SPACE Newsletter

0 CTOBER

198 7

SPACE Meeting Friday, Oct 9 at 7:30pm MAST Meeting Friday, Oct 16 at 7:30pm At the Falcon Heights Community Center 2077 Larpenteur Avenue West MAST PROGRAMMERS Meeting Monday, Oct 19 at 7:30pm At First Minnesota Bank Building - second floor Lexington and Larpenteur, in back of building Bruce Haug Jim Schulz Bob Floyd Joe Danko Dan Stubbs Bob Siede Frank Haug Jim Scheib Neil Pa1osaari All an Frink Phil Se ifert

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 MAST Membership Chair MAST Demo Coordinator

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774-6226 537-5442 484-7576 777-9500 433-3708 489-3982 774-6226 721-4185 646-1272 482-7911

Minnesota Atari ST SIG

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 1

SPACE/HAST · October, 1987 Page 2

D I S C L A I ME R Published by the St. Paul ATARI C~ter Enthusiasts (SPACE), an indepen::lent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission Is granted to any al•ilar organization with which SPACE exchanges newsletters to rrprlnt 11111terl1l fr0111 this newsletter. Ye do, however, ask th11t credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the author• nnd do not n('Ce8sarily reflect the views of SPACE, MAST (Mlrnesot11 ATARI ST IIP'!tlal lntereBt group), clt.b officers, clt.b members or ATARI Corporation.

will be copies of the current bylaws at the SPACE meeting, since this is currently the only meeting where a bylaws vote can take place. Interested MAST men-bers will have to attend the October SPACE meeting, this time, if they wish to vote. Asst.Jning the passage of these amendnents, then paper ballot votes will be taken at both meetings (and combined into one result) in future votes. Copies of the new bylaws, if passed, will be available at the October MAST meet ing and the Novenber SPACE meeting. ************************** ARTICLE NAME

S P

A C E / MA S T

BUl l ET I N

R O A R O S

SPACE/MAST East (XE) . Syt1op: rr11nk Hnuo · BBS Phone: (612)• 714•01'5 (Home Phone': 774 •6776) SPACE/MAST ~est (ST) · Sysop: Steve P11uley · BBS Phone: (612) -560 92\4 (Home Phone: 560 · 2917)

Section 1. The name of this club shall be the St. Paul Atari COC11)1.lter Enthusiasts/M imesota ATARI ST (SPACE/MAST), an in::lependent corrputer user group. Section 2. group.

SPACE

is the 8-bit conp.Jter group. MAST is the 16·bit conp.Jter

ARTICLE IV OFFICERS Section 1. The officers of the club shall be a president of SPACE, a pres ident of MAST, e vice·presiden t of SPACE, a vice-presiden t of MAST, an::I a treasurer for the combined SPACE/MAST. These officers shall perform the duties prescribed by these bylaws and by the parliementary authority adopted by the clt.b.

Bytes frc:n the Pres, by Bruce Haug October Is here, elections are caning In Novetrber. I have other conmltments for the December meeting. llho will be your President and have the key to open the m,,cting ha\1777 Maybe there will be no SPACE, Just II MAST meeting In Oecerrtx-r777 People better start thinking of what they want to do. !here nre Rome bylnw changes printed in this newsletter that will be voted on Ot t obt>r 9 nt the srACE lll('eting. Also, there will be one more printed In the Now•n•,,., r1"w11lPttl'r . lhnt one has to do with the treasurer keeping MAST an::I SPACE f1.1~l1 ~ep<"rnte. Thi~ ha~ alway• been done, but there Is no bylaw stating sot• I I mdrr ~tnr.-1 th" O<N t 11 1111other Rr SI of SPACF. Some of you newer menbers should ct,rck wf th thl' DIN l 1hr Ill I llf1 nn 111·- ot the EXIRA dlakl we had years ago. Bob rl oyd' 5 Rln,1119 rncllla1 I~ atlll In uu, hy • lot of AIARI owner11. ~e have

i I I II

SH YCXI OClOlll 11 9th

Propo,;ed AffW'rwt...nu (t hnr,g,-9) to the CIIA> lylnw As II c"sult of ln• t mn11th''I vutna tn favor of "Option 2" at both SPACE and MAST owrt 11111•1 the fxN ul Ive Ron, d pr'"'°""" then changes to the clt.b bylaws. Please r r fr r 1 ~ the SrptNTII,.., n..w~lettt'r for details on Option 2 (basically, it is ch,u,qr•, 1 0 glvt' !".rAII nnrl MASI eq..ial representatio n In club matters ). there

Section 2. Every year at the Septent>er meetings , nominating carmittees of two men-bers shall be elected by both SPACE and MAST. It shall be the duty of these conmittees to nominate can::lidates for the offices to be elected at the Novent>er meetings. The nominating comnittees shell make a progress report at the October meetings. Before the election at the Novent>er meetings, additional nominations from the floor shall be permitted. Section 3. Prior to the Noverrber meetings, the nominating conmittees shall pool oll nominations for treasurer to moke a coobined list of candidates for both SPACE and MAST. Section 4. The officers shall be elected by paper ballot to s erve for one year, or until their successors are elected, an::I their term of office shell begin at the close of the arnual meeting at which they ere elected. Section 5. The presidents and vice-presiden ts of SPACE en::I MAST shall ac tively seek volunteers to fill the following positions for their respective groups: Secretary, Disk of the Month (001) Librarian, Paper & Educational Software Librarian, Bulletin Board Coordinator, and a camnn Newsletter Editor for both groups. These volunteers shall be st.bject to approval of the cll.b membership. For services rendered, these volunteers shall not be required to pay club d.les during their term of office.

SPACE/MAST· October, 1987 Page 4

SPACE/MAST - October, 1987 Page 3

ARTICLE V MEETINGS Section 1. The regular meetings of SPACE and MAST shall be held on the second and third Fridays of each month, respectively, unless otherwise ordered by the club or the executive board. Section 2. The Noverrber meetings of SPACE and MAST shall be known as the Anrual Meetings and shall be for the purpose of electing officers, receiving reports of officers and carmittees, and for any other business that may arise. Section 6. Club DOM's will be sold at club meetings by the designated DOM Librarian, and the price of this software will be set by the SPACE/MAST executive board. Sections 7 & 8.

SPACE Meeting Mirutes for September, 1987 Recorded by Bob Floyd, substituting for Joe Danko

t

It

Bruce reported problems in copying the ANALOG 8-bit extra disks and the ANALOG DOM's. It may be due to a bad SIO cable. Treasurer Bob Siede reported a July balance of $214 and an August balance of $732 ($192 SPACE & $540 MAST). Bob Floyd showed his recently acquired reconditioned ATARI Touch Tablet. Paper & Educational Software Librarian Jim Scheib said that there are a few overdue items out there and requested speedy return. Two new items added to the library are "Invasion Orion" and "News Station". DOM Librarian Frank Haug had a "Best of. ••••• " series of disks from past SPACE DOM's. Among them were Ski King Crazy 8 1 s, Gravity, Myripede, and John Novotny's new text/graphics utility_' Larry Vanden Plas said that the most recent batch of ribbons for re-inking were in very poor condition when he got them.

[Deleted] ARTICLE VI THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

Section 1. The President of SPACE, President of MAST, Vice-President of SPACE, Vice President of MAST and Treasurer of SPACE/MAST shall constitute the executive board.

S~ACE BBS Coordinator Frank Haug said the BBS is full. He needs to "clean up" files to make more room. Frank requested no more uploads u,til further notice (to be posted on the BBS). He said there are 120-130 users of the BBS. The change to Oasis software has been delayed because of problems with two disk drives.

SPACE DOM Stuff, by Frank Haug Ok, this month thought I'd take time to explain the !DOC program from last month. I'm sorry, I couldn't explain it last month, due to time. IDOC is a set of Graphic program's written by John Novotny, one of our SPACE members. (Sorry it took me so long to get this out, John. I really appreciate your subnissions. Please keep them coming in!). The IDOC disk contains:

In Old Business, John Mitchell (647-1538) and Larry Vanden Plas (636-2415) volunteered to be on the nomination comnittee to help get candidates for the Noverrber elections. Also in Old Business, a merrber asked whether equipment would be donated to St. Paul Children's Hospital. Bruce Haug said he would check into it.

* GYIZ · allows parts of picture to be coobined together and saved/printed.

* * * *

The meeting was called to order by President Bruce Haug. Vice President Jim Schulz reported the following 8-bit news: ATARI bought Federated Group, a chain of electronics stores. ATARI has shipped the 212 modem. Thus far, an 850 or equivalent interface is required for use. There is no news on the new disk drive or 80 column board. ICD is having trouble with their SpartaDOS X cartridge. Gauntlet will be converted to the 8-bit COR1Jllters.

BIG CHUMP - allows design of large text for printing purposes. Papa DOC - prints graphics and text canbined. IDOC·U · a utility to link it all together. Last GASP - graphics support program· extra features, picture conversion (gr.Oto gr.8) and more.

In New Business, the relationship of SPACE and MAST was discussed at length. A good SUT1118ry of the options presented to the club were printed in the September new~letter. The vote that was held was a non-binding one, meant only to Indicate to the executive board how best to modify the bylaws. A motion was made _and _passed in favor of Option 2. Simply put, this option keeps the relationship of SPACE and MAST fairly similar, but gives MAST equal representation in club matters. The vote on the actual bylaw changes needed for implementing Option 2 will be held at the October SPACE meeting.

That's just the surface. The programs are completely documented and loaded with features. For $4, how can you go wrong? Now this month's DOM •••• 1. 2. 3. 4.

STUDPOKE · Poker, with 4 of your ATARl·ganbling friends. OTHELLO· A classic board game, well done. CLO\JNS - The familiar bounce the clowns and pop the balloons game. TRIKTRAX - An original maze/puzzle type game with great graphics and a wide variety of playing modes. 5. OILGAME - An oldie but goodie. Search for oil in this 1-4 player simulation. 6. BOYLING ·Avery well done rendition of bowling - good graphics.

Fonts in a Snap on the ATARI 8 Bit COR1Jllters, by Larry Serflaten This is the type of article I like to see appear in the newsletter, so I decided to write it. One member finds a nifty routine and shares his good fortu,e with everyone. I can hear an argument developing now "it's been done before 1 don't reinvent the wheel". For those of you who .,;.y not yet have heard of a good method to program fonts quickly and efficiently, or whether you need one or several fonts ••••

Ye hope to have our problems with the disk's fixed from last month. See you at the meet Ing.

L

SPACE/MAST· October, 1987 Page 6

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 5

USING DIFFERENT FONTS CAN GIVE A PROGRAM A UNIQUE APPEARANCE. The purpose of this article will be to publish a routine you can use in your progranrning. APPLICATIONS of different character sets (fonts) may range from accurate bar charts to player animation to little doors, windows, and stairs for architectural programs. Several fonts placed in the computer's memory may be flashed to the screen many times per second to produce animation that moves smoothly. The routine I have here will eliminate the time normally wasted while slowly poking data into place. It minimizes the memory usage by using characters (1 byte) as data, replacing numbers (3 digits). The BASIC programmers who are begiming to read the books will be looking to somehow load a new font at computer speed. It isn't magic· it's all done with strings. Unfortunately, neat fonts are not already in the computer. You have to put them there with some sort of font editor. My font editor creates a file that matches byte for byte the character set I have drawn. That's about as good a picture of one character set that I can give you, aside from stating that it will be 1024 or 512 bytes long depending upon the preferred graphics mode (0 or 1,2). The character set holds the information that helps the computer make an A look like an A. The computer holds 8 bytes of data to display each character. The bytes are stored in sequential order one character's 8 bytes after the first until all characters are stored. The computer retains one font in memory. It's useful, but you can't change it. The programmer must put his font sanewhere in user memory, out of reach from the program's memory needs. The most advised method I've seen here is to put the font at a location a multiple of 1024 or 512 (depending;) at the high end of user memory. Using the high end of user memory will keep your program statements from overwriting your font data, but you have also got to keep any changing graphics from creeping down from above. The books I read suggest we use locations 741,742 (MEMTOP) and 14,15 (APPMHI) · more on this later. HOW 00 YOU PROGRAM NEW FONTS TO BE IN PLACE ANO ON THE SCREEN IN UNDER 5 SECONDS FR(),I THE TIME THE PROGRAM BEGAN? Indirection makes it possible· data arrays (strings) are the key. Because arrays are already easy to work with, the people at ATARI included string manipulating routines that run at a respectable rate in their 8-bit BASIC. One example of this is the concatenation of strings. Each byte of even a large string may be set to a certain value by making the first and the last byte equal to that value and then declaring the second byte on up is equal to the first byte on up: 10 DIM AS(5000):A$= 11 011 :AS(5000)= 11011 :AS(2)=A$ Unless you exceed a strings limit (32,767 bytes) LINE 10 will execute in under one second. To print the whole string to the screen may take considerably longer (I had about a 4.8 seconds print to screen margin in my earlier example of 5 seconds). If we want the computer to load the string at its fastest rate we use the assignment statement like the middle two statements above CAS="· ·new data· ·"J. This means that we have to store the font data in the program as characters in a string. We can't fill large strings on one logical line, so we have to break it up into se!JOOflts. Using the forced read mode with a minimal amount of effort, you have the computer convert the character set file into a subroutine that assigns each character its corresponding byte from the file. If not, I have one that writes new program lines and lists them to the disk where they may be included in any program by using the ENTER conrnand. The end result looks like the example below and uses the least amount of program memory.

30000 30001 30002 •

AS(1)=" (character set info as a string) 11 AS(101 )=" (more character set info as a string) AS(201 )=" (more character set info as a string) • until done.

11 11

You should now understand how to store the data in the program. That leaves only to make the computer look at the data as a character set and to protect that set from being overwritten. The latter being the easiest, I will give you that now. We'll use two pointers (vectors) to tell the computer it has less memory than it started with. One location [PEEK 742) holds the MSB of the highest location available for BASIC, the other [PEEK 15) holds the lowest allowable memory used when setting up new graphics displays. Location 742 should point to the start of the font data while location 15 points to the end. YOU MUST ALLOW ENOUGH SPACE ABOVE YClJR FONT DATA FOR YClJR LARGEST GRAPHIC MOOE! To ensure you get proper values, try the largest graphic mode you plan to use before you peek into location 742. That's all there is to protecting memory from BASIC hazards. To get the computer to recognize the data as its character set the address of the first byte of data must be a nice round nurber (it's concept of round is a little different than yours or mine). The address must be a multiple of 1024 or 512 (depending;). If we peek location 742, we get back a nUllber representing the highest available memory location. Subtracting 4 (1024) or 2 (512) from this nurrber will give enough room for one font set, 8 or 4 from MEMTOP gives enough room for 2 sets, 12 or 6 for 3, 16 or 8 for 4, and so on. Using PEEK 742 to locate your data automatically yields correct positioning. To go further, I have to bring in the concept of indirection, which you may not need or understand. So, I'll keep to a bare minimum. Very simply to use a string you call it by some identification and/or parameters. From the example abov7, AS h~s already been dimensioned. When I refer to AS, the computer sees a special pointer called a vector that points at the first byte of data in AS. The _string data may be anywhere in RAM, but the vector is always at a predictable location. Indirection then is making use of these vectors if the vector points to address O and I give it the cornnand AS="A" then a val:ie 65 Is stored in location 0. If I say AS= 11ABC 11 , then locations O, 1, and 2 get byte values of 65, 66, and 67, respectively (note that 65 is the ATASCII value for "A"). One coomand makes the vector point to high end user RAM which is then followed by coomands like LINE 30000 shown above. In other word; 1 if I make AS point to the location I want the font to go, then as I fill AS my characters fall in place (approximately .18 seconds per font). By the use ~fa vector we ~an find where the computer put its table of half vectors (1/2 being the t~ble itself). I stress the importance of making AS the first variable encountered ruming the program, because that makes the progranrners job half as hard. You want AS dimensioned first so it is the first entry in the variable value table. Then you don't have to make any accounting for how many variables AS is from the begiming. You don't want to worry about offsets here because you need worry of only one offset as you leisurely plop any size block of memory anywhere you want AS to be(within limits). I can now give you the routine which is almost line for line out of OE RE ATARI (page 10.18). They suggest using strings to manipulate player-missile graphics at assenbly language speed. In this next example, I use variables A, B, c, and O. I use AH or AL to denote the MSB and LSB which if combined equal the value of A (or BH BL for values equal to B). Line numbers are shown as***, but mean you c~n use any line nurrber as long as the order is not destroyed. This is my fast font routine:

SPACE/MAST· October, 1987 Page 8

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 7

TYPE 000 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

IN BASIC DIM ASC1024) GRAPHICS (MAX) A=PEEK(742)·4 B=PEEK(134)+256*PEEK(135) C=PEEK(140)+256*PEEK(141) D=A*256·C DH=INTCD/256):DL=D·256*DH POKE 8+2,DL:POKE 8+3,DH POKE 15,A+4:POKE 742,A POKE 756 A GOSUB (ASSIGN)

EXPLANATION ;Root FOR 1 SET GR. MOOE 0 ;MAX=HIGHEST MODE USED IN PROGRAM ;MSB OF START ADDRESS ;ADDRESS OF VALUE TABLE ;WRRENT OFFSET OF AS ;OFFSET TO NEW ADDRESS ;MSB, LSB OF OFFSET (D) ;REPLACE OLD VECTOR WITH NEW ;PROTECTION OF DATA ;CHANGE CHARACTER BASE VECTOR ;NOW EXECUTE THE ASSIGNMENT STATEMENTS SUCH AS LINE 30000 SHOWN ABOVE

To move blocks of data around in memory at assembly language speed you can sirrply recheck the current offset CC= ••• ], calculate MSB of new address CA=INT(new addr/256)), refig~re the new offset to= ••• and DH= ••• and DL= ••• J, then poke the new offset into place [POKE 8+2 ••• and POKE 8+3 ••• ], and then finish with the assignment statement telling the computer what you want to put in AS. PROVIDED YOU DO NOT CHANGE THE VALUE OF B, YOU WILL ALWAYS KN~ WHERE THE VECTOR FOR AS IS. (locations 8+2, and 8+3). There are two ways to toggle up new fonts, the first being the method I like best. They are: 1. Give AS enough roan to hold all fonts and adjust address 756 (CHBAS) to change fonts. Offset fontl=D (original offset), offset font2=D+512 or 1024 (depending ••• ), offset font3=D+1024 or 2048 (depending ••• ), and so on. 2. Set up nultiple strings of equal length [DIM AS(1024),BS(1024),C$(1024)J set AS in place with the routine above, place one font in es and the other i~ CS. To change fonts you need only to assign one of the font strings to AS [AS=BS or AS=CS]. I hope you find this concept as easy to grasp as I did. I think the part that may slow you down the most is getting the font data out of a disk file and into your program. You could let the computer do the work for you by writing a program that will create an untokenized file that you may ENTER l4)0ll corrpletion. I wrote one and gave it to FRANK HAUG (SPACE DOM librarian) for his review. Busy as he is, I haven't seen it on the BBS or DOM or gotten any conments one way or the other. If you ask, I'm willing to give you a copy. The title is FONTSQEZ and included via REM statements is an overview of what I've said here. for further information, consult DE RE ATARI or MAPPING THE ATARI or contact me by leaving a note for me on the SPACE BBS. ' ' Happy corrputingl

News From the Co-Chair, by Jim Schulz Well, October is now l4)0ll us as MAST rolls on. This week has been quite hectic for yours truly with work and the Programmer's Meeting so this month's contribution will be limited to this article. And you are seeing this articles with nuch thanks from our newsletter editor Bob Floyd. This month's schedule for once just conflicted with the newsletter schedule and I was plaming on skipping this month. But then word of my demise and leaving the group will

start to spread so you get a short Jim this month, instead of a lengthy one. Speaking of newsletter contributions, I would like to thank Dan Stubbs Phil Seifert, and Larry Serflaten for their contributions this month. • N~w on_ to this month's editorial •..• During the past month, we had a rousing d1scussion of MAST and SPACE and their relationship to each other. The result of these meetings is fou,d elsewhere. I, as well as the other board merrbers came up with these changes based on your opinions. The result is a stronge~ club in nurrbers while still addressing the needs of both the 8 bit and the 16 bi! Atari owner. All merrbers of MAST are encouraged to attend the SPACE meeting th1s month to express your opinions on the new bylaws changes. My personal feeling is that we should get these changes made and get back to the business of user groups with news, runors, demos, and D01s. The business of how MAST and SPACE are organized and comnunicate is important, but long discussions often cause members to become disinterested and unwilling to participate. My goal is to keep these channels of comnunication open, but to keep the discussions to a mininum to serve both the active menber and the casual observer. In a lot of ways, I believe both SPACE and MAST air their views alot more open than a 11U1ber of other groups across the country. Onward and upward •••.• Now to continue my plan of serving the MAST members, two things have been requested by a nurrber of menbers as missing. The following are these items and my current solution. First, I have been asked why we don't start a begimer•s group/new user's group/new ideas and answers group. Ok, this is my current plan. MAST can start such a group if we can get 10-15 members who are willing to show up. The meetings would be held on the Monday following the MAST meeting at the same location as the progranmer's meeting. We have a nice room across t~e ha!l with a nurrber of !ables and chairs very suited for this type of d1scuss1ons. The group would 1nclude a nurrber of planned items including such topics as how to use a ramdisk, print spooler, etc., modems-how to use and what you need, hard drives-what do you need to know disk of month explanations-selection s from the DOMs demonstrated and used ;nd more. As well as topics, questions can and will be encouraged and demonstrated if need be on the computer. ~n ST would also need to be volunteered. Group topics could be eye!~ after~ while to expose ~ew users to topics previously discussed. Special meet1ngs look1ng ~t wordprocessing, comnunications, data bases, and spreadsheets could also be included. Also exarrples of the topics discussed could be available after the meeting on disk for those in attendance. If this soll'lds interesting, we could start such a group in Decerrber or January. Now to continue, we need your feedback. If you are interested, !'et me know at this '!1°nt~•s MAST meeting. If we get enough interest, we will go ahead. Otherwise, 1t w1ll be tabled for now. I have been told that ST owners fall into two groups experts and beginners. Now MAST can address both. Also we will need a volunteer to run the group. I hope such a volunteer could be fou,d otherwise bite my tongue, I will truck on with another group ll'lder my belt. Since i currently explain and solve problems over the phone now daily at work to new owners, I should be able to handle it for ST owners. But I would 11KJCh rather have a good comnunicatlng volunteer to run the group instead. More on this next month. Second, you want a DOC disk. Well, this month I will start this coming true. First, Todd's DISKTOP should be modified by th~ meeting to support the whole library. In addition, I will start organizing the library using the MENU program from the DOM. This program Includes sorts searches and descriptions. No descriptions this month, but more in the months to come. See I do listen and appreciate you conments. Remerrber MAST is your ST user group. Speaking of volunteers, two new volunteers can be confirmed this month. First, Steve Pauley, ace MAST sysop, will be taking over the newsletter starting in Decerrber when Bob resigns. Steve is a previous newsletter editor for two years

SPACE/MAST· October, 1987 Page 9

for SPACE many moons ago and he is back to help again. Also Oave Meile has volunteered for the post of MAST Corresponding Secretary. Oave•s duties will include getting us signed up with Atari and listed on all of ST user group lists in the magazines as well as starting a newsletter exchange program with other ST user groups. Dave is also working on another very interesting project for MAST which will be discussed in next month's newsletter so stayed tuned. Thanks to both Steve and Dave for volunteering. Also, we will need two volunteers for a nominating comnittee to nominate officers for president and vice-president of MAST if the bylaws changes are approved. I believe that the two officers positions currently both have nominations so this job should be quite easy. Disks this month •••• With no DOM article this month, let's see .••• How about SteelyBoink from Tom Hudson •••• MicroSpell, a spell checker with dictionary from the author of MicroEmacs, .••• MicroEmacs 3.9 with two source disks, one program disk, and one or two Emacs support disks •••• This sounds good for starters ••• Check the MAST BBS the week of the meeting for more •••• Also on the disk front, the DS disks came in and will be on sale at the meeting for $1.10 each. Come one, come all. Remember as long as you buy MAST will sell. 100 disks are available. Demos this month will include alot of goodies including MidiMaze. I played this the other night with our demo coordinator who plays a mean game which is hard to beat. This game has to played to be seen. We will try it with a couple of STs this month. If the club is interested, MAST will buy a copy and start playing after the meeting with the culmination with a beginners and experts tournament with prizes in the months to come. Bring your ST and check this one out. More in the Phil Demos Col1.11TI ••• A couple of quickies •••• Thanks first go out to User Friendly for bringing the Mega ST to last month's meeting. Latest news on the Megas include $2399 for 4 Meg mono, $2599 for 4 Meg color, $1699 for 2 Meg mono, $1899 for 2 Meg color now all come with 2 double-sided drives installed. Also, remember and mention the SPACE/MAST Wizard's Work special for ST hardware, Epson printers and Atari software. Just don't talk to Phil before you buy. Just one more benefit of a SPACE/MAST membership. Finally, if you are USENET, there is another way to get ahold of me. I'm back on USENET at rosevaxlcamax01tschulz. I will respond to your messages and it is currently the easiest way to get to me. I am currently discussing MAST stuff with Dave Meile this way. Yell, I had better close it up so Bob can get this. Expect lots more next month and remember the MAST and MAST Programmers meeting this month. See you at the meeting.

MAST September Meeting Minutes, by Dan Stubbs The MAST September meeting was held September 18 and was opened by co-chair Bob Floyd. Jim Schulz described the D.O.M.'s and the special discounts offered for past disks. For disks from more than 3 months ago, the price is $4 per disk. A special is also being offered on the whole set of MAST disks. Read Jim's article for information on this special offering. In the news and runors d!partment Jim reported that new versions of the 1040 ST are coming equipped with sockets for the blitter chip. Word Perfect is reportedly being held up by the new update of OSS Pascal. Atari has purchased Federated Stores for $63 million. Supra is runored to be coming out with a 10 Megabyte drive for $799 that will use special 5 1/4 " 'floppies' that will sell for $25/disk. No information was available on transfer rate for this drive. Atari's modem for

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 10

the ST has been released. The Atari ST developer's kit has been split into 3 parts depending on what kind of documentation and support is offered along with it. Jim reported that Atari had agreed with Steven Jobs to do the initial marketing on his new computer called the "NEXT" computer. Mega ST's are available now to developers, User Friendly showed a Mega 4 at the meeting, complete with the elusive blitter chip. An extended discussion was held on the subject of the future of the relationship between MAST and SPACE. The options presented for discussion were to: 1. Keep the same relationship as now (MAST a SIG of SPACE) 2. Change to equal representation of both groups on the board 3. Split the two groups into two separate groups. Discussion on this topic pointed out that MAST was not being listed on some lists of ST clubs because it was at present a SIG. A vote was taken and MAST members present voted 17 votes for option 2, and 14 votes for option 3. A comnittee of interested MAST members has met and drafted some proposals for consideration as additions to the bylaws for the new joint organization. On the behalf of MAST members, I would like to thank SPACE for sponsoring and organizing MAST. I think special thanks are due to the officers of SPACE who got MAST going ••• Bruce Haug, Jim Schulz, and Bob Floyd, and Frank Haug. I first heard about SPACE and MAST on a local radio program broadcast about computers which featured Bob Floyd and the then new-fangled 520 ST. Thanks, Bob, Bruce, Jim and Frankl I hope SPACE and MAST can continue to grow together. In the area of problems with ST's, Ted Holman reported difficulties with his memory upgrade board; it seems his early ST has some chips incompatible with his i.pgrade kit from Aerco. Phil Seifert demonstrated several programs including A·chart, Base II, Jupiter Probe, and Century. At the programmer's meeting on September 28, Chuck Purcell demonstrated 'ML' a multi-lingual editor that can handle text in Hebrew, Arabic Russian Greek German, English, etc. He has uploaded a demo version of this progra~ to th~ MAST_ BBS. C~uck _also demonstrated math ~ibraries from MW 'C' and some public domain math l1brar1es from Europe, and a different interface for the OSS Pascal environnent. Steve Pauley proposed that the progranmer•s club get involved in some kind of joint programming effort like an ST version of •core Wars• or a similar game but with a graphic interface and display. John Stanley and Dale Schumacher demonstrated the newest version of a shell program they have written. Todd Burkey talked about an idea he has for a new editor and demonstrated some of his beginning efforts. Next month's programmers' meeting will again be on the Monday following the MAST meeting.

MAST Demonstrations, by Phil Seifert Ok, so now I am the demo coordinator. I guess what that means is that I have to tell you guys and gals in advance what I have plamed for the demonstrations at the MAST meeting. Remember, these are tentatively scheduled demos and by no means, represent the only demos. Also, if you have a program or would like to see a program demonstrated at the MAST meeting, just tell me either at meetings, on the MAST BBS (560-9254) or call me at Wizard's Work (559-4690) during the day.

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 11

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 12

For the October MAST meeting, I have plamed for show these programs: Midi Maze · The famous program we have all bee reading about the last 6 months is finally available for search and destroy missions. If you would like to bring your ST (CPU, drive, monitor, power strip, joystick, and 1 midi cable) I think we could arrange for someone to hunt you down. Boulder Dash Construction Kit · A great game translated from the 8-bit coqiuter. winner, I think.

A definite

F-15 Strike Eagle· Another translation from the 8-bit line of Atari c~ters. Good adaptation. Those are what I have planned. Of course, things may change and something else might be shown or not shown. I will, as a general rule, try to have a balance of different types of programs for the demos, but this month is all games since there was nothing really interesting and new for other types of applications. Remerrber to let me know if you would like to see something else demonstrated (AND NO BOO-ING!!).

Wizard's

Work.~ A Full Service Atat Computer Dealer

PC-DITTO and the Single Sided Drive, by Dan Stl.bbs For those of you who don't know anything about how the software IBM emulator PC·DITTO functions, read Bob Floyd's article in the last newsletter. Briefly, PC-DITTO comes on a single sided disk and is a ST program that you run from the desktop like any other program. When you run it, however, it asks you to insert a DOS disk (you nust buy your own DOS disk) and press return. DOS usually comes on 5 1/2 11 disks, but now you can get it on double sided 3.5 11 disks. There is considerable confusion (on GENIE at least) on what the situation is for booting from a single sided (ss) 3.5 "disk (there is no problem using ss disks for data or programs). So ••••• Is there any hope for those of us who have only single sided drives and still would like to run PC-DITTO without attaching a 5 1/2 inch disk drive? The following is a small part of the discussion on PC·DITTO on Genie in the file called DITTOTOP.ARC. Mr. Teal, of AVANT·GARDE, who developed PC-DITTO says that you can boot DOS from a single sided 80 track 3.5 " drive if you have DOS 3.2 or higher. I have tried the single sided 40 track 3.5" drive approach successfully, but I have not yet tried the 80 track approach. I have installed a 5 1/2 "drive and have booted from this drive also·· this is the preferred way for me since I can take word processing home from work and still be conpatible with the 5 1/2 " drives at work. I purchased a new 5 1/2 11 drive for about $100 without power supply. I found that I had to change the 'pull·up• resistor (from 150 ohms to 1000 ohms) for 'drive select' in this drive for my 520 ST to successfully •select• the drive. This is documented in the Nov. 1985 ANTIC article (where the author just cut the 150 ohm resistor open) and has to do with the ability of the ST's output circuits to deal with the current associated with the 150 ohms that are standard in the IBM world. This is not a defect of the ST but rather an intentional design difference. Anyway, if you want to follow my approach to this problem you will have to find a power supply, a 5 1/2" drive and make yourself a cable that matches the ST at one end and the 5 1/2" drive at the other. If you don't have the desire to do alittle hardware hacking and don't have a spare power supply on hand, and you still want to be conpatible with the 5 1/2 "world you might consider buying a conplete 5 1/2 11 drive system from one of the local dealers. If you have some IBM programs you want to run and don't mind leaving them on your 3.5 11 disks, read the following comments from Mr. Teal: «from Genie»: "Category 13, Topic 28 Message 118 Sun Jul 12, 1987 W.TEAL at 22:52 EDT

For Your Atari

Specific questions

8-bit & ST Needs Wizard's Work Four Seasons Mall 559-4690

1.

Which single-sided 3.5 11 disk format to boot DOS from?

Our utility, pc·dfmt, will not let you create a single-sided 80-track bootable DOS diskette, because the DOS you may be using could be lower than version 3.2. Thus, for DOS versions below 3.2, you may only create a 40·track single-sided bootable DOS diskette. You may, however, create 80·track data diskettes (containing no bootable DOS) for use under DOS versions below 3.2. See our user manual and README.1ST file for details. For DOS version 3.2,

there is a si!ll)ler way to format high-capacity

SPACE/MAST - October, 1987 Page 13

SPACE/MAST - October, 1987 Page 14

diskettes. You may also create bootable (that's right Bootable) 80-track single-sided DOS diskettes. This works for IBM and COMPAQ DOS versions. haven't tested this).

(For all other DOS makers, we

create a Config.sys file containing the line: DRIVPARM=/D:x/T:80/S:9/H:1 (replace x with a O or 1 depending on which physical drive is 3.5") (0 is a: and 1 is b:) Now, using the DOS FORMAT conrnand, optionally bootable with DOS."

you can create the SS 80-track disk,

Children Will Play, by Phil Seifert Hi there, I am back again. Instead of talking about midi a~plications and software this time around, I will go back to what I started this column about many years ago. That subject is games. A couple of new ones have come out th~t I have been waiting for a long time for to become available for the Atari ST computer. They are Boulder Dash Construction Kit and F-15 Strike Eagle. Before, there really did not seem like there was a whole lot of good arcade style games. But now, there are many new ones coming out that are going to blow a ~ot of people's socks off. Besides the good clean fun of Boulder Dash, there will be Gauntlet, Midi Maze, and PaperBoy. But first lets talk a little bit about Boulder Dash Construction Kit. This pr~ram is ~arketed by Epyx. They appear to have licensed the rights to the ga~ from First Star Software. Those of us who played Boulder Dash on the older 8-b1t line of Atari cooiputers know what a good game this was and sti~l is. You play the role of a miner named Rockford and your goal is to collect diamonds and get rich. Rockford is placed in a series of caves that contain a set number of diamonds. All you have to do is go get them. S~s easy,_doesn•t it?_Not really, there are various obstacles to get in your way like falling rocks (mines are not too safe) assorted creatures (who knows what lurks in the depths?), and other surprises.' You must collect a certain rurber o! diamonds In orde~ to advance to the next cave. Any extra diamonds are bonus pomts for you. And Just so you don't dawdle around, the mine boss only gives you so much time per cave to accomplish your task. This is a GOOD game. And, the graphics are as smooth as the earlier 8-bit version, though In some ways I think the ~ction pieces were nicer on the earlier one. The game play Is definitely as good 1f not better than Boulder Dash 1. And, there are some new twists to the game which I will not reveal. I was sworn to a miner's secret oath. Notice I have not talked about the construction set part of the game yet? This makes the game much more interesting to me. Anyone can now create different caves, sequences, and intermissions. Imagine, a group of individ.Jals may create a special tournament game or user's groups could have new game screens. Of course you need to have the original Boulder Dash Construction Kit to play them, but that should not be too difficult. Best news of all about Boulder Dash construction Kit is that Is available N~ for both the 8-bit and ST Atari computers. And the price is a mere S24.50 list. I think this program Is a must have for anyone with these computers, If you like playing games.

The long awaited f-15 Strike Eagle is now out for the Atari ST and it is very faithful to the original on the 8-bit computer. The graphics are a bit sharper and the game play is actually quite good. Microprose did a good job in translating this one to the ST. I am not sure what the retail price of this one is as the version I saw was a demonstration sample sent to Wizard's Work. Take a look at this one if you are into the strategic action flying type games. According to a distributor that I have talked to this week, Midi Maze from Hybrid Arts should be released very very shortly. At the time this is being written, 9/24/87, it is supposed to be available the following week. I know, you all have heard this before and probably don't believe it. But this time, I think It is true. The latest delay supposedly was so that Xanth could add in RS-232 support and let one machine act as a master screen so that tournament spectators could watch more easily. I like the idea of the second addition myself. Anyone up for a Midi Maze tournament when this one is released?** LATE BULLETIN** Midi Maze has been released. ** I will bring it to the next meeting for demonstration.** Other game programs I am looking forward to include Bard's Tale (which is released now), Ultima IV, Beyond Zork, and Wizardry. These are all high quality adventure role playing games. I will buy each and everyone of these. I know that sometimes I don't have the time to play them all the way through, but they are fun to play. Finally, can't resist, I have to let you all know that Dr. T'~ Keyboard Controlled Sequencer Version 1.5 is now out. It is quite a bit easier to use and has even more features. If you are seriously into midi and want a good professional midi sequencer check this one out! I still wished he would support ampte sometime though. See you all at the meeting!

TAKE THAT! SLIMEBALL! A Midi Maze Review, by Phil Seifert

The title of this column just about sums up the feelings and emotions surfacing when you get a bt.nch of your friends together (who own ST's, of course) and hook them all up to play a game called Midi Maze. This Hybrid Arts release of a Xanth Park program is just sheer dynamite. After watching the premiere of Star Trek The Next Generation, we decided to play a little friendly game. We did not know what we were really in for. This is a game where each player is given his own private viewing screen on his computer. Then you run around a maze trying to locate the other players. They are represented by happy face balls. The object of the game is to kill a happy face. Fun, Fun, Fun. The graphics are good, smooth, and fast. I did not notice a slowdown at all when more computers were comnt.nicating with each other. I guess there really is not too much more that I could really say to give a review, you would just have to experience it. What I would like to do is pass along some of the comments made by the people who played tonight. "See that shot? That was mel" said by one player who was pointing out the difference between him and another enemy. Of course, he killed the person to whom he was explaining.

SPACE/MAST · October, 1987 Page 15

SPACE/MAST· October, 1987 Page 16

"The trick to wiming is to kill Phil first." stated by all the other players as they realized that saneone (who almost remained nameless) was getting the hang of it.

S P A C E / MA S T

Me

mb e r s h

p

Ap p l i c a t

on

"Gotcha! Slimeball!". No need to be on a first name basis in this game. As you can see, you should only play this game with friends friends. Or with someone you absolutely hate with a passion. feelings in this game. If you have access to friends with ST, this nust buy program. Hybrid Arts is the publisher and the retail $39.95. Go get this one!

who are truly No in between is a definite price is just

p.s. I will bring my 1040 to the next MAST meeting to demonstrate Midi Maze. If anyone else would like to bring their ST, they will need to bring the coop.Jter, monitor (either color or mono. More fun with color), joystick, one midi cable, and a power strip of some kind. The more players, the merrier. Eventually, we will arrange for a tournament to have some fun, but not this time around.

RIBBON RE-INKING· Larry Vanden Plas · 636-2415 The club can re-ink most printer ribbons (black) for a small fee. There Is no longer a reason to use a faded ribbon! Ribbons that can be re· inked are: $1.00/ribbon Spool to spool (all types) Epson MX-80 and compatibles Epson LX-80 and compatibles C. ltoh Prowriter and compatibles (NEC 8023A/C) Citizen 120 D $2.00/ribbon · Epson MX-100 and compatibles Other ribbons can be attenpted, too. But If you prefer, you can buy an adapter ($8.50 + $3.50 shipping and handling) for the club and receive half that amount in credit towards re-inkings. See Larry Vanden Plas at the SPACE meeting, or Bob Floyd or Bruce Haug at the MAST meeting. Also, ribbons can be dropped off with Larry at his place of work at the Roseville Professional Center at Hemline Avenue and Highway 36 (fifth floor· make a right turn out of the elevator & then another right to the end of the hall, then drop the ribbon through Larry's mail slot and run away as fast as you can· ha ha, ed.). Or, you can drop ribbons off with Larry at his home· 850 Emerald Court, New Brighton, MN, 55112, phone 636-2415. Please pay In advance and be sure to have your ribbon(s) In a plastic bag.

NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING RATES: 1/4 page · 4.25 11 vertically x 5.5" horizontally · $ 5.50 1/2 page · 8.5 11 X 5.5 11 $10.00 Full page · 8.5" x 11" · $18.00 Send to: Bob Floyd 955 Comor Avenue East Maplewood, MN 55109

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Check one or both: SPACE_ _ MAST_ _ Dues: $14.00 per year· Mail to: St. Paul ATARI 1697 East Hoyt St. Paul, MN

Please enclose with Application Conputer Enthusiasts Avenue 55106

Renewal?_ _ _ _ __

Yo ur Art icIe Could Be Here !

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