Info-Atari16@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU (Info-Atari16 Digest) (11/08/86)
Info-Atari16 Digest Friday, November 7, 1986 Volume 86 : Issue 7
This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield
Today's Topics:
Autocopy
Some info about the Epson DS drive bug
Re: Patches for the RAM disk program
Re: GDOS, GDOS, GDOS, GDOS ...
Re: copy pretection
UNITERM ZOOM MODE - GETTING OUT
RE: MIDI on the ST
Apple II Emulator
Re: GDOS, GDOS, GDOS, GDOS ...
Desperately seeking LARN and 1stLATEX
Re: Micro-EMACS 3.7i -- bugs and comments
AUTO folders
More on GDOS
Question about Micro-Emacs 3.7i
Re: Help with Desk Accessories: accessory loaders.
December 1986 ANTIC TOC for ST's
Documentation
Printable Character Archiver
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 02:08:32 GMT
From: zen!zooey.Berkeley.EDU!c160-fk@cad.Berkeley.EDU (Duy Le)
Subject: Autocopy
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
Autocopy compiles but it doesn't work as expected. It says h/filename
'not able to write'. Does anyone know how to fix this problem?
Comments are appreciated.
Duy
------------------------------
Date: 4 Nov 86 12:55:05 GMT
From: ihnp4!drutx!tlz@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (ZrustTL)
Subject: Some info about the Epson DS drive bug
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
Got this in the mail and thought it would be of general interest.
In case you missed it, this is a response to my article on the 3.5"
DS Epson drive upgrade for the SF354. There is a problem with the
non-boot drive (B:) not being recognized by the system unless a disk
(even a blank one) is in it.
> >From sun!atari.uucp!jwt Tue Nov 4 02:26:01 1986 remote from ihnp4
> To: sun!ihnp4!drutx!tlz
> Subject: Re: Epson DS disk drive upgrade news and ??
> In-Reply-To: your article <1793@drutx.UUCP>
> That is one of the problems with buying just any off-the-shelf 3.5" disk
> drive for replacement in the ST. There are a couple of different types of
> 3.5" drives out there (not quite as standardized as you had hoped). Some
> drives will report the correct status of the write protect signal when there
> is no diskette in the drive and the type that requires a diskette to be in
> the drive before it returns the write protect signal.
> I am not aware of an easy modification to get it to return write protect
> without a diskette... when it happened to us, we returned the drives for the
> ones we wanted.
> Jim Tittsler, Atari Corp. {lll-lcc,sun}!atari!jwt
OK, any ideas? How about just shorting out the disk in
position switch? :-)
--
Terry L. Zrust, AT&T Information Systems Laboratories
MS 30L49, 11900 North Pecos Street, Denver, CO 80234
ihnp4!drutx!tlz Voice: (303)-538-4547
------------------------------
Date: 4 Nov 86 12:56:58 GMT
From: rutgers!clyde!burl!codas!akgua!akguc!rbk@lll-crg.arpa (rbk)
Subject: Re: Patches for the RAM disk program
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
<><><><><><><><>
> If you want to use the RAM disk program I've posted as a drive other
> than 'D', you have to patch it. This patch is essential if you want to use
> a hard disk together with the RAM disk. Here is an old hint:
> ... (some lines deleted) ...
> What I think was meant: Change the bytes at the following
> offsets from the beginning of the ".prg" file:
>
> offset old value(for drive D) new value (for drive F)
> ====== ====================== =======================
>
> $145 (325) 03 05
> $173 (371) 03 05
> $181 (385) 03 05
> $193 (403) 03 05
>
> The first one is the "BSET #3,D0" in the installation, the other three
> are "CMP #3,x(A7)"s in handling calls to disk device drivers.
>
> For drive C instead of F, use the value 02.
>
> To change the default RAM disk size, change the byte at offset
> $B3 (179): The value is the size in units of 64K, e.g. 03 for
> a default size of 192K, 09 for 576K.
>
> WARNING: These are untested speculations!!!
> If somebody tests this (with a hard disk, if possible), please tell us!
> Jeff, if you're out there: please confirm &/or post the fix and the
> disassembly!
>
> - Moshe Braner
The patch works as advertised; thanks Moshe!
BTW, I changed the byte to "0C" for Drive "M" since
I already have a hard disk partition called "F".
R. Brad Kummer {ihnp4, seismo!akgua}!akguc!rbk
AT&T Bell Labs Atlanta, GA
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 04:55:18 GMT
From: cbatt!cwruecmp!bammi@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Jwahar R. Bammi)
Subject: Re: GDOS, GDOS, GDOS, GDOS ...
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
In article <191@slovax.UUCP> michael@slovax.UUCP (Michael Longe) writes:
>Amen! I was the lucky person who got find some of the BUGS in that
>version and report them to Atari and DRI. If all goes well, the new
>version should include mulitple font loading, hard disk support, and none
>of those silly boot-drive defaults (like OUTPUT.RSC and font files).
The version if Gdos that we recently received from Atari does indeed
allow multiple font loading (from any directory), etc. One thing that i was
rather surprised to find was that Ataris version of Gdos does not support
NDC coordinates (Landon/Neil can you shed some light on why ??). In any case
i feel NDC coordinates are quite useless, and what would be more usable
are user defined world coordinates (only metafiles support them), that
Gdos converts to RC in the appropriate way so that drawing primitive still
come out right (at least on the screen??). Also NDC coordinates are quite
useless in Gem as AES does'nt use them anyway. Can someone from DRI/Atari
explain why AES was designed in this way (rather why Gem was half done??),
or were NDC coordinates added into Vdi as an after thought??
--
usenet: .....!decvax!cwruecmp!bammi jwahar r. bammi
csnet: bammi@case
arpa: bammi%case@csnet-relay
compuServe: 71515,155
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 01:09:58 GMT
From: imagen!turner@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (D'arc Angel)
Subject: Re: copy pretection
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
> Lastly, after reading (Ian Chadwick's?) column in the most recent
> Analog, I took a look at the executatble file. It was entertaining
> finding phrases like "Software Pirate", "Copy Protection Mafia", and
> "Scum of the Earth." (Ian, by the way, changed the "die roll" figures
> in the executable, thereby making his character much better, allowing
> him to get the Amulet. Kinda defeats the purpose of the game, doesn't it?)
> --
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ lineater, \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
if you're going to look for ways to cheat, you might try looking in
the executable for the rogue's name (i.e. what you type in for the
name) that allows you to create anything, scrolls, weapons etc. It's
literally right there in front of you in the code. nuff said..
but i agree with you it takes all of the fun out of the game
on another subject; is anyone out there playing Phantasie I ? (if you
like rogue, you will fall in love with this game) i have gotten all
of the rings and runes and found the black knight's dungeon but
i can't get him, what am i doing wrong ?????
--
----
These are days for the locust to eat
- Winston Churchill
Name: James M. Turner
Mail: Imagen Corp. 2650 San Tomas Expressway, P.O. Box 58101
Santa Clara, CA 95052-8101
AT&T: (408) 986-9400
UUCP: ...{decvax,ucbvax}!decwrl!imagen!turner
CompuServe: 76327,1575
GEnie : D-ARCANGEL
------------------------------
Date: 0 0 00:00:00 EDT
From: "V5130B::MENTON" <menton@v5130b.decnet>
Subject: UNITERM ZOOM MODE - GETTING OUT
To: "info-atari16" <info-atari16@su-score>
Reply-To: "V5130B::MENTON" <menton@v5130b.decnet>
To the person who asked about 'zooming out' in the zoom mode of
Uniterm: in the zoom mode, 'Backspace' will restore the previous scaling
factors, and 'Return' will leave zoom mode. Also, the arrow keys will move
the screen 1/10 of the screen width/height in their direction (in the zoom
mode).
Bob Menton
ARPAnet: MENTON@NRL
Buckaroo Banzai: "Take the wheel. It drives like a truck."
John Parker: "Good. What is a truck?"
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 1986 12:45:54 EST
Subject: RE: MIDI on the ST
From: Dr. James A. Guffey <GUFFEY@A.ISI.EDU>
To: info-atari16@SU-SCORE.ARPA
> I am considering purchasing an ST and hope to do my own programming to
> use the MIDI ports. Can anyone out there in net-land tell me about
> using the ST with synthesizers and the like? I am a musician as well
> as a programmer and would probably want to write a lot of my own software
> for sequencing, voice editing (specifically Yamaha DX7) and the like.
Mark,
I am also a part-time musician and a full-time computer engineer.
I have two synthesizers and a drum machine that I have had MIDIed to
my ST with no problems. The ST seems to be an excellent choice for this
type of application. Some of the projects I've been working on are a
patch librarian and an Artificial Intelligence based patch generator.
I've also experimented with a single track MIDI sequencer, but nothing
very complex.
> What is a good language to use? I assume C is the best, but which one?
> Can Megamax C be used with the MIDI ports?
I use Megamax C to do my MIDI programming. I've found the inline assembly
feature to be very valuable when try to optimize sections of code for
speed, a necessity in real-time MIDI applications.
> What about this MacCompatible cartrige that is rumored? Will Mac MIDI
> software run with the ST?
I don't know about this. I would think that the MAC software wouldn't run
though since the MIDI hardware interfaces would be different. I don't
think the cartridge would take care of this difference.
> If anybody knows anything about ST MIDI software, I would appreciate any
> responses either over the net, or by e-mail.
The following is what is available from Hybrdi Arts...
ATARI 8 bits (130XE, 65XE)
MidiTrack III
MidiTrack III updates (with new book)
MidiTrack II
MMS
GenPatch
Librarians for DX,CZ,RX,Ob8,Pro5,...
Oasis (for EnsonMidiCom (general purpose and MIDI
telecommunication software)
MidiMate Interface
----------------------------------------
ATARI ST (520 and 1040)
EZ-Track
DX-Droid
DX-Editor
CZ-Droid
----------------------------------------
****************************************
SOON TO BE SHIPPING------------------------------------
ATARI 8 bits (130XE, 65XE, all others)
MidiScore
GenPatch updates
----------------------------------------
ATARI ST (520 and 1040)
ADAP I (Projected date = Oct 24, 1986)
Sampler and Command Module
Dual Trace Oscilliscope
Echo and Reverb
ADAP II (same or soon after I)
MidiTrack ST (with tape sync interface,
Projected date = Oct 1, 86)
MidiTrack ST Professional (with SMPTE
interface, Projected date = Oct 1,
86)
GenPatch ST
MidiUtilities (general purpose file MIDI
& TOS, manipulator, perfect for
MIDI hackers,...etc.)
EZ-Score (Scores our MIDI song files)
MidiScore Pro (Scores and resequences
our MIDI song files)
SMPTEMate (compatible with all forms of
of SMPTE US/Euro,...etc., and all
tape sync formats (FSK, Roland,...
etc). Doubles as MousePad!
Projected date = Oct 1, 86)
Oasis ST
****************************************
Hybrid Arts is feverishlg on the ADAP and associated products (20
Software Applications are slated for development).
ADAProcessor) is our "16 Bit Professional Digital Audio Workstation
generic digital interface, the software determines the application,
that is, ADAP can be a Recorder/Editor, 64 Track Multitrack
Recording System (Recorder, Mixer, Effects, Synthesizer,...etc.),
Test Sets (Spectrum Analyzer, O'scope,...etc.
ADAP hardware specifications are:
ADAP I - is a 16 bit linear, Stereo (2 discrete channels),
+4/-10 dbm in/out, Mic/line at the input, gain trims at the input,
calibrated in/out, with LED metering for in/out for calibration
and monitoring. It has a sampling rate that is adjustable up to
65k s/s (may change up to 100k s/s), and is fully CD compatible.
This version only supports RAM.
ADAP II - Same specs as ADAP I with additional support of
"Direct to Harddisk".
ADAP III - (ADAP III is only speculative) Same as ADAP II,
but with multiple inputs and outputs (up to 6?).
ADAP can sample up to 20 seconds with an unmodified 1040ST. ADAP
tests for available memory, so that, upgrades are taken advantage with
an unmodified ADAP. 4 meg allows for about 1 minute sample time.
The sampler will offer 64 samples key assignable, 6 voice poly,...etc.
The direct to disk versions can record up to 40 minutes or more!
The 2 track editing capabilities are going to be astounding, and ultra-
easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The ADAP has made its first television and live stage appearance.
The television show was "Chronicles" aired on your local PBS
station during the week of September 29, 1986. Call "Computer Chronicles"
at; 415-574-6233 and ask about the "#403, MIDI Music" segment, or
request transcripts via "Compuserve". Hybrid Arts presents the ADAP and
EZ-Track to the world.
smb: I called the "Computer Chronicles" people and they said the show
would air again during the week of DEC 23. CAll your local PBS station
for the exact time.
The "Pointer Sister's" used ADAP, live onstage before 17,000 listeners.
In the crowd were: Sam Tramiel, Gary Tramiel and other executives from
ATARI, Wendel Brown, Rick Oliver and Scott of Hippopotomus
Software, all invited by Hybrid Arts. Afterf the show the Tramiel's
were taken backstage and introduced to the "Pointer Sister's".
****************************************
Enough of ADAP, EZ-Track is our $65, 20 track MIDI Recorder, with
lots of advanced features that has been shipping for about a month
now. It can be bought through our music dealers and "Mega-
Chain Stores" like Federated,...etc.
DX-Droid for the ST is shipping, it will actually program you DX/TX
modules for you ($244).
CZ-Droid for the ST is shipping ($99), it will program ALL CZ's for
you (even the unprogrammable 230S, that's right! and the CZ1).
EZ-Score for the ST ($99) will be shipping soon, it will chart
out our song files for you (like printing the standard musical notation
for your EZ-Track songs,...etc.)!
SMPTEMate, a universal SMPTE interface for the ST will be shipping
October 1, 1986. This incredible device will read and write all standard
forms of SMPTE and lock up to all other forms of presently used tape
sync (like FSK,...).
All associated manuals can be bought separately.
I called Hybrid Arts and the price of the ADAP I is listed at $1995.
MIDITRACK ST is $375/$575(with SMPTE). Also I know Dr. T's has just
released a MIDI sequencer for $199. With this kind of support, the
has a good chance of becoming THE computer for MIDI applications.
Steve Bate
Artificial Intelligence Technology
McDonnell Aircraft Co.
ARPA: smb.mdc@office-1.arpa
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 10:07:26 PST (Wednesday)
From: BillHolland.ES@Xerox.COM
Subject: Apple II Emulator
To: XeroxAtari16Users^.X@Xerox.COM
Reply-To: BillHolland.ES@Xerox.COM
Does someone know anything about the Apple II/E/C Emulator,when will it
be ready,how compatible and fast will it be,it would be nice if it would
run in a GEM window.Also is it hardware or software ?
Bill
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 18:27:28 GMT
From: husc6!husc2!chabris@eddie.mit.edu (chabris)
Subject: Re: GDOS, GDOS, GDOS, GDOS ...
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
How did you get GDOS from Atari? When I called the other day, they told me
that either I had to pay the $500 licensing fee per product per year, or I
could send my software that didn't use GDOS to them "for testing". I was told
that if I wanted to do that testing myself, I should buy some commercial
software that has GDOS on the disk and use that copy.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
--
-- Christopher F. Chabris
Dunster F-61
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
[HOME: 15 Sterling Road, Armonk, NY, 10504]
CompuServe: 73277,305
UUCP: ...!harvard!husc4!chabris
ARPA: chabris%husc4@harvard.ARPA
BITNET: chabris@HARVUNXU.BITNET
AT&T: (617) 498-2239
------------------------------
Date: 4 Nov 86 10:47:02 EST (Tue)
From: Ashwin Ram <ram@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Desperately seeking LARN and 1stLATEX
To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
Hi... I'm looking for LARN (or any similar game) and 1stLATEX (a program to
convert 1stWORD files into LATEX). Could someone please send these to me?
If e-mail is a problem, would someone be willing to copy them onto a disk if
I snail-mailed a disk+SASE?
Please send me e-mail if you can do this. May your ship of fortune sail on
the seas of success and all that jazz.
Thanx a million -- Ashwin Ram.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@yale
UUCP: {decvax,linus,seismo}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs
------------------------------
Date: 4 Nov 86 10:36:09 EST (Tue)
From: Ashwin Ram <ram@YALE.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Micro-EMACS 3.7i -- bugs and comments
To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
I think some people misunderstood my point about the search string delimiter
key. I'm not pitching for using a machine-specific key like ENTER or
control-RETURN. I would like to use RETURN itself (which is about as
standard as you can get). The point is that given ^Q-RETURN inserts a <NL>
anyway, why not use RETURN to delimit the search string rather than ESC? I
have worked with fairly lay people and nearly all of them find ESC very
non-intuitive. If this is to be an editor for a user-friendly PC for
non-technical people, RETURN makes much more sense as a delimiter (besides
being easier to type). I guess the best thing to do would be to make it
customizable, as a couple of people have already suggested.
The other related point is that ^M should insert a ^M rather than being
coerced to <NL>. Since <NL> is merely ^J, either ^J and ^Q-RETURN can be
used to get a <NL> in the search string.
Finally, for those who haven't managed to bind their mouse, try:
bind-to-key previous-line FNH
bind-to-key next-line FNP
bind-to-key forward-character FNM
bind-to-key backward-character FNK
(I also find it useful to bind the left mouse button to SET-MARK; to do this,
try: "bind-to-key set-mark FNt"). One question though: it is weird to see
the cursor wrapping around when you move the mouse off the left or right end
of a line (again, something I could live with but non-intuitive
nevertheless). Is there a way to define a macro that would not do that, and
bind the mouse key to that? Something like the LOOKING-AT function of Emacs
with some sort of conditional would do it. (Unfortunately, I still can't
RTFM. No-one sent me one. Sigh...)
-- Ashwin.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@yale
UUCP: {decvax,linus,seismo}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 19:49:52 GMT
From: sdcc6!ix181@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (John Ogawa)
Subject: AUTO folders
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
<< Why is there a line eater? Well, bec
I've got a problem with AUTO folders. I wrote a simple program to
set the time and date using Mark Williams C. I then put it in my
AUTO folder. The problem is that it sometimes exectues the folder more
than once! I boot up (or reset) and it loads and runs the contents of the
AUTO folder 2 or 3 times. It runs the AUTO files only once about 2
times out of 3, but that third time it runs them multiple times. I
think I have exitted gracefully (with the exit() routine) so I am
confused.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
=====================================================================
| | | ____ ____ ___ |
| | | | |___ | \ John Ogawa |
| |__| |___ ___| |__/ UC San Diego |
| ix181@sdcc6@sdcsvax@ucbvax |
| |
| DISCLAIMER: My views do not represent those of the |
| University of California, nor do theirs represent mine. |
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 86 14:52:04 pst
From: rowley@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Karl P. Rowley)
To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
Subject: More on GDOS
Neil:
So you say GDOS is ready. That is good. When is it going to be made available
to everyone? Is GDOS going to be available as a product sold by itself?
Is the first version going to be able to get along without reading files off
a floppy disk?
Speaking of running without a floppy, when might we get software to let us
boot off of our hard disks?
While I am on a roll here, is the next version of TOS going to fix the famous
40 directory limit? Is the version of TOS in the new ROM's (the ones that will
go with the Blitter chip) improved in terms of fixes/additions?
BTW, the return address of getty@prandtl on my last note was caused by
malfunctioning software, and was bogus.
Thanks in advance,
Karl
P.S. If GDOS is ready, release it to the masses now!!
------------------------------
Date: 5 Nov 86 20:46:25 GMT
From: mnetor!utzoo!utcsri!uthub!utecfa!mugc@seismo.css.gov (ModemUserGroupChairman)
Subject: Question about Micro-Emacs 3.7i
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
[]
How does one replace a string with a null-string using
uEmacs 3.7i?
I do the following (which works but seems very indirect):
{ESC}R<string>{ESC}{CTRL-Q}{SP}{BSP}{ESC}
Is there a more direct way?
-anees
ps. Thanks to James and the other netters who have posted some
very high quality stuff.
--
Anees Munshi
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!utcsri!utecfa!mugc
------------------------------
Date: 3 Nov 86 17:10:57 GMT
From: i.cc.purdue.edu!afo@j.cc.purdue.edu (Alan Davis)
Subject: Re: Help with Desk Accessories: accessory loaders.
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
In article <448@atari.UUcp> dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) writes:
>> >....Is there some
>> >way of putting a *desk acc. loader* into my AUTO folder, which would
>> >load the accessories?
>>
>> I believe that I have a file that will do that. As soon as I verify
>> that the critter runs(I have never ran it before) I will post it.
>
>It seems unlikely that the critter will run, since the desktop
>and AES have not been initialized at the time \AUTO folder
>execution takes place. Doing an AES call from an AUTO program
>will likely result in a crash ->thud<- and an endless cycle of
>reboots. Life is like that sometimes.
>--
>
>-Landon Dyer, Atari Corp. {sun,lll-lcc,imagen}!atari!dyer
I have a desk accessory loader in my auto folder that works just
fine. If you would like a copy of it, send me a note and we'll
give it a whirl.
Alan Davis
Purdue University Computing Center
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
USENET: {seismo, decvax, ucbvax, ihnp4}!pur-ee!i.cc!afo
BITNET: ADAVIS@PURCCVM
Disclaimer: My boss has opinions too but I can't express them in public.
Therefore, I thought up my opinions all by myself.
------------------------------
Date: 4 Nov 86 22:20:30 GMT
From: ihnp4!ihuxi!store2@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Wilcox)
Subject: December 1986 ANTIC TOC for ST's
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
*****************[Ignore header path]*******************
Below is the portion of the table of contents of the December issue
of ANTIC magazine that I think will be of interest to ST owners.
The complete TOC is available in net.micro.atari8 if you are
interested. -Kit-
********************************************************
December 1986 ANTIC TOC
Theme: Annual Shoppers Guide
page article
6 I/O BOARD
Letters from Readers.
50 TWO NEW ATARI PRINTERS
A review of the Atari XMM801 and SMM804 printers for the
8-bit and ST computers.
***********BEGIN THE ST RESOURCE SECTION**********
72 BUILD GEM DIALOG BOXES
A tutorial on how to create and manipulate your own
dialog box.
89 DEDUCTION
A classy ST BASIC adaptation of the old game most
recently popularized as Master Mind. You must guess
a pattern of four colors chosen by the computers.
95 ST PRODUCT NEWS AND REVIEWS
Books
Atari ST BASIC Training Guide (Abacus)
Hardware
ESTE Clock Cartridge (BigFoot Systems)
Software
Action Pack (Action Software)
EZ-Track ST (Hybrid Arts)
New Products (description only)
Fast BASIC cartridge (Computer Concepts)
Star Raiders (Atari Corp)
Midiplay (Electronic Music Publishing House, Inc)
SYS/EX (Key Clique)
EZRAM 520 (Terrific Peripherals)
TechMate Chess (Szabo Software)
K-Resource (Kuma Software)
MT C-Shell (Beckmeyer Development Tools)
UCSD Pascal Power System (Pecan Software Systems, Inc)
Philon Fast/BASIC-M (Philon Inc)
***********END THE ST RESOURCE SECTION************
101 SOFTWARE LIBRARY
This section contains all the program listings for the
articles in this issue.
Coming next month: Atari talking typewriter for ST and 8-bit, door prize
selector, Math educational game with optional speech
modules, J.D.Casten's newest hit game and Super Star
Trek for the ST.
Comments: There has been some discussion on the net lately about using
the BSR X10 controller with the Atari. There is an ad in
ANTIC from Terrific Peripherals for this device. For $119.95
you get the X-10 Powerhouse controller, a special Atari
interface adapter (8-bit) and the Building Manager software disk.
ANTIC is running an 8-bit contest for practical programs.
First prize is a 1040ST with $500 worth of software from
Batteries Included. Computer Mail Order (CMO) has a nice
16 page spread with lots of specials.
Kit Kimes
AT&T-ISL
1100 E. Warrenville Rd.
Naperville, IL 60566
...!ihnp4!iwvae!kimes
------------------------------
Date: 6 Nov 86 01:04:43 GMT
From: ritcv!ref0070@rochester.arpa (Bob Fortin)
Subject: Documentation
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
How does the documentation from Megemax C compare to the Developers Kit.
Does it just explain the function calls, or is it more complete documentation.
ps. along the same line, what is the latest status of the ATARI Documentation
package.
Thanks,
Bob Fortin
------------------------------
Date: 6 Nov 86 03:32:08 GMT
From: rutgers!clyde!watmath!csc@titan.arc.nasa.gov (Computer Sci Club)
Subject: Printable Character Archiver
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
I (with some others) am in the process of building a printable character
archiver, called "earthpig" (it's an aarchiver, :-)). The following is an
example of the compression its printable character encoding algorithm gets.
The "test" file is /bin/vi. I have shown the compression ratios for
the various interesting files. A file ending in "pig" is an earthpig
encoded file. A file ending in "uue" is a uuencoded file. A file ending
in 'Z' is a "compress"ed file.
test 131338
test.Z 70103 (0.533 of test)
test.pig 143087 (1.090 of test)
test.uue 180979 (1.378 of test)
test.pig.Z 73175
test.uue.Z 94691
test.Z.pig 96698 (0.736 of test)
test.Z.uue 96611 (0.735 of test)
For compressed data, it does about as well as uuencode. For uncompressed
data it's quite a lot better. Small binaries (under 20K) shrink slightly.
C programs and text files shrink slightly or stay about the same.
Earthpig uses only the characters
+-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
@.,;:=?*"'/!()_%&
This character set should make it through almost anything unchanged. The
algorithm only uses table lookup: no bit masking or shifting.
When we finish the archiver we will post various versions of it to the
net.
What it does:
- can generate correction requests from errors
- can generate patches from correction requests
- CRC checking on two levels
- supports os independent hierchical file names
- high immunity to format changes and noise characters (space/control)
- close to 1:1 encoding on uncompressed data
The basic goal of earthpig is to provide a single tool that will allow
the transfer of arbitrary data and software around the network while
providing a very high level of confidence that the data arrived correctly.
Tracy Tims
mail to ihnp4!watmath!unit36!tracy
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