*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ It's been a long time since my last¢ set of reviews. These are exciting¢ times once again. ATARI came out with¢ the JAQUAR 64 BIT, and the FALCON 030¢ I've seen the Falcon 030 running at¢ the Connecticut AtariFest. It's an¢ impressive computer, but somehow, it¢ hasn't captured general attention yet¢ and I wonder if it will ever spread¢ beyond the diehard Atari users and¢ musicians, graphic artists, and video¢ hobbyists that flocked to it¢ initially. Meanwhile, our 8-bits¢ defy all the naysayers and continue¢ to be fantastic general-purpose¢ machines.¢¢ The really exciting news is that the¢ Jaguar was released recently, and¢ that it will come in at about $250,¢ that it is a 64-bit game machine, and¢ that it will be manufactured in the¢ United States by none other than IBM.¢ That announcement boosted Atari stock¢ like it hasn't been boosted for¢ years. I realize that we spend lots¢ of time and energy trying to tell¢ people that Atari computers are not¢ toys, but the reality is that the¢ general public reacts positively when¢ Atari announces a game system and¢ with yawns when Atari announces a new¢ computer. C'est la vie. It will¢ help Atarians of any stripe, because¢ Atari is in the news, it's stock has¢ risen, and its products will be made¢ domestically.¢¢ The DACE Desktop for April, 1993 has¢ a mini-review by Mr. G. (LCASE) of¢ ALAN KIRK's Page Editor. This is a¢ DTP program that runs in BASIC¢ (although Mr. Kirk suggests using¢ TurboBasic). Mr. G. also mentions¢ DiskIO Plus (PATRICK DELL'ERA),¢ Circuit Database (RANDY CONSTAN), and¢ Musorqa (RON TORBORG) in his review.¢¢ The April, 1993 issue of Update Atari¢ (HACE) contains an article that's a¢ little hard to find, but begins at¢ the bottom of page 7. I mention that¢ because the headline is quite small. ¢ It's a hardware article by GEORGE¢ IKEN and it discusses using non-Atari¢ laser printers with Atari computers,¢ including our 8-bits. George tells¢ us how to configure AW+ and TextPro¢ Plus 4.54 to do this job.¢¢ The April, 1993 issue of (FR)ANTIC¢ leads off with an article by JAMES G.¢ MARTIN proclaiming the value of¢ hardware backups. If you're not sure¢ of what this term means, you're¢ probably doing it, anyway. James is¢ talking about having a backup system¢ in case your primary computer system¢ fails. If you're not doing it,¢ please consider that our computers¢ are inexpensive when purchased used. ¢ Later in the issue, ED HALL discusses¢ examples of what he calls, "custom¢ disks." These are disks that he¢ built out of p/d disks, rearranging¢ the material on them so that the disk¢ had a theme and a menu (written by¢ Ed) that would only show those files¢ that he wanted to run. As an¢ example, Ed describes a disk that he¢ put together in which the common¢ element was the use of digitized¢ speech via the Covox VoiceMaster Jr. ¢ THELMA SUNVISON has contributed four¢ pieces to this issue. Her TIPS¢ column discusses how disks can be¢ corrupted by the electromagnetic¢ fields generated by portable¢ telephones and the like. She credits¢ JOE HICSWA of JACG with thfirst¢ mention of this problem. Her¢ description of the clubs DOM is well¢ done. The disk contains three games,¢ PIPELING by CHRIS GUISE, PLOP by NEIL¢ OTTAWAY and THE HYAMS ADVENTURE by¢ YOHANNAN HYAMS. Thelma also gives an¢ account of the Atari Classics user¢ group exchange program and asks that¢ club members submit articles. ¢ Finally, she gives a big¢ acknowledgement to the efforts of the¢ club's subscribing members who write¢ articles and profiles for (FR)ANTIC.¢¢ The JACG Newsletter for May, 1993¢ contains two outstanding columns,¢ disguised as a routine "8-bit PD¢ Librarian's report" by SAM CORY and¢ an equally routine "8-bit VP's¢ Report" by BILL BINGHAM. I can't¢ begin to describe the variety of¢ topics and the excellent writing¢ these two guys do in this issue. ¢ Read for yourselves.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for May, 1993 is the proud¢ bearer of a profile of one of their¢ members, BOB HUDDLESTON. Bob even¢ contributed his own title: "Profile¢ of a Strategy War Games Programmer." ¢ Of course, the profile deals with¢ more than just aspect of Bob's life. ¢ Read about this interesting member of¢ AAAUA and see what he intends to do¢ with the programs he's written. JACK¢ LEA writes a review and installation¢ description of the TT Touch kit for¢ the 130XE, available from Best¢ Electronics. ED HALL continues his¢ "custom disk" article. RUSSELL¢ GIBSON reviews Picture Breaker,¢ written by corresponding member NIR¢ DAREY. RUSSELL STOWE discusses the¢ difference (or lack of it) between¢ the terms 'club', 'association', and¢ 'group', and shows how all three¢ apply to AAAUA. I must say that this¢ issue shows great care in layout,¢ insertion of graphics and in the¢ crispness of the printing.¢¢ M.U.G. Newsletter for May, 1993's¢ Atari section runs a reprint of part¢ IV of D. C. SIGNORINI's series, "The¢ Untold Story of Pittsburgh, PA."¢¢ STATUS Newsletter for May, 1993¢ features a review of MICHAEL ALEXA's¢ Script 80, version 2.0 by ELDRIDGE¢ STOCKS. This is a word processor¢ with an 80-column display. ¢ Monochrome monitors are recommended¢ and the program is compatible with¢ DDII. BOB WOMACK relates¢ conversations with his friends who¢ use MS-DOS in which he showed them¢ that some of the tricks of memory¢ management they longed for on their¢ machines (and now finally have with¢ some drawbacks) were done on the¢ Atari 8-bits many years ago by such ¢ disk operating systems as Sparta Dos¢ 2.3 and 3.2, SmartDos, and I-DOS.¢¢ Nybbles and Bytes for May/June, 1993¢ is a mix of reprints and original¢ articles. There is a reprint of¢ STEVE BLOOM's "30 Secrets of Atari",¢ which we reprinted some time ago. ¢ There is a Search String Handler¢ type-in from Bit-Byter of Germany,¢ supplied by CHUCK SCHWARK, editor of¢ the Chicago Land Atari User Group¢ Newsletter. The program loads a¢ machine language routine that allows¢ you to search for a character string¢ while programming in BASIC. JOHN¢ COLLINS shows off his skills as a¢ cartoonist. The piece is especially¢ relevent now that the Jaguar has been¢ announced. John's Drawn and¢ Quartered column features a type-in¢ program that "pops" a picture up from¢ the bottom of the screen. John¢ thanks Alex and OHAUG for all of the¢ correspondence and disks we sent¢ him.¢¢ I wish to welcome The Pacesetter, a¢ publication of Pinellas Atari¢ Computer Enthusiasts to our¢ newsletter exchange. Their June,¢ 1993 issue is full of interesting¢ features, and their cover designs are¢ quite impressive. They have an¢ article by WALT LEWIS on printing¢ labels, always a tricky topic. Walt¢ describes how he does it with TextPro¢ TPX 5.0. The newsletter has a hints¢ column, similar to that in (FR)ANTIC.¢ JEAN BROKAW tells the members how to¢ access the card catalog, reserve¢ items, and get information and help¢ from the local library by modem. She¢ also describes how Disk RX was¢ demonstrated at a recent meeting and¢ how she put it right to work on her¢ own problem disk. KATHY SEVERANCE¢ writes a column telling how to use¢ Family Tree Organizer, which was¢ demonstrated at the club's May¢ meeting.¢¢ The SAGE Scroll for June, 1993¢ features JAMES GURIEL's 8-bit¢ section. In it, James reviews PAB¢ SUNGENSIS' PabQwk, an off-line reader¢ for message packets downloaded from a¢ BBS. He also reprints a review of¢ the Sparta Dos Tool Kit reprinted¢ from "Alan's Corner" in the¢ PaceSetter Newsletter of May, 1991.¢¢ The L.V.A.U.G. News for June, 1993¢ contains several reprints. There is¢ a reprint of SCOTT ANDERSON's (Mile¢ High Atari) article on the "latest¢ Atari Product", produced in¢ conjunction with Coleman Western,¢ which the club got from our¢ newsletter of a few months ago. ¢ There's also a reprint of the¢ tutorial series on ACTION and Express¢ PRO by THOMAS M. JOHNSON. Look for¢ more articles, not necessarily¢ computer-related, but interesting.¢¢ The Summer, 1993 issue of ACT and¢ Deed mentions, among user groups that¢ will attend the Connecticut¢ AtariFest, OHAUG.¢¢ The SLCC Journal for June, 1993¢ continues BOB WOOLLEY's excellent¢ series on writing the software to¢ allow an IDE hard drive to interface¢ with a 1200XL.¢¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢