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Text File | 1990-01-01 | 19KB | 398 lines

_____. ._. ._. __ __._. ._. _______ ._____. / ___| | |/ / \ \ / /| \| | | ____| |_. ._| \___ \ | / \ V / | | | ._| | | .___) ) | . \ | | | |\ | | |____ | | |____/ |_|\_\ |_| |_| \_| |_____| |_| ._____. ._____. .__ ._._______ _____. |_. ._| |_ _| | \/ || ____| / ___| | | | | | |\/| || ._| \___ \ | | ._| |_. | | | || |____ .___) ) |_| |_____| |_| |_||_____| |____/ Issue 1 - October 1994 ---------------------- Foreword -------- Welcome to the first issue of Skynet times. The idea of Skynet times is to bring you a brief overview of all that is going on in the Atari world in one text file - simple really! You may think it's actually going to be quite simple, but read on and you will find that this 'paper' really is top class. Where is it all coming from? ---------------------------- Skynet times is written by Vogue of Skynet (that's me!), and all articles in the issue were written 100% by Myself, although others may contribute towards future issues. The text-proccessor that I am using is editext by Mike O'Donnell, and I have also used Ascii-artist to do the title. Ascii-artist was written by my partner in crime - Requiem of Skynet. Contents -------- LINE NO. | ARTICLE ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 47 | End of ST Format 63 | The Demise of Commodore 99 | Bristol Atari show 1994 report 186 | Ascii Artist preview 205 | PD from me! 281 | I don't think so Mr. Amiga Shopper 351 | Epilogue End of ST Format ---------------- Rumours have been flying around for months about the future of ST format, but now it's just about 100% certain that the christmas 1994 issue of everyone's favorite ST magazine will be the last. The hit magazine from Future publishing has brought us the best news/reviews/coverdisks, even if they were a bit slack on serious software and PD. The mag started off as ST/Amiga format quite a few years ago and there has been more than 60 issues since then with not one of them being disappointing. In my opinion they have done well to survive this long, and I along with many others will be sad to see good old STF go. The Demise of Commodore (on a happier note!) -------------------------------------------- After years of not knowing which way to go, Commodore have finally been overcome by debts and worries and about the future. Yes, Commodore international has recently entered in to voluntary liquidation, a month after announcing an $8.2 million second quarter loss. Commodore electronics limited was also liquidated at the same time. Commodore started making typewriters and the first electronic calculators about the same time as intel released their pentium proccessors. Okay, only joking! We must give the guys some credit for their hard work back in the early '70s. They released their C64 8-bit machine in '80s and this went on to become the best-selling home computer of all time (yes, that was best-selling, not best! - We all know which is the best!). But just to spoil everything in 1985 they launched the Amiga - yuk! One Amiga reviewer says: "At the time, and even to a certain extent today, nobody had produced anything remotely like it.'. Well, we all know that's the biggest load of bollocks yet don't we! Without any mainstream software support, the Amiga couldn't make headway into the buisness market (so it's now a shitty entertainment machine for brain-dead urine drinkers!). The next major mistake for the big C were the CDTV and CD32 systems. After the flop of these systems the company was rapidly collasping and struggling to make the CD hardware catch on. The main user base for Amiga's was in America, the UK, and Germany, so highlighting the fact that the Amiga didn't make it big in Japan (unlike Atari!). Everyone has been guessing who is going to buy out the almost bankrupt company, but it now looks set to be Samsung, the idiots! Who would want to buy Commodore?! At least no Amiga owners can now take the Michael out of us Atarians! Show report: Bristol Atari show 1994 ------------------------------------ This year's Bristol Atari fair was held on Saturday the 30th of July at the Hilton national hotel. So, in true Skynet fashion Requiem and I trundled on down to take a look. After some slimey pancakes in McDonalds we decided to try and find this Hilton Hotel. On the way we were confronted with an 8-lane dual caridgeway, and as we couldn't be bothered to find a sub-way I sugested that we faced it head on. After dodging over a few lanes, we found ourselves on a peice of pavement about 1 foot wide with cars going by at 80mph at an arms-length away from us on either side. When we had tackled the road we saw this hotel and then we saw Clive Parker from ST Format and a few other people carrying ST going in, so it seemed logical that we had found the right hotel! When we were queuing to get in we were given forms to write in our name and company. I was jealous of Rich 'cos he could put the Falcon owners group and his company, but I could put nothing! I was tempted to put Atari corp. but I thought people would swear at me if I put that! Once we got in (£5 entrance fee!), the first stand we came to was playing that really sad module... you know, that one! Next we went over to the Compo software stand where a guy had a Falcon running the new Stormtracker under a pre- release version of Neodesk ? (whatever number - the new version!). Just think... If he went for a piss we could have saved it to floppies! Also on the Compo stand they were selling loads of the usual rip-off 'serious' software which no average Atari user would ever buy, some Jaggies, and they were also doing 1 meg STE upgrades for only £5. The best stand at the show had to be the Best Electronics stand. They had absolutely everything! Enough bits to build an entire ST! Rich bought a little Fuji pin-badge and I bought some Fuji stickers as well as a new mouse socket(!). We also had a go at the games challenge. The game was 'Obbsession', a new pinball game for the STE. The prize was a Jaguar, but we both failed anyway! System solutions were there, advertising their new products, such as the MagiC multitasking system and Kobold v2.5. The new SMS2 operating system was being talked about a lot over this side of the room as well. The place we stayed most was the corner where Douglas Little was showing off his Apex media Image proccessing package along with the Expose true colour video digitiser. I couldn't resist asking him to take a snap of me! He only saved it as a Gif though - I wanted a Targa pic! The actual Apex program was terrific. Just some of it's features were: - On-screen Picture-in-picture. - Block (cut/copy/paste/realtime scaling and stretching). - Motion blur/video defocus. - Convsersion and dithering. - Animation (up to 200 frames with ajustable playback). - Image processing. If you are interested in this system, write to Titan Designs at this address: Titan designs Ltd, 6 Witherford way, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 4AX England. Tel/Fax: 021-414 1630 CIS: 100345,2350 Apex Media was written by Black Scorpion Software entirely in 68030 and DSP machine code. A definite if you want to do top- end video digitising on your Falcon (and if you have a lot of dosh!). What else was at the show? Oh yeah, we also got to see glances of Musicom 2 and SpeedoGDos v5. There are rumours that Speedo 5 has the ability to use TrueType fonts (TTF's) from the PC. We didn't see any of this though in the short time we were at that stand. The amount of PDL's at the show was very disappointing. I think that Merlin and Goodmans were the only ones there. I suppose that is usual these days as BBS's are becoming more and more popular as a cheaper way to get PD and shareware. Mike Goodman had quite a good selection there. Most of it was again 'serious' software, but the computer industry as a whole is much more 'serious' these days! I picked up a demo version of the new Omen Multitasking system which you really need 4 megs for and a Falcon to make any real use of (trust Rich to have that setup!). Well, finally the day had to end so we went home and had a good laugh at my photo GIF! Watch out! - Ascii artist about! -------------------------------- Ascii artist is a new shareware DTP/Graphics program that lets you draw pictures and write headings etc in ASCII format! It was written by my humble friend Rich (A Skynet member of course!) on his Falcon but works perfectly on the ST as well. On the demo version (which will be in the PD libraries soon and was included on last months POWER disk magazine) you can any do writing, and in only one font. I have seen development versions on the full package and it looks beautiful! Here are just some of the things the registered version will do: - Multiple fonts (about 8 different fonts!). - Freehand drawing. - Boxes (click and drag). - As well as the normal texteditor. Copies of the demo version are available from me. Just send a blank disk and 75p for package/posting to the address at the end. PD from me! ----------- I will be willing to send PD software to anyone who wants it as long as they have PD to swap with me as well. Here is a list of some of my software... Oh yeah, the ones with a * by them are good! Demos... - 'Things not to do' by Electronic Images - Animal Mine Great stuff compil #48 * - Lightning demo by the Pendragons - Delta force slideshow - Vodka by Equinox * - Ultimate music demo 4 by PHF * - Pov compil #144 - Pov 145 - Pov 146 - Pov 147 - Pov 100 - Ultimate music demo 1 by PHF * - Pov 103 - Empire by V8 - Pov 143 - Pov 112 - State of the Art by TWB - Untouchables C.D 1 - Pov 125 * - Life's a Bitch by TLB - Eat my bollocks by EQX - Waveforms by TWB - Ultimate GFA demo by OVR * - Pov 121 - Decade demo by Inner Circle * - Beyond by Kruz Krew - ULM new year demo * - Whattaheck demo by TCB - The Lost boys' DEF demo * - OVR C.D. 6 - Pov 141 * - Sowatt by TCB - TWB - Hardcore dancefloor - 1984 - No cooper ******* - If pigs could fly by Syndicate ******* - Hardcore dancefloor 2 - Pov 129 * - Genesys II by Aenigmatica - Slaytanic cult music demo 7 - Mind Bomb by TLB * - Overdose by Armada ** - Punish your machine by delta force - 2 disks *** - High fidelity dreams by Aura ****** - Swedish new year demo 2 - Live and let die by storm - Tcb's Cuddly demos ******************** - The best ST demo ever! - ULM megademo ************************** - In second place! - Syntax terror by Delta force ** - OOh crickey, wot a scorcher by TLB **** - Better than life by ACO - Gnoogunogumbar by TRH * (for STOS!) - Cunning demos 2 disks * - Pandora's Box by ACO - Cor Blimey by Rich And co (boo hiss!) Other stuff... - 48 disks of modules (write to me for a list of their contents) - Insanity PD games pack 1-4 That is all the PD that I will swap at the moment. If you want anything from this list then send me the right amount of disks and £1 towards P&P to the address at the end. If you have your own software list then send it to me so I can take a look. I don't think so Mr Amiga Shopper --------------------------------- I was reading Amiga Shopper in this Month's computer shopper magazine and there was one bit about the Atari Jaguar card for the PC. It went like this: "Odd thing. Titles developed for the 64-bit Atari Jaguar video game system will soon be playable on IBM and compatible PC's via a hardware add-on by Sigma designs. Sigma has licenced the Jaguar technology from Atari to make a PC card that looks set to expand the market for Jaguar software to up to 10 million users. At $250 the Jaguar is significantly cheaper than the $700 from competing systems such as the recently released 3D0. The Jaggie was introduced by Atari before christmas last year, although the systems got a slow start in the shops due to production hic-ups by Atari's Jaguar manufacturer and partner in the project, IBM. But Atari says it has now 'shipped' between 50,000 and 100,000, and, unlike it's contemporary Commodore, is willing to make a go of it, even considering the losses. Atari, another ground breaking US company like Commodore, made its name 10 years ago with drop- dead gorgeous 8-bit systems that connected to television sets and out-performed just about everything on the market at that time. It has been trying unsuccessfully to rekindle the old magic ever since. Like Commodore, in 1993 it announced losses for its second year straight, which amounted to $48.8 million on receipts of $28.8 million. This is a significant bonus for Atari and could pull the company out of the poop. This whole business set me wondering, has anyone ever thought of adding an Amiga card to a PC? I know it's a sacrilegious thought, but just think about it. You could run Scala, Lightwave, Imagine, and all your other favorite programs on a PC. You could run CD32 software from the CD drive and perhaps throw in the FMV board on the side just for fun. Sounds like a good product to me. Price point about £400? Of ocurse it could be done. But wait, what am I saying? This is tantamount to putting the brain of a great artist into the body of a chimp. There's got to be a better way." Doesn't it just make you sick! This guy must be so dense that he has Angel Delight for hair shampoo. He's right in admitting that Jaguar cards are to be released for PC's, as the Jag is better than anything Commodore has ever made. Why doesn't he just say it - Commodore is a losers company. Samsung are also a looser's company for wanting to buy it. I love the bit about Atari trying to 'rekindle the old magic'. Commodore never had any old magic to rekindle! The funniest bit has to be the Amiga card for PC bit at the end... The idea of an add-on card is to upgrade, not downgrade! At least replacing MSDos shell with MultiTOS would actually be an improvement! If you had no software for the Amiga all you would get is a crap animation telling you to put a disk in the dirve. At least on the ST you get GEM come up. I couldn't imagine the hassle of loading up the Desktop whenever I wanted to do some file management like you have to do on Amiga's. On ST's you just quit a program and the desktop is there straight away. If Samsung have any sense they should ditch the Amiga and all support for it, and make Commodore into an Indian supermarket chain. You never know, they might do that anyway. Don't know about the Indain supermarket bit though! Epilogue -------- Well, that's just about it for this issue of Skynet Times. I hope you liked it! If you have any ideas for articles in the next issue then just write to the address below. The Address to write to is: Skynet, 78 Combe Ave, Portishead, Avon, BS20 9JT, ENGLAND. Keep a look out for issue 2! @ Vogue (24.8.94) Issues of Skynet times are released during the month before the actual date of the issue, so issue 2 (November 1994) will be out in October. Skynet times was produced in accossiation with: Skynet, Purity Inc, The Falcon Owners Group, POWER Disk Mag and POWER P.D. The Falcon owners group can be contacted at this address: FOG, PO Box 353, Stafford, ST17 9US, ENGLAND. Or if you have internet access, the internet number is: Internet: CM3HIRJD%BS41.DNET.AC.UK@STAFFS.AC.UK Important: I do not accept cheques/postal orders, only cash (sterling). --------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------