SPACE Newsletter - April 1985

April 1985

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From

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Pr-es

Well, it seemed to me that our new meeting place worked out pretty well, especially considering it was our first night, 1 hope all of you found it alright, lt was nice to haue the dealers in the sa111e rom as the meeting - all of theta said they preferred it this way, So, please refrain frm purchases during the 11teting and we can keep doing it this way, I 1111st apologize for the lack of the Beginner's Group meeting after the meeting, With all the confusion and missing ~uipment, it just didn't cme off. We will try again for this "-itfting, but in rom B-36 after the 11teting. I got a call frm mTIC magazine inuiting me to the "Worlditide User's Conference' on March 30. I didn't go due to Jack of funds (mine or the club's). It was held in California. ATARI was due to announce their plan for User Group support. I'm sure that I will kn1M what the plan is by meeting time. I also talked to Lee Pappas at N¥1LOG magazine about the club disk subscription. See info on this in other part of newsletter. Lee told me that ATARI has a bunch of XE's in a warehouse ready to ship in mid-April to coincide with a major prenotion. ATARI is drying up the supply of 800's and 1050's prior to arriual of the new machines. That is why its been hard to find ATARI's lately, You might try 188 for an 800 at K-Nart. ~LOG will soon haue their IMn BBS up and running, It will feature prograns frm the recent issues, conferencing with up to 7 users at once and a lot of storage uia a hard disk, Their BBS software was written entirely in assembly language by Ten Hudson of N¥1LOG, so it is uery fast. Lee described it as a mini-Cmpuserue. I also got a call fren Bob Wills of Schaak Electronics. He is sending me price sheets on old ATARI merchandise still in their warehouse. He said the merchandise had neuer been sold and still would be under warranty, It consists of mostly 400's, 800's, 810's, modems, and early ATARI sofware, He claims they will sell the stuff at rock batten prices to clear out their ck, I should have info by meeting time. ,_.., We finally cranked out the bylaws for SPACE a few days ago, I think they will be in the newsletter. We will uote on approving these at the 11teting. I'd like to thank Bruce and Dyanne Haug for doing most of the work, I

I'd like to especially thank Wayne Tyrrell, Joe Danko and Glen Kirschenmann for their newsletter articles this month. Let's all foll<M their good example and keep sulnitting those articles. Also, please look ouer the meeting minutes for a description of hlM to name newsletter files left on the BBS. Bob Floyd (The Pres,) mTIC PUBLISHING INC,, COPYRIGHT 1985. REPRINTED BY PERNISSI~. 8 ATARI EXECS MEET USER GROUP PRODUCTI~ 520ST & 130XE ~ APRIL INSTORE DELIVERY PLEDGED by MIC~L CIRAOLO Antic Associate Editor ~ L~RO, Calif.--A panel of eight top Atari executives headed by AtariSoft president Sig Hartmann demonstrated production units of the new XE and ST computers at the San Leandro Cmputer Club on March 5 and pledged that the powerful · new machines will be on retail shelves in April.

According to research and deuelopment uice president Shiraz Shiuji, the new 16-bit ST cenputers will be shipped with Logo, but users will haue to buy BASIC separately. However, other Atari spokesmen later told Antic priuately that the decision not to include BASIC may still be changed. Atari has also postponed plans to produce an 8-bit portable cenputer, due to lack of interest. Instead there will be a 16-bit portable ST. Also, plans for an XEN 8-bit music cmputer have been postponed indefinitely due to proble11s with finalizing the Mi sound chip.

CONTINUED-->

Shivji and John Feagans, who is responsible for the 16-bit coraputer's operating system, held the audience spellbouncr as they demonstrated the incredibly fast color window/icon/mouse abilities of the ST -- dubbed the "Jackintosh" for its resemblance to Apple's Macintosh. Feagans and Shivji also wowed the computer club by displaying the entire palette of 512 colors simultaneously on the ST. "It's taken seven or eight months to develop, but it's real! The plastic is real' We're doing everything we can to get you the STs,• Hartmann said. "We believe it's faster than the IEtl AT, 1 Shivji said. "I think this'll be one of the sweetest machines for hackers.• Shivji said the chips in the new cmputers are soldered, not socketed. He encouraged expansion of the STs through the Direct Memory Access port, which he said transfers data at 10 megabits per second. He also said the largest Rrtl cartridge the STs can accept is 128K. Hartmann presented much of the standard New Atari rhetoric. "We want a lot closer ties to user groups. We're interested in better c01111unications, helping fix problems and hearing criticism,• he told the audience of 200. In an unprecedented display of corporate openness, Hartmann was j6ined by the software product manager for the XEs, the product manager for the -sTs, the head of ST OS/GEN development, Atari's general counsel, and the ·vice presidents of finance and research and development, and the editor of the Atari Explorer. The entire group answered questions for over two hours. Atari is currently selling a professional development package for the 16-bit computers, said Hartmann. For $4,500, a developer will receive an ST cooiputer, an R6B color monitor and a high resolution monochrome monitor, two 3.5-inch disk drives and •c• tools, including a conpiler, linker, loader, assmbler, debugger, editor, uploader/downloader and full technical specifications. Atari is also seeking qualified people to write and test software for the new 8-bit XE machines, according to Hartmann. "The 8-bit line is still alive and well. All new software will run on the BOOXL and 65XE, but will autooatically look for and use the extra 64K RAM in the 130XE," said John Skruch, sof twar·e product manager for the 8-b it 1ine. •Private software deve 1ope rs are al ready writing for· the XEs. Hayden Software is converting Sargon III, the chess program,• Skruch said; Richard Fricke said he expects to have 25 to 30 software packages on sale when the STs are released in April. Fricke, Hartmann's second in coornand, also prooised that the XEs are more sol id than the BOOXL. 'If you ! ift your BOOXL one foot above a table and drop it -- gently -- you'd prob~bly

lose an AtariWriter file. That won't happen with the XEs.• Although Atari chairman Jack Tramiel previously said he would se 1l no software for over ·$49, Har trnann now said that no software would cost more than $100, but most Atari software would still retail below $50. · ._.. Those packages will include home productivity, business, education and entertainment software, in order of importance to the new Atari Corp, Fricke said. At the April cornpu ter fair in Hanover, Germany, Jack Trarniel will announce a true 32-bit microcomputer, and will also demonstrate the Local Area Network capability of the 8-bit and 16-bit Ataris, according to Hartmann. Using the Infinity integrated software package frm Matr·ix Systems, the XEs and STs will support up to 255 Atari terminals 1inked in a LAN through joystick ports, said Fricke. The 16-bit ST computers are based on a Motorola 68000 chip running at 8 HHz. These machines will include a keyboard processor chip, which also controls two joysticks or the two-kev mouse that is included with the cmputer. , In addition to joystick and mouse ports, the STs have a cartridge slot, a hard disk port, a floppy disk port, RS-232 and Centronics interfaces, two monitor connections, an RF port for hooking up TV sets, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) in/out ports, said the Atari panel. '

The 16-bit 520ST has 512K memory and will cost $599. -fw, 130ST with 128K memory will retail for $399. A SOOK microfloppy disk drive will also be available for under $200 1 said Hartmann. As previously announced, the 16-bit ST cooiputers will function in any one of three resolution modes. Using a 320 x 200 dot resolution, each dot may be one of 16 colors. In the 640 x 200 resolution, four colors per dot are possible. A monochrome mode offers 640 x 400 dot resolution. Sig Hartmann and other top Atari executives will meet with officers of users groups from all over the country at 4 p.m. on March 30 in Antic's offices as part of the magazine's third anniversary celebrat\on. Hore details will be available on CompuServe soon. SPACE Survey Part 1 In the Febuary issue of the SPACE newsletter, the SPACE survey was distributed. A total of 32 surveys were returned. The results will be summarized in two articles. This month will cover the hardware and software surveys. Next month will cover the club services survey. The first section was the hardware survey: There was an even distibution of the 44 cmputers owned by members of SPACE. There are 13 400s, 14 800s, 14 800Xls, r last, 3 1200XLs. 16 of the 400s and 800s have owner installW"' expanded memory. HrMever, only 4 owners bothered to specify the brand of memory expansion used. l suspect that many of the 16 misread the question, and actually have 48K of original memory. _5 of the 400s have a Keyboard replacement. 3 computers have a

FAST CHIP installed 1 and

1 computer nas an

80 column

er:i":ance111nt. 14 410 tape drives and 3 1010 tape drives are ~»ned by SPACE members, fora total of !~ tape drives. The Atari 810 and 1050 nis!( dri~•es are the most popular. Space members own 17 810 ves, iS 1050 dr-ives, 6 INDUS driues 1 2 RANA drives and 1 TRAK driv~, for· a total of 41 disk dr·ives. The INDUS drive was rated as an excellent product by 4 of the 6 owners. 4 drives have been enhanced by their cowners. 2 810s have the CHIP, 1 810 has ~PPY, and l 1050 has the US Doubler. Club raembers own 21 printers. The EPSON RX and MX 80 pr-inters are the most popu 1ar III i th 6. There ar·e 5 Atari printers owned by the club, 2 of both the 1027 and 1025, and 1 825. There are 2 PRWRITER, 2 BLUE Cf-HP, 2 GEM, 1 OKI, 1 SEIKO, 1 BMC, 1 OKit'ATE, 1 NEC, and 1 BROTHER pr-inters owned by clilb members. Club members have 16 interfaces for connecting external devices to their systems. There are 11 850 interfaces, 3 AP£FACE printer interfaces, and 2 CARDCO printer interfaces. Club member;. nave 14 modems. ihe mo~t popular modem is the Atari 1030, with 6. 4 members have NPP modems, 2 have AAYES modems, 1 has an Atari 830 modem, and 1 has an ~CHOR modem. Just about everyone has joysticks and paddles. Club members have 13 touch tablets, and 5 light pen~. Atari computer users appear to be dedicated to their computers, because only 6 members indicated that they own another c0111puter. The next section was on software. The software sources was distibuted as follows: Purchased 59'!. Pub 1i c Domain 16;{ Type In '-" Pirated Self created The software type was distributed as foll<Ms:

Games m: Educational 16'.I. Utilities 13'/. Busi ne!:s 18'.'I. Coounications Other 1...•1 The SynSeries and AtariWriter had many votes as software. There was no software that got more than being poor. I don't think that there is no bad software for but we Just don't use bad software long enough to hatred for· it.

excellent 1 vote are the Atari, deuelap a

Reprinted froo TAIG newsletter

ATARI ONLINE By Mar-k Nelson

The fo1loi.~ing is the beginning of a new mon~hly colunn, 'Atari On-1 ine•. The column will be of help for beginners and will also provide reviews on anything from modems, to different BBS's, to modem programs, to bulletin board programs. A1rnost '--"'hin? that ~:s to do with teleclllllllunications c~~ld appear in tlils co,unm. : am also a!l™irig any 1:1put. d you have a question that is begging for an answer, you can ask me and I ~iii try to pubi ish it in this column, and then anSlier it. Of course, you do not have to g•ve any names.

P,;,:-- me, ,t a;J bega,, a,c-~nd three ;vear-s ago. It •~as December the 15th 198;. The~f ;twas,, .,ry brand new Atari 800 with 16K. :;car And with ;t, a Atari 810 disk drive. And do you k·now ~1hat? : 0,,1/ pa:d $8[)0 for the computer-i.vhat a dea1 ! Exactly one year 1 a1 ?r, l had received my C. Itch 85l0a printer. Now, al 1 I needed 1•ias a m:::em. We1 l, one day as I was ~,,,:;rk ing, 1 dee I ded put t: e money l earned tt);lar-d a modem. Not an expensive on~! but sorneth;ng to get me started. My first modem 1;1as a l..'olksmodem. It c:cst me $59 and an edra ·f11 for· the cable. Fr-om that day on, I've been rapped up in computers, modems, and anything else that has to do with them. Amoden makes things exciting. At least it seems to. AnY\llats, that is a.11 it takes .... and d-'s well worth it. Okay, I did it ..•• I bought myself a modem. NOIII what do I do wdh it" For now, l'm assuming that you have a non-autodial modem. Which is just that. Moderns that autodial a110III the user to enter the number he wishes to dial using the keyboard, and then it dia1s for· you. But 111ith a non-autodial modem, you have to diai and then flick a switch. This switch is usually KnCMn as the Talk and Data swi~ch (Or something 1ike that). To get on a bulletin board, you haue to call the board, wait for a high pitched tone! then flick that sw:tch and, WQ4 1 you are on! Of course, you must have software which runs, or drives, your modem. But it is not hard to find and very inexpensive as most of it is public domain. if you need any of these, the TAIG program 1ibrary should supplenent you with a fair program and from there you can get better prograrus by d<Mnloading them off o4 other BBS's (Bulletin Board Sys). Downloading is what allows the user to receive a file from the BBS that they are on. Or in other• words, the BBS is 'sending-' you the program. NrM that you knC(.il hrM to call a board, you !T!ust get access. Today i am going to explain how to gain access to the TAIG/SPACE BBS. After you have made your connection, it's going to asK for your full name or your user number. Usually, all you have to do is type 'NEi..J" or ~ii t re turn and then you wil 1 have to f i 11 out a type of application. You usually have to supply this info: (l) Your name and address. (2) Computer used. <3)

Home phone. (4) A paSSIIIOr·d.

Often otherquestions ,1ill be asked also. Hc,.,,ever, on the instructions on how to gain access. On this BBS, after you are given the main menu, you'll have to hit Mk leave the system operator (sysop) a message exp 1ainin9 to him/her that you would 1ike access to the board. You'11 be required to tel1 the 5;,-sop the information listed abo'le. After this is :m,pleted, all ,-,,ou must do is wait, for about 2 days, until you're validated. After this time period has passed and you have been n 1i dated, you may 1eave messages, up 1oad and dc•.4nioad, and ohe" neat things. By press\iig .,,., you are given a menu a~d 1 think you can get more informat:on about the BBS by typ Ing 'H' . TAIG/SPACE BBS you are gi;_;en

i hope this has answer-ed your •1uestion~. But :f not, ;,lie 1-1j•v a ca11 at 4 52-5932 and I wi 11 gil!-e you a helping hand.

2400 bps modems:

DoYQU

Real!Yneed anottier speed?

• Is the shift from 300 to 1200 bps going to repeat itself at 2400 bps? The answer is both yes and no. There certainly are applications for 2400 bps asynch dial-up modems, but we shouldn't expect 1200 bps to die overnight. • 2400 bps modems can improve throughput, thereby getting tasks done quicker and more economically. However, 1200 bps has become the virtual standard for professional dial-up communications, and most users are satisfied with it. So why consider a 2400 bps modem at all? • One reason is flexibility. If the modem you select operates at all three speeds (300, 1200 & 2400) in accordance with accepted industry standards, it will serve virtually all dial-up applications now and in the foreseeable Mure. • The modem you select should be the MultiMoclem224. It is Bell 212A and 103 compatible at 1200 and 300 bps, and CCITT V.22bis compatible at 2400. It is also 100"/o compatible with the Hayes command set, meaning that it will work with virtually all communications software packages, at all three speeds. Other features include both synchronous and asynchronous operation, full intelligence and a phone number memory. • The MultiModem224 is available in both desktop and IBM PC™ internal card versions. (There is also a rackmounted version for central sites.) And as a bonus, we provide free offers from ten of the most popular on-line information services, including CompuServe'~ Dow Jones"' and The Source;• • A 2400/1200/300 bps modem is just a plain good investment. Why not let the MultiModem224 provide your communications for both today and tomorrow?

Multi The r i g h t - ~ time. 82 Second Ave. S.E., New Brighton, MN 55112

(612) 631-3550, TWX: 910-563-3610

Marc h Meet ing Minu tes by Joanne Floyd

The last SPACE meeting was held on Friday, March 8 in the new meeting room in the Classroom Office Building on the Uof M's St. Paul campus, Approximately 90 people attended the meeting. Bob Floyd, the president, reported the latest news fr0r11 ATARI. According to a Compuserve article, the productiono of the new ATARI computers is on schedule. Some STs and XEs will be shipped in early April and full production will begin by June. The new computers have received favorable reviews (and favorable comparisons with Apple and IBM machines) in serveral computer magazines.

Bob also discussed several items of club business. The club is considering the purchase of a disk membership for Analog magazine. Such a membership allows the club to copy the Analog disk and distribute it for $4/copy to club members who are Analog subscribers, The club is also considering sponsoring a Cloquet chapter of SPACE if the financial and organizational logistics of such an expansion can M worked out. Jim Schulz, the paper and educational soft111are librarian, has added DOS2 reference manuals to the paper I ibrary, He has also organized listings of books, magazines, and software available in the library. Dick Johnson, the BBS sysop, reported that the bulletin board (which is jointly operated by TAIG and SPACE) has acquired ~ third disk drive and that FORl.tf, which has bec011e a public d0r11ain program, will be uploaded sometime this month. In order to finance BBS spending, Dick has put together a disk of BSD-type modem programs and a disk of 1030-type modem programs. The disks, which can be purchased at the club meeting for $6 each, allow you to experiment with a wide range of modem progra~s. The disks are double-sided with documentation for the programs listed on one side of the disk. Dick also mentioned that naming conventions are now being used when you are uploading articles to the BBS. If you are uploading an article for SPACE members only, use SPACXXXX to identify the article <XXXX represents up to 4 more characters in the filename). Articles for TAIG should be labelled TAIGX.X'XX. Articles available to both clubs should be labelled NEWSXXXX, (Most articles would fall into this last category.) Several demos were shown at the end of the meeting. Todd Burkey (Soft Un ltd.) demonstrated Blue Max 2001 1 a game similar to Blue Max but involving space ships rather than airplanes. Steve Pauley (Computer Food) demonstrated two new games from Synapse, Electrician is a game in which the player must wire up houses with electricity while avoiding hazards such as electrocution by hot wires and alligators in underground tunnels. In N.Y.C--The Big Apple, you are a tourist driving around New York City taking in the sights. Each ~me you park at a sight such as the Empire State Building, you • s t complete a game screen before you can move on to the next sight, Gordy (Wizards Work) demonstrated the new Epson printer, The printer has 416 print characters with S to 20 characters/inch and near letter quality print. It sells for $389.

ANALOG DISK OF THE MONTH Bob Floyd

I have the scoop on the A"¥!LOG disk subscription for the club, It will cost the club $65 per year. In return we can make copies for club members that subscribe to Al'~LOG. We plan to sell the A"¥1LOG disk of the month for $4,00 to club members. To qualify, you must prove that you subscribe to A"¥1LOG by bringing a current issue with your name label on it, To get this started, I need at least 10 members to sign up with their magazines in hand, Or, if you don't yet subscribe, bring a filled out (I will have some blanks at the meeting) subscription form to the meeting with a check made out to A"¥1LOG Computing. I don't need any money otherwise, and you are not obi igated to purchase the disk every month, H01,~ever 1 you must be a SPACE member. Please sign up on the sheet in the front area.

SER '. . . . , I CE -~-:: TRO LIB LES HOO T I t--..JG by l,,L~yn e, T::.,r re 1 I

I'm starting a series of articles on computer service and troubleshooting. l decided to devote the first one to buying a computer. A lot of major problems start before the computer is even out of the box. We sometimes forget can be used to entertain business and finances, computer owner may find,

that a computer is simply a tool. It us, educate our chiidren, or manage our One of the biggest let downs a new is that he purchased the wrong machine.

To pick out a good computer, first decide what you want it to do, Then go to a local computer store and ask the saJe5111an to demonstrate several types of software which might do the job. Once you've determined what software to buy, it's time to find out what c0r11puters it will run on. The salesman may suggest several computers that could do the job, but others may also be compatible with the software. You could write a letter to the manufacturer of the software and ask for list of computers that run their programs. The last step is deciding which computer to buy, Choose a machine that's reliable, easy to use, and you're comfortable with. However, it's possible that no computer will do the job. In this case, you may have just saved yourself the trouble of finding this out the hard way, When someone asks us to recOflfllend a good c011puter, we should first consider their computing needs, Ask yourself if it's really th11 right c011puter for them, H it is, then we can reccmend that they consider an Atari. If Ws not, they would probably be disappointed with the Atari, and this could only hurt our efforts to prmote it. If we make our recanendations wisely, the only Atari owners will be happy ones.

. ~est assured t~at Ma Bell has not forgotten the little guy 1n t~1s ~orld of divested phone companies, They are currently by Al 1 en o.akes looking into a low c~st upgrading of telephone lines for people Last neeting we had a little discussion about modems and such as us that wish to do more than just talk ouer our how your local telephone 1ine affects the transmission of data t~leph~ne line. This upgrading_would result in a better quality_ !his will hopefully explain a little about how the two go hand I I ne wIth fewer chances of g11ches on your questions 1 please -1n hand. ca 11 me in the evening at hme, 459-7551, I haue 18 years experience with the phone industry, Your dial tone is supplied by a serving office in your area called a central office. Dial tone is fed to your h011e via a Using ~RTDOS pair of wires. this wire carries -48V/DC on one side of the TaT line and the other side consists of ground. Thus when you pick up your telephone, you complete the circuit. A question arose Smartdos is a dua1 density disk operating system for the at the meeting as to whether telephone 1ines can experience the Atari cmputer, My copy was supplied with my Astra 2001 disk s~e type of surges that the p!Mer c011pany does from time to drive, Smartdos is a signifigant improvement over the other time; not exactly, The p01i1er ccnpany can at times have surges dual density DOS that I haue used - DOSXL from Optimized Systems of AC current of up over 1000 volts when they Slolitch over their Software. (Of course, if Smartdos is used with the OSS ~rids, This can and does burn your sensitive computer equipnent Supercartridges you will not be able to take aduantage of the if you do not have a surge protector on line at the time, The additional memory available with the bank switching phone company's voltage can vary from -42.5 to -52,5 Volts DC. characteristics of the Supercartridge), Smartdos will This current is nornally put out at very l01i1 amperage and will automatically sense the density of a disk that you are trying to test on a meter at approximately 23 mil i-amps. The voltage has use, and automatically reconfigure the driue to use that disk, be!n ~n01i1n to go as high as -56,5 V/DC while outpulsing there is also a convienent reconfiguration command, Smartdos (d1al1ng) on a telephone. While· discussing this with several has the capability to be totaly Rti1 resident, which eliminates learned people at the phone company, they assured me that this the time consuming loading of the DUP.SYS file. (Of course should not have any degrading affect on your modems. there is a signifigant penalty to be payed, because the amount of memory used by Smartdos will be unauailable for use by your . Should any foriegn voltage enter the telephone line, this programs,) Smartdos however, does not need to be ~ resident m~ght ~ave a significant effect on your sensitive modem. and will act much 1ike Atari DOS 2.0S if you should so desire. L!ghten1ng storms can cause AC inductance on the line. Power 1~nes bl~ing drun or rubbing thru a tree can flow to your phone ~ 11ne causing power surges of AC. This can and does affect your In addition to the usual utilities provided by ATARI DOS modems. _Your telephone I ine has a device called a protector 2.0S, Smartdos provides the following: mounted 1n or on your house, This snail passive device protects your line from sudden high voltages such as AC. In the event of A. Whole disk (sector copy routine) a high AC surge on your 1ine, this device will route the current B. A routine to copy only certain sectors of the disk to ground, protecting you, the suscriber from a nasty shock C. A disk driue speed test routine should you be on the 1ine at the time. If this should occur· D. A routine to test all sectors of the disk your phone 1ine would probably be inoperable in the aftermath' E. A routine to turn the write with uerify function of DOS on unless it !s protected by a gas tube protector. This typ; off. p~otector will route the current during the surge but your line and F. An implementation of batch files and the program to create will return to normal afterwards. Your best protection in the them, which will also create AUTORI.N.SYS files. event of an electrical storm in the area is to log off and G. A program called DEFAULT which allows the user to custcnize unplug your modem when not in use. the default configuration of Smartdos with regard to disk buffers, file I/0 buffers, ect, W~en r~nging voltage is applied to your 1ine to signal you H, Extended wildcard usage. of an 1ncom1ng call, this voltage is bursts of AC current and I. The 'D" in a disk drive file specification is not required. runs from 86 to 105 volts depending on the distance you 1ive J. A status block which shCMs the current settings of the frm the central office. Distance frcn the central office can various parameters of Smartdos. also_affect t~e quality of your transmission. For voice it may be fine, but 1f the cable make-up is off or the distance very long, your transmissions may be impaired. The Smartdos menu is fairly well conceived, hCMever some of the cCX111and names are a little obscure. One example of this '.our telephone 1ine is and should be very capable of would be the '0' command which stands for Obvert residup. This handling 300 or the growing 1200 baud rate. You must remember is used to toggle~ residency of the DUP package on and off. that corpoate users install private line data circuits that are A directory list is called up by typing the drive number. ~"-____,, not hooked into the same linkage your local lines are. Electronic switches in the office, as well as carrier systems switch~ng, _can _ca~se ~inor gl~tches while your modem is running, In su111ation I would have to say that I can reccCX111end this Resulting 1n m1ss1ng 1nformat1on on your screen or printer. package, It is a usable DOS with lots of options which is fairly easy to use.

MA BELL AND YOUR MODEM

CLUB NB.,15 Bot F1o}'d & I could not bid anyone ,,no hac a set o.i: BY~AwS for S.?.A.C.E. Between Uit two of us iiie ,.rote these BYLAWS. t,• wou'd 1ike to have the~ voted on at the Apr;1 meeting, Bruce Haug V.P.

B"YLALJS

uo GF THE S.P.A.C.E. COMPUTER -....._ ... ,.,,,

OF ST. PAUL MH-l4ES07 A ART1 CLE i t,WiE

The name of this club sha}! be the St. Paul Atari Computer Enthus\~sts /SPACE), ar, indEpenderit computer user group.

ARTJCLE II

OBJECT

T~e •::bJect of this club sha11 be to bring together tho;~ with ~ cO!lllllon interest tc, en!-,ar,ce their knowledge of cornp,Jter technology by shar'r:; harl),,jare, ~oftware. and maintenance i,,formation :ollecti,ni'v !:lbtained in the fieic: of ATARI computers.

ARTICLE l!1

MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. The membership of this club shall not be 1irnited. Section 2. Any compute, C1;1ner- :hall be eligible to membership upon_payment ,:,f the ~nnual dues,fo~ the fir-st y.~ar·. Section 3. The a~nual dues sharl be 14 dolla:-s, payable or thP ar.n1versarY month ot a member·s Joining date. The treasurer shall notify members two months in arr-ears, and those whose dues are not paid in one month shal1 be automatically dropped from membership and forfeit all benefits incu~red. In lieu of ser~;ces rendered, elected officers shall ~ot be required to pay club dues during their term in office. t>PTTr!:: ..TU"

n,1, • .,..._,_

OFFICERS

Section I. The ~fficers of the club shall be a president, a ui(e-president, a secretary, and a treasurer. These officers sria1l per-form the duL,:s pr-escribed b;; these b;,-:aws and by the pa,1 iarnentary authority adopted b;; the club. , Sect;oo 2. At the regular meeting held on t~e sec?,d Fr·iday in S~ptembe~, a nooinating CIX!lfilitt~e of tw~ member-s shall be eiectec t,, the club. rt shall be the duty of this committee to nom•nate carcidates for the offices to be filled at the annual meeting iT: November. The nooiinat•r,Q cm,1ittee shall refor·t ~t the r·egular· meeting in October·. Before the election at the annual meeting >: November·, additionai nominations from the f,oor sha11 be permitted. Section 3. The officers shall be elected by ballot ~o 5erue forone year, or until their successors are elected, and their tnn qf oH,,:e sh~;1 t?;ir, at the :lose of th~ ar,r;ual meeting at which they are e1 ected~.. . . . . -~ ~ect on 4, :he ~•resident and '!1ce-presidl'nt shall act1vl'l;,- seek volunteer:; ts •,,' the fol ;ow1r,g positions: newsletter editor, ct,5; ary~ ~ape of ~he month • ibrarian 1 pa~er and educational softw2re. 1ibrariar, and bulletin board coordinator-. These uolunteers sha:' De sub1ect ta approval of the :,ub membershrp. !n J 1eu a, seru1ces rendpred, these uolunteers shall not be r·equir·ecl to pay club due,: during their ter111 of office.

ARTICLE IJ

MEETINGS

Section I. :he regular meetings af the club shall be held on the second F~'day of eich month unless otherwise ordered by the c ub or the execut~ve board. Sei:t:on 2. :ne regu:ar· meeting on the secor,d Friday ;n November shall be kntHJ1n as the annual i'.,eeting and shall be for the purpose o~ electing c•H;cers receiving reports of officer·s and committees and fJr an; other business that may arise. 3ection 3, Speciai nteetings can be caned by the president or_~;,-_ t~,e executive board, and shall ~e ca1led upon the written ""equest o~ ten rnenbers of the club. The purpose of the meeting shai; ue st=:ed in t~e cail. Excert 1n cases of emergency, at leas: three days notice shall be given. · Section 4. Fifteen members of the c1ub constitutes a quorum. Section 5. Al' regular and special meetings of the club shall be open 7fetings. 7

Sectio, Section th~ hour ;nd t•/:1\~s. The

ARTICLE IJ! THE EXECLITPJE BOARD l. The officers of the c:ub shall constitute the efPcutiue board. 2. The executiue board shall have general supervision of 1 he 3ffa:~. ci t~e club between its business meetings, fix o'ace of the rneeti~gs 1 rnaKe recOllll1)enda~;ons to the c1Llb 1 ard shall pe•~or~_ such _o!her duties ~s are specifi~d in the board shall be sub1ect to the orders Df the club, and nc,ne of i's ac~~- :ha.'1 ~ont 1 :ct w!tti jct;on taken b;; tne club. AR•!CLE t'II

:'fl1MTTf~~S

Sue/-. i:-ther- ~OOVl!ittees, standino o~ seecia', sha11 be 2epo,ded by the 0•1?sid2r,! ::: t~it cLt or the executive boar-d sh;dl fr-om time to tim!? deem necessar:, !o ,:a, on tie :_,;orK r:i the c),Ju. The pres,:ent' s~,a11 :e an e•off cc, :'!l~mber :-f a11 c0:T11T,ittees except the norni 1ating cornrnitteE. · 0

ARTIC~E 1)11I PARLIAME!--J""'."ARY .:.t'THOR'.TY

The ;·ules contained in '.~,e cv··re~,t edition of Robnt's rules of ,Jr·der ':e"' .- -- ·'-~·· -··" ;;;h::h theY are appl .cable and ;n ,1hich they arE no! inw15;~ter• .:.;th ~,,., b,'ar,s ~

~n-•Prr +'- -', h i•, a ca es to ;;,,/;~,;-~~/";~;e/~~·o:d~~~th/;,~b m~; actoit.

At;;T!CLE IX ~EtP1EN~ JF 8YL;.'..1,~S 1nesE !:r;vlaws can be amer,ded :it any regu'.ar meet :,,(j o+ t~,e c"/:, ~-.- 't1,:•-'" cUC!/11, tt~d in wr·t 1 r:9 ;:t the vei; nus •~gt:1~: rnEe+:ng ~r£~r ;,ited n the r,ew~'~,-~·.

:,+.

•

L[d,,i BUDGr:- ATAR! TELECCfflLNICATICNS OR

THE ATARI 1D30 MODEM ISN'T SO .E.AD AFiER ALL BY JOE DANKO

This is jeing written for all of us who jumped a! the chance to get 'onl ine' with a modem. With visions of uploading and downloading we eager· l ;, snapped Llp the ., 1030' modern for a relative mere pittaue. No insrn.itable '850' inte!"face or exotic modern,~; th :riore ccirnpu:ing poi,~er h:rn a '400'. Just a little flat box witr; two lights and one switch. Getting it cocnected to the system was not bad. ~hen we tur~~d it on and dialed the first number and got *J*N*L*i*N*E*, We di:·:ouer-ed a ver;1 nice program ·r, there, Eas;; to understand options and a nice methoc of scrolling back and fort~ through previous data. But, al.:1s, no wa;1 to sa\•e any of that data and NO i;it;Y to up or· dO',.m 1oad either. But wa. it I A11 was not ; os t. We dug out our long forgotten copy of 'fi'!OOEM' froo 3n ancient TAPE-OF-THE MONTH. We load up and 'RlN' and '' 11 '.Or NO:' 111 H'.lW can we turn on our '850' when we don't have or even want one? The '1030' comes 1,11itt, a te~rr:inal program tu•H ir-. To salie the cost of a seper ate cartridge, 1 suppose, A'ARi put the code inside the modem itself. When you turn on your computer with the '1030' on and the disc drive off the '1030' act~. like it is a disc drive for a while and loads the p~ogram into your computer. It appears to me that this 1Bs done t,J a11ow a usable term ina 1 program with a 16!( mernon. No room for DOS. To get DOS on our computer we have to use a dif4erent program than is 10 the '1030'. Fortunately for us there OD\,~ exist at least four publ 1c dooain pr-ograms that ,~ill ser·11e our purpose very nicel,: 1.AMODEM42.835 - This must be used with RIW1DLER.835 rena111ed as AUTORltl.SYS. Use BASIC. This is also used with a program called RDIAL that a11ows storage and retrieval of phone numbers and sign-on data, 2.RMODEM.BAS - This must be used with R.BIN renamed as AUTORlt~.SYS. Use BASIC. This is actually AMGDEt«L. This is the one with the ,Jnscreen clocks. l t lllay be used 1;1dh a progr·am called M!NIMENU which i have not found yet. Phone numbers and passwords may be stor~d and retrieved also. 3.DISKLINK - Self-contained and a11 machine hnguage. This one can't dJ downloading from the TAIG BULLITEN BCiARD for some reason. 4.TSCOPE - The BEST way to use Cct!PUSERVE. Al1 machine and usable only for Crt!PUSERIJE,

1 anguage

Of course, the ultimate for the '1030', so far, is HGMETERM which is par·t 0,1: HIJ'!EPAK for /OU high ro1lers that can aHord $50, i-'850' also). I have been informed by Dick Johnson of TAIG and TA!G BBS SYSOP that all of the publ iC domain terminal softwar·e will be offered for sale by SPACE and TAIG. T~ere ~,ill be two disks offered, one fo• '1031J/635' users and :ine for '851)' folks. 5ubseguent updates and new releases will be made available for downloading from the iAIG BBS.

AtariSoft Division President Sig Hartmann has pro~ide answer-s for th~ questions he requested frm readers in January.

arranged to

~me IJ~Ur,,-.:::_.,,,

Hartman!'\ apologized for the deiay in responding, bl.iming it on the extreme time preEsures involved in preparing the new Atari products for market on schedule. From now on, as the '85 Atari product development push nears completion, Antic will be able to funnel significant questions from readers to Atari on an ongoing basis instead of batching them monthly.

A number of the first submitted questions have answered themselves in the past weeks since Antic turned them in to Hartmann, The new answers are below:

!. Atari has plenty of 850 interface boxes on hand. Tell your 1ocal dea1er to order some if he isn't stocking them .... Or check out the mail order supplier ads in Antic.

2. Atari Customer Ser~ice IS s;,ipp1ying BASIC Revision C cartridges if you send '$15 plus '$2.50 for shipping.

3. The new 5.25' disk drive will be an updated 1050-cmpati~le for under $200. So it will continue to have dual density, nr' "1!'.,I true double density. 4. The ST machine language monitor and assembler/editor that are part of the l4,50G developer package will also be available to the public as options after the machines come out in April. 5.

Atari

isn't

saying

that

the

non-expandable

imaginative third-party vendors. They're simply saying that 1985 ST won't be offered with built-in expandabi1 ity, because they feel 5121( for $599 is f ent;; of memory powe!" in the current lllarket.

D.O.M. We1 1 this month we won't have a Tape of the Month ,this is because o; the types of progr~~s en the ~.O.M. These are the progra~s on this disk(there lllight be on~ or two mor~). l.CESDEMO.CiJ! -This is

the graphics demo

that t.m !'un

the :'.E.S.

2.TRlKT!?AX.Crtf -This game is 1Jery interesting. Yoli ar·e supposed to unscramble tht pieces of the track so the ·~ 'scuttlebug' can mak@ it aroun d • ~ 3.PICTURE -This is a lliember wr i tte•, picture dump for 1 C:J:RT'• ~w~ 't• M'1c"0 ,., ic•~ato", uncooipact~a, (-.S.31/~•d ho,'d"rng ~ .. 1.1-nv~,•·' ii , L I.•.; f 11 es, It works on an EPS!Ji pr ink·· or a 'EPSIJ~ CL!l1E', 4.ES4MTRON.CiJ'I -This is a two p1aYe!" game, You ?1ace

def1ectors in positions attempting to deflect the beam at you~ , opponent's base. 5.PPl-lICDOS.BAS -Another member written program,this program WRITES P{i,l!CDOS.LST. 6.PANICDOS.LST -This is the program written by progr·am 15. n it is ENTERed at the end of a program (line 30000) and put "'irfto action (using GOTO 30000) it gives you DOS functions without erasing your program. 7.rtflA.X84.SC -This is a member written program that is used with SYNCALC to he 1p you do your MI~ESOTA taxes. .:It maybe a 1i ttle late for this year but if you learn how to use it now, next year when it's modified for '86 it should be a big help.)

DISK

the

·:::.a 1e

these

.1,1h i ch

to1,var d

suppor·t i no sc,me cf the th i nQs the group does. Eich disk/tape usuaTly contains eight to twelve programs. Most of these pr·ograms are games ~•nth some utilities and 1emos mix~d in._ The programs are obtained ~rom trad1~g _with other user groups and +rom subm1ss1ons from local members. Members who submit a program will receive a disk or tape of the month free' What a deal!! -For those of you who are new to the D.O.M. here are some operating hints. After you are finished with one proQram and you whan to bring in another 1 sim~ly hit the break key 1 and then type in RUN D: SPMENU". Th Is ~,., i 11 re turn you to the s.p.ace menu.

Thank-you for· reading this far. i knooi that such tiny pr-int as was used throughout this newsletter annoys some people. This was only used as a last resort to a wonderful problem. Too many articles' It is great to have such problems. Keep it up. Jonathan Nelson i'.The Edi tor)

U~ M

THE

MONTH The disk/tape of the month conta'ns progr·.ams. fr-om tt-,;;. club 1 ibrary. The ta.pe·; can be purchased for $3 and the disks for S4. The group makes a small profit from

Very short NOTES FR!tl THE EOITOR

Not a 11 i:,f the prognms on some of the older D.O.M.·'s wor~: I would 1 ike someone to make a I ist of these, and then ask for a u~lunteer to fix th~ problems and then I will make up a new disk.

J1Je.e:ti

S P,4CE:

St.

P!t\.c.~

l'o. .. l C.----p~s

~ i c ~ Cl'-'SS'C'OO""

Biel~. J '1'<>0""$

li-3,S- ..,. Bs,,)

7 :. .30

1--------------f,,,.... t

~f v j l.t

.; ~T-t:-b, h-o-.olJ -u~l~j

f'l""'e >., 2-;

is U.H.

be.st <;._.-f::.,,._e.-t-

WANT ADS It is possible for members to place 'Want Ads' in this newsletter. The ads may be for se 11 i ng used hardware, ~ us•·d software, tutoring services, or just about anything that has to do with Atari. The rates are as follows: 6 Lines $1.25 216 Letters 1 Line .25 36 Letters The following is a list of advertising rates for vendors or individual members. Full page $18.00 7-112• X 10• Half page 10.00 3-5/8• X 10" Half page 10.00 7-112• X s• 1/4 page 5.50 3-5/8• X -s• All advertisements must be paid for when they art submitted. Deadline for ad placement is the last Friday of each month. To place ad or for more info, call the tdi tor. Bob Floyd Bruce Haug Bruce Haug Jim Schulz

•• •• •• ••

Published by the St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no business affiliation with Atari Incorporated. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to reprint material in this newsletter. We do, however, ask that credit be to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the article authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, club officers, members, or Atari Inc.

President 487-2627 Jon Nelson •• Editor Vice-Pres 774-6226 Max Feuer • • • Treasurer Disk Lib. 774-6226 Bruce Haug •• Cass Lib. Paper/Ed. Lib. 537-5442 Joanne Floyd. Secretary SPACE/TAIG Bulletin Board • • • 544-9058

St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts 2589 F i sk St • · Rosev i 1 h, t+I 55113

J.P. Scheib 3944 24th Av. S. Minneapolis, Mn.

• Next SPACE Meeting: Friday, April 12, 1985 7:30 P.H.

Uof_H St. Paul ca11pus Office Classrom Bldg. rams B-35 + B-36 St. Paul, Minnesota

55406

484-9027 483-3895 774-6226 487-2627