,10
20 IF PEEK (764 ) =20 THEN 100
30 IF PEEK [7643=22 THEN 200
40 IF PEEK (53279 ) =5 THEN 300
50 IF PEEK (53279) =4 THEN 400
60 GOTO 10
It worked OK in ATARI BASIC, but in TURBO it popped
straight out of the loop at line 40 even though the SELECT
key had not been touched! He found that adding a short
delay loop at line 15 allowed the loop to work correctly,
as did PQKEing 53279 with 8 in line 10, which is the
correct value to clear the CONSUL keys.
TUBRO Sasic Memory Map
TUBRO Basic is a full 16k of code, yet It gives you
another 1.5k of free memory over ATARI BASIC!
The bulk of TURBO BASIC is hidden under the operating
system ROM at the top of memory. The VSLANK routine has
been modified to flip between the twinned memory blocks,
allowing access to both areas.
The rest of TURBO BASIC sits in the block from 6320
($20803 to 13864 ($9016). This is in the area normally
used by DOS [and DUP when loaded] , which explains why
after calling DOS you cannot go back to TURBO BASIC.
Hhich in turn explains why DOS commands have been added to
the language*
Note that because of the re -arrangement of memory,
the area occupied by the screen and display list at the
top, and the variable tables, etc. at the bottom, are in
new positions. Providing you use the pointers to find
their new locations you'll be OK.
Formatting Disks
The only useful DOS command that is missing from
TURBO BASIC is FORMAT. However, if you do get stuck and
Page 1
need to format another disk - the XIO commands still
work. XIO 254,#t formats in the default drive
format. If you have a 1050 and you need to format In
single density use 253*
Changing Variable Names
The major problem I've found with my own programs is
that I have been using variable names that are commands
in TURBO BASIC! Names like MOVE* TEXT t DIR, MOD, DEC and
HEXS are among my favorites! And of course it means I've
nad to rename them to stop TURBO BASIC erroring out.
Doing through the programs modifying every
occurrence of a name can be time consuming if there is a
lot of them. One way out is to use a word processor in
’’Search and Replace" mode* but that means LISTing the
program out and booting in the word processor* Again
time consuming* In the end it prompted me to write my
first routine in TURBO BASIC*...
Type in the program and LIST it to disk. You then
load the program you need to modify, ENTER the Renamer
routine, and run it with 0.32000
How It Works
In line 32070 we find the length of the variable
table and dimension KEN$ accordingly. The next two lines
fill Ken$ with the complete list of variables.
The end of a variable is marked by being an inverse
character, so in the next loop, which prints all the
variables on the screen, we check For an inverse
character at line 32120, and convert it before printing
it. If there are a lot of variables, use CONTROL- 1 to
freeze/unfreeze the screen.
You are then asked for the variable you want t g
rename. Include the f [' if it's an array, and the '$’ if
it’s a string.
By printing the name you’ve typed in and positioning
the cursor before getting an input, saves you the bother
of typing ih the complete name. Just modify on© or two
letters and hit RETURN.
A check is then made to make sure the names are tha
same length. [This subroutine only modifies the
particular name - it doesn’t re-write the complete
variable table).
The last character of our first input is then
inversed before using the INSTR command to find it's
position in the variable table. If x=0 then you’ve tried
to modify a variable that doesn’t exist!
If all is well, the last character of the new name
is inversed before using the MOVE command to move the new
name into the table area.
And that’s all there is to it. Don't forget the
programs you modify must be SAVEd files. LISTed files
won’t put the names into the variable table in the first
place - the lines will just error out.
He haven't bothered with TYPO codes oh this one -
the easiest way to check it is to run it by itself (after
you've LISTED out a copy to disk* of course!). After
you’ve run the program, LIST it on the screen to check
the changed names.
32000 REH ******* *****************
32010 REH * VARIABLE RENAMER FOR *
32020 REH * USE WITH TURBO BASIC *
32030 REM * KEN WARD 6th Jan 57 *
32040 REM * NORWICH USERS GROUP *
32050 REM ************************
32060 REM
32070 CLR : CLS :N=DFEEK( 132 ] -0PEEK[ 1 30]
iDlM KEN$(N) ,VAR$(30) ,NXT$(30)
320©0 KEN$=" ’’ : KENSl NJ= M " : K£HS(2>KEN$
32090 HOVE DPEEK (130) , ADR ( KENS ) t N
32100 POSITION 2,0
32110 FOR X=1 TO LENEKENS)
33120 Y=ASC[KEN$(X,X));IF Y>127 THEN Y
= Y- 1 20 : ?CHR$ ( Y ) : GOTO 32140
32130 ?CHRS(Y);
32140 NEXT X
32150 ? "What is the name of the vanish
le you";? "Want to rename INPUT VAR$
32160 ? "Please type in new ham© - REME
HBER "name must be same Length!’’:?
" ";VAR$; : POSITION 2 j PEEK [ 64 )
32170 INPUT NXT$;IF L£N ( WXT$) <>LEN[ VAR
S) THEN ? GOTO 321 S0
321 30 Y=ASC(VARS ( LENt VAR$) ) )*125; V AR$l L
ENf VARS] )=CHRS(Y)
321 S0 X=IN5TR{KENS,VAR$);IF X=0 THEN ?
: GOTO 32150
32200 Y=ASC[NXTStLEN[NXT$)J)^126:NXTS(L
EN(NXT$))=CHRS(Y]
32210 MOVE ADR(NXTS) , DPEEK [ 130)+X-1 ,LEN
( NXT$)
[E0 HAUG. I use the INSTR function in my ST programs and
find it to be a very useful function. I find it very
useful when combined with ON A GOTO xxx, xxx, xxx or ON A-Y
GOTO xxx, xxx, xxx. Study its use and I think you will else
like it.)
Z MAGAZINE JUNE 15, 1957
ISSUE 57
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC,, COPYRIGHT 1907
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
By: NAT FRIEDLAND, ANTIC EDITOR
6-BIT UPOATE
We’ll start with, the good news for S-bit users. The
XF5S1 disk drive is the big surprise. It’s a compact 5
1/4 inch drive in XE gray, about 3/4 the size of the now
discontinued 1050 drive and priced in about the same $160
range as the 1050. The XF551 is also claimed to be 2.9
times faster than a 1050 and boasts true double density —
as well as automatic compatibility with ©very other
density format ever used for the 6-bit Atari, It seemed
clear from talking to a number of Atari sources that a 3
1/2 inch disk drive for the S-bit computers is no *■
unlikely to be produced.
The XF551 drive will have a new ADOS operating system
which is nearing completion by OSS, the creators of DOS 2
and DOS 2.5, Promised features of ADOS include a tree
structure allowing directories and easy toggle between
menu or command operations.
According to Atari’s Jose Lopes, the key
engineer/designer of the new XE products described in this
dispatch, the first XF551 drives can be expected to start
trickling into the stores by July. The same July arrival
date now holds true for the 60-column XEP60 display box
and the new 1200 baud SX212 modem. Valdes says both
products have been delayed by a wait for delivery of main
chips, but all other components and packaging are
stockpiled in readiness For assembly at Atari’s Taiwan
factory .
Atari Hr iter Plus 60 was operati ng on the XEP30 in a
razor-sharp 60-colgmn display at the Atari Booth. The
SX212 modem will be bundled with a new version of Keith
Ledbetter's famed Express software which the author is
scheduled to demonstrate later in the show.
ZMAGAZINE JUNE 22 f 19S7 ISSUE 5fl
PUBLISHERS PAGE
1 received news this week about the current status of
the ■ ST Transformer. ANALOG MAGAZINE is purchasing the
program and it will appear in the August or September
issue. Stay tuned for details..... (From ED HAUG ,,,
There are some copy programs out that un-copyprotect some
6 -bit prog-ams, Now that the Transformer is soon to be
here, there is on honest reason to have this kind of copy
program* The only way to get a copy protected 5-bit
program to run on the ST will be to transfer an
un -copyprotected version to your ST. The key used with
PaperClip may also work on the ST. I sure hope so.)
IBM EMULATOR UPDATE
Courtesy CompuServes Atari IB
PC-Ditto - David and Sandy Small
Page 2
I spent awhile on the phone with Avant-Garde {like
three hours] talking about PC-Ditto, so I thou^vt I'd
pass some info along, since there's a lot of curiosity
about it.
Jerry called me up from Comdex and said it was
amazingly good. He'd done all the things like under the
table For a PC or inside for an 8036; it’s a software
emulator, all right# Then, he got a bunch of his own
software to test it on,, and !o and behold, it worked. He
ran LapLink and DesqView on it, and while he says it's
slow, it does work. Apparently the emulation is at the
chip level.
The guy who did It is' an ex-IBH T er and sales type --
he was s pro salesman, believe me — who's working on it
with his wife, Horn and pop shop, so to speak. They've had
lots of marketing offers and are very very busy. Don't
expect to get through on the phone, it's always busy#
My own experience with emulators is that you lose a 4X In
clock speed with necessary overhead. So I'd expect about
a 1-2 Mhz IBM out of this. The good thing is that I/O is
done at 6S000 speed, B Mhz, so it will only appear slow
when you get computation-bound, . like recalcing a
spreadsheet# Burt just copying files, etc, it ought to
scream along pretty nicely.
The big thing that they told me was they wanted
everyone to know they weren’t connected at all with the
MS-EH people. Apparently they had received mucho negative
feedback on that other product.
They've tested and certified it with lots of
different IBM products; they went through a top-40 I EM
product list and it ran all that stuff. The guy who's
doing it sounds technically competent and is a good
salesman .
Caveat: this is all based on a telephone conversation t
but he does know what he's doing with emulators, and it's
for real,
I'd suggest getting them online on CIS a.s.a.p. to
answer questions. It sounds like it'll be a good
product,
Discache For The 5T
by Levin Soule'
I recently received my copy of Discache for my ST.
From the 5N, I suspect I may have the very first copy on
the market. When I ordered it, I did not know what a
cache (pronounced cash!} program really was or did. All
I saw was the ad hype for increased read and write speed,
When I ordered this program I informed the company that I
was the newsletter editor and was going to write a
review. As a result, they included four test prog'ams on
the disk to Show off what it could do, Amgem, Xnc. says
this is the only ST cache program that will work with the
floppy disks# Contrary to what the ads for all cache
programs would want you to believe, a cache prog-am will
NOT always speed-up disk reading and writing. In fact
it is possible that you could suffer a slight slow-down,
like maybe 1%f On the other hand, a cache procj*am can
give an APPARENT speed-up in floppy disk access of 200
times (20 times for hard disk), and drastically reduce
the number of disk accesses, A cache works very much
like a RAM disk, but with some very important
dl Ff erences , The very first time you read a group of
sectors, there is NO increase in speed. But later reads
of those same sectors are at RAM disk speed with no disk
access as the input is from RAM# If your pro^am later
writes to those same sectors, but there is no change in
the information you are writing to those sectors, the
cache detects this and makes no disk write. Therefore,
the apparent speed-up of up to 200 times for floppies and
20 times for hard drives. IF some of the information is
changed, only those changed sectors in the file being
saved are written to. The speedup in saving then depends
on the ratio of unchanged to changed sectors.
I was hoping the cache was a form of disk buffer
that would load at max speed as much of any file you
opened as the size of the buffer could hold and
multi-task, so that if your program did a slow disk read,
such as in random access inputs, the data input would be
at RAH disk speed, which in random access is still not as
fast as the speed of input when inputing a prog-am file*
No way! In my membership pro^-am, the first read of the
file was at the non cache speed# But, when the program
had sorted the data and started the second 'sorted' read
of the random file, the information came from the cache
and not the disk# This gave a VERY nice speed increase
with no disk access. The function I checked went from 100
seconds bare to 38 seconds using the cache [35 seconds
with the new ROMS, old disk format]. One thing that
surprised me was the time it tock to do a disk write when
running this test# The bare program took 23 seconds to
write 120 reformatted records to the disk. The cache
helped program run took 12 seconds to write these same 120
records (11 seconds with the new ROMS]. No- where in the
documentation was there any hint that a 100% new write
would be twice as fast when going through the cache. I
hope this was not a fluke, but a true feature. On the
other hand, if you turn off write verify, you will get
writes in about half time just as in the B-bits. Unlike a
RAM disk, a cache writes to both the cache buffer and the
disk at the same time if the sector (or record) to be
written is different then when first read, although I
noted on my membership program that this write through did
not happen when it should have. It would wait until I
returned to the menu and the program closed the file. I
program my smaller database programs so that my records
are written to both the RAM disk and the real disk, and
then only when there has been a change to the record, so
my saves end up being about as fast as when using a cache#
On my largest database program, I do not have enough RAM
to hold the data file but do have memory for a 64K cache.
So t for random access use, a cache may not offer any
advantage over a RAM disk, but for those times when there
is no memory room for a RAM disk, the cache could result
in a nice speed-up and reduction in disk access as it did
for me. and also make for easier programing. j m expect I
will be using this cache program a good bit in the future,
once I learn what it can and can't do. A cache is a
first-in first-out storage mechanism which contains
recently accessed data. It is like a RAM disk with auto
delete when new data is loaded and the RAM disk is full,
with the write throu^i feature added,
A cache would be very helpful when conpiling a
program or when the same data has to be accessed several
times. I used it to compile one of my 9K basic prog-ams
using LWD Basic compiler. It saved 2,25 minutes in
compiling and linking a program that took 8.75 minutes
without the cache. There was also a significant reduction
in disk access. I allocated 100K to the drive A cache and
100K to the drive B cache. I then used a 200K RAM disk as
the working disk. The same task was 3,3 minutes faster,
but had a bit more disk access. If I had enough memory to
copy all files to RAM and run every thing in RAM, even
more time would have been saved. But, if my program had
been longer, I could not have done the job at all with the
RAM disk, and the cache would have been the only way. I
then did the same thing with a 21 K basic program. The
cache was overloaded and I saved NQ time. After I
up-^-aded to IMeg, I compiled a 21K program in RAM in A
1/2 min instead of the 17 min for disks. The cache would
have helped but not near as fast as in RAM.
From what I have read and been told by Amiga owners
at work, the Amiga, unlike the ST, would really be helped
by a cache, as it has to access the disk almost every time
something on the workbench is used. Cache programs are
big time on mainframe and multi-user systems, as they
drastically reduce access time and run time of the storage
device. The use of a cache on a 520ST in limited,
although in wordpnocessing on a 520ST, where you do a lot
of saves to prevent possible data loss, it could be very
helpful. A cache will not do anything for a copy
protected, write protected, or game disk. It should be
much more useful on a 1040ST. I could not get it to work
with either STWRITER or THUNDER , but then I did not try
very hard.
From what the letter included with my program said, I
y
Page 3
suspect Discache was tested with the new blitter ROMs,
although they called them 'special 1 ROMs* They say their
special ROMs give a 25% speed increase ever the ones I
have in my ST* From what I have read end been told about
the new ROMs, this is about what to expect from the new
ROMs when used as their test programs used them* The new
ROMs format using a form of the twisted format. I ran a
couple of the test programs they included on the disk for
me. Their times were 2/3 the time my floppy drive took*
After upgrading to IMeg and putting in the new ROMs , I
timed one of their tests at 4*28 sec compared to their
3.96 sec and my old 5.94 sec with the old ROMs. Without
the cache, you can double the times. The disk is not
copy protected.
The test results by Amgem shewed a speed increase of
10% to 40% on a hard drive when compiling, deleting and
copying. Amgem says that "unlike either of our
competitors, Discache works on both floppies and hard
drives, Discache catches both individual sector
reads as well as block. Either Michtrcn's nor
Beckemeyer's caches do this. ... it will not write a
sector to the drive unless it is different from what Is
already on the drive. 1 '
Would 1 recommend the purchase of Discache? Yes and
no. I believe there is a bug in the program that keeps
it from working properly when writing to a single record
in my random access program. I also wonder why I was not
able to get it to work with Thunder. The people at
Amgem, Inc. are going to get a copy of this newsletter,
.and I hope They will fix this bug quick and send me an
upgrade. This same problem was present when running the
program using slow old ST SA5XC. The problem did not
change with the new ROMs. They need to include on the
disk a DDC file that has examples of how to setup the
cache with several of the more popular ST prog-ams, like
Thunder, DBrngn, 1st Hard, First Write, and 5T WRITER to
name just a few. I also hope they will develop a version
that will not only run as a cache, but will have a second
buffer area for fast reads to help the alow sequential
file and random access reads of GEM, Maybe an
autO-ramdisk that could be loading while the program was
reading or GEHD05 bypass of some kind could be used. I
kept reading that GEM could never be AUTO started, but we
now have STARTGEM and the new(?] ST told ROMs] will now
AUTORUN like the oldt?) 8-bit Atari. SooooooJ This
looks like it will be a very useful, worth while and fair
priced program, after being debugged.
Routines you can use
by Jean Rowe El Dale Bryant
[SBACE GAZETTE May/Jun 1987]
Soviet! me s it is desirable to be able to print to a
Graphics 8 screen. As most of you know, this is not a
normal text mode for the 8-bit Atari computer. The
following routine uses a machine language routine to
print the text contained in a string to the screen, I
wish we could give credit to the author of the routine
but we are sorry to say we cannot. Anyway, whoever it
was, thanks. He have modified it some so that the demo
program also shows a couple of other programing
techniques you might find a use for,
0 REM L."0;GR8TEXT"
5 DIM At 136):? CHR [125):? "Hang on],."
10 0=0 : FOR A“1 TO 136: READ B:C=C+A*B:A
[ A, Aj-CHRl S ] : NEXT A: IF COI 024302 THEM
? "DATA ERROR": STOP
12 DIM ME5(25] :MESS="58ACE-Uearning th
ru doing"
IS GOTO 300
IB REM DATA FOR A$
20 DATA 218,24,166,87,105,120,183,177
22 DATA 212 ,133,222 ,104,104,133,213
24 DATA 104,133,212,104,133,215,104
26 DATA 133,214,104,104,133,216,198
28 DATA 216,169,0,133,221,164,216,177
30 DATA 214,8,41,127,201,96,176,10,201
32 DATA 32 , 1 76 ,4,105,84, 144, 2 , 233 ,32
34 DATA 1 0 , 10,38,221 ,10, 38,221 ,133,220
36 DATA 165,221,109,244,2,133,221,165
38 DATA 212,24,101,216,133,218,165,213
40 DATA 105,0,133,219,160,0,177,220,40 x y
42 DATA 8,16 ,2,73,255 , 145,210, 165,21 S
44 DATA 24,101,222,133,218,166,219,105
46 DATA 0 , 1 33 ,219, 200 , 1 92 ,6,1 44 , 228 , 40
48 DATA 198,216,16,167,96,39,19,19,9,9
50 DATA 19,19,39,39,39,39,39,39,39,19
52 DATA 39
70 REM PROG ABOVE -DEMO BELOW
75 L=LEN[ME5) :N=355:A=8: GRAPHICS A
80 HL=USR{ ADR [A] , PE£K{S8)+256*PEEK [ 89 )
+N,ADR(MES] ,L]
100 FOR B=1 TO 200 : HEX! B:FOR A=1 TO 5
00; NEXT A:M=N+240:IF N>7410 THEN GRAPH
ICS 0:END
110 GOTO 80
300 GRAPHICS 0: POSITION 2,3
350 POKE 766,1 t? "15 A( 1 CHR[ 34 )
; A ( 1 , 80 ] ; CHR [ 34 ] : ? "CO NT"
355 POSITION 2,0: POKE 842, 12: POKE 842,
13: STOP
356 POSITION 2,6
360 ? "16 A 1 81 , 1 36 ] *= n ; CHR { 34 ) ; A [ 8 1 ,1 36
] ? CHR{34}:? "CQNT"
370 POSITION 2,0: POKE 842,12:P0KE 842,
13: STOP
380 POKE 842,12
390 POKE 766,0:? CHR[12S)
400 POSITION 2,3
410 ? "10":? "CONT": POSITION 2,0: POKE
842, 12: POKE 842 ,13: STOP
415 POKE 842,12
416 POSITION 2,3
420 ? "18";? "CONT": POSITION 2,0: POKE
842, 12: POKE 842, 13; STOP
430 POKE 842,12
4B0 RUN
When the pro^-am is RUN For the first time it will
READ the data statements and create two lines of code that
are not present in the original program. They will bo
lines IS and 16 which will have the object cede packed
into a string. This makes for faster execution time as
the data statements do not have to be READ each time the
program is used. Also it will delete lines 10 and 18
which will no longer be needed. If you desire you can
delete all the data statement line numbers and the lines
From 300 on after the program is RUN the first time. This
routine will work with any mode higher than 3, Just
change the graphics call and try it. Have fun with your
Atari, we doi (Before running this program, LIST a copy
to disk under a new name so you will have it available
later if you bomb the original copy. ED HAUG)
ATARI PRESS RELEASE
June t , 1 987
In an effort to increase its piece of the US computer
market, Atari Gorp. is expected sometime this summer to
release its first IBM PC compatible. Computer analysts
think it will be among the lowest -priced clones
available ,
Jerry Brown, recently hired Atari vice president for
US operation, has told Paul Freiberger of The 5an
Francisco Examiner, "He operate in the same style as the
Japanese. Most companies in corporate America are
bloated. Atari operates like a startup,"
Brown says he'll score in the PG-conpatiple market as
Atari gradually builds momentum for its 5T line of
products in the United States, but acknowledges he will
need more retailers.
Colleagues ag-ee, Says President Sruce Davis of
Activision, "Their distribution has been a bit fragmented
and constrained here in the US. (Atari needs) more places
for consumers to buy their computers, whether it's
dealers, discount stores or mail order."
Page 4
Freiberger says Atari is expected to spend $10
million on TV ads this year, compared with about $2
million last year ,
And, while the ISM clone probably will cj-ab the
media attention , Brown also told the paper the company
will release this summer a low-cost laser printer and a
more powerful version of its ST called the Mega ST* The
products t packaged together for about £3,000, are
expected to court the desktop publishing market,
Freiberger comments, "The question is whether these
moves will be sufficient to persuade a major retail chain
such as ComputerLand or Susinessland to carry the Atari
line. * * . Brown also said Atari could opt to sell the
inexpensive ST nationwide in mass-market retail stores/ 1
This article ctsy of CompuServes 1
Online Today fc] 1987 CIS
From the Atari Booth, topped with a real Cessna
Airplane, the word was "flying high with Atari 11 * The
theme followed through into the exhibit space where
Flight Simulator II played From a cartridge on a large
screen monitor inside the cockpit of a Cessna. Atari
chose to push its game side, and the new computer lines
were not being shown. There was a PC Clone getting
minimal attention but the absence of MEGA ST's, Laser
printers, 1200 baud modems, Blitter enhanced ST's, IBM
emulator, and 80 Column Cards, left little doubt that
this was to be a game show. Recently appointed Vice
President end General Manager of US operations, J* J *
[ Jerry) Brown confirmed this in his press release stating
"Atari intends to remain the leader in video game systems
and to increase its share of the US personal computer
market . "
While this author's first impressions {as an Atari
BUSINESS computer user) were quite negative, given that
the preceding release, titled "ATARI ANNOUNCES AGGRESSIVE
NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT VIDEO GAMES AND
PERSONAL COMPUTERS” was simultaneously issued with
releases titled "ATARI ANNOUNCES 40 NEW GAMES AND
LICENSING AGREEMENTS MITH COMPUTER GAME AND ARCADE
COMPANIES" and "ATARI TO BEGIN SHIPMENT OF NEW XE GAME
SYSTEM BUNDLED WITH THREE POPULAR GA^ES" and given that
no "business" computer releases were , made, a closer
reading of the releases lead to some rbther surprising
hypotheses of the situation* [See Following Article).
The first page and 3/4 T s of the 3 page advertising
campaign announcement is devoted to game machine
promotions planned for the balance of this year,
including national TV spots starting in September, comic
book ads, in store hardware and software demos, and full
repackaging of the game machines and XE T s.
Not until the back pages did we note that 4 TV ads
(starting late 3rd quarter and running through New Years)
and a substantial portion of the new advertising budget
(quadrupled from previous levels) would be devoted to the
ST's! ( This as opposed to 3 new ads starting in
September for the games}* The budget also calls for
some major print ads to Follow and support the TV
effort »
Now the pessimist will assume that Atari is bent on
forgetting the computers in favor of games* The more
business oriented will notice that Atari Stock and Sales
of ST's have been doing rather well, and that in the
introduction of the ST 1 5 end MEGA the games assets of the
company were nearly step-children* Further, the XE is
almost in direct competition with the ST’s and likely in
an overstocked condition at Atari.
The optimist will, therefore, assume that Atari is
on a campaign to liquidate the old stock in new boxes,
maintain its game market share, and produce the liquidity
and corporate energies to actively continue its 5T
advantage* In assessing Atari's strategies, one must
rememoer that the manpower of this company has sorely
lagged it's growth in home computer market share, and
that Atari had nothing to do with the conflicting
schedules of CES and Comdex this year. With limited
manpower and time to produce and to sell product, I am
optimistic and! feel that Atari made the ricfit decisions in
the face of the tough decision forced by The Interface
Group's show timing. The balance of this quarter should
tell! — Dave Groves [e] 1997
[CES Gang] DARLAH> There were a number of 3rd party
vendors in the Atari booth with some new products* Gordon
can tell you about Michtron/Microdea! offerings [Air ball
looked pretty slick!}* EA was showing Music Construction
Set For the ST, written by Intersect, Looked pretty
ni ce.
Mindscape had some games like Plutos ( much **, expanded
beyond the bootleg version showing up on BBSs) and a 3-0
pool game. MidlMaze from Hybrid Arts is finally done*,,
and is being copy protected -- should ship in 2 weeks.
They added lots of new features like observer modes, smart
and done drones , teams, and more — great game!
One small company had a strange package called Easel
that lets you put any DEGAS picture in place of the
desktop background, tends to slow down the system overall,
thou^i ,
Timeworks had a collection of utilities in the form
of a desk accessory called Partner ST — a Thesaurus is
included. Broderbund announced Printshop, Karateka, and a
contained version of Art Director with Film Director (yay!)
-- they have committed to attending the Santa Clara Atari
show. Looks like they're backing us in a big way*
Hicroprose Is finishing up Gunship and one of their
other games (maybe F-15?7) Atari has shipped a few of the
Arrakis educational programs like Biology, Algebra, and
some others, aimed at middle school students*
Psy gnosis has a hot new game called Barbarian -- a
Fully graphic fantasy role-playing game -- point at an
object end get a window with a list of things to do or
descri be *
Eidersoft had a sound digitizer called Pro Sound
Designer .
A company called the Robot Factory had a really neat
gimmick — a Fuzzy doll robot that was hooked uc to the ST
through MIDI and was playing the keyboard in time with a
piano roll program from QRS. Its mouth moved in time with
the voice of the announcer throuc^i a microphone — * this
one got filmed by MTV News .
There were sons other ST things too that were talked
about, we'll have to pest these to the ST RT as we dig
thnoy^i our notes* On the game side, We had the new XE
Game System on display along with a finished version of
Flight Simulator II on a 256K ROM cart (includes the
prog-sm and the scenery disk) . There were S or 10 new
titles for both the 7800 and the 2600* One-on-One for the
7900 is done and is ^greatt (I am undefeated in the last
year, it must be great!) and Desert Falcon is also done
and in production.
Even the new 2600 games were pretty impressive. And
Activision and Epyx announced that they're doing their own
titles for the 2600, and Atari Explorer and ANALOG will
begin video game coverage on a limited basis*
Atari will have their own booth at NAMM (National
Association of Music Merchants] late in June, making us
the First computer manufacturer to ever exhibit there. We
want to OWN the MIDI market*
That's about it for now, lets open the floor to ehaos
now*
<[MichTron] GORQON> before we do that we will let
John Symes from Microdeal tell you about ail the new stuff
Microdeal showed at CES'
<MICRQD> I saw a 3d game player from sega
today ..* .pretty good. Me were demoing Air-ball, a marble
madness type game but with rooms, nearly 300 rooms and
after 4 days of the show we are all still playing. You
cannot put this down, *. shipping June 8th* Me also had
REPLAY t our sound digitizer. This really does digitize
great and has code for GFA as well* Me also showed OIGI
DRUM the drum kit sequencer *
MichTron was showing a demo version of a new GFA
Product called GFA Object, Its similar to Antic's Cad 30
but much easier to use and you can take the pictures and
use them in BASIC, Vector and GFA DRAFT PLUS.
P*jge S
CLUB OFFICERS
NOTICE
President — Tom Brooks 882-91 65
1st VP-CXL/XE] Lee Stanford -883-7602
2nd VP [ ST) Lamarr Kelley 852-9596
Secretary Bill Batchelor 837-401 8
Treasurer — J* J, Moniz- 883-71 IS
Board Member Jim Fly 882-2523
Board Member Alan Winn- 837-9411
Standing Committee Chairman
Librarin Jim Gross 883-0185
Editor Levin Soule f 534-1 SI 5
Bullentin Board Charlie Mueller — 772-7103
Technical —Gary Hitchcock---883-7560
CLUB SUPPORTED and AFFILIATED BBSs
T, HAUG Tr Official Club BBS 300/1200 baud,
SysOp - Chari i e Mue Her 24 hr s * 461 - STXE
"Bloom County 5T n 300/1200/2400 baud.
SysQp-Penguin Opus- 24hrs . — 772-8526
,T WRB" 300/1200 baud.
SysOp-Bi 11 Batchelor 24hrs , 837-2025
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+ p ^ Up yp h_ p up y^-yji .p h_p jp J) . p L p ,Tl . p ^p yp Jp yp ._p y|ji rp rn yp -p ™T| - pi Zp rp Zp Z~T! Zp
Huntsville Atari Users Group
3311 W, Crestview, S.W.
Huntsville, AL 35816-3607
The name ATARI and the Fuji symbol
are either Trademarks or Copyrights of
Atari, Corp. Our use of them is not
intended to be an infringement. We are
an independent Users Group, not
affiliated with Atari Corp. HAUG is a
non-profit organization of dedicated 400,
800, 600XL, 800XL, 1200XL, 130XE, 520ST
and 10405T Atari Computer Enthusiasts
[ACE), banded together for mutual help
and support. Contact any club officer
for further information on how to join.
Dues are $12.00 per year, prorated to
$1,00 per/ mo . for new members.
The opinions expressed herein are
those of the individual author and do not
necessarily represent, nor reflect, those
of H.A.U.G,, or its officers, or of any
other commercial , or non-commercial
organization.
The Editor reserves the right to
accept , reject , or edit any material
submitted for publication. Unless
otherwise noted, permission is given for
reprint rights if credit is given to the
author and the Huntsville Atari> Users
Group .
NEXT GENERAL
MEETING
7:00 P.M*
Thursday , July 1 6th
SU MO TU WE TH FR SA
12 3 4
5 6 7 8 91011
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
IS 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 23 30 31
AT
UNIVERSAL DATA
SYSTEMS
. Thru Dec 1987
I SLCC Ne»sle« er Enchant
J'L B 8 °.nd‘r« ’^ 77
520ST/1040ST SIG
7:00 P.M.
Thursday, July 23rd
AT
ABAX DATA SYSTEMS
