Skarro

Hey Tim, I hope that you and the publisher keep an eye on some of the other Amazon sites too. Since I bought my copy in Canada, my (rather gushing) review went to Amazon.ca (it's called "Gorgeous historical reference"). You'll probably find some other good reviews around the world, that don't show up on Amazon.com. Love the book. Thanks again for making it happen!

Wow, that was weird... I was just thinking of asking for an update to this thread since we hadn't heard anything in a while, and lo-and-behold, the good news is finally here ! So very glad that the project didn't fall into "development hell". This looks absolutely amazing... the demo pages in the Comics Alliance site have got me drooling for this already. Awesome work, Tim and Robert... it's going to be hard waiting until the fall for this! Will this be generally available in bookstores, or through Amazon only? Or can we buy it from the publishers? Thanks!

Hi Lapetino, Just curious to check in and see if there's been any progress made on the publisher front (if you can discuss it)? I'm really looking forward to the "Art of Atari" book... are you any closer to being able to give us an official release date? Thanks!

Sorry if this is common knowledge, but I've always been curious about the change in artwork for the Pac Man box-art. I was under the impression that the version with the 3D Pac Man was the first version released, and that they updated the artwork to the flat, 2D version at a later date. Or is it the other way around ? I know that the stores where I used to live got the 3D version first, followed by the 2D version. Seems like a bit of a step backwards. Also, is this the only game that had its artwork changed after initial release ?

Very cool ! Does the ST image fill the NEC screen at all resolutions ? I hooked up my MegaSTE to an old LCD (forget the brand) using the cables from Best Electronics, and the mono image only filled the top-left part of the screen. Unfortunately, the LCD offered no options to adjust the size or position, so it wasn't the ideal experience. You mention though, that the NEC has size and position adjustements, but does it give you enough range to fill the entire screen at all resolutions? Now, just to track one of these babies down...

In fact, I think this is the one (if you look close, you can see the animated mouse/nodding head in the middle of the screenshot) http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-puzzlepuzzle_23268.html

I think I know the one you're talking about. It was indeed a puzzle game. You had to piece together a puzzle that contained about 20 pieces, and that completed puzzle would then shrink down and become just one piece of an even bigger puzzle, and so on, and so on... I think there were about 10 levels in total. It started with a puzzle of an eye, which went back into a face, which went back into a man at the side of a road, which continued on back until you were in outer space. I have this game on my ST, but can't for the life of me remember what the name was... I seem to recall it just being called "Puzzle" or something like that. I will check when I get home from work tonight to see if I can find it. The nodding head thing was an icon which changed depending on whether you wanted to "Play" or "Quit" (if you hovered your mouse over the play button, the head would nod, but if you hovered over the quit button, the head would shake). I was addicted to this puzzle game for a long time myself....

If you are experiencing lag on your Vizio, try poking around in the menus on your TV. On my Panasonic LED, I have an option for "Game mode" on the video inputs, which deactivates a lot of the processing that is done within the TV and helps to reduce the lag. I don't think all manufacturers include this option, but you might be lucky...

Thanks Stephen for a great update! I was wondering - and apologies if this has already been requested - if there was any way to improve the snapshot display in the ROM Info Viewer? Personally, I prefer to see the original box-art instead of a snapshot, but the snapshot display doesn't seem to be able to show an image in hi-res, only a small (1x) or zoomed (2x and blocky) image, regardless of whether the PNG file is a hi-res scan or not. Can the snapshot window be modified to display an appropriately-scaled image with as much resolution as possible? Here's a couple of pics to demonstrate: The Missile Command box is OK quality, but the bottom gets cut off. The Seaquest box is all there, but there's lots of aliasing from the 2x zoom, even though the original file is high-quality pic. Thanks!

Excellent ! Thanks for the info ParanoidLittleMan.

Hmm... now you've just said something that I think complicates my life. Once I get my UltraSatan (external) formatted and set up, I was going to back up my internal SCSI drive to it, then replace the internal drive with the internal UltraSatan. But if I understand you correctly, I probably won't be able to back up my internal SCSI drive to my external UltraSatan because my internal drive was formatted and configured with the old Atari software back in the 90's, and I was going to use one of the newer software drivers to format and configure the UltraSatan... which would mean 2 different drivers. If this is the case, how would I perform such a backup? Can I install one of the newer drivers over top of the old Atari driver on my internal SCSI drive, so that both the SCSI drive and the UltraSatan have matched drivers? Or am I totally misunderstanding the situation? Thanks for all this info, by the way... it's very helpful and very much appreciated!

While we're on the subject of partitioning, I have a question regarding drive letters. Are the drive letters "permanently assigned" to a partition, or can they change? For example, on my MegaSTE I have the old internal SCSI drive with 4 partitions (C,D,E,F) and a RAM Disk as G. If I set up and configure my UltraSatan on the external ACSI port, and configure it with partitions starting at C, how will the Atari respond when both the external UltraSatan and the internal SCSI drive are running? - Will it see the UltraSatan as (for example) C, D, E, F, and then "move" or rename my internal SCSI partitions to G, H, I, J, and make the RAM Disk K? - Or will it see 2 x Drive C, 2 x Drive D, etc (with the Drives being "C on SCSI device 0" and "C on SCSI device 1", etc)? - Or will it just get confused? Hope this makes sense. It's been a long time since I've used SCSI drives, and since I'm normally a Mac user, I never really have to think about drive letters! Thanks!

Awesome! I have long wished someone would take on a project like this. I love all the old Atari box art (as well as many of the others - Activision, Intellivision, etc). Sorry I can't provide any leads on artwork, but you can definitely count me in as a purchaser of the book.

Thanks for the info guys. Another follow-up question: if I do connect the UltraSatan externally to the MSTE, and leave the internal SCSI hard drive connected, do I also need to change a Master/Slave relationship on either device? It's been a while since I've worked with SCSI drives, but I remember needing to do this when adding multiple SCSI drives to a system. Or will the UltraSatan interface take care of that? My biggest problem right now is trying to get the UltraSatan configuration software and drivers onto my MegaSTE, but I may have a few options there... Thanks!

Hello all, After about a year of waffling, I finally got around to setting up my old MegaSTE and 1040STF. Unfortunately, the 1040STF doesn't want to output video any more, so I'm putting that one aside for now. The MegaSTE - after being in storage for close to 20 years, booted up fine and everything still seems to work OK. I now want to start setting up the UltraSatan I bought from Lotharek, and eventually replace the internal hard drive in my MSTE with the internal UltraSatan. Before I do that, however, I have a couple of questions for those who might have already gone through this process: 1) I ordered the UltraSatan from Lotharek with the flash cards included. Did Lotharek do any basic setup of the flash cards already? If I plug the UltraSatan into the MSTE with his cards, is there already a basic drive setup that will show up on the Desktop? 2) I want to back up everything from my internal hard drive onto the UltraSatan card. What would be the best way to do this? I have both an external and an internal UltraSatan, so I was going to connect the external unit to the MegaSTE, back up everything from the hard drive to the external unit, then remove the hard drive and install the internal UltraSatan. My only concern is what could happen if I connect the external UltraSatan to the ACSI port, while the internal hard drive is still connected at the same time. Will there be a conflict? Can I muck up either of my drives? My internal hard drive is partitioned into C:, D:, E: and F: drives, and I also have a RAM disk as G:. What will the UltraSatan show up as if I connect it to the external ACSI port? 3) I know that there are a couple of software packages out there that people are recommending to format the UltraSatan flash cards, but can the regular Atari hard disk setup program work as well? My problem right now is that my MegaSTE is living in its own bubble, with no easy way to get 3rd party software on to, or off of, it. Thanks for any suggestions or advice!

For those wanting to see a cased Netusbee, Lotharek now has some photos up on his site. I would say that it's "interesting"... :-)

Hey folks, I just noticed that Lotharek has added a .ZIP file containing a mouse driver on his Netusbee page. Very convenient! The included text notes indicate that not all USB mice will work with the Netusbee. Is there anyone out there who knows which mice do work, and which are currently available to buy at the local computer shops? Should we get a new "confirmed mice for Netusbee" thread going? I still have my old Naksha 200dpi ball-mouse which, back in the day, was one of the best (i.e. most precise) mouse you could get for the ST. I think it cost me something around $80 (wow)... Still, I think I'd rather use a modern-day laser mouse. Cheers!

Hi everyone, I'm very interested in the Netusbee, but before I go placing a pre-order, I just wanted to ask a couple of questions. 1) do you *have* to work with an alternate OS in order to use the Ethernet/networking functionality? I would just like to hook my MegaSTE onto the home network and use it for basic file sharing/transfers to my Mac. Is there any way to do this from regular TOS using the Netusbee? 2) I would like to use the USB ports to hook up a Windows laser mouse, instead of the old Atari mouse. Again, is this something that can be accomplished with TOS (and, I presume, the appropriate drivers?), or do I have to also use an alternate OS for that? Thanks very much for any and all advice/suggestions!

Some may have already seen this, but I thought it was quite fun and nostalgic... http://www.visualnew...0s-game-design/

That shouldn't be a problem for me... my MegaSTE came with a "whopping huge" 40 MB hard drive built in! It's one of the reasons I'm not too concerned about small partitions for transfer between Mac/PC and the Atari using the UltraSatan flash cards. Even a small 32 MB partition on an SD card is more than half the capacity of my original MSTE hard drive. Pretty amazing, really, when you see how much funtionality was incorporated into apps like Calamus or Cubase, when there was so little memory and hard drive space available.

Thanks for the info DarkLord. One other question I have is how would you mount the UltraSatan internally? I imagine I would be able to use whatever existing HD bracket there is for the current hard drive, but is that attached to the casing? In other words, would the hard drive or UltraSatan swing up with the lid when you open it, or is there a way to mount the UltraSatan to the motherboard? (Sorry about the dumb question... I could probably find this all out for myself, but as I mentioned previously my MegaSTE is packed away in storage for the next few months... ) Thanks!

Hmm.. That sounds like the simplest solution. Will probably go for that. I didn't realize you could separate the hard drive section... I thought it was all part of the case top. Thanks everyone!

Yeah, I thought about exposing the SD card slots through the MegaSTE casing, but I'm not sure I really want to cut up the casing like that (especially in such a visible spot... if it was cut open in the back, I might be more willing). I would rather find another solution if possible. Thanks!

Hi all, I have a question about transferring data from my Mac to an Atari MegaSTE. I recently got one of Lotharek's new UltraSatan devices, and will be installing it into my MegaSTE in the future (everything is in boxes now, as we'll be moving homes soon). Seeing as I want to mount the UltraSatan internally in the MSTE, I won't have easy access to the SD cards for transferring data using DOS/TOS partitions. Originally, I was hoping that a Netusbee device could allow USB thumb drives to connect to the MSTE, but it looks like this is only possible if you install MINT and get the appropriate drivers. I don't really want to have to mess around with alternate OSes on my Atari, and would prefer to stay in the TOS world if possible. Having said that, what would be the best solutions for transferring files from my Mac to the Atari? I don't mind if the transfer/connection isn't very fast; what I'm really looking for is something that is relatively simple to set up and manage in TOS. Bear in mind that while I have a reasonable amount of knowledge about home networking and connecting devices together, I'm far from being a "guru"... OPTION 1: Get a Netusbee and put the MSTE on the home network? How does this work? Can you share a public folder on the Mac which the Atari could see (or something like that)? Can everything still be done within the TOS world? OPTION 2: Get a Lantronix adapter of some sort: http://www.lantronix...rs/xdirect.html or http://www.lantronix...rs/uds1100.html How would this work? On the Atari side, I guess you would use the regular modem terminal to connect, but on the Mac side, how would it show up/connect with the ethernet? Could you communicate/transfer through a web browser like Firefox or Safari to the Lantronix device? OPTION 3: Set up a null modem system? Again, a bit tricky since the Mac doesn't have any modem connectivity with it (although I could probably buy a USB modem for it). Sorry about the long post. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and comments!

++++1. If Lotharek could build something like that, I think there would be a very large number of very happy Atari fans out there. I know I would buy a couple of devices like that. (off topic, just supporting!)