SPACE Newsletter - November 1989

November 1989

Minnesota Atari ST

In This Issue: p.3

Usilg the MAST B8S RAINBOW TO$ addendum ST News

p. 1 p. 1

From the ed~or Treasurer's report News from the Pres. Minutes of the SPACE meeting MIDI nolas MAST Disks of the month

p. 2 p. 2

BATCH FILES • backups under ~ S Chaos Stnbs 8acl( • a "pre-preview"

p. 3 p. 3

p. 5 p. 6 p. 7 p.8

From the EdHor

by David Paschall-rmbel Al members are h's Election Month! At the moment, there are several candidates each lot the podlon of President and Vice Presideri of SPACE. vote! and month this meeting the make to try to encouraged of you who've purchased new We have a good group of artides this month, but we're always on the lookout for more. As always, I encourage those after 10 hours of play? Did you boring game new Iha Is like. didni you what liked, you whal us Tell experiences. your 14) write to software or hardware things 14> as much as you'd sc,eed .wUx modification hardware that Does quill? you stay 14) all night playing it, only to discover that it was 5:30 am when like? Have you written a neat &iility that you'd Uke to shate? Which J)lblic domain software do you a a lot - and how?

Consider this a fOOJm where you can You doni have to have the polish of a magazine writer, and the editing lacillties I've gol include a spelUng checker. problems when they crop up! solw to manage you how and machine own your with encounter you concerns computing the about talk user-to-user

Treasurer's report by Allan Frink Welcome to the new SPACE memb«s:

and also to our renewing SPACE members:

Bob Kronschabel

Anthony Walsh James Johnson Jay Thomas

Anise Wilson Donna Ewald! The mailing list for November can be broken down as: SPACE MAST Both Clubs

and also our renewing MAST member:

41 79

As of November 5, the approximate balances are: SPACE MAST

$115 $190

14 11

About the mailing label found on your newsletter.... Just as when Bob Seide produced the labels containing the date your membership expires, I have added to this the membership in. II you see: • 'SPACE/MAST' then you are listed in both SPACE and MAST. • 'MAST' then you are listed only in MAST.

grol4>(s) which you listed as having

• •SPACE' then you are listed only in SPACE.

If you are fisted in an incorrect g~. please write your name and address on a sheet of paper and correct group(s), meeting) or to myself (MAST meeting) or send it to our post office box.

and give it to Joe Danko (SPACE

on a sheet of paper and give It to Joe If your name or address changes (or is incorrect) please place the old name and address and the correct address box. office post the to Danko (SPACE meeting) or myself (MAST meeting) or send it

SPACE I MAS T • Nove mber 1989

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News from the Pres. ByJim Schulz Well, November is h9t9 and the holday INIOf'I is soon to be ~ us. ThanksoMna and yes, Christmas, are not far ,,,,ay. lots of stuff to talk about again this month. First, an update on some of the issues from last month, then last month, this month, and the future followed by some miscellaneous comments. Firsl up, last month I asked for some volunteers and some of you did come through. And al new laces to boot. We now have someone to review Word Perfect for the newsletter. We also have a volunteer who is trying to get ads for the newsletter from Water Music and Computer Fitness. And finally we have someone to tal<e nominations for the elections this monlh. In addition to an of these, I got one spwe volunteer as wen. Thanks for al of 'fWI help. Whal we need a volunteer the most for right now is to review the club's Video Key from Practical Solutions. Once this is reviewed , we can get their new product, a ccwdless mouse. Wrth the club's mou. in such disrepair, this will be useful to the club both in the short term and the long term. Other issues from last month

AIM magazjna... This is a strange animal... They

we,e promoting ~ like hotcakes and trying to get every user group in the country involved. Something happened. I cani get them to respond to mail. And SPACE's contact with the group has been similar. We will continue to try to find out what is going on. We have one member paid for the AIM sub~ti on with three other people who are interested if we go ahead. They have a good deal here. I just hope thal they don't blow it. I mailed them a message to change the address. As of today, Dave or the PO Box have not recaived this month's supplement. I hope it is in the PO Box when I check later today, but I am not optimistic. Z'Net is working for other groups in the country. I don't really know what their problem is with the SPACE/MAST group. We wil keep trying to get z•Net back into the newsletter.

z.:t:Lm....

1:ii!llwJ.... Hamfest came and went last month

with no MAST or SPACE involvement. SPACE was real interested in it last time, tu when we wanted to join with them this time there was no interest. Also it was a bad weekend tor a number of the officers and other members who had planned to help. Next year, we will plan ahead and see if we can be better prepared for the show. Dave, Allan, and I will be meeting again tomorrow to discuss some more of the issues involved with MAST. We will keep you updated here.... That's it for the update....

Now on lo last month..... Last month, we had yet another interesting meeting. Dave informed me

that he had a wedding to go this Friday and could not attend. So I thought. fine, Allan and I would hold down the fort, tu..... I got a cal from Allan's wife on Tuesday of that week. Alan had an emergency appendicitis atld. In pail, he told his wife to cal me about the room key for Friday's meeting. That's devotionlll

MidiMaz. thro~ MAST. In January, the utilill• wil be there by then, I hope, and we Wl1 try agail. In Februa,y, we have our aMual birthday party with food, door prizes, special pras and more. Dani miss this meeting!!ll More is being planned so keep watching for more details of the months to comelll

W~h the ~ of Chud( Purcel and a lot of calling, we got the key and the meeting was held. In addition to al of this, the pllwl was to demo ST utility programs al the meeting. I sent way tor ~es to all of the UIUitles since most were out of date. To date, I haven1 even Lots of things received them back as going our way. But the meeting did go quite wel with lots of queslions, news and OOMs. John Stanley also brought his Spectre GCR, Macintosh emulator and show this as wel. .AJSt out th~ week!II We also had a lot ot good bargams on software and hardw•e in back as well. Good prelude to this month's swap meet Thanks to all for your patience last month and your help. Thanks also goes to Tom Cook for getting the key for the MAST+ programmers meeting as well.

Also doni forget the MAST+ programmers meeting on the Tueeday following the MAST meeting. We had another good group again last month. Listen to 90me of the best ST programmffl in the country show their ware. If you are into programming, this meeting is for you.

wen.

This month..... This month is going to be packed.... The current agenda inc:tudes...... our yearly elections, a swap meet, a demo of the ST Xformer 8 bit emulator with a disk driw, and a demo of the Migraph hand scaooer by Bruce Larson. Our yea~y elections will be held al the November meeting as stated in the bylaws. Dan Comfort has volunteered to solicit nominalions for president, vice president and treasurer per the bylaws. All current officers are running for another term. II you are interested in running for an office, please see Dan tor more information. We will also have a swap meet al this meeting as well. We haven, had one since June and this is a good time to get a good early Christmas present for your computer or to get some money for Christmas presents for others. Just bring your computer hardware and/or software to meeting and sell away. Please remember only original cq>ies of software are to be sold with original documentalion. Al of this and demos, toollll For more information about why PC Ditto II won, be demoed, check the ST News article. Also two meetings ago, we talked quite a bit about the new Migraph hand scanner and how good it worked. Bruce Larson has volunteered to show us some of his clip art and how the scanner works. In addition to all of this, we will have the normal news and OOMs as well. We will also have some special Christmas music OOMs for the season. Also hear the latest on this month's Comdex show. Atari is slated to show the new TT off quite prominently. More on this al the meeting. One of the best packed meeting of the year. Don1 be left outllll Be there!III Wrth all of that good stuff for this month, whars coming in the Mure????? Well, come December, we have another round of MidiMaze for our annual kiN a happy face. Read elsewhere in this issue for a special price on

Miscellaneous stuff...... Dlaks.... Last month, we went through 400 Sony disks arid I just place anolher order for 400 this week. If all goes well, we should have another motih of good quality dotble-sided disks for sale at $0.80 each. We also have over-the-top labels for sale as well for $2.00 for 100. Dltk drive for tale .... MAST is sellng 0tr two si,gle-sided Atari drives lor $50.00 each. One is currently sold with one stil avaiable. Thate drives •e hwcly used at all. Disks are curr9f1tly copied on my dol.ble-sided driw and the club's dolble-sided drive. If you are interested In a cheap second drive, see Allan or me at the meeting. Book library.... The book library keeps growing..... Daw has donated his collection of ST Informer newspapers and Current Notes magazines. I have al the forms ready to go, b1A last month the magazines were in Aftan's hands. Be ready for them al this month's mee~ng. Anally..... don1 forget about the new MAST BBS and new sysop Tom Cook. Tom has done a great job getting this BBS set 14>. Give ii a call al 4726582. Well, that's it for November. The envelope again speaks this monthll!l Get the new Tutbo STll!II More on this elsewhere... So that's ii for this month. I hope to see you all at the November MAST meeting and al the MAST+ programme(s meeting the following Tuesday.

Minutes of the SPACE Meeting by Lany Vanden Plas

1. The meeting was called to order October 13, 1989 at 7:45 PM by President Greg Howen.

2. The minutes ol the September meeting were read and approved.

3. Jim Scheib, the Paper Li>rarian and Reinker, encouraged members to get their ribbons in as soon as they start to print lighter. Most ri>bons are $1 each and large ones are $2. He reminded members that donations to the library will receive a Disk of the Month for each donation. The library recently received an educational tape of Mickey and his friends. 4. Joe Danko, the Disk lbarian. reported that

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SPACE / MAST • November 198 9 he went to MAST to discuss the Atari Interface Magazine (AIM). AIM continull to change their conditions. Most recently they are offering a double sided disk to participalina user groups. His recommendalion was to holcf off for now. He said a demo of PASCAL is coming. The program looks very good. The demo wil actually allow you to run programs with it. A registration of $15 will bring a 69 page manual. Ken Modean has the best public domain bowling data base that Joe has seen yet. The index will be coming next month and will be a text file.

5. Amos Jackson, the Sysop, reported that the board is acting up. There have been up and down loading problems. Please wait till the BBS is fixed to up or down load. The problem has been traced to the MIO. The modem, software and computer has checked w. AH should be ready to go within a week. 6. Greg Howell, the president, reported that he will offer a demo of AtanWriter 80, •c•, and a 320XE in the side conference room.

.7. Marl< Valavan wants a cross complier that will run on an MOS machine and produce 6502 code. Another member is looking for a 1020 plotter driver to transfer micro painter pictures to the plotter. h was mentioned that the Analog Atari 8-bit Extra has a screen dump program for the 1020 printer. This program can be found in the SPACE library. Radio Shack still has the pens for this printer, but they are no longer listed in the catalog. They can be special ordered. 8. Nominations for SPACE president include Greg Howell and Nathan Block. Nominations for vice-president include Greg Peasley and Dave Cole. Elections will be next month - November. Nominations for treasurer are open. 9. The meeting ended with a demonstration of programs on the Disk of the Month (DOM).

MIDlnotes

by David Paschall-Zimbel Next month I will begin printing a series on "What is MIDI" that I found on GEnie. It is i"I 8 parts, and I'll probably print mu1t.,1e parts each month over the next several newsletters. I will also upload the ARC file onto the MAST BBS sometime before the November meeting, if you're too impatient to wait for it here. The latest issue of Atari Explorer contains the second part of a series they're doing on setting up a home recording studio. I was impressed wtth the first article (in the September-October issue, I believe), and the second looked interesting as well. It might be something you'I want to check out yourseH. There were a handful of MIDI enthusiasts at the meeting on October 24th. I think the general consensus is that there are not enough MIDIoriented users present at these meetings to

couple of members, a new game which is a takeoff of Tetris called Columns, a hypercardlike ~ifity called Notes from Twin Cities-own Tom Tolstead, and ruming demos of Bloodmoney and Xenon II. We wil also have disks of Christmas music from past years and a new There is finally a MIDI-file format "player" demo lor the time of Christmas called Snowman available for the Atari ST. It is called "MIDI Germany. I haven't had a chance to try from the passed I've Music Maker" (MMM.PRG). myself, but it is getting rave reviews. In one this program on to Jin Schulz, who should be al of these, we will also have this to addition end the before e sometim getting it onto a DOM n of ANALOG/ST-l?9. collectio month's of the year. MMM can play song files from a the last news from ST Report and and s program rd Standa g includin , formats of r large numbe STZMAG. Anally, there wiH be a special disk of MIDI File levels Oand 1. The program is TOS 1.4 utilily programs which include a disk shareware, and only plays one song before program, screen saver, and more. II you cache you fee, $10 a For . exiting back to the desktop 1.4, you should have these utilities. TOS own can get the version which plays unlimited songs is There hold. can disk your r - whatever numbe Wei, this is a sample of what's in store for this also a provision to play 3 voices through the retormatted my hard drive so most internal ST speaker. This is definitely something month. I jusl ns are from memory. There is selectio these of · Murel near to look for in the quite a bit of good stuff again this month, but not al sorts of time to write abow it. This month's MAST Disks of the Month selection of disks should be quite good. By Jim Schulz If you can't make the meetingand would stil like Well, it's DOM time again. This month, I will give to get hold of the DOM or would like to get hold you a quick rundown of what's in store for this of the DOC disk, my new address is month. It's been another long night of writing 5900 65th Avenue North l204 and this one always seems to end up last. Brooklyn Park, MN 55429

warrant continuing. HOWEVER, il was also feil

that we should try for a MIDI-oriented presentation at the regular MAST meetings at least once every 3 or 4 months.

Updates for this month include a number of old timers ..... First, we have the last version of ST Writer. This program has been rewritten to work under TOS 1.4 as well as al least 1 sheet of new features or enhancements. If you are looking for a good public domain word processor, this is itl!II Next, the last version of Uniterm. No, Sinon Poole is not wortdng on Uniterm again. I just found a later version than the club's copy on a BBS. This version fixes about 1Obugs and cleans up a number of problems which existed with the last version of Uniterm. This is the premier public domai"I communications program. Next, Sheet 3.0. He didn't want the last version to get out but it did. Sheet now claims to be a data base manager, a basic language interpreter, and finally a graphing program. He has rewritten quite a bit and again it looks goodlll Next, AniST or Aegis Animator. This program popped up on the boards with no docs and little explanation. A new shareware version has popped up on the back of this month's START magazine. For those without START, you get a later version and docs to boot. Check out the first true animation program for the ST. Finally, Nethack 3.0. This was slated to appear last month. But when I looked at the archive, it was nearly zero il size. To get a new copy, I had to call a BBS in San Francisco. And you know what happened there. Well, I do have a new copy and it will appear this month, with a special NETHACK font as well for monochrome users. As always, updates are $2.00 with the original disk. Other programs this month include a new demo

version of the Quick ST accelerator program, a new typing tutor program, a program that will unzip PC zip files, this one was requested by a

Thars ii for November. This is probably the shortest DOM artidl yet. But don't gauge the size of the article with the quality of software this month. This month's stuff is as good as ever. I hope to see you aA at the meeting.

Using the MAST BBS by Tom Cook

This is the first in a series of articles on how to use the new MAST BBS. This first article will cover how to log into the system for the first time and what the configuration parameters for your account are and how to change them. In this article I assume that you have a modem and a communications program and know how to use both of them.

First the settings you win need to know to connect to the system. MAST is a 300, 1200 or 2400 baud 8 data bit no parity system. This is a very standard configuration and if you were a user on the old MAST BBS these settings are the same.

The first thing you have to do is call the system. The number is (612) 472-6582. Once your modem has established a connection wait for two or three seconds and if the MAST BBS banner is not being displayed on your screen press the <Relum> key a few times. After the login banner is displayed you will be given the following instructions. New users just press retum al the login and password prompts enter Y for the 'Enter as a new user' prompt and follow the instructions that

SPACE / MAST • Novembe r 1989 follow. login: Press return at the login prompl and the system will display a password prompt. password: Again press return. The system will then tell you that there was no record found and ask you if you to enter a new user record. Entry not found. Enter as a new user (Y,tN])? The default for Enter as a new user prompt is NO. If you answer N or take the default by pressing <Retum> you wiU be prompted with login: again. II you answer Y the system will them ask you to enter the width of your terminal screen.

statement you wiU be in the STadel help system. Al the end of wvery help screen there are additional topics of related subjects that you may access by pressing the the letter that proceeds them. You may also ed lo the main BBS system by pressing retum. For the remainder of this article I wiU be using the following syntax for what you enter verses what the system displays. E(nter) means Iha you type E and the system will display Enter. Note in the commands that follow the . (period) preceding the command is required. Setting up Your User Configuration Setting your user configuration can be done in two ways; either via the user configuration menu accessed by .E(nter) C(onfiguration)

Terminal width (79):

or via

If you press <Return> at this prompt you will have the default of 79 characters. The reason that 79 has been chosen for a default is that STadel has some problems with word wrapping if the width is set to 80, this problem may be fixed in a future release of the software. You may enter anything between 11 and 255 for your terminal width and STadel will format all messages to frt on your screen.

.E(nter) O(ption) <option selection>

The next prompt is asking if you are an expert STadel user. II you enter Y here your on your own as far as this article is concerned as I am trying to write this for the novice STadel user. You may either take the default by pressing <Retum> or enter N. Expert mode (Y~N)): What the expert mode dose is turn off some of the prompting that STadel does when it is looking for input. You can change this later as you become more comfortable w~h the system. Assuming that you answered no to the expert mode question you will be given some instructions about entering your name and password and not to forget them as you will need them to log into the system in the future. Alter you enter your name and password the system will ask you to verify them to make sure that they were entered correctly. CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE JUST CREATED YOUR ACCOUNT! Next STadel will display the policy message for the MAST BBS. I will not include it here as to save some space but please read it and let me know if you have any questions. Also take note to the information about entering your new user survey data as you will not be given full access to the BBS until it is completed. Alter you have finished reading the Policy

which sets an individual configuration option. The following options are available for setting by either of these commands. A(sk for subjects (Y/[N])?) When you Enter a message, STadel will ask you for the subject of that message. (On replies to previous messages, STadel automatically generates a Re: subject, which you may edit.) C(r/11 ([Y}/N)?) STadel will output CRA.F for newlines. Most terminals and terminal programs require this; the only time you need to tum this off is when you see that all output is being double-spaced. E(xpert (Y/(N))?)

Makes STadel a bit more terse. F(loor mode ([YYN)?) This tells STadel how you want to do room movement. If you are in floor mode, STadel will stay on a floor as long as possible for doing Gotos, and will only show rooms on the current floor for the Known rooms command. In general floors are STaders way of tying related topics (rooms) together.

messages ae left unread for the current read command. A message header can consist of the following parts

Message ID tor the message on this system Message Date the message was created The number of messages remaining lo be read/scanned. Who the message is from including the system name if the message originated on a remote system. The organization of the system that the message originated on. The subject of the message

(Show )l(D's (Y,tN])?) If on, STadel displays the message number in the message header. M(ore (Y/(ND?) II on, STadel will stop at the end of each message and prompt you to continue. If l is off STadel wiU display as many messages as wl fl in the page length that you selected. N(ulls (0)?) II your terminal program loses characters at the beginning of each line, you should set this to some non-zero value; II this is non-zero, STadel will send however many NULL characters (ASCII 0) you want after ii does a newline. O(ld (Y,1N])?) When doing a New or .R(ead) N(ew), display the last old message first, to provide context. P(agelength (24)?) II non-zero, STadel will pause output after however many lines (when you are reading messages or help files) and prompt you More.. .' - This is handy for high speed modems and for people who doni like to lean on (P) all the time. At the More.. .' prompt, quits the reading command, as does S; J jumps to the next paragraph; A restarts the article/ help file, and N jumps to the next article Oust fike the keys you can strike when output is scrolling. If you doni want STadel to stop set this to 0.

(Long )H(eaders (Y/(N))?) Selects either Citadel-format message headers or multiline message headers. Multiline message-headers are the only ones that provide an indication of how many more

(O)R(ganizations ((Y]/N)?) Displays the organization field of messages. This field is only present for networked

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SPAC E / MAST • Nove mber 1989 messages.

because they didn't see any messages.

S(ubjects ((YJ/N)?)

(Read )N(ew)

Displays subject fields on messages.

The (Read )N(ew) command reads all of the

T(ime of messages (M'N)?) Display the date and time of day that the messages were entered.

messages in the current room since the last time you vued thal room. As long as you stay in a room the same messages wil remain new and you can use this command to re-read al of the new messages as many times as you wish.

E(nter Message)

Shows your current user configuration.

This command allows you to enter a message il the current room. Assuming that you have selected the non-expert mode you wiH be given some help text on exactly how to enter a message. When you have finished your message enter <Return> twice and you will be given an edit: prompt and you can save your message by typing S or abort the entry of the message by typing A.

W(idth (79)?) Sets your terminal width. The X configuration Command Don't get confused, this command has two different meanings dependirig on the way you are changirig your configuration. Using the .E(nter) O(ption) usage Sets the default protocol for use with the D(ownload) command. (and in the future when a larger set of file commands are available, -this wil set the default protocol for all of them.) When you select this option, STadet will prompt you for the first character of the transfer protocol that you want - you may select X(modem), Y(modemsingle), W(xmodem), V(anilla), or [return) to deactivate the protocol (If deactivated, it will default to xmodem.) The .E(nter) C(onfiguration) usage Exit the configuration setup and return to the room prompt. By this point you should have an account that you can log into and will display messages the way you want. I want to briefly touch five other commands before I finish for this month so you can actually do something once you have logged into the system. Two of the commands you will be using every time you log into the system, they are G(oto) and (Read )N(ew) G(oto) The goto command will move you to the next room that contains new messages since you last vistted that room. It also will mark the messages in the room your are currently in as old messages, so if you log into the system and type GGGGGGGG you will effectively mark all the messages as old whether you have read them or not. I have seen a lot of first time STadel users do this ~ncludirig mysel0 and confused

improvements to your computer's GEM Desktop operating speed and make your computer easier to use. To make sure you have Rainbow TOS installed in your computer, select the Desktop Info option from the Desk menu. This dialog box

appears. GEM, Graphic Environment Manager TOS

I OK i

;K(nown Floors) This command will display all of the rooms thal you have access to and the floor that they are on. The first time you log on the system this will be quite limited but once your account has been validated there are about 40 rooms available. .G(olo room) <roomname>

This command allows you to enter a specific

room name thal you want to goto. Note that a you don't have to enter the full room name only enough to be unique. Well that wraps it up for this month. Next time I will go into depth on the many different read and enter commands available. If you want more information before then try the on line help files, send mail to either sysop or tacook. or leave a message in the help room. I hope thal you will find this system useful to you and any suggestions that you have I would be happy to hear. tacook

ATARI RAINBOW TOS ADDENDUM The following is the complete text of the documentation'!,rovided by Atari for the new TOS 1.4. Rea this and decide ff il is for you.

.Rm NOTICE: Rainbow TOS must be installed by an authorized Atari dealer. The new Rainbow TOS provides many

file Sel@ctor {formedy barn Sefectotl Two important changes affect this dialog box. One is the the add~ion of the Drive Selector. The other is improved use of wildcard characters. The Drive Selector displays drive identifier letters A through P. Click on a letter to select that drive. Drive identifiers representing uninstalled drives appear in a light typeface and cannot be selected. Use of wildcard charaders allows you to more easily control the Directory window display. Use wildcard characters to replace portions of the last section of a pathname on the Directory Line. For example, if D:\SALES\•.ooc appears on the Directory Line, only files with the .DOC extension will display in the Directory window. To display the entire contents of the subdirectory SALES delete .DOC and replace it with the asterisk wildcard character. Refer to your computer owner's manual for further instructions on using wildcard characters. To display the new directory, press (Return].

Move files With Rainbow TOS you can move a file from one folder or drive to another in addition to copying the file. Firsl, select the file(s) you wish to move. Then hold down [Controq as you dick on and drag the selected file(s) to a new location. Duririg the move process, a Move File(s) dialog box

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SPACE I MAST • November 1989 extension of the files that use that application. (Consult the manual supplied wilh the application tor the most common file extension.) If you install an appric:ation to autoboot, you may leave the Document Type field blank.

and then jumps lo the ROMs. This cold boct clears all reset-proof RAMdisks and other data and variables that are cleared by a cold boot but not a warm boot.

Note: Some applications can open from a desktop data file only if the data file l8Sides in the same folder as the application program files. Check the documentation supplied with the application for more information.

Atari, the Atari logo, Rainbow TOS and TOS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporalion. GEM and GEM Desktop are trademarlcs or registered trademarks of Digttal Research, Inc. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

The option to skip a single file during a group copy procedure becomes available when a file name conflict occurs. A ftle name conflict occurs when a file is copied from one location to another and a copy of the file already exists at the new location. The following three options are presented when a name conflict occurs:

Select boot status: Auto to autoboot 3. an application, or Normal to start an application from the desktop.

Rainbow TOS overwrites the existing

Most programs that run from the desktop have the extension .PRG or .APP. Beth of these extensions indicate a GEM application. However, some applications have the extension .TOS or .TTP. The extension .TOS indicates a TOS application. The extension .TTP indicates a TOS-takes-parameters application.

displays the number of files being IIIOY&d. As each file is moved, the Mai• File(a) cialog box displays the file's name and complele destination (disk or logical drive lelt«·and folder name). When you copy or mO'ie files, Rainbow TOS does not change the date and time stamp of those files. File date and time information wiH only be updated when the file is changed.

Skjp a Singkl file During Group Cgpyjng

Copy file and Skip file.

the copy operation continues. Rainbow TOS does not overwrite the

Select an application type. Your 4. choices are GEM, TOS, and TOS-takesparam~ters.

ST News

C~led by Jim Schulz

This rather infrequent article series is back with the latest ST news tor the month. First, we will look at some of the late breaking news items followed by a couple of us« group deals which have cropped up over the last few .weeks.

First, the news...... Sig Hartmann has retired from Atari effective November 1st. Sig has held a number of jobs with Atari O'ier the last five years, but he leaves as a Vice President of Rainbow TOS does not overwrite the Note: To use a .TTP application, first select the Quit OEM sales. Sig was one of the few people at application, then enter the required parameters file. Ends appears. box dialog the when Atari who listened to the users. He will be the copy operation. missed.... Comdex, the twice a year software finish. to OK Select show, will be over by meeting time. Atari again 5. Abort Group Copy Moye and Dektte has planned to partq,ate. Current plans Ooeratjons To save the ~ication's installation, include 8 TTs with Monlterm monitors... CMI, 6. menu. Options the from Desktop Save select one of the Turbo board accelerator companies, delete and You can abort the copy, move, has gone out of business. A couple of horror operations performed by Rainbow TOS. Press Box Dialog rmat stories of checks being cashed with no product displays, Copy/Fo box Qisk dialog A [Undo). and hold down the and computers in for repair not being returned ending giving you the choice of continuing or are starting to surface....... Antic, one month Rainbow TOS uses a combined dialog box for operation. copy and format operations. This box displays after they said that they were not going . . etther the Format option from select you bimonthly, have announced that the magazine IS when g Formattin Disk f~y ble Compati MS-DOS the File menu, or drag a disk drive icon on top of now binonthly. How long this magazine lasts is anyone's guess? But with very few pages of ads Disks formatted with Rainbow TOS are fully MSanother disk drive icon. and the magazine now only available with disk, le. compatib DOS Select Copy or Format from the Copy and tt shouklni be long. Rumors are also circulating box. Select from the available dialog some of their major advertisers didni make Format that ons Applicati t Auto-Boo options and click on OK. The bar graphs in the out well from the earthquake...... Ftnally, ANALOG is closing its doors. The last issue of lower half of the screen graphically detail the The Install Application option of the Options occurs. that g formattin or the magazine will be the December 1989 issue copying feature I autCHlOO an assign to you allows menu which should be available about the time you An s. program to any GEM based application read this. This story surfaced when calls about Changjng a foklet's Name installed application automalically opens when ns su~tio n problems were answered with the applicatio select can You you boot the system. of name the change can you TOS Rainbow magazine has folded. This occurs one month With with .PRG, .APP, or .TOS extensions. a folder. Click on a folder and select the Show after ANALOG and STLOG have merged. No word has come directly from ANALOG. Only Info option from the File menu. The Folder Follow these instructions to start an application from secondary sources. ANALOG has not Information dialog box displays. You can now from a data file or autoboot an application. type in a new name for that folder. confirmed the rumors, but refuses to reply to forum messages on their Delphi service asking Select a program file (.TOS, .APP, 1. about the rumors. The future of the ANALOG Keyboard Reset .PRG) from a directory window. section of Delphi is also up for grabs. With this from the announcement, this leaves only one 8 bit Atari Select Install Application from the Options menu. You can now reset your computer [Attemate], and [Controq down Hold . magazine(Antic) and five ST magazines(START, keyboard appears, box dialog on The Install Applicati is ion combinat key This [Delete). World, ST Informer, ST Xpress, and press ST then listing the application program file you selected Shareware Connection) in business. With ST exactly the same as pressing the Reset button. from the desktop. Xpress, now in the questionable stage as well. To install the application to run from a Pressing [Controq [Attemate] [Right Shift] 2. One more piece of late breaking news..... PC [Delete] causes a VERY cold boot. tt clears all data file, type the correct data file extension in bottom) the at bytes 64 about (except RAM of the Document Type field. This is the common Continues with the copy operation.

Pye7

SPACE / MAST • Novem ber 1989 Ditto II, which was rumored to be showing up around the ST community is orly appearing among the ST press. In a postcard received today from Avant-Garde Systems, they say that due to delays caused by their board manufadurer, PC Ditto II wl not be shipping in quantity until late November. They say that review copies have been sent to the press to give an impartial option of their product. If based on these reviews you decide to cancel your order, a full refund will be sent. So It looks like another three weeks of WM. Watch for the reviews ..... I have heard of one person so far with one in hand. No opinions expressed yet.... Now some offers ....... First, Turbo ST is offering members of user groups free updates to the ST accelerator program for sending in the serial number of 10 members. Considering that updates are $5.00 each, this is a rather good deal. Soap box time ....... I have been running the new version of Turbo ST V1.6 for about three weeks now and I wouldn't run without It. It works wih all programs tested and I haven't found a problem yet. Although the program is a bit pricy, this is a must buy for all ST owners. I now place this program with UIS II as the only must buy programs for the ST. But what about Quick ST???? Here, I have a few problems. Quick ST is shareware and very well written. But Quick ST is not meant to run wih all ST programs. Turbo ST is. If you find a program which doesn't work with Quick ST, they may or may not support it. Turbo ST will reply with a bug fixed version or a reason why It can't be fixed in a week. The author of Quick ST has also blasted the ST rather heavily over the last few weeks including telling 8 bit owners to buy PCs instead of even looking at the ST. Quick ST has just released a new demo version of V1 .6. But don't run their Quick Index program on It and compare results. They are not true. The demo version is a slowed down version of V1.6. It will cost you $12.00 to get the real version. This is not meant to be a Quick ST bashing editorial. Both Quick ST and Turbo ST have their own fortes. Scheduled for release by yearend is Turbo ST II with full graphics capabillties. This has been demoed at some of the Atari shows to rave reviews. Take a look!!!! There are ways of speeding up your ST without a blitter chip. Second, Hybrid Arts is offering user groups special prices on their MIDI products through the end of November. I have a list of all of the products if you are interested. MAST will place one order after the November programmer's meeting. If you are interested in any of the software, checks must be written to be since a certified check or money order is requested. Since this is not a promotion to kill the dealers in town, I wil only mention one item which is dirt cheap. This is MidiMaze for $10.00. Yes, thars right. I know that I am buying a ~ as wel as MAST at that price. With shipping, the price will

go to $13.00. The other prices aren't all that

good. If you are interested in this group buy, see me at the next MAST meeting or give me a call at home. Finally, a new monthly newsletter called the Shareware Connection is offering a user group deal as well. The Shareware Connection looks al public domain software and reviews it. The normal price for 12 issues is $12.00. The user group deal is $11.00 for 2 to 4 new s~ion s or renewals or $10.00 for 5 or more subscriptions. Although the newsletter might seem new, It has been around for the last 6 months. If you really want to know what public domain software is out there, this is the place to keep up to date. If you are interested, I have two of the issues for your review. Let me know al the meeting if you are interested. Well, thars It for this month's news. Stay tuned for updates at the November MAST meeting. I hope to see you there.....

BATCH FILES by Jim Johnson This column is dedicated to SpartaDOS users. The topics will vary between issues, but the focus will always be on SpartaOOS. This month we will look at two utillties for drive backups. Up front, if your largest disk drive is a floppy, you do not need a disk drive backup utility. On the other hand, many people have enhanced their systems by adding memory for large ramdisks, a Multi 1/0 Board, or even a hard drive. If you have a drive larger than a floppy, a backup utillty might be a welcome addition to your software library. We all know the importance of maintaining good backups, but most of us prefer to ignore our risk. Manually copying files is a tedious job. If you use SpartaOOS there are two excellent utilities, each capable of automating much of the tedium of maintaining recent backups. The two products are "HardBack" from Orion Microsystems, and "FlashBack!" from ICD. HardBack (version 1.0 • $19.95 plus $5 shipping & handling) is a trio of programs. HardBack is the utility to backup your drive; a restore utility returns your files to your drive; and a third utility will analyze your drive and calculate how many single sided, double density disks will be needed for a complete backup. HardBack gives you an option of backing up anywhere between one file and every file in every subdirectory depending on your search criteria. HardBack also has a few more options. You can ask HardBack to format each disk before copying files. HardBack uses an internal version of SpartaOOS 3.2d's XINIT.COM for 5.25 inch 40 track drives; which does not support the high speed mode of the XF551 or

Indus drive. It does support dOlble sided/doli>le density, although al standard 1/0 speeds. To use the XF551 or Indus high speed modes you must pre-format your disks using SpartaOOS X's FORMAT command and run HardBack under SpartaOOS X. All eight inch or 80 track disks must also be pre-formatted. A 1050 with ICD's US Doubler is recommended, as HardBack wiH fuly utilize the capabilities of this drive. You may also specify a date, and HardBack will examine the directory date of each file matching your search crieria. Only files equal to or newer than your date will be backed up. To reduce the number of disks needed for the backup, you can optionally have HardBack ccmpletely fiU disks. If a fie wil not fit on a disk in Its entirety, it wiH be broken into two parts with the remainder of the file on the next disk. HardBack keeps track of the disk sequence and any files spit across disks. A final option is the genera&iori of a catalog of each file backed up and the disk number where the file is stored. As HardBack backs up each file, the backup copy acquires the current system dale and time. The idea is you can tel when a backup has been done by the file date on the copy. The drive restore utility can either do a complete drive restoration, or you can specify specific files using wildcards. Files split across disks are automatically rejoined when using restore. Since files are not modified when they are placed on the backup disks, It is also possible to simply copy them. Hthe last file is split across two disks, it can be rejoined using a copy with append. HardBack runs flawlessly under SpartaDOS 32d, but I bumped into a problem when using SpartaOOS X. On my 320XE system when I used an OSRAM configuration, HardBack reported that my MEMLO was too high. HardBack requires a MEMLO less than $2000, which l certainly is on my system when using OSRAM; but none the less HardBack required SpartaDOS X to be configured to use a banked environment to run. FlashBackl (version 2.3 • $29.95 no shipping & handling if order is pre-paid) runs much the same as HardBack. It is also menu driven, can backup anywhere from one file to an entire drive, and can find files by date. However, if you are using SpartaDOS X, FlashBack! can also use the archive file attri>ute to back up files that are new or revised since the last backup. When SpartaOOS is used to copy Sparta files from other disks, the original time and date stamp is retained. Lets say that the date on these copied files is older than your last backup. By setting the archive attribute on

Pyes these files, FlashBackl can stiff find them and back them up as files new to the drive. Sparta0OS X users should note thal AashBackl will not find files with the hidden file attrl>ute set Therefore these files will not be backed up unless you remove the hidden file attribute before running FlashBack!. FlashBack! can also format disks during the backup. If you are using SpartaOOS 3.2d, XINIT.COM 5.25 inch 40 track disk format types are supported; if you are using SpartaOOS X, the high speed modes for the XF551 and Indus drives are also supported. As with HardBack, eight inch or 80 track disks must be preformatted. FlashBack! automatically creates a subdirectory on the source drive called "FLASHBK" and a file called "FLASHBK.CAT". This file contains a complete catalog of the last backup. Unlike HardBack, when FlashBack! copies files lo the backup disks, the original time and dale stamp are retained. This is my preference as I often use the time and date stamp to distinguish between two identically named files in different subdirectories. FlashBack! can split files across disks in a fashion identical to that used by HardBack. You can also use copy and copy with append to restore files from backups. However, FlashBack! and HardBack use different methods of keeping track of disk sequence and which file is split. Therefore the restore utilities for the two packages are not compatible with each other's backup disks. FlashBack! will work with a Sparta0OS X internal ramdisk identified as D9:; and is a fast way of saving and restoring the contents of this ramdisk from session to session. HardBack will only allow the use of drives 1-8. In conclusion, if you own SpartaOOS X, I would recommend using FlashBack!. If you only use disk based SpartaOOS, its a toss up. Both do their jobs very well. The deciding points are the five dollar price difference, whether you want to retain the original time/date stamps or prefer the current time/date on your backups, and how valuable the utiltty to pre-calculate the number of disks needed is to you. Vendor addresses: Orion Microsystems 2211 Planter's Drive Midlothian, VA 23113 ICD, Inc. 1220 Rock Street Rockford, IL 61101-1437

DECEMBER Newsletter articles are due 28 November!

SPACE/ MAST• November 1989 Chaos Strike Back Coming Soon....... By Paul Close

The following was posted first to USENET and then some of the commen:ial 885s. ll gives . more details on what FTL has been i., to in the last few months. Read and you be the judge. As I am writing this, it is a ~ clays before it is to be released, and I have heard nothing other than this about it. Again you be the judge. .Jm

wHI mention the animated •cartoon• sequence you can optionally view.

• Some realy mean situations. Russ normally gets blown nay in about sixty seconds! You enter the dungeon "naked and with your pants down" as Russ says :-) (How can you have pants if you're naked?:-) He says the monsters are *mean*! When you open the door, you'd better be ready! Some neat points, ideas, etc.: • The copy protection on Dungeon Master has been patented! They are ihinking" about

I just got back from the local S.D.A.C.E meeting where our featured guest was Russ Boelhauf (marketing whiz) from FTL. He had many interesting things to say about Chaos Strikes Back (the official title of the long-awai1ed •sequel" to Dungeon Master.) This is a standalone game. Despite what the box says, ii does not require Dungeon Master at an. This decision was reached after the artwork went out for the box.

having some means of individually registering a copy and at the same time, removing the copy protection. The idea is that if they see pirated

• There are around 13 NEW MONSTERS! The playtesters were unanimous: more monsterslll So they had to move away from the •expansion set· approach they had been following, and move to a stand-alone game.

• He le• that he experienced less piracy on the ST than any other machine. Gillman Louie take note!

• No news on spels. No one asked, and he didn1 volunteer. Sorry! • Shipping between November 6 and November 15!!! (Yes, that's this year:-) Suggested retail $39.95. Just like OM.

copies, they wiN know where ii came from.

• Other ideas for other games from FTL include a sci-Ii adventure, a Stephen King style horror, and a haunted house, al first personstyle adventures a la OM. 0on, hold your breath! These are just "ideas"!

• 2/3 of the total sales of OM were in Europe, which he considers to be a much more "boom and bust" market. Most of the european sales were in a very short period of time immediately after announcement. Note: Russ gave us permission to post whatever he said on GEnie, etc.

• Chaos is not a sequential games as was OM. You can apparently wander around and solve the various "predicaments• piece by piece. So you can concentrate on one part of the dungeon and then go back later and work on another part.

Thanks to FTL for giving us the info we've been wailing for! Thanks to our club newsletter editor for the coup!

Some of the goodies in Chaos Strikes Back are:

For sale: a single-sided external disk drive with power unit and cables. $50. Contact Allan Frink at the MAST meeting.

• A character editor. Now you can draw or edit your characters just the way you like! Included are artistic renditions of the way your favorite characters would look after years of adventuring. (Russ' favorite addition was a pair of sunglasses to protect from that fireball glare :-) You can save your artwork, and trade with your friends! • You can use old characters off of a Dungeon Master save disk, or build a new party out of characters they provide. You should have made ii through at least haH of Dungeon Master for your characters to survive more than 30 seconds :-) They will enter the world naked! (No firestaff or armor:-) • A hint "oracle". You insert your saved disk, and get contextsensitive h~. That way there are no "spoilers". For completeness, I

SPACE / MAST classifieds

Disk catalogs of all MAST OOMs are available at the MAST meeting! Or, send $3.00 to Jim Schulz 5900 651h Avenue North #204 Brooklyn Park, MN 55429 MAST OOMs are available at each meeting. Older disks may be preordered at the meeting or you may contact Jim directly. Newsletter articles may be slbmitted on eilher the SPACE or MAST BBS. They may also be submitted on Atari ST-tormatted disks. For more information, contact David Paschal-Zimbel at 823-1276.

•

SPACE/ MAST NEWSLETTER DISCLAIMER

Published by the St. Paul ATARI Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), and Minnesota Atari ST (MAST) 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)-784-9667 Sysop: Amos Jackson & Carl Towberman. SPACE/MAST West (ST)• BBS Phone: (612)-472-6582

Sysop: Tom Cook

ms 0 PofA\0CoE m MoJA\oSo"f 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

776-8395 636-2415 777-9500 721-4185 489-3982 482-7911

President 533-4193 Jim Schulz Vice President 823-1276 Dave Paschall-Zimbel Secretary 560-2917 Steve Pauley Disk Librarian 533-4193 Jim Schulz Paper Librarian 646-1272 Neil Palosaari Membership Chair 482-7911 Allan Frink SPACE/MAST Newsletter Editor 823-1276 Dave Paschall-Zimbel

November • 1989 ST. PAUL ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS & MINNESOTA ATARI ST SPACE and MAST are independent user groups of owners of ATARI Home Computen. It has been organized by local owners of ATARI compularl for the purpose of mutual l8lf assistance and sharing of infonnation. It is open 10 al inle1'811ed compuler enthusiasts. Benefits of memberships in the groups include monthly newsletler mailed to your home, BBS acx:ess, software demonslrations, group purchases, public domain disk(s) of the month software at low prices, reference book fibrary. eciJcational software library (8-bit only) wifl OY81' 20 litles, personal oontactsneaming, grealer information and awareness on the world of ATARI, software at di100unled prices from dealers, question and answer session, etc. Come to a meeting 10 find out more. SPACE• 8Blt Group The SPACE meetings are devoled primarily 10 the 8-bit ATARI computers such as the 400,800, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE and 130XE. There is other ATARI relaled news and some 16-bit news at the SPACE meetings, as well. The SPACE group meets on the l800f'ld Friday of each month at the Falcon Heights Community Cenler, 20n West larpenleur Avenue, at 7:30pm. Doors open at about 7:10pm. IIAST - ST Group The MAST meetings are dewlled primarily towards the ATARI 520ST, 1040ST & MEGA compulers. There wil be ATARI related news items oovered, but not 8-bit news. The MAST group meets on the third Friday of each month at the Falcon Heights Community Cenler, 2077 West larpenleUr Awnue, at 7:30pm. Doors open at about 7:10pm. IIAST+ • Programming Language User Sig MAST also has a programmer's group meeting. This group has a more technical discussion regarding programming the ST oomputers in a variety of languages. The group meets on the Monday following lhe MAST meeting at the First Minnesota bank on Lexington Avenue near Larpenteur Awnue. Meeting lime is 7:30, with doors opening at about 7:20pm. The entrance is in the back of the building and leads to a stairway 10 lhe second floor. For more information, or to oonfirm a meeting lime and location, call Greg Howell (SPACE) or Jim Schulz (MAST) 533-4193

SPACE/MAST Membership Application

-------------------------Name_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Date _ _ _ _ _ __

Address,____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ City_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.State_ _ _Zip_ _ _ _ __ Phone:.,___ _ _ _ _Equipment/System Used_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Area of Interest: Check one: SPACE_ _ MAST_ _

NEWSLETTER ADVERTISING RATES: 1/2 page• 5 1/8· vertically x 8· horizontally•$ 15/mo., $140/yr. Full page - 10 114• vertically X 8• horizontally - $25/mo., $240/yr. Club members classified - 50¢ per 40 characters, $2.50 minimum per ad. Send to: SPACE/MAST, P.O. Box 12016, New Brighton, MN 55112

Renewal?_ _ Address Change?__ Membership Card Given?_ _ Dues: $15.00 per year• Please enclose with Application. Mail to: SPACE/MAST, P.O. Box 12016, New Brighton, MN 55112

SPA CE/ MAS T News lette r Novem ber 1989 SPACE meeting s:

10 Novemb er 1989 - ELECT IONS 8 Decem ber 1989 MAST meetin gs:

17 Novem ber 1989 - ELECT IONS, Swap meet 15 Decem ber 1989 - MIDIM aze At the Falcon Heights Commu nity Center, 2077 larpent eur Avenue West -

MAST+ Progra mmers meetin g:

21 Novem ber 1989 At First Minnes ota Bank Buildin g - second floor, Lexingt on and larpent eur, in back of buildin g

S•P•A•C •E / M•A•S• T P.O. BOX 12016 New Brighto n, MN 55112