*++*++*++*++*++*++*++*++*++*++*++*¢¢ MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 1991 MEETING¢ -----------------------------------¢¢ This month's turnout for our¢ meeting was quite small, so in an¢ effort to wait for others to show up,¢ the meeting got off to a late start. ¢ At about 1:00PM ALEX PIGNATO,¢ President, called the meeting to¢ order, and after a few remarks¢ advising that he had received calls¢ from absent members, and about the¢ "large" turnout proceeded with the¢ meeting.¢¢ GENERAL MEETING:¢¢ ALEX announced that a few more¢ checks have been received for RON's¢ program. ALEX then displayed a¢ newsletter from the SAN LEANDRO¢ computer club in which there was an¢ article describing the disks on TURBO¢ BASIC that RON FETZER had sent them. ¢ They had designated the three disks¢ as their Disks Of The Month. He then¢ recommended that everyone in our club¢ should get a set of Turbo Basic¢ disks, and was advised that all tne¢ members had them.¢¢ ALEX then spoke about BOB¢ SCHOLAR's modification of the format¢ of RON's disks to include a File¢ Reader and a Read Me file. His new¢ format condensed the 3 disks into 2¢ disks. ALEX then read his letter in¢ answer to Bob, in which he mentioned¢ that RON will be lecturing at the¢ JERSEY ATARI USERS GROUP on TURBO¢ BASIC today. This is the second time¢ that J.A.C.G. had requested a guest¢ speaker from our membership. At this¢ point, the door opened up, and in¢ walked HARRY TUTHILL (probably¢ stopped at every garage sale on his¢ way). As HARRY walked in the door,¢ ALEX asked him if he knew anything¢ about fixing 130XE's, since he was¢ having a problem with his daughter's¢ machine. HARRY said "NO", but he did¢ say that he would be willing to¢ "tamper" with it. I believe ALEX¢ declined.¢ ALEX then brought up the subject¢ of sending disks to other people. He¢ stressed that when sending a disk to¢ someone, it would be a good idea to¢ make and keep a copy of the directory¢ so that when sending the same person¢ another disk, you will not duplicate¢ any programs.¢¢ Since HARRY T. arrived late, some¢ wise-guy in the bleachers (me) told¢ him that he missed the door prize. ¢ HARRY still claims that we fixed last¢ month's drawing so that he did not¢ win.¢¢ ALEX gave us an impromptu¢ perception test for laughs. An¢ example of the type of questions¢ follows: If you have two coins, and¢ one is not a nickel and the other¢ is, and they total fifty five cents,¢ what are denominations of the two¢ coins? Answer: a nickel and a half¢ dollar. One coin is not a nickel,¢ but the other one is. Would our¢ computers have known the answer?¢¢ MINUTES and TREASURER's REPORT:¢¢ The minutes of the SEPTEMBER¢ meeting were then read, with a¢ pleasant interruption in the middle¢ for a coffee break. I will not give¢ any details, since the minutes appear¢ elsewhere in this newsletter. The¢ treasurer's report was also given,¢ and we are still well into the black,¢ as we go into our SEVENTH year, as a¢ club!¢¢ CORRESPONDENCE:¢¢ ALEX showed us some materials¢ (brochures and disk) sent to us¢ advertising an all ATARI show in¢ Chicago. JACK said that he is not¢ going (humor). ¢ A letter from TOM ANDREWS was¢ read, in which he wrote about RON¢ FETZER's Turbo Basic Kit. All the¢ comments were very complimentary, and¢ he mentioned that they were selling¢ copies to the club members for ten¢ dollars.¢¢ We then heard a letter from¢ GARDEN CITY ATARI of CANADA in which¢ they also complimented us on our¢ newsletter on disk, and mentioned¢ that they were putting it in their¢ library. They too had received a¢ letter from our "member" in ALGERIA,¢ AFRICA. A brief mention was made¢ about a computer show at HOFSTRA¢ UNIV. right here on L.I. on October¢ 19th. It is expected that JACK¢ GEDALIUS will probably attend, and¢ maybe HARRY too. The SAN LEANDRO club¢ also lauded RON's TURBO BASIC¢ PROGRAMMING KIT. ¢¢ ALEX mentioned the TOAD Company's¢ catalog in which there was a¢ reasonable amount of 8 BIT¢ merchandise advertised. There was¢ also some 8 bit stuff for sale in the¢ latest ATARI EXPLORER, although there¢ was a definite lack of 8 BIT¢ articles.¢¢ We received a letter from NETA¢ FILMORE. She sent another ATARI¢ sticker from SWITZERLAND, (she has¢ previously sent stickers and pens¢ from other countries) and thanked us¢ for RON's T/B disks. ALEX sent her a¢ letter in answer to her letter, and¢ included our newsletter, and thanked¢ her for the sticker.¢¢ We also received a letter from¢ JOHN AALTO, President of LIAUG. He¢ wrote about NEAR*US; ALEX did not go¢ into detail, except to say NEAR*US¢ was contacting new user groups.¢¢ All members present filled out a¢ survey to be sent to ATARI INTERFACE¢ magazine. The survey asked about¢ equipment, income, age, wants and¢ needs, etc. They will be mailed to¢ the magazine in Michigan.¢¢ Mention was also made about¢ DAMARK still selling the ATARI 1200¢ baud modem for $25.00, but now does¢ not mention the ATARI name.¢¢ A letter was also received from¢ BEN POEHLAND with which he included¢ his dues. He also included some¢ updates on the status of CURRENT¢ NOTES and ATARI INTERFACE magazines. ¢ He thanked RON for his T/B disks and¢ mentioned that he could probably use¢ the docs as is, for an article in the¢ magazine (he will check that out with¢ RON). ALEX sent BEN a return letter¢ in which he again bring up the¢ subject of the lower rate for CN¢ magazine subscrition.¢¢ ALEX then commented on the lack¢ of attention while the month's¢ correspondence is being read. He¢ stated that it is discourteous and¢ rude, to the speaker, or the person¢ making a demo, who puts in effort to¢ bring info to the members. He asked ¢ that we all use common courtesy!¢¢ DEMO's: ¢¢ ALEX gave a short verbal¢ explanation of how to download text¢ from the screen to a printer while on¢ a BBS.¢¢ From there, ALEX demoed a disk¢ from the SAN LEANDRO club called¢ "SLMENU.BAS" which included a text¢ reader and menu setup. Programs¢ could be run directly from the¢ directory. Next was a program to¢ address envelopes, "ADDRESS.ENV"¢ followed by a program put together by¢ ALEX called "HELPMODS.BAS"...a¢ compilation of small programs to¢ determine revisions of Pokey chips,¢ ROMs, XL, and Basic.¢ Also demoed by ALEX was a text¢ directory program "DISKLIST.BAS"¢ which reads directories into a text¢ file in any drive including RAMDISK,¢ which in turn can be printed out just¢ like any other text file (can use a¢ word processor or the DOS COPY¢ function to P:). This was demoed and¢ printed out on a printer (printer¢ brought in by ALEX. An 8 year old¢ STAR GEMINI 10X, and still working). ¢ A program to print order forms was¢ also shown. It will be found in side¢ 2 of this newsletter, as¢ "OHORDRBL.ANK", and must be run from¢ BASIC. Another printing utility for¢ printing text files in 38 or 40¢ columns was also demoed, called¢ "PRNTDOCS.BAS", then "THANKS.BAS",¢ which prints out a cute THANK YOU¢ note for a gift you received. Lastly¢ a program for printing CHRISTMAS¢ wrapping paper, "XMSWRAP.BAS" was¢ shown (some of us had seen it¢ before).¢¢ JACK GEDALIUS demoed a graphics¢ disk by STEVE DONG done on a TOUCH¢ TABLET, with many fantastic pictures,¢ with glowing colors. The disk¢ included an explanation of each¢ picture.¢¢ Among the other demos were a menu¢ program from ENGLAND, a graphics¢ program showing spiral patterns,¢ which could be altered by changing¢ parameters.¢¢ HAROLD PEGLER demoed MYDOS and¢ explained the similarities to¢ SPARTADOS. MYDOS will be in our¢ library as a two disk set.¢¢ ALEX then showed another version¢ of a document printer,¢ "PRNTDOCS.BAS", that made it much¢ easier to change back and forth¢ between 40 and 80 column. He also¢ showed "XEDUP.BAS", a disk copying¢ program, and then an amusing program¢ called "COMKIL.BAS". This was¢ followed by a STAR TREK game called¢ "TREKST.BAS", with docs, and a math¢ program "MATH WORKSHOP" for kids by¢ PAGE SIX from ENGLAND.¢¢ HAROLD PEGLER ran a demo disk on¢ Visicalc. It was interesting to¢ those of us that are into using¢ spreadsheets.¢¢ DOOR PRIZE:¢¢ ....... ALEX punctuated Harold's¢ demo with an announcement that there¢ would be no door prize drawing since¢ he forgot to bring the door prizes.¢ (finally figured out a way to beat¢ HARRY).¢¢ ALEX finished up the meeting by¢ reading parts of letters from JIM¢ CUTLER from ENGLAND and NIEK¢ VANDERLEE from CANADA. JIM sent his¢ regards to AL ATKINS, and to club¢ members. NIEK is on his way to EUROPE¢ for a vacation, and will probably¢ have some ATARI news when he gets¢ back. Our honarary member SAM CORY of¢ J.A.C.G., is undergoing an operation,¢ and we all wish him well, and hope he¢ is on his feet real fast.¢¢ Submitted by Temp. Secretary,¢ STAN SCHENFELD¢¢ <<<<<<<<<<<<<**END***>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>¢ ¢
