SPACE Newsletter - June 1987

June 1987

J UNE

1 9 8 7

SPACE Meeting Friday> June 12 at 7:30pm MAST Meeting Friday, June 19 at 7:30pm At the Falcon Heights Community Center 2077 Larpenteur Avenue West MAST PROGRAMMERS Meeting Monday, June 22 at 7:30pm At First Minnesota Bank Building - second floor Lexington and larpenteur, in back of building Bruce Haug Jim Schul z Bob Floyd Joe Danko Dan Stubbs Bob Siede Frank Haug Jim Siede Neil Palosaari SPACE Bulletin Board MAST Bulletin Board

President Vice President MAST Co-Chair MAST Disk librarian MAST Co-Chair Newsletter Editor SPACE Secretary MAST Secretary Treasurer SPACE Disk librarian SPACE Paper Librarian MAST Paper Librarian

774-6226

537-5442

484-7576 777-9500 433-3708 489-3982 774-6226 489-3982 6461272 774-0135 560-9254

Minnesota Atari ST --- · SIG

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 1

SPACE/ HAST · June, 1987 Page 2

DISCLAIMER

BBS. More details on CES at both SPACE and MAST meetings.

Piblished by the St. Paul ATARI COff1)Uter Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no b.Jslness affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to reprint material from this newsletter. We do, however, ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPACE, MAST (Mimesota ATARI ST special interest group), cll.b officers, club merrbers or ATARI Corporation.

The Pres.

BYTES FROM THE PRES by Bruce Haug By the time you read this, I'll be back from CES in Chicago. I hope to have the latest news for both the 8·bit and the ST. Come to the June meetings, and get the info. I hope to bring back what written material I can and make it available for everyone to READ II Remerrber the 5 year Birthday Party in JULY 111 Remerrber the local ATARI dealers. They and others will be donating door prizes for our JULY PARTY. Buy local when you purchase your next program, or accessory. Support our local dealers. They donate to our cause· let's help them. hope some of our past menbers come back and see us for the 5 year party. Come and see what you have been missing, Maybe you would like to join us again? Come back for a visit, it will be good to see you again.

**** Thh meeting come and see a LIVE demo of our BBS's. we will call up BOTH of t hffl LIVE at the MEETING, and go through them, answer questions, show you th• eHy wny to get around the BBS, and not miss anything. we wll l both lll' IOAO llrld DIMN·LOAO a seq,le program. Bring your Questions •· We will 11118Wflt them. Altar thl A meeting we will answer BBS questions an a one to Ql,t hH II, lhl11 I• the IIIRt time for a group discussion on BBS' s.

•••• ... you JIINt.1 , , ,h

fllYI

1Yth

l•O!!d to Nell

Harri a,

Direct or of Marketfng

t miu, l1 11 t l1J111 f m AI ANI C,1q 1o lhe 80 colum card 1s here nowlll The new !i 1/1. 11 n1, 1111 fl•lflf'Y fQ1 11,e IH>lt ta here now. The ST blitter, new R04's " "' Mil A I I " "' ,toe lr1 Jlll Y7 • Chrl atmaa for sure II

I <illM! 1 111 •

JU'le 12, 1987 • SPACE Meeting · This month Bruce gives us the lowdown on CES and all the latest and greatest runors. Also a live onllne demo will be done of the SPACE/MAST BBS giving you a chance to see how it works and . ask questions.

Jt.ne 19, 1987 • MAST Meeting· This month Jim gives you the latest and greatest runors from the world of the ST from CES and COM)EX. Also, a report from Bruce and Frank on their observations of CES. Finally, a demo of a new game called The Goobler from Keypunch and the new printer utll lty, Certificate Maker from Springboard Software and the first look at digitizing scar,,er for your printer as well as all of the latest games and application software for the ST. Also a demo of hidden animation feature of NEO version 1.0. JU'le 22, 1987 • MAST Progranmers Meeting · This month Chuck explores the world of resource editor and tells us of his discoveries and problems ·1n his quest to concper the Atari developer resource editor. Also the latest news on the new version of OSS Pascal and GFA Basic as well as some good conversion about all facets of ST progr1111111lng. Finally, don't forget the July meeting of SPACE for the first ann.ial birthday bash for the fifth birthday of SPACE with cake, pop, coffee, snacks, and door prizes. All SPACE and MAST inent>ers are welcome as well as all future SPAC1: and MAST ment>ers. For meeting times and locations, check the front cover of thfs IIIOl'lth's newsletter and for meeting '4J(lates call the two SPACE/MAST B8Ss, SPACE/MAST East <n4-0135) for the latest SPACE and MAST news and SPACE/MAST Vest(560·9254) for the latest MAST news.

Notes fronr the VP

A tif/i,:~1111 Ill "1!'!111111 t r illl lhl Pllii," l till llt WI 11(;1 • •

JU'le

by Jim Schulz

IHI! I JIJjt

Ju• t • ,,,,,~

Meeting News for by Jim Schulz

111 th• ""'"' hlO f r re handouts from CES. If you do not have a modem be you , omo June 12th. An 8·bit menber could go home and sign on to •

Wall, l'M back after a couple months of life adjustments with the latest and greatest news In the world of 8 bit coq:,utfng. The biggest news this 1110nth Is the CES • Consumer Electronics Show In Chicago going on as I write this and being attended by our president Bruce Haug and his f11111ly. Up until tonight, I had very little news about CES. News this year ts slow to come. \Aly, no super lll'TIOUllCeinents and no new machines, But for the first tl11e, I have 1110re news about 8 bit annoU'lcements than I do about the ST. So here we go•••• This month's headlines Include ••••• What's the latest news on Atari's lnfemous 80 coturn box and lfl0dem?7?7 Will they ever be released???? • ••• What, Atari announces a new???? for the 8 bit •••• Stay tt.ned.. . . Atari al'l'IOUlCes a new ad c~lgn to taU'ICh the XE game machine. . ... The XE game machine, our 8 bi t future???.... How about some new software for the 8

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 4

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 3

bit????.... Atari stock splits???? ••••• What•a new with the BBS??? ••••• It's coming.... Are you ready??? •••• What else ta In this Issue for you and what•s coming up et the next SPACE meeting?????? So let•a get going •••••

Finally, Atari amounced on the first day of CES that sales were up 45X for the first quarter over last year to $65.1 million for 1987. In addition, Atari amounced a Z for 1 stock split. Thia news ~ Atari's stock price up $5.00 per share to over $30.00. Atari fa looking good •••••

Fi rat off, Atari showed the 80 collllll box and the modem at CES. They now give e delivery date of July. Their latest excuse la that there was a delay in the delivery of the main chips. But now all the chips are available and ready for manufacturing. Let•a hope so. One note on the modem "'ich I have picked up. The modem wll l be ahlR)ed with Just the modem and no software or SIO cable. Thia la to sell to both 8 bit, ST, and other conputer owners without labeling the modem as ., 8 bit modem. A separate software and cable package will be sold with a copy of SlC·Expresa by Keith Ledbetter and an SIO cable for about $20.00. Remenber, July •••••

Have you called the BBS lately???? If you haven't, give It a try. I think we all owe Bruce, Joe, and Fr.,k alot of thanks for their effort In putting a first class BBS In operation. Now all we need Is you. So give It a call at 774-0135. I get on about once a day, so If you have any questions let • know. Also I wll l be uploading all of the news about CES tn the next few days so by the time you read this It should be there. Also other text files full of news are also on the way so stay tuned •••• as well as the arrival of ZJolAG, the on-line weekly magazine for Atari.

Jul Y will be a big month for the 8 bit as another new product wll l be available as r1.1110red at the last SPACE meeting. Atari amounced a new double· density disk drive which fa faster, smaller, and conpatfble automatically with all other software densities. The new disk drive, XF551, will be a conpact 5 1/4 Inch. drive in XE gray about 3/4 the size of the 1050 drive, and 2.9 times faster. The drive will come with a new DOS called ADOS written by OSS and will Include a tree structure allowing directories and an easy toggle between menu and conmand operations. The price for the whole package ts about $160. Availability for the new drive fa set for July. The 3 1/2 inch ts drive la dead from Atari's st. . .tnt for the 8 bit conputer. let•a all hope they make this date •••••• Atari has finally decided that advertising will sell conputera. I don't know what took them so long, but Atari amounced a new marketing plan at CES for the video games and personal conputera. Starting tn September Atari will again return to television with 4 new TV ads as well as cant~ book ads, and in store hardware and software demos. The ad caq,atgn fa to run through New Year• s Day. Ads wll l feature the 2600 and the new XE game machine, a repackaged 65XE conputer. ST ads will also be done with the ST budget Cf,ladrupled over last year. Let•a all hope that Atari finally starts telling others about what we have know, for years ••••• One thti:19 to note, the XE game nachtne ts the future of the 8 bit CQ"11ter. This might seem clulo, but Atari's philosophy la that this fa the only way

to sell it today. If they sell It as a game machine, Kmart, Target and Sears wit l again start sell Ing as a video game machine, not knowing that ft can also be a CQ"11ter. With the resurrection of the Atari extensive cartridge library, It Is a video game machine. Whether these chains will carry the disk drives and the printers fa doubtful. They don't want to be In the conputer business again. If Atari fa successful, the 8 bit will live on. In today's market, this ta their best bet. Good luck, Atari •••••

Ok, how about some new software????? Mell, we won one battle. Springboard Software, locally, cried uncle and have amounced Newsr00111 for the 8 bit It might be nice to give them a call and say th.,ks. This fight has be.; going on for years and we finally won. DataSoft .-.nounced Video Tftle Shop for creating colorful animated title screen for video tapes for S29.95. They also amounced Alternate Reality-The Dungeon the second Installment in the series for S29.95. SSI announced., agr~nt with TSR to bring Dungeons and Dragons to 8 bit Atari by Christmas. Looks good, expect to hear more from Bruce upon his return ••••

It's caning •••••• Are you ready???? Yes, July fa our fifth birthday and it•a time to celebrate. For our July meeting, we will have a party with cake, pop, and door prizes. But we will need some help from you for some additional food. So come to the meeting and volunteer. Remenber, lt•a time to celebrate. What•a new at this month•• meeting ••••• Well, first off we will get a first hand account of all the news fran CES from Bruce, our president. Bruce should have ccq:,lete news about all of the stuff mentioned here and .,,.a so come and be Informed. Also, we wtl l have an on· line demonstration of our new SPACE BBS with Bruce, Fr.,k, and Joe giving us all helpful hints on how to logon and maneuver our way through the SPACE/MAST BBS. This should be a good meeting. As well as the Infamous SPACE IOI ••••••

What•• new In this month•• newsletter ••••• Well, the return of the 8 Bit Xtra Includes an article picked up In my travels through the BBSs. Thia IIClnth, we look at a hardware fix for sticky console keys on the 130XE. Next month.... more hardware mods or a look at Im. Mell, that•• It for this month •••• Lots of news and Information. Finally, ff you own any new or old piece of software, bring ft along to the meeting and demo It for the group. There fa still alot of good software out there, but we need to see ft to bel feve ft. It would especially be nice to see some of the new software mentioned here and at the meeting. Well, happy CQ"11tfng and I'll see you all at the next SPACE meeting and on the SPACE/MAST BIS.

SPACE ATARI USER GROOP MONTHLY MEETING FOR MAY Recorded by Joe D.,ko, Secertary 1. Meeting called to order on MAY 8th at 7:30 PM by President Bruce Haug. Approxfnately 40 menbers present. Bruce opened with a report concerning an Interesting Individual that contacted us through the BBS. This person fs heavily Involved in the ATARI BBS scene around the country and promised to upload a lot of plblfc domain software fn the future. He fa looking for the AMS ccq:,osition program. The full name Is Advanced Music System. There was discussion about "1ere it

SPACE/MAST· Jt.ne, 1987 Page 6

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 5

came from and htlo markets it now. Also discussion about something called AMS II and AMS construction set. Does anyone have some .uiwers??? Your loyal secretary happens to Author: lee Actor 3345 San Marino Aveooe San Jose, CA 95127 (408)251 · 7624 I have seen ads in ANTIC

and

own AMS and It

ANALOG for AMS

came from APX. APX·20100

MULTITECH 224EH 300/1200/2400 baud modem BBS EXPRESS running under SPARTADOS from ICD. Frank Haug is the current SYSOP. The BBS phone l'Ulber is 774·0135. Bruce Haug discussed the fact that the BBS is always up except for a bug involved E·mafl ffle space. What Is E·mail???? Most BBS's have it: Messages that are addressed to a specific user on the BBS and readable only by that user. on BBS Express this fs the only way to direct messages to a specific user.

lee Actor, but not lately.

2.Vice·president•s report and ATARI news. ELECTRONIC ARTS officially owns BATTERIES INCLU>ED now and states that due to poor sales In the recent past they will not market any more new 8·bit software. ATARI 1200 baud modem will be starting prod.lc:tion In JU'l8. Atari 80 colllll"I display adapter Is said to be starting prod.lc:tion in JU'l8. ATARI says that the 3.5 inch disk drive is cancelled but they will market a cb.ble density, double sided 5 inch disk drive. ATARI/C04MODORE lawsuit: ATARI WINSI Settlement tenns not revealed! Runors of a $99 disk drive for the 65XE GAME SYSTEM are incorrect. It will use standard ATARI peripherals. 3. Treasurer's Report Income = $467 Expenses= $1100 Balance at end of Apr I l = $794

8. Ribbon

Re·lnker

Larry could'l't make the meeting. The rest of the officers futbled the ball the nine ribbons Larry re-Inked did'l't show up. Larry says that ribbons may be dropped off or picked up at his place of work on the fifth floor the ROSEVILLE PROFESSIONAL CENTER at Hemline and Highway 36.

and

Larry Vaiden Platz 850 Emerald Ct. New Brighton, MN 55112 PH. 636·2415 Most ribbons can be re·inked for S1, large ribbons for S2. , 9. Old Business SPACE 5th BIRTHDAY PARTY: Date set for the meeting an July 10th. The cllb will provide drinks and a cake. Donations of chips and dips will be accepted. There will be door prizes and other 111111zing events. 10. Offers

and

Deals

4. Secretary's report· See the current newsletter.

WIZARDS l«)RIC: DOTS PERFECT ROM replacement upgrade for EPSON FX, MX, RX series printers. Price fa $79.95. Near Letter Quelfty, tiny condenesd print, skip over perf, etc. SPACE medlers pay $69.95.

5. Newsletter Editor

The cllJ>is 850 interface fa still for sale. S85.00

Bob missed the meeting clle to a Mothers• Day celebration. Bob Insists an • deadline of the Monday 10 days prior to the next 111Nting for slbnlsslon of input for the next newsletter. Contact any chb officer tf you can't upload your article to the SPACE BBS.

Monochrome monitors: ACME ELECTRONICS, various colors and sizes from 5 inch to 12 inch. Most recJ,1fre an external unsupplfed 12 volt power supply. Prices are $37.50 without power supply and S64.50 with power supply. All have very sharp high resolution suitable for 80 colllll'IS.

6. PAPER LIBRARY

11. Disk of the Month

Jim Slede, librarian, will no longer bring all of the magazine back copies to meetings. If any mentier needs old magazine Issues, call Jl11 at home. His phone l'Ulber Is an the front of the newsletter. Jim will bring current newsletters and magazines. 7. BBS NEWS configuration:

· The BBS Is up and operational an the following

130XE MI0/1 MEG from ICD 1050 with US DOUBLER from ICD R1TIME8 Clock/Calendar cartridge fran ICD

software explained and demonstrated by the Disk librarian, Frank Haug. Featured were a user written bamer printing program for any printer by Glen Kfrschennann, a plblfc danefn MONOPOLY progran and an fq,roved PRINTSHa> grephfcs edftor.

DOIi

ANALOG DOM had not arrfved as of the date of the meeting. 12. Service probl1111S/fnformatfon Someone was looking for an ATARIWRITER print driver for en EPSON LX80.

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 8

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 7

ANTIC has a PRINT DRIVER CONSTRUCTION SET for ule. ATARIW RITER·PLUS has f ts own. 13. Demonstarations and Tutorials Joe. Danko demonstrated the shareware text-ed itor TEXTPRO version 2.5r, the latest upgrade. This version has a feature that files to be segmented and processed in pieces such that Inf size allows file lf> to one disk side can be handled. The upgrade ts available on SPACE BBS and Library. The entire older version is available as a packagethefrom the Library. DOM Stuff Frank Haug

Well, this month thanx to our counter-part SPACE (Seattl e), we were able to put together a DOM before I went to the CES. The June 1987 DOM: 1. ORGEGON •Tgame· A classic , 111Bke your way out 2. CHECKERS.COM ·Game· Its slow at times and youwest. nast JUII> ff possible, but its the only checkers game (PD) I know of and tts good. One player vs. conputer. 3. CHESS.COM ·Game· An excelent version of Chess. One player va. conputer. 4. THUNDER ·Game· A great Al8Ze game. one or two player, Joystic ks 12 levels of difficu lty. 5. TRIVIA -Enter· A nicely done trivia game. Sfx categories with points for aultipl e choice answers. 8 Bit Xtra by Jim Schulz This month, 8 bit Xtra returns with a ftx that I found for function keys on the 130XE. If you are having this problan trules ome , check this modification out and see if ft helpa. •• • Next IIIDnth, 1110re hardware IIOds or maybe a look at the future of ICD and the Atari Conprt er. Until then, happy conputing •••••

....

XE CONSOLE KEY FIX ••• THAT REALLY WORKS. John Nagy, SYSOP of the CHAOS BBS

I found that I was not alone "1en I started having trule getting my console keys to work on the ATARI 130XE the CHAOS club used for Its BBS. It seems that very many of the machines develop problem. I asked around and found several others that had done as I did,this opened the keyboard and cleaned the button contacts, only to get good results for a week or so before losing them again. I then received a couple reprint s of article s suggesting hardwar e fixes.

tried a couple that did not work, but one that worked the best came frcn Alan Haskell (printed tn the SBACE GAZETTE,Aprtl 186). Here's how, with a small modtftcatton to save you the trouble I /May made for myself trying hts reconmended Install ation. You wtll need a small phtlltp s head screwdriver, needle small soldering Iron, and three 3k (3,000 ohm) resisto rs. nose pliers, a Quarter-watt rating ts plenty, tn fact, the smaller the resisto rs are physically, the better. 1. Tum over the XE conputer and remove the 4 screws that hold ft together. Turn the conputer over again and remove the top half of the case. 2. Lift out the keyboard and gently pull the ribbon out of its cornector. DO NOT OPEN THE KEYBOARD as cleaning Internally will not help, and you may damage the carbon tracks on the baking sheet inside. 3. Remove the motherboard from the lower half of the case by removing the phillip s screws holding ft down. 4. Remove the top and bottan metal shields from the board by carefu lly straightening the bent tabs that go through the board. 5. Observe the top and underside of the connector you pulled the ke)board ribbon out of. As seen from the top as you would at the conputer normally, there are 24 connections, with connection #1 look at the left and #24 at the right. Connection #3 (from the left) ts the ground connection. The last 4, #21, #22, #23, #24 are the START, SELECT, OPTION , and RESET • connections. lflen a connection ts made fran these points to the ground, the Call'Uter will know one or several of the keys are being pushed. Due to a design problem, the console keys have a bit too nu:h resista nce to always registe r even when you really lean on them. So, we will Install resisto rs between the connections and ground so as to "leak" the three a bit 1110re ground signal to the conprter. That way, not nearly so good a connection fs required by the actual keys when pressed. 6. Identify the proper pins on the bottan side of the circuit board. We will Install the resisto rs under the board. 7. Solder one end of all three resisto rs together. Then connect this comnon to the ground connection (pin 3). Then solder free end of the resiste rs, one each, to pins 21, 22, and 23. (The reset the system never seema affected, nor any other keys.) end

8. Be certain that the wires on the resisto rs do not touch each other nor any other cfrcuft ryl Use as l fttle solder and 88 short a heating time 88 possible. Tape the resisto rs to prevent shorting ff needed, and press them close

to the cfrcuftboard.

9. Reassent>le the shields to the board, bending beck the tabs all together. Look Inside to be sure the resisto rs do not touch to hold ft the lower shield. 10. Coq,lete the re·assent>ly, taking extra care not to stress or Insert the keyboard ribbon too many times. The spring contac ts bend easily, and the conclletfve coating on the ribbon, tf scratched through, wll l cause the

SPACE/MAST· Jl61e, 1987 Page 10

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 9

keyboard to be useless. Don't worry too nuch, that•• hard to do If you are careful. (The original mod suggested pressing the resistor leads Into the connector so as to make It solder-free and alnpler •••• but that 11 slnplicity11 ruined my comector and made hour more work! Solder ttl) 11. Test the repslr. Power..., the machine and type In this one line basic program: 10 PRINT PEEK(53279):GOTO 10 Then type RUN. You wll l see a row of 7 1 s down your screen. Push OPTION. They should turn to 31 s. SELECT will give you 5 1 s, and START's will give you 6 1 s. Coni>inations will give other nurbers from [nurber missing • ed.] to 7. If each key responds, you have finished the repair. This has permanently fixed the problem on dozof XE'•· It has restored keys to "feather touch" after a long siege of having to boot 5 or 6 times mashing the OPTION key trying to get a boot without BASIC. It WILL work for you.

Also, SPACE become change

Also, there always seems to be some dlssentlon between the various ATARI User Groups In town over one u,i~rtant thing or another. we shouldn't be l61dennlning each other, but rather be helping each other. Doesn't It seem about time that all gro...,s got together? There could be one overall club (no meetings other than as the board) and 5 SIG•s. The clubs keep their Individual Identity, but share In 1111ny aspects such as newsletter downloading, DOM•s, etc.. Of course, these ar; only my opinions (not necessarl ly the board's) and no one else 1111y agree with me. But think ' about It, anyway. 1 Nuff said.

Notes from the Co·Chalr

by Jim Schulz

Well,

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR (and MAST CO·CHAIR) by Bob Floyd Well, this my third newsletter, so ft nust be better than itien I first started (right?). By popular denllnd, I've reverted back to the book style of newsletter, ala Bob Rhode. I hope that you nameless, requesting souls are happy, since this method costs me an extra hour and a half every month. Actually, you are not really nameless souls because you now are on the "prospective officers" l lst for the next election (Was that a joke? You won't know for sure u,til later, will you?). Along with this change of formt comes a request for how best to 111.tnlt your articles. ST-Writer and ATARI-Writer (without needless carriage returns) are still the preferred file types. The next best way Is 11prfnted to disk" with a left margin of 1, right margin of 75, top & bottnl margins set to O, and right justification turned 110N11 • Actually, I'd be happy with anything. It is preferred that you ...,toad the article to the SPACE BBS (774·0135), or sul:mit it to me on disk at a meeting or In the mall. My address is 955 Comor Aven.ie East, Maplewood, MN, 55109. Thanks, and get me some articles! While on the subject of 11change11 , I feel I nust repeat something recently very well stated by Joe Waters, editor of •current Notes•. Basically, Joe says that if you are dissatisfied with your club In any aspects, you have two choices · quit, or do something about ltl That puts It very succinctly. The reason that I mention this Is that runor has It that A10St, If not all, of the elected club officers will not ba returning after elections. This is not because there Is a sudden dislike for the club, since this is really not true. It ts just that we are getting tired of doing everything. Now, you may ask, why harp on this In Ju,e lllen the elections aren't l61tll Novent>er (although, nominations start In Septent>er)? Well, you folks out there had better start thinking about ft now, so that you know (and we know) who you are by election time.

there Is some dlssention out there about the relationship between and MAST. Do you know the best way to deal with this? It ts to an officer, or at least subnlt changes to the bylaws. Orderly Is always the easiest method.

I'm back writing again for the newsletter after two month leave of

absence and probably some of the worst experiences of my life. But on to

bigger and better things. First off, I would like to thank you all for your help and those of you itio have waited for the last two months for me to get caught ..., on the disks of the month. Now, what's news and exciting.... Well, first let's take care of some old business fran the last two months. First, In the last two months, I have heard quite a bit of bad mouthing of our SPACE president Bruce Haug. I think one thing that should be said that even though Bruce does not own an ST, he does support the MAST gro..., 1oox Bob and I really don't do all of the chores leaders of the club would do: Bruce does quite a few and Is always willing to help. MAST would not exist today ff It waan•t for Bruce. Bruce was one of the original &14)porters of MAST and has helped us all along the way. I think we all owe Bruce 8 debt of thanks. Now, with the Issue of SPACE/MAST BBS being ru, on a 130XE MAST ts not spending any money to Sl4)port this BBS. The money spent we; all SPACE money so none of the MAST meni,ershlp fees or DOM sales have currently gone to 814)port this BBS. In return for this, the SPACE/MAST BBS currently has a message base for ST users and wll l soon have 8 download section for ST news and Information gathered by yours truly and others. Through all of the problems end c~lalnts, the SPACE/MAST BBS hes been quite reliable and been down very rarely. I think we all owe Bruce and Frank our thanks for getting the BBS started and nrnfng as well as It has. Currently, MAST•s participation In the SPACE/MAST BBS or SPACE/MAST East Is rather questionable. If there Is no MAST usage, MAST will not Sl4)port the BBS moneywfse. The SPACE/MAST East board needs a hard drive to really becane more viable, but MAST'• stand Is 161less you use It, we will not Sl4)port It. I would strongly urge all MAST ment>ers to call It ..., at 774·0135 and give It a try. And leave • message, question or comnent on the ST to start the ball roll Ing. I 1111 on the board at least once 8 day 80 If you need me, leave me • message. I have been even remote sysoplng the board this past weekend while Bruce has been vacationing at CES. My feeling Is that we should give It a try and check It out before prejudging fran past discussions. Enough said on that topic.

SPACE/MAST· J111e, 1987 Page 12

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 11

Now on to our BBS, first off I think we all owe Steve Pauley a big thanks. In addition to getting the BBS started and rln'\lng, Steve purchased a new PC, a new hard drive, and a new 2400 baud modem to r111 the BBS off of. All of this out of his own pocket. Please note that currently MAST'S moneywlse Is only Sl4)porting the BBS for the cost of the installation of the phone line and the monthly phone bill. I have proposed and It will probably be passed that we c~nsate Steve about $10.00 a month for the wear and tear on his equipnent. Even with this, the cost of the BBS Is only about $30.00 a month which I think is quite cheap. Steve has also waded through all of the massive amount of uploads from the old Mindtools BBS and reorganized them. I have rarely seen the BBS down and most times is Cf,llte busy. MAST's board, now called SPACE/MAST West, is up 24 hours a day at 2400/1200/300 baud and can be reached by callh-e 560-9254. This Is your board so use it. I try to get on at least once a day, but the phone gets quite busy at times. Make it iq:,ossible for me to cell. Keep the board busy. If you have any problems or (f.leStions about the SPACE/MAST BBS, give me or Steve a call and we will take care of your problems. Use the MAST BBS as your source for the best in ST information and news. Coming soon to the MAST BBS ••• All of the latest news and rumors about CES. I currently have about six or seven articles about CES and Atari which should be up on the MAST BBS by the time you read this. For lnfonnatlon will be uploaded as it becane available. Also look to the MAST BBS for a preview of each month's meeting the week of the meeting by yours truly with an update on demos, news, and DCl4s and Ideas for this month's progr111ars meeting. Check It out today. Now. for sane questions???? Where have all the MAST members gone??? I missed the March meeting for family reasons. April, we had a snall crowd and May, we had a little bit larger crowd. In April, I'm told that everyone was gone because of Good Friday and In May, because of the fishing opener. I hope that these are the only reasons. If you haven't been to a meeting lately, why not cane back and check us out???? If you have a problem or a question about MAST, drop me a line or give me a call and I will try and resolve and answer any questions. Remember MAST Is your club and I am trying to run It the way that you, the members,' wish. If you want things changed, let me know. Me are always open for suggestions. Please remember, CfJestions and crltlcla at MAST do not &qt.ate to volunteering. Unless we hear from you, we don't know If we are doing sanethlng wrong. Anything ts fair game. MAST Is a user group 14\lch J have shaped off of your suggestions and will conttn.ie to shape this way. I hope to see all at the next meeting. MAST Is here to serve you. Next up, this month's meetings ••••• At this month's MAST meeting, we will spend the bulk of the time going through all of the new rumors fr011 this month's CES and COM)EX shows. Also Bruce and Frank 88 well 88 any other CES attendees will report on their observations of CES and Its highlights. Also we will return to our standard nultltude of D04s with a vast array of good public dcmain software. And finally, demos will Include the new printer digitizer from SoftLoglk If It arrives otherwise we will show soma of the nice pictures, the new game from Keypunch software Ganbler, Certificate Maker from SprlngBoard software, possibly a demo of the new 3-D glasses from Antic, and a look at the hidden animation feature of Neo version 1.0. Also, I will get soma of the latest and greatest new software not out as I write for demos as well. This should be a good meeting for one and all. At this month's MAST progr111ars meeting, Chuck Purcell Is

I )

preparing a discussion of his discoveries and problems with the Atari Resource Editor. Chuck has been spending the last few weeks working on this and will tell us of his observations. Also, the latest news of the GFA BASIC and OSS PASCAL updates will also be discussed. Finally, our general discussion of progrlllllllng and the ST. For those .t.o don't know on the Monday following the MAST meeting, MAST holds a progranmers meeting' for the progranmers of the ST to chew the fat and discuss what is ever on their minds. This meeting Is very freeform and I never know .t.at Is going to happen until it happens. The members make this meeting, yet I have always learned something new and have been Informed by It. Stop by sane Monday night and check us out. I'm sure you will enjoy It, too. Next up, progranmers meeting name.... It was mentioned at a previous MAST meeting that the MAST progranmers slg should also a short name l Ike MAST Mell, no one responded 111tll I got a list of names from Dale and SPACE. Lindblad, MAST/SPACE menber and resident Print Shop expert. He vol111teered four names for our consideration. These will be discussed at both MAST meetings this month as well as suggestions from the floor. Here are his suggestions •••• MOPS (MAST Operating/systems/and Progrlllllllng Sig), MASTERS (MAST Extra Research Sig), MPS (MAST Progranmers Sig), and MAST/PLUS (MAST/ Progrlllllllng Language Users Sig). Check these out and think of any new ones for possible names. Thanks Dale for all of our suggestions. Next up, projects •••• I have two projects that I would like to get going fn the next few months. First up, I would like some progranmers to start working on soma public domain PrintMaster utilities for creating and aanlpulatfng the Icons, fonts, and borders of this utll lty program. I' have cane upon a rud:>er of Icons from a nuit>er of sources and will be culling these together over the next few months and It would be nice to soma utilities to go along with th11111. If you have time and are willing to help let • know I have nuit>er of Ideas and I am willing to accept ideas well. When conplete, this project could be very profitable to MAST. More on this later. Next, I have recently ordered some cheap 3.5 11 single-aided and double-sided disks for testing purposes for the club. Mhat J need Is disk testers to put these disks through their paces and get back to me to tell me If they are any good. These disks are sell Ing for 89 cents for singles and 99 cents for doubles. If they test out good, MAST will start using them for our DCl4s and we wll l also offer them to the club as group buy. How the testers will get the disks and how 111.1Ch they will cost has not been decided. If you read this month's ST Xtra article on disks, you can probably tell quality verles quite a bit. So if you are willing to pound on soma disks for MAST and report the results, let me know. The disks take four weeks to deliver so I don't know If they will make this month's

lllfftlng.

Finally, this month's newsletter marks the return of all of your favorite ST features. In this month's newsletter In addition to the Co-Chair's report, you will find Chuck's Notes, ST Xtra on the results of tests on 3.5" disks, this month's DOM news, this month's latest and greatest ST news, last month•s secretary minutes and an article from Steve Pauley on the MAST BBS. Good reading for all. Mell, that's It for this month. Until the June MAST meeting, happy ST computing and I hope to see you all at this month's MAST meeting and MAST progr111ars meeting. Also onllne on the MAST/SPACE East and West BBSs.

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 13

MAST APRIL MEETING MINUTES by Dan Stlbbs Bob Floyd opened the meeting. Jim Schulz explained the DOM's for April and for March. An ST specific bulletin board was discussed and an offer was made by Steve Pauley and Todd Burkey to use their c0q11ter for an ST BBS ff the chb would install and maintain a phone line. A vote was taken of those present and 18 people voted fn favor of accepting this offer and no one voted against ft. The ribbon re·lnklng service was discussed y~r tired, old ribbons to Jim or Bob and for 1 or 2 dollars (dependinggive on ribbon type) you can have your ribbons rejunfvated. In news and rumors, Jim reported that Batteries Included has been purchased by Electronic Arts The blftter chip still does not have a ffrm COll'f)letfon date. The AMY chip Is getting closer and the laser printer from Atari will be available fn May. The M:9a ST wll l come after the bl ftter chip fa clone. Neochrome version 1.0 11 out. Wor~rfe ct will be available In June or July listing at S395 but wholesaling fn the $150·200 range. Magic Sac folks are testing a drive to go with the cartridge . The Atari • cannodore suit has been settled. The new ROM's will be speedier with some bugs In the AES fixed and with a 25X increase In floppy disk read and wrfte. VT100 enulater cartridges are fn the wharehouses ready to go. Demonstrations were given of the Monitor Master, which allows b/w and color llllll'lftors to be switched without rebooting and the FASTER SHELL program. MAST MAY MEETING MINUTES by Dan Stlbbs MAST'& May meeting was held on May 15 at the Falcon Heights Camu,fty Center. The meeting was opened by Co·Chafr Bob Floyd. Bruce Haug shared some Information about the "Amateur Fair" that will be held June 6·7 at the State Fair Grounds fn the middle of the race track and fn the east r00111 of the grandstand. Tickets are $5,00 at the door. Information about the fafr can be obtained by modem at 300 or 1200 baud at 291·0567. Bruce also had Information on a discount sign up for the BBS "GENIE". Next Jf11 Schulz reported on the six new disks of the IIIDl"lth for May. Neal Palosaarf reported that the club has about 12 books on the ST available to ment>ers for one month at a time; see Neal at the meeting. In the news and rumors department Jfm reported that Electronic Arts has purchased Batteries Included and that they will release Paperclfp Elite. They will reportedly use copy protection on all future releases. Atari was reported to have had S65 million in sales and S15 11fllfon profit last quarter. A new 1ml enulator, the "PC Ditto", has been announced and will sell $90 New ROM•s are coming that will be blftter COll'f)8tfble but willfornotabout need blltter to function. Chuck Purcell reported that the blftter will th; available shortl Y In Europe. Demonstrations were given of 11Goldnrner"be "Hard:>all", the new versions of "CAD 30 11 and NEOCHROME. The progranmer•; meeting on Monday, May 18, had some general discussions and a demonstration of an Interesting graphics progr&11 called "AIM",

SPACE/MAST· Ju,e, 1987 Page 14

New ATARI ST Bulletin Board For All MAST and St Users by Steve Pauley, Sysop I would like to Invite ell ST users to become metrbers of new MAST BBS. The phone l"ll.lli>er Is (612) 560-9254. The board operatesthe et 300/1200/2400 Baud, 24hrs per day. Every once In a YII le I may need to take the board down for an hour or two for personal use. Access to this board fa open to ALL MAST inent>ers and the general p.blfc. The phone service for the BBS Is paid for by the MAST group thru dues and sales of DOM'&. The BBS Is being run on an ST clonemenbers ••• Well sort of. Actually It's an Easy·Data PCXT, Seagate 30MB hard drive, lncomn Turbo 2400 Baud modem and Coll le BBS software, all supplied by Steve Pauley. As a friend said, "PC's don't make very good c0q11ters for anything except 11aybe BBS's". This BBS went In service or on•lfne about May 1st. The BBS Is stf ll undergoing a few changes and I am open to suggestions at this point In the BBS design, so let me hear from you ff you have any Ideas. The BBS features special Interest file areas for uploads and downloads. These areas Include MAST Info, New Uploads, Desk Accessories, Application & Procllctfvfty, ST BASIC source code, GFA BASIC source code, Drawing Programs and Picture Utilities , Demos, Doc. and Info. files, GEM stuff, Music, oss Pascal source code, Pictures, Utilities , Mocllla·2 source code, C source code, and still adding new areas. I plan to keep 20MB+ of ST files for downloading on the hard drive at all times. If there fa an area that you think you and other ment>ers could benefit from, let me know and I can add It to the list. The BBS also has a very easy to use message base, Y1ere you can: talk to other BBS ment:,ers, sell sane old c0q11ter equfpnent, ask for help on a progr111111fng probl•, spread some rumors or anything else that has to do with getting more out of your ST. You can leave private mall for another iaent>er or a public message to all BBS ment>ers. The main reason I chose to use the Collie BBS program, was that It Is easy to use and has a very natural menu structure . There are help fl les for you to use but most of the options will make sense the first time you use th•. At this point we have a snmll group C about 50 ) of BBS ment>ers, so you can help us grow ff you will let other ST users around the city and country know about this BBS and phone l'\Ultler. I would l Ike to see at least inenmrs. The more people who call this board, the more news, fnfo 300 and programs we wit l have to share wf th each other. So like the man says, NPfck up the phone ••• and give us a call". (612) 560·9254 Hope to see you on the BBS soon.

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 15

SPACE/MAST· Ju,e, 1987 Page 16

ST Xtra by Jim Schulz This Is the first, I think, In a new series of articles In my series of treks through the BBS network. This article IncludesfOUld tests of clone on 3.5" disks by a magazine called the Diskette Gazette. I fOUld this to be quite Informative considering the nunber of disks that I go article through for the club each month. I hope you find this new series of articles to be informative. Until next time, happy ST coqJUtlng. DISKETTE RATINGS diskette ratings have proven to be quite popular with readers. The current ratings are updates from those published In previous Issues of The Gazette. They sl.lllft8rize conclusions made after working with hundreds of thousands of diskette s, largely In a disk duplication envlronnent. We also talk with a wide range of end users, other duplicators, disk S'-"J)ller s and software publishers. International Datawares sometimes performs special testing of batches of diskette s for manufacturers. "11te the total RJd>er of double-sided projects are now allowing us to accUll.llate better and better data. The table that follows 1U111111rlzes our resut ts. The ratings fall into five categories: Best, Excellent, Good, Poor, Bad. 0ur

We continue to rate Sony as The best, but JVC Is close. JVC and Maxell are rated excellent. We have not tested alt brands, and we have only seen a few exanples from some supplf era so our results apply only to those we heve tried In large quantiti es. BASF appears to have fixed problems they earlier and they have moved up In our ratings. Memorex has been workinghad to lnprove their quality and they have moved up In this Issue. JVC hn lnproved over the last year and we now consider th• al1110St the equal of Sony. SINGLE·SIDED

Maxell single-sided Rating: EXCELLENT Problem rate: Better than 1 In 3,000 Quantity tested: Over 20,000 Color: Standard color is dark blue; Apple beige available in bulk. BASF single-sided Problem rate: About 1 In 2,000 Quantity tested: 20,000 Color: Beige similar to Apple beige.

Rating:

0000

3M single-sided Rating: GOOO Probl11111 rate: Better than 1 In 1,500 Quantity tested: Over 5,000 Color: Standard sflver·gr ey: and be ordered In bulk with Apple beige.

Memorex single-sided Rating: ? Problem rate: ? Quantity tested: We have not tested enough of the new ss disks that Memorex Is producing. The old black disks were rated as poor. The new ones are blue. TDK single-sided Rating: ? Others have Indicated that TDK disks are quite good. We have not yet used enough to rate the product.

DWBLE·SIDED

Sony single-sided Rating: The BESTI Problem rate: Better than 1 In 5,000 Quantity tested: More than 185,000 Color: Comes In Sony dark blue, Apple beige C011111ent: Apple's primary ss source. ss often works reasonably welt as OS. JVC single-sided Rating: EXCELLENT Problem rate: Better than 1 In 4,000 Quantity tested: Over 50,000 Color: Comes In blue a shade tighter than Sony, can be ordered as beige In bulk. Fujitsu single-sided Problem rate: Better than 1 In 3,000

Quantity tested: Over 15,000 Color: Standard blue. Can be ordered In bulk in Apple beige. Connnt: C.ltoh & co. Is the lnporter for this procllct.

Rating: EXCELLENT

Sony double-sided Rating: The BESTI Probl• rate: Better than 1 In 5,000 Quantity tested: More than 70,000 Ccnment: Apple•• primary DS/00 source. No signific ant media or package problems. JVC double-aided Problem rate: Better than 1 In 4,000 Quantity tested: Over 25,000

Rating: EXCELLENT

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 17

I I I

GIST From Antic Software Reviewed by Ed Seward GIST fa by Gary Levenberg aid Lee Actor. This Is the proclJct whose prototype was the basis of their coluin In the Ulnter START magazine. The purpose of GIST is to provide an easy means of designing better sounds and then lnclu:llng them In a program. The package canes with the GEM based sound editor, 50 sanple sounds and the code necessary to use GIST for 5 C language systems: Alcyon C (aid thus Mark Uillfams C), GST C, Lattice C and Meganmx C. After sOllle begging, pleading and grovelling I learned that Antic will be adding the code for using GIST with oss• Personal Pascal. This addition will be placed In the plblic domain as it will be useless without the GIST package Itself.

I I I

...i

~ol

00 I ..,. • I

:, m

1:::: o• 0

first viewing the directory of the GIST directory one sees five folders and 3 files. There Is a folder labelled for four of the c•s that contains the code for using GIST. There is a folder Just contafnfng the code fro the demo progran and another folder containing the 50 Slll1')le 'SIi>' ff les. The three files are the GIST program, resource aid documetatfon.

The first thing I tried was GIST.PRG the sound editor. The screen comes up with three boxes on the left side of the screen and the llll!l'1U bar. The boxes allow one to play a sound or sounds In a continuous cycle and to vary the length of one cycle. The next box down allows one to set the duration of a sound. The botom box allows one to cha,ge the note being used for the sound or sounds. The menu bar has four main headings besides the 1 ACC 1 coluin. The headings are 'File•, 'Edit', 'Play• and 'Misc•. The 'File' heading Is pretty standard. The 'Edit' offers one a reminder on quick ccmnands on editing the volume, frequency or noise. Besides the quick comnands one can also Just double-click on the appropriate part of the display for a sound and one will be shown the editing screen for the volune frequency or noise.

. i~,0• .C Cl

,t.>O

-rt

The first I did was to load In one of the sanple sound files. One should allow a LOT of time to waste wfth this. There fsn•t any problem· the sounds can be modified so easily that I spent some hot.rs Just fooling around with various cont>inatlons. Uhfle there ere 50 sound sanples lnclu:led I nu1t mention that through the monitor speaker about 15·20 of them sounded so al Ike as to be Indistinguishable. That group ts variations of a piano. The reason for this is that It makes ft nuch easter to know which paraneter to change. I found the way the editor Is setup to be very frelndly and slq,le to use. Ulthln the editor one can load In up to three sound files at any one time. The sounds can be played either Individually or •ganged' so that all of them are used. I should mention before I forget that GIST will accept fnout from a MIDI keyboard and play the sounds back through the MIDI also. Uhen a 1 SN0' file Is loaded a window pops up displaying the ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release) envelope, the LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) for both frequency and volune, the frequency curve and the noise settings. All of these can be very easily edited using the mouse. I should 111entfon that GIST makes use of three ADSR envelopes and three LFO's per sound

:.,...

....Cl

i ...Cl !

\,c

. ... I)

SPACE/MAST· June, 1987 Page 19

SPACE/MAST· J1.11e, 1987 Page 20

chamel. This replaces the sfngle envelope generator that fs burned fnto the sound chip. Now, what would you use GIST for? Well, I sure hate to construct the code for sOll'lds from scratch. Also, as I mentioned above GIST reprograms the sound chip and helps provide "1at the progranmers NSQ • "Near Synthesizer Quality". If one Is designing a game then one get easily get away from the 'Asteroids' type of sound effects "1fch seems to be very ccmnon fn the p,.bllc domain and some ccmnercfal products. The dfsk fs not copy·protected and the package works In both medfun and high resolution. In my opfnfon, most people working on adding sounds to a program they are wrftfng wfll benefit from using GIST both fn tfma savings and the resulting CJJ9lfty of the sounds.

Chuck's Notes By Chuck Purcell With conments by Jim Schulz This month marks the return of Chuck's Notes. Thfs month Chuck starts hfs qufck reference study of the world of ST editors. Thfs month's qufck reference guide Is for what I call "MfcroEmacs wfth Help.• This fa one of the nicest and the fastest of the editors arOllld. Thfs editor can be found on MAST DCJII #55 with all necessary docunentatfon and source code. The latest update of this was fn Febrlmry of thfs year. So here we go to Chuck •••••

....

/ -BS del by words < "BS del to edge -/\paragraph \"H BS del by char +/\scroll•F8 "A "B /\ edge "<· ·········word move+<· ···<·CJ·>···+·> word•move············ V "F

move

F9=scrol l +V paragraph -v

KEYBOARD:

.... '

. ......

control key "op

alternate key •op ( "X" ~lvalent)

shift key +op

I I I •.I .•. ~! .... ... .• 1 F2 'F3 'F1 lwrfte file def MACRO VISIT FILE

F4 WT 1

1 F8 1 F7 1 F10 1 F9 1 F6 F5 exg l"other wind vl COPY l <· brace v MARK SEARCH·> " SCROLL 1

~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ .... ~~~~~ .. :~~~~.:!~ ~ .~~~

...

F10

········ .. ,

'control la \

. ... , ........

········ ········

...•................

,b.sp. II help,w ll.l'ldo buf,1( wlnl) wlnl/ win,• onel dn spl It wind up indices A·l.l'ldo[]

\ I -1

lq \

\· ......... ········I········ ................... . \I\ re ldel

turn····

', I

\·····

lz ,,

..,

altematelspace bar\ l

················\

FUNCTION KEY ASSIGNMENTS:

~~~~

··············

WHERE:

,............

lesc I,\

IShfft

ffle:\llle_aue.txt

move

"D DEL by char \ "K "DEL to edge > -DEL by words/

"ClrHane·endlng··········bottom·of·docunent·················· ········ <end of ffle>

ltab

st_aue.ttp CORNELL UNIVERSITY VERSION 1.XX 111fcroEmaca adapted to ATARl·ST Source By Davfd a. a screen edftor. (on the Atarf ST) MfcroEMACS Conroy, mods by Moshe Braner 860624. See copyrf~t notice In file •main.c•. COl'l'p8Ct docunentatfon by CJ Purcell, St.Paul, MN 55113.

escape key -:op

CURSOR OONTROL: ···························top·of·docunent····················· ······ -clrHane beglmlng "a set mark

wlnl In· I 'I' IEclr IIsert Chane I 17top 18repot 19 end 1· back •.••••..••.•.•••..•• 5 ll<~~arl ,I, lch;;>ll!wordl u"p ••••• •···· •····

1eord>,♦f~~I

..... ··I·· •........................

enter 13 12 11 <lfne d·n line> \·CCJIIPACT ST KEYBOARD· •·••••·•••· •···· ex. o \· · · macro location control pad

'' '

1·

....

W.ll, that's ft for this month. Next month, Chuck looks at ST EDT, the ST version of the DEC EDT editor written for the ST. As always, I would again lfke to thank Chuck for hfs contribution and suggest other topics to Chuck whfch YoU would lfka covered. Untfl next month, happy hacking and buy

Dots.

SPACE/HAST · J~, 1987

Page 22

SPACE/MAST · June, 1987 Page 21

.......... .......... .......... .......... . Chicago • • CES NE\IS From Saturday, May 30, 1987: by David G. Groves, CIS SYSOP From the Atari Booth, topped with a real Cessna Airplane, the word was "flying high with Atari". The theme followed through Into the exhibit space "1ere Flight Slnulator II played fr0111 a cartridge on a large screen inonltor Inside the cockpit of a Cessna. Atari chose to push Its game aide, and the new COffl)Uter lines were not being shown. There was a PC Clone getting minimal attention but the absence of MEGA ST's, Laser printers, 1200 baud modems, Blltter enhanced ST's, IBM enulator,a nd 80 Colum cards, left little dolJ>t that this was to be• game show. ltecently appointed Vice President and General Manager of US operation s, J. J. (Jerry) Brown to confirmed this In his press release of today stating •Atari Intends US remain the leader in video game systell8 and to Increase Its share of the personal coq,uter market." While this author's first lll'f)resslons (as an Atari _Business_ coq,uter user) were (1Jlte negative, given that the preceedlng release, titled "ATARI ANNOJNCES AGGRESSIVE NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT VIDEO GAMES All> PERSONAL CCtlPUTERS" was slnultane ously Issued with releases titled "ATARI ANNClJNCES 40 NEW GAMES ANO LICENSING AGREEMENTS WITH COIPUTER GAME ANO ARCADE C04PANIES" and "ATARI TO BEGIN SHIPMENT OF NEW XE GAME SYSTEM BUNDLED WITH THREE PCl'ULAR GAMES" and given that no •business" coq,uter releases were made, a closer reading of the releases lead to aome rather surprising hypotheses of the situation . The first page end 3/4'• of the 3 page advertisin g CSll'f>lllgn ann0Ull:ellll!ft Is devoted to game 11111Chtna pramotlons plamed for the balance of thfs year, Including national TV spots starting in Septent>er, comic book ads, In atore hardware and 1oftware demos, and and full repackaging of the game 11111chlnea ard XE's. Not l.l"ltll the back pages did we note that 4 TV ads (starting late 3rd quarter ard rtnilng through New Years) end a Stbltantl al portion of the new edvertlaln g budget ((1Jadrupled frm previous levels) would be fflOted to the IT'ii (This as opposed to 3 new ads starting In Septent>er for the games). The budget also calls for some mjor print ads to follow and • ~ t the TV effort. Now the pessimist will assune that Atari Is bent on forgetting the CalflUters In favor of games. The 1110re business oriented will notice that In the Atari Stock and Sales of ST'a have been doing rather well, and that were ~ c the of asset, gmnes the MEGA end ST's the of on lntrodJctl nearly step-child ren. Further, the XE Is almost In direct COll'f)ltltlon with the ST's and likely In an overatocked condition at Atari. The optl•lst the old will, therefore , assune that Atari Is on a c~lgn to l1(1Jldste stock fn new boxes, maintain lta game 11111rket share, and procb:e the liquidity and corporate energies to actively continue Its ST advantage. In assessing Atari's strategie s, one IIIUlt rement>er that the IIIM1)0Wer of this COOlpany has sorely lagged lt•a growth In hen& conp,ter 111rket share, and that Atari had nothing to do with the conflictin g tched.llee of CES and Ccrndex this year. \11th limited ma~r and time to proci.lce end to eell prodlct, I am optimisti c and feel that Atari lllllde the right decision, In the face of the tough declalon forced by The Interface Group•• show.tl•ln g. The balance of this quarter ahould tell! (c) 1987 CIS SYSOP*Davld G. Groves

* * * * *

THIS NEWSLETTER WAS SENT TO ALL PAST SPACE MEMBERS THAT WE KAO AN ADDRESS F~. CO£ TO <lJR NEXT IF YOO CANNOT HAKE MEETING. * JUNE, Cc»IE IN JULY. WE HOPE TO * HAVE PAST OFFICERS PRESENT AT * TKE BIRTll>AY PARTY. YOO \IILL * ALSO RECEIVE ClJR JULY NE\lSLETTER.

* *

......................................... COME ANO JOIN US 111

ONE MEG ABYT E FOR YOUR 520S T

Jl~ATARr

520ST..

• ONE DAY SERVICE COMPUTER • LOANER elf RENTAL 520ST • 520~T COLOO SYSTEH WITif I MEGABYTE RAH INSTALLED $979 (IN STOCKI • 520ST fflNO SYSTOt WITH t ft:GABYTE RAH INSTALLED $779 <IN STOCK) • I HEGABYTE BOARD UPGRADE (INSTALLED) $179 • 1 MEGABYTE PIGGY BACK UPGRADE (INSTALLED) $119 • 2 OR If tlEGABITT CUSTOtt UPGRADE (CALLI • 50 DAY WARRANTY ON UPGRADES • TALK TO DAVE 00 SCOTT REGULAR BUSINESS LINE: (6121 770-21flf7 LR DATA , INC. CALL THE LR DATA BBS: (612) m-6376

St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE) Bruce Haug, President 1697 East Hoyt Avenue St . Paul, MN 55106 Phone : (612)-774-6226