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Stunt Car Racer gets an STE version (11.09.2021 - 00:12 Uhr)

Geoff Crammond's Stunt Car Racer is surely one of the most original racing games ever. The two cars are on a track several metres high. By the standards of the time, both the frame rate and the graphics (filled vector graphics) were fine. Two computers can be connected via null modem cable, which also works across systems, at least with the ST and Amiga versions. Despite its success, the game remained without a successor and the 16-bit versions of the time remained the best technical versions of the game.

Jonathan Thomas (Lotus STE) wonders if this game could be further improved with the hardware features of the STE, such as using the blitter to draw polygons faster. Should Stunt Car Racer be as high quality a work as Lotus STE, ST(E) gamers can look forward to an update with many small and large improvements.

(mj)

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The new (and old!) ST-Computer website (04.10.2015 - 12:25 Uhr)

There it is again: When an issue of st-computer appeared again in August 2014, a homepage was quickly constructed - a stopgap, which was not designed for the meanwhile seven issues. So something bigger was needed and what could be more appropriate than to tie in with the "old" st-computer online as well. So here it is, the old stc website, which was designed by stc editor-in-chief Thomas Raukamp at that time and was the most important German-speaking Atari website. The news archive has been carried over, the other contents are of course up-to-date: Up-to-Date list, magazine archive, the current and the preview of the next issue.↵↵This website is available in two versions: The classic version corresponds to the old website, while the modern version is designed for current browsers. The former is also compatible with Atari browsers like CAB and Light of Adamas. In terms of content, of course, there are no compromises.

(mj)

Neue STE-Demo von den Lamers (12.09.2015 - 08:14 Uhr)

Die Lamers haben auf der Riverwash-Demoparty in Polen ein neues STE-Demo vorgestellt und sich in der Oldschool-Competition gegen ein C64- und ZX-Spectrum-Demo durchgesetzt. „Satan stole my Atari“ zeigt einen Vektor-Würfel, Plasma und einen Bitmap-Tunnel und wird von rockigen Klängen unterlegt. Die Demo benötigt 4 MB RAM.

http://demozoo.org/productions/144805/

(mj)

Sprint 1 für den Atari XL (09.09.2015 - 18:45 Uhr)

Emulatorspezialist Norbert Kehrer hat wieder zugeschlagen: Einen der frühen Arcade-Automaten Ataris, Sprint 1, hat er auf 8-Bit-Atari-Computer portiert. Auf dem Atari läuft dabei das Original-Programm ab, die Video- und Sound-Hardware wird vom XL emuliert. Sprint 1 ist nicht der Vorgänger von Sprint 2, die Zahl gibt lediglich die Anzahl der Spieler an. Es war der Nachfolger von Gran Track 10, verwendete aber eine echte CPU vom Typ MOS 6502, die auch in den 8-Bit-Computern eingebaut wurde. Der Automat verfügte über ein echtes Lenkrad und Pedale.

http://members.aon.at/~nkehrer/

(mj)

SNDH archive 4.5 (01.09.2015 - 14:55 Uhr)

After one year there is a new version of the SNDH archive, the collection of classic chiptunes from the Atari ST. Extracting (ripping) the chiptunes from games and demos is not always easy, as Grazey explains in the SNDH blog. Revised rips from games like Utopia and Super Cars 2, fresh sub-tunes from F.O.F.T., more tunes from Dave Lowe and a previously unreleased preview version of the Jochen Hippel chiptune for the shooter Warp are new. Sierra fans, meanwhile, can look forward to tunes from the Sierra adventure games Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, Space Quest and Donal Duck's Playtime. For the ST platform there are several players for playing SNDH files: GemPLAY, JAM, STj and SND Player.

http://sndh.atari.org/

(mj)

Tiniconv.ldg (22.08.2015 - 10:25 Uhr)

Pierre Tonthat has ported Tiniconv to the ST. Tiniconv is a library for converting character sets and is based on the GNU libiconv. It has been simplified enough to run on computers with limited memory. Different character set tables have plagued the computer world for decades. Only the printable characters of the ASCII code are standardized, country and operating system specific extensions store additional characters in different places. Only with Unicode was a standard created that offered enough space for all characters.

The ST version of Tiniconv was extended with the ATARIST and Unicode UTF16 character sets from the original iconv library. Tiniconv is available as an LDG file, so it is a dynamic library that can be used by programs as needed. Application examples exist so far for the C language and GFA-Basic. Tiniconv.ldg is not the first system extension for character set conversion: Thomas Much's KEYTAB also allowed this, but supported fewer character sets.

http://ptonthat.fr/

(mj)

Anarchic driving on the ST (12.08.2015 - 10:25 Uhr)

Issue 08/15 featured Laserball, a re-release of an old PD game from 1991, but like any programmer, Thomas Ilg still has various unreleased projects and prototypes on old ST disks, and he has now unearthed one: A racing game with pseudo-3D graphics, completely developed in GFA-Basic. Pure GFA-Basic is of course not the best language for fast racing games, so an ST with at least 16 MHz is recommended.

Compared to classic racing games, the rules of this game, which is distantly reminiscent of Atari's Road Blasters, are reversed: All obstacles can be run over, your own car is indestructible. Although no further development was supposedly planned, the first updates for "Anarcho Ride" are already in development. Thus, there is music from xFalcon, several languages and animated menus. The programmer has also found a graphic designer to contribute cars and other graphics to the game.

It is not yet certain whether the "Anarcho Simulator" will be further developed into a real game.

(mj)

Pole Position for the ST (30.10.2014 - 18:15 Uhr)

Pole Position is an arcade classic, but unlike other games from the era, there was never a conversion for the Atari ST. However, Jonathan Thomas has been working on a conversion of the Namco racer for several months. His conversion promises to be a 1:1 conversion of the arcade machine, on screenshots there is hardly any difference. The developer is also working on a remake for modern computers with real 3D graphics. A first preview of the Atari version is now available, but it still contains bugs. Jonathan Thomas informs about the progress on the game on his Twitter account (@RetroRacing).

(mj)

FTP and e-mail via SSL on the Atari (16.07.2014 - 10:05 Uhr)

"Email Made In Germany" was the slogan of several large German email providers and they introduced what should have been standard by now: The encryption of e-mail traffic with SSL. For the Atari internet programs, however, this is a problem.

Except for the programs of Pierre Tonthat alias Rajah Lone: His FTP client Litchi supports FTP over SSL under MiNT/MiNTNet, it can encrypt the password for authentication or the entire file transfer. His e-mail clients Troll and Meg also make use of the SSL library (Polarssl.ldg). So Troll now supports secure e-mail connections via the POP3 and IMAP protocols.

Particularly pleasing for Firebee owners: Pierre always releases his applications in a version that runs on the fiery bee as well.

(mj)

Book "Atari Corp. - Business is War" announced (06.07.2014 - 18:35 Uhr)

Often the Atari story has been told, but never so detailed and from so many sources as in "Atari Inc. - Business is Fun". In the second book "Business is War" the authors Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel dedicate themselves to the company Atari Corp. under the leadership of Jack Tramiel. Tramiel, an Auschwitz survivor, had just been fired from the company he founded, Commodore, when he took over parts of the highly loss-making Atari. Under his leadership, Atari released products such as the ST, the Lynx and Jaguar game consoles, and the Falcon. As in the previous book, the authors spoke with former Atari employees, and Vendel can also still draw on his own extensive personal Atari archives.

(mj)

Hatari 1.8.0 supports Pasti (06.07.2014 - 14:45 Uhr)

Almost every commercially released ST game is likely to be archived, but mostly only in the version "edited" by crackers. From the desire to preserve Atari software "pure" and including the possibly existing copy protection, the Pasti image tool and the STX format have been created. However, those who do not use Windows with the Steem emulator could not do anything with the STX images, because Pasti support was provided via a Windows DLL file, the source code was never published.

Since the end of May there is now the first open-source implementation of an STX decoder and specifically in a preview version of Hatari. Thus the images can be used not only under OS X, Linux, Android and other operating systems, but other emulators could benefit from the work of the Hatari team. They had to do it without insight into the Pasti source code.

(mj)

Kiwi computer now available (01.07.2014 - 06:13 Uhr)

Lots of choice for those who like it unusual but Atari-compatible: Suska, MIST, FireBee and now the Kiwi. Kiwi is a 68k homebrew computer, a new computer system that could have been created in the 80s and early 90s. Simon Ferber's project is an unusual mixture: The 8/32 bit CPU 68008 from the Sinclair QL, the SID sound chip from the C64 and the Yamaha V9900 video chip, which was originally intended for the next generation of MSX computers and reaches almost Falcon level with up to 32768 colors, sprites and hardware blitter. From Atari's point of view, the porting of EmuTOS is interesting; simple TOS applications already run.

The Kiwi Homebrew Computer Kit is available now for 333.33 Euros - presumably an allusion to the Apple I, which sold for 666.66 US dollars in 1976. Unlike FireBee, Suska and MIST, the Kiwi is not fully assembled and is not intended for electronics beginners. It also requires some additional parts like RAM, SID chip and power supply.

(mj)

RaspARI, ST emulator for the Raspberry PI (30.06.2014 - 20:55 Uhr)

Over a million units of the Raspberry PI small computer have been sold so far, and thanks to RaspARI by Armin Diedering (ResourceMaster), a few more will be added.

RaspARI is a new emulator that emulates the essential components of an Atari ST and the Falcon Videl Shifter. Similar to emulators like the STEmulator or TOSBox, however, the goal is not to emulate all the hardware features of the ST, but to get the fastest possible emulator for GEM applications. In terms of supported resolutions, RaspARI goes beyond the standard ST, but is still faster than an Atari Falcon even at 640x480 with 256 colors.

(mj)

AtarIRC 1.34 (22.04.2004 - 23:10 Uhr)

Die Entwicklung des IRC-Clients "AtarIRC" geht derzeit recht zügig voran. Seit einigen Tagen lieget das Programm nun in der Version 1.34 vor. Als Nächstes ist ein Major Update geplant – wir dürfen gespannt sein.

AtarIRC unterstützt STiK, STinG, MagiCNet und MiNTnet. Die Registrierung der Shareware kostet € 5.—.

AtarIRC

Neue Version von Xconvert (22.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

Gunther Beninde meldete mir, dass er eine neue Version von Xconvert fertig gestellt hat. Xconvert ist eine grafische Benutzeroberfläche für das Grafikprogramm Nconvert. Leider ist der Link auf seiner Webseite nicht korrekt, sodass das Programm derzeit nicht heruntergeladen werden kann.

Xconvert unterstützt nun insgesamt 39 Ausgabeformate mit richtigem Handling der Farb-Eigenschaften (außer transparente GIFs). Außerdem wurede die Oberfläche überarbeitet.

Gunther Beninde

Neues von MyAES (22.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

Das alternative AES-System "MyAES" liegt in einer neuen Version vom 20. April 2004 vor. Der Betriebssystem-Bestandteil hat einige Neuerungen erfahren, so wurden Dialog- und Dateiauswahlboxen überarbeitet sowie die Unterstützung von WDialog verbessert. Außerdem werden nun farbige Icons korrekt angezeigt.

Auf der neuen Webseite von MyAES findet sich außerdem eine deutschsprachige Dokumentation zur Installation von MyAES mit EasyMiNT. Darüber hinaus findet sich ein Link zu einem neuen Disk-Image von AFROS, das offensichtlich von MyAES Nutzen macht (sofern mich mein Französisch nicht im Stich lässt).

MyAES

AtarIRC 1.33 (17.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

Der IRC-Client "AtarIRC" liegt ab sofort in der neuen Version 1.33 vor. Das Update bietet die Option, dass Taskleisten im Full-Screen-Modus nicht mehr verdeckt werden.

AtarIRC unterstützt STiK, STinG, MagiCNet und MiNTnet. Die Registrierung der Shareware kostet € 5.—.

AtarIRC

Neue Version von GEMagnetic (17.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

Beim Newsdienst Atari Users Network pickte ich die Nachricht auf, dass das Programm "GEMagnetic" ab sofort in der Version 0.8 vorliegt. Der Game-Engine-Emulator macht das Spielen der Fictioin-Games von Magnetic Scrolls auf dem Atari unter GEM möglich.

Die neue Version bietet die aktuelle Game-Engine.

GEMCandy

Poolware wiederentdeckt (16.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

Drei Programme, die unter dem PD-Label "Poolware" veröffentlicht wurden, sind nun beim Entwickler Heiko Kopenhagen wieder aufgetaucht. Es handelt sich um die Monochrom-Spiele "Marlowe" und "Aliens" sowie das Musik-Tool "GFA-Song-Editor".

Alle Programme laufen auf dem Atari ST unter TOS in der hohen Auflösung.

PixelClan.de

Betatester für Cdrtools gesucht (16.04.2004 - 09:10 Uhr)

"Cdrtools" nennt sich ein neues Programmpaket, das aus der Linux-Welt protiert wurde, und das Brennen von CDs am Atari ermöglichen soll. Unterstützt werden bisher SCSI-Laufwerke. Voraussetzung ist die SCSIDRV-Bibliothek, die zum Beispiel im HDDriver bereits enthalten ist.

Derzeit werden Betatester für das Programmpaket gesucht, das noch über keine GEM-Oberfläche verfügt.

Weitere – französischsprachige – Informationen und Verweise finden sich in dem untenstehenden Beitrag.

Cdrtools

Beschreibung von 220 Atari-Programmen (16.04.2004 - 08:10 Uhr)

Auf der französischsprachigen Webseite "AlbaTOS" finden sich derzeit Beschreibungen von nicht weniger als 220 TOS-Programmen. Geboten werden nicht nur Internet-Links, sondern auch Angaben zur Kompatibilität mit MagiC und MiNT sowie NVDI, Preise etc. Ein großes Stück Arbeit, das durch einen Besuch honoriert werden sollte ...

AlbaTOS

Atari-Cross-Compiler für Mac OS X (16.04.2004 - 08:10 Uhr)

Philipp Donzé hat auf seiner Webseite eine kleine englischsprachige Anleitung veröffentlicht, die beschreibt, wie man unter Mac OS X einen Compiler erstellen kann, um Programme für TOS-Systeme zu entwickeln. Getestet wurden die Funktionen bisher unter Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther".

Atari-Cross-Compiler unter Mac OS X