Questions & Answers


[Q]

Making Tracks

I'm currently using Trackman sequencer software on an STe. I've been giving some thought to the possibility of running it under emulation on another machines, ideally a Mac.
One of the obvious problems is that Trackman requires a cartridge to run and I'm wondering if there is a way around this? I've tried to contact the Trackman authors, Hollis Research, to ask for a copy of the program which does not require a cartridge but have been unable to find any trace of them. Assuming the cartridge problem can be solved will an Atari OS emulator running on another platform support MIDI based software?

Ian Nicol, Weymouth

[A]
Your question prompted us to track down Hollis Research - we didn't have to look far because John Hollis is still on CiX! By an amazing co-incidence John had already stripped out the cartridge copy protection and released Trackman and MIDIman as freeware!
We wasted no time buying up his remaining stock of manuals and we're delighted to offer these to readers - refer to page 9 of the mgazine for details!

Joe Connor
The German PC TOSWin95 Atari emulator supports the MIDI ports provided on some PC sound cards. I had it working here with an AWE64G sound card and Band In A Box but I only had a demo version so it might be worth following up.
I downloaded the demo version from Dan Duskins independent Cubase Users web pages at:
http://www.instanet.com/~thedusk/
Brian Robson, CiX ataricomputing conference


TIP
AV MagiC
In my experience Thing is the best desktop implementation of the AV-protocol and I've just discovered this neat trick. If you are using CAB under MagiC and have TTP/TOS programs, such as the Apex file viewers, installed as external viewers you may have noticed your console screen is not set to close automatically after viewing - which I find really annoying. With Thing installed as your AV Server, you can install Thing in CAB as an external viewer for certain file types, such as JPEG pictures and so on. CAB then sends the AV-View command to Thing, which in turn calls APEXJPG.TTP because I have installed this as my default viewer for *.jpg files in Thing's applications menu. Viola! The Apex viewers now start in a VT52 window and doesn't mess up the screen.
Lars Kramer, via NeST


[Q]

Last Croak?

I just had a depressing conversation with Toad Computers here in the US. I was told that they will no longer be supporting the Atari in any way, shape or form.
Does losing the last Atari Hardware outpost in the US mean we must abandon our platform when they break?
Carl Hafner, PA, USA

[A]
Kent from Systems For Tomorrow replies:
I am happy to report that Toad was not the last Atari Dealer in the United States. Here at Systems For Tomorrow we feature a growing product line, including companies like System Solutions, HiSoft, Electronic Cow, WB Systems, and many more that you read about here in Atari Computing.
But we're not the last Atari dealer check out these other fine US dealers:

  • ATY Computer (510)836-2309
  • B&C ComputerVisions (530)295-9270
  • Best Electronics (408)243-6950
  • chroMAGIC (417)623-7393 or (888)660-4041
  • Computer Dungeon (708)547-7085
  • STeves (530)661-3328
  • Systems For Tomorrow, PO Box 3034, Independence MO 64055, USA,
    Retail: 11006 East Winner Road, Independence MO 64052, USA
    Email: sales@SystemsForTomorrow.com
    URL: http://www.SystemsForTomorrow.com Tel: + (816)833-4738 Info
    + (800)875-4943 Orders only please
    Fax: + (816)252-3611


Tip
Epson 400 Colour Printer
I was wondering if these printers would work with Atari machines - in particular with First Word. I telephoned Epson's Technical Department (at premium rate of course) and the technician laughed when I said Atari and proceeded to state the obvious "the 400 is mainly for use with Windows". Anyway I'll enjoy phoning them back and telling them they were wrong! Imagecopy, Positive Image and First Word (using EPSON_MT.CFG), all run fine - and I'd expect other programs to work as well. Pete Wood via CiX



[Q]

Virtual Memory

Am I under a misapprehension about virtual memory operation? The machine in question is a PAK equipped STFM running the Outside virtual memory software which gives me 29Mb memory - 4Mb ST-RAM and 25Mb virtual memory. Recently when working on some JPEG images in Positive Image, which includes its own virtual memory routines, some images which only take up 3Mb of disk space result in Out of memory messages!
Does Positive Image only unpack images into ST memory?
What would happen if I upgraded to a Magnum expansion memory board - effectively adding TT memory?
Would I then be able to manipulate images bigger than available ST RAM? John Ash, Kent

[A]
A 3Mb JPEG image could easily take up 60Mb or more when it's unpacked - compression ratios of 20:1 are common with JPEG compression.
Jeremy Hughes, CiX ataricomputing conference
Positive Image includes a useful info screen before loading JPEGs which shows the uncompressed size of the image along with the available RAM - both ST or TT-RAM.

There's also a Preferences option which allows you to declare whether the image should be loaded into ST-RAM, TT-RAM, or TT-RAM preferred - this is independent of the flag settings of PI itself.
Finally there's a swap file feature that's described in the manual.
I don't think adding a Magnum board would make any difference because, as I understand it, Outside treats its virtual RAM as TT-RAM.
Viewing JPEG images larger than TT-RAM isn't necessarily a problem if viewing is the only consideration. For example 1stGuide in hi-res mono mode can display large JPEGs using a small amount of RAM by dithering to the current screen resolution bit-by-bit - so you don't need to have the full memory required to display the image!
Harry Sideras, CiX ataricomputing conference


[Q]

Old Chestnut

I've had my 520STFM for a year now, and consider myself fairly experienced but I have recently come across a problem with my machine. When changing disks and updating the window in the file selector on HyperPaint 2, the machine (or the program) puts corrupted folders from the HyperPaint disk onto my data disk. I don't know why - and it's happened more than once.
I'm worried because a want to sell this machine soon and upgrade to a Mega STe.
Is this a virus at work?
James Bennett, Worksop, Notts

[A]
This is happening because your machine is not recognising a disk change - some drives do this.

  • There are a couple of practical solutions.
    • Install FMC.PRG, available from most PD libraries, in your AUTO folder - this forces a media change.
    • It's also worth arranging to save your data to drive B: instead of A: - even if you only have one drive because your machine will prompt you to place a disk B: in drive A: and will re-read the directory.
    • From the desktop the simplest solution is to press the [Esc] key which re-reads the directory.

Peter West, CiX ataricomputing conference

And ensure you're using a disk formatter which allocates disks with unique serial numbers.
If this a recent problem this is more likely to be the problem than the drive itself. Now if I had £1 for each time I've said this...
Paul Glover, CiX ataricomputing conference


[Q]

Canon Bubblejet support

I'm an Imagecopy 4.1 user and have recently bought a new Canon BJC-250 colour bubble jet printer and was looking forward to printing in colour with my Falcon030, but no matter how many different drivers or colour settings I have tried the best I have managed is black.
I realise the BJC-250 is a new printer and was wondering whether Imagecopy should work with this model - hopefully it's just have a problem with my set-up? If this model is unsupported are there any plans to support it?
Ian Rudd, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
[A]
The BJC-250 supports a wide range of BJ and Epson emulations which can be programmed by a series of pushes on one of the buttons at the front so it might be a good idea to try some of these.
John Stean, CiX ataricomputing conference
I have used a BJC-3000 and am now using a BJC-4500 and have had no problems at all printing anything with Imagecopy in B&W or colour
- or any other program for that matter!
Martin Milner, CiX ataricomputing conference
I'm planning to support it directly as soon as I can get some information about the printer codes it uses.
Jeremy Hughes, CiX ataricomputing conference


AC8 Bug Report

OOPS 1!

Alexander Clauss reports:
  • The explanation of co-operative and pre-emptive multitasking in the MagiC TIME SHARE? boxout on page 24 is not correct. In co-operative multitasking the OS is passive, so the currently active application will run until it allows a task switch. No other applications or the OS can stop or interrupt the active program because neither the application nor the OS gets any processor time. For example, if a program to calculate the first million digits of pi without allowing task switches was launched the system would be blocked for hours. Also the currently active program is not necessarily the application with the top window.
    In pre-emptive multitasking the OS is active all the time. It switches to the next program once its time slice has elapsed. The applications themselves do not have to allow task switching regularly because they can be suspended by the OS at any time. In this case the pi-calculator mentioned above would not block the entire system.
  • In the same article, you mention WDialog is written by Thomas Much. It's not, it's written by Sven & Wilfried Behne (maybe with some co-operation from Andreas Kromke - I don't know).
  • The BubbleGEM Release 04 review on p45: The feature to set the font for BubbleGEM should be only used by Desktops or a desktop accessory and not by "normal" applications because the setting will affect the help bubbles globally for all applications irrespective of the application which set the font.


OOPS 2!

The CiX mail switching Q&A included the wrong email address for Derryck Croker which should have read:
derryck@cix.co.uk




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