<><><> ¢ MINUTES OF THE MARCH MEETING:¢ =============================¢ NEW MEMBERS:¢ As always, we happily welcome¢ our new members, ANIL (BOBBY) DASS¢ from Elmhurst, Queens, WESLEY DUFF¢ from Cortland OH., WILLIAM MIDYETTE¢ from Elling Conn. and JOSEPH PRIMICH¢ from Hartford Conn.. We welcome you¢ all. I think you will get a great¢ deal out of the OL' HACKERS and make¢ many new friends. ¢ BILL MIDYETTE and JOE PRIMICH¢ got up at 6AM leaving Connecticut and¢ traveled for 3 hours plus, to come to¢ our meeting. Hows that for long¢ distance commuting? They say they¢ plan on coming to other meetings.¢ They were very knowledgeable about¢ the 8-bit. BILL demoed a fantastic¢ CAD program (see demos). We¢ appreciate their devotion to the 8-¢ Bit and most especially to the OL'¢ HACKERS!¢¢ CORRESPONDENCE:¢¢ From the JACG Newsletter. "A¢ member bought a MODEM and complained¢ bitterly. "What is the problem?" He¢ was asked. He responded, "Hey our BBS¢ does not accept collect calls".¢ (grin)¢ A letter from our member SAM¢ CORY of N.J. He writes over the years¢ he has read many newsletters from¢ various groups none have given as¢ much information or pleasure as the¢ OL' HACKERS NEWSLETTER, especially in¢ these declining years of 8 BIT info.¢ A letter from DANIEL CARRODANO¢ our member from FRANCE to ALEX. He¢ writes when he started out he used¢ ATARIWRITER but had trouble with the¢ serial interface he had. He also says¢ that he modified TEXTPRO to use with¢ DD3.(See demo). DAN had damaged his¢ original DIAMOND GOS disk and wanted¢ a replacement disk. REEVES SOFTWARE¢ did not answer him. We put out out¢ the word in our newsletter, and on¢ the BBS's and one of our ENGLISH¢ members offered to try to help DAN.¢ It pays to belong to the OL' HACKERS.¢ DANIEL also writes among other¢ things, that in POLAND they make disk¢ drives for the 8-bit called,¢ "CALIFORNIA 2000" and the "CALIFORNIA¢ 2001". He writes that in CHILE there¢ were 300,000 Atari 8 BIT computers¢ sold. He says that the 8-Bit is also¢ strong in HUNGARY and ROMANIA. He has¢ not yet seen any FALCONS030 in¢ France.¢ Our member JIM CUTLER from¢ England sent us some disks. He said¢ that the newsletter as always is¢ great. As far as STEFAN GREGORIO,¢ JIM's 8-Bit friend in MOSCOW is¢ concerned, JIM sends him our¢ newsletter faithfully.¢ Another letter from JIM CUTLER.¢ He sent us some disks. One of them is¢ DESIGN LAB that works with a TOUCH¢ TABLET. A great program and it is¢ FAST!!. It is made in Venezuela. Only¢ the OL' HACKERS with their worldwide¢ contacts could have gotten this and¢ many other programs.¢ JIM CUTLER in yet another¢ letter, writes that he uses DIAMOND¢ GOS. and he is looking for accessory¢ files. He has DIAMOND PAINT and¢ DIAMOND WRITER and he is looking for¢ some more DIAMONDS. ALEX answered¢ that we would be mining for DIAMONDS¢ in our newsletter and see if we can¢ come up with some more gems.(grin)¢ A letter from JOHN JOHNSON our¢ member from Oregon to BEN POEHLAND.¢ He said he wants only 3 things from¢ A.C. 1) Additional reading matter¢ about our computer. 2) New products¢ and advertisements about the 8-Bit.¢ 3) A feeling of consistency. The¢ newsletters from the OL' HACKERS and¢ A.A.A.U.G have been very consistent¢ in their arrival. He hopes that A.C.¢ will also be very consistent in its¢ arrival.¢ BEN answered, the issues JOHN ¢ raised concern him also. The magazine¢ is an experiment using volunteers and¢ non professionals. A.C. was¢ formulated with a commercial add.¢ content of 10%. We have a new add.¢ manager BOB SCHOLAR, and it will take¢ him a while to learn his job. The¢ point about slow delivery of the¢ magazine is well taken. The poor mail¢ performance is the direct reflection¢ of the 8-bit communities failure to¢ follow up on its written pledges to¢ support A.C.(600+ pledges - 200¢ subscribers at start up). As long as¢ we use 3d class mail we will have a¢ delivery problem. The good news is¢ that we now have over 450 paid¢ subscribers, and we expect to hit our¢ goal of 500 soon. ¢ A letter from JOHM MC GOWAN.¢ JOHN writes us that he is about to¢ write a program called VCR PLUS¢ Shareware Program. It is a VCR PLUS¢ program that lets you program your¢ VCR+ even if your newspaper does not¢ print the codes. He will be sending¢ it to us first. He asks that if you¢ use his program send him only 1/2 of¢ the price of a 3 month period that¢ you would have paid to the 900 number¢ to get the codes. JOHN is not only a¢ prolific programmer, but also a true¢ friend of the OL' HACKERS. Thanks¢ JOHN!¢ A message from LOU TRAPANI our¢ member and SYSOP of the MACHINE¢ BBS(516) 764-5748. He thanks us for¢ the support we have shown to his¢ BBS.¢ A letter from BRUCE WILLIS of¢ M.A.G.I.C. of Ames Iowa. He sends us¢ 2 M.A.G.I.C. DOM disks. he tells us¢ that he is leaving the 8-bit. BRUCE¢ will be missed very much. We wish him¢ well.¢ Our member CHARLES COLE from¢ Arizona sent us 20 disks. We thank¢ CHARLES for the disks. We instructed¢ our librarian HAROLD (always ready)¢ PEGLER, to reciprocate.¢ A letter from our member JOSEPH¢ HICSWA of Passaic, New Jersey and¢ President of the J.A.C.G. He wrote to¢ the POLISH POST EAGLE newspaper which¢ is distributed throughout the U.S.A.¢ He said that he wants the POLISH¢ COMMUNITY to be aware of the computer¢ clubs such as the J.A.C.G. and the¢ OL' HACKERS that support the Polandic¢ traditions.¢¢ DEMOS:¢ ALEX demoed the HOME FINACIAL¢ PROGRAM sent to him from a NIEK¢ VANDERLEE, a Canadian member. It did¢ not print a hard copy, ALEX modified¢ it and now it prints a hard copy. A¢ great program that prints future¢ investment results and has many many¢ other features. Disk #219 and #220 in¢ the library are other financial¢ programs.¢ ALEX showed us SIGNMAKER. He¢ showed us a sample print out. TOM¢ ANDREWS our member from upstate N.Y.¢ did some work on this program. It was¢ also reviewed in the ACE OF SYRACUSE¢ NEWSLETTER. It is fully documented. A¢ real terrific sign making program.¢ BETTER than PRINT SHOP, now also in¢ our library.¢ ALEX demoed PRINTSTAR¢ (PRNTST13.BAS) for our new members¢ BILL MIDYETTE and JOSEPH PRIMICH.¢ They came all the way from¢ Connecticut to attend our meeting. We¢ were glad to see them. ¢ A hint from ALEX. To print¢ inverse with a STAR NX printer, type¢ in this code. [LPRINT CHR$(27);"="].¢¢ A demo by RON FETZER, the upgrade¢ he did on his 800XL with the ULTRA¢ SPEED PLUS OPERATING SYSTEM by¢ Computer Software Services ($69.95).¢ First of all if you do this¢ upgrade check to see if your computer¢ is a HONG KONG made XL. They have¢ socketed IC. The ones from Taiwan¢ have soldered in IC. 130 XE also have¢ soldered IC. You have to change the¢ O.S. IC. If it is soldered in it can¢ be a problem if you are not familiar¢ with de-soldering components. The¢ ANSWER IS - send your computer to¢ COMPUTER SOFTWARE SERVICES they will¢ do the upgrade for you, FREE.¢ Another point to bring out. The¢ HONG KONG made 800XL have a very poor¢ video display because of some¢ mistakes made at the factory. While¢ you have your computer open you might¢ want to correct the mistakes and get¢ a video display equivalent to a¢ 130XE. It will cost you about $5.00¢ in Radio Shack parts. If you want the¢ instructions please write to me RON¢ FETZER, 22 MONACO AVE. ELMONT N.Y.¢ 11003, USA. The upgrade is very¢ simple to do. It was an article in¢ CURRENT NOTES by our Pennsylvania¢ member BEN POEHLAND, when he was 8¢ BIT Editor. ¢ As for the ULTRA SPEED PLUS¢ OPERATING SYSTEM upgrade you have to¢ replace your present O.S. IC with a¢ new one and do about 6 solder¢ connections. The instructions are¢ clear to follow and there is a¢ diagram to show you what to do.¢ Now you have a 3 operating¢ system O.S. in your computer. 1)The¢ ULTRA SPEED PLUS. 2)The REGULAR 800XL¢ 3)The OLD 800 O.S. These operating¢ systems are now switch selectable¢ with a 3 way switch that gets mounted¢ in the back of the computer. In¢ addition at your option you can mount¢ another switch that lets you select¢ the RAMDISK as your #1 drive¢ including the ability to boot from¢ this disk (provided you loaded a¢ program or disk into it). RON first¢ showed the RAM CHECK ROUTINE of the¢ new system - much better than the¢ Atari version. It checks the RAM, ROM¢ and the CIRCUITS very FAST! It has¢ many features including the ability¢ to make the RAMDISK any disk you¢ want. CHANGE your disk drive to any¢ number from #1 to #9.¢ It also does a very fast I/O or¢ format with modified 1050 drives or¢ Happy drives. It increases the speed¢ about 3 times, even on Happy¢ modifications. You can boot a disk¢ without turning off the computer. You¢ can toggle ON/OFF BASIC from your¢ keyboard. You can turn the screen DMA¢ off for faster execution, you can¢ turn the key board klick on/off.¢ There are many other features that¢ make this upgrade worthwhile.¢ RON demoed the disk we received¢ from DANIEL CARRODANO our member from¢ France. He uses TEXTPRO 2.3r with¢ DAISY DOT III. It creates 2 Ramdisks.¢ In one we loaded DDIII inthe other we¢ load the NLQ fonts. Now you are able¢ to use TEXTPRO and immediately print¢ it out in a number of NEAR LETTER¢ QUALITY FONTS by just pressing START.¢ FORMIDABLE!!!. If you use TEXTPRO¢ and if you are the owner of DDIII¢ this is the disk for you to get, but¢ you must own DDIII first.¢ WILLIAM MIDYETTE our new member¢ from Conn. demoed a FANTASTIC¢ COMPUTER ASSISTED DESIGN PRORGRAM¢ (CAD). It was the best that I have¢ ever seen. It was a program called¢ SOLID STATES that was modified by¢ BILL. He modified it so that if you¢ are plotting with a 1020 plotter, it¢ plots your image and then you can¢ bring the paper down and then plot¢ another image or the same image¢ slightly set off on top of it. You¢ can see an image from any angle and¢ any view that you want. He showed us¢ a jet fighter and then displayed it¢ from several viewpoints. It was¢ awsome! When to program is finished¢ BILL will write the documentation for¢ it also.¢ N.W.P.A.C. send us their Welcome¢ disk. Side one was like our welcome¢ disk. Side 2 was very interesting and¢ very well done. A nice disk.¢ One of our members DAVE EWENS¢ from England puts out a newsletter¢ and disk bi-monthly. We saw the¢ T.W.A.U.G. March/April newsletter¢ disk. Great Title page. Great¢ graphics. It had some great math¢ games on it for learning the time¢ tables. We saw a great game called¢ HOUSA. You have to find out the rules¢ of the game as you learn to play it.¢ We also saw one of ALEX'S old¢ (1987) programs that was on a¢ M.A.G.I.C. D.O.M. of 9/92 from AMES,¢ IOWA. A data base and label printing¢ program. Good programs never die! It¢ has many other interesting programs¢ on it. It will be library disk #¢ 261.¢ We saw some EXCELL #1 DISK, that¢ came from Hungary. Unbelievable¢ graphics! We saw some great games on¢ the disk. We saw the game SAIGON (a¢ take off on Q BERT, but better).¢ There are now 20 EXCELL disks¢ available. We hope to have them in¢ our library in the near future. We¢ saw a game like GALACTIC on the back¢ of the disk.¢ We saw a disk called TURBO¢ ANIMATION, by Dr. IAN CARLSON. The¢ disk is complete with all the docs. A¢ great disk to have, and to learn from¢ It is, Library disk #262.¢¢ DOOR PRIZES:¢¢ RON FETZER¢ BILL MIDYETTE¢ HARRY TUTHILL¢ BOB ULSCHMID¢¢ Submitted by Ron Fetzer¢ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<¢
