SPACE Newsletter - April 1992

April 1992

SPACE NEWSLB'l-l'E8 for APRIL 1992

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Newz Fro■ tlle Prez AprU of 1182 Hello again everyone! At the meeting last month, we covered a great deal of things related to a speaker at SPACE. Please carefully read the meeting minutes for a review. The posalblllty of a "SPACE Fair" la getting closer and I am trying to help It along. At this writing, I am In the process of contacting other ATARI clubs to find out how many people would be Interested In attending such an event. Hopefully by the ne><t meeting, I wlll have aome sort of formal report on the situation. The subject of ATARI 8-BIT only magazines came up tt:ar.!:s to tt:e continuing effort of Michael Fitzpatrick In pursuing this matter. There was quite a bit of dlcusslon at the meeting about It and a algn up sheet was avallable to show Interest. I wlll make aure the sheet la avallable again at the next meeting and all the Information as well ao that you can see It If you missed the meeting. Once again. please look at the meeting minutes for a good review. · I was a little dismayed at the small attendance for the March meeting. Attendance at the meetings has been dwlndllng sllghtly and I am hoping that It wlll pick up so that we can survive the typical "summer doldrums." I would llke to please encourage YOU to attend the April and May meetings so that we can take care of the business at hand and relax over the summer. Eapeclally since we are planning the "SPACE Fair" for the end of summer near August/September. planning thla event during the tradltlonally slow summer rn~et!:;ga (June, July, August) would be difficult and probably wouldn't Include the opinions of all Interested club members. PLEASE do your beat to make the next two meetings ao we can plan everything out and then we can all take It easy over the summer. That la about It for this month. Hoping to see you all at the next meeting. Hope you enjoy this festive Spring season! Nathan Block President

Next Meeting is APRIL 10th 1992 t

'I .

Software Reviews (Or., w•at"a o■ La■ce"a table t•I• ■o■t•?) ' In this monthly column, I wlll try to give some reviews on software that Is available for sale at the meetings. Since ATARI software Is so dlfflcult to find, good reviews on what IS avallable· hopefully wlll be valuable for everyone. ; !'" Spy VS Spy 1 & 2 Graphic• - 8

Sound - 8

Playability - 7

Overall - a

Based on the characters created by MAD Magazine, First Star Software developed a series of games that stlll continue to define two player games. Thia combo package features the first tw6 games on one convlent disk. (Epyx, Inc. acquired First Star Software as an affiliate and published the third game In the series separately.) Both games feature a different scenario Involving the white spy ·against the black spy. The games can be played against the computer or against another human opponent. The first game takes place In an embassy with many llttle rooms In which various Items are hidden. The first spy to collect all of the Items and find the escape plane wins the game. In the second game. all the action takes place on a small Island where the spies race to find pieces· of a mlHlle scattered In the aand. The flrat spy to find the mlsslle can escape via a sub that surfaces near the Island. Compllcatlng both these missions are the abllltles of either apy to set traps for the other one. Both games feature a '"trapulator" with eight dlffeerent traps that one spy can set for the • other one.

SPACE NEWSLETfER for APRIL 1992

For Instance, In the first game, one spy can place a bomb behind a picture In one of the various rooms of the embassy. Should the other apy happen to look under the picture In the hopes of finding the plane tickets, the bomb wlll explode and the spy wHI be placed In limbo for a certain amount of time. When both spies happen to meet In the same locatlon. they can then duke It out with small clubs. The two player mode la handled very lntelllgently and smoothly. The screen la apllt horlzontally In the mlddle with one person playing "on top" and the other playing "on the bottom". Thia allows both · peopte-t0-p!ay ~t on~&. mak!ng the ~ame v•r-Yreallstlcally. When both players happen to meet In the same locatlon. the Invading player la placed In the other's area of the screen. For Instance. If In the first game the white apy happens to walk Into the same room that the black apy Is In, the white spy appears In the ..bottom half" of the screen along with the black spy. They can Ignore each other or have a club fight. The two player mode Is the moat enjoyable aspect of both games and It Is masterfully handled. I have never had any problems playing with two people. One of the most enjoyable things about these games la the great attention given to the graphics. The graphics on both games are of superior quality. The spies' faclal expressions change, they snicker when the other stumbles upon misfortune, and they are wonderfully animated when they sneak around the embassy or the Island. When a spy happens to fall Into a trap or other hardship, each ona

t:~: ~ dlffarar.t animation se,;:;!.!e~ce. Th9

spies are shot full of holes, eaten by sharks, electrocuted, and blown up with a dlf f erent and unique animated sequence celebrating each event. The sound also contributes to this with a good soundtrack playlng In each game and wonderful llttle sound effects for each situation. Spy VS Spy 1 & 2 la a wonderful game set for any gamer, especlally one who enjoys playlng with two people. The ATARl's graphics and sound are flnally realized and utlllzed In this series and the two player versions of both games wlll surely stir up some llvely competition around your ATARI. I own all three games and hlghly recommend anyone who has the sllghtest Interest In games to pick these ones up.

s_p_A_C_E_ Nl■utea Narcll Neetl■g FRIDAY THE 18tll!! Submitted by Mike Cable The meeting was opened by President Nathan Block. Did you turn your survey In? Nathan really wants those In, I don't know If he Is stlll taking them In though. For the two new members at the last meeting, welcome! Larry Serflaten talked about guldellnes to use for Copyrighted (c) material. Larry talked about a ---S~ggestlon t,,~ehaeL .Schml.dt_on how to_ save money publlshlng the S.P.A.C.E. Newsletter. You want games? You got games! Larry Serflaten, great writer! He has games for salelll Talk to him or write him mall on -SPACE BBS(# on back of this newsletter.) Great games from Larry SerfIaten: - Yhatzee - Blackjack - Business Farming And many morel Larry would llke to see some pictures made by YOU. Using one of the many ATARI graphics programs. Maybe a prize for the beat picture or something. Mike Weist would llke to have a recipe base on the BBS. If Larry gets a dozen or more recipes on the BBS he wlll create the base. Nathan turned the meeting over to Mlchael Fitzpatrick on the subject of !Inking up with another Atari magazine. He brought 3 Issues of magazine, Atari Interface Magazine. The magazines t~lk about v~r!t.:>uauserg gr~1Jp$. The group publishes Disks Of the Month(DOM's.) Mlchael picked up a few and rated them quite good. They Publlsh current artlclea. Their DOM'a are SS, but they offered to sell them to the club for $1.S0 If our club becomes a member. We can use those disks to add onto our current DOM Library. Their price for membership la $18 a year. The only drawback for Atari 8-blttera la about half of the magazine Is for the 16-blt ST users. The only requirement If our club Is to become a member of their club Is to make a commitment to taking their questionnaire which Mike had with him and showed at the meeting. Also followlng their oo·s & DON'T's, what they expect from us and what we expect from them. What we also get la our club

SPACE NEWSLE1*1'ER for APRIL 1992 Hert i, the 1n,wer to the "arch Word Search: Title: Catfood

wlll be posted In the magazine with all the other clubs. That's It, the whole Atari Interface Magazine and the club. At this time Mike started talking about The Bob Puff visit. For those of you who don't remember who he Is he's the author of some great programs Including the terminal programs Bobterm 1.1 & 1.21. Mike got a response back from Bob Puff, which he made a commitment to consider coming out. He felt honored. He's got a lot to offer because he Is one of the few people manufacturing Atari products. The target time for this fair that we ·are planning Is for September. One thing that a member suggested Is that we have to consider the SIZE of the group which Bob Puff Is wllllng to talk to. · · At this time the meeting was handed back over to Nathan. Nathan expanded and expanded on the fair. He's making It BIGGER than It already Is, he wants to hit this one BIG TIMEIII We need your suggestlonsll ..What are your Ideas, what do you want to see happen??" A quote from the mouth of Nathan Block. This one Is so big that whlle a person was playing a game In the CPU In front he said, "What, you're playing a game whlle I am glVlng a monumental speech?? Turn It offl" Hehe. You don't have to do a lot of work, Just get those Ideas In. As an Engllsh teacher named Mr. Shaff once said, "If you don't participate you don't care." If you don't bring In your Ideas you don't care what happens at the fair. How much ahould we charge for the tickets? What do we do to make people come? If we all do our part this wlll be as big as N?..than wants It to be. After that the meeting didn't discuss any particular topics. Joe got the rest of the time for DOM's. After Nathan closed the meeting the club went to Snuffy's Burger & Malt Shop. Whats next? Leave Shortcake(Rachel Thompson) E-Mall on the subject of after meeting activities. Thanks. <<<<Happy Friday the 13th>»> Moaahhhhhhhhhl

- - - - - - - - - S - WOHC - - - - - GRUB- - E S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - L U- - - " - - -

- - - - - - - - YBS - - - E - - - - - - - - - BI T " - - A- - KV- - - - B- - DE O- - L - - S I I - - A- - - ENU- - S - - - E T AT - - - - - AS - - - - - -

- E LT N - - - - - NE - - - - - - N - BE D- - - - CR- - - - - - I - -. INS - - - E - - - - - - - L- - - T - - - - - - - - - - - -·£ - - - - ·S - - - - HATE EH C - F - - - - - E- - - - - - - - - ~--TO" CAT" - - - - - - - - N - - - - • • - • • 0- • - - - - 0-

- - - • · · - - - - C- • · · I · • - • - · .• SN OITA R · L · • CO"ESTI BL ES EDIBLES KITTEN LION

SUSTENANCE FELINE VIANDS GRUB

RATIONS TO"CAT TABBY CHOW

CHEETAH "OUSER NEALS

Here is this ■onths install ■ent of Word Search, This ■onth it is words containing the word cut, Title: CUT DUWRQ YP L AF YL Q R S J L A P E T T E R F DF HA I R C UT OL HT UUS T " R " WGC DNJ Q C " L UC C P F T XE DR C I C T NUX BC RR WHJ UEB I Z US S_R TN · · C AE E E " HJ CJ S T HYCQ I A DR P DKUP UA DOANHRS OQ Q J P N I F R I P F O VF S E C NA L E UUOADQ F Q UOZ HWUUU GT NT XI R S P S " UWOCT E T I UT KUT T KT J C J I R UT R R " C KC A T T UCL ACC T T L BE " £ DUF GEUC" WE " CZ E" H H XNT Y" YDZ OP Q T UC E R P GE E I O I O E C " L C YT L E XC HS HC F EE S NDQ LAS XS RY I DGL KF BWWKP BAF ENBR DNKE I XF H" VHS L UVDS V

DOM INFO

WOODCUTTER CALCUTTA EXECUTE CUTICLE

This Month 3

ALLOCUTION UNDERCUT CREWCUT PRECUT

LOCUTION UPPERCUT HAIRCUT ACUTE

SHORTCUT CUTOFFS SCUTTLE

Secer-ts of A tar-iWr-iterl)lus Get more power from this word processor BY CAROLYN HOULIN (This article is re-printed from ANTIC - JULY 1987) (Part two of two)

ESCAPE CODES The manual 1uggeets that instead of entering escape codes wi1h [CONTROL]-[0] [27], you can hold down the [SHIFT] key and preaa [ESC] twice. However, the resulting code is not the Eacape aymbol, but rather the same symbol produced by [OPTION] [INSERT]. When I try to Print or Print Preview 1he file, the program aaka me to "MAKE ENTRY, PRESS F;ETURN." Therefore I stick to [CONTROL]-[0] (27] when entering escape codea for my printer. If you need curly brackets, uae (CONTROL] [;] for 1he left one and (CONTROL] [CLEAR] for the right (Thia won't clear your acreen.) Theae keystrokes produce graphic characters on your scrHn, but 1he curly brackets will appear correctly on _your paper. And have you wondered where to find a lefthand single quotation mark? The [CONTROL] [.] will print 1hia character if you ahould happen to need it

Get the moat out of AtariWriter Plus

CHAINING FILES When printing multiple.file text, if you attempt to "chain" to file& that were prepar-ad on a.,ot...,.r word prooi uor instead of AtanWriter Plus, you'll probably loae acme of your text from 1he beginning of each file after the firat Apparently, the program 1hinka it ia stripping off 1he Global format commanda which, of courae, are not preaent in non-AtanWriter text file&. The aolution: Load each file into AtanWriter Plua and RE-save it If it waa crested wi1h 1he AtanWriter cartridge, be aure to remove 1he old formatting line from the top of each file before the re-save. For some reason, I have not found a Wfl'/ to aucceaafully chain filea together uaing SmartOOS.

TINY FONT If your printer prints auperacript or subscript font and can produce 1/2-line spacing, change the S command on the Global Format acreen to 1 (or use [CONTROL] [S] for an in-text change). you'll get the obligatory fine print for that contract. or you can use it to get a lot of printing in a small apace - on a diak label, for example. ATARI 82!5 If you have an Atari C2t5 or a cantrc;·,ics parallel printer and use the built-in 82!5 driver, you can't get 1 1/2 line spacing

by-aatting S on the Global Format screen to 3, u instructed in the manual. And when you use headers or footers, each page after 1he first will often begin two linea higher than 1he previous one. Here we do have a real bug in AtanWriter Plus. There is a code in 1he printer driver for a 1 /2-line feed and carriage retum. In the ~ driver the code mistakenly calls for a reverse 1 /2-line feed. Thia error causes both problems above. I have successfully fixed it by changing byte $37 in aactor

from $1 E to $'1 C. Qn the 130XE ,rsion, th• byte to change is $72 in

can he changed, you can't delete it entirely • you must start all over again by

uaed it on occasion. Enter the code for 0-llne spacing If your printer allows this,

Actor 111.) Or ycu can mak• a corrected prtnter driver for your 82!5. I you uae the XMM801 and meet aimilar problem•, try changing byt9• $QA and ts3 in aector ~ (byte in sector 115 and byt9 $22 In aector 116 In the l30XE veraion). Each change ia from $1E to $10. Note that the two versions of AtanWriter Plus require corrections In different locational CUSTOM DRIVER The manual diacuasea this procedure in detail, but It atill doean't cover everything you need to know to er91!lte ~• perfect driver for your printer.

rebooting the program. The trickiest code to define is the "OOWN 1 /2 LINE ANO CARRIAGE RETURN." The manual aaya you must define this only if you intend to uae 1 /2-llne spacing with the auperacrtpt or subscript fonta. Actually, AtanWriter Plus uaea thia code when printing headers or footers, 81 well 81 when printing 1 1/2 Une apaclng. It may require a trialand-error proceaa before you get thia one right You'd think that you should merely add a , e!5 to whatever ~u uaed for the previous "DOWN 1/2 LINE]." Wrth acme printers • th• Atari 8:25, for instance - this

fellowed by codt i S6, fQllow•d by 'the code for full-line spacing (i/6 inch). Now for defining your fonts. You must remember that many of the commands are cumulative, ao you must cancel the onea you don't want while enabling the one you do want Many Epaona have a Muter Select code that does this to some extent, but I don't recommend using th••• codes here. They are generally aent to your printer at the beginning of each page and, therefore, will cancel any additional codea for .emphasized, etc., that you've entered in your text or enabled through_ihe SeleType pushbutton feature on your printer. Figure 1 ia my Epson FX-8! printer drtver. On the Epson, italics are not available with near letter-quality (NLQ), ao [CONTROL]-[G] [8] produces draft italics. They will look better with NLQ if you also type [SELECT] [.] before and after the italicized words to match the blackneH of the NLQ. [CONTROL]-[G] [9] turns Italics off, but if you're using NLQ, you muat alao type [CONTROL]-[C3] [7] to re ..nabl• near letter quality. If you uae [CONTROL]-[G] [4] to enter a footnote number Onstead of [SELECT] [UP-ARROW]), you must uae a [CONTROL] [OJ code for your number. For instance If you wanted to enter a reference to footnote , and typed (CONTROL]·[C3] (4), followed by a (1 ], the program will think you have uked for [CONTROL]-[G] [4i ], and will give you an INVALID TYPE FONT error. Instead, type [CONTROL]-[G] [1] [CONTROL]-[O] (49) [CONTROL]-[G] [x] (where [x] ia whatever font you've been using). This gives you a raised "1" where ycu want it The codes for digits 0-9 are 48-!57, incluaive. Carolyn Heglin of Orlando, Florida is a homemaker and former secretary. She waa given an Atari 8-bit computer in 1982 and haa been programming ever aince. Thia is her first publication in Antic.

-..s

FIGURE 1 ATARIWRITER PLUS EPSON FX-85 PRINTER DRIVER CODES INIT, EVERY LINE

LINE FEED AND CR UNDERLINE OFF UNDERLINE ON BACKSPACE ELONGATE OFF ELONGATE ON BOLD OFF BOLD ON UP 1/2 LINE DONN 1/2 LI NE DONN 1/2 LINE~ CR CR WITH NO LF FONT 11 PICA FONT 12 CONDENSED FONT 13 PROPORTIONAL FONT 14 SUPERSCRIPT FONT 15 SUBSCRIPT FONT 16 ELITE FONT 17 NLQ FONT 18 ITALICS ON FONT 19 ITALICS OFF

155 27 27

20 14 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27

45 45

0 1

71 106 74 65 65 112 112 112 112 112

112 120 120 53

18 18 6 0

155 155

27 27

65 65

12 12

48 48 49 48 48 48 49 48

27 27 27 27 27 27 27 27

84 84

27 27 27 15 15 18

80 80 80 27 27 27

Uae ATASCII code i !55 for "LINE FEED ANO CARRIAGE RETURN," even if your printer manual tells you aomething different. Should "BOLD" be emphasized or double-atrike? I chose double-strike 10 that it worka with elite and oondenaed, u well • with pica (but not with near letter-quality). If your printer cannot de r'9Verae line feeda, be eure to leave the "UP 1 /2 LINE" code blank. Entering even a zero here will make it impoaaible to print double columns correctly. While an entry

84 80 80

84 84

18 15 15 83 83 77

48 49

ia what worka. With other printers Oneluding the Epaons), this code produoea a 1 /2-line feed followed by full linefeed, and it may print headeni and/or footers two Hnea lower on each succeaaive page. And 1 1 /2-line spacing becomes 2 1/2-line spacing. Therefore you muat define the code for aetting 1/2-line spacing (1 /12 inch), followed by code 1 S!Si foUowed by the oode ~r eetting full-line epacing (1 /6 inch). "The "RETURN WITH NO LNE FEEO" or S=O ian't nHded very often, but I have

OFFICERS 922-8012 434-5254

Nathan Block

President: Vice Preaident:

Sherm Ericksen Mike Cable Joe Danko

Secretary: DOM Ubrarian: Paper Ubrmi11n:

Software Ubrarian: Membership Chairman: SPACE\MAST Treasurer: SPACE Newslett.er Editor:

---

DISCLAIMER

nx-nxx

._ --------------------- ......_

Jim Schieb

'77'7-9600 721-4165

Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts

Earline Fitzpatrick nx-nxx Glen Kirschenman 788-4790 Allan Frink Michael Schmidt

429-4909

(SPACE}, an independent organization with no business affiliation Yi.th ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted

757-4192

to any .tmilar oraanisaUon with which SPACE excha~e• n...iettera to reprint material from this newsletter. We do howner uk that credit b■ aiv■n to the a\ltho" and to SP.A.CE. Oplniona expreaed are t.bo■e ot the author■ and do not necenarily reflect the Yins of SPACE, the club officers, club

Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE)

member■

or ATARI Corporation.

meets on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PU:

in the Falcon Heiahts Community Center at

2077 West Larpenteur Ave. Doors open at 7:00 PM.

-Falcon Hei&bts

Coxnmunit.y Cent.er 2077 W'. Larpenteur Ave.

- □

-t

Gibbs «s Museum G)

Nort.h

BBS Phone: (612)-488-5973

i::i

Sysop: Larry Serflaten

Larpenteur Avenue

U of M

St. Paul Campus

Co-sysop: Sherm Erickson

Supporting:

ATARI 8-Bit Computers

--.-...

S.P.A.C.E. P.O. Box 120016 New Brighton, MN

55112

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