humtech@ucschu.ucsc.edu (Mark Frost) (09/24/89)
Hi. I haven't heard anything about the Spectre GCR for a while. Isn't it supposed to be shipping now? Can I order one now even if they aren't shipping yet? Also, does it make any difference what version of TOS I'm running? If I get the GCR I don't think I'll bother getting TOS 1.4 (unless I really need it for some reason). And lastly... Could someone give me the address/phone number of Gadgets By Small? Thanx Mark Frost Office of the the Computing Coordinator Humanities Division University of California at Santa Cruz (408) 459-4603 Internet: humtech@ucschu.UCSC.EDU Bitnet: humtech@ucschu.bitnet Uucp: ...!ucbvax!ucscc!ucschu!humtech
covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) (09/26/89)
In article <9195@saturn.ucsc.edu>, humtech@ucschu.ucsc.edu (Mark Frost) writes: > Hi. I haven't heard anything about the Spectre GCR for a while. Isn't it > supposed to be shipping now? Can I order one now even if they aren't shipping > yet? > > Also, does it make any difference what version of TOS I'm running? If I get > the GCR I don't think I'll bother getting TOS 1.4 (unless I really need it > for some reason). > > And lastly... Could someone give me the address/phone number of Gadgets > By Small? > > Thanx > > Mark Frost I can't speak for GADGETS BY SMALL (Heck, since my past fued with Dave Small over the SLM804 printer driver, Dave won't even talk to me!!), but both Dave Small and Dan Moore (a GBS programmer) are both on USENET somewhere. GBS is in Littleton CO, so you can get their phone number from the 313 Telephone Operator. I can say that I have read messages on GEnie that the GCR is now shipping to people who pre-ordered it. And GBS is shipping to dealers soon. So, it appears that the GCR has left the Vaporware classification and is now in the Hardware classification!! I am sure, not 100%, but very sure anyway, that the GCR will work with TOS 1.4. I know that the GADGETS Roundtable on GEnie has a Topic discussing TOS 1.4 and the Spectre and the GCR. So, don't worry, be happy!! As far as not buying TOS1.4. That would be a big mistake. TOS 1.4 is wonderful all on its own!!! I have talked to plenty of folks who have TOS 1.4 and none would replace it with an earlier TOS now!!! SO, go for it!!
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (09/28/89)
Rich Covert> Spectre GCR was NEVER vaporware my friend. Just because
Spectre has been delayed it does not mean that it was
vaporware - some things do take time - like SLM804 support.
(and espedcially when only one person is working on the whole
shibang.)
Spectre GCR is shipping as of September 21 with pre-orders
going out first. New orders are backlogged until November.
Peter Szymonik
Xorg@cup.portal.comcovertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) (09/29/89)
In article <22585@cup.portal.com>, Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: > Rich Covert> Spectre GCR was NEVER vaporware my friend. Just because > Spectre has been delayed it does not mean that it was > vaporware - some things do take time - like SLM804 support. > (and espedcially when only one person is working on the whole > shibang.) > > Spectre GCR is shipping as of September 21 with pre-orders > going out first. New orders are backlogged until November. > > Peter Szymonik > Xorg@cup.portal.com I try to write a simple little note saying that I read on GEnie that the GCR is being shipped and I get flamed!! I did NOT say that the GCR was Vaporware. But, lets be fair about this. GCR was delayed, as you admit yourself. If it was a product of Atari, and not Gadgets By Small, wouldn't you classify it as VaporWare?? That's because Atari has promised many products (Vaporware) which have NEVER been marketed. But, GBS has produced every product that they have announced, hence it wouldn't be expected for the GCR to be Vaporware, even though it was months late. In fact, I was *TRYING*, in my own clumsy way, to help publicize the availablity of the GCR. Not all USENET readers have GEnie accounts. And GBS has an active GEnie RoundTable were the latest news can be read. So, calm down a little. I didn't mean to criticize GBS and/or the GCR. Boy, some people just have to jump all over me because of even an implied criticism of Dave Small. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T READ THE REST WARNING BAD THINGS SAID ABOUT GBS & OTHERS !!!! And I don't even want to get into the Spectre support of the SLM804. Please don't even mention SLM804 and Spectre 128 in the same article. That is one subject that is guaranteed to start a war!! Dave Small has provide a limited (144 dpi) printer driver for the SLM804, and has indicated that Spectre will not go 300 dpi. If you want better printouts with a SLM804 then you need to buy the $500 UltraScript package, and have a LARGE hard disk drive with 3 types of partitions. One native ST partition, one Mac HFS partition and one Mac MFS partition. And have plenty of time to transfer the PostScript files from Mac MFS and/or HFS partitions to native ST partitions, and thence to UltraScript. That is a very clumsy way to get 300 dpu print outs!! It would be much nicer to get 300 dpi directly from inside Spectre. Then, I wouldn't have to spend $500 for UltraScript just to get a decent printout of a Mac drawing!! But, if you want 300 dpi printouts on the SLM804 that is your only alternative. Correct me if I am wrong, but that is my understanding of Spectre support of the SLM804 laser printer. By the way, GBS isn't the only emulator to have troubles printing on the SLM804. Never pc speed and pc ditto II will print out on the SLM804. And both have promised SLM804 in the Next Release. sounds like GBS last year!! But this time I am not buying the emulator until I see the SLM804 printing under it!! I refuse to go through another year like the last one waiting for the promised support, and then being disappointed with each release. I bought my Spectre 128 in Sep 1988 and to this day I still can't print out at 300 dpi w/o being force to use UltraScript. So, pc speed and pc ditto II will not be sold to me until I see a working SLM804 printer driver!! On a side note, GBS being small doesn't excise them from not making schedules. I remember last year when Publishing Partner was released. Softlogic was also a very small company when they announced the PP upgrade called Page Stream. When PgS was a year late, being small didn't stop people from flaming Softlogik. Customers expect vendors to release a product when announced, and don't care about excuses like 'We are too small'. So, Softlogik was deservedly flamed. Softlogik would have been better off if they hadn't announced PgS until it was ready to ship. Even though that would have meant some lose of sales, it would have built a better reputation for the company. Avant-Garde is an example of a responsible company. A-G wanted like mad to release pc ditto II as soon as possible, but they didn't send out the upgrade coupons UNTIL pc ditto II was ready to ship. So, even though pc ditto II was months late, A-G didn't have a bunch of customers with $$ yelling at them. A-G didn't start accepting the upgrade coupons, with the $$, until A-G had pc ditto II. Softlogik, on the other hand, accepted upgrade $$ for PgS as much as a year before they shipped PgS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! END OF FLAMES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! P. S. Pete, I have given you all kinds of words in this message to twist into whatever kind of warped meaning that you want to make. I mean, if you could take one word (Vaporware) and twist it, then you should have a field day with this message!! Richard (Enjoy yourself Pete) Covert
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (10/02/89)
To paraphrase your own words (and the exact words can be found in your post) 'GCR has left the field of vaproware.' Explain to me why you labelled GCR vaproware when you yourself could keep tabs on its development and delays on nie? Could it possibly be that because you didn't get your SLM804 support from a one-man company and spend WEEKS harrassing Mr. Small on every Net you could find, you decide to give GCR a 'vaporware' label even though you knew when it was coming out? Give it a rest, I respect your knowledge, I don't respect your 'labeling'. Truth is that few computer products appear on time - if you really want to complain go to the Mac base and critize Apple for the laptop (brick) delay, no a one-man operation that has done a damn good job.
covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) (10/03/89)
In article <22699@cup.portal.com>, Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: > To paraphrase your own words (and the exact words can be found in your > post) 'GCR has left the field of vaproware.' Explain to me why you > labelled GCR vaproware when you yourself could keep tabs on its > development and delays on nie? Could it possibly be that because you > didn't get your SLM804 support from a one-man company and spend WEEKS > harrassing Mr. Small on every Net you could find, you decide to give > GCR a 'vaporware' label even though you knew when it was coming out? > Give it a rest, I respect your knowledge, I don't respect your 'labeling'. > Truth is that few computer products appear on time - if you really want to > complain go to the Mac base and critize Apple for the laptop (brick) delay, no > a one-man operation that has done a damn good job. Peter, I have said before that if Atari had announced a product, and it was months before it was available EVERYONE would be screaming VAPORWARE VAPORWARE. But, because it is Dave Small, and the product is GCR, which was announced early last Spring, and only now is becoming available, we can't classify it as VAPORWARE. Well, it isn't VAPORWARE now, if it ever was VAPORWARE. The GCR is shipping, from what I read on GEnie. So, what is your big complaint?? Just that I used a NEGATIVE word in regards to GBS?? Grow up!! As far as the SLM804 is concerned, Dave Small has said that the 144 dpi ImageWriter emulator for the SLM804 is the best he can do. So, until and unless Dave Small makes a public statement promising a higher res (like 300 dpi) I won't comment on it again. I just wish that Dave Small would not make public statements about 300 dpi printing on the SLM804 unless he can back it up with a real product. And another thing, GBS is NOT a one man company. There is Dave Small, Sandy Small (oh I know a *WOMAN* doesn't count right?? sheesh!!), Dan Moore (ok, only part time), and Doug Wheeler. so, that is 3.5 PEOPLE that I know about. Still a little company, but not a one man operation. As far as harassing Dave Small, you should have seen some of his comments to ME. At least I have NEVER cussed at Dave Small. GBS runs a GEnie RoundTable (similiar to a newsgroup), and last may Dave left some really nasty messages (in a public topic for all to read) to me. And when I questioned the the RT Coordinator I was told that since GBS owns the RT Contract with Genie, Dave could post any message that he wants, without recourse from GEnie. So, Dave has attacked me as much as I have him. I think that we are basically even on that score. Except for the little fact that I am a GBS customer, and cussing at a customer in a public forum is not nice. I think that Dave Small has done a wonderful job with Spectre and now with GCR. I still hope that someday Dave Small will figure out how to do 300 dpi printing on the SLM804. Richard Covert
Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (10/05/89)
In the discussion about the Spectre GCR, Richard Covert says: >As far as harassing Dave Small, you should have seen some of his comments >to ME. At least I have NEVER cussed at Dave Small. GBS runs a GEnie >RoundTable (similiar to a newsgroup), and last may Dave left some really >nasty messages (in a public topic for all to read) to me. And when I >questioned the the RT Coordinator I was told that since GBS owns the RT >Contract with Genie, Dave could post any message that he wants, without >recourse from GEnie. Unfortunately GEnie was lying to you... As the "owner of an RT Contract with GEnie", I posted an extremly innocuous message replying to a user, telling them that I did not support contests which generated "junk" uploads. The General Manager of GEnie personally *ordered* me to delete my message, telling me "this was no way to answer a customer's question". It turns out the contest was involved in an RT which was one of his "pet" projects, and he wasn't above violating contracts to see that it succeeded. This man has probably the lowest standard of ethics of anyone I've ever had the misfortune to do business with, and his word is that of God on GEnie. If he cared to tell GBS to grovel in the mud, or bend over in the shower, GBS would do it, or be locked out of GEnie before you could blink, regardless of what their "contract" might say. So don't believe everything GEnie Customer Service may tell you. They want to keep their jobs too... BobR
covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) (10/06/89)
In article <22797@cup.portal.com>, Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: > In the discussion about the Spectre GCR, Richard Covert says: > > >As far as harassing Dave Small, you should have seen some of his comments > >to ME. At least I have NEVER cussed at Dave Small. GBS runs a GEnie > >RoundTable (similiar to a newsgroup), and last may Dave left some really > >nasty messages (in a public topic for all to read) to me. And when I > >questioned the the RT Coordinator I was told that since GBS owns the RT > >Contract with Genie, Dave could post any message that he wants, without > >recourse from GEnie. > > Unfortunately GEnie was lying to you... As the "owner of an RT Contract > with GEnie", I posted an extremly innocuous message replying to a user, > telling them that I did not support contests which generated "junk" uploads. > > The General Manager of GEnie personally *ordered* me to delete my message, > telling me "this was no way to answer a customer's question". > > It turns out the contest was involved in an RT which was one of his "pet" > projects, and he wasn't above violating contracts to see that it succeeded. > > This man has probably the lowest standard of ethics of anyone I've ever > had the misfortune to do business with, and his word is that of God on > GEnie. If he cared to tell GBS to grovel in the mud, or bend over in the > shower, GBS would do it, or be locked out of GEnie before you could blink, > regardless of what their "contract" might say. > So don't believe everything GEnie Customer Service may tell you. They want > to keep their jobs too... > > BobR W Well, what happened to me was that I got into a heated argument with David Small (owner of the GBS RT on GEnie) about his lack of support for the Atari SLM804 laser printer. I was particularly concerned because of an article that David Small wrote which appeared in the May 1989 issue of the USA ST paper-magazine ST WORLD. In that article David stated that he had 300 dpi printing on the SLM804. When I asked Dave about this, in a specific topic in a specific category in the GBS RT on GEnie, I was royally flamed!! Really flamblaed!! So, Dave and I got into a shouting match which ended when he started cussing at me. I then asked the GBS RT Coordiator about Dave leaving me such nasty messages in a public forum, and I was told that since Dave owns the contract to the GBS RT he can leave whatever messages he wants, without recourse from GEnie. Needless to say I stopped leaving messages in the GBS RT after that!!! Talk about Freedom Of Speech!! I guess it onlys works one way on GEnie!! Anyway, I want to make my peace with Dave Small. He has provided a 144 dpi ImageWriter emulator for the SLM804, so now I can get draft quality printouts on my SLM804. If I ever get the GCR I can take my Spectre floppies to work and use the Mac LaserWriters there I guess. So, while I really would like to see 300 dpi on my SLM804, I can live with what Dave has provided so far. And finally, I have NEVER criticized the Spectre or the GCR except for the lack of support of the SLM804. Otherwise, they are both fine products. Just be warned if you own the Atari SLM804 laser printer!! Richard (Proud SLM804 owner for 20 months!!) Covert