************************¢ Newsletter Reviews¢ by¢ Alan Sharkis¢ ************************¢¢¢I have received a large collection of¢newsletters for review in this issue,¢so without further comment, here¢goes:¢¢From January, 1990 JACG Newsletter:¢David Dvorin shows us how to use the¢Atari 8-bit to work on MS-DOS files.¢It is a three-part article, and this¢first part talks about files in¢general. He differentiates files by¢their most commonly used filename¢extenders (MS-DOS files use the same¢xxxxxxxx.xxx filespec as Atari 8-bit¢files), distinguishes between program¢and data files, and gives examples of¢each. Niel Van Oost gives us a grand¢tour of picture print programs and¢graphics converter programs. He¢mentions a program called "Snapshot",¢bearing a copyright date of 1985 by¢Joy Fox Productions which can convert¢between many formats and print out to¢an Okimate 10 printer in 50 or more¢colors or to an Epson-compatible¢printer in true grey-scale. He also¢mentions the popular Picture Plus from¢ANTIC, which I have used with great¢success. There are reviews of¢SYNCALC, WIZARD'S CROWN, and RESCUE ON¢FRACTALUS. The newsletter is¢reprinting Z-NET, which has gone to¢disk, and there is an interesting¢article by Elliot John Coerper of¢Osan, Korea about surviving as an¢8-bitter. If you haven't read it,¢please do so.¢¢The February, 1990 print copy of Z-Net¢itself contains many small references¢to 8-bit hardware and software, as¢well as ads from Innovative Concepts¢and Computer Software Services, two¢companies that make and sell many¢hardware and software enhancements for¢our 8-bits.¢¢In the February, 1990 JACG Newsletter,¢Dave Dvorin continues his article on¢using your 8-bit with MS-DOS files.¢This time he goes over what is needed¢to connect the two machines, complete¢with a pin-out diagram of a null-modem¢cable, which would work well if the¢two machines are physically close.¢(Note: I made a much less elaborate¢cable, connecting only signal and¢ground leads, and it works well with¢my setup.) He also states that if both¢machines have modems, you could¢transfer files from one to the other¢via telephone lines. Such a setup¢would work best of the machines are¢some distance from each other. In¢fact, if a friendly BBS will give you¢some disk space, you could use it as a¢temporary repository for the files to¢be transferred. Dave Arlington writes¢an article explaining the memory map¢of the 8-bits, with the emphasis on¢memory functioning, rather than ML¢programming. It's the simplest¢explanation of the functioning of RAM,¢ROM, the 6502 microprocessor and the¢"special" Atari 8-bit chips I've ever¢seen.¢¢The March, 1990 JACG Newsletter¢contains the conclusion of (you¢guessed it) Dave Dvorin's three-part¢article. In this final part, Dave¢gives specific step-by-step¢instructions for creating, converting¢and transferring DIF and ASCII files¢from Lotus 1-2-3 (release 2.01), dBase¢III+ and IV and WordPerfect 5.0 to¢Synfile, Syncalc and AtariWriter Plus,¢respectively. Niel Van Oost, Jr.¢reviews Textpro 4.54, Thomas E. Graf¢tells how to generate Bezier Curves¢(these are necessary for any CAD¢program to function) with the 8-bit,¢including sample BASIC program¢modules. Dave Arlington reviews the¢game, UNIVERSE.¢¢In the A.C.E. of Syracuse Newsletter¢of April, 1990, Ken Wickert describes¢the installation of a 320K upgrade for¢the 130XE from Electronic Dimensions.¢Mike Maroney writes a letter in which¢he expresses the wish that all¢8-bitters make full use of the PD¢libraries available through user¢groups. He feels that such use will¢keep the machines viable. Thomas¢Andrews writes an article about¢sorting on the 8-bits. Thomas assumes¢that we are familiar with several¢types of sort module and we know how¢to program them in one language or¢another, and he takes us one step¢beyond with some simple tricks like¢turning off the screen, using a¢compiled version of a language (Turbo¢BASIC us suggested), breaking up the¢list to be sorted, using RAM-based¢data bases rather than disk-based data¢bases, and using indexed arrays.¢¢The April, 1990 starts out with a¢checkbook balancing program complete¢with BASIC listing by Paul T.¢Caldwell, which the editor, David¢Arlington, promises to convert to¢Turbo BASIC in the next issue, since¢it is David's intention to begin a¢series on Turbo BASIC. Neil Van Oost,¢Jr. reviews the shareware B&G SLIDE¢SHOW, a very versatile slide show¢program which accepts graphics files¢in a variety of formats and displays¢them on the screen (even in mixed¢order!) in a variety of ways. Dave¢Arlington compares MICROLEAGUE¢BASEBALL and COMPUTER BASEBALL, and¢(in another article) the XE and ST¢versions of TRAILBLAZER. The creation¢of NEAR-US is announced, together with¢a listing of the clubs involved, their¢contact persons, and addresses and¢phone numbers.¢¢The A.C.E. of Syracuse newsletter of¢May, 1990 reprints J. D. Potter's¢article on his experiences with¢A.P.A.C. I've mentioned this article¢before, and suggest that this is¢another place to read it.¢¢The JACG Newsletter of May, 1990¢presents a Turbo BASIC command list,¢compiled and translated by Dave and¢Laura Yearke. These commands, for¢those not familiar with Turbo BASIC,¢represent extensions to the Atari¢BASIC language. They fall into various¢categories, such as Disk I/O,¢graphics, memory, structured program¢(yes, you CAN structure your BASIC¢programs!) and more. Although the¢list is very extensive, there was¢trouble translating some of the¢commands. David Arlington, the editor¢of the newsletter, helps out with a¢second article. I have also copied¢these two articles and hope to make¢them available to club members. On¢page 15 of the Newsletter, there is a¢Turbo-BASIC program with no¢explanation. Get the newsletter and¢figure it out. Better still, get the¢interpreter if you don't have it, run¢it, type in the program, and test it¢out! Later in the newsletter, Neil¢Van Oost, Jr. reviews three old Atari¢BASIC programs; ISO-SKETCH, TITLE CARD¢GENERATOR and POINTSET. Finally, there¢are two pages reproduced from an old¢ad for the never-released Atari¢1450XLD computer.¢¢The A. C. E. of Syracuse Newsletter of¢June, 1990 contains a review of¢SpeedScript 3.0 by Thomas Andrews.¢¢The June, 1990 Clevatari Newsletter¢presents an article by Randy Hahn¢about his ATR-8000, an 8-bit¢peripheral that combined a controller¢for up to four 5.25" double-side,¢double-density disk drives, an 8"¢(remember them?) disk drive, a serial¢interface, a parallel interface and a¢CP/M- compatible Z-80 computer. There¢are also two beginner programs by Bob¢Parry.¢¢The June, 1990 JACG Newsletter opens¢with Neil Van Oost, Jr.'s very fine¢two-page demonstration (that's right!)¢of what the registered copy of Daisy¢Dot III can do. Neil is very emphatic¢about the differences between the¢distribution copy and the registered¢copy, which is yours for a donation of¢$25 to Roy Goldman. Neil also gives¢us a good look at the fonts that JACG¢has put on its member disk for that¢month. They look especially good and¢guess what they are in our library¢Eric Jacoves follows with a good BASIC¢utility program for photographers.¢It's written in GFA BASIC (an ST¢dialect), and with the addition of¢line numbers it should also work on an¢8-bit. David Arlington keeps a¢promise (only one issue late!) and¢shows us how to modify a checkbook¢balancing program written in Atari¢BASIC and previously published in¢their newsletter so that it would take¢full advantage of Turbo-BASIC. David¢not only takes us through the program¢step-by-step, but also prints complete¢listings of the Turbo-BASIC version.¢¢The July, 1990 JACG Newsletter (we got¢a BATCH from them!) contains an¢inspiring article by David Dvorin¢about how he uses his Atari 800.¢David explains his reasons for buying¢the 800 when he did, traces the¢evolution of a program he wrote for¢the machine, talks about hardware and¢software upgrades, and ends with a¢list of programs he developed and¢hardware he uses even today with his¢800. Neil Van Oost, Jr. explains how¢he produced last month's spectacular¢DD III demonstration page. Then David¢Arlington gives us some perspective on¢the 8-bits and where we, as club¢members, stand to benefit by reading¢newsletter articles and following them¢up by networking with the authors.¢¢Clevatari Newsletter for July/August,¢1990 gives us a program by Anthony¢Ramos that illustrates the fascinating¢technique known as "bit-mapping". Of¢general interest is an article by¢Randy Hahn called. "Writing to Read a¢Newsletter". Randy's suggestions for¢newsletter contributors and editors¢are well- taken.¢¢The August, 1990 issue of the (all¢together, now) JACG Newsletter¢contains meeting notes for the club,¢as they all do. I don't usually¢mention anything about these; after¢all, we have our own minutes and¢aren't usually interested in those of¢another club. However, the notes for¢JACG's July meeting are interesting to¢us, since they mention a demo of the¢WQNR Dos. Many other 8-bit programs¢get shown at meetings of JACG since¢the organization is so large. It pays¢to skim them all. But it's especially¢gratifying to see mention made of the¢work of one of our members, Kris¢Holtegaard our programmer and Author¢of DataGraf. While I'm¢on the subject, JACG Newlsetter also¢runs frequent updates of its 8-bit PD¢catalogue. This is another feature¢worth skimming. Seriously, if you see¢something you think would be¢especially important to us as a club,¢the club might be able to order one¢copy from JACG and duplicate it for¢our library. Perhaps we can work out a¢swap with them. Also in this issue of¢JACG Newsletter, Neil Van Oost is at¢it again with DD III! This time he¢demonstrates in print a two-column¢experiment he performed with the¢program. The results are stunning.¢Dave Arlington describes a session¢with Flight Simulator, one of his¢favorite pastimes.¢¢The September, 1990 issue of the ACE¢of Syracuse Newsletter starts out with¢a follow-up to that article on¢sorting. It seems that the club got¢permission from ICD to publish the¢Quick Sort included in the Sparta Dos¢Tool Kit. The source code is written¢in ACTION!, and is thoroughly¢explained. A short glossary of terms¢is included, and the role of the¢pointer in the sort is clearly¢delineated. Finally, the routine is¢presented in C, since it is part of¢most standard C libraries. (Did you¢know that there are at least three¢versions of C compilers for the 8-bit,¢and that C is renowned as a¢programming language because of its¢"portability" from one machine to¢another?)¢¢The September, 1990 issue of the JACS¢Between Bytes describes a process that¢is common to many mixed 8-bit and ST¢clubs. It seems that the club had¢split into two sigs; ST and 8-bit, but¢the ST people couldn't come up with a¢complete slate of officers, so the¢groups reunited under one leadership.¢Since 8-bit machines will no longer be¢manufactured by Atari, but the STEs¢and TTs (almost) are here, some¢8-bitters may be selling their¢hardware. Will the club pendulum¢swing against 8-bitters? Editor Roger¢Heller thinks not. He reminds us that¢his club has a majority of 8-bitters,¢and that when machines are sold, the¢purchasers will need a club! I can¢see a new generation of 8-bitters who¢have recently bought old equipment¢joining clubs in large numbers,¢because literature for the machines is¢scarce. Remember, club members¢represent the greatest source of¢wisdom about their machines! Joseph¢E. Hicswa reviews the Douglas B.¢Fletcher program, SOLITAIR. This¢constantly upgraded simulation of a¢solitaire game is one of my favorites,¢and Joseph's review does it justice.¢Robert S. Ely contributes a program¢that makes 5.25" disk jackets with a¢directory on the front, and prints to¢a Panasonic printer. Nancy Heller¢writes an interesting article about¢how her missing-persons-locating¢agency uses an Atari 800XL for all of¢its work.¢¢Clevatari Newsletter for September,¢1990 seems to be an education issue.¢The venerable 8-bit Atari Touch Typing¢program is reviewed by Randy Hahn.¢Unfortunately, this is the only review¢that is identified as 8-bit. I know¢that the 8-bit world is chock-full of¢ed programs, and even more are being¢written and released as shareware or¢p/d even now.¢¢The September, 1990 JACG Newsletter¢(the last one in this column, I¢promise!) makes mention of the fact¢that the club has entered into an¢8-bit disk-swap arrangement with the¢library of MACE (Modesto, California).¢ I wonder, as I write this, if there¢is anything to be gained by a NEAR-US¢clearing house on club libraries, so¢that all NEAR-US members will be able¢to find programs they need quickly? I¢invite your feedback on this point.¢For example, JACG member and frequent¢contributor Joe Hicswa (isn't he with¢JACS, as well?) is looking for 8-bit¢software that can be used by people¢with disabilities. It's a legitimate¢need that might be better met with¢better coordination among club¢libraries. Perhaps NEAR-US can show¢the way? Among the 8-bit articles is¢a repeat of Joe Hicswa's review of¢SOLITAIR, a follow-up article by Dave¢Dvorin on 8-bit to MS-DOS file¢transfers giving the correct pin-out¢for a null-modem cable that serves the¢Atari and a 9-pin AT style serial¢port, Neil Van Oost, Jr.'s "how-to"¢covering the DD III-Print Shop Icon¢connection, and mention in the 8-bit¢library column of our own Kris¢Holtegaard as being a fan of Betamenu¢(aka Demamenu), which I demonstrated¢for Ol' Hackers a few months back.¢¢B. A. C. E. Line for September, 1990¢contains a reprint of Derek Furman's¢BetaZine article, in which he rescues¢files originally saved on a doubled¢1050 at varying speeds by using Sparta¢Dos Tool Kit and Bev. Brown's Sparta¢Dos Disk Editor. He also rescued files¢that contained what he called,¢"phantom sectors" using a variety of¢other tools and techniques. It's a¢highly technical article, but written¢in a nice, narrative form. Derek is a¢frequent caller to Dateline II, the¢BBS of B. A. S. I. C. in Brooklyn.¢
