William.Blair@metnet.FIDONET.ORG (William Blair) (09/04/89)
Did Atari hand out any data sheets on the STe during the show? If so, could someone please provide an english translation. We are desparate for information over here. For instance, does the STe support more simultaneous colors per screen than the current ST (without software tricks like those used in the program Spectrum)? -- William Blair - via FidoNet node 1:147/10 UUCP: ...!att!occrsh!uokmax!metnet!William.Blair INTERNET: William.Blair@metnet.FIDONET.ORG
stefan@spcc386.UUCP (Stefan Posthuma) (09/08/89)
William Blair writes: >Did Atari hand out any data sheets on the STe during the show? If so, >could someone please provide an english translation. We are desparate >for information over here. For instance, does the STe support more >simultaneous colors per screen than the current ST (without software >tricks like those used in the program Spectrum)? I have been to Dusseldorf and picked up one of those sheets. I don't have it here, but this is what I know for sure: The color palette has been increased to 4096, but UNFORTUNATELY, you are still restricted to 16 colors at the same time. The machine has a standard 68000, a blitter, 4 channel digi-synth music, 6 joystick ports, a mouse, hardware smooth scrolling and 1Mb of memory. I think only those who work with graphics, music or games will find the machine more attractive. Personally, I think it is very interesting for computer games because of the bigger palette, the scrolling, the blitter, the music and the six (!) joysticks, but that's as far as it goes. Talking about hardware scrolling, the latest trick amongst the ST wizards is something called 'sync scrolling' which comes down to hardware scrolling. It is terribly difficult to achieve, but I have seen it working and it is truly amazing. The Carebears from Sweden use it in their latest demo (The Cuddly Demos) and Thalion Software from Germany is planning to use it in a new game. I know roughly how it works and it is based on fooling the MMU and the Shifter by changing sync frequency bewteen 70-60-50 Hz on crucial points of the screen. In this way, you can set the screen address byte-wyse and shift the screen left and right pixel wise. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh my God, it is the attack of the Half-Crazed Mutant Teenage Alien Computer Junkies!!" +------------------------------------ "Relax! It are just some SPCC employees" | uunet!mcvax!spcc386!stefan
david.schreiber@canremote.uucp (DAVID SCHREIBER) (02/03/90)
We have STE's in the dealer's stores in Toronto. Is Atari neglecting the North American market? Absolutely. Has done for years. --- ~ QNet 2.03: NorthAmeriNet: System EX-10 Canada * (416) 275-4248 *
derek.linfield@canremote.uucp (DEREK LINFIELD) (02/13/90)
I was considering selling my old 520ST and buy the new STe since I thought I could upgrade to 4 meg cheeply. However, today I was told by a dealer that the STe doesn't use industry standard SIMM chips but rather somthing else (he said SIPP). And these new chips aren't even available yet. Is this true? Will they be more expensive than SIMM chips? / --- ~ Via ProDoor 3.2aR ~ QNet 2.03: The Crystal Palace * NorthAmeriNet * Toronto (416) 925-5742 *
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) (02/17/90)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: OK, so they sell the STe in Europe... Summary: Expires: References: <9002020807.AA08400@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <4876ef20.14a1f@force.UUCP> <1990Feb13.115340.5645@bath.ac.uk> <2427@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Sender: Reply-To: ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Keywords: In article <2427@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) writes: >exspes@bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) writes: > >>There is ONE good reason for selling to Europe first. In general, FCC type >>approval is harder to get than the corresponding approvals in Europe. So, >this? Second, the US appears to us as a PC-sick country. Users don't >seem ready to change over to 68000 computers (except, of course, the >Mac). Third, after five years of software and hardware development >for the ST, the European market has proven to be more flexible and >powerful than the US market; European applications set the pace for >ST software development. Many good reasons for ATARI to favor Europe. > >Claus Brod I had two students back to back yesterday who own a MacII and a MacPlus. I demonstrated how fast NeoDesk is ... had a file sitting on the desktop.. clicked on it and blitted it to the screen in about the time it took my finger to leave the mouse. Then i took them into Tempus II and their eyes were bugging out. Both agreed that what they saw was faster than what they get on their macs.. then i booted into GCR and wowed them with the "welcome to macintosh" thing.. they had a hard time pronouncing "atari" .. who's fault is this? i am quite certain that these same individuals who spent well into the thousands on their systems might have considered the ST had they even known about them... i don't think the US citizen inherently is not as CAPABLE of appreciating the ST... after all.. people around the world are generally rather similar. Europe is already convinced by ATARI.. it is certainly time for ATARI to expand its market by making an effort to convince the US consumer. The off the street cost of an ST is still below the cost of an educational discounted mac. Has anyone ever seen an ST on a school listing for computers available for educational discount? I don't think we can even compare market repsonses until Atari even commences to announce their products in the US... -kevin ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
srs@oasis.icl.stc.co.uk (Steve Strong) (07/20/90)
Hi there, Got two questions I'd like to ask all you out there: 1. If I have an STe with 2 1meg SIMMS and 2 1/4meg SIMMS, I can boot up with some software to get 2.5 meg, right? Now what would happen if I booted without the software? Would I get 0.5meg, 2meg, or would it crash? 2. A friend of mine just bought Lattice C V5, and somewhere in one of the manuals it says something about HiSoft releasing a front end C++ translator. Does anyone know if this is still true, and if so when will it be released and how much will it cost? Reply by mail please, the news is a bit slow getting here, I'll sumarise to the net if I get enough response. Steve - srs@icl.stc.co.uk
ekrimen@wet.UUCP (Ed Krimen) (08/01/90)
Well, I bought my STe yesterday. :^))
For those interested, these are brief thoughts (I'm a very simple
thinker :^) on my first hours with my STe. Actually, I have a lot of
questions. So, on with the show!
The whole purchase was kinda anti-climatic 'cause I was concerned
that it might not work with my ICD hard drive, fitted with ICDBOOT
version 4.8.2. But,...
I'm glad it works! So far, at least. To those who know a little
more about problems with the STe and hard drives, how long will it
take for the bad signs to show, if they do? Or should they show
right away? Before I sold my old 1040, I backed everything up, just
to be on the safe side when I got the STe. When I attached the hard
drive to the STe, I copied a full floppy of stuff to my hard drive to
check for the write-error; y' know, the one where the STe may drop two
bytes of everything. Everything was okay. Then I formatted the hard
drive and copied everything again, and it was okay. I've even tried
formatting a disk in drive A: and it worked okay (BTW, what was
supposed to happen if it didn't?). I've heard stories about not
being able to format a disk in drive A: with the hard drive connected.
My second observation is that the screen isn't as bright as when it
was attached to my other 1040. No, it's not because the screen
brightness control on my monitor is changed, but the default white
is a lot less bright. When the computer is first switched on, the
screen is white like the other one for less than a second, but then
lowers in intensity and remains that way. Are others like this, or is
it just mine?
Next, I get an awkward display when I hold down the reset button on
the back. The other 1040 just went white when I would hold the
button down. The STe produces a scrolling set of lines that looks
like radio interference. I know, you just have to press and release
the button to reset it, but I thought this was sort of strange.
Again, are others like this, or just mine? Yeah, yeah, I know that
all Atari computers of the same model aren't produced identically :^),
but I'm still curious if you think mine's acting weirdly.
This scared me: when I tried to install NeoDesk for the first time
from the "Install Application" selection from the desktop, I didn't
get the |Install| button. I got |Remove| and |Cancel|, but no
|Install|. I did something later, and I got it to work. Maybe I had
an 'old' DESKTOP.INF file in my root directory, and that had
something to do with it.
On a related note, during the first couple of hours of getting my STe
home, I double-clicked on a program named CONV.TTP, and received a
Show, Print, Cancel dialog box. Maybe I had an old DESKTOP.INF file
and this was bothering it. I remember Darek Mihocka mentioning this
in his reviews of the STe. I haven't seen the problem since that
first occurrence.
Next, aren't TOSs later than 1.4 (or is it 1.2?), supposed to turn
off the floppy light automatically after the hard drive boots? Mine
doesn't.
Yeah, I know this is a lot of questions, but I thought it might add
some much-needed discussion in the ST arena. "Who made me
moderator?", you say? It's a good thing I don't write reviews for
magazines. :^) BTW, this is being posted to comp.sys.atari.st and
Fidonet's Atari ST echo. Users on both nets have the pleasure of
enjoying this twice! OH BOY! ;^) And, for those who have had the
STe's for quite a while, I'm sorry you have to wade through this.
I've been trying to keep up with the info, but still have some more
questions. I appreciate your help.
On a positive note, this STe is great. It's quick! File writes,
screen draws, everything. It's one nice machine. Wouldn't trade it
for anything! If you can upgrade, do it.
(The following is just my opinion. Any similarity to the truth is
coincidental. I hope flames get lost in the mail.)
Macs are not worth the money.
MS-DOS should be featured on the HA! Channel.
And, Amigas, well, multitasking IS nice -- but that's about it. My
multitasking will be limited to Mystic and STalker until GEM and TOS
multitasking comes out for the ST.glens@natinst.com (Glen Sescila) (02/21/91)
Does the STe allow more colors on the screen at one time or does it just have a larger pallette? Thanks in advance.
drp9500@isc.rit.edu (D.R. Paradis ) (02/22/91)
In article <19837@natinst.natinst.com> glens@natinst.com (Glen Sescila) writes: > > Does the STe allow more colors on the screen at one time or does >it just have a larger pallette? > > Thanks in advance. Sorry...just a pallette increase.... but even Atari seems to be violating the 16 colour limit in low rez. Check out the Jungle demo from Atari France, full 4096 pallette is used as the sky...impressive! -- | "Trust, faith, understanding, reasonableness,& respect have been more| | effective in tearing down a concrete wall than the barbed wire, | | machine gun nest, bureaucracy, and mines were at keeping it up." | | Just imagine what it could do to this bathroom. |
Shervin.Shahrebani.Of.250/744@p0.f744.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Shervin Shahrebani Of 250/744) (02/28/91)
No, the 520 STE is only sold in Europe and comes with 512k of meagre memory. I don't like 512k. I think that now with the amazing prices 1040STE's are going for, you should get yourself a 1040STE with 1 meg of RAM. The problems with the HD's have been corrected and any STE you buy now you should check that it has TOS 1.62 rather than the older TOS 1.6 Most STE's now will have that, but check the Desk (info) just in case. I can get a 1040STE for $500 Canadian, and maybe less if I really push! I think you should also consider the Mega STE 1 which will come out soon. It will go for $1000 Canadian. The 2/4 meg version with a 50 Mb hard disk is available now, but you are better off getting the 1 meg version with the optional hard disk. That way you can get yourself a cheaper hard disk later on. S.S.