Comp.sys.atari.st part 1 FAQ

From Atari Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

NOTE:

  1. Under heavy construction !!
  2. Some layout differ from original text version due to wiki formatting limitation.
  3. The hardware and software vendors mentioned in this FAQ may no longer be selling Atari products. The vendor information are outdated.

Atari ST FAQ Part 1: General

Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st! Please read this FAQ before posting a question to comp.sys.atari.st, since a lot of common questions are answered here.

Thanks to David Paschall-Zimbel (davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu) for compiling most of this FAQ.

Entries are dated by the last change. ??.??.?? means they were last changed before the dates were added.

The following is an index of the questions answered in this part of the FAQ. For easy access to a particular question, search for the tag surrounded by colons (i. e. :GNU:). Questions marked with '*' are new or changed.


Welcome to comp.sys.atari.st (93.06.11)

This newsgroup is devoted to discussion about 16 and 32 bit Atari micros. At present that includes the Atari 520ST, 1040ST, Mega ST, STe, STacy, Mega STe, TT, and Falcon. There are also emulators for the Apple Macintosh and IBM PC/XT/AT available.

Most of the people who read this newsgroup are technically oriented. The newsgroup serves as a resource for Atari users ... feel free to contribute to the discussions.

Associated newsgroups include:

  • comp.binaries.atari.st ! uuencoded binary programs
  • comp.sys.atari.st.tech  ! technical programming/hardware topics
  • comp.sources.atari.st  ! uuencoded/shar sources


Hints from Emily Postnews

(Thanks to John Henders (jhenders@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca) for this bit of _humor_.)

Emily Postnews Visits comp.sys.atari.st ( Due to popular demand, (well at least one persone asked anyways), Emily has taken time out of her busy schedule to answer a few commonly asked questions specific to c.s.a.st. )


Dear Emily.
Some Amiga user is raving on c.s.a.st about how wonderful his computer is, and how awful mine is. What should I do?
signed My Computer is NOT a Toy.


Dear My Computer, etc,etc.
Many people's egos are so tied to their possessions, they have to affirm their existance by raving about the superiority of their machine to anyone who will listen. You should immediately flame these people into cinders, using every rumour or misconception you've ever heard about their brand of computer, as this will cause lots of posts, and develop into a massive flame war, which is one of the main reasons most people read c.s.a.st. If this didn't happen every six months, everybody would unsubscibe to this newsgroups from boredom.

Or, you could put comp.sys.amiga.advocacy in the Followup to: line, and any article replying to yours would go to the newsgroup designed for this discussion.

Or, if your newsreader supports it, you could build a KILL FILE, which eliminates any post that has the word Amiga in it.

Kill files can be created in rn and trn by hitting the 'K' key. This will make a kill file based on the article you were reading at the time. Then control K will put that file in the editor for you to play with. You use the same regexp commands here that are in rn. For example. /[Ff]oo/h:j would search all headers of unread articles for both Foo and foo, and junk them. Check the docs for your newsreader for further details.


Dear Emily.
I like flame wars, and want to start one of my own, so my name will be as famous as Richard Covert's.
Signed, Too much Time on My Hands.


Dear Too much time.
Sorry it took so long to reply, but Richard's in my kill file and someone had to forward your post to me, or I'd never have seen it.

Flame wars are fun. They're the main reason people creted Usenet, and should be encouraged at every opertunity.

Some of the most common tricks for starting flame wars are as follows.

  1. Post a note in another newsgroup telling all the users there that they own a piece of junk, and if they had a half a brain, they'd have the same computer you do, as it's obviously the best.
  2. Toss a bit of slander against another computer in a totally unrelated post. This guarantees a follow up, even if your original post wasn't of any interest.
  3. Create a signature file that has a put down of another computer in it. This will get flame wars going in threads that have completely unrelated Subject: lines, thus slipping through all but he most exacting kill files.

I hope you find these tips handy in creating your next flame war. And just remember, your computer MUST be the best, after all, it's yours.


What books are available for the Atari ST? (93.06.11)

The (Almost) Complete Guide to Atari Reference Books


Atari Coropration
1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

  • Atari TOS Developer's Kit - Atari has now make the developer's documentation public (meaning you don't have to be 'a developer' to buy it). See DEV above for more information.


Atari UK Software Support
Atari, Atari House, Railway Terrace, Slough, BERKS, United Kingdom, SL2 5BZ
Tel 0753 53344
"A few people have asked for more info on the release by Atari UK of the programming docs. They have been released as 5 books."

  1. Programming Guides GEMDOS/BIOS & general programming. 238 pages. #29.99.
    (# = the British pound). Still Another Line A Doc (SALAD), Intelligent keyboard protocol, chkdsk3 docs, midi assoc address sheet.
  2. Programming Guides New machines. 184 pages. #29.99.
    Rainbow TOS release notes, STE developers addendum, STE TOS release notes, TT030 TOS release notes, TT030 hardware ref manual, VMS expansion for TT & MegaSTe. Includes 2 disks of utilities, examples, xcontrol & docs.
  3. Programming Guides - GEM VDI
  4. Programming Guides - GEM AES - combined books. 514 pages. #49.99
    All the above together #99.99
  5. Hardware and Chip Specs. 228 pages. #29.99
    Engineering hardware spec, ACSI, MC6850, 68901, ay3-8910, wd1770, blitter Monitor & cartridge port. Also schematics.

[Info from a posting by Iain Laskey dated 30 Nov 1991]


Compute! Publications,Inc.
PO Box 5406,Greensboro NC, 27403(919-275-9809)

  1. Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume One. VDI
    Sheldon Leeman
    ISBN 0-87455-093-9
  2. Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume Two. AES
    Sheldon Leeman
    ISBN 0-87455-114-5
  3. Computes Technical Refence Guide Volume Three. TOS
    Sheldon Leeman
    ISBN 0-87455-149-8
  4. Learning C. Programming Graphics on the Amiga and Atari ST.
    Marc B. Sugiyama and Christopher D. Metcalf
    ISBN 0-87455-064-5
  5. Compute's ST Applications Guide. Programming in C
    Simon Feild,Kathleen Mandis and Dave Myers
    ISBN 0-87455-078-5


Scott,Foresman and Company.
Professional Publishing Group, 1900 East Lake Avenue,Glenville IL, 600025

  1. Learning C on the Atari ST
    Joseph Boyle Wikert
    ISBN 0-673-18738-1


Sybex Inc.
2344 Sixth St., Berkely,CA, 94710

  1. Programmers Guide To GEM
    Phillip Balma and William Fitler
    ISBN 0-553-34397-1


Taylor Ridge Books
PO Box 48, Manchester, Connecticut (no zip listed) usa, 203)643-9673

  1. C-manship Complete, $19.95
    Calyton Walnum
    No ISBN

"a decent book on programming your st gem/aes/vdi plus other stuff that is based on the 31 articles that Clayton Walnum wrote for Analog. It was written on a mega 4 with Calamus."


Addison-Wesley Pub.

  1. 68000 Assembly Language
    Donal Kantz & James Stanley
    ISBN 0-201-11659-6

"An interesting book on 68000 for the Atari (and amiga too, but both in the abstract)"


atari.archive.umich.edu

  1. Assembly Language Programming
    Robert Arp
    Disk archives, not published in paper at this time.

"It is an excellent guide to assembly languuage programming. It is very large and takes quite a while to make a hard copy if you desire to do so. The file names are arp68k-book.tar (the text) and arp68k-pix.Z.tar (.img files to go along with the text)."


THE FOLLOWING BOOKS ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT

Abacus Software,Inc. 5370 52nd Street,S.E. Grand Rapids,MI 49508

  1. Atari ST Internals
    K Gerits,L. Englisch and R. Bruckmann
    ISBN 0-916439-46-1
  2. Atari ST GEM Programmers Reference
    Norbert Szczepanowski and Bernt Gunther
    ISBN 0-916439-52-6
  3. Atari ST 3d Graphics Programming
    Uwe Braun
    ISBN 0-916439-69-0
  4. Atari ST Disk Drives Inside and Out
    Uwe Brawn,Stephan Dittrich and Axel Schramm
    ISBN 0-916439-84
  5. Atari ST Machine Language
    B.Grohmann,P.eidler and H.Slibar
    ISBN 0-916439-48-8
  6. Atari ST Introduction to MIDI Programming
    Len Dorfman and Dennis Young
    ISBN 0-916439-77-1


Bantam Books,Inc. 666 5th Avenue New York,New York 10103

  1. Atari ST Application Programming
    Lawrence J. Pollack and Eric J.T.Weber
    ISBN 0-553-34397-1
 This List can be freely distributed and added to
 All I ask is that people identify the added information as
 their own
      John Henders
      Vancouver,BC
      On Usenet  uunet!ubc-cs!van-bc!jhenders
      On ForumST  John henders@448
      On GEnie c/o D.LEMAY2

C-Manship & 68000 Assembley Language suggested by Joe Gaudreau [DPZ] Robert Arp's Assembley Language book suggested by David P. Forrai [DPZ]


How do I become a developer for the Atari ST? (93.06.11)

Contact Bill Rehbok, (408)745-2022

[UNITED STATES ONLY. IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES, CONTACT YOUR COUNTRY'S ATARI HEADQUARTERS FOR MORE INFORMATION.]

Bill can explain the program to you, and send an information packet if you desire.

Atari has gone to a 2-tier developer membership. The 'higher quality' developer support goes to commercial developers, and costs $250. The 'no-hand-holding, no announcement of company future products, no access to discounted hardware' goes to noncommercial developers, at an initial cost of $125, plus $50 renewal fee each year.

Both tiers receive the ST/TT Developer Kit and all developers have to fill in an application form and a non-disclosure agreement. Contact Bill for more information.

Atari is now selling the developer's kit (or parts of it) seperately. No project-in-development or non-disclosure agreement is necessary.


What do the bombs on my screen mean?

What does TOS ERROR nn mean?

The information below was written, in part, by Darryl May, and posted on GEnie in January (of ????) by John Townsend. The original also appeared in the June 1988 issue of _Current Notes_ (122 N. Johnson Rd., Sterling, VA 22170). It has since found its way to me, and is being posted to comp.sys.atari.st as a service to readers.

Alan Pratt wrote to tell me that the basic information may be correct, but that it cannot be dubbed "official" unless it originates, on paper, from Atari. This makes sense, as electronic communications are easily modified, even accidentally.

Roland Waldi provided information regarding the difference between TOS and GEM return codes which appears to be correct. The tables have been modified to reflect his information.

The following is an unofficial list of the errors that can appear while you are operating your ST computer.

Error description         return code      alert box #
======================================================
OK (no error)....................0
Fundamental error...............-1
Drive not ready.................-2
Unknown command.................-3
CRC error.......................-4
Bad request.....................-5
Seek error......................-6
Unknown media...................-7
Sector not found................-8
No paper........................-9
Write fault....................-10
Read fault.....................-11
General error..................-12
Write protect..................-13
Media change...................-14
Unknown device.................-15
Bad sectors on format..........-16
Insert other disk..............-17
Invalid function number........-32............1
File not found.................-33............2
Path not found.................-34............3
No handles left................-35............4
Access denied..................-36............5
Invalid handle.................-37............6
Insufficient memory............-39............8
Invalid memory block address...-40............9
Invalid drive specified........-46...........15
No more files..................-49...........18
Range error....................-64...........33
Internal error.................-65...........34
Invalid program load format....-66...........35

The last code is the infamous "TOS error 35"!

Also, some unofficial information via Alan Pratt:

Notably, you should add -48: ENSAME (not the same drive, occurs when you call Frename and the two names you give aren't on the same drive), and -67: EGSBF: you can't use Mshrink to GROW a block of memory.


Those bombs that appear on your screen are error messages from the 68000 micro-processor.

                                          Number
         Description                     of bombs
         ===========================================
            Reset: Initial PC2...............1
            Bus Error........................2
            Address Error....................3
            Illegal Instruction..............4
            Zero Divide......................5
            CHK Instruction..................6
            TRAPV Instruction................7
            Privilege Violation..............8
            Trace............................9
            Line 1010 Emulator..............10
            Line 1111 Emulator..............11
            [unassigned, reserved]..........12
            [unassigned, reserved]..........13
            Format Error....................14
            Uninitialized Interrupt Vector..15
            [unassigned, reserved].......16-23
            Spurious Interrupt..............24
            Level 1 Interrupt Autovector....25
            Level 2 Interrupt Autovector....26
            Level 3 Interrupt Autovector....27
            Level 4 Interrupt Autovector....28
            Level 5 Interrupt Autovector....29
            Level 6 Interrupt Autovector....30
            Level 7 Interrupt Autovector....31
            Trap Instruction Vectors.....32-47
            [unassigned, reserved].......48-63
            User Interrupt Vectors......64-255


What is Free-Net and how can I get access?

A "Remodeled" Atari S.I.G. Opens

By now many of you have heard of the Cleveland Freenet, or more specifically the Atari S.I.G. on the Cleveland Freenet. For those who haven't, the Cleveland Freenet is an experimental computer system providing free public community telecomputing. Basically, it's a lot like a public library of the future. Many of these systems are popping up all over the country. Don't be surprised if one pops up in your neighborhood in the future.

Recently the Atari SIG has undergone a significant face-lift. All the regular areas are intact including its news sections, user group newsletter, online magazine sections, general as well as specific computer discussion boards (8 bit, 16/32 bit, Lynx, Portfolio), and our weekly Sunday night multi-chat conference.

The conference starts at 8pm EST sharp and is on channel "+Ataricon". What the staff at the Atari SIG has added, has given the Atari SIG the potential to cover all grounds of Atari and its related products.

The most noticeable addition to the Atari SIG is the Programming and Development Forum. This forum is intended to be used by developers, professional programmers, and Atari hackers (the old definition of "hacker") as a means to share ideas, help each other out, and find out the latest technical information on Atari's products. This board is ran by newly acquired SIG Operator, Peter Haller, a professional programmer who is running developer sections on hardware and software development, programming, MIDI applications development, Graphics Design, plus many other sections that can definitely become a programmer and developer's dream come true!

Last, but definitely not least, the Atari SIG has a restructured Product Info and Support Board and a new Special Applications Board. The Support Board includes a vast library of support lists. These lists range anywhere from phone numbers of Atari dealers and producers, to software reviews for 8 bit, 16/32 bit, Lynx, and Portfolio software. To sum it all up this area covers what's out there, who makes it, and how to get it for all Atari products. The Special Applications Board is just starting out. Currently there is an area for users of MIDI on the ST. MIDI users are encouraged to use this as a means to discuss MIDI related topics. This section is expected to expand in the future.

Accessing the Atari SIG has never been easier. One can access it via Internet by telenet'ing to 129.22.8.75 or "Freenet-in-b.cwru.edu" or by calling (216) 368-3888 300/1200/2400 bps. Once on the system, a user can apply for an account application and logon as a visitor. Once here, simply type "Go Atari" to get to the Atari SIG. A visitor can go anywhere on the Freenet and can read anything. They can't post messages until they get their permanent accounts, however.

For additional information on obtaining access to Freenet write to myself via the e-mail addresses above or by writing the SIG at its US mail address:

              The Atari SIG
              P.O. Box 21815
              Cleveland, OH 44121 USA
                

Lastly, a freenet application is available in the mail by writing a request to the above address if you rather not download it from Freenet.

The Atari SIG is ready to serve the thousands of Atarians throughout the world. We look forward to seeing you all real soon! Remember the staff of the Atari SIG are volunteering their time for no pay and the Cleveland Freenet, as well as the Atari S.I.G., is a non-profit organization existing for the free exchange of information.

Mark Leair Atari SIG Public Relations

Internet e-mail: aa338@Cleveland.Freenet.edu CIS e-mail  : internet>aa338@Cleveland.Freenet.edu


What magazines are available for the Atari ST? (93.09.04)

If you've got updates, mini-reviews, or more information on other magazines, please send them to me via e-mail. As always, WRITE to a company before sending them money for a subscription.


US mags:

  1. AtariUser, published by Quill Publishing Company
    • Cover Price: US $1.00 Canada $1.45 UK 1.50 (AtariUser is available for free [$6.00/50 magazine shipping charge] from participating computer dealers, bookstores & user groups!)
    • Subcription Rate: $21.30 US Bulkrate, $41.30 US First Class.
    • Address: AtariUser, 113 W. College Street, Covina, CA 91723 USA
  2. Current Notes, published by Current Notes Inc.
    • Cover Price: US $3.95
    • Subscription Rate: $27.00/year (Atari clubs registered with Current Notes may subscribe at $23.00/year) US, $35.00/year (Canadian club members at $31/year) Canadian, Foreign rate $44/year.
    • Address: Current Notes Inc., 122 N. Johnson Rd., Sterling, VA 22170 USA
  3. Atari Interface:
    • Write for a free sample copy of the Atari Interface magazine
      (Unicorn Publications, 3487 Braeburn Circle, Ann Arbor, MI 48108)
    • AIM is soon to be available in Canada, Europe and Mexico, and should be in all local WaldenSoftware stores and many bookstores. If your "local" Atari dealer doesn't have it, he should be able to get it for you...


UK Mags:
(Thanks to Sam Marshall <samm@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk> and Kevin Busby <kevinb@syma.sussex.ac.uk> for some of the info here.)

  1. ST Applications:
    • formerly the ST Club Newsletter, this is now the only non-games mag in the UK (although see ST World below). Approx. 4,500 copies per issue sold. News, reviews, interviews, tech tips, general forum, programmers' forum, PD catalogue. DTP'd on an ST. Retains a 'user-driven' feel. Recommended. The associated ST Club runs a PD distribution service and distributes a couple of commercial programs too (Fontkit Plus, UIS III, Molgraph, CRL Virus Killer, etc.).
    • Address: ST Club, 2 Broadway, Nottingham, NG7 1PS, UK.
    • 12 issue Subscription now:
        With Disk 6 Mags                  Without Disk Mags
UK:          #26.50                        #18.00
Europe (air) #30.50                        #21.00
World (air)  #38.50                        #31.00
  1. ST World:
    • formerly the leading UK non-games mag. Became a quarterly 'buyer's guide' in Autumn 90.
  2. ST Format:
    • all-purpose 150-page monthly, mainly aimed at young people. Lively, but of uneven quality. Big leisure section, but other areas

covered too. Includes cover disk - mix of games demos and (usually out of date) PD utilities. Probably the biggest-selling UK ST mag. Has had several public rows with Atari UK.

    • Future Publishing, Somerton, Somerset, TA11 6TB Tel. 0458 74011 Fax 0458 74378
  1. Atari ST User:
    • like ST Format. Generally (amongst online users) thought to be not quite as good.
  2. ST Action:
    • games, games and more games. And games.
  3. Atari ST Review:
    • Lots of info, more mature editorial style than Format, but not so polished. 1 cover disk per issue.
    • Subscriptions: PO Box 500, Leicester, LE99 0AA. Tel: 0858 410510.

There are also, I think, some MIDI mags with strong ST content. I don't have their names.


German Mags:
ST-Magazin, TOS, and ST-Computer united in August 1993 to the "ST Computer", which is the only remaining magazine in Germany. (I don't know if the following info still holds, then. --Steven)

  1. ST Computer:
    • 11 issues/year, typical around 180 pages
    • Subscription: DM 80 (domestic), DM 100 (normal mail), DM 130 (air mail)
    • Address: Heim Verlag, Heidelberger Landstr. 194, D-6100 Darmstadt 13 GERMANY


French Mags:

  1. ST Magazine
    • Monthly in French. Oriented towards developers, professional users. Comes with a disk each month.
    • ST Magazine - 10, rue Hegesippe Moreau - 75018 Paris - France (French Teletel users: 3615 Teletel access, code STMAG)
  2. STart Micro
    • Monthly, includes a cover disk. 11 issues per year. 64 + 16 (separated) pages.
    • Price: FF38 per issue, subscription: FF360. Subjects: Desktop publishing, graphics, initiations to C and GFA Basic, survey of outcoming software, music, folders. Minitel access: 3615 code ATARI.
    • Address: FC Press, 57 rue Danton, 92300 Levallois-Perret, France.


Dutch Mags

  1. ST
    • published by Stichting ST , postbus 11129 2301 EC Leiden the Netherlands
    • cover price: fl 6,95
    • Independent magazine by and for atari ST users. covers all different topics from applications to games and hardware. 60 pages.
    • 6 times a year. One year subscription fl 35,- black and white pages.
  2. Atacom
    • by Atari Club Groningen.
    • Never seen this one. I suppose you have to be a member of the club or so.
    • price is fl 4,95.
    • Adress of the club: Atari Club Groningen, Postbus 9164, 9703 LD Groningen, the Netherlands.
  3. Atari Nieuws
    • by Atari ST computer club Nederland
    • News paper sized publication. Lots of colour on newspaper pages. Not too many pages though.
    • price is fl 3,95 (cheap cheap) monthly publication.
    • adress: ACN, Postbus 5011, 2000 CA Haarlem, the Netherlands.

GFA-info, by GFA gg (usergroup)


Publication of the GFA-basic usergroup. This group has a lot of mainly educational software available. price is fl 5,00

adress: GFA gg, Frankrijklaan 14, 2034 BA Haarlem, the Netherlands

ST News, by Stichting Computers Eindhoven


This is an electronic magazine. It has been around for about 6 years now and is completely in English!!! The first issues were in Wordplus format back in 1986 but from the 6th issue on it included a readerprogram both for color and monochrome. Even with music. price is fl 10,00 adress: S.C.E., Kornoeljelaan 22, 5552 RC Valkenswaard

Swiss mags:

Atari ST News Schweiz


Dutch Atari ST Nieuws translated into German for the Swiss :-)

TIPS AND HINTS from other users (93.06.11)

Any 'multisync' monitor which handles 70 video fields a second can be used

  with the ST; the custom cable involves no tricks, or commercial ones are
  available.  The original NEC multisync does NOT handle 70 fields a sec.

More than 3 bombs often means more than 1 error, so interpretations are

 tricky.

An ST-formatted disk which is not readable by a PC can be made readable by

  putting the 3 bytes EB 34 90 (those were 3 bytes of hex) at the beginning
  of the boot sector (sector 1 of track 0).  This can be done with 
  either an ST or PC absolute sector editor. The Desktop of TOS 1.4 and
  higher does this automatically.

Some (older) PC-3.5"-drives cannot deal with the short track-header produced

  by ST formatters. On those drives, ST-formatted disks are not readable,
  independent of their boot sector contents. The other way, however, does
  always work: format on the PC.

When using disks formatted on a PC in an ST, make sure to insert and access

  a disk with a different serial number in between disk changes.

For those with the 'inaccessible' mouse and joystick ports, a joystick

  extender cable will make life easier.  The Y-cable joystick extenders make
  it extremely easy to keep mouse and joystick connected to port 0, and a
  joystick extender cable in port 1 makes for easy hookup after you've moved
  the machine.

BARREL is a program which can redirect printer-data to a file. It comes in

  handy when your printer is unavailable, and the program does not already
  have an option to 'print-to-a-file'.  (It is available on the atari.archive
  server.)

DBLEFEAT is a program which can redirect disk access from, say, drive A to

  drive B.  Handy when a program 'hard-codes' the data drive, and you
  wish to use your hard drive instead.  (It is available on the atari.archive
  server.)

On the Desktop, holding the right mouse button allows

  you to manipulate files in other windows. This is useful for a number
  of reasons. An example is this: say D:\BLAH.ARC is a file you would
  like to extract to D:\, but ARC.TTP is on C:\. Top D:\'s window, then
  hold the right button while double-clicking ARC.TTP in an inactive window.


Where can I get copies of ZNET?

ZNET is now Atari Explorer Online. Please see EXPLOR for more info.


Where can I get copies of Atari Explorer Online?

Atari Explorer Online magazine is available on CompuServe and GEnie. You can also get copies mailed to you by sending an e-mail message to

stzmagazine-request@virginia.edu

indicating you wish to subscribe.

They won't get to you on Friday (which is when they're posted), but Greg Lindahl provides an excellent service to the networking community by sending these out.

Atari Explorer Online and some information from the Current Notes user magazine are also available from the atari.archive server under /atari/magazines.


Where can I get Public Domain/Shareware software? (93.06.11)

There are FTP sources and a comp.sources.atari.st/comp.binaries.atari.st mail server. You can also try the commercial on-line services such as GEnie, CompuServe, Delphi and Bix.

Using FTP, most files should be retrieved in BINARY format (at least those ending with the suffix of .ZIP, .ARC, .LZH, .ZOO, .PRG, .TTP, .TOS)

Mail servers encode files. You will need a program called 'uudecode' in order to change files ending with the suffix .UUE (or .UAB, .UAC, etc.) into their original form.


E-Mail file servers

archive-server@spud.hyperion.com:
Spud holds all of the comp.sources.atari.st / comp.binaries.atari.st postings. If you aren't reading these two newsgroups, you should consider doing so. You may obtain uuencoded files as e-mail. You can obtain a help file by mailing a message to archive-server@spud.hyperion.com, with the main body of the message being the word 'help'.

atari@atari.archive.umich.edu:
The atari.archive server is mentioned many times in this article. It contains a multitude of Atari ST PD and shareware programs. If you don't have access via FTP you can obtain many of the files via e-mail. You should first obtain a help file by mailing a message to atari@atari.archive.umich.edu, with the main body of the message being the word 'help.'. If you are from a uucp site, please enclose this statement also 'path host1!host2!....', where host1!host2!... is your path. Please read the help file completely before you ask questions, and then send any you may have to jon@atari.archive.umich.edu. Any questions about the archive or specific files go to weiner@atari.archive.umich.edu (or weiner@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu, jeff.weiner@um.cc.umich.edu, weiner@zircon.labmed.umn.edu, or weiner@umnstat.stat.umn.edu :-)


archive-server@micros.hensa.uk.ac:
This is a UK public domain archive, available to sites within the UK via via JANET.

info-server@Germany.EU.net:
This is a german public domain archive. This only has comp.binaries.atari.st and comp.sources.atari.st.

archive-server@Germany.EU.net:
Same place as above, but this one carries other software than just comp.binaries.atari.st and comp.sources.atari.st.


mail-server@cs.ruu.nl (or uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ruuinf!mail-server):
send the following message

   begin
   path john@highbrow.edu (PLEASE SUBSTITUTE *YOUR* ADDRESS)
   send ATARI-ST/index
   end

NOTE: *** PLEASE USE VALID INTERNET ADDRESSES IF POSSIBLE. DO NOT USE ADDRESSES WITH ! and @ MIXED !!!! BITNETTERS USE USER@HOST.BITNET ***

The path command can be deleted if we receive a valid from address in your message. If this is the first time you use our mail server, we suggest you first issue the request:

   send HELP

LISTSERV@UOGUELPH.BITNET:
Mail messages with the contents HELP will bring you some usage information and GET PROG-A16 FILELIST will provide you with a list of files. Subscriptions to INFO-A16 are also available on this server. INFO-A16 is a digest of messages from comp.sys.atari.st.


Anonymous FTP servers (93.05.05)

Note: The generally accepted practice for FTP use is as follows:

1. Limit access times to non-working hours. This is usually 6-8 pm to 8-9 am LOCAL time. LOCAL time means local to the computer you are accessing! For example, 4 P.M. in Minneapolis, Minnesota is 10 P.M. in England, and 10 A.M. in Germany is 4 A.M. in New York.

2. Once you connect, issue the following commands at your FTP prompt:

user anonymous <YOUR e-mail address should be entered at the Password: prompt) ls cd <to the appropriate directory>

3. Limit downloads, especially across the ocean. Remember, there are other people who are using the same lines as you.


Atari FTP sites (the list is -not- exhaustive)


atari.archive.umich.edu [141.211.164.8]


uk.ac.lancs.pdsoft (available to UK users via JANET)

 Note:  Access is a bit different for this archive site, use the following:

user pdsoft pdsoft (at the Password prompt)


ftp.Germany.EU.net [192.76.144.75]


ftp.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.17]

src.doc.ic.ac.uk

This site has a mirror of atari.archive.umich.edu in /computing/systems/ atari/umich.


Atari-related companies (93.10.02)

This is a (still under construction) list of companies and addresses that might be of use to Atari ST users. Please send me addresses for the blank ones on this list. See also IAAD, it lists many more companies that are not on this list.


Berkeley MicroSystems P.O. Box 20119 Oakland, CA 94620

(510) 547 - 2191


E.A. Brown 3404 Pawnee Drive Alexandria Minnesota 56308 Info: 612-762-8847 Orders: 800-322-4405 Product: Software and Hardware distributor

GengTec

JRI

Marvin AG

Matrix Datensystem Talstrasse 16 7155 Oppenweiler Germany

tel. 07191-4088 fax. 07191-4089

Supra 7101 Supra Drive Tangent, Oregon 97389 (503) 967-9075


TKR GmbH & Co. KG Stadtparkweg 2 W-2300 Kiel 1 Tel. +49-431-3378881 Fax. +49-431-35984

Wittich Computer


Independent Atari Developers (93.09.04)

Each entry has the following format (when applicable):

    Company Name
    Member Name
    Mailing Address
    Phone(s)
    Product Names

The listing is provided below in ASCII format. An additional file is available in CardFile format. Please note that the product listing is not comprehensive nor detailed, and new products are continually released. Please feel free to contact individual members for information about their listed products. For more information about the IAAD, contact any Board Member.

IAAD Board Members:

    D.A. Brumleve, President
    James C Allen
    Nathan Potechin
    Nevin Shalit

Member Listing:

Anthill Industries Judith Baumgardner P.O. Box 361 Mt. Vernon OH 43050-9998 USA 614 393 1524

Apprentice Software James D Yegerlehner 22205 Swan Road South Lyon MI 48178 USA 313 437 0526 Neural-network Construction Set

Baggetta_Ware Albert Baggetta P.O. Box 759 Agawam MA 01001 USA Eliemouse Complimentary Coloring Book/The Comic Book Collector/ The Mis-Adventures of Eliemouse/Shakespeare: The Sonnets

Barefoot Software Brad Cox 19865 Covellow Street Canoga Park CA 91306 USA 818 727 0632 (fax) 818 727 7143 SMPTETrack/EditTrack/GenEdit/EZ Score+/Hybriswitch

Beckemeyer Development Tools David Beckemeyer P.O. Box 21575 Oakland CA 94620 USA 510 530 0451 (fax) 510 530 9637 Hard Disk Sentry/Hard Disk Toolkit/SCSI Tape Kit

Robert M Birmingham 13630 SW 101 Lane Miami FL 33186-2814 USA 305 385 1942

Cali-Co. Superior Software Josh Snyder P.O. Box 9873 Madison WI 53715 USA 608 255 6523 Mah-Jong Solitaire

Canoe Computers Tony Ridley 11006 150 Street Edmonton AB T5P 1S1 Canada 403 487 6838 FrankenSTein/Warp 16 Accelerator/Tiny Ram

chro_MAGIC Software Innovations Jim Collins 516 North Jackson Joplin MO 64801 USA 417 623 7393 Guitaristics/Pianistics/Pianistics Encyclopedia/Pianistics Professor

Clear Thinking Craig Harvey 2753 Plymouth Road Suite 137 Ann Arbor MI 48105 USA 313 971 6035 (bbs) 313 971 8671 EdHak/Metapsychology Primer

CodeHead Technologies John Eidsvoog, Charles Johnson P.O. Box 74090 Los Angeles CA 90004 USA 213 386 5789 (fax) 213 461 2095 (bbs) 213 386 5735 G+Plus/MultiDesk Deluxe/HotWire/CodeKeys/CodeHead Utilities/ Warp 9/Calligrapher/MaxiFile/Lookit & Popit/MIDIMax/MIDI Spy/ Avant Vector/MegaPaint/Cherry Fonts/Genus Font Editor/ TOS Extension Card

Compo Robert Engberson 104 Esplanade Avenue Suite 121 Pacifica CA 94044 USA 415 355 0869 (fax) 415 355 0862 That's Write/Write On/C-Font/CompoScript/That's Address/Musicom/ PC Speed/AT Speed/AT Speed C16

Cybercube Research Ltd. Manfred Doewich 126 Grenadier Crescent Thornhill ON L4J 7V7 Canada 416 886 3261 (fax) 416 882 0294 CyReL SUNRISE M16-1280 True Color High Resolution Graphics Card/ CyReL SERENADE M16-1280 True Color High Resolution Graphics Card/ CyReL VidiMix8 Desktop Video Module/CyReL Serial Mouse Manager/ CyRel Palette Master

D.A. Brumleve Dorothy A Brumleve P.O. Box 4195 Urbana IL 61801-8820 USA 217 367 9084 (fax) 217 337 1937 Kidpublisher Professional/Super Kidgrid/Kidpainter/Multiplay/ Telegram/Creative Discovery Packet/Learning Games Packet

DMC Publishing Nathan Potechin 2800 John Street Unit 10 Markham ON L3R 0E2 Canada 416 479 1882 (fax) 416 479 1880 Calamus 1.09N/Calamus SL & modules/Calamus Font Editor/ The Guide to Calamus Desktop Publishing/Outline Art/ INVISION Elite

Ditek International David Fletcher 2800 John Street Unit 15 Markham ON L3R 0E2 Canada 416 479 1882 (fax) 416 479 1990 DynaCADD

Dr. Bobware W. David Parks 180 N. Hazeltine Avenue Campbell OH 44405-1024 USA 216 743 4712 ScanLite/MVG: MultiViewer Graphica/MVG Modules Disks 1, 2, & 3

Elan Software Paul Dube 550 Boul. Charest Est P.O. Box 30232 Quebec G1K 8Y2 Canada 418 683 9189 (fax) 418 692 0565 Solutions

eSTeem, inc. Tom Nielsen 72 Shades Crest Road Hoover AL 35226-1014 USA 205 987 9208 eSTeem PILOT

Fair Dinkum Technologies John 'Hutch' Hutchinson P.O. Box 2 Los Alamos NM 87544 USA 505 662 7236 CrossWord Creator II/Word Search Creator/Cryptographer/InfoDisk/ Cyberdrome: The Hoverjet Simulator/Puzzle Pack

FAST Technology James C Allen 14 Lovejoy Road Andover MA 01810 USA 508 475 3810 (fax) 508 475 3810 Turbo25/TinyTurbo030/Turbo030/TurboRAM

GT Software Tyson T Gill 12114 Kirton Avenue Cleveland OH 44135-3612 USA 216 252 4272 CardFile (distr. by Gribnif)

Gadgets by Small, Inc. David M Small 40 West Littleton Blvd. #210-211 Littleton CO 80120 USA 303 791 0253 (fax) 303 791 6098 Spectre GCR

Goldleaf Publishing Inc. Lauren Flanagan-Sellers 700 Larkspur Landing Circle Suite 199 Larkspur CA 94939 USA 415 257 3515 WordFlair II

Gribnif Software Dan Wilga, Rick Flashman P.O. Box 779 Northampton MA 01061 USA 413 247 5622 (fax) 413 247 5620 NeoDesk 3/NeoDesk CLI/STalker 3/STeno/XBoot/CardFile 4/ Convector Professional/Arabesque Professional/XBoot III/ Crazy Dots 8/Crazy Dots 15

Doug Harrison P.O. Box 66236 Baton Rouge LA 70806-6236 USA Opus (shareware)/Lookit & Popit (distr. by CodeHead)

HiSoft Alex Kiernan, David Link, Dave Nutkins The Old School Greenfield Bedford MK45 5DE England +44 525 713716 (fax) +44 525 718181 Devpac 3/HiSoft BASIC 2/Lattice C/HighSpeed Pascal/FTL Modula-2/ WERCS/Harlekin 2/HiSoft C/ProFlight/K-Spread/K-Comm/K-Word/K-Data (HiSoft products distr. by Oregon Research Associates)

ICD, Inc. Tom Harker 1220 Rock Street Rockford IL 61101 USA 815 968 6888 (fax) 815 968 2228 The Link/AdSCSI Micro ST/AdSCSI ST/AdSCSI Plus ST/AdSpeed ST/ AdSpeed STe/FA-ST Hard Drive Kit/FA-ST Tape Backup/Cleanup ST/ ICD Professional Hard Drive Utilities/ICD Tape Backup Software/ Advantage Micro ST/Advantage ST/Advantage Plus ST/STHA/ Personal Pascal

It's All Relative Gregory J Kopchak 2233 Keevan Lane Florisant MO 63031 USA 314 831 9482 It's All Relative/BookMaker/Forecaster3/AbbreviatorST/ Photo CD Conversion/Photo Show/View and Script/Kodak Photo CD Images

JMG Software International, Inc. George Geczy, David Thompson 892 Upper James Street Hamilton ON L9C 3A5 Canada 416 575 0283 (fax) 416 575 3201 HyperLINK

M.P. Graphics Systems Mario Perdue P.O. Box 501289 Indianapolis IN 46250-6289 USA 317 335 3775 Noids-II

MS Design Henry Murphy, Carl Stanford 611 West Illinois Street Urbana IL 61801 USA 217 351 6412 (fax) 217 384 8469 FontPak 1 & 2/Wheeler Quick Art CD-ROM/ Wheeler Quick Art Image Disks

Medical Designs Software William Penner 3235 Wright Avenue Bremerton WA 98310 USA 206 479 2157 (bbs) 206 373 4840 ECTStat/IOLCALC/MultiWriter/SERIALFX

Merlin Group, Inc. George Richardson 96 Hoyt Street Kearny NJ 07032-3311 USA 201 998 0932 (fax) 201 998 4441

Missionware Software John Trautschold 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine IL 60067-4132 USA 708 359 9565 lottODDS/Printer Initializer/Flash II

MUSICODE Software Melinda Turcsanyi P.O. Box 1109 Oakhurst CA 93644 USA 209 642 2380

NewSTar Technology Management Charles Smeton P.O. Box 122 Columbia MD 21045-0122 USA 410 544 1329 (fax) 410 544 6943 The STraight FAX!

Oregon Research Associates Bob Luneski 16200 S.W. Pacific Highway Suite 162 Tigard OR 97224 USA 503 624 2940 (fax) 503 620 4919 Diamond Back II/Diamond Edge/Knife ST/Ultimate Virus Killer/ DevPacST 3/DevPacTT/HiSoft BASIC 2/Lattice C 5.5/HiSoft C/ HighSpeed Pascal/FTL Modula-2/Tempus 2/WERCS/Harlekin 2/ True Paint/ProFlight

Paradigm Software Products Mark T O'Bryan 1369 Concord Place Suite 3-B Kalamazoo MI 49009-2201 USA 616 372 5972 Omni-Banker ST

Power Thought Software Harlan Hugh 116 Sumach Street Toronto ON M5A 3J9 Canada 416 594 9355 (fax) 416 594 9355 INVISION Elite (distr. by DMC)

SKWare One Sterling K Webb P.O. Box 277 Bunker Hill IL 62014 USA 618 462 2171 (evenings) Seurat/ColorScan/Auto*Art/PS-2GDOS

Soft-Logik Publishing Deron Kazmaier, Mark Wetzel P.O. Box 510589 St. Louis MO 63151-0589 USA 314 894 8608 or 800 892 8608 PageStream/ImageClub Clip Art/ImageClub Fonts/Business Forms

Sothan Software Gene F Sothan 9395 North Wall Portland OR 97203 USA 503 283 4566 IB Harddisk Backup and Restore/Autosort/Writeboot

Step Ahead Software, Inc. Nevin Shalit 496-A Hudson Street Suite F39 New York City NY 10014 USA 718 858 4164 TrackerST/Tracker For Windows

Straight Edge Software Frank Pawlowski P.O. Box 6407 Nashua NH 03061 USA 603 672 8150 FPPRINT/OutBurST!

Strata Software Eric Rosenquist 94 Rowe Drive Kanata ON K2L 3Y9 Canada 613 591 1922 (fax) 613 591 1922 STalker & STeno (distr. by Gribnif)

SuperSoft John Buckner 731 North Clinton Grand Ledge MI 48837 USA 517 627 6965 TeleView Tele/TeleView BBS/D.A.M.I./The Fisherman

Synergy Resources Roger Richards 754 N. Bolten Avenue Indianapolis IN 46219 USA 317 231 4158 (fax) 317 356 6946 GEMvelope!/SynthView DW-8000/SynthView K1

Taylor Ridge Books Clayton Walnum P.O. Box 78 Manchester CT 06045 USA 203 643 9673 C-manship Complete/ST Assembly Language Workshop/ GFA Basic Toolkit/VDI Quick Reference/AES Quick Reference/ TRB Shareware Companion

TEAM Software Marshall Lake P.O. Box 7332 Washington DC 20044-7332 USA 703 538 4598 (fax) 703 533 2132 A Day at the Races/A Day at the Races Companion/ 3 Days at Gettysburg

Weinress Consulting Norm Weinress 3236 Velma Drive Los Angeles CA 90068 USA 213 876 7704 D.E.K.A.

Wintertree Software Inc. Phil Comeau 43 Rueter Street Nepean ON K2J 3Z9 Canada 613 596 1575 (fax Attn) 613 825 6721 The GramSlam Grammar and Style Checker/Grammar Expert/ Spelling Sentry

WizWorks! Chet Walters P.O. Box 45 Girard OH 44420 USA 216 539 5623 Image Cat/Mug Shot!/Coalesce Image Merger/Ma Hubbard's Cupboard/ Mug Shot Data

Xerox Corp Robert L. White 101 Continental Blvd. M/S ESC1-257 El Segundo CA 90245 USA 310 333 3497 Printer Drivers For Xerox Printers

Zocra Technologies Craig Buchanan 4-319 Mackay Street Ottawa ON K1M 2B7 Canada 613 741 5817 STyle/STipple


Who has contributed to the FAQ? (93.10.02)

If you've contributed to this FAQ but aren't mentioned here, tell me!

David Paschall-Zimbel (davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu) compiled the bulk of the FAQ. Steven Ourada (sourada@iastate.edu) is the current maintainer.

Juxtaposer (baffoni@aludra.usc.edu) Eugen Bauknecht (eugen@hpbbi4.bbn.hp.com) Ate Brink (ate@cs.ruu.nl) Dorthy Brumleve (dabrumleve@geneie.geis.com) Kevin Busby (kevinb@syma.sussex.ac.uk) Michael Clark (clarkmi@prism.CS.ORST.EDU) John Cummins (cummins@osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu) Stefan Damerau (Stefan_Damerau@sl.maus.de) Jean-Etienne Doucet (doucet@laas.laas.fr) Ben Gilbert Edgar Greuter (edgar@pingu.saar.de) John Henders (jhenders@jonh.wimsey.bc.ca) Chris Herborth (cherborth@semprini.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca) Graham Higgins John Hutchinson (hutch@bellman.lanl.gov) Stephen Jacobs (saj@chinet.chi.il.us) Michal Jaegermann (NTOMCZAK@vm.ucs.ualberta.ca) Eric S Johansson (esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us) Martin Kite (mkite@lincoln.gpsemi.com) Ed Krimen (ekrimen@wet.com) Mark Lavi (markjl@pub2.bu.edu) Mark Leair (aa338@Cleveland.Freenet.edu) John Langner J.J. Lehett (JJL101@psuvm.psu.edu) Jari Lehto Sam Marshall (samm@aisb.edinburgh.ac.uk) Don Maple Darryl May Frederic Mora (mora@geocub.greco-prog.fr) Erlend Nagel <wmtwen@urc.tue.nl> Michael Niermann (Michael.Niermann@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de) Helmut Neukirchen (hn@pool.informatik.rwtk-aachen.de) Thomas Omerzu (omerzu@quando.quantum.de) Piet van Oostrum (piet@cs.ruu.nl) Brian Peterson (brianp@netcom.com) Alan Pratt Laurenz Pruessner (spoil@cs.tu-berlin.de) James Reno (James_Reno.Wbst129@xerox.com) Eric Smith (ersmith@netcom.com) Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl) Shoou-yu Tang (sytang@lamar.colostate.edu) Oddvar Tveito FTO (Oddvar.Tveito@nta.no) Wayne (?) (trek@ihlpb.att.com) John Townsend Joachim Vance (jvance@einstein.oac.uci.edu) Roland Waldi



Hope you liked the comp.sys.atari.st FAQ. If you have comments, suggestions, more material, etc., mail me at sourada@iastate.edu

Thanks to David Paschall-Zimbel (davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu) for compiling most of this FAQ.

                    Later,
                       Steven Ourada

This .signature Copyright 1993 Steven Ourada --- sourada@iastate.edu See COPYING for details