Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site houxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!houxl!oaa From: oaa@houxl.UUCP (O.ALEXANDER) Newsgroups: net.micro.atari8,net.micro.atari16 Subject: CES Report (Better late than ...) Message-ID: <952@houxl.UUCP> Date: Tue, 24-Jun-86 08:04:00 EDT Article-I.D.: houxl.952 Posted: Tue Jun 24 08:04:00 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 25-Jun-86 07:39:41 EDT Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Holmdel NJ Lines: 262 Xref: watmath net.micro.atari8:319 net.micro.atari16:1113 Here is a copy of a C.E.S. (Consumer Electronics Show) report from the show in early June that I got from a local BBS in N.J. I don't know if it's the same as what Antic normally reports or if it originated from Compu-serve, but I guess it's better than nothing. It contains information relevant to 8-bit and 16-bit Atari computers, so no flames please for cross-posting. Owen Alexander @ houxl!oaa >>THE CHICAGO CES REPORT<< ---------------------- PART I Atari's exhibit space at the Chicago Consumer Electronics show is the largest seen since the Tramiels took over the company. Walls of monitors displaying Atari software, ranging from ST computers to 2600 game machines, surrounded some 35 third-party developers showing off both 8-bit and ST software. CES breezed into the Windy City Sunday, opening to brisk crowds. While Chicago natives soaked up the first of the season's hot, humid sunshine, electronics mavens crowded inside the huge McCormick Show Halls off Lake Michigan and ogled the techno-wonders. As an added bit of Atari nostalgia, a central room contained such coin- operated Atari arcade games, as Asteroids, Dig Dug and Jungle King. Two special display areas were reserved for MIDI and digitizing software. In the MIDI booth, Hybrid Arts showed its many sophisticated products for ST and 8-bit. Activision demonstrated The Music Studio, also available on both ST and 8-bit. The digitizing booth displayed Computereyes for the 8-bit and HippoVision for the ST. BATTERIES INCLUDED GOES PUBLIC Michael Reichman, president of the successful Canadian software firm Batteries Included, announced a merger with ITM Corp. This means Batteries Included stock may be publicly traded on the Canadian Stock exchange. Reichman also said that Russ Wetmore, author of HomePak, has accepted a position with Apple Computers in Cupertino, CA. Whatever he is doing is evidently very hush-hush as Russ said only that he was working in "advanced research production" and would say no more. Reichman awarded Wetmore a plaque for outstanding achievement in world-wide sales for his HomePak software. Ian Chadwick accepted the award in Wetmore's absence. THIRD-PARTY DEVELOPERS Judging from this show, the Atari software business seems very active-- certainly more so than in recent shows. Several companies with Atari booths had their own booths elsewhere on the floor. Artworx showed its bridge programs for both 8-bit and ST, and Hole-in-One Golf for the ST. They also have a new 8-bit program called Peggammon. Omnitrend -- Universe II for the ST. Migraph -- EasyDraw. Zobian Controls -- The Rat, a mouse for 8-bit Atari computers. First Star Software -- The company that made Spy Vs. Spy and Boulder Dash for the 8-bits is coming out with Comic Strip Maker, a graphics program for the ST. Activision -- Paintworks, which is their new name for the N-Vision graphic art program created by Audio Light, Inc. Michtron -- A whole slew of products for the ST, including the Time Bandits game and the SideKick-type CornerMan utility. Classic Image -- Disk Library and a game called Diablo. Epyx -- Winter Games and Temple of Aphshai Trilogy on the ST. MicroProse -- ST version of Silent Service. Sierra On-Line -- Several animated adventure games. The most recent is Black Cauldron. Softworks -- BASIC compiler for the ST. Avila Associates -- Make it Move, an ST graphics animation program, and a gambling tutorial currently called Casino Craps. Softsync -- Personal Accountant, an 8-bit financial program. Blue Moon Software -- A collection of GEM Desk Accessories including MacroDesk, MacroMath and MacroManager. Academy Software -- Typing Tutor and Word Invaders for both 8 and 16-bit Ataris Spinnaker -- Displaying an extensive line of 8 and 16-bit educational and adventure game products. American Educational -- A series of educational software for 8-bit Ataris. OSS -- 8-bit and 16-bit programmer's tools. ICD -- 8-bit hardware and software. XLent -- Displayed the entire line of products, including many printer/graphics packages available for both 8- and 16-bit machines. Haba Arrays -- Get Rich, a financial planning package for 8-bit machines. FTL -- The creators of Sundog for the ST, are also showing Micro Cookbook and Dungeon Master Adventure. Britannica Learning -- A series of educational programs for the 8-bit Ataris. Batteries Included -- A new version of PaperClip for the 8-bit with Spellpack. Thunder, a real-time spelling checker. Electronic Arts had two Atari booths. One to show off their long line of 8-bit game products and the other to display Financial Cookbook for the ST. According to an EA spokesperson, such EA hits as Golden Oldies will be adapted to the ST, and they are not currently planing to adapt Marble Madness to the 16-bit Atari computer. Covox -- Voice Master, Atari 8-bit voice digitizer and voice recognition software. SSI -- Booths for both lines of Atari computers and displayed many of its very successful strategic games. Quickview -- Software author Paul Heckel showed his Zoomracks ST database program. NEW ST MAGAZINE GETS A START Antic Publishing unveiled its new ST quarterly, START, a combination magazine and disk. Instead of type-in listings, all program listings are on the disk, which is bound into the magazine in a tear-proof envelope. START is targeted at the experienced ST computer owner. The first issue features a MIDI Sequencer, which records and stores synthesizer song files on disk. Tom Hudson has written a desk accessory which will store any DEGAS printer driver in RAM, then capture the [ALTERNATE]-[HELP] key combination for a successful screen dump. Tim Oren reveals the secrets of GDOS and Metafiles. A thorough comparison of available ST Assemblers is contributed by Chris Chabris. And David Small explains why he distrusts computers in "Voodoo Computing." By the way, I am writing this upstairs, right outside the Commodore booths, the only place in the hall where it's quiet enough to talk or concentrate!! PART II Atari's John Skruch, Manager of XE Software Products, showed us the XEP 80 -- the long-awaited 80-column adapter for the Atari 800, XL/XE computers. The adapter is "new-Atari" gray-colored and just slightly smaller than the old Atari 850 interface. As Skruch said temptingly, "It has the same 'footprint' as the 8-bit 3.5-inch drives." Reliable sources within the company report that the drives will have a capacity of 325K, formatted, and the Disk Operating System will be compatible with DOS 2.5. The XEP 80 has a standard Centronics parallel printer port in the back, an RCA monitor input, an I/O cord that plugs into either joystick port and an input for its external power supply (which is about the same size as most modem power supplies). The card was demonstrated on a standard green monochrome monitor and the letters looked as crisp and clean as an IBM PC screen display. Atari claims the adapter will also work with a color monitor, but not satisfactorily with a television set. Built-in software supports the entire Atari internal character set, including special graphics characters, plus the Atari international set and an expanded international set contained in the ROM of the XEP 80's controller chip. The card supports any call which works with the E: device and has such special effects as black on white or white on black, double-width or double-height characters, and blinking or solid cursor and characters. Skruch said there was a special "burst" mode which printed text to the screen "four times faster" than normal. Although cartridges such as BASIC XE, from OSS, work with the new adapter, most software will have to be specially adapted for it. Also, programs that use bit graphics will have to try something else, since the usual bit graphics screen fills only half the 80-column screen. The XEP-80 is expected to reach dealers in late fall with a price tag just under $80. ATARI PRINTERS Ever since Atari displayed the first ST a year ago, it has been showing printers. Only now are the dot-matrix graphics peripherals being shipped, at a price of $219.95. The XMM 804 for the ST and XMM 801 XE printer are essentially the same. The 801 is compatible with the Epson medium-resolution graphics mode and contains a built-in interface for the 8-bit machines. The 804 supports up to 1,280 dots per inch and uses a standard centronics cable to link it with the ST. Though both machines were designed to be as compatible as possible with Epson printers, they are also fully compatible with the earlier Atari 825 printer and are designed primarily as a new, improved printer for those who previously owned the 825. ICD SUPPORTS THE 8-BITS While many companies have jumped on the ST bandwagon, ICD has been quietly churning out important hardware items for the 8-bits, including a straight- connect modem cable for $14.95, a low-cost printer connection for $59.95, and The P:R: Connection, a replacement for the Atari 850 modem interface. The P:R: Connection ($89.95) is a small box with one printer port and two modem ports. It gets its power from the computer and works on any Atari 8-bit machine. RATS, AN 8-BIT MOUSE Matthew Zobian, of Zobian Software, showed us his baby "the Rat", a mouse for the 8-bit Ataris. Zobian feels the mouse is the "wave of the future" in computers and, because the Atari 8-bit is such an excellent graphics machine, it seems perfect for mice-- or rats. The Rat comes with its own software, including a graphics program and a cursor control routine. But Zobian realizes he must court other software developers to make a success of his interface. Accordingly, he told us that MTS is developing mouse-compatible Big Picture and Artist Unleashed -- both graphics packages. RAMbrandt, another paint program, and a business management package by Reeves Software are also being adapted to The Rat. The single-button Rat is an analog mouse which plugs into the joystick. Zobian claims that it is very easy to program. Without accompanying software, the Rat sells for $89.95. ANIMATED GRAPHICS FOR ST Avila Associates, a new company, displayed two new products for the ST at the Atari exhibit area: Make it Move, a graphics presentation utility featuring animation, and Casino Craps, a gambling tutorial. Both are expected in July. Make it Move lets you grab portions of your DEGAS or NEOchrome pictures and program them into an animated presentation. When we saw it, the program was in the alpha state. Essentially, you can perform functions similar to movie editing techniques, such as wipes, dissolves, fades, cuts and zooms. A single object, grabbed from a screen picture, may be programmed to move along a given path. The same object may also be animated while moving on that path. Rene De La Brandeis, designer of the program, grabbed a section of a NEOchrome picture and saved it in a special compressed format. He then pulled it up with the Zoom utility, set its beginning and ending coordinates and ran it. The object appeared from the beginning coordinates and smoothly grew to full size while following a curved path to the end coordinates. It looked good! Casino Craps displays a very detailed, and accurate, craps board designed to teach the user to play craps at Harrah's casino in Las Vegas. De La Brandeis is currently trying to get Harrah's name on the product. He hopes they'll want to use it to encourage people to learn the game. These days, the only craps players are World War II vets, according to Harrah's. Harrah's, naturally wants to change this, and De La Brandeis hopes they'll use his game to this end. "It's a lot cheaper way to learn craps," he said.