*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ The flow of newsletters from other¢ user groups seems to have caught up a¢ bit. I can't say with certainty that¢ all are coming to my address, but I¢ hope they are. It would delay¢ getting them reviewed if they went¢ elsewhere. Sadly, some of the¢ newsletters we sent to other user¢ groups were returned, and I have to¢ assume that those groups are no¢ longer in existence. Has anyone¢ heard, for example, that the SPECTRUM¢ group in Erie, PA is still together? ¢ If so, please let me know how to¢ contact them. On the other hand, we¢ continue to contact other groups so¢ that we can engage in newsletter¢ exchange with them. We may have the¢ results of some of those contacts in¢ the next newsletter. In this month's¢ column, you'll see the results of¢ some "catching up" that I did with¢ newsletters that I received just¢ shortly after the last issue was¢ finished.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for July 1996 -- President¢ TODD SUNRUNNER of the AAAUA keeps his¢ members informed of what's happening¢ on the National Atari Echo of FidoNet¢ by printing some representative¢ messages. (FidoNet, which generally¢ runs on IBM-compatibles with a¢ variety of BBS programs, carries a¢ large number of echoes -- special¢ interest areas -- and also has the¢ capability of carrying E-Mail with¢ and without Internet access,¢ depending on what each individual¢ sysop wishes to carry. The National¢ Atari Echo is 8-bit. -- ed.) There¢ is a notice about a web page put up¢ by LESTAT called Atari 6502, which¢ was provided free of charge by a¢ company called, "The BBS List¢ Company," which gives free¢ advertising space to sysops. I guess¢ that the free ad, in the form of a¢ Web page, constitutes a promotion for¢ other services that the company¢ provides. The issue also contains a¢ table of BASIC graphic modes and¢ their properties and a type-in¢ "Singing Star" program by GARY PRUITT¢ (ARINC Microcomputer Club Newsletter,¢ June 1984) JAMES MARTIN's article¢ about why he continues to use his¢ Atari is also very worth reading. ¢ I'm sure that many of our members¢ will agree with him.¢¢ SCAT for Late Summer/Early Fall 1996¢ -- OHAUG is pleased to welcome to its¢ newsletter exchange program the¢ Suburban Chicago Atarians (SCAT). I¢ initiated this transaction as the¢ result of an announcement of their¢ club's next meeting in the¢ comp.sys.atari.8bit newsgroup. I¢ thank President NICK DIMASI of SCAT¢ for his respnse to my message. ¢ Although this combined 8-bit and ST¢ group doesn't produce a newsletter¢ per se, they do issue a fine¢ quarterly President's Letter which¢ serves as their newsletter. We have¢ entered into an exchange program with¢ them in the hopes of generating some¢ more 8-bit interest in their club.¢ We hope that such 8-bit interest is¢ reflected in their future President's¢ Letters. At any rate, their current¢ one tells of their having sold 8-bit¢ disks at the MIST AtariFest that was¢ held in July.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for August 1996 -- Editor¢ MANUEL GARCIA reports on some of¢ things that affect the club in the¢ area of BBSing and Internet use. ¢ It's a continuing problem for BBSs --¢ as the Internet picks up, the number¢ of messages on BBSs declines. This¢ and other things lead to sysop¢ burnout, and to keep the tradition of¢ local and networking BBSs alive,¢ other people must assume the role of¢ sysop. Manuel also talks about his¢ forthcoming demonstations of Discomm¢ and SuperUnarc. LARRY BLACK,¢ moderator of the FidoNet National¢ Atari Echo, did an on-line review of¢ ICE-T, a terminal program by ITAY¢ CHAMIEL. Larry found several¢ shortcomings in the program, as did¢ I, but we're both willing to admit¢ that the concept of the program (80-¢ columns and VT-100 emulation; both¢ necessary for Internet usage) has¢ merit. Read the review. President¢ TODD SUNRUNNER writes an article on¢ saving data to disk using BASIC. His¢ knowledge of programming and his¢ ability to communicate that knowledge¢ through a written article are¢ obvious. Read the article and learn¢ some valuable techniques!¢¢ PACESetter for August/September 1996¢ -- I was not aware that Pinellas¢ County ACE takes a summer vacation,¢ but this issue confirms it. Summer¢ is, indeed, a slow time for user¢ groups, so the summer break makes¢ sense. PACE is now back from its¢ vacation with renewed energy, and¢ that, too, is apparent from this¢ issue. The article contains a short,¢ but touching tribute to our late¢ president, ALEX PIGNATO. JEAN BROKAW¢ has contributed a novel monthly¢ contest involving the creation of a¢ family coat of arms using a¢ construction set that works with The¢ Print Shop. (Jean, I'd design one¢ for my family, but it's hard to draw¢ a tooth and a nail <G!> -ed.) Jean¢ also does a rundown of some of the¢ information available through the¢ Suncoast Free-Net. I wish we had¢ such a Free-Net in our area, and¢ perhaps we will have its equivalent¢ soon. Jean has also filled the¢ article with a vast assortment of¢ tidbits -- games, puzzles, riddles,¢ all with a nautical theme, together¢ with a recipe and an anonymous¢ computer poem in the style of Dr.¢ Seuss.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for September 1996 -- This¢ issue reprints BOB PUFF's rather¢ lengthy and informative article on¢ SuperUnarc which, by the way, is his¢ own program and vital if you're going¢ to be working with compressed files. ¢ DAVID M. ACKLAM announces the¢ A.U.N.T. show which will be held in¢ Dallas on October 12. CHARLES¢ BROWN's article, reprinted from the¢ August 1987 issue of Fuji Facts,¢ describes and reviews The Print¢ Shop.¢¢ XIO3 for September/October 1996 --¢ ROWLAND GRANT reports on the Atari-¢ JTS transition and is rather¢ pessimistic about the future of old¢ Atari properties, particularly the¢ Jaguar. Rowland als reports on some¢ of the 8-bit activities occuring on,¢ or being reported about on the¢ Internet. Among them is KEVIN¢ SAVETZ's ANTIC Web Page project, BOB¢ WOOLLEY's experiments with the IDE¢ interface and a promise to get¢ another issue of AC out when the IDE¢ stuff is finished, and emulators by¢ CHRIS LAM (Rainbow '95), MIKE HILL¢ (POKEY), and MARKUS GIETZEN (XL-It). ¢ This issue also reprints a large¢ number of amusing computer-related¢ cartoons.¢¢ PACESetter for October 1996 -- The¢ Getting to Know You column this month¢ features BEN TAUTVAISAS, who¢ describes himself as a mechanical¢ engineer who designed many ingenious¢ machines for manufacturing specialty¢ paper products. Ben visits Florida¢ every winter, and has been using¢ Atari computers since 1980. He uses¢ his computer to help solve the¢ cryptograms he finds in his morning¢ newspaper. A reprint of a Z*MAG¢ article by MIKE BLENKIRON, via the¢ OHAUG Newsletter (Nov./Dec. 1991)¢ discusses how to service keyboards in¢ the various Atari 8-bit computers. ¢ JEAN BROKAW, in addition to her usual¢ puzzles and poetry has added a¢ program. It is supposed to produce¢ some eery heartbeat sounds, just in¢ time for Halloween, but has what¢ appears to be a typo in line 80. ¢ Perhaps one of our members can fix¢ it? Jean also has some tips for¢ computer users who wear bifocals. ¢ There is a reprint of an article on¢ BASIC programming that originally¢ came from The Nine Hells Information¢ Exchange of Philadelphia BBS, and¢ deals with undocumented quirks in¢ Atari BASIC that allow faster and¢ more convenient programming. There¢ is now a discussion going on in our¢ newsgroup about the origin of the¢ phrase, "It's not a bug, it's a¢ feature." Perhaps an Atarian didn't¢ say it first, but our own BASIC¢ demonstrates the concept very well. ¢ Read the article. The issue also¢ reprints an article by MANUEL GARCIA¢ (FRantic, April 1996) on¢ uncompressing files and using the¢ compressed files as backups.¢¢ IMAGE for October 1996 -- Somehow,¢ IMAGE seldom seems to publish 8-bit-¢ specific articles, although much¢ mention is made of their fine 8-bit¢ members and officers in the minutes. ¢ I guess it takes some doing to get¢ people to write articles these days,¢ but I can only hope that will be the¢ case. When IMAGE does present an 8-¢ bit article, it's usually a very good¢ one. Well, this issue hints at the¢ fact that CHARLES LAMB and DAVE¢ MORRISON are putting together some¢ fine demos. We'll just have to wait¢ and see what the next issue says¢ about them.¢¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢¢