01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) (10/05/89)
Several netters asked me to clarify what Spectre GCR is compared with Spectre 128. The latter, which I have used for quite some time (prior to Spectre 128 I used Magic Sac), effectively turns the Atari ST into a Mac compatible computer. However, because the Mac has a completely different way of reading/writing disks, the ST cannot read Mac disks with Spectre 128. Spectre 128 uses Mac 128K ROMs, the same chips inside the Mac SE. Magic Sac uses the old 64K ROMs and lots of software released lately will not run with the 64K ROMs, thereby making Magic Sac somewhat of a dead-end product. Spectre GCR (GCR stands for Group Coded Recording, the way a Mac reads/ writes disks) lets the ST use Mac disks while in the Mac emulation mode. For example, to show some users that YES, Spectre GCR is for real and DOES WORK, we popped in a disk with the latest Mac users' newsletter on it and read it into MS Word 4.0 on an ST under Spectre GCR. There, before the eyes of even die-hard Mac users, was the latest Mac newsletter on an ST, in a Mac program read from a file on a Mac disk. I am very anxious to get a STACY, the ST laptop, and plug Spectre GCR into it. Today, on our site, we have a Mac laptop demo. Our special corporate pricing is supposed to be about $6000 CDN so I'm told. STACY + GCR, while lacking some of the great features of the Mac laptop (like its pixel mapped screen), will have a street value (not corporate price) of less than $3000 CDN and that includes a 20Mb hard disk. We might be able to get three STACY + GCR combos for the price of a single Mac laptop if corporate pricing is good. I was also asked about the LYNX (formerly the Atari Portable Colour Entertainment System or APCES). Latest word from Atari Canada is the end of this quarter (looks like they'll miss the all important Christmas market to Nintendo's Game Boy!) Finally, my Ditto II has still not made it through the mail or customs. Netters will have to wait a while for info on hands on experience from me.