=><= ¢ MINUTES OF THE MAY 1995 MEETING¢ *******************************¢¢ The meeting opened with one¢ minute of silence, and prayer, for¢ those that died in OKLAHOMA CITY in¢ that cowardly attack on poor innocent¢ people.¢¢ President ALEX PIGNATO asked for¢ a motion to donate money to the¢ SALVATION ARMY in OKLAHOMA CITY in¢ honor of those that died. JACK¢ GEDALIUS made the motion and RON¢ FETZER seconded it. Motion was carried¢ unanimously. RON will send a check.¢¢ ITEMS:¢¢ The July 14th (Friday) Picnic¢ Dinner was announced. It will be at¢ LAMBROU's, 4073 Austin Blvd., Island¢ Park at 7:00 P.M.. Cost will be $12.00¢ per person, complete dinner, Tax and¢ Tip included.¢¢ The new flyer from AMERICAN¢ TECHNAVISION was passed around. There¢ were some good 8 BIT bargains, like¢ the 1050 drive mechanism for $14.95,¢ and 2 for $24.95.¢¢ DALE WOOSTER, President of NWPAC¢ authored an updated TEXTPRO manual,¢ which he is selling for $15.00,¢ priority mail included. ALEX passed¢ around his copy for all to examine.¢¢ The next NEAR*US meeting will be¢ held on June 17th (Saturday), at our¢ regular meeting place, THE PLAINVIEW¢ Library, 999 Old Country Rd.,¢ Plainview, at 11:30 A.M.. It is¢ expected that there will be NO¢ entrance fee, but it will also be a¢ SWAP and SHOP meet. Tables will be¢ available for about $5.00 each. We¢ expect WIZTRONICS R. COHEN to be a¢ guest speaker. Plans are still being¢ worked on at this time.¢¢ NEW LOCAL MEMBER!¢ (Another much needed helping hand for¢ THE OL' HACKERS)¢¢ A big welcome to AL MOLINELLA of¢ W. BABYLON. Al tells us he recently¢ bought a whole setup, including an¢ upgraded 600XL, (64K), 1050 drive, and¢ printer for a real bargain price at a¢ garage sale. Thats keeping your eyes¢ open AL, and your wallet closed...Good¢ for you AL, use it i good health, and¢ again, WELCOME!!¢ ¢ CORRESPONDANCE:¢¢ (We have lots of correspondance for¢ this meeting, here are excerpts!)¢¢ We received a surprise letter and¢ packet from one of our ENGLISH members¢ NORMAN WILLIAMSON. He sent a lovely¢ colored picture of him and his¢ beatuiful wife taken in honor of their¢ 50th Anniversary, along with pictures¢ of them in 1947, both in uniform, and¢ another picture of his wedding party.¢ Then to top it off he sent an¢ inscribed pen, and of course a disk,¢ (see demo's). What a wonderful thing¢ for the happy couple to enjoy a 50th¢ Anniversary. We, in the OL' HACKERS¢ wish them both 50 more years of wedded¢ bliss along with good health and¢ happiness! Our best to you both!¢¢ ALEX mailed them a congratulation¢ card from the OL' HACKERS, along with¢ a letter, and a special disk which¢ they will find very useful when they¢ travel.¢¢ Letter from ALEX to DALE WOOSTER,¢ NWPAC President, ordering 2 of the¢ TEXTPRO manual, after his reading our¢ member, CHARLES COLE'S very favorable¢ review of same. Knowing DALE, we can¢ expect te best!¢¢ Received T.P. manual and letter¢ from DALE w/in about 5 days, thanking¢ us for the order. He offered to help¢ NEAR*US in any way he can. We now have¢ a T.P. guru, and lets not forget¢ another NWPAC member JOHN COLLINS who¢ is a GRAPHIC guru.¢¢ Got a copy of a letter from¢ member JOE HICSWA, (President of¢ JACG), to JON MORDOSKY, advising that¢ he and BILL BINGHAM, the JACG sysop,¢ and a member, could not locate¢ adequate quarters for the next NEAR*US¢ meeting and that ALEX would try to get¢ a large area.¢¢ Alex then wrote to JON and told¢ him that he had reserved two rooms at¢ the PLAINVIEW Library, 999 Old Country¢ Rd., Plainview, L.I., N.Y. for the¢ June 17th NEAR*US meet. ALL WELCOME!¢¢ We received very favorable¢ comments from our upstate member DANE¢ STEGMAN, regarding the newsletter and¢ programs it contained, specially¢ PRINTSTAR V.2.0 by our own TOM¢ ANDREWS. (The May/June 1995 OL'¢ HACKERS newsletter contains more of¢ TOMS programs.) Dane expects to attend¢ the ACE95 show in Toronto, and will¢ keep us informed.¢¢ ALEX wrote and thanked DANE for¢ the compliments.¢¢ Another letter from DANE,¢ advising us that he attended the ACE95¢ Show and was disappointed. Contrary to¢ last year, there was very little for¢ the 8 BIT's, mostly for the ST.¢¢ In another letter, DANE STEGMAN¢ reported that the ACE 95 show in¢ TORONTO, CANADA was a disappointment¢ to him, when compared to last years.¢ There was very little 8 BIT stuff, it¢ was mainly for the ST. No, ATARI was¢ not represented at the show. He¢ reminded us of the value of USERS¢ GROUPS, again.¢¢ ALEX responded to both letters¢ and thanked DANE for sending us his¢ ACE95 report.¢¢ Packet from our JIM CUTLER in¢ ENGLAND, containing 4 disks and a¢ letter thanking ALEX for sending a¢ K.H. disk to him. He also commented on¢ how great the new PRINTSTAR program¢ is. JIM hd been using the prior¢ version and was very happy with the¢ upgrade. (WAY TO GO, TOM!) JIM keeps¢ sending us disks for the library, and¢ we thank JIM for his generosity. He¢ expressed his sympathy for the¢ passing of BOB ULSHMID. JIM is off to¢ a holiday in NORTH WALES. Enjoy your¢ vacation JIM!¢¢ From our ARIZONA member JOHN¢ POWELL with a zillion questions re¢ DDIII, SpartaDos, Textpro, etc..¢¢ Alex answered and gave him some¢ answers, but there were some which¢ ALEX could in no way answer via the¢ mails.¢ JOE HICSWA wrote a postcard¢ asking if anyone knew of another use¢ for the BREAK key, which he had read¢ about. He said the BREAK key vectors¢ is $236,237 and BYTE $283-217. No one¢ knew the answer. Can anyone out there¢ answer JOE? If so send your letter to¢ JOE, he would appreciate it.¢¢ From our QUAKERTOWN, PA member,¢ LARRY TISCHBEIN, (also editor of¢ LVIAUG's newsletter), stating that he¢ liked the PRINTSHOP sign ALEX sent to¢ him, and he asked a few questions¢ about it.¢¢ ALEX responded and answered his¢ questions, noting that LARRY likes to¢ work with PRINTSHOP when making up his¢ LVIAUG newsletter!¢¢ A letter from ROWLAND GRANT,¢ Secretary of GARDEN CITY ACE, in¢ CANADA. He advises he has some¢ duplicate ANTIC and ANALOG magazines,¢ free except for postage costs. If¢ interested write to us and we will¢ forward your letter.¢¢ DAVE EWENS, from TWAUG, advises¢ that he and the crew are again going¢ to the ALL MICRO SHOW. They hope to¢ meet old friends and make some money¢ for TWAUG. He sent us 4 disks, and¢ asked for 4 from our library, which¢ HAROLD sent. He also asked for the¢ upgrade SIGNMAKER V.1.3. TWAUG is an¢ up and coming 8 BIT club which do a¢ great job on their newsletter disk and¢ pamphlet.¢¢ Alex sent him SIGNMAKER per DAVES¢ request, and complimented him on their¢ newsletters. We want to keep SPREADING¢ THE WORD, and TWAUG is helping.¢¢ We received another letter from¢ S.J. MURRAY of NOSAUG, Scotland,¢ thanking ALEX for the disk he¢ received, and another compliment for¢ the newsletter and its programs. He¢ included FUTURA # 14.¢¢ JOHN COLLINS the very able¢ graphics guy of NWPAC, sent us copy¢ of the new QUAD VIEW by CLAY¢ HALIWELL. It's much appreciated JOHN.¢¢ ALEX thanked JOHN, and sent him a¢ special disk for the NWPAC Library.¢¢ We sent a GET WELL card to BILL¢ SMINKEY, our senior CALIFORNIA member,¢ along with a letter with best wishes¢ for good health. BILL is once again¢ under the weather, but we hope and¢ pray for his speedy recovery.¢¢ Another ENGLISH member, (We have¢ quite a number of ENGLISH members and¢ friends, don't we!) ALAN TURNBULL¢ requested help to get copies of¢ catalogs of various companies. ALAN¢ SHARKIS agreed to respond to his¢ request, and send him any that he can¢ round up. You can always depend on big¢ AL SHARKIS to help out! THANKS AL!¢¢ DEMO's:¢¢ TWAUG's FUTURA #14, April 1995,¢ as usual has all kinds of 8 BIT info,¢ including a very good article on 8 BIT¢ SURVIVAL by S.J. MURRAY, indicating¢ once again the value of users groups.¢ Library disk # 561.¢¢ QUAD VIEW by CLAY HALIWELL. A¢ brand new GRAPHICS disk, which loads¢ and shows 4 pictures on one screen,¢ and then loads 4 more automatically,¢ and continues untill the BREAK key is¢ used. An extremely good programming¢ feat by a programming master. The only¢ criticism is that the pictures quiver¢ on the screen. It's Library # 562.¢¢ BEE WEE DOS, from a CZECH¢ programmer. A momentous job very well¢ done. It is compatable with SpartaDos,¢ and I believe DOS 2.5 (not sure of¢ this). It time stamps and dates¢ programs as entered. It comes with¢ very extensive complete documentation¢ which RON FETZER says is detailed and¢ very very long. Library disk # 563¢¢ Next was MOD PLAYER, a 2 sided¢ disk with songs on both sides. Each¢ song takes up lots of Sectors. Only 2¢ songs an the MOD PLAYER program could¢ fit on Side 1. Side 2 had 3 or 4¢ songs. It is Library disk # 564.¢¢ ST/AMIGA SAMPLES was next shown.¢ It loads and shows any pix that you¢ want shown, along with some music. Its¢ Library disk # 565¢¢ AMIGA SLIDE SHOW # 1. It loaded¢ and showed one picturea after the¢ other. Disk has no DOS on it, so you¢ have to first load DOS. There was¢ about 30 pictures on the disk. Library¢ disk # 566¢¢ AMIGA SLIDE SHOW # 2 has another¢ large batch of pictures like # 566. It¢ is Library disk # 567¢¢ We next saw NORMAN WILLIAMSON's¢ DIGITAL ORIGINAL SONGS. A variety of¢ songs, including, Country Western like¢ BLANKETS ON THE GROUND, classical (?)¢ like VOLGA BOATMAN, pops like WHEN THE¢ SAINTS GO MARCHING IN, I JUST CALLED¢ TO SAY HELLO, and others. It has¢ lots of Bells and Whistles. Library¢ disk # 568¢¢ Next was S.L.C.C.'s April 1995¢ D.O.M.. It contained V.2.0 PRINTSTAR,¢ and other TOM ANDREWS programs, such¢ as EFFECTS. It had a couple of games,¢ and the CALIFORNIA LOTTERY program.¢ Side 2 was MGM MOVIES, which is very¢ well done, and entertaining too. It¢ takes up all of SIDE 2. Even though I¢ am told that its about 10 years old, I¢ was surprised at the involved¢ programming result. Library disk #¢ 569¢¢ Next came a 2 disk set, called¢ BASIC AIDS, a must for all 8 BIT¢ owners. It was chock filled with all¢ kinds of valuable utilities for doing¢ a multitude of tasks. Invaluable to¢ programmers. O.H.A.U.G. Library Nos.¢ #570 & #571, 2 Disk Set - BASIC AIDS-¢ Basic Fix.BAS, Baswitch.BAS, XREF.BAS¢ Protect.BAS, Find Variables.LST, Cross¢ Ref.LST, Renumber, Editor.LST, Extra¢ .BAS, Extended.OBJ, SetPoke.OBJ,¢ FunctionKey.BAS, CX85.PAD-number pad),¢ CX85.PAD II, BubbleSort, SGIN.PUT,¢ Out.PUT, LoadIt, Blind.LST, Rider.BAS,¢ Blink, Scroll, Tobasic.OBJ Then onto¢ S/2: Format.OBJ, TheMaid, etc. (As AL¢ SHARKIS reviewe d what this disk¢ offered, he couldn't stop raving!) A¢ TRUE 8 BIT GOLDMINE!¢¢ We next saw a double density disk¢ with a mixture of graphics, games and¢ other programs such as to test the¢ speed of your disk drive. It is a one¢ sided disk. Library disk # 572.¢¢ DOOR PRIZES:¢¢ 1. JOEL GEDALIUS¢ 2. HARRY TUTHILL¢ 3. RON FETZER¢ 4. ALAN SHARKIS¢¢ The meeting then adjourned at¢ 5:00 P.M..¢ ¢ Submitted by¢ ALEX PIGNATO¢ =><=¢
