oaa@houxl.UUCP (O.ALEXANDER) (06/24/86)
Here is a copy of a C.E.S. (Consumer Electronics Show) report from the
show in early June that I got from a local BBS in N.J. I don't know if
it's the same as what Antic normally reports or if it originated from
Compu-serve, but I guess it's better than nothing.
It contains information relevant to 8-bit and 16-bit Atari computers,
so no flames please for cross-posting.
Owen Alexander @ houxl!oaa
>>THE CHICAGO CES REPORT<<
----------------------
PART I
Atari's exhibit space at the Chicago Consumer Electronics show is the
largest seen since the Tramiels took over the company. Walls of
monitors displaying Atari software, ranging from ST computers to 2600
game machines, surrounded some 35 third-party developers showing off
both 8-bit and ST software.
CES breezed into the Windy City Sunday, opening to brisk crowds. While
Chicago natives soaked up the first of the season's hot, humid sunshine,
electronics mavens crowded inside the huge McCormick Show Halls off Lake
Michigan and ogled the techno-wonders.
As an added bit of Atari nostalgia, a central room contained such coin-
operated Atari arcade games, as Asteroids, Dig Dug and Jungle King. Two
special display areas were reserved for MIDI and digitizing software.
In the MIDI booth, Hybrid Arts showed its many sophisticated products
for ST and 8-bit. Activision demonstrated The Music Studio, also
available on both ST and 8-bit. The digitizing booth displayed
Computereyes for the 8-bit and HippoVision for the ST.
BATTERIES INCLUDED GOES PUBLIC
Michael Reichman, president of the successful Canadian software firm
Batteries Included, announced a merger with ITM Corp. This means
Batteries Included stock may be publicly traded on the Canadian Stock
exchange.
Reichman also said that Russ Wetmore, author of HomePak, has accepted a
position with Apple Computers in Cupertino, CA. Whatever he is doing is
evidently very hush-hush as Russ said only that he was working in
"advanced research production" and would say no more. Reichman awarded
Wetmore a plaque for outstanding achievement in world-wide sales for his
HomePak software. Ian Chadwick accepted the award in Wetmore's absence.
THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS
Judging from this show, the Atari software business seems very active--
certainly more so than in recent shows. Several companies with Atari
booths had their own booths elsewhere on the floor.
Artworx showed its bridge programs for both 8-bit and ST, and
Hole-in-One Golf for the ST. They also have a new 8-bit program called
Peggammon.
Omnitrend -- Universe II for the ST.
Migraph -- EasyDraw.
Zobian Controls -- The Rat, a mouse for 8-bit Atari computers.
First Star Software -- The company that made Spy Vs. Spy and Boulder
Dash for the 8-bits is coming out with Comic Strip Maker, a graphics
program for the ST.
Activision -- Paintworks, which is their new name for the N-Vision
graphic art program created by Audio Light, Inc.
Michtron -- A whole slew of products for the ST, including the Time
Bandits game and the SideKick-type CornerMan utility.
Classic Image -- Disk Library and a game called Diablo.
Epyx -- Winter Games and Temple of Aphshai Trilogy on the ST.
MicroProse -- ST version of Silent Service.
Sierra On-Line -- Several animated adventure games. The most recent is
Black Cauldron.
Softworks -- BASIC compiler for the ST.
Avila Associates -- Make it Move, an ST graphics animation program, and
a gambling tutorial currently called Casino Craps.
Softsync -- Personal Accountant, an 8-bit financial program.
Blue Moon Software -- A collection of GEM Desk Accessories including
MacroDesk, MacroMath and MacroManager.
Academy Software -- Typing Tutor and Word Invaders for both 8 and 16-bit
Ataris
Spinnaker -- Displaying an extensive line of 8 and 16-bit educational
and adventure game products.
American Educational -- A series of educational software for 8-bit
Ataris.
OSS -- 8-bit and 16-bit programmer's tools.
ICD -- 8-bit hardware and software.
XLent -- Displayed the entire line of products, including many
printer/graphics packages available for both 8- and 16-bit machines.
Haba Arrays -- Get Rich, a financial planning package for 8-bit
machines.
FTL -- The creators of Sundog for the ST, are also showing Micro
Cookbook and Dungeon Master Adventure.
Britannica Learning -- A series of educational programs for the 8-bit
Ataris.
Batteries Included -- A new version of PaperClip for the 8-bit with
Spellpack. Thunder, a real-time spelling checker.
Electronic Arts had two Atari booths. One to show off their long line
of 8-bit game products and the other to display Financial Cookbook for
the ST. According to an EA spokesperson, such EA hits as Golden Oldies
will be adapted to the ST, and they are not currently planing to adapt
Marble Madness to the 16-bit Atari computer.
Covox -- Voice Master, Atari 8-bit voice digitizer and voice recognition
software.
SSI -- Booths for both lines of Atari computers and displayed many of
its very successful strategic games.
Quickview -- Software author Paul Heckel showed his Zoomracks ST
database program.
NEW ST MAGAZINE GETS A START
Antic Publishing unveiled its new ST quarterly, START, a combination
magazine and disk. Instead of type-in listings, all program listings
are on the disk, which is bound into the magazine in a tear-proof
envelope.
START is targeted at the experienced ST computer owner. The first issue
features a MIDI Sequencer, which records and stores synthesizer song
files on disk.
Tom Hudson has written a desk accessory which will store any DEGAS
printer driver in RAM, then capture the [ALTERNATE]-[HELP] key
combination for a successful screen dump.
Tim Oren reveals the secrets of GDOS and Metafiles. A thorough
comparison of available ST Assemblers is contributed by Chris Chabris.
And David Small explains why he distrusts computers in "Voodoo
Computing."
By the way, I am writing this upstairs, right outside the Commodore
booths, the only place in the hall where it's quiet enough to talk or
concentrate!!
PART II
Atari's John Skruch, Manager of XE Software Products, showed us the XEP
80 -- the long-awaited 80-column adapter for the Atari 800, XL/XE
computers. The adapter is "new-Atari" gray-colored and just slightly
smaller than the old Atari 850 interface. As Skruch said temptingly,
"It has the same 'footprint' as the 8-bit 3.5-inch drives." Reliable
sources within the company report that the drives will have a capacity
of 325K, formatted, and the Disk Operating System will be compatible
with DOS 2.5. The XEP 80 has a standard Centronics parallel printer
port in the back, an RCA monitor input, an I/O cord that plugs into
either joystick port and an input for its external power supply (which
is about the same size as most modem power supplies). The card was
demonstrated on a standard green monochrome monitor and the letters
looked as crisp and clean as an IBM PC screen display. Atari claims the
adapter will also work with a color monitor, but not satisfactorily with
a television set. Built-in software supports the entire Atari internal
character set, including special graphics characters, plus the Atari
international set and an expanded international set contained in the ROM
of the XEP 80's controller chip. The card supports any call which works
with the E: device and has such special effects as black on white or
white on black, double-width or double-height characters, and blinking
or solid cursor and characters. Skruch said there was a special "burst"
mode which printed text to the screen "four times faster" than normal.
Although cartridges such as BASIC XE, from OSS, work with the new
adapter, most software will have to be specially adapted for it. Also,
programs that use bit graphics will have to try something else, since
the usual bit graphics screen fills only half the 80-column screen. The
XEP-80 is expected to reach dealers in late fall with a price tag just
under $80.
ATARI PRINTERS
Ever since Atari displayed the first ST a year ago, it has been showing
printers. Only now are the dot-matrix graphics peripherals being
shipped, at a price of $219.95. The XMM 804 for the ST and XMM 801 XE
printer are essentially the same. The 801 is compatible with the Epson
medium-resolution graphics mode and contains a built-in interface for
the 8-bit machines. The 804 supports up to 1,280 dots per inch and uses
a standard centronics cable to link it with the ST. Though both
machines were designed to be as compatible as possible with Epson
printers, they are also fully compatible with the earlier Atari 825
printer and are designed primarily as a new, improved printer for those
who previously owned the 825.
ICD SUPPORTS THE 8-BITS
While many companies have jumped on the ST bandwagon, ICD has been
quietly churning out important hardware items for the 8-bits, including
a straight- connect modem cable for $14.95, a low-cost printer
connection for $59.95, and The P:R: Connection, a replacement for the
Atari 850 modem interface. The P:R: Connection ($89.95) is a small box
with one printer port and two modem ports. It gets its power from the
computer and works on any Atari 8-bit machine.
RATS, AN 8-BIT MOUSE
Matthew Zobian, of Zobian Software, showed us his baby "the Rat", a
mouse for the 8-bit Ataris. Zobian feels the mouse is the "wave of the
future" in computers and, because the Atari 8-bit is such an excellent
graphics machine, it seems perfect for mice-- or rats. The Rat comes
with its own software, including a graphics program and a cursor control
routine. But Zobian realizes he must court other software developers to
make a success of his interface. Accordingly, he told us that MTS is
developing mouse-compatible Big Picture and Artist Unleashed -- both
graphics packages. RAMbrandt, another paint program, and a business
management package by Reeves Software are also being adapted to The Rat.
The single-button Rat is an analog mouse which plugs into the joystick.
Zobian claims that it is very easy to program. Without accompanying
software, the Rat sells for $89.95.
ANIMATED GRAPHICS FOR ST
Avila Associates, a new company, displayed two new products for the ST
at the Atari exhibit area: Make it Move, a graphics presentation utility
featuring animation, and Casino Craps, a gambling tutorial. Both are
expected in July. Make it Move lets you grab portions of your DEGAS or
NEOchrome pictures and program them into an animated presentation. When
we saw it, the program was in the alpha state. Essentially, you can
perform functions similar to movie editing techniques, such as wipes,
dissolves, fades, cuts and zooms. A single object, grabbed from a
screen picture, may be programmed to move along a given path. The same
object may also be animated while moving on that path. Rene De La
Brandeis, designer of the program, grabbed a section of a NEOchrome
picture and saved it in a special compressed format. He then pulled it
up with the Zoom utility, set its beginning and ending coordinates and
ran it. The object appeared from the beginning coordinates and smoothly
grew to full size while following a curved path to the end coordinates.
It looked good!
Casino Craps displays a very detailed, and accurate, craps board
designed to teach the user to play craps at Harrah's casino in Las
Vegas. De La Brandeis is currently trying to get Harrah's name on the
product. He hopes they'll want to use it to encourage people to learn
the game. These days, the only craps players are World War II vets,
according to Harrah's. Harrah's, naturally wants to change this, and De
La Brandeis hopes they'll use his game to this end. "It's a lot cheaper
way to learn craps," he said.