WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:21.180 This is not a graphics shop or a music studio. 00:21.180 --> 00:23.240 It's the San Jose Police Department. 00:23.240 --> 00:26.860 The officers here wanted a computer system that could not only handle the routine business 00:26.860 --> 00:30.640 applications but one that could also help them recreate the scene of an accident or 00:30.640 --> 00:33.680 the scene of a crime to help them in their investigations. 00:33.680 --> 00:38.600 They ended up not with a PC compatible or a Macintosh but with an Atari ST. 00:38.600 --> 00:42.480 You know people have stereotypes and sometimes we have stereotypes about computers. 00:42.480 --> 00:45.880 Today we're going to try to help you break at least one stereotype as we look at the 00:45.880 --> 01:12.400 power and the versatility of the Atari ST on this edition of the Computer Chronicles. 01:12.400 --> 01:18.500 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte Magazine 01:18.500 --> 01:21.820 and Bix, the Byte Information Exchange. 01:21.820 --> 01:27.700 In print and online, Byte and Bix serve computer professionals worldwide with detailed information 01:27.700 --> 01:36.580 on new hardware, software and technologies. 01:36.580 --> 01:37.860 Welcome to the Computer Chronicles. 01:37.860 --> 01:40.380 I'm Stuart Shafae and this is Gary Kildall. 01:40.380 --> 01:43.140 Gary, what we have here is no ordinary flight simulator. 01:43.140 --> 01:46.920 This particular input device is the actual remote radio controller you use to run these 01:46.920 --> 01:49.300 radio controlled model airplanes and helicopters. 01:49.300 --> 01:52.820 So before you go out and crash your $2,000 model, you can do the identical moves to run 01:52.820 --> 01:53.820 the same plane here on the screen. 01:53.820 --> 01:56.980 Well you know I crashed one of his little helicopters a couple years ago so I think 01:56.980 --> 01:57.980 I'm a good customer for this product. 01:57.980 --> 01:58.980 $199. 01:58.980 --> 01:59.980 It's called Aero Chopper, Gary. 01:59.980 --> 02:00.980 It's cheaper. 02:00.980 --> 02:03.220 The interesting thing is this takes a lot of horsepower to run this kind of simulation. 02:03.220 --> 02:05.680 It was written first for an Atari ST. 02:05.680 --> 02:08.260 The question I have for you though has to do with the Atari we saw at the very beginning 02:08.260 --> 02:10.540 of the program at the San Jose Police Department. 02:10.540 --> 02:14.780 That Atari was set up to read not only Atari software but it could read Mac disks, MS-DOS 02:14.780 --> 02:15.780 disks. 02:15.780 --> 02:19.060 Is it possible to be able to buy a nice low cost machine like the Atari and run any software? 02:19.060 --> 02:23.380 Well I think it's a good idea in principle of course but even though this is a 68K processor 02:23.380 --> 02:26.660 in here, it's not a Mac and so there's going to be some hardware considerations that some 02:26.660 --> 02:28.460 of the software is going to expect. 02:28.460 --> 02:31.700 And so we can't expect that all software is going to run. 02:31.700 --> 02:34.260 It also depends on the kind of simulation you're doing. 02:34.260 --> 02:37.980 Whether it's a coprocessor which means it's going to run at high speed or whether it's 02:37.980 --> 02:40.180 a software emulation where each instruction is interpreted. 02:40.180 --> 02:43.060 That could be four or five times slower than the real thing. 02:43.060 --> 02:44.500 The Atari ST has an advantage. 02:44.500 --> 02:49.980 The disks get themselves however, RIBM compatible in the sense that the data format is the same. 02:49.980 --> 02:50.980 Thanks to DRI's James. 02:50.980 --> 02:54.140 Gary, we're going to focus on the Atari ST today. 02:54.140 --> 02:55.740 We'll see some new applications for it. 02:55.740 --> 03:00.140 Paint programs, high end desktop publishing CAD applications and we'll see how the ST 03:00.140 --> 03:01.580 can run Mac software. 03:01.580 --> 03:04.960 Now when you talk about the Atari ST, of course you have to talk about music. 03:04.960 --> 03:09.100 We begin by visiting a college where you can get a degree in music engineering thanks to 03:09.100 --> 03:16.300 the Atari ST. 03:16.300 --> 03:21.540 While the personal computer has become a favorite tool of the business world, its talents extend 03:21.540 --> 03:27.100 well beyond dreary spreadsheets and color coded pie charts. 03:27.100 --> 03:32.660 With a little additional hardware, it's also becoming a tool of choice for artists, musicians 03:32.660 --> 03:34.420 and composers. 03:34.420 --> 03:39.780 At Cogswell College, a technical school about 40 miles south of San Francisco, students 03:39.780 --> 03:46.020 are using the Atari ST to learn a new way to compose and perform music with the help 03:46.020 --> 03:52.960 of a hardware interface called MIDI or Musical Instrument Digital Interface. 03:52.960 --> 03:59.780 The most important features that MIDI brings is it allows you to record just the performance 03:59.780 --> 04:01.580 separate of sounds. 04:01.580 --> 04:04.860 So I can record a performance and then decide after the fact, would I want that to be a 04:04.860 --> 04:07.860 flute, would I want that to be a violin. 04:07.860 --> 04:11.080 Another thing that MIDI makes it possible to do is wholesale editing. 04:11.080 --> 04:15.460 You can just go in and take whole blocks of material and move it around and reposition 04:15.460 --> 04:18.420 it in different kinds of ways. 04:18.420 --> 04:24.020 The musical studio at Cogswell has stacks of familiar hardware such as electronic keyboards 04:24.020 --> 04:25.780 and synthesizers. 04:25.780 --> 04:30.540 But the musical output is composed through the software which assembles and modifies 04:30.540 --> 04:32.860 the different tracks. 04:32.860 --> 04:38.500 Cogswell uses a software package called Notator from Digidesign to create and edit the musical 04:38.500 --> 04:42.220 scores in real time. 04:42.220 --> 04:48.420 The program permits changes in key, tempo or instrument to be inserted and played back 04:48.420 --> 04:49.660 immediately. 04:49.660 --> 04:56.340 And the user can choose between a variety of real time data displays. 04:56.340 --> 05:03.660 Cogswell also uses MasterTracks Pro from Passport Designs, a sequencer that provides 64 multi-channel 05:03.660 --> 05:09.340 recording tracks and familiar looking tape recorder type controls. 05:09.340 --> 05:15.340 To a composer with a traditional education, the electronics might seem overwhelming. 05:15.340 --> 05:18.740 But the school's instructor doesn't see that as a problem. 05:18.740 --> 05:21.980 We aren't throwing musical theory out the window. 05:21.980 --> 05:23.100 We're using music theory. 05:23.100 --> 05:25.180 We're employing these things as tools. 05:25.180 --> 05:29.420 The business I think is a lot like the computers were about five years ago. 05:29.420 --> 05:31.940 This is a new program. 05:31.940 --> 05:35.420 And education's scrambling to keep up with technology. 05:35.420 --> 05:50.100 With us in the studio now is Vincent DeFilippo. 05:50.100 --> 05:54.020 He's an Atari specialist from the Winter Circle Computer Store in Berkeley, California. 05:54.020 --> 05:56.660 And sitting next to Vincent, Jim Kent, the author of Cyberpaint. 05:56.660 --> 05:57.660 Gary? 05:57.660 --> 06:01.500 Jim, I think everybody likes the philosophy of Commodore and Atari as far as pricing. 06:01.500 --> 06:03.900 You get a lot of computing bang for your buck. 06:03.900 --> 06:07.340 What else is it about the Atari that led you to choose that as a platform for your Cyberpaint 06:07.340 --> 06:08.340 program? 06:08.340 --> 06:10.780 There were two main things. 06:10.780 --> 06:17.300 The 68,000 processor so I didn't have to deal with strange memory segmentations. 06:17.300 --> 06:18.860 And its color. 06:18.860 --> 06:19.860 Okay. 06:19.860 --> 06:20.860 Yeah. 06:20.860 --> 06:21.860 Color's important. 06:21.860 --> 06:22.860 Okay. 06:22.860 --> 06:25.780 As far as Cyberpaint, what does Cyberpaint do? 06:25.780 --> 06:32.140 Cyberpaint is a program useful for animation, video sort of work. 06:32.140 --> 06:36.940 It's basically a paint program that lets you paint over lots and lots of frames. 06:36.940 --> 06:38.740 With some special effects on top of that. 06:38.740 --> 06:39.740 Okay. 06:39.740 --> 06:40.740 We're going to take a look at that. 06:40.740 --> 06:41.740 Yeah. 06:41.740 --> 06:42.740 Show us what you can do with Cyberpaint. 06:42.740 --> 06:43.740 I should explain here real quickly. 06:43.740 --> 06:44.740 We have two Ataris here. 06:44.740 --> 06:45.740 We don't need all this equipment. 06:45.740 --> 06:46.740 We're on Cyberpaint. 06:46.740 --> 06:47.740 Right. 06:47.740 --> 06:48.740 Two separate systems for what's going to come up later. 06:48.740 --> 06:49.740 Go ahead, Jim. 06:49.740 --> 06:50.740 Okay. 06:50.740 --> 06:52.900 I'd like to show you something someone's done with it. 06:52.900 --> 06:57.820 This is an animation some people did in France. 06:57.820 --> 06:58.820 That's pretty spectacular. 06:58.820 --> 07:02.100 Sort of a robot monster coming out from under the sea, huh? 07:02.100 --> 07:03.100 Yeah. 07:03.100 --> 07:04.100 Walks behind a branch there too. 07:04.100 --> 07:05.100 Yeah. 07:05.100 --> 07:07.020 Here your titles come again. 07:07.020 --> 07:09.020 That's a real popular use of Cyberpaint, titling. 07:09.020 --> 07:12.620 So this might be like a movie opening or something like that. 07:12.620 --> 07:13.620 Yes. 07:13.620 --> 07:14.620 Yeah. 07:14.620 --> 07:15.620 Great. 07:15.620 --> 07:17.940 So here you've seen it. 07:17.940 --> 07:19.880 These are your basic Cyberpaint controls. 07:19.880 --> 07:21.140 It's a little bit like a VCR. 07:21.140 --> 07:25.940 You can go pop to the first frame, pop to the last. 07:25.940 --> 07:31.460 You can go backwards fast, forwards fast, or what's really fun is you can just sort of 07:31.460 --> 07:34.900 wiggle this guy and control it directly. 07:34.900 --> 07:38.220 That shows you the frame number there at the bottom of it. 07:38.220 --> 07:39.220 Yes, it does. 07:39.220 --> 07:44.020 It's our famous number on the knob slider. 07:44.020 --> 07:46.580 So anyway, this is basically a paint system. 07:46.580 --> 07:49.620 Let me do a little bit of painting with it. 07:49.620 --> 07:50.620 Get a pretty big brush. 07:50.620 --> 07:51.620 Make sure I'm in draw. 07:51.620 --> 07:52.620 Yes. 07:52.620 --> 07:53.620 And let's see. 07:53.620 --> 07:54.620 Let's add some waves to the water. 07:54.620 --> 07:55.620 Really silly. 07:55.620 --> 07:56.620 That's all right. 07:56.620 --> 07:57.620 So you're doing some real time work here. 07:57.620 --> 07:58.620 Yeah. 07:58.620 --> 08:12.340 And you're going to give us a little oil spill there, is that it? 08:12.340 --> 08:13.340 Hopefully not. 08:13.340 --> 08:14.340 Okay. 08:14.340 --> 08:17.300 So the red showed you the last frame then? 08:17.300 --> 08:18.300 Yes. 08:18.300 --> 08:20.300 And you can kind of use that as a basis for your... 08:20.300 --> 08:21.620 Okay, so that's your reference point. 08:21.620 --> 08:23.620 You're laying on frame after frame. 08:23.620 --> 08:24.620 Uh-huh. 08:24.620 --> 08:29.220 And of course it would take oil to do 151 frames. 08:29.220 --> 08:30.220 Right. 08:30.220 --> 08:33.020 But anyway, it's blue. 08:33.020 --> 08:39.940 This could have also been a sequence that you brought in that you prepared using Cyber 08:39.940 --> 08:41.740 Paint at another time also. 08:41.740 --> 08:44.740 Yeah, if you'd like to see that. 08:44.740 --> 08:46.220 That's one of the main uses of this actually. 08:46.220 --> 08:52.900 And I've got a really amusing animation I wanted to show you too. 08:52.900 --> 08:57.500 Just go here, go load overlay. 08:57.500 --> 09:01.380 It brings up the standard Atari file requester. 09:01.380 --> 09:05.940 And this is Cyber B done by Maurice. 09:05.940 --> 09:08.420 This was done in a 3D system. 09:08.420 --> 09:11.700 You can see... 09:11.700 --> 09:15.260 So you're merging two animations, is that it? 09:15.260 --> 09:25.100 So you have a little bee that's flapping its wings, rolling around its eyeballs, and going 09:25.100 --> 09:27.020 on top of the other one. 09:27.020 --> 09:30.540 So Jim, this is like traditional animation techniques where you paint one frame after 09:30.540 --> 09:33.140 the next in sequence, is that correct? 09:33.140 --> 09:35.220 You can do that, but you're not restricted to that. 09:35.220 --> 09:39.820 There's a lot of stuff built in to make it much easier for you. 09:39.820 --> 09:41.900 One is just this compositing thing. 09:41.900 --> 09:46.900 Let me show you something else. 09:46.900 --> 09:57.900 I'm going to cut out a little clip and rotate this. 09:57.900 --> 09:59.900 Oh, I see. 09:59.900 --> 10:04.900 But that could be a set of frames that you'd store in there. 10:04.900 --> 10:06.780 Yeah, certainly. 10:06.780 --> 10:13.020 So say make it go over 180. 10:13.020 --> 10:15.740 It takes it a little bit while to compute it right now. 10:15.740 --> 10:19.580 Jim, going back to Gary's question, what are the benefits of doing something like CyberPaint 10:19.580 --> 10:20.780 on the Atari ST? 10:20.780 --> 10:25.260 We think of the Amiga in a similar vein, or even compared to the Macintosh, for example. 10:25.260 --> 10:31.420 Well, the main advantage over a Mac is it's in color and it's cheap. 10:31.420 --> 10:38.140 The major benefit over an Amiga is that it tends to be a lot more reliable. 10:38.140 --> 10:43.540 I've lost so many floppy disks running on an Amiga, I've sort of gotten depressed about 10:43.540 --> 10:44.540 it. 10:44.540 --> 10:48.420 Well, Vincent, there's a little cartridge right here that says Vector 128 stuck to the 10:48.420 --> 10:50.140 side of this 1040. 10:50.140 --> 10:52.580 And also, it looks like a Mac screen on that Atari. 10:52.580 --> 10:54.260 Can you tell us a little bit about what's going on here? 10:54.260 --> 10:55.260 Sure. 10:55.260 --> 10:56.260 This is a Vector 128. 10:56.260 --> 10:58.660 This is our Macintosh emulation for the Atari. 10:58.660 --> 11:02.180 I'm in a popular application called HyperCard right now. 11:02.180 --> 11:04.980 HyperCard is kind of like a launcher, among other things. 11:04.980 --> 11:07.500 It's kind of a language multiple use. 11:07.500 --> 11:13.500 So I can just simply click on an item and voila, I'm in that application. 11:13.500 --> 11:16.180 Like this one happens to be like a periodical table. 11:16.180 --> 11:17.180 So I can look up whatever. 11:17.180 --> 11:18.180 We're familiar with HyperCard. 11:18.180 --> 11:21.380 Why don't you tell us about how you're running HyperCard inside the Atari? 11:21.380 --> 11:23.140 What's the Vector 128 doing here? 11:23.140 --> 11:28.740 Okay, the Vector 128 offers you to hold the Macintosh ROMs, which is the basic Macintosh 11:28.740 --> 11:30.060 operating system. 11:30.060 --> 11:35.700 And since the Atari and Macintosh are basically the same style processor and whatnot, it was 11:35.700 --> 11:41.180 not easily, but easily to do and to make a conversion for it. 11:41.180 --> 11:44.740 And since the Atari had the cartridge port, that's what they used to bring the Macintosh 11:44.740 --> 11:46.660 ROMs to the Atari operating system. 11:46.660 --> 11:48.820 Are there any restrictions on the use? 11:48.820 --> 11:50.580 Some programs don't run or... 11:50.580 --> 11:51.580 Yes. 11:51.580 --> 11:55.260 The programs that tend to run are what are called well-behaved programs. 11:55.260 --> 11:58.340 The ones that go through the toolbox. 11:58.340 --> 12:02.260 Ones that will not run are usually like games or something like that, where the authors 12:02.260 --> 12:07.340 try to go to the hardware to try to get faster screens or better sound, something like that. 12:07.340 --> 12:08.940 Those kind of programs will not run. 12:08.940 --> 12:13.100 When you talk about emulation too, how's the performance of something like HyperCard running 12:13.100 --> 12:15.420 on the Atari compared to running it on the Mac in the first place? 12:15.420 --> 12:17.180 How about 20% faster? 12:17.180 --> 12:18.180 Really? 12:18.180 --> 12:19.180 Yes. 12:19.180 --> 12:20.180 And why? 12:20.180 --> 12:22.180 Because the Atari is a faster processor than the Mac Plus. 12:22.180 --> 12:25.180 Well, the price is a lot better too. 12:25.180 --> 12:26.180 You bet. 12:26.180 --> 12:28.980 Now, are there any problems with copyrights and so forth? 12:28.980 --> 12:32.620 We know all know that Apple is very careful about releasing these things. 12:32.620 --> 12:34.260 Do you have any problems with that? 12:34.260 --> 12:37.340 No, because we actually use an actual Mac products. 12:37.340 --> 12:39.460 We're not cloning them or copying them or anything like this. 12:39.460 --> 12:43.300 There are actual Mac ROMs in the expected cartridge. 12:43.300 --> 12:46.500 Is there a product out there that can do the same thing with the MS-DOS software on the 12:46.500 --> 12:47.500 Atari? 12:47.500 --> 12:48.500 Yes, there is. 12:48.500 --> 12:49.500 It's a program called PC Ditto. 12:49.500 --> 12:50.500 We're running it with a hardware version. 12:50.500 --> 12:53.500 So you can actually bring it running up at IBM speeds. 12:53.500 --> 12:57.020 Okay, in that case, it is a software emulation currently. 12:57.020 --> 12:58.020 Currently it's a software emulation. 12:58.020 --> 13:00.340 And how's the performance of that? 13:00.340 --> 13:05.140 The performance on PC Ditto currently right now is like running a 1 megahertz IBM. 13:05.140 --> 13:07.980 I mean, you can sleep between some things. 13:07.980 --> 13:11.100 So, it's four times slower than the earliest PCs. 13:11.100 --> 13:13.220 Well, gentlemen, thank you very much. 13:13.220 --> 13:16.660 There's a very interesting research project going on at the Steinhardt Aquarium in San 13:16.660 --> 13:20.340 Francisco trying to get dolphins and human beings to communicate. 13:20.340 --> 13:24.620 And the computer system they're using to support that experiment is an Atari ST. 13:24.620 --> 13:28.460 Wendy Woods has the report. 13:28.460 --> 13:34.940 Two dolphins named Thetis and Amphi and three seals, Reno, Geraldine, and Missy, have for 13:34.940 --> 13:40.580 the last three years been able to communicate with researchers with the help of a computer. 13:40.580 --> 13:45.480 At the Steinhardt Aquarium in San Francisco, researchers have provided them with a series 13:45.480 --> 13:51.140 of underwater pipes, each of which, when pressed, sounds a different tone. 13:51.140 --> 13:54.220 Each tone represents a different object. 13:54.220 --> 14:00.260 Fish is the most popular, but they can also request a ball, a ring, hands-on petting, 14:00.260 --> 14:02.540 or a spray of water. 14:02.540 --> 14:08.460 An Atari ST computer perched in a hut built above the aquarium records every key the animals 14:08.460 --> 14:12.100 press and the exact time the request is made. 14:12.100 --> 14:17.700 The researchers call this environmental enhancement or a way of improving life for those stuck 14:17.700 --> 14:19.740 in the proverbial pool. 14:19.740 --> 14:25.540 But more than just entertain the animals, the Atari ST is gathering important data. 14:25.540 --> 14:30.020 I think we are seeing interesting patterns. 14:30.020 --> 14:35.580 The fact that the seal is the most consistent at the apparatus I think was something that 14:35.580 --> 14:38.260 maybe we didn't expect originally. 14:38.260 --> 14:42.100 Other patterns will emerge as the researchers analyze the data. 14:42.100 --> 14:46.820 Eric Carlson, a University of San Francisco graduate student, wrote the program which 14:46.820 --> 14:51.340 controls the pipes using GFA Basic from Michtron. 14:51.340 --> 14:55.340 I think it's an ideal computer for this. 14:55.340 --> 14:59.860 The access to the ports is very good. 14:59.860 --> 15:07.060 And additionally, the language that I chose to use here was basic. 15:07.060 --> 15:11.900 The sound generating capabilities of the Atari were very helpful. 15:11.900 --> 15:16.980 And also, it's nice to have a graphical interface. 15:16.980 --> 15:22.940 The graphical interface allows the researcher to immediately see which key an animal pressed, 15:22.940 --> 15:26.700 allowing them to concentrate more on their observations. 15:26.700 --> 15:32.180 In addition to the ST, researchers record the animals' reactions using a barcode reader 15:32.180 --> 15:38.380 interfaced to a Tandy portable, and record their own observations on audio tape. 15:38.380 --> 15:42.940 The next step of the project will be to allow the creatures to play music. 15:42.940 --> 15:47.840 The ST will be interfaced to three audio tape decks. 15:47.840 --> 16:05.220 At the Steinhardt Aquarium in San Francisco for the Computer Chronicles, I'm Wendy Woods. 16:05.220 --> 16:07.380 With us in the studio now is Nathan Pettation. 16:07.380 --> 16:09.940 He's president of ISD Marketing in Toronto. 16:09.940 --> 16:13.060 And sitting next to Nathan, Andrew Rees, editor of Start Magazine. 16:13.060 --> 16:17.860 Sir, it seems like whenever anybody says Atari, they think of the game machine, but we've 16:17.860 --> 16:23.340 got a stack of machines that certainly isn't the standard Atari setup. 16:23.340 --> 16:26.780 Andrew, could you tell us a little bit about what this hardware configuration is? 16:26.780 --> 16:28.220 We have a laser printer and so forth. 16:28.220 --> 16:29.220 Certainly. 16:29.220 --> 16:34.060 This is all Atari hardware except for the monitor, the Viking monitor. 16:34.060 --> 16:40.340 What we have is a Mega 4 ST4, 4 megabytes of memory, 68,000 processor. 16:40.340 --> 16:43.900 Here it is a 30 meg hard drive, Mega File 30. 16:43.900 --> 16:49.460 This is the SLM 804 printer from Atari, and in between is the interface board. 16:49.460 --> 16:52.980 Now what would the hardware configuration cost for something like this? 16:52.980 --> 16:54.940 Excluding the monitor, it's $39.95. 16:54.940 --> 16:57.980 Which would be less than you might pay for just a laser printer, huh? 16:57.980 --> 16:58.980 That's right. 16:58.980 --> 17:01.420 Now, Andrew, tell us a little bit about Dynacad, your product. 17:01.420 --> 17:06.100 Dynacad is a product of ISD, and that's again Nathan's company. 17:06.100 --> 17:13.100 It's a professional solution on the Atari, and it is as good as any CAD program I've 17:13.100 --> 17:14.100 ever seen. 17:14.100 --> 17:15.100 Well, let's take a look at it. 17:15.100 --> 17:19.220 Well, we have, you have the choices of the gem drop-down menus. 17:19.220 --> 17:24.900 There are keyboard equivalents, plus there's a very nice set of nested icon menus. 17:24.900 --> 17:27.500 Right now we have a frame up with a grid. 17:27.500 --> 17:28.780 You can see the dot pattern. 17:28.780 --> 17:31.900 That's the grid set at quarter inch intervals. 17:31.900 --> 17:38.940 Let's just first of all zoom in on a portion of it by zoom window. 17:38.940 --> 17:45.220 Just grab a corner of the screen, and I can see the dot pattern is larger. 17:45.220 --> 17:58.460 Now I'll go, I'm on the insert menu, and we'll just put in a box somewhere around there. 17:58.460 --> 18:04.740 Now, one of the nice features of Dynacad is it has built-in Bezier and B-splines, Bezier 18:04.740 --> 18:06.420 curves and B-splines. 18:06.420 --> 18:11.980 So what we can do now is add a tabs to this box, as if we were going to be doing a mounting 18:11.980 --> 18:13.940 plate. 18:13.940 --> 18:17.580 First of all, it has entity snap, which means you can choose an entity. 18:17.580 --> 18:20.820 At this point, we're choosing to place a point at the end. 18:20.820 --> 18:26.980 Now we'll go to the location, and we can put, you can see the rubber band line. 18:26.980 --> 18:41.820 And go back, excuse me, see where I am, and go to entity snap. 18:41.820 --> 18:46.380 Now, the right click, we have our tabs. 18:46.380 --> 18:48.940 How would Dynacad compare, say, to AutoCAD? 18:48.940 --> 18:51.860 Most people are familiar with this kind of standard CAD package. 18:51.860 --> 18:56.820 It is faster, and it has a much better interface. 18:56.820 --> 19:00.940 It's the equivalent of AutoCAD version 10. 19:00.940 --> 19:01.940 It has the 3D. 19:01.940 --> 19:04.740 And price-wise, how is it compared? 19:04.740 --> 19:06.140 This package is $695. 19:06.140 --> 19:12.540 Do you have any opposition to the sale because of Atari, brand name Atari? 19:12.540 --> 19:15.620 People look at the equipment and say, well, it's doing the job. 19:15.620 --> 19:20.620 There's always that, but the price comparison makes this much the better. 19:20.620 --> 19:22.980 How about reliability? 19:22.980 --> 19:29.260 I've owned an Atari 520 myself that I've improved to 2.5 meg, and I've had it for two years, 19:29.260 --> 19:32.660 and I've never had any downtime, except when I burned out my sound chip. 19:32.660 --> 19:33.660 And I did that myself. 19:33.660 --> 19:37.180 Can I ask you to kind of get out of Dynacad right now? 19:37.180 --> 19:42.020 We want to take a look at Calamus, which is the other Atari program which Nathan's company 19:42.020 --> 19:43.020 has. 19:43.020 --> 19:45.820 And while we do that, Nathan, tell us a bit about Calamus, which is desktop publishing, 19:45.820 --> 19:46.820 right? 19:46.820 --> 19:47.820 Yes. 19:47.820 --> 19:51.940 Calamus was our entry into professional desktop publishing based on the Atari platform. 19:51.940 --> 19:55.820 You can sort of grab the mouse here and put it on your right-hand side if you like. 19:55.820 --> 19:56.820 I'm just going to load it up now. 19:56.820 --> 19:57.820 Yeah, go ahead. 19:57.820 --> 19:58.820 Okay. 19:58.820 --> 20:05.100 We've, it was, this was intended as a professional level entry. 20:05.100 --> 20:12.020 It has something over 350 separate features, and it works quite well. 20:12.020 --> 20:14.940 Different icons, again, nested icons. 20:14.940 --> 20:18.780 In the top right-hand corner is a help area that indicates exactly what I'm pointing at, 20:18.780 --> 20:20.780 rotated text, group frames, et cetera. 20:20.780 --> 20:25.580 If I go in and I open a frame, one of the better features of Calamus is it has its own 20:25.580 --> 20:27.180 built-in text editor. 20:27.180 --> 20:32.820 I can type in anything that I want fairly quickly and easily, and you can see it in 20:32.820 --> 20:34.020 the editor, as you see. 20:34.020 --> 20:36.180 I can even see my mistakes if I make any. 20:36.180 --> 20:43.860 If I double-click on the style, I can very easily change the point size and send it back 20:43.860 --> 20:48.180 in there to something that we can see. 20:48.180 --> 20:50.220 Okay. 20:50.220 --> 20:52.540 Loading in, it's fairly simple. 20:52.540 --> 20:55.780 Highlight, change its center of the text, anything like that. 20:55.780 --> 21:02.100 You can create, I haven't loaded in other fonts, but it's very simple to go in and load 21:02.100 --> 21:03.100 a font. 21:03.100 --> 21:05.100 It takes literally seconds. 21:05.100 --> 21:06.380 Okay. 21:06.380 --> 21:11.780 I can go and say highlight COM, go into our font preview, and you can see it gives you 21:11.780 --> 21:17.740 a good representation of the font itself, and change the point size to, let's say, 70 21:17.740 --> 21:19.220 for this, not 710. 21:19.220 --> 21:23.860 It goes up to 999, and as simple as that, I've changed it, and you can see the representation 21:23.860 --> 21:25.100 on the screen. 21:25.100 --> 21:29.260 If I go in this quickly and easily, I can create a macro for that particular style. 21:29.260 --> 21:32.660 Let's just call it A, and we'll just save that style. 21:32.660 --> 21:33.660 You've got that macro. 21:33.660 --> 21:38.580 If I put the cursor here and hit Control-A, I change the style of the following document. 21:38.580 --> 21:45.400 I created beforehand a little more sophisticated layout. 21:45.400 --> 21:46.740 It has three columns. 21:46.740 --> 21:53.540 It has headlines, vector graphic image, et cetera, something for a more professional 21:53.540 --> 21:55.940 application. 21:55.940 --> 22:01.260 I want to bring it in so that I can show you exactly what it's capable of and how fast 22:01.260 --> 22:03.460 it prints on the Atari laser printer. 22:03.460 --> 22:05.700 It's just going to bring up the print document. 22:05.700 --> 22:10.940 I think there's 12 frames in there, and we'll just send it over to the printer. 22:10.940 --> 22:14.300 It's going to take dramatically less time than it would with PostScript printers that 22:14.300 --> 22:15.300 we're used to. 22:15.300 --> 22:18.220 I thought there was a graphic in the middle of this. 22:18.220 --> 22:20.740 Can you handle both vector graphics and image? 22:20.740 --> 22:21.740 That's correct. 22:21.740 --> 22:31.980 We handle pretty much every major picture format and vector graphic, Calamus' own, and 22:31.980 --> 22:35.260 vector graphic files, gem meta files, et cetera. 22:35.260 --> 22:36.260 I'm sorry. 22:36.260 --> 22:37.260 Go ahead. 22:37.260 --> 22:38.260 You're on a roll. 22:38.260 --> 22:39.260 I see where you're at. 22:39.260 --> 22:40.740 In terms of the fonts, you're talking about fonts. 22:40.740 --> 22:42.580 How many different kinds of fonts do you have? 22:42.580 --> 22:44.660 We have our own fonts that we ship the package with. 22:44.660 --> 22:46.460 We have a couple of families available. 22:46.460 --> 22:49.540 We also have a font editor that has six more families with it. 22:49.540 --> 22:53.260 These are all outline vector fonts, same technology as these. 22:53.260 --> 22:56.140 As well, we signed a license agreement with CompuGraphics Corporation. 22:56.140 --> 23:00.060 We originally converted 31 of their font families as well. 23:00.060 --> 23:01.980 Your hard copy is already here, by the way. 23:01.980 --> 23:02.980 That's what we're using. 23:02.980 --> 23:03.980 These are CompuGraphics fonts. 23:03.980 --> 23:09.420 If I just hold that up to the screen, get the okay out of the way, you can see what 23:09.420 --> 23:10.420 you see is what you get. 23:10.420 --> 23:12.140 I was going to ask you about the speed factor. 23:12.140 --> 23:16.420 Tell me, compare this to, say, using PostGrip, using PageMaker, and so on. 23:16.420 --> 23:20.940 It's dramatically, because of the DMA output on the Atari laser printer, I believe it outputs 23:20.940 --> 23:24.580 at 9,600,000 bits per second through the DMA port. 23:24.580 --> 23:28.140 There's really no comparison to the parallel or serial port that the printers have been 23:28.140 --> 23:29.140 using before. 23:29.140 --> 23:30.780 We have just about a minute left. 23:30.780 --> 23:34.580 Andy, this whole thing we've been seeing during this whole program is the power of the Atari 23:34.580 --> 23:39.420 package here and a lot of the software that's so competitive and yet so much less expensive. 23:39.420 --> 23:42.300 Is this going to turn around, are people in the United States going to see the Atari the 23:42.300 --> 23:44.100 way they seem to see it in Europe? 23:44.100 --> 23:45.100 I think so. 23:45.100 --> 23:49.260 Part of the problem has been that Atari was short of DRAMs and directed what output they 23:49.260 --> 23:50.260 had to Europe. 23:50.260 --> 23:55.860 Also, in 1989, as Atari's year, according to them, and they were going to make a major 23:55.860 --> 23:57.780 push into this market. 23:57.780 --> 24:03.020 There's already been mass advertising and pricing bargains. 24:03.020 --> 24:04.700 On price, what's the price of Calamus? 24:04.700 --> 24:06.460 Calamus retails for $299. 24:06.460 --> 24:11.980 So, again, on the Atari platform, as a professional solution, there's nothing that comes close 24:11.980 --> 24:12.980 in the market today. 24:12.980 --> 24:14.540 Gentlemen, thank you very much. 24:14.540 --> 24:16.580 That's our updated look at the Atari ST. 24:16.580 --> 24:31.540 We'll be back in just a minute with this week's computer news. 24:31.540 --> 24:35.820 In the random access file this week, reports that Apple will release a new Macintosh next 24:35.820 --> 24:38.180 month dubbed the 2Ci. 24:38.180 --> 24:44.260 It'll be an improvement on the 2CX using the same 68030 CPU, but running at 25 megahertz 24:44.260 --> 24:45.740 rather than 16. 24:45.740 --> 24:50.660 The new 2Ci also will reportedly have video capabilities on the main board. 24:50.660 --> 24:54.140 The retail price expected to be around $8,000. 24:54.140 --> 24:58.820 This is the week of the Macworld Expo in Boston, and word there is that the Mac laptop will 24:58.820 --> 25:00.860 be introduced next month. 25:00.860 --> 25:04.780 Among the new Mac products announced at the Macworld Expo was an accelerator board for 25:04.780 --> 25:09.020 the Mac 2 and Mac 2X that will triple its speed to 50 megahertz. 25:09.020 --> 25:13.100 Also Keytronics has introduced its first professional series keyboard for the Mac. 25:13.100 --> 25:16.980 The Mac Pro keyboard comes bundled with Macro software. 25:16.980 --> 25:22.940 A British software firm says it has discovered a new MS-DOS virus called Datacrime. 25:22.940 --> 25:28.380 It warns that the virus is triggered to damage hard disks on October 12th by attaching itself 25:28.380 --> 25:29.700 to com files. 25:29.700 --> 25:33.980 The virus was apparently released in March of this year and may be sitting around silently 25:33.980 --> 25:36.820 waiting to attack in October. 25:36.820 --> 25:39.460 First Lotus started shipping 123 Release 3. 25:39.460 --> 25:45.380 Now it has followed up with Release 2.2 for users having only 512k of RAM or less. 25:45.380 --> 25:48.500 The new version of 123 comes with the Always add-in. 25:48.500 --> 25:52.340 It features file linking and better support for networks and add-ins. 25:52.340 --> 25:55.100 Lotus users can upgrade for $150. 25:55.100 --> 25:59.540 If you bought 123 within the past year, you're entitled to a free upgrade. 25:59.540 --> 26:03.620 IBM has announced the first product using its new 4 megabit memory chip. 26:03.620 --> 26:08.900 The chip will be on a new memory expansion card for the PS2 models 70 and 80. 26:08.900 --> 26:13.480 Kaypro has come out with a new low-cost 286 computer called the KC2. 26:13.480 --> 26:20.940 It will retail for $1,195 including 640k, monochrome monitor, 8 slots and 12 MHz speed 26:20.940 --> 26:23.940 with zero white state design. 26:23.940 --> 26:28.020 The federal courts have said that AT&T is now free to enter the electronic publishing 26:28.020 --> 26:32.820 business, lifting the ban on MaBelle that was imposed in 1982. 26:32.820 --> 26:37.500 No word yet from AT&T about their first move, though electronic yellow pages is a likely 26:37.500 --> 26:38.500 first step. 26:38.500 --> 26:43.020 Meanwhile, Prodigy has moved into Houston as it continues to expand its user base. 26:43.020 --> 26:49.740 The Prodigy goal is to access 40% of the nation's PC users by mid-1990. 26:49.740 --> 26:53.180 More details came out this week about the new NEC Color laptop. 26:53.180 --> 26:57.580 It's a 286 machine with a 40 megabyte hard drive and two floppy drives. 26:57.580 --> 26:59.180 It's a hefty 19 pounds. 26:59.180 --> 27:03.900 It'll sell for about $5,000 but at the moment is being released only in Japan. 27:03.900 --> 27:08.780 Finally, if you like to watch your diet, there's a new program out called WellAware. 27:08.780 --> 27:13.860 It was designed by a doctor and it features a database of over 3,000 foods and their ingredients 27:13.860 --> 27:15.160 and additives. 27:15.160 --> 27:20.020 It's designed primarily to help people suffering from food-related allergies to identify the 27:20.020 --> 27:22.940 particular foods that are causing the problem. 27:22.940 --> 27:26.140 WellAware runs on a PC and sells for $99. 27:26.140 --> 27:27.140 That's it for this week's Chronicles. 27:27.140 --> 27:28.140 We'll see you next time. 27:28.140 --> 27:35.380 The Computer Chronicles is made possible in part by McGraw-Hill, publishers of Byte Magazine 27:35.380 --> 27:38.700 and Bix, the Byte Information Exchange. 27:38.700 --> 27:44.560 In print and online, Byte and Bix serve computer professionals worldwide with detailed information 27:44.560 --> 27:48.900 on new hardware, software, and technologies. 27:48.900 --> 27:55.580 For a transcript of this week's Computer Chronicles, send $4 to PTV Publications, Post Office Box 27:55.580 --> 28:00.460 701, Kent, Ohio, 44240. 28:00.460 --> 28:27.540 Please indicate program date.