Prepare yourself.
Every issue of START-The ST Quarterly contains articles written by some of the finest developers and writers in the Atari computer community Many of these articles are programming tutorials, detailing how the wizards of the Atari world practice their arcane art. And anybody can benefit from the disk-we provide everything from tax templates for your spreadsheet to full-featured word processors, easy-to-use drawing programs and spectacular graphics demos.
START-The ST Quarterly was designed as a magazine with disk, containing the finest ST programs available. If you purchased the $4 nondisk version of START you can still obtain the disk by sending us the bound-in order card or mailing $10.95: START DISK #4, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. (Be sure to specify the disk you want.) Note: If you want same day service, call (415) 957-0886 and ask for the Disk Desk. Give us your MasterCard or Visa number, and we'll ship your START disk out that very day!
All programs on the START disk are for your own private use, and are not public domain. We ask that you please not copy your disk for your friends, accept a copy from someone, or upload these programs on a bulletin board system. The more people who do this, the more difficult it will be for us to afford to bring you quality ST programs and incisive technical material. Software piracy hurts everyone.
Use scissors to open your disk envelope along the outside vertical edge. Place your START disk into drive A and double-click on the disk icon to see its contents. Please refer to your ST owners manual if you are uncertain about proper Desktop procedures.
Important! Before you do anything else, back up your START disk. It is not copy protected. Format a fresh disk as single-sided, and copy your entire START disk to it. Finished? Now place your original START disk back inside its envelope, and begin using the new copy.
Your START disk contains eight folders. Each folder corresponds to a particular START article. To open a folder and reveal its contents, double-click on the folder's icon. Before running a program, we recommend you read its related article and transfer its files to another disk.
WHY COMPRESSED FILES?
Our quest for ST excellence has had its drawbacks. Each issue we face the same problem-how can we get as many fantastic programs as possible to fit on a single-sided disk and deliver it out to our readers? The solution? Some of the files on the START disk are in a compressed format. You can identify them by a "Q" as the second letter of the filename extender (e.g., MAILCALL.PQS). These files are unusable unless first decompressed with the Un-Squeeg program included on your START disk. Only the Un-Squeeg program (the decompressor) has been included on your disk. Please note that this program is owned and copyrighted by the Quack Computer Company and is not to be considered part of the public domain. The latest Squeeg/Un-Squeeg package (version 3.1), which includes the compression program, is available for $24.95 from:
Quack Computer Company
257 Robinson Avenue
Bronx, New York 10465
DECOMPRESSING
To decompress a file, first transfer both the compressed file and UNSQ31.PRG to another disk. When run, the Un-Squeeg program will create a second, decompressed file which may he more than twice the size of the compressed one. UnSqueeg will not alert you if you run out of disk space so make sure you have plenty of room on your destination disk.
Make sure you run UNSQ13.PRG from disk drive A:, and decompress files onto the A: drive. Not drive B:, and most certainly not from a C: or D: RAM or hard disk. File damage may result from operation from a disk drive other than disk drive A:.
After transferring the files, double-click on UNSQ31.PRG and a file selector box will pop up requesting the file to decompress. Un-Squeeg automatically searches for filenames with "Q" as the second letter of the extender. Select a file to decompress and click in the [OK] box. Un-Squeeg then presents a file selector box for you to enter the name of the decompressed file. However, Un-Squeeg inserts the original filename on the filename line, so it's easiest to just click the [OK] box. You must not run Un-Squeeg from within a folder, or ask it to access a compressed file inside a folder. It must be run on the root, or first, directory available on a disk.
Un-Squeeg will then read in, decompress, and write the new, uncompressed file to your disk. Again, make sure you have plenty of room.
THE DISK
* UNSQ31.PRG-The Un-Squeezer Double-click on this to decompress a file.
* COLORPR.ST-With the sample file in this folder Darrei Anderson helps teach you how to produce full-color printouts with your black and white printer. (You might need sunglasses to cut down the brilliance of the printed results!) You'll find one squeezed picture inside:
TESTPRNT.PQ2-the squeezed medium-res DEGAS picture.* DISK.ST- Dave Small and Dan Moore wring 40K more bytes out of the ST disk, while maintaining compatibility with TOS, and yet manage to double their disk access times. They make TOS stand on tiptoe and deliver hard disk backup at over a megabyte-a-minute. Want to duplicate their results? Try these:
BACKMAKE.MQ-a "make" file; for creating the backup program.* ICON.ST-Alex Leavens worked very hard to satisfy us on this one. Step right up and design your own personal icons for your Desktop, with the help of the five different files inside this folder:BACKUP.CQ-C source code for the backup program.
BACKUP.DQN-the squeezed ".DFN" file the Resource Construction Set (RCS) program needs.
BACKUP.PQG- the runnable Backup Program.
BACKUP.RQC- the Resource File for the Backup Program.
MMTWST.CQ - inline assembly in Megamax format for TWISTER.C and BACKUP.C.
PROTECT.ACC-an accessory to "write-protect" your Hard Disk.
PROTECT.CQ - the C source code to create the accessory.
PROTECT.DQN - the squeezed ".DFN" file an RCS program needs.
PROTECT.RQC- the Resource file for the Protect Accessory.
REBOOT.SQ-assembly source code for the Rebooter program.
REVIVE.CQ-the C source code for the reviver program.
REVIVE.PQG - the Reviver program itself.
TWISTER.C- C source guaranteed to twist your disk.
TWISTER.DQN - the squeezed ".DFN" file an RCS program needs.
TWISTER. PQG- the Sector Twisting program.
TWISTER.RQC- the Resource file for the Sector Twister
TWSTMAKE.MQ-the "make" file for creating TWISTER.PRG.
EDITME.RQC- the main program's Resource File.* MACROPIX.ST-When Dale Giarratana submitted this program to Antic Magazine, they were overwhelmed. "This is too much for our readers!" they exclaimed. "Get thee to START Magazine!" We were impressed. Here, in one Personal Pascal program, is a nice introductory object-oriented drawing program. Here are the files for it:EDITOR.AQC-the editor program, in Accessory Format.
ICON.DQT-actual picture information for sample Icons.
LOADICON.AQC-the Accessory program to load your new Icons.
MAKEICN2.TQS-the TOS version of the Icon Designer program.
MACROPIX.PQG-the finished, squeezed, MACROPIX program.* PRINTER.ST-Tom Hudson is amazing. Without any prompting from us, he pops up with a program which actually creates printer drivers which DEGAS and the Atari Screen Print driver can use. Now you, your oddball printer and DEGAS can all sleep easy, with .the help of the six files Tom sent to us:MACROPIX.PQS-the Personal Pascal source code. A whopper!
TEST.DCL- color palette used in sample picture.
TEST.DDR-MacroPix sample picture.
TIME.INF- the file containing MacroPix's time delays.
DEREAD.CQ-C source for reading DEGAS Elite compressed Pics.* RAYTRACE.ST- Have we mentioned Tom Hudson was a genius? In between turning out hits like DEGAS Elite and CAD-3D 2.0, he casually views the Xanth "Shiny Bubbles" demo, then goes home and writes a complete set of programs which allow you to design and turn out ray-tracing animations yourself. We'd like you to see what you can do with it! You'll need the following four files:PMASM.SQ-Printer Driver Maker assembly source code.
PRNTMAKE.CQ - the C source for the Printer Driver program.
PRNTMAKE.DQN-the squeezed ".DFN" file an RCS program needs.
PRNTMAKE.PQG-the runnable Printer Driver program itself.
PRNTMAKE.RQC-the Printer Drivers' Resource file.
EXAMPLE .CTL- the "script" you'll need to create your own ray-trace demos.* TAX86.ST- Only two things certain in life, and the other is taxes. To help make the best of a sticky situation, we present here Schedule Sheets for the 1986 US Income Tax form 1040, arranged in the VIP Professional format ".WKS" file. This is a large file, so make sure you have lots of room for decompression. There's only one file inside the folder:TRACEASM.SQ-assembly source code for the tracing routines.
TRACER.CQ-the ray-trace program in C source code form.
TRACER.PRG- the runnable ray-trace program itself.
TAX86.WKS - the spreadsheet.