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From: hmm@unido.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari
Subject: Re: sundry ST questions
Message-ID: <15700043@unido.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Jan-86 05:43:00 EST
Article-I.D.: unido.15700043
Posted: Fri Jan 17 05:43:00 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 20-Jan-86 04:54:19 EST
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Sender: notes@unido.UUCP
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Nf-ID: #R:alice:-481500:unido:15700043:000:2515
Nf-From: unido!hmm    Jan 17 10:43:00 1986

> I have a few questions about the 520 ST I'm curious about:
> 
> 	Speech synthesis: is there any?

No, just a simple sound chip, the AY-3-8910.  Just enough for beep, bang,
crash, zap and this video game stuff.

> 	Sound digitization- ditto?

Nothing, the midi-in is only for music instruments.  It's not an analog
interface but a digital serial line.

> 	Is it true that, by fiddling with interrupts, one is able to
> get more colors on the screen than normally?

Yes, you can intercept the horizontal sync and change the video lookup
table on the fly.  This means 16 out of 512 colors per scanline.
I have not tried it, but I've seen it in a color graphics editor (NEOchrome).
They displayed about 200 different colors on a pallette in the bottom half
of the screen.  I don't know if it's possible to change all 16 lookup table
entries in the horizontal sync time, they had a blank scan line between two
color rows.

> 	Multitasking- is there any?

A very limitied multitasking:
There is one application process and several accessory processes (7, I think).
A process should give up control periodically to enable other processes to
run.  Since the evnt_multi call, which waits for some mouse, keyboard or
timer event gives control to the system, it is fairly easy to write programs
which use it.  Examples of such accessories are a digital watch, a ramdisk
program and such stuff.

> 	Are double-sided disks and single-sided disks compatible/incompatible
> with each other and with their respective drives in any way(s)?

You can use double-sided drives in exactly the same way as you use single-sided
ones.  In any case, get double-sided !  360 K is far too small for any
serious work.

> Any meaningful responses appreciated-
> I still can't decide between an ST and an Amiga...

As was noted some time before, it depends on your needs.  If you want
real multitasking, expandability and fancy graphics, you will find that the
amiga is your machine, even if it costs more in a comparable ram and disk
configuration.  If you want good text display and much ram and don't need
hi-resolution color, the atari may be better for you.
And you should consult your bank account, maybe it's an argument for
the atari, too :-)

> -- 
> ##########################################################################
> #D. Rosenberg "Disclaimer: I'd never want to hurt anyone with My Opinions"
> #(..{ihnp4,research,allegra}!alice!aer)  

	Hans-Martin Mosner (eagerly waiting for a hard disk)
	University of Dortmund
	Germany