<><><>¢ BITS 'n BYTES¢ by John D. Kasupski¢¢ (Ed. This is the first of what I hope¢ will be many future articles by one of¢ our newest members, whose many newsy,¢ and informative articles I've enjoyed¢ when he was editor of the POKEY from¢ the WNYAUG club!)¢¢ Well, fellow OL' Hackers,¢ greetings from down Buffalo way! Some¢ of you may recognize my byline as¢ belonging to me from the POKEY¢ Newsletter Disk that I used to produce¢ for the Western NY Atari Users' Group¢ (WNYAUG). For others, I'll be a¢ complete stranger (until you've¢ finished reading this article).¢¢ At any rate, I've just joined¢ OHAUG and am going to be writing a¢ regular column for the OHAUG¢ Newsletter Disk, so I thought I'd use¢ my first column to introduce myself to¢ those of you I haven't been in touch¢ with before, and also let you all know¢ what happened to WNYAUG's POKEY¢ Newsletter Disk.¢¢ Guess I'd best start at the¢ beginning. I've been using Atari 8-bit¢ computer equipment since 1986. I was a¢ WNYAUG member from 1987 until last¢ summer, and served the group in¢ various capacities, the last being the¢ dual duties of Vice President and¢ Newsletter Editor.¢¢ I'm also sysop of The Starfleet¢ Sickbay BBS in Tonawanda, NY (more on¢ that later), and I'm typing this¢ article on my BBS system which¢ consists of a 320K 130XE with three¢ different OS chips installed¢ (switchable), 140Mb of hard drives,¢ XF-551, Happy 1050, and XF-35 floppy¢ drives, 256K MIO, and a US Robotics¢ Sportster 14.4K BPS modem. Oh, and a¢ Brother M-1009 printer, and Magnavox¢ RGB80 monitor.¢¢ I also have a 1-meg 1040ST¢ upstairs but since we (OHAUG) are an¢ exclusively 8-bit group, I won't talk¢ about that.¢¢ So, since obviously with all that¢ hardware on my 8-bit system, you just¢ KNOW that I'm a diehard 8-bitter¢ (despite the presence of the ST in the¢ house - my wife uses it about 300¢ times as often as I do), why did I end¢ up leaving WNYAUG?¢¢ In a word: apathy. I got tired of¢ paying a babysitter to attend meetings¢ with six people in attendance. I got¢ tired of trying to create two-sided¢ newsletter disks with only one other¢ person regularly writing articles. I¢ got tired of running a BBS supporting¢ a users' group where only one or two¢ members called the board very often.¢ In short, I got tired of trying to be¢ a one-man users' group, so I packed it¢ in. Despite that, I'm too hooked on¢ these machines to stay away from the¢ Atari 8-bit community completely. One¢ of the wonders of telecommunications¢ is that even if I'm the only Atari¢ lover around for miles, I can always¢ have my modem dial up a BBS somewhere¢ else that's chock full of people who¢ share my interest AND enthusiasm.¢¢ So, here I am. I dialed up The¢ New Nest BBS once too often, I guess,¢ and let our esteemed President talk me¢ into joining Ol' Hackers. I'm sure I¢ won't regret it, and in fact I hope to¢ find it refreshing to belong to a¢ group that has members who¢ PARTICIPATE.¢¢ There is a lesson here for all of¢ you. WNYAUG was once one of the¢ premier Atari users' groups in¢ America. The Turbo BASIC XL we are all¢ so fond of was first brought to this¢ country from Holland by WNYAUG. The¢ German docs were translated to English¢ by WNYAUG's Dave and Laura Yearke. The¢ Great lakes Atari Expo hosted in¢ Buffalo by WNYAUG several years ago¢ was legendary. POKEY was one of the¢ best Atari newsletters anywhere.¢ Wizard's Attic BBS had callers from¢ Boston to LA, callers from overseas,¢ for awhile you were lucky to get¢ through the busy signals in order to¢ log on.¢¢ And now, POKEY is history,¢ Wizard's Attic has been down for over¢ a month, and the group itself is not¢ even a shell of its former self.¢¢ This, my friends, is what apathy¢ can do to even the best of users'¢ groups. OHAUG is fortunate that it has¢ contacts in the Atari community that¢ stretch literally around the globe.¢ The New Nest BBS is an excellent¢ resource. The bimonthly newsletter-on-¢ disk reflects the effort that Alex and¢ others put into it, and is something¢ all OHAUG membeés can and should be¢ proud of.¢¢ So take a warning from me: it can¢ all fall apart VERY fast if you let¢ it. PLEASE, support your newsletter,¢ support your group, and support The¢ New Nest BBS! There are some really¢ unbelievable products and programs¢ being released RIGHT NOW for the Atari¢ 8-bit machines. Believe me, the 8-bit¢ is NOT dead...and it is groups like¢ OHAUG and users like US that help keep¢ it alive, as well as the significant¢ presence of Atari bulletin boards like¢ The New Nest and my own board. Don't¢ overlook these resources...you do NOT¢ want to lose them, ever, as we just¢ lost the ATARI CLASSICS magazine!¢¢ Which brings me back to my own¢ board...Starfleet Sickbay BBS. yeah, I¢ know, it's a long distance call for¢ most of you. But for those of you who¢ are willing to pay a few cents extra¢ for a phone call, have your modem ring¢ up Sickbay at 716-873-4833, from 300¢ to 14,400 baud in whatever translation¢ trips your trigger. I'm networking¢ with some of the foremost Atari¢ developers in the country and tend to¢ get new releases FAST, sometimes the¢ same day they're released! - and in¢ addition to that, there is access to¢ all sorts of luminaries in the Atari¢ community via the Universal SysOps'¢ Federation and our continent-wide¢ network of Atari boards running on BBS¢ Express Professional (tm).¢¢ I hope to be able to bring the¢ power of this network to bear, to¢ contribute to OHAUG as best I can.¢ I've alleady started, in fact. If you¢ have a modem, get on the New Nest BBS¢ and check out some of the files I've¢ uploaded there recently. Some of this¢ stuff'll knock your socks off, and all¢ for the price of a local phone call!¢ Additionally, if you have a problem,¢ just put it on a BBS, and I assure¢ you, you will get many responses on¢ how to overcome your problem, within a¢ day or two.¢¢ If you don't have a modem...GET¢ ONE!! I can't emphasize this enough.¢ the days of multitudes of commercial¢ software houses selling NEW stuff for¢ our machines are gone. The¢ distribution of NEW programs is almost¢ exclusively ONLINE these days. Since¢ I'm a sysop this may sound self-¢ serving, but I guarantee you I'd be¢ saying the exact same thing even if I¢ didn't run a BBS. EVERY Atari 8-bit¢ machine should have a modem connected¢ to it. If it doesn't, it is a severely¢ crippled system.¢¢ So get thee a modem and term¢ program...and in the meantime, stay¢ tuned to my columns here, and I'll try¢ to keep you up to date on what you're¢ missing out on without one. Hopefully¢ you will want to be a part of the¢ people who use the modem as an adjunct¢ to their systems.¢¢ Till next time.......¢ <><><>¢¢
