MINUTES OF THE JULY 1996 MEETING¢ ================================¢¢ The OL' HACKERS announces with great¢ sadness that its beloved president¢ ALEX PIGNATO suddenly died of a heart¢ attack on June 26, 1996.¢¢ TRIBUTES TO ALEX PIGNATO¢ ------------------------¢¢ POSTED ON THE NEW NEST BBS BY SYSOP¢ JIM HARRIS¢¢ ALEX PIGNATO¢ PRESIDENT OF OL' HACKERSC¢ DEVOTED 8-BITTER¢¢ It is with profound sadness that we¢ learn of the passing of ALEX PIGNATO,¢ (Triala), yesterday evening. ALAN¢ SHARKIS has posted the necessary info¢ in Base I (NEW NEST BBS). Please read¢ it.¢¢ It is impossible for me to express my¢ own sadness. It is as if one of the¢ real "shining lights" of the 8-bit¢ world has just been extinguished...¢¢ He will be rembered as one of the¢ steel pillars of the 8-bit unity. He¢ was not afraid to stand up for a¢ system that any reasonable person¢ would have abandoned long ago. He¢ insisted on "pushing the edge of the¢ envelope", and he refused to let the¢ 8-bit die.¢¢ He was a gruff old bear, and perhaps¢ difficult to work with, but this was¢ the measure of his love for the¢ Atari, that he would never accept¢ anything less than the best.¢¢ The remaining members of the OL'¢ HACKERS will need all our support,¢ prayers, and understanding during¢ this time of great loss.¢¢ Anyone who wishes to attend our¢ meetings is more than welcome. (and I¢ would like to suggest it.)¢¢ This Sysnews article will be posted¢ as "Always Read" for the next week,¢ as the NEW NEST BBS's Memorial to a¢ great man, ALEX PIGNATO.¢¢ FROM BEN POEHLAND ON THE INTERNET¢¢ I am stunned by the news of Alex'S¢ sudden death. The man was practically¢ an institution. It was Alex who held¢ the club together. He stood with me¢ shoulder to shoulder when we had to¢ deal with those impossible people in¢ Ann Arbor to produce the AC Software¢ Disk. He stood like a rock, he¢ supported me, he was an oak tree in¢ the storm, someone I could rely on.¢ With Alex'S passing we have lost not¢ only our leader and guiding light,¢ but more importantly we have lost a¢ major physical resource that Alex¢ provided to the group. ¢¢ FROM TOM ANDREWS ON GENIE¢¢ I am practically speechless, this was¢ so unexpected. The Atari 8-bit¢ community has lost one of its¢ staunchest enthusiasts and I've lost¢ a good friend. I am going to miss¢ him. May he be where programs always¢ work the first time and hardware¢ never fails.¢¢¢ FROM LYLE EARL ON THE NEW NEST BBS¢¢ All the members of SLCC had great¢ things to say about Alex. We will¢ post his passing in our journal as¢ well as A.C. Classics so those who¢ don't visit BBS's and may have know¢ him will also see the bad news ...¢¢¢ FROM TOM HUNT ON THE INTERNET¢¢ He was a fine man. This is truly a¢ sad day. But then, we can find¢ comfort in having faith that he is¢ now at home with his creator.¢¢¢ FROM L.V.A.U.G. ON GENIE¢ I am truly shocked. He was a GREAT¢ leader in the Atari Community and¢ will be deeply missed by all.¢¢¢ FROM W. BURGER OF ABBUC GERMANY ON¢ INTERNET¢¢ Alex will be missed not only as a¢ great figure in the 8-bit Atari¢ world, but also by those of us who¢ have known him personally.¢¢¢ FROM JAMES KING --¢ comp.sys.atari.8bit through AMERICA¢ ONLINE¢¢ Geez...I was just communicating with¢ him last week about joining OHAUG. A¢ definite loss to the 8-bit community¢¢¢ FROM CURTIS VENDEL ON FIDO NET¢¢ I heard about Alex and it hurt a lot.¢ I am truly sorry about it.¢¢¢ FROM JIM CUTLER, ENGLAND, INTERNET¢¢ What a sad loss, he'll be sorely¢ missed indeed. Have written to the¢ family with condolences.¢¢¢ FROM DANE STEGMAN ON FIDO NET¢¢ Alex was a veteran of WW II, a¢ community leader in his home town of¢ Oceanside N.Y. and a true luminary of¢ the 8-it world. He will be missed. My¢ condolences to his family.¢¢¢ FROM JOHN MORDOSKY ON THE NEW NEST¢ BBS¢¢ Alex's passion for the Atari¢ Community was evident to all who knew¢ him. In many ways OHAUG was his¢ extended family, and he was the¢ father who tried to keep it together.¢ The OL' HACKER'S was a driving force¢ in his life. Almost everyone knows¢ how he felt about it's existence. He¢ will be sorely missed.¢¢¢ *************************************¢¢¢ SYLVIA SMINKEY informed us that our¢ dear member BILL SMINKEY died on June¢ 19, 1996.¢¢ All the OL' HACKERS lost a dear¢ friend in BILL SMINKEY. We remember¢ BILL when we had a student member in¢ Romania who needed a printer. It was¢ BILL who obtained a printer and bore¢ the cost of mailing it to Romania.¢ BILL was always a good and kind man.¢¢ We are certain that BILL will meet in¢ heaven with ALEX to discuss their¢ love for the 8-bit computer. BILL¢ will not be forgotten by the OL'¢ HACKERS. He was a unique individual¢ who contributed much to all.¢¢ *************************************¢¢¢ JACK GEDALIUS assumed the presidency¢ of the club. He chaired the meeting.¢¢ We started with a minute of silent¢ prayer for our dear departed¢ president ALEX PIGNATO¢¢ We had visiting members from other¢ clubs: PAT MULVEY, president of¢ L.I.A.U.G and one of our newest¢ members; JONATHAN MORDOSKY and¢ JONATHAN MORDOSKY JR. from P.A. and¢ also a new member of our club; JIM¢ HARRIS, an old and new member of our¢ club; ART PAOLINI, president of¢ L.V.A.U.G. also from PA.; HARVEY¢ SHOEN, newsletter editor of¢ L.I.A.U.G. HARVEY, as a tribute to¢ ALEX, had a picture of him on their¢ newsletter's front cover.¢¢ ALAN SHARKIS showed us all the¢ condolence messages (see summaries¢ above). He said there will be many¢ more in a few days.¢¢ ALAN SHARKIS said he would assume the¢ duties of NEWSLETTER EDITOR. RON¢ FETZER said he would handle all the¢ correspondence. We realize that we¢ will have difficulties in our new¢ positions but with the help of all¢ the members we should be able to¢ manage it. RON FETZER distributed the¢ TREASURER'S REPORT to all the¢ members.¢¢ ALAN SHARKIS invited us to his house¢ on July 20, 1996 for a demonstration¢ of how to use the MODEM, get on the¢ INTERNET and how the I.B.M. is a¢ slave the the 8-bit, and how to get¢ disk images from the I.B.M. on the¢ POOL DISK to the 8-bit.¢¢¢ DEMOS:¢¢ We received from our member ROBERT DE¢ LETTER in Belgiun a fantastic new¢ game. We are the exclusive recipient¢ of this game in the U.S.A. The game¢ takes up a whole side of a disk and¢ is on the back of last months¢ NEWSLETTER. The game has over 70¢ levels and I could not even get out¢ of the first few levels. It is fully¢ documented. We played it at the¢ meeting. It is called DRAGON LORD. It¢ is a fantasy game for one player. The¢ object is to find the dragon in the¢ dungeon maze and slay it. We were not¢ successful in slaying the dungeon at¢ the meeting.¢¢ We also viewed some of the other¢ programs on the NEWSLETTER DISK. The¢ PEEKS AND POKES that get printed out¢ on the printer are very interesting.¢ They come from T.W.A.U.G. in¢ England.¢¢ ART PAOLINI, the president of¢ L.V.A.U.G, brought a game along that¢ he had just finished writing the¢ night before. It is a great computer¢ trivia quiz program. Nine of us¢ joined in playing it.¢ A sample question is here¢ reproduced:¢ THE DATA GLOVE IS A VIRTUAL REALTY¢ DEVICE THAT LETS THE USER INTERFACE¢ THE COMPUTER USING HAND MOTION. IT¢ WAS FIRST INVENTED TO: 1)DISECT¢ CADAVARS. 2)PLAY AIR GUITAR. 3)WORK¢ WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. The answer¢ is....... #2. As you can see these¢ questions are not easy. There were, I¢ think, 40 questions that you had to¢ choose the right answer to. The¢ champion of the game was ALAN SHARKIS¢ with 23 right answers. It is a great¢ entertaining game for a large group.¢ It will be on the L.V.A.U.G. CLUB¢ DISK #101. We will get a copy at a¢ later date.¢¢ We decided to explore the possibility¢ of creating an ANNUAL ALEX PIGNATO¢ AWARD. We formed a committee to¢ establish the criteria for the¢ award.¢¢ Written by Ron Fetzer¢¢ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<¢¢¢¢
