Info-Atari16@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU (Info-Atari16 Digest) (12/05/86)
Info-Atari16 Digest Thursday, December 4, 1986 Volume 86 : Issue 34
This weeks Editor: Bill Westfield
Today's Topics:
Re: Public Domain Midi Software (attn: Pixar)
Gem Kermit
Re: PD dungeon game?
A couple of questions
Good PD or Commercial HD backup programs?
Illegal and wrongful postings
1040 memory usage
Re: GDOS
Improvements in microEMACS
Query about 1st_latex
C compiler for the ST
RS232 questions
Hard Drives
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Date: 2 Dec 86 19:28:56 GMT
From: hoptoad!farren@lll-crg.arpa (Mike Farren)
Subject: Re: Public Domain Midi Software (attn: Pixar)
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
C'mon, guys... the original message here was from a person who was trying
to contact a person at Pixar, not the company. As far as I know, Pixar
(the company) doesn't deal in PD MIDI software.
"... if the church put in half the time on covetousness
Mike Farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..."
hoptoad!farren Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"
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Date: 2 Dec 86 06:01:46 GMT
From: trwrb!mdf@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Mark D. Falleroni)
Subject: Gem Kermit
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
Would someone please send me a copy of the GEM version of kermit?
Thanks in advance. Also, you can upload ST software to my BBS
7days a week from 06:00a.m. to 10:30p.m. mst. The # is 801.479.0738.
The SIG to upload to is #6. I have available for download VIX,
SPELL, 410k formatter, and some utilities from franco's ST Starter kit.
Mark Falleroni - sysop BBS Software.
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Date: 1 Dec 86 12:28:00 GMT
From: ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!franco@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Re: PD dungeon game?
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
HACK (ported by Rodney Black) and LARN run on mono.
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Date: Tue, 2 Dec 86 19:06:30 PST
From: <KJBSF@slacvm.bitnet>
Reply-To: KJBSF%SLACVM.BITNET@forsythe.stanford.edu
To: INFO-ATARI16@score.stanford.edu
Subject: A couple of questions
I asked this question a couple weeks ago, and it seems to have fallen down
a black hole, so I'll ask it again:
I've been getting some message from Mark Williams C about an 'outdated
ranlib' whenever I try to use the AES or VDI libraries when compiling
a program. What does this mean? Do I need to send my disks back to MW to
get something fixed?
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Date: Tue, 2 Dec 86 20:14:34 est
From: Eric Terrell <terrell@ohio-state.ARPA>
To: info-atari16@su-score.arpa
Subject: Good PD or Commercial HD backup programs?
I am now looking for a good public domain or commercial hard disk backup
program. The program recently posted does not meet my needs. Are there
any recommendations?????
Thanks in advance,
Terrell
(p.s. the pd mono chess program is being held hostage by me. ransom is
the translated documentation files!)
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Date: 2 Dec 86 15:01:52 GMT
From: mnetor!lsuc!jimomura@seismo.css.gov (Jim Omura)
Subject: Illegal and wrongful postings
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
We haven't had very many "problem" postings on the Net because most
Netters realize that the Net is valuable and we wouldn't want to have sites
quitting to avoid legal hassles. Also, we recognize that the person hurt
by a posting on the Net may very well be 'here' on the Net as a participant.
Recently we have had two postings which probably should not have been
made. The 'BREAKOUT' desk accessory was *not* public domain. It was
proprietary code from Atari. The poster has put Atari in a very embarrassing
position. They may want to avoid hurting their image by pursuing the one
who is to be blamed for the posting (not necessarily the person who posted
it, though that person shares the blame in part). Please don't do this again.
The TI59 is a different problem. It is likely that the display, which
uses the TI logo and shows the desk accessory as a TI59 infringes Texas
Instruments' trademarks. Even if the program is public domain (it is in fact
unmarked and we don't have source code to see if the sourcecode was marked
public domain), the Trademark is likely a registered mark and even if it was
not registered, should not have been used.
Cheers! -- Jim O.
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Date: 3 Dec 86 05:22:17 GMT
From: ames!rutgers!husc6!husc4!grunau_b@cad.Berkeley.EDU (justin grunau)
Subject: 1040 memory usage
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
I'm very confused about how the 1040 memory is used up, and I would distinctly
appreciate some help figuring out what is going on ...
Basically, to cut a very long story short, I have two pieces of software that
are supposed to tell me how much free RAM I have at any given time. Neither
of them are things I trust particularly, especially since they are never in
agreement (one would not expect them to be in agreement, since being different
programs they take up different amounts of memory to run: however, they do not
disagree in the right way: the smaller program consistently reports less
memory than the large one). I decided to try to figure out why I always seemed
to have less memory than I thought I would on a megabyte machine (why, for
instance, I can never allocate a buffer larger than 32K with Uniterm, and even
that is very rare; and other similar problems). So I booted with a disk that
did not have any desk accessories on it or anything in an auto folder. The
only thing it had on it was the program STSHELL.TOS that was included on one
of Compute!s Atari ST disk magazines (issue one). This program is 23447 bytes,
and has no resources, being a non-GEM program. The amount of memory it said
I had free was 912476 (if I put it in an AUTO folder, it gives me 938106,
presumably since the AUTO folder is run prior to GEM's being loaded, suggesting
that GEM uses 25K of RAM). This means that the operating system (including
GEM), is apparently using 136100 (more than 133K) of RAM. This seemed a little
surprising to me.
Two specific questions: is this amount of 133K consistent with other people's
experiences, or with any technical documentation out there? Also, how do the
desk accessories work: I assume they are permanently in memory, but that the
change one gets by actually running them is due to their allocating buffers and
so forth? How does that work?
thanks,
JJMG
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Date: 3 Dec 86 04:59:52 GMT
From: braner@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (braner)
Subject: Re: GDOS
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
I get rather irate when the radio announcer says "Iran" pronounced
like "irate". (It's "ear-on", in case you wonder.)
I also get pretty irate when I hear that a wonderful program is about
to appear, will use GDOS, but "you have to have GDOS to use it". What
does that mean? You don't have to get GDOS separately to use EasyDraw,
since it is built-into the program! (You also get a device driver for
Epson FX80 (?) on the disk.) If I remember right, GDOS is very small
(did I hear 4K?). And it is rather useless on its own unless you're
a developer (and you have the documentation). So why not pass it on
with the program? It is the device drivers which are the real problem.
Why not have each user buy (from a third party) the driver for her/his
specific device! Why should the publisher of, say, a word processor
program, try to package it with drivers for all the printers in the world?
In short, could somebody clarify what IS "GDOS" (or its parts)???
- Moshe Braner
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation, neither overt nor covert, with any
elements, neither powerful nor powerless, in Ear-on. Nor with Ire-ake.
And I'd rather be on vacation in Fee-rent-seh.
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Date: 3 Dec 86 04:38:37 GMT
From: braner@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (braner)
Subject: Improvements in microEMACS
To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu
I've added some (final!! :-) features to my version of microEMACS,
features that make it easier to incorporate umacs into a larger
environment (e.g. an edit-compile-reedit scheme):
A command-line argument "-g<line_number>" (e.g. "-g239") sends the
editor to that line after reading the file. Typical use: the compiler
can put you in the editor with the cursor on the offending line.
A second file name on the command line (e.g. "me file1 file2") causes
two windows to be opened, each showing one file. The cursor is in the
window holding the first file (the top one). A "-g<n>" argument, if also
present, sends the cursor to line n of file1. Any further file names
are ignored. Typical use: inside Micro C-Shell, using Megamax, I can now
type "me prog.c errors.out" after the first unsuccessful compilation,
and "!me" thereafter, to reedit the source while viewing Megamax' log
of errors.
A comment about data security: my version of microEMACS lets you exit
simply with ctrl-C (but with a reminder in case the text has been modified),
or with ctrl-Z to save-and-exit. The latter is very quick and handy, but
may be a disaster if done unintentionally. SO: if you know in advance
that you want to save the modified text under a different filename, change
the default-save-name right then (use ctrl-X ctrl-F). If you want to
protect the text buffer (while your cat is walking on the desk, say),
put it in "view-only mode" (use Alt-E). In that mode the file will NOT
be saved if it has been changed before, and will not be changed any more.
My version of microEMACS is 43K long (including the built-in help). The
source is in C, about 180K long, and will compile under GEMDOS, UNIX, VMS,
CPM, and (gasp) MSDOS. (I only tested the first two.) You can get it by
sending a (3.5") disk and a SASE to me. A small contribution would be
appreciated, but not required. Please tell me if you prefer:
Disk A: microEMACS + docs + source + proff + ramdisk.
Disk B: same, but mostly ARCed, + ARC + SCODE + Uniterm v1.6d.
- Moshe Braner
Corson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853 USA
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Date: Wed, 3 Dec 86 12:17:14 est
From: ram-ashwin@YALE.ARPA
Subject: Query about 1st_latex
To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
I recently used 1st_latex for the first time. As a test, I 1st_latex'ed the
1stword documentation in guide.doc. I have two questions:
1. It turned out that the resulting guide.tex file was filled with
control-backslash (^\, ascii 1C hex) characters, which are listed as being
"stretch space" characters in appendix B. Is this a 1st_latex bug? Is there
anyway to make 1st_latex recognize this character?
I tried deleting all the ^\'s and printing the resulting file. Looked pretty
good except that some spaces were missed, presumably because of the ^\'s
that I deleted. Also, none of the centered lines were centered in the output.
Anyone else run into this and know how to fix it?
2. What Latex style do you guys use to mimic the 1stword file as closely as
possible? I'm referring to the documentstyle, font, page layout, etc. It
would be nice if the Latex'd output looked exactly like the 1stword output,
but I'd settle for something pretty close.
Thanx a lot in advance.
-- Ashwin Ram.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@yale
UUCP: {decvax,linus,seismo}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs
P.S. On the whole, I'd recommend 1st_latex to those who want to use 1stword
to write stuff but either don't have a printer or want to print the final
output on a laser printer, and have access to a machine with Latex. It's real
easy to use and the results are good.
P.P.S. What is VIX?
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To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
Subject: C compiler for the ST **LATER RELEASE - please use this version**
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 86 15:12:06 EST
From: jhs@mitre-bedford.ARPA
ST owners who have the Magic Sac McIntosh compatibility module for their Atari
may be interested in considering Lightspeed C, from Think Technologies, Inc.
of Lexington, MA. Unlike some other C compilers, this one is supposed to be
blindingly fast both in compilation and in execution of the object code.
Also, the development environment is said to be exceptionally convenient. (I
haven't tried it, I am just quoting what others have said.) This product runs
on the Mac and I presume it would run just as well on an ST with Magic Sac.
They also have another McIntosh product called Lightspeed Pascal, about which
I know nothing other than the name. Presumably it was similarly well done and
is also a high-performance compiler, but that is speculation on my part.
Think Technologies' phone number for direct sales is (617) 863-5595 and their
mailing address is:
Think Technologies, Inc.
420 Bedford Street
Lexington, MA 02173.
Technical support questions should go to Clem Wang, and marketing/sales
questions can go to Ellen Neavitt.
ST owners who DO NOT have Magic Sac and would like an excellent C compiler for
the ST might hasten the day when Think Technologies will port Lightspeed C to
the Atari by calling or writing them and raising their consciouness about the
potentially vast Atari market. (617) 863-5590 is the main number there for
matters other than ordering existing products.
-John Sangster
jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa
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Date: Wed, 3 Dec 86 16:22 EDT
From: <RDROYA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU> (Robert
Subject: RS232 questions
To: INFO-ATARI16@SU-SCORE.ARPA
X-Original-To: INFO-ATARI16@SU-SCORE.ARPA
Two questions:
I'm still having RS232 line problems, and I think the problem is that the
Avatex does not support RTS. However, it does support DTR. The docs for
the MC6850 (ACIA) state that the RTS line may also be used to assert DTR.
Question one is would it be safe to wire the ST RS232 line 4 (RTS) to the
avatex line 20 (DTR)? Would this work OK? I mean am I asking for any line
problems here, and since the ACIA docs say RTS can be used for DTR, I
assumed that the outputs are identical. Is this a correct assumption?
Question two, how can a piece of software determine whether carrier is
present on the RS232 line?
Thanks in advance and all that,
Robert Royar
rdroya01@ulkyvx.bitnet
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Date: Wed, 03 Dec 86 17:01:26 EST
To: info-atari16@su-score.ARPA
From: BO628524%CCNYVME.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Hard Drives
Ravi, can you give me more info on the SCSI adapter? I would suggest the
CDC drive over Seagate, though CDC's are much more in demand (IBM part),
thus more expensive. I would prefer a Miniscribe 44Meg myself. What
controller cards are supported, and will the drivers work with other OS's
(OS-9, etc.) or only TOS? Who sells this (BMS -- (?))?
Thank you.
--Eric
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End of Info-Atari16 Digest
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