01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) (01/05/90)
Well, I finally received a 1040STE; two months later than promised but it did come in. While I have only had a few hours experience with this computer, I have some comments and questions. 1. Why can't Atari develop some marketing skills? The STE with purported enhanced graphics does not come with a demo program that illustrates those features. Geez guys, supply a demo graphics/stereo sound program to show off the STE's capabilities. The system came with an ORIGINAL 1040ST manual and an addendum sheet - nice touch for a new flagship for the new Atari Corp! 2. When a Save Desktop is executed in med. res. on a 1040ST and the system is booted, the system comes up to a med. res. desktop. Could not get this to happen on the STE. Why not? This system woud only boot to low res. No mention of this in the addendum sheet. 3. As far as I can see, no hardware clock. Unbelievable! 4. On the plus side, yes Virginia there is a Blitter! The following codes worked: PC Ditto (version 3) *** this is not PC Ditto II *** Art_ST version 2.3 (a PD version of Degas) LDW HiSoft Basic UNITERM SuperBase Pro version 3 WordPlus 3.14 Bently Bear Magical Math I The following would not even load in (note, my auto folder was bare and not .ACC were active for these tests): NeoDesk 2.05 Drafix Word Perfect (1987 version) Bently Bear Memory Master Speller Bee The following would not run from my auto folder (activated after the tests on the software listed above): Pinhead UIS II Headstart Just as an aside. A local user wants to attach an Atari 64K to his SC1224 monitor. Is there a cable available to do this?
daniel@pkmab.se (Daniel Deimert) (01/12/90)
In article <9001060801.AA03913@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes: >The following would not run from my auto folder (activated after the >tests on the software listed above): > >Pinhead >UIS II >Headstart I can not comment on Pinhead and Headstart, but the UIS II can easily be patched to work on the new TOS ROMS since the problem [bombs] are caused by direct jumps to the ROM. As illegal as before, but it works. (I have a working version myself.) If you like, I can try to patch Pinhead/Headstart as well. Send me an e-mail. -- Daniel Deimert, Fridstavagen 4, S-715 94 Odensbacken, SWEDEN Internet: daniel@pkmab.se UUCP: ...{uunet,mcvax}!sunic.sunet.se!kullmar!pkmab!daniel
grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas) (01/15/90)
From article <2573@pkmab.se>, by daniel@pkmab.se (Daniel Deimert): > In article <9001060801.AA03913@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes: >>The following would not run from my auto folder (activated after the >>tests on the software listed above): >> >>Pinhead >>UIS II >>Headstart > Apologies if I'm the 1000th person to point this out (we're a bit peripheral with our news feed), but I thought that TOS 1.4+ did away with the need for both Pinhead and Headstart. Pinhead bypasses the bit-clearing routines used by TOS 1.2- when loading programs, and from the reviews I've seen TOS 1.4 doesn't do bit-clearing (or at least gives you the option). Headstart auto-loads a GEM program, which TOS 1.4 also allows you to do. I guess that Headstart does have the additional feature of letting you choose from a list of programs to auto-run, so there is probably some point in adapting it to the new TOS versions. I doubt that this has escaped the notice of Charles Johnson, and I'm confident that if it can be done it will be, in the not too distant future. (As you might have guessed, I'm a CodeHead/Little Green Footballs fan) By the way, as of last week, Atari UK were still saying they don't have any TOS 1.4 ROMs to distribute, though some are apparently on order. I guess it makes sense for them not to bother. They see the ST range as basically just for games, and market it accordingly. Games players probably don't need TOS 1.4 (in fact, there's been a lot of fuss over here about how the STE & TOS 1.6 are breaking lots of games). The only trouble with this strategy is that the Amiga is - let's be honest - a better games machine and is accordingly now outselling the ST in the UK. The ST's advantages in programming, word processing, DTP, hardly show, given that most places that sell the ST here stock very few non-games applications & utilities. Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK JANET: grahamt@uk.ac.sussex.syma EARN/BITNET: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk ARPA: grahamt%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk UUCP: grahamt@syma.uucp Phone: +44 273 686758