*<>*<>*<>* THE ALL MICRO¢ SHOW NO.6 1992 (ENGLAND)¢ by DAVID EWENS, member OL' HACKERS¢ ¢ Saturday the 14th november, 5am, my¢ talking alarm clock tells me it's¢ time to rise and get ready for the¢ big day out at the AMS6 show (ALL¢ MICRO SHOW #6) at Stafford, England.¢ I go through to the other bedroom and¢ tell my friend Stuart Murray it's¢ time to get up. He came down from¢ Aberdeen in the north of Scotland the¢ day before to stay for the weekend so¢ that he could travel to the show with¢ John Mathewson and myself.¢ ¢ John (our chauffeur for the day),¢ arrived at 6am and we set off for the¢ 3 and a half hour drive to Stafford.¢ Well!! we thought it would take that¢ long, but about half way there, we¢ got stuck in a large traffic holdup¢ due to a car crash. We finally¢ arrived at Stafford at 10.30am one¢ hour after the show had started.¢ ¢ When we got inside the show hall, we¢ knew from from our visit last year¢ that the first thing to do was to¢ stop inside the door, look round and¢ see which stands were busiest and¢ then head for them. These would be¢ the Atari 8-BIT stands. It proved to¢ be the right decision except that we¢ didn't know which stand to head for¢ first. There were 8 stands for the¢ Atari 8-BIT only, so we decided to¢ split up and see what each of us¢ could find. I decided to head for¢ Derik Fern's stand (micro Discount)¢ as I had placed an order with him by¢ phone for some new software he had¢ advertised. I'd ordered a few¢ cartridges including two for the¢ lightgun called CRIME BUSTERS, and¢ CROSSBOW. They were quite expensive,¢ but excellent games. I would¢ recommend that anyone with a lightgun¢ should buy these games, well worth¢ the money. I had also ordered two¢ new disk programmes called TRICKY¢ PRINT, and PRINT-LAB. Tricky Print¢ is a must for 1029 printer users, it¢ is a driver that lets you have the¢ full use of Print Shop and Print Shop¢ Companion. Print-Lab is a page¢ designer programme written for use¢ with the 1029 and Epson compatable¢ printers.¢ ¢ Looking round the stands, I was¢ amazed to see a lot of demonstrations¢ not only hardware add-ons, but new¢ software either on release, or being¢ released in the very near future.¢ There were demos being shown of new¢ games including THE LAST GUARDIAN,¢ TAGALON, and Tiger Developements were¢ showing a demo of their new game¢ called LIZARD, a very good arcade¢ game. Most of the stands had a good¢ selection of spare parts, also¢ 800XLs/130XEs costing from #10 to¢ #20, and there were even a few 1050¢ and 810 drives to be found.¢ ¢ After awhile, I met up with John and¢ Stuart and we all had our hands full¢ of bargains but our pockets were¢ getting empty very quickly. We¢ decided to take everything to the car¢ and store it away and then come back¢ and have a look around at the other¢ stands. A friend had told us that he¢ had seen a stand selling blank disks¢ at #10 for 200, some of these were a¢ must. Wandering round the rest of¢ the show, we noticed that many stands¢ were displaying Atari 8-BIT software¢ on disk and tape.¢ ¢ I only wish that Atari would spare¢ the time to attend one of these shows¢ and see just how much support there¢ is for the 8-BIT machine. If they¢ were to show some interest, then¢ maybe more software companies would¢ do the same.¢ ¢ Mid afternoon, we decided that it was¢ time to head home. We had had¢ nothing to eat since early morning,¢ so decided to stop at a rodside Cafe¢ for a good meal. Just after 6pm, we¢ arrived back home tired, but very¢ happy. Stuart and I spent the¢ evening going through the software¢ we'd bought and both of us decided¢ that although we'd spent more than we¢ had intended, we didn't regret it.¢ ¢ As some of you may have heard, I and¢ some of the other members of our¢ group, have started our own¢ newsletter called TWAUG, (Tyne & Wear¢ Atari User Group). If all goes well,¢ we hope to have our own stand at the¢ next AMS show in 1993. I would like¢ to thank OL Hackers for their¢ subscription to the newsletter, and¢ also for offerring to give their help¢ in the future. It is very much¢ appreciated.¢ ¢ Happy computing in 1993 to all 8-BIT¢ owners everywhere.¢ ¢ (Editors note: Thanks Dave, for a¢ most interesting view of an ENGLISH¢ ATARI show, we in AMERICA can only¢ dream and envy them.)¢ ++ end ++¢ ¢
