SPACE Newsletter - November 2008

November 2008

NEWSLETTER for November 2008 President’s Corner by Michael Current November 2008 An important meeting this month! It's our Annual Meeting, time to elect a SPACE president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. While myself, Nolan, Steve, and Greg agreed last month to run again, I think we would all be extremely excited if others stepped up to participate in one of the officer positions on the executive board. Think about it! Can you believe it's time to plan our December Holiday Party? Several new developments in the 8-bit Atari world just in the last few days. SDrive, a new interface project for using SD cards on the Atari. The mind-blowing Video Board XE project is now released, supporting a completely new video hardware system on the Atari. And, a brand-new publishing label, GR8 Software, has appeared out of Poland, with their first game, Hobgoblin. Available in cartridge form, or as a free download! (And maybe on a SPACE DOM soon?) Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your SPACE Annual Meeting, Friday November 14, 2008. **********************************************

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For October 2008

Another SPACE meeting and another month. By the time we meet next month we will have elected a new president of the United States. Our SPACE elections will be much easier as all Officers and volunteers have agreed to stay on for 2009. Since there are no new candidates to pose an opposition we will take a quick vote for all positions. It was nice to see Michael make the October meeting. He brought in a couple of very old Analog magazines for the auction and he won a bid for an 8-bit piece of software. The auction did quite well taking in $42.00, and believe me when I say our members left the auction with deals which would once have been unheard of. Good for all of you who won out. I am hoping to have another auction for our December SPACE

Christmas Party. We can discuss this after our elections next month. I hope all members can make it next month. We have the voting for elections, talking about another auction, and discussing our Xmas party. It will be a busy meeting in November, please attend. Now for our treasury information for the month ending October 31, 2008: Beginning balance as of October 1, 2008: Receipts for the month: Membership renewals Auction Sales Doms

852.38

Total receipts for the October meeting

30.00 42.00 24.00 _______ 96.00

Expenses for the month: Web-site for Sept. & October 2008

20.00

Ending balance as of October 31, 2008:

928.38

Wow!!! Here we go again almost pressing the thousand dollar mark. It's very hard to figure out how ten members can keep a Club like ours going so strong. We will have to pay for the room rental for all of 2008 which will be $300.00 but our balance will be no worst off than it was last year at year end. So we just keep plugging along with no end in sight. Who knows how many members we will have by this time next year, but no matter how many we have will be financially strong for at least another couple of years. It's always nice to close on good news for the Club; so until next month keep up the support. **********************************************

Secretary's Report By Steven Peck For October 2008

It was another good SPACE meeting in October. Although only six people showed up out of nine paid up members, that's still 66% of the group. I know that I have to renew in November, which I intend to do.

Speaking of November, we have the SPACE election, where we will vote for the next officials of the meeting. It should be interesting how that will pan out. The auction in October was again successful with practically everything being auctioned, including all of the Atari ST hardware. There was also a lot of text concerning the Atari ST computer, including over 700 pages of programming manuals (I couldn't pass them up, so I bought them).

Nolan showed us a demo of the re-designed SPACE website that looked really decent. I was impressed by the design and feel of the web site. I intend to look at it more on my spare time. The current Atari projects in development are at this time on hold. No one is doing anything at the moment for Atari products. It is a total slowdown. On the bright side, we may have a new member from Texas. I think that once everyone is paid up, myself included, that would be 12 members in the membership roster. Also, we had a surprise visit from SPACE President Michael Current. It was good that he came and we enjoyed his appearance. There was also talk of the next Christmas party, less than two months away. There will probably another auction then, and I was thinking about bringing my video game systems to the party as opposed to November meeting for Lance to demo some games he's been wanting to show to us. Of course, I will have to contact him about it. But, I thought that it would be the appropriate time then, since we would be having fun anyway. That concludes the Secretary's Report. Keep using that Atari, and I will see you in November.

******************************************** BBS Corner By Nolan Friedland For November 2008

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.

******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2008 9:11 PM Subject: Infogrames Entertainment S.A. Announces Completion of Acquisition of Atari, Inc. Lyon, France, and New York, New YorkOctober 9, 2008 Infogrames Entertainment S.A. (Euronext - ISIN code: FR0010478248) ("Infogrames") today announced that it had completed the acquisition of Atari, Inc. ("Atari").

Atari is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames. Prior to completion of the acquisition, Infogrames owned approximately 51.4% of Atari. Under the definitive merger agreement entered into on April 30, 2008 Infogrames is paying US$1.68 per share for all outstanding shares of Atari common stock not owned by Infogrames and its other affiliates. The approximately $11 million aggregate consideration for the shares not owned by Infogrames is being funded by Infogrames from existing cash resources. The existing management of Atari, Inc., led by recently appointed President and CEO Jim Wilson, Tim Flynn (Senior Vice President of Sales), and Jeff Reese (Vice President of Marketing), has joined the Infogrames group, and will focus on growing the key North American gaming market. The completion of this merger, which will lead to the creation of a simplified global structure, is key to the implementation of Infogrames' strategy as it is anticipated it will: .. reduce General and Administrative expenses, including costs related to being a US public company, and generate economies of scale ; .. provide greater opportunities to develop the US distribution business and find new partnerships ; and .. strengthen the US online platform to develop online operations. Recent major restructuring actions implemented earlier this year have already contributed to increased revenues and profitability at Atari, Inc. Revenues for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008 almost tripled versus the same period the year before, and for the first time since the third quarter of fiscal year 2005, the quarter was profitable for US operations. Commenting on today's announcement, David Gardner, CEO of Infogrames, said: "The completion of this merger is an important step in the implementation of our strategy. Reshaping US operations was a key element of our "Atari transformation" plan. Profitable first quarter results were reached thanks to the tremendous work accomplished by Jim and his team. The completion of the merger creates a simplified efficient global structure that we anticipate will generate greater opportunities to expand US distribution capabilities and strengthen our platform for global online initiatives." About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari: The Infogrames group, including the Atari brand, is a global producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and all interactive game platforms including consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, advanced smartphones, Personal Computers, web and online. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries through an international distribution network and direct to consumers via www.atari.com. Atari's extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, V-Rally,

My Horse & Me, Backyard Sports franchise, Total Annihilation, Outcast etc.), publishing properties (The Witcher, Legendary, Race Pro etc.), international licenses (Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons, Jamie Oliver etc.) and classic games covering the entire history of the video game industry (Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids etc).

******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:06 AM Subject: GR8 Software releases Hobgoblin 30 pa?dziernik 2008 GR8 Software - new Atari software publishing house begins work.

Hobgoblin is published in two editions: standard (SE) and extended (EE). Standard edition (SE) includes: - cartridge, - multilingual manual (Polish, Czech, English, German, French), - plastic card with unique copy number, - wanted notice on handmade paper, - box with colour dust-cover. Standard edition copies numbers are 26..50, but we can produce second ediotion: 51..70 in the near future. All standard edition copies are for sale.

After many months of hard work we did it! Hobgoblin - our first Atari publication is finished and ready for sale. Authors of this great conversion are XXL, Kaz, stRing.

Extended edition (EE):

http://gr8.atari.pl/

The same as standard edition but You get additionaly: - XXL's autograph on plastic card reverse, - pendant made from beechen wood

Hobgoblin - description Hobgoblin is the arcade adventure game created in 1991 for all popular home computers... with the exception of 8-bit Atari. Fortunately, XXL decided to redress it. He has prepared conversion based on the best going game version for BBC Micro by David Parson. It is important to notice, we got Dave's permission to use his code and to publish 70 cartridges! It makes this edition very special, unique and unrepeatable! The game is kind of Ghost'n Goblins and Fred mix. Our hero has to fight against countless enemies, to walk right obstinately and, finally, to find stolen artifact Golden Orb . A limited time and a range of enemies will not help you, but you can upgrade your weapon and get an extra lives. Changes in Atari version beside BBC Micro: - extended graphics - added music - added weapon indicator - game speed control (faster, slower or the same as the original game) - increased time limit - boosted weapon usage

Special edition includes two series: 1..15 - for sale, 16..25 - copies for authors, not for sale. You can download Hobgoblin here. Hobgoblin full version is available as freeware! Download Hobgoblin 1.0 http://gr8.atari.pl/joomla/hobgoblin_1_0.zip Game Controls: Joystick - moves Fire - use weapon P - pause on/off M - music on/off S - sound on/off ESC - quit game 1,2,3 - game speed

******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:02 AM Subject: CleanUp X 1.1 By Draco:

Authors of Atari conversion: XXL (coding), Kaz (graphics), stRing (music, sound effects).

CleanUp X 1.1, the new filesystem consistency checker for SpartaDOS X.

The game is available for Atari 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 1200XL, both PAL and NTSC.

http://drac030.krap.pl/clx.arc

******************************************** Hobgoblin - cartridge edition What You can find in cartridge standard edition and extended editon.

From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:45 AM Subject: Atari releases at Alternative Party Atari releases at Alternative Party

October 26th, 2008 So the Alternative Party is nearing the end, and the compos have been.

- ice pack/depack - anything sample related - microwire - the nice STSurviour start screen I also:

Trilobit released a really nice demo for the good old Atari VCS, which got a lot of applause. Perhaps the best ever demo on the 2600? For the STe we (DHS) released a demo called More Or Less Zero that we've been working on for a while. It needs a real STe with 2MB to function, no emulator will display it correctly. The video have some colour issues but works in worst case. » Download the DHS STe demo harddisk version http://files.dhs.nu/demos/molz_hdd.zip » Download the DHS STe demo floppdisk version http://files.dhs.nu/demos/molz_fdd.zip

- reduced number of SID waveform and syncbuzzer steps in the 520 version - added new more informative disk error messages Furthermore a removed two mallocs from the replayer - your memory management /might/ be a bit better with DMA music now. » Download maxYMiser v1.24 http://files.dhs.nu/files_msx/mym_v124.zip » At Pouet.net http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=16435

******************************************** ******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:46 AM Subject: Old multipart from Euphoria resurrected

Old multipart from Euphoria resurrected October 29th, 2008 We were sent a very old ST multipart demo which most likely is unreleased before now. It features several effects and was partially coded by Gloky / MJJ Prod. Note: In the starship screen, you can control the ship with the keyboard. » Download the multipart by Euphoria http://files.dhs.nu/files_demo/glokyden.zip

1.1 What is ULS? U.L.S. (Universal Loading System) is a means by which Atari ST applications can request disk access, or system function calls when TOS is not available, as is the case with most games and demos, and therefor run from any media (Including Hard Disks). Late in 2005 D-Bug released the first few ULS patched games, and then the system went into a bit of a slumber as we continued with Falcon patching. In August 2008, the ULS code was completely re-written from the ground up, adding new functionality, using less memory, running quicker, with more stability and making it much easier to implement.

******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:43 AM Subject: maxYMiser v1.24 (520 version) released maxYMiser v1.24 (520 version) released October 13th, 2008 gwEm of PHF writes: Some North American chip musicians complained they can only find 520 machine in their countries. Also, I knew NTSC support could have been done better. To address this I present a 'North American Special Edition' of maxYMiser Live. It seemed appropriate to release this version on Columbus Day a holiday thoughout North America. It include improved NTSC support, and support for ancient 520 machines. To support 520 machine I had to remove some stuff in the 520 version *only*:

It is hoped that the release of this code will kick-start the ST hard disk adaption scene, in much the same way WHDLoad has done for the Amiga. Indeed, ULS can perform many of the functions of WHDLoad, and offer serveral exciting new ones that were previously only seem in emulators! 1.2 System Requirements The basic system requirements are: An Atari of any type (ST/STF/STFm/STe/Mega/Mega2/MSTe/F030/TT) An ST disk media of any type (ACSI, SCSI, IDE, Floppy....) A minimum of 1mb of memory (some titles will require more) 2.1 Concept The basic concept of ULS is "Let GEMDOS do it all". At the start of the stubloader a "snapshot" of the lower chunk of memory is taken along with several system variables and hardware registers. ULS is then installed which then takes care of all disk access from that point on using standard GEMDOS commands to replace the low level access in the application. Hard disk access is performed via the installed driver, making

ULS work with multiple drivers without requiring repartitioning or device setup. http://www.dbug-automation.co.uk/ulsdox/uls.asp

******************************************** From: Michael Current [michael@mcurrent.name] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:01 AM Subject: SDrive SDrive (rev .12.10.2008) by C.P.U. (Radek Sterba (Raster) & Robert Petruzela (Bob!k)) http://raster.infos.cz/atari/hw/sdrive/sdrive.htm The SDrive is a device that connects to Atari XL/XE's serial (SIO) port and simulates an Atari floppy disk drive with full read/write access to programs and data stored on a SecureDigital flash card (SD). Main features: - Supported flash cards: SecureDigital up to 2GB size, FAT16 filesystem - Maximum number of drives: 4 (D1: to D4:) + 1 special boot drive - Supported SIO transfer rates: 3.5 to 128kb/s (standard 19 and 69kb/s) - Supported disk images: ATR, XFD, size up to 16MB, 128 or 256B sectors - Supported executable files: COM, XEX, BIN.... (any filename extension). - Device controlled by software running on Atari from the SD card, which can be therefore easily updated/replaced - Drives swappable on the fly by buttons - Write protect/enable switch - SDrive ID number selection switch - simultaneous use of up to 4 SDrives - Low cost design – no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided PCB - Firmware and software sourcecode freely available Special features: - Buffered reads for speedup - Delayed writes for speedup and greatly reduced flash write cycles - Built-in bootloader requiring less than 256 bytes including sector buffer, relocatable in the $0500-$05F7 to $BE00-$BEF7 range, with SKCTL initialization before every block. Supports executable files of up to 8MB size. - Directory with filename simulated for active files in drives, data handled through standard 128B sectors. Executable files can be run from most DOSes or Q-MEG. Random data files with arbitrary suffix can be activated and

opened by a program through DOS or copied to disk images. (Note: 80KB file size limit applies to standard DOSes, 8MB to Q-MEG and MyDOS)

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