x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x¢¢Newsletter Review¢¢by Alan Sharkis¢¢Because of the fact that there is a¢delay between the time you get the¢newsletter and the time I wrote these¢articles the appearance is that I¢have supplied a steady stream of¢reviews to you. Such is not the¢case. I usually write enough reviews¢to keep me well-ahead of newsletter¢publication, so I was able to take a¢rather long break this time around. ¢In fact, you will probably not read¢this article until August, at the¢earliest (perhaps October?) Also¢realize that I review what AL ATKINS,¢bless his heart, gives me and that¢there is sometimes a delay at that¢end. AL and ALEX have to read these¢newsletters before I do so that¢exchange subscriptions can be kept¢alive, etc. But sometimes a very old¢newsletter sneaks into the pile and I¢write about it because any¢information is useful to us, even if¢it's years old.¢¢So, we start this review column¢with:¢¢Update Atari (H.A.C.E.) of March,¢1990 -- GEORGE IKEN briefly¢describes data base programs for both¢ST and 8-bit. However, he includes¢spreadsheets in this article. He¢mentions two old APX programs; Data¢Management System and Data¢Base/Report System. He also mentions¢LJK's Data Perfect, Visicorp's¢Visicalc, and Synfile Plus and¢Syncalc and alludes to some magazine-¢based and p/d programs. In another¢article, George gives us a full¢review of Diskio Plus, a very¢elaborate and flexible replacement¢for the familiar DUP.SYS we use in¢Atari DOS, SmartDos, and DOS XL. ¢¢M.U.G. Newsletter of January, 1991 --¢ The NAPCO newsletter is expected,¢and is it's usual good quality. JEFF¢GANAPOSKI's opening editorial is an¢interesting point of view. Read it. ¢Also, read the Eight Is Enough¢article by PAUL L. PLANTS. There are¢reprints of JIMMY BOYCE's AtariWriter¢+ series (the part about the¢spellchecker) and CHUCK STEINMAN's¢series on the Turbo 816. A review of¢NewsRoom by TED BEAUCHAMP of TAG¢(obviously reprinted from its former¢run in LIAUG Lighthouse) which points¢out the solutions to several¢instruction manual-generated problems¢that many users have found with¢NewsRoom. It is also a good¢description of the good points of the¢program.¢¢February, 1991 LIAUG LightHouse --¢ contains a review by DOUG WOKOUN¢taken from Cleveland Free-Net¢(6/17/90) of the SpartaDOS X¢cartridge. It is not a complete list¢of the features of the cartridge, but¢it certainly hits the high points.¢¢JACG Newsletter for March, 1991 --¢ DAVE ARLINGTON's 8-bit report is not¢very full, but does point up the¢ability of SynFile as a special-¢purpose data base. Here it is being¢used to keep track of a baseball card¢collection.¢¢ACORN Kernel for March, 1991 -- JEFF¢SUMMERS' Basically Speaking column¢concludes the series comparing Atari¢BASIC and Turbo Basic with a¢description of some TurboBasic¢string-handling commands.¢¢B.A.C.E. Line for March, 1991 --¢ Well, surprise of surprises! I¢never had a chance to see ALEX's¢article on Languages before, and here¢it is! His Valgol sort of reminds me¢of a program I have for my (ahem!¢other computer) that takes a¢perfectly good text file and makes¢valspeak out of it. Come to think of¢it, the C source code for that¢program is included. (Now, where did¢I put my copy of Deep Blue C?) It's¢good to see ALEX in print.¢¢ACE of Syracuse Newsletter for March,¢1991 -- VERNON W. SMITH wrote about¢KEN WICKERT's efforts with an 8-bit¢system to send letters via modem to¢our troops in the Persian Gulf area. ¢It is a touching story, but KEN¢himself adds one that's better in the¢form of a reply to one of those¢letters from a serviceman named CHUCK¢NORMANLY (you GOTTA read them!). TOM¢ANDREWS wrote an article in which he¢describes installing a 256K Rambo¢memory expansion into an 800XL. But¢this is no routine memory upgrade¢column. TOM also did some¢experimenting with the expanded¢memory, listed his results, and¢suggested more experiments to come. ¢It is also interesting to note that¢Current Notes contacted ACE and¢praised their newsletter as¢reflecting a possible 8-bit¢renaissance. Could be we're next for¢that kind of recognition?¢¢(FR)ANTIC for March, 1991 -- MANUEL¢GARCIA writes a review of Atartris¢II, the second version of a popular¢8-bit Tetris clone. He describes a¢feature not often seen on games. ¢This is the "join-in" feature which¢allows a second player to join the¢game after the first player has¢started without interrupting the¢game. President ALVAN SHERRILL's¢Beginner's Column discusses an¢analogy between learning (for humans)¢and programming (for computers). It¢also touches on how commercial¢software is most likely autobooting¢and how the user must disable BASIC¢at loading, while p/d and shareware¢is often not autobooting and often¢needs BASIC or another language. He¢gives a procedure for finding out¢just how a disk's boot status can be¢discovered, and how you should mark¢your disks after discovery so that¢you will always know how to load¢them. NIR DAREY, a member who lives¢in Israel, wrote a very complete¢article about how sectors are written¢and mapped. For the techies among¢us, this is welcome knowledge. It¢will be continued in later editions¢of (FR)ANTIC. There are reprints of¢"In Praise of Older Computers" by¢JOHN PICKEN of PCACE, and "Having 8-¢Bit Copying Problems?", by ACE of¢Syracuse's KEN WICKERT.¢¢Keeping P.A.C.E. for March, 1991 --¢ there is a reprint of JIM COX's¢article on using a Happy-modified¢1050 to create MS-DOS readable¢disks.¢¢Nybbles and Bytes for March/April,¢1991 -- This is a QUALITY newsletter,¢totally 8-bit, and produced with an¢8-bit. It includes both parts of¢JOAN RYAN's (ACE of St. Louis)¢reviews of the No Frills Print Shop¢Utility Disk which I URGE all members¢to see. Not only are the¢descriptions complete, but samples of¢the disk's labeling utility are¢reproduced and the labels are¢fabulous! JOHN COLLINS gives us a¢type-in graphics program in his¢"Drawn and Quartered" column. There¢is a reprint of DAVID PLOTKIN's July,¢1986 column from ANTIC on number¢crunching in BASIC. Beyond that,¢look around how the NWPAC has put¢Nybbles and Bytes together. It is a¢clear indication of what our 8-bits¢can do with a little imagination and¢a good printer.¢¢XIO3 for March/April, 1991 -- This is¢a newsletter I haven't seen before. ¢The Canadian group G.C.A.C.E. that¢produces it has done a superb job. ¢The first page Atari News and Rumours¢column by ROWLAND GRANT mentions¢that DARECK MIHOCKA, the designer of¢the ST Xformer has produced an¢emulator for MS-DOS machines that¢will let them run Atari and Apple 8-¢bit software. (Reviewer's Note: I¢don't think Apple will let that one¢get by in the courts!) DARECK has a¢number of ST projects available¢through his company, Branch Always¢Software, although he is now employed¢by Microsoft. There is a description¢of the SIO2PC that is fairly¢complete, and a mention of the KE-¢SOFT 8-bit German games being sold by¢Software Infinity. ROWLAND has also¢given us a rundown of Club Cenacal¢Atari, the French 8-bit club. It's¢an interesting article and compares¢somewhat with the activities of¢ABBUC. RON DEPOL tells us how to fix¢XL and XE keyboards and JOHN PICKEN¢describes the process by which¢desktop publishing, albiet sans¢WYSIWYG , can be done on an 8-bit¢with TextPro, DD III, and MyDos or¢SpartaDos.¢¢LIAUG LightHouse for April, 1991 --¢ RICK BURTON's (RACE) the Basics of¢BASIC, reprinted from March, 1990¢AIM, tells us how to get those nice¢large letters on the screen in¢various graphics modes. the "8-Bit¢Odds-n-Ends" column by JIM HARRIS¢returns after a year's absence and¢gives us concrete examples of why we¢8-bitters have reason for hope in the¢form of new products, mostly¢shareware and p/d.¢¢L.V.A.U.G. News for April, 1991 --¢ This issue is full of reprints that¢I have reviewed in this or previous¢Ol' Hackers newsletters. ¢¢M.U.G. Newsletter for April, 1991 --¢ Sad to say, NAPCO has produced a¢very small newsletter this motnth. ¢They did reproduce a flyer¢advertising the club and seeking new¢memebers. They did reprint a letter¢from KEMAL EZCAN mentioning that the¢KE-SOFT line, marketed by Software¢Infinity, was a result of discussions¢started by HORST DEWITZ about a year¢ago. they also reproduced JIMMY¢BOYCE's AtariWriter+ column, the one¢in which he describes personal¢dictionaries.¢¢B.A.C.E. Line for April, 1991 -- This¢issue has a number of old, but¢interesting reprints. Two deal with¢piracy, one with smoke as the force¢behind anything electronic (no, I'm¢not kidding! It's well done, and¢funny.), and a nice, nostalgic one¢about 8-bits.¢¢The ACORN Kernel for April, 1991 --¢ JEFF SUMMERS goes over some of the¢machine language routine commands in¢TurboBasic like BLOAD, BRUN, DPOKE,¢MOVE, BPUT, BGET, %PUT, and %GET. ¢JOHN McGOWAN has included copyrighted¢articles on TextPro Macros and¢TextPro configuration.¢¢The W.A.N.D. for April, 1991 -- This¢issue contains reviews of older¢programs reprinted from a number of¢sources. It also contains a BASIC¢program that will permanently change¢an Atari Planetarium disk so that¢that disk can be run on a 1050 drive¢with a U. S. Doubler installed.¢¢Update Atari (HACE) for April, 1991 -¢- There is a review of the Atari¢light gun and Crossbow (a game for¢the gun) taken from The Knoxville¢Atarian.¢¢The W.A.N.D. for May, 1991 -- This¢issue, like the last one, contains¢mostly reprints of articles done¢elsewhere. However, this time the¢articles are much more practical. ¢JEFF SUMMERS of ACORN's Basically¢Speaking (the string-handling¢installment) occupies the fist page. ¢Then there is a reprint of a review¢of "Rommel: Battles for Tobruk" from¢the February 1987 issue of Current¢Notes. A delightful article¢entitled, "A Word Processor With a¢Life-Time Guarantee" will enchant all¢who read it. The AIM review by JOHN¢KACMARCIK of the MIO is reprinted, as¢is DONALD FORBES' JACG Newsletter¢comparison of Atari spreadsheets. ¢There are several reprinted articles¢with type-in programs or routines on¢various topics, and a construction¢article for adding surge protection¢to a common outlet strip.¢¢The May, 1991 LIAUG LightHouse --¢¢ There are no specifically 8-bit¢articles in here, but how many Ol'¢Hackers know that LIAUG's bbs, The¢New Nest gives Ol' Hackers special¢access when they call? Read the¢story that JIM HARRIS wrote about his¢taking over the bbs from PAT MULVEY¢and see what sorts of things you're¢missing by not calling the BBS. No¢modem, you say? That can be remedied¢very easily and inexpensively. Stay¢in touch with 'Ol Hackers and find¢out how!¢¢The ACORN Kernel for May, 1991 --¢ JEFF SUMMERS writes several articles¢in this issue. First, he gives a¢warning that I saw on many BBSs and¢echoes that STart was not paying its¢authors. By now, of course, we all¢know that STart, and ANTIC, no longer¢publish. JEFF also writes about his¢experiences using his IBM and a null-¢modem cable to mass store his Atari¢disks. Essentially, he discomms the¢Atari disks to files, null-modems¢them to the IBM, stores them¢temporarily on one IBM floppy or the¢hard drive, then ZIPs (an MS-DOS¢compaction program) ten of them onto¢one 1.44 megabyte 3.5" floppy. Other¢small, general interest articles¢abound in this issue.¢¢The LIAUG LightHouse for June, 1991 -¢- JIM HARRIS, the sysop of The New¢Nest continues writing about the¢board in his column, 8-Bit Odds-n-¢Ends. There is a reprint of the¢CHUCK STEINMAN article about adding¢another POKEY chip to your 8-bit to¢get stereo sound. It also mentions a¢modified Pokey Player that can¢produce stereo sound with existing¢Pokey Player files. It is available¢through GEnie, CIS, and the author's¢BBS; filename GUMBY.ARC.¢¢The LIAUG LightHouse for July, 1991 -¢- This issue came with a flyer from¢Software Infinity advertising its new¢German 8-bit games. The prices are¢exceptionally low, and the titles and¢descriptions sound great, even to¢this non-gameplayer. There is an¢article by DON LeBOW that is¢reprinted from Z*NET of May 4, 1990. ¢It's a review of BobTerm 1.20. ¢However, just preceeding that, JIM¢HARRIS reviews 1.21! Well, guys, I¢have 1.22, an unofficial release that¢corrects a couple of minor bugs, but¢that's just bragging. Get anything¢higher than 1.0 and you have a¢bargain.¢¢x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x*x¢
