SPACE Newsletter - October 1991

October 1991

NE1VZ FROltl THE PREZ OCTOBER 1991 Mo.ny things hat,1e tcilr.en p I ace ♦.his :s,..-.er· f,::,r

Greetings members!

the c h..1b and man':! more th i ngs are yet to come .

Ne:;.,: l

111:iri lh

ore

e I @ct ions and th@n Oecemb@r is upon us and Chr i s tmcis: f ~ li vo I~ wi 11 IJe WILL be planning the Christmas ·meetir1g in Oclober, so if you u.1ou Id I i ke

to contribute ideas, p I ease come .

A ver1,,1 interesting s i tua t ion has come l-lP . software business

I om in cont.oc-t 111ith

titles he wi 11 sel I to us rather cheaply.

r.i

SPACE has the oppor h.•1 i t.•J t.o ;;,et in t.o the soft.111orP distributor· t.h ol hos 7 different ATARI

ATARI sc,ftlllT@ is herder cn:1 hirder to find a·1d

SPACE might want to get in on this unique oppodt-1ni ly.

Dislr·ibulor-s usi.nl l•,1 only set I lo

or-gariizations with an official store front, so I wctS qui le supriseJ when I was lold his company would sei I 1.1s the software . Going along 1111th that_.

Iast month

111 1 th

We wi 11 be discussing this at the next ~ting.

I also hove some more 1nter·estir"1

som~ ATARI @qui pmemt. h@ ruant@d

!T1@

~@I I

ne"'s.

•o□RSETT

EDUCATIOt~ S'1 STEMS. ;:;ind it :::onsi::::ts of

th@ , t@lr.E

a,e

h@ ,pJ@ ~

Th-= i:•x-l--.-:1-::Fi ~ c.-o I I -ed

me1Zler· c.·ortr·idt~ and t1AtlV eo.JC:ali,:,nal

tapes comp I 1: te wi th book I .a ts and study i ng gu i des . he sc11 d i t cost h i m $1600 .

gentlE!lhOn c:or,t.octed

flirli:,ng a I I

was a 1.• er,::1 rare !;lduco t i ona ! package i r1 i ts comp I e ~e en t_ i r~ •-•:11

I la Iked lo the perr..:...-, who owned i l arid

Obvious 11:j the vo I ue hos Jr ·upped ~-(a.It ka I I y, t:,u t at lhe ~

tim@ , a complete @ducat ion packaqe I ik@ triis cou id

of .;,·"@Ot volut! to Olfi club .

be br ing i nQ the pc:1ckaQe to the meet ing and hope t lie c Iub Price cor1 be di se:tJssed or,d browJht -to o formQ I t,•o+e

"1 I I conseri l

I 1.1i Ii

f_,::, p,Jtv-..hos, ng i ♦-.

I persnnll I I 1J t.h i rik t.he

~ I ,.it-, r,:m

NEUEA hat)Q too many sofh1ore titles ~md hopefully coo od,j t.his t.c- •.he I jt,r,y-1,1.

ATARI Corporcit ion i:; p I cinn i ng

and 24th in Chicago.

'..'ery I Clrge wcireh~e ~e I I ,:,yt f.t:• t.Ql--,e p Io,;;,;; tlov~111t°'i:r nt··•:1

The event is tei be entitled the "Chic.ago Collipul@rfli!Sl" and

0pporently ATARI wi 11 be closing

out CII I

its ATARI 8-BIT

sl0t..---k.

ft·, oddr-ess lo gef.

more information is the fo I I 0111 i ng :

Chicggo Comp1,1terfest by ATARI C/0 LCACE P.O. Box 8788 Waukegan, IL 00079-8788 Phone : {708) 566-0682 That is 0bout CII I for this month.

I hope YOLJ, the aeaber, •i I I lllake o special effort lo

be with 1,15 for the lci5t remci1n1ng meeting5 ot tne ~ . Tllie\l ~,11 on@s .

'i'ou

tU i II

want to mak@ it to the Octob@r m@@t ing

DISK from me, just for coming, no strings aHoched .

be the~\ IIJPQ"\(l'l\

@l.l@NJOl'l@ t11i II g@t.

<30, pl-eos:e

CQlle

o FREE

•.o the Odol:-er

meeting. See you there!

BE tS[TRE TO ATTE1'lD THE 1,rE"'\'T AlEETING OCTCJBER 11 t.l1

Miautes of tbe SPICE Meetiag: Septeape..- I 3t•, 1991 The 111ee t i rig 90S ca I Ieel to or-der· by President t'.athan Blo...."k at 7:34 P . !1. off i cers and vo Iur,teer-s of the club IIE!f'e

Tt~

intr-ocluced. President Nathan Bloc!-. then asked for the Sys.op Larry Ser·flater, to repor·t ori

the BBS .

The BBS went on Thursday IIKIN"1 i ng and the hard disk .as not responding. Thursday evening the BBS seeaed to be 90t"k i ng .: reco■1 enda t i on is refON10t and reload the har-d dr·i..,e. Larry also asked for approval by the clt.4:> to purchase the fol lOQ!ing sofllPCll'e for cblr-1

the BBS:

Chess@ $15, Gadgets@ $15, Topic-of-the-Day f $15 (or Gadgets/Topic-of-the-Oay for $'25)_, Networking Softaiore t?' $10, and BBS Express upgrade@ $20. R vote .as taken and al I softutGre 110S approved for purchase by the c Iub for the BBS. Larry also r-elated that he has a ·nap of the Atar·i 400/80Cr I isting ova i I ab I e to any user11ho •ants i t . President Nathan Block then coapleaetecl the officer·s and •JOlunteer-$ on their· good 90f'k; the treasury has over $1000 in i t . P.oger- '1-!Jersugges led tho t he I p lex t be added to the BBS as wel I as so■e scr·eens/pictures to guide ~ ; Syc-_.op Larf'\I Serflaten and fioger· ~ •i 11 Qet together· on this. 'J l c.--e-Pres i dent Ket:1 Hodeer, rea mdecl U-ie •e•bersh Ip toot elect ions si 11 be in liove111ber· for officers . ftl I offices ar-e ava1 lable for no11ir,ations d'iich 11i 11 begin at the October aeet mg. F' I ease cor.s i der runn i nQ for· a position. President Nathan Block then asked if ariu llellber is looking for software. Alios said he is looking for a HIOI interface for the Atari; also, Sl~BiT - a page printing prog,-aa llhich used to be in old

'Ji ce Pt i!S i dent Ken t1odeel, soi d he • i I I research the o Id B8S libr-Clry to deteraine if SltEPF:IHT is

buuk awl lat.le for $25 urid Fl lgt.t Si11,ulotor 11 and o Scenet--tJ Oisl<. Set for ~"O; cal; '::425510 if ir.t~-·eEt~. Disk I ibrorian Joe Danko reported thot tt.is 11aontt1·s 0.0.M. contains a fun game cal led StD,IFIGH and other inter·esting softa.ar·e. Plea.;e pur-c:ha..~ a O.O. t1. arid help :support your club. Lance fN>III Video 61 r-~t0t· ted that he t!Cl5 ·uar Gaile Construction Set'" fr-Olll SSI avai !able for pure:t,ase. Mar·k Ual levand said tie is looking for Atari 1050 disk drives to pi.r·cha..=-e; Joe Danko said he i s II i I I i rig to sel I his drive . Mike Sch111idt reeindecl the IIE!tllber·s tt11.,t the Ha.Fest on 0c. tot.er

12th is after the next aeeting . It is held at the Herir,epin Technic:01 College in Brooklyn PQrl(.. Mike Schaidt and Mike iJe i .ss have 11,annecl the SPACE tab I e in the past; other volunteer-s ore needed as eel I as anyone wt.o ti<E :S011eth i ng to se I I . Mike SJ:lid bring t1nlJ ite111s to sell to the nex t 1r1eet i rig and ti€: wi 11 11arket ttietri at the HalllFest fot' 'l()I.L _- , . ,·... ~\ A cot16l ttee is being foriled ., : "t \after. the 111eet i~ to star't p I anr1 mg the a-.- 1 s t111as Par·ty • )' . · :::::::::::::1 eeet ino; tall<. to President Nathan 1 t+J ~-.. Block ~fter· the 111eetirig if a interested in heloino out . ~"-,•••'~ • 1~Presiderit Natt.an Bl~k related toot he r-eceit.ied a "B10· SllPf:ISE ¢ •. 1 • this week. Eigt.t 111oni tors were r-ece i ved and are ova i I ab I e for $.;,'"'5 i:ao:l"i; anyone who has not yet purchased one of these 1110ni tors can oet ur,e th i.; even i rig. The e: I ub voted to -.;ave or~ as a door pr-ize at. the Chr1st1110s Par·ty . Sever, 11eaber-s wanted 1110r.i tor·s so al I wer-e sold . The aeeting 111'.lS ad_iourned at 8 : 29 Pf1 by Pr·esident Natt.an Block . End of the ainutes for the Septetllber t:Jtt-., 1991 Sf'fiCE .ea-ti r~. Respectfully subftii ttecl bu Pat Krenn . Secretar·y. ·

•\. :ft;"

t\J1

4•;~---~~/

, ~t1/a /

.• 1: •

SPACE BBS I i branJ.

available.

Nathan related that he used

to ha'Je a t1101 inter·face, but has siriee sold it . 8&C Coaputerv,sions has a new one for $187 . Mar·k Uol levarid shared a I ist of soft.are proposed by Data Queue . A lflellber said that he tied an Assesb I erEdi tor car·tridge and kt'las:ir•ing the Atari·

IE $UBE Tl

llTENI TIIE NEil

SF'ACE St. Paul Atari Cor.puter Ent husiasts Disk Library News for Septeijber 1 1991 Joe Danko and Sien kirscnenmann - Librarians by Joe Danko

ALFBACK.CON, ALFREST,COM, ALFBACK.DOC This is the SPARTADOS hard disk backup/restore progra~ I have been using !not enough) Ki th the library. It works reasonably well but lac ks sophi stication. It will do conti nuous backups where you just keep feeding disks into the floppy drive until data is al l copied along with an index of directories and filena11es, The restore progra1 works only if the index is readab le.

There have been 1ore hard disk adventures for the software library and lucky librarian (tel . Along with the speed and convenience of a hard drive cotes the responsibil ity of keeping the precious data organized and, eost of al l, secure. I have done well with the organization and failed tiserably with the security. Nhil e checking out a cranky disk fret Georgia, it see1s that so1e wild code went out and partially for1atted •Yhard drive. Of course, it required several weeks of diagnosis and general horsing around to discover this fact. I thought I had a hardware proble1, Than ks to the patience of Nike Schei dt, hardware was eli1inated and Rich Nier 's advice was absolutely correct. It see1s that Atari . hard drive controllers are vulnerable to out of control programs and there is a shortage o; data recovery software sophisticated enough to recc,ver fro• this sort of thing. Thus I was forced to low level foriat and lose all 1y data with •Y latest backup disks dated soieti me in Harch. Needless to say I lost all 11y Septe11ber DOM ■aterial. The SPACE Index progra1 and the Hath and Stati stics re-issue will have to wait . Also, ■y old hard dri ve prcbl ei of slow seeks has returnea ! The whol e episode has been educati onal. It looks like I need to disable or write-protect the hard ~rive when testi ng unkno~n sof tNare. The other poss1bility1 al though re1ote,is the unknown disk froe Georgia may contain a virus, Viruses are so rare on the Atari B-bit that no soft ware exists to chec k for infections.

RD.CON, RDF.CON, RD.DOC: This is tan i1proved PSI ra1disk driver for use Nith SPARTADOS and XL/XE syst e1s with expanded 1e1ory. This driver has enhanced capability to partition the expanded ram for dual use as rudi sks and extended prograe space and t he formatting eaulates a true disk drive, BOBll.SX, BOB12,SX, EXPR5850.SX 1 SX212HND.COH/DOC, READ.HE Acoll ect ion of NODEn handlers for use wi th various ter1inal progra~s and the SX212 300/120~ baud •~de~. !which is stiii for sale at DANARK for f 20J , TKFREEZE.DDC A textfile describing the latest version of "the FREEZER". Thi s is a switch and acco1panying logic to all ow an ATARI XL/lE syste1 with a ra~disk to be reboot ed while retaining the contents of the 1e1ory chips. SIDE 2 Tn1s side is dedicated to soie rece6t add it1~ns tD the large l ibrary of ut1l1 ties ano 1acros for use with TEXTPRD ver sion 4,5x, Thus tne reminder about the TEXTPfiD versi on 4.56f that is available,

SPACE Library software for Se~telber, 1991: DRAW7XE •requires BASIC and 128K 1er1cry1 This is a compl ete 2-sided disk Kith a Hade 7 graphics drawi ngiediting appli cat ion. The prograR files are booted on Side 1 Nith Basic enabled and requires a joystick and a 13CXE or other XE/XL syst e~ Nith at least 128K bytes of ~e,ory. Side 2 contains co1plete docu1ent ation that is displayed or printed by _the prograa. TEXTPRO version 4.5bf : Absolutely the 1ost powerful and flexible text/word processor available for the Atari 8-bit

------------------Sate Revi ew: by Rich Ni er

Al ternat e Reality, The City Sraphics--------8 Playability-----b

s-yste■.

This a re1inder that the library has this final version of TEXTPRO available which is capable of the following features: 1, XL/XE systems with 128Kor 1ore 1e1ory have three 15K byte text buffers. 2. Text fonts can be reloaded on the fly. 3. Anew 1acro systea with increased capabilities. 4, Other additional features, Septe1ber, 1991 Disk of the Nonth

Sound /Music----10 Overall---------9

Alternate Reality, is the first in a would have been series of games that had an unf ortunate end Nith the second part, the Dungeon. HoKever, what Datasoft could pul l out of your "little" B-Bit will 1ake you Nant to play on, just to see if you have ■et up Nith all the ene1i es, or heard al 1 the ■usic ! Even if you don 't like RP6 ' s 1 I suggest this game. The Ga■e, The ga1e start s with a beaut iful Intro that tel ls tne story better than any instruction book could, You have been captured by beings tram an alien world, who have taken you to their planet. On this pl~net t he beings have you and a plethora of other beings that can only be discribed as "Things•. Thieves , Robbers, Gladiators, lips, Gre1lins, and thats not even the tip of the iceberg ! (cont ' d next page)

SIDE 1 SNOWFIGH. OBJ SNOWF!6HT is a very interesting game t hat is supposed to be a re-issue, but I have never seen it before, I al1ost rejected it because I could not get it to play but tne operation rules were finally discovered al1ost by accident . It is a two-player only joystick gace. See the SNOWFISH.DOC for help in operating the game.

In all the encounters you have, you can do many things. There are three different tenus, depending on if you have surprised the1 1 both seen each other, or are disengaged. Each has it ' s oHn unique options plus choices that all share, The object of the gar,e is rather si1ple 1 survive. This 11i 11 be hard enough, But should you be fortunate enough to survive a night and a day, keep on, the reward is seeing you charicter build levels, and get better 11eapons. (cont'd next pagei

Here is this aonths installment of Wcrdsearch. lhis tonth it is Coiuputers. Title: COl1PUTER5

T F VK I BT DF J ~ US E VXl DQ I L YVR L R E RODO11 MOC J I DY T UUAN6 J S E F HP T NS DL GZ L R U T KYS UP NE J HAQ AP MOC I D ARN I KZ P YYCP S L S DT L AVE R 6 XE AS C AD11 B I Q VRRF RE L N AG11 F Z S C I NNT CR 5 I DOF P UAUYR R E P S S ANHR11 C B OT P S YC P R 6 U I B P KT YL I L I L Z A 6 UKI 6 GZ P XAS F WOL BB W5 R W 11 NO NE R XJ AT Z VE E DAUOZ L Z O I KT T P C C B Q B B 11 XUAVA

Overall, l recomend this gaae highly, it has a "real ti1e•

ele1ent that is usually foregn to Role Playing Ga1es, The first ti1e you see the sunset it will probably take you by surprise, because, li ke the rest of this ga1e, it 1s une~pected.

f S-C I

Hints'' ll When the nu;bers are rolling for yor Charicter, watch for Intelligence, this will be the best you can get, because a Trick kills anything without a second chance lif you hit the!!)!

21 Start out ssall, trick only stall things, run froi

the rest.

Q O Y iii X D D R K \' T Y B V R

Z KP F P HB 5 R E R l A6 P F N[ NB AC E T YVF GHADE T OT S HAu R UNI S YS P T KJ E MS YC AQ HP I NVF KT AVC F 6 B L DNH6 DF KQ S KHARS AS R6 J WL AP I T L S I R YDQ XP P S GWYT DS ZH 1 CH6 T GU I WO I KR VQ MS l ! Ag MC F PAO:ARDBELL

COMMODORE

l!ACINTOSH

COMPAg

SPERRY

GOLDSTAF: AlARJ

SANYO

TAND'r

IBM

AHlGA

UNISYS EPSON

3l So1e people tell you to save al ot, I would have to disagree, saving in this ga~e is for ~hen yDu quit only, Dne

ALTOS

APPLE

of the bad parts about this game 1s, if you die, you 're deaG . !Unless you have a certain ~rograi that is ')

Here is the solution to the Septe1ber ~ordsearch:

best weapon, is the Magical Flatesword, ine bes~ ar1or is the Crystal Plate. The best shield is a Magical Tower St,ield. 4)

The

Title: Cities

L UAP T N l AS - - - - - - - - A- - - - - - S I L OP AE NNI MR - - - - - - - - - - H- - E - - E - D- -

- - - - - - - RGT K- - - L - E - N - - - - - - A - - NA U- - - AN0

5) Try not to 1i x potions, they can havi hazardous or fat~! eff2cts, (A ?Gticn of Trtc~ure Finding iixed ~ith anything will create a DEADLI Poison 1 i Have fun!!

R- - - - M- - S L I - L - - DHT ! - - - l - AR DWUR - I - G

C - - L - KA- - I - DDE - L - N HI - 0 - E - Y- - P - E - DL - I F II - NB - E - - - - AR US - M I - AE - S - - - - - - R - A- - - 0

If you have a game you want reviewed I l ea-ve te Nail on SPACE, as Roger Hier, 6reyhawk, or lrlarp 10 as f'HLOD, or call 1e at 63b-9b25, I 'll see what I can do.

E - - T - 11 - - - - - - - - N L - - - 0 L - I - A - - - E L L I V E S OR - - L DHR- - - - - - - - - - - - 0 - - & N - - - - - S T I L L II AT E R - C - -

WHITE BEAR LAKE LAUDERDALE RJCHF !ELD DULUTH

NINNEAPOLIS ARDEN HILLS ROSEVILLE RAIISEY

BLOOMINGTON STILLWATER REDWINS AtlOKA

COON RAPIDS SAINT PAUL WILLMAF:

NEXT MEETING

NEXT MEETIN

ATARI BLOWOU

Ra an Block ree Disk Jl-,s1,1 For Comin)t ! ~-J,!R:

J,-"

Disk Drives:

Computers:

ATARI 810 (Stock) 1050 (U.S. Doubled!)

ATARI 800 (48K} ATARI 130XE (320K) ATARI B00XL

ATARI XF-551

Neat Stuff: -

l MEG MIO

Light Pen 1020 Plotter XEB!C 1410A Hard Disk Controller ATARI XMM801 Dot-Matrix Printer

SpartalJos X (Cartridge) Basic XE Mac 65 and Tool.kit

Software: PaperClip (V 2.1) SynCalc

Synfile

SX Express!

XE Magic

XLent MegaFiler .

:rvfagazi1-ies and Books, too!

DISCLAIMER Pru1dtnt t Vic1•Pr11id1nt t Stcrthry t lisk li.tltill I P1ptr Li•r1ri11 1 R11•1r1,ip Ch1itllft I SPACE/ftlST Tr111,r1r I SPACE •••slttttr [Cit1r

li1th1n llock

922-8012 ,2,;1290

lift IIOdllft I

631-3136

ht krtnn I Ju Duk, I Jil Schie• I Gita kit1c•1n11a1 1 Allin Frhk 1 Ric•atl Sc•1idt I

777-9500 721-4185 786·•790 ,29-009 757·Cl92

t••

•r

,,.li1•1c t•• Saint Paul At1ri Co1,ut1r (1thu1ia1t1 (SPACE), an iadtptndtnt trganizatitn •Ith no •u111111 1ffili1tion •ith ATARI Corporation, Ptr1i1sion is tr1nt1d to 11y 1i1il1r 1r111iz1ti11 •ith ••ich SPACE 11cb11gts 1111l1tt1r1 t, rtpriat 11ttri1l fr11 this 111sl1tt,r, Wt Co •••tvtr 11k t•1t cttCit ·• tivtn t1 tht 1utbot1 114 tt SPACE, Opi1i1n1 txpttlltd ltt t•11t tf t•t 11thor1 11C Ct 11t n1c1111rily rtfltct t•• vi111 of SPACE, t•• clu• officers, cl•• ttlbttl tr ATARI Ctrp1r1tion,

S.i1t P11l Atari Co1puttr (1t•11i11t1 (SPAC() 111t1 11 11c11C triC1y tf 11ch 1onth 1t 7130 pl ii tht Falctft Ntitht1 C1uu1ity c,attr 1t 2077 w,,t l1rp1nt1ur Avt, Doors 1p11 1t 1100 , •• Clmhnd Avt, N

GrBBS

Falcon Httghh Cu11un1 iy Ctntfr 2077 W, Larptnttur Avt,

Ii _;_' . i

• I

Avt, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Larptnhur ____ ___.n SPACE BULETIN BOARD IBS Pho1,1(612)•'88·5973 SYSUPI l1rry s,rtrfl1t

co-svsoP: o,,n Position

,.o. N•• Brighton SPACE

80,c

120016

55112

---N.E. 55421

ACE