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 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)

    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