** letters page / 874 words

A friend indeed!

I've been meaning to write for ages so here's my long overdue 
comments. AC#9 was a classic where, for me, it all came together 
with topics of interest right across the board.

Icon Power is an example of a real hands on tutorial which takes a 
shareware program and opens new doors for many of us - as does the 
excellent Papyrus pages. Good stuff!

I also get the feeling there's plenty more in the pipeline and our 
platform offers us stability in a world where Gates and Intel 
global domination treats users as nothing more than profit fodder.
 
Back in 1995 œ1000 would buy you a 100MHz PC with 4Mb memory. Of 
course it's obsolete now but no problem, just throw it away (along 
with all the software), spend another œ1000 and you'll be back 
where you started!

For me no other platform comes close to what my concept of real 
computing is about because we deal with real people who can give 
us a real sense of belonging.

I use my ST now more than ever and it's great to see our platform 
offering practical solutions for real enthusiasts. My ST remains 
comfortable to work with and pretty much accommodates all my needs 
although the news that MagiC, NVDI and Papyrus updates are all in 
the pipeline is very encouraging because I use all three.

Compatibility with other platforms remains an issue. My particular 
area of concern is compression. Other platforms are developing 
improved compression techniques and I fear we will be left behind. 
I've recently been helping Carl Hafner iron out some bugs in BELEF 
- a compression tool which makes entering TTP parameters a breeze. 
Carl programs over 30 different programs and these deserve some 
coverage in Atari Computing.

ACC'98 is a MUST and is in my diary in bold print - I even have it 
on my Ease desktop note pad! Your comments were spot on about 
people drifting away from previous shows after bagging their 
goodies - I know I did.

The show is a real chance for us to collectively show support for 
our platform and at the same time expand our expertise. I know the 
way forward is to get online but I find the whole business so 
daunting that I'd like to reserve my place at the head of the 
queue for some practical help and straightforward advice - I 
prefer to learn by doing, not reading!

Last but not least I feel AC is a truely professional publication 
in every sense of the word and may I express thanks to ALL those 
involved and good luck for the future - I look forward to catching 
up with you and others at ACC'98.

** italics **
Steve Whitehead, Swindon
** /italics **

** bold **
Thanks Steve, and apologies for trimming your letter down from 
several pages! If you or Carl would like to send us his software 
or an online source we'd be pleased to take a look.
** /bold **

Zap ZIPs?

** ZIPORTOS.GIF here

It's always satisfying to read ones contribution in print and I 
enjoyed reading my article on HP printer drivers in AC#10. 

However I was rather disappointed to find that I could not readily 
access the article on the Reader Disk, or any other item on the 
disk, owing from the change from self extracting files to ZIP 
files, for which I had no instantly available de-zipper.

I would assume many other readers were similarly disappointed and 
I am surprised there was no reminder existing subscribers could 
use the utility on AC#7 Reader Disk. I strongly suggest a ZIP 
utility such as ST-ZIP be included on the next disk for those new 
subscribers who do not have access to a utility of this type.

Keep up the good work.

** italics **
Rod Jenkins, Queensland, Australia
** /italics **

** bold **
To date Roy's letter is the only one we've received on this 
subject. I did include advance warning in the AC#9 Reader Disk 
"... we plan to do this from next issue unless lots of you write 
in asking to keep the self extracting TOS files" - maybe Roy 
missed this?

The Two-in-One archive manager we included on the AC#7 Reader Disk 
is merely a shell and does not include the TTP utilities needed to 
extract archives which are only available as part of the ST-ZIP 
distribution.
I felt including ST-ZIP, which is both large and widely available, 
would have been a waste of valuable disk space - maybe I am wrong?
** /bold **


Trading places?

I am writing to register my concern about certain companies 
encouraging Atari users to change machines! This is exactly what 
we Atari enthusiasts don't need. I read an advert offering quotes 
for PC systems and another company advertising Mac crossgrades. I 
fully understand that for companies to survive they must expand 
into other markets but why can't they advertise in PC and Mac mags 
or sell rubber wear instead.

** italics **
Name and address supplied
** /italics **

** bold **
If we printed too many letters like this one they probably would! 
I understand your point of view but I'm confident Atari 
enthusiasts can resist the urge. The harsh reality is we'd 
probably include ads selling rubber wear given the chance because 
we need the advertising revenue.
** /bold **