Atari Bulletin Board / February 1990 / Atari Interface Magazine
by Bill & Pattie Rayl
 
ATARI CORP NEWS
---------------
  Atari reportedly made a good showing at the Winter CES in Las Vegas, NV.  In 
the  West  Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the  Lynx  and  California 
Games  was  being  displayed  with  the  help  of  two  bikini-clad  women  on 
rollerskates and a "day at the beach" backdrop. Meanwhile, back at the private 
suite  in  the Mirage Hotel, Atari was showing the Lynx, Portfolio,  2600  and 
7800 game machines and the ST.
  According to Andy Marken of Marken Communications, Atari's PR firm, Atari is 
projecting  1990  production  of  one  million  Lynx  machines  and  the  game 
development  system for the Lynx is now available for companies  intrested  in 
making games for the Lynx.
  Bob  Brodie, Atari's no-so-new-anymore user group manager, recently held  an 
online  GEnie  conference where he discussed his upcoming plans  (including  a 
vist with Michigan area user groups on Feb. 18) and other Atari happening.  It 
seems nearly unanimous that hiring Bob Brodie was the best thing Atari did  in 
1989.
 
THE STe
-------
  Canada has the STe and dealers have been selling them anywhere from $699  to 
$899  Canadian  (approximately $600 to $800 US). With built-in  Blitter,  easy 
memory upgrades using SIMM modules, full stereo sound capability and more, the 
STe is already a big hit in Canada, causing decreased sales of normal STs  and 
even Megas!
Reports  from dealers across the US indicate they have not been avle to  order 
520STs from Atari since mid-December. Some of these dealers indicated they had 
heard Atari would be dropping 520ST, although Atari has denied this. A handful 
of  dealers have also reportedly recieved word the STacy2 and  STacy4  laptops 
should be on their shelves in two to three weeks from this writing. That means 
dealers should, hopefully, be able to get them by the time you read this.
 
DEVELOPER NEWS
-------------
  MichTron  of Pontiac, MI, has announced availavility of the Fast  FAX  modem 
and  software, giving Group III FAX capability to any Atari ST.  The  software 
includes  a  phone directory that can store over 1000 company  names,  contact 
persons  and  FAX  numbers.  List price is  $699.  Contact  MichTron,  576  S. 
Telegraph Rd., Pontiac,MI 48053, (313)334-5700.
  Universal  Item  Selector  III  has been  released,  offering  a  number  of 
enchancements  over  previous versions, including an  UNDO  function,  movable 
window  allowing  users  to place the item selector anywhere  on  the  screen, 
ablitity to lasso multiple files and more. Retatl price is $24.95 and upgrades 
are  $5  +  $2S&H. Contact Application and Design Software, 120  NW  "E"  St., 
Grants Pass, OR 97526, (503)476-0071.
  Gribnif  has an upgrade to NeoDesk (version 2.05) with support for the  ST's 
"GEM  Pipeline." This allows special "NeoDesk Accessories" such as the  recent 
freeware NeoDesk Recoverable Trashcan (found on this month's AIM Disk).
The  Trashcan  will  store deleted files, which can  be  recovered  until  the 
Trashcan is "emptied," much like the Macintosh.
  Gribnif  has  also announced plans to release NeoDesk CLI,  a  command  Line 
interpreter in a GEM window (simialr to .ACCess! from Rock Digital) that  will 
utilize NeoDesk's capabilites to the fullest. Asso coming from Gribnif is  the 
NeoDesk  Developer's  Kit, so others can write NeoDesk Accessories.  For  more 
details,  contact Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 350, Hadley, MA 01035,  (413)584-
7887.
  Another contender in the "improve your ST desktop" arema should be  shipping 
by  the  time you read this. DC-Desktop from Double Click  Software  offers  a 
number of "desktop enchancements" and features similar to NeoDesk.  DC-Desktop 
can even use icons from NEoDesk and, since it isn't a desktop replacement, DC-
Desktop works in all resolutions and reportedly with no compatiblity problems. 
List  price  is $39.95 and owner of NeoDesk can get DC-Deshtop  for  $20  with 
original  NeoDesk  disk.  contact  Double Click  Software,  P.O.  Box  741206, 
Houston, TX 77274, (713)645-3759.
  PC  Ditto  II  has  been shipping in quantity  and  many  people  have  been 
experiencing  problems installing Ditto II in their machines. In  some  cases, 
because  PC Ditto II is a 4-1/2x7 inch board, reports are coming in  that  the 
board simply will not fit in some machines!
  Most problems, however, are occurring with the chip clip that is supposed to 
allow  solderless connection to the ST's 68000 chip. It seems the  clip  isn't 
giving a good, solid connection for many people. Owners who have soldered  the 
board inare reporting Ditto II work like a cham! Ditto II even has a Norton SI 
rating of 4.0, a 33% speed increase over the figures in Avant-Garde's original 
ads.  List  price  is  $299.95.  Dontact  Avan-Garde,  381  Pablo  Point  Dr., 
Jcksonville, FL 32225, (904)221-2904.
  Disgruntled  do-it yourselfers with no real hardware experience are  looking 
seriously  at  an alternative in Supercharger. Supercharger is a  harware  IBM 
emulator  from  Germany  that  plugs  in  to  the  ST's  DMA  port.  At  $399, 
Supercharger  is  a  bit  more expensive that PC DItto II  or  PC  Speed  from 
MichTron, but Supercharger doesn't require opening your ST and comes with  MS-
DOS  4.0. Contact Talon Technologies/Medionix,  243 N. Highway 101,  Ste.  18, 
Solano Beach, CA 92075, (619)755-8808.
  Beckemeyer  Development, makers of the MTC-Shell  multi-tasking  environment 
for  the  ST  has recently changed phone numbers. Their new  voice  number  is 
(415)530-9682.
  Ralph  Turner, author of "The Atari ST Book of Tips and  Instructions,"  has 
released  a new book entitled "Intermediate and Advanced Atari  ST  subjects." 
Written in Mr. Turner's concise and understandable style, this new book  helps 
the  ST owner get through ofter confusing topics such as hard disk  management 
and  optimization,  IBM emulation, building your own hard  drive  system  from 
scratch, sector and file editing and much more. In all, 158 pages of  valuable 
information.  List price is $16.95 + $2S&H. Contact Index  Legalis  Publishing 
Co.,P.O. Box 1822, Fairfield, IA 52556, (515)472-2293.
 
GAMES AND GAME ACCESSORIES
--------------------------
  Folowing closely on the heels of the original game, the Bloodwych Data  Disk 
#1  has  been  released by Mirrorsoft of the UK. As the game  story  goes,  by 
defeating the Dark Lord in the original Bloodwych game, you actually only sent 
him  back to his original plan of existance. Now, he's mad and transports  you 
to  his  turf  to  take his revenge. Although Mirrosoft has  not  found  a  US 
distributor, the Data Disk is available from many dealers of from mail  order. 
The  gest price I've seen as yet is $18.95 from Joppa Computer Porducts,  3909 
Pulaski Highway, Abingdon, MD 21009 (800)876-6040 for orders of  (301)676-1948 
for information.
  For  gamers  who  wnat  the  ability  and  freedom  of  one-handed  joystick 
operation,  like in the arcades, Duggan Dezign has released  Stik-Gripper.  An 
all-steel joystich clamp that secures your favorite joystick to a talbeltop or 
desk, Stik-Gripper is designed to fit a wide variety of joysticks and is built 
to  last.  A number of only users have been praising Stik-Gripper as  a  great 
bargain  at only $18.95 retail. Contact Duggan Dezign, 16 Oak Ridge Dr.,  West 
Warwick, RI 02893, (401)826-0140.
  On  a similar note, Canadian-based Advanced Gravis has begun shipping  their 
new MouseStick. This niffy product emulates both the standard joystick and the 
ST mouse. The MouseSTick support screen resolutions of 320x200 to 640x400  and 
allows  you  to customize a number of features via LCD menus.  List  price  is 
$129.95.  Contact  Advance Gravis Computer Technology Ltd, 7033  Antrim  Ave., 
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canda V5J 4M5, (800)937-0062.
 
ONLINE NEWS
-----------
  Z*Magazine,  Ron  Kovac's long time 8bit online  publication,  has  formally 
called  it quits, citing lack of new 8bit news and products as the  cause  for 
its  demise. ST*Zmagazine has also been discontinued and, in its place,  Z*Net 
Online  has  been  born.  As the name implies, it  is  the  online  complement 
to Kovac's Z*Net hardcopy user group newsletter supplement. With this  change, 
the  GEnie Z*Mag account is no longer active and all email on GEnie should  be 
addressed to the new Z-NET account.
  ST  Report has also undergone some format changes and has been  "reborn"  as 
CPU NewsWire, reflecting its support of multiple computer systems through  its 
CPU Report feature.
 
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                           A.I.M. February 1990
******************************************************************************
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