
                  *---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
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                     "The Original Online ST Magazine"
                      _______________________________


  August 04, 1989                                          Vol III  No.99
  =======================================================================
  
                         ST Report Online Magazine
                        __________________________
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                          Jacksonville,  Florida
                               32236 ~ 6672
  
                               R.F. Mariano
                            Publisher - Editor
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 > Issue: #99 STReport             The Online Magazine of Choice! 
   ------------------- 
     - The Editors' Podium                   - CPU REPORT
     - WOA - San Jose, CANCELLED!!           - GLENDALE ATARIFEST OFF!!
     - STAG VIRUS DISCOVERED                 - Populous, In Depth Review
     - Developers SEE 68030!                 - ST PLUS a MODULAR ST?
     - HOLOBYTE MESS WORSENS!                - Revolving Door Active
     - Price Club 520ST Sales                - ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL

          --== GADGETS BY SMALL COUNTER-SUES HAPPY COMPUTERS ==--
  
  =======================================================================
       AVAILABLE ON:      COMP-U-SERVE  ~  DELPHI  ~  GENIE  ~  BIX
  =======================================================================
    
 > The Editor's Podium
     The MEGA  ST, is  it destined  to become  another in  the long line of
 "almosts" in the Atari  stable of  really excellent  computers?  Certainly
 we, at  STReport, hope  the Mega  is around for a very long time.  (We own
 two!)

     Many folks say the Mega never lived up to the expectations of Atari as
 far as penetrating the business marketplace.  Actually, the penetration by
 the Mega into the  US business  marketplace would  have been  excellent if
 only Atari  had advertised  as they  said they would last year and perhaps
 changed the name on the Mega.  The  Atari name  was, as  it is  today, too
 closely associated to the "game machine" image and thus, gives credibility
 to the business marketplace being somewhat uneasy as  far as  investing in
 the Atari Mega ST as a serious business oriented computer.

     Atari is,  "according to  certain inside sources", planning to release
 some tumultuous, earth shattering  news very  shortly.   These revelations
 are alleged  to be extremely good news concerning the new line(s) of Atari
 Computers and the directions in which  Atari will  be going.   Considering
 all the  whispers of  the those  who would  like us to believe they "know"
 what's happening, to those at Atari who have nothing to say in response to
 questions from  almost all  areas, the level of expectation has never been
 higher.  Alas, as always with this type  of suspense,  come those  who are
 convinced that  there is  really nothing  happening and  thus the silence.
 They also eagerly point  out the  TOS 1.4  situation grinning  as they say
 "it's consistent alright, consistently late"!

     Once again,  we say  the time  is coming  close for  all to pay strict
 attention to the happenings at Atari,  things  are  beginning  to  fall in
 place as Atari begins to take it's rightful place in the U.S. Marketplace.
 The Company as a whole, despite itself and  certain folks  still there, is
 about to  begin a  massive effort as far as the US market is concerned and
 will certainly make it's presence known and felt nationwide.  

     There has been, of late, accusations levied at STReport of having gone
 to bed  with Atari!   HAH!   Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The
 bottom line is we are  digging  deeply  and  we  find  that  the positives
 outweigh  the  negatives.    Some  of  the  same old unsolved problems are
 seemingly "never ending" but they too are slowly  fading into  the sunset.
 Thankfully, at this time the positives outweigh the headaches.  

     We will,  in future  editions, be covering some of the old, unresolved
 problems in the userbase.  Like the old Chinon drive thing, (you know, the
 refresh problem?)  they are  still popping up but;  "all of a sudden" some
 "public relations expert" at Atari has  decided  to  no  longer  honor the
 Chinon swap-out!  Good Thinking!  Give that guy in Michigan the benefit of
 the doubt, it's the right thing to do!   Also,  covered elsewhere  in this
 issue, the  Price Club/Dealers thing ....nothing like pouring salt in old,
 unhealed wounds...So you added some dealers, wanna loose 'em just as quick
 as you put 'em on?

             To our readers;  thanks again for your support,

                                                    Ralph.....




                             "ATARI IS BACK!"

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 EDITOR NOTICE:
   
 Michael Arthur  is on  vacation.. The  Regular CPU Report will return next
 week.  In the meantime, Mike left this  passage for folks to ponder.

  The Staff of CPU Report believes that the  Transputer-based computer that
 Atari licensed  from Perihelion  Inc. in  England should  NOT be named the
 ATW, or Atari Transputer Workstation, for two simple reasons:

    1)  Contrary to opinions of a few,  the name  "Atari", at  least in the
 US, is commonly associated with Game/Entertainment/Arcade Machines.  It is
 NOT associated with sophisticated, powerful computers  having some  of the
 best capabilities in the industry.

       Since we  are owners  of Atari  ST's, we  in the  Atari ST community
 recognize Atari as being  makers of  quality computer  products.   But the
 general  US  population,  and  ESPECIALLY the serious workstation/business
 computer Industry, does NOT hold as high a regard for "Atari" computers as
 Atari ST owners do....

       As  such,  naming  Atari's  Transputer-based  workstation the "Atari
 Transputer Workstation" would CRIPPLE its chances of ever becoming half as
 popular in  the US  as the  Atari ST,  simply because its potential buyers
 would see that it was another "Atari", and simply shrug  it off  as a toy,
 or an  odd curiosity.  The Transputer would NOT be considered on the basis
 of its EXCELLENT and SUPERB capabilities,  but on  the past  reputation of
 Atari, its  manufacturer.   Many potential Transputer Customers would then
 refuse to buy the ATW, instead turning to Sun, who has a superb RISC-based
 machine in  the SPARCStation  1, because of Sun's better reputation in the
 workstation industry....

  2)  According to industry sources, the reason Atari did not use  the name
 "Abaq Transputer" as the name for its Transputer-based machine is that the
 name "Abaq" was already licensed by a Belgian Firm, and  Atari didn't want
 to pay to license it.

       Given that  Apple licensed  the name  "Macintosh", and given that it
 would probably not have cost Atari 67.3 Million  Dollars (the  price Atari
 paid for Federated) to license the name Abaq, why did Atari choose instead
 to give it a name which is not only simplistic, but actually would repulse
 many  potential  customers  from  purchasing it, because of their opinions
 about what Atari makes?

       One of the main reasons that  Commodore has  sold so  many Amigas is
 because they did not name it the "Commodore Plus" or the C-1000.  The name
 Amiga helped to differentiate the Amiga  computer from  the other products
 made by Commodore.  Apple did the same with the Macintosh....

       Since the  ATW is so very different from the rest of Atari's product
 line,  wouldn't  it  make  more  sense  to  give  it  a  name  that  would
 differentiate  it  from  Atari's  product  line?    Consumers  would STILL
 recognize that it was an Atari computer, so  the ATW  would help  to boost
 Atari's image  in the  US, and  would help "cure" the belief that the only
 thing that Atari makes is game Machines.

       BUT the main result of Atari  naming their  Transputer-based machine
 something that  didn't directly  associate it  with Atari itself, would be
 that potential ATW customers would not immediately shrink away from buying
 it because  of Atari's  "Game Machine"  image, but would approach the ATW,
 maybe at a SIGGRAPH or a COMDEX, see its capabilities, and then....

 After they  were  hopelessly  hooked  on  its  capabilities,  the business
 company would  see the Fuji symbol, realize that they liked the "Atari" so
 much, and want to buy it ANYWAY, regardless  of their  past misconceptions
 about Atari products....

 Also, the name, "Atari Transputer Workstation" sounds TOO MUCH like....

                   "Nintendo Transputer Workstation"....







   ____________________________________________________________________



 > POPULOUS STR Review     Bill takes a long hard look at this goodie!
   ===================



                              Populous--From Bullfrog and Electronic Arts
                              ===========================================


 by William Y. Baugh


 Have  you  ever  wanted  to  play  god?    To  be in total control of your
 believers lives?  Ever been  mad  and  wanted  to  take  it  out  by, say,
 flooding the  place (sound familiar?)?  Well, in Populous, a new game from
 EA (yes, you read right), you have the chance to live your dream.  You are
 a deity,  either good or bad, and you have total control over your people,
 land and nature.   The game,  simply put,  is, one  of numbers.   The more
 followers you  have, the more power you have to totally wipe out the other
 deity who would dare live on the same world as you.

 The game comes on a highly  protected disk  (no hard  drive use)  and once
 loaded, has  a great title screen with one flaw...it seems Bullfrog wanted
 to make it hard on you to make your selection  with the  mouse.   You see,
 the three  selections are at the lower right corner, the mouse initializes
 in the upper left corner and if you wait to  long or  miss on  your click,
 the game  goes into  an interesting demo, but not one that you want to see
 everytime you play.   The  three  selections  are  Tutorial,  Conquest and
 Custom.   The Tutorial  is just  as it  says; you have a set game with set
 moves from the manual to help you pick up on the game.  Custom I'll get to
 in a  while, we're  more interested  in Conquest  from the review point of
 view.

 Once selected, you are transported to Genesis, the first of  500 worlds in
 Populous.  On screen is a menu describing the parameters of this world and
 the abilities of each god.  The information tells you what the  terrain is
 (grass, desert,  rock and  ice), how you may build your land (up and down,
 only in one direction or not at all and also on what you may build; people
 or towns),  whether water  is deadly  or not  (helpful when/and if you are
 flooded), the number of followers  that  both  sides  start  with  and the
 computer (or other opponents) overall ability.  The computer is always the
 evil deity and starts  out very  weak.   As the  game progresses  and your
 experience grows, so does the computers.  How hard or easy a level will be
 is determined by the computers abilities (aggression and the rate at which
 its followers will settle) and the number of "special effects" it has.  On
 Genesis, you start out with all of the  effects (starting  from the lowest
 in  power  consumption  to  the  highest); build up-down, move papal icon,
 earthquake, swamp, knight, volcano,  flood and  armageddon.   The computer
 starts out  with none.   So,  the early  levels are  pushovers, but as you
 continually progress forward, more special effects are taken  from you and
 the computer  gains more  and also improves on his abilities.  Even though
 this sounds like a lot of information to swallow before you even start the
 game, you  ain't seen  nothing yet!   But  not to worry, most of this info
 becomes second hand and you'll only be glancing  at the  menu to  see what
 the terrain is and what effects you have for that world.

 Once you  press start,  the fun  begins!  You are taken to the closeup map
 and generally you are in the vicinity of your followers.  If not, there is
 the Book  of Worlds; an overview map that shows the Good followers as blue
 dots and the Evil ones as red.  Just locate the group of dots and click on
 them.   Another way to find them and also an extremely useful function are
 the View Icons.  You have one for the papal  magnet (your  cross; which is
 located near  your followers  at the  beginning), one for your knights and
 one for battles (if any are occurring).  These will take you  instantly to
 whichever one you choose, so you don't have to "hunt and peck."  The first
 thing you'll see when you get  to your  followers are  the structures they
 live in.   These  may range from a simple Tee-pee, to grass huts, to large
 castles depending upon the area of flat land available when  your follower
 (also called  'Walker') settled.     You can tell the settlements apart by
 the flag flying in front of them.  If it's blue, it's good; if  red, evil.
 This is  where all  the fun  and strategy  starts.   For your followers to
 reproduce, they  must be  in settlements.   Once  a settlement  is full, a
 walker emerges  and will  walk until he finds a suitable spot to settle or
 dies (this depends on a lot of factors; covered later).  Now,  the smaller
 the settlement,  the faster  a walker  will be  ousted, but its defense is
 weaker when attacked.  But the  larger the  settlement, say  a castle, the
 slower it  is filled  (populated), but its defense is MUCH better and your
 overall population will grow faster  in  castles  rather  than  in smaller
 settlements.  So at the beginning of the game, you must gauge the sizes of
 your settlements to the number of followers that you have so that you will
 grow faster  than the  evil steadily building larger and larger land areas
 for your followers to populate.   Your  followers  are  controlled  by the
 Influence Behavior  Icons.   These icons,  in conjunction with your leader
 (the guy walking  around  with  the  miniature  papal  magnet),  tell your
 followers what to do.  These icons are; go to papal magnet, settle, gather
 together and fight.  Each one covers a number of crucial aspects  that are
 critical for winning the game.

 Information on how the game is progressing is displayed in the upper right
 area of the screen.  There is a  shield, made  up of  four quadrants, with
 two long,  rectangular bars situated to the left and right.  The bars show
 the manna of good  (left)  and  evil  (right).    The  manna  is  a direct
 correlation of  the size of your population (remember, the more followers,
 the more power you have).  The shield  is actually  a blown  up version of
 the Query Icon that you may place on settlements or people (good or evil).
 In the quadrants they show what  it's attached  to, their  strength or how
 populated a settlement is, and technology level.  This comes in handy when
 your wanting to keep tabs on a particular person when  you are  not in his
 area or if your just interested in how evil is coming along.

 As your  strength grows,  you will  notice the  arrow on the bar that runs
 diagonally on the right will steadily move up to the right.   Displayed on
 the bar  are all of the special effects. The effects you may use are under
 the arrow and to the left.    You  control  these  effects  by  the Divine
 Intervention Icons  which line  the left of your control screen.  Each one
 requires the use an amount of manna; the amount gets  larger as  you go to
 the right on the bar.  You can cause some serious damage with these icons.
 The earthquake effect will cause a shake-up to occur in the area  you have
 chosen.   This will  affect all buildings in this area along with drowning
 people if water is fatal.  Swamping will create swamps  in any  flat area,
 in the  location that  you have  chosen.   Swamps may either be shallow or
 bottomless; meaning that you may remove a shallow  one by  just raising or
 lower the  land on  top of it.  The bottomless kind you must build all the
 way down to the water to get rid  of... a  large waste  of manna  and land
 area.   Knight...think of the terminator wearing old English armor and you
 have your knight.  He will  systematically  go  from  enemy  settlement to
 settlement and  kill the  occupants, then  torch the place (nice digitized
 sound there).  But, he is only as  strong as  you can  make him.   This is
 where  the  Influence  Behavior  Icons  play  a  prominent role.  When you
 knight, you make your leader the knight.  So to make your leader stronger,
 you click  on the  "go to  papal magnet" icon, there your leader will walk
 back and forth bumping in to the followers coming to the icon.   Everytime
 he bumps  into a  person, that  person becomes  part of the leader, adding
 strength to the leader.   After  a  few  minutes  of  this,  you  have the
 superman of  knights (he's  practically indestructible).  The next icon is
 Volcano  which  actually  builds  a  very  large  mountain  destroying all
 buildings in  the area you select, with stones thrown in.  Stones can only
 be removed if you dig down to the water.  To get rid of a volcano requires
 much manna  and it  also ruins a large chunk of land.  Flooding will lower
 the land one level, over the entire screen!  So  be careful  when choosing
 this effect  in that you will also flood yourself.  This is very dangerous
 weapon in the early levels when you are able to  build up  multiple levels
 and  the  computer  is  only  one  up  from the water.  The last effect is
 Armageddon.  This is the final match; when this is selected, you  can only
 sit  back  and  watch.    All  of  your  buildings disappear and only your
 followers remain.  They converge on  your leader,  creating a tremendously
 strong person.   This  person will then battle the evil leader, the victor
 will then win that level.  Once the game is won, depending upon your score
 will dictate how far you will advance to your next level (ala Sentinel).  

 As you  play and  gain experience,  you will  learn the  role that terrain
 plays in each level.  You normally cycle through the  terrains as follows:
 Grass, desert,  snow and  ice, rock and stone.  Grass level is the easiest
 in that your walkers can walk  for quite  a while  without dying.   In the
 desert and ice, there is a very limited range that your walkers may travel
 before they buy the farm.  Rock is  a bit  more difficult  than grass, but
 having all the stones laying around makes up for its better climate.

 This is a very tight, complete and graphically pleasing game.  All aspects
 of the game are covered, right down to your walker tapping his  foot while
 he waits  for you  to build  land or  if you accidentally trash his house.
 The game has a Custom creator that  will  allow  you  to  design  your own
 levels and  you may  even play  over the  modem! (It  plays great a 2400!)
 Take my word for it,  if  your  looking  for  a  fun,  strategy  game, get
 Populous...you'll love it!  

 Next week, some helpful hints on playing Populous.





   _______________________________________________________________________



 > VIRUS STR Spotlight    Certain disks from Dearborn found infected.
   ===================




 This  article  first  appeared  in  the  August  NEO  STAG news and may be
 reprinted so long as it is  not modified  in any  way and  this preface is
 included in the reproduction.




                                                  NEO STAG STRUCK BY VIRUS!
                                                  =========================



 Origin unknown ... members seek help

 Copyright  1989  W.D. Parks and Chet Walters


     There's a trojan afoot in the Atari community!  Beware!  Write protect
 all your diskettes NOW!   This  trojan  'virus'  spreads  without  any ill
 effects, unbeknownst to you or anyone who comes in contact with you, until
 it's too late!  You can spread it  as innocently  as giving  your friend a
 disk full  of pics  to look  at.  We have found this beastie on commercial
 disks, magazine disks, club disks, and many more.  No disk is safe.  Check
 all your disks!
  
     What first alerted the Wiz to the fact that all was not right with the
 world' was when I wrote an executable boot sector to  the floppy  in drive
 A: with  DC Formatter.   The boot sector was to bypass the hard drive auto
 boot and execute the auto folder on the floppy instead  of the  one on the
 hard drive.   I  copied a  few files to the disk and rebooted the machine.
 Alas!  The executable boot did not work  as advertised.   So,  I wrote the
 boot sector  again.   Again it  did not work.  Hmmmmm.... it always worked
 before.  Let's get DiskDoctor to take a look.

     Ok, the $60 BRAnch looks alright.  The $38 offset looks ok.  Let's see
 what's there.  Yikes!  This ain't no  bypass!   And why  does the 'Dclick'
 that DC  formatter always writes to the disk now say "00 00 00 00 c k"????
 Hmmmm..... So, just for a lark, I ran a virus detector program and checked
 the  disk.    LO!    A  virus!    Type  1.  Known! Yikes again!  There was
 something there overwriting the  boot sector  and spoiling  the hard drive
 bypass routine.  What? 
  
     In closer examination, we found a routine that is explained in greater
 detail later  in this  article.  However, we must first emphasize that the
 programs mentioned above had absolutely  NOTHING  to  do  with  the virus.
 They were  as innocent  as we.  They were victims.  This trojan is all too
 easily passed around.  All one needs do is boot with a  disk infected with
 this  virus  and  any  disk  placed  in  the  drive thereafter will become
 infected whether it is read or written to  and disks  that need  their own
 boot sector  to work properly will be destroyed.  If the drive motor spins
 for any reason -- ESC pressed to update  the window,  a file  copied to or
 from it,  a program calls up the file selector, just open the window -- it
 gets infected.  This trojan  can  spread  rather  quickly  throughout your
 system, your club, your community in this way.

     The  virus  itself  seems  only floppy oriented, infecting only floppy
 disks, but  the KEY  DISK might  just do  more harm  to a  hard drive than
 anything else. 
  
     I discovered  the culprit  late Wednesday night (7-26-89) but was very
 occupied Thursday getting ready for a short vacation so I  had little time
 for an  extensive investigation.   I  did, however, sound the alarm to the
 other members of the club.  In the limited time I did  have, I  found that
 nearly 50  of my  disks were infected.  Others of our club found more than
 that in their library, others not  so many,  but one  fact is  clear -- it
 seems that  EVERYONE in  NEO STAG  is infected.   I  spoke to  a friend in
 Cleveland and mentioned it.  He called me back an hour later and said he'd
 found numerous disks in his library infected as well.  

     A friend  of his had two disks from the WOA show in Michigan that were
 infected and the man insisted that he had not written  nor read  the disks
 without the  write protect  tab in  place which  means that the disks came
 from the show in  their present  ill condition.   This  little beastie may
 well be very wide spread and a real threat to the entire Atari community.

     Whether this  trojan is  an old  one that has resurfaced, or a new one
 that's newly circulated we can't  tell.    In  perusing  the  reports from
 various members  of our group, we seem to think that we first got infected
 here in early spring 1989.  Judging from  the disks  infected and scouring
 our memory,  it seems  disks not  placed in the drive since March or April
 are 'clean,' but many of those used after that time are dirty.  This  is a
 standard trojan  that spreads  silently and waits for a key disk to set it
 off.  We haven't found the key disk.  We want you to help.  Here's all the
 information we  care to  release about this little beastie (if we give out
 any more there may  be some  unscrupulous individuals  at large  who could
 create and spread their own variety of key disk for this trojan).  
  
     The lion's  share of  the digging was done by Dr. Bob.  Because of his
 unique investigative skills and the fact that I was leaving for a four day
 hiatus at  Virginia Beach,  I turned  the 'dirty  work' over to him.  This
 Trojan program seems to have come  into it's  'hazardous' phase.   Dr. Bob
 calls this a trojan because that is what it is. It is not a virus.  In Dr.
 Bob's inimitable style of phrase:  "A virus is a  glorified term  given to
 personify and  to create  a mystique  for a  simple off-color, fornicating
 device; to wit:  a program that will damage your diskettes. These kinds of
 programs do not deserve ANY public relations other than jail sentences. So
 let's snip the 'hero cult' where it can't have any  offspring! (preferably
 with something rusty!)" 
   
 Dr. Bob's findings: 
 The Trojan program that we have here is sometimes called TYPE 1. 
  
                      IDENTIFIABLE CHARACTERISTICS: 
 At the  very beginning of the boot sector the first 6 bytes are hex codes:
    

                         $60,$38,$00,$00,$00,$00 
   
     the $60 ........ BRAnch instruction of self booting disk (normal)  
     the $38 ........ tells offset to which to BRAnch (normal)  
     the 4 zeroes.... There should usually be something! (abnormal)  
  
 NOTE: 
 Many self booting disks or disks with executable boot routines  built into
 them have  the $60 $nn sequence as the first word of the boot sector.  The
 $60 is a flag which tells TOS to execute the routine at the $nn  offset in
 the buffer.   Disks  with these  codes are not always trojanized, they are
 simply boot-disks.  Indeed, these are the very codes that  alerted the Wiz
 to the  trojan since  the second byte had been modified so the 'bypass HD'
 boot routine wasn't executing.  The two trailing zero words (4 zero bytes)
 are the quick identifier of the trojan in this case. 
  
                           IMMEDIATE SYMPTOMS: 
 Few to speak of, other than all floppies get this auto boot sector written
 to them  if the  trojan is  hooked into  the system.   It's  a sneaky one,
 writing itself  to all disks accessed in either floppy drive while you are
 unaware except that you might notice a slowdown in floppy access time.  
  
                            PURPOSE OF TROJAN: 
 To duplicate itself on all diskettes and to wait for a key disk. 
  
                            DAY IN THE LIFE:  
 This trojan is started by placing a diskette that contains  the viral boot
 sector on it into drive A: and booting the machine which causes the trojan
 to wedge itself into the  operating  system's  HDV_BPB  vector... pointing
 that vector  to itself.  Hence forth,  any calls to read a new floppy will
 pass through this new vector.  Hard drive owners are not immune  since the
 ST always  reads the  boot sector  in floppy drive A: first and executes a
 'flagged' boot sector that starts with the BRAnch instruction. 
   
 After it's 'hooked in', the trojan first calls the old vector then, before
 returning to say... the desktop or PageStream or whatever program accessed
 the disk, it will sneak a peek at the boot sector.   If it  doesn't find a
 $60 $38  as the  first two bytes it then knows there's a clean disk in the
 drive and proceeds to copy itself to that diskette's boot sector.  This is
 done before  the diskette has stopped spinning from the initial valid call
 so no one's any the wiser.  It then  simply falls  through to  the calling
 program which first accessed the diskette and all proceeds as normal.  But
 the work is done!  If the diskette accessed wasn't write-protected it will
 now have the trojan on it! 
  
 That's what it does if it finds no $60 $38 as the first word.  However, if
 it FINDS the $60 $38 already there THEN we got some action going.  It will
 check the diskette's 'identity' at offset 2 and later at 4 looking for the
 code $10 $xx (again, we won't tell you exactly what this 'ID number' is so
 there won't be anyone else making KEY DISKS for this trojan other than the
 original SOB that started it) immediately  following the  $60 $38.   If it
 finds the $10 $xx it knows that:
   
                          THIS IS THE KEY DISK! 

 It then goes through a little song and dance that can only be explained as
 "The Trojan's Author's need to check to make sure his routine worked."  It
 checks the  next two  bytes also  and compares  them with  itself.  If the
 keydisk's number is larger than itself it acts!
   
                 Now.... remember the identifying marks? 
                            60 38 00 00 00 00?
  
 EVERYTHING is going to be  bigger  than  0000!    Right?    So  why bother
 checking? I  told you why!  The programmer wanted to test it and not write
 over his own key-disk by accident....  
     
 What does it do now?  That is a very good question.  It  does whatever the
 key-disk  tells  it  to  do  since  the key disk has an entirely different
 routine residing at the offset BRAnched to and  THAT is  where this little
 trojan jumps  to when it finds the key-disk.  It RUNS the key disk program
 (which appears to anyone viewing  the  diskette  as  though  it  were just
 another auto boot program; but now we know better!)  It could do something
 as innocuous as print  a "hello  world" message  on the  screen and return
 your system  to you.  It could also do something as harmful as zeroing all
 the directories on your hard drive!
     
 So that's the key-disk to look for.  It will have $10 $xx at the 3rd & 4th
 bytes in the boot sector (offset 2,3) right where the first two zeroes are
 on the trojan. It would look like: 

                         $60 $38 $10 $xx $nn $nn 

 If the "$nn $nn" also contain zeroes then the key disk will be dormant....
 maybe............  
  
 If you  encounter the key disk, DO NOT erase it!  Send us a copy so we can
 dig in there and find out first: what this sucker  is supposed  to do when
 it  executes  and  second:  identify  the  SOB  that  started  this  thing
 circulating!  Send to 

                                 NEO STAG
                                 PO Box 45
                             Girard, OH 44420.

                          You will be rewarded. 
  
     So, what do you do to  prevent this  virus spreading  if you  have it?
 You  can,  of  course,  get  hold  of  a virus detector/killer program and
 examine all of your disks.   We can't  recommend a  particular program for
 you because  our bylaws  forbid it.  You see, the members of NEO STAG will
 not purchase, donate for, publish the name of, nor support in any  way any
 single virus  detector/killer program  on the  premise that  the author of
 such a program is not above  first  releasing  the  virus  eradicator then
 subsequently releasing  the actual virus the program is designed to detect
 and kill thereby creating a demand for the  original virus detector/killer
 program.   That's that,  though we  can say  that there are some out there
 that will detect and kill this trojan effectively.   We  can recommend you
 use a  simple sector  editor and  look for  the patterns described in this
 article.  If you find the pattern, you  can kill  the trojan  by writing a
 single  zero  byte  to  the  very  first byte of the boot sector. However!
 Don't overwrite ALL disks that have the $60 as the first byte.  If  it's a
 known boot  disk (game,  executable boot,  etc.) then DON'T overwrite that
 $60 or the disk will be destroyed.  Look for the trailing  zero bytes like
 you see  in the  illustration, then  you can  feel comfortable killing the
 virus with the zero byte.  The best way to prevent yourself from getting a
 virus is  to always  keep the  write protect  tab in the open position and
 always boot with a disk you know is clean.  Again, if you find a disk with
 the `KEY' sequence, make a copy and send it to us.  We want to see it!








    ___________________________________________________________________



 > HOLOBYTE - MESS?? STR FOCUS   When is SH going to clean up it's mess?
   ===========================


                                                       AS THE WORM TURNS
                                                       =================


 by Peter Szymonik


     Back when XORG and STReport said that Gilamn  Louie's 'slander letter'
 would hurt  the ST more than anyone cared to realize, most folks seemed to
 turn a deaf ear to the entire matter, like they were yearning  it would go
 away!  Well, the whole "schmear" is back!   Right smack in ALL our faces!!


     Below, we humbly present  just two  of what  we are  sure is  just the
 surface of  this quagmire  generated by Mr. Louie's smear campaign against
 the Atari ST and it's userbase in < the computer and gaming press. >

 By the way...

 We never did see that retract that was promised in the CO  with Gilman and
 ...we have looked everywhere...

 Exhibit A:
 ---------

 CHESS LIFE
 August 1989 issue

 United States Chess Federation
 186 Route 9W
 New Windsor, New York 12550

 Page 23, Article:  What's New in Chess Software
                    by Eric Schiller

                      "CHESSBASE II IS HERE AT LAST!

     ChessBase is at work on a Mac version - though it probably will not be
 ready for a long time, and it seems they have  finally realized  the truth
 about the Atari.  So (at present) - go with MS-DOS for that program.  I am
 sure that they will continue to support the  Atari, but  slumping sales of
 that machine  are not likely to produce major improvements.  In any event,
 MS-DOS is the best operating system  of the  three for  portable machines,
 and it is clearly useful to be able to take the program along when playing
 in major events."

 Background: 
     ChessBase is  one of  the most  powerful chess programs and databases.
 Mr Schiller obviously shows up  his  pro-MS-DOS  bias  and  has apparently
 never heard  of the  Stacy given his portability comments.  Not only that,
 but Mr Schiller also apparently has access to Atari sales  records that no
 one else has seemed to be able to get a hold of!  

     I would like to know where Mr Schiller gets his information that sales
 of the ST are 'slumping', in New York there are selling ST systems as fast
 as they  arrive.  Not only that, but ChessBase is also widely used by many
 GrandMasters - who use  the program  on the  ST in  Europe -  where it was
 first introduced.  In fact Gary Kasparov, the current World Champion, uses
 a Mega 4 for his Chess data storage and has pushed for  the sale  of Atari
 computers in the Soviet Union to further chess in that country!


 Exhibit B:
 ---------

 The Wargamer Magazine
 July-August 1989 issue
 Vol. 2 Number 14

 Wargamer & Moves Magazines
 P.O. Box 1289
 Salinas, CA 1289


 Page 62, Article: The Not-So-Jolly Roger
                   by Dick and Lisa Volher

             An article on software piracy and its effects....

     "The problem  results from  people who  abuse their rights to [sic] by
 making a copy for somebody else, somebody who didn't buy  the game.   Lost
 sales due  to piracy  are a  major problem in all segments of the software
 industry.  Indeed, piracy appears to be the  primary factor  in the demise
 of the Atari ST."                                                 ======


 Huh???  OUR machines are 'demised?  Atari is 'demised'??  Due to piracy??

 Wonder  where  these  people  could  possibly have gotten this information
 from?  Mr Louie??  Any guesses on this one???

 These are extracts from only two magazines out of HUNDREDS that are
 out there.... In leaving you to make your own assumptions, the addresses
 of both magazines aren't listed there for idle exercise.....<<hint>>



 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 NOW, a copy of my reply to the Wargamer article...

     I'd like to  address  a  comment  made  in  your  "Inside Perspective"
 article in issue nr. 14.  The article addresses software piracy, and while
 Dick and Lisa Volhers do a  good  job  of  addressing  the  issue,  I must
 challenge their comment that "... piracy appears to be a primary factor in
 the demise of the Atari ST."

     Not only is this statement untrue, but I challenge the Volhers to back
 up their claim that  the Atari  ST is  a 'demised'  computer!   While IBM,
 Apple,  and  Commodore  have  concentrated solely on the American personal
 computer market,  Atari has  targeted the  global computer  market and has
 done extremely  well.   The Atari  ST line  happens to be THE best selling
 computer in many European and Asian countries, outselling all others.   In
 the field  of MIDI music applications, the Atari ST outsells the MacIntosh
 by a factor of 3:1 according to MacUser magazine!

     It is  true that  Atari has  not marketed  the ST  aggressively in the
 United States,  but Atari has targeted this as the year they return to the
 American personal computer market  and already  many print  and television
 ads  for  the  ST  are  starting  to  appear  on  major  cable  and  local
 metropolitan television networks.  Atari's goal for the end of  1989 is to
 be selling  over 60,000  computers per  MONTH in  the United States and if
 sales in the New  York Metropolitan  region are  any indication,  Atari is
 well on the way towards achieving that goal.

     To highlight  Atari's success, Atari stock has been steadily rising in
 value since the Crash of 88 and Atari stock is consistently in the top ten
 most active issues traded on the AMEX exchange.  The Volhers would also be
 interested to know that Atari has been listed in Fortune magazines top 500
 companies for  the past three years and currently sits at 400, up from 484
 in the previous year - again, hardly a sign of 'demise.'

     I kindly ask that you print this response in The  Wargamer or  ask the
 Volhers to  kindly provide  their facts to back their claims.  Unless they
 can I'm afraid that their remarks are something short of slander against a
 computer line which apparently they know little or nothing about.

     Their comments  serve only to anger ST owners in the United States who
 decided  to  invest  wisely  in  a  machine  that  offers  both  color and
 monochrome displays  that pale  standard MS-DOS and MacIntosh set-ups at a
 fraction of  the cost.   Not  to mention  that with  two very in-expensive
 third-party hardware  add-ons the  ST can  run BOTH MS-DOS *AND* MacIntosh
 software (with Macintosh  software  actually  running  faster  under Atari
 emulation that on a real Mac Plus!)

                                                       Thank you,
                                                       Peter T. Szymonik


 EDITOR NOTE:

 Gilman Louie, CEO - Spectrum Holobyte, promised to all of us in attendance
 during the last Online Conference with him and Spectrum Holobyte that they
 would "indeed" send letters of a "different" nature to the same people who
 had received their "hateful" accusation letter.  FOR  THIS WE WAIT.....AND
 WAIT..... AND REMEMBER.

 Plainly said,  the Atari userbase is NOT to be taken lightly, SH threw mud
 all over us, yes all of us, and now, SH must rectify  this gross injustice
 once and  for all.   Please  bear in  mind, that with the new products and
 increased Atari visibility on the horizon, it would be a  wise and prudent
 decision  to  make  every  reasonable  effort  to  nullify the bad name SH
 bestowed upon the Atari ST users en masse.





  _______________________________________________________________________



 > PRICE CLUB DEAL  STR FOCUS   A lesson in "how to irk dealers"!
   ==========================


                                          PRODUCT BLOWOUT EFFORT BUNGLED!
                                          ===============================

 by R. F. Mariano


     It has been stated that it  was ATARI's  idea to  call the  520ST that
 Price Club  is selling the 'ST Super Game Machine'.  They even packaged 20
 free game programs with the  system.      We  (the  userbase)  spend years
 convincing  people  that  the  ST  is  not  a  'game'  machine and Atari's
 marketing "genius" destroyed those efforts in one fell swoop!

     The real rub is the short shrift the dealers received  as a  result of
 this factory  dump through  the Price Club.  It appears the dealers (most)
 are paying more money than the sales price over the counter at Price Club!

     Price Club is selling the 520 ST w/D/S drive for 349.95!!  The average
 dealer is paying 400.00 for the same machine from Atari.  Picture  this if
 you will,  the dealers call their respective representatives and find that
 they (the  sales reps)  are authorized  to offer  a 50.00  per machine, in
 inventory or ordered, credit to "try and make amends".  

     Folks,  this  type  of  hindsight  is  a  trademark of those who would
 attempt to "right a serious wrong".  It  is insufficient!   Consider this,
 the dealer  pays shipping,  added to that the 350.00, (adjusted cost), and
 once again the dealer  is up  over the  SALE price  of the  520ST at Price
 Club.

     Since the  Price Club  deal has  all the  earmarks of  a factory dump,
 there is a silver lining here -> the recognition factor.  The sad part is,
 "whatever good  comes from  this dump  will be forever overshadowed by the
 bungled "price protection" for Atari's loyal dealer base.  No  wonder many
 past  dealers  use  expletives  aimed  at  the Sunnyvale Sales & Marketing
 Comedy Shop.  Actually, we are not against Atari using the "mass marketer"
 to spread the "joy" around, we are dead set against the dealers being left
 out in the cold!!  They should have been offered this plum too!

     Then  there  are  those  who  will  say  the  machine,  (520STF),  has
 insufficient memory  to be  a serious  machine and does not sell well.  We
 say they are talking through their hats, why?  Well,  most of this type of
 "experts" look only at what they want to see and, most often, that's quite
 limited.  The 520 STF still  is sold  in respectable  numbers on  the east
 coast.   In fact,  it is (was) a good income earner for dealer offered, in
 the field upgrades.  Again...  Atari should  have allowed  it's dealers at
 this trough ..and at the same pricing.





  _____________________________________________________________________  



 > WAACE ATARI FEST STR NewsPlus   Usergroups helping Atari and the users.
   =============================




            Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts (WAACE)
                          Fifth Annual Atarifest 
                  Scheduled for October 7th and 8th, 1989


     The Washington  Area Atari  Computer Enthusiasts (WAACE) has announced
 that the fifth annual Washington  D.C.  area  Atarifest  will  be  held at
 Fairfax High  School, 3500  Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday
 and Sunday, the  7th  and  8th  of  October.    Atarifest  is  a computing
 exposition featuring  the Atari  line of  personal and  home computers, as
 well as the complete  line of  entertainment systems.   The  show features
 educational   seminars   covering   nearly   all   areas   of   computing;
 demonstrations of various applications of Atari  computers, including MIDI
 music,  desktop  publishing,  and  entertainment; and exhibits by software
 publishers and hardware manufacturers  showing the  latest developments in
 the Atari world.  In the past, representatives from Atari Corporation have
 been on hand to answer questions and provide assistance.

     This year's theme is "The Atari Alternative," and the goal  is to show
 how Atari  computers can  be used  in business  and in  the home.  It will
 include demonstrations of both  eight-bit (400/800/XL/XE)  and ST software
 and hardware.   Whether  for creative  endeavors, helping with some of the
 household paperwork, or just to have fun, the organizers of  Atarifest '89
 intend  to  show  how  the  "Atari  Alternative"  can  meet and beat other
 computer systems in its class, and why Atari Corporation's motto is "Power
 Without the Price."

     WAACE  is  a  confederation  of  Atari  user  groups  in the Maryland,
 Virginia, and Washington, D.C.  area,  each  dedicated  to  supporting the
 Atari community  in their  respective areas.  Atarifest is co-sponsored by
 the  Fairfax  County  (Virginia)  Public  Schools'  Office  of  Adult  and
 Community Education,  and the  emphasis has  always been  on educating the
 public about computers and their uses.  The 1985 Washington  Atarifest was
 one of  the first  such shows,  which are  now held in more than 10 cities
 across the nation.

     Atarifest has grown in  popularity, attracting  thousands of attendees
 each year.   This year, organizers hope to attract over 5,000 people.  The
 show is open to all persons  who have  an interest  in computing,  and the
 FREE ADMISSION and hourly door prizes (including an Atari hard disk drive)
 encourage attendance by those who may not yet own an  Atari computer.   It
 is especially  designed to  have something  of interest for everyone, from
 diehard Atarians to mainframe systems managers to computer neophytes.

     Fairfax High School is located  at  3500  Old  Lee  Highway,  just off
 routes 29  and 50  in Fairfax,  Virginia.   The school can conveniently be
 reached from the Vienna Metro station (Orange line) by taking  the Fairfax
 Cue bus.   Hours  of the show are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, and
 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.  Most user group demonstrations  will be
 conducted on  Saturday only.  For further information, call John Barnes at
 (301) 652-0667. 
   
                     For further information contact:

                    Gary Purinton       (703) 264-8826
                    John Barnes         (301) 652-0667

                          Vendors should contact:

                    Johnna Ogden        (703) 450-3992.




   _____________________________________________________________________



 > Becker CAD  STR Review   Bill Pike does another fine review.
   ======================


                                                 Design it Yourself
                                                 ==================


 by Bill Pike (PAC)

     This  program  is  a  fully  implemented  CAD  (Computer Aided Design)
 program.  The  original  program  is  German  and  is  a  translation into
 English.   This comes  to us from the good people at Abacus Software.  The
 suggested retail price for BeckerCAD is  $395.00 and  includes 5 libraries
 of Symbols  & Objects.   If  you were to purchase this type of program for
 the IBM-PC or clone you would be paying from $800 to $2000  min.   This is
 another reason to buy Atari.

     The program  REQUIRES 1  MEG OF MEMORY and TOS IN ROM, 2 meg is needed
 for  larger/more complex drawings, it also   REQUIRES A  DOUBLE SIDED DISK
 DRIVE,   a hard  disk is suggested but it is optional.  Printers supported
 are the Epson LQ, Epson FX, Atari SLM804, NEC P5/6/7,  Apple Laser Writer,
 HP-GL  plotters,  Epson  HI-80  plotter,  Post  Script  PS-A3  Driver  for
 typesetters.   The program  also uses GDOS so if you put it on a hard-disk
 you will  need   to load  the correct ASSIGN.SYS file, I would suggest the
 program G+Plus from Codehead Software to do this task.

     The BeckerCAD is mostly mouse and icon driven.   The  program supports
 from 1  to 300 different transparent layers that can be overlapped, as you
 wish, for the final printout.  There are 2 sets of 20 drawing icons  for a
 total of  40 drawing  icons including,  but not limited to; various lines,
 arcs, circles, elliptical arcs,  ellipses, concentric  circles, concentric
 ellipses, parallel  lines, rays,  as well  as freehand  drawing. There are
 several line sizes, pen  sizes, and  types of  lines supported  as well as
 many textures,  for filling  in objects.   The  drop down menus as well as
 hot-keys are included and greatly speed  up  your  usage  of  the program.
 There is  also a  MACRO LANGUAGE that can be programmed in and MACROS that
 can be used to  greatly speed  up various  drawing routines  that are used
 often.  Four different lettering fonts are also supported.  

     You  also  have  the  option  of  snap to grid for your object/drawing
 placement.   The program  comes with  a library  disk with  5 libraries of
 objects, symbols, including; Electronic Components, Electrical Technology,
 Electrical Installation,  Hydraulic  &  Pneumatic,  Architectural Symbols.
 These libraries  are normally  sold separately, at a pretty fair price, as
 an addition to most CAD Programs.  You can also  create and  save your own
 symbols/objects in your own symbol libraries.     

     If you  have the idea that this program can do just about anything you
 ask for it to do except make the pizza and  popcorn you  are right.   I am
 very  impressed  with  this  program,  as  if you haven't figured this out
 already.  The program can do anything from laying out a screwdriver design
 to designing  a house and landscaping.  The output is a standard blueprint
 including dimensioning and all other measurements including arc and angle 
 descriptions, the drawings are all to scale and you can select the scale.

     As I said before, this system can output to dot-matrix printers, laser
 printers,  and  plotters.    It  works  with  all  standard size drawings,
 including european sizes.

     The program has many features that I just don't have room to  write or
 time to  divulge at the present time.  You really have to see this program
 to believe it. 

     This is a rather expensive program to purchase unless you  have a need
 for it,  ie:  I wouldn't purchase it just to play around with it.  However
 it can really save you lots of time and lots of money if you  have need of
 it, no  more erasing and redrawing just pick the layers you want to use on
 the final drawing or make several drawings using different layers.

     In other words don't expect  it  to  do  the  same  job  a  $25,000 to
 $2,000,000 system  can do  but it sure beats the heck out of any other CAD
 for a personal computer.


 Editor Note:

     The reviewer who wrote the  above  article  has  done  a  nice  job of
 describing Becker  CAD and  it's various  features.  There is, however,one
 point to be made here, and  that is;   although  he is  quite enthusiastic
 about this  program, we  find it hard to believe that he has performed in-
 depth comparisons all the CAD programs available for the Atari ST computer
 line.  

     For  this  reason  ,  we  announce  that in the next few weeks we will
 present a comprehensive review of ISD's DYNACADD.   We feel,  in so doing,
 we present  to the userbase the opportunity to observe the finer points of
 a few of the many programs available for the ST.





  ______________________________________________________________________



 > Atari Stock ~ STReport    Watching them go up and go down!
   ======================


                                                   THE TICKERTAPE
                                                   ==============


 by Glenn Gorman



    Atari Stock dropped 1/4 of a point on Monday, up 1/8 on  Tuesday and up
 3/4 on  Thursday. Finishing  up the  week at  8 3/4  points. Down 7/8 of a
 point from last Friday.

    Do to circumstances beyond my control,  I  did  not  get  a  report for
 Wednesday, July 26.


                                                            Glenn Gorman

                          +---------------------+
                          |  ATARI STOCK WATCH  |
                          | Week 07-24 to 07-28 |
 +=======+==========+===========+=============+============+=============+
 |       |  Monday  |  Tuesday  |  Wednesday  |  Thursday  |  Friday     |
 +-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
 | Sales |    1024  |      748  |       ----  |       4016 |    1139     |
 +-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
 | Last  |   7 5/8  |    7 3/4  |      -----  |     8 3/4  |   8 3/4     |
 +-------+----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+
 | Chg.  |    -1/4  |     +1/8  |       ----  |      +3/4  |    ----     |
 +=======+==========+===========+=============+============+=============+
 | From > THE CAVE ST BBS <> 609-882-9195 <> 300/14400 HST <> F-NET #351 |
 +========================================================================


 An analyst's viewpoint or a casual buyer??

   A point or two to ponder concerning the STOCK MARKET AND ATARI......


             Will the Time-Warner Merger affect ATARI stock? 


     Although Time and Life, Inc. has no relation to ATARI Computers, Inc.,
 the merger  between Warner Bros. and Time will affect the short-term value
 of ATARI stock.

     On the ABC  show  "Business  World,"  shown  Sunday  July  30,  it was
 revealed that  the CEOs  at Time  would have  to raise  capital by selling
 their interests in: 1) Viacom ..the entertainment company  2) Hasbro ..the
 toy  manufacturing  company  3)  ATARI  ..the  home entertainment/computer
 manufacturing company.

     Although there is no  proof of  these predictions,  it doesn't  take a
 genius to  figure out what will most likely happen.  Many of you are aware
 that Warner Brothers was the company that Jack Tramiel bought  ATARI from.
 Most of  the money  "paid" by Jack was in the form of promissory notes and
 stock options when he took the company public.

     If the CEOs at Time/Life  sell  their  interest  in  ATARI,  that will
 create a  large float of ATARI stock in the market.  Also, if Warner needs
 additional cash to put  the merger  together, they  will very  likely sell
 theirs as well.

     If you also looked at ATARI's 1988 Annual Report, you will notice that
 it is an undervalued company.  Undervalued companies  are takeover targets
 in merger/acquisitions.   What  makes a  company become a takeover target?
 When there  is  unusual  activity  in  their  stock!    Raiders  have many
 different "stock  trading volume"  alarms that they use to warn them about
 potential profit opportunities.

     Let's speculate about what  might happen  if a  corporate raider finds
 out  about  the  unusual  trading  activity  in ATARI stock.  His alarm is
 triggered and he starts asking "Why."   He  finds out  that both Time/Life
 and Warner  Bros. are  unloading their  holdings in  ATARI.  At first, the
 raider suspects that it's because some bad news about ATARI is about to be
 made  public.    But,  after  checking into that possibility, he finds the
 opposite to be true.

     He finds that the only thing that made ATARI lose money last  year was
 their stupid  investment in Federated, but ATARI is already trying to sell
 off their mistake.  After poking  around some  more, the  raider finds out
 that ATARI has a larger computer market presence in Europe than either IBM
 or Apple.

     "WAIT A MINUTE!"  A larger  computer market  share than  either IBM or
 Apple in  Europe?   Europe is  going to  be the largest free market in the
 world (over 350,000,000 consumers) when the  European Common  Market opens
 in  1992!    Now,  if  I  buy  ATARI  and  use it as a beachhead to get my
 company's foot in the door...

     A casual thought,  wonder  why  Poppa  Jack  has  been  in  New York's
 financial district recently in conferences with the high dollar folks...





  ______________________________________________________________________



 > PC DITTO II  STReport InfoFile     Avant Garde; about PC Ditto II
   ==============================


                                       KEEPING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
                                       ===========================


     During a  long telephone  conversation, Computer Shopper's interview a
 few  months  back  (which  they  remarkably   got  very   accurate),  much
 information was presented concerning the new PC Ditto, as a result, it can
 become confusing when you mention updates  about a  product when  even the
 initial product has not been released.

     The engineering  effort has been over for some time.  As for EGA, a dn
 and other possible features, they will  not be  released with  pc-ditto II
 initially.   We are maintaining our policy of free software updates to our
 products.    But,  to  clarify:    pc-ditto  II   will  be   the  same  as
 pc-ditto...just faster.

     We are  investigating several  features, requested  by our market.  So
 far, we are looking into:  EGA (enhanced graphics adapter);  EMS (extended
 memory specification); Midi; and, Atari Laser printer support.

     We have  received a  few (or  in some  cases, only one) request(s) for
 other enhancements, such as:    joystick  (dual)  support;  task switching
 (under  Revolver,  for  example); multi-tasking (simultaneous execution of
 GEM TOS and pc-ditto  II); CD-ROM;  and various  hardware add-ons produced
 for the ST (harddrives, tape backups, high-density floppy disks, LANs, and
 A/D interfaces).

     We are open to suggestion.  We give priority to  requests according to
 the  number  of  similar  requests  we  receive,  and  the  amount of work
 involved.

                         That's the real scoop.


                                                  Thanks for the questions!
                                                       Avant Garde





    __________________________________________________________________



 > WOA DALLAS STR FOCUS
   ====================


                                        WORLD OF ATARI SHOW -> DALLAS TEXAS
                                        ===================================


                              World of Atari 
                               Dallas Texas

                           August 19, & 20 1989

     WORLD OF ATARI will be held at the Holiday Inn  Holidome, Irving Texas
 on  Aug.  19  and  20th.    The  hours  of  the show are 10 am till 6pm on
 Saturday, the 19th and on Sunday; 10am till  5pm.   Admission is  5.00 per
 day  or  7.00  for  both  days.    Advance  discount tickets are available
 directly from ST World for User  Groups.   Usergroup member  ticket prices
 are 3.50 for a single day and 5.25 for both days of the show.  The tickets
 must be ordered no later than August 10, 1989. Admission at the  door will
 be at regular price with no discount.

     Atari Corporation  will feature  their full line of products, from the
 2600 game machine to  the  Mega  Computer  systems.    In  addition,the pc
 Portfolio, the Lynx (New Handheld Game system), and the Stacy laptop.

     Of  course  many  of  the  companies  we are all familiar with will be
 displaying their latest products and  some  will  be  offering appreciable
 discounts as  introductory offers to the users.  Prospero Software will be
 offering a 25% discount as an introductory offer on their products.

     Also scheduled are instruction seminars designed to appeal to the new,
 as well as, the experienced user.

     Companies we  are all  familiar with  who will be there to answer your
 questions and provide help.

               Abacus Software               Alpha Systems
               Best Electronics              Codehead Software
               Double Click Software         FAST TECHNOLOGY
               ICD Inc. 8 & 16 bit           Intersect Software
               Imagen Corporation            Megabyte Computers
               Megamax Inc.                  MichTron Inc.
               Micro Computers               Migraph Inc.
               Precision Software            Prospero Software
               Reeve Software                Seymor/Radix
               Softrek Marketing             Wuztech Inc.

 plus many more...





    ___________________________________________________________________




 > ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL   Sayin' it like it is...
   ======================



 - San Jose, CA.           ******  WORLD OF ATARI SHOW CANCELLED!!!  ******
   -------------

     Amidst controversy and apparent  hard  feelings  over  'other matters'
 which  occured  as  a  result  of  the  Dearborn  Show, the WOA folks have
 announced the cancellation of  their scheduled  San Jose  California show.
 For further information, please call ST World Mag. at: 503-673-2259




 - Glendale, CA.          ***** TRADITIONAL GLENDALE SHOW NOT TO RUN! *****
   -------------

     According  to  J.  Tarpinian,  spokesman for the show, 'circumstances'
 beyond their control have brought about the "postponement" of the Glendale
 Show _until further notice_.  Details are available, call 818-760-1831 the
 official sponsors of the show H.A.C.K.S..




 - Lansing, MI.                ***** GAMES FOR LYNX MADE ON AN AMIGA! *****
   ------------

     According to highly placed sources, the  games programmed  for the new
 Atari hand  held game machine are programmed on an AMIGA!!  How's that for
 a neat twist?  "The Atari hand  held  runs  programs  made  on  an AMIGA..
 sheesh!




 - Sunnyvale, CA.                      *****  68030 OUT TO DEVELOPERS *****
   --------------

     Developers  are  begining  to  receive  the  68030  machines  from our
 favorite company, that is probably the  singular most  important signal of
 "things to  come" all year long.  JRI has one at this time for development
 purposes.



 - Sunnyvale, CA.                                 ***** A MODULAR ST? *****
   --------------

     The ST-Plus is due to appear after the TT.   More than  likely it will
 be  seen  before  the  end  of  October.  However, regarding the TT, it is
 suggested you obtain the September  issue  of  STart  Magazine reportedly,
 they will have an interview with Sam Tramiel (Atari Corp. President) about
 the future of Atari, and the new machines scheduled for  release.   The TT
 is guaranteed  to appear before the end of the year.  Atari is expected to
 make some new announcements on August 25th, and the ST-Plus  will probably
 be part  of them.   Addittionaly,  there is a dealer meeting scheduled for
 the 15th of August.  Perhaps, at that  point we  will know  more about the
 "modular ST".   Oh! almost forgot, the Portfolio is now at the FCC Labs in
 VA. being tested for certification.  It won't be long now!




 - Timonium, MD.         ***** NEW GERMAN PACKER PROGRAM KILLS SPEED! *****
   -------------

     A highly  experienced  and  well  respected  programmer  reports, "the
 packer processed  programs boot  appreciably slower  than those which have
 not been packed" therefore, it's use may not  be to  the advantage  of the
 users.   To us,  at STReport,  this means  that the efficiency of the fast
 load features of TOS 1.4 and of course, "Pinhead", along  with all earlier
 versions of  TOS are  traded off for a relatively small savings in program
 size.  

      In our humble opinion, that ...is _not_ an equitable trade-off.




 - Sunnyvale, CA.               *****  THE REVOLVING DOOR IS WORKING! *****
   --------------

     We see that the revolving door is engergized  once again....there will
 be a  new usergroup  co-ordinator and  assistant sales  manager shortly at
 Atari, in unrelated occurances both C.  Roberts  and  J.  Mendolia  are no
 longer at Atari.



 - Sunnyvale, CA.                     ***** ANOTHER STROKE OF GENIUS! *****
   --------------

     A few  months ago,  we praised the Atari exchange program as being one
 of the very best in the entire computer  industry.   It had  value, it was
 realistic and  it delivered  a solid  benefit to  Atari's entire userbase.
 Now, just a scant three months later, we  are "hearing"  that the  cost to
 the  end   user  has  become  prohibitive  and  that  certain  of  Atari's
 spokespersons now know "nothing" about an  exchange program.   What  is it
 going  to  take  to  jog  some  memories?  Copies of invoices, letters and
 perhaps exchange cost lists from everyone who has enjoyed the  benefits of
 this excellent program?

     Why do  we feel  Atari 'must'  learn how  to "keep  track" of what the
 right and the left hand are  doing?   Please don't  munge up  the exchange
 program, it  WORKS and the userbase is comfortable with it.  Especially in
 light of the; "overly generous and world famous", 90 day warranty.  

     The costs to the end user used to be realistic.   They  are, according
 to what  we are  hearing, being  raised!   Why?  Who caused this?  Is this
 another masterstroke of the sales dept.?  This type of thinking; "Trap the
 user into  a sale",  went out  before Ralph  Nader was  born!  Restore the
 exchange program to it's workable form, honestly   ...something that's not
 broken need  not be  fixed!  Hopefully, this is all a misunderstanding and
 nothing has changed.






    ___________________________________________________________________



 > GBS vs HAPPY STR NewsPlus   Dave Small counters Richard Adams' suit.
   =========================


           DISTRICT COURT, COUNTY OF DOUGLAS, STATE OF COLORADO

                   Civil Action No. 89CV415, Division 2
    ___________________________________________________________________
                  DEFENDANTS' ANSWER TO AMENDED COMPLAINT
                  COUNTERCLAIMS AND THIRD PARTY COMPLAINT
    ___________________________________________________________________

 That's how the legal docs appear at the title page, there are  11 pages of
 documentation involved in this suit will basically submits to the courts a
 denial of  the allegations  in the  Happy suit  and counter  claims by GBS
 against R. Adams and Happy Computers.   

 The denial  and countersuit  was filed and served Monday, July 24, 1989 by
 Gadgets' attorney in Denver Co.





     _________________________________________________________________



 > DC-PORT STReport InfoFile       An inside look....
   =========================


                                             DC-PORT UPDATE INFORMATION
                                             ==========================



 Here is the scoop on the DC-PORT.  DC-PORT does allow for up to 38400 baud
 thru DC-PORT,  but alas,  we do  not support RTS/CTS at this time.  I will
 discuss the possibility of adding this  with Gilbert  (he is  the hardware
 wiz).

 We had  decided at  the time  that rts/cts  was not used much, and to keep
 size and cost down, we did not implement them.

 On another note, 5-port versions are now available.

 Previous question, we support the following lines:
 send
 receive
 DCD - carrier detect
 DTR - data terminal ready
 ground
 (unused pin) on rj12

 We will post more  info.   It may  be possible  to make  a special version
 which does  support rts/cts,  but I can't say for sure until speaking with
 gilbert.

 Here is our document describing access to DC-PORT.  Please note that the
 document has changed slightly (shows rsconf for 38400)  but I  do not have
 the updated doc on hand.

 A five port version is available at this time.

 Programs which currently support DC-PORT are MichTron BBS v 3.0.

 Beckemeyer's MTC  Shell is  now having  a device  handler added to support
 DC-PORT.
  
 The upgrade to Flash (version 2.0) will have DC-PORT support.  

 FoReM possibly be released with support for DC-PORT  (Matt is experiencing
 various hardware failures preventing a port to the ST).  

 STalker terminal accessory.

 Please direct all questions to us, we are more than happy to answer!

 OVERVIEW
 ========

 DC-PORT is a serial expansion cartridge for your Atari ST computer.  With
 DC-PORT you get two more RS232 serial ports.  DC-PORT does not support the
 CTS/RTS and  RING DETECT lines.  If you need these, use the main ST serial
 port.

 INSTALLATION
 ============

 1) Turn off your computer.

 NOTE:
     Always turn the POWER switch OFF when inserting or removing DC-PORT.
     This will protect the electronic components and prolong the life of
     your ATARI ST computer.

 2) Plug the edge connector of DC-PORT into the cartridge port.
 3) Plug the cable, with female DB25 connector, coming from DC-PORT
 into the ST's main serial port.  The label on DC-PORT identifies this
 cable as: To ST

 4) Plug the 3 DC-PORT cables into DC-PORT using the end with RJ12
 (phone)

 NOTE:
     DO NOT attempt to plug your telephone line directly into  DC-PORT.    
 Doing so  WILL damage  DC-PORT, and  void your  warranty.   DC-PORT is    
 designed to be used with an RS232 compatible device.   The RJ12 connectors
 are *NOT* designed for direct connection to the telephone line.

 5) Connect  the male  DB25 connectors to any RS232 compatible device, such
 as a modem, scanner, printer, another computer, etc.


                              SPECIFICATIONS
                              ==============

 DC-PORT supports the following RS232 lines:
 (numbers indicate the RJ12 pin number)

 TRANSMIT                    (1)
 RECEIVE                     (2)
 DATA TERMINAL READY [DTR]   (3)
 CARRIER DETECT (CD)         (5)
 GROUND                      (6)


                                   USAGE
                                   =====

 To use DC-PORT, you must either be using a DC-PORT  compatible program, or
 you must have the DC-PORT device handler installed.

 The program  DCPORT.PRG adds devices to the ST's BIOS corresponding to the
 two extra  ports.   Programming to  communicate using  DC-PORT is provided
 through BIOS  compatible calls.   This  section details use of these calls
 for DC-PORT and the regular serial port.

 ----
 BIOS
 ----

 using the TRAP #13 call.
 All examples are calling sequences from 'C'
 Numbers in parenthesis indicate the function number

 All the examples will use the following declarations:

 #define AUX  0x0002     /* main ST serial port, DC-PORT 0 */
 #define DCP0 0x8000     /* DC-PORT 0, main ST serial port */
 #define DCP1 0x8100     /* DC-PORT 1 */
 #define DCP2 0x8200     /* DC-PORT 2 */
 #define DCP3 0x8300     /* DC-PORT 3 */
 #define DCP4 0x8400     /* DC-PORT 4 */

 char input;             /* character input */
 long status;            /* status - where applicable */
 int  port;              /* DC-PORT select */

 port = DCP1;

 FUNCTIONS
 ---------

 int Bconstat(dev)   (1)
     Return character-device input status, D0.L will be 0x0000 if no
     character is available, or 0xffff if (at least one) character is
     available from the device.

 Example:
         if (Bconstat(port))
             input = Bconin(port);

 NOTE:
         For ease of use, you can OR the value of the DC-PORT select with
         the AUX: device number.  We will use this syntax throughout
 the
         document.

         Example (from above):

             if (Bconstat(port|AUX))
                 input = Bconin(port|AUX);

 int dev;
     dev is the device number as defined above.
     Does not return until a character has been input (busy-wait).   It    
 returns the character value in D0.L, with the high word zero.
     Example:
         input = Bconin(port|AUX);

 -------------------
 void Bconout(dev,c) (3)
 int dev, c;

     dev is the device number as defined above.

     Output character 'c' to the device.  Does not return until the
     character has been written.

     Example:
 -------------------
 long Bcostat(dev)   (8)
 int dev;

     dev is the device number as defined above.

     Returns character output status:

         -1  Device is ready to send (no waiting on next device-output
             call).
          0  Device is not ready to send.

     Example:
         status = Bcostat(port|AUX);

 -----
 XBIOS
 -----

 These subroutines are accessed using the TRAP #14 call.
 All examples are calling sequences from 'C'
 Numbers in parenthesis indicate the function number.

 Examples are as above.

 ---------

 long Iorec(devno)   (14)
 int devno;

     Returns a  pointer to a serial device's input buffer record.  dev is  
  one of:

     devno   Device
     -----   ------
     0x0000  RS232   (ST main serial port, DC-PORT 0)
     0x8000  DCP0    (DC-PORT 0, ST main serial port)
     0x8100  DCP1    (DC-PORT 1)
     0x8200  DCP2    (DC-PORT 2)
     0x8300  DCP3    (DC-PORT 3)
     0x8400  DCP4    (DC-PORT 4)

     The structure of the record is:

     struct iorec {
         long    ibuf;   /* pointer to buffer */
         int ibufsiz;    /* size of the buffer */
         index */
         int ibuftl;     /* tail index */
         int ibuflow;    /* low-water mark */
         int ibufhi;     /* hi-water mark */
     };

     For RS232, an output buffer record  immediately follows  the input    
 buffer record.  The format of the output buffer record is identical.

     'ibuf' points to the device's buffer.  'ibufsiz' is the buffer's size.
     'ibufhi' is the buffer's high-water mark.  'ibuflow' is the buffer's
      low-water mark.

     If flow control is enabled and the number of characters in the buffer
     reaches the  high-water mark, the ST requests (according to the flow  
  control protocol) the sender to stop  sending characters.   When  the    
 number of  characters in the buffer drops below the low-water mark, the   
 ST (106 left) More: (Enter) or (Y)es, (N)o, (F)lag, (NS)non-stop?         
 tells the sender to resume transmission.

     The flow control operation is similar for the RS232 output record.

 -------------------
 long Rsconf(port|speed, flowctl, ucr, rsr, tsr, scr)
 int speed, flowctl, ucr, rsr, tsr, scr;

     This function initializes the rs232 port.

     SPEED sets the baud rate for the RS232 port as follows:
         SPEED          BAUD RATE
         -----          ---------
           0              19200
           1               9600
           2               4800
           3               3600 *
           4               2400
           5               2000
           6               1800
           7               1200
           8                600
          10                200 *
          11                150
          12                134
          13                110
          14                 75
          15                 50 *

     FLOW sets the flow control as follows:
         FLOW           TYPE OF FLOW CONTROL
         ----           --------------------
           0            No flow control (default value)
           1            XON/XOFF
           2            RTS/CTS *
           3            Both XON/XOFF and RTS/CTS *

     UCR, RSR,  TSR, and  SCR set  the corresponding 68901 registers.  A -1
 for
         any one of these parameters will not set the register:
         
         Bit in UCR     Meaning
         ----------     -------
              0         Not used
              1         Parity 1=even parity, 0=odd parity
              2         Parity enable; 1=enabled
            3,4         Start/Stop bits:
                        Bit 4    Bit 3     Start bits   Stop bits
                        -----    -----     ----------   ---------
    0       Do not use
                          0        1           1            1
                          1        0           1            1.5
                          1        1           1            2
            5,6         Work length:
                        Bit 6    Bit 5     Word length
                        -----    -----     -----------
                          0        0          8 bits
                          0        1          7 bits
                          1        0          6 bits
                          1        1          5 bits
              7         Must be set to 1

         RSR, TSR, and SCR should be set to -1.

     NOTE: Selections indicated with a * are only supported in DCPORT0.

 -------------------
 offgibit(port|mask)  (29)
 int mask;

     This function sets the DTR line on one of the serial ports.
     MASK has a value of $EF:
     Offgibit(port|$EF)

 -------------------
 ongibit(port|mask)   (30)
 int mask;

     This function drops the DTR line on one of the serial ports.
     MASK has a value of $10:

     Ongibit(port|$10)

 ------
 GEMDOS
 ------

 These subroutines are accessed using the TRAP #1 call.
 All examples are calling sequences from 'C'
 Numbers in parenthesis indicate the function number.

 Examples are as above.

 FUNCTIONS

 Cauxin(dev)     (3)     NOTE: The standard GEMDOS call has no
 parameters.
 int dev;

     dev is as defined above.

     Return a character from the specified serial port (dev).

     Example:
         input = Cauxin(port);

 -------------------
 Cauxout(chr)    (4)
 int chr;        NOTE: The standard GEMDOS call specifies a char

     Write a character to the serial port defined in the upper byte of the
     int 'chr.'

     Example:
         Cauxout(port|'A');  /* with port = 0x0000 it has no effect */
 -------------------
 long Cauxis()    (18)

     Returns -1 [nonzero] if char is  available  from  the  main  ST serial
 port;
     0 otherwise.

 -------------------
 long Cauxos()    (19)

     Returns -1  [nonzero] if char is ready to receive a character, 0 if it
    is unavailable (for the main ST serial port).

 FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE
 ======================

 If you require further assistance from  us, give  our support  BBS a call.
 We will be more than happy to help you with any difficulties which you
 find.

 WARRANTY
 ========

 DC-PORT is  guaranteed to  be free from material defects for one year from
 the date of purchase.

 DC-PORT cables are guaranteed to be from material defects for 30 days from
 the date of purchase.

 Double Click Software will either replace or repair the defective unit, at
 the discretion of Double Click Software.

 Under no conditions will Double Click Software be responsible for damaged
 caused due to neglect.  If the seal on DC-PORT is broken, the warranty is
 voided immediately.

 Double  Click  Software  is  not  be  responsible  for  any damage to your
 reputation, profit-making ability or  mental or  physical condition caused
 by the use or misuse of our hardware and/or software.

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 ======================

 Mailing address:

                              Double Click Software
                              P.O. Box 741206
                              Houston, Texas 77236-1206

                        Support BBS: (713)944-0108


    -------------------------------------------------------------------
 This manual and its contents are copyright (c) 1989 Double Click Software.
 It may be distributed freely so long as it is not edited in any form.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------





   _____________________________________________________________________



 > STReport InfoFile     High Quality, Custom constructed hard drives....
   =================


                      ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
                               P.O. Box 6672
                     Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
                                Est.  1985
                 _________________________________________

                   Voice: 904-783-3319  10 AM - 4 PM EDT
                  BBS: 904-786-4176   12-24-96 HST       
                    FAX: 904-783-3319  12 PM - 6 AM EDT
                 _________________________________________
                                        
                   HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
                   _____________________________________
                                        
   All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
                 are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
                                        
              ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE
                 (you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
                   (all cables and connectors installed)
                                        
                    SEAGATE HARD DISK MECHANISMS ONLY! 

                          ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED
                                EXCLUSIVELY

                  * ADAPTEK 4000/4070/5500 CONTROLLERS *

                      * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
                                        
  42mb #SG44710   569.00 - (1) mech    65mb #SG60101   729.00 - (1) mech
  85mb #SG840110  949.00 - (2) mech   132mb #SG3A1210 1149.00 - (2) mech

               ***  264mb #SGT41776 1889.00 - (4) mech  ***

        The above are just a few of the types of systems available.
    (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
                                        
      * Embedded controller; ("N" type) drives - Special Order Only *

            *** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 26ms - 30ms ***

    ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> MAGIC SAC - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR
                                        
             LARGER units are available - (special order only)

                                        
                 ***  Available for ST - Amiga - IBM   ***
                                        
                 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
              FAST Cabinets  - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets
                         TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets
                      ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED

                          12 month FULL Guarantee
                         (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)

                   WE SHIP WITH * FEDERAL EXPRESS * ONLY
                   _____________________________________

                       Personal Checks are accepted.

                              ORDER YOURS TODAY!

                       904-783-3319    9am - 8pm EDT







  _______________________________________________________________________



 > A "Quotable Quote"
   =================



          "THE PROMISES AND ASSURANCES OF A MAN  ..ARE HIS BOND"

                                                  Time Eternal..






                             "ATARI IS BACK!"

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ST-REPORT Issue #99   "Your Independent News Source"      August 04, 1989
                    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED  copyright 1989
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
 the  editors,  staff,  ST  Report  or CPU Report.  Reprint permission is
 hereby granted, unless otherwise noted.    All  reprints  must  include ST
 Report or  CPU Report  and the  author's name.   All information presented
 herein is believed correct, STReport or CPU Report, it's editors and staff
 are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained herein.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
