¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢ Newsletter Review¢¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ The S.A,G.E. Scroll for April, 1992¢ announces that the club is moving. I¢ assume the mailing address remains¢ that same box number listed on all¢ previous issues, and I'm sure we wish¢ the club continued good luck and¢ success in their new quarters. This¢ particular issue contains no¢ specifically 8-bit information, but¢ does make good reading if you are a¢ LYNX fan or are interested in the¢ promised new machines from Atari.¢¢ The LIAUG Light House for April, 1992¢ contains part 3 of The Adventures in¢ Structured Programming series by¢ MICHAEL STOMP. This was reprinted¢ from Z*NET issue #201(January 12,¢ 1992).¢ ¢ The LIAUG Light House for May, 1992¢ features "A history of LIAUG ... the¢ beginnings", bu PAT MULVEY, who¢ served as the club's BBS sysop for a¢ while, and still serves as its 8-bit¢ program chairman. The issue also¢ reprints an article called, "Living¢ With an 8-Bit", by JIM BROZOVICH,¢ reprinted from Michigan Atari¢ Magazine. It is an interesting¢ description of the author's efforts¢ to achieve a measure of IBM-¢ compatibility with his 800XL,¢ including upgrades and instructions¢ to transfer word processor and¢ spreadsheet data from Atari-based¢ programs to IBM-based programs. This¢ article was reprinted from Z*NET¢ issue #201 (January 12, 1992). It¢ also appears in an OL' HACKER¢ newsletter.¢¢ The S.A.G.E. Scroll for May, 1992¢ contains, in its Local News Column,¢ mention of a letter that ALEX PIGNATO¢ sent to the club when they lamented¢ the poor sales of their disk-based¢ newsletter. Alex suggested a price¢ cut to solve their problems and they¢ thanked us for the suggestion. This¢ issue also reports that ATARI¢ EXPLORER is now offering an on-line¢ newsletter. It will have help not¢ only from Atari Corp. and Atari¢ Explorer Magazine, but from the Z*NET¢ people, as well. In fact, Z*NET will¢ cease publication as the new on-line¢ magazine begins. Several phone¢ numbers and CIS addresses are given¢ for those who want information. JIM¢ GURIEL tells us how he, as a new 8-¢ bit owner, became a member of¢ S.A.G.E. A copy of the final report¢ of the Campaign Committee for ATARI¢ CLASSICS Magazine is also printed in¢ this issue, as well as KEN WICKERT's¢ article on the uses of 8-bit¢ ramdisks.¢¢ The May, 1992 Between Bytes contains¢ a column by ROBERT ELY that describes¢ two new "rooms" on the JACS BBS that¢ are of interest to 8-bitters. One¢ contains a collection of SpartaDos¢ utilities, and the other is a¢ discussion base for ML programming.¢ Robert also describes the workings of¢ a program he is writing in BASIC XE¢ that will serve as a fram grabber for¢ color video images.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for May, 1992 has two long¢ lists that many of you would like to¢ have. One is BBS Smiles and contains¢ all of those crazy symbols you¢ sometimes see in BBS messages --¢ symbols that are made with standard¢ ASCII characters and are supposed to¢ look like faces with specific¢ expressions if you tilt your head to¢ the left to read them. The author,¢ SPACE COWBOY (I'm not kidding, that's¢ his handle) presents the most¢ comprehensive list of those things¢ I've ever seen. It's amusing just to¢ read -- even if you never use that¢ kind of thing. Another list,¢ courtesy of LVAUG, is a rather¢ comprehensive list of filename¢ extenders for Atari files. Well, I¢ can think of ONE that they left out;¢ .PIL for Atari PILOT files, but¢ that's about it. This is a useful¢ list to have handy, since you¢ sometimes come across a file with an¢ unusual extender, and knowing the¢ extender definition will give you a¢ clue about what you can do with the¢ file. JAMES G. MARTIN writes an¢ interesting article about PacMan. ¢ President ALVAN SHERRILL's Beginners¢ Column warns us about unplugging¢ equipment (even equipment plugged¢ into a surge protector) when¢ lightning is prevalent. An article¢ taken from the WNYAUG disk newsletter¢ from November 1991 by Mike Husband,¢ entitled, "Fundamental Computer¢ Programming" is extremely¢ informative. Check it out!¢¢ The May/June issue of XIO3 is filled¢ with 8-bit news. ROWLAND GRANT's¢ Atari News & Rumors column has to be¢ read carefully to pick out the 8-bit¢ material, but along the way you might¢ get a few hints of things that Atari¢ Corp. will be doing soon that would¢ indicate that the company plans to¢ stay in business and be a major force¢ in the industry. The General¢ Meetings column, also by Rowland,¢ contains even more 8-bit news,¢ including some fine programs by JOHN¢ PICKEN. In fact, almost every column¢ in this issue has 8-bit-related¢ material.¢¢ The Atari News Section of MUG¢ Newsletter for June, 1992 contains a¢ reprint of the last of JIMMY BOYCE's¢ (CACE) series on AtariWriter+. He is¢ concerned this month with the SUBSET¢ concept in the mail-merge part of the¢ program. There is also a reprint of¢ TOM ANDREWS' review of Sign Maker.¢¢ L.V.A.U.G. News for June, 1992 is¢ devoted almost entirely to Part II of¢ MIKE STOLIKER's SpartaDos Tutorial¢ series. Mike takes us through the¢ directory structure and has us create¢ a disk with many directories and¢ subdirectories. All of the related¢ commands are explained, illustrated,¢ and reviewed. JAMES G. MARTIN's¢ article, "Pride In The Atari¢ Classic", from April 1992 (FR)ANTIC¢ is reprinted.¢¢ SLCC Journal for June, 1992 contains¢ a rather lengthy article by BOB¢ WOOLEY about the use of computers in¢ classrooms. This article, while not¢ specific to the 8-bit, is still an¢ interesting one to read.¢¢ +*+*+*+*+*+ END +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢
