In AC#2 you reviewed a program called Dump-It in the PD/Shareware section.
Could you please inform me of how I can obtain this program, for which I
enclose an SAE. Thank you for a very interesting and informative magazine,
much needed.
Wishing you success in 1997
Mr M J A Beale, Chandlers ford, Hampshire

Most of the software reviewed in the PD/Shareware section is available
from Floppyshop, Goodmans and LAPD libraries, refer to the Index of
Advertisers for details.
Ocassionally we review software which is only available on our Reader
Disks and these can be ordered individually, refer to the Reader disk page
for details.
In most cases the software is also available from online services, on the
Internet it's worth checking our web pages or logging into 42BBS on
+44 (0)1256 895106

Just when I thought the world was ending again(!) my sub copy thudded
through the letter box. Many, many, many congratulations and thanks to the
whole team that produced it! Such obviously dedication, for our benefit,
deserves the highest praise and support. May all subsequent issues be as
greatly packed with goodies as Issue 1 is. Never mind colour/glossy paper
(this paper is excellent for reading) or other expensive embellishments.
And do remember to enjoy it yourselves!

Charles T Stanley, Aberdeen
 

Burning audio CD's

In a news item, AC#1 page 8, you reported System Solutions offer a
CD-burning service for audio CD's which states Cubase Audio AIF format
files are not compatible with the CD writing process. That's absolutely
wrong!

I regularly burn audio CD's from files created by Cubase Audio without
problems. CDRecorder 1.0 from SoundPool did have problems dealing with
Cubase Audio recordings, but the problem was quickly was quickly resolved
and with the current v2.09 multi-session burning works as well.

I receive DAT master tapes for CD-burning from various musicians. I record
the tapes through an optical cable to the S/Pdif interface into Cubase
Audio. To eliminate the blank space before and after the actual song I cut
the audio in the editor so only the music is left. These cuts created the
problems in earlier versions because they created another header after the
original header which did not conform to the AIFF standard.

The current version compensates for this problem and makes the necessary
adjustments automatically. After the cuts, the space has to be removed
using 'Delete unused' in the audio pool in Cubase and if the original
wasn't 44.1kHz it has to be converted using the offline 'Convert sample
rate' function. After these operations files can be used for CD-burning
without any problems.
Thanks very much for a GREAT magazine - Keep up the good work!

Best regards,

Claes Holmerup, via the Internet
 
 

It was a brave decision to go ahead with a new Atari Magazine, especially
after two had recently gone to the wall, and you have my grateful thanks
for doing so. Atari Computing is immensely readable with a good editorial
style. Why aren't PC magazines written in a similar manner? I found the
articles on desktops and MiNT in issue 2 particularly interesting and, at
last, someone has explained what the various number of bombs mean when my
STe (occasionally) crashes.
 
I wish you a happy new year and every success to all associated with Atari
Computing.

J L Wayman, Scarborough, N Yorks
 

Christmas Past,Present and Future.

At beginning of 1995 I didn't believe things could get any worse for us
Atari users, having seen the loss of Atari ST Review magazine after 35
issues in January to pearsons the ST Format publisher, god Trenton Webb
instead of our Vic Lennard, barman make that a double. With Atari's
withdrawal from the home computer market in order to concentrate their
efforts on the Jaguar games console times were not good. But things were
still moving along, with the backing of Neil O'nions of Compo a new
magazine was born during May Atari World and our Vic and the rest of the
team were back, barman make that a bottle. Vic left and Andrew Write took
over. Issue 8, December 1995 rolled off the printing press and with 2
Christmas shows ready to roll on the 9th/10 December, things were looking
good.

Well 1996 turned sour, Compo closed and we lost a well respected supporter
of the atari platform, resulting in the loss of some fine software and
hardware products. I never did get to see the likes of That's Address, and
with Compo went Atari World. As a subscriber to Atari World I lost money
like many others I suspect, but I was truly sad to see Compo go having
meet Neil in person and spoken with him on the phone many times I was
saddened by what hadhappened, he was a nice guy.

Things moved on and we were all getting back on our feet, Titan Designs
took up some of Compo's wares Neodesk/Geneva, and good old System
Solutions continued to offer some fine products. ST Format started to
become more readable and in depth despite it's dwindling pages, then bang
ST Format closes in September with issue 86 being the final edition,
barman no don't bother. Within days of this announcement Atari Computing
was born here on Cix, and I'm glad to say it was nice to be present and
see it take shape. It's a tribute to Mike Kerslake and Joe Connor and the
rest of A|C|G that not only was the magazine set-up, but the first issue
was ready to make it's debut at the Atari Shows on, 28/29 September. This
was truly amazing and shows the dedication the A|C|G have to the Atari
platform. If only Atari had taken the trouble to meet some of the people
with this kind of commitment, then they may still have been in the
computer market today.

I attended the London show and really enjoyed myself chatting with fellow
atarians and putting faces to the clan here on Cix. The magazine along
with subscription forms for future issues was in great demand. I was quite
surprised by the number of people that attended, all like myself with
there bags and boxes of newly acquired goodies, what's all this talk of
doom in the Atari market. We may not be mainstream but there's a lot of
us, when we have something to turn out for. 1996 has been a good year for
us on the whole, there's been some excellent software and more to come.
Falcon owners are in for a treat with Titan Designs Nemesis hardware
upgrade, and new versions of Apex, disk based magazines are excellent and
don't come better than AtariPhile. The shareware side of things grows
daily and most of these programs make the software I use to buy years ago
look tame with there power and features, and they don't cost the earth to
register. Despite the knocks we're still here and going strong towards
1997. I expect to see some great things for this platform in 1997, we're
moving away from being Atari users I think it's more accurate to call us
TOS users now, as you don't need an Atari machine to take advantage of
what our platform has to offer with the advent of MagiC Mac/PC. But it's
down to us the users to dictate our destiny, everybody who's involved in
this platform from commercial companies to shareware author's to the
magazine born on Cix need our support, along with user groups and anyone
else who's interested. This platforms survival depends on each other,
we're a family spread all over the place. We all need to help keep this
platform alive whatever machine your running it on, remember every time
you make a purchase from a company that supports this platform, or
register or make a donation to a shareware author YOU BREATH LIFE INTO OUR
PLATFORM FOR THE FUTURE. The writings already on the wall look at the lack
of products coming from Hi-Soft, will they be next to exit.

You know it makes sense. To the Future ------ GO
 

Les. :-))
 

Dear Sir, Although I have had my Atari for several months, I have not yet
got to grips with it. So really I am a complete beginner, never having
used a computer before. In fact, to be honest, I am a bit scared of it. So
really I need an 'idiots guide' to the Atari. I hope your new mag can
help.

Mrs. J. P. Featherstone.

There's nothing to be scared of, your atari is very friendly. We'll try
our best to help you get the most from it, though if you've any specific
problems, you'd probably find sending your queries to our Q&A team will be
the most helpful to you.)
 

I am returning the questionaire from the first issue of Atari Computing. I
must say that I find the magazine really excellent, long may it continue.
I started out with an STFM in 1989 and graduated with much heart searching
to a Falcon three years ago. I was very tempted to move over to a PC, but
resisted the temptation mainly because of my investment in Atari software.
I shall continue to support Atari Computing as long as you publish it.

Mr. R. A. Stevens.

Thanks for the support, Mr. Stevens. It's appreciated
 

Thank you for filling the Atari gap - I hope it is successful. Please
don't bother to get into colour - it will only put costs up and it doesn't
help all that much. I would rather have a few sheets of plain A4 with
information at regular intervals than see you cost yourselves out of the
market. I notice that you do not have one Atari BBS in the list on page 13
of issue 1. Micro-Link (01726 884725) at Mevagissey, Cornwall has quite a
bit of software for sale at reasonable prices.

John Cloke.

Thanks for the info. Yes, colour at the moment is an impossibility, the
cost is so high. Unless of course the subscriber base keeps going up and
up...
 

Thanks for producing this magazine. I was so cheesed off when Atari World
and then ST Format packed up. I've only just got into Computers and both
magazines helped an awful lot. Magazines have made understanding Ataris
much easier.

Simon Gratton.

Thank you for the first issue of Atari Computing, which was both very
welcome and interesting. I feel that the overall setup and content was
well balanced and if this is kept up on proceeding issues, then your team
and the magazine will be very successful. My only reservations are with
the Reader disks, the main problem with the last few of ST Format's disks
was the repeat of programs that we already had, (either from magazines or
PD libraries). I realise that this is a difficult thing to avoid, but hope
that you will keep this in mind and try to avoid this wherever possible.
Please also use plenty of letters and Q&A pages and if possible a regular
'for sale' column. I believe that the ST has remained successful because
of it's reasonable price and ease of initial learning compared to PC's,
and many users have one because it allowed them into computing while on a
low budget. Only when ST Format finished did I ever feel I might have to
move onto a PC and dreaded the massive cost and learning curve it would
take just to reach the same level I was at with my ST and assure you, your
magazine has come as a great relief and I wish it every success.

Bill Reid.

As far as the reader disks are concerned, we only include the very latest
versions of programs and we have the best contacts on the Atari scene!
We're considering adding a few colour screen grabs of programs reviewed
inside the magazine on the disk to help overcome the limitations of mono
printing.
 

Dear sirs, Great start well in the tradition of ST Review and Atari World.
Suggest you spend the money on quality and quantity of articles and pages
than hi-tech colour at this point in time. I have been sent popular
'bookstore' monochrome American Atari mags.

T. C. J. Spencer.

Our thoughts exactly
 

I got 2 envelopes in the post this morning, both A4 size one brown and one
white, I opened the white one first, from Demon dispatches, I skimmed
throught it, kinda interesting, but I quickly got bored and opened the
brown envelope...
Atari Computing 64 pages! Brilliant, every page relevant AND interesting
and only œ3! I cannot put into words the gratitude I feel to the team of
the A|C|G for starting this mag, except thanks and a big hug. I have just
upgraded my STe to 4Mb's and will treat myself to MagiC and stick with the
Atari platofrm - a decision strongly influenced by this magazine.

Will, by email
 

I really liked the MiNTro article, and it actually encouraged me to go on
a quick trip around the web. I now have a nice working system running
oAESis. More articles on extending our systems please!
 
Simon, ataricomputing conference, CIX