Classic Computer Magazine Archive START VOL. 3 NO. 6 / JANUARY 1989

EDITOR'S CHOICE

by START's Editors and Contributors

Ever wonder what software the editors of START use in their day-to-day work? What software they fire up on their STs when they relax at home? Well, here's your chance to find out. Join us as we pick our favorite ST programs-some from software houses, some from the public domain and some from START, the most popular ST magazine in the country!

Did you know that there are more than 2.300 software packages available for the ST? That's a lot of software, more than one person could ever use, or even evaluate. If you're looking for software of a particular type, what can you do? You can try out as many as possible, ask your friends and associates for their opinions and read software reviews in magazines you trust.

We at START try our best to present solid, unbiased reviews of new and noteworthy software to help guide you in your decisions. But we, the Editors and frequent contributors to START, also make our own personal decisions about software, not just whether to review it. but also whether to make it a part of our personal libraries. And that's what Editor's Choice is about.

We have the luxury of being able to use almost any piece of software from all that's available. For a program to become part of our own libraries, there must be something special about it. Maybe it's just that it's familiar and reliable. Maybe it does so many things so well that we're willing to put up with its idiosyncracies. And maybe it's truly spectacular, a real advance in software design.

We've listed many of our personal favorites here. If none of us has mentioned your favorite programs, please understand that we're not saying they are bad programs or unworthy of mention. But if we have left out a program you feel should have been included, write and tell us. Who knows? Maybe we'll publish your letter in Reader's Choice.

Because of space limitations, we were forced to narrow the categories to those familiar to most of START's readers. The categories we've included are programming languages and tools, word processing and desktop publishing, telecommunications, database managers, graphics and animation, games and entertainment, utilities, MIDI and Music, and spreadsheets.

The Players
Fifteen of us, all devoted ST users, participated in this survey. Not all of us use every category of software listed, but someone in the group does-and has an opinion about it. Here are the participants:

  • Andrew Reese Editor
  • Jon A. Bell, former Associate Editor.
  • Heidi Brumbaugh, Programs Editor.
  • Gregg Pearlman, Assistant Editor
  • Tom Byron, Assistant Editor.
  • Tom Hudson, Contributing Editor and author of DEGAS Elite, CAD-3D 2.0, Cyber Control. Cyber Sculpt, Cyber VCR, and Creation'.
  • Stephen Mortimer, Contributing Editor and author of our News, Notes & Quotes column.
  • Jim Pierson-Perry, Contributing Editor and author of our ST/MIDI Connection column.
  • David Plotkin, Contributing Editor, author of numerous software manuals and articles and author of our Mac & PC on the ST column.
  • David Small, Contributing Editor, creator of Magic Sac, Spectre 128 and Twister and author of our Small Tools column.
  • Rick Davies, Contributor and former Editor of Music Technology magazine.
  • Jim Kent, Contributor and author of Aegis Animator ST, Cyber Paint and START's Audio-Video Sequencer.
  • Jamie Krutz, Contributor and frequent reviewer of MIDI software.
  • Alex Leavens, Contributor and author of CardSTak and Wombats II.
  • Jan Moorhead, Contributor and frequent reviewer of MIDI software.
Unfortunately, we couldn't reach everyone we wanted to include in this survey. For their omission, we apologize And now to work!
 
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND TOOLS

Reese: I don't do much programming any more, although Cyber Control bears more than a sneaking resemblance to BASIC. I'm just a basic BASIC programmer with more ambition than time to program.

Brumbaugh: GFA BASIC vet 2.0 is my programming language of choice; it's structured enough for my needs and at times you really can't beat the instant feedback of an interpreted language.

Pierson-Perry: I use GFA BASIC for almost every programming project that would take less than three days. The only thing 1 do with Personal Pascal that I can't do with GFA is desk accessories. If you have Personal Pascal, you have to get Tacklebox from SRM enterprises. It has hundreds pages of docs on Atari hardware, ST hardware, GEM and how to use them all through Pascal- similar to what you get with Atari Developers Kit, but much better.

Plotkin: My favorite programming language is GFA BASIC, followed closely by Personal Pascal from OSS/ICD. Both are fast and handle GEM very efficiently.

Mortimer: For short programs, I use GFA BASIC.

Hudson: I use Alcyon C from the Atari's developer's kit- their assembler (MADMAC) and linker (ALM) are useful, worthwhile and fast. Atari's Resource Construction Set vet 2.0 is also part of my development tools.

Small: I still use Micro Emacs for development and the AS68 assembler because, unlike MADMAC, I already know all of its bugs. Alcyon is like a comfortable old jalopy; I hate to turn it in.

Kent: For programming I use Aztec C (unless it's pure assembler code, in which case I prefer the HiSoft assembler, DevpacST). Aztec C is a pretty good compiler and includes the fastest linker around before Laser C. Also, unlike Megamax, Aztec has a separate assembler. For debugging, the Templemon debugger is best-I don't use it much, but when I do I'm glad it's there. My development tools include Beckemeyer's C Shell and Disk Cachet For text editing it's Manx's C, the best vi clone I've seen for the ST (Also, when I first bought my ST, I used Atari Logo quite a bit.)

Leavens: For development I use Mark Williams C and C Source Debugger because it's a professional, solid product made by a solid company. I use Atari's MADMAC assembler and, for dialog boxes, it's the Professional Icon Editor combined with Atari's Resource Construction Set, version 2.1. I could not live without Beckemeyer's C Shell, Make and Tools. My text editor for programming is Micro Emacs version 3.9 1/4, which is in the public domain.


Andrew Reese, Editor


 
WORD PROCESSING AND DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Reese: I use different word processors for different jobs. For fast text entry at work (or long documentation), I use ST Writer Elite, but for screenplays and specialized writing I use WordPerfect. It does everything I want and more. If only it weren't so slow! For Desktop Publishing I've used Publishing Partner and Easy-Draw with Supercharger. Both have their good points, but for ease of use, simple installation and enough power to do all of my DTP, Timeworks Desktop Publisher ST is my choice

Bell: For my work at START and my creative writing at home, I find ST Writer 2.3 perfectly adequate for my needs. It's not WYSIWYG and most of its commands are non-mnemonic, but it's easy to use and it's fast-you can't out-type it. The only time I've ever slowed it down was when I worked with a 45,000 word novella as a single file on disk.


Heidi Brumbaugh, Programs Editor

Brumbaugh: For word processing my standby workhorse is Word Writer ST. It gives me a word count, lets me open up to four windows at once and save files in ASCII with a minimum of effort. I don't like ST Writer because of its non-intuitive interface; the block commands and control combinations for setting margins and italics and boldface are simply annoying; I'm constantly referring to cheat sheets for these. Also, you can only work on one file at a time, and to get an ASCII file you have to reset all the margins and print the file to disk. For vanilla text editing, I'm happiest with the GEM version of the shareware program SEDT. This has a built-in command structure that lets your redefine keys; it uses the keypad for editing and lets you open up to four files at once.

Pearlman: I do my main word processing work with ST Writer Elite, which, though it's a little unwieldy, does everything I need and fast. I also use WordPerfect for word counts and sometimes even for its thesaurus.

Byron: For word processing I go with ST Writer. Since my editor uses it, I figure 1 might as well too. I've worked with Word Writer ST before but I simply don't have any use for all the WYSIWYG functions it provides. ST Writer does what I need it to do-no more, no less.

Pierson-Perry: ST Writer is fast and gets the job done, but we'll see how I feel about it after I evaluate WordUp from NEOCEPT. For Desktop Publishing I use Publishing Partner for its ease of use and power. Also, I prefer the way the fonts look over those of Timeworks Publisher.

Krutz: My word processor is Word Writer ST. It's not the best word processor in the world, but it does the job. DTP? Publishing Partner. In some ways I like it better than Page Maker-and I'm eagerly awaiting Publishing Partner Professional.

Mortimer: I like WordPerfect because it has all of the features I want, plus a built-in thesaurus and spelling checker; and now it's reasonably fast. It offers more power than all other ST word processors put together. For Desktop Publishing I use Timeworks Desktop Publisher ST for uniform-looking documents and Publishing Partner in certain instances, such as pages with large fonts. I've been using a beta-test version of Calamus, which has many of the features of both and promises to be a good product.

Plotkin: My favorite word processor is Timework's Word Writer ST. It's a good, simple word processor; easy to learn and use. For the more complex projects, WordUp from NEOCEPT can't be beat. For Desktop Publishing I use Timework's Publisher ST. Fully featured but incredibly easy to use, I just finished a book with it-and it doesn't seem to have any major bugs.

Hudson: I use ST Writer because it's quick to use and has a familiar feel from Atari Writer on the 8-bit computers.

Davies: I still use the first one I tried: First Word. It turned out to be really straightforward. I'm still looking for one I really like, however.

Leavens: I use WordPerfect because it's the best there is. I'm writing a book using it; it's the only word processor on the ST capable of handling it, what with indexes, formatting, pagination and the like It stands above the rest.

Kent: I use ST Writer for word processing because it's there and has word wrap.

Small: I don't use a word processor. I use Micro Emacs for any writing I need to do. Other than that, my favorite word processor is Dungeon Master


 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Reese: Like many others. I bought Flash because it was cheap and seemed to do the job. Now I use it because l've learned most of its ins and outs and with Shadow, I can now download in the background. I still want to take a look at ST-Talk Professional and interlink ST, however.

Pearlman: Flash is really all l've used. I recently installed Shadow on my hard disk and I like it very much, but it seems to be temperamental.

Pierson-Perry. For telecommunications I use Flash and Shadow: they've never failed me, and Shadow is tremendous, especially with music files, which are always at least 200K long.

Mortimer. For telecommunications I use Interlink ST and ST-Talk Professional. Interlink is easy to use ST-Talk Pro is very flexible with its scripting language.

Moorhead: My telecommunications program is Flash-good stuff.

Kent: I use the public domain Bmodem by David Betz. I like this program because it's not GEM-based; it makes it easier to run from a command line shell.

Leavens: PC Intercom by Mark of the Unicorn is my telecommunications program of choice because it's simple to use and everything's on help menus. I never could get Flash to run, and finally gave up.

Davies. ST Talk-it's cheap. Straightforward, and does the job.


Jon A. Bell
 
 
DATABASE MANAGERS

Reese: Superbase Personal is quite usable, but its reporting interface is lousy. I know I'll end up learning Super-base Pro, but I long for the days of SynFile+.

Brumbaugh: I've tried most of the database managers out there, and Super-Base Professional is far and away my favorite. It's GEM-based, lets you set up files, filters and indexes by pointing and clicking, has a built-in text editor; a programming language and (in the newest release) telecommunications.

Pearlman: The only databases I've used are Superbase Personal and Professional. I'm still just getting the hang of them.

Krutz: My database is Timeworks Data Manager; which is a wonderful non-relational database manager in every way.

Pierson-Perry: My database is Oveview, a Mac program, which I run through the Magic Sac. It's an intermediate database that's much more powerful than dBase and dB Master; but doesn't require you to program anything the way dBase does. It runs like a champ on the Magic Sac.

Plotkin: My favorite database manager is Timework's DataManager. Again, it is very simple to use, yet fulfills most flat-file needs. For more sophisticated relational needs, try Precision's Superbase Personal.

Small: Hypercard-running under Spectre 128. Other than that, my favorite database manager is Dungeon Master.


 
GRAPHICS AND ANIMATION

Reese: To some degree, I'm here as Editor because of my love affair with Cyber Studio. I use the entire Cyber Family regularly: CAD-3D 2.0, Cyber Control, Cyber Texture Cyber Sculpt, Cyber Paint, Cyber VCR, START's Creation (START Summer 1988) and Audio-Video Sequencer (START November 1988). But I also use DEGAS Elite. Art Director/Film Director, Aegis Animator ST, Spectrum 512 and Unispec (although the user interface confounds me), Pic Switch, Tom Hudson's Antialiaser, and Compute! ST's Snapshot program.

Each of these programs provides some functions that aren't available in the others and if one program had them all, you'd need four megabytes of memory just for the program! I find that, since I'm not much of an artist, I need all the help that this battery of software provides and I wouldn't want to do without any of them. My single favorite graphics program, however, is still Cyber Paint 2.0.

Bell: For my still images, I use DEGAS Elite and Tom Hudson's Antialiaser Desk Accessory. I was working with Tom when he developed the original DEGAS and it (and its successor DEGAS Elite) became my No. 1 drawing programs. I've never created a finished work of art with any other 16-color ST drawing program.

I've used Spectrum 512 for specific applications, but I find its user interface difficult to work with, though not insurmountable. However, the main reason I favor DEGAS over Spectrum is that I do a lot of 16-color animations using CAD-3D 2.0 and Cyber Paint 2.0, and I like doing my backgrounds with DEGAS.

Another one of my favorite graphics programs is Mart Loveless's Pixel-Pro, from the Fall 1987 issue of START. When you save Cyber Paint or CAD-3D animations as separate DEGAS pictures, then use Pixel-Pro to distort those pictures, you can get really striking animated sequences.

And I find Snapshot very useful for freezing fast-paced game action (for START Magazine's color screen shots) and for making DEGAS.P13s for black and white laser-printed screen dumps.

Brumbaugh: I'm not much of a computer artist, but for low resolution art my paint program of choice is Cyber Paint 2.0. I hardly ever use Cyber Paint's fancier animation features, but I like the interface better than DEGAS Elite. My favorite aspect of Cyber Paint, however, is that I can quickly make a copy of a picture and work on it in another frame without worrying about DEGAS Elite's limitation of eight screens.

Pearlman: While I'm no artist, I've had a lot of fun with DEGAS Elite and Cyber Paint. They're easy to use and fairly intuitive.

Byron: For computer graphics I default to DEGAS Elite.

Hudson: DEGAS Elite is the only one I use.

Plotkin: For graphics, it's a virtual tie between the CAD/Page Layout package Easy-Draw (Migraph) and the Cyber Series of 3-D drafting and animation from Antic Software. Both are well designed and very useful.

Pierson-Perry: For graphics, I use DEGAS Elite and Easy-Draw; they're the industry standards.

Mortimer: DEGAS Elite is my old standby and still one of the better ones out there. I also use Easy-Draw for line-art drawings-I can't leave that one out.

Moorhead: For graphics, my wife and I like to fiddle with DEGAS Elite.

Leavens: I'm using Easy-Draw for object-oriented art and for illustrations for a book I'm working on.


Gregg Pearlman, Assistant Editor


 
GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENT

Reese: So many great games, so little time! Flying: Flight Simulator II, Gun-ship, Skychase, F15 Strike Eagle and Harrier Combat Simulator. Adventure Games: Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Bureaucracy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Deja Vu and Sundog. Arcade: Oids, Joust, Star Raiders II, Plutos, Space Cutter and Typhoon Thompson. Sports: Gridiron and Leader Board. Miscellaneous: Prime Time, Klondike from START Special Issue #4 and Speed Buggy I don't know what's wrong with me-I just never became a Dungeon Master freak!

If I had to pick one game from each of the above categories, I'd have to pick Gunship as the most complete and varied flight simulation, Joust as the classic arcade game that brings me back time after time, Prime Time as a slightly skewed but delightful simulation, and Leisure Suit Larry as the adventure game with something extra.

Bell: I don't play too many ST computer games, although I used to play quite a few Atari 8-bit games back in the late Triassic age. (Star Raiders is still my favorite computer game. bar none.) I do have some ST favorites, though-Chessmaster 2000 and MIDI Maze are fun in completely different ways (you haven't lived until you've played 16-player MIDI Maze at an Atari Fest). I also enjoy playing START'S games, such as Klondike Solitaire and Naval Battle, from the Summer 1988 and Special #4 issues of START, respectively.

Brumbaugh: My favorite commercial ST game is Dungeon Master-however, after having played it through a few times I'm ready for something new along the same lines. (Are you listening, FTL?) As Programs Editor for START, I'm in the enviable position of being a professional play tester for all the games we publish; the ones that can't seem to find their way off my hard drive at home are Battle for the Throne (Spring, 1988), Breakout (FaIl, 1987), Reversi (Fall, 1986) and Slither (January 1988)

Pearlman: I've had a lot of fun with Prime Time, Road Runner and Micro League Baseball, and I get a kick out of the bloodcurdling digitized screams in Impossible Mission 2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a hoot, but I don't have much patience for adventure games (or maybe it's the other way around).


Tom Byron, Assistant Editor

Byron: For entertainment I enjoy the standard arcade games like Atari's Missile Command and Mindscape's Blockbuster I also like interactive fiction; I count Infocom's Zork Trilogy and Trinity among my favorites.

Plotkin: Favorite game? Well, um, that's a tough one. Have to say Blockbuster, the bouncing ball game complicated by alien spaceships. Or maybe Broderbund's Typhoon Thompson, an incredibly playable action/ad venture. Or maybe-well, you get the idea.

Pierson-Perry: I'm playing Ultima IV right now-only because Ultima V's not out yet-and it doesn't come any better. I also like Chessmaster 2000, Defender of the Crown and Dungeon Master.

Kent: My favorite ST games are Dungeon Master, Psion Chess, Reversi, Shanghai and Bubble Ghost. In the earlier days of the ST, I enjoyed Star Glider, Star Raiders and Gauntlet.

Mortimer: My favorite games are Star Wars, Bard's Tale and Heroes of the Lance, a new game which is quite interesting.

Leavens: Two of my favorite games are from Britain: Super Sprint, a race car game from Electric Dreams Software (a subsidiary of Activision) and Backlash Novagen Software), a pure adrenalin arcade game like a 3-D color tank on speed. Other favorites are Sundog, Time Bandits and Hex, a radically underrated game, one of first really good-looking games for the ST by Mark of the Unicorn.

Krutz: The only game I have is public domain Asteroids. I think it's great-very true to the original.


 
UTILITIES

Reese: There are a few utilities that I always seem to have on my boot partition. Number one is Atari's Hard Disk autoboot program, followed by Universal Item Selector II (I prefer the extra features it offers even over our own START Selector; I have learned how to minimize the occasional crashes caused by its conflicts with other terminate-and-stay-resident utilities.) I always have Tom Hudson's ReSTART in memory and have recently discovered that Juggler II is an ideal tool for writing software documentation.

I also like G+Plus, the new third-party replacement for GDOS, Turbo ST to speed up text display, Mega Twister for more floppy disk space and TuneUp for hard disk speed (used carefully). For safety, there no replacement for Virus Killer, FOLDRXXX.PRG to kill the 40-folder bug, and Meg-a-Minute Elite to back up my hard disks. Finally, I use ARCShell, DCopy, Accessory Select, and DC Formatter, all excellent shareware.

Bell: My most commonly used utilities for START are the Universal Item Selector II, ReSTART from START Special Issue #4 and the Snapshot program from (gasp!) the now-defunct Compute!'s ST Magazine.

Universal Item Selector is a lifesaver-it speeds up file copying, file-access and a host of other seemingly mundane but very important disk functions. My only complaint with it is that it often bombs out ST Writer 2.3 (the GEMified version) when I merge files or save blocks of copy.

ReSTART is incredibly convenient- and for Mega owners, it's an arm-tendon-saver.

Brumbaugh: The utilities I use the most are DCopy and the Archive utilities set driven under Charles Johnson's ARCShell. ARCSheIl is amazingly easy to use; however, I've found DCopy's compression results to be much better, on the average, than ARCs. When it's time to put together the START Disk every month, disk space is very dear and I need to squeeze and save as much space as I can. Unfortunately, DCopy is a TOS program (it doesn't use the mouse) and its interface requires a great deal of typing to get anything done- it will also crash if you misspell the name of a file you want to archive.

A tool I use a lot is the Byte Mechanic (START Special Issue #4)-it comes in useful for odd problems that can't be solved any other way.

I'm constantly rearranging the files on my boot partition-the public domain Accessory Select is a great tool for that. START Selector is one of the programs in my AUTO folder that is always active; others are the 40-folder-limit fix from Atari (FOLDRXXX.PRG) and the program that sets the time from my ICD hard drive's built-in clock. Atari's Control Panel is almost always under my Desk menu. Some of the other Desk Accessories I use are Partner ST and its scaled-down version Partner Mini-but this program has the annoying habit of popping up every time I boot with a dialog box that asks me if I want to Set-up the accessory or continue. This dialog disappears after five seconds if I don't do anything, but it still drives me crazy. I use my ST for a hundred different things every day and things I don't use all the time (but want to have available) should remain as unobtrusive as possible. I also use STARTKey macros intermittently, mostly for small jobs.

Pearlman: I have ReSTART and the Universal item Selector in the AUTO folder of my hard disk and I like UIS so much that I now become impatient with the ST's "normal" file selector box. One of my favorites is Accessory Select, which I especially enjoyed when I used a half-meg ST, where I had to juggle desk accessories in order to conserve memory.

Small: Most of the utilities I use have been (or will be) published in START. I also find Supra's hard drive utilities set to be a real lifesaver

Mortimer: My favorite utilities are NeoDesk, a great replacement desktop, and Tune-Up, a savior for my hard disk- it really speeds it up.

Leavens: My favorite utilities are Nametrap and Intercept- two utilities to let files live in other subdirectories. Another favorite is Megmatic, a multiple-function shareware terminate-and-stay-resident program. It has a survivable RAMdisk and lets you perform a cold or warm boot from the keyboard.

Two utilities from Atari's hard drive kit I like are the hard disk booter and DISKBAR.PRG, which flashes a bar on the screen any time your hard drive is active.

I'm constantly coming back to the programs I published in START P.I.E. lives in my system for both development and custom icons on his Desktop; I use Cardstak for my Rolodex and keep START Calc handy.

Finally, even though Atari's item selector doesn't have all the features I need, I find custom item selectors annoying and don't use them.

Hudson: Not to be self-referential, I love ReSTART since I'm always crashing the system and it's nice to be able to get out of it.

Kent: Utilities I Use include the START Selector, Twister, DCFormat and Turtle-my favorite backup utility.


 
MIDI AND MUSIC

Pierson-Perry: My sequencer is Dr T's KCS Level 2, currently the ultimate program for composition and experimentation. I use the Caged Artist series of patch editors from Dr. T.-it's extremely flexible, uses the mouse quite a bit for control, plus it fits into a Multi-Program Environment (MPE) with the sequencer.

My librarian is GenPatch from Hybrid Arts. It has its own built-in programming language and it never becomes obsolete. My favorite scoring program is Dr. T's Copyist Level 2. Right now, it's the most powerful scoring program, and it also runs under the MPE from the sequencer-which is one of the reasons I've moved up to a Mega 4.

For algorithmic composing (or composing assistance) I use Tunesmith by Dr T, which also runs under MPE. It's very powerful-you can bounce ideas back and forth between the computer and yourself. I also use M by Intelligent Music, which is much better suited for real-time performance.

Moorhead: My sequencer is C-Lab Notator from Digidesign. It's also my scoring program. It's the best, hands down. It has absolutely no competition. None. Zero. I've never run across a piece of music software as good as this.

D50 Command from Command Development is one of my patch editor/librarians. I've also used Synthworks DX/TX from Steinberg/Jones for the DX-7-that's the one I wish I owned. And I like Digidesign's Sound Designer for sample editing.

Finally, for artificial music generation, I'd recommend M from Intelligent Music.

Krutz: My favorite sequencer is SMPTE Track, which provides a direct lockup to SMPTE time code as well as flexible editing. My patch editor/librarian, Steinberg Synthworks DX/TX, is one of the best I've seen. It translates among six MIDI formats and comes with about a 700-patch library that loads right into RAM. The graphics are tasty and delicious.

I use Easy Score Plus for scoring, primarily because it's compatible with SMPTE Track. There are more full-featured programs available, but it does a good job spitting out individual parts from sequences when I'm writing for live ensembles.

Davies: I use Master Tracks Pro for my own work. It works very well with Intelligent Music's M. I do some work with Passport and find that their Master Tracks Jr. is extremely easy to use.


 
SPREADSHEETS

Reese: No question. my favorite is LDW Power. It has even made me appreciate the Lotus interface. The best part of LDW for me, however, is the speed. It does what I want now! Before I came to START, I used A-Calc Prime; it's not intuitive, but it works and has graphing capabilities (with A-Chart).

Plotkin: Favorite Spreadsheet: LDW Power, hands down. It does everything, and does it fast!

Pierson-Perry: The spreadsheet I use is VIP Professional from ISD. Its implementation is clean and I can shoot all my work from Excel and Lotus into it.

Small Dungeon Master-what else?


Jamie Krutz, Contributer


Stephen Mortimer, Contributing Editor

PRODUCTS MENTIONED

PROGRAMMING TOOLS

Alcyon C, Resource Construction Set ver. 2.0, MADMAC Assembler AS68 Assembler, distributed with Developers Kit. Atari Corp., 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (408) 745-2000.
CIRCLE 180 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Aztec C, $199 for Professional System, $299 for Developer System. Aztec, 1 Industrial Way, Eatontown, NJ 07724, (800) 221-0440; (201) 542-2121 in New Jersey.
CIRCLE I91 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

MT-C Shell, $129.95;
Disk Cacher, $39.95;
Micro Make, $34.95;
Hard Disk Tools, $29.95. Beckemeyer Development Tools, 478 Santa Clara Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610, (415) 452-1129.
CIRCLE 192 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

DevpacST, $79.95. HiSoft, The Old School, Greenfield, Bedford MK45 5DE, (0525) 718181.
CIRCLE 193 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Personal Pascal, $99.95. lCD, 1220 Rock Street, Rockford, IL 61101-1437, (815) 968-2228.
CIRCLE 194 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Mark Williams C, $179.95. Mark Williams Company, 1430 West Wrightwood, Chicago, IL 60614, (312) 472-6659.
CIRCLE 195 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

GFA BASIC 2.0, START, January 1989.

Templemon Debugger, public domain.

Tacklebox, SRM Enterprises, no longer distributed.

WORD PROCESSORS, DTP

Micro Emacs, distributed with the Atari Developers Kit. Atari Corp., 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (408) 745-2000.
CIRCLE 80 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Calamus, $299.95. ISD Marketing, 2651 John Street, Unit 3, Markham Industrial Park, Markham, Ontario, Canada L34 6G4, (416) 479-1880.
CIRCLE 172 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

WordUp, $79.95. NEOCEPT, 908 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, (805) 498-3840.
CIRCLE 181 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Publishing Partner, $89.95; Publishing Partner Professional $199.95. SoftLogik Corp., 4129 Old Baumgartner, St. Louis, MO 63129, (314) 894-8608.
CIRCLE 182 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Timeworks Desktop Publisher ST, $129.95; Word Writer ST, $79.95. Timeworks, 444 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, IL 60015, (312) 948-9200.
CIRCLE 171 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

WordPerfect for the ST, $395. WordPerfect Corp., 288 West Center Street, Orem, UT 84057, (801) 227-4010.
CIRCLE 110 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

SEDT, Shareware. Available on online services.

First Word, no longer distributed.

ST Writer Elite, START, Winter 1987.
 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Flash, $29.95; Shadow, $29.95. Antic Software, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, (800) 234-7001.
 

lnterllnk ST, $39.95, Intersect Software, 3951 Sawyer Road, Suite 108, Sarasota, FL 34233, (800) 826-0130; (813) 923-8774 in Florida.
CIRCLE 196 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

PC/Intercomm, $124. Mark of the Unicorn, 222 Third Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 576-2760.
CIRCLE 97 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

ST-Talk Professional, $39.95. Quantum Microsystems Inc., P.O. Box 179, Liverpool, NY 13088, (315) 451-7747.
CIRCLE 198 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

B-Modem, public domain.
 

DATABASES

Superbase Personal, $79.95; Superbase Professional $349.95. Precision Inc., 8404 Sterling Street, Suite A, Irving, TX 75063, (214) 929-4888.
CIRCLE 183 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Timeworks Data Manager, $79.95. Timeworks, 444 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, II 60015, (312) 948-9200.
CIRCLE 171 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

CardStak, START Special Issue #3.
 

GRAPHICS, ANIMATION

Snapshot, Computel's ST, ABC Publishing, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, (212) 887-8513 in New York.

Aegis Animator ST, $79.95. Aegis Development, 2115 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405, (213) 392-9972.
CIRCLE 185 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Cyber Studio (CAD-3D 2.0, CyberMate), $89.95;
Cyber Control, $59.95;
Cyber Texture, $49.95;
Cyber Sculpt, $89.95;
Cyber Paint, $79.95;
Cyber VCR, $69.95;
Spectrum 512, $69.95.
Antic Software, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, (800) 234-7001.
 

DEGAS Elite, $49.95. Electronic Arts, 1820 Gateway Drive, San Mateo, CA 94404, (415) 571-7171.
CIRCLE 116 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Art Director/Film Director, $79.95. Epyx, P.O. Box 8020, 600 Galveston Drive, Redwood City, CA 94063, (415) 366-0606.
CIRCLE 165 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Antialiaser; $19.95. Tom Hudson, P0. Box 3374, Shawnee-Mission, KS 66203.

Easy-Draw with Supercharger; $149.95. Migraph Inc., 720 S. 333rd Street, Federal Way, WA 98003, (800) 223-3729, (206) 838-4677.
CIRCLE 167 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Creation!, START, Summer 1988 Audio-Video Sequencer, START, November 1988 Pixel-Pro, START, Fall 1987

Unispec, $49.95. Trio Engineering, P.O. Box 332, Swampscott, MA 01907, (617) 964-1673.
CIRCLE 186 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Pic Switch, shareware.
 

ENTERTAINMENT

Leader Board, $39.95. Access Software, 2561 South 1560 West, Suite A, Woods Cross, UT 84087, (801) 298-9077.
CIRCLE 199 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Bubble Ghost, $34.95. Accolade, Inc., 550 Winchester Blvd., Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95128, (408) 985-1700.
CIRCLE 200 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Shanghai, $39.95. Activision (Mediagenic), 3885 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025, (415) 329-0500.
CIRCLE 201 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Missile Command, $29.95; Star Raiders, $29.95; Joust, $29.95. Atari Corp., 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (408) 745-2000.
CIRCLE 180 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Gridiron, $49.95. Bethesda Softworks, 15235 Shady Grove Road, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 926-8300.
CIRCLE 202 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Typhoon Thompson, $34.95, Ultima IV, $59.95. Skychase, $39.95; Star Wars, no price set. Broderbund Software, Inc., 17 Paul Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. (800) 527-6263.
CIRCLE 177 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Defender of the Crown, $49.95. Cinemaware, 4165 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Westlake Village, CA 91362, (805) 495-6515.
CIRCLE 203 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Speed Buggy, $39.95. Data East, 170 Needles Drive, San Jose, CA 95112, (408) 286-7074.
CIRCLE 204 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Super Sprint, Electric Dreams Software. No information available.

Chessmaster 2000, $44.95; Bard's Tale, $49.95. Electronic Arts, 1820 Gateway Drive, San Mateo, CA 94404, (415) 571-7171.
CIRCLE 116 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Impossible Mission 2, $39.95. Epyx, P.O. Box 8020, 600 Galveston Drive, Redwood City, CA 94063, (415) 366-0606.
CIRCLE 165 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Prime Time, $39.95. First Row Software, 570 West DeKaIb, Suite 204, Building 4, King of Prussia, PA 19406, (215) 337-1500.
CIRCLE 205 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Sundog, $39.95; Oids, $34.95; Dungeon Master; $39.95. FTL Games, 6160 Lusk Blvd., Suite C-206, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 453-5711.
CIRCLE 206 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

MIDI Maze, $39.95. Hybrid Arts, 11920W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064, (213) 826-3777.
CIRCLE 207 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Bureaucracy, $14.95; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, $14.95; Zork Trilogy, $49.95; Trinity, $14.95. Infocom, 125 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140, (617) 576-3190.
CIRCLE 208 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Hex, $39,95. Mark of the Unicorn, 222 Third Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, (617) 576-2760.
CIRCLE 197 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Time Bandits, $39.95. MichTron, 576 S. Telegraph, Pontiac, Ml 48053, (313) 334-5700.
CIRCLE 151 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Micro League Baseball II, $59.95. Micro League Sports Association, 2201 Drummond Plaza, Newark, DE 19711, (302) 368-9990.
CIRCLE 209 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Gunship, $49.95; F15 Strike Eagle, $39.95. Microprose Software, 180 Lakefront Drive, Hunt Valley, MD 21030, (301) 771-1151.
CIRCLE 210 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Harrier Command Simulator; $49.95;. Gauntlet, $49.95; Plutos, $29.95; Blockbuster; $39.95; Deja Vu, $49.95; Road Runner; $49.95. Mindscape, 3444 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062, (800) 221-9884, (312) 480-7667.
CIRCLE 211 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Backlash, $35.98. Novagen Software. No Information available.
 

Psion Chess, no price listed. Psion Ltd., Psion House, Harcourt Street, London W1H 1DT.
CIRCLE 212 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Stargllder, $29.95; Space Cutter; $29.95. Rainbird Software, 3885 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025, (415) 322-0412.
CIRCLE 213 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Police Quest, $49.95; Leisure Suit Larry In the Land of the Lounge Lizards, $39.95. Sierra On-line, P.O. Box 485, Coarsegold, CA 93614, (209) 683-4468.
CIRCLE 214 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Kiondike, START, Special Issue #4 Naval Battle, START, Special Issue #4 Battle for the Throne, START, Spring 1988 Breakout, START, Fall 1987 Reversi, START, Fall 1986 Slither; START, January 1988

Heroes of the Lance, $39.95. Strategic Simulations Inc., 1046 Rengstorff Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043, (415) 964-1353.
CIRCLE 215 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Flight Simulator II, $49.95. Sublogic Corp., 713 Edgebrook Drive, Champaign, II 61820, (217) 359-8482; (800) 637-4983.
CIRCLE 179 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Asteroids, public domain.
 

UTILITIES

Professional icon Editor; $29.95. Antic Software, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, (800) 234.7001.
 

Universal Item Selector II, $19.95. Application & Design Software, 226 N.W. "F'' Street, Grants Pass, OR 97526, (503) 476-0071.
CIRCLE 187 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Hard Disk autoboot program, FOLDRXXX.PRG, Control Panel distributed free; DISKBAR.PRG, distributed with the Developers Package. Atari Corp., 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (408) 745-2000.
CIRCLE 180 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

G+ Plus, $34.95. CodeHead Software, P.O. Box 4336, North Hollywood, CA 91607.
CIRCLE 188 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

NeoDesk, $29.95. Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 350, Hadley, MA 01035.
CIRCLE 189 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Juggler II, $49.95, Tune-Up, $49.95. MichTron, 576 S. Telegraph, Pontiac, MI 48053, (313) 334-5700.
CIRCLE 151 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Turbo ST, $49.95. Sofirek, P.O. Box 5257, Winter Park, FL 32793, (407) 657-4611.
CIRCLE 190 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

START Selector; START, Special Issue #3 Tom Hudson's ReSTART, START, Special Issue #4 Meg-a-Minute Elite, START, November 1988 Byte Mechanic, START, Special Issue #4 STARTKey, START, Winter 1987 START Calc, START, Fall 1987 Mega Twister; START, Summer 1988
 

Supra's hard drive utilities, $24.95. Supra Corp., 1133 Commercial Way, Albany OR 97321, (503) 967-9075.

Partner ST, $49.95. Timeworks, 444 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, II 60015, (312) 948-9200.
CIRCLE 171 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Nametrap, Intercept, Megmatic, ST Virus Killer; Turtle, public domain.
 

ARCSheIl, DCopy, Accessory Select, DC Formatter, shareware.
 

MIDI

The Notator; $595; Sound Designer; $349. Digidesign, 1360 Willow road, Suite 101, Menlo Park, CA 94025, (415) 327-8881.
CIRCLE 155 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

D50 Command, $160. Command Development, 11846 Balboa Blvd., Suite 135, Granada Hills, CA 91344, (818) 362-3550.
CIRCLE 216 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

KCS Level II, $249; Caged Artist, $129; Copyist Level II, $249; Tunesmith, $149. Dr. T's Music Software, 220 Boylston Street, Suite 306, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167, (617) 244-6954.
CIRCLE 211 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

GenPatch, $149; EZScore Plus, $149.95; SMPTE Track, $575. Hybrid Arts, 11920 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064, (213) 826-3777
CIRCLE 207 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

M, $200. Intelligent Music, P.O. Box 8748, Albany, NY 12208, (518) 434-4110.
CIRCLE 218 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Master Tracks Pro ST, $349.95; Master Tracks Jr., $129.95. Passport Designs, 625 Miramonte Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (415) 726-0280.
CIRCLE 159 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Pro-24 III, $295; Synthworks DX/TX, $259. Steinberg/Jones, 17700 Raymer Street, Suite 1001, Northridge, CA 91325, (818) 993-4091.
CIRCLE 162 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

SPREADSHEETS

A-Calc Prime, $39.95, A-Chart, $19.95. Antic Software, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, (800) 234-7001.

LDW Power, $149.95. Logical Design Works, Inc., 780 Montague Expressway, Suite 403, San Jose, CA 95131. (408) 435-1445.
CIRCLE 184 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

VIP Professional, $149.95. ISD Marketing, 2651 John Street, Unit 3, Markham Industrial Park, Markham, Ontario, Canada 134 6G4, (416) 479-1880.
CIRCLE 172 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

OTHER

Magic Sac+, $149.95. Data Pacific Inc., 609 West Speer Blvd., Denver, CO 80203, (303) 733-8158.
CIRCLE 219 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 

Spectre 128, $179.95. Gadgets by Small, Inc., 40 West Littleton Blvd., #201- 211, Littleton, CO 80120, (303) 791-6098.
CIRCLE 220 ON READER SERVICE CARD
 


Jim Pierson-Perry, Contributing Editor


David Plotkin, Contributing Editor


Jan Morehead, Contributer


Alex Leavens, Contributer


Tom Hudson, Contributing Editor
 
 
All back issues of START are available by calling Antic Publishing Toll Free: (800) 234-7001 or send your check or money order to:
Antic Publishing
Back Issues
544 Second Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Magazine with disk $14.95.