July 2009
NEWSLETTER for July 2009 President’s Corner by Michael Current July 2009 It's July, and you know what that means for SPACE? That's right, it's time to celebrate the birthday of the club. SPACE was started in 1982, which means that this year we celebrate 27 years of continuous existence of the St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts. Now that's something to celebrate! Bring a dish to pass, and contribute to the goodies that will start with taco fixings once again by popular demand. And, we will be holding a big auction this month as well. This time around, I for one intend to bring a lot of stuff for auctioning off with proceeds to the club, including my old PC system, and probably a lot of Atari equipment as well. Please come ready to bid! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting and Birthday party, Friday July 10, 2009. **********************************************
Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For June 2009
A On a beautiful June evening six SPACE members showed up for the meeting. I wouldn't blame anybody for missing this meeting as nice late spring days like that one are hard to come by. Just look at the weekend before when the temperatures were struggling to get into the mid fifties. Not only did we have to compete with the weather but the Stanley Cup finals were also on. I was lucky to get home in time to see the final period. Congrats to the Penguins for upsetting Detroit who had the home ice advantage. Thanks to Lance for bringing in a new joystick that can be played by left and right hander’s as there is a fire button on the top left and top right of the joystick. Also, Lance showed us a new cable for the Jaguar that can be used with an S-video and also a composite video set-up. Unfortunately the TV we had in the room did not have S-video capability but we did use the SPACE monitor to hook it up to the composite video and it worked perfectly.
Don't forget to bring a dish to share next month for our SPACE birthday bash. We already have all the taco furnishings, pop, ice cream, chips, and table fixings so bring something else appropriately. We could use cookies and other side dishes. Also we will have another auction which will consist of mostly 8-bit and ST software. Not much left in the way of hardware. Now for the treasury details for June 2009: Beginning balance as of June 1, 2009:
775.43
Receipts for the June meeting: Memberships Doms Total receipts for the June meeting:
15.00 9.00 24.00
Expenses for the June meeting: Newsletter for June 2008 thru May 2009 Web-site for June 2009 Total expenses for the June meeting:
75.18 10.00 85.18
Ending balance as of June 30, 2009:
714.25
We lost a little in June but I expect we will make that up next month when we have our auction. Our next big expense probably won't come until the very end of the year or beginning of 2010. That of course will be our room rental for 2009. Since we only have the $10.00 per month for the website expense I expect we will end this year down some from our balance at the end of 2008 but still in great shape. We have a lot of years left in us. Please mark your calendars for July 10, 2009. I know you will enjoy the food, and be prepared for bidding in the auction. Let's all have a wonderful 2009 Birthday party!! See you all there. **********************************************
Secretary's Report By Steven Peck For June 2009
Hello, Fellow Atarians! This is your Friendly Neighborhood SPACE Secretary typing. There was a lot of buzz about the product demos by Lance at the June meeting. First was the prototype CX-40 Evolved
Joystick, an enhancement of the original Atari 2600 joystick. It is designed to be an ambidextrous controller with a left and right fire button. This is so southpaws (like myself) can play Atari games much more easily. The second product demo was another prototype, the Cat's Eye video enhancement upgrade for the Atari Jaguar game system. Instead of connecting to the RF jack on the back of the base unit, It connects to the AV input next to the DSP input also on the back of the Jag. It can connect using composite video or S-video. It was a much better picture on the monitor that we use for the 800XL computer at every SPACE meeting than if we used RF on a TV. Of course, the Cat's Eye can also be used on TVs with S-video and composite video compatibility as well. In fact, I am tempted to buy one for myself because I was so thrown aback by the awesome picture clarity. I would like to eventually by the CX-40 Evolved as well, personal finances permitting. Two thumbs up for both the CX-40 Evolved Joystick and the Cat's Eye video enhancer. Kudos to Lance, and Video 61 and Atari Sales for two very fine products.
But thats not all! Old skool YM wizard Excellence In Art has been using maxYMiser recently. He contributes: * A stonking new example track * A maxYMiser beginners guide, including a basic example track You can look at the 'maxYMisr a Musicians Guide' and the basic example tune here: http://www.preromanbritain.com/maxymiser/tutorials.html Don't forget to look at the maxYMiser official homepage for cool additional resources :) » Download maxYMiser v1.29 http://files.dhs.nu/files_msx/mym_v129.zip » Visit the maxYMiser page http://www.preromanbritain.com/maxymiser/
Well, I got to get going, as I am a very busy individual. Have fun at the party next month, and don't forget that auction the same night, as there will be a lot of stuff. As Stan Lee would say, "EXCELSIOR!"
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BBS Corner By Nolan Friedland For July 2009
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******************************************** 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: Saturday, June 27, 2009 10:00 AM Subject: maxYMiser v1.29 released maxYMiser v1.29 released
June 8th, 2009
gwEm of PHF writes: Its time for a new maxYMiser release. Theres some nice improvements for everyone to enjoy: * Improved buzzer arbitrage * 'Fast As Possible' SID and syncbuzzer routines – Defjam/Checkpoint request * Volume control on YM digidrums - an effect last heard from Lotus/Hotine back in the golden age * Pitch slide command
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