There may be a famine of new applications for the Atari, but there's a positive flood of utilities. Ofir Gal offers some tips on how to turbo‑charge your Atari.
The Atari scene continues to show the expected high‑quality releases, but it is now rare to see any new applications or even updates of existing applications. What we do seem to get are utilities of an exceptional quality. The reasons for this trend are simple — the market is perceived to have shrunk so much that programmers just don't want to invest too much time or money in program development. Instead, they're chasing a quicker buck by channelling their talents into utilities. This is especially true of non‑musical applications like word processors, database or DTP applications, where development has all but ceased. On the music front, at least we still have companies like SoundPool carrying the Atari flag. A recent personal study of some Mac audio applications made me realise just how powerful Falcon programs like AudioTracker and ZeroX are.
New Products
While there's not much new on the audio and MIDI front, two of the most successful Atari products have just seen a major upgrade. MagiC, the multi‑tasking operating system, is now at version 4, and is Falcon‑compatible for the first time in its history. NVDI, the screen accelerator, is also in its fourth incarnation, with some useful new features. The two products are from the System Solutions stable, and improve your existing Atari system by providing multi‑tasking support and an increase in speed. As good as they are, they merely enhance other applications. The good news is that there are a couple of exciting video and audio programs in the pipeline as well as a professional spreadsheet, so continue to watch this space.
Multi‑Tasking
When Atari released MultiTOS along with the Falcon, there was much excitement over the prospect of a true multi‑tasking operating system. In theory, such a system allows you to run and use several programs at the same time, memory permitting. This is not the same as being able to switch between programs, as was made possible by short‑cuts like C‑Lab's Softlink or Steinberg's Switcher. A true multi‑tasking system lets programs share the screen space while all being active at the same time. So, you could type a letter into your word processor while Cubase is printing a score sheet in the background, for example. Both Windows 3 and the Mac System 7 which were available at the time were also able to multi‑task, but to a much more limited degree, so MultiTOS was a true ground‑breaker.
In practice, MultiTOS proved slow and unreliable, but not irredeemably so. Atari engineers, headed by Eric Smith, continued to refine and improve MultiTOS for a while, until Atari management decided to channel their money and time into the ill‑fated Jaguar. The last Beta‑test version was a great improvement, but it was never released to the general public. In addition, Cubase or Notator simply would not run under MultiTOS, for a variety of technical reasons. Strange as it may seem, no attempts were made by Atari to take time‑critical applications like Cubase into consideration. The criticism could equally be aimed at the sequencer authors for not trying at any stage to make their products more multitask‑friendly.
A Touch Of Magic
MagiC was launched in Germany around the same time as MultiTOS. From day one, it showed great promise. It was stable, reliable and much faster than MultiTOS or TOS. It was not compatible with the main MIDI sequencing packages available at the time and still isn't, despite many user requests. The authors still maintain that the fault lies with Cubase, which sounds plausible, but no one seems to have the definitive answer. The only MIDI sequencers that reportedly work with MagiC are Breakthru and Notator Logic. So, why should you even bother with MagiC if you don't use these products?
If all you use your Atari for is running a MIDI sequencer, then getting MagiC would be a waste of time and money. However, if you also use it for word processing, graphics or DTP, MagiC offers a much improved working environment. The basic package comes with a greatly improved desktop, and of course the ability to multi‑task. MagiC installs itself over TOS, completely overwriting the existing operating system. It doesn't matter which version of TOS you have, and if you ever need to return to it, you can just remove the MagiC loader program from the AUTO folder and restart.
Being a complete re‑write of the operating system, installing MagiC means that you can forget about the various TOS patches and fixes that litter your AUTO folder. Additionally, everything works much faster: disk access, screen redraws, the lot. Its features include the ability to run up to 16 programs in parallel, switch between programs using the mouse or keyboard, and single‑task obstreperous applications (before you ask, this doesn't help with Cubase). It also has an improved file selector and desktop. When used with a compatible disk driver, MagiC can also perform background disk access. You can format a floppy disk while copying files on your hard drive, while using another program or two, while powdering your nose, all at the same time.
If you plan on getting MagiC, I highly recommend that you check with the dealer that your main programs are compatible with it. Many older programs were not written with multi‑tasking in mind, and this can mean that they will simply not work with MagiC installed.
NVDI v4
NVDI must be the most popular utility on the market. Basically, what it does is to replace the parts of the operating system that handle screen display and printer output with much faster and more reliable code. The improvement is stunning. Depending on the actual task in hand, you may see a speed increase by a factor of two or more. Some tasks, such as plain text display, are 10 times faster. NVDI works happily with applications like Notator SL and Cubase. In fact, there are very few programs that don't work with NVDI.
If you only use your Atari for music‑making, the latest version doesn't offer you much. All the screen acceleration is already present in version 2.5, which is still available at a lower price. What version 4 has to offer are further enhancements to the font engine that first appeared in version 3. This means that you can use scaleable PC fonts (Truetype) as well as Speedo fonts, if you have a compatible word processor such as Papyrus or AtariWorks. Unfortunately, Cubase Score makes no use of these facilities, and uses its own built‑in font driver.
The new version of NVDI offers several improvements, most notably the ability to install and remove fonts at any time without needing to restart. This is done using the included utility FontName, which lets you preview fonts and add them to your setup at any time. Print handling has been improved, and for the first time, colour separation is possible. This will be handy once Papyrus 4 is released, because it will rely on NVDI 4 when printing colour graphics. If needed, you can adjust the colour and gamma correction tables used for printing via the MakePrn utility, and even create your own printer driver should the need arise. MagiC 4 (£69.95) and NVDI 4 (£59.95) are available from System Solutions (0181 693 3355).
Dongle Jungle
Alan Bailey from Cheshire wrote in to point out a common problem for Atari users. The cartridge port is a favourite among software makers when it comes to protecting their programs. A dongle is used by Steinberg, C‑Lab, SoundPool and others to prevent or minimise piracy. The trouble is that if you have two or more of these programs, as Alan does, you have to keep switching the dongles around. This can only be done after turning off the computer, and is bound to cause eventual damage to the delicate connectors. There are several solutions to this problem:
- CartMaster Lite (£69.95) provides two ports, which are switchable via a desk accessory.
- CartMaster 4 (£119.95) — same as the above, with four ports. Both from Systems Solutions, tel: 0181 693 3355.
- Midex + (£475.00) — Four cartridge ports with automatic switching, four extra MIDI outputs, two extra, mergeable MIDI inputs and SMPTE sync. This product can be modified to work with the Falcon, but there have been reports of problems with this modification. From Harman, 0181 207 5050.
- C‑Lab Combiner (£99.00) — Four ports with automatic switching. From Digital Media, 01422 340875.