¢¢This is a review of the All Micro Show 6 in Stafford. It was written jointly for the News-Disk and Atari Classics magazine.¢-----------------------------------¢¢AMS6 Show Report¢----------------¢¢By Dean Garraghty.¢¢¢It's Saturday 14th November, 1992 at 5a.m. in the suburbs of Doncaster, England. Most people are tucked up in bed fast asleep. But not us! We're up and about and rearing to go! To Stafford, that is, for the 6th All Micro Show.¢¢For those who don't know, AMS is held once a year in November. It is a general computer show and radio rally. Part of the show is given over to electronics and radio, and the other to computers of various types. Originally the "A" stood for alternative, but now all machines are invited.¢¢It is held in Bingley Hall, just outside Stafford. Don't get any illusions about the place because of its name. It's a large warehouse looking place, which seems to double as a farming equipment store! It's also freezing cold, as we found out when we arrived!¢¢The AMS has established itself as THE place to be if you are an Atari 8-bit user. It seemed to take over when the old Atari User shows in London stopped about 3 years ago. Althogh the AMS is a general show, the Atari 8-bit always seems to dominate!¢¢I always have difficulty in writing reports of the show (this is my 3rd report now!), because I am one of the exhibitors! However, I'll try and tell who was there and what was happening. Hopefully, you will get a feel of how things are in the UK as far as the Atari goes.¢¢Well, the best place to start is with me! What was I doing at the show this year? Well, our main effort of the day was to release the new complete version of Digi-Studio. This includes the new LIDS language for creating music for playing back in digitized sounds. We had a machine going all day to demonstrate Digi-Studio and it seemed well received! Also, we had our PD library with us (all 155 disks). We also had a special offer on our News-Disk (on-disk newsletter). All 9 current issues and a copy of the PD catalogue for 5pounds. These were far more popular than we thought and we were constantly running out! We sold enough packs to pay for the stand! We also had a few pieces of used software and hardware available on the stand. Our other job was to try and promote Atari Classics. This we did very successfully I feel!¢¢Contact: Dean Garraghty, 62 Thomson Ave, Balby, Doncaster, DN4 0NU, ENGLAND.¢¢Digi-Studio is available in the US from: Lance Tatman, 844 Kern Street, Richmond, CA 94805, USA.¢¢Another veteran of the show is Micro Discount. They always have huge quantities of brand new cheap software straight from Atari's warehouses. They also publish software as well, and sell some unique hardware. They have Print-LAB which is a printer utility which works with a variety of printers, and Tricky Print for printing PrintShop graphics on a 1029 printer. In hardware they have the "turbo charger" for tape decks. These allow extremely fast tape loads for modified tapes. They also publish many tapes with turbo formats on the back of the tape. They also had some disk drives for sale at the show. Derek at Micro Discount told me a new hardware modification for the 1050 would be available soon which allows you to copy disks in 8 seconds!! It also has its own OS on board as well as in-built DOS and copy software! They also sell the 1050 write protect switch for writing to the back of disks without the need for a notch. These are ready done and just need plugging in the drive. They also have an easy to install stereo upgrade and have a disk which modifies certain games to play music in stereo!¢¢Micro Discount's catalogue is 32 pages long, so you have to pay for it! You can subscribe to 6 issues of it for 3.60 (UK), 6.00 (Europe), 10.00 (Elsewhere). A catalogue comes out every 8 weeks.¢¢Contact: Micro Discount, 265 Chester Road, Streetly, West Midlands, B74 3EA, ENGLAND. Phone: 021-353-5730, Fax: 021-352-1669.¢¢Next, there were BaPAUG and Gralin International. They were selling their usual product line of mainly imported software and hardware, but also have some unique items of their own. They had a demo running of their MidiMaster hardware/software which looked impressive. They also produce the Replay sound digitizer (which I use for all my digitizing). This is actually built in some old Atari cartridges with a hole drilled in the side for the wire to come out! They had a pile of broken computers for a few pounds each. "Where did these come from", I enquired, "Out of my garage", replied Colin Hunt! Oh well, no trade secrets to be had there!¢¢Contact: Gralin International, 11 Shillito Road, Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, BH12 2BN, ENGLAND.¢¢Hidden away in a corner were Page 6 magazine. For those who don't know, Page 6 is THE magazine in the UK for Atari 8-bit owners. They have been with us for 10 years now, and still manage to produce a glossy magazine every 2 months. As well as the magazine, Page 6 also have a PD library, and sell a range of software and books all at low prices.¢¢Contact: Page 6, P.O. Box 54, Stafford, ST16 1DR, ENGLAND. Phone: (0785) 213928. Fax: (0785) 54355.¢¢LACE (London Atari Computer Enthusiasts) were at the show again. They are a user group in London, who also publish a very good newsletter called BOOT! They also have a PD library of specially written software. BOOT! is an excellent newsletter, always packed with useful info. BOOT! costs 7pounds a year in the UK, but this is really for a membership to LACE.¢¢Contact: LACE, 143 Richmond Road, Leytonstone, London, E11 4BT, ENGLAND.¢¢Also there were lots of people just turning up with piles of hardware (mainly computers) and selling those. Some baragins to be had here if you went searching!¢¢There is always a great atmosphere at the AMS shows. Everything is very relaxed (if a little cold!), everybody knows everybody, total strangers have conversations in the middle of the hall, people have a laugh and a joke, and generally have a good time!¢¢We did see a drop in visitors over previous years, but we are in a bad recession here in the UK, so many people probably couldn't afford to come. We still met plenty of new people on the day!¢¢The enthusiasm at the show is an indication that the Atari 8-bit scene in the UK is alive and kicking! New products were easy to find, with promises of more to come. I hope this article has given you some idea of what the day was like!¢¢I would like to take this opportunity to thank my helpers on the day: Richard Gore, William "I can get a better deal than that on blank disks!" Todd, Mike Broadhurst (a newcomer to the show who was very much in control!), James Haworth (who is only 14, but permormed brilliantly!), Mark Keates, and Paul Saunders. A brilliant team who made the day worthwhile! We'll be there again next year!¢
