Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!tramp!walkerb
From: walkerb@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Brian Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Finally...
Message-ID: <7892@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 4 Apr 89 00:12:54 GMT
References: <332@carroll1.UUCP>
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: walkerb@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Brian Walker)
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 50

In article <332@carroll1.UUCP> dnewton@carroll1.UUCP (Dave Newton) writes:
>Well, after wanting one since 1985, I finally got an ST.  1040STfm mono.
>Gosh.
>
[ stuff about Laser C deleted (I don't have Laser C)]
>
>The manual that comes with the ST--a little sparse, no?  Good grief, the 
>book isn't a hundred pages long, doesn't even give a list of error messages,
>(i don't think) or what the number of little bombs means.  What do the
>number of bombs mean?
>
Yes, it is a little on the skimpy side for many.  I only read my manual
months after I got the computer because I found most of what I needed to know
by playing with the computer.  For me, the manual was adequate because I
didn't really need it.  Although, a brief mention of errors would have been
helpful.  Most errors that occur on the desktop are self explanatory and even
include instructions on how to correct the problem.  The only exception I
have noticed is TOS Error 35, which isn't a real TOS error, but means that
you tried to run a file that really wasn't a program.

The bombs refer to 68000 exceptions.  These are the more frequent bombs:
2 bombs    Bus Error         Check your pointer variables.  Frequently a 
                             result of trying to access protected memory.
3 bombs    Address Error     Frequently caused by trying to read integers
                             at odd memory locations.
You can find more about bombs from _ST Internals_ from Abacus or in any 68000
reference manual.  The number of bombs relate directly to the 68000 exception
vector numbers in low memory.

>Why does Atari want me to by a manual for a language they bundle with the
>machine?
>
I couldn't tell you.  My computer came with BASIC and LOGO and included
manuals.  I think that if they provide the program, they should include
the documentation.  What language is it specifically?  That may provide a
clue.

>Why is scrolling in ST WordWriter so much slower than the scrolling in the
>LaserC program editor?
>
A major cause of the differences in scrolling speed could be that one is a
word processor and the other a program editor.  Program editors are mostly
line oriented and don't have to deal with text styles or formatting.
Generally, the word processor has to do a little more with the text than a
program editor.

Brian Walker, University of Colorado at Boulder
walkerb@tramp.colorado.edu     ...!{ncar,nbires}!boulder!tramp!walkerb 
"As far as we were aware, we simply made up the language as we went along"
-John Backus on the developement of FORTRAN