MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 1993 MEETING¢ ================================¢¢ NEW MEMBERS:¢¢ DANIEL CARRODANO of France joined¢ our club. DANIEL is an expert¢ programmer and has produced some very¢ good P.D. software. He sent us a¢ disk, makng use of the RAMDISK.¢ Thanks Daniel.¢ STUART MURRAY of Scotland joined¢ our club. STUART publishes an 8-Bit¢ newsletter in Scotland called¢ "FUTURA". STUART also reviews ATARI¢ CLASSIC in a very favorable light in¢ his newsletter FUTURA. See DEMO¢ section.¢ PETER ARPIN joined our club. PETER¢ is interested in learning how to¢ program graphics.¢ We welcome you all. I think you¢ will get a great deal of enjoyment¢ out of the club and you will make¢ many new friends.¢¢ CORRESPONDENCE:¢¢ MEGA MAGAZINE from Holland is a 8-¢ Bit magazine. We wrote to them and¢ sent them a newsletter disk. No reply¢ to date.¢ A message to ALAN SHARKIS from OHIO¢ via the NEW NEST BBS. The message¢ states "I would say that my 8-Bit¢ does not crash as much as the ones¢ that our Data Processing department¢ uses, which are of course IBM 3-3808.¢ Of course you can't store all the¢ information we have on the main¢ frame, on an 8-Bit. It probably would¢ be cheaper to use 8-Bits with all the¢ patching, wiring and servicing to the¢ IBM's.. That is one of the reasons I¢ have an 8-Bit"¢ ALEX wrote to the president of¢ INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS asking for a list¢ of products still available. No reply¢ todate.¢ ALEX read a 1987 Leter to an¢ Editor, sent when I, (RON) published¢ the TURBO-BASIC FLYER. It was sort of¢ nostalgic to hear it.¢ A letter from our member BEN¢ POEHLAND, re his final edit of the¢ February ATARI CLASSIC magazine.He¢ said it will be in the mail, in¢ February.¢ In this issue we have a great¢ article by our own ALAN SHARKIS on¢ the SIOPC2 UPGRADE. With this upgrade¢ you can use the PC as a file server,¢ RAM DISK, etc. for your 8-Bit. It is¢ the feature article in this issue. It¢ is called "SLAVE THE IBM TO YOUR 8-¢ BIT ATARI". Every single thing you¢ want to know about this upgrade is in¢ the article. It is MUST reading for¢ every 8-BIT'ter.¢ ALEX PIGNATO another OL'HACKER has¢ an article on how to increase the¢ membership of 8-Bit clubs. The name¢ of ALEX'S article is "WHAT USERS¢ CLUBS CAN DO TO SURVIVE AND GROW".¢ Another article that should not be¢ missed. Also read his "LETTER TO THE¢ EDITOR". He writes that it is to the¢ credit of the 8-Bit community that¢ says "NEVER SAY DIE". OHAUG is¢ solidly behind a magazine BY and FOR¢ 8-BITTERS. We also granted permission¢ to use any article in the OL'HACKERS¢ NEWSLETTER.¢ BEN replied that ALEX forgot to¢ mention that OHAUG performs the grunt¢ labor required to package and mail¢ out the hundreds of AC software¢ disks. He applauded us for doing the¢ work. We gave ourselves a round of¢ applause(grin!)¢ BEN further writes that many people¢ are under the impression that ATARI¢ CLASSIC is under the control of AIM.¢ That is not so. ATARI CLASSIC is an¢ independent magazine with its own¢ policies, run by us 8 BIT'ers.¢ In TOM ANDREWS, (another member)¢ article, he deals with some of the¢ great 8-BIT programs that everyone¢ should have. RON FETZER'S (me)¢ PROGRAMMING KIT is mentioned. TOM has¢ also a printed program in the A.C.¢ issue and it is also on the 1st disk.¢ Do not miss these articles.¢ The FEBRUARY issue of ATARI CLASSIC¢ is truly a classic. It has even more¢ information and articles then the¢ last time. If you do not subscribe to¢ it then you are missing the most¢ important periodical for the 8-Bit.¢ More subscribers are needed. Cost to¢ subscribe to the magazine is $25.00¢ per year. To receive the disk with it¢ add another $9.00. The address is as¢ follows:¢ ATARI CLASSIC¢ 179 SPROUL RD/RT 352¢ FRAZER, PA 19355¢ If you own an 8-Bit or if you¢ read this newsletter you should¢ subscribe to the magazine. This is¢ the LAST magazine that will be¢ published for the 8-Bit only. You¢ ought to support it. There will not¢ be another! Besides it is a great¢ magazine with many new articles and¢ features.¢ From the THE MACHINE BBS(516 764-¢ 5748) DUTCH LEONARD writes that some¢ potential leaders and even a club¢ could act as a central clearing house¢ for all 8-Bitters. He suggested THE¢ OLD HACKERS. Thanks forthe compliment¢ DUTCH.¢ A letter from JIM CUTLER our member¢ from England to BOB ULSCHMID. He¢ tells us that he spent Christmas in¢ North Wales, eating and drinking too¢ much but having a good time. He said¢ he is now on COMP-U-SERVE in¢ England.¢ A letter from CHRIS CARSON who¢ mailed us the POLISH DISKS. He said¢ that he might join our club at a¢ later date. He is going to summarize¢ our newsletters for the PSAN¢ newsletter. Thanks Chris.¢ A letter from DAVE EWENS our member¢ from England. He thanked us for¢ subscribing to their newsletter¢ TWAUG. (Read ARTICLE "M".) Dave is¢ the editor the newsletter. See demo¢ section for more information. ALEX¢ answered that it was a very well done¢ newsletter and it will be shown at¢ this meeting. We liked the menu on¢ the disk and the labels. The articles¢ on the plotter (1020) were very much¢ appreciated. In all, a great job!¢ A letter from GINA BRYANT our¢ member from Virgina. She tells us¢ that she is converting one of her¢ drives to a HAPPY DRIVE. She tells us¢ that she is very busy and she sends¢ her best regards to all the members¢ of THE OL' HACKERS. ALEX answered and¢ said we missed them all. They are¢ doing great!¢ A letter from DANE STEGMAN our¢ member from Akron, N.Y. He said he¢ could not get to run our newsletter¢ on his XF551 disk drive. till he¢ switched over to a 1050 drive. We¢ can't figure out why that happened.¢ He tells us there is a new ATARI 8-¢ BIT GAMES DISK MAGAZINE. The address¢ is: CLASSIC 8-BIT ATARI, C/O JAMES¢ CATALANO, CHICAGO ILL. He had ULTRA¢ SPEED PLUS installed and had the DUAL¢ DRIVE UPGRADE done on his XF551. It¢ was done by COMPUTER SOFTWARE¢ SERVICES. He is very happy with the¢ upgrades and the company that did it.¢ ALEX answered that he was very glad¢ to hear from him and we are very¢ impressed by the report on the ULTRA¢ SPEED PLUS. Two members expressed¢ interest now in doing it also.¢ A letter from DAVID LANG our member¢ in DEFIANCE, OHIO. He mailed us¢ information that was requested by¢ another member, TOM WRAY from TEXAS.¢ He tells us his wife is also a¢ computer widow just like most of our¢ wives. He is looking for SUB LOGIC FS¢ SCENERY DISK OF CALIFORNIA. He tells¢ us that he can't wait to receive his¢ newsletter.¢ Another letter from STUART MURRAY¢ our member from SCOTLAND. He sends us¢ greetings from Scotland. He is a¢ student and studying for an HONORS¢ DEGREE in POLITICAL SCIENCE at the¢ University of Aberdeen. He has been¢ 8-bitting since 1983. He formed the¢ NORTH OF SCOTLAND ATARI USERS GROUP¢ (NOSAUG). He published a GREAT!¢ GREAT! newsletter on disk called¢ FUTURA. We have issues #1 - #4 in our¢ library. They now have over 40¢ members in the club. To join his club¢ is free. You only pay for the FUTURA¢ P.D. disk. (Read ARTICLE "M".) He¢ also sent us some SCOTISH SHORT¢ BREAD. It seems when you are a guest¢ in Scotland that is the first thing¢ you bring. The members enjoyed the¢ shortbread. It was delicious. We gave¢ three cheers to STUART and Scotland.¢ ALEX answered and thanked him for the¢ gift and the "FOOT-IN" of the¢ shortbread. ALEX said that STUART¢ should hoist a drink on us in SPIRIT¢ (grin) that is. ALEX also mailed him¢ the PROGRAMING KIT and the DISK¢ MANAGEMENT SYSTEM KIT.¢ TOM ANDREWS mentions a Syracuse¢ CITY COURT JUDGE who has an 8-bit in¢ his chambers!¢¢ ITEM:¢¢ CHRISTMAS in FEBRUARY DINNER was¢ held at Mimmos Restaurant in¢ Rockville Center. Members with their¢ wifes were in attendance and it was¢ again a great affair. Wish you were¢ all there.¢ The club voted to send $25.00 to¢ the NEW NEST BBS and $25.00 to THE¢ MACHINE BBS. We feel that these BBS'¢ are doing a vital job in the 8-Bit¢ community and they deserve our¢ support.¢¢ DEMOS:¢¢ ALEX demoed the FUTURA DISK from¢ Scotland. We saw Disk #2. We saw a¢ great game where you had to put a¢ ball in a moving barrel. VERY¢ DIFFICULT! Another game you had to¢ push a log into a certain spot.¢ OUTSTANDING graphics. We also heard¢ the DRUM MACHINE from Poland. You can¢ create any kind of rythmic sound that¢ you want - GREAT! On side one we saw¢ a beautiful menu program. We saw the¢ BEST racing program any of us had¢ ever seen. It blew our minds.¢ On FUTURA DISK #1 we saw¢ FOOTBALL(Soccer). It is like the¢ arcade game where you rotate players¢ on a stick. Very nice! We also saw¢ the game ALIEN - very nice. On side¢ two we heard some great music.¢ These 4 FUTURA DISKS are an¢ outstanding bargain at any price. You¢ should have them in your library.¢ ALEX demonstrated his program that¢ lets you FORMAT, write DOS.SYS,¢ DUP.SYS and RAMDISK.COM on the disk¢ without you doing anything at all. It¢ is all automatic. You can do as many¢ disks as you want. There is a version¢ for DRIVE #1 and DRIVE #2. A great¢ utility. I use it all the time. It is¢ a must have utility. Also in our¢ Library.¢ ALEX demonstrated BASIC¢ ENHANCEMENTS. What this disk does is,¢ it creates BASIC MODULES that are¢ written to your own disk such as a¢ lock, unlock, directory, slow scroll¢ etc. There are 16 options available.¢ These modules can be used alone or¢ can be incroporated into your own¢ program. ALEX wrote the DOCS in the¢ beginning of the program and I¢ contributed the SLOSCROL module to¢ the program. It is like creating a¢ MACRO for a BASIC program. An¢ outstanding disk. A great programming¢ aid!¢ We also saw ANTICPAC. It takes any¢ BASIC program and turns it into raw¢ decimal data statements with a BASIC¢ loader on top. Great for those READ-¢ DATA statements with numbers. When¢ run it will write the original file¢ exactly as it was written. Fixes¢ ATARI REV. B bug of the OS system¢ that adds 16 sectors every time you¢ save a program. It also has some¢ other great utilities in it¢ We saw a screen dump program. This¢ utility loads itself into PAGE 6 of¢ the memory and then you can print¢ text in GR 0. It is a SCREEN DUMP¢ program. All these 3 programs are on¢ one disk. Can't beat that!¢ We saw the TWAUG newsletter disk¢ issue #1 from our members in England.¢ The graphics were great on the disk.¢ This issue has a lot of games on it -¢ UNCLE HENRY'S NUCLEAR WASTE,¢ REBOUND, STAR SECTOR DEFENSE,¢ WHEIGHTY DEMO, EXTENDED MEMORY TEST¢ (Tests your RAMDISKS). It also has¢ the ATARI PLOTTER (1020) PROGRAMS¢ #1,2,3,4. A great disk to have.¢ We saw some games from Poland. They¢ are distributed by CHRIS CARSON.¢ There are 5 games on this disk. We¢ saw GABI. A squirrel has to gather¢ nuts for the winter and a place to¢ crack them. Graphics are outstanding.¢ A very good game. We tried to play¢ DZUNGULA. We could not get it to¢ load. HAROLD said we have a good copy¢ in the library. It is a board game¢ with animals that have various¢ powers. There is a doc text in¢ English that explains what the games¢ are about.¢ ALEX demoed our revised, revised¢ WELCOME DISK. ALEX said "this is the¢ last revision"(Yeah sure - grin).¢ We put a disk with all the PRINT¢ SHOP OL ' HACKERS ICONS and lots of¢ P.S. UTILITIES in the library.¢ We saw a French disk from CLUB¢ CENACAL. All card games in French.¢ Interesting but NON PARLVOUZ FRANCE.¢ JAMES MCGOWAN sent us a modified¢ AUTORUN.SYS that lets you read the¢ newsletter with a joystick. A great¢ improvement. See article.¢¢ DOOR PRIZES:¢ BOB ULSCHMID- ALAN SHARKIS -JOE LEBER¢ -AL ATKINS¢ Submitted by¢ Ron Fetzer¢ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<¢¢
