SPACE Newsletter

NEWSLETTER for July, 2006 President’s Corner by Michael Current July, 2006 Time for the SPACE Birthday Celebration, 2006-style! Potluck is the plan once again. See Greg's article for what the Club is supplying. Bring a dish of your choice, and it should be another great time. Hope to see you there! I've been spending a lot of time re-thinking my various Internet services and software. I seem to want to go the opposite from the complete-bundle packages, in order to gain maximum flexibility and hopefully better services. For example, I could save $5 per month by switching from DSL to a new wireless Internet service provider. But that would mean a new home for my web pages, and a new Usenet newsgroups account. I think I've addressed the latter, with a new account with Octanews, based in Minneapolis. They're local, they support secure connections, and they have a pay-by-the-byte plan that suits my needs. Meanwhile, as a big fan of the Opera web browser I've been wondering whether I want to move my mail and newsgroup reading from Eudora and Free Agent to Opera. After trying Opera's newsgroup reading functionality with my new Octanews account, I then gave Free Agent another chance. Basically, there's no contest, Free Agent is still superior, hands-down. And Opera's mail program is so new, and different, that I'm afraid to move to it. So, Free Agent and Eudora it will remain. Unless, I decide to give Mozilla Thunderbird a serious trial. I do want to move from POP to IMAP, and Thunderbird is supposed to be much better at IMAP than Eudora. Back to the services side, if I want IMAP then I need a dedicated mail provider. Ugh, change e-mail addresses again? Maybe what I really want is to own my own domain, so I can control my own e-mail address "forever". Ok, I'm half way there, I just bought myself a domain. They're cheap. I went with the apparent market leader, GoDaddy.com. I'm still working to understand what I can do with that. Then, I'll have to pick a mail service. Currently, I'm thinking of going with probably the most popular of the big, dedicated mail services, FastMail.FM. But, I'm not quite at that point yet. Are we having fun yet? SPACE home page counter update: as of 6/30/06, 10:00pm: 5,578 page views since June 7, 2003.

Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting and Birthday Bash, Friday July 14, 2006.

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For June, 2006

Sorry I could not make the June SPACE meeting but I hope everything went well. We entertained thirty-one guests for my son's groom dinner at the Cherokee Room, and the accolades we received were unbelievable. Jackie and I eat there a few times a year but most of our guests had never eaten there before. The 16 oz. sirloin steak was the best steak that they had ever had. It was a terrific evening and the wedding was a lot of fun on Saturday, and now all our children have their own families. Since I wasn't at the June meeting nothing has changed in regards to the SPACE bank balance and we still have $524.09 in the account. As you know from the May meeting we paid for the room rental through June 2006 and also we paid Mike Schmidt for the Newsletter costs through June. We need to pay Nolan for the BBS for June and July next month but that will only be $20.00. We will have a few months with very little expenses so we should be able to pick up our treasury during that time. Keep your membership renewals current and please support the Doms. Glen puts in a lot of his time to make the Dom happen for all of us. Don't forget that the July SPACE meeting is our birthday bash and I hope all of you can join us. I will bring a main dish, pop, plates, napkins and utensils. You may bring anything to share, but most importantly we want you to come share the party with all of your fellow SPACE members. Hope to see you all there.

Secretary's Report By Nolan Friedland For June, 2006

No meeting minutes were Received.

********************************************

OPTION key has been reversed when booting. (Hold down the OPTION key to enable BASIC).

BBS Corner By Nolan Friedland For July, 2006

(2) Standard XL/XE: This O/S is the same as what is in your computer now.

************************************************** If anyone has any comments, suggestions, ideas, or submissions for the BBS Corner column or the SPACE BBS web site, you may email them to me, Nolan Friedland, at the address shown on the back of this newsletter under the "CLUB OFFICIALS" section.

******************************************** A-T-A-R-I Answers, Tips And Relevant Information by: Paul V. Alhart 1992.2

(3) ULTRA SPEED PLUS: This O/S gives your computer more speed in several ways. Disk I/O is about 3 times faster than normal when used with XF-551 drives or modified drives like Super Archiver (1050), Happy (810/1050), US Doubler (1050), Klone (1050), Duplicator (1050), or Density Doubler (1050). The key repeat rate has been increased for faster editing. The FASCHIP math routines have also been included for faster and more accurate floating point math which increases program execution speed. Although the speed is what sold me, US+ has many more great virtues. Any one of them could be a good enough reason to purchase US+. SOME of them are: • •

Ultra Speed Plus One of the most cherished things we have is time. It seems we never have enough of it, so whenever there something comes along that promises to helps us save time we jump at it. Be truthful now, why else would you have bought that superduper dicer/slicer Veg-O-Matic that is stored over the refrigerator? OK, but that microwave oven sure is a time saver. Well, in the computer world where time is measured in micro-seconds, faster is definitely better. After all, a big selling point of any computer is how it will help you get organized and save you lots of time. Sooner or latter though time seems to loose its relevancy. Two minutes to do a former 30 minute job seems much too long if the same task can be done in 1 minute. This is the main reason I was anxious to try out the Ultra Speed Plus O/S from CSS. US+ is designed to be installed in a 800XL or 130XE computer and gives your computer 3 different operating systems that are switch selectable. More on the 3 O/Ss latter. Installation requires some soldering but the installation instructions and diagrams are clear and easy to follow. Installation takes about an hour from start to system checkout. If you don't feel at ease inside your computer, CSS offers free installation for this as well as any of their other products. As mentioned the US+ is 3 switch selectable operating systems. Following is a description of each. (1) XL-FIX PLUS :This O/S makes your XL think it is a 400/800.This eliminates the need for TRANSLATOR programs and still allows you to use a RamDisk on machines with extended memory. A Binary file loader is built in and the key repeat rate has been speeded up and the effect of the

• • • •

A RamDisk handler is built in to allow a RamDisk to be used with any DOS. Several functions such as key click, background color, screen DMA, I/O sound, and more can be toggled via the keyboard. Drive numbers can be reassigned using a drive configuration menu. You can boot from any floppy or even your RamDisk. Cold Boot without losing RamDisk contents, even if the system is locked up. A sector copier is included that uses no program memory. The OPTION key is reversed during boot. (Hold down OPTION to enable BASIC).

So what do think of US+? I couldn't live without it. I get this warm feeling when ever I hear my programs loading in at Hyper-Speed. My wife thought the faster I/O sound was the phone ringing. Although it’s still not as fast as hard disk, it sure is a lot more affordable. I have used the drive configuration menu to make my RamDisk drive #1. That way I can run programs out of RamDisk that only support 1 or 2 drives. You may not associate this with speed, but it is a real time saver. I copied AratiWriter's dictionary to RamDisk, made the RamDisk drive #2, and watched it FLY through documents as it checked my spelling. Another time saving use is with disk/sector editors. I can search or scan a whole disk in seconds if it is first copied to RamDisk. Making the RamDisk drive #1 allows me to cold boot from the RamDisk to verify my changes. I then can make any other drive to be drive #1, reboot any DOS with my RamDisk still intact, and copy the RamDisk back to floppy. All this copying may sound time consuming, but with US+ fast I/O it isn't. I have found no compatibility problems with any XL/XE software using US+. However there is always the XL/XE O/S just a switch click away just incase. CSS claims that with US+, powering down to recover from a lock up is a thing of the past. So far I have proved them right. No matter how bad I freeze up my system, pressing HELP/RESET always initiates a cold boot without erasing my RamDisk or clearing any extended program memory.

Is there anything I would change? Sure, but only out of personal preference. Both XL-FIX & US+ O/Ss reverse the effect of the OPTION key at boot up while the standard XL/XE O/S does not. To avoid confusion I would make them all the same. Since I will probably spend 99% of my time using only the US+ O/S with all its neat features and speed anyway, forget I mentioned it. Try it. You'll like it. And let them know you read about it here in AIM. CSS is offering US+ at a reduced Fall special price of just $59.95. See their ad in the December 91 issue of AIM.

http://www.AtariMagazines.com/compute/ Published from 1979 through 1994, Compute! was a multiplatform computer magazine covering Atari, Apple, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Timex/Sinclair, and other early personal computers. Founded in 1996, the Classic Computer Magazine Archive delivers thousands of articles from Antic, STart, Creative _Computing, Compute!, Compute II, Hi-Res, Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games Magazine, and Tandy Whiz Kids comic books.

The Ultra Speed Plus O/S Package ver. 1.5 Reg. $69.95 http://www.AtariMagazines.com Computer Software Systems P.O. Box 17660 Rochester, N.Y. 14617 (716)429-5639 ********************************************** From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:00 PM Subject: 8BIT>Dis6502 2.2 released

Enjoy, Kevin -Kevin Savetz Classic Computer Magazine Archive http://www.atarimagazines.com & AtariArchives.org http://www.atariarchives.org & FlightSimBooks.com http://www.FlightSimBooks.com

-

--Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 09:06:05 -0700 ********************************************** http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=145747 Version 2.2 -----------

From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 9:40 PM Subject: Advan BASIC

No new features

-Date: 30 Jun 2006 07:15:24 -0700

Fixed bugs: - Recent files and recent workspaces did not work in 2.1. Fixed: - Opcode $96 produced a bad disassembly. - Version 2.1 did not work on Win98se.

Hi All!

-James http://www.slornet.com ********************************************** From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 9:58 PM Subject: 21 more issues of Compute! at AtariMagazines.com --Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:59:04 -0700 AtariMagazines.com has added the full text of 21 more issues of Compute! magazine: Fall 1979 (the first issue!), January 1981, February 1981, March 1981, April 1981, October 1981, December 1981, February 1982, June 1982, July 1982, October 1982, November 1982, January 1983, March 1983, June 1983, August 1983, September 1983, October 1983, September 1989, November 1990, and December 1990.

William Graziano and I wish to announce the release of Advan BASIC compiler suite to public domain as of July 1st, 2006. He has removed the copy protection from the disks which are now available in ATR format (for diskettes and emulation). The documentation is available in text, ms word, and pdf. Files are available from me via email, or off the webpage http://fujiman.no-ip.com/Advan.htm AFTER July 1st. I'd prefer to email it, as the web page is on my home computer. There will be Advan BASIC competition for the best software written with Advan BASIC. If anyone would like to donate prizes please contact me. We need 1st-3rd prizes and 2 runners up. Rules are simple: Contest from July 1st to Sep 1st (1wk extension if necessary) Written in Advan Basic using any utilities included. Source must be included and in the PD. Must run on any stock machine. Atari 400->130xe. Advan allows 4 drives max.

It can be any kind of software (Game, Utility, Productivity, Educational, etc) Any number of people can work on it. ?? -- To be added if needed. Submissions will be judged by 5 judges (William (the author), Rory (me), and 3 others to be determined) on a rating of 1 to 10 for the following: Originality: How original (this means no font editors - We have waaaay to many of those) Design: How modular is code? Can it be easily modified? Graphics: How well is it laid out? Working: Does it function properly? ?? -- To be added if needed. Please email me with submission ideas for your submission ASAP. I will post them so we don’t have duplicate submissions and we have a wide range of choices.

Many thanks goes to Mark Keates for providing a really detailed emulation of the AMD flash ROM chips, and thus for making Steve Trucker's Flash Carts now really flash-able. The emulator is able to save these carts back to disk as required. Furthermore, creation of disk images has been simplified a bit. To create an empty disk, just type in a non-existing file name, then format this virtual floppy from the DOS of your choice (or the built-in one). A couple of improvements have been made for the built-in FMS and Os. For the former, Dos 2.5 directories can now be read fine, and the memory requirements have been dropped considerably (MORE room for programs). For the latter, text windows on Gr.9/10/11 have been improved and no longer flicker during SIO operations.

If I have left out the obvious, let me know.

A couple of other minor problems have been hopefully fixed, more`s in the README.

Thanks, Rory

So long, Thomas

--Date: 30 Jun 2006 13:10:00 -0700

**********************************************

Hi all (again),

From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 9:20 PM Subject: Memo Pad - Release 2

Slor has graciously donated webspace for the Advan Suite. I will have it all up tonight (Fri) at:

--Date: 15 Jun 2006 19:30:42 -0700 http://advan.oldos.net Hello, This will be mirrored from fuji.no-ip.com site. After all is added, link will replace the Fuji site. This will also be the site for any donated source code, apps and utils. If this happens to get poplar, webforum for support. Rory ********************************************** From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:03 PM Subject: atari++ 1.46 released

Release 2 of Memo Pad, my ATASCII file viewer and converter for Windows, is ready for downloading. In this release I fixed a scrolling problem that would appear when viewing files with more than 32767 rows or columns. I also added a binary view mode. You can download Memo Pad at http://joyfulcoder.com/software/memopad/ Thanks, Eric **********************************************

--Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:54:50 +0200 Hi folks, Update time! A new stable release of the Atari++ emulator for Linux and Win32 has been released. As usual, you'll find it here: http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/~thor/atari++/ What's new this time:

From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 10:29 PM Subject: MIO Replacement Atari 8-bit computer fans should be familiar with the Multi I/O (MIO) peripheral that ICD produced many years ago. The MIO board contains a hard drive interface, high speed serial port, parallel printer port, and onboard RAM that can be configured as RAM disks and a printer buffer.

The MIO has been out of production for many years, but AtariAge user Ken Jones (MEtalGuy66) has designed a new MIO board from scratch that he is offering for sale. These new MIO boards will contain 1MB of onboard RAM (original MIO boards were configured with either 256K or 1MB), and will be functionally identical to the original boards, with improved serial and parallel ports have been "fixed" to accept standard PC-compatible printer and modem cables. For more information about the board and to pre-order a new MIO board, please visit our Atari 8-bit Forum. Ken is also recreating the XE PBI Extender, required in order to use the MIO board on XE computers, which you can learn more about here. http://www.atariage.com/index.html#55086 ********************************************** From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 9:38 PM Subject: ST>Atari TOS source code and more now available --Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:27:49 -0700 Mike Hill and Lonny Pursell have made available the source code to much of the operating system of the Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon line of computers. The source code to the AES, VDI, AHDI, CPX's, Xcontrol, Neochrome and more is available on Lonnies Atari Document Archive. Hopefully this code can help Atari coders. Be aware the file is big. About 34MB zipped. URL: http://dev-docs.atariforge.org/ [This news item courtesy of Atari.org - http://www.atari.org] **********************************************

**********************************************

**********************************************

**********************************************

**********************************************

********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** ********************************************** **********************************************