*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ This has been quite a summer. I¢ found it nearly impossible to get¢ this newsletter out, what with the¢ summer-long illnesses within my¢ family, but I had lots of help from¢ the Internet, the sympathetic¢ understanding of my fellow Ol'¢ Hackers, and, most of all, the high¢ quality and quantity of material that¢ I knew I could find, in user group¢ newsletters. Now, I'm ready for a¢ vacation!¢¢ L.V.A.U.G. News for March/April 1998¢ -- This is truly a nostalgia issue. ¢ There are photographs of the XL line,¢ including the 1400XL and 1450XLD, an¢ ad showing the Atari 1200XL (complete¢ with an apparently erroneous picture¢ of an 800) priced at $419, and a¢ number of short, type-in programs¢ from such sources as COMPUTE!¢ magazine. There is also a reprint of¢ an article from the January 20, 1998¢ ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL about¢ Northampton Community College's¢ online classes to teach the basics of¢ the Internet. Another article, this¢ time from the November 18, 1997 issue¢ of the ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL by¢ CHRIS ALLBRITTON of the Associated¢ Press points up the ways in which the¢ World Wide Web has taken on a¢ commercial quality which makes it¢ difficult for the disabled to use the¢ Web. (Some of the problems described¢ in this story that tend to limit the¢ participation of the disabled,¢ particuarly the visually disabled,¢ also make it difficult for Atari 8-¢ bitters who want to access the Web¢ with our machines -- Ed.) Finally,¢ the issue reprints (from PACESetter,¢ February 1997) a set of Web sites,¢ hints, and definitions that can be¢ helpful. The Ziggy cartoons (always¢ my favorite! -- Ed.) abound, as¢ usual.¢¢ L.V.A.U.G. News for May/June 1998 --¢ The issue starts off with a FARMER's¢ VERSION of COMPUTER WORDS -- good for¢ a chuckle. There's an article by TED¢ BRIDIS of the Associated Press as¢ printed in the ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL¢ of April 15, 1998 about a joint¢ effort of sveral firms to produce an¢ ultrafast data pipeline. It will not¢ be available to ome users, but it¢ will be available to academics and¢ professional researchers. It is said¢ to be able to transmit the contents¢ of Encyclopedia Brittanica in one¢ second, rather than the twenty-seven¢ hours it would take conventionally. ¢ There's a collection of e-mail¢ messages stimulated by a section of¢ DE RE ATARI written by CHRIS CRAWFORD¢ that deals with the internal¢ architecture of the Atari 8-bits and¢ the function of the special chips. ¢ It's important reading, although¢ somewhat technical. The last article¢ is reprinted from the ALLENTOWN¢ MORNING CALL, November 4, 1997 and is¢ written by MICHAEL J. HIMOWITZ of the¢ BALTIMORE SUN. It deals with using¢ the Web to handle College Searches¢ and Applications. And yes, the Ziggy¢ cartoons continue.¢¢ S.C.A.T. President's Letter for¢ Summer 1998 -- There was a lot of¢ activity in this user group. The 8-¢ bit side centered around a cartridge¢ called BEAM RIDER, demonstrated by¢ JOE CHIKO, and (also demonstrated by¢ JOE) an OHAUG Newsletter disk. ¢ President NICK DiMASI did a fine job¢ of describing the general format of¢ OHAUG Newsletter disks, and suggested¢ that his members with 8-bit systems¢ look at more of them.¢¢ IMAGE for July 1998 -- It is indeed a¢ pleasure to see that the 8-bits are¢ alive in this mainly ST organization.¢ CHUCK LAMB, 8-bit SIG Chairman and¢ Librarian, demonstrated the ANDY¢ FLOYD Cross-Stitching program but had¢ problems with the print-out. He also¢ ran Andy's PUSH-IT, a SOCOBAN clone. ¢ The club also used their ST to run ST¢ Xformer and reported that some 8-bit¢ programs that they attempted to run¢ under this emulator didn't work. ¢ They apparently had the cable that¢ allowed loading the programs into the¢ ST from an 8-bit drive, and that did¢ work.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for June/July 1998 -- It's¢ good to see this newsletter again¢ after a long absence. This issue is¢ short, but promising. Editor MANUEL¢ GARCIA lists the addresses of:¢¢ Best Electronics¢ 2021 The Alameda #290¢ San Jose, CA 95126¢¢ and¢¢ B&C ComputerVisions¢ 5917 Stope Way¢ El Dorado, CA 95623-4716¢¢ and also lists several WEB URLs of¢ interest to 8-bitters, some of which¢ aren't up any more. There's also a¢ reprint of an extensive article,¢ reprinted from the June 1991 issue of¢ (FR)ANTIC by NIR DARY on the¢ structure of an Atari DOS disk.¢¢ JACG Newsletter for July 1998 --¢ Editor TOM LASKOWSKI discovered that¢ Hasbro has not demonstrated the new¢ Atari computer. (I believe Hasbro¢ has stated categorically that they¢ will not produce computers -- Ed.)¢ He seems to be upset that Web sites¢ are disappearing, but is resigned to¢ the fact that this is the case.¢ Elsewhere in the issue there is, of¢ course, another announcement of the¢ World of Atari '98 show. JOSEPH E.¢ HICSWA reviewed the PACESETER for¢ June 98, and NEW ATARI USER for¢ March/April 1998. TOM LASKOWSK¢ reviewed the Trenton Computer Fest¢ that was held in April.¢¢ The PACESetter for July 1998 -- This¢ issue has a front page that's hand-¢ colored and enhanced with glitter.¢ It's quite attractive. I understand¢ that some of the front covers were¢ produced on a different computer and¢ photocopied in color. There's an¢ interesting URL listed in the¢ newsletter where you can get a¢ program that emulates 32-bit code so¢ that it can run under Windows 3.1.¢ It's said that not all programs will¢ run, and that they will run slowly. ¢ (Interesting. The latest Atari 8-bit¢ emulators for the PC will run a¢ tremendous number of programs at¢ near-normal speed -- Ed.) JEAN¢ BROKAW contributes an article about,¢ "Diskaholics," which is full of good¢ advice. Editor WALT LEWIS outlines¢ the procedure for typing in a BASIC¢ program. Walt also contributes an¢ article, complete with diagrams, on¢ how to hook up more than one disk¢ drive in an Atari 8-bit system.¢ There's a reprint of an ALAN FRAZER¢ article, originally in AIM (Fall¢ 1992), about repairing that annoying¢ gear in the 1020 plotter. CHARLES¢ KELLY (SNACC) tells us how to replace¢ the pressure pad in a disk drive with¢ the plug from a BIC pen. There's a¢ reprint of a JERRY WHITE article on¢ how to solve the dilemma of two files¢ on the same disk with the same¢ filename. There's also a reprint of¢ a TOM HUDSON review of Miner 2049er.¢ The usual puzzles, interesting URLs,¢ etc., fill out the issue.¢¢ L.V.A.U.G. News for July/August 1998¢ -- This issue, with a picture of the¢ Jaguar game system and its¢ accessories on the cover, provides s¢ with a column called THE CUTTING EDGE¢ from Gamepro of October 1993. It's a¢ review of the Jaguar system and is¢ quite favorable. A TODD COPILEVITZ¢ article talks about where the¢ Internet is heading and its potential¢ effect on society, business, etc. A¢ third article can be found (plug¢ intended -- Ed.) reprinted in our¢ Laugh Corner. What I can't reprint,¢ sadly, are all of the cartoons. This¢ month, Ziggy is joined by The¢ Lockhorns, Family Circus, and¢ others.¢¢ XIO3 for July/August 1993 -- ROWLAND¢ GRANT wonders if Atari Classics¢ Magazine is dead, but notes that¢ parts of it, particularly the 8-bit¢ video improvement article have shown¢ up on the Web. BOB KLAAS has¢ completed his CD-ROM, while ERNEST¢ SCHREURS states that Pool Disk 2 is¢ nearing completion (I have a release¢ date of October 26, 1998 from¢ Ernest's brother and co-producer, BO¢ SCHREURS -- Ed.) Atari 8-bit¢ emulators continue to be released and¢ refined. Atari800Win is one such.¢ MARK SIMONSON has created a set of¢ three Atari 8-bit fonts in TrueType¢ form. THOMAS DRAKE reports using a¢ SCSI Syquest EZ-135 drive with his¢ Black Box. CSS President BOB PUFF¢ stated that he would do another¢ production run of the Black Box if¢ there are enough orders. DAVID FIRTH¢ released the TCL programming language¢ for the Atari 8-bit. It produces¢ very fast code, like Action!, and is¢ available on his home page. Rowland¢ also brings us up to date on the¢ career of CHRIS CRAWFORD.¢¢ JACG Newsletter for August 1998 --¢ Editor TOM LASKOWSKI had an¢ interesting experience on the Web.¢ He had previously claimed that some¢ of the search engines on the Web were¢ useless. Tom entered the URL for B&C¢ ComputerVisions (www.myatari.com)¢ into Altavista and came up with 111¢ matches. One, believe it or not, was¢ the URL of Best Electronics! (One of¢ the others that he found was Atari¢ Gaming Headquarters, a JOHN HARDIE¢ opus -- Ed.) Tom also promises to¢ include biographical sketches of some¢ of the less-familiar names in Atari's¢ development in the next issue. Tom¢ also contributes an article about the¢ way in which WebTV ties TV to the¢ WWW. JOSEPH E. HICSWA reviews NEW¢ ATARI USER for May/June 1998,¢ PACESetter for July 1998, ORPHANED¢ COMPUTERS & GAME SYSTEMS for June¢ 1998, and OHAUG Newsletter for¢ May/June and July/August 1998. Joe¢ also reviews TETRAD, a game from¢ Hayden Software. Finally, SAM CORY¢ writes an interesting piece of advice¢ to Joe regarding becoming a pilot.¢¢ The PACESetter for August 1998 --¢ This issue starts with a reprint of¢ a JOAN RYAN review of CROSSWORD¢ MAGIC. (By the time Joan reviewed¢ this program it was owned by¢ Mindscape, which was subsequently¢ taken over by another company -- Ed.)¢ Later in the issue JEAN BROKAW¢ attributes the program to L&S¢ Computerware, the original¢ publishers. She prints a puzzle, but¢ gives icons as the clues, rather than¢ words. It's challenging. Try it.¢ ALAN FRAZER reviews Chain Reaction,¢ from the January 1987 issue of¢ COMPUTE! Magazine. Alan also reviews¢ Awardware from Hi Tech Expressions.¢ There's a reprint of a JAMES VINCENT¢ BRADY (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)¢ article about the effects of magnetic¢ fields on recorded material,¢ including computer disks. WALT LEWIS¢ gives us the procedure for taking the¢ directory of a Print Shop Icon Disk¢ and making a Word Processor file out¢ of it using SpartaDos. He also¢ starts a series entitled, "Guess What¢ Works For Me," which is supposed to¢ be a relatively painless way for¢ members to get their name in print in¢ the newsletter. Walt starts the ball¢ rolling by describing how create a¢ printed, alphabetized disk directory¢ to put into a disk envelope. (Hey,¢ Walt, if nobody can tell you how to¢ get the sheet of paper to feed to the¢ end, I will -- Ed.)¢¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢
