========================================================================= (C) 1995 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection wait for the U#= prompt and type JOINGENIE in uppercase. Answer the ensuing prompts for screen width and country. When asked for the KEY/OFFER CODE, please enter MXC524. You must also supply a valid credit card number. ========================================================================= Category 30, Topic 3 Message 1 Sat May 27, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 23:26 PDT New Falcon user here with questions: 1. When I load off the Language Disk, all the icons are nicely multi-colored. (The file cabinet has lots of colors) However, I can't seem to do that when I boot off the hard drive. I have the XControl Panel loaded with all the CPXs from the langauge disk. Am I missing something? 2. A weird one. I open a window such as drive E: on the desktop. Then I load an application that is on drive D: via its icon on the desktop. However, the application looks for its configuration files on drive E:. Huh? I'm using TOS 4.04, Pinhead 2.1, NVDI 3.01, Xcontrol 1.31, 16-color VGA mode. TIA, Phil ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 2 Sun May 28, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:01 PDT Phil, My guess is that when you load off of floppy there is no DESKICON.RSC, so you're using the internal icons. And when you boot off of the hard drive it's loading DESKICON.RSC, which has icons less colorful than the internal ones. I see the 'pretty' icons myself when I hold down Control to bypass the hard drive boot process. (tm) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 3 Sun May 28, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:29 EDT Phil, When you boot off the floppy, you're getting the icons from the floppy. When you boot off the hard drive, you're getting the icons off the hard drive. Now that we got THAT underway, it's actually not that simple. The NEWDESK.INF file controls things when you boot up. It stores the look and arrangement of the desktop, and so you are getting one NEWDESK file on the floppy but another on the hard drive. As I recall, the multi-color icons are stored in a different file from the standard ones, so a Falcon user (I'm not one) can help tell you which icon file you need to have in the root of the hard drive. (All Ataris work more or less the same way, but I haven't run the standard TOS desktop in years, so I'm not good at this advice.) Number 2 isn't odd; it's the way TOS works unless you set up apps differently, or do a different kind of drag-and-drop. Just select the icon for the app and go to the main GEM menu and set up the app to use its own location for its config files. (The other choice is Top Window or Active Window.) But it's easier just to open the app window, open a window for data files, and drag the data file(s) to the app icon; it will run and auto-load the data files. (A word processor is a good example of this kind of operation, but it works with many types of application.) Terry may have the answer on the icons -- but Terry, there are TWO icon files, one for color and one for b/w, more or less, right? Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 4 Sun May 28, 1995 T.STARACE1 at 10:04 EDT Phil, To get the color icons when you boot from the hard drive, all you need to do is copy the DESKICON.RSC file to the root directory on drive C. (If you use MultiTos then copy the DESKCICN.RSC file instead.) If it's not there then the computer will use the plain built in icons. Also you don't need 2 files for color and mono icons. They are ALL in the DESKICON.RSC file. Tom ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 5 Sun May 28, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 10:45 EDT Phil, Highlight the ICON you have for that program. Now, go under Options and select Install Application. On this dialog box, you will notice at the bottom 2 options beside 'Default Dir'. You need to set it as Application and not Top Window. Also, set the Full Path option and any other options on this dialog box. You then needto save your Desktop. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 6 Sun May 28, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 14:43 EDT Phil, 1. Copy the DESKICON.RSC file from the floppy drive that gave you color icons. This is the file containing the color icons. Without it you will get the default icons. 2. If what the others said don't work, check that application's settings (normally under Preferences or Path). You might see where it's looking for its files. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 7 Sun May 28, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 20:30 PDT Al, As Tom said, you don't need different resources for color and mono icons. Each icon is actually three different icons: One for Color, one for Color Selected, and one for Mono. I know exactly what Phil was referring to. If you boot without ANY resource file you get multi-colored file cabinets assigned to your drives. These are internal (inside GEM) icons. I get them when I bypass the hard drive by pressing down Control (which does _not_ cause me to boot from floppy, because no AUTO programs, ACCs or DESKTOP.INF gets loaded). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 8 Sun May 28, 1995 B.DEWITT [Perfesser] at 21:42 MDT While the following comment isn't strictly Falcon oriented, it is about graphics and that's what I bought my Falcon for, so maybe it's appropriate. Anyway, while watching PC-TV on televison the other day, they had an interesting segment on a new graphics chip that has been developed. The presenter was German, but I don't know whether it was developed in Germany or not. The chip was called a 'GLINT' chip or something like that (I couldn't understand what they said very well). It was running on a Pentium-equipped computer, but the rep implied that it was designed to work on other platforms as well. The thing that was exciting about it was that it is a dedicated 3D chip that rendered 3D graphics at blazing speeds. He demonstrated a roller- coaster animation (you know the type: like a camera is fixed on the front of a roller-coaster car while the thing zooms at break-neck speed around the rails) that really flew--and the whole thing was rendered in real time! It essentially brought high-end workstation-type 3D graphics to the home computer. The price was not mentioned, but the implication was that it was affordable. Has anyone heard of such a chip? Anyone care to hazard a guess as to whether such a chip could ever make its way to the Falcon (after all, if it was designed in Germany where the Falcon hasn't died yet....)? Or am I being a hopeless optimist? (Of course I am, but no harm in dreaming.) Th'Perfesser ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 9 Mon May 29, 1995 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 01:08 EDT Perfesser, The Glint chip has been around since 1994 I believe. I do not recall if it is the same chip. But there is one what puts Silicon Graphics graphic standard OPEN GL on a chip. -- Albert @ AEO ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 10 Mon May 29, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:38 EDT Thanks, Terry. I'm learning more than I thought I'd have to learn about the TOS desktop. :-0) Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 11 Mon May 29, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 14:27 CDT Phil, 1. Copy the Deskicon.rsc file from the language disk. I had the same problem at first and just copied both DESKICON and DESKCICN to my hard drive and let the Falcon figure out the rest. :-) Other than that, make sure the resolution you are in has at least 16 colors. 2. Boy, it's been awhile since I looked at the desktop but, here goes: One of the desktop menu items (I'm pretty sure it's the last dropdown on the right) has an option to set for either "top window" or "full path". Set this to "full path" and save your desktop. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 12 Mon May 29, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 14:24 PDT >A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:38 EDT > >Thanks, Terry. I'm learning more than I thought I'd have to learn about >the TOS desktop. :-0) And I'm teaching more about it than I ever thought I would. ;^) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 13 Mon May 29, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 15:48 PDT Thanks everyone for your help. I fixed the problems. Now another question. Whenever I try to copy a folder from my hard drive to drive A:, the computer crashes (2 bombs). I tried this in all RGB resolutions with NO auto prgs or accs. Is this a TOS/GEM bug? -Phil ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 14 Mon May 29, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 18:00 PDT Speed Res is here!!! See Topic 12. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 15 Mon May 29, 1995 ST.MUSE [Tomas] at 23:51 EDT Phil, >Now another question. Whenever I try to copy a folder from my hard > drive to drive A:, the computer crashes (2 bombs). Do you mean from the Desktop? ===Tomas=== Assistant Sysop & Librarian ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 16 Tue May 30, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:16 EDT Phil, I remember reading about a copy-to-floppy bug when you do it from the desktop. What happens if you use a utility like MaxiFile, Kobold, or one of the advanced item selectors that provides copying facilities? Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 17 Tue May 30, 1995 TQUINN [Terry~Sysop] at 19:03 EDT Since this topic has exceeded 200 messages, they have been archived and are available in Library 13 as file # 36204 (FALCON37.ARC). This archive covers the period between March 8, 1995 and May 30, 1995. Terry Quinn ST RT Sysop, BBS Janitor and sometime Topic Cop. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 18 Wed May 31, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 00:14 PDT >Do you mean from the Desktop? Yep, when I copy a folder from the HD to floppy from the desktop, it crashes with two bombs. No auto PRGs or ACCs and in all RGB resolutions. >What happens if you use a utility like MaxiFile, Kobold, or one of the >advanced item selectors that provides copying facilities? I tried Neodesk 4 and it copies a folder to a floppy just fine. I guess it's a TOS bug. I'm surprised no one at Atari found this as it's quite obvious (at least to me). I wonder if Keith Gerdes can find a way to fix this and incorporate it into TOS4TRAP. -Phil ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 19 Wed May 31, 1995 ST.MUSE [Tomas] at 05:13 EDT Phil, Have you tried TOS4_FIX? ===Tomas=== ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 20 Wed May 31, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 10:08 EDT Phil, That's the bug. Atari does know about it (make that "DID" know about it, since all the TOS crewmen are gone now). As Tomas says, make sure you are using the required Falcon bug fixes. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 21 Wed May 31, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 19:25 CDT Phil, >Whenever I try to copy a folder from my hard drive to drive A:, the >computer crashes (2 bombs). I tried this in all RGB resolutions with >NO auto prgs or accs. Is this a TOS/GEM bug? I think it has to do with the floppy disk format. If you buy 'pre-formatted disks for a PC', then I'd reformat them before using them on _any_ Atari. The format should consist of: (a) 2 FATs and (b) 2 sectors per cluster. - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 22 Thu Jun 01, 1995 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 07:42 EDT I've found that I can't use preformatted 1.44 floppies without reformatting. I can write to them, but can't read them back. Ken Van ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 23 Thu Jun 01, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:36 EDT Keith, Hmm, is this the Falcon floppy bug (writing to a disk that is formatted a little differently)? The ST and TT don't have that problem. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 24 Thu Jun 01, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 07:49 CDT Phil, Are your floppies formatted by the Falcon? I've had strange problems with floppies formatted on my STE. If you are using preformatted disks, reformat them on the Falcon, or buy Geneva. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 25 Thu Jun 01, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 18:21 CDT Phil, >I wonder if Keith Gerdes can find a way to fix this and incorporate it >into TOS4TRAP. It might be possible, but I think the better/best solution is to simply reformat the floppy disks if that's a workaround. Reformatting will be necessary for some utility software anyway. ---- Tomas, >Have you tried TOS4_FIX? It only covers a subset of TOS4TRAP's features, so it would not help in this situation either... - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 26 Fri Jun 02, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 18:08 CDT Al, >Hmm, is this the Falcon floppy bug (writing to a disk that is formatted >a little differently)? The ST and TT don't have that problem. I assume so....I'm merely just guessing at the solution, which would hint at the cause. The other TOS versions may not have that problem, but that does _not_ eliminate problems with "utility" software. We both know that using a "non-standard" disk format (to Atari/TOS) is not advisable for _any_ Atari computer model. As I mentioned, the main concerns are to ensure: a) 2 or more sectors per cluster and b) 2 FATs. FWIW, the only one I've heard about is a pre-format with 1 sector per cluster... - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 27 Fri Jun 02, 1995 C.GALARDI at 18:08 CDT Can anyone recommend a hand scanner and software that would work with the the Falcon? thanks, chris g ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 28 Fri Jun 02, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 22:06 EDT Keith, You're probably right over the long term, but I sure haven't had problems with my 1.66M floppies; I create them on the TT and read them on my PC just fine. (But that's not surprising. Microsoft itself uses a 1.88M formatting scheme for program distribution. Youch!) Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 29 Fri Jun 02, 1995 C.OINES1 [Chazz] at 21:39 CDT I've never had a problem with preformatted disks on my Falcon030 so far... ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 30 Fri Jun 02, 1995 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 19:56 PDT Chris G - Unless I missed an announcement along the line, Migraph Coloburst is the only hand scanner option for the Falcon. One surprise is that it works off your printer port so you will need a switchable box unless you like switching cables all the time... We have a Colorburst topic if you are interested in reading more. At first I thought it was too expensive, but now that the money is two years gone and the scanner is still being used I am ok with the deal. (:{ Grouch. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 31 Fri Jun 02, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 23:31 EDT Hi, I know this is a long shot, but if anyone has suffered from similar problems with their Falcon you might be able to save my local tech some time tracing the trouble. Recently, my Falcon has refused to boot either Logic Audio OR Cubase Audio (2.03). He checked it out today and was able to run CAF version 2.0 and, occasionally, 2.02. All other software I had appears to run fine. There just seems to be something about these two Harddisk recording programs that bombs out during bootup. Logic (sans audio) loads without a hitch. If anybody could tell me what, specifically, he should look at, I'll relay the message on Monday. Thanks David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 32 Sat Jun 03, 1995 C.GALARDI at 01:51 CDT Grouch: Thanks for the info on the scanner. It is much appreciated. The price seems to have dropped a little bit. Still more $$$ than I like, but if i get desparate [D [D [D [D [D [De [C [C [C [C [Cenough I may get one. I am getting tired of having to go to KINKO's and pay $10 to have something scanned! Anyway, thanks again for your assistance. chris g. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 33 Fri Jun 02, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 23:55 PDT Keith, Yeah, it's the format of the disk. I can copy folders from the HD to the floppy fine if I format the disk first on my Falcon. Thanks. Now another question :) How can I get colored windows? I have Xcontrol and the window colors CPX loaded, but still no color in my windows. TIA, Phil ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 34 Sat Jun 03, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 04:06 EDT Okay, I asked this a long time ago and nobody had an answer, so here it goes again: The DSP in my Falcon030 doesn't seem to 'sync' right most of the time I boot it up. That is, programs that use the DSP still run, but don't give the right results (DSP MOD players play screeching noises, Audio Fun Machine's spectrum analyzer goes haywire, JPEG decoders and MPEG players show scrambled images at best, and the audio system seems to get silenced when trying to use SAM or FalconD2D). I've had the timing problem fixed by a dealer (when it was still under warranty, thank goodness!), so I know that wasn't the problem. The closest thing like it I can think of is the problem with 'speckled' Spectrum 512 pictures caused by the precise CPU/shifter timing required for the pictures to be displayed correctly. Sometimes it works right away, but sometimes I've had to reboot it up to several dozen times to get the DSP working right. Has anyone had or heard of others with such a problem? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 35 Sat Jun 03, 1995 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 09:41 EDT My problem with preformatted disks was on the Mega STE. KV ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 36 Sat Jun 03, 1995 DMJ [dmj] at 09:53 CDT Al, - Microsoft itself uses a 1.88M formatting scheme for program - distribution. IBM uses something similar for PC-DOS and OS/2. Large formats really make a big difference. By the way, Al, do you "twist" those disks, and if so, do they seem faster than disks formatted on the PC? ~dmj ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 37 Sat Jun 03, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 11:55 EDT Phil, Wincolor should work fine. It requires TOS 2.05 or higher (or Geneva), so you should not have a problem. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 38 Sat Jun 03, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 14:41 EDT If you "twist" the disk, they won't fit in the drive. :-) On a serious note. Does anyone know of the bugs that are in the Falcon TOS. I have a program that prints to the screen (normal TOS/VT52 mode). It will print a line but not the CR/LF. After it does some stuff, it then prints completed. On a ST(e)/TT, it will print... Converting File...Completed. 1st part no CR/LF ^ then Completed followed by a CR/LF On the Falcon, the 'Converting File...' part does not show up and the Completed is flush with the left side of the screen as though the Converting part was never printed. Thanks for any help. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 39 Sat Jun 03, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 15:39 PDT Phil, The WCOLORS.CPX should give your GEM windows colors. -----8<----- Wayne, Are you aware that the Falcon does not support VT52? You need something like Warp 9 or NVDI to get VT52. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 40 Sat Jun 03, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 20:23 EDT Terry, Nope, I wasn't aware that it did not support VT52. What else did Atari screw up? Here they have supported negative handles and VT52 throught ALL their computers and then BAM!, they screw it all up. No wonder the Falcon isn't as compatible. Makes me not want one now. Atari in all their stupidity. I tell ya, it makes you wonder. The guy does use Warp 9. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 41 Sat Jun 03, 1995 R.RIVES1 [SAX] at 22:45 EDT Steve_J, I've had a similar problem with a MOD player that would scream. It stopped when I removed a couple of ACC's and/or reloaded the MOD player (not a very scientific method, figured its just one of those quirks). PS CAF 2.03 still works for me (hope nothing goes wrong) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 42 Sat Jun 03, 1995 CBARRON at 22:47 EDT Terry - I'd be suprised if VT52 does not work in an ST/TT resolution! I see no mention of this failure in TAC. Wayne- Anyway GEMDOS is available in any Atari 680x0! Cconws(char *str) Str is a NUL terminated string of characters. Ascii(13) and ascii(10) are needed for line advance and left positioning (Cconws has a function # of 9 if that is needed. Does this work?? #include void main(void) { int i; Cconws("Converting file..."); for(i=0;i<60;++i) Vsync(); /* waste some time 60 vbi's */ Cconws("Completed\r\n"); /* \r = chr$(13),'\n'=chr$(10) */ } if you use C a header osbind.h is probably required. If you use anything else the above info is all that is needed from osbind.h. Since the VDI supports alpha mode and alpha mode is essentially the VT52 emulator, via various vdi escape calls, I seriously doubt that the VT52 does not work in ST/TT resolutions. I don't think fancy vt52 codes will work in 'true color' or prehaps not even 256 color modes. CR/LF should work in any res! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 43 Sat Jun 03, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 23:18 EDT Carl, Thanks. I will try Cconws. I use Pascal but, I have the Cconws call. The problem statement is Pascal's normal Write() statement. I will also get him to try normal ST resolutions. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 44 Sat Jun 03, 1995 J.TRAUTSCHOL [Missionware] at 22:37 CDT Phil... This is really a dumb question so please excuse me if you've already done this. But I gotta ask - did you ever actually set window colors up for your system using the window colors CPX? Just loading the CPXs won't automatically do anything for you. John ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 45 Sun Jun 04, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 00:42 EDT dmj, No, twisting does not work reliably for disks of more than about 1.6M. For high-capacity disks, the interleave scheme is more concerned with reliably reading the sectors than in catching them at just the right time. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 46 Sun Jun 04, 1995 AEO.1 [Albert Dayes] at 01:06 EDT Wayne, Have you tried using writeln() instead of write()??? Does that solve the problem of CR\LF??? -- Albert @ AEO ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 47 Sat Jun 03, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 23:33 PDT Wayne, Removing VT52 certainly has me stumped, too. I'm sure they were pressed for space, but geez, their own graphics standard? (And it's not a bug -- they removed it on purpose.) Having said that, I don't really consider it too much of a problem, because I virtually always have either Warp 9 or NVDI installed anyway. -----8<----- CBARRON, I'm not sure if VT52 is supported in ST Modes (there are no TT modes on the Falcon). My take on the ST Modes is that it simply sets the screen size and palette to match the STE. I don't think it does anything beyond that, though I could be wrong. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 48 Sun Jun 04, 1995 CBARRON at 03:15 EDT Terry.. TT med = 640x480x16 TT low = 320x480x256 TT high = too big for my monitor... I am pretty sure the falcon accepts these resolutions, especially 640x480x16 as it is an 'industry standard' size. I could be wrong, but the vt 52 emulator might require a palette based resolution and probably 4 planes or less. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 49 Sun Jun 04, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 11:45 EDT Albert, A Writeln() works fine. That's the part that is showing up. I just wanted to do a Write() so that the string will stop and wait on the 'Completed' part which will then provide a newline. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 50 Sun Jun 04, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 13:37 PDT CBARRON, I don't own a VGA monitor, so I'm not exactly sure what resolutions are supported. But unlike the "ST Compatible" resolutions, they're certainly not labeled as TT resolutions. (Not that that is relevant to the VT52 issue.) In any case, I've never heard of VT52 not being supported only in Falcon specific resolutions. I've only heard that it's not supported at all. I guess I can test it out in an ST mode. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 51 Sun Jun 04, 1995 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 18:45 EDT Al, I see no setting for 1.44 floppies on the ORA formatting program. KV ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 52 Sun Jun 04, 1995 B.AEIN [Bman] at 21:24 EDT Can we read Amiga disk on the F030? I bought a Cad 3D Microbots disk and it says the disk can not be read??? Any Ideas? Thanks Bman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 53 Sun Jun 04, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:52 PDT >K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 18:45 EDT > >I see no setting for 1.44 floppies on the ORA formatting program. That's the what 18 and 20 sector buttons are for. You can't do 18 and 20 sectors on a DD floppy drive. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 54 Sun Jun 04, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 23:27 EDT Phil, Some IBM-formatted disks cause this behavior. Just reformat the disks using the Atari and buy a different brand of pre-formatted disks next time (if the one with the problem was a pre-formatted disk). All, Has anyone seen a DSP software modem yet for the Falcon? I'm asking this, because I read an article in which it was reported that Intel is going to tie a DSP with its P6. The article says that the integrated DSP will send modem and sound card manufacturers out of the business, unless they start writing DSP software. A software modem might also go at higher baud rates than what is currently available on regular modems. I mean, we have had a DSP for years; we have software for the sound and graphics bits, but what about modem and speech? Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 55 Sun Jun 04, 1995 R.THIEMAN [T-MAN] at 23:46 EDT I've just received the DSP version of the V11 JFIF viewer for the Falcon. I sent a five pound note to the box listed by David R. OLdcorn of Volume 11 Software Development in the docs for the 030 version of the viewer and danged if I didn't get the DSP version about six weeks later. It is the fastest JPEG decoder and viewer that I have seen for the FALCON. The only problem is that it only displays in true color. I've got a nice SC1435 Atari RGB monitor that works great with the viewer but I can't stand the interlace. On a VGA monitor the Falcon will not show 640 x 480 true color. Is there any monitor that will work with the Falcon to show full screen true color besides the Atari RGB monitors? RICH ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 56 Mon Jun 05, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:31 PDT I doubt very seriously if a DSP modem can do better than a hardware modem. After all, the modem manufacturers are already trying to squeeze every bit of data they can through our phone lines. Many modems have DSPs (mine does). It's not a matter of they can't make modems any faster. Considering the fact that it's difficult for many people to get even 28.8k connects, it would seem they've just about reached the limitations of our current phone lines. Creating a faster modem that no one can use (at least at the faster speed) would be a waste. I heard the best the Falcon DSP can do is about 9600 bps. And by the time you added the hardware to hook it up to your phone line, it would be cost prohibitive, considering high speed modems are so cheap these days. -----8<----- That David Oldcorn viewer _is_ pretty amazing, T-MAN. I think the APEX viewers are probably as fast or faster, but the Oldcorn viewer _looks_ faster, because it shows the image as it's loading it, whereas the Apex viewers wait until it's completely loaded and transformed before showing it. In any case, both are VERY impressive. I just wish the Oldcorn viewer would work with Outside. I can load any size picture with Outside installed using the Apex viewers, but can't load a thing with Oldcorn's viewer if I have Outside installed. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 57 Mon Jun 05, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 04:41 EDT The only problem with software based modems is you depend on the company updating the software for your particular machine. So what if they drop support for your machine? With hardware based modems, you don't have to worry about that. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 58 Mon Jun 05, 1995 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 06:51 EDT Thanks, Terry. I wouldn't dream of trying settings I don't understand. I wouldn't have touched anything that didn't say HD or 1.44 without directions from someone who know. KV ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 59 Mon Jun 05, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:15 EDT KV, I haven't used the ORA formatter in a long time, but I'm sure it handles 1.44M disks. (Ah, Terry has the answr.) Bman, I don't think Ami disks can be read. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 60 Mon Jun 05, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 20:05 CDT Al, >You're probably right over the long term, but I sure haven't had >problems with my 1.66M floppies. I create them on the TT and read >them on my PC just fine. I don't think I said anything about extended formats. Again, my _assumption_ was that the pre-formatted disk causing a problem had '1 sector per cluster'. The "standard" Atari format is '2 sectors per cluster'. This has nothing to do with disk capacity. The only difference is FAT size, and how you would reference a cluster of data if you accessed the disk structure directly. I won't go into "what are" sectors, clusters, FATs..... ;) _If_ a utility program assumes 2 sectors per cluster, it will not handle a disk with 1 sector per cluster. e.g. a backup to or from a floppy disk via direct access read/write; an optimizer, integrity checker, defragger. Why TOS4's desktop has a problem and the previous versions of TOS do not, I am not sure....and frankly I don't care right now! We know a workaround - and it's advisable to do for other reasons IMO- so I'm satisfied with my "_fix/solution_" to Phil's problem. ---- Phil, >Yeah, it's the format of the disk. I can copy folders from the HD >to the floppy fine if I format the disk first on my Falcon. Thanks. You're welcome! Glad I could help. :) ---- Wayne, >Does anyone know of the bugs that are in the Falcon TOS. I'm familiar with a few... >I have a program that prints to the screen (normal TOS/VT52 mode). If you want to, send me a sample program in GEFmail and I'll see what's up. Hmmm, didn't you have problems before with TOS4 and a compiler setting? That was related to GEMDOS. Maybe they are using GEMDOS for screen output. ---- Terry, >Are you aware that the Falcon does not support VT52? That is incorrect. TOS4 has some problems with 2 VT52 commands, but it does support all of them as in the past. Here are the 2 problems: 1) saving & restoring text cursor position and 2) text color setting. You have to work around #1. See below for #2. >You need something like Warp 9 or NVDI to get VT52. Those will cure the VT52 problems. ---- Carl, re: VT52 & TOS4 I'm pretty sure all graphic resolutions are supported. NVDI would be the one to check in "true color". ---- Ken Van, re: 1.44 floppies Dig out your F030TKIT disk and try TRACEFMT.CPX... :) - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 61 Mon Jun 05, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 21:16 EDT Keith, I had problems with the I/O checking in the compiler. It was a problem with negative handles. I will see what I can put together and send ya. Thanks. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 62 Mon Jun 05, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:46 PDT Thanks for the low down on Falcon VT52, Keith. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 63 Mon Jun 05, 1995 K.VANDELLEN [Ken Van] at 22:35 EDT Keith, Am I allowed to use stuff from the F030TKIT disk on my MegaSTE? I thought maybe my agreement didn't allow that. I'll give it a try. Thanks. KV ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 64 Wed Jun 07, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 20:00 PDT T-Man, RE: 640 X 480 TC, see Topic 12. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 65 Thu Jun 08, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 07:55 PDT I heard the Falcon hardware wasn't capable of doing hi res TC in non- interlaced mode. Perhaps with additional hardware... ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 66 Fri Jun 09, 1995 DMJ [dmj] at 18:03 CDT Terry, - I heard the Falcon hardware wasn't capable of doing hi res - TC in non-interlaced mode. I can only speculate, but I believe it has something to do with bus bandwidth. In 320x480x65K mode, a single screen is 300K; at 60Hz, that's moving 18.4 _megabytes_ per second, just for video. It's also been benchmarked that the CPU runs at about _half_ normal speed in this mode, because the video is soaking up half the bandwidth. If you were to double the resolution, the video would then take the _other_ half of the bus bandwidth, leaving you with no time left for the CPU. Hardly useful! The reason you can get 640x400x65K interlaced is because the video only draws half the screen on each refresh--even though your screen is 512K, only 256K has to be drawn each refresh. I'm not sure what the hardware screen expanders do, but they may be providing different bus clocks, thereby increasing the bus bandwidth. If I'm wrong on this, oh well... this is just a WAG on my part. ~dmj ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 67 Fri Jun 09, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 19:33 PDT dmj, Yes, the reason I heard why the Falcon couldn't do high res in true color was indeed because of bus bandwidth. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 68 Sat Jun 10, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 01:44 EDT R.THIEMAN - The only way I can think of getting V11's JPEG/GIF viewer to display on an SVGA monitor would be to go into the options menu and select the 320x200 or 640x200 (maybe some of the other non-interlaced resolutions too) display resolution -- if it doesn't work with that, it probably won't work at all on an SVGA monitor. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 69 Sun Jun 11, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 10:08 PDT The Speed Resolution Card allows you to up the bus speed, thereby increasing the bandwidth. Blow-Up and Screenblaster let you use either 25 or 32 MHz (with hardware) for the Bus clock. The Speed Resolution Card (SRC) allows you to set the speed, from 25 all the way up to around 70 (!) MHZ. The problem with this is that in 256 or TC modes, you get some nasty streaks on the right edge of the screen. Kinda like Speedy Gonzalez just zipped of the right hand of your screen and you still see his speed indicators! As a result, the manufacturer suggests you don't go beyond 38 MHz when you are in 18 MHz bus mode, and 42 MHz in 20 MHz mode. Right now, I am running in 16 color mode, 800X600 (any more is pretty useless on a 15" true diagonal monitor) at about 50 kHz horiz. and 72 Hz vert. Let's see Screenblaster do that. My video bus clock is set to around 50 MHz! This is one _stable_ screen. It looks like the SRC will only allow 640X400XTC at 18 MHz and maybe 640X480Xtc in 20 MHz mode, still gotta test more. More later, Dan ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 70 Sun Jun 11, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 22:46 EDT Dan, 1024 X 768 is what I run on the 15-inch ADI MicroScan, and it's far from useless. My limit seems to be 1280 X 1024 or so on this monitor. Some 15-inch monitors don't have much display area, so you may be right when it comes to another monitor. The ADI is made by an NEC OEM, and it's a beaut. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 71 Mon Jun 12, 1995 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 06:59 PDT How do you install this Speed Resolution Card? How much does it cost? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 72 Mon Jun 12, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 19:27 CDT Al, You must have pretty good eyesight. I have a software rez selector that allows 1024 X 592 on an RGB, SC1435, and I really have to squint to read it. Maybe another inch would help. I think the 1435 has an actual display of 13 and 1/4 inch. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 73 Tue Jun 13, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 00:10 EDT Dan, With Screenblaster 2 you can choose up to 65 MHz. I can reach 50 for now. By the way the software-only version of Blowup or Screenblaster allow you to go 32. Screenblaster _can_ do 800x600 at 72 Hz and even more than that, at 50 MHz. If you can get 1024x768x16 at 70Hz then you will be talking! Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 74 Tue Jun 13, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:13 EDT Damon, The ADI 15-inch monitor has a much larger display area than the SC1435. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 75 Tue Jun 13, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 05:53 PDT David, Well, do install the Speed Res, you first wait for a full moon, then get your lucky rabbit's foot and a four leaf clover plucked from the property of a virgin, and commit ritual sacrifice of a lamb, then... ;^). No, seriously, if you _really_ know your way around a soldering iron, you can do the install in about 4 hours. It requires some chip pin cutting, the removal of a SMD resistor, and the installation of a special bracket for the internal hard drive which also houses the CPU fan and heat sink for the Graphic chip. There are about 18 connections to make in all. The video enhancement dongle is external and isn't even an inch long. With english instructions it is pretty doable, though I would suggest using my fitting service, since I am learning all the tricks as I go. Al, I've found 11024X768 to have even smaller text than a 19" Moniterm on my 15" viewable NEC 4D. Not too bad for DTP or CAD work, but unusable for most other operations. Especially if you have to run a program that has a fixed window size. Tintin, I wasn't aware that the other video enhancers could drive the Graphic bus at anything other than 25 or 32 MHz. I am surprised that you can attain 50 kHz horiz sync, though 72 Hz vertical I would think is no problem. Have you used the set up program to confirm those numbers? I had 1024 mode up, but I don't remember the bus speed. I'll try to see what it will do. The flyer I got on the SRC says it will do 64 Hz at 1024*768*16 and up to 70 Hz in 1024*768*2 mode. Dan ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 76 Tue Jun 13, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 19:56 EDT Dan, The NEC 4D's viewable screen size is much too small. We tried them at the office and started calling them our "Philco TVs." Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 77 Wed Jun 14, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 05:47 PDT Al, I was thinking the same thing until a friend came back from a shopping expedition for a 15" monitor and told me that the actual diagonals were between 13.25 and 14"! Seems like I'm getting a larger percentage of tube area for use. Dan ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 78 Wed Jun 14, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 19:25 EDT Dan, I checked my Screenblaster settings and I can attain 832x624x16 at 75 Hz vertical, 50 kHz horizontal. The installation of the Speed Rez card sounds scary. I'm not sure I would want to send my Falcon for an open heart surgery like that. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 79 Sat Jun 17, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 09:42 PDT Tintin, Piece o' cake for an experienced pro! ;^) Dan BTW, what monitor do you have again? I don't know that I can reliably test that on my 4D. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 80 Tue Jun 20, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 18:56 EDT Hi, Is there some kind of secret to getting a decent picture quality from the RF output of the Falcon into a TV or video deck? I've got an RCA cable going into the TV/Computer switchbox and then an adapter to one of those round connectors for the antenna input to the TV. Is the output coming out of the Falcon equivilent to an antenna? I'd like to be able to videotape a few lines of text, but not if it can't look better than this! Do I need to get some additional hardware to do this? David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 81 Wed Jun 21, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 18:51 EDT I ordered a composite out from ATY computers for $20.00. It has a really decent picture on a TV so it should work on a VCR as well. Call Alex at ATY he may be able to help. Good luck David, Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 82 Thu Jun 22, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 04:46 EDT D.ALFONSO1 - Make sure there's nothing else nearby giving off interference (like a Jaguar or somesuch! ) and play around with the positioning of the cable. Otherwise, get a composite cable (or build your own) for a clearer picture. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 83 Thu Jun 22, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 18:56 EDT Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I ordered the composite out cable from ATY this afternoon. David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 84 Sat Jun 24, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 16:54 EDT dave, gee someone took my advice. :) PETE ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 85 Sun Jul 02, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 01:29 EDT Hi, I've been having a problem with my current Falcon and Cubase Audio. I occasionally get a "Hard drive too slow" alert when playing back some songs I had done on my previous Falcon with no problem. Also, when I try to reload (or verify) material I have backed up on DAT via the FDI backup program, I get a "DMA too slow" message. Is this an indication that I need the clock mod done? I noticed that occasionally my ICD Pro booter will show an ID 16 when I turn on the machine. As I am now running without an IDE drive, I'm wondering if I needed to do anything else to remove the IDE besides pull out the unit and cable (i.e. change a jumper setting, etc.)? Now that I think about it, I didn't put the bracket back in. Should it matter that that grounding spring thing isn't in there anymore? Any help would be appreciated, as I hate to get the mod done if I don't need it. David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 86 Sun Jul 02, 1995 C.OINES1 [Chazz] at 05:28 CDT Just a SWAG, as I don't have Cubase Audio: Are those song files defragged? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 87 Sun Jul 02, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 16:24 EDT Chazz, I tried to load a folder from DAT to a blank partition so I don't think it could be a frag problem. The "DMA too slow" alert comes after the same amount of time no matter where I try to write/verify to.....even if I haven't put the DAT in "play". Thanks for responding..... David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 88 Mon Jul 03, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 16:42 EDT Does anybody know of a Falcon compatible Telecomunication software package that would run under Multitos? I've tried it with Flash2 , but that doesnt seem to work. I'd like to be able to be online while doing some other stuff. If not, is Flash2 compat with Geneva? Thanks for the help, Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 89 Mon Jul 03, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 22:21 EDT STumped, I think Connect will work under M-TOS. There should be a demo in the library. Also Stalker works on the Falcon, and you can use it as an accessory, meaning that you will not need M-TOS to do other things while online. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 90 Mon Jul 03, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:00 EDT Pete, Sorry, but you won't find many Multisloth fans here. Try Geneva, which is far better in every conceivable way (and nearly all *inconceiveable* ones, too!). Flash 2 works fine with Geneva, as do Aladdin, Storm, CoNnect, Flash 1, StarCall, CoMa, and, of course, STalker. If you are running STalker, you can do anything you please while STalker is doing its stuff, even WITHOUT Geneva or any other multitasking software, since STalker can run as a desk accessory or program. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 91 Mon Jul 03, 1995 J.TRAUTSCHOL [Missionware] at 22:23 CDT Pete... The current release of Flash II will work under MultiTOS as long as the global bit is set. It will not multitask, but it will run. We'll soon be releasing a fully multitasking version of Flash II that will run under MultiTOS. Stay tuned to Cat 25, Topic 3 for details on the upcoming release. John Trautschold Missionware Software ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 92 Mon Jul 03, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 23:53 EDT Thanks guys, I'll try some suggestions. I'll look out for a multitask Flash as well John! Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 93 Mon Jul 03, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 21:39 PDT Having "never had" the IDE drive problem with the F030, would this define the problem? Drive heads "clatters" infrequently. Drive powers down on its own, often leaving a "Drive not responding" alert box General I/O problems with the hard drive I've had these problems with the top off the case, and I'm wondering if it is because the spring plate which goes on the right side of the drive has no RF shield to ground to. Thanks for any feedback, Dan ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 94 Tue Jul 04, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 06:47 CDT STumped, Yes, Flash2 is compatible with Geneva. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 95 Tue Jul 04, 1995 V.VAITUZIS [VIK] at 15:33 EDT D. Alfonso, In response to your query re: falcon 030 / cubase audio falcon timing problems: I have an early Falcon 030 that I wasw never sure had the timing problem I SPENT MANY MONTHS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT CAUSED SIMILAR PROBLEMS (sorry caps sloppy fingers) with my rig. After many calls to ATARI they were willing to have me ship it to them for out of warranty service thanks but I needed the computer for other apps that I use and it works j just fine thank you. I contacted Steinberg N.A. and Soundpool to find out if they had some sort of diagnostic utility that would test for falcon dsp compat- ibility. I am still waiting to hear from them, will post when I have word. word. Meanwhile I contacted those Wizztronics guys,THANKS STEVE, and was told of their timing card of their timing fix card. the installation is very staightforward and cost approx $25.00 I did the installation myself and the various problems I had with digital audio seems to have been fixed. also , the partition scheme is VERY IMPORTANT as to size. I use an IBM 1gig scsi2 drive for audio formatted and partitioned with ICD PRO 6.5.5 and have found that partitions beyond the ATARI TOS limit of 256kb per partition were prone to cause drive too slow and other error messages. this was confirmed by both ICD and Steinberg N.A. to be a potential sourcsource of problems. I have since reformatted and partitioned 4 256kb and one 28kb drive partitions and have been having no further problems. A 256kb partition gives approx. 22min of 2track audio. I am currently running 3 different projects using these partitions as "folders "folders" for each job. Hope this lonnng post helps vik ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 96 Tue Jul 04, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 23:05 EDT Dan, Yes, I remember reading posts on that grounding plate. It should be positioned away from the power supply. Without proper grounding you get the symptoms you describe, from what I read before. Al, I'm one of the few M-TOS fans. But this year I plan to try out MagiC 3.0 for the Falcon when it comes out. As you know MagiC does not work properly on the Falcon yet, and the Geneva / Neodesk combo is kind of expensive. In addition the German developers are mostly supporting M-TOS and MagiC. I prefer to wait for MagiC. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 97 Tue Jul 04, 1995 W.DUDAN [Simplissius] at 23:19 EDT D.Phillips, Your IDE problem would seem to be an intermittent connection in the power leads and/or inadequate power supply. Do you have only the stock 2.5" ide and maybe an external SCSI? The "typical" IDE problem in the F030 is characterized by greatly reduced data transfer/access speed, Sense errors, hung and dying OS & programs. Cause is RF hash from the (unshielded) power supply getting into harddrive thru poor grounding -two of the support legs are grounded by contact to mb, the other two are insulated by paper circles glued on. -the nefarious phosphor-bronze contactor "plate" that goes from h.d. frame to top shield. If present, remove completely. Symp ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 98 Wed Jul 05, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 00:27 EDT Well, In a last ditch attempt to narrow down my problems with FDI DAT backups, I went to reinstall the IDE drive even though it didn't work, just to see if there was a ground that needed to be connected or something like that. Since my drive letters changed, I had to boot the Hard disk driver from the Floppy. Having done that, the backups verified without anymore "DMA too slow messages". It turns out the problem was that I had the H partition set as the boot partition. As this was a feature of the ICD Pro software, I assumed it wouldn't cause a problem and I wanted to leave the C partition alone as I had used it for FalconSpeed's DOS boot drive. BTW, the H partition was about 500+ megabytes so that may have also contributed to the problem. I can't see what the relationship between boot drive selection and DMA performance, but then again....am I expected to?? Oh well, seems the clock is working just fine as it is, so I've avoided an unnecessary repair. If any other CAF users run into this problem, I hope this message helps. David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 99 Tue Jul 04, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 22:28 PDT Symp, Huh? _Remove_ the ground plate? So should the drive be isolated or grounded properly? I've heard the plate was a fix, not a problem. BTW, I had no problems with the drive (kinda slow, but normal slow) until I put the Speed Res Card in and ran the machine with the top off for fixing, debugging, etc. Guess I'll have to seal it for a time and see if the HD probs go away. Thanks all, Dan ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 100 Wed Jul 05, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 02:24 EDT VIK, Thanks for chiming in! I resolved my main problems, but would still like to know exactly WHAT to look for as an indication that I need the timing fix. Nobody seems to know. What were your symptoms? I will be getting an additional drive mechanism in a couple days, so I had planned on repartitioning the BIG drive to fall within the 256MB partition limitation. I have noticed a problem verifying large folders from the FDI DAT backups. Was this one of the timing symptoms? David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 101 Wed Jul 05, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 19:16 CDT Dan P., >I've had these problems with the top off the case, and I'm wondering >if it is because the spring plate which goes on the right side of the >drive has no RF shield to ground to. Sounds logical. You could try putting a clip lead between the plate and a ground source while you're tinkering... - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 102 Thu Jul 06, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 19:27 EDT Is the DSP in the Falcon030 surface-mounted or socketed? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 103 Thu Jul 06, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 23:24 EDT I guess I spoke too soon regarding my Cubase/FDI Backup problems.... It turns out that my Blitter and Cache were turned off. Don't know how that happened.....could it have been accidently changed by some program without my knowing it? The Blitter never comes to mind on the Falcon, because I see nothing for it in the desktop menus. So, it turns out the choice of boot drive probably had nothing to do with my "DMA too slow" problems. David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 104 Sat Jul 08, 1995 D.PHILLIPS25 at 06:46 PDT David, Remember too that NVDI turns off the Blitter (if you use NVDI). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 105 Sat Jul 08, 1995 W.DUDAN [Simplissius] at 12:40 EDT D.Phillips, My point was that your problem does not seem to be the "typical F030 IDE problem" which I described. In your case I would check the power leads to the IDE. Early tos 4.02 Falcons had the ground plate mounted on the top LEFT side of the 2.5" h.d. Mine seemed to work ok this way for a few months, but then persistent failures became the norm, symptoms as I described. The cure for me was complete removal of the grounding plate, and reassembly of the stock Falcon. The problems were all gone and it now produced data transfer speeds using ICD Rate Harddrive prg that were to be expected for the Connor 63mb. Now others have just moved the grounding plate over to the other (right) side. The point is that it does not belong on the LEFT side where all it will do is pick up radio frequency noise from the power supply and mung up IDE reads and writes. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 106 Sat Jul 08, 1995 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 14:22 EDT Dan, I don't use NVDI. In retrospect, I may have changed something with the FalconSX.ACC when I was trying to track down the DSP failure in my previous Falcon. Perhaps I saved the altered desktop withou realizing what the consequences would be. I am curious about NVDI, as I've heard it recommended for use with Cubase Audio. Does it ALWAYS disable the blitter or is that just one of the options? David ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 107 Sat Jul 08, 1995 B.AEIN [Bman] at 18:22 EDT David, I put a prg in the lib called Blitonst.zip, that if ran after NVDI will turn the Blitter back on, so you can have the best of both worlds. GET NVDI, I will not run the system without it :') It should definitly help CBA! Bman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 108 Sat Jul 08, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 20:25 PDT >B.AEIN [Bman] at 18:22 EDT > >I put a prg in the lib called Blitonst.zip, that if ran after NVDI >will turn the Blitter back on, so you can have the best of both >worlds. That's debatable that it's the best of both worlds. NVDI doesn't turn off the blitter by accident or because of a bug. It turns it off because the author found that it's faster without it. By turning it back on, you might actually be slowing your system down. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 109 Sun Jul 09, 1995 B.AEIN [Bman] at 15:42 EDT In 2 color mode, Gem bench says that having the blitter is better than not having. I believe thou, that when it is on, you will some times get a text color smearing. I don't remeber how things are in the higher color modes, but TC mode does not use the blitter. Thanks Bman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 110 Sun Jul 09, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 21:35 CDT David, Nvdi turns the blitter off in certain resolutions, 256 color on up I believe. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 111 Sun Jul 09, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:08 PDT >D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 21:35 CDT > > Nvdi turns the blitter off in certain resolutions, 256 color on up I >believe. NVDI turns off the blitter in even ST-Med and ST-High on my Falcon. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 112 Mon Jul 10, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 03:09 CDT Terry, I don't know about ST med, I only run One program in that mode and it won't work with Nvdi anyway. I do know that my blitter IS on in any 16 color resolution. I guess I could run them all and check. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 113 Mon Jul 10, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 09:46 PDT Damon, My point was that NVDI turns off the blitter in ALL my modes, including ST-Med and ST-High. It turns it off in 16 color modes, too. I'm using an SC1224; maybe it's different on a VGA monitor. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 114 Mon Jul 10, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 20:29 CDT Terry, You forget, I also use an RGB monitor. My blitter stays on in 16 color modes. ....later..... Arghghg, Now it is off in 16 color mode. I know that I've had it on in this mode with NVDI before, but for right now, I'm not worried enough to investigate. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 115 Tue Jul 11, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 04:43 EDT Does the Falcon030 have letters assigned to the chips in it? I've only seen this once, but a few months ago there was a power flicker in my apartment which caused my Falcon to reboot and after several seconds of not doing anything, a one-line message appeared on-screen stating something like "Bad CRC check on chip E." Since the Falcon's TOS is on one ROM, I was wondering what "chip E" might be -- any ideas??? Thanks! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 116 Tue Jul 11, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:43 PDT My guess is that it's a RAM chip. The Falcon does a RAM check each time you cold boot. AFAIK, it doesn't do a TOS ROM check. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 117 Wed Jul 12, 1995 J.ROBORECKY [RAILROAD] at 03:08 EDT I like to find out what is the latest version of the JPEG decoder program that goes into the auto folder. The version I have is: 1993 Brainstorm & Atari Corp. JPEG decoder installed Invalid hardware configuration JPEG decoder already installed Not enough memory! FALCON030 JPEG Decoder Dec 06 1994 1993 Brainstorm & Atari Corp. It also has these numbers above the first line: 30 3N 3E 4E 5H 7H the Es look like (-, but connected. The size of the file is 9150 bytes. Thanks Joe ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 118 Wed Jul 12, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 06:27 EDT OUTRIDER - I thought about that, but it gave me that message before it even started doing the RAM test (unless for some reason it wasn't displaying the RAM test bar). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 119 Wed Jul 12, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 09:18 PDT Joe, That's the latest version of the JPEG decoder that I'm aware of. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 120 Wed Jul 12, 1995 DMJ [dmj] at 17:53 CDT Terry, Actually, I was poking around the TT ROMs a while back and they do in fact checksum the ROMs and report an error if it doesn't match. I doubt the Falcon ROMs are any different in this regard. ~dmj ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 121 Wed Jul 12, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 18:13 CDT Steve J., >"Bad CRC check on chip E." Since the Falcon's TOS is on one ROM, I >was wondering what "chip E" might be -- any ideas??? 'E' may stand for Even -- as in Odd & Even. Normally there are two 8-bit wide TOS ROM chips- Odd/Hi & Even/Lo. On a F030, there is one 16-bit wide EPROM, and I guess they didn't update the printout for the checksum routine in TOS. - Keith G. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 122 Wed Jul 12, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:08 PDT Never mind. :^) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 123 Fri Jul 14, 1995 J.ROBORECKY [RAILROAD] at 02:59 EDT Terry, Thanks on the JPEGD.PRG info. Joe ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 124 Fri Jul 14, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 19:17 EDT Railroad, I also think you have the latest version of JPEGD.PRG. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 125 Sat Jul 15, 1995 R.BURROWS1 [Roger@Anodyn] at 16:52 EDT The 'CRC' tends to indicate it's a chip with some permanent contents ... I'd guess either the ROMs or the battery-backed RAM area of the clock chip ... Roger ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 126 Wed Jul 19, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 21:39 EDT So who's left out there qualified to repair Falcons? Having all sorts of weird behavior with the left audio channel. Some of the symptoms... Left gain in the control panel disables the volume at anything above 0. Sometimes at boot up the left channel's out entirely. Which, btw, only applies to the keyclick. Audio (AVRs, Cubase Audio, et al) for the most part is fine, except sometimes the left channel's weak or distorted (except Pinball Dreams, where the left is distorted all the time). But that's only after fussing with the control panel. Sometimes the left channel's out with the keyclick, but audio plays fine in both. Beginning to think I should've bought a dedicated hard disk recorder :( --BK ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 127 Wed Jul 19, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:51 PDT Brian, Are you sure it's not your headphone jack? I'm always having to screw with mine to get the left channel to work (same with the microphone jack). The cheap mini-jacks are my biggest complaint about the Falcon. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 128 Thu Jul 20, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 00:17 EDT Terry, Don't think so. If I move the panning slider in the control panel all the way to the left, I don't hear anything out of the internal speaker either. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 129 Thu Jul 20, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 01:04 PDT I've never gotten the sound module to work on the Falcon, at least as far as playing tones when you click on the head. At least, that's how it worked on the STE, as I recall. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 130 Sun Jul 23, 1995 W.ANDERSON28 at 10:18 CDT I don't think clicking on the head in the audio CPX is supposed to produce sound on the Falcon. I don't recall reading that in the manual. It does work on the TT030, and is specifically mentioned in the TT manual. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 131 Sun Jul 23, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 17:20 PDT I just purchased a Sony Multiscan 15sf monitor, but I'm not sure if there is something wrong with it. I put a window in the the middle of the screen and make the window stretch from top to bottom. I noticed the window looks like it's "caving in" like this: --- | / | \ --- One side is straight and the other side looks like it's bending into the middle. This is especially apparent in the MS Windows loading screen (using Falcon Speed). I tried adjusting the pincushion, but it made the edges of the screen worse. I am especially interested from hearing other owners of this monitor (I remember reading messages from one or two owners somewhere on this RT) I really like the flatness, sharpness and brightness of this monitor, but this bending thing is bugging me. Is this normal? TIA, Phil ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 132 Mon Jul 24, 1995 REALM [Joey] at 01:12 EDT I could be wrong but I don't think the SOUND .CPX works on the TT either. I remember tossing it and replacing it with v1.00 again. It doesn't work the same on the Falcon but it's a different version as well. I just assumed they changed it. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 133 Mon Jul 24, 1995 N.FRAGA [RECOIL] at 18:36 CDT I would like to know what exactly I need to use Aladdin on my Falcon030. What version of Aladdin, what programs do not work with Aladdin and if I need any patches to make Aladdin work correctly on my 4/540 F030! Norm. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 134 Mon Jul 24, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 23:18 EDT Phil, >really like the flatness, sharpness and brightness of this monitor, but this >bending thing is bugging me. Is this normal? No it's not normal on any monitor. My opinion is that you should return the monitor. Norm, There is a patch program called LOADALAD that you need. E-mail K.GERDES, he's on GEnie and he's the author. Also look in the library, a demo might still be there. You can use version 1.60 of Aladdin, although I think you can use any version. The only incompatibility that remains is: Without a replacement AES like MultiTOS or Geneva, etc. you will experience freezes after writing replies. Your text is saved but you need to re-boot. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 135 Wed Jul 26, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 18:14 EDT Phil, I also have the Sony multiscan 15sf and do not have, or have not had the problems in which you'd mentioned. I do not have screenblaster, but it works great with Blowup. I'd return the monitor if I were you. Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 136 Wed Jul 26, 1995 K.GERDES [TraceTech] at 18:59 CDT re: Load Aladdin Thanks Tintin! :) The LAv1 demo is file #35886. A LoadAlad v2 demo should be available next month after v2's release. Continue to watch CAT2/TOP12 for details... LAv1 was tested with ST Aladdin 1.50, 1.60 and 1.62. Preliminary reports indicate that it does not work with v1.66, the next ST Aladdin version in development. >Without a replacement AES like MultiTOS or Geneva, etc. >you will experience freezes after writing replies. Change "you will" to "you may"... It still depends on the machine for some unknown reason. Falcon030 'lockup workarounds' are detailed in LoadAlad's docs. The lastest workaround addition is WINX. - Keith ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 137 Wed Jul 26, 1995 J.BATTEY1 [Dal.I-Dotter] at 22:19 CDT >I don't think clicking on the head in the audio CPX is supposed to >produce sound on the Falcon. I don't recall reading that in the >manual. It does work on the TT030, and is specifically mentioned in >the TT manual. It works on a MegaSTe also. What an irritating noise! John L. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 138 Sat Jul 29, 1995 S.BUSHMAN3 at 20:22 EDT Whoever can help, If you remember a long time ago, in this bas, I posted a message regarding my falcon. i had run a rpogram from the library that was supposed to reset my NVram. When I ran it, my computer went blank, and it has remained at rest ever since...sigh...I really need to get my Falcon back to life, as it has been broken for about 4 months now, but when I called ATARI, they said they could no longer help me...and both the guys at TOAD, and the guys at the ATARI store in Orlando said that they couldn't solve this type of problem. Is my Falcon just a thousand dollar piece of plastic and silicon now? I sure hope not! Anyway, If anyone knows what I can do, please HELP! When I switch the machine on...i get a black screen...no disk drive access...no hard drive access...it puts out some kind of horribly out of sync signal if I use he RF output...I use an SC1224, but I have tried the TV and the mono too - nothing...I have tried every combination of key presses, and key punches to no avail...my machine has died... THe guy at toad said that he had heard of this once before, and that it was caused by a prank program...He also said the solution was quite simple... Does this ring a bell??? thanks, Shane ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 139 Sun Jul 30, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 11:04 EDT Shane, It happened to me before. Here's the solution, but it may only work with TOS 4.04: 1. Turn on your machine and wait two or three seconds (the time it normally takes for the Atari logo to appear). 2. Press CTRL-ALT-UNDO (the three keys simultaneously). The computer should then reboot normally and should be back to normal. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 140 Sun Jul 30, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 11:17 PDT Tintin, I missed the original message. What is that Ctrl-Alt-Undo supposed to fix? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 141 Sun Jul 30, 1995 S.BUSHMAN3 at 17:25 EDT TinTin, When this happened to you, what caused it? Did you run the same horrible program that caused this for me? I tries what you said, but couldn't get the machine to live again. I turn on the power...wait a few seconds...and press cntrl/alt/undo simultaneously...nothing...I also did it by tapping the three keys as soon as the machine was switched on, and continuously for about 30 seconds...Oh well...Let me know as I would really love to get the "old bird" back on-line and start recording! Thanks, Shane ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 142 Sun Jul 30, 1995 REALM [Joey] at 23:44 EDT Shane, could be your power supply. It's possible for a power supply to kind of work. You might want to at least check the fuse in it. Make sure it's unplugged first.:) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 143 Mon Jul 31, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 01:51 EDT Shane, You could give Steve at Wizztronics a call. That's where Toad sent me concerning the audio problem I posted earlier. With all his experience making add-ons, he's able to do one hell of a repair job -- found a bad capacitor on the underside of my 030 and had the machine back in my hands in less than 48 hours. --BK ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 144 Mon Jul 31, 1995 S.BUSHMAN3 at 21:26 EDT Brian, How would I go about getting in touch with Steve...I bet if anyone could get my machine working it's him! Let me know if there's a number I can call to get in touch with him - or how to get in touch him through somebody else...if that makes any sense...hmmm...Well anyway... Thanks for the reccomendation...I think that may actually be a solution! Shane ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 145 Mon Jul 31, 1995 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:50 PDT I was playing around with DeskPic 1.05, and much to my surprise, found out that it does not screw with the palette on IMG pics (assuming it doesn't have to reduce their colors). I know I've tried IMG pics before, but in the past I converted them from PNT (or other) format using Imagecopy, and apparently Imagecopy transposes the back and foreground colors when doing this. If you dither the pic to your screen colors in Imagecopy and save straight to IMG format, you have yourself a DeskPic background pic that doesn't mess with your colors! And though IMG pics take up more room than GIFs, generally, they load _much_ faster. This makes me a happy camper indeed, because this was the one thing keeping me from using NVDI on a more regular basis. Yippee! :^) I also converted the DeskPic ACC to English. If anyone needs this, let me know and I'll upload it. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 146 Mon Jul 31, 1995 C.LABELLE [Tintin] at 22:06 EDT Shane, Yes, I modified my NVRAM with a CPX to boot in an impossible video mode, by mistake. I was unable to re-boot. I called a friend who told me about CTRL-ALT- UNDO. It did reset the NVRAM to factory defaults. It was an incredible feeling of relief when it worked! Since this didn't work for you, try this: download file #35974 from the library. It's a reset program for the NVRAM. Copy it in the Auto folder of a floppy disk. Re-boot your Falcon holding the Alt key to force a floppy boot. You may have to boot a couple of times before the Auto program executes. Tintin ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 147 Tue Aug 01, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 00:21 EDT Shane, Wizztronics... 516-473-2507, M-F 9:30 to 4:30 EST --BK ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 148 Sun Aug 06, 1995 F.PIERCE1 [Fred] at 13:12 EDT Greetings, I'm having a problem with disappearing SCSI devices. System is a 14mg Falcon, TOS 4.04, with ICD Pro 6.5.5, SCSI's involved are any combination of two SyQuest 105's and an NEC-25 CDROM. Most of the time everything's fine, but periodically I can't reach anything attached to the SCSI. I've tried the things individually, moved cables around, changed device id's ad infinitum. The only result is that with SCSI ID 3 I get dev 11 unrecognizeable device - all other ID's are totally non-existance. The ICD ID-check sees nothing with any device settings (except the Falcon internal IDE - a 170 mg Quantum). I've also tested all the devices on my Mega ST. Ray at Toad fixed an earlier problem with write errors to the externals in 256 color video (it was a timing problem with old Falcons) but before I bug him with this obnoxiously intermittent problem I thought maybe somebody out here would have a clue as to where to start. Thanks fdp ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 149 Sun Aug 06, 1995 ICDINC [Tom] at 14:06 EDT Fred, >> where to start. Termination. It sounds like a term problem. Only the last drive in the chain shpuld have term packs installed. The others should not. - TOM - ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 150 Sun Aug 06, 1995 R.THIEMAN [T-MAN] at 22:13 EDT I never mentioned this on GENIE but I tried a short SCSI cable between my Syquest 270 and CD ROM Drive ( they were stacked together). Things went good for a couple of weeks and then all kinds of wierd things started happening. I went back to a standard 3 foot SCSI cable and the wierd things disappeared! Regards RICH ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 151 Mon Aug 07, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 23:02 EDT Rich, that is too weird. Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 152 Wed Aug 09, 1995 S.COHEN27 at 00:41 EDT Just a Note: Wizztronics offers a repair service for all ATARI computers including Falcon. the Bench charge is $85.00, credited toward the repair, and turn around time is generally around 48 hours. We pride ourselves in serving the Atari community. If you have questions you can call us M-F 9:30am to 4:30pm EST 516-473-2507 Most problems are minor, and do not require major surgery Steve Cohen Wizztronics ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 153 Thu Aug 10, 1995 F.PIERCE1 [Fred] at 21:07 EDT Rich, (I think you are replying to my SCSI problem)... Steve at Wiztronics says they had trouble with 1 out of 4 Falcon SCSI cables - looks like an avenue to explore. fdp ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 154 Sat Aug 12, 1995 S.COHEN27 at 01:14 EDT The SCSI problems found on most of the Falcon's we saw have been because of bad (CHEAP) SCSI cables, they can usually be identified by the thickness of the cable. The suspect one s were very thin an usually cost under $30.00. We now sell a better grade of cable for $40.00 and has fixed many of SCSI problems. the Falcon and associated drives are usually fine. Since January we replaced about 50-75 cables, if that tells us something. Steve Cohen Wizztronics 516-473-2507 Serving the Atari community since 1979 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 155 Sun Aug 13, 1995 F.PIERCE1 [Fred] at 09:21 EDT Steve's notice was no doubt prompted by my Falcon/SyQuest problems which I posted here last week. I can testify that the heavier cable dramatically removed the problem (I had initially suspected a bad cable but just substituted one lightweight one for another with the same result). fdp ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 156 Tue Aug 15, 1995 S.BUSHMAN3 at 17:52 EDT Does anyone have Dave Samll's internet address...I am trying to track down a copy of Spectre 3.1, and I also heard that there is a version of Spectre which runs on a Falcon, but was never released...I'd like to try and get\ ahold of this as well... p.s. I forget who it was that reccomende Steve Cohen to fix my Falcon, but he did it! - where all else refused to even address the problem! he is also finally getting my audio ports up to par...I must reccomend his services to all with ATARI troubles! Shane ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 157 Wed Aug 16, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 00:59 EDT Shane, Dave will definitely not supply a Spectre to you. He's out of that business. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 158 Wed Aug 16, 1995 ICDINC [Tom] at 09:05 EDT Shane, Try davesmall here on GEnie or 76606,666 on CompuServe. He might still visit one of these places once in a while. - TOM - PS Al might be right. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 159 Thu Aug 17, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 02:43 EDT Shane, What's Steve doing to your audio ports? --BK ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 160 Thu Aug 17, 1995 P.LOUIE1 [Phil @ABACUS] at 00:10 PDT Shane, In the last message that he posted about two months ago on the Usenet, he says that he's still working on 3.1 and it was NOT ready to be released yet. The improvements he listed for 3.1 were mainly TT030 specific improvements. I don't know where you heard of Spectre being Falcon compatible since the cartridge won't work with the Falcon. (No floppy port) I'm pretty sure a whole new cartridge/PDS board would have to be made for Spectre to work on the Falcon. However, there was TALK of porting a shareware Mac emulator from the Amiga to the Falcon. It's still ONLY TALK though, and I have no idea if anyone would port it. It would require an image file of the Mac ROMs on disk to work. (Like the Amiga version) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 161 Thu Aug 17, 1995 V.ROSS [Vinman] at 01:35 PDT I have an unusual problem with my system. The desktop menus and keyboard have suddenly turned into German! I have tried everything I can think of to restore English to the system but nothing works. Any ideas out there? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 162 Thu Aug 17, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 05:05 EDT B.KOLINS1 - Probably bypassing the da**nable bass boost circuit and changing the jacks to line level rather than mic/headphone levels, like others have done with their Falcon030s! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 163 Thu Aug 17, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 07:30 EDT Just a bit of news for any Falcon owner who wants to play games with their Falcon and a CD Player. Ishar 3 and Robinson's Requiem are now available on CD. Both games have been released in France and as of yet I have not seen any US or UK vendors, but you can order the games from TURTLE BAY, 90 rue Massena, 69006 Lyon, France for Fr379. (I guess roughly $60.00) Thanks, Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 164 Thu Aug 17, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:37 EDT Yawohl! Take se Cherman klass soon! Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 165 Thu Aug 17, 1995 D.ATKINSON3 [Damon] at 18:11 CDT Vinman, Trace Technologies has a Toolkit for manipulating the Falcon's NVram. It also includes a nifty formatting CPX. It's great for fixing the Language and other NVram settings. Steve, Why are people changing the jacks to line level? Wouldn't that attenuate the recording level? I fail to see any advantage in that. Damon ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 166 Fri Aug 18, 1995 S.COHEN27 at 00:49 EDT "I have an unusual problem with my system. The desktop menus and keyboard have suddenly turned into German! I have tried everything I can think of to restore English to the system but nothing works. Any ideas out there?" The problem is in your NVRAM, there is a setup program that will allow you to set the country code to USA. This program was included on all developer computers from ATARI. it should be available to you, possibly here on genie. If you still experience a problem you can give us a call at Wizztronics (516) 473-2507 M-F 9:30am to 4:30pm or POSSIBLY ATARI File Name CONFIG.PRG 10742 BYTE COUNT CONFIG.RSC 692 BYTE COUNT I looked around here on Genie and found a few config prgs, but have not tested them. File #29630 in the UTILITIES section may help The File I use CONFIG.PRG allows you to set country The screen is laid out as: USA UK Germany Spain France Italy Swiss French Swiss Germany Set Cancel Good Luck Steve C. Wizztronics ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 167 Thu Aug 17, 1995 V.ROSS [Vinman] at 23:44 PDT Thanks for the info. I will let you know how it works out. Vinman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 168 Fri Aug 18, 1995 N.FRAGA [RECOIL] at 19:20 CDT What would be the best replacement for my internal F030 85 IDE hard drive ? It makes funny noises and is starting to give me errors. Is it the mech itself or this hard drive has had it! ('ve only the F030 for about 14 mos. and can't stand this! Norm. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 169 Sat Aug 19, 1995 GELAMP.ST at 08:59 EDT Norm, >> What would be the best replacement for my internal F030 85 IDE >> hard drive ? A faster one with a much larger storage capacity! ;-) Sheldon (Computer STudio - Asheville, NC) ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 170 Sat Aug 19, 1995 W.DUDAN [Simplissius] at 14:10 EDT Recoil, >best replacement for my internal F030 85 mb IDE h.d. It just might be an external SCSI drive with its own external power supply. Replacing the internal IDE is relatively more expensive as new 2.5 IDE hard drives are costly little buggers $/mb. Do you require an internal h.d.? How much storage capacity do you need? These answers MAY lead you to go for the Seagate 850mb IDE that: 1. Requires modification of your cable. 2. May work fine on your power supply, or might require a beefed-up p/s (from a vendor like Best). Have to try yours to see and be prepared to replace your p/s if necessary. Those are your 3 choices, assuming you want a new, unused drive. Running an external IDE drive only seems to make sense if you already have an IDE drive available for one reason or another. Next month Seagate is coming out with a 1.08 gb version of that drive so there is a choice here, but it won't be quite the bargain that the 850 mb is right now ($220-). The 850 is rated at 11ms and will give you the fastest F030 you can get without using an accelerator. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 171 Sat Aug 19, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 14:39 EDT Norm, What you're describing reminds me of all the discussion a while back regarding the drive's grounding plate being mounted on the wrong side where it was said that it sould be towards the speaker and not the power supply. Didn't work for me (had to replace the drive), but some swear by it. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 172 Sun Aug 20, 1995 SAM-RAPP [Sam_030] at 14:44 CDT Where can you get an 850MB 2.5" IDE for $220? And what cable modifications are required? ==========> Sam_030 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 173 Sun Aug 20, 1995 S.COHEN27 at 22:47 EDT Just a note: as described to me from many tech's of major manufactures, IDE drive have an average life span of 1 to two years. For the most part the platter seems to be the first to go. SCSI however does seem to be the most reliable and although more expensive than it s IDE counterpart in the long run it will be much cheaper. SCSI life span 5+ years. Steve Cohen Wizztronics ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 174 Mon Aug 21, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 05:16 EDT SAM-RAPP - I'd like to know where I can get an 850MB 2.5" IDE for $220 as well! Since he mentioned cable mods, I was KINDA thinking he meant a 3.5" drive and having it external. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 175 Mon Aug 21, 1995 ICDINC [Tom] at 08:52 EDT Steve and Sam, The 850MB drive he is talking about is a small form factor 3.5" drive. IT is about 3/4 inches high and 1 inch shorter than your average 3.5" drive. I have not put one in a Falcon so I don't know if they fit but I do have a couple in PCs here. They are very nice fast drives. Our local Best Buy normally sells them for $250 but they go on sale from time to time. They are "packaged" under the "Reveal" name here for retail. Best Buy will also take the drive back if it doesn't work for you. :-) - TOM - ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 176 Mon Aug 21, 1995 B.AEIN [Bman] at 18:50 EDT I put one of them America Online Disks in my F030 and it happened to have a dent in the metal sheild. It did not go all the way in to the drive, but now drive A is not responding. Any suggestions of what happened and how to fix it? Bman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 177 Mon Aug 21, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 20:19 EDT I just got a pamplet from CSC advertising 2.5" IDE drives. They start at 170meg for $59.00. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 178 Mon Aug 21, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 20:21 EDT Ben, Does the drive continue to misbehave after the computer has been off for 10 minutes or longer? The disk may have just knocked a connection lose. The worst thing I've seen happen to floppy drives is bending of the head carrier, which costs more to fix than a new drive costs. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 179 Mon Aug 21, 1995 P.FLETCHER4 [STumped] at 22:28 EDT I just ordered Powerup2 from Toad Computers. Does any one have any experience with this product. I figured for $100 I couldnt go wrong even with a minor increase in speed. The down side is I guess I'll have to remove my Falcon Speed, but since its only a 286 I have little use for it any way. Pete ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 180 Mon Aug 21, 1995 W.MARTZ1 [Lucky Man] at 23:17 EDT Dear Falcon users. I'm at last near my long cherished dream of up grading my Falcon to 14 megs of ram and getting a 1.1 gig hard drive, all to run cuebase audio. (ah! Nirvana!) Of course, being a lowly organist and director of music for a church, I have to rely upon the generosity of people in achieving my goals. Anyway, for quite some time, I have been under the illusion that I'd be able to use a 250 meg SCSI tape back up and split the file across several tapes using Diamond back 3, which I own. I've since learned that Diamond back 3 does not now, and probably never will split a single file across more than one tape. Even if I get a 500 meg tape back up, I've heard that it isn't recommended to compress an audio file. The folks at Steinburg recommend the FDI, or the Falcon Digital Interface, which they have apparently stopped making. The folks at Toad say that they can get them for aprx. $440ish from somewhere or other. This allows one to back up to a DAT machine as well as considerably improved audio quality. I know someone who would let me occasionally use there dat deck, so this may be the way to go, considering the cost of the bigger SCSI tape drives. So, whadaya think? Where to go? Wither to turn? I'd appreciate the benefit of anyone's advice on this stuff. Thanks in advance. BTW, anybody got a spare FDI they wanna unload? Thanks again! Wayne Martz (Lucky Man.) &s *s ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 181 Tue Aug 22, 1995 B.AEIN [Bman] at 00:34 EDT Al, it spins up and stops, but i keep getting the error drive not found. I went and bought another floppy mech, but it must be the wrong kind as it did not spin up or nothin. This reallly stinks! I hope I can just replace it and that is all that is wrong. I totally disasembled it to see if there was a lose connection, but it just does not seem to be talking properly. Bman ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 182 Mon Aug 21, 1995 D.FARRINGTO1 [David <>< .] at 23:09 PDT Bman, Just a thought...Did you remember to match pin one to pin one to the new floppy drive? ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 183 Tue Aug 22, 1995 SAM-RAPP [Sam_030] at 19:00 EDT Wayne... Could you post more info on CSC and thier drives? ======> Sam_030 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 184 Tue Aug 22, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 20:08 EDT Wayne, DB3 will not split a file to any device except the floppy drive. I found tat out when I used a SyQuest. Ben, Awk! Try Ray at Toad; he knows which kind of drive mech works. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 185 Tue Aug 22, 1995 B.KOLINS1 [Brian] at 23:31 EDT Wayne, Steinberg has apparently stopped making the FDI. I'm disappointed to hear that. But, in fact it was SoundPool that makes that FDI, and I'd be surprised to hear they stopped. It's worth the investment, although by my perception, a bit overpriced. I've heard something about others producing similar devices -- I thought Compo was one of them. It'll allow you to keep everything in the digital domain when you offload to DAT -- which you don't have -- which is why I think that wouldn't be a bad investment either. Useful for backups but more importantly for mastering. Wonder is Steinberg ever sorted out getting their FDI to work with DCC. Those units can usually be had for a couple hundred dollars. --BK ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 186 Wed Aug 23, 1995 J.BATES15 [JAB] at 00:31 EDT Vinman, Try file number 29494, it is a CPX for setting the various settings in the NVRam. It is in German, but the results are in English. You can also use it to change the boot resolution. Good Luck, JAB ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 187 Wed Aug 23, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 05:59 EDT CSC (Corporate Systems Center) 1294 Hammerwood Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94089 (408) 734-3475 (408) 745-1816 (fax) As far as their drives, they have a lot to choose from and models come and go. Availability change daily and you have to call to see what they have available that day. I just happen to catch them selling the 535 meg Quantum SCSI drive for $169. It's a while supplies last deal. They have been very friendly and you just tell them what you are looking for (megs, size, etc.) and they can tell you if they have something. Also ask if the drive is refurb or new if that makes a difference. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 188 Wed Aug 23, 1995 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:49 EDT As Waybe sez, CSC is a busy place, with drives coming and going all the time. They're been reliable and friendly in my dealings with them. Al ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 189 Wed Aug 23, 1995 R.WATSON15 [Wayne Watson] at 19:37 EDT CSC also has a store front (factory outlet) called Disk Drive Depot. The CSC part has the repair shops, etc. in it along with sales. Disk Drive Depot is mainly their sales floor. These 2 added together creates a big turn around in availability. At one point, CSC was almost out of everything refurb'd because of the demand. ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 190 Wed Aug 23, 1995 R.RIVES1 [SAX] at 23:42 EDT To all, Does anyone know the pin config. of the Falcons DSP port. ie. whats in/out, what format is the digital audio output. I'am thinking of making my own digital in/out with a separate word clock in/out. Combined with a balanced analog 8 output on TRS jacks. If its to difficult, I'll modify Soundpools aka (Steinberg) All in a Rackmount case. Thanks Rich ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 191 Thu Aug 24, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 03:30 EDT R.RIVES1 - My manual doesn't list the Falcon030 DSP port pinouts (later manuals do), but I know I have the pinout listing somewhere around here. I'll look for it and post it here...unless someone else beats me to it! ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 192 Thu Aug 24, 1995 B.SEMAAN [Binary Sound] at 08:07 EDT Sax, You need a lot more than just the pinouts to make the kind of interface you're talking about. Plan on getting the Falcon Developer's manual, the Motorola 56K DSP books, and Falcon schematics on the DMA, DSP, and CODEC subcircuitry. The DSP port is not just the DSP lines, you also have to negotiate the DMA chip. The external digital I/O is not in any industry standard format. It passes thru the DMA chip in a continuous serial format for realtime apps like recording music. Bob ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 193 Sat Aug 26, 1995 R.RIVES1 [SAX] at 12:22 EDT Ahhh, maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew, but only time will tell. Thanks for all the info. Maybe I can get soundpool to give me some insight also (they're still makeing the FDI & FA8, green in color, not red like the Steinberg) And if I get stuck, I'll try modifing the FDI & FA8 ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 194 Mon Aug 28, 1995 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 21:30 PDT I am looking for a excellent S3M, MOD etc player/editor for the Falcon030. I am playing around with a modified version of ProTracker v2.0 that was made to work on the falcon, but does not load/play S3M type music files. If you could point me in the right direction in obtaining a player/editor for S3M/MOD etc type music files, it would greatly be appreiated. Rodney ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 195 Tue Aug 29, 1995 STEVE-J [Steve @ NMG] at 04:42 EDT R.BENNETT7 - The only S3M player for ANY Atari computer I've seen is called MegaPlayer, which DOES only work on the Falcon. The last version that supports S3M is v0.95b and I don't think it plays them correctly (at least not any of the 2 or 3 I've tried). ------------ Category 30, Topic 3 Message 196 Wed Aug 30, 1995 R.BURROWS1 [Roger@Anodyn] at 20:21 EDT As a followup to Wayne's comments, I've dealt with CSC several times and have found them to be a reliable & reputable company (although not real experts on Atari :-)). I've no connection with CSC except as a satisfied customer. Roger Burrows / Anodyne Software ------------