FIRST ANNUAL ANTIC ST SHOPPERS GUIDE
ATARI PERIPHERALS
CD ROM
Atari is racing to have its CD ROM unit available shortly after the first of the year. As covered in our October 1985 issue, an entire encyclopedia takes up only one-fifth of one compact digital laser disk, and any entry may be accessed in less than four seconds. The first software available will be the Grolier Encyclopedia. By itself, CD ROM technology is enough of a reason to buy the ST.
$599 (tentatively)
DISK DRIVES
Double your ST data storage with a second 3 1/2-inch disk drive. The
Atari ST354 single-sided, double-density drive holds 349K after formatting.
And if that's not enough, go for the ST314 double-sided drive with 714K.
$199.95-SF354 Single-sided
$299.95-SF314 Double-sided
VIDEO MONITORS
You have a choice of monitors with your ST. The SM124 monochrome monitor
offers the highest resolution of 640 X 400 pixels. Or you can choose the
SC1224 RGB Color monitor, which draws from a palette of 512 colors.
$199.95-SM124 Monochrome
$399.95-SC1224 RGB Color
PRINTERS
As Antic went to press, Atari told us that two new printers
for the ST would be coming in October. The letter-quality SDMl24 is a daisy
wheel printer. The SMM8O4 dot-matrix model supports graphics and prints
80 characters per second. Either model connects to the ST's Centronics
parallel port.
$269.95-SDM124 Letter Quality
$229.95-SMM804 Dot Matrix
Atari Corporation, 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. (408) 745-2000. (Model numbers and prices of Atari Corporation products are subject to change.)
LANGUAGES
4xFORTH
Not counting the Logo that shipped with the ST, 4xForth was the first software for the machine-and the first altemate language. Designed primarily for developers, this 83 Standard Forth includes such sophisticated features as multi-tasking and multi-user capabilities. This version accesses the ST graphics through primitive, lower-level "line A" calls. Later packages will include complete GEM access. See our review in this issue.
$99.95. Dragon Group, 148 Poca Fork Road, Elkview, WV, 25071. (304) 965-5517.
HIPPO-C,
HABA SOLUTIONS:
BUSINESS LETTERS, WILLS
Hippo-C ($74.95) was eagerly awaited by the first wave of ST buyers
who did not know Forth and wanted something more powerful than LOGO. The
Haba implementation comes complete with an editor, standard C library and
GEM linking and binding files. Look for a review on this product in the
Antic ST Section soon.
Haba Solutions: Business Letters ($49.95) is a text editor
plus a collection of standard letter formats frequently used in business.
Choose your letter needs then plug in your own information. Since letters
may be created from scratch, this program doubles as a word processor.
Design your own will with Haba Solutions: Wills ($49.95).
Several standard wills are included for single, married, male, female,
etc. You can't cheat death, but you might cheat your attorney out of a
fee.
Haba Systems, 15154 Stagg Street, Van Nuys, CA 91405. (800) HOT HABA; in California (800) FOR HABA.
PHILON BASIC
Philon has been developing compilers for the 68000 for some time. However,
their first product for the ST, is a BASIC interpreter. Philon BASIC is
a subset-and forerunner-of their more powerful and advanced compiler, Philon
FAST/BASIC-M. Philon BASIC offers full syntax compatibility with the compiler
BASIC, so programs may later be easily transferred to the more sophisticated
programming environment. Features include multi-line, user-defined functions,
sequential files, a library of predefined functions and a full range of
control statements.
$49. Philon, Inc., 641 Avenue of the Americas, New york, NY 10011. (212) 807-0303.
UTILITIES
C.O.L.R. OBJECT EDITOR
This is the Antic Catalog's first professional ST program. Designed by Rugby Circle as an in-house graphics utility for development of Joust on the ST, C.O.L.R. Object Editor is not really "paint" software, but a programmer's tool which creates source-code byte arrays of "sprite" images for use in various languages. It also allows access of picture files created by other ST graphics programs.
$29.95. Antic Catalog, ST201.
DISK LIBRARY
Disk Library is a disk cataloging utility that will organize and keep
track of all your files and programs. You can insert comments on any file
at any time and search your library by date, filename, size, extender,
or any word or words in the comment string. You may also sort your files
and print the library using the same categories.
$39.95. Extended Software, 11987 Cedar Creek Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45240. (513) 825-6645.
APPLICATIONS
EXPRESS
Another first: the earliest ST application software. Express is a letter and small documents processor. Origlnally designed for the Macintosh and IBM PC, Express was adapted for the Atari ST within an incredible three weeks! The package includes a simple word processor and a customized database for easy-to-create mail merge documents.
The ST version was given an extra bonus. After the authors monitored SIG * Atari, they added a terminal program capable of uploading and downloading text files (but not binary). In addition, since files created with Express contain no special printer control characters, the program can be used as a text editor for C or machine language source code.
$49.95. Mirage Concepts, 4055 W. Shaw, #8, Fresno, CA 93711. (800)641 -1441; in California (800) 641-1442.
PORTFOLIO, DEGAS, HOMEPAK
Batteries Included has been busy (as usual) and offers the following
three programs for the ST.
Portfolio ($249.95) is written by Lee Isgur, First Vice
President of Paine Webber. It's designed for private investors or broker
analysts who need information management support to make more efficient
decisions. Portfolio gives advice on what to sell and when. It includes
a "suppose/what if" forecasting module and terminal software to get you
on-line with Dow Jones.
DEGAS ($39.95), which stands for Design and Entertainment
Graphics Arts System, is a paint program written by Tom Hudson. It operates
in all three of the ST graphics modes and is extremely simple to use. All
of its key functions can be user-defined and include brush patterns, fill
patterns, colors, and fonts. (Yes, FONTS!)
The popular HomePak ($69.95), by Russ Wetmore, has been
adapted to the ST This is a brand new HomePak. Its strongest feature is
still its terminal program, but the database module has been improved with
increased memory and the word processor has been enhanced.
Batteries Included, 30 Mural Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4B 185 Canada. (416)881-9941; in California (416) 881-9816.
CHAT
This is the first available ST terminal program with XMODEM file transfers.
Wynne Rostek at SST Systems knew there were plenty of new ST owners starving
for a good terminal program, so he rushed Chat to the market. The program
doesn't look rushed-and we've seen it at work.
Chat offers ASCII file transfers using XON/XOFF protocol,
XMODEM transfers of any kind of file, and you can upload messages and email
on CompuServe. It works with dumb modems and Hayes-compatible smart modems,
and operates in all three Atari ST resolutions. Most commands require only
a single keystroke. And get ready for the price...
$19.95. SST Systems, P.O. Box 2315, Titusville, FL 32781. (305) 269-0063.
VIP PROFESSIONAL
The VIP Professional is an integrated spreadsheet package which is
identical to Lotus 1-2-3 in features and commands. But VIP takes advantage
of the Atari ST's advanced features by providing enhanced graphics and
an easy-to-use interface. Special details include a 4X magnified spreadsheet
and enhanced database characteristics.
$149.95. VIP Technologies, 132 Aero Camino, Santa Barbara, CA 93117. (805) 968-4364.
EASY-DRAW
This is the first in a series of graphics software from Migraph. Easy-Draw
includes multiple drawing windows, user-defined patterns, sophisticated
zooming, and a pop-up drawing menu. Easy-Draw- which is also designed for
impressive hardcopy printouts-is to be followed by DraWrite, an integrated
text/drawing processor, scheduled for release in the first quarter of 1986.
$99.95. Migraph, Inc., Consumer Applications Division, 720 S. 33rd Street, Suite 201, Federal Way, WA 98003. (206) 838-4677.
LIFE ORGANIZER,
ENTERTAINMENT JACKPOT
Life Organizer is a collection of household-level business application programs. Included is a 64-column by 192-row spreadsheet with 20 templates, an outline processor, filing program, decision maker, and more. Entertainment Jackpot contains 14 programs including Checkers, Othello, Cribbage, 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, an advanced "Eliza" called Therapist and a covey of casino games. It also has three adventure games-two with animated graphics-and an adventure creator program with a three-phrase machine language parser. The programs, which are all written in BASIC, may be listed and examined.
$34.95 each. Marlin Consulting, 94 Macalester Bay, Winnepeg, Manitoba, R3T 2X5 Canada. (204) 269-3234.
GAMES
A MIND FOREVER VOYAGING
Trust Infocom to get out the first game for the ST. A Mind Forever Voyaging
(AMFV) is also the first Infocom game to use 128K of memory. It was written
by Steve Zeretzky, co-author of "Hitchkiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and
author of "Planetfall" and "Sorcerer." AMFV is set in the year 2031. You
have just been given the traumatic news that you are a robot, and all those
happy memories of human childhood were nothing but implants. A global crisis
is brewing and you have a mission... AMFV is the first in a new series
of "Interactive Fiction Plus" titles. The series uses a new development
system and an increased vocabulary of 1,700 words.
Infocom has also released all of their previous titles
for the ST If you haven't tried an Infocom adventure, you owe yourself
the pleasure. Any one will do, they're all good.
$44.95. Infocom, 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. (617) 492-6000.
SUNDOG
SunDog: Frozen Legacy, a big hit with the Apple crowd, is receiving
some graphic enhancement for the Atari ST Described as a "ZoomAction Adventure,"
Sundog is a high-tech, sci-fi, fantasy role-playing game with windows.
At press time, impressive demo disks of the game were being distributed
by the company, which expects a release date of October 1985.
$39.95. Accolade Software, 20863 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino, CA 95014. (408) 446-5757
MUD PIES, FLIP SIDE
Mud Pies ($24.95) is an arcade game featuring Arnold the mischievous
mud-pie finger and a circus full of chaotic clowns. Flip Side ($34.95)
is a form of Othello for the ST. Besides games, MichTron is releasing an
IBM/Atari file transfer utility, a RAM-disk, and a communications program
called MI-TERM.
Michtron, 576 S. Telegraph, Pontiac, Ml 48053. (313) 334-5700.