SPACE Newsletter - June 1985

June 1985

._T I_I t·-..J E

BYTES

FROM THE

PRES.

by Bob Floyd SPACES's 130XE - The club now owns a 130XE. Steve Pauley, Computer Food, sold us one at cost. Thanks Steve! We will be bringing both the 130XE and 400 computers to the meetings. This should help in setting up meeting the Beginner ✓ s group after the below). see time (except this ~GJNER's GROUP - We will not have the Beginner's Group this month because of the Swap Meet. See below.

SWAP HEET - We will have a Swap Meet after We will hold it the meeting this month. · For those who C-36. room in 11 across the ha meet is for ~ap a one, have never been to used of and si..vapping buying, selling just sell can You hardware. and software the have must you However, about anything. what with etc. documentation, original disk, you wish to sell - no pirates! The Eugene, Oregon ACE has sent us a few more disks in return for the One of the programs is ones we sent them. the best public domain program that I have It is a skiing game with an ever seen. •Pinbal 1 in used that 1 ike editor it that I understand Construction Set•. also has MACE will be on this month's DOH. sent us some disks. I am going to send out a few more sets of disks to other clubs,

AMAZING ACE -

ATARI ST OFFER - We are now officially registered with Atari Corp. So, they have qualified us for advance purchases of the They want 520ST (there will be no 130ST).

the CLUB to organize selling of a packag consisting of a 520ST, 360K single-side 3.5• drive, and hi-res monochrome monitor t members for $799.95. The club would receiv <Why no a $50.00 kick-back from Atari. $50.00 cheaper to begin with? User Groupi were not organized for the purpose of makin( money off of members.) SPACE will not be th1 for offer this participating in following reasons: 1) The TOS (Tramiel Operating System) i~ Atari not yet bug-free and is not in RCl1. on dis~ promises to make TOS updates available to purchasers •for a period not to exceed 6 months• • . J've also hearc rumors of GEH trouble and that it will not be in ROH until later. This could be c long boot-up procedure with GEH, TOS anc l Plus, on disk. LOGO> BASIC (or understand that these will steal RAH ii booted in versus the later RCl1 versions. In addition, BASIC will not be included be BASIC will LOGO. at first, only supplied later, free of charge, when it is ready. Also, the FCC has just recently approved the 520ST for sale in the USA (that's why they started selling overseas first). In other words, they are offering club members preliminary models. 2) There is no real discount for purchasing club. a preliminary model through the to club the for offer special no is There clut for discount large a at buy one unit use only. This is what I wrote to them an0 Also, I'll bet asked for back in January.

CONTINUED-->

we all can get a better dea 1 through our local dealers than directly through Atari Corp. This is not the kind of User Group support for which I had hoped.

3) Atari can ✓ t seem to make up its mind (May 7) Atari Corporation was in full force what to do. First there is a 130ST, then at Comdex this week, pursuing software there isn ✓ t. Next there ✓ s a 260ST, then developers and computer retailers with there i sn ·' t. Now there·' s 2 versions of the vigor. 520ST. Then there's the matter of the CES show. First they're planning to be there, In attendance at the Atlanta, then they shun the show and cancel out with Georgia-based computer show were Jack an outlandish press release, and now I Tramiel, James Copland, Sig Hartmann and understand that they will be at CES several other Atari employees, spreading the afterall. All of this and I haven ✓ t even gospel of the new Atari, "Power Without The touched on the XE line, yet. Suffice it to Price." say that the 130XE is the only bright spot <I·'m gla.d I have mine) among the At a press conference, Atari officials cancellations. They are playing marketing , answered numerous questions concerning both games to figure out what to make. l'ly·~ the XE and ST line of computers, future advice to Atari is "MAKE UP YOUR MINDS AND marketing p 1 ans, as we 11 as current 11 DO SOMETHING! • I'm a bit dismayed and strategy. disappointed and am starting to smell a rat. James Copland, Vice President of Marketing, kicked off the press conference 4) I personally won't accept the risk of by explaining that "Atari decided only five taking $800 from members and sending it to days before the show to attend Comdex." Atari. It is better to buy from dealers, stressed that Comdex was a show in Copland especially as opposed to buying preliminary which Atari could court specific models, sight unseen. Besides, the ST distributors, both hardware and software supposedly will ship in early July. Why software developers, and mass marketers. I~ not test drive it at a dealer's first? that regard, it made more sense for Atari to attend Comdex than to compete with stereo 5) Most importantly, why should SPACE manufacturers at CES. alienate our dealers by selling computers? I personally think the dealers have After Copland's talk came Sig Hartmann, suffered enough at the hands of Atari. President of Software. Hartmann said that They should be allowed to earn a 1 iving "around 230 companies" were developing from se 11 i ng and supporting Atari software for both the 8-bit XE and the computers. 16-bit ST computers. When quizzed about the number of packages available, Hartmann replied that he expects there to be "over . Well, I had to get this off of my 100 pieces of software" available for the chest. It was a 1 itle bit disorganized and STs by September. ST systems for software blunt, bu1 I'm sure my sentiments came companies are now being shipped at 1 ist across. Too bad you had to be around to price, a substantial reduction from Atari·'s hear it. I fee 1 1 i ke Atari is trying to original (and unpopular) ST package price of manipulate us dedicated users. Atari had around $5000, better get their act together soon. P.S. It could be I·'m just grouchy from lack of sleep. Mikey's been up late computing with me.

REMEMBER THE SWAP MEET

As per earlier announcements, the first STs are to be shipped to Atari user groups for beta testing in a week or two. BASIC and Logo will be included, although we hear conflicting reports as to whether GEM will be on ROM or disk. The first STs for th~ general public are to be shipped in July, ~ Among the software being developed for both the XEs and STs are spreadsheets and other applications programs, from various

man0~acturers. VIP Technologies, of Goleta, CA has developed a package for the XE called •,)IP Professional. According to +he company, fea tur·es 'v1I P Profess i ona 1 combines a 11 the addftional some with 1-2-3 of Lotus features, all for under $100, The program . ~ mouse or keyboard-driven, and can b e either menus, "drop do1,<Jn" u ti 1 i zes icons and similar· to GEM on the ST. The program is slated for delivery in July. For the ST, Haba Systems of Van Nuys, CA has two programs: Haba Works, with a series of applications, such as WORD, FILE, CALC, Haba GRAPH, COM, and HIPPO C COMPILER. Solutions comes with such files as How to Start Your Own Business, How to Create Your Own Legal Will, Business Letters, Business The Forms, and the Haba Check Minder. $49.95 $59.95 and programs retail for respectively. In a joint announcement, Atari and Rising Star Industries, of North Hollywood, CA, Software Rising Star intend to market products for the ST. The products will be Atari's through distributed dealer/distributor network. According to Rising Star president Gale Carr, the company is converting its Valdocs ..,1 ine of integrated applications, to be made as a ava i 1able on Atari hardware both complete package and in individual software modules. Sig Hartmann stated that "We Knew from the start that the pr i ce/per·formance advantage of our hardware would only be half the battle. The bottom line is the utilit:; per dollar we're bringing to the buyer; in this that·' s 1,\lh;; others have 1acked market, and it's also why Rising Star's software tools are a valuable asset." Rising Star's integrated color graphics modules, Valdraw and Valpaint--using Atari's high-resolution color display--are marked for avai1abil ity ~\lith early shipments of the electronic company-'s The computer. are other applications spreadsheet and scheduled to follm>J shortly thereafter. keyboard may be configured to 1,)a 1docs HASCI format through allo~ving Keys, function programmable Val docs all to access single-Key applications and primary system and file ~nanagement functions. The 520 ST

emu 1ate the

In hardware news, one of the most amazing announcements concerned Atari's marketing plans for the 520 ST. Apparently, there

of t h e ST : i l 1 De t vrn d i f f e r· e n t ve r· s i on s one tor· m3.ss mar·keters. 3.nd one for computer stores. Internally, the machines are to be identical--only the cosmetics of the machine are to be altered. The mass market ST would be the original configuration, whereas the a shou 1d have computer dc-a 1er· ver·s ion Computer and case. different keyboard retailers t.<Jill sell a package consisting of and monitor, a ST, modified the half-megabyte drive for $799.

1.-,1

As far as future projects are concerned, Atari is working on a CD (compact disc) ROM, able to store 512K of memory, for under $500. This CD ROM, as well as a new 3 and 1/2 inch dritJe, are being developed in conjunction with North American Philipsi the Atari Netherlands-based electronics giant. 01,\fners may rec a 11 that Phi 1 i ps-' name was a last summer as tossed around early possible buyer of Atari, before Jack Tramiel and crew took Atari's reins. The subject of Atari·' s 32-b it computer 1,11as Atari's not ignored by the press, either. rumored "CAD/CAM" sys tern was referred to 3.s a "graphics workstation" by Jack Tramiel, be the machine should who added that released "late this year or possibly early 1986." This would make it just in time for the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The 32-bit machine will be sold only through computer stores. At a private dinner for members of the told press last March, Leonard Tramiel ANALOG Computing publisher Lee Pappas and managing editor Jon Be 11 that "the 32-b it machine is a reality," While Tramiel would not confirm what CPU chip the machine would have (either the Motorola 68020 or the National Semiconductor 32032> he did have an machine. interesting anecdote about the Apparently, Atari's engineers had hoped to get several prototypes of the 32-bit machine chip working specifically on developing designs for Atari computers, including the STs. Unfortunately, 1·~ engineers couldn-'t work on the 32-bit machine at the expense of Instead, 1,<JorKing out any bugs on the ST. the engineers made use of a rather extensive design development and amount of chip equipment left over from the old Atari. And finally, Atari-'s decision not to have a display at the Consumer Electronics Show in June was met with negative publicity and rumors concerning the company's financial state. Jack Tramiel emphasized that Atari did not bow out of CES "simply to save

2400 bps modems:

DoY9U 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 future. • The modem you select should be the MultiModem224. It is Bell 212A and 103 compatible at 1200 and 300 bps, and CCITT V.22bis compatible at 2400. It is also 100% 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 ~ Therlght .,,._eve,y llme. 82 Second Ave. S.E .. New Brighton, MN 55112

(612) 631·3550, TWX: 910-563-3610

be would Atari that but $500,000°, represented by a private press conference in Chicago. It should be pointed out that a ~umber of hardware and software companies ~Infocom, Electronic Arts) are also not attending the show, but are instead having to and parties private press showings promote their products. Additionall y, Atari officials "lack of comment" over the decision not to have a display at CES was due to said officials attending the Hanover, West Germany Computer Fair. According to sources at the Fair, the showing of Atari's ST computers was "a computer dealers and Overseas smash." owners are reportedly ecstatic over the ST, citing its power, the GEM operating system, Foreign and most importantly , its cost. the looking at have been buyers who Macintosh with envious eyes but can't afford its high price (especially considering the are dollar) the American strength of considering the Atari ST. Jack Tramiel said that he intends for fully half the ST market to be overseas. In conclusion, the message from Atari at Comdex was, Today, the U.S. Tomorrow, the ,or 1d ! "

~LOG D.O.H. Bob & Joanne Floyd The club's disk subscriptio n to ANALOG The Computing has not yet come through. disks at the last meeting were obtained at the previous TAIG meeting. And, since there was no May TAIG meeting, I don't have any disks for our meeting. You can expect to see 2 or 3 disks at our July meeting. For this meeting, I have put together a disk of (already language machine ANALOG's compiled) programs from issues #10 to 28 for sale to subscribers for $6.00. called a game also buy You can It is a. "Gauntlet° from me for $2.00. The price is low Defender" type game. additional because the author asks for contributio ns" at your discretion. This is The known as "user supported software" • club will make very 1 ittle from these sales in hopes of supporting the author. 0

May, 1985 Meeting Minutes by Steve Pauley

Brte of SPACE Trivia by John Novotny Having kids 9 and 6 years old, in the interest of making stuff more accessable to them, I have been using the SPACE DOM program MENU (without SPMENU) to gain easy access to programs on my disks. To run MENU on boot, I used a program from COMPUTE! magazine titled "Automate Your Atari• (Jan. '8~) to generate the AUTORUN.SYS program for thrs purpse. Having this automated back to the now wanted DOM, I the level of without DOS additional feature of accessing going through BREAK or RESET followed by the DOS keyin. My first impulse ~as to generate a one 1 ine program (10 DOS) and SAVE it on disk, making it thus available for selection from the MENU program. This worked great, using so much but I soon felt guilty So my overhead to accomplish so 1 ittle. MENU the modify to ~cond impulse was the in ~ogram to accomplish this directly So, DOS>. THEN manner <IF keyin=somet hing looking at the 1 isting, I soon found that this is already taken care of for all of us--Just keyin "D".

The last meeting was held on Friday, May 10. Bob Floyd, the President started a discussion of the latest Atari rumors. The 130ST has been dropped. The 520ST will be shipped in two versions. One version will be aimed at the mass-mercha nt.s and may carry a different model number than the 520ST that will be sold through computer specialty stores. Another rumor was that Atari withdrew from from CES in Chicago <ED. Since the meeting, Atari has said that they will take a suite above the main exhibit floor). They will be able to better use the money on advertising and keeping operating expenses down. 32-bit machine 520ST hold until this fall.

will be

put

New Business: Broderbund wants a Joint meeting with TAIG to demo some of their software. It was decided that our June meeting would include a swap meet. Vice Pres., Bruce Haug, dicussed the club from the various disks available 1 ibrary, including DOS 2.5, Blazing Paddles, He also the regular Disk Of the Month. will be C mentioned the C package, Deep Blue

a furnre

complete

.DOC

Our Treas. ~~, Max Feuer reported the club had a balance of about $914. active paid club mebership is 100.

that The

-f

D.O.M.,

including

Ii e.

It 1,oJas announced that the TAI G/SPACE BBS is now running at 1200 baud using Forum software. Public domain modem sofh11are is available from the club for a cost of ·i6.00, that will go to Keep the BBS up and running. The c 1ub wi 11 now have an ANALOG subscription and will offer club members copies of each month's programs. SchaaK, s deal 1eaves members shocked. Most members have seen better prices at area stores than offered by SchaaK's so called club deal. There l,'JaS considerable discussion on club purchase of ne1,11 equipment. The club voted to buy an Atari 130XE. Computer Food supp 1 i ed one to the Club at dealer cost. Monitors were also discussed and the membership felt that it would be wise to wait and gather more info on monitors and compatibility to the new Atari computers before purchase. Good deals mentioned by various members were, 800XL at Wards for $80.00, Target still has some Atari stuff, K/B Toy and Children's Palace were also mentioned. The Club is selling the old (Hayes 300 baud) for $160.00.

BBS modem

A question and answer session was followed by demos of Blazing Paddles, Basic starter group and a video tape of GEM on an IBM clone.

Beginners' BASICs #4 by Bob Floyd

This is my last installment of this column. I've run out of topics after these. I ' 1 1 c OU er 3 SU bj e ct s, OU t put of text f i 1es to screen or printer from DOS, some unusual control Keys, and output to printers from BASIC. If you purchased DOS 2.5 or an ANALOG DOM from the club last month, you may have surprised at the style of been documentation. This required that you go to

the DOS menu and choose item "C", This is the "copy file" function. Unless you have 2 disK drives, you have probably never used this function. The tricK here is that you can name the source DEVICE:FILENAME and also the destination DE1,JICE:FILENAME. So, if yoC::::.., 1,,iant to print a text file (i.e., all ASCII characters) on the printer, you use the follo1,11ing after t;tping C and <RETURN>: D:FILENAME.EXT,P: The "D:" is the source de1Jice, FILENAME.EXT is (of course) the source filename and "P:" is the destination device. Note that if P: or S: (for screen output) are used as destination devices, no filename is used. P: and S: are Atari device names for printer and screen. Output to your screen or printer may looK a 1 i ttle odd if the 1 ine width of the file does not match your destination device. If you are trying to create these sort of documentation files, it is simplest to use a word processor that allows "printing" to a disK file. The resultant file will have the same margins, 1 ine 1,,iidth, blanK 1 ines, etc. as you had specified. HOMEPAK has this capability, as well as others. Unfortunately, AtariWriter cannot do this. You can also use option "C" to create·~ short text file. After typing C and <RETURN>, enter the foll~oJing: E: ,D:TEST .TXT The E: is the device name for the screen editor. Output is to the default drive and filename TEST. TXT. To end en try of text, press <CTRL>-3. This signals the "end of file". That was my clever lead-in for the second topic of this column, control Keys. These are: <CTRL>-1 <CTRL>-2 <CTRL>-3

Pause and unpause Beep the speaker End of f i 1e

You already saw <CTRL)-3. <CTRL)-1 usually will pause and unpause most things. You 1,11ill have to try it to find out if it works on a particular program. It also works during the LIST command. bu i l t-t-v <CTRL>-2 mere 1y beeps the speaker of the 400/800 series or beeps to the screen's speaker of the XL and XE series.

If you have ever tried to use the LPRINT functio n in Atari BASIC, you have probab ly noticed that you cannot use the comma and semi-co lon in the normal way to ,pace your output on a given 1 ine. An odd ._)paci ng results . This is because Atari BASIC opens and closes a channel to the printer for each and every LPRINT it encoun ters. This is the cause of the weird spacing . To get around this, it is simple st to open your own channel to the printer and not use LPRINT at all. To do this, use the followi ng statem ents as exampl es for opening such a channel and then output ting to the printe r: OPEN #3,8,0 ,"P:" PRINT #3;N The first stateme nt opens channel 3 (this could be some other value <=5 that is not already in use) for output to the printe r. See Lon Poole's Your ATARI Computer for details of the parame ters used in the OPEN statem ent. The second stateme nt prints to channel 3, which was assigne d to the printe r. This type of print stateme nt can be used in the usual fashion incorp erating commas and semi-co lons for good control of spacing . When done printin g, use the CLOSE ~ s ta temen t to c 1ose the channe 1 ( the END stateme nt does this also).

to jump, and the button speeds you up. At the beginn ing you choose the number of players (all using the same stick taking turns) and the course you want to play. 4. SKIEDIT - A 'constr uction set' for SKIKING2, used to create course s. [SEE DEMO AT MEETING!] 5. SYNPREPS.LST - Correc tion for SYNPRINT [MAY 85J. 6. SOLITARE.COM - A machine languag e card game. 7. DEATHSTR - Anothe r STAR WARS type game. You, a rebel pilot, must go into the trench and shoot the tiny port three times to destroy it, but watch out for tie fighte rs.

Reprin ted from MACE newsl etter BBS TEN COM MAN DME NTS Version 1.1 [Submit ted by Tim Linehan via the Edmonton RCPM BBS, then capture d from the East Area RBBS <IBM>, Mt. Clemens MI by the Sysop of MACE EAST. -Ed,J

THE END!

D.O,M, by Frank Haug This month' s disk has some excelle nt program s on it. Members that want a tape of the month should contac t us at the meeting and we wi 11 mai 1 it to them, These are the progams on the June '85 Disk of the Month. 1, DISASM - This program will disasse mble object code into assemb ly mnemonics. It can input from disk or memory and output to screen , disk, or printe r. (On printer it only prints one column per page.) 2. INSTRUCT.BAS This will dump instruc tions for DISASM to screen or printe r. 3. SKIKING2 - A diagona l scrolli ng, skiing program . You must avoid the ~hazz ards (buildi ngs, trees, logs, and a scurryi ng rabbit ). Joystic k (0) [in port #1] contro ls the skier and the hand at the beginn ing, Left and right move the skier left and right, pushing up will cause you

1. Thou shalt not oversta y thy welcome. 2. Thou shalt not use offensiv e languag e. 3. Thou shalt not use this BBS system to engage in or encoura ge acts of commer cial softwar e piracy, 4. Thou shalt not use this system to advertis e product s not related to persona l computi ng. 5. Thou shalt not have more than one ad online at a time. 6. Thou shalt not use this system to advertis e thy busines s, except by arrange ment with the SYSOP. 7, Thou shalt not log on using silly names lest the SYSOP rise up and smite thee. 8. Thou shalt not dutter up the system with trivial messages which are not comput er-relat ed. 9, If thou art a new user, thou shalt make every effort to find out how the system works through its built in HELP function s before botherin g thy beloved SYSOP. 10, Thou shalt contribu te softwar e as well as take it.

amen.

WANT

ADS

It is possible for members to place 'Want Ads' in this newsletter. The ads may used hardware, used selling be for about just or services, tutoring software, The anything that has to do with Atari. rates are as follows: $1.25 216 Letters 6 Lines .25 36 Letters 1 Line The following is a 1 ist of advertising rates for vendors or individual members. Full page $18.00 7-1/2• X 10• 10.00 3-5/Bn X 10n Half page 10.00 7-112• X 5• Half page 5.50 3-5/B• X 5° 1/4 page All advertisements must be paid for when they are submitted. Deadline for ad placement is the last Friday of each month. To plac~ ad or for more info, call the editor.

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

Bob Floyd Bruce Haug Bruce Haug Jim Schulz

.• •• •• ••

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

~ JUN

St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts 2589 Fisk St. Roseville, tf',j 55113

;J J. P. Scheib

3944 24th Av.

Minneapol is,

Mn.(

,,,,..----r-~·:::55406

I ~

Next SPACE Meeting: Frida;;. June 14 1 1985 7:30 P.H.

Uof N St. Paul campus Classrocn Office Bldg. roms B-35 + 8-36 St. Paul, Minnesota

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