<><><><><><>¢ 8 BIT NEWS REVIEW¢ Review of the OHAUG Newsletter¢ Disk¢ By Louis F. Trapani¢¢ After much procrastination I¢ finally joined the OL' HACKERS ATARI¢ USERS GROUP, Inc.. One of the¢ reasons I had been putting it off was¢ the fact that it is very difficult¢ for me to attend the monthly¢ meetings. If I joined I would want to¢ feel like I was a part of the group.¢ Since OHAUG did not have a BBS¢ running, I did not know how I could¢ feel as if I was a member and that it¢ would be worth my while. Then ALEX¢ PIGNATO, the president, told me of¢ their disk based newsletters. He¢ assured me that they do come out on a¢ regular basis and that I would¢ undeniably receive them. I figured¢ this might make it worth joining.¢¢ So I looked forward to receiving¢ my first newsletter, which quickly¢ came soon afterwards. I had received¢ disk based newsletters and¢ newsletters ARCed in a file before.¢ For the most part they just consisted¢ of a large text file or several text¢ files, which you would read off the¢ disk. But when I saw that the OHAUG¢ Newsletter was a menu driven disk, I¢ could not be happier. It made reading¢ the newsletter a delight and easy to¢ do. This in my opinion is a big plus.¢ In addition there are some BASIC¢ files on the disk as well and by¢ hitting the space bar, it will run¢ them for you! As a BONUS, there¢ usually are more BASIC or MACHINE¢ LANGUAGE files!¢¢ The newsletter itself is filled¢ with interesting articles and facts.¢ Plus, you receive the minutes of the¢ meeting. Now this may sound like a¢ dull venture for some, but since I¢ can not attend the meetings, I found¢ that by reading them I feel as if I¢ was there anyway. There are many¢ important issues to cover at club¢ meetings. By keeping on top of the¢ minutes of the meeting, I feel that I¢ am kept posted on club events.¢¢ The format and the substance of¢ the newsletter is what really brings¢ it alive. If you are reading this in¢ the OL' HACKERS Newsletter you must¢ already realize what it has to offer.¢ What I just stated was an outsiders¢ first opinion. I do not know whether¢ it can be considered an outside¢ opinion now, since now I am a member¢ as well.¢¢ Since I am new to the OHAUG, let¢ me just introduce myself. My first¢ computer was the ATARI 800XL when it¢ first came out. Since then, I have¢ become a heavy ATARI user with ALL¢ ATARI computers (i.e. STE, Portfolio,¢ Falcon (in the future)). I am a¢ System Operator (SysOp) of an ATARI¢ BBS that is running on a 130XE. All¢ OHAUG members are welcome to call THE¢ MACHINE 516-764-5748 and receive¢ OHAUG access. I am a learner.¢ Everyday I try to learn a little more¢ about the little friendly machines we¢ call ATARI.¢¢ <><><> END <><><>¢
