¢**********************************¢¢MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 1991 MEETING¢------- -- --- ------- ---- -------¢¢GENERAL MEETING:¢¢ALEX PIGNATO welcomed the attending¢OL' HACKERS to the start of our¢SEVENTH YEAR. With the snow falling¢very heavy on FRIDAY evening not many¢members were sure that there would be¢a meeting on SATURDAY-(no matter what¢the conditions outside, what better¢place to wait out the storm than an¢OL' HACKER meeting)?¢¢Next ALEX nominated, THOMAS J.¢ANDREWS, ACE of SYRACUSE-as an¢HONORARY OL' HACKER member, our first¢such designation. This motion was¢passed unanimously by the members (¢Welcome aboard THOMAS).¢¢Then ALEX passed on club wishes that¢JOE LEBER has a healthy and a good¢year in 1991. For work and family¢health, 1990 was one of JOE's worst in¢his memory.¢¢The club was then made aware that both¢NIEK VANDERLEE and ALAN SHARKIS¢donated many books to the club. These¢books will be used to form a club¢library whereas the members will be¢able to borrow them as needed. A¢listing will be available at the¢FEBRUARY meeting.¢¢HAROLD PEGLER, our new librarian,¢stated he expects the new updated¢library disk listing to be available¢at the FEBRUARY meeting.¢¢TREASURY/MINUTES REPORTS:¢¢AL ATKINS read the current treasury¢report and stated that approximately¢half of the members had paid their¢1991 dues. The minutes for DECEMBER¢are on the new newsletter disk that¢was distributed by CARLOS HURTADO, so¢ALEX read them to the members (all 105¢sectors, 2000 plus words). RON FETZER¢made a motion to accept both as read¢and HAROLD PEGLER seconded the motion,¢it then passed unaniously.¢¢VOTING, CLUB OFFICERS:¢¢ALEX asked if there were any¢additional nominations for club¢officers, none were forth coming. A¢motion was made by ALAN SHARKIS to¢have the SECRETARY cast one vote for¢the slate nominated. CARLOS seconded¢this motion. The SECRETARY, AL ATKINS,¢then cast that one vote. The slate¢appears in this newsletter under¢"WHO's WHO". Observation, from the¢start ALEX PIGNATO appeared to be a¢shoo-in to be elected PRESIDENT. His¢impending retirement, MARCH 1ST, will¢now make it possible for him to devote¢60 to 80 hours per week to club¢activities.¢¢CORRESPONDENCE:¢¢CHRISTMAS CARDS were received from¢J.C.PETTY, who is once again stateside¢in PENNICOLA, FLORIDA. ALSO a card¢from SOFTWARE INFINITY, STATE COLLEGE,¢PA., who are sole distributors of "KE¢SOFT", GERMANY (software and manuals¢are in English).¢¢ALEX read THOMAS ANDREWS letter¢explaining the modified version of¢KRIS HOLTAGAARD'S "NL PROGRAM". TOM¢offered his apology to KRIS for¢altering his great program. a. The¢file reflected the changes. b.¢Increased efficiency of the program,¢allowing for more files. c. In order¢to print properly, all text must have¢characters of 39 or fewer characters,¢per line. d. Prints page headings and¢date of newsletter on numbered pages¢(ALEX printed out copies to exhibit).¢e. It will print different sizes of¢print at users option. f. The letter¢[A] is now reserved for printing all¢files, or the user may select and¢print in any order.¢¢ALEX then suggested that all future¢files "NL" articles have a beginning¢and ending identification, such as¢couple of asteriks.¢¢DEMONSTRATIONS:¢¢JACK GEDALIUS demoed "MAPWARE", a¢program that displays the world in a¢number of configurations. Jack started¢"MAPWARE" in motion at the beginning¢of our meeting as the program is very¢slow drawing the coordinates to form¢the map. JACK had entered the¢LONGITUDE and LATITUDE that chose¢PENNSYLVANIA as the center of his map.¢He had preprinted a number of¢different maps and passed them around¢for inspection of the finished¢product. Jacks homework really paid¢off with an excellant demo!¢¢HAROLD PEGLER came in with "TIMEWISE"¢a commercial 1982 ATARI PROGRAM. A¢program that can be used to schedule¢appointments and keep a daily diary.¢It consists of a program and a data¢disk and can be used with one or two¢disk drives. Being menu driven you are¢lead into and through the program. The¢main menu will have inputs such as¢DATE, TIME, PERSON, TYPE, EVENT,¢PLACE, COMMENTS, INQUIRY, BROWSE,¢UPDATE, to chose from. All records and¢future appointments may be selected¢for search, then displayed or printed.¢Like "PRINT SHOP" a monthly calendar¢with dates, time, type, and comments¢could be printed for carrying and easy¢access. Using his own personal files,¢HAROLD, walked the members through all¢phases of the program. He sure knew¢the program. Another great DEMO.¢¢ALEX demoed the IOWA "M.A.G.I.C. Club¢DOM", disks from AUGUST, SEPTEMBER and¢OCTOBER. Everyone of them is loaded¢with excellent programs (two sided)¢and are fantasic disks. Each disk¢contains a synopsis concerning every¢program on the screen.¢¢"BACKGAMMON" was found on one side of¢the OCTOBER '90 disk. As a communal¢effort everyone tried their hand at¢explaining and playing this game. No¢one was right!¢¢The AUGUST '90 M.A.G.I.C. disk¢displayed at a previous meeting was¢shown again. The disk has digitized¢pictures of LAUREL and HARDY, FOURTH¢OF JULY FLAG, conversions between U.S.¢and METRIC measurements, binary file¢information and others.¢¢Alex researched the archives of¢COMPUTE, ANTIC and ANALOG magazines to¢create a special disk of indispensable¢utility type programs for the user and¢programmer.¢¢He lead off with his docs called¢"KEYLOADR.BAS" which will load¢"KEYCODE" from COMPUTE MAGAZINE MARCH¢1986. The program also does automatic¢line numbering. The program has many¢commands such as graphics, color, data¢and line numbering. The order number¢program using softkey with auto¢numbering increments in line numbers¢chosen by you.¢¢Next came "CATALOG.BAS" a menu drive¢program which will run basic programs,¢no binary here. Catalog has a screen¢menu which can be more than one screen¢long. You are asked to select your¢choice, Run, Delete, Next Page, etc.¢Upon selecting the highlighted letter,¢the command will be executed.¢¢"ERROR.BAS" and "ERROR.DOC" the latter¢typed up by our JOE LEBER allows you¢to write your own words¢(documentation) for all the errors¢that might be experienced. As an¢example, Error 138 might pop up,¢having previously documented this¢error, you now see on the screen¢"ERROR 138, printer has not been¢turned on." The user now does not have¢to go searching for his "ERROR¢MESSAGE" listing. In order to fully¢use the "ERROR REPORT SYSTEM" you¢start with a disk having all of the¢error messages correctly recorded on¢it. The "ERROR REPORT WRITER" can be¢used to create your own custom error¢manual. It will ask you for an error¢number and it's matching message. The¢message is then written to disk under¢the appropriate error number file.¢¢"WRITER.DOC", documentation written by¢JOE LEBER, to explain the usuage of¢this program.¢¢"TRACER.EXE" a three sector program,¢with instructions. This program is¢used for programs that have a bug in¢them. As the program is executed the¢line numbers show up at top of screen,¢it will stop where a problem exist.¢¢"RENUMBERING.BAS" program goes into¢memory. Can only be used by listing.¢By hitting "L" key, program loads into¢memory, hitting any other key it will¢create the program "D:RENUMBER.OBJ" .¢¢"TYPOTOOL.LST" is a line lister and¢data reader. Hitting any key will slow¢down the scrolling screen (pause).¢¢"HOME LOAN ANALYSIS" a 1982 ANTIC¢MAGAZINE program that will provide you¢with purchase and loan information by¢pumping in known numbers. The program¢allows you to view results¢year-by-year on the screen, change one¢number and get a different result, or¢print a hard copy.¢¢"SEARCH VARIABLES LIST", Actually¢lists all your variables, prints them¢out with line numbers on screen or¢printer.¢¢Having shown a large portion of¢programs on side 1, ALEX went to the¢flip side to continue demonstration of¢his custom made disk.¢¢Starting on side 2 with "LABELPRT" a¢program that ALEX gets a lot of¢mileage out of. He demoed how changing¢line number 340 and 2000 changes the¢disk drive number. Then changing line¢310 will change the size of the print¢on the label.¢¢Talk about getting a lot of mileage¢from one program, next on display was¢ALEX'S all time favorite, "FINGERS".¢"FINGERS" is a BASIC program. Let's¢play a game...OK? If I can explain how¢the demo worked and you are at least¢six years old or older then there is¢no reason why you can't have fun with¢"FINGERS". ("R" = RETURN KEY)¢¢1. Boot program up. It will ask for a¢letter, hit "K"..."R" (unless you have¢the ALEX modified program, which does¢it for you). 2. Screen shows ready¢for input, to go to DOS, type¢"DOS"..."R" 3. To load hit "L"..,¢then type in your program, & hit "R"¢to load a BINARY program. 4. Type "B"¢to go to BASIC..."R" 5. At ready¢prompt, type, RUN "D:YOURFIL.* (your¢file name)..."R" 6. Hit [CTRL 3],¢(This step tells the computer you are¢now finished with commands).. 7.¢Program asks "DISK or CASSETTE?", hit¢letter "D"..."R" 8. If you have an¢AUTORUN program on the disk, it will¢ask if you want to append the AUTORUN¢on top of the other AUTORUN? Answer¢"YES or NO"..."R" 9. If no AUTORUN¢appears on the disk, the question will¢not be asked. 10. The next 2 questions¢concerns load and numbers. Hit "R"¢each time (twice) 11. Program now ask,¢"WHAT SPEED?"(1 is fastest, 9 is¢slowest). Select a number for desired¢speed. "#"... 12. The program will now¢put your efforts on disk as an¢AUTORUN.SYS (2 Sectors) 13. Every time¢you boot this disk up, that disk will¢automatically go through these¢commands and run the selected¢program.¢¢I took time out to try running¢"FINGERS", It works great, now we both¢know how to use this handy andy¢program.¢¢"COLUMN40" came next, a text formatted¢1990 program by THOMAS ANDREWS, A.C.E.¢SYRACUSE, using runtime, load¢"D:COL40.CTB, ALEX went through the¢DOC SOURCE that explains this¢program.¢¢Again, time ran out just when we were¢having fun. Side 2 contained many,¢many more programs yet to be demoed.¢At least we now have a seed for the¢FEBRUARY meeting.¢¢Before the ATARI equipment setups¢could be broken down, RON FETZER moved¢with lighting speed and came up with a¢beauty. The members had no idea what¢was to come as he typed in RUN¢"D:COMPILER.DOC. UP popped his image,¢a digitized picture, by far the¢clearest picture any member had ever¢seen on an ATARI COMPUTER. He has a¢digitizer called "EASY SCAN". It's a¢cartridge with a long fiberoptic¢cable. While the picture is being¢printed the fiberoptic cable scans the¢picture and loads it on the disk.¢¢DOOR PRIZE:¢¢No, I didn't forget to list prizes or¢winners of the JANUARY DOOR PRIZES.¢DOOR PRIZES was as always on the¢monthly agenda but the first time in¢memory, no way could it be squeezed¢in. Maybe FEBRUARY will bring double¢prizes?¢¢FUTURE MEETING DATES:¢¢Future meeting dates for the OL'¢HACKERS ATARI USER GROUP are:¢¢FEBRUARY 9, 1991 MAY 11, 1991¢MARCH 9, 1991 JUNE 1, 1991¢APRIL 13, 1991¢¢All dates are a SATURDAY and are¢scheduled for the PLAINVIEW/OLD¢BETHPAGE LIBRARY. Remember........the¢next OL' HACKERS ATARI USER GROUP¢meeting is scheduled for FEBRUARY 9,¢1991, at 11:30am.¢¢ Sincerely,¢¢¢ AL ATKINS¢**********¢
