October 2025
•October 2025 Edition•
In the middle of another super busy fall here. A few weeks back, last time I had time to do anything Atari-related, I had started working on enhancing the “market context” timeline near the start of the FAQ. In that section there are listings by release year of various calculators, electronic toys, computer kits, home computers, and business computers from the early 1970s to the late 80s when the Atari XEgs came out. Big problem: there are a great many such things that could be listed! I was lately using two books I picked up recently: “A Consumer’s Guide to Personal Computing and Microcomputers” from 1978, and The Personal Electronics Buyers Guide” from 1979. At this point I think I need to revisit, and re-focus on relatively popular devices, because comprehensiveness would be entirely impractical! What types of computers were in your household before your first Atari computer? Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting: Friday, October 10, 2025.
Good news for us SPACE members. I just got confirmation from John at Wilder’s that we are locked in for Jan., Feb. and March 2026 to use the Merriam room for our future SPACE meetings. The dates we have going forward are October 10th, November 14th, December 12th, January 9th, February 13th and March 13th. If you are wondering about two consecutive months with our meetings on the same day, it is because with February not being a Leap Year and having only 28 days it means that Feb. and Mar. ends up with the same days and it just so happens that this year our meetings unfortunately falls on Friday the 13th. Hope none of you are superstitious! We had a rough start to our September meeting with the light rain that practically stopped traffic at times. My 20-minute usual trip ended up being an hour drive. So, I just barely made it on time for the 6:00 start for our meeting. Glen picked up Steve again and Tom and Roger also attended, which gave us five members present. Glen had another great DOM which included a couple of nice games one being number 6 of the Lord of the Orb series. Glen indicated that at least one more in the series would be following. Tom and Roger always have news about Atari that they gather each month. I don’t know where they find all of it but it is very interesting and you miss out if you don’t come to the meetings. As far as the SPACE treasury is concerned, we had a bank balance to begin the month of September of $628.26 and we added $42.00 to that with two year membership renewal from Roger for $30.00 and $12.00 in DOM sales. So, at the end of September we ended up with a SPACE balance of $670.26. It looks pretty good for our Christmas party in December as long as we stay away from having to cook something. I suggested Jersey Mike’s subs which have always been good in the past. Please come to our next couple of meetings for ideas for our Xmas party and our elections. See you all next month on October 10th.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page One:
Message from Captain Irata: “I am an intelligent person! Don’t call me a ‘vidiot!’” HOO-RAH!
The President’s Corner Treasurer’s Report Secretary’s Report
HELLO WORLD! Welcome back to the Secretary’s Report for October 2025. I want to apologize for one thing. I seem to have misplaced my original notes for the last SPACE Meeting. Sorry about that and for the inconvenience. I will remember what I can from the Meeting, dated Friday, September 12, 2025. We had a great meeting with five members present. Roger was kind enough to give out A8 PicoCarts (thanks, Roger), and I am the proud recipient of one. I appreciate the gift and I will get it assembled soon. Anyway, I believe we had ten paid-up members in the Club in September. I myself will be renewing in October, which ironically is my birth month. But, with that aside, Roger converted the PDFs for the SPACE Newsletters from the past to HTML to resolve indexing issues with Google. So, with that, I hope it all works out for our wiki site, where the Newsletter Archives are located. We have a great DOM to review, as it contains yet another edition of “Lord of the Orb,” a game programmed by Jose R. Suarez that was edited by XaVer. We also looked at some online show-and-tell from Tom concerning a device that can be used to connect retro controllers to a computer so games can be played in emulation with the original console controllers for whichever system you are emulating. It was also discussed in the Meeting about a YouTuber, Perifractic, buying the rights to Commodore. I read online he is the CEO of Commodore now because of that. Well, here’s to hoping that he makes something of it. Maybe, we will see new software and hardware for the Commodore machines. I did like a video he had of a mangled Atari 800XL computer that was amazingly restored to original quality, and I mean amazingly. This topic was also discussed in the Meeting in September. The actual Meeting started around 7:35 PM, ending around 8:00 PM, although we had time before then to converse and talk tech concerning Atari and other things. Again, my apologies for losing my notes. It’s been a busy month in September and I cannot believe I misplaced them so badly. I will keep track of my notes for future Meetings. I hope that what I wrote works out for everybody reading this Newsletter. Anyway, I will kick back and enjoy the rest of my birthday, which is the day I wrote this by the way. I will be back with another Secretary’s Report in November, just in time for the Election. Until then, have a good October and I wills you at the next Meeting for sure. Catch ya later! In the words of the late, great Stan Lee. EXCELSIOR!
Page Two:
TRIVIA TIME!
Atari 8-bit DOM Review
The name “pop” for carbonated beverages comes from the fact that early on, when a bottle was opened, it would make a popping sound.
Page Four: SPACE Comics Section
The name for the drinks then stuck and the rest is history.
Hello, again! Welcome back to the Atari 8-bit DOM Review. For September, we have a great bunch of files including games, pics and music, to name a few. Let’s get started with this DOM, shall we? Here we go! September 2025 DOM, Side One The first file on this DOM is a 118-byte graphics demo called “Kominek,” by Marek Cora. The name of this file is Polish for “fireplace.” It’s a grayscale animation of a fire in a fireplace, as the name states.
These pics depict the in-order animated sequence in the file. The animation is quite fluid, too. Graphically, though, I would expect more. But, the message is clear. It shows the transition from old year to new year. With all due respect, it is quite clever and pleasing to look at. Let me score this file now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: TOTAL SCORE:
7 9 16/20 (80%)
The next file is a 2,218-byte file called “Eye Candy,” by Ken Jennings. It has four boxes with colored pixels in each box with a crown on top of it. It’s flashy and nice to look at, but again I expected a little more. Overall, it’s the most colorful file on here that has been tightly coded. This animation is very good. For only 118 bytes of tight code, it is a great technical achievement. It has sounds effects like a roaring fire and has great visual effects. It actually looks quite realistic, to be sure. Mr. Cora did amazing work here, and I applaud it.
Although your weapons are limited, once you dispatch an enemy of yours, you can collect used weapons and reuse them later. If you get caught or run out of time, you lose a life and have to start over again.
Now, my score for this file.
The graphics are simple, but the game is somewhat challenging. It gets even more challenging as you progress through the levels of the game. It’s fascinating and can get addictive. Personally, I enjoyed it. It really is a nice game to try to master.
SCORE:
So, Inufuto has done it again! Great game. Let me score.
Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
10 10 10
TOTAL SCORE:
30/30 (100% perfect score)
The next file is a 511-byte demo called ‘New Year Pixels,” by Freddy Offenga. It shows the number depicting the year 2024 changing to the number for the year 2025. It’s clever and animated well. It’s a neat effect and I liked it. Simple, yet effective.
SCORE:
Anyway, it does look somewhat animate in action, with the flashing gradients on the screen. Actually, if you think about it, this resembles a television set with an antenna. Interesting. Let me score this file. SCORE: Graphics: Animation:
7 10
TOTAL SCORE:
17/20 (85%)
The next file on the DOM is a game called “Mazy2,” by programmer Inufuto. You have to collect weapons and slay your enemies while trying to figure out how to finish going through a maze within a time limit.
Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
6 10 7 7
TOTAL SCORE:
30/40 (75%)
The next game is called “Bugi Bugi 3,” by Honza Nemec. This is a racing game, and it’s very difficult. You have to try to get first place in a car race, but I can guarantee you it will be a challenge. I tried playing it, and every time I accelerated, I crashed my car into another car. You only have nine chances to complete the race. If you lose all your cars, the game is over. It will take a lot of practice for anyone to play and complete this game.
I will score this intro now. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Music/Sound FX: TOTAL SCORE:
9 9 8 26/30 (87%)
The next file is a music track called “Draconus Music Cover,’ by Adam Gilmore. This was made for SillyVenture. It is a great track and it sounds medieval, foreboding, epic and it’s spectacular. It sounds really professional in it execution. Very nicely done! Let me score this track now. TOTAL SCORE:
8 10 10 8
TOTAL SCORE:
36/40 (90%)
The next file is an intro called “Walking Death,” by Pawel Banas. There is a message before the intro truly begins, and I believe it’s Polish. But, it could be Czech or Slovak as well. Anyway, it seems to be a tribute to Monty Python, because they are mentioned in the text. It is animated and looks like a great logo. It’s simple, yet effective. It could have been better, but it is still OK. It works and is better than what I could ever do.
So, there is a glitch in it. I will not show pics of it because it has been shown on here before, but it is a great game. I have the original version on disk, and that game is fun as well. Let me score this game now. SCORE: Graphics; Gameplay: Animation: Music/Sound FX:
9 10 10 9
It’s a really fun tune to listen to, and it’s well-orchestrated.
TOTAL SCORE:
38/40 (95%)
Let me score this track.
Well, there you have it. We are finished with yet another A8 DOM Review. I will be back with another Review in time for the Election in November. until then, Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians, and thanks!
9/10 (90%)
The next file is a picture called “The Eye,” by Remigiusz Machlanski. It’s a scan of a pencil drawing of an eye. It’s very well-drawn and extremely detailed to the point where it is photo-realistic. I like this drawing and it shines.
SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Music/ Sound FX:
As soon as I touched the door (this was on Level Two of the game), it rewarded me the second part of the Orb. However, the game got stuck and the first half of the Orb kept floating from right to left of the screen. I couldn’t move after that, so I had to turn it off.
The next file is yet another music track, a track made by Cosi called “Swing.” It’s a really peppy tune with good tempo and sounds, well, like swing music.
TOTAL SCORE:
What it lacks in graphics it gains in gameplay. It really would take some time to master this game, so have fun trying. I will score this game now.
10/10 (100% perfect score)
Suarez. It is a hack of the classic maze game that is different from what we saw last month. I had fun playing it, but there was a problem. It seems to have a bug in it. I went behind a door that was locked on the opposite side of the lock. There were no walls blocking the back of it.
This really is a great job. It looks like the eye of a fox, but I am probably wrong. What ever the case may be, great work! I will score this pic now. TOTAL SCORE:
10/10 (100% perfect score)
The last file on Side One of this DOM is another picture called “Nezumi the Mouse,” created by Florent Coste. This is a well-rendered drawing of a mouse dressed as a samurai warrior. It’s really nicely done, and I liked it very much. Great work!
It looks like a colored woodcut. It’s very detailed and the colors are outstanding. I will score now. TOTAL SCORE:
9/10 (90%)
Now, onto Side Two! Side Two The final file on this DOM is XaVer’s sixth variation of the classic game “Lord of the Orb,” originally by Jose R.
THe next SPACE Meeting Will commence on Friday, October 10, 2025, From 6:00 - 8:30 PM. There will be a DOM demo and general discussion time before the actual Meeting. We hope to see you there! Thanks for coming!