######################################################################### S Y N D I C A T E Z M A G A Z I N E ######################################################################### VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3 ISSUE #140 January 16, 1989 Syndicate Publishing Co. Publisher/Editor Post Office Box 74 Ron Kovacs Middlesex, N.J. 08846 Copyright (c)1989 SPC ######################################################################### THIS WEEK........ <*> Editors Desk <*> East Coast MIDI Directory <*> PC Pursuit Update <*> Diamond Conference Transcript <*> Atari Distributors World Wide <*> CIS Offer CIS: 71777, 2140 GENIE: ZMAGAZINE GENIE: R.KOVACS SOURCE: BDG-793 ############################## <*> EDITORS DESK ############################## by Ron Kovacs A recent rumor sez the 130XE Developers Kit has been released. We will update you on this next week. Seems a little too late huh?? This week we cover the Diamond conference with Alan Reeves and Shelly Merrill. Details on Z-NET coming in a February issue of ZMAGAZINE! Stay tuned!! ############################## <*> EAST COAST MIDI DIRECTORY ############################## East Coast MIDI Conference Directory = Conf.# Description Conf.# Description= ========================================================================= -1-.....Atari ST MIDI Conf. -12-.....Yamaha Product Conf. -2-.....IBM/Compatibles MIDI Conf. -13-.....Home Recording Conf. -3-.....MAC/Apple MIDI Conf. -14-.....ECM Soft/Hardware Sales -4-.....CBM/Amiga MIDI Conf. -15-.....Korg Product Conf. -5-.....General MIDI Info. Conf. -16-.....Roland Product Conf. -6-.....Patches Conf. -17-.....Kawai Product Conf. -7-.....Techs/Engineers Support Conf. -18-.....Casio Product Conf. -8-.....Chocolate Pasta Productions -19-.....Sampling Conf. -9-.....STEINBERG/Jones Product Support -20-.....Sequencer Song Files -10-.....E-Mu Product Conf. -21-.....Ensoniq Product Conf. -11-.....Alesis Product Conf. -22-.....Kurzweil Product Conf. -23-.....Magnetic Music Prod. Spt * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ECM currently offers 23 MIDI-specific conferences, or SIG's. The list above is complete as of 01/11/89. We plan on adding more conferences in the coming weeks. Until you're a member, you'll have restricted use of the system. You can read public messages and download system files ONLY FROM DIRECTORY #5. There you'll find complete file lists of all the MIDI conferences. They are plain ascii files and can be viewed on your screen or printed after you log off. After you become a member, you'll have access to any MIDI conference selected during the sign-up process. These can be changed at any time by leaving E-Mail or a COMMENT to the SysOp. There are over 3000 patch files available for download as well as Public Domain MIDI support for Atari, IBM/compatibles, Commodore (C-64/128 & Amiga) and MAC/Apple computers. Members receive 90 minutes of system time per day and unrestricted download privileges. There are two membership options available on ECM. Please read (B)ulletin #1 for a complete explanation of them both. If you are a STEINBERG Software user, complete (S)cript Questionnaire #1. If you are a MAGNETIC MUSIC Software user, complete (S)cript Questionnaire #7. There is no charge to you to access these two Support conferences. You will have 15 minutes per call until you become a member. You may call back as frequently as you like, but you'll be asked to complete the logon Questionnaire each time. Complete MIDI file directories are available for download in DIRectory #5. Call Today! 1200/2400/9600 HST Courier 516-928-4986 516-474-2450 24 hours/7 Days ############################## <*> PC PURSUIT UPDATE ############################## by WK Whitton I happy to report that I have good news for y'all. I got off the phone this morning (Thursday Jan. 5) with the folk at PC Pursuit. After my lengthy wait in line, the kind demeanor of Mr. John Taylor was refreshing and surprising. He informed me that due to the tirade of messages regarding the price increase and hour cap, the folk in marketing have decided to put off the cap until May 1st of this year. This would give them time to study the messages, and decide what they are going to do. That, as they say, is the good news. He was frank and made it known that what PC Pursuit was attempting to do was to make the service as good as possible, quote: -for as many users as possible-. The lengthy time it took us all to catch a node, and many other conveniences, would need to be addressed. You can see that they did indeed intend to make to cause some users to leave the service, but were surprised at both the volume and intensity of emotion of the users who both wrote letters, and resigned from the service en masse. It is the opinion of this humble writer that there is -no acceptable loss of life- is this or any other situation! He was cold to the suggestion that the rates be raised slightly, no cap be placed on the hours, and the extra money be used to place more modems online for the users. I guess this was just too easy of a solution eh? My recommendations? At the present time, these ideas come to mind: 1. Buy a US Robotics HST 9600 baud modem, and enjoy the *CLEAR* and *FAST* lines of AT&T. 2. Consider the new service on Genie of $50 a month for unlimited chat capabilities. You could meet those friends you made on the bulletins boards right here on Genie, and enjoy it in real-time, something you couldn't do on Genie. 3. Write a letter to the major phone service companies, and explain what has happened with PC Pursuit. There is a large chunk of money to be made here, and one of them surely will take on the challenge of providing this service. 4. Continue writing PC Pursuit about this matter, it may for some unknown reason cause them to realize we die-hard -PCP-ers- are a loyal bunch, and will stick with them only as long as they are reasonable with us. We have put up with attrocious service, long periods of not being able to do anything, and many other little items, simply because the price was unbeatable. Let's not let them forget it! ############################## <*> Alan Reeves Conference ############################## Ctsy GEnie Atari8 RT <[RT*SysOp] MARTY.A> Welcome to Alan and Shelly, and thanks for joining us here on GEnie to discuss your new Diamond OS cart. I think that there has been a LOT of excitement about this product. Would you like to make an opening statement? First I would like to thank Marty for setting up this conference. First, I (Alan) will speak and the appropriate name will appear in the []. I would also like to thank all of the many customers that now own a Diamond cartridge for their support. As some of you recall our first conference back in July was geared at discussing the up and coming Diamond...much has happened and now Diamond is a cartridge based system... I believe that the new cartridges addresses many (if not all) of the comments and suggestions that the dedicated Atari users have made. We initially released our disk based version of Diamond to show the Atari world that the creation of such an OS for the 8-bit is possible and the disk has proven itself to be a powerful system...the new cartridge was aimed at pleasing those of you that are 'power' users. The cartridge does all of what the disk did...adds many new features and consumes less memory due to it's ROM based nature... the first batch of Diamond cartridges we're shipped out 2 days ago...the second batch will be sent out on Monday. For this conference we are here to answer your Questions about Diamond and the future of Diamond... ga Marty <[RT*SysOp] MARTY.A> OK! Well, on to the questions.... First off, we have Bob Puff.... ga Bob! <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> Hi Alan! Well, my congratulations go out on completing such a large project! A couple Qs here (which are probably fully explained in the stuff when it comes, but for the benefit of all..) What memory restrictions does the cart put on programs? Like, is there any code that relocates to LOMEM, or is the top 8K always reserved, etc.? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Basically it's in hi memory...this is so we do not conflict with the numerous little drivers that are out there for printers, Ram Disks...etc.. The cartridge leaves approximately 19K free for programs, but that's why we used our new memory driver system...most code doesn't really need to use 19K it's usually large clumps of data that occupy the majority of this region...the memory drivers allow larger system to take full advantage of their capabilities. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> I see. ok does it mess around with the operating system? Will it work with modified operating systems? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> It's a good thing I tried that last weekend! When I tried it out on the 400/800 series...works with both the 400/800s and the modified OS...believe it was the three-in-one OS from CSS. I have the disk version and since it comes with essentially zero documentation, can anything be written for diamond without the programmer kit? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Theoretically one could write applications for the disk... but as you know we have decided to include the programmer's kit with the cartridge...the reason being that the disk and the cartridge are not compatible from a programming standpoint at the present and we do not wish to have to have two versions of each application be made...one for disk and one for cartridge. Incidentally I hope that you have sent your warranty card in to us so that we can send you the needed upgrade information. Ok. Can diamond support multiple applications, like gem? Not yet on that warranty card. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> If you mean multitasking no...the closest to multitasking for Diamond is the desk accessories...in reality a desk accessory could be used as a full blown application...it would consume a lot of memory though and would require a memory upgrade. Diamond has been written with the future in mind...it is a very open ended system so many things are possible that may not be yet implemented. I don't think a switcher would be very appropriate for Diamond though due to the excessive Ram constraints that it puts on an ST. <[Dominick] TUBBY.TOAD> How will you be working with the new 16bit board for the now 8bits? And do you think you could incorporate MTOS with Diamond to get a Kickstart/Workbench thingie going? Since the new board can address so much memory. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> I think the 16 bit board offers a lot of potential for the future of the Atari 8-bit and we've indicated our desire to work with it and have sent Chuck a cartridge. As for MTOS I'm not really familiar with it for doing such things as mutiple applications a user must have a lot of memory and a relatively fast system...it may be done in the future but at present the cartridge was not designed for that. <[John Nagy] ZMAGAZINE> ok, Hi alan, I was pleased to see the well organized docs in the programmers kit and it gave me lots of ideas of things to do with it, but I see no help for the basic programmer...now BASIC is mentioned on the cover but I am lost once inside will there be more? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> As you know with the initial batch of carts there are Mac/65 libraries. I have designed the needed Basic routine to call Diamond and will U/L after the conference along with a few other things. We are also working on getting the needed Action! library together. <[John Nagy] ZMAGAZINE> Thanks! I know that users will see that there is a lot more to DIAMOND than a desk. I was just wondering how well diamond supports the memory upgrades for the various machines. Such as the Scott Peterson and the 130 upgrades to beyond one meg? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Diamond's memory support routines are among its more powerful capabilities...all upgrades that I am aware of can be supported and as I have indicated in the BB topic I'm looking for people that have the various memory upgrades to test them out on. Most upgrades perform banking via $CFFF or $D301 (tech jargon) but Diamond does not fix this...the cartridge includes a default driver, but another driver can be loaded in...this is also the case for the mouse drivers. nothing is hard wired. thank you. Also which DOS's will Diamond support? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Diamond supports DOS 2.X, DOS XE, SpartaDOS and most others such as 2.0, 2.5, and SpartaDOS XE. <[LARRY=>)] THE.LION> Alan, how is it going. How well will Diamond work with a 512K 800. It is a RamCharger Board? And I assume you meant Sparta X ? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Is what a RamCharger board? <[LARRY=>)] THE.LION> Sorry it is a RamCharger Board. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> To support the RamCharger I believe the switch location is $CFFF...at present the included utilities disk have memory drivers for the 48K, XL and XE machines...but for other memory upgrade the routines only have to be modified slightly. <[Dominick] TUBBY.TOAD> ok, I've got two here, so lets go... 1st, about windows: will the full gadget now shrink them back to the smaller size, and can you have more than one open now? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes to both...clicking the fuller twice does a full reverse and the system supports four windows, and two on the desktop. <[Dominick] TUBBY.TOAD> 2nd, are the icons still oversized, and have you kept the ST GEN idea of the 3 icons or gone with, the Workbench/GOE idea of multiple icons stored as files? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> The desktop icons have been reduced and redesigned and we have kept the three icons (as on the ST) for icon displays in a window. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> ok another tech question Alan... When accessing the extra memory via your memory drivers, is there a -window-, and if so, where and how big is it? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> it's not so much a window Bob...we sent up new MemLo and MemHi pointers for the extra memory and when things are moved to it. One just sends a four byte address to the appropriate memory driver routine... That should be set up. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> so if you want to store data in the extra memory of say a 320K XE at location $100000, how would you go about that? (if it is too complex, don't bother here) <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> just tell diamond the soure and dest ($100000) address and and it's done! for more detailed things I'd recommend waiting until (probably) tomorrow when you get it via UPS. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> sounds good. so its like a memory move then? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes it's exactly that... a memory move... I have a couple: first how about hard drive support? Is it dependent on what DOS you happen to be using? Second how about support for the ICD MIO board and the Supra hard drive? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes...Diamond supports the DOS types...and the DOS types support the various drive types... I know John Nagy has tested it out and it works on the MIO and it should work with the Supra. OK...we don't tamper with DOS so if Sparta supports 'em them we do. Third I noticed you were speaking of using routines from a disk utility to What memory locations are being used for drivers Page6? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> I don't understand the question...are you asking if we use page 6? I was wondering if you are vectoring your routines to page 6 locations for the various drivers. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Page 6 is not used by Diamond...nothing below $8E00 is... Thanks much for that we use that page a LOT. Lastly I have heard a rumor that Atari is evaluating Diamond for possible inclusion with its 8-bit line is this true? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes What kind of reception are you getting or can you say yet? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Warm and coordial. Hi, all, and Alan..... I have a few Q's concerning file management... 1) does Diamond extend the size and addr range of binary files? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> No 2) does it take care of paging when a program is loaded on a boundry (16k)? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> I don't understand the question exactly? 3) does Diamond use published OS vectors only ? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes...it makes legitimate calls only. 2)Clarification: if a file is being loaded by Diamond which is using your mem manager, will it take care of any size file up to 64k? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> the memory manager is not involved when files are loaded..the memory manager is a tool to be used by the software. We retain compatibility with existing files that way. <[John Nagy] ZMAGAZINE> I wanted to affirm MIO support and a hppy HD. Also, tell about the COM line Parameter passing... It is a important feature. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> The cart you have sets aside the needed space to have its own parameter line (e.g. TTP files on the ST), and also retains compatibility with Spartas command line. <[John Nagy] ZMAGAZINE> thats all here. I am pleased with the handling, particularly with the mouse movement. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> Anyways, here's my last Q... You said nothing below $8E00, right? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yep... <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> where's screen memory (8k worth, right?)? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> The screen is at $8000 down to around $6000. <[Hi! I'm ->] BOB.PUFF> what's from $8000 to $8E00 then? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Open program space. Hiya, Alan! How are you doing on the extended memory handlers? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> We've got the 48K, XL, and XE ones... the basic skeleton is the same for all of them though. how about, like, 256k xls and stuff like that? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> That's down the road... I don't have one so I'm recruiting testers. (ahem) I have several, here and at ATARI, so -fire away-. <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> How about a loaner. I can give you a NEWELLed XL for a loaner, what say? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Sure... <[RT*SysOp] MARTY.A> Thanks, Jack! The last question is another from Jeff. one quick q. Are there hard and fast rules about accessories installing themselves. For example could a large accesory hide part of it self under the cart and disable it at times? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Like what kinds of rules? Diamond handles where the ACCs are stored.... and accessories can do everything that an application does. Are the ACCs always memory resident? <[Alan] REEVE.SOFT> Yes. <[RT*SysOp] MARTY.A> Well, that about wraps it up here for tonight. Did you have any thing that you would like to say in closing, Alan? <[Shelly] REEVE.SOFT> Does anyone have any marketing questions? <[RT*SysOp] MARTY.A> I think that the biggest thing would be just how to get Diamond? And the various support files. <[Shelly] REEVE.SOFT> Diamond is available at your local Atari retailer. In some locations there is no dealer, so call us. ############################## <*> ATARI DISTRIBUTORS ############################## This is a list of the known Atari distributors in the world. I am uploading it here as the first step in improving the distribution channel of Atari 3rd Party software and hardware products. If you know of other distributors, please send me the information by posting a message or Email on Compuserve to Frank Cohen 76004,1573 or GEnie to FRANK.COHEN. E Arthur Brown - Evan Brown, 3404 Pawnee Drive, Alexandria, MN 56308 Phone: 612 762 8847 Orders (800) 322-4405 Telex: FAX: Computer Software Service (CSS) Jim Choate, Buyer 2150 Executive Drive, Addison, IL 60101 Phone: 800 669 4912 Telex: FAX: 312 916 9119 Federated Group John Winsor, Computer Division Manager 5655 E Union Pacific, City of Commerce, CA 90022 Phone: 213 728 5100 Telex: FAX: Microware Distributors Larry Zimbler, Buyer 51 Maplewood Avenue, Albany, NY 12205 Phone: 518 438 2512 Dealer orders # 800 382 2405 Telex: FAX: 518 438 4002 Newell Industries Wes Newell, 1213 Devonshire, Wylie, TX 75098 Phone: 214 442 6612 Telex: FAX: MicroD Distributors Canada Eric Bielawski, 391 Ormont Drive, Weston, ONTARIO M9L 1N8 Canada Phone: 416 741 9825 Telex: FAX: 416 741 9834 Triangle Distributors Chuck Newberg, 6580 Frankstown Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Phone: 412 441 9659 Telex: FAX: 412 441 4287 CompuClub Tom Grazziano, 187 Oaks Road, Framingham, MA 01701 Phone: 508 879 5232 Telex: FAX: 508 449 0549 Pacific Software Supply Pete Curry, 660 Tank Farm Road, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 Phone: 805 543 8197 Telex: FAX: 805 549 0549 Remarks: 805 543 1037 Dave Miller, evaluates new products, not in on wednesdays New World Computers Jan Andersen, Sales Assistant Skanderborgvej 114, DK 8260 Viby J., Denmark Phone: Telex: FAX: JR Handleman Howard Kowalski, Purchaser 500 Kirts Blvd, Troy, MI 480084 Phone: 313 362 4400 Telex: FAX: Horizon Computers Phil Michaelson, Purchaser 695 S Colorado Blvd #10 Denver, CO 80222 Phone: 303 777 8080 Telex: FAX: Great Lakes Distributing Michael Boyczuk, President 248 Lein Road, West Seneca, NY 14224 Phone: 800 831 0035 Telex: FAX: 716 675 3147 Talent Distributors John Tweedy, Marketing Manager UK 101 St. James Road, Glasgow, G4 ONS UK Phone: 041 552 2128 Telex: FAX: GST Professional Services Ltd. Chris Scheybeler, Manager, Product Dvlpmt 8 Green Street, Willingham, CAMBRIGE CB4 5JA UK Phone: 0954 81991 Telex: 817057 GSTUK G FAX: Sama Company Andrew Huber, Software Manager Phone: 056 211 422 Telex: FAX: Mike's Computer Store Mike Wilding, 292 London Road, Westcliffe on Sea, ESSEX SS0 7JJ UK Phone: 0703 332 554 Telex: DTB 10193 FAX: Protecto Computers Chris Hassett, Buyer 22292 N Pepper Road, Barrington, IL 60010 Phone: 312 382 6811 Telex: FAX: Far North Distributors Cecil Garret, PO Box 111608, Anchorage, AK 99511 Phone: 907 349 4496 Telex: FAX: Almo Distributors Sal Moffo, Buyer 9815 Roosevelt Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19114 Phone: 215 698 4000 Telex: FAX: T&T Distributors Jim, 2900 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209 Phone: 615 320 7200 Telex: FAX: TeknoComputer OY Jorma Saarinson, Atomitie 5 C, 3. Krs, SF-00370 Helsinki, Finland Phone: 358 0 5626144 Telex: 857 121192 tcomp sf FAX: Paris Radio electronics Jacky Cockinos, PO Box 380, Darlinherst, NS WALES 2010 SYDNEY, Australia Phone: Telex: 790 22579 paradio FAX: Montek Equipment Felix Meijer, 6 MacKelvie Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand Phone: 09 789 956 Telex: 791 3549 monaco FAX: Informatica System Venturelli Giorgio, Via Statale 13/A, 42019 Scandiano (RE), Italy Phone: Telex: 843 530130 traval i FAX: Atari Corp. Deutschland, Raimund Mollenhauer, Mgr Application Software Postbox 1213, Raunheim, D 6096 West Germany Phone: 06142 4 10 81-89 Telex: 4 182 829 ata d FAX: Microdeal Ltd. UK John Symes, Managing Director 41 Truro Road St, Austell, CORNWALL PL25 5JE England Phone: 0726 73456 Telex: 851 45218 microd g FAX: ABS Soft System, Bonetti Marino, 20151 Milano, via Sem Benelli, 2, 02/30 83592 Italy Phone: Telex: FAX: Remarks: 121085 Sent eval copies Intelligent Game De Venzuela CA, Israel Rapaport, Marron A. Cuji No. 43-2, Caracas, Venezuela Phone: 011 58 2 562 51 11 Telex: FAX: Silica Distribution Ltd (SDL), Tony Deane, Director 1-4 The Mews, Heatherley Road, SIDCUP KENT DA14 4DX UK Phone: 01 309 111 Telex: FAX: Tashkl Computer System, KK Tanda, Director 24 Logan Road, Wembley, HA9 8PX MIDDLESEX. UK Phone: 01 904 4467 Telex: FAX: Softline, Skyline Television, Peter Kersten, 117 E 11th St, New York, NY 10003 Phone: 212 254 0012 Telex: FAX: Cefan Sarl, Long J.C. Duget, Director 89, Rue De Dunkerque, Paris, 75009 France Phone: 42821709 Telex: FAX: Mega Shop, Kurt Esenwein, Falken Platz 7, Bern, 3012 Switzerland Phone: 41 31 24 4005 Telex: 845 911294 bevo ch FAX: Best Electronics, Brad Koda, 2021 The Alameda, Suite 290, San Jose, CA 95126 Phone: 408 243 6950 Telex: FAX: ############################## <*> COMPUSERVE OFFER ############################## If you are NOT a CompuServe user and would like to see what you are missing, please respond to the following limited offer! Readers of ZMagazine can receive $15.00 of free online time by sending your name and address to: Syndicate ZMagazine Post Office Box 74 Middlesex, NJ 08846-0074 Attn: CIS-OFFER In turn, we will forward your info to CompuServe which will get a kit out to you asap. Please note that this offer expires May 31, 1989 and can be cancelled at any time. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Syndicate ZMagazine Issue #140 January 16, 1989 Copyright (C) Syndicate Publishing, 1989 All Rights Reserved =========================================================================