Flash@UMass.BITNET.UUCP (07/12/86)
(BTW, this is my second attempt to send this letter, first letter returned 28 times from 28 different places. All for the same reason, somewhere the name "info-atari16" in the TO line was changed to "10003info-atari16" or "1000311654".) Hello, Just got my copy of THUNDER from B.I. I am very impressived by this product, worth the money. So, run out and get it. On B.I.: I went this past tuesday to Boston University for a product demostration of the new B.I. ST products. The president of the company himself, Mr. Michael H. Reichmann was there to demo the products. Well, I must first of all thank him for doing such. He turned out to be a very courteous gentleman who knew what he was talking about. I am sorry I didn't take notes on it all, but this is what I can recall. He showed THUNDER, and HOMEPACK along with several others. First of all, they are very good programs. Homepack looks very good. Degas Elite he was not allowed to show by his lawyers, but he detailed it. It will allow up to four windows, 3d rotation of objects, clip_art (like a Mac!), and full color shading. Tom spent 8 months working on this baby. Anyways, he also showed I*S Talk. If you need a terminal for any use, get this. It is bug free, not like Flash, and it allows full cut & paste like Red_Rider on a Mac. VERY NICE, it also has a miny THUNDER built in. (BTW, Thunder is a 50,000 word spelling dictionary). He showed BTS spreadsheet (BTS = Between The Sheets). Looks very good, and some other stuff. I am very impressed with the overall quality of the graphics. Paperclip Elite is not finished, he revealed. They are waiting for Atari to ship them GDOS (Neill?). But as soon as they get it, it will go out. (Some time this fall). It is basically a 1st Word with GDOS (fonts and stuff like on a mac). It also allows to merge graphics from DEGAS and DEGAS ELITE (use clip_art to make logos!) It also has thunder built in. He also rumored that BI is planning a terminal program that will do multiple emulation. From VT220, Regis Graphics, to Techtronix 1040. Not much else. But he did talk about the BLITTER chip. Which should be out at the end of the summer. (Or so he claims Tramiel himself told him). From what I hear, it is a board that you will plug into the socket of the 68000 in the ST, it has the blitter chip on it. You then plug the 68000 into it) Sorry for those with a 520ST, only the 1040ST has a removable 68000 chip. Seems that with GDOS, the ST will become resolution independent, so Atari is rumored to be considering releasing a 1,024 x 1,024 resolution monitor. One source mentioned that it will also have 8 colors. I dunno. Well, that is all I can think of, I have other net mail to update. (Like Kinmail, heh) Flash%UMass.Bitnet ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1
zippy@percival.UUCP (Michael Zenner) (07/15/86)
In article <860712132429.00001299.AANZ.AA@UMass> Flash@UMass.BITNET (Rick Flashman) writes: > But he did talk about the BLITTER chip. Which should be >out at the end of the summer. (Or so he claims Tramiel himself told him). >From what I hear, it is a board that you will plug into the socket of >the 68000 in the ST, it has the blitter chip on it. You then plug the >68000 into it) Sorry for those with a 520ST, only the 1040ST has a >removable 68000 chip. > This is news to me, I recently cut the CPU from my 1040, then replaced it with a fresh 68000 (in a socket, of course)... I have never heard of an ST that came "Pre-Socketed", but it is quite a minor and inexpensive operation(<$10US), and requires only a minumum amount of skill... I would hate to see al those 520 owners left without such a great board over something so relatively minor as a non-socketed chip... -- Michael Zenner ...!tektronix!reed!percival!zippy
rb@cci632.UUCP (07/19/86)
In article <860712132429.00001299.AANZ.AA@UMass> Flash@UMass.BITNET (Rick Flashman) writes: >He also rumored that BI is planning a terminal program that will do >multiple emulation. From VT220, Regis Graphics, to Techtronix 1040. Would it be possible to "capture" the pictures on the ST in, say DEGAS format? Not essential, but boy would it be nice !!! >Not much else. But he did talk about the BLITTER chip. Which should be >out at the end of the summer. (Or so he claims Tramiel himself told him). >From what I hear, it is a board that you will plug into the socket of >the 68000 in the ST, it has the blitter chip on it. You then plug the >68000 into it) Sorry for those with a 520ST, only the 1040ST has a >removable 68000 chip. O.K. Neal, What's the story here. I knew that the early machines didn't socket the 68K, but what about the more recent releases/revisions of the 520? Has the RAM expansion header been added yet? >Seems that with GDOS, the ST will become resolution independent, so >Atari is rumored to be considering releasing a 1,024 x 1,024 resolution >monitor. One source mentioned that it will also have 8 colors. I dunno. I had guessed this could be done, is there a chance of getting/setting various high-res interlaced modes.