February 2014
NEWSLETTER for February 2014
President’s Corner
8-Bit DOM Review
by Michael Current
by Steve Peck for January 2014
Quite the wintery winter we're having this year, eh? You don't need me to tell you! The SPACE meeting was canceled last month due to the weather, that seemed like a very wise choice to me. When was the last time that happened? I should be on the verge of buying a new TV for myself here. An upgrade from a 19" CRT to a large LED/LCD around 45" or so is what I have in mind, should be a dramatic leap into the modern world. My hope is that the Atari computer will still work well with it. Ideally, I hope to utilize the s-video equivalent output of the XE (or 800), by way of my new receiver. It seems few if any new TVs have an s-video input. Composite video in would be a nice backup plan though. The other thing, which I think is pretty much standard anyway, is a "gaming mode" that would disable most of the video processing that the TV normally does, making the TV respond more immediately to the video output by the Atari (or any gaming device). I still have some fear that whatever I pick up will not end up being ideal for the Atari, but I'll have to just bite the bullet and try something! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday February 14, 2014.
Hi, fellow Atarians, and Happy New Year (Hey, I know it is no longer New Year’s, but we had no January meeting)! It is time for another DOM review. I will have a thumbs-up and/or thumbs-down review of the DOMs for January and February 2014. So, away we go with it!
SIDE A:
This side on the January DOM has four demos on it. Let’s begin looking at them, shall we?
X-MAS badTRO (by Lamers): This is a funny demo for Christmas of 2013. It shows a picture of a snowman on the splash screen and he looks like he is eating a cookie. Then, we see a pretty cool looking demo of an animated Christmas tree with three Santas at the bottom of it being chased by a creature trying to eat them! Then, there is a message at the end of the demo I could not understand because it is in Polish. I thought it was great, though. Pretty funny. Graphics: Two thumbs up Sound: Two thumbs up (the music was hilarious)
What is Love (a demo by an anonymous programmer): This is an awesome visual with awesome music! Great digitized animation showing three guys driving around town with the song “What is Love” playing. This is definitely one of my favorites already. Graphics: Two thumbs up Sound: Two thumbs up
Alien 8 (a game by Fandal, Emkay, and Miker): This game seems a lot like “Airball,” only the character you play is a robot. I found it difficult to play because I really could not control the character well. Anyway, the graphics were great and so was the sound. With practice, I think I could really enjoy this game. Pretty cool stuff. Graphics: Two thumbs up Sound: Two thumbs up Gameplay: Two thumbs up
Kiki Pong (a game by Yolk): This is really more like “Breakout,” but still fun. It is a cutesy game where a kid needs to pick up his toys. So, you knock the ball with your paddle into the toys to make them disappear. It is designed for kids in mind, but I enjoyed it. The splash screen graphics were astounding, especially with the digitized picture of the little kid. It even looked like handwriting on the screen. Pretty fun. Graphics: Two thumbs up Sound: Two thumbs up Gameplay: Two thumbs up
SIDE B:
This side included some utilities like Ice-T XE 2.76. I had a hard time accessing it because I forgot how to use MyDOS and could not access it. This should be especially useful for advanced Atari 8-bit users because it looks like it has a terminal emulator in it, according to the label. Slick.
CLUB OFFICIALS
Michael Current
President: (608) 787-8548 michael@mcurrent.name
Vice President / Webmaster / 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.
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