UACE0@UHUPVM1.BITNET (05/11/87)
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Date: Sun, 10 May 87 14:17:56 CDT
From: "University (of Houston) ACE (UACE)" <UACE0@UHUPVM1>
Subject: Dallas Atarifest (warning: LONG)
To: ST Users <INFO-ATARI16@score.stanford.EDU>
Well, I just got back from the AtariFest (actually last night) and I must say
that I was impressed by some sights. So, here is a *BRIEF* account of some
of the STuff.
The biggest display at the AtariFest, besides Atari themselves, was the Hybrid
Arts booths. They had 8 STs coupled via the MIDI and each was playing the
MIDI Maze game, which allows up to 16 different STs to play against each other
in a 'maze war' where the object is to 'Kill A Happy Face!' I was particularly
impressed by the synthesizers, video players, CD players, etc. that was being
used in conjunction with the ST. Unfortunately, the representative of the
company had wiped out his hard disk early in the week in Austin, and the demo
was not as effective or complete as it could have been. Non-the-less, the
MIDI software they had was excellent, and I believe this company is definitely
the ultimate source of MIDI knowledge. I had not taken MIDI too seriously up
till then, but I could see that they sure did!
Other companies present were Beckemeyer, Megamax, ICD (8-bit), Astra Systems,
Sub-logic, Word Perfect, Analog and Antic, plus others.
Beckmeyer had some very interesting STuff promised, a UNIX OS, I believe.
Megamax said that Version 2.0 would ship in 6 weeks - 2 months (sure, sure).
ICD had some 8-bit upgrade stuff.
Astra Systems was showing off their 20 meg disk drive with built in DS floppy.
This set up retails for about $999, but can be found for less. The drive
really impressed me. It was running since the show started Friday, and was not
warm at all, but just room temperature. Also, they were taking the drive and
while the demo was running, held the drive sideways, upside down, every way
it could go, with no problems (don't try that with your drive!). In fact, the
demo was moving so fast (and was composed of several hundred pictuires run
together to produce animation) that I thought it was running from a ramdisk,
not from the drive. A friend commented that the light on the front of the
drive never turned off, so was probably rigged and running from the ramdisk.
I asked for them to disconnect the drive from the ST, and sure enough, the
light went out, and the demo stopped. So.... Although the price seems steep,
I have to give this drive a four star rating (at least for the demo). They
are very proud of their drives, and even stated that the Moody Blues, Pointer
Sisters, and other big bands buy their drive for use with the ST and Hybrid
Arts software. Clearly two companies made for each other...
Sub-logic was showing flight simulator, and had some brochures. ho-hum.
Word Perfect was busy showing off their word processor Word Perfect. I got
a complete demo of the product (which wasn't even a beta version, 'It was
thrown together for the show.') I played around with it myself, and I
can honestly say that it beats anything available in the states right now.
However, there were some annoyances in the program which I didn't care for.
The program (being a port from the MS-DOS world) is basically designed to be
used from the keyboard, and is indeed strongest if used in this way. The
mouse response, on the other hand, was slow and awkward feeling. I didn't
care for the slow response. Nice points: you can hit 'Y', 'N', or 'C' keys
for dialog boxes requiring yes, no or cancel responses. Plus, all options
are reachable thru keyboard input, not just mouse. This is nice, but seems
to defeat the purpose of the mouse, but does allow maximum flexibility. All in
all, this should be the word processor to get for some time to come.
Analog was there with their magazine, and Lee Pappas (publisher/editor) was
present, manning the booth.
Antic had a lot of their software, and their 3-d glasses. The glasses are neat
to try on, but I question their use. This is a wait and see product.
ATARI - A little about the show, then 'Where we are going.'
The greatest thrill of the Atari display was the presence of Dave Staugas, the
author of NEOchrome. Dave is a truly pleasent and cordial fellow, who really
seemed to enjoy being at the show. He was showing off the one machine that
had the blitter (IT IS FAST!!!). We even got a look inside the 1040ST which
housed the blitter, and got to see the actual chip. The chip (yes one chip)
was piggy-backed to the 68000. That is all. The new OS ROMs offered a choice
from the OPTIONS menubar TITLE, simple called BLITTER. That is how it is
turned on and off. The demo running was the flying bird demo, but with about
5-6 birds. The demo was running faster than ours with one bird! (I have this
demo, and will shortly place it on ATARINET.)
Also, Dave showed us how to get to the animation in NEO v1.0 That is right,
NEO 1.0 has animation built in, but you have to know how to get to it thru
the 'back door.' One note, the animation portion of NEO is NOT complete, but
does work once you get it up. The trick is to select the GRABBER, then go over
to the right side of the screen where the word GRABBER appears, with a blank
box below it. Then, you must place the arrow cursor on the 'R' in GRABBER,
and with one pixel from the R to the left of the arrow, and one pixel above
the arrow, click on the mouse button. If you do this correctly, the icon of
a movie projector will appear, and you are ready to go. (I'll do a screen
dump of the exact placing of the cursor, and place the file on ATARINET).
PLEASE NOTE: The animation is not supported by ATARI, but Dave says that enough
people figured it out themsleves, and others wanted to know about it, so he
broke down and showed it. If you have questions about how to use it, keep it
to yourself. This is not documented, and you gotta figure it out for yourself.
Dave Staugas is now working on the printer drivers for the ATARI laser printer,
and I may post another article which goes into what is being done with the
printer. We spent about a half hour talking about this.
No Mega STs were at the show. Boo-Hoo!!! :-(
Where Atari is going - briefly :-)
MEGA ST - end of June. Only 2 and 4 meg versions. Will have blitter.
Blitter upgrade for 520 and 1040 - September
Laser printer - End of July???? This is up in the air.
TT and EST - your guess is as good as mine. (I think they really have to find
a market for this stuff.)
ATARI PC and MS-DOS box - not until 1988, at the earliest.
8-bit line - new 65xe game machine should be the ticket for ATARI. Has a plug
in keyboard, attachable gun, and SIO port. Basically it is a 65XE
but is redesigned to look like a game machine. The price is $150
and the market is better for them than if they advertise it as a
computer. I agree whole-heartedly!!! Good move Atari. They say
that this money will go towards development of their hi-end
machines, the ST line!!!!
That is it in a big nutshell. More later, as I write about the Atari laser
printer, and what I learned.
- Mikeneil@atari.UUCP (Neil Harris) (05/12/87)
In article <8705111650.AA11146@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, UACE0@UHUPVM1.BITNET writes: > ATARI PC - not until 1988, at the earliest. That's not what I said!! The rest of the report from my talk on where Atari is going is accurate, but you should be aware that the PC is still scheduled to begin delivery in late June or early July. -- --->Neil Harris, Director of Marketing Communications, Atari Corporation UUCP: ...{hoptoad, lll-lcc, pyramid, imagen, sun}!atari!neil GEnie: NHARRIS/ WELL: neil / BIX: neilharris / Delphi: NEILHARRIS CIS: 70007,1135 / Atari BBS 408-745-5308 / Usually the OFFICIAL Atari opinion
steven@cwi.nl (Steven Pemberton) (05/25/87)
In article <8705111650.AA11146@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> UACE0@UHUPVM1.BITNET writes: > MEGA ST - end of June. Only 2 and 4 meg versions. Will have blitter. > Blitter upgrade for 520 and 1040 - September > Laser printer - End of July???? This is up in the air. > TT and EST - your guess is as good as mine. (I think they really have to find > a market for this stuff.) > ATARI PC and MS-DOS box - not until 1988, at the earliest. Having just got back from the 'Personal Computer Magazine' Computer show in Utrecht (The Netherlands), I was surprised to read this. Can Atari really be bringing these things out here before the US, or are they using Europe as a testing ground, in the same way (I believe) that IBM uses Australia? Anyway, they had both kinds of Mega ST's on display, priced at f.2999 and f.3999 respectively ($1 = f.2 approximately) (a 1024ST costs f.1999 and a 520ST costs f.1199 for comparison). They had the laser printer present and running, price f.3000, and the Atari PC for f.1795. The most impressive thing I saw at the show was the 'Silicon Animation Machine' made by an English company. This was a small box that plugs into the cartridge port, and digitizes a video source, such as a camera or a recorder, and displays it on the ST screen *in real time*! ie 25 or 30 pictures a second. They had it rigged up to a camera at the show, and I was really impressed. You could also record frames (122 on a 4Meg machine), and play them back at different speeds, forwards, reverse, and bounce, and write them in Degas or Neochrome format. They claim it works with all TV formats. And then all this for f.899. Amazing. Steven Pemberton, CWI, Amsterdam; steven@cwi.nl (steven@mcvax.uucp old style)