¢ALL MICRO SHOW 5 REPORT¢¢By S.J.Murray, February 1992 ¢¢¢ Back on November 9th of last year your intrepid editor made a 1000 mile round trip to the AMS5 in Stafford, England. I have decided to share the whole experience within this report in order to hopefully encourage you to join me on my trip to AMS6.¢¢Friday 8th November :¢¢ Myself and fellow NOSAUG member Michael Edwards had decided to begin our journey by catching the 7a.m.(AGHHH!) train from Aberdeen to Newcastle. David Ewens from the Newcastle Atari 8-Bit Computer Club had kindly agreed to put us both up in his home for the week-end and this meant we could split the journey to Stafford over two days. It's a strange feeling when your travelling to meet someone you've written and spoken to yet never met in person. All such thoughts were cast out when after a pleasant journey we were met at Newcaslte railway ststion by a friendly, smiling David Ewens. We couldn't exactly miss him because he was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt with 'DAVID EWENS' printed in large blue letters.¢¢ After a quick chat we crossed the road to a grab some lunch in a beautifully decorated traditional English pub. Delicious food washed down with one (or perhaps two) pints. The barmaid's accent was brilliant! David then took us on a quick tour of Newcastle city centre. We couldn't believe the size of the place - the indoor shopping centres were massive. You could get lost inside them. I had never realised that Newcastle was a city of 1.5 million people.¢¢ After a quick bus trip we arrived in Cowgate on the outskirts of the city. A short walk and we were at David's home. His wife Margaret and daughter Gillian were there to meet us along with a dog, two cats and a rabbit! I'm glad I like animals. David's 130XE system was sitting proudly in the front room beside the TV. The whole welcome was brilliant and made us feel right at home from the very start.¢¢ After a cup of tea and a chat David showed us some of his new software. We were quite impressed with the newly-released Mission Zircon from Tiger Developments. He had also just received the Top Part III demo from his contact in Poland. He has over forty contacts worldwide!¢¢ A delicious meal was followed by a trip to the regular Friday night meeting of the Newcastle Atari 8-Bit Club. We met some great characters, had a few laughs and excanged some software. It was good to meet others who shared our dedication to the XL/XE. After the club meeting broke up we made our way back to David's house (picking up a Chinese carry-out on the way) and had a look through some of his software. He has approximately 3500-4000 software titles! Needless to say, we saw many excellent programs.¢¢Saturday 9th November :¢¢ After a good nights sleep we were wakened by David at 5am. I couldn't believe I was alive at this time of the morning! David's friend John, who had kindly agreed to drive us all to Stafford, arrived at about 6am and we set off with the moon beaming through the darkness. Michael slept for most of the journey! The rest of us discussed the world of Atari 8-bit computing and I was told that the previous AMS show was a huge success for Atari owners. John also mentioned that he was busy working on many projects for his Atari.¢¢ Michael decided to wake up about fifty miles from Stafford (and he claims that I'm the lazy one!) to find out that he had been nominated as navigator to get us from the motorway to the Bingley Hall. Bad mistake! We missed our junction and so had to travel over a different route from the one planned. This slight deviation only cost us about twenty minutes and so we arrived at the show with a few minutes to spare. As we came into the car park I suddenly remembered that I'd left our entry tickets in Aberdeen. Disaster! It meant that we would have to queue at the cash entrance while David and John breezed through the ticket-holders one. Still, it did increase the level of anticipation.¢¢ After being presented with a layout of all the stalls Michael and I decided to split up and have a look around. As Michael (and everyone else) raced across the giant hall towards Derek Fern's stall I decided to take a little stroll through the stalls at the front. As I walked along I came across the Miles Better Software stall. They were selling cartridges for 3 pounds, disks for 2 pounds and cassettes for only one. My wallet began to shrink! I bought many disks including Flight Simulator 2, Night Mission Pinball, Bop & Wrestle and Sargon III for only 2 pounds each. Flight Sim II for 2 pounds - amazing! I also bought Speedball 2 for my ST (it only cost me 5 pounds!). My appreciation of their fast and efficient mail-order service was enhanced by their friendly stall. What a start, I thought to myself.¢¢ As I strolled further round the hall I came across Derek Fern's stall. It was mobbed! I battled my way to the front only to find Michael grabbing every piece of bargain software he could get his hands on. I thought I had better grab what I could before it all disappeared. Luckily, as I reached the bargain bins they were being re-stocked. There were many disks at only one pound each. I got The Sands Of Egypt, Genetic Drift, Institute, Dunzhin, Beneath Apple Manor, Temple Of Apshai and many others. I had ordered a 1029 printer from Derek over the phone and it was sitting behind the stall awaiting collection. I got it for only 45 pounds. Add to this 300 blank disks for 15 pounds, back issue magazines, CX40 joysticks, etc. and you'll understand when I say I was up in the clouds. There were so many other bargains I would have liked to have snapped up but for financial and storage reasons I had to calm down. There were, after all, many other stalls still to visit. Just to quickly mention some of Derek's bargains... Atari 400's for a fiver; Light Guns for 10 pounds; Trackballs for 5 pounds; 822 Thermal Printers for 20 pounds; and a VAST amount of new and box-damaged software at unbelievable prices.¢¢ On the stall next to Derek Fern was good old Page 6. Les and his faithful staff were busy selling software, books and back issues. I was slightly disappointed that they had decided to sell everything at exactly the same price as in their Accessory Shop. Needless to say I did not purchase any software from them. I did, however, buy the infamous Page 6 issue 35 (the deleted issue) for 2 pounds. I was very disappointed to see them attempting to gain the highest offer possible for older issues by opening them up to bids. Not the way to show appreciation for those who buy the magazine! There was also no sign of the promised new software from Germany. Still, at least I got my hands on issue 35.¢¢ Next to Page 6 was another stall supporting the Atari 8-bit. Dean Garrighty was busy showing his new Digi-Studio, a superb digitized sound program. He also had many PD titles on offer.¢¢ Gralin Int/BaPAUG had a large stall right in the middle of the hall and this was my next stop. Colin Hunt was showing an Atari 1400XL (a very rare piece of hardware) which he uses with a NTSC television. He also told me that Gralin had aquired the rights to release Zeppelin software on disk for only 4.99 - a move which is welcomed wholeheartedly! I purchased some Antic back issues and disks ranging from the first volume right up to the last. The Gralin lads had many other bargains including APX software, PD disks and various hardware offers.¢¢ At about this time I ran into David and John and we decided to put everything we had bought into the car. This meant that my hands were free to roam the bargain bins again. My wallet, by this time, had shrunk considerably!¢¢ Over in the far corner of the hall I found another two Atari 8-bit stalls - Gladden House Computers and the London Atari Computer Enthusiasts (LACE). After a quick look at the LACE stall (they were showing their BOOT! newsletter) I moved onto Gladden House. There were all kinds of bargains including Atari 65XE's upgraded to 128k for only 30 pounds, Atari 1027 printers for 25 pounds, Disk notchers for 2.50, 1010 data recorders for 10 pounds, etc, etc. There was also lots of software and back issue magazines. I bought a few Analog back issues, some more Antics, a few more software titles, and a couple of Infocom InvisiClues.¢¢ It was now 3pm and just about time to leave. A quick trip with Michael around the rest of the hall found other general stalls with various Atari 8-bit bargains. We met an Arthur Daley lookalike selling 8-bit software from a suitcase for 50p each! The final contents of my wallet were handed over.¢¢ After meeting with David and John we headed back to the car to prepare for our journey back to Newscastle. There was just one problem... how to squeeze ourselves into the car along with the various boxes of Atari goods. We had ALL gone crazy! It took about ten minutes to fit everything in and even then Michael and I had to share the back seat with a mountain of Atari goodies. A minor sacrifice for what had been a wonderful day!¢¢ We arrived back in Newcastle at about 6pm and after saying goodbye to John we had a very welcome meal at David's. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with David's software collection.¢¢Sunday 10th November :¢¢ Michael and I went on a stroll through Cowgate before packing everything into boxes for the journey back to Aberdeen. A final couple of hours were spent going through David's software collection. I still can't believe that one man has so many programs!¢¢ At about 1pm it was, unfortunately, time to go. We gave our thanks and said our goodbyes to David and his family and caught a taxi to Newcastle railway station. After a smooth journey we arrived back in Aberdeen at 7pm.¢¢CONCLUSION :¢¢ My trip to AMS5 was without doubt a worthwhile one. I got the chance to see Newcastle and it's friendly population as well as attend an excellent micro show for Atari XL/XE owners. The All Micro Show should be renamed the Atari (8-bit) Micro Show! There were many stalls with some unbelievable bargains covering all aspects of Atari 8-bit computing. I would, without hesitation, advise anyone to join me on the NOSAUG trip to AMS6 in November 1992. I can't wait!¢¢¢ I would just like to conclude by thanking the following people for what was a brilliant weekend : David Ewens and family (for putting up with us!); the Newcastle Atari 8-Bit Club (many thanks for the lift John); all the Atari 8-bit stalls mentioned above (see InfoFile for addresses and phone numbers); and all the friendly Atari owners I met at the show (with support like that the XL/XE will never die!!!)¢¢¢S.J.Murray,¢Futura Editor,¢22nd February, 1992,¢North Of Scotland Atari User Group.¢
