¢A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO ALL¢ ATARIANS¢**************************************¢¢ MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 1990 MEETING¢¢ GENERAL MEETING:¢¢ T'was the meeting before Christmas¢and what could be more fitting than an¢added attraction such as a "MAGIC¢SHOW". Our newsletter editor, CARLOS¢HURTADO, displayed a hidden talent¢very few members knew he pocessed, but¢more about that later.¢¢ ALEX opened the meeting by wishing¢all a MERRY CHRISTMAS, and a HAPPY¢HANUKKAH. The OL' HACKERS have¢received some early Christmas cards,¢the first one being from BOB BRODIE,¢Group User Manager, from the ATARI¢CORPORATION, then from ICD, even tho¢they are no longer into 8 BIT¢computing, and a third from ANDREW¢BUONGIORNO, an old exmember.¢¢ ALEX PIGNATO passed around samples¢of Christmas labels made from the¢program "P/S LABLER". The special¢feature of these samples was that they¢were made with red addresses and green¢xmas tree. By changing the color of¢the ribbon ALEX was able to create a¢seasonal greeting label. ¢¢ ALEX also displayed three articles¢from the "M.U.G. NEWSLETTER" or just¢plain "CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA¢MICROCOMPUTER USER GROUPS NEWS". They¢were "An Open Letter to All Club¢Members" by ALEX PIGNATO, "ATARI the¢GAME MACHINE?" by CARLOS HURTADO, and¢"BASIC PROGRAMMING for BEGINNERS" by¢STAN "The PILLMAN" SCHENFELD (Way to¢go fellows!).¢¢ JOE LEBER is the first member to¢type out an old "SOFTSIDE MAGAZINE"¢type in program called "At the CODFISH¢BALL".¢¢ From NETA FILLMORE, BAKERSFIELD,¢CALIFORNIA, she has foreign names and¢adresses for those who wish to¢correspond with pen pals world wide.¢She brought to the "B.A.C.E. LINE¢BAKERSFIELD ATARI COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS¢raffle, several foreign decals and a¢new disk sent to her by the OL'¢HACKERS CLUB.¢¢ From J.A.C.G., the JERSEY ATARI¢COMPUTER GROUP, a thank you for our¢DOM (Disk of the Month) for¢NOVEMBER/DECEMBER on on one side,¢which brings them up todate with the¢SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER issue, also with a¢good bowling program and "The STORY¢CONTINUES". ALEX combined two issues,¢one on each side of a disk, and JACG¢has entered them into their club¢library.¢¢ ALEX read outgoing JACG president's¢message from DAVE NOYES to our¢members. It concerned his mixed¢feeling over leadership, the emotional¢and physical drain that is associated¢with it. He also stated that FUN is¢what the club is all about and that's¢what doing things for a club should¢be, FUN, NOT A CHORE!¢¢ ALEX reread ANTHONY FALCONE'S¢letter, having first read it at our¢annual club dinner. ANTHONY stated he¢had enjoyed reading the stack of other¢club's newsletters he borrowed at the¢last meeting. Because of school work¢and finals at COOPERS UNION he will be¢unable to attend the next two monthly¢meetings. However, he has some new¢programs given to him by members and¢he is trying to learn them. He did not¢count on this extra learning process.¢¢ ALEX read member NICK VANDERLEE'S¢latest letter from the wilds of¢CANADA. There aren't too many¢eight-bitters in his neck of the¢woods,so he is very happy he is a¢member of OL' H. Through¢correspondance with other clubs he¢does pickup some eight-bit disks to¢enjoy.¢¢¢ The "CLEVATARI NEWSLETTER" for¢OCTOBER 1990 carried an article "The¢OL' HACKER'S DO IT AGAIN". This column¢referred to our disk newsletter and¢forced the writer to dust off his old¢ATARI 800 one more time in order to¢read the newsletter with the slick¢looking menu with a help key. As he¢stated each member would be required¢to use his ATARI eight-bit computer at¢least once a month just to read the¢newsletter. Being exclusively an¢eight-bit club our ATARI'S do get a¢lot of mileage each and every month¢and the incentive is turned up a notch¢when the club newsletter is issued. He¢gave us a great compliment, in saying¢we were on of the STRONGEST 8 BIT¢CLUBS!¢¢ ANNUAL DINNER:¢¢ BOB DEPOTO gave a report on the¢ANNUAL OL' HACKERS CHRISTMAS DINNER.¢As in the past the dinner was well¢attended and enjoyed by all. Besides¢the summer picnic this is the only¢other occasion where our wives join us¢for some merriment. Adding to the¢pleasure of the evening were some¢former ATARIANS who went on to "BIG¢BLUE", but it was still nice to party¢with them.¢¢ DOOR PRIZES:¢¢ Christmas came early as ALEX coming¢on as SANTA's HELPER, emptied the¢barrel during the spinning of the¢"DOOR PRIZE" program. Would you¢believe, most members collected as¢many as three prizes that included¢Disks, Games, Utilities,¢Documentation, Disk Holders, etc..¢¢ One member commented "We got a years¢supply of door prizes at one meeting".¢It was really a great CHRISTMAS¢meeting!¢¢ IN keeping with the season, Coffee¢and Cake during the break were on the¢house.¢¢ MINUTES/TREASURY REPORTS:¢¢ The minutes were accepted as written¢and AL ATKINS gave a healthy year end¢treasury report.¢¢ In addition AL, representing the¢nominations committee, gave the¢members a proposed slate of club¢officers for 1991. The proposed¢nominations are as follows:¢¢ PRESIDENT ALEX PIGNATO¢ VICE-PRESIDENT STAN SCHENFELD¢ SECRETARY GINA BRYANT¢ TREASURY AL ATKINS¢ LIBRIAN HAROLD PEGLER¢ LEGAL COUNCIL JERRY GINSBERG¢ CO-EDITORS "NL" CARLOS HURTADO¢ ALEX PIGNATO¢ EQUIPMENT MANAGER HARRY TUTHILL¢ INT'L CORRESPONDENT HORST DEWITZ¢¢ BOB DEPOTO made a motion to accept¢the slate of officers proposed by the¢nominating committee as presented and¢the motion was seconded by RON FETZER.¢As no other people were nominated,¢nominations were closed. Motion passed¢unanimously. Voting will be at the¢JANUARY 12th meeting by paid up 1991¢members.¢¢ BLACK MOON SYSTEMS:¢¢ CARLOS then demo'd a commerical¢program from BLACK MOON SYSTEMS,¢"LabelMaster". This program was¢donated by the author to our library¢through CARLOS. LabelMaster comes as a¢two disk set. CARLOS used version 1.7¢for his demo pointing out that one of¢it's best features of the labeling¢program is that it will print as a¢multi column labeler, two or three¢columns across. Looks like a super¢program for the ten dollar price.¢LabelMaster will complement the "SMALL¢BUSINESS" program from the same¢company. Their address is:¢¢¢ BLACK MOON SYSTEMS¢ P.O. BOX 152¢ WINDGAP, PA. 18091¢¢ MAGIC SHOW:¢¢ The entire membership was taken by¢suprise when our newsletter editor¢CARLOS HURTADO put on a "MAGIC SHOW".¢Very few members knew this side of¢him.¢¢ CARLOS went thru the following¢sleight of hand acts, in this order:¢¢ 1. "THE NEWSPAPER TRICK"- after¢having HARRY TUTHILL tear a newspaper¢into many small pieces, HARRY was¢asked to roll them into a ball. When¢he opened, the paper was again in it's¢orginal condition.¢¢ 2. "THE UMBRELLA"- multi colored¢pieces of cloth, when twisted into a¢tube, out comes an umbrella.¢¢ 3. "RECORDS"- three black records¢inserted into a folder, then when¢taken out they are now BLUE, YELLOW¢and RED, after examination the folder¢is empty.¢¢ 4. "THE ROPE TRICK"- a rope is cut¢in half, then cut again, and again, a¢knot is tied on the rope, moved to be¢centered and suddenly it is again one¢piece.¢¢ 5. "COLORED PAPER"- orange and black¢paper, torn three times, balled up,¢blown on and comes out a hat with¢flowers.¢¢ 6. "100 DOLLAR BILL"- two tricks in¢one. First in getting a member to part¢with a $100 dollar bill. CARLOS talked¢his pigeon BOB DEPOTO, into giving him¢a hundred dollar bill, (pretty good¢trick so far). The bill was marked for¢identification, folded and rolled up¢and the bill was then suspended under¢a handkerchief, when the handkerchief¢is dropped, no hundred dollar bill!¢CARLOS had placed a small tube with a¢screw top and a lock and key, on a¢work table. When BOB unlocked the tube¢and screwed the top off, a sigh of¢relief came out of him as he got back¢his $100. Carlos was given a big hand¢for an excellent show. The computer¢demonstrations almost seemed like a¢let down after that act of sorcery.¢¢ DEMONSTRATIONS:¢¢ ALAN SHARKIS lead off the demos with¢some files he found in his collection¢that have been around for awhile,¢"Oldie's, But Goodies". Thinking that¢some OL' HACKERS may not have seen¢them or forgotten them, or just might¢enjoy seeing them once more.¢¢ First up was a cute little¢simulation, "SANTA BBS". You dial¢1-2no-rth-pole, make a connection,¢then receive the following dialoque.¢Have you ever been here before? no,¢what is your name? Santa is listening,¢HO, HO, HO, RUDOLPH is eager to see¢you. Many members began thinking of¢how wonderful it would be to have this¢program during the coming season.¢¢ ALAN then went through "XMAS TREE¢CONSTRUCTION SET" a program from the¢old FAMILY COMPUTING MAGAZINE.¢¢ Next was "CAPITAL" a monopoly type¢game of high finance. Two, three or¢four players are allowed, where you¢roll the dice, land on a property, you¢then have an opportunity to purchase¢that property.¢¢ A program "PRYZM" puts 256 colors on¢the screen (try focusing your eyes on¢that graphic). The programmer¢alternates between two graphic modes¢to create a slide show. A drawing¢program is on the reverse side.¢¢ "X-WORD" a word puzzle, 26 of them¢to be exact. Documentation for X-WORD¢is included on the disk. Great program¢for those who can't throw away a¢newspaper without doing the crossword¢puzzle.¢¢ "COMPUTER ART GRAPHICS" a 1985¢GERMAN disk with fantastic graphics¢for a SLOT MACHINE operation in GERMAN¢of course.¢¢ ALAN'S wrap up demo was a commerical¢program "HANUKKAH DISK", that¢contained a number of religious¢programs and ALAN choose the DREIBEL¢game to attempt to clear up a couple¢of mysterys that surrounds HANUKKAH,¢one of the biggest mysterys of all is¢what is this gambling game that¢everybody is talking about. This¢program probably explains it better¢than any explanation yet heard and it¢still leaves some mystery. It depends¢on a spin of the DREIBEL whether you¢get to bet against the computer, pick¢up the pot, get half the pot, double¢the money in the pot. In DREIBEL 1000¢which is a different version you get¢the numerical value of the letter¢where the DREIBEL lands on (every¢letter in the HEBREW alphabet has a¢numerical value), so you get a word by¢putting the letters together and¢counting the numerical values. The¢first one to reach 1000 gets their¢choice of games. ALAN selected CARLOS¢and HARRY to play a game. It's very¢simple "LEARN WHILE YOU PLAY".¢¢ Had enough?....plenty more to come.¢¢ RON FETZER stepped up to show us¢"COMPILING MADE EASY" using a demo¢disk program about 30 lines in length,¢written in BASIC. Demonstrating how¢slow the program ran, then to make an¢autorun disk you take the compiler for¢TURBO BASIC and put the file¢AUTORUN.CTB on your disk and rename it¢RUNTIME.COM. RON then demoed by using¢the program to compile a disk and¢putting it on a prepared disk. Nothing¢to it, now we all know how to do it.¢¢ Want more? ALEX took his turn and¢reviewed many of his favorites. One¢word of advice, he suggested was that¢if TURBO BASIC runs the program too¢fast, go into the program and change¢the speed to your satisfaction.¢¢ Alex went through "DOMINOS" a¢commerical program by EMI an ENGLISH¢CO.. ALEX held his own until the¢computer came on strong at the end.¢¢ Then came "OL' HACKER'S FINANCE"¢which comes in single and enhanced¢density. Finance help is available¢throughout the many money programs¢contained on the disk. A real BIG¢BARGAIN in our LIBRARY! (BUY THIS¢ONE!)¢¢ How about "AUTODIALER UTILITY" for¢use with touch tone phones. Enter your¢most used telephone numbers into a¢file, select a number to be dialed¢from a menu, hold the phone near your¢monitor speaker, hit start and you¢have simulated tones doing your¢dialing. The option key will redial¢for you.¢¢ Keeping up with the HOLIDAY SEASON,¢ALEX finished with two appropriate¢seasonal disks. First was HIGH TECH¢EXPRESSIONS, "JINGLE DISK". The disk¢contains three programs, "CREATE a¢GREETING CARD", "HOLIDAY GREETINGS"¢and "CHRISTMAS TREE", a complete story¢with Xmas Tree, Santa Claus, toy¢soldiers, model railroad train, mice¢and a pussy cat. What else could you¢ask for?¢¢ In closing, ALEX went through¢SPINNAKER'S "CHRISTMAS SAMPLER"¢showing a poem "T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE¢CHRISTMAS". Always a teriffic disk to¢generate enjoyment at this time of¢year.¢¢ HAROLD PEGLER agreed to delay the¢demo of his program, "TIMEWISE" until¢the JANUARY meeting as once again,¢five hours had flown by at jet speed¢and the library was closing shortly,¢but nobody was too anxious to leave.¢¢ALL IN ALL, IT WAS ONE HECK OF A GREAT¢MEETING, IN LINE WITH THE GREAT¢HOLIDAY SEASON!¢¢ FUTURE MEETING DATES:¢¢ Future meeting dates for the OL'¢HACKERS ATARI USER GROUP are:¢¢ JANUARY 12, 1991 APRIL 13, 1991¢ FEBRARY 9, 1991 MAY 11, 1991¢ MARCH 9, 1991 JUNE 1, 1991¢¢ All dates are SATURDAY and are¢scheduled for the PLAINVIEW/OLD¢BETHPAGE LIBRARY.¢¢ Remember........ the next OL'¢HACKERS ATARI USER GROUP meeting is¢scheduled for JANUARY 12th, at¢11:30am¢¢ Sincerely,¢¢ AL ATKINS¢ ¢
