Steve!

It's all in the name!

I love trolling through the STs archives looking for anything to entertain this old man I've become. Not only games, but anything - just look at sections of my website like Software(s) and Other STuff Out There.

I’ve found a program called (wait for it) Steve, and being the owner of such a cool name, I thought it was funny. The name stands for ST EVent Editor, a multi-function program that does just about everything we dreamed of back then: Text, Graphics, Database, Desktop Publishing, and Computer-Aided Instruction.

ST Event Editor was developed in 1989 by Primož Jakopin, a Yugoslavian (wow, that takes me back), whom I had to contact. He still has an active website, which shocked me, but not as much as finding out that the manual is available to download. Wanna know a little more before you click the links below? Here ya go...

"STeve - ST EVent Editor - is a general-purpose software tool that can handle text, pictures, data records, full pages (in DTP mode) and computer-aided-instruction units. It has been designed to get the most out of the ATARI ST range of computers - to be as fast as possible, to save as much space as is feasible and last, but not least, to be easy on the eyes. Processing of Mega-byte files, containing hundreds of pages with text and graphics, makes sense with STEVE. The program comes from Slovenia, a small country in the northwest of Yugoslavia, situated between the Adriatic Sea, the Alps, the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula."

STeve seems to be all things to all men, but it’s surreal seeing something like this today. Using it is complex, so check out the online manual, especially the keyboard commands. The potential is massive, and I can imagine how it was used back in the day - read "The usage of STEVE" in the interview linked below.

Let me know if you boot up STeve, and what you think of it. My greetings to Primož for his time over the months since the summer - I enjoyed hearing his fascinating stories, ST program, and hiSTory.

Here are lots of links for more about Primož and the ST EVent Editor...

• AtariCrypt interview with Primoz: https://www.jakopin.net/papers/memoirs/On_STEVE_en.php
• His website: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/
• STeve's manual: https://jakopin.net/steve/STEve_Reference_Manual.php
• Demozoo download: https://demozoo.org/productions/194056/
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primož_Jakopin
• Other Atari ST software featured here: https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com/search/label/Software

Master CAD

A Day in the Life

Master CAD is a program by MichTron that I've had gathering dust on my shelf for ages. I nabbed it off eBay but have never booted it up. Hmm, I should rectify that to see what professional software was like in 1987.

After brushing away a thick layer of dust, I opened the box and lifted out a weighty manual. "Time for a good read", I thought. Well, no, it wasn't anything close to good. Yep, it wasn't long until I almost fell into a coma! Wow, such dull reading and confusing - so I decided to stop and power on the ST. Installation was a stumbling block: it insists on being stored on Drive C, which is doable but means cluttering up my boot partition. The next problem was a lack of examples to work from (and yes, that means stealing).

With little guidance, I continued the best I could. Don't laugh, but I had foolish plans to map of Doom's E1M1. I've no idea why, I just did. However, it was clear that MichTron wrote this manual for the established designer. Not somebody like me. I soon got to that stage where I wanted to pull out all my hair!!

After many hours, my map looked nothing more than a cluttered mess. In fact, it looked like something a child would have done, embarrassing! This program tortured me every step of the way. It wasn't fun and I had nothing to show for the time wasted. Another day of my life gone and I wondered why I did this. Madness!

Do you want to see how badly Master CAD affected me?

You should scroll down then...

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