September 2022
•September 2022 Edition•
In Atari research work a scanned manual for the RAOS operating system for the Zobian Controls SuperRat mouse just appeared, causing me to revisit everything having to do with the Rat and SuperRat. I think the biggest result will be that I may conclude this time that these mouses were more or less compatible with the Atari STM1 mouse for the ST, rather than trying to set their own standards. We’ll see, I still have work to do there. Nothing much has changed with Google’s very slow adding of our PDF SPACE Newsletter back issues to their index. This may be totally normal, I don’t know. I sure didn’t expect it to take so long! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, September 9, 2022.
A donation to our Club from Terry Friedlander, who was an 8-bit Atari user, has given us a good start for an upcoming SPACE auction. I am going to send a copy of this newsletter to Terry thanking him for his generous donation. Finding Atari 8-bit items are very few and in between. Only three members were present at the August SPACE meeting. We spent a lot of our time going over the monthly DOM and there was a lot of files on this DOM. Also, Tom brought in a 1025 printer he was having problems with. We got the printer to receive the print command and it tried to print but nothing actually printed on the paper. It seems as if the print head was not in the right position. I have a Citizen printer that was donated to the club, and since printers don’t get sold at our auctions I figured maybe Tom could take it so I don’t have to dispose of it. I just don’t know if it works or not! Here is the treasury info for the month of September. Beginning balance was $1,223.22 and we only sold one DOM for $3.00 so our new balance skyrocketed to $1,226.22! We are still doing okay and we have some membership renewals coming up in the next couple of months so we will definitely increase our treasury. We had a great SPACE birthday party last month. Not a lot of members but we really all had a great time and the food was great. I think we should maybe do something like that again for our Christmas party in December.
Message from Captain Irata: “I am the champ! I just beat the computer at Video Checkers!” HOO-RAH!
Almost time for our SPACE elections in November and thinking about the Xmas party. It would be nice to have a good turnout at least at the November meeting for those two important topics. It would still be nice to see you all next month for our September meeting on 09/09/22. Hope to see you all then!
TABLE OF CONTENTS: TRIVIA TIME! The Atari 2600 uses a 6507 processor, a scaleddown version of the 6502, which is used in the Atari 8-bit, Apple II, and Commodore 8-bit computers. It was designed for cost-effectiveness, having fewer pins the the 6502.
Page 1: President’s Corner, Treasurer’s Report, and Secretary’s Report Page 2: Atari 8-bit DOM Review Pages 3-4: SPACE Comics Section
HELLO WORLD! Here I am with another Secretary’s Report. I am happy we have Auction items for the Club. Thanks to Terry Friedlander for the items he donated. Auctions are pretty nice at SPACE, plus one could potentially buy a lot of stuff because it is cheaper. Let’s hope for a successful Auction in the near future. I might just show up for it. Anyway, I am happy SPACE is doing so well financially. I need to get more DOMs to catch up on the latest DOM releases for my Atari 8-bit Reviews. I have decided to create a massive Review for the DOMs I have separate from the Newsletter. I need to play catch-up, and I think it’s a good idea to do it this way because it takes a lot of time to create a Newsletter with the Review in it. The latest DOMs will still be shown on the Newsletter, but previous DOMs will be in the special Review. I think this would help me devote more time to the Newsletter and maybe get it done faster. Also, I wonder if anybody at SPACE programs in Turbo-BASIC and/or assembly code for the Atari 8-bit computers. The reason why I ask is because I want to learn to program the A8 as a future hobby. It would be nice if someone could give me pointers on how to program. So, that is my request. I am curious and want to satiate my curiosity with that. Also, thanks to Roger M. for posting on our Discord chats about the PiStorm experiment with the Atari ST computer. Normally, the PiStorm works with Amiga computers. A person on YouTube is experimenting with a PiStorm to replace the 68000 CPU on an Atari 1040STE computer. If this can be accomplished, it might be a great upgrade for other Atari computers. I would like to share more, but there isn’t much to say about it. The experiment is still in the early stages. Anyway, this concludes the Secretary’s Report. I should be there by the Election of officials for SPACE. That is my plan anyway. Also, I need to renew my membership in October. So, you will eventually see me again. Thanks for reading. In the words of the late, great Stan Lee... EXCELSIOR!
see. Be astounded, for it looks astounding!
Well, welcome back to the Atari 8-bit DOM Review, for September 2022. As I have promised, I will review the file from the June 2022 DOM. It was called “Interstate 128,” a 134-byte demo by Marquee Design. Before we go on, I express my apologies to the people of Marquee Design for not reviewing this before. I had skipped it two months earlier because I thought there was a PAL isssue, but it just took a little longer to load. So, sorry for the inconvenience. One other thing: I meant to put it in last month’s Review, but I forgot because I was chomping at the bit to get the rest of the Newsletter done. Again, my humble apologies, and thanks for reading this. Anyway, this demo is showing roads crossing over each other, with dots representing cars on them. It looks quite detailed and quite spiffy. I like the demo because of the graphics. It doesn’t need very much in it. I am impressed. Here is a picture of the demo. Take a look.
Also, the animation is great, and it is very fluid. The demo is pleasing to watch, and it is fastpaced. Here is my score for this demo. SCORE: Graphics Animation:
9 10
TOTAL SCORE:
19/20
Now, onto the DOM for this month’s Review, and it is a beaut! The entire December 2021 DOM is a whole game with a skippable demo introducing it. Behold, I present the A8 version of “Prince of Persia!” Yes, you heard me correctly. This game was originally created by Jordan Mechner for Broderbund Software. He also created “Karateka.” Jordan Mechner is a legend in the video game realm, and rightfully so, becasue this game is spot-on! You, the Prince, pit yourself against the Grand Vizier, Jaffar, who has thrown you in the dungeon because you are in love with the daughter of the Sultan, who is off fighting a war in a faraway land. Jaffar wants her for himself, and gives her sixty minutes to decide to marry Jaffar, or she will die. You must escape the dungeon, fight the guards, get to Jaffar, defeat him, and save your love. All within the one-hour time period. This is one of the greatest games of all time. It is a real gem. It has groundbreaking animation, dazzling graphics, and astounding gameplay. It truly was ahead of its time when it was released in the mid-1980s. Absolutely remarkable. Here are scenes of the game in action for you all to
Truly ahead of its time, you had better see this game in action on your A8 computers, because the pictures can’t do it justice. I will score this great classic title. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/SFX:
10 10 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
40/40 (perfect score)
This concludes the Atari 8-bit DOM Review for September of 2022. I will be back next month with yet another A8 DOM Review. See you then and, until then, Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians. Thanks for reading!
SPACE COMICS SECTION The Misadventures of A-Man and C.D.
SPACE COMICS SECTION Ferret Fracas
The Next SPACE Meeting will commence on Friday, September 9, 2022, at 7:30 PM We hope to see you there! Thanks for coming!