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SPACE / MAST Newsletter June 1989 Now including Z • Net!
SPACE meetings coming up (all meetings start at 7:30 pm) Friday, June 9th Friday, July 14th Friday, August 11th
MAST meetings coming up (all meetings start at 7:30 pm)
I
Friday, June 16th - SWAP MEET Friday, July 21st - Membership appreciation Friday, August 18th - MIDlmaze for all (bring your ST!) SPACE/ MAST regular meetings are at the Falcon Heights Community Center, 2077 Larpenteur Avenue West
MAST+ Programmers Meeting (7:30 pm) Monday, June 19th
MIDI Meetings - schedule to be announced at the June 16th MAST meeting!
SPACE /MAST• June 1989
Pa@number2
News from the Pres By Jim Schulz
girl, and grandfather, MAST member Bruce Larson, are all doing fine. Congratulations to all!!!!!
Well, June has arrived. MAST has a great lineup of meetings for this summer, so don't forget to include us in your summer plans. This month, first up, some miscellaneous notes, then last month, this month, the future, and some more miscellaneous notes.....
..... Rumors.... Sometimes rumors are good and sometimes rumors are bad. This last month, one of the bad type of rumors was spread out of some truth. The rumor that was spread was that Wizard's Works was dropping the Atari line of software and computers. There is some truth in this, but only on the 8 bit side. Wizard's Works has decided to drop the 8 bit software and hardware. They will continue to keep cartridges on hand as well as XE Game systems. 8 bit hardware maintenance has been discontinued as well. But all support tor the ST is continuing and ST software section has actually expanded to fill in the gap left by the dropping of the 8 bit line. This is not meant to be an advertisement, but is presented here for informational purposes. I have invited WW to write an explanation or an open letter to the user groups on why they dropped the 8 bit support. A number of members are disturbed over this and this method of communicating the reasons for why has been done by other user groups in the past who have lost computer store support. The moral here is check your facts before making a conclusion.
Last month, I made an appeal for volunteers. In the past, the calls of the group have gone unanswered. Well, last month, they were answered. We had three members volunteer to help with some of the miscellaneous stuff for the club. I will be getting these projects set up tor the next few months and you will be hearing more about them in their projects in the months to come. Thank you tor volunteering. Now another appeal, SPACE/MAST really needs someone to take care of getting ads for the newsletter. If you have read the newsletter over the last year, you see that only one store in town, Wizard's Works, have advertised. This ad each month is placed through my working with WW to remind them about the ad, get the ad, and finally get it to Dave, our trusty editor. Now we have the situation where two more stores in town, Computer Fitness & Water Music, are also interested in advertising in the newsletter. Neither Dave nor I have the time to run out to both of these stores and coordinate ads each month. What we need is either one volunteer or even two to go to each of the stores and talk to them about the SPACE/MAST newsletter, pick up an ad and a check, remind them each month about a week before the newsletter deadline, and get the ad to Dave. In most cases, this is just another opportunity for MAST to grow and get more members by working with these stores. Dave has tried to work with both of the stores by phone, but it is hard to get an initial contact set up. This is a need which SPACE/MAST needs right now. If you are interested in helping us with this, please see Dave or myself. With the expansion of the SPACE/MAST newsletter this month, this makes the newsletter an even better buy for the retailer. Also last month ..... I mentioned that Allan Frink, our SPACE/MAST treasurer, was an expectant father. Well, no more .... Allan is now the proud father of a baby girl born within a half an hour of the start of the MAST+ meeting last month. Father, baby
Now onto last month's news..... Or nonnews.... Last month's meeting was going to be the one of the best ever. But as the week of the meeting came closer, things just started falling apart. Water Music told a number of our members that Friday was a bad night and tried, but failed to reschedule other appointments. And the infamous video tape just never made it. ST Report, which prides itself on the support of the user group, cashed my check, but as of today, two weeks before the meeting and one month later, no video has arrived. So we had a general meeting with a lot of questions and answers, demos by Cory and others, DOM demos, and general ST news. The meeting went well and was very well attended for a May evening. Thanks for all who helped. This month, we will have another in our Inannual (thrice yearly) swap meets. A swap meet is where you, the members, bring your old ST hardware and software for selling and swapping with other members. All software must be original copies with original documentation. This is a great way to empty
out your closet of old unused software or find a great bargain as well. All of the swap meets from the past have been very successful. We will have the infamous video tape as well of the new Atari products from the recent World of Atari show. This will be set up in the side small conference room. We hope to have an ST and a member set up in this room monthly for individual questions and software problems. This is coming in the months to come. Finally, we will have our normal set of DOMs, news, rumors, the latest information from this month's Chicago CES (Computer Electronics Show), and demos of the new MAC-like Neodesk interface, Zak McCracken, and a few other software. goodies as well. It should as always make for a full meeting. Also, don1 forget the MAST meeting this summer!!! Coming in July is the second annual Member Appreciation night with special disk prices, and door prizes as well. Think of it as the birthday party meeting without the food. Then coming in August is another round of MidiMaze where we try to kill off those happy faces. We haven1 done this since December so all of the new ST owners should stop by at least and see this rather unique ST game in action. Like I said, MAST has something for you coming every month this summer!!!! Also in the works is a midweek Midi music blowout by Water Music.... Stay tuned to the SPACE/MAST newsletter and the MAST BBSs for more information!!!! Also, don't forget the MAST+ meeting the Monday this month following the MAST meeting with the Dale, Chuck, John, Dave and Todd as well. We are back to Monday again this month. All MAST+ members owe Chuck Purcell thanks for picking up the computer and the key from Allan when Allan had a little more pressing business last month. This meeting/discussion group has always something new so stop by and check us out. The people here can answer all of your programming questions. And stay around afterward for pizza as well. You don't have to be a programmer to enjoy the MAST+ meeting. Other stuff.... First up, starting this month, in the center of the newsletter, we will have Z*Net newsletter supplement. This supplement is 12 pages of news, reviews, columns and ads. We have reviewed this supplement and decided to add to the newsletter. Members have said that they
Pae:enumber3
SPACE I MAST • June 1989 want more ST news and Atari news in the newsletter and this is a great way to get it. We also get paid from the Z*Net people for publishing these pages as well. This additional money helps to offset the increased postal costs of the newsletter. Check it out and I hope you enjoy additional material about the ST and Atari. ..
envelope closes, it says(???) "Next month .... Next month .. ." So until next month, I hope to see you all at the MAST and MAST+ meeting and on both of the MAST BBSs
.... Well, I again got another shipment of 400 disks in for this month. The price will remain at $0.80 for another month. Last month's disks did cause some people some problems. So if you get any bad disks, please bring them to the MAST meeting for replacement. If you want disks, come early or reserve your order in advance with me. If you want to pick up disks at the MAST+ meeting, give me a call or leave me a message on the MAST BBS. These disks have been selling fast. I also have over-the-top disk labels for $2.00 per 100 as well. ....
Another month gone by! How quick do they come. Well, I have to apologise for having little to say with the VP report. I will be doing something new every month so I won't have to be stupid and say something like "Nope", or anything similar.
A new MAST BBS is in the works. After our monthly MAST+ pizza gathering, Dave Meile, our soon-to-be-hitched VP, volunteered to run a STadel BBS at night on his ST. It is partially up, but still being worked on. The name of the BBS will be maSTalk and will only be a discussion BBS with no downloads. The old MAST BBS will remain up and is getting new signons daily with the BBS currently busy about 25% of the time. This new MAST BBS is to supplement the current MAST BBS, not replace it. Stay tuned for more information...... Finally, we are again having problems with the Post Office Box. We had some problems a couple months ago and they have again resurfaced. If you need to contact SPACE/MAST until this problem is resolved, please send your response to SPACE/MAST 5900-65th Ave. No. #204 Brooklyn Park, MN 55429. This is my home address and will serve as a temporary SPACE/MAST address until these problems are resolved. Thanks for your cooperation. "7
Well, that's it for June. The envelope is slowly opening to show one new selection this month. This month, it is the European alternative to DungeonMaster, called Galdregons Domain. This program includes great graphics and a lot of mapping to really find out where you are going as well as a little fighting on the side. If you are still waiting for the next DungeonMaster, check this game out. You won't be disappointed!!!! As the
Last Nite by Dave Cole
Well, there is a NEW public domain communications program out that will undoubtedly make ALL of the other programs out, either PD, Shareware or otherwise look really stupid. It is called "BOBTERM" by Robert Puff. Some of it's great features are: 300-19200 baud, 19200 for null modem. A text handler that speeds up the text when it comes on to the screen. This works better for 2400-19200 baud modems. It has EVERYTHING 850 Express has (except word wrap, awwwww) and more! It has Xmodem, 1k Xmodem (Ymodem), Ymodem (batch), Fmodem, CRC Xmodem, and more. This program is 70 sectors LESS than 850 Express. It comes with a 266 sector documentation file. The file is in File area 2 of the SPACE/MAST East BBS. It is ARCed and requires UnArc or something. The buffer has a lot of room - almost as much as XE-Term. (even more with SpartaDOS as that uses less RAM than AtariDOS.) However, it's good with a RAMdisk that all of you guys have. The program requires 48k. So, if you use 850 Express, Amodem, DeTerm (1.00 or 1.59), (especially DeTerm!), trash it (or them) and get BOBTERM. I'd also suggest printing out the phone directory before trashing. There will soon be handlers for the SX212 and XM301 and the other 8bit modems (1030 and 835). Well, in 1985, Epyx had their problem with a program that was NEVER supposed to be released. But, my good luck and will came upon it accidentally for $22 at Children's Palace last summer. The game is called ·world Karate Championchip". Well, EPYX has decided to release it - but NOT for the 8-bit. I looked at the game box so I could look at the pictures. The C64 version was really stupid, I don't know how the Apple Ile managed to do so sophisticated graphics, but
an Apple program with graphics BEAT the 64 in my opinion!!! The IBM version was ALL blue and pink - the guys being pink. The ST version ruled - PERFECT color, setting, etc! I don1 know how the copies of WKC came out for the 8 - bit, but the grpahics for the 8bit are ALMOST as good as the ST! I looked at the copyright, there was NO indication of it being made in 1985 AT ALL! Just (c) 1989! There is no Amiga version (yet), so Amiga users have to wait (hehe). If one would write to Epyx and argue with them about this game, they probably woulden't even say that they made it for the 8-bit - or in 1985, either! Isn't that sad, or what? But, if you look extremer that EXTREMELY hard, you will find this game. I guarantee right now, IT'S WORTH THE TIME, EFFORT, and MONEY! A new ST may hit the market this summer. It's called the ST+. It has 4096 colors, built in MIDI, 1 meg of RAM, color monitor (or monochrome), 8 sound voices (I'm not certain wether it is stereo, but there is a stereo gadget thing for the ST as it is). The price of this advanced machine is VERY low! about the price of the Amiga 500 WITH monitor and a little software - the machine being $700, monitor $300 and $300 of software. The ST+ would go for $1300. But when the machine comes to America, the price may have lowered some -this is made in the European countries only for now as Atari does MUCH better over there. If the ST+ comes here, then thousands (or hundreds) of Amiga users will be sorry because there is a finer, less expensive machine on the market. The ST+ ALSO multitasks! Talk about a good machine! Well, it seems that the death wish may come true ...will the ST game machine come out? If so, then that means "bye-bye" XE game system and possibly ALL hopes for the 8-bit itself. But, not to worry as I'm sure that Mr. Tramiel doesen't want the ST looking like a GAME machine! -although I have my doubts. Well, I have ran out of things to say - heh, until the next meeting, so I'll see you then!
It's My Party ... by David Meile Talk about hectic, events around here sometimes resemble a Marx Brothers movie rather than a typical life! June just ·snuck
SPACE/MAST• June 1989
Page number4 up" on us, right? So, what to do? First, you might get together all of the software/hardware/books you've accumulated which someone else might enjoy. You know -- that 3rd word processor you bought, or the adventure game which took you 133 1/2 hours to figure out (and which is now of no real use except to fill shelf space). Perhaps you have a second 3.5" disk drive which you don't seem to need anymore, now that you've upgraded to a 20-meg hard drive. Whatever the reason, you might want to bring it along to the June meeting to sell or swap at the Swap Meet! For you MIDI afficienados, we ARE working on getting together once a month to discuss, demo and play. I know that Eric Hopper is looking into obtaining a meeting room for a Tuesday evening (probably following the monthly MAST meeting. If he is successful, you'll learn about it at the June meeting. In any case, once we have a time and place, I hope that the folks out at Water Music will come by and really blast our socks off with a demonstration. We've tried to set something like this up on a Friday, but you can't expect musicians to forgo a paying "gig" -- and the weekends are when they make their money playing. During the week, however, it should be no problem. I want to take an informal poll here. How many of you would like a disk (or two or three or ... ) containing files which can be played using Music Studio? Come up to me at the June meeting and tell me. I think that something can be worked out with Jim to accomodate people if the interest exists. As an aside, how many people would be interested in a disk containing CAD 3D object or control files? I've got a few PD disks from Antic which we might put out as a "special" sometime if there's interest. Feel free to talk to me during the meetings. Let me know what you think, how you like the demos and talk, what sorts of things you'd like to see us do which we are not doing yet. Feedback is important to me, otherwise I can't tell if we're doing OUR job right -- and we can't provide you with the sorts of things you REALLY want!
Ads and Articles for the July issue are due by June 30. The next issue will be published on or around July 6.
Treasurer's report by Allan Frink Following is the breakdown for SPACE and MAST from the end of January 1989 to 18 May 1989:
EndJan End Feb End Mar End Apr 18 May
SPACE
MAST
$528.34 $599.04 $4 72. 7 $590.18 $512.53
$868.78 $995.39 $945.00 $782.29 $768.96
Minutes of the SPACE Meeting by Larry Vanden Plas 0. The meeting was preceeded by a swap meet, a meeting of the SPACE/MAST board and by heavy sales of Disks of the Month. 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:55 PM May 13, 1989 by President Greg Howell. 2. The secretary's report on the April 14th meeting was approved as published in the Newsletter. 3. Jim Scheib reported that SPACE is looking for references on the XL and XE. He is also looking for programs for school age children. 4. Greg Howell reported that the board had met and passed two resolutions. First, to approve moving the BBS if the current Sysop does not make changes recommended by a committee to be appointed by the SPACE President and Vice-president, within 2 months of the date of the recommendations. Second, authorize a maximum of $10.00 in direct phone charges in support of the BBS. He reported that the membership and the board wants more current news on the BBS and an up date of the meeting date. Past commitments require that we display the names and types of equipment used on the BBS. Jim Scheib offered to take the BBS. There was a discussion on the use of file mail, the need to check uploads before offering them, the fact that no duties have been defined for the Sysop, and the need to put a committee together. A motion to appoint the
committee, have them define the duties of the Sysop and make recommendations for the BBS was passed. The appointed committee consists of Nathan Block, Bud Ewaldt, Rich Meyer, Greg Peasley and Greg Howell. It was suggested that the printing of live passwords be eliminated. 5. Jim Scheib suggested SPACE put together a package of software for new computer owners. A number of people indicated they have public domain software for such a package. 6. Greg Howell indicated he would organize the effort to have a booth at Amateur Fair '89. He is also planning the annual birthday party for SPACE in July. He is interested in ideas and suggestions. 7. The meeting ended with Joe Danko doing demos of the Disk of the Month
Z*Net Update by Jim Schulz This new column will supplement the information provided in the Z*Net section each month. This month, I will tell you where you can see first hand some of the pictures done on the VIOi-ST video digitizer as well as where you can get ahold of some of the public domain programs listed in this month "Public Domain Report· column. First off, pictures captured with VIDI-ST can be found on the MAST BBS. These pictures were done during the recent World of Atari show. I currently have three ARC files full of VIDI-ST pictures which will be uploaded and marked VIOi-ST. Otherwise, check out the next MAST meeting for VIDIST slideshow of pictures. Also just recently, some VIOi-ST animations have appeared as well. These will be popping up on future MASTDOMs. Now onto the "Public Domain Report" ..... . The Hotwire demo program can be found on the April Utility Disk #1 or MAST DOM #372. The Quick Index program can be found on the May Utility Disk or MAST DOM #381. The Circles and Deja_Vu demos can be found on the May World of Atari Demos disk or MAST DOM #387. Finally, the Compact Dir program is currently slated for the June MAST Applications disk. The other programs are not currently slated for a
ZR/Rt:iRZ//1E'S
This Issue: World of Atari Report Atari in Panama
Z*Net Newswire Vidi-ST Vol/ No_ -I
June 1989
ORLD OF ATARI by .John Nagy
Disneyland is known world wide as a fantasy come to life. The WORLD OF ATARI show, held in the Disneyland Hotel (Anaheim California) on April 22 and 23 was just that to the nearly ten thousand attendees. On a sales floor of 14,000 square feet, I 60 booths of developers and vendors moved $512,000.00 of Atari hardware and software to eager Atarians (9,232 by the official statement this week). ST WORLD magazine owner and organizer of the WORLD OF ATARI Shows says that Atari, vendors, and shoppers were ecstatic, and that the success of the tour of shows is now assured Rich will go to the Detroit area this month with a WORLD show June 24 and 25 that will actually be larger than the Disneyland show. From there, the WORLD TOUR will go to Seattle in August, San Jose in the fall, and perhaps back to Disneyland just before Christmas. The attitude brought to the show by the developers was probably the single most important contributer to the success Many vendors planned to introduce new of the show. hardware and software at this show, and the list is amazing. See the World Of Atari Newswire elsewhere in this issue. The World of Atari show was not without flaws, of course. As a pilot effort for what will hopefully become a continuous tour, it succeeded in drawing the right people in the right quantity. It was not a glitzy "COMDEX of ATARI" that some may have expected from the promotions. The booths were small, and while a number of vendors had classy professionally prepared backdrops (Michtron, Migraph, Antic/ Start among them), there were as many casual and homemade displays. Even Atari had only a few tables, in a back comer, shared with both GEnie (with Sandy Wilson Sysoping from the floor) and ISO (the Calamus folks). I found there to be more retailers than I had expected, but the crowds loved it
The atmosphere was very similar to the best of the "normal" Atarifests, but attendance and sales showed the difference there. Certainly the biggest flaw -a dooseywas not the doing of the World Of Atari. The "concert" scheduled for Saturday night, featuring Mike Pender (Moody Blues), Mic Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac), and Jimmy Hotz, was, well, a flop. And the actual sale/show itself was INCREDIBLY hard to find on the sprawling Disneyland Hotel grounds. I walked through buildings and looked at ''you are here" signs for 20 minutes, asking and being asked for directions all the way. More than one visitor expressed disgust with the situation, and one said "If I cant even find it, it means this is just another Tramiel bust!". Crowds were so thick at some points that people simply waited outside for a break. I am glad the sales floor at the Detroit show will be at least 25% larger! The size of the Disnelyland show was actually reduced to make room for the MIDI CONCERT, co-sponsored by START magazine and KEYBOARD magazine in cooperation with ATARI and KW Al musical instruments. Tickets were given away at some booths, and were also sold for $5 each all day Saturday. Billed as "BEYOND THE THRESHOLD, a musical tour of today's new technology, hosted by Mike Pender". What the way-under capacity crowd in fact got was a pep talk from Sam Tramiel who showed the STACY, then a long winded series of demos and explanations of how and why musicians are excited about AT ARI. Don't get me wrong, this was all very encouraging and even interesting, but it was NOT A CONCERT. Rich Tsukiji's plans for future WORLD OF ATARI SHOWS do NOT include a repeat of the concert! ■
• Z*Net is a monthly newale•r aupplement, produced by Rovac lnduetriN. lncorponded. It is aveilable in _ . . _ , . of regisler9d Atari i w groups. Z*Net end Rovac lndualriN, lncorponded - not affilialed with Atari Corporation. • Z*Net articles are Copyright © 1989 by the individual aulhora. Reprint permission ia available from AoYllc lnduetlies in writing. Opinions end commemary Slated within ~is public:alion are 1hoee of the individual author end not neceaarily thoee of Z*Net or RH. • Z*Net ia produced on an Atari Mega ST4 ll8ing Tirneworka DTP software. It ha been primed on the Hewlett Packard DeekJel prirar and reproduced by ueer groupa. Artwork and logos have been produced on the Atari ST · uaing EasyDraw and TouchUp by MiGraph. • Z*Net. Z*Net Logo, ZMAGazine, ST*ZMAGazine, RH are Copyright© 1989 by Rovac lnduetriN. I ~ . formerly Syndicale Publiehing Company, Middi-, NJ., a ~ corponlllion. Voice line: (201) 968-8148.
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IIIANA6IN6 EDIT0R ••... Ron Kovacs PRODUCT10N ........ a - Haneford ADVERT1SING ·······-·····-·John Nagy SECRETARY._ •••••••••••••• Lisa Kovacs FNET node 281 ·-·-···········-· EDITOR ContpuSerw ········-······ 71777,2140 GEnie---· ZIIAGAZINE or A.KOVACS Soun:e-.·-·····-··-················ BDG793
GET THERE BY BOAT, TRAIN OR PLANE ... Come to _____ , , the World of Atari show in Dearborn, ·. Michigan to see just how far Atari has come. At the show, Gadgets by Small will be displaying the newest of the Macintosh emulators - Spectre OCR. And Avant-Garde will be showing -pc-ditto II - the newest version of \their IBM emulator that runs IBM, ,-- software faster than an IBM! ,Other developers will include Accusoft, Antic, Astra, , Best Electronics, ICD, Intersect, Michtron, MiGraph, Seymor-Radix, SofTrek, and Supra Corp. There will be 1 software seminars and Question and Answer sessions with executives from Atari Corp. Call this number to make your discount reservations today!
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DON'T MISS THE
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I ,C_z_•_n_E_T_n_Ew_sw_1R_E----'J~L I D In previous issues of Z*NET, we have listed Auto Mall Show dates being held in conjunction with Mitsubishi and Atari. Recently we discovered that Atari is not attending these shows, and that dealers and user groups are not involved in the tour. It appears that contract disagreements have resulted in Mitsubishi's preventing Atari dealers or representatives to cooperate in the displays. The tour is likely to continue along with the Atari equipment, but likely without anyone that can promote or demonstrate the computer. Atari is assuming a hands off stance at this point. If more develops you will hear it here. OJ TENGEN Inc., a subsidiary of Atari Games Corp., has committed to the conversion of all Atari Games coin-op arcade titles into Atari ST commercial software. The first few titles are out now, and most of the arcade excitement was translated effectively. Tengen also filed a lawsuit on April 18, 1989, against Nintendo of America with infringing Tengen's exclusive copyrights in its new home video game, Tetris. According to the lawsuit. Tengen acquired worldwide exclusive rights to Tetris in May 1988 from Mirrorsoft. Atari Games is NOT affiliated with Atari Corporation, having been retained by Wamer when the Tramiel's bought Atari Computers. IP The MACE Atarifest which ran May 6th and 7th in subw-ban Detroit is repor ted to have been a success. There were some minor problems with electricity the first day, but attendance was said to be well over 1,000, and sales were very good. Appearances by CODEHEAD, GRIBNIF, WORD PERFECT, and many retailers made up for no-shows of
Vol. I, No. -I
DIAMOND, TOT AL CONTROL (GOE), BEST, MIGRAPH and others promised by the early promotions. User groups attending booths outside the sales floor were annoyed and surprised to have to pay admission. One group, CHAOS of Lansing, MI, was swamped by excited viewers of the VIOi-ST demos. (See related review in this Z*Net, and a full review of the MACE show in ZMAG and ST*ZMAGJ CIJ The Summer CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW is scheduled for June 15th in Chicago. Atari is expected to be on hand for this modem toyland affair where dealers are wooed for the year's sales and distribution. Although it is likely to be fun, with games, enter tainment, and such as the focus, not many new titles and no new products will likely be introduced by
Atari.
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Happy Computers has sued Gadgets By Small. The suit, filed in late April, is for alleged defamation by David Small of Gadgets and their products. The statements were made on several national telecommunication services, and this is apparently the first time such a suit has been filed based on computer messages. Happy Computer is the maker of the Discovery
cartridge and other Atari peripherals for the 8-bit systems. Gadgets makes the Spectre 128 and GCR Mac emulators for the ST. Small's attorneys claim the suit is without merit and a counter suit is being considered. IP The Software Publishers Association nominated Bill Atkinson (Hypercard developer), Dan Bricklin (Co-creator of VisiCalc), Bill Gates (Co-founder of Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Cofounder of Apple Computer),
Steve Wozniak (Co-founder of Apple) as candidates for their Life Contribution Award The group has made outstanding contributions to the growth of the PC industry and a winner will be selected by the SP A. [Or The next World of Atari is coming to Dearborn, Michigan, June 24 - 25, 1989 at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn in suburban Detroit. Call (800) 842-9034 to make Hotel and Airline Reservations and receive free admission tickets with discount airfare and accomodations. <Round trip fare from Chicago, for instance, as low as $38.) Call 503-673-2259 for show details. The Detroit show will have a 50% larger sales floor than the Disneyland show. Atari Corporation will have many representatives and a large booth at the show. Most products and developers shown at the Disneyland World of Atari show will also be at the Dearborn event, plus 15 new developers. (See related stories in this Z*NeO. ct:Y June 30 was announced as the intended "drop dead date" for the FEDERATED chain of Atari owned stores that were moved to •'discontinued" status January 1. That means that some kind of sale or spinoff must be arranged by then. About 18 stores of the 60-some have been closed in moves to consolidate and prep the chain for sale. [D" News from ICD Inc. is that the MIO BOX (MultiInput-Output for the 8-bit Atari) is back in limited production. Both the 256K and one meg versions will be available on a limited basis now that RAM prices have dropped. Ask your dealer or contact ICD directly. ICD, (815) %8-2228. [D" The MIO may have
competition soon. Bob Puff and Computer Software Ser
vices announced an upcoming product called the BLACK BOX. Bob is well known in the Atari community for his public domain works DISKCOM and SUPER ARC. The Black Box will do much of what the MIO does without the expensive RAM, to be released "summer '89", it will retail at $169.95, or $199.95 with 64K of printer buffer built in. Too early in the game to give any more info... yet. Stay tuned! Bob also released BOBTERM, a powerful shareware terminal program that many say is superior to anything for the 8bit Atari. Look for it online at the major services and in y_~ur club library. [.[7' Reeve Software has DIAMOND WRITE about ready for the door;to support the 8-bit Atari DIAMOND operating system. The competition, GOE from Total Control Systems, still has not been released TCS has not returned phone calls or participated in online product discussions for some time. IJ.7 PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS is making an offer to user groups that give every one of their products to any group that will review them in their newsletter! All that is needed is a $25 registration fee and the first item the group would like to review will be sent. After a copy of the group newsletter with a review of the item is sent back to Practical Solutions, the next item may be requested at no charge. .. and so on. PS makes the VideoKey <reviewed here last month!), the Monitor Master, Mouse Master, Drive Master, Tweety Board, and more. Z*Net encourages your club to take advantage of this offer! Practical Solutions, 1135 North Jones Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85716, (602) 332-6100. ■ Pagez-3
WORLD OF ATARI nEWSWIRE by John Nagy The following is a report on the NEW products and highlights of some of the others. There was so much happening we are providing the most interesting. <* > AT ARI CORP showed their desktop publishing system, DESKSET II, although did not have a firm release date. Also showing was the remarkable hybrid wordprocessor/spreadsheet/database/publisher package ''Wordflair", which will sell at $149 retail when released shortly. The booth also featured the STACY laptop ST for part of Sunday. <* > ARTISTECH premiered DA VINCI, billed as the "ultimate graphic tool" for art, animation, and printing. It looked quite powerful, certainly rivaling the CYBERP AINT package. The developers claim that DA VINCI is more versatile, powerful, and yet easier to use. $99.95, to be available July 31st. ArtisTech, (916) 488-6844. <* > AV ANT-GARDE gave us the first look at their new PC DITTO II, a hardware addition to be installed INSIDE your ST or MEGA machine. For $299 you can have very complete IBM XT compatibility and triple the speed. No, you won't be using this on the Stacy -yet anyway. Registered owners of the software PC-DITTO can get $150 off. Release is still 6-8 weeks away. (904) 221-2904. <* > CODEHEAD, the G+PLUS and MUL TIDESK folks, introduced MIDIMAX, a professional real-time music performance aid It can operate as a program or accessory, redirect any MIDI instructions, remap and make macros, create modal harmonies from single keys, and lots more that I don't even begin to follow. You can for $49.95. HOTWIRE, a desktop alternative for speedy access to almost anything was also drawing a lot of attention, new at $39.95. (213) 386-5735. <* > COMPUTER GAMES PLUS has a national reputation as a great source for import games and software. Owner Art Turko wowed the show with his VIDEO IMAGE DIGIT AL INTERFACE, VIOi-ST, imported on an exclusive marketing agreement from Scotland This is BRAND NEW and HOT folks! This unit beats all other video samplers I have seen under $1,200.00. It is $199.95 only from Computer Games Plus. Art should sell a million. (714) 639-8189. <* > FAST TECHNOLOGIES showed two models of a ''TURBO 16" accelerator board for the ST. At $399 and $499, they allow 16mhz operation of the ST, double that of normal. They include a 32K RAM cache that allows use with slower RAM chips. The more expensive unit will work on all machines including the STACY, and will work with PC-DITTO and SPECI'RE. <• > GADGETS BY SMALL had Dave and Sandy Small hoping to show the throngs of admirers their new GCR This still developing device will replace the popular SPECTRE 128 MACINTOSH emulator for those who wish a "plug and play" MAC in their ST. The GCR does what the Spectre does, PLUS allows realtime access to MAC disks with no translation needed Dave expects a summec release datewith any luck at all. The FCC is type-approving it now, so GADGETS is using the interim to GAMMA-TEST and make whatever improvements their testecs can come up with. It appears that adjustments will be on board that will allow users to ''touch up" problem disk drives to be reliable under the demands of MAC emulation. It will be $299.95, with a healthy rebate for those who upgrade from Spectres. Dave's
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newsletter are entertaining enough to be worth the cost alone. (303) 791-6098. <• > IMAGEN introduced ULTRASCRIPT for DOT \1ATRIX owners at the World of Atari show. I was AMAZED at the quality. It requires at least 2 meg of RAM, however. Both 9 and 24 pin printers (Epson compatible) are supported, and the output is virtually indistinguishable from that of a laser printer after Xeroxing the output. It was on special price at the show for under $200 but sells for $229 normally. (408) 986-9400. <• > JRI, John Russel Innovations, introduced two new innovations at the showthe JATO accelerator board at the remarkable price of $99.95 and the ST4096C color enhancement system for $49.95. The JATO will double the processing speed of most computations inside the ST or MEGA machines. Some machines with RAM chips rated slower than 120 NS may not tolerate the speed, but these should be a minority. A new 68000 chip is included, along with a hardware switch to cut back to normal speed when needed <like in games!>. The JATO is a solder installation, as the CPU must be removed and a socket installed The ST4096C installs much more readily and gives 64 colors at one time, and ups the palette of the ST from 512 to 4,096 colors. It requires a shifter chip from Atari, and I have no idea of the cost of it. These are the folks that gave us GENLOCK, which was demostrated both on the floor and at the MIDI presentation. It is everything a chroma-key system should be, el_us allows interfacing with professional video gear. Pricey at $650, it installs only in the MEGA machines of discriminating video movers and shakers. (415) 458-9577. <• > MICHTRONIMICRODEAL had an outstanding display, and featured the first copies of ST TlJNE-UP available anywhere. Delayed due to torturous testing, it is a top notch hard drive maintenance tool. T ALESPIN was also at last available, a graphic adventure game creator. George Miller told me he had scored a major coup the day of the showhe had secured exclusive rights to IMAGEN's Ultrascript. No other DTP package but FLEET STREET will be able to be sold bundled with the remarkable Postscript emulator. FLEET STREET v 3 should also do the fancy things that seem to be selling the higher price DTP systems, and should be available this Fall. (313) 334-5700. <• > MIGRAPH, one of my favorite companies, products, and people, showed their soon to be released hand scanner and new TOUCH UP software. Touch UP is being revised into a simpler, cheaper package as well as a new more advanced system. The scanner will be available with TOUCH UP LITE for $499. Migraph is offering an introductory price of $429 on the bundle through July 31. Registered Touch-Up ownecs can purchase the hand scanner direct from Migraph for only $299. Contact Liz and Kevin Mitchell at (800) 223-3729. <• > REEVE SOFTWARE had his DIAMOND desktop system for the 8-bit Atari, plus his well known NEWS STATION and otehr software on display. DIAMOND WRITE is almost ready, and several applications should be coming soon for this very competent "GEM for the 8 Bit" cart. <• > SEYMOR/RADIX was taking orders for their brand new DVT device, a cart which plugs into a VCR to make hard drive backups. It stores at the rate of a megabyte a minute and retails for $249.95. ■
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SIG HARTmAnn AT THE WORLD OF ATARI SHOW by John Nagy A highlight of the Disneyland Hotel WORLD OF ATARI SHOW (April 22-23) was a seminar with Sig Hartmann, Atari Vice President, along with Mike Dendo, Vice President of Sales, and Joe Mendolia, Vice President of Marketing. Despite the "CORONADO ROOM" being what seemed like an unmarked mile from the World sales floor, through halls, around buildings, and down stairs, an over capacity crowd of more than 300 attended. Sig was surprised at the interest in what he had to sav, and said that Sam would be pleased to know so many peopie supported Atari. In fact, had the meeting been held next door to the sales floor, I am certain that the attendance would have been tripled. Sig Hartmann is a distinguished and youngish older man. His full head of grey hair and heavy German accent lend authority to his every word, and he makes you believe everything he says. And yes, you BELIEVE IT. I feel quite sure that Sig would not lie to anyone... and if he ever did, we wouldn't know it. A more ideal sales leader cannot be imagined_ Sig opened his talk after waiting for a microphone - they actually expected a small enough turnout to not need one. He began by reciting the recent history of Atari, including the decision last year to sacrifice the U.S. market to hold on to the European leadership. Insufficient RAM chips were blamed for lack of product. Atari felt that they had enough product to push in Europe ( where higher prices were also possible) to establish Atari as a standard, but not enough to make a change in the domestic market. He conceded that the US dealers, developers, and users suffered for this decision. The new products (STACY, PORTFOLIO, etc) were discussed. and the 68030 UNIX/TOS machine was mentioned as being planned for the end of 1989. Sig cut that part of the discussion short, citing a new policy, per Sam Tramiel, of not announcing or detailing "anything unless we can have for sale in 60 days" will significantly reduce the "vaporware" image of Atari. '• Atari could have become a standard in the US last year if we had enough product. We did it in Europe, and we will have to work twice as hard to come back this year, but we will do it in the USA. This is the year for the USA", said Sig to sustained applause. Distribution, marketing, sales, and availability were mentioned as the keys. Moving into the Sales seat at Atari, Sig will be specifically in charge of corporate, OEM, and government/ institutional sales. He mentioned that a corporate sales success cannot occur without network systems, and that Atari was working on several. The BIODATA Ethernet system was mentioned. but Sig said it was a little too expensive. He pointed out the virtues of desktop publishing systems below the price of a single component of other systems and described an ''EXCEL-like" powerful spreadsheet that he was "only about a year past due" on turning out. Coming Atari software, the Postscript emulator ULTRASCRIPT, and other advances in ST software (exhibited with almost excessive outpourings at the World of Atari show!) all were cited as proof of Atari's power and resurgence. User group support is most certainly wanted by Atari, and Sig says the most important thing Atari can do for user groups is to succeed as a computer company. He said that sales of the size they expect this year could as much -~ l!iple_ __ the numbers of users in groups. Sig mentioned that there had been three user group newsletters sent out since last fall, and
Voll, No. 4
that if groups had not gotten them, they should contact Atari to verify their registrations. Joe Mendolia, the new guy that came over from IMAGEN to handle Atari Marketing, will inherit User Group Support as part of his division. He will pick the replacement for Cindy Claveran, who left the User Group Coordinator position after less than a year there (he is still taking resume's!). Although generally quiet during the seminar, Joe is approachable and genuinely interested in resolving the snafus that Atari marketing has been famous for. He welcomed input regarding bad dealers and ideas for change. Mike Dendo is young and all business. As Vice President of Sales, it is his job to manage the distribution systems for Atari products. The CD ROM device was asked about, and it was confirmed that it was held back for so long due to the commitment not to release it until it could be sold for $500. It is finally possible to place it at $599 retail, so the project is moving ahead. Scheduling of domestic releases was confirmed to be intended "from now on" to be AHEAD of overseas. "Europe can't even have the Stacy for display now". Sig projected that "60, 70 thousand units" of the Portfolio would be shipping each month by this fall. Federated status was questioned_ Mike said that Atari was •'basically looking at a June 30 drop-dead date" on Federated. meaning that they intend for it to be sold or "something" by then and no longer a concern of Atari. Sig said that it seemed like a good thing, but after trying it, Atari decided to go back to what it knew, being a technology leader and producing the best products at the best prices. Federated has lately closed 13 more of its stores, leaving 43 in the Southwest. Internal word remains that Greg Pratt, President of the Federated division at Atari, is still fighting to buy the chain from within. As to whether Federated (in whatever incarnation it has after the split with Atari) will continue to sell Atari products, Mike said "that's a real good question ... " and recommended that the questioner take it out to Wayne Smith, Southern California Regional Sales Manager. Sig said, sure, it is a retail chain, and they will sell anything that sells well. Atari 8-bit users finally raised their voices and asked where they fit in all this ST and new product talk. Sig stressed earnestly that he and Sam had both agreed that 8-bit support would continue. Whatever that means. He did say that it was extremely difficult to get developers interested in making new software for anything but new machines, but that he held hope for the DIAMOND package (by REEVE SOFTWARE) in sparking new attention. He said that Atari was very interested in the cart that simulates the operations of an ST in a mouse and window environment. A bundle of hardware and software using DIAMOND will be promoted as soon as more basic applications are completed and tested_ "We want it to be good because we will stand behind it." TOS 1.4 and the Blitter were quizzed about. Tos 1.4 is currently in all new production MEGA machines, as is the Blitter. When existing supplies of the older TOS ROMs are exhausted. 1.4 will be in all ST machines. The crowd broke up, generally happy to have heard some solid dialog and reasons for optimism. If Atari holds their course and can produce wliat th~ _IIJ"e planning, 1989 _ - · year of ATARI. -.willindeect 6e
tne
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BEYOn □
GEm !
Paying Attention to Events (Part 1) by Douglas Hodson It's _easy to ignore system generated events. It is also a poor pr~ctt_ce to do so._ When I started programming the ST, I ~ept sk.ippmg the sect10ns on event handling. It just seemed hke too much work. The appearance of my programming efforts_ suffered as a result. This article is dedicated exclusively to the event functions GEM provides.
• What Is An Event? • Double ~licking . the mouse button, typing on the keyboard, selectmg an item from the menu bar resizing a window, waiting for 10 milliseconds to pass, these are all events. Just about every "action" that the user invokes during his or her interaction with the computer, generates an event. Events come i!1 several flavors: button, keyboard, message, mouse and timer. Each event has a corresponding routine that can detect it's presence. evnt_buttonO - this event "detect" function tells GEM you want to be notified when specific mouse buttons are clicked. evnt_keybdO - this function awaits a kevboard event meaning it waits for the user to press a key on the keyboard ' evnt_mesagO - this function awaits a message. A message can be one of several things. Clicking a selection in the !Ilenu ~ generates_ a message event. Resizing a window, closmg a wmdow, movmg a window, moving window sliders, etc... all generate message events. evnt_mouseO - this function awaits the mouse to enter a specified rectangle. The rectangle coordinates are an input to _this function and the event is generated when the mouse pomter crosses the rectangle's boundary (entering or exiting the box). evnt_timerO - ~his (uncJion waits for a given time to pass. The length of tune 1s given as one of the inputs. Be warned, I've read information indicating system crashes if used within a desk accessory! As you can see, GEM provides the programmer with several tools to detect different kinds of events. It must also be pointed out that the events just listed detect one and only one type of event, that's it.
• The Grandaddy Event Call • GEM provides a much more powerful event detection function which is a combination of all the above. The function is called evnt_multiO and is the grandaddy event function of them all. Evnt_multiO allows you to "OR" several event types of interest, and input it into the function call, thereby allowing detection of several possible events. ~er ~t_multiO is exited <i.e. an event happened), the information passed back to you contains the type of event that occurred and other related information. The event types or "masks" that are ORed together as input to evnt_multiO are listed below. Also a short example of how to OR these masks together follows. Sdefne MU_KEYBD OX0001 ltdetne MU_BUTTON Ox0002 ltdefne MU_M1 Cb0004 •detne MU_M2 OJl0008 •detne MU_MESAG 0Jr0010 Sdeflne MU_TIMER Dll0020
int events;
r typical example of apeclftlna event types •1
event_types - MU_KEYBD I MU MESAG I MU TIMER·
The '' event_types" variable is usedas uiput to evnt_multiO. Of course evnt_multiO needs much more Vol.I, Ab. -I
information than that. Where's the function prototype. evnt_rnuHI( event_types. t• event types •t clicks, button, state, 1• mouse button info •1 1st rectangle info •1 mt _ln_out, xt. y1. wt. h 1. 2nd rectangle Into•/ m2_1n_out, x2, J2. W2, h2, buffer, t• message bl.after addr •1 lowtlme, hlghtlme. 1• timer Info •1 xptr, yptr, r mouse coordinates •1 bptr, r mouse button state •1 kptr. r keyboard state •1 key, 1• key code Info •1 times); r times mouse state occurred •1
r r
• Confused? •
. Looks a little overwhelming doesn't it? My first reaction to all these variables was, "Which ones are important?". Sorry to say, the answer is not cut and dried, it's based upon t~e event types specified with "event_types". A clear explanation of all the evnt_multiO variables is required for proper usage of the function. Since button events are the hardest to understand, we will limit our discussion to this type of event in this issue (also space limitations). The rest of the events will be covered in the next issue. "Clicks", "button" and "state" variables are all related to the MU_BUTTON (mouse button) event type. A mouse event occurs when the keys of interest, defined by "button" are placed in a state defined by "state" for a count of "c~cks" in a time generally specified by th~ panel (this came straight out of the Laser C manual). I'm sure it's about as clear as mud, right? Let's try again. The ''button" variable is a mask indicating which mouse button to pay attention to. If "button" equals one then left button is "activated", if the "button" is two then right button is active. The "state" variable indicates whether we are looking for the button event to occur when the button is up or down. Zero indicates up, one indicates down. The last variable is "clicks". It's simply the maximum number of mouse button clicks to look for, typically one or two. Typical numbers for "clicks", "button" and "state" are all integer ones. With these numbers, a button event will occur when the left mouse button is pressed once (event will trigger when left button goes into down position). If you want to detect double clicks, then "clicks" should be set to two. There are two other variables related to mouse events, "bptr" an~ •:ti~es". Both "_bptr" ~ "!imes" are integer pomters, mdicating they will contain mformation (after evnt_multiO terminates) regarding the state and conditions that occurred to the mouse button(s) while evnt multi() was processing. •'bptr" contains the state at whichthe mouse button was in when evnt_multiO terminated (i.e. up or down). (Note: this is only true for single click events) Now you know how paint programs perform drag operations, test "bptr"! The "times" variable will contain the number of times the mouse button entered the desired state, specified by "state". At first it may seem that ''times" will always equal "clicks". Not necessarily, if "clicks" equals two (so you can detect double clicks) and the user clicks once, a button event is STILL generated! This is because "clicks" does not tell GEM the number of clicks required to generate an event, but rather the MAXIMUM number of clicks you want GEM to CONTINUED ON NE:::XT PAGE
THE CLUB ROOM - Atari in Panama by Carlos Hassan - Panama Canal Atari Computer Users Group
[EDITOR'S NOTE: With the recent problems with elections, unrest, eYen troop moYements into Panama, it may be a while before Atan'ans there /Jaye time to focus on their computers. We receiYed this article .1ust before things heated up in Panama, from one ofour new~t Z"Aft member groups. We hope to have more intemationa/ perspectiYe contribubons in the CLUB ROOM. ZWet also encoura~ groups to submit a CLUB ROOM about an_y unique or succes:Yful proftt or operabon that other groups couldlearn from./ Atari computers in Panama go back a long time. I was only eleven when I first began playing with an AT ARI 400 computer in 1981. Back in those happy times, we did not even have program recorders. Rather, all the programs were available as cartridges, which the local store was happy to provide at over $50.00 each. As soon as the popularity of this machine spread, cassette program recorders and disk drives were made available. I bought my own ATARI computer, the A-800 model, in 1982. after a year of going over to my neighbor's house to "play Atari". My own computer cost $420.00. I recall selling it years later for $60.00, and I got a good deal. At the time I did not know any English, but I learned little by little, enough to play around with the BASIC listings in the users' manual. Then I heard there was this ''fantastic" Atari club, in what was formerly the Panama Canal Zone. I went to their meetings, and was fascinated by the hardware and The only catch to my software demonstrated there. involvement was everyone speaking, reading, and meeting in English! The club started out back in 1981 when Department Of Defense personnel stationed in Panama bought Atari computers and decided to do something with them. The club started with only 12 members, but it grew at a fantastic rate, having at one time over 400 members. There were so many of them, that the club began dropping memberships because their Synfile records simply could not handle them! PCACUG, or Panama Canal Atari Computer Users' Group, soon established a Bulletin Board system (1983), and had been already delivering Pan* ATARI *News for at least a year and a half. The club started as an English-only club, mainly because all of the members back then were American citizens. Little by little, the Panamanian members grew too. Although most of the volunteer jobs were carried out by Americans, soon Panamanians took over some of them. It was just two years ago that a Panamanian finally became president of the club, and a completely bilingual meeting was carried out. Formerly, only a few articles here and there would be included in Spanish in our monthly newsletter, the Pan* Atari*News. Last year I was elected president of the club. How did I get in there? Well maybe there weren't many people attending that particular election meeting! One of my first goals was making a monthly newsletter going out to all the members, and enhancing club participation, but then, isn't that every president's goal? We began work on our newsletter, Pan" Atari*News. p• A "N is a 24 page monthly job. I began, like every other newsletter editor (did I tell you that I also am in charge of that?), to reprint articles from other newsletters and online sources. We translated many articles to Spanish, and put PageZ-8
them inside the newsletter, finally making it a 50/50 bilingual newsletter. But, as every other editor reading this knows, soon we ran out of things to print (or reprint!), and club participation in writing articles is almost non-existent. Then I read a press release concerning Z*Net. Sooner than I knew, Z*Net was delivering us its fantastic 12 page insert which now covers half the work we have to do! As a result of Z*Net's 16bit coverage, our 8bit-only club is teaming the newsletter effort with the local ST club. Being in a bilingual country poses some interesting pronunciation problems. Did you ever give it any thought as to how you would pronounce "disk drive" in another language? Or "diskette" or "cursor" or "monitor''? There is a large Atari 8-bit user base here in our country, due to the promotional effort of the company which brought, and sold, thousands of Atari computers to Panama. The problem, as I am sure has happened in the US and other countries as well, is that the company was not a computer store. It was an electronics store, happy to sell computers as if they were just home appliances (Sound familiar?). We are making a big effort to get all these 8bit users into our club. Sometimes they don't even know we exist, or think we only speak English. As this article is sent to Z*Net, preparations are underway for our second annual Atari Software Fair. At our Fair, probably a lot different than the ones at the States, since we don't have third party developers showing off products, etc., we present the latest 8-bit software, both commercial and Public Domain. We invite computer companies to bring generic computer products that 8-bit users can buy, and we also get a lot of new memberships. If you would like any information about our club, or start a newsletter exchange, just write to us at: PCACUG. Apartado 5265, Balboa, Ancon, Panama, Republica de Panama. ■ BEYOND GEM - Continued from page Z*7
monitor. I'm sure the next question is "H an event is triggered after one mouse click, how does my program detect double clicks?". GEM monitors the mouse clicks in conjunction with a countdown timer. The process works as follows. User clicks mouse button, timer starts counting down (length of time will be discussed in a moment), if user clicks again before timer expires then double click happened and "times" will equal two. If another click does not occur before timer expires then "times" will equal one. Basically a mouse event is generated after a click happens and timer expires! "times" simply represents the number of clicks that occurred in the countdown timer period plus the initial click. The length of time for the countdown timer can be adjusted. I'm sure all of us has adjusted it at one time or another using the Control Panel. The timer values range from 0 through 4. Go back and play with the Control Panel timer values and click on the key click sound control button. This will give you a good feel for when button events are actually generated. You can also adjust the timer value by using evnt_dclickO. It is not a good practice to change timer values without the user actually initiating the change. It can, and probably will destroy the users hand/eye coordination. Until next month, Doug. ■
.llnef!/89
The finest COLOR PRINTING software available for your 8-bit ATARI has been further upgraded. The VEMACVB system has been expanded to a three (3) disk set. power packed with some of the most useful printing and graphics utilities ever made available for your computer. This software system is au that you need to create and print beautifully detailed color graphics. with results that can not be duplicated by any other system. This package will surely become an lndlspenslble addition to your library. The uses are endless. NEW FEATURES INCLUDE: - Giant Color Poster Maker Color Intensity Control Ramdlsk Preservation Software System Software Backup Utility (Disks Are Not Copy Protected) Additional Color Clip Art. Fonts. & Borders Both VEMACVB And VEMACVB/4 with Extensive Expanded Documentation HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SYSTEM CAPABILITIES: - Provides Full Support Of Any .. EPSON JX-80" Style Printer In Color Mode [NX-1000 RAINBOW. EPSON EX-800 a. 1000. SEIKOSHA MP-1300. ect.) Converts Any EPSON ·x· Compatible Printer Into A Superb Color Printer [Any 9-Pin STAR (GEMINI). PANASONIC. C.ITOH PROWRITER. ect.• requires a set of 4 ribbons; 1 yellow. 1 red. 1 blue. and 1 black] Provides The Fastest. Largest. Most 'True To The Screen· Color Prints Provides Methods To Easily Create Graphics With 128 Simultaneous Colors Allows Multiple Fonts. Sizes. And Colors During Text Entry Over Graphics Allows ·cut And Paste· Of Graphics Clip Art Using Selectable Priorities Allows Rotation. Mirroring. And Variable Seating Of Graphics Allows Pixel Color Register Swapping Of Graphics Allows Creation Of User Definable Fill Patterns In Graphics Editor Allows Creation And Printing Of Customized Border Graphics Allows Customization Of Printer Color Pallette Provides Method To Autoload Ramdlsk With System Software Upon Booting Converts Graphics From Most Popular Disk File Formats Menu Driven Environment. Fully Error Trapped. Handles System Reset
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Z*NET was the first to tell you about this amazing product. and now the VIOi-ST from Scotland is available in the USA. Distributed by COMPUTER GAMES PLUS in
California, the VIOi-ST is a real-time frame grabber for use with any composite video source. What that means is that any VCR, camera, even some TV sets can be used as a signal source for instant digital pictures on any Atari ST computer. Unlike other digitizers that can take long scan times, VIDI-ST does not require a motionless subject. You can collect frames at a speed up to about four per second, and play them back as an animation! Intake and display speeds are independently controlled in the software, and up to 125 frames (on a MEGA 4, 25 on a 1040, 7 on a 520) can be stored, played back, individually selected from a 16-screen-at-a-time selection display, and manipulated. The unit is a black cartridge about the size of a disk box, with a single contrast control protruding from the side next to a phono plug that is the video input. Recessed controls adjust brightness range and horizontal scan rate. Operation is remarkably simple. Any composite source can be sampled instantly. The software with the VIDI-ST resembles CYBERAlternative PAINT in layout and sophisticated power. palettes can be selected, flavoring the 16-shade monochrome
translation of the input in any way you choose. Advanced cut/paste and clipboard functions allow remarkable edit functions. A window can also be opened in an exiting picture, and new moving input can be sampled inside. NEOCHROME and DEGAS format files can be loaded and
Page?fO
merged with live video, and the results saved in either format as well, and can be manipulated or titled in other art programs. The sequence of frames can even be saved individually and loaded into Cyberpaint to create and save an animation. A print function is also supplied. The company. ROMBO of Scotland, is doing continuous development and upgrades to the software as well. The quality of pictures is quite good, and when displayed on a TV, fools some viewers into thinking they are looking at direct live video instead of digital output from a computer. Monochrome operation is also available, but some functions are not as complete. Sampling rate is decreased somewhat by the dither process required to make MONO half-tone images. Applications of the VIDI-ST are many. The rapid sampling is a breakthrough in digitizers for the ST, allowing you to collect a sequence of frames and then selecting exactly the one where the action (yes, ACTION!) is exactly what you want. No super freeze-frame is required on your VCR, in fact you can collect frames live and review them later. Quality is
sufficient for use in newsletters by importing the pictures into any DTP system. ST*ZMAG used the VIDI-ST for the pictures of the World of Atari Show it posted on national telecom services. Excited viewers of the system, shown only at the Disneyland and MACE shows (and the upcoming Detroit WORLD show) came up with intriguing ideas as well, including making backgrounds for TV slides on cable TV, and "pencil tests" of hand drawn animations. Normal pencil tests are shot on film and production at the art house must wait days until the test can be viewed. Using VIDI-ST, it can take minutes and have no ~ i n g charges! Another use will be to collect screen shots of 8-bit software for newslwetters via the Atari XLJXE composite output.
VIOi-ST is more fun thu 11. . . . . are 11onnally allowed to haYe! The grins-per-back ntio oatdoea all otlaer hardware and software we lta•e seaa ia years. VIDI-ST retails in the US for $199-95. bat z•NHT aad ST•ZMAG are able to off« a S50 sa'riap ONLY Call COMPUTER THROUGH JUNE 31. 1989. 714-639-81 89 and or 9 ~443-818 at PLUS GAMES meation this offer from z•NET (yoa MUST say z•NET) ud yo■ cu tlaea onl« tile VIDI-ST for only $149.95 (Visa/Mut ercud OK). Order sooa. u this item will be one of tile kottest itaa of the year. and saYe $SO by mentioaiag z•NET. ■ .Ane/989
Ii
PUBLIC □ OmAln REPORT by A/tee Amore HotWire!
An important benefit of public domain/shareware software is the ability it gives us to ''preview" new commercial software releases via demos and press releases. Although a demo doesn't let us see everything, it does let us get the a feel for the program's features and user-friendliness. HotWire!, by Charles F. Johnson and John Eidsvoog, is a new program from CodeHead Software, and a demo version is available. HotWire! is sort of a "command center" which uses hotkeys to run programs. Simply put, a hotkey is a key which has been preprogrammed (by you) with a set of instructions for your computer to follow. For instance, you can tell HotWire! to run your word processor every time you hit "W", or to run Interlink whenever you hit "I". The runnable file can be anywhere, even several folder-layers deep. You can hit a hotkey at the desktop level or from the HotWire! menu. If you use the menu, you can also enable programs by clicking on icons. The Hot Wire! menu displays up to 54 file names and also has room for a 20-character description per file. Additional file menus are possible. It works on hard drives or floppies, and is compatible with CodeHead's MultiDesk. It uses only 40K of memory, and is written in assembly language. Although the demo version doesn't let you do much, it does give you a clear picture of HotWire!'s capabilities.
DISK LETTER DISK LETTER isn't a new concept, but it goes farther (and does it better) than any similar effort to date. DISK LETTER is a "magazine on a disk". Using the GEM interface to make selections, text files can be read. picture files can be viewed. sound files can be heard. and games can be played. It's as easy as clicking on the selection from the pull-down menus. DISK LETTER handles REPLAY sound files, compressed Pll D.E.G.A.S pictures (including color cycling), a text reader program with print option, and an auto-load function for loading either DISK LETTER or other programs. You create your own DISK LETTER by writing simple ASCII files telling the program where to locate your files. Also, you can create a special file which will automatically run a concurrent picture/sound file at boot-up. DISK LETTER can be especially useful if you are in charge of assembling disks of new programs for your user group. It can be run from drive A only, and was written by John Hickey as shareware. A sample newsletter (SAMPLEDL.ARC) is available and strongly recommended. It will give you a good idea of DISK LETTER's possibilities.
the excellent series of QUICK utilities (shareware) by Darek Mihocka and lgnac Kolenko. You can become a registered user of all the QUICK programs with one fee, and be eligible for updates.
MIDIDEMO MIDIDEMO is a demo for MIDIMAX by Larry Herzberg for CodeHead Software. MIDIMAX is a sophisticated MIDI manager which, among other things, creates MIDI macros which can store preconfigurations containing your entire MIDI set-up. Also supported: Convert continuous controllers; Use the ST as an intelligent thru-box; Create MIDICHORD files; Harmonic maps
CIRCLES & DEJA VU These demos are awe-inspiring. Seeing them kinda reminds me of those days of yore when SHINY BUBBLES hit the boards. Exciting STuff! These are .SEQ files created with Aelris Animator. You will need anv of the ANIMATOR viewers to run them. · While we're picture-looking, check out ROCKERS, a collection of IMGSCAN pictures including Chuck Berry, Keith Richard. Stevie Nicks, and Frank Zappa.
COMPACT DIR COMPACT DIR sends a hard drive directory to your printer, but it does it in the nicest of ways. For starters, it uses the smallest print possible. You might get a per-page listing of as much as 10 megs! COMPACT DIR supports the HP Deskjet and Epson compats. (I tested the program on my NX-1000 and it worked perfectly the first time.) A finished page is packed with information including the partition, report date, page number, and volume name. Directories are listed with their paths intact, and each file within a directory is accompanied by its byte count and time stamp. You can turn off the paging feature to save even more paper. The program can also send a dump from drives A and B. COMPACT DIR is shareware from Chet Walters. ■
QUICK INDEX 1 _Q QUICK INDEX is a program which evaluates several of the STs functions. Keeping tabs on your STs performance under a variety of conditions (such as different TOS versions and other speeder-upper.;) can help you make decisions about how to configure your set-up for optimum performance. Five "benchmarks" can be m~ured in terms of speed: CPU - VT52 text output - GEM dialog boxes - GEMDOS file creation - Raw disk OMA sector 1/0 Results are measured in percentiles which makes it easy to compare varying configurations. QUICK INDEX is sixth in Vol. I, No. -I
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10th Frame Bowling . . .... 26 Cracked 21 N Vision . 220 ST (Temunal Emulator) . 15 Crazy Cars .29 Spy vs Spy 3 (Arctic Antics I . 19 . 25 Neo Desk 2 30 Breakthru . 33 ST Disk Drives Inside & Oui 18 . . 26 Cyber Control 39 New Tech OTHERS ........ CALL Colonng Book AB Zoo . 15 ST Gem Prog,-s Rel Man 15 21 C)'ber Paml 48 Night On The Town Advancea OCP An Studio 22 ST Internals Book 31 C)'ber VCR 15 45 Air Ball . Nin,a 14 ST Intro to Midi Book 26 Dark Castle 15 27 Obliterator Air Ball Construction Se1 .. 25 ST Machine Language Bock 17 Data Manager ST 15 46 Ogre Algebra 1, 2. 3 . .27 ST Pool . .. ea 14 Datatneve 21 . 33 Olds . Allants. .. 24 ST Talk Pro 19 DUian. 17 149 Omnires All About America . .23 STAC . 41 Oealh Swonl . 44 13 Alt. . Orlllter. . . ... 21 . 25 STOS .. Deep Space. OTHERS, INCWDING TAPE BACK-UP ... CALL 39 . 31 Alternate Reality·The City . . . 32 Oelenoer of the Crown Page Stream . 115 Star Fleet 1 37 . 31 Paint Pro . Alterrune Reality· The Ounveon . 32 Degas Elne . . . 33 Star Raiders . 19 . 38 America Cooks Serles . . ... ea 9 Demon· s Winter Paintwortcs Stargllder 14 2 . . 26 ... 25 Paperboy . . An:hltectural DIIIOn . . . . 25 Stellar Crusade . 19 Desk Can .36 .. 67 Panner Font~ Arctic Fox . . . . .. 21 Strip Poker 2 .. . .. 26 lligi Drum . 25 14 Panner ST An Gallely 1, 2, 3 . . . 43 Sub Banle Simulator . .. ea 19 lliW9 Bomber . .25 19 Assem Pro.... PC Ditto 2. . . .37 Dr. Drums (DR T) .. CALL Sundog. SEE .25 rT 19 Perteet Match Auloduel... .. 27 Super Base Professional . .... 24 • Dr. Keys (DR T) 174 19 ANYWAY . . .WE'RE Personal Pascal . Award Maker . . . 66 Super Star Ice Hockey . 27 llrafix .31 129 Phantassie Balance of Power . . . 1. 2 or 3 ... ea 26 Swift Cale SI . .... 32 . Dunveon Master 2 . MOS. 46 . 18 Phasar Bally Hoo . . . . . . . 3.0 . . Take . . ... 27 Dyna Cac!d . 58 Note . .52 . . 429 Pinball Wizard Barbll1ln . . . . .. 24 Tangltwood . . ... 25 Easy Draw ( Regular) .. 25 . 63 GFA Ray Trace... . ... 59 Kinclnma. . . 24 Pirates of the Barbary Coast . 17 Terror Pods Banis Tale . .31 EasyDrawW/Supercharger .. 95 Gladialor . . 25 . .. 25 Kings Ouesl 1. 2. 3 or 4 . ea 31 Planetarium . . . 33 Test Drive 1 or 2 Base Two . . . . .. 45 Easy Toots. . 24 . 32 GIObal ~ . . ... 28 Knrckerbockers 12 Platoon Basketball (Two on Two) .. 25 Test Drive 2 .. 26 Bite. . Extra ea 14 Disks . 22 Gold Of The Realm . . .. 24 LOW Power Spreadslleet 89 Police Quest 1. 2 Banlt llruklz . .. 32 Three Stooges . 25 Empire 34 34 Gold Rush. . ... 25 Label Master Elne 26 Pool of Radiance Banlezone . . .. 25 Thunder 19 Expen Opinion 26 72 Gotdrunner . . 26 Lattice c 109 Prime Time Beyond Zork . . 27 Time Bandit . . 34 EZ Score Plus 24 . 95 Goldru!ffllf 2. . . 27 LeadertxJard Dual Pack 15 Print Master Plus Biology 1. 2. 3or4 26 TOP Gun .ea 14 EZTrack Plus 11 43 Goldrunner 2 Scenery Disks .ea 7 Leatherneck 25 Pnson 25 Bismarck. TrailblaZer . 28 F15 Strike Eagle 32 24 Gone Fishin' . 28 L11sure Suil Larry 1 or 2 24 Pro Copy . 11.ates1 Ver. I .. 28 True Basic Blacklamp. 17 FalConST .!Low.Low) .CALL GratChe(sVol.1, 2. &3Set 52 .39 Lock On 24 Publisher ST Blockbuster . 79 Tune Smith (DR T) .95 27 Fast Basic 59 Gndlron (Foolball) . 19 Lords of c:onci-t 13 Q Ball .. 21 Boulderdash Construction Ktt Tune UP 31 17 Fast Basic M Compiler 19 GunShip . . . 26 Loras of the Rising Sun 31 Quantum Paint Box ... 31 TurtJo ST Brataccas 15 • Fore and Forget 32 . 25 Hard Disk Backup . . 23 Macro Mouse . 25 Oumk 11 TV Spons Football Breach . 31 . . 27 Forst Cadd 2.0 . 33 Harrier Comllat Simulator . 34 Magic Sac Plus . 89 Rastan . . . 25 Brtelge 5.0. . TyphOOn Thompson 21 24 First Letters & Words 25 Heroes Of The unce ... 26 Mag,c Sac Roms . CALL Read & Rhyme . 24 un1nvrteC1 Bubble Ghost. . 31 . 24 First ShaDes .. 25 HI Son Basic Pro . 109 Ma,or Motion . 25 Renegade (OuteaSII Busmess Toots 14 Unrversal Item Selector .... 26 First Won! Plus . . 12 . 59 High Aaller . . 27 Ma1'1>11 Mad-s . 27 Road Runner Cad3D(Ver. 2.0) .. 26 Unrversal Military Sim .31 .57 Flash. (Grut 1) 18 HOiiywood Hljinx . . . 19 Mane Williams 114 Roaclwars . Calamus . .. Vampires 22 Emptre .20 175 Flight Simulator 2 . . . 32 Human Oesion Disk . . . 19 CSD Source Oeoog 39 Rocktord . Calamus Font Editor . . . 22 Vegas Craps . 24 . 62 5cenefy Disks . . . ea 18 Hunt tor Red October . . . . 32 Master Cad . 119 Santa Paravia Captalnllload ... 19 Vegas Gambler .23 ..31 FontOlsks(PubPan)1·6 .. ea20 IBCopy. . .23 Match Poinl. . 25 Scan An . Carrier Command . . 32 Video Tnlting . 29 Fonts and Borders . . 22 . .. 24 lml)OSllbte Mission 2 27 Mms Beacon TeacheS Typing . 32 Scruples Cenlflcate Maker. . . .. 29 Vip Professional (Geml . . 25 Fontz ST 129 . 22 Indiana Jones Temple 01 lloom .31 MeganaxC(LaserC) 118 SDI. Championship Baseball . . ... 27 Foundations Waste War 13 Ship. 38 .. 26 lntertlnk ST... . . 24 Mercenary. . 27 Shadow. Championship Wrestling ..... 26 Fraction Action 18 Wargame Construction Se1 22 . 24 lntemalionalSoccer ... 25 Metro Cross . 16 Shadowgate CilartlJak. .. 34 Winier Challenge 11 . .. 34 G + Plus 21 Into The EagllS Nest . 24 Miero Kitcnen Cornpan10n . 26 Shard of Spring ClleSSmaster 2000 . . 27 W,zards Crown . 25 . 29 Gateway . 31 Inventory Manager . . .. 52 M!CfmN9UI Baseball . 36 Shuftlelloard Chrooo Quest . Word .19 Perteet 159 . .. 29 Gauntlet .. 31 Jet.. . .. 33 MICtOSalt Write . 65 Silent Semce . Circun Maker 2 . ... 24 Wofl!Up. 47 . . 63 Genesis (MOiecuiar Modeler). . 59 Jlnxter. . . 27 Midi Draw . . . 63 Sinbad . 19 Word Writer ST Clip An 1. 2. 3, 4, 5. 6 46 .. ea 13 GFA Basic 3.0 . 59 Joust... . .18 Midi Maze . 26 ' Sky Fox . Wortel 14 Club Backgammon . Games. 12 . 23 GFA Basic Book . 27 Juggler. . . (New VffllOn) ... 32 Midi Fltcording Studio (DR T) . 36 Space Quest 1 or 2 .. . ea 31 World Karate Cltamp,onship 19 ColorCornl)lllerEyes .. 169 GFAComparuon.. . .. 32 Karate Kid 2 . . .. 27 Missrlt Commana . 18 , Space Outst 3 . .... 37 WWF MICfOltagUI Wrestling .29 ColorOurst 3000 . . ... 25 GFA Comcliler ... 38 Karallka . . . 23 MUIIICI Uo MOlhlrGoose 21 Spectrum 512. 41 Xev,ous. 19 Copyist Level 2 . . 158 GFA Draft Plus. . .. 49 KCS LMI 2... . 189 Multl Desk . 19 Spelling Bee .19 Zak McKracken . 27 Cosmic Relle1 . . .. 26 GFA Quick Reference Manual .. 12 Kid Progs . . ..... 27 MUSIC Studio 88 . . .. 34 SpKllnnan . 7 Zany Gott .26
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SPACE I MAST • June 1989 future MAST DOM. Well, that's it. Short and sweet.... Also, a late correction has come in that the Practical Solutions phone number on the bottom of page z•3 should be (602)322-6100. Well, I hope this adds to your Z*Net reading and helps poor Allan from searching through disks to find the programs mentioned. Happy Z*Net reading ..... .
SPACE 8 BIT SOFTWARE LIBRARY NEWS June 1989 by Joe Danko, Disk Librarian The DOM for June, 1989: SIDEA *MENU • BILBOAFX • BILBOARD • CODEBUST * CODEBUST * ZPRINT24 * DEMAPRNT • DEMAPRNT • MPP850 * XM850 * LABELS * HELP
BAS DOC COM HLP BAS BAS DOC HAN HAN DOC
034 127 108 081 071 043 045 025 020 022 025 025
MENU The standard menu program is a new one that His Worship The President, Greg Howell, has been hacking on for a while and has concented, in his goodness and generosity to allow us to release and use as we see fit. It abounds in subtle bells and whistles and is enormous fun to use. BILBOARD A BASIC program that can print various graphics mode pictures in sizes from nine to a page to 95 by 100 FEET (which requires over 17,000 sheets of paper). The program is intended for EPSON compatible printers but the DOC gives generalized instructions concerning modifications for other brands. CODEBUST A machine language dis-assembler and lister system for you ML hackers that like to do reverse engineering.
LABELS Companion to CODEBUST, a file of OS equate labels. ZPRINT24 A BASIC program that will either display or print ZMAGs. It will look for only ZMAGs in the disk directory. DEMAPRNT Another BASIC ZMAG processor. This one only prints, but it is very flexible. It allows setup in narrow or wide characters and prints the characters as they appear on the screen, even graphics characters. I think that the 'G:' handler is hiding in there somewhere. It will also print 3 columns on a page with divider lines like a newspaper. MPP850 XM850 These are two modem handlers intended to be used to drive the MPP1000E and ATARI XM301/ATARI 1030modems respectively. The excitement is that the handlers trick terminal programs into beliving that they are ATARI 850/P:R: CONNECTION interfaces and HAYES compatible modems. That's right, XM301 and 1030 owners can run KERMIT-65 and BOBTERM and a bunch of other terminal programs that would only talk to 850/PR-HAYES hardware. SPART ADOS users can just load them and then load the terminal program. DOS 2.5 people will probably have to append the terminal program to the handler they need. The only combination actually checked out by us so far is BOBTERM appended to XM850 and named AUTORUN.SYS and run on an 800XL with a 1030. It worked 100%. SIDES * MENU
• TANKMATH • TANKMATH *TANKMATH • TANKMATH * TANKMATH • SFFS • SFFS * SFFS • SFFS • SFFS
AAS 1 2 3 DOC AAS 1 2 3 DOC
004 002 018 040 153 057 002 018 036 193 102
TANKMATH SFFS TANKMA TH.AAS and SFFS.ARS are intended to be named AUTORUN.SYS and
used with their matching program files on a load-and-go disk. TANKMATH is an elementary mathematics tutorial and SFFS is a spelling tutorial. I have written a small BASIC menu program called MENU that will execute automatically when the disk is booted with BASIC active and allow selection of either of the tutorial systems. SPECIAL DISK RELEASE BOBTERM ver. 1.02 Yet another ATARI terminal program! This one is a real gem by Robert Puff of SUPERARC and DISKCOM fame. I really like this one and it looks like it may put the squeeze on good, old, trusty EXPRESS for me. The main upgrade is in the area of file transfer protocols. It uses X-MODEM/1 K, YMODEM and a marvelously quick version of XMODEM just for COMPUSERVE that really works. It also supports baud rates up to 19,200 for you MIO, BLACK BOX and ATR8000 users. So far there is only the 850/PR version but it has been tested successfully with a XM301/1030 handler that emulates an 850/PR with a HAYES-type modem. If it is used with a P:R: CONNECTION make sure the PRC.SYS handler translator found on the disk sold with the P:R: by ICD is used or you will get runaway streaming Q's upon connection most of the time. The files on SIDE A include everything for BOBTERM operation including a text file for SPARTADOS X users. SIDE B has ready-to-run files to get BOBTERM to run on an XM301/1030, MPP1000E and the ICD P:R: CONNECTION. Speaking of terminal programs, DTERM is showing a lot of activity lately and version 1.59 seems to be pretty solid now. I have been trying to get a final package to release but I keep finding more companion files for it. It seems that it has been written such that nonresident MODULES can be called off of disk. It looks like it could end up being a two disk set to get in all the extra stuff such as all 50 or so HELP files and the COMPUSERVE QUICK-B file transfer module, etc, etc. Well, maybe next month.
==============================
Many of these programs are SHAREWARE. Support the sources of your software by paying for the programs you like.
SPACE LMAST • June 1989
Page number 6
MAST Disks of the Month Schulz Jim By Well, it's MAST disk time again. This month, I will start with a run down last month's lineup of MAST DOMs, followed by some MAST disk news, and finally what's in store for the month of June. So here goes .... For the month of May, we had three normal DOMS, five special disks, two updates disks, and two ST magazine disks. #101 - ST Informer V2.41 (The latest and greatest Atari 8 bit emulator) #376 - Opus V2.10 (The latest version of the public domain spreadsheet) #381 - MAST DOM #1 (May's Utilities Disk) #382 - MAST DOM #2 (May's Applications Disk) #383 - MAST DOM #3 (May's Games Disk) #384 - Bullet Train (A train game where you keep the train on track) #385 - AGT (An lnfocom-like adventure game creator) #386 - BST AT (A business statistics spreadsheet program) #387 - World of Atari Demos (Two mindblowing ST color demos) #388 - ANALOG Disk #26 (Programs from ST-Log Issue #31) #1 - ST Reports from the month of May #2 - ST ZMAGs from the month of May So that's a wrapup of last month, the BST AT, the Utilities and Applications disks as well as the demos were quite popular last month. Now the news...... Disk problems .... This month, we again seemed to have problems with the disks. I am in the process of trying to get stuff settled out. It is either a bad crop of disks or my copy program has decided to cough up again. I am sorry for any problems this has caused. If you will bring your bad disks to the next MAST meeting or send them to me at the address below, they will be replaced. For some reason or other, this seems to happen about once a year, but I do look into the problem and see if I can resolve it. I don't knowingly produce and I try my best to make good, error-free disks. I currently copy about 150 disks each month so I don't have time to check them all. If I don't hear any complaints, I can only assume that the disk copying is correct. I am again sorry
for the problems. ST News Disks .... The complete collections of disks will officially premier .at the Member Appreciation night with special pricing as well. For less than $2.00 a disk, this has to be special pricing!!!! Place your order early as there are over 20 disks in the collection. Prices.... All MAST disks are $6.00. All updates are $2.00 each with the original disk. ST News disks, doc disks and ST magazine disks are $2.00. Back orders.... All backordered disks have been shipped as of today. If you don't receive what you are looking for, please give me call or leave me a message and I will do what I can to help you. ST Magazine disks .... These disks still aren't selling too well, but we will try it for another month. The articles in the Z*Net section are very similar to the quality of articles which are found each week in the STZMAG. The ST Report also has similar articles as well. Each magazine has their own collection of rumors with the ST Reports usually being a little bit more adventurous. The pricing remains the same at $2.00 for one, $3.00 for two and $4.00 for three. If you like what you read in Z*Net, get more information of the same caliber in the ST Magazine disks. Now, we will head into this month's selection of goodies ...... First up, we have three updates this month. First, we have a new version of the Opus spreadsheet program which just wouldn't copy last month. Second, we have an update to the Sozobon libraries disk with new GEM bindings and floating point libraries. And finally, we have a new update to the Calamus demo. This is a full version of Calamus which does everything, but save. This version will print anything that you design, but with a "Demo version" across the page. Print drivers are included for all major printers including Epsons. This will be a free update for those who bought the old demo. This was a hot seller last time as a number of members wanted to try out this new, rather expensive, desktop publishing program before buying. Other programs this months include ... Bolo, the ultimate breakout game from Germany. This game includes 50 screens with a paddle that goes anywhere on the screen, and this game works in both color and monochrome. This is a must game for excellent public domain!!!! Also by the same author, a monochrome lunar lander program where you land with a different prospective from inside the ship. Finally in the games sections, we have a video poker game where you try and win the money
like the machines out in Vegas. Quick ST, the software accelerator. This is the current project of the author of the ST Xformer emulator. This is a software blitter chip similar to Turbo ST, but this program is shareware. He is currently slating a new update for every Friday for the next few months. With two updates down, this program keeps gelling better. System 2 Shell, the new Atari command shell. This is a new shell program from Europe. This program includes probably the best scripting language around for driving different applications. This program also includes online help as well. If you are looking for a new, different shell to work with check this one out!!! Micro Emacs V3.10, the complete Emacs editor. This is it. The new version of the complete, original Emacs. This copy of the editor, originally obtained by MAST's Tom Cook, has been hacked through by MAST's Chuck Purcell until he now thinks that it is usable. Chuck has been working for the last two months to fix bugs and other problems which just didn't work on the ST version. So this month, we will present the results in a two disk double-sided set. This is an update so if you have your old set bring them along for swapping. I also have a special #400 disk waiting in the wings as well for this month or next. This is really something special. Also don't forget this month's ANALOG disk as well. Well, this is a sample of what's in store for this month. As you can see by my comments, I am already using and playing with some of these programs. This Bolo game is really something else!!! Lots more is coming in so stay tuned to the MAST BBS for late updates!!! If you cant make the meeting and would still like to get ahold of the DOM or would like to get ahold of the DOC disk, my new address is 5900 65th Avenue North #204 Brooklyn Park, MN 55429 That's it for June. Please let me know if you are having problems with the disks, that's what I am here for. I do test these programs so if you have problems, either give me a call or leave me a message on the BBS. If you would like to see something, I will do my best to find out what is out there. I hope to see you all at this month's MAST meeting and on the MAST BBS.
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SPACE/ MAST NEWSLETTER
ST. PAUL ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS & MINNESOTA ATARI ST
DISCLAIMER
Published by the St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), and Minnesota Atari ST (MASl) group, an independent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE/MAST exchanges newsletters to reprint material from this newsletter. We do, however, ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE/MAST. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SPACE/MAST, club officers, club members or ATARI Corporation.
SPACE/MAST BULLETIN BOARDS SPACE/MAST East (XE)• BBS Phone: (612)-774-0135 Number will be changing in the near future. SPACE/MAST West (ST)· BBS Phone: (612)-560-9254 Sysop: Steve Pauley (Home Phone: 560-2917)
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~$0\PoAoCo(E President Greg Howell Vice President Dave Cole Secretary Larry Vanden Plas Disk Librarian Joe Danko Paper Librarian Jim Scheib Membership Coordinator Bob Siede SPACE/MAST Treasurer Allan Frink
MoAoSol'
President
I Jim Schulz Vice President 776-8395 · I Dave Meile
636-0381
636-2415
I
777-9500
I
721-4185 489-3982 482-7911
June• 1989
533-4193
823-1276 Secretary 560-2917 Steve Pauley Disk Librarian Jim Schulz 533-4193 Paper Librarian Neil Palosaari 646-1272 Membership Chair Allan Frink 482-7911 SPACE/MAST Newsletter Editor Dave Meile 823-1276
SPACE and MAST are independentuser groups of owners of ATARI Home Computers. It has been organized by local owners of ATARI computers for the purpose of mutual self assistance and sharing of information. II is open to all interested computer enthusiasts. Benefits of memberships in the groups include monthly newsletter mailed to your home, BBS access, software demonstrations, group purchases, public domain disk(s) of the month software at low prices, reference book library, educational software library (8-bit only) with over 20 titles, personal contacts/learning, greater information and awareness on the world of ATARI, software at discounted prices from dealers, question and answer session, etc. Come to a meeting to find out more.
SPACE • &Bit Group The SPACE meetings are devoted primarily to the 8-bit ATARI computers such as the 400, 800, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE and 130XE. There is other ATARI related news and some 16-bit news at the SPACE meetings, as well. The SPACE group meets on the second Friday of each month at the Falcon Heights Community Center, 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue, at 7:30pm. Doors open at about 7 :10pm. MAST• ST Group The MAST meetings are devoted primarily towards the ATARI 520ST, 1040ST & MEGA computers. There will be ATARI related news items covered, but not 8-bit news. The MAST group meets on the third Friday of each month at the Falcon Heights Community Center, 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue, at 7:30pm. Doors open at about 7:10pm. MAST+ - Programming Language User Sig MAST also has a programmer's group meeting. This group has a more technical discussion regarding programming the ST computers in a variety of languages. The group meets on the Monday following the MAST meeting at the First Minnesota bank on Lexington Avenue near Larpenteur Avenue. Meeting time is 7:30, with doors opening at about 7:20pm. The entrance is in the back of the building and leads to a stairway to the second floor. For more information, or to confirm a meeting time and location, call Greg Howell (SPACE) 636-0381 or Jim Schulz (MAST) 533-4193
SPACE/MAST Membership Application
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NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING RATES: 112 page - 5 1/8" vertically x 8" horizontally - $ 15/mo., $140/yr. Full page - 1O 1W vertically X 8" horizontally - $25/mo., $240/yr. Club members classified - 50¢ per 40 characters, $2.50 minimum per ad. Send to : SPACE/MAST, 5900 - 65th Ave No. #204, Brooklyn Park, MN 55429
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Wizard's Work Authorized ATARI Sales and Service 1040 ST™
Desktop Publishing System
System Specials
Mega ST4 with SM124 Monochrome Monitor Megafile 30 Hard Disk Drive
Monochrome System
SLM804 Laser Printer
$799.00
UltraScript PostScript Emulator Timeworks Desktop Publisher
RGB Color System
$3995.00
$999.00
SPACE and MAST members receive 25% off suggested retail on all software Bring in your membership card for discount!
· Wizard's Work County Road 9 &. Highway 169 Plymouth, Minnesota 55441
(612) 559-4690
Monday-Thursday 11:00-7:00 · Friday & Saturday 11:00-5:00