
     ICTARI USER GROUP             ISSUE 42                 January 1997

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                     *   m   a   g   a   z   i   n   e   *

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                       I C T A R I   U S E R   G R O U P
                  8 Denmark Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5PA
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                              INDEX FOR ISSUE 42
                              ==================

     ASSEMBLY        Long integer multiplication & division routines.
                     Date display program.
                     Virus detector program.

     C               Routine to enlarge section of screen.
                     Card game called Mountain.

     GFA             Encryption program.
                     Picture display program.
                     Fast variable text output routine.

     STOS            ACB loader program.
                     Slideshow tutorial Part 2.

     MISC            System variables list.
                     Resource file converter program.
                     Current membership list.

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   EDITORIAL
                                   =========
     A CHANGE OF EDITOR FOR ICTARI
     -----------------------------
     As I mentioned last month I  have  decided  to  step down as editor of
     ICTARI and I am pleased to say  that Giles Greenway has volunteered to
     take over as from next month. As  he  also runs the ICTARI WWW site he
     is well placed  to  co-ordinate  the  monthly  disks  and any InterNet
     messages, etc. From now on all correspondence and contributions should
     be sent to him at :-

             Giles Greenway
              8 Denmark Road
               Reading
                Berkshire
                 RG1 5PA
              E-mail  augeas@elis.demon.co.uk

     I am sure Giles will  do  as  good  a  job  as  I have (probably a lot
     better) and I would  also  like  to  thank  all  the  members who have
     expressed their gratitude for my efforts  over the last three years. I
     have enjoyed putting together the  disks  and  have  also learnt a lot
     about the Atari and programming in  the process. The number of members
     has declined somewhat over the  last  few  months, mainly defecting to
     the PC like me  I  suspect,  but  providing  the remaining members are
     prepared to contribute regularly I think  the group should continue to
     exist for quite a  while  yet.  Giles  tells  me  that there have been
     several enquiries via the Web site from various programmers around the
     world which may be a source of  programming material in the future, no
     doubt Giles will say more on that in later issues.

     Anyway, best wishes for the future to all ICTARI members, Peter Hibbs.

     MOUNTAIN GAME
     -------------
     In the C folder is a card  game  called Mountain which I could not get
     to work very well on my  machine  as  there  is not much help provided
     with it. The one thing that  may  be  of interest to some programmers,
     however,  is that there are two  Degas picture files which contain all
     the images  for  the  playing  cards  which  could  be  used  in other
     programs. Of course, you may  need  permission  from the programmer if
     you intend to publish a game that uses his graphics.
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 CORRESPONDENCE
                                 ==============
     To: ICTARI
     From: John Oakes

     Please find enclosed a disk with a piece for the Assembly section (see
     the SHOWDATE folder), I hope it will be useful. May I ask, can this be
     made into a ACC and how would I achieve this? Also is there any way of
     introducing a READERS AD section for anyone who wish to sell any Atari
     bits. I have noticed with the  last  two  Atari Computing mags none at
     all, maybe this is the policy of the company itself. "I don't know".

     Does anyone own a Falcon as I  am  very much interested in finding out
     what it is like to  work  with,  mainly  as  the only source is System
     Solution which is a little out of reach at the moment for a C LAB MK1.

     All the best in the future for the old ED and welcome to the new ED. I
     will still keep supporting ICTARI as long as it remains.

                     **** HAPPY AND EVENTFUL NEW YEAR ****

     */ Thank you. We usually  allow  any  member  to advertise Atari items
     although we don't,  of  course,  accept  any  responsibility  for such
     transactions.  ICTARI /*
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     To: Peter Hibbs
     From: Mrten Lindstrm

     Gemulator
     ---------
     Yes, Gemulator - even though  software  emulated  - certainly does run
     significantly quicker than a standard ST. I only have a 75 MHz Pentium
     myself on which it claims to be about  4 times faster than an ST (i.e.
     comparable to a standard TT).

     Actually, for all the negative things  that  can be said about the PC,
     its hardware really is very fast if  you  have been used to a standard
     old ST - and  even  to  a  Falcon  as  long  as  the  Falcon DSP isn't
     utilized. From  what  I  understand  the  hottest  Motorola processors
     (68060) still are  very  good  compared  to  the  Intel  ones but more
     expensive. So a software Atari emulator on  the  PC does make a lot of
     sense. This way you  will  immediately  benefit  from  the increase in
     Intel processor speed that has been realised only from the time when I
     bought my PC until the  time  when  you  bought  yours. And if/when we
     upgrade our PC processors we also  get  an upgrade of our emulated STs
     for free so to speak. (Only  one  of  the  four Atari emulators I have
     heard of on the PC is a hardware emulator - the Janus.)

     To: Pete Bailey

     I haven't  seen  _any_  interrupt  routines  that  themselves  disable
     interrupts. The  hardware  (MFP  and  processor)  should  normally  be
     capable of dealing with clashes. The  VBL interrupt - handled directly
     by the processor (unlike most  other  interrupts  that are handled via
     the MFP) - does use a semaphore variable though, in plain software, in
     order to stop it from interrupting itself.

     I haven't researched the inner workings  of  the GEM that much but you
     must certainly be right in that the  VDI interrupts are called as sub-
     routines from some other interrupt routine  (such  as the VBL I think;
     the GEM makes use of the first vector in the VBL vector list).

     Thanks for the appreciation of the poem :-). No, I don't know if I can
     come up with any further Swedish cultural gems.

     To: Internet users
     My new e-mail address is:-

             marten.lindstrom@swipnet.se
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     To: Pete Bailey
     From: David Preston

     I was interested to read that your mother used to use 'swiz', mine did
     too. Both the noun  'swiz'  and  the  verb  'sprag',  I  am pleased to
     report,  do  appear   in   my   dictionary   -   Webster's  Third  New
     International. Swiz (or swizz) as  you  know  means  a swindle but its
     origin is, apparently, unknown, while sprag  means to use a 'sprag' ie
     "a rod or shaft applied between the spokes  of a wheel of a vehicle to
     prevent rotation",  which,  if  you  picture  it  happening,  fits the
     situation I was trying to describe beautifully.

     By the way, although I don't have  Bill Gates' phone number, I believe
     his e-mail address is askbill@microsoft.com  or something similar. You
     tell him!

     To: Mrten Lindstrm

     Re - CAB / HTML

     Your description of HTML  in  Ictari  41  was most enlightening, thank
     you. Regarding CAB, it does work in  low-res  as you say, but at least
     the way I have it  configured,  doesn't  use  any  colours. I tried to
     create a document as  per  your  description,  with  some success, but
     found that, at least on a  bare  system  (ie  no GDOS or SpeedoGDOS or
     NVDI or  anything)  did  not  seem  to  display  the  idiomatic markup
     commands successfully. Any comments would be most welcome - is this my
     setup or CAB or what?

     To: *.*

     One crumb of comfort to those  of  us  staying with the Atari platform
     for the foreseeable future - there  are  some  bargains to be found if
     you keep your eyes open. I  wandered  into a 'Cash Converters' shop (a
     franchised second-hand dealers we  have  in  this  part  of the world)
     recently and you could pick up a pre-owned  ST for just 45 - they had
     3 on display. No need to be without at that price!
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     To: Peter and *.*
     From: Jim Taylor

     It is after much heart  searching  and  agonising  that I have finally
     decided to give up the Atari scene.  I  find that I am, less and less,
     using my trusty Atari in  favour  of  my  PC  system.   It is for this
     reason that I am putting my Atari gear on the open market.

     My Atari stuff consists of the following:-

     Hardware
     --------
             *       ST 520 enhanced to 4Mb
             *       270 Mb HD
             *       2 x 1Mb FD's
             *       SM124 mono monitor
             *       BASIC in ROM (Computer Concepts)
             *       Forget-me-Clock
             *       HP Deskjet 520 black & white inkjet printer

     Software (all originals)
     ------------------------
             *       Hisoft Lattice C++
             *       Hisoft BASIC
             *       Hisoft WERCS
             *       Hisoft Devpac
             *       Protext
             *       270+ disks with software too numerous to mention -
                     please call.

     Books
     -----
             *       Anatomy of the Atari ST
             *       Atari 3D Graphics
             *       Atari Programmers Reference
             *       Atari ST Graphics & Sound
             *       Working With the Atari ST
             *       Lattice C for the Atari ST (Metacomco)
             *       Introduction to C (Boris Allan)
             *       Atari ST Tricks & Tips
             *       Concise Atari 68000 Programmers Reference Guide
             *       Atari magazines going back to 1994 + ST Club magazines

     All offers will be considered.  I am  prepared to split up some of the
     gear (eg. the printer) but  other  stuff  I'd prefer to sell together.
     Please contact me on 0191 536 2165 with your offer.

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