September 2013
NEWSLETTER for September 2013
President’s Corner
Treasurer's Report
by Michael Current
by Greg Leitner
SPACE PARTY THIS MONTH! See Greg's article for details! Even though it's been several weeks, no additional information has come out of the Atari bankruptcy proceedings since I wrote last month. It's unclear really what's going on. I don't think things can drag on indefinitely without some sort of outcome, and soon, so I expect we'll have news by next month. Stay tuned, or visit http://bmcgroup.com/atari for the latest official word! Unexpectedly, I ended up putting a lot of time in recent weeks into compiling what should now be a nearly complete list of all the RAM upgrades that ever came out for the 8-bit. Things like Axlon, Mosaic, Intec, and Magna Systems (and many more) for the 400/800, and Rambo, Newell, "AtariMagazin", Compy-Shop, and many more for the XL/XE. There are a lot! But I learned a ton about them all, what distinguishes each of them, and how they all work. All to appear in the next published version of my 8-bit Atari FAQ list. Did you know there were commercial upgrades to put 64K in a 400, or 1MB in an 800, or 4 MB in an XL or XE? SPACE Newsletter digitization update: Going back in time, month by month, I've made it back through September 1986 as of this writing. Visit space.atari.org to bring back old memories! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting and PARTY, Friday September 13, 2013.
SPACE Birthday Party for the SEPTEMBER SPACE meeting. We will finally have our Birthday Bash next month and tacos is once again the main course. All the taco fixings are already taken care of as well as little franks, chips and root beer floats. If you are attending the party next month please bring something edible to share. All the table fixings are also taken care of. I hope to see you all there. Also, please try to get your articles in to Nolan as soon as possible so everyone is aware of the party in plenty of time! Thanks. I won't forget the key next month mostly because Jackie will be coming with me and she always asks me as we pull out if I have the key. A few of us bought DOMs in August but we didn't get a chance to see the DOM in action so I guess we can take a look at it next month. I hear it has a winter sports theme to it and it takes up the whole disk. It was suggested that we also provide an ST DOM each month and that is something we need to discuss further. It would have the potential of doubling the DOM sales each month and that is something to really look at. We had two membership renewals in August and sold another four DOMs. So with the $30.00 for memberships and $12.00 for the DOMs we took in $42.00 for August. We only spent $10.00 for the website so we gained $32.00 for the month. We started with a balance of $330.92 and adding in $32.00 for August we ended up with a balance of $360.92. Now that's what I like to see!!! Don't forget the Party next month. We wanted a little SPACE (pardon the pun) between the Birthday and the Xmas parties. So let's all try to make it to the meeting next month and have some fun. We all deserve it!!
Secretary's Report by Steve Peck
The meeting started at 7:22 PM. It was OUTSIDE this time because we could not get into the building. We had four members present out of nine paid up. We were deciding when to have the SPACE Party and it was decided to be in September. It seemed appropriate to have it sooner than later. Also, in new business we talked about a new way to raise money for SPACE: Atari ST DOMs. Someone would have to produce the disks, though. There was talk about that, too. It was decided that we will continue the discussion next month. If this is implemented, I will definitely buy monthly DOMs for the ST along with my purchases of monthly 8-bit DOMs. A few others expressed interest in buying Atari ST DOMs as well. I think it is fair to talk about it more in September. There should be more people then to decide on it. But, since there are a majority of members with ST computers, it could become quite lucrative for the Club. I think we should seriously consider this and carefully. But, that is just my opinion. I will leave it at that for now. The meeting adjourned at around 8:00 PM. This concludes the Secretary's Report. Thanks for letting me share and in the words of the great Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR!
ST DOM Report by Nolan Friedland
In cooperation with Lance Ringquist, I present to you – The inaugural issue of the SPACE ST DOM! Six games comprise this first issue: 3D Ski, Alienate, Crapman, Line Crash, Mazewar and Pacmen. Be sure to attend the next SPACE meeting to be able to purchase one of these exclusive disks! 3D SKI is a STOS game with the basic premise of an absent-minded glory hungry robot racing down a crazy ski slope (along with two computercontrolled opponents). Oftentimes at the start, the robot forgets to look at the slope. What that means is that you cannot see how to use your joystick to guide the robot. Until you get the hang of the course, you crash a lot. After awhile the robot forgets the crowds and remembers to "look" where it is going and then the going gets a lot easier for you! ALIENATION is a remake of the 8-bit game Mr. Robot. To run it requires a joystick, mouse, color monitor, and at least 1 MB of RAM. You control a robot that collects "pills" lying about on the multileveled ground. It sounds simple except for the fact that there are up-to-nine aliens chasing you about the game. Watch out for the treadmills, bombs, escalators, energizers, ladders, teleports, poles and more. A level designer is included along with 15 levels. CRAPMAN is a Pacman clone originally found on the Synergy Megademo. Crapman is tired of his boring life and decides to make a voyage through Europe searching for real love. In every country he visits, he will have to make enough money to pay for his trip. There is a lot of money littered in the streets for Crapman to pick up. At some point, a power pill will appear giving him the strength of 20 Crapman for a short period in which he
can devour the chasing ghosts. Appearing also at some time are lovely pieces of fruit that Crapman can eat for even more points. An assistant who will control Crapman, recognized by the blue cap he is wearing, can aid Crapman. LINECRASH is a coloronly game that can be played by up to 8 players at once using a parallel port joystick interface and two 2-joystick adaptors for the STE. If you remember the movie Tron and the light cycle game they played, then you will know the plot of this game. You try to leave lines that other players will be forced to cross, thus eliminating them from the game. Numerous ways to configure this game are included. If you have less than four people playing, there will be computer players included. MAZEWAR is an improved version of the Atari 8 bit game Mazewar. The object was to negotiate your way around a maze and shoot anything blocking the path between you and your opponents. If you shot a wall, an explosion went off in three directions and anybody standing too close would blow up. A maximum of four players could take part. However, on the Atari XLs, there were only two joystick ports, so only two humans could take part simultaneously. PACMEN is a game similar to Pacman with two major differences. Up to eight players can play simultaneously (two from the regular joystick ports, two using the printerjoystick adaptor, and if you have an STE, another four using those ports on the sides. You can completely switch off any non-human players or have them controlled by the computer. Each player has infinite lives. The game ends when all dots are gone and the winner is the person with the highest score. You have missiles as well. Press/hold fire to launch your missile. Holding fire lets you control your missile with the joystick and not holding fire (the joystick button) lets you control your pacman. You can shoot other players, their missiles, and ghosts when they are edible. When they are inedible, they kill the missiles as well as the Pacmen. If your missile is destroyed, you can launch another.
CLUB OFFICIALS
Michael Current
President: (608) 787-8548 michael@mcurrent.name
Vice President / BBS Operator / Newsletter Editor (763) 689-5340 Nolan Friedland ilmarinen1976@hotmail.com
Steve Peck
Secretary: (651) 408-1096 artisan213574@gmail.com
DOM Librarian / Membership Chairman: (763) 786-4790 Glen Kirschenmann kirsch@netzero.net
Greg Leitner
Treasurer: (651) 455-6550 greglites@hotmail.com
Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE) meets on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PM in the Falcon Heights Community Center at 2077 West Larpenteur Ave. Doors open at 7:00 PM.
S.P.A.C.E. c/o Gregory Leitner 3407 78th St E Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076-3037
DISCLAIMER Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI, Inc. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to reprint material from this newsletter. We do however ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, the club officers, club members or ATARI, Inc.
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