----------------------------------- Zmagazine January 19, 1987 Issue 35 ----------------------------------- Zmag Staff: Publisher/Editor in Chief:Ron Kovacs Editor/Coordinator:Alan Kloza Software Reviewer: Eric Plent ----------------------------------- ____________________________________ This Week in Zmag...... <*> CES WRAP-UP REPORT MORE ST PRODUCTS <*> ATARI 8-BIT PRODUCTS SHOWN AT CES <*> APPLE COMPUTER UPGRADES THEIR IIE'S <*> VIDEO GAMES MAKING NEW COMEBACK <*> COLECO INDUSTRIES CALLED MOST PROFITABLE COMPANY <*> GOING ONLINE AT COMPUSERVE VISITING THE SIG*ATARI All this and more in this weeks edition of Zmagazine..... ____________________________________ Xx ATARI CES WRAP-UP ....Good Show! for the ST........... ____________________________________ ANTIC PUBLISHING INC. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. Hybrid Arts Inc., showed one of the most exciting new products in the Atari world: The ADAP Soundrack. ADAP stands for Analog to Digital Processor. It's a $2000 hardware plus software system, built in conjunction with Nilford Laboratories, Inc., for the Atari ST, designed to replace equipment costing over thirty times as much. The basis of the ADAP is a racey black rack mount box with sound input and output lines, plus an interface box which plugs into the cartridge port of a one- (or more) megabyte machine. What does it do? Digital sampling. And it does it well. Digital sampling is a process where sound is converted into digital patterns which a computer can store, manipulate, and play back at will. Compact discs have been using this technology for years now. Sound enters the ADAP box from virtually any sound source (such as a compact disc player) and is converted into digital signals in the ST's memory. Once the sound is in the ST, it appears as a digital waveform in a window in the center of the screen. You can examine the waveform by zooming in or out on either the X or Y axis, or even both. You can scroll along the waveform to see its entirety, or even sample more than one sound and switch between them. Hybrid Arts claims the system can sample at a rate of 44.1 Khz with 16 bits of resolution -- that's compact disc quality! It even samples in stereo. Once a sample is made, it can be played back at the push of a button. The sound is phenomenal. But ADAP doesn't just let you record samples. You can also edit them. You can cut, copy, and paste portions of a sample. You can even do mixing, looping, or modify the actual waveform freehand. The ADAP system replaces some super-sophisticated musical sampling equipment by allowing you to -play- the samples from your MIDI keyboard, polyphonically, with up to eight voices going simultaneously. Some of the other features it boasts: - Fully MIDI compatible - Polyphonic - Storage of up to 64 multi-samples in memory for instant playback. - Real-time digital effects processing (delay, echo, reverb, etc.) - Real-time oscilloscope - Direct from compact disc, digital to digital sampling. - Multi-sample keyboard splits. - Compatible with the new MIDI digital sample dump data standard. Will work with data from other MIDI sampling devices. - 19- black rack-mount case. - Suggested retail price is $1,995. When asked why they chose the Atari ST as the host sytem, Frank Foster, president of Hybrid Arts, replied: -It's not like we actually 'chose' Atari. It simply couldn't be done on any other machine. Not on an Amiga. Not on a Macintosh.- Now that's a compliment. Other music news: Electronic Music Publishing House has MIDIPLAY, a real-time MIDI record/playback system which supports all 16 channels of MIDI information. List price is $49.95, and a demo disk is $5. They also have Musidisks, a series of pre-recorded data disks of everything from Bach to the Beatles. List is $19.95. The Catalog software division of Antic Publishing was showing, center stage at the Atari Booth, the 3-D Liquid Crystal Shutter Glasses along with some spectacular demos of upcoming software. The new releases include Wanderer, a point-of-view space game, CAD-3D 2.0, CyberMate, the much anticipated stereo modeling and animation system, a molecular modeling program, and Stereo Maps & Legends. Certainly the most impressive demo was the world-premiere of Tom Hudson's SteelyBoink!, a stereo ray-tracing demo illustrating a simulated depth of 8-10 inches into the ST's monitor. START Magazine will be presenting a version of the SteelyBoink! demo which does not require the StereoTek glasses on Antic Online in February. This will highlight Tom's ray-tracing article in START #4 (available in March). The following represents only a few of the many ST programs shown at the Winter CES. New products information and reviews of both these and any omitted programs can be found in upcoming issues of Antic and START. Firebird, of Ramsey, New Jersey has several new programs for the ST. Universal Military Simulator lets you create your own combat scenarios, or even enter in the parameters of real battles and then modify them -to explore the 'what if' possibilities.- Tracker is a shoot-em-up arcade game which combines a huge playfield with artificial intelligence routines. Your deadly enemies, the Cycloids, remember your play tactics and try to prevent you from using them again. Golden Path is a new animated illustrated graphics adventure game. You use the mouse to control your character through 45 screens of graphics and animation. All three games should retail for $44.95. WordPerfect, the best selling and highest rated full-feature word processor for the IBM PC, is now a reality on the ST. WordPerfect Corporation was demonstrating a prerelease version of the product at the Atari booth. The Atari version of WordPerfect features the best of both worlds: it is GEM based, using menu bars and windows, but it also supports the full array of keyboard commands familiar to users of the IBM version. Additionally, users moving from the IBM to the Atari version will also benefit from full file compatiblity with WordPerfect 4.1. The program uses high-speed assembly language routines for ultra-fast response times. I gave it the acid test and found it faster than any other word processor for the ST, faster even than ST Writer, the venerable speed-demon. WordPerfect supports footnote and endnote compilation, full keystroke macros, automatic calculation of numeric tables with the built-in math mode, complete database merge capabilities, an outline feature, a nine-keyword sorting facility for alphabetizing lists, a 115,000 word dictionary, including legal and medical terms, a five-level table of contents and index generator, a five newspaper-style columnar display, a sophisticated thesaurus, a three-level undo capability, and a virtual memory data system, allowing data to flow onto disk when computer memory is full. This will clearly be the most sophisticated word processor for the Atari ST, taking full advantage of the new one, two, and four megabyte machines. WordPerfect for the Atari is scheduled for release second quarter, 1987. The suggested retail price is $395, although a representative from WordPerfect indicated Atari users should be able to purchase it in the low $200s. Timeworks has released their three powerful productivity software for the ST: Word Writer ST, a word processor, Data Manager ST (covered in the Brian Lee's Database Overview in START #4. out in March), and Swiftcalc ST, a spreadsheet. The Timeworks programs are designed as an integrated package. Suggested retail is $79.95. ____________________________________ Xx ATARI 8-BIT NEWS ....New Hardware and Software....... ____________________________________ Although not as numerous or as flashy as the new ST software, there were several companies showing software or distributing information for the 8-bit Atari line. These companies shared a half-dozen XE computers, which sat alongside the new XE [game and computer] System, the new 8-bit 3 1/2 inch drive, and Atari's 1200 baud XE modem (which will also work on the STs). Prices on this hardware have not yet been set. New from Hi-Tech Expressions is AwardWare, a program allowing you to custom-design and print awards, certificates, tickets, coupons and checks. The program includes templates for your forms -- just type in your message and you're ready to give someone that special greeting! Retail price is $14.95. Also from Hi-Tech is CardWare, an animated birthday card, for $9.95; PartyWare, card and party design kit with database of friends and events, for $14.95; HeartWare, an animated greeting disk and love note maker (let a machine do the mushy stuff for you) $9.95; and WareWithAll, which includes colorful stationery, envelopes, stickers, markers, and disk labels, for $14.95. ICD, Inc. was promoting their large array of 8-bit Atari products, such as P:R Connection, an interface allowing your XL or XE to run a large variety of disparate printers and modems; the Printer Connection, a -smart- cable which will make your 8-bit Atari compatible with any Centronics parallel printers; Multi I/O, a box which gives you a RAMdisk, parallel printer interface, serial printer and modem interface, a printer spooler, and a hard disk interface; an 80-Column Adapter, which plugs inside of the Multi I/O case; US Doubler, a chip set which gives your 1050 drive true double density and an accelerated I/O rate; SpartaDOS Construction Set, ICD's custom DOS; SpartaDOS X, a cartridge-based DOS; R-Time 8; a piggyback cartridge clock; and RAMBO XL, a program enabling your 800XL or 1200XL to make use of 256K of RAM (you supply the DRAM memory chips). Zobian Controls was promoting RAOS (Rat Actuated Operating System), their operating system giving your XE a GEM-like OS, including pull-down windows, a mouse-controlled arrow-pointer, and icons. Zobian also has improved their mouse, originally called the Rat. The SuperRAT is now a two-button digital mouse, which works in conjunction with the Zobian DESKTOP program Z-DOS (included in RAOS). The SuperRAT/RAOS combination sells for $99.00. ____________________________________ Xx ZMAG PC NEWS ....Newsmakers In Computing......... ____________________________________ LOTUS DEVELOPMENT SUES PAPERBACK SOFTWARE, MOSAIC SOFTWARE Lotus Development Corp. today sued Paperback Software of Berkeley, Calif., and Mosaic Software of Cambridge, Mass., accusing them of copyright infringement, false advertising and unfair trade practices and seeks an injunction and unspecified damages. A statement from Lotus headquarters alleged that Mosaic's program called The Twin and Paperback Software's VP Planner -deliberately recreate, with only trivial variations, the 'look and feel' and user interface of Lotus 1-2-3 ... in violation of US copyright law.- It says the competing software copied 1-2-3's specific command and function names, the organization of menu choices, the sequence in which these choices appear and 1-2-3's macro language. The suit, filed in Boston federal court, also alleges ads that claim similarity between the programs and 1-2-3 -are misleading with respect to the performance and quality of these products,- according to the statement. -We are disappointed,- said Jim Manzi, Lotus president and chief executive officer, -that so much time and talent in our industry has been spent in imitating rather than innovating. We expect that the successful prosecution of these suits will serve to channel energy away from imitation and back to the development of truly innovative products.- APPLE UPGRADES IIE Apple Computer Inc., citing a commitment to the Apple II product family, has introduced an updated version of the Apple IIe personal computer. The updated IIe, which is available immediately, comes with an expanded keyboard, a built-in numeric keypad, improved training and reference materials and Apple's new -platinum- color scheme. The new IIe is completely compatible with all existing IIe software and peripheral equipment. The IIe's suggested retail price remains at $829. -The introduction of an updated IIe completes the revitalization of the Apple II product family that Apple began in September by launching the IIGS, a memory expansion module for the IIc and several new peripherals,- commented Delbert W. Yocam, Apple's executive vice president and chief operating officer. -Three strong systems give educators and consumers a wide range of price and performance options and establish a foundation on which the Apple II family can grow far into the future,- he said. COMPUTER CRIME RISES IN BRITAIN LONDON -- British computer crime is on the rise and most security is too lax to halt the trend soon, concludes BIS Applied Systems in its latest -Computer Related Fraud Casebook.- The survey shows an eight-fold increase in UK computer crimes, with average losses jumping from a mean of $46,000 in 1983, to $393,000 last year. Prominent in the cases studied was manipulation of electronic funds in financial services, especially among junior staff. For instance, a 24-year-old bank supervisor and a younger accomplice used a home computer and password known to several other bank employees to divert $8.5 million of Eurobonds to a Swiss account. They were discovered only because the bonds were from their bank's own investment account and officials noticed a shortfall in interest that they should have earned. Older employees, for whom self-imposed exile in South America or on the Spanish Costa del Crime may be less attractive, prefer to work within their company and defraud it over a number of years, according to the study. The classic protracted fraud is the -salami technique,- in which perpetrators round off totals in multiple accounts and transfer them to their own bogus account. BIS says security problems are intensified by an increasingly computer-literate population and a greater presence in business of the microcomputer, which permits unauthorized local printing or copying of confidential information, data transfers out of the company, and simple malicious damage. BIS suggests an overall heightening of awareness and responsibility among senior executives in dealing with computer security. In the meantime, BIS says worried executives might do better by employing more women in high-risk positions. In the study, women were found to be four times less likely to commit computer crimes, and when they did, were less greedy. BRODERBUND TO AWARD PRIZES FOR OUTLANDISH FINANCIAL STORIES Have you got a crazy, weird story about managing your money? If so, Broderbund Software just might give you a prize for it. To promote its new On Balance software for money management, the San Rafael, Calif., publisher is sponsoring an -Off the Wall- story contest. The person who submits the most outlandish money story by April 1 will receive a library of Broderbund software worth $1,000. The second-place winner receives $500 worth of software. The publisher says that between now and April 15, it will release some of the more bizarre stories of semi-finalists -to encourage (or console) taxpayers as they prepare their tax returns.- Here's the first one: -A young California bachelor used to file each week's financial records in the corresponding issue of a national newsweekly; then he kept the issues stacked in his living room. The system worked fine -- until he lent his apartment to his sister one weekend. In gratitude, she 'helped' her untidy brother by cleaning his apartment thoroughly. In the process, she threw out all the 'old' magazines -- along with an entire year's worth of statements and receipts, plus a few unpaid bills.- Broderbund says that each semi-finalist will receive a copy of the $99.95 On Balance software, which is available for the Apple IIc, 128K IIe and IIGS computers. Story entries should be mailed to -Off the Wall,- Broderbund Software, 17 Paul Drive, San Rafael, Calif. 94903-2101. All entries become the property of Broderbund Software. _____________________________________ Xx GENERAL COMPUTER NEWS ...Video Games Coming Back........... _____________________________________ VIDEO GAMES MAKING A COME-BACK? Don't throw out your game paddles -- the video game console is coming back. At least, that's what manufacturers have told writer Dave Matheny of The Minneapolis Star and Tribune. A little history: In 1982, the last golden year of the video- game craze, some 8.2 million consoles were sold by companies like Atari, Coleco and Intellivision. Then, because of consumer burnout, or competition with less-expensive computers, or bad karma, the bottom began falling out of the market. However, while most electronics consumers have been looking elsewhere for diversions, the video game market has been restructuring itself and adding new players, like Sega and Nintendo, and now the games, says Matheny, -have returned like prodigal sons, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of three years ago to snake their black cables across the living-room rug to the TV set.- New manufacturers tell the newspaper they've determined the competition between computers and dedicated game consoles is a false one, that, in the words of Gail Tilden of Nintendo of America, playing video games is a -whole different atmosphere- from using a computer. -You want your computer for more serious purposes,-she says.-You have it on a desk in another room. Two people don't pull up to a desk to play baseball.-But, she says, they do gather in front of the TV set to play. _____________________________________ Xx GENERAL COMPUTER NEWS ....Random Notes..................... _____________________________________ COLECO MOST PROFITABLE FIRM Coleco Industries Inc., which was roughed up a few years ago trying to sell its low-end Adam Computer, certainly has bounced back. Forbes magazine now rates it the most profitable of large US public corporations. Coleco halted marketing of Adam at the beginning of 1985 after it didn't capture the home market. According to most observers, much of the credit of Coleco's good fortune goes hand in hand with the -colossal- success of its Cabbage Patch dolls. Also on Forbes' list of top profit-makers this year is Apple Computer Co. in the No. 10 spot. _____________________________________ ZMAG PANORAMA ..Features, Entertainment and Reviews _____________________________________ Compuserve's SIG*Atari For those of you who have used the CompuServe Information Service, you have no doubt heard of one of it's most-used SIGs, SIG*Atari. For those who have not ventured into this world, here is a look at one of the best sources of information for the Atari home computers. To access the SIG*Atari 8-bit forum directly, simply log on to CompuServe and type -GO ATARI8-. You will be rushed to the -Front Door-, so to speak, of the SIG, and it is here that you have the chance to join SIG*Atari. You will have the choice of visiting the forum, or joining right now, so choose -Join Atari 8-bit forum-. The system will ask for your name. Type it in, and you are now a member of SIG*ATARI! After joining, you will have access to all of the many functions of this SIG. One hint: If you are the type of person that does not like to use menus, choose -User Options- from the forum's top menu. From here you will have the option of turning off the menus, choose to read waiting messages right away, and many others. After you finish up in this section, type -T- to get back to the top forum menu. Top Level Menu ============== Now we get to the best part: Using the SIG! Here is a view of the top level menu. ATARI 8-Bit Forum FUNCTIONS 1 (L) Leave a Message 2 (R) Read Messages 3 (CO) Conference Mode 4 (DL) Data Libraries 5 (B) Bulletins 6 (MD) Member Directory 7 (OP) User Options 8 (IN) Instructions Leave a Message: This will allow you to -Post- a message on any of the SIG' message bases. You can send a message to a user you know, or to all of the users on the SIG by answering -ALL- to the -TO:- prompt. NOTE: When entering a message, you MUST enter that users User ID Number at the -TO:- prompt if you are sending it to any one person. Read Messages: Select this option, and you will see the following menu. READ MESSAGES 1 (RF) Forward 2 (RR) Reverse 3 (RT) Threads 4 (RS) Search 5 (RM) Marked 6 (RI) Individual 7 (QS) Quick Scan 8 (BR) Browse Enter choice ! Conference Mode: This is the SIG version of the CB Simulator. The -CO- option allows you to talk to people from all over the U.S. in -Real Time-. You can also be a part of the many formal Conferences that take place in the SIG. These Conferences ('COs' as the regulars call it) are held with many kinds of people that are part of the Atari world. Software programmers like Bill Wilkinson, Neil Harris, and Keith Ledbetter can all answer your questions in -CO- mode, or you can drop them a message with the -Leave a Message- option from the top level menu. I will list the CompuServe ID numbers for the SIG SysOps(Systems Operators) at the end of this article. Data Libraries ============== In the (D)ata (L)ibraries, you can find Compuserve's public domain file library. Some of the best programs come from here, like the Express! modem programs, and even Bulletin Board System software like FOREM and AMIS. There are quite a few data libraries to choose from. Here is an up-to- date list: 0 [*] General 1 [*] GAMES 2 [*] Telecommunications 3 [*] Utilities 4 [*] Graphics 5 [*] Application pgms 6 [*] Sound & Music 7 [*] HOT News/Rumors 11 [*] BBS related Choose from any of the above, and you have a whole data library to look through! Bulletins ========= Here is where you can read the latest bulletins from the SysOps. New Bulletins are automatically shown at the time you log into the SIG. If you missed it, or want to read it again, this is where to go. Member Directory ================ Use the Member Directory to search for information on fellow users. You can search for a users name, state, ID Number and interests. This is handy if you see a message from someone you want to talk to, but did not get that person's ID number. User Options ============ Here is where you can select from many options to make using the SIG easier for you. The User Options menu looks like this: USER OPTIONS [ ] represents current setting 1 (SM) Stop After Msgs [Always] 2 (CN) Name [Eric S. Plent] 3 (PC) Prompt Character [] 4 (ED) Editor [EDIT] 5 (SU) Subtopics [...] 6 (HI) High Msg Read [176026] 7 (RE) Replies Info [None] 8 (UM) Use Menus [No] 9 (TY) Type Waiting Msgs [Yes] 10 (SK) Skip Msgs You Left [No] As you can see, there are many things you can change on the SIG, all of which can make the SIG easier to use for you. For example, take a look at option 8: -8 (UM) Use Menus [No]-. Select this, and you will be promped to turn menus ON or OFF. If you choose OFF with menus ON, you will be asked if you want to have this setting for all SIG access, or just for this one time only. Remember: If you choose to make this your default, it does not mean you are stuck with Command Mode for ever! You can change it back at any time. Instructions ============ Choose this from the top menu to view a help file from the SysOps. You can get just about all the help you need from the many on-line help files, but if you have a problem that is not covered in the help file, post a message to the users or SysOps. They will be glad to answer any questions you might have on the SIG. As you can see, the Atari SIG on CompuServe has many things to offer. There are the tons of Public Domain programs you can download, the message bases, where you can read and enter messages that will be seen by all the membership, and the Conference Mode, where you can talk in Real Time to all of the people you have been trading messages with in the past. I hope I have been able to show you the SIG in a way that will make you want to try it. I have had much fun with the Atari SIG, and I am sure you will too. If you are already a member of CompuServe and/or the Atari SIG, you can leave me any comments at User ID# 76246,201. Please send the message through EasyPlex (GO EASY). ------------------------------------- Zmagazine January 19, 1987 Issue 35 Please Contribute!!! ------------------------------------- Next week: Results of the first Zmag Survey... Final words on CES... Current 8-Bit software update... User Group Report:CHAOS