Conference 7.286::atarist

    STZmag issue 47 has an article by Mark. E. Booth describing how to
    build RF shielding into MEGA's to provend problems with reading Mac
    formated floppies. I occasionally hit the problem described there and
    would like to build this shielding into my MEGA. I do need a DEGAS
    picture from GEnie to do this job: D_SHIELD.PI3. As I cannot access
    GEnie from Europe would someone be so kind to upload this picture
    and make it avalable for copying?
    
    Thanks! Jurgen.

    The requested file is available as
    
    QARRY::DISK$USER:[bhamilton.public]D_SHIELD.ARC
    

    Thanks a lot, Buzz, for the upload. The file works fine.
    
    To those experiencing similar problems as I described in .1:
    
    In the meanwhile I exchanged the b/w SM 124 monitor with a NEC
    Multisync II and the problem went away. The SM 124 is obviously badly
    shielded and radiates RF noise which interfers with the floppy drive.
    
    Jurgen.

    Does anyone know if it is possible to connect an ST with Spectre GCR to
    an Appletalk (Localtalk) network? I got a call from a BCS member in Dayton
    Ohio who needs to run a specific MAC simulation package, but wants to
    buy Sts instead of MACS. However, in the near future, he will need to
    communicate with some other MACS. 
    
    Note that the customer is also a Digital customer and has several VAXen
    around. He doesn't know whether he is running VMS or Ultrix, but that
    is irrelevant to the issue. 
    
    A secondary premice: Under Spectre, can the user connect a Laser Writer,
    to an ST. I know that we can drive a Laser Writer directly off the serial
    port in GEM.
    
    Jerry Feldman
    

    re: appletalk
    It is possible to have appletalk running on the Atari ST and supported
    by Spectre. There is a German firm that has recently announced a
    hardware emulator for Appletalk called STalk. They have an ad in the
    German magazin STMagazin July 90. I wrote them a letter to get more
    info but did not receive an answer yet. As soon as I know more I will
    post it here.

    Their address is

    Fearn & Music
    Roemerstr. 21
    D-7000 Stuttgart
    Germany

    STalk (Appletalk for Atari) was listed at 550.- German Mark


    re: Laserwriter
    Spectre supports the Atari serial port and treats it as the Mac's modem
    port. In the RT95 library (conference RT95::MACONLINE) there is a
    serial laserwriter driver that works perfectly well.

    ---markus---

Additionally, Gadgets by Small, the makers of Spectre GCR, have shown a board
for Mega ST computers that allow 2 (maybe more ?) high speed ---> 500K bps
serial lines that can be used for Appletalk/Localtalk (and MIDI).  Note that 
this was shown but is not shipping yet I don't think.

Chad

    Thanks for the info. I will pass it on to the gentleman who called me the
    other night.

As this happens only when I am using my Mega4 in Mac mode with the Spectre GCR
I post it here:

I bought recently a 80mB hard disc with ICD host adapter and 1080N Seagate drive
from Toad Computer. It works absolutely fine as long as I stay in ST mode. When
switching to Mac mode and the disc is accessed, suddenly after about 1-2 secs of
data transfer, the monitor looses sync and becomes unreadable. The system continues
though but it requires a re-boot to get a proper screen back.

I tried this with different monitors and had the same effect.

Before paying expensive phone bills for calling Toad or Dave Small I thought someone
might have an idea for a cure.

P.S.: Spectre works fine with my old 20 mB Supra drive.

J�rgen.

I am the Mrs. half of the Bettels.  J�rgen set me up this weekend to use the
system to help my son prepare a school report (he broke a finger and can't
write :-).  I shall go back to the real world of DECwrite if I don't get some 
help soon :-).

I am using WORD 4 in MAC emulation mode using SPECTRE on the Mega ST with 4(?) 
Megabytes of memory.  The program hung or stack dumped after each three-four 
lines of text.  Mostly it hung.  Is this normal?? I am running from hard disk 
(see .8 in this topic).

I also tried running my music notation program (MusicWRITER) which is also
installed on the hard disk.  I have a similar problem.  Even using it in a very
mundane fashion seems to cause it to hang every 15 minutes or so.

If someone says this is the way it's supposed to work, ok.  If others know that
there is a congenital problem running this kind of software in emulation, ok too.
Then I'll just go back to using my workstation or whatever.  But maybe I am
doing something wrong?? (hope)

The report is due at the end of the week.

Thanks for any ideas.

Cheryl

    As being a user of SpectreGCR on a MegaST4, too, I try to help you:

    I never had any problems whith Word 4. The Spectre is rock steady. Do
    you run on the latest version of Spectre (3.0)? Older versions had
    problems with Word (something with the memory management, but never a
    freezing system).

    You write the problem is not only with Word but with other software as
    well. So I recomment checking the following:

    1-	check the Spectre version. It should be 3.0 or higher (3.1 is
	already out or due to come in the near future)

    2-	If the problems are not related to a particular program but show up
	randomly (even when the system is idle and doing nothing) and this
	happens after some time (when the computer gets warm) then it might be
	a (well known) hardware problem with the MegaST. Did you (or the
	other half of the Bettels) check for and replace the busdriver
	chips for the ROMport?
	Atari used two chips 'LS373 from SGS. These chips run on the edge
	when you connect something to the ROMport. This may cause various
	weird crashes with various symptoms. Try to replace the chips by
	the same type but from another manufacturer (see the Spectre
	manuals, it is described there, too).

    Hope this helps, if you have more questions don't dare to ask here or
    contact me offline

    ---markus---


    BERN01::RUGGIERO
    Markus Ruggiero @THR
    DTN 760-3404  (Switzerland)

    Markus,
    
    Thanks for your reply which I sent on to J�rgen (who is in the US right
    now).  He says we are running either 3.0 or 3.1 of Spectre so it can't
    be that so maybe something has broken.
    
    Anyway, I ran the music program for about 4 hours last evening and
    again today.  I only had a few hangs so I guess I can live with that. 
    I learned my lesson though.  I save and print before trying out any new
    features or after I've entered something complicated :-)
    
    Thanks for your suggestions which I will look into when J�rgen is back.
    
    Cheryl

    The Macintosh OS consists of two parts a) lots of routines build into
    the ROMs (the so called Toolbox) and b) some disk based routines (the
    System and Finder and others, commonly refered to as 'System x.x.x'.

    The latest version of System is indeed System 7 and Spectre is not
    compatible with it (as of Spectre version 3.0). System 7 is a BIG step
    from System 6.0.4/.5/.6/.7 and therefore has its own problems and
    applications have their problems with System 7. There is NO URGENT NEED
    to upgrade to System 7 (nevertheless it's nice to have it). Spectre is
    perfectly happy with System 6.0.5 which is the recommended Version for the
    Mac plus. Dave Small is working on compatibility for System 7.

    About getting a System disk: Your friendly Apple dealer might give one
    but I would not rely on it. All the System software is currently
    available on the net (see conference MACONLINE). The best thing for a
    start is ask some Mac'ie to give you a bootable disk. If you can't get
    one (or you do not have the GCR and can't therefore read Mac disks) I'm
    willing to prepare a disk for you.

    ---markus---


    BERN01::RUGGIERO

J�rgen came home on Friday.  He spent Saturday and I spent Sunday running WORD 4
without any problem.

I also ran my music problem while he was there with only one crash.

Just goes to show, the expert doesn't have to do anything, he just has to
BE there.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

cheryl