M@ilbox
The MyAtari
team sort through more of your mails...
Dear MyAtari
mag,
I would like
to make a small comment about your new look.
I must admit that I think it is much better
than you old one... but I wish the cover
picture was a bit larger (like it was).
I know it took a bit longer to download,
but I enjoyed seeing a new one every month.
Apart from that, keep up the good work.
BTW. Is there
anything I can do to help?
Dan E
Thank
you for letting us know what you think.
We are constantly looking for ways to improve
MyAtari and shall consider your suggestion.
If you are interested in helping the magazine,
a great way is to write an article or review
for us. Without contributions from our readers,
the mag would not exist.
I realise
how daunting it is and although you think
you can't do it now, you'll be amazed how
easy it is. As it happens MyAtari is currently
seeking smart and enthusiastic Atari users
to join our team of regular contributors
to help us make MyAtari magazine even better
than it already is. For further details
visit our "Up for it?" article
in this months issue.
Go on,
give it a try!
---
Matthew Bacon
MyAtari
help!
I'm
not doing very well here. My old STE is
dying slowly and I want to be able to keep
working on my songs written in Notator 3.1
on my PC.
Can I
do it?
At
the moment I've downloaded the STEEM emulator
but I can't even open my Atari disks? Please
help if you can!
Thank
you, Peter
This is
the most frequent emulation-related question
that is asked, I'll try to explain all the
ins and outs. The basic problem is that
most PCs cannot read most ST floppy disks,
most PC FDCs (floppy disk controllers) don't
allow a program to access as many tracks
on the disk as the ST FDC did. This means
that any ST disk that has been formatted
to more than 80 tracks per side is unreadable.
There is only one format of disk that is
certain to be read by any PC and an ST,
it is called a MS-DOS 720Kb format disk.
The way
emulators get round this annoying incompatibility
is to use files on a PC drive that contain
all the data that was on a floppy disk,
these are called disk images. If the ST
disk you want to access isn't readable by
your PC then you will have to use your ST
to create an image of it. This can be a
tricky process, the first step is to create
a transfer disk in MS-DOS 720Kb format.
To do this insert a blank floppy disk (preferably
double-density) in your PC floppy drive
and right click on the floppy drive icon
in My Computer. Select "Format"
from the menu and a dialog will appear.
For capacity select "720 Kb (3.5'')"
and for format type choose "Full".
Click "Start" to format the disk.
There
are many imaging programs available from
many different web sites. The easiest to
use is the one that comes with STeem itself,
it is written to make the imaging process
as simple as possible. Copy the file DISK_IMG.PRG
to your transfer disk, run it on your ST
and follow the on-screen instructions. It
will probably take 2 trips with the transfer
disk between your ST and PC to copy all
the data (you could create 2 transfer disks
if you prefer). When you have finished and
run the diskjoin program on your PC you
will have a new disk image with the extension
STT that you can insert in a drive when
running STeem.
BTW, it
would probably be best if you don't attempt
to use Notator 3.1 on STeem, that is opening
an altogether more complex can of worms!
---
Russell Hayward
Hello Mr
Bacon,
Was nice
to know there is still an Atari following.
Haven't seen or heard much since my local
shop disappeared (16/32 systems Strood).
Now that my PC decided to shut down for
good I have given my trusty 520 ste a new
lease of life. Using it mainly for musical
applications. I would be interested to find
out more info regarding software (I always
wanted to obtain "notator" but
where and how much these days), how easy
it is to get my 520 connected to the web
and what sort of spec can I get a 520 ste
up to.
I read about
getting a connector to plug in my zip drive
(lucky I got the scsi version!) but that
was from an old web site. Any info for someone
like me who still has a soft spot for the
autumned device would be most welcome,
Tim Long
We have
a second hand complete package of Notator
SL, which we are selling for 149.00 GBP.
To get on to the net you will need at least
2Mb RAM fitted - 4Mb recommended, a Hard
Drive, CAB 2.7 software, MagiC v6 software
(to make use of ICONNECT of CAB 2.7 for
PPP connection) or you can use STinG or
STiK for the connection, a compatible Modem
and an Internet Service Provider. At the
moment freeware like NEWSIE has to be used
for e-mail - hopefully we will have ASH
Emailer available soon.
We also
have stock of ICD Link adaptors, which can
be connected to a SCSI Zip drive, although
if the drive is the only one connected then
it will need a power feed from the joystick
port for the Link. If it is daisy chained
to another drive with power termination
set it will not require the feed from the
joystick port. Then all that required is
HD Driver to set up the drive.
Regards
El
Atari Workshop
"El
Fernandes is a member of the MyAtari experts
mailing list and is also our contact at
Atari Workshop (www.atari-workshop.co.uk)."
Second Opinion:
For Music/
Midi software, you can go to my site.
Tim's
Atari Midi World
http://sites.netscape.net/timconrardy/index.htm
For Notator
here:
http://www.notator.org
However,
you will need a Notator dongle for any of
the downloads to work. But by checking Ebay
and the Atari newsgroups you might be able
to find someone who is selling it.
Tim C.
Third Opinion:
I'd say
that a 520STE would be struggling at best
with such a limited amount of memory. The
first thing I'd do would be to upgrade the
machine to its maximum 4MB. Luckily, the
STE range are easily and cheaply upgradable
with the aid of four 1MB SIMMs. Total cost
shouldn't be more than a few pounds.
Some of
the memory could then be used as a RAM disk
to act as a cache whilst using CAB (the
recommended browser). Obviously this will
be lost when the computer's switched off,
so the longer term preferred solution would
be a hard disk drive.
Recommended
software for browsing is CAB v2.8, a demo
is available from http://www.application-systems.de/cab/download.html
English
resources are available from my web site
http://www.cix.co.uk/~derryck/ in the DDP section.
There's a choice of software with which
to actually connect to the internet, notably
STinG from http://sting.atari.org or STiK from
http://www.netset.com/~baldrick/. Download the
CAB overlay from that site, as the one supplied
in the CAB package is for the IConnect stack.
WenSuite
and Draconis each use their own stack software
but aren't really recommended (neither will
connect to the internet in their demo forms).
For e-mail
and newgroups, NEWSie is a good program,
from http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski/newsie.html It is also capable
of downloading files using the ftp protocol
and has a rudimentary text-only browser
built-in.
Regards
Derryck
Croker
I would like
to thank all our readers who have taken
the time to e-mail us over the last few
months, your support is greatly appreciated.
I would also like to thank our team of experts
for their support and enthusiasm!
Send you
suggestions, comments and questions to matthew@myatari.net or alternatively
post them on our new forum.
Please note
We
regret that due to the volume of letters
and e-mails received by the magazine, personal
correspondence cannot be guaranteed. All
letters and e-mails received are assumed
for publication unless stated otherwise. |
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Issue
12