*************************************¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ By ALAN SHARKIS¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢ ¢The PACESetter from January 1996 --¢Be sure to check out the Modem Boot¢Camp article by ALAN FRAZER and the¢following article on modem history¢(adapted from MERLE BARNES' article¢in the July/August Nybbles & Bytes). ¢Both should offer ample inspiration¢to get out your modems and go on¢line. PACE also ran a column (no¢author mentioned) entitled, "We Are¢Not Alone." In it, they wrote a¢superb history and description of the¢AAAUA, another stalwart 8-bit user¢group. When reading this article,¢please don't forget to look at the¢games, puzzles, riddles, etc. How¢PACE can come up with more original¢ones each month is a mystery to me,¢but they do have them, and they are¢always enjoyable. ¢¢SLCC Journal for January 1996 -- It's¢good to know that the SLCC still¢publishes a newsletter. The last¢few, including this one, have been¢rather skimpy, but still manage to¢present some interesting information. ¢Read JIM MORAN's minutes on the front¢cover.¢Update Atari (HACE) for January 1996¢-- This continues to be an¢exceptionally well-written¢newsletter. Not only does GEORE IKEN¢write the XS RAM column, which is¢replete with, "XL/XE and ST Rumors¢And Murmers," but in this issue he¢also adds an interesting tip that¢would certainly apply to those of us¢who wish to fire up an 800 that's¢been in the closet for a while. ¢George follows this one up with a¢reminder to those who may be sending¢a disk to another user. It's a¢practice that our user group follows¢when it sends out newsletters. Can¢you tell what the hint is? Check¢yourself by requesting this issue¢from me.¢¢(FR)ANTIC (AAAUA) for January 1996 --¢ There is a review of ANSITERM 1.0,¢an 80-column terminal program that¢can be used for connecting an 8-bit¢to the Internet. The author of the¢program, ROBERT SINCLAIR, has done a¢lot of 8-bit work and has also¢produced a terminal program for the¢IBM platform that emulates a 40-¢column ATASCII screen, complete with¢ATASCII characters. GREG COBY, (who¢makes is presence known on FidoNet)¢has written a BBS program that I'm¢dying to try out. The only way that¢I can do that, however, is to call¢his BBS in California. I've promised¢myself to do that, but just haven't¢had a chance. However, Greg outlines¢the commands for his BBS editor in¢this issue of (FR)ANTIC. it looks¢like a vey sensible and intuitive¢editor, and I like the way that the¢tabs and cursor movements are done.¢Finally, there's an obituary for¢Jannet Blocker. I enjoyed reading¢what Jannet wrote in (FR)ANTIC from¢time to time, and I, too, will miss¢her.¢¢Nybbles and Bytes (NWPAC) for¢January/February 1885 -- President¢DALE WOOSTER's column is always¢interesting. In this one, he¢describes the move from the PAUGS BBS¢that had been run by the NWPAC for¢many years to The Iron Horse BBS, run¢by MARIO ROBBINS. Dale mentions that¢Mario has declined compensation but¢has volunteered to do this. Changing¢from a user-group run BBS to a¢private one has always been a¢difficult move for user groups. The¢private BBS sometimes has carried¢material which is not important to¢the user group's members, or contains¢material with which the club may not¢want to associate. I don't know if¢such was the case in this particular¢move, but I do know that it has¢created additional work for sysops in¢the past. (We in OHAUG experienced¢an actual dual BBS in the past when¢we called the WQNR BBS. If the¢caller was an OHAUG member, he or she¢automatically was switched to the¢OHAUG side. If not, the caller would¢get switched to the WQNR side. At¢any time, the caller could switch¢from the OHAUG side to the WQNR side,¢if the caller wished to enter the¢world of rock'n'roll. The late Kris¢Holtegaard worked long and hard on¢that modificaton. On the other hand,¢our present association with LIAUG¢and with The New Nest has created¢little additional work for sysop Jim¢Harris, since LIAUG is our sister¢group. Jim's only request is that we¢USE the system!) In the process of¢following Mario's posts on the¢IAN/USF, I have seen a truly¢dedicated sysop doing his best for¢the entire 8-bit community as well as¢NWPAC. May the association have a¢long and happy life! In addition to¢Dale's column, check out the reprints¢of ROWLAND GRANT's (XIO3, Nov./Dec.¢1995) Atari 8-Bit Affairs column, a¢type-in program for the "Science-¢Fiction Pocket Computer," by THOMAS¢DAUGHTON (May 1989 Mile High¢Magazine) "Do-It-Yourself Keyboard¢Repair," by JOHN NAGY (April 1988¢Michigan Atari Magazine) and¢"Nintendo Controllers for the Atari¢8-Bits," DALE WOOSTER and JOHN POWELL¢(Jul./Aug. Nybbles & Bytes.)¢¢XIO# (GCACE) for January/February¢1996 -- This issue is PACKED! ¢ROWLAND GRANT's Atari News and¢Rumours column has to be read even if¢it doesn't mention 8-bit material¢once. It foreshadows what we all¢know happened to Atari just a month¢later. For those of you who are¢addicted to games, DOUGLAS SKRECKY¢has contributed a Game Machine Review¢column, also very predictive of¢Atari's moves early this month, and¢ROWLAND GRANT writes about some¢cartridges, apparently abandoned by¢Atari, that wound up at retailers. ¢Rowland also includes news about FTe,¢some SpartaDOS utilities from Nelson¢Neives, and more on A.P.E., PC¢XFormer, the Pool Disk, BEN POEHLAND,¢DALE WOOSTER and CLAY HALLIWELL. ¢There is also a long and informative¢continuation of JOHN PICKEN's article¢on RAM/ROM Control on XL/XE.¢¢(FR)ANTIC (AAAUA) for February 1996 -¢- Editor MANUEL GARCIA states that¢the source of several articles in¢this issue are messages that appeared¢on the FidoNet National Atari Echo. ¢They were sent to Manuel by MIKE¢MAZZOLA, sysop of the Quantum Leap¢BBS. One such article is a type-in¢program by WINSTON SMITH. this very¢short proram checks to see which¢version of BASIC is running in your¢computer. "PC to 8-BIT," by¢ALEJANDRO GALLEGUILLOS, is a very¢complete (though not really up-to-¢date on version numbers -- A. S.)¢description of the many ways to¢transfer data between Atari 8-bits¢and PCs.(Many of the software-based¢solutions that Alejandro mentions can¢be found on the pool disk and will be¢transferred to our library if they¢run on the Atari side. If you need¢something that runs on the PC side,¢just ask me for a copy -- A.S.) ¢Courtesy of DAVID GOSTL, we have the¢text of the press release of Atari's¢merger with JTS. President TODD¢SUNRUNNER contributes a very funny¢article about his first experiences¢with computers. There's also a¢source for exact mechanism¢replacements for the XF551 disk¢drive.¢¢The PACESetter for February, 1996 --¢ This issue features articles on¢using AtariWriter +. I used¢AtariWriter + after a few years of¢using the cartridge-based¢AtariWriter. I found it to be a very¢flexible program. In fact, many of¢the study guides I produced for my¢students in chemistry, computer¢applications, physics, etc., were¢originally done on AtariWriter and¢AtariWriter +. (They have¢subsequently been transferred to my¢PC clone, where after some¢reformatting, they have survived PFS¢Professional Write, WordPerfect 5.1¢for DOS, and, finally, WordPerfect¢6.1 for Windows -- A.S.) AtariWriter¢+ made it easy to create printer¢drivers for the two printers I used¢with my Atari. I was even able to¢create downloadable character sets¢for both printers to accommodate the¢special characters I had to use. But¢now, reading this issue of The¢PACESetter, I've even picked up more¢tricks. CAROLYN HOGLIN's fine¢articles from the Mid-Florida Atari¢Computer Club Bulletin (various¢dates)are reprinted. These include¢articles on addressing envelopes with¢AW+, skipping half-lines while¢printing, alphabetizing lists, and¢making labels. PACE's own JEAN BROKAW¢contributes an article about the AW+¢Proofreader and about the problem she¢encountered when she accidentally set¢the global menu to double columns. ¢There is a reprint of a PAUL A.¢ALHART article (June 1991 A.I.M.) on¢a modification for AW+ that changes¢the key repeat rate. There are also¢tips by THELMA SUNVISON (February¢1993, March 1993 (FR)ANTIC.) And¢what would an issue of The PACESetter¢be like without the usual games,¢puzzles, etc.? This issue has them,¢too.¢¢SLCC Journal for March 1996 -- Again,¢read JIM MORAN's minutes.¢¢The PACESetter for March 1996 -- This¢issue reprints the press release¢dealing with the sale of GEnie. (I¢can state first hand that the new¢owner, Youvelle Renaissance¢Corporation, has every intention of¢retaining the old GEnie through a¢variety of payment plans and options,¢but is also selling an Internet¢provider service. Whether GEnie can¢survive under these circumstances¢only time will tell. -- A.S.) The¢Getting to Know You column this month¢features Editor JEAN BROKAW. There¢is a review (no author mentioned) of¢TOM HUNT's Snapshot program. WALT¢LEWIS has contributed an article that¢tells how to print labels with¢TextPro 5.2. ¢¢¢*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢