Atari User Issue 17 is here

[svenski]

This issue we look at the Atari Megafile for the Atari ST, check out the Portfolio Smart Parallel Interface and review The Battle Of Britain and STAC (the ST adventure creator) for the Atari ST. We look at how close we came to seeing an Atari branded Megadrive, check out more ST coin-op conversions and take a detailed look at another month in Atari history.

 

Also this issue a masterclass in DOS XE for the XL/XE,we look at the various football games released on the Atari platforms, and check out Hi-Tec software and their 8-bit releases. Lots more inside including reviews for the Atari 2600, 7800, Jaguar, Lynx, Jaguar CD and Atari 8-bit.

 

Print editions are available from Lulu & Magcloud. PDF available from www.atariuser.com .

 

Thanks to everyone who helped with this issue. All subscribers should now have their login details. If not, message me here.

 

[+DarkLord]

Great work as always - love it!

[Pengwin]

I just got issue 16, amazing quality. Definitely going to get this one.

[Christos]

I really wonder what beyond, old, slow, huge, small, noisy can one write about the megafile...

[svenski]

Thanks for the comments Pengwin & Darklord.

 

Appreciated !

 

 

 

 

 

I just got issue 16, amazing quality. Definitely going to get this one.

[Amimitl]

Does anyone else have the problem of accessing atariuser.com? I just get timed out every time I try.

[svenski]

Hi, site is coming up fine for me. Still having problems?

 

 

Does anyone else have the problem of accessing atariuser.com? I just get timed out every time I try.

[+DarkLord]

I don't think I've had any problems lately either...

[Amimitl]

Yes, I still have problems.

 

I have done some tests though, to see if there were something wrong with my internet connection or software.

 

My default dekstop is Puppy Linux with SeaMonkey as my browser. On this system I got timed out. But I also have a Windows Vista installation, which I booted up to test if I could access the website from there. I used K-Meleon but got the same results.

 

I decided then to turn off the router and taking out the power socket, to make sure it was completely off, and waited a couple of minutes. Then I powered it on again and tried it again with SeaMonkey, but still I get the same results.

 

So it seems it must be something external. But I find it very odd that you are able to access it and not me.

 

It has to be said that all other websites, both national and international, works. So it's just atariuser.com, which doesn't work.

[svenski]

That is strange. Can you run a traceroute from your Vista PC and see where the connection is timing out? Sounds like an external routing problem somewhere.

[Amimitl]

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 atariuser.com

Mon Apr 9 00:11:02 2012

 

traceroute to atariuser.com (209.200.14.88), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 1.340 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 4.141 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 10.594 ms

4 *

5 *

6 *

7 *

8 *

9 *

10 *

11 *

12 *

13 *

14 *

15 *

16 *

 

----------------------

 

I have censored my local ip-addresses.

[svenski]

Hi,

 

If the "*" are relating to timed out responses then it looks like the requests are not even leaving your ISP ?.

 

I just did a traceroute from here and looks OK, one hop is a bit slow eastern USA but that is it.

[Amimitl]

Yes the "*" are timed out responses, so you're correct that the requests are not leaving my ISP Telenor. I have done the same traceroute command on google.no just to compare, where everything is in order.

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 google.no

Mon Apr 9 00:38:33 2012

 

traceroute to google.no (173.194.71.94), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 0.893 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 9.527 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XX) 3.818 ms

4 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 21.378 ms

5 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 21.643 ms

6 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XX) 21.422 ms

7 XXXXXXXXXX-XXX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 59.830 ms

8 XX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 38.568 ms

9 XXX.XX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XX.XXX.XXX) 45.264 ms

10 XXX.XX.XXX.XX (XXX.XX.XXX.XX) 48.981 ms

11 XX.XX.XXX.XXX (XX.XX.XXX.XXX) 48.592 ms

12 *

13 XX-XX-XXX.XXXXX.net (173.194.71.94) 49.923 ms

[Amimitl]

I have found another website which has the same problem as atariuser.com, which is nationstates.net. I have compared the traceroute between those two and it seems they have one thing in common.

 

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 atariuser.com

Mon Apr 9 00:11:02 2012

 

traceroute to atariuser.com (209.200.14.88), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 1.340 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 4.141 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-ge1-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 10.594 ms

4 *

5 *

6 *

7 *

8 *

9 *

10 *

11 *

12 *

13 *

14 *

15 *

16 *

 

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 nationstates.net

Mon Apr 9 01:09:19 2012

 

traceroute to nationstates.net (209.17.190.147), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 0.816 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 3.737 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-ge1-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 2.423 ms

4 *

5 *

6 *

7 *

8 *

9 *

10 *

11 *

12 *

13 *

14 *

15 *

16 *

 

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 google.no

Mon Apr 9 00:38:33 2012

 

traceroute to google.no (173.194.71.94), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 0.893 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 9.527 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-ge0-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XX) 3.818 ms

4 XXXXXXXXXX-so1-X-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 21.378 ms

5 XXXXXXXXXX-ae1-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 21.643 ms

6 XXXXXXXXXX-ae8-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XX) 21.422 ms

7 XXXXXXXXXX-ae1-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 59.830 ms

8 XX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 38.568 ms

9 XXX.XX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XX.XXX.XXX) 45.264 ms

10 XXX.XX.XXX.XX (XXX.XX.XXX.XX) 48.981 ms

11 XX.XX.XXX.XXX (XX.XX.XXX.XXX) 48.592 ms

12 *

13 XX-XX-XXX.XXXXX.net (173.194.71.94) 49.923 ms

 

 

Both atariuser.com and nationstates.net goes always through an address which has ge1 in its name. Google.no on another hand goes through ge0, so1, ae1, ae8, ae1, and then carries on. So it seems every website that goes through ge1 will get a time-out.

 

So I will need to contact Telenor about it, and hear what they have to say. Right now it's Easter, so I will have to wait until Tuesday, but I will try to give them a call then. But it seems I have found where the issue lies.

[Amimitl]

Some further tests shows, that my conclusion were apparently wrong. Both nrk.no and bbc.co.uk also goes through ge1, but those two do it with success. And the ge1 ip-address of nrk.no is identical to the ge1 ip-address of atariuser.com. So I'm back to sqaure one. But the issue must be local here in Norway with Telenor at least. I've been wondering if it could be a problem with one of the cables connecting Norway to the outside world, regarding internet servers. But that's something which does not happen often and I find it strange it doesn't affect more than two of the websites I regurarly visit.

 

But anyhow I will need to call Telenor at Tuesday and see if I can get any answers.

 

--------------------------

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 nrk.no

Mon Apr 9 01:43:59 2012

 

traceroute to nrk.no (160.68.205.231), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 0.783 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 11.768 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-ge1-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 3.121 ms

4 XXXXXXXXXX-so1-X-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 8.963 ms

5 XXXXXXXXXX-ae0-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 8.518 ms

6 XXX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 8.885 ms

7 XXX-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.X.XX) 8.836 ms !A

 

 

Log of traceroute -w 3 -q 1 -m 16 bbc.co.uk

Mon Apr 9 01:46:48 2012

 

traceroute to bbc.co.uk (212.58.241.131), 16 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 XX.X.X.XXX (XX.X.X.XXX) 0.779 ms

2 XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 3.278 ms

3 XXXXXXXXXX-ge1-X-X-XX.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 2.551 ms

4 XXXXXXXXXX-so1-X-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 49.920 ms

5 XXXXXXXXXX-ae1-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 49.411 ms

6 XXXXXXXXXX-ae6-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XX.XXX) 49.798 ms

7 XXXXXXXXXX-ae0-X.XX.telenor.net (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 71.345 ms

8 bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.thdoe.bbc.co.uk (XXX.XX.XXX.XXX) 49.523 ms

9 *

10 ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk (XXX.XXX.XXX.XX) 50.456 ms

11 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX) 50.180 ms

12 XXX.XX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XX.XXX.XXX) 49.874 ms