No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs/nf_archive_12.iso/MAGS/TEXTMAGS/ATARI16/INFO89.ZIP/INFO89/607.TXT

Text File | 1997-04-16 | 16KB | 430 lines

INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Sun,  5 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 607

Today's Topics:
                  1st word to postscript converter ?
                   Animation Display Application...
                      Atari Benchmarks (2 msgs)
                        General Cheat Utility
                         HARD DISK UTILITIES
                               megamax
                 MODULA2.ZOO FROM ETH XBIOX QUESTION
                         Self-Modifying Code
   Trying to read an Atari St Gem-Dos disk on a Mac SE using FD/HD
                     which 5.25 drive on the ST?
                     WordPerfect for the Atari ST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 14:21 N
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: 1st word to postscript converter ?

I have two specific questions  to ask:

1)      Does anybody tried to use the 1st word-plus to postscript converter
1STW2PS from the terminator archives? It works fine with the supplied example
on a Mega-ST2, but I am unable to make it print graphics. I obtain a
postscript file containing nuls in place of the apropriate postscript graphics
commands. I tried to contact by E-mail the author, but I got no answer so far.
So if somebody have succeeded in printing graphics, could he/she send me
his/her example.

2)      I wonder if there is a simple vectorized drawing program for the ST
which produces Postscript output, so I can print it on a postscript Laser
printer at work with high resolution. Since I am using Knuth TeX program
for text and mathematical formulae, I find very frustrating to insert
graphics in low resolution mode. I am interested to know what you guys
who (or their institution) owns a postscript Laser printer are doing.

Thanks in advance to all replies.

        Jean-Francois Germond
        University of Neuchatel
        Switzerland
        Bitnet: PHFRESAR@CNEDCU51

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 18:40:34 GMT
From: helios.ee.lbl.gov!lbl-csam.arpa![e-mail]  (Antony A. Courtney)
Subject: Animation Display Application...

I am working on a generalized animation display application.  I would like to
make it be able to handle virtually all the various animation formats that
exist out there.  I would like information describing the format of animation
files out there.  The goal would eventually be to have this runing under X and
have the user be able to load in any type of animation file and display it on
his workstation.

If people from the various Amiga, Atari and Mac. user groups could send me
information on the various animation formats for your machines, I would
appreciate it.

Thanks for your help!

Cheers,

                        -Antony
--
*******************************************************************************
Antony A. Courtney                              [e-mail]
Advanced Development Group                      ucbvax!lbl-csam.arpa!antony
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory                    [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 23:08+0100
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Atari Benchmarks

Correction: it must be ratehd 1.1 and Turbodos 1.05
                              ---                -

Michael Ritzert

[e-mail]

BTW: In my opinion, 30$ shareware fee for a simple benchmark program
like quikdex is quite expensive.  The authors should think of putting
this program into the PD as ICD did with ratehd.  (Only for comparison
--- in Germany you have to pay the equivalent to 30$ for the ultra fast
shareware TeX!  The Author translated this TeX manually from Pascal to
Turbo C.)

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 23:06+0100
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Atari Benchmarks

Recently, i did a few benchmarks on two Megas. Programs: quikdex1.0 and
ICD's ratehd. Systems:

     a) ST2, TurboST1.6, NO blitter installed, SH205 (Tandon 262 (at 1:1
        interleave, i think)).
        Partitions: 2.4/6/6/6 MB.
        TOS 1.2, Turbodos 1.5, AHDI 1.7.

     b) ST4, TurboST1.6, blitter, Seagate ST296 at 1:2, Supra host.
        Hypercache Board --- 16 MHz 68000, 8k cache.
        Partitions: 21.2/21.2/21.3/21.3 MB formatted with Supra Software
        (i.e. long FATS)
        TOS 1.4, CACHE90, AHDI 3.01

Both Systems:
     ACC's: TurboST, Control, HP-Calculator.
     SM124.
     Atari's 68881 Board

Results (average of 10 ICD-tests):
     a)
        CPU:          99 %
        BIOS-text:   343 %
        GEM  draw:   338 %
        GEMDOS i/o: 1561 %
        DMA-read:   2254 %
        Data rate:   262 +29 -20 kB/s
        Access:      121 +- 3 ms

     b)  Cache off, TurboSt + Blitter
        CPU:         100 %
        BIOS-text:   346 %
        GEM  draw:   349 %
        GEMDOS i/o: 1279 % (large FAT's!)
        DMA-read:   3367 %
        Data rate:   407 +- 0 kB/s
        Access:       31 +- 1 ms

     b)  Cache on,  TurboSt + Blitter
        CPU:         180 %
        BIOS-text:   500 %
        GEM  draw:   409 %
        GEMDOS i/o: 1370 %
        DMA-read:   3367 %
        Data rate, Access: see above

The FPU has not been tested by these Benchmarks.

Effect of caching:
Compilation speedup is typically 1.4 times (Laser C, GNU C, Absoft Fortran)
Most FPU floating point operations are speeded up 1.5 times (large
overhead of communication between 68000 and 68881). Real programs
with much floating point and large address space (0.5 - 2.8 MB for variables)
which call the '881 from library routines run 1.5 times faster. Software
floating point ops are speeded up 1.85 times typically. In most cases,
an 8MHz ST with '881 performs fp faster than the Hypercache machine
without '881.

Michael Ritzert

[e-mail]

BTW: In my opinion, 30$ shareware fee for a simple benchmark program
like quikdex is quite expensive.  The authors should think of putting
this program into the PD as ICD did with ratehd.  (Only for comparison
--- in Germany you have to pay the equivalent to 30$ for the ultra fast
shareware TeX!  The Author translated this TeX manually from Pascal to
Turbo C.)

------------------------------

Date: 4 Nov 89 07:40:14 GMT
From: van-bc!rsoft!mindlink![e-mail]  (Tom Cheslock)
Subject: General Cheat Utility

Recently, on a friends IBM, he showed me the ultimate game/utility
cheat program. During the game, by pressing a hot-key, a menu popped
up that allowed him to do the following. He would look at the number
of men he had in his game, say, 5. Then he would call up the editor
and scan for 5. The program would tell him how many 5's it found.
Then he would purposely kill his man, decreasing it to 4. Then
by calling up the menu, he could enter 4 and the program would check
for any variables that changed from 5 to 4. Then he could lock his
men to any number he wanted. I am interested in the same type of
program for the ST. Anyone out there that thinks it can be done?
I think the hardest part is probably getting the game to pause while
you enter those commands, then resume.

.s

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 03 Nov 89 16:04:05 AST
From: Alyre CHIASSON <[e-mail]>
Subject: HARD DISK UTILITIES

I am looking for a program to optimize hard disk partitions.
I had ordered through my local dealer "HARD DISK SENTRY" but
there seems to be a supply problem (the program is by
BECKEMEYER DEVELOPMENT TOOLS). So I am now thinking about
another choice. Any recommendations? Anyone with experience
with "TUNEUP" by MichTron?

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 02:56:18 GMT
From: mcgill-vision!quiche!calvin![e-mail]  (Sam Alan EZUST)
Subject: megamax

does megamax have an e-mail address I can send mail to from an internet
account?
I sent some paper-mail to them but they haven't responded. It is very
important!

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 10:40:49 GMT
From:
 cs.utexas.edu!usc!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1
.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: MODULA2.ZOO FROM ETH XBIOX QUESTION

        Has anyone figured out why xbios.def in the def\gemlib folder
        and xbios.def in the def\system folder are not identical?

        Which one is correct?  In the gemlib\ folder, there is not
        an xbios.sbm/obm whereas there is one in the system folder...
        Did I receive a partial implementation?

        Thanks in advance...
                -Spieu!

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 00:12:50 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (David J Bell)
Subject: Self-Modifying Code

>Another obvious reason for not writing self-modifying code is it won't work
>when programmed in ROM, PROM, EPROM/EEPROM etc.

>It could copy itself beforehand into another more writeable part of virtual
>memory (e.g. on-line magnetic storage media) but then the expensive, non-
>volatile electronic memory would be wasted.

Not, on the other hand, if the self-modifying aspect of the code allowed
a significant reduction in size of the ROM code...  I had a much-modified
BIOS for a Z80 based CP/M system (back in the dark ages), that we *always*
seemed able to squeeze just one more feature into by recoding some other
part(s). One way we gained a bunch of space was to crunch several of the
serial and parallel drivers together with short preambles that modified
code in the body of the driver.

Dave

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 19:36:54 GMT
From: agate!garnet.berkeley.edu![e-mail]  (Axel K. Olmos)
Subject: Trying to read an Atari St Gem-Dos disk on a Mac SE using FD/HD

FDHD to ST conversion.                            By Axel K. Olmos

     Thanks to countless miracles by Dave Small and his gang of
technological wizards, we are now able to run Macintosh software
on the Atari ST via Spectre 128.   Unfortunately,  the ability  to
run  Macintosh software doesn't mean you can just put a  Mac  disk
into  an ST drive and run Spectre- until the release of  the  GCR.
Before the GCR,  the options available for moving software to  the
ST,  were  few and painful.   You could send it through the  RS232
onto  a Spectre disk,  or use a  Translator,  which  unfortunately
wasn't  drastically quicker than the 9600 baud of the modem  port.
Then  Apple  came out with the FDHD,  which allowed  the  transfer
between  IBM  MSDOS 3.5" and Macintosh disks.   This  little  disk
drive was the answer to ST owners dreams.


     I assume you have access to the following:

     A double sided disk drive.  (Doesn't everyone?!)

     A Spectre.  (Not the GCR, if you have that you're set!)

     A MFS (Not HFS!) Partition on your hard disk with 720K free.
                                OR
     A  MFS formatted double sided disk.   (Note,  Spectre  double
sided  disk  are usually formatted HFS,  you will need  a  special
program to do this.)

     Transverter.  (This came with Spectre)

     A Macintosh with a FDHD.  (The new 1.44 meg Mac drive)

     Stuffit on the Macintosh and on the ST.


I  realize that is quite a large list.   Most Spectre owners  have
all of that except for the FDHD Mac.  This you will need to use at
your rich friends house.

Part 1: The Mac

     1.   Run Stuffit on the Macintosh.  Create a new archive on a
hard  disk or floppy,  and add whatever files you wish to port  to
the  ST  into it.   Be sure that the Archive gets no  larger  than
?710K or it will not fit on an MSDOS disk.  I'll assume you called
this archive the default, archive.sit.

     2.    Run  the Apple File Exchange program on the  Macintosh.
Format an MSDOS 720K disk.   Now Convert the archive.sit from  the
Macintosh disk to the MSDOS disk.


Part 2: The ST

     1.   If you have a hard disk with an MFS partition,  go to 2.

Otherwise,  get  a  hold of a utility which will format  a  double
sided HFS disk.

     2.   Run  Transverter.   Put  the MSDOS disk in drive  A  and
set  the  ST source drive to A:.   Set the destination  Mac  drive
to where ever your MFS disk or partition is.   When it asks you if
you  want to strip linefeeds,  say NO.   When it asks for  creator
name and type for both, say "SIT!".  (No quotes).  (I have heard reports
that if your ST is one meg or less, you will have trouble transverting
large files)

     3.    After  all your disks are converted,  run  Spectre  and
unstuff the files!


     Can't believe how easy that was?   Neither can I.  I stumbled
across that late one night when I had an ST an a IIcx in the  same
room.  It works like a champ.

     I  was  hesitant  in releasing  this  information  because  I
thought it might affect Spectre GCR sales.   When I realized  that
you must own a Spectre for this process to work, I forgot about my
worries.  While this process is easier than others, it is still an
inconvenience.  There is no better way to move Mac disks to the ST
than the Spectre GCR.   This is just to hold you over while  yours
arrives in the mail.


Have fun,
Ax.
(Special thanks to Frank and Clarence!)

P.S.  I  think if you format a disk on the Mac as MSDOS, then put it in
an ST, and copy ST files to it, then put it back in the mac, you might
be able to port ST files to the Mac...

[e-mail]
Axel K. Olmos        EECS/C       UC Berkeley       "But who can do more?"

------------------------------

Date: 31 Oct 89 17:03:37 GMT
From:
 gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!peregrine!ccic
pg!cci632!rit!ultb![e-mail]  (C.L. Freemesser)
Subject: which 5.25 drive on the ST?

I recently got a bunch of Zenith external 5.25 inch disk drives, and
got em to work on the ST.  Built in power supply and all.  REALLY
nice units.

Anyways, they use the Panasonic mechanism.  It is my opinion that 99%
of all 5.25 inch drives have a 150 OHM resistor on the +5V line.  No
matter what you get, chances are you will have to replace it with a
1K OHM.  It's pretty easy to do, just as long as you know which resistor
to replace.

By the way:  the 5.25 inch drives I mentioned are for sale.  Price is
$140 plus shipping.  Most are Zenith, but I have a few mixed brands
of external drives.  If interested, reply to one of the addresses below,
or call me at [phone] after 5pm EST.


Chris Freemesser, Rochester Institute of Technology | What I like :
BITNET: %clf3678@RITVAX   GEnie: C.FREEMESSER       | 1) My Atari ST
USENET: Just reply and hope it gets through         | 2) My '77 Mercury
Call the ACORN BBS [phone], 300/1200 baud     | 3) Coke Classic

------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 89 16:44:37 GMT
From: crash![e-mail]  (Diane Barlow Close)
Subject: WordPerfect for the Atari ST

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Richard E. Covert)
 writes:
>Yes, but do they support the Atari SLM804 laser printer?? That was my

Not only do they support the Atari SLM804 printer, but they also support
Ultrascript.
--
Diane Barlow Close
      ?nosc, ucsd?!crash!canada
      [e-mail]
      Free Canada -- Trade Mulroney

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 22:42:37 HST
From: [e-mail]

INDEX INFO-A16


------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Nov 89 22:46:43 HST
From: [e-mail]

SUBSCRIBE INFO-A16 Jack W. Wine


------------------------------

Date: Sun, 05 Nov 89 09:14:42 EST
From: [e-mail]

SUBSCRIBE INFO-ATARI16
REV INFO-ATARI16

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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V89 Issue #607
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