*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢ NEWSLETTER REVIEWS¢ by Alan Sharkis¢ OHAUG Newsletter Librarian¢¢ The summer is fast approaching as I¢ begin this column, and will be well¢ under way by the time I finish it. ¢ Summers are usually quiet times for¢ computer user groups, but we don't¢ get discouraged by the relative lack¢ of activity -- at least from what¢ I've been reading. True, some groups¢ actually cancel meetings for the¢ summer, but OHAUG will continue to¢ meet, and even have the third joint¢ meeting with LIAUG, scheduled for¢ July 12th. Just after that, if all is¢ well, my wife and I will be on the¢ road for a week or so of vacation --¢ the first we've taken without others¢ along for many years. To those of¢ you who are also taking vacations, I¢ wish you the kind of relaxation and¢ change you desire.¢¢ SCAT President's Letter for Spring¢ 1997 --¢ There is only the briefest mention of¢ 8-bit activity or potential 8-bit¢ activity. We hope for more in the¢ future.¢¢ (FR)ANTIC for April 1997 -- President¢ TODD SUNRUNNER has included some¢ excerpted messages from FidoNet and¢ the newsgroup (comp.sys.atari.8bit,¢ otherwise known as CSA8.) (Funny,¢ all the time that I worked for the¢ NYC Board of Education, it was the¢ Board's position that there was an¢ implied copyright in any message¢ somebody posted on the Internet, and¢ that you'd have to ask my permission,¢ for example, to reprint a message I¢ posted. Well, one of my messages WAS¢ in that batch. Todd never asked me¢ for permission. You know what??? I¢ DON'T CARE!!! Seriously, if anything¢ I say or ask is helpful to the 8-bit¢ community, who am I to stand on¢ ceremony? -- ed.) Librarian RUSSELL¢ STOWE reports that he has created two¢ new sections of AAAUA's disk library,¢ one devoted to OHAUG newsletters and¢ the other devoted to TWAUG. Thanks,¢ Russell. LOU KELLEY writes an¢ interesting article about VisiCalc,¢ the first computer spreadsheet, which¢ was released for Apple ][, IBM, and¢ Atari 8-bit. Editor MANUEL GARCIA¢ continues the thread by describing¢ how working with Atari PD spreadsheet¢ programs prepared him to work with¢ the Quattro Pro that was preinstalled¢ on his laptop and which he needed for¢ his job. (Here I go, editorializing¢ again. I can confirm what Manuel¢ said regarding learning about¢ spreadsheets by working on Atari¢ spreadsheets and extend that to just¢ about any other application. The¢ message is simple. Your Atari is¢ more than adequate preparation for¢ other, more complex platforms --¢ should you need to work in those¢ platforms -- ed.)¢¢ The PACESetter for May 1997 --¢ President JEAN BROKAW reviews a¢ garden planning program called¢ Digital Gardener by CHARLES BARTISH. ¢ She aslo gives a series of URLs to¢ Web Sites that deal with gardening. ¢ Jean also provides us with a look at¢ a program in the PACE library that¢ creates cryptograms, and uses the¢ program's output to create a¢ cryptogram contest. The results of¢ the contest will be announced in next¢ month's newsletter. Jean seems to¢ have been responsible for most of¢ this issue, by the way. The puzzles,¢ riddles, jokes, etc. are hers. The¢ decision to split the overly-long¢ Part III of my series on emulation¢ into two sections and to print the¢ first of these two sections was hers.¢ I'd hope that Jean gets the articles¢ from other club members she needs to¢ lighten her task, just as I'm hoping¢ for the same from our members for our¢ newsletter (HINT, HINT!)¢¢ Cenacle News-letter for May 1997 --¢ This newsletter is written in¢ French. However, my high school¢ French was able to get me through its¢ salient points -- I hope! They tend¢ to translate and synopsize the XIO3¢ Newsletter (which we also receive)¢ and this issue has some of the news¢ surrounding the end of Atari as an¢ entity and the condition of JTS. Of¢ course, the news is a bit stale, but¢ interesting. BRUNO ROUDOT writes an¢ interesting column dealing with BASIC¢ programming. This month, it deals¢ with the PUT statement as well as¢ disabling the RESET key. The article¢ is accompanied by an interesting¢ table that shows how machine language¢ instructions, addresses, assembly¢ language instructions and BASIC¢ statements are related. GUY POISSON¢ reviews the Futura 10 disk. The¢ minutes of their General Assembly¢ meeting are on the back page, and¢ reading them, even if you don't¢ understand French, will make it clear¢ that this is an active user group,¢ with 26 members and a desire to¢ continue relations with several¢ clubs, including OHAUG.¢¢ XIO3 for May/June 1997 -- The GCACE¢ has been a source of news for a very¢ long time. Secretary ROWLAND GRANT¢ continues to amaze me, buth with his¢ Atari News and Rumours column and his¢ New 8-Bit column. Read both, and¢ find out the latest about JTS, Atari,¢ and such notables as BOB WOOLLEY,¢ DAVID FIRTH, DAREK MIHOCKA and our¢ own KURT VENDEL. Also, check out the¢ two cartoons!¢¢ The PACESetter for June 1997 -- This¢ issue starts out with a type-in¢ program that creates a personalized¢ Father's Day message. An anonymous¢ article entitled, "Upgrade," was seen¢ by me as forwarded e-mail from a¢ friend who gets these funny articles¢ from another frined, so it probably¢ made its way around the Internet. ¢ The second section of Part III of my¢ series on emulation appears in this¢ issue. The usual cartoons, puzzles,¢ etc. are also included.¢¢ Finally, let me state that in lieu of¢ a print issue of (FR)ANTIC (or¢ perhaps in addition to it) I received¢ a disk with several text files,¢ describing all of the disks in their¢ library. This disk has no DOS files¢ and is best read with a word-¢ processor. In fact, a header, which¢ looks suspiciously like the one¢ generated by cartridge AtariWriter,¢ begins each of the files. This disk,¢ and a rough print-out of the¢ contents, will be at the next OHAUG¢ meeting.¢¢ *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*¢¢¢¢
