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The CyberSTrider files

In a welcome return, Denesh Bhabuta resurrects the files to unveil the Atari news that is out there - somewhere!

It's good to be back and what better way to begin than by informing you of a new Internet Suite announced on Usenet. The Draconis Package is currently being developed as an all-in-one solution. The latest open beta version contains the connection software, a web browser called Adamas and an email package called Marathon.

** ADAYAHOO.GIF here **
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The Adamis web browser, part of the Draconis Package, displaying the popular search engine www.yahoo.com
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** MAILPRVW.GIF here **
** Caption **
The Marathon emailer, part of the Draconis Package
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** COMPOSIT.GIF here **
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Various dialogs from the Draconis Package
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Other clients will follow in due course and naturally I will keep you posted. The preview looks promising and the final version will certainly give the current crop of Atari internet software a run for their money.

One of the best places to pick up Atari news is in the internet Usenet newsgroups. I recently asked if ANY of the current freeware STiK/STiNG compatible internet programs could be used with PPP-Connect, the connection software bundled with CAB and sadly it seems the answer is a resounding no!
The good news is that there is now a commercial email program available for PPP-Connect costing DM 70 (around œ25).

** ASHEMAIL.GIF here **
** Caption **
Commercial email program from ASH which works with PPP-Connect
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My simple question turned into a discussion on the upgrade prices of Atari software. Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH), the German software house who produce CAB and MagiC, came in for criticism of their upgrade price policy.

With hefty upgrade prices between versions it's easy to end up spending more on upgrades than the software costs new. ASH stepped in to explain upgrades contain extra functionality or software citing the PPP-Connect bundle with CAB 2.5 as an example. This prompted two debates:

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* Should a TCP/IP stack be a commercial program or available as an extension to an operating system - as on other platforms.
* Why bundle extra software in upgrades which some people may not require but still end up paying for them?
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Looking at it the other way, the Atari market is tiny and an innovative company like ASH can only continue supporting the Atari platform if there's money in it. There's no easy answer but one tip I'm considering is to buy every other upgrade - it works out cheaper!

HomePage Penguin v2.08

Since v2 HomePage Penguin, the popular interactive home page creator, programmed by Matthias Jaap is commercial software. A demo version is available for download from:

** BC on **
Email: mjaap@hsw.ifl.uni-hamburg.de
URL: http://www.hh.schule.de/hhs/mjaap/ftp/hppeng2d.zip
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Tabi 1.5 special X-Mas release!

Tabi is a flexible interactive HTML table generator, also programmed by Matthias Jaap, has been updated. This release offers:

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* OLGA support (as Server)
* Browser preview (CAB, WenSuite, Light of Adamas)
* long filename support
* 3D look added to popup menus
* Example tables
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Download is available from:

** BC on **
Email: mjaap@hsw.ifl.uni-hamburg.de
URL: http://www.hh.schule.de/hhs/mjaap/ftp/tabi.zip
** BC off **

CAB news

CAB v2.6 should be available in Germany by the time you read this. This latest release features a new hotlist in a window design, which is more flexible than the previous dialog based design. Also included is an updated version of PPP-Connect and a new ftp client called Fiffi.

Meanwhile Manfred Ssykor has released an updated CABFtp v0.24 as shareware and the CAB overlay module (CAB.OVL) for STiK programmed by Dan Ackerman has been updated to v1.2705. There's also the prospect of a separate optimised 68030 version. Downloads available from:

** BC on **
URL: http://www.flinny.demon.co.uk/files/cabftp/cabftp04.lzh
URL: http://www.netset.com/~baldrick/CAB_OVL.LZH
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AniPlayer

** ANIPLAYR.GIF here **

There's not many AVI/MOV players for the Atari platform so it's good news another one has surfaced. AniPlayer is freeware, programmed by Didier Mequignon in France and is undergoing active development - the next releases will support NOVA 16-bit (Hades) and possibly 2x zoom in a window. Download available from:

** BC on **
Email: didier.mequignon@wanadoo.fr
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/didierm/files/aniplay.zip
** BC off **

** Italics on **
Denesh Bhabuta
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