=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢¢ by ALAN SHARKIS, member of the¢ OL' HACKERS A.U.G., Inc.¢¢LIAUG LightHouse for March, 1991 --¢This issue is packed with 8-bit¢material. The reprint of Rick Burton's¢(RACE) The Basics of BASIC article from¢January, 1991 AIM examines the SETCOLOR¢command in detail. Robert Anisko's¢BetaZine article compares Tetrix,¢Fortress and Atartris, three popular¢8-bit Tetris clones. Both of the Bit¢Byter articles are full of news about¢the German club, and of a new club in¢The Netherlands. The disk descriptions¢(disk #23) make me want to look at that¢disk myself! One of the programs¢refers to a 1029 printer. Have you¢ever heard of that one, or is that a¢misprint?¢ St. Louis Newsline for March, 1991¢-- Charles Parson tells us how to¢upgrade a 256K MIO to 1 Meg. This can¢be a very tricky project, but a very¢rewarding one. You do need a 1 Meg MIO¢because the ROM from it must be copied.¢ Joan Ryan's Gatebits column is an¢excellent illustration of how¢networking on BBSs can help users from¢all over the country solve problems. ¢Joan's Bits of Eight column contains¢many interesting references, THE¢MARITY OF THEM DIRECTLY RELATED TO¢OHAUG. ¢¢S.L.C.C. Journal for April, 1991 -- Bob¢Wooley keeps his promise and brings us¢his 80-column board. The article¢continues from a "rough-sketch" done¢previously, but this time there are¢construction outlines, a complete¢schematic, and the assembly source code¢that puts the board to work.¢¢ACE of Syracuse Newsletter for April,¢1991 -- Ken Wickert tells us how to get¢onto GEnie in Full Duplex. Tom Andrews¢reviews Rail King, an exciting railroad¢game for the 8-bit. Speaking of Tom,¢there is a full page devoted TO HIS¢CONNECTION WITH OHAUG and how he and¢Kris Holtegaard cooperated on the¢newsletter program and how Ron Fetzer¢is a member of ACE of Syracuse and on¢and on and ... IT'S GRATIFYING.¢¢(FR)ANTIC (AAAUA) for April, 1991 --¢Read everything! Hidden in Alvan¢Sherrill's column, Presidential¢Ponderings are news, reviews, club¢program suggestions,¢telecommunications, you name it! ¢Editor Manuel Garcia tells us where¢Hi-Tech Expressions is now located and¢who is doing support for the Muppet¢Learning Keys. Alvan Sherrill has a¢terrific article for beginners about¢printers. Ed Hall, AAAUA's Canadian¢member, describes England's Page 6's¢latest effort, a magazine with DOM¢called New Atari User. (It's not to be¢confused with AtariUser magazine, which¢is American.) Chuck Leazott's article¢about ICD's closeout sale is reprinted.¢¢ACE St. Louis NewsLine for April, 1991¢-- Joan Ryan reviews the 8-bit DOM,¢which contains two interesting games. ¢Her Bits of Eight column is full of¢important files and products. Her¢Slowmo Reviews column, likewise. ¢Finally, there is an article (author¢not mentioned) about some of the¢idiosyncracies of programming in¢MAC/65.¢¢ACE of Syracuse Newsletter for April,¢1991 -- Tom Andrews has written an¢excellent article about Assemblers,¢Interpretors and Compilers. Ken¢Wickert has extensively quoted Chuck¢Leazott's ICD sale article (mentioned¢above). Vernon W. Smith writes about¢some of the entries in the¢Addison-Wesley "Atari Software 1985". ¢Some of the software mentioned then is¢still going strong today.¢¢B.A.C.E. Line (Bakersfield) for May,¢1991 -- Although there are no¢8-bit-specific articles, there are some¢interesting features.¢¢Between Bytes (JACS) for May, 1991 --¢There is some 8-bit news scattered¢around, but not under any specific¢heading. Read it all.¢¢S.L.C.C. Journal for May, 1991 -- Bob¢Wooley continues his his article on an¢80-column card with a correction of the¢circuit presented last time, several¢important enhancements, and hints to¢those who desire to write a¢word-processor program for the card.¢¢MUG Newsletter for May, 1991 -- The¢NAPCO material is getting mighty thin! ¢However, there's substance here in an¢article decrying the split of Atari¢users into 8-bit and ST camps, a¢reprint of John Aalto's comments¢detailing new articles and products for¢the 8-bits, and a reprint of¢AtariWriter+ Part VI, Jimmy Boyce's AIM¢article.¢¢ 0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢ Newsletter Review¢¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ Ol' Hackers Newsletter Librarian¢¢This is going to be a relatively¢short review column. I didn't plan¢it that way, but I didn't get a very¢large stack of newsletters, either. ¢It's also hard to stretch what isn't¢there, and some of the newsletters I¢have for review simply don't have¢much to review. Is the field drying¢up? Is it just a coincidence that¢this month brings little 8-bit news? ¢I sincerely hope so.¢¢Between Bytes for November, 1991¢mentions our disk-based newsletter as¢something that the JACS members¢should not forget. This issue¢mentions an article we ran about¢building power supplies.¢¢The SAGE Scroll for January, 1992 has¢rerun JEFF SUMMERS' (Acorn Kernel,¢January 1990) article on the role of¢CIO in Atari BASIC. Now, honestly,¢Jeff, how can I get a copy of your¢handler for the W: (Watusi) device? ¢There is also Jeff's article from May¢about doing file transfers between¢the 8-bit and the PC, which I wrote¢about in a previous newsletter¢review.¢¢The January, 1992 LIAUG LightHouse¢contains PART IV of my article on¢choosing modems and¢telecommunications software. There¢is a reprint of a Z*NET article¢giving some tips for using a BBS. ¢And, yes, for all of you who tried to¢answer my question last month about¢which publication is associated with¢Rovac Ind. Inc., I've discovered the¢answer in this month's issue of the¢LIAUG LightHouse! It's F-NET, of¢course! But, you all knew that. ¢This month's captured article¢concerns ChromaCad and how to order it.¢¢NewsLine (ACE of St. Louis) for¢January, 1992 reprints ZMAG Issue¢200's article on "The 8-bit State". ¢It's a good summary of the "serious"¢uses to which our 8-bit can be put,¢together with a list of software to¢do the job.¢¢The January, 1992 issue of (FR)ANTIC¢features an article by LARRY ALLEN on¢Spartados X Tips, a continuation of¢ALVAN SHERRILL's Beginners' Column¢series of the AtariWriter cartridge,¢the first of a series on Atari Art by¢subscribing AAAUA member MATTHEW¢BAKER, an interesting column by ALVAN¢SHERRILL on the use of the word,¢"club" to describe AAAUA, RUSSELL¢GIBSON's Left-Overs column, Ed Hall's¢"What's In A Name", and JAMES¢MARTIN's, "There I Was". Whew! Was¢that a Casey Stengel sentence, or¢what? The articles are ALL worth¢reading, so do request this issue and¢take a look.¢¢L.V.A.U.G. News for February, 1992 is¢also quite full/ there is a JOHN¢NAGY article describing his rating¢system for text files. There is also¢a reprint of an October, 1988 A.C.E.¢St. Louis Newsline article by MAT*RAT¢(Matthew Rattcliffe) called, "Oranges¢and Apples", which is quite timely in¢view of opinions I have seen¢expressed on FidoNet that the ST was¢a "natural upgrade path" for 8-¢bitters when it came out, and that we¢all should have switched. It takes a¢clear head like Matthew's to set the¢record straight. MICHAEL P. BOROWSKI¢describes a disk management nightmare¢he experienced for which we have a¢solution! But the problem he¢describes is all too common, and if¢you recognize a little of yourself in¢this article, help is not far away. ¢KEN WICKERT's (ACE of Syracuse)¢article on ramdisks is reprinted¢here. The editorial column mentions¢the fact that we sent LVAUG a¢wordprocessor that makes two-column¢printing easier. An extensive list¢of filename extensions and their use¢is included, as well as a warning and¢appeal to users of information¢services that their rates will¢increase if action is not taken. A¢copy of our ad for the Disk¢Management System appears. Rounding¢out the issue is an interesting¢comparison of programming languages¢and motor vehicles, originally¢written by DANIEL SOLOMON and David¢Rosenblueth of the University of¢Waterloo.¢¢NYbbles and Bytes for February, 1992¢reprints the JEFF McWILLIAMS Campaign¢letter. The issue also contains a¢short review of ANSI/term by CHARLES¢LAKE. Charles also writes a short¢history of PAUGS and a review of PRO!¢Colony, an on-line game available on¢many PRO BBSs. MERLE BARNES writes a¢short article about choosing modems. ¢JOHN COLLINS brings us a collection¢of facts about 8-bits, including a¢short type-in program that will flash¢a picture on the screen.¢¢The January-February, 1992 issue of¢ACE of Syracuse Newsletter features a¢review of Sign Maker by Thomas J.¢Andrews, complete with samples of¢what the program can do.¢¢The February, 1992 issue of SLCC¢Journal proves that BOB WOOLEY is¢really hung up on that speech module¢that CURTIS VENDEL sent him. Check¢out the article to find out what¢might have been if the 1450XLD was¢released. As many of you have¢realized, I usually try to find a¢common theme for the newsletters I¢review each month. This month, the¢item most mentioned in the¢newsletters was the resignation of¢Gregg Pratt. Gregg was U. S.¢President. The Atari community has¢become so accustomed to changes in¢the company that SLCC has chosen to¢place the following on their front¢cover:¢ (in small print) Due to more ¢ important stories the following¢ articles are not found¢¢ (then, in larger print)¢ INSIDE:¢ Pratt Resigns!¢ Stock goes up 30%!¢ TT & Mega/STe prices cut!¢ Was he really making THAT much?¢¢ Lincoln vs Gorbachev:¢ Two views on secession¢¢ Buy American¢ What does it mean -¢ Buy a Dodge made in Japan or¢ Buy a Toyota made in California?¢ The first enriches Iococca,¢ the second enriches a few¢ hundred workers.¢ You Decide!¢¢If you miss the small print, you miss¢the editorializing that takes place¢on the front cover, but it's typical¢of the sense of humor expressed by¢this club in each and every issue. ¢It's a treat to read, as usual.¢¢*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢
