SPACE Newsletter

NEWSLETTER for November, 2003 President’s Corner by Michael Current November, 2003 Calling all SPACE members! (or at least those located within reasonable distances). It's your SPACE Club's Annual Meeting this month! According to our Bylaws, "The Annual Meeting shall be held each November. At the Annual Meeting, Officers shall be elected and volunteers for other ongoing club positions shall be secured." Needless to say, this is an important meeting. Nominations were solicited last month, and nominations will be accepted again at this month's meeting before the elections are held. (I cannot report on the full result of the nominations last month since I was unable to attend the meeting.) There were a number of other items on the agenda for discussion last month, so I'm looking forward to this month's Newsletter so I can find out what was decided. I do wish to take this space (ooo, a pun?) to thank member David Sherwin for contributing his "Opinion: Why We All Need Our S.P.A.C.E." article to last month's Newsletter, along with the Tower Toppler review. Doesn't the Newsletter get much more fun to read when there's original content there? ANY club member can contribute articles, why not you? More to the point, David wrote eloquently about the benefits we all gain from a club like SPACE, and about his strong desire for our club to continue on. We all want that. The question apparently is, who is willing to be SPACE President? I have been planning for months to step down at the conclusion of this term, meaning the conclusion of the November meeting. (And meaning that this should be the final "President's Corner" column authored by me). I firmly believe that the President of this club needs to be someone who can reasonably make it to most meetings. I understand that last month, everyone attending agreed to support electing me as President again. Let me say firstly, I am humbled by your confidence. But let me also say frankly, I think it's a bad idea, and I stand by my opinion that I should not continue on in this leadership capacity. I feel guilty for missing the last three meetings, and I guarantee I will miss most meetings from now on. Regular members can

get away with that, but I think a President should not. It would not be fair to the club, and it would not be fair to put me in the position of feeling guilty about choosing not to spend 6 hours on the road for a 45-minute gathering that I'm supposed to be in charge of each month. Someone else should step up. I wish to continue as Webmaster and unofficial paper librarian, and to continue contributing the "news" items for the Newsletter, but someone else should be President. Yet having said all that, perhaps there was something brought up in last month's discussions that would change my mind. I don't know, I wasn't there. Just show up at this year's Annual Meeting, won't you? It should be interesting! We'll also presumably be planning for a Christmas party next month, if you can believe that! SPACE home page counter update: as of 11/1/03, 9:00pm: 792 hits since June 7, 2003. Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your SPACE Annual Meeting, Friday November 14, 2003.

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For September, 2003

Good to see a few more faces at the October meeting. Sorry Red couldn't make it. We thought he might show up but it didn't happen. Now the weather may keep Red in Arizona until next year. I hope that isn't the case because he sure makes a splash when he participates in our meetings. I hope it stays warm enough for one more month and maybe Red would extend his Minnesota stay. We held a short meeting in September. There isn't much going on lately and we spent most of our meeting talking about the pitfalls of the good old PC. I guess Microsoft will never get it right with their software. Someone will always find a way to bypass their operating system no matter what patches they provide to protect it. Don't open those attachments unless you are absolutely sure who is sending them. Here is what took place at our September meeting.

Beginning balance for September 1, 2003:

967.17

Receipts for September 2003: Membership renewals Dom Sales

30.00 3.00

Total receipts for September meeting:

33.00

No expenses paid out in September Ending balance for September 30, 2003:

Membership and Dom chairman positions, and many thanks to Glen for the long hours he puts into the Dom every month. Don't forget that these positions are not voted on until the November meeting so anyone who wishes to run for any of these positions may do so. Also, least we forget, the December Xmas party will be here before we can blink, and we need to start planning what to do this year for the meal and any activities we want to throw in. So please come to the meeting next month and help us with your ideas.

1,000.17 Now for the Treasury report for the October meeting:

Well there you have it. Just like that we are at the thousand mark again, and it seems that this is the time of the year when most of our members need to renew their memberships; including me next month. We are going just as strong as ever and it was great to see more members joining in this last month. Don't forget that next month we will be taking nominations for SPACE Club Officials and all positions are wide open. Brian is stepping down as Secretary and with Michael, a Wisconsin resident, the President's job is open. I will gladly keep the Vice-president and Treasurer's positions if the Club will re-elect again, but we really need to find a President and Secretary this next year. So, what do you say? Let's have a great turnout for the meeting in October and help support your Club. See you then.

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For October, 2003

What a beautiful evening it was on the night of our October SPACE meeting. Seven members were present and we had a great meeting. Of course the main topic had to be our nominations for the officer's positions for 2004. Not a single member present is interested in the President's position so I nominated Michael Current once again to be our President for the New Year. Of course Michael would have to agree with this and I have e-mailed my thoughts to him. I sure hope he responds positively to the nomination as he surely is the best candidate for the job no matter how far away he lives. As far as the other positions are concerned I have agreed to run again for Vice-president and Treasurer, and Nolan has agreed to run for Secretary replacing Brian who for personal reasons is stepping aside. Nolan would also be keeping the BBS going and we are all thankful to him for his efforts. Glen has also agreed to keep the

Beginning balance on October 1, 2003:

1,000.17

Receipts for the October meeting: Memberships Doms

60.00 24.00

Total receipts for October

84.00

Expenses for the October meeting: BBS

20.00

Ending balance on October 31, 2003

1,064.17

It just keeps getting better. Keep those memberships up to date and buy the doms. I hope we can have another auction soon, but nothing seems to be happening out there. I guess everyone is hanging on to those precious 8-bit Ataris. It would be nice if some of them were to join us and get a movement started once again in making the 8-bit a still viable computer and game machine. I think we are moving in that direction, and to help out I am thinking in setting up a 400 Atari with a few game cartridges in our lunchroom at my work. I know of a few co-workers who play a lot of games on more advance machines at home, but they are always interested in my talking about the Atari. I know they are going to love playing some of the old games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger and Space Invaders just to name a few. I will let you all know later how this project turns out. In the meantime I am signing off, but I will see you all at the November meeting and hopefully Michael will be there too.

Secretary's Report By Brian-Angel C Little For October, 2003

No Minutes Submitted.

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--Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 21:00:59 +0000 (UTC) --From: "Raphael J. Espino" This has been a long time in coming (again!), but version 0.9 of JpegView is now available: http://a8jdpeg.atari.org http://a8jdpeg.webhop.org We've now got a PGM viewer too: PgmView, available at the same place. See 2nd half of this message for more info. JpegView 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. The following changes have been made to JpegView: * Improved graphics mode selection menu * Improved support for large images, images up to 1280x800 will be reduced to fit the available screen size * Dithering added to all modes * Improved GR.8 flicker mode * Added horizontal divide by 4 capability * Images are automatically adjusted so they no longer look stretched in certain modes * Assorted bug fixes and improvements It may not seem like it, but there's a lot of new code in this version, so there's probably some new bugs too. Please try this and let me know if you have any problems. -There's also a PGM viewer now: PgmView Decoding a PGM image is a lot quicker than a JPEG, but PGMs use more disk space. Both a8jdpeg and JpegView will convert JPEGs to PGM, which can then be viewed with PgmView. This is useful if: * You want to view an image repeatedly (maybe in several display modes), especially if you've got a big enough ramdisk. * You've got a 48K machine and want to view images in HIP and the other 64K modes (PgmView will never use more than 48K) * You don't care about disk space If you want to view the same image more than once, then you can convert it to PGM first and then view it with PgmView. This will work even better if you've got a big enough ramdisk or a fast disk drive.

PgmView can use all display modes in 48K. People with 48K machines can now view images in modes that need a 64K machine with JpegView. Use JpegView/a8jdpeg to convert the images to PGM and then PgmView to view the images in HIP and other flicker modes that needed 64K. PgmView also provides another way of transferring images from a PC to the Atari. You can easily convert from just about any image format out there to PGM using the freely available Netpbm toolkit (http://download.sourceforge.net/netpbm/), transfer them to the Atari, and use PgmView to view them and convert them to Micropainter and HIP formats. As usual, comments, suggestions, bug reports, feedback, etc. are welcome. Next up: A colour version of the JPEG viewer. ********************************************* * --Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 16:21:20 -0700 Mark DiLuciano of Sunmark has announced the immediate availability in cartridge form of the unreleased Atari 8-bit game MIDI Maze. MIDI Maze is a multi-player game originally written for the Atari ST and later ported (but never released) for the Atari 8-bit computers. Up to 16 computers can be linked together for play, and Atari 8-bit machines can even be networked together with Atari ST computers using a MIDI Mate interface. The first 50 people to buy a MIDI Maze cartridge will also receive the unreleased prototype Mean 18. You can purchase the game (and view some screenshots) at http://www.sunmark.com [This news item courtesy of Atariage.com: http://www.atariage.com]

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BEVERLY, MA - October 28, 2003 - The most popular fighting game of 2002 enters a new arena as Atari (Nasdaq: ATAR) today shipped Dragon Ball Z(r): Budokai(tm) for Nintendo GameCube(tm). Developed by DIMPS, the Nintendo GameCube version brings exclusive, highly-detailed 3D character models that vividly reflect the visual style of the hit animated series while maintaining the authentic fighting action sought

by DBZ(r) fans. The Dragon Ball Z(r) video game franchise has been one of the industry's most successful over the last 18 months, and Dragon Ball Z(r): Budokai(tm) for the PlayStation(r)2 computer entertainment system has shipped more than 1.4 million units in North America since its December 2002 release. "With enhanced graphics that truly recreate the essence of Dragon Ball Z(r), Nintendo GameCube owners will now get to enjoy their own unique version of Budokai," said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of marketing for Atari's Beverly studio. "Due to the incredible popularity of the Dragon Ball Z(r) franchise and its enormous fan base, it was only natural that Atari bring Dragon Ball Z(r): Budokai(tm) to the Nintendo GameCube." Dragon Ball Z(r): Budokai(tm) spans the Saiyan Saga through the Cell Games, and features five epic play modes, including Story, Duel, Practice, Tournament and Legend of Hercule. Test your skills against the most powerful heroes and the most sinister villains as you play as one of 23 mighty DBZ(r) characters. Many of them are unlockable, and you can unleash up to 60 different combo moves for each character. Every battle is more intense and more dangerous than before - will you be the last warrior standing? The Dragon Ball brand has generated over $3 billion in worldwide licensed merchandise. It is among the toprated series on Cartoon Network and was the numberone rated show among all U.S. cable TV programs for 'tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24 during 2002 season's launch line-up. For the second consecutive year, "Dragon Ball" was the most searched-for term on the Internet in 2002 according to Lycos. Dragon Ball Z(r): Budokai(tm) for Nintendo GameCube is currently available at a suggested retail price of $29.99 and rated "T" for Teen. For additional information on Dragon Ball Z(r), visit www.dragonballz.com. ********************************************* *

A-T-A-R-I Answers-Tips-and-Relevant Information by Paul Alhart paulalhart@hotmail.com 1987.10 I really like my 1200XL, but at the same time I really hate having to use the TRANSLATOR to boot up certain

software. What to do? I translated the offending software to run on my system and filed my Translator Disk away in the back of a drawer somewhere. You can do the same. In the beginning, Atari said, "If programmers use the PUBLISHED VECTORS into the Operating System (O/S), their programs will run on ANY 8-bit Atari Computer." (IF is such a big word.) To make a long story short, some programmers did not follow this rule, but to save a few bytes, jumped right into the O/S. This was fine before the XL/XE machines came along with a different O/S. The published vectors are still the same as Atari promised, but they point to different locations in the O/S. The following list gives the published vector location and the vectors name followed by the ILLEGAL O/S entry points. If you find that a program Jumps to F3F6 to open the screen, (20 F6 F3) and you have an 800XL, change the code to (20 8E EF). Remember: Low byte/High byte. I have found this to be the most common ILLEGAL jump. The next most common are the "K: Get/Put" calls. I spent many hours Peeking into my operating system with a lot of help from Compute's Mapping The Atari to come up with this list. It now saves me lots of time and hopefully will help you also. Note: Translated software will only run on the O/S that it has been translated for, so keep an original copy as back-up. [MC's notethe labels for the columns in this table were corrupted. I don't understand this stuff enough to know what's what. I don't want to get it wrong, so I'll leave it to the reader to figure it out.] 200 VDSLST E790 C0CE C0E7 202 VPRCED E78F C0CD C0E6 204 VINTER E78F C0CD C0E6 206 VBREAK E78F C0CD C0E6 208 VKEYBD FFBE FC19 FC0C 20A VSERIN EB0F 1A23 E929 20C VSEROR EA90 19E6 E88A 20E VSEROC EACF EAEC E8C9 210 VTIMR1 E78F C0CD C0E6 212 VTIMR2 E78F C0CD C0E6 214 VTIMR4 E78F C0CD C0E6 216 VIMIRQ E706 C030 C054

222 VVBLKI E7AE C0E2 C019 224 VVBLKD E905 C28A C2A3 226 CDTMA1 EBEC EC11 EA2E

E400 E:OPEN F3FC EF94 EEF8 E402 E:CLOSE F634 F2D3 F17E E404 E:GET F63E F24A F18F E406 E:PUT F6A4 F2B0 F1F5 E408 E:STATUS F634 F21E F174

E40A E:SPECIAL F63D F2C3 F17C E40C E:JUMP F3E4 EECD E410 S:OPEN F3F6 EF8E EEED E412 S:CLOSE F634 F2D3 F17E E414 S:GET F593 F180 F0D6 E416 S:PUT F5B7 F1A4 F0FA E418 S:STATUS F634 F21E F174 E41A S:SPECIAL FCFC F9AF F903 E41C S:JUMP F3E4 EF6F EECD

E48C PHINIV E898 CA34 ********************************************* * --From: "Dean Garraghty" --Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 17:35:58 -0000 Hello All, Couple of items of news:

E420 K:OPEN F634 F21E F174 E422 K:CLOSE F634 F21E F174 E424 K:GET F6E2 F2FD F242/F247 E426 K:PUT F63D F22D F17D E428 K:STATUS F634 F21E F174 E42A K:SPECIAL F63D F22D F17D E42C K:JUMP F3E4 EF6F EECD E430 P:OPEN EE9F FEC2 EC63 E432 P:CLOSE EEDC FF07 ECA3 E434 P:GET EE9E FEC1 EC62 E436 P:PUT EEA7 FECB EC6C E438 P:STATUS EE81 FEA3 EC44 E43A P:SPECIAL EE9E FEC1 EC62 E43C P:JUMP EE78 FE9A EC3A E440 C:OPEN EF4C FCE6 ED1A E442 C:CLOSE F02B FDCF EE03 E444 C:GET EFD6 FD7A EDAE E446 C:PUT F010 FDB4 EDE8 E448 C:STATUS F028 FDCC EE00 E44A C:SPECIAL EF4B FCE5 ED19 E44C C:JUMP EF41 FCDC ED0F E450 DISKIV EDEA C6A3 C2A9 E453 DISKINV EDF0 C6B3 C2B9 E456 CIOV E4C4 E4DF E4DF E459 SIOV E959 C933 F74E E45C SETVBV E8ED C272 C28B E45F SYSVBV E7AE COE2 C019 E462 XITVBX E905 C28A C2A3 E465 SIOINV E944 E95C E739 E468 SENDEV EBF2 EC17 EA34 E46B INTINV ECD5 C00C C00C E46E CIOINV E4A6 E4C1 E4C1 E471 BLKBDV F223 *F223* FCE1 *SLFTST* E474 WARMSV F11B C290 C34B E477 COLDSV F125 C2C8 C37B E47A RBLOKV EFE9 FD8D EDC1 E47D CSOPIV EF5D FCF7 ED2B E480 PUPDIV F223 FCE1 E483 SLFTST ** 5000 E486 PENTV EEBC CAAE E489 PHUNLV E915 CAEB

I have combined most of the contents of our 2 Atari 8-bit CD-ROMs into a single product at a much reduced price. This new CD-ROM includes all the PPP products (Quick, SAM, Quick Ed, Games), the DGS products (Digi-Studio, 26 issues of our magazine), the Rambit product Print-Filer, our 22 minute video shot at the AMS 96 show (in MPEG-1), and 13 selected PD disks. The products are the same as before, will full manuals in PDF format. All disks are included in DCM and ATR formats. This new CD-ROM is available now for just US$9.99, which includes airmail/1st Class shipping to any country. This is less than half the cost of the original 2 CDs! You can buy now with a credit/debit card using PayPal. Please visit our web site: http://www.dgs.clara.net We are also now directly selling our range of Atari 8-bit SCART and RCA phono cables, which can be made in various lengths and types. Please visit our web site: http://www.dgs.clara.net Dean Garraghty ********************************************* * BEVERLY, MA - October 16, 2003 - The Sinbad: Legend of the Seven SeasTM computer game has shipped to retail stores nationwide, Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) announced today. Based on the animated film from DreamWorks Pictures, the PC game combines the epic adventure of the movie with the latest PC technology - the Intel Pentium(r) 4 Processor with HT Technology – to deliver a state-of-the-art game experience. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a PC action adventure game that allows players to take on the role of the title character - the most daring and notorious rogue to sail the seven seas. The game follows the storyline from the film and features non-stop action, engaging gameplay and state-of-the-art visual effects enhanced by

the power of the Intel Pentium(r) 4 processor with HT Technology. An intuitive control system also enables players to perform exhilarating and acrobatic moves and use interactive environment features to defeat Sinbad's enemies. "The Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas game really extends the movie experience by allowing players to bring the action of the movie home with them," said Nancy MacIntyre, vice president of marketing for Atari's Beverly studio. "We are pleased to have collaborated with DreamWorks and Intel on this project and that it is available in time for the holidays and the upcoming DVD launch." As Sinbad, player’s journey on an epic adventure to retrieve the fabled Book of Peace and save the life of Sinbad's best friend, Proteus. Along the way, players will fight off hordes of supernatural enemies and go head-to-head with legendary mythic monsters. To aid them in their quest, cool power-ups are available like the ability to summon a mini-army of skeletons to fight by their side. To ensure the game fully captured the excitement and adventure of the film, the Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas PC game was created in collaboration with one of the film's directors, Patrick Gilmore. Gilmore made his directorial debut on "Sinbad" after a ten-year career in developing and producing video games. He worked closely with Atari and the development team at U.K.based Small Rockets to faithfully translate the film into an interactive game. The Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas game was designed to take full advantage of the Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 processor with HT Technology so that the stunning visuals of the film were translated to the PC experience. Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology allows the PC's processor to perform multiple complex tasks at the same time with greater responsiveness. If consumers play the game on a PC enabled with HT echnology, they will experience more detailed animation and more dynamic game environments that uniquely capture the beauty and adventure of the film. As an example, HT Technology will immerse players deeper into the world of Sinbad by letting them see things such as the wind effects on the flags of Sinbad's ship and the vibrancy of the deep sea waves as he embarks on his adventure. Developed by Small Rockets, the Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas PC game is available at retail nationwide for a suggested retail price of $19.99. The ESRB has given this game a 'T' (Teen) rating.

********************************************* * --Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 09:10:25 -0800 Atari 8-bit fans will soon be able to connect to the internet via an Atari 8-bit Ethernet Cartridge (http://jybolac.virtualave.net/atari/a8ether/) being developed by Chris Martin. Based on the work already done in the Commodore 64 community, this adapter will allow you to take advantage of telnet, e-mail, web browsing and a web server via the Contiki Operating System. (http://www.dunkels.com/adam/contiki/) For more information, including pictures and schematics, please visit the Atari 8-bit Ethernet Cartridge development page. http://jybolac.virtualave.net/atari/a8ether/ [This news item courtesy of Atariage.com: http://www.atariage.com] ********************************************* * RASTER MUSIC TRACKER - RMT by Radek Sterba, Raster/C.P.U., 2002-2003 http://raster.atari.org Changes in RMT 1.14 - Menu Project: Import... * Support for importing of classic ProTracker MOD format with 31 samples, 4 or 8 channels (also modules with 5, 6, 7 channels), as well as old ProTracker 15 samples 4 channels MOD modules. After import there is need of manual adjustment (tones tuning and distortions) of all instruments at first!!! Volume envelopes and loops are prepared in accordance with real samples in MOD module. * Support for importing of Atari XE/XL TMC Theta Music Composer modules. TMC instruments are imitated automatically by RMT instruments if it is possible. There can be need of manually corrections!!! (Disclaimer: Some TMC effects may be totally wrong, sorry.)

- Menu Track: * Search and build wise loop. * Expand loop. - Menu Instrument:

* Info about using of actual instrument. * Change all the instrument occurences.

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- Menu Song: * Song switch to 8 tracks / Song switch to mono 4 tracks. * Tracks' order change in whole song. * Search and rebuild wise loops in all tracks. * Expand loops in all tracks. * Size optimization.

--Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2003 11:43:50 -0800

- Menu View - Configuration: * Continue on previous/next song track upon the first/last track line (default is on). - Insert/delete envelope columns in instrument edit mode by Insert/Delete key (at the current cursor position). - Insert/delete table items in instrument edit mode by Insert/Delete key (at the current cursor position). - Increase/decrease the whole envelope row of parameters in Instrument edit mode by Shift+Control+Up/Down key (while cursor is in envelope data area). - Increase/decrease the whole instrument table in instrument edit mode by Shift+Control+Up/Down key (while cursor is in table data area). Accessories - Atari RMT player RMT1PLAY.XEX (new version 1.01) is in "player" directory. (There is possible to show/hide song info text by spacebar key.) New songs - Song "nopromis.rmt" (No promises, raster/c.p.u. 2003) Song "aurora_s.rmt" (Hymn to aurora, Atari version by raster/c.p.u. 2003) - Song "turrican2_rev2s.rmt" (Turrican 2 noise 3, Atari version by raster/c.p.u. 2003) in "songs" directory. - (SAP file "aurora_s.sap" and "turrican2_rev2s.sap" in "exports/sap" directory.) - 5 songs from sack/cosine, 2003, www.cosine.org.uk in "songs/sack_cosine" directory. New instruments - "drums/bassdrum.rti" - "drums/snaredrum.rti" - "drums/hithatclose.rti" - "drums/hithatopen.rti" in "instruments" directory.

Bug fixes - Main volume changes in instrument edit mode. - Other small corrections and bugfixes.

Version 1.6 of the Atari800MacX Atari 8-bit emulator has been released. Atari800MacX is a native Mac OS X Cocoa port of the Atari 800 emulator. (http://atari800.sourceforge.net/) The major change in this version was bringing the Atari800MacX source base up to the current release of the base Atari800 emulator. This resulted in several new features and several bug fixes over the previous release. Please visit the Atari800MacX page for complete details about what's new and to download the latest version (source code is also available). http://members.cox.net/atarimac/ [This news item courtesy of Atariage.com: http://www.atariage.com]