News from Cebit '89
VBR...@dbnuama1.bitnet
I asked if anyone was coming to the Cebit '89 at Hannover, West Germany.
Well, thanks to the people who responded. Unfortunately, I overestimated the
digest turn-around speed, so I had gone before any of the replies reached me.
For that same reason, I guess by the time I write this, a lot of reports
from Cebit have come in, but I haven't seen any. So, here are the new things
I've seen and heard.
Atari Germany has found a new excuse: TOS 1.4 *is* there, they say, but they
don't have ROMs in quantity yet, so they can't officially (!) announce it. They
were displaying the new big monocrome screen (SM 129, price as yet undecided),
but couldn't demo it, because the screen driver (done by Ken B. & others) needs
TOS 1.4 to work, and Atari Germany had *only 2* machines with 1.4 ROMs avail-
able in Hannover. That would, for once, confirm that excuse.
I know *I* am going to get TOS 1.4 sometime next week (from where I'd rather
not say :-), but if it's really finished, I can't understand why Atari doesn't
make a copy available for the general public, so that at least those who own an
EPROM burner can make their own ROMs.
The ATW was shown in the new tower-like case, but the demo program looked
just like the one they had last September at the Atari Fair in Duesseldorf.
The TT and TT/X *supposedly* will be shown in September at the '89 Atari
Fair, again in Duesseldorf.
Lots of new software, but nothing really impressive, except maybe Tempus
Word, which is a Tempus-like word processor (available IV/89 for ~ DM 650).
The CD ROM was quoted as "now being shipped to dealers." There was a pre-
release of the complete PD collection of the German 'ST Computer' magazine,
all on one CD. No price yet.
No new laser printer / postscript emulator etc.
I probably missed a lot. I also got the impression that every Atari person
told different stories, so don't be surprised if what I'm saying turns out to
be all wrong ... ;-)
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Bitnet: VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1 Volker A. Brandt
UUCP: ...!unido!DBNUAMA1.bitnet!vbrandt Angewandte Mathematik
ARPAnet: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA...@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Bonn, West Germany)
Roy Good
>
>
>I know *I* am going to get TOS 1.4 sometime next week (from where I'd rather
>not say :-), but if it's really finished, I can't understand why Atari doesn't
>make a copy available for the general public, so that at least those who own an
>EPROM burner can make their own ROMs.
I sincerely hope the source is Atari GmbH. If not, you will have copies of
either the very early "Beta" version, or unofficial PROMs derived from the
Developer softloaded release of 8/88. Either way, you will have a version
which still contains errors, unless you get the latest version via GmbH.
Roy Good/Atari
Frans Meulenbroeks
I have some flames included below. They are intended to atari, not to you.
Note: I trimmed the message a lot. Find the original if you want to read
it all.
In article <890315001...@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> VBR...@DBNUAMA1.BITNET writes:
>
> Atari Germany has found a new excuse: TOS 1.4 *is* there, they say, but they
>don't have ROMs in quantity yet, so they can't officially (!) announce it. They
Hah! When the first developers release of 1.4 came out last August they
used the very same excuse to tell the people the 1.4 will not be
available before December.
Do they still want me to believe this....
>were displaying the new big monocrome screen (SM 129, price as yet undecided),
>but couldn't demo it, because the screen driver (done by Ken B. & others) needs
>TOS 1.4 to work, and Atari Germany had *only 2* machines with 1.4 ROMs avail-
>able in Hannover. That would, for once, confirm that excuse.
Huh, Huh, Huh, There are also disk based versions of 1.4 (you'll only
need 1 copy to boot any number of machines). Furthermore if a company
like Atari cannot burn a few Eproms for a large fair, what are they up to??
>
> I know *I* am going to get TOS 1.4 sometime next week (from where I'd rather
>not say :-), but if it's really finished, I can't understand why Atari doesn't
>make a copy available for the general public, so that at least those who own an
>EPROM burner can make their own ROMs.
Agree!! Anyway, if systems with new ROMs hit the shop before there are
upgrade kits a lot of people will burn their own roms.
(Thats how I got my Mega Roms)
>
> The TT and TT/X *supposedly* will be shown in September at the '89 Atari
>Fair, again in Duesseldorf.
Ough. I cannot keep from laughing. This thing has been promised to be
available very soon now for three years. Giggle.
I could have developed a TT alone in that time.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Bitnet: VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1 Volker A. Brandt
>UUCP: ...!unido!DBNUAMA1.bitnet!vbrandt Angewandte Mathematik
>ARPAnet: VBRANDT%DBNUAMA...@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Bonn, West Germany)
Once again thanks Volker.
Does this Atari company really wants us to believe anything they say.
They can only tell the same promises and excuses again and again.
Nay, my ST is a fine machine, and I'm still happy I bought it, but I
would not rely on Atari info any more. Seeing is believing as far as
Atari concerns. Where are the long ago promised blitter upgrades for 1040
owners???
PS: One major advantage of the ST: It runs MINIX!
No more single tasking. Unix is here.
--
Frans Meulenbroeks (meul...@cst.prl.philips.nl)
Centre for Software Technology
( or try: ...!mcvax!philmds!prle!cst!meulenbr)
Bob_BobR...@cup.portal.com
>Nay, my ST is a fine machine, and I'm still happy I bought it, but I
>would not rely on Atari info any more. Seeing is believing as far as
>Atari concerns. Where are the long ago promised blitter upgrades for 1040
>owners???
The "Blitter Upgrade" for 520/1040 ST machines has actually been out for
quite some time now..
Instructions for upgrading a 520/1040ST to a blitter machine:
1) Carefully unplug your 520/1040ST
2) Hold it approximately 12 inches above any available trash receptacle
3) Let go
4) Go to your dealer and buy a Mega 2 ST or Mega 4 ST
5) Blitter upgrade is complete
BobR
Marc Gumbold
[...]
The CD ROM was quoted as "now being shipped to dealers." There was a pre-
release of the complete PD collection of the German 'ST Computer' magazine,
all on one CD. No price yet.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I asked them and they told me it'll cost 1200 DM, which are, ehmmm, say $660.
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UUCP: ...!uunet!unido!pbinfo!marc | Marc Gumbold
or ma...@pbinfo.UUCP | Universitaet-GH Paderborn, FB 17
CSNET: marc%pbinf...@Germany.CSNET | Warburger Str. 100
ARPA: marc%pbinf...@uunet.uu.net | D-4790 Paderborn, West Germany
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Chuck McManis
> I asked them [Atari] and they told me it'll [The CD-ROM] cost 1200 DM,
Be careful, looking at prices in West Germany and in other countries shows
that they have no relation to the current (or future) US <-> German
currency exchange rate. I'll keep my eye out for one around the northern
CA area and see if the US price is close to that 660.
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcm...@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
Pekka Sarnila
New products from Atari:
- large monitor SM194 (really Viking) 1280 * 960, 70 Hz, graphics card,
TOS upgrade to support large screen, availabe in June, price in Germany
c. 3800.- DEM. They had several of them working there; the quality of
the picture was really good. (This + laser + Calamus = really impressive)
- Megafile 44, cartridge hard disk unit, 44MB, 30ms seek, bootable,
available in April, price in Germany c. 2500.- DEM, cartridge c. 300.-.
Seemed to work fine. Cartridges are about the size of a 5" floppy in
hard cover.
- CD-roms available right now (High Sierra 86 and ISO 9660 standart)
- TT was not publicly precented (was there though); will be officially
out in Dusseldorf ATARI show 25-27. August, the clock will be 16MHz,
low end version about 6000.- DEM, unix version about 10000.- DEM
(depends the ram price development).
- ATW is available now, starting price about 15000.- DEM (with one
transputer); One university had developped some simulation programms
in it (something to do with jet turbines I understood), they liked
it, speed (one transputer) they saed was about twice the MicroVax II.
They had X-windows working. The operating system seems to
work aright, Csh seemed pretty compatible.
--
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Pekka Sarnila, University of Jyvaskyla Finland
sar...@tukki.jyu.fi
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Ralph P. Sobek
| ... Where are the long ago promised blitter upgrades for 1040
| owners???
It seems that the blitter is on sale for 1040 ST's here in France!
Around 250 FF. It has been advertised in the trade journals, such as
ST Magazine.
No, I don't have one.
--
Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own.
ra...@laas.laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance.
ra...@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!mcvax!laas!ralph If all else fails, try:
SO...@FRMOP11.BITNET so...@eclair.Berkeley.EDU
Bob_BobR...@cup.portal.com
>It seems that the blitter is on sale for 1040 ST's here in France!
>Around 250 FF. It has been advertised in the trade journals, such as
>ST Magazine.
on how to install a blitter chip into the newer revisions of 520/1040s,
using parts purchased from Mega dealers. The installation involves
unsoldering the 64 tiny holes in the motherboard where the blitter goes,
installing a socket for the blitter, and installing the "Mega ROMs" in
place of the current ROMs (if the machine doesn't already have them).
However, the availability of blitter chips as replacement parts for Mega STs
in no way implies that Atari is any further along toward releasing a
"blitter upgrade" for older machines than it was a year ago. Indeed, the
fact that the new revisions of the 520/1040 motherboards HAVE a place for
the blitter, but DO NOT even have a socket installed, seems to indicate
that Atari has no immediate plans to make it easy for those machines to
have blitters installed as a "retro-fit."
BobR
Hartmut Semken
>In article <3...@cstw01.UUCP>, meul...@cstw01.UUCP (Frans Meulenbroeks) writes:
>| ... Where are the long ago promised blitter upgrades for 1040
>| owners???
>It seems that the blitter is on sale for 1040 ST's here in France!
>Around 250 FF. It has been advertised in the trade journals, such as
>ST Magazine.
Blitter upgrades are availeble in Germany.
My board was DM 90 (including Postage...), the blitter (as 'replacement
part') ist about DM 200.
The set ist easy to install (took me 2 hours of soldering...) if you do
not follow the instructions... :-)
hase
--
Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 ha...@netmbx.UUCP
If there is something more important than my Ego, I want it caught and shot.
Now! (Zaphod Beeblebrox)
Bob_BobR...@cup.portal.com
>Blitter upgrades are availeble in Germany.
>My board was DM 90 (including Postage...), the blitter (as 'replacement
>part') ist about DM 200.
Can you give us any more info about these upgrades..?
Is this an "official" Atari Gmbh product, or a third-party board..?
How has it worked for you, did you need to swap ROMs, and how's the
compatibility with software you've tried so far..?
(Lotsa questions, eh..? :)
BobR
Ralph P. Sobek
| I, Ralph Sobek, write:
|
| >It seems that the blitter is on sale for 1040 ST's here in France!
| >Around 250 FF. It has been advertised in the trade journals, such as
| >ST Magazine.
|
| Indeed, the
| fact that the new revisions of the 520/1040 motherboards HAVE a place for
| the blitter, but DO NOT even have a socket installed, seems to indicate
| that Atari has no immediate plans to make it easy for those machines to
| have blitters installed as a "retro-fit."
Maybe some Atari dealers are more adventurous than others, but my
local official Atari dealer (Logisoft -- the makers of Turbodos) says
that they'll install the blitter for about 200 FF (1$US 6.40 FF)
extra. Next time I drop by I'll ask them for more details if others
are interested.