SPACE Newsletter

NEWSLETTER September, 2002 u

President's Corner by Michael Current October, 2002 It's that time of the year again, time to think about running for

an Officer position for your favorite Atari club. This month we · will be taking nominations for the positions ofPresident, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Elections will follow next month at our Annuai Meeting in November. Last month we passed the Bylaws amendment (as published in

last month's newsletter) with 8 'yes' votes. That represented the minimum number of'yes' votes required for the amendment to pass; though it included all members who were there to vote! As a result of this change to the Bylaws, we think we are in a better place to welcome out-of-state memberships, should we continue to experience increased interest in this regard. We also authorized Lance on behalfof SPACE to pursue the possibility of obtaining the PD/freeware/shareware library of the former vendor, C&T ComputerActive. I'm looking forward to learning this month where we stand with this initiative! In general, it was one of the most fun meetings I think I can remember Jti.t month, ~at with .all the games and systems on display and ready for action. The pinball game running on the TT was fantastic, especially after Nolan got the sound working through the TV where the 7800 was running. The Klax-like game running on the 8-bit DOM was exceptional as well, I thought.

Tabled issues include the 8."bit CD-ROM idea, and the Dorsett Tapes library. Home page report, Sat 9/28/02 4:35pm~This page bas been viewed: I times in the past hour, 12 times today (since local midnight), 168 times this week (since Sunday), 689 times this month, and 5458 times since 2/9/02. Thanks~keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, October I I, 2002.

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For September, 2002 Hard t9.believe that about two years ago some ofus were making bets on how long the Club could last. We thought we .could make it through the end of that year. Well all bets are off now! Sin(:e that time the Club has held a few auctions, created two ST CD-ROM disks, and held firmly to about the fifteen ' paid up members we had a couple of y~s ago. Now we are talking about the unbelievable task ofcreating a CD-ROM of 8-bit DOM's. This would be the icing on the cake and I think it would really be a big boost for the Club. It's not as ifwe are in financial troublet it's just the opposite. The Club is going strong with no end in sight. In fact, the meetings have gotten more interesting and ~ and this is what belonging to a user's group should be like. There are no money worries; all we do is have fun and relax and talk Atari. Here is why we are having so much fun: Beginning balance for September I~ 2002: Receipts for the September meeting: Memberships Dom's STCD-ROM's Total receipts for September

30.00 39.00

42.QQ 109.00

Expenses for the September meeting: BBS phone for Aug and Sept

20.00

Total expenses for September

20.00

Ending balance for September 30, 2002:

1,125.74

What can I say, simply amazing. Even though we have room rental for the third quarter coming up and we owe Mike for two months of newsletters, our Treasury is looking terrific. The future of Atari is also promising after hearing last month about other clubs that still exist but do not produce a newsletter. I think the Atari world is much bigger than we can even imagine. Just try typing Atari in Yahoo's search engine and you will find thousands of websites waiting to be explored. Well. enough chatting for this month. I think will search out

L

some Atari sites right now so I can stop my anxiety attack thinking about it. Hope to see you all next m~nth.

Picture Needed

., ,

Secretary's Report By Brian Little For September, 2002

Did not receive any Minutes last Month. . . . . . . ' Newsletter Editor.

********************************************** · · '--Frbrfl: ·11Dean"Garraghty" <dgs@clata.net>· --Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 19:53:18 +0100 Hello All, I'm pleased to announce that I've been able to find a better cash · exchange service, so rnrnow-ableto offe'r theDGS/PPP Atari• 8-bit CD-ROM for the same price in cash as fQr credit cards using ·PayPal·.-l'm-also·able to ac~t cash in payments in Euros as well as US$. The price for the CD is now US$15 for Paypal or cash in US$, or 15 Euros in cash. However, as you will be aware, I am not able to sell the CD to anyone in Germany, Austria, or , ,. Switzerland due to licensing issues. I have, therefore, created a 'cut-down' version of the CD containing just the DGS ·products: D1gi-Studio; News-Dislc issues 1-14, News-Paper issues 15-19, News-Paper-on-disk issues 20-26, and the NewsPaper Yearly Disk. This 'cut-down' version can be sold to any - ·· country. The price for this CD is US$ IO for PayPal or cash, or - .• -10 Euros in cash. UK customers can buy eithet" of the CDs by cheque (IOpounds full version, 6pounds 'cut-down' version). Full info on the CDs with ordering info can be found on the -· ··-OOS website: · http://www.dgs.clara.net (click the link to the CD-ROM page).

Dean Garraghty

*••··············································· -· ---From: Kevin Savetz <savetz@northcoast.com> --Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 16:42:56 GMT

A new port of the Atari800 Emulator for Mac OSX is now available. If features the current Atari800 base, including all of the recent adds for cartridge types, such as Action!, SpartaDosX, etc.. It also does full screen .emulation. The current release is very alpha, and not at all Mao-like. Preferences, native menus, and more features are coming soon. http://members.cox.net/atarimac "[This news item courtesy of Atari.org - http://www.atari.org]

--Date: Monday, September 16, 2002 1:03 AM +0000 --From: "Raphael J. Espino" <rjespino@sdflonestar.org> This has been a long time in coming, but version 0.8 ofa8jdpeg is now available: http://a8jdpeg.atari.org http://a8jdpeg.webhop.org a8jdpeg is a JPEG viewer for the Atari 8-bits, based on the C=64's Juddpeg decoder (http://www.ffd2.com/fridge/) written by Stephen L. Judd. This version replaces the release dated 07Aug01, and includes the following changes: • Added dithering to most modes. This improves the displayed . image quality. • Added image information/help screen. · • Images can now be saved while displayed in modes 2, 3, D ~dE. * The jagged borders at the image edge in IIlP mode have been eliminated. . * Added default filename on the save prompt. * Viewer now defaulfs to inode E (HIP) iri 64K"and·mode $ (GR.9) in 48K • Inverse video and upper/lower case keypresses are now handled in all menus. • Fixed problem with the last column in certain images being repeated whep an offset was used. * The decoder won't abort on images with Huffinan errors if they contain restart markers. • Replaced the raw save option with a PGM (Portable Gray Map) save option. Note: The 64K display modes use the RAM under the OS, and hence_ will crash most versions of SpartaDOS. These should work fine with BEWEDOS though. The 48K display modes should work fine with any version of SpartaDOS. Comments, suggestions, bug reports, feedback, etc. are welcome. rjespino@sdflonestar.org SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdflonestar.org

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• -From: "Dean Garraghty" <dgs@clara.net> -Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 20:39:41 +0100 Hello All, As you may have seen from an earlier post, I have created a 'cut-down' version of the DGS/PPP Atari &~bit CD~ROM containing just the OOS products. This new version can be sold to any country, including German-speaking countries. Below is a list of products included on each version. A • means it appears on both the 'full' and 'cut-down' version. A% means it appears on the 'full' version only:

% Quick Programming language V2.2 (latest version) and

v2. l (for compatibility with older QUICK sources) % Quick Support Disks I and 2 % SAM (Screen Aided Management) Vl.25i (80-col desktop system, similar to GEM - no additional hardware needed) % SAM Budget (spreadsheet) % SAM Designer (DTP/designer package with circuit diagram . creation facilities) % SAM Utility Extensions (conversion between SAM and non-SAM formats) % 4 Power Per Post games: Rubber Ball, Glaggs It!, Bombi, Mine Sweeper % QuickEd (Character set editor for mouse, joystick and touch tablet) • Digi-Studio (digitized sounds/music utility} • Issues 1-14 of our News-Disk on-disk magazine • Issues 15-19 ofthe printed magazine carrying on from the on-disk mag (scans of the original mags) • Issues 20-26(last issue) of the on-disk magazine carrying on from the printed mags • News-Disk Yearly Disk I (disk to go with the printed mags, includes lots of Quick source code)

Prices are as follows: 'Full' version - for sale to all countries EXCEPT Germany, Austria. Switzerland: US$15 by PayPal or cash UKI Opounds (by cheque for UK customers only) EURO I 5 in cash 'Cut-down' version - for sale to all countries: US$10 by PayPal or cash UK6pounds (by cheque for UK customers only) EURO 10 in cash For more info, and to order on-line using a credit/debit/charge card using PayPal, please visit the web site at http://www.dgs.clara.net and click the link to the CD-ROM page. If you are sending cash, please e-mail me when you have sent it. I can then e-mail to let you kno"'. \Vhen it arrives.

I have so far sold 16 copies of the 'full' versio~ which means I'm still running at a loss. A few people have posted to say they have received their copies1 and are happy with it. This should hopefully show that this isn't all a con, that the CD does exist, and I'm not trying to rip anyone off! Please have a look at the info on the web site, and consider ordering this CD. Thanks. .

.

Dean Garraghty

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , . . . Hello from Emulators Inc. in Seattle. You are receiving this email because you registered your email address with us at the Emulators online store (which you visited either through http://softmac2000.com or http://softmacxp.com). I am writing to update you on the status of our products.

Earlier this summer just prior to Macworld we sent out a mailing to thousands of our customers and people like yourself to announce the latest Soft.Mac Xpress release. Due to the strong response, which we have received, we are currently backlogged several weeks in our order processing. If you placed an order with us this summer, you have likely already received another email from me to notify you of this delay. We expect to have the backlog cleared by later this month and be back on our 5 to 7 day order turnaround schedule. September is the 10th anniversary of the release of our Gemulator product, the world's first 68000 emulator for MSDOS, which featured Atari ST, and Apple Macintosh emulation for the PC. We first released Gemulator to the "net", not quite the Internet at the time, but rather to a series ofBBSs as well as America Online and CompuServe, back in September 1992. The same month that I launched it in person at the 1992 Glendale Atari Fair. It is amazing how fast these past IO years have gone by, and incredible number of product releases that we have made during that time. Including Windows 3.1 1 Windows 95, and Wmdows 2000 releases of Gemulator, the 68030 emulation featured in Gemulator Pro, and the 68030 and 68040 Apple Macintosh emulation featured in our Soft.Mac product lines. Not to mention ST Xformer and PC Xfonner Atari 8-bit emulators for GEM and DOS, the Xformer 98 and Xformer 2000 emulators for Windows, and the popular Gemulator Explorer file exchange utility for reading Atari ST and Macintosh disks on the PC. We are preparing a 10th anniversary Gernulator release, which

rn be announcing on the Emulators web site in a few weeks as well as other news. I am glad to report that work on the SoftMac Professional emulator continues, with an expected release next year. which will bring even faster 68040 emulation to the PC and new PowerPC emulation. I will once again be attending our booth at next year's Macworld Expo in New York to demonstrate the product as I did last year. I am also happy to announce that contrary to previous reports, we will posting a free release ofthe PowerPC emulator to the web. It will not be a pay-only product as some have reported. Which bring me to my final topic, that being to remind everyone that as has been our policy these past IO years, and really, for the whole 15 years since I first posted the Xformer Atari 8•bit emulator to CompuServe back in January 1997, that our products are FREE for non-commercial home use. All our of emulators and cross-platform utilities - Gemulator Classic for MS-DOS, Gemulator 2000 for Windows, Soft.Mac 2000, Xfonner, Gemulator Explorer, SoftMac XP - can be downloaded from our web site. These are non-demo releases, and are the same releases, which we sell on CD-ROM and license to schools and corporate customers, a concept strange to some but familiar to anyone who uses free products such as Linux and a concept I've always believed in. As someone who started my career in the computer industry as a teenage hobbyist in the l 970's, I learned from free software I downloaded from BBS's and learned from free listings printed in computer magazines. So I've always made it a point to freely give away most of our products for home use and

why I remain so vigilant against computer consumers getting ripped off by multi-national multi-billion dollar corporations. And as with the free SoftMac XP 8.2 and the file system driver source code release earlier this year, we will continue to release new updates to our products and source code to some of our products free of charge via our web site. and yest that will include the PowerPC emulator. Please don't email me asking for release dates or other unannounced infonnation or for pre-releases. Remember to simply visit the http://www.emulators.com web site every few weeks for new announcements and new download. And don't forget to tell your mends that free emulators still _do_ exist on the web and will continue to be maintained and developed in the future. If you have any comments concerning our products, our

Emulators web site at http://www.emulators.com, or have computer tips you wish to share with me for publication on our Secrets page http://www.emulators.com/secrets.htm, please feel to email me directly at dare.km@emulators.com.

PROOF load AW+ from any drive. Change the screen display width. (Left margin & # ofColumns)Eliminate several annoying prompts. Allow directories from drives 1-8 Allow directory ofAW+ master disk to be displayed. And more. StarStuffer (disk) $5 Create fonts and download them to your Star NX-10 or SG-10 printer upon boot-up. Can be used with any programming language or word processor. Disk includes several ready made fonts as well as programs to edit them or create new ones using a joystick. Fonts can be saved as binary files that can be loaded via menu or as an AUTORUN.SYS file. Search System II (disk) $5 An easy to use general purpose data base/filer. Accepts · unstructured variable length fields. Machine language sort & find routines allow quick retrieval of iofonnation for printing, editing, or deletion. Atari BASIC Enhancements (disk) $5

Thank you for your time and enjoy our emulators!

Darek Mibocka President, Emulators Inc. http://www.emulators.com <http://www.emulators.com/>

Perform DOS functions, translate error codes to English, convert between Decimal & Hex numbering systems, and more from BASIC. Similar to the Wedge, but uses no program memory. Works with ALL 8-bit Atari's.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

8-bit TTL Logic Analyzer (disk) $5

The following is posted with permission from Paul Alhart. Products available from Alhart Enterprises Presents are:

Great project for hobbyists. On this disk is the software & commented MAC65 source code as well as the schematic and directions for building the required interface which can be built for under $10.

RANA Repair Guide (book) $12

MagicCalc (disk) $5 Complete mechanical & electrical alignment instructions for the Rana Systems 1000 disk drive. Includes schematics, waveform diagrams, parts lists. controller PCB updates & modifications, and several helpful repair tips. *********Buy any 2 or more disks for only ~3

ea.•**••••••

AtariWriter+ Companion (disk) $5 A wealth of information for AW+ users. IO of my past A-T-AR-I columns that deal exclusively with AW+. Includes ready to run programs that let you modify several AW+ defaults and functions, edit and install new screen fonts, change screen colors, increase the key-repeat rate, disable the '850 handler' loader... And so much more. Use with AW+c.II to make AtariWriter+ the best it can be. AtariV{_riter+ Companion II (disk) $5 A must r~t hard drive users. AtanWriter+ Companion II allows you to customize the 48K version of AW+ Eliminate copy protection. Add high speed J/S cursor routine. Decrease title screen display time Allow the Dictionary disk to be used in any drive from I to 9. Let AW+ load PROOF from any drive. Let

A "memory resident" 4 function calculator for machines with expanded memory. This program hides away in expanded memory until called via a Hot Key combination. Calculator entry can be Decimal, Hex, or Binary. (Divide a Hex number by a Binary number) Entries and results are displayed in all three numbering systems. There are two versions of MagiCalc on this disk. MagiCalc XL is for Xl/XE machines with XE compatible expanded memory such as Rambo. MagiCalc 800 is for 400/SOOs with Axion memory upgrades. Games disk (disk) $5 Jacks Cargoship is a battleship type game for one or two players. Play against the computer or a friend. Day, Evening, and Night time scenarios with player handicap available. Light Pen/(Light Gun) Tic-Tac-Toe. One player game. Simple but fun. Reconditioned disk drives. All drives come with power supply, I/0 cable, and 90 day warranty. 810 (no case) $20

810 w/case $25 810 w/Archiver $30 1050 $35 Rana l 000 $40 1050 w/doubler $45 Indus GT $45 A $15 credit will be applied if you send me your dead drive (same base model as ordered), power supply, and 1/0 cable. My stock levels are always changing. Please call or write to verify current stock before ordering. Include $10.50/drive for USA S&H. Make checks payable to: PaulV. Alhart 524 North Zee St. Lompoc, Ca. 93436 805 736--4624 paulalhart@hotmail.com

(Mike, this is an article for the newsletter) I've been in contact with Paul V. Alhart, a name you might remember from his articles in Atari Interface and Atari Classics magazines. Paul has provided the following list of his articles. He has offered to provide us with the full-text of any of these articles for inclusion in future issues ofour newsletter. Isn't this a generous offer? If we have interest, maybe at this month's meeting we can select some articles that look most interesting to us. 86.7 Fader II 86.10 Introduction/ Tips on ribbons & RESTORE 86.11 Cold Starts without using the power switch 86. l 2 Cable cautions Save without DOS? 87.1 XM-30 I time bomb/ Atari books / Chaining 87.2 Ape Face & the 1200XL 87.3 Using local BBS's 87.4 Printer Drivers for AW+ 87.5 West Coast Computer Faire/ Game Secrets 87.6 Hackers Challenge 87.7 DefaultWriter+ type in program 87.8 Tips on Rana, PR Connection,XM-301 & 1050,StarStuffer, Daisy Chain Cable mod 87.9 Cassette Label type in program 87.10 XUXE Operating System Vectors 87.11 0S800 Translator 87.1 lA Glendale Computer Faire 87.12 Disk Drive Cleaning 88.2 Search System fixes ·88.3 Rambo XL & MicroStuffer reviews 88.6 Rana Repair Guide 88.7 Help wanted for the club 88.9 Compatibility (hardware-& software) 88.10 Atari BASIC Enhancements 88.11 DefaultWriter+ Companion #1 type in program

88.12 DefaultWriter+ Companion #2 type in program 89.1 Antic Arcade (APX) / Turbo 816 89.3 Search System II 89.4 From Gem to Jewel 89. 5 Secrets for Successful Printing with AW+ 89.8 Express & Bobterm terminal programs 89.12 from The Reference Point to MACquilibrium 90.4 Atari's 800XL Car 90.5 AIM introduction/ Atari Tutorials (BYTE) 90.6 AW+ Secrets Revisited 90.8 AIM 8-bit DOM? 90.9 Upandown toaster/ Operating System Vectors 90.10 AW+/RS-232 / RANA tips & ad. 90.11 DefaultWriter+ Companion #3 type in program 91.1 CALL WAITING 91.2 800XL Car from 90.4 91.3 AW+fastKEYREPEATmod ·91.4 Immediate Mode Programming 91.5 Creative Programming Continued 91.6 MagiCalc XL "91.7 Trip 92.1 Software Hacking (TAFHC) 92.2 Hardware Hacking (Ultra Speed +) 92.3 US+ Review 92.4 TAFHC solution/MagiCalc 800 92.5 Usable USR Routines 92.6 Macros with AW+ 92.7 1050 Write Protect Upgrade AC 93 .1 Macros with AW+ 93 .2 1050 Write Protect Upgrade 93.3 Drive repair tips 93.4 New screen fonts for AW+ (type-in) 94.9 Add Audio to your Monitor 96.1 Programming your disk drives 97.1 FIDO Net 97.2 AW+ Sort/UNsort type-in

********••········································ *ATARI'S UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003 DEMO EXPLODES ONTO THE INTERNET WITH NEARLY 1.2 MILLION DOWNLOADS IN FIVE DAYS* LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 - Atari today announced that the ' trial version of Unreal Tournament 2003, one of the most anticipated PC games of 2002, has already become one of the most popular game demo debuts of all time with nearly 1.2 million downloads between its debut last Friday night, September 13 and Wednesday, September 18. The demo is available at www.unrea1toumament2003.com. Unreal Tournament 2003 is developed by Digital Extremes in conjunction with Epic Games. The four level demo showcases the all new gameplay and graphics included in the follow-up to 1999's Game ofthe Yeat winner, Unreal Tournament. "Fans were waiting for the next big thing in action gaming, and the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo was just what they were looking for," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior vice president and head of lnfogrames, Inc.'s Los Angeles studio. "We

couldn't be happier with the popularity of the title. The new game completely lives up to its Game of the Year heritage. Digital Extremes and Epic have done it again!" According to statistics tracked by Web sites offering the demo, nearly 1.2 million users accessed the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo between Friday night and Wednesday morning. FilePlanet.com and GameSpot.com, two of the most popular online video game download destinations, reported more than 103,000 attempted downloads and more than 50,000 completed downloads respectively. On both sites, the demo is maintaining its position as the top download. In addition, the global Internet 'Traffic Index.' which tracks how fast infonnation is transferred through the Internet, took a sizeable hit when the demo was released on September 13. As a result of so many people downloading the file, the average speed of the Internet worldwide was cut nearly in half.

"After the long hard hours the team spent working on this game it's really gratifying for us to see so many people so eager to play what we've created," said fames Schmalz, founder and · creative director ofDigital Extremes. "It's great to see the incredible reaction we've gotten to the innovations in gameplay that we've added to the sequel. It confirms what we set out to do in evolving the game to the next level." "It's great to see the community that loved Unreal Tournament embrace the new iteration of-franchise in such overwhelming numbers," said Tim Sweeney, founder ofEpic Games. "I can't wait to deliver the full version of the game and watch the community strengthen and expand as competitions, LAN parties and new, innovative mods are born from the new technology.• Unreal Tournament 2003 is scheduled for release this Fall and will be published by Atari. The game will feature more than 30 environments, nearly 50 unique characters and all the action and excitement that made the original Unreal Tournament a smash hit. Wrth new game modes like Bombing Run and Double Domination, as well as an all new graphics engine that leaves all other games looking dated, Unreal Tournament 2003 is set to redefine multiplayer action gaming. For more information, to download the demo or to find download mirror sites, please visit the official Web site at www.unrealtournament2003.com .

CLUB OFFICIALS

DISCLAIMER

(507)663-9029 Michael Current President: Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts mcurrent@carleton.edu (651)4556550 (SPACE), an independent organization with no business Greg Leitner Vice President: affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted greglites@hotmail.com Angel C. Little (JCD:)JCD:-XXXX to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges Secretary: angellittle@msn.com neW'llletters to reprint material from lhiB nelfllletter. Ye do Glen Kirschenmann (763)766-4790 however ult that credit be &fven to the authon and to SPACE. DOM Librarian: kirschg@netzero.net Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not Nolan Friedland (763)689-3711 necessarily refiect the views of SPACE, the club officers, BBS Operator friednw@tcfreenet.org club members or ATARI Corporation. Membership Chairman: Glen Kirschenmann (763)7864790 kirschg@netzero.net (651)455-6550 - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - SPACE Treasurer Greg Leitner greglites@hotmail.com SPACE Newsletter Editor: Michael Schmidt (763)757-4192 You can find the Club's home page at: mi.ke.schmidt@andersencorp.com

http :/ / Space.atari.org

Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE) meets on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PM .

Articles for Publication must be received by t he ·Newsletter Editor two weeks prior to the Club's meeting.

in the Falcon Heights Community Center at 2077 West Larpenteur Ave. Doors open at 7:00 PM. Q)

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Gibbs

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Museum ~

Falcon Height s Community Center 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave.

□

North

1

SPACE BBS BBS: telnet://spacebbs.no-ip .com/ Sysop: Nolan Friedland

Larpenteur Avenue

7

Supporting: U of M St. Paul Campus

ATARI 8-Bit Computers ATARI ST Computers

S.P.A.C .E. c / o Gregory Leitner

3407 78th St E Inver Grove Heights

MN

55076-3037

...J 8 OCT •

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