"The Atari A to Z"
                              by Mark S Baines
                      Copyright (c) 1998 Mark S Baines
                             All Rights Reserved


Introduction


As an educationist I was, and still am, terribly aware of the plight of the 
majority of computer users struggling against the tide of technical jargon, 
acronyms and computer-speak that many others include in their magazine 
articles, books and software manuals. Being a ST owner and enthusiast, I wrote 
a series of articles, some years ago, in the "ST Applications" magazine with 
the aim of providing a source of short, simple definitions to redress the 
balance. Space constraints made these definitions too brief with much material 
left out. The idea of this book was to expand on that series, to develop its 
scope and to include more technical material of help to programmers and the 
experienced user as well as the novice.

"The Atari A to Z" was started in 1992 with the intention of being published 
in 1993. Various and continued difficulties with the publisher delayed 
publication indefinitely until I took over the publication rights in 1994 and 
typeset and published the book myself. I should have done that earlier - 
hindsight is a wonderful thing. My apologies to all those on the bulletin 
board networks who heard me say "Real Soon Now" much too often.

Most Atari users will have noticed the scarcity of English language books 
concerning Ataris with many of the old stand-bys, such as Abacus's "Atari ST 
Internals", no longer in print. The publication of "The Atari Compendium" and 
HiSoft's "Modern Atari System Software" have alleviated this long-standing 
problem but these are specifically aimed at the programmer and high-level 
user. They too are now out of print. I am also aware, in my frequent 
conversations with dedicated Atari users, of their real frustration in trying 
to develop their own knowledge and understanding whilst working under this 
handicap. Although "The Atari A to Z" is not intended to be a technical 
journal and a replacement for the likes of the above it does go some way to 
satisfy the needs of the 'normal' Atari user.

This book is primarily a reference source and secondly, a book to dip into 
when the fancy takes you. It is not, and never meant to be, an exhaustive 
reference source for the Atari range. "The Atari Compendium" supplies much of 
what is missing from this book, programmers need to look no further for such 
definitive information. However, "The Atari A to Z" does contain information 
that "The Atari Compendium" doesn't and in this respect, I see the two 
complementing each other rather than in competition.

All constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated. Thank you for buying 
this book and helping to keep the Atari market alive.


Convention
Because of the many different Atari computers and models, some confusion could 
arise as to which particular model I am referring to at any one time. Unless 
otherwise stated, any reference to the ST also includes the STM, STF, STFM, 
Mega ST, the STE and the Mega STE all of which are essentially variations on 
the ST theme. The term 'ST-Falcon range' generally refers to the whole TOS-
based Atari range of computers which may include the ST Book, Stacy and Stylus 
as well. However, as these last three were never freely and fully available, 
the entries for these may need to be checked to clarify a specific point. A 
term, such as 'ST-TT range', refers to the whole range except the Falcon030. 
In using these phrases to cut down on repeated lists of names, it is assumed 
that the reader has some appreciation of the 'order' of appearance of the 
Atari range, which is: ST, Mega ST, STE, TT030, Stacy, Mega STE, ST Book, 
Stylus and Falcon030 - the Stylus never being released.


Acknowledgments
Thanks to all those at Arnor, especially Mark Tilley, for producing such a 
powerful and intelligent word processor that made the writing and laying out 
of this book so easy and trouble-free.

I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance given 
by my friends on the NeST, TurboNet, FidoNet and AtariNet bulletin board 
systems, CIX and the Internet from whom much material was acquired. A warm 
thanks to my BBS sysops over this period - Ben Van Bokkem, Colin Bruce, Kevin 
Norman and Kevin Osborne - whose unselfish generosity make the BBS networks 
possible.

And lastly, a special acknowledgment and thanks to Paul Hargreaves for 
introducing me to Terry Pratchett, for his constant humour which kept me sane 
and his enormous generosity without which this book would have been 
incomplete.


Dedication
I dedicate this book to Jane, a computer widow who never once complained or 
harangued and whose constant support and eternal understanding made it 
possible.


Mark S Baines
Inver, Scotland
October 1995

msbaines@cix.co.uk